On December 10, the US Justice Department, US Environmental Protection Agency and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection announced a proposed settlement with Butler County-based PennEnergy Resources LLC resolving alleged federal Clean Air Act and Pennsylvania Air Pollution Control Act violations involving the company’s oil and gas production operations in Pennsylvania.

PennEnergy agreed to pay a $2 million civil penalty. This amount will be shared equally by the United States and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a co-plaintiff in this case.

PennEnergy will also undertake compliance measures to achieve major reductions in harmful emissions at 17 of its oil and gas production facilities and partial measures at an additional 32 facilities, all located in Butler County and Lawrence County, Pennsylvania requiring an investment of $3.6 million.

These projects will result in a reduction of over 8,200 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions per year released as methane, similar to the number of reductions achieved by taking 1,740 cars off the road for one year.

The settlement will also eliminate more than 150 tons of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions annually.

“Oil and gas producers must comply with the Clean Air Act, which is intended to control air emissions and improve air quality and our environment,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “By adhering to the requirements of today’s settlement, PennEnergy will significantly reduce air emissions from its operations.”

“Today’s settlement continues EPA’s efforts to hold oil and gas companies accountable for illegal emissions that hamper air quality and accelerate climate change,” said Assistant Administrator David M. Uhlmann of EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “Penn Energy will undertake projects to improve air quality and reduce emissions of methane at nearly 50 facilities, providing environmental and public health benefits for Pennsylvanians and demonstrating that reducing illegal pollution from oil and gas facilities is good for communities and the planet.”

“When PennEnergy failed to implement an appropriate vapor control system on storage tanks at its facilities in western Pennsylvania, the company not only violated federal law, it allowed a substantial volume of volatile organic compounds to escape into the atmosphere,” said U.S. Attorney Eric G. Olshan for the Western District of Pennsylvania. “Today’s settlement reflects this office’s commitment to holding corporate citizens accountable for their wrongdoing and protecting our residents and the air they breathe.”

“This settlement marks a significant step toward reducing emissions and ensuring cleaner air for all residents of the Commonwealth,” said Acting Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Jessica Shirley. “Every Pennsylvanian is entitled to breathe clean air, and the Shapiro Administration is dedicated to ensuring that polluters are held responsible for any harm to that right.”

Resolves Multiple Violations

This settlement resolves PennEnergy’s failure to comply with federal and state requirements to capture and control air emissions from five of its oil and gas production facilities in Butler County, in western Pennsylvania.

EPA identified the alleged violations through field investigations conducted in 2018.

As a result of these violations, PennEnergy released methane and VOCs directly into the air instead of capturing and controlling the gas using specially designed equipment.

Methane, a climate super pollutant, is a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change, and VOCs contribute to ground-level ozone, which adversely affects human health.

The agreement requires PennEnergy to take the necessary steps to ensure that its systems to control pollutants from atmospheric storage tanks are adequately designed and properly operated and maintained at an estimated cost of $2.4 million.

These actions will significantly reduce harmful emissions from the company’s oil and gas operations.

In addition, PennEnergy must undertake a project to mitigate the environmental and public health harm attributable to their violations.

Specifically, by Jan. 1, 2025, PennEnergy will be required to replace no fewer than 217 pollutant-emitting pneumatic devices with non-emitting devices in Butler and Lawrence counties, in western Pennsylvania. These measures are estimated to cost $1.2 million.

Attorneys with the Environment and Natural Resources Division’s Environmental Enforcement Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania are handling the case.

PennEnergy is a privately-owned oil and gas company headquartered in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania.

Its business is focused on the acquisition and development of unconventional shale resources in the Appalachian Basin, and its natural gas extraction and production operations consist of approximately 370 wells at 107 oil and gas facilities located in western Pennsylvania.

The settlement is part of EPA’s National Enforcement and Compliance Initiative, Mitigating Climate Change. This initiative focuses, in part, on reducing methane emissions from oil and gas and landfill sources.

More information on the settlement agreement is available on EPA’s PennEnergy Resources LLC Settlement webpage.

The proposed consent decree was filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania and is subject to a 30-day comment period.

The complaint and the proposed consent decree are available online.

Click Here for a copy of the announcement.

Resource Link:

-- EPA, Justice Dept., DEP Announce $5.275 Million In Penalties, Plus $1.4 Million In Abandoned Well Plugging Funding Against Shale Gas Drilling Companies-- XTO Energy, Inc., Hilcorp Energy Company For Federal, State Clean Air Act Violations  [PaEN]

PA Oil & Gas Industry Public Notice Dashboards:

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - Dec. 7 to 14 - Failed To Restore Shale Gas Well Pad, Impoundment For 12 Years; Spills On Top Of Spills  [PaEN] 

-- What The Shale Gas Industry Is Leaving Behind: DEP: Nucomer Energy LLC Fails To Restore Shale Gas Well Pad, Water Impoundment In Forest County For More Than 12 Years After Drilling Was Completed  [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices, Opportunities To Comment - December 14 [PaEN]

-- DEP Invites Comments On 2 PA General Energy Company Pipeline Projects Impacting Exceptional Value Streams And Wetlands In Lycoming County To Support Shale Gas Development  [PaEN]

-- DEP To Hold Jan. 28 Hearing On Title V RACT 3 Air Quality Permit For Monroe Energy LLC Trainer Refinery In Delaware County  [PaEN]

-- DEP Posted 107 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In December 14 PA Bulletin  [PaEN]

Related Articles This Week:

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

-- Conventional Oil & Gas Well Owners Now Operate As Many As 95% Of Conventional Wells To Vent Methane Gas Making It Too Expensive To Comply With New EPA Methane Emission Reduction Regulations  [PaEN]

-- EPA, Justice Dept., DEP Settlement With PennEnergy Resources LLC Requires Payment Of $2 Million Penalty, $3.6 Million Investment In Reducing Oil & Gas Facility Air Pollution Emissions  [PaEN]

-- Independent Fiscal Office Estimates Act 13 Drilling Impact Fee Revenue Of $163.8 Million In 2024, Down $115 From 2022  [‘Lower Expectations’ Of Shale Industry Support]  [PaEN]

-- Baker Hughes: PA Natural Gas Drilling Rigs Down 1 From Last Week To 15; 21 On Aug. 21

-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission Approves New Fee Schedule, Water Withdrawals, Including 4 Shale Gas Withdrawals, Contribution To Abandoned Mine Drainage Remediation Project  [PaEN]

-- Rep. Martin Causer Returns As Republican Chair Of House Environmental Committee; Priority- Getting Government 'Out Of The Way' Of Energy Production  [PaEN]

NewsClips:

-- Farm & Dairy: Western PA Residents Fight For Increase In Shale Gas Well Pad Setbacks

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: PA’s Shale Gas Impact Fee Project To Drop This Year

-- WTAE: PennEnergy Resources Agrees To Settlement After Alleged Environmental Law Violations

-- The Allegheny Front: PennEnergy Shale Gas Company Agrees To Reduce Harmful Emissions From Oil & Gas Sites In Western PA

-- Mountain State Spotlight: WV Landowners Lawsuit Settlement With Diversified Energy Company, EQT Corporation Will Result In Plugging 2,600 Wells In WV, Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania Over 10 Years

-- AP: Fatal Natural Gas Explosion At Reading Chocolate Factory Caused By Faulty Gas Pipeline Fitting, Federal Safety Board Finds

-- PUC: Investigation Into Reading Chocolate Factory Natural Gas Explosion Can Help Drive Gas Pipeline Safety

-- PUC Approves PECO 12.5% Natural Gas Rate Increase, 7.1% Electric Rate Increase

-- WHYY: PECO To Hike Gas Rates 12.5%, Electric Rates 10%  Starting In January

-- NPR: Proposed Federal Rule Requires Gas Utilities To Find and Fix More Climate-Warming Leaks

-- AAA Gasoline Prices: National- $3.02  Ohio- $3.05  PA- $3.24 

-- TribLive Guest Essay: Republican Administration’s Big Oil/Gas Cronies Poised To Prop Up Fossil Fuels With $17 Billion In Subsidies, Incentives To Export Gas To China, Other Overseas Markets

-- Bloomberg: No Winners Seen In Republican Administration’s ‘Destructive’ Energy Tariffs

-- PA Capital-Star: It’s Do Or Die Time For Philly Hydrogen Hub, Green Groups Are Rallying Against It

-- Beaver Times: Shell Petrochemical Plant To Host Free Smoke Detector Distribution Dec. 12 

-- The Guardian: Locals In Beaver County Pennsylvania Feel ‘Sacrificed’ For Shell Petrochemical Plastics Plant

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: Northern Oil & Gas To Invest In Appalachian Natural Gas Drilling

-- WHYY: New Jersey, Home To Many Oil And Gas Producers, Eyes Fees To Fight Climate Change

[Posted: December 10, 2024]

12/16/2024