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On September 10, WESA reporter Lane Moore reported Pittsburgh-based oil and gas company EQT Corporation is facing accusations from Greene County residents in a class-action lawsuit filed this summer.
The complaint, filed June 20, alleges the company’s natural gas drilling operations in New Freeport contaminated the community’s groundwater aquifers in June 2022.
Residents are being represented by Washington D.C.-based Russell Law Firm and Waynesburg Pa.-based Hook & Hook.
While their legal teams have not responded to requests for comment, the lawsuit details eight counts against EQT including negligence and breaches in duty of care.
The suit also seeks compensatory and punitive damages as well as injunctive relief, including future medical monitoring for affected residents.
Residents report their water wells in New Freeport became unusable right around the same time that fluid started erupting from an abandoned gas well along the town’s Main Street, June 19, 2022.
A Department of Environmental Protection inspection report from June 23, 2022 indicates it was the result of a “communication incident” between EQT’s Lumber well pad and the abandoned Fox Hill well.
“EQT was notified by the landowner on 6/19/2022 of the communication incident. EQT investigated and determined hydraulic fracturing operations at the Lumber well site communicated to an offset well,” the DEP report reads, then continues: “EQT personnel observed fluid and gas expressing from the offset well. EQT stopped stimulation activities on the Lumber 13H and the fluid and gas observations at the offset well subsided.”
EQT maintains that there is insufficient evidence to support that the company’s Lumber Pad wells had any impact on the abandoned well in New Freeport.
In a statement to WESA, an EQT spokesperson wrote “EQT is confident that our operations in Greene County have not impacted area residents or their properties and will vigorously defend against the claims in court.”
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NewsClips:
-- WESA: New Freeport, Greene County Residents File Lawsuit Against EQT Gas Drilling Company Over Contaminated Water Supplies
-- PublicSource.org: New Freeport, Greene County Residents In Federal Court Demanding Clean Water From EQT Natural Gas Company After Frack-Out
Resource Links - New Freeport:
-- DEP- EQT Settlement Agreement Allows Fracking To Resume From 2 Shale Gas Well Pads In Area Impacted By Frack-Out In New Freeport, Greene County; Does Not Address Water Supply Issues Of Residents [PaEN]
-- Community Demands Accountability From EQT Natural Gas On 1-Year Anniversary Of Greene County Frack-Out Incident; Families Still Without Clean Water; No DEP Investigation Results [PaEN]
-- Center For Coalfield Justice: Nearly 11 Months Since An EQT Shale Gas Well Frac-Out Left Residents Near New Freeport, Greene County Without Clean Water; DEP’s Investigation Not Complete [PaEN]
-- Oil & Gas Industry Impacts: Families Affected By Alleged ‘Frack-Out’ In Greene County Have A Little Happier Holiday Thanks To Water Donated By Center For Coalfield Justice [PaEN]
-- Center For Coalfield Justice Holds First Water Distribution Day Nov. 19 To Help Provide Families Drinking Water In Greene County Following Alleged ‘Frack-Out’ At Natural Gas Well Site In June [PaEN]
-- Observer-Reporter: Ongoing Water Donation Drive Helping Dozens Of Greene County Families Who Haven’t Had Clean Drinking Water Since June Following Alleged ‘Frack-Out’ At Natural Gas Well Site [PaEN]
PA Oil & Gas Industry Public Notice Dashboards:
-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - September 7 to 13 - 12,600+ Gallon Shale Gas Wastewater Pipeline Release; 1,000 Gallon+ Subsurface Conventional Wastewater Spill; 28+ Abandoned Wells; Stray Gas Investigation In Elk Viewing Area [PaEN]
-- DEP Finds Shale Gas Wastewater Pipeline Sprayed & Leaked 12,600+ Gallons For Nearly 3 Hours In Gilmore Twp., Greene County [PaEN]
-- DEP Reports Subsurface Release Of An Estimated 1,000 Gallons Of Wastewater At Hebron Gas Storage Field Conventional Well In Hebron Twp., Potter County; Water Supplies Impacted, Report Well Problems To DEP Near This Facility [PaEN]
-- DEP Issues Violation To Apex Energy (PA) LLC For Failure To Submit List Of Fracking Chemicals For 37 Shale Gas Wells Over 6 Years In Westmoreland County [PaEN]
-- DEP Declares 21 Conventional Oil & Gas Wells Owned By Schreiner Oil & Gas Inc. Abandoned, Not Plugged In Erie, McKean Counties; 747 Violations For Conventional Well Abandonment This Year [PaEN]
-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices, Opportunities To Comment - September 14 [PaEN]
-- DEP Posted 82 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In September 14 PA Bulletin [PaEN]
Related Articles This Week:
-- Cecil Township Supervisors Direct Solicitor To Prepare Ordinance Increasing Setbacks From Shale Gas Well Pads By At Least 2,500 Feet; Another Hearing, Vote Expected Nov. 4 [PaEN]
-- WESA: New Freeport, Greene County Residents File Lawsuit Against EQT Gas Drilling Company Over Contaminated Water Supplies [PaEN]
-- Southwestern PA Community, Health Organizations To Hold Sept. 17 Online Press Event - One Year After Pitt Shale Gas Health Impacts Studies And The Failure To Fulfill Essential Promises Made To Residents [PaEN]
-- Susquehanna River Basin Conditions Trigger Low-Flow Water Use Restrictions At 7 Shale Gas Water Withdrawals In Bradford, Susquehanna, Tioga Counties [PaEN]
-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission Approves Water Withdrawal Requests - Including 8 For Shale Gas Development; Total Of 23 In 2024 [PaEN]
-- Senate Hearing: Landowner Concerns About Liability For Abandoned Conventional Oil & Gas Wells May Be Impediment To Plugging Leaking Wells; Need To Make Plugging Programs More Effective To Deal With ‘Growing Problem’ [PaEN]
-- Groundbreaking Initiative Using Drones To Locate Orphan, Abandoned Conventional Oil & Gas Wells In Pennsylvania Kicks Off [PaEN]
-- Baker Hughes: PA Shale Gas Drilling Rigs Drop Another 2 From Last Week To 14 - On Aug. 23 There Were 21 - 33% Drop [Effort To Raise Natural Gas Prices Continues]
-- Marcellus Drilling News: Coterra Energy Pulling All Active Marcellus Drilling Rigs From Susquehanna County Until Natural Gas Price Recovers [PDF of Article] [Dimock Is In This County]
-- WITF StateImpactPA - Rachel McDevitt: PA Shale Gas Drilling Slowed In 2024, Prices Expected To Rise This Winter
-- US DOE Now Accepting Applications For $15 Million In Funding To Reduce Methane Emissions From Abandoned Oil & Gas Wells
-- House Committee Sets Sept. 17 Hearing On PA One Call Underground Utility Notification Program Reauthorization; Almost All Conventional Gas/Oil Pipelines Specifically Excluded [PaEN]
-- PUC Publishes Final Public Utility Owned Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Standards In Sept. 14 PA Bulletin [Read background here ]
-- Ohio River Valley Institute: $55 Million Federally-Funded Tenaska Carbon Geologic Sequestration Project Expected To Permanently Employ 4 People, According To A WV University Study [PaEN]
NewsClips:
-- WESA: New Freeport, Greene County Residents File Lawsuit Against EQT Gas Drilling Company Over Contaminated Water Supplies
-- PublicSource.org: New Freeport, Greene County Residents In Federal Court Demanding Clean Water From EQT Natural Gas Company After Frack-Out
-- Natural Resources Defense Council Blog: Fracking Loopholes Remain, With More Sick Families In Communities [Includes Pennsylvania Examples]
-- TheDailyClimate.org: PA’s CNX Resources Gas Drilling Company With More Than 2,000 Environmental Violations Selected For Federal Hydrogen Hub Environmental Justice Funding
-- TribLive Letter: Between 2016-2023 PA Households Paid 51% More For Natural Gas As LNG Gas Exports Surged; Shale Gas Drillers Accumulate 81,289 Environmental Violations - By Jan Milburn, Westmoreland County
-- Marcellus Drilling News: Coterra Energy Pulling All Active Marcellus Drilling Rigs From Susquehanna County Until Natural Gas Price Recovers [PDF of Article]
-- The Derrick - John Barlett: An Eye In The Sky Will Seek Old Oil, Gas Wells [PDF of Article]
-- The Center Square - Anthony Hennen: State’s $100,000+ Cost To Plug Abandoned/Orphan Wells ‘Outrageously Enormous;’ Taking Care Of Problem No Simple Task
-- WITF StateImpactPA - Rachel McDevitt: PA Shale Gas Drilling Slowed In 2024, Prices Expected To Rise This Winter
-- RealClearEnergy.org: EQT Gas CEO Says Gas Reserves Could Sustain A 50% Increase In Production, Leaving ‘Enough Resources For Over 30 Years Of Supply;’ [Natural Gas Prices Would Be Lower If We Had More Pipelines, Storage]
-- Governing Magazine: Oil & Gas Towns Don’t Need Help Now, But They Will As World Shifts To Clean Energy
-- Bloomberg: Europe At Peak LNG Gas Consumption; LNG Overcapacity Heightens Risk Of Stranded Assets, IEEFA Says
-- Bloomberg: China’s LNG Gas Imports May Suffer As Caverns Are Filled To The Brim
-- Reuters: US Natural Gas Markets Point To Steep Price Rise In 2025; Prices Drop In Anticipation Of Latest Hurricane Hitting LNG Gas Export Facilities In Louisiana
-- Reuters: Transco Applies For FERC Emergency Certification To Keep Operating Regional Energy Access Expansion Natural Gas Pipeline Project After Court Threw Out Permit
-- Bloomberg: NextDecade LNG Gas Export Project Paying Price For ‘Wrist Slap” Putting Thousands Of Jobs At Risk [Federal Court Ruling Striking Down FERC Permit Sending It Back For Required Environmental Review]
-- WITF StateImpactPA - Rachel McDevitt: Methane Emissions Much Higher Than Gas Industry Targets, EDF Study Says
-- AP: Pollution Of The Potent Climate Warming Gas Methane Soars, People Mostly To Blame
-- US DOE Now Accepting Applications For $15 Million In Funding To Reduce Methane Emissions From Abandoned Oil & Gas Wells
[Posted: September 11, 2024]
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