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DEP Forms Internal Work Group To Develop Position On Road Dumping Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater; Shapiro Administration Supports Legislative Ban On Road Dumping

On December 12, Kurt Klapkowski, DEP Deputy Secretary for Oil and Gas Management, told DCED’s PA Grade Crude [Oil] Development Advisory Council, Acting Secretary Jessica Shirley has directed DEP executive staff to form an internal work group to develop a “strong scientifically-based position” on road dumping conventional oil and gas wastewater.

Klapkowski told the group to expect recommendations by the end of the first quarter of 2025 and then they will “take that position and walk it out to the broader world.”

He said the work group will include not only the Oil and Gas Program, but also Air Quality, Radiation Protection, Water Quality, Office of Chief Counsel, Policy Office as well as regional and field office staff.

Klapkowski said the outcome of the work group deliberations have not been pre-determined by the Acting Secretary-- “I've not been given direction to say what the answer needs to be.”

According to Klapkowski, Acting Secretary Shirley said, “Go look at the science, come up with an administrative process to get to that endpoint, and that's where we're going to go.”

“I do want to emphasize the fact that Secretary Shirley has made this a significant priority, basically tasking her executive staff to engage in this work, and to engage in it relatively swiftly,” said Klapkowski.

Currently, road dumping conventional oil and gas wastewater is illegal, unless approved as a co-product under DEP’s Residual Waste Regulations. DEP has not issued any co-product approvals, according to DEP’s most recent statements. Read more here.

However, the road dumping of conventional wastewater continues illegally in oil and gas areas. Read more here.

Shapiro Administration Supports Legislative Ban

On June 10 of this year, Klapkowski told a House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee hearing the Shapiro Administration supports legislation-- House Bill 2384-- banning the practice of road dumping oil and gas wastewater and prohibiting its consideration as a coproduct under Residual Waste Regulations. Read more here.

Neil Shader, DEP Press Secretary, said, “The Shapiro Administration still supports this legislation and will continue to review and assess proposals to protect Pennsylvanians from pollution and ensure the responsible management of oil and gas wastewater.”

Non-Compliance An Acceptable Norm

The culture of noncompliance within the conventional oil and gas industry must be considered in any discussion of the road dumping issue.

86% of conventional oil and gas well owners-- 4,265-- failed to submit the 2023 annual production and waste generation and disposal report to DEP covering 33,505 wells. Read more here.

89% of conventional oil and gas well owners-- 4,359-- failed to submit the 2023 annual well integrity reports for 34,455 wells. Read more here.

So far in 2024, conventional oil and gas well owners were issued 7,119 violations by DEP, far exceeding all of 2023. The violations included 830 for abandoning their wells, just this year. Read more here.

A December 2022 DEP assessment of conventional well owner compliance found there is a “culture of non-compliance” in the industry that is the “acceptable norm” that will need to “significantly change” “before meaningful improvement can happen.” Read more here.

More Work Group Details

“There are a couple pieces to this,” said Klapkowski. “Part of it is what is the science telling us about these materials, and how we can regulate them in their use and their efficacy, as well as what's the best mechanism to get us to a point where we can make decisions about approving or not approving this material going forward?”

He said one method is to use the 2016 regulations covering conventional wells [killed by the industry] that regulated the use of conventional wastewater as a dust suppressant and de-icing material.

“They were very detailed, in terms of the annual plan approvals, and the requirements in terms of analysis,” said Klapkowski.

“I tend to think a regulation is probably the best from a very high-level standpoint in the sense that you can create a program that then will survive challenge and exist in the future,” explained Klapkowski. “That's a very long process. It's a drawn-out process.”

[DEP’s 2016 regulations covering unconventional shale gas operations banned the practice of road dumping wastewater, which is essentially the same as conventional wastewater.]

“There are still some other, what I'll call administrative possibilities here,” said Klapkowski. “The waste program does have the ability to generate general permits for beneficial use of residual waste.”

“There was a general permit for pre-wetting, de-icing and anti-icing that was adopted, I believe in around year 2000,” said Klapkowski. “That was not renewed in 2011 or 2012 when that came up for renewal.

“There was actually a [general permit] proposal that expanded to include road stabilization and dust suppression at the time, and the department chose to withdraw that renewal. And so that general permit went away.”

“I will say, adoption of general permits, it's sort of like regulatory light, in the sense that it's not something that has, you have to go through the Regulatory Review Act and some of the other legislation that governs how the agency adopts regulations, or any executive agency adopts a regulation. But it is still a public process.”

“I think there's also been some discussion about water permits,” said Klapkowski. “I think there are some tricky aspects to that, especially when we start to talk about High Quality and Exceptional Value watersheds.

“And generally speaking, it's my understanding, again, the water program's not oil and gas, those generally tend to have to be individual permits for that use. And I think you can all understand that that doesn't really provide a whole lot of administrative flexibility.”

Klapkowski said the work group has been tasked with taking on related issues like other options for treatment of the wastewater like through GSI Water Solutions in Williamsport.

“Maybe there's a way to do a short-term solution and a long-term solution. That's the kind of thing that we've been asked to try to figure out is, are there [other] ways [of disposing or treating the wastewater]?

Klapkowski said again there will be a “public process around the decisions that are being made, in terms of what's the appropriate administrative pathway, whatever decision gets made in terms of the science, what's the pathway there.”

Part of that process will be talking to the PA Grade Crude [Oil] Development Advisory Council and DEP’s Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board.

“We need to make sure that the decisions that we make are based on sound science and are legally defensible,” said Klapkowski. “At the end of the day, whichever direction the science takes us, we need to make sure that that's the case.”

“We're very aware of the fact that whatever we do here is likely to come under significant challenge.”

Resource Links - Road Dumping:

-- House Hearing: Shapiro Administration Supports Bill Banning Road Dumping Oil & Gas Wastewater, Prohibiting Its Use As Coproduct Under Residual Waste Regulations [6.10.24]

-- Senate Hearing: The Case For An Immediate, Total Ban On Road Dumping Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater [4.17.24]

-- Witness At Senate Hearing On Oil & Gas Wastewater Road Dumping Reports Her Home Has Been Surrounded By Dumping; Dumping Again On The Upswing In 2024 [4.25.24]]

-- House Committee Reports Out Bills To Ban Road Dumping Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater; Prohibit Use Of PFAS 'Forever Chemicals’ In Consumer Products [6.11.24]

-- House Hearing: Penn State Expert Says ‘Pennsylvania Should Ban Road Spreading Of Oil & Gas Wastewater;’ Contaminants Exceed Health, Environmental Standards [6.10.24]

-- House Hearing: Penn State Center For Dirt & Gravel Road Studies Says Road Spreading Oil & Gas Wastewater Is Not An Effective Dust Suppressant, Does Not Meet Environmental Testing Standards [6.10.24]

-- DEP Report Finds: Conventional Oil & Gas Drillers Routinely Abandon Wells; Fail To Report How Millions Of Gallons Of Waste Is Disposed; And Non-Compliance Is An ‘Acceptable Norm’ [PaEN]

-- DEP: 86% Of Conventional Oil & Gas Well Owners Did Not Comply With Waste Disposal, Production Reporting For 33,505 Wells In 2023 [3.29.24]

-- DEP: 89% Of Conventional Oil & Gas Well Owners Did Not Comply With Well Integrity Reporting For 34,455 Wells In 2023 [3.27.24]

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