On April 19, Attorney General Michelle Henry announced the filing of charges against Shell Falcon Pipeline LP for violations of Pennsylvania’s Clean Streams Law regarding construction of a 45-mile pipeline in western Pennsylvania.

Construction of the pipeline, which spanned through Washington, Allegheny and Beaver Counties, began in January 2019 and brings ethane feedstock from natural gas to the Shell Petrochemical Plant in Beaver County..

[In October 2022, DEP assessed a $670,000 against Shell Pipeline Company, LP and its contractor Minnesota Limited LLL for violations of its permit and other laws and regulations that occurred in 2019 and 2020 during pipeline construction.  Read more here.]

The Office of Attorney General’s investigation revealed that Shell allegedly failed to notify the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) about multiple issues that the company encountered during some of the horizontal directional drills (HDD) that were utilized to construct some portions of the pipeline.

Specifically, there were times when the drill lost drilling mud, which often contains pollutants, underground and in some instances the mud came to the surface in unintended locations.

The Office of Attorney General’s Environmental Crimes Section filed 13 misdemeanor charges Friday at Magisterial District Judge Louis McQuillan’s office in Washington County.

“Pennsylvania’s environmental laws are in place to keep families and communities safe from harm caused by major construction projects, such as pipelines,” Attorney General Henry said. “This company chose to ignore those laws and kept quiet issues that should have been disclosed to prevent potential impacts. Pennsylvanians have rights to clean air and water, and as we mark Earth Day this weekend, my office reaffirms its commitment to protecting those basic freedoms.”

Construction of the pipeline, which spanned through Washington, Allegheny and Beaver Counties, began in January 2019.

During horizontal directional drilling construction, drilling mud must be used to lubricate the drill bit and to stabilize the hole. Sometimes, this mud can travel outside of the bore path underground through fractures or voids in the rock.

This “lost” mud has the potential to surface in unintended locations, including wetlands or surface water, or to travel through these fractures and impact groundwater.

At this point in the drilling process, the mud is an industrial waste and ultimately results in pollution wherever it ends up — which happened during Shell construction.

According to the charging documents, Shell contractors did not report to the DEP all of these “losses of circulation” or the resulting returns to areas beyond the drill path, including surface waters and wetlands.

In addition, Shell allegedly failed to install real-time data logging devices on its drilling equipment, in violation of its permit.

Thirteen charges were filed Friday: seven counts of unlawful conduct (under the Clean Streams Law), three counts of prohibition against discharge of industrial wastes, and three counts of prohibition against other pollutions.

The case will be prosecuted by the Office of Attorney General’s Environmental Crimes Section. All charges are accusations.

The defendant is innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Click Here for the complete announcement by the Attorney General.

Resource Link:

-- DEP: Shell, Pipeline Contractor Assessed $670,000 Penalty For Falcon Ethane Pipeline Construction Violations In Allegheny, Beaver, Washington Counties  [PaEN]

PA Oil & Gas Industry Public Notice Dashboards:

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - April 13 to 19 - Oil & Gas Well Owners Actively, Repeatedly Ignoring DEP Notices Of Violation; 12 Abandoned Wells  [PaEN]

-- Attorney General Henry Files Charges Against Shell Falcon Pipeline For Failure To Report Drilling Issues That Caused Industrial Waste, Potential for Water Pollution  [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices, Opportunities To Comment - April 20 [PaEN]

-- DEP Posted 74 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In April 20 PA Bulletin  [PaEN] 

Related Articles This Week - Gas:

-- Senate Hearing: The Case For An Immediate, Total Ban On Road Dumping Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater  [PaEN]

-- Senate Hearing: Penn State Expert: ‘No More Research That Needs To Be Done’ To Justify A Ban On Road Dumping Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater  [PaEN]

-- Senate Hearing: First-Hand Account Of Health, Environmental Impacts From Road Dumping Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater - ‘Inhaling Oil & Gas Wastewater 24-Hours A Day’  [PaEN]

-- Senate Hearing: 3.5 Million Gallons Of Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater Dumped On PA Public Roads Since DEP’s ‘Moratorium’ On Dumping Started 6 Years Ago  [PaEN]

-- Senate Hearing: DEP Still Evaluating The Data On Road Dumping Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater; Asks Public To Report Road Dumping  [PaEN]

-- April 25 Conventional Oil & Gas Well Owners Advisory Council Meeting Features Discussion Of Dumping Wastewater On Public Roads; Well Plugging Grant Programs; Regs. Limiting Methane Pollution From Wells  [PaEN]

-- PA Marcellus Shale Gas Coalition Doubles-Down On Support For Exporting PA Natural Gas To China, Our Economic, Military Competitor  [PaEN]

-- Bloomberg: Europe’s Demand For LNG Gas Set To Peak In 2024 As Crisis Fades

-- Commonwealth Court Affirms EHB Ruling Sen. Muth Lacks Standing To Appeal A DEP Permit For Eureka Resources Oil & Gas Wastewater Treatment Facility [PaEN]

-- Protect PT Hosting April 30 Webinar On How Your Municipality Can Protect Itself From The Dangers Of Oil & Gas Wastewater Injection Wells  [PaEN]

-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission Holds May 2 Hearing On Water Use Requests, Including 7 Shale Gas Drilling Uses In Lycoming, Susquehanna, Tioga, Wyoming Counties  [PaEN]

-- Guest Essay: Claims That Only Thermal Energy Resources Can Ensure Electric Grid Reliability Don’t Pass The Laugh Test - By John Quigley, Kleinman Center For Energy Policy, University of Pennsylvania  [PaEN]

NewsClips - Gas:

-- Environmental Health Project: Gov. Shapiro’s Record On Shale Gas And Health - A Look At The Grand Jury Recommendations One Year In

-- The Allegheny Front - Reid Frazier: Attorney General Files Criminal Charges Against Shell Falcon Pipeline On Whistleblower Reports Over Pipeline Spills

-- PA Capital-Star: Democratic State Senators Want To End Road Dumping Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater

-- MyChesterCounty.com: PA Senators Call For Ban On Spraying Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater On Roads

-- Post-Gazette - Anya Litvak: PA Oil & Gas Wastewater Treatment/Disposal Company Was Building A Conglomerate; What’s Left Is A Pile Of Waste 

-- Warren Times Editorial: Government Too Quick To Use Taxpayer Money To Plug Abandoned Conventional Wells

-- Chesapeake Bay Journal - Ad Crable: Power, Pipeline Corridors Becoming Wildlife Habitat

-- The Guardian: Carbon Dioxide Pipeline Leak Exposes Carbon Capture Safety Gaps In Louisiana April 3

-- The Energy Age Blog: PA Oil & Gas Well Terminology From DEP

[Posted: April 19, 2024]

4/22/2024