Wastewater

Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Fayette County | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Wastewater | West Virginia

Fayette County, WV Loses Appeal to Block Injection Well
August 31, 2017August 31, 2017

An effort by Fayette County, WV to ban injection wells in the county has gone down to a final defeat. In January 2016, three liberal Democrat county commissioners from Fayette County, with the backing and help of the radical WV Mountain Party, voted to ban injection wells in the county (see WV County Officially Bans Injection Wells; Children Brainwashed). The ban was intentionally written so broadly it would also ban the operation of more than 500 vertical oil and gas wells in the county. The next day EQT sued to overturn the ban (see EQT Sues WV County that Banned Injection Wells, Seeks Injunction). One of the chief architects of the ban, from the Mountain Party, admits the ban was intended to stop all oil and gas activity in the county (see Anti Admits Fayette County, WV Ban Aims to Shut Down All O&G Wells). Fearing they would lose the EQT lawsuit, in March 2016 the Fayette commissioners backed away from the position of banning everything to do with drilling in the county. They revised the proposed ban regulation as a tactic to avoid losing their court case (see Fayette WV Commissioners Change Ban to Focus on Injection Wells). It didn’t work. In June 2016, a federal judge tossed out Fayette’s illegal ban (see Federal Judge Rules Fayette County Injection Well Ban Illegal). But that didn’t stop the lib Dems who, with the assistance of the radical Appalachian Mountain Advocates, appeal the federal judge’s decision (see Fayette County, WV Appeals Federal Court Ruling on Injection Well). That appealed case went to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has just ruled that Fayette County was out of line (copy of the decision below). Counties can’t make up their own oil and gas regulations–that right is reserved to the state…
Read More “Fayette County, WV Loses Appeal to Block Injection Well”
Allegheny County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Wastewater

‘Father of Marcellus’ Weighs in on Proposed Plum, PA Injection Well
August 9, 2017August 9, 2017

As MDN reported in July, the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the agency in charge of approving oil and gas wastewater injection wells, is currently reviewing an application and plan from Penneco Environmental Solutions (division of Penneco Oil Co.) to convert a plugged gas well into a brine (wastewater) injection well in Plum, PA–near Pittsburgh (see New Frack Wastewater Well on the Way in Allegheny County, PA). PA has just a handful of wastewater injection wells–less than 10 of them. The most recent two such projects were vigorously opposed by the municipalities where they are located–Highland Township in Elk County, and Grant Township in Indiana County. The towns eventually backed down when they were sued by the PA DEP over their illegal actions (see PA DEP Issues 2 Wastewater Injection Well Permits, Sues 2 Towns). We expect the project in Plum will also encounter stiff opposition. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review asked Terry Engelder, the now-retired Penn State University professor and geologist who first discovered the potential of the Marcellus (called “the Father of the Marcellus Shale”) to offer his opinion on the injection well proposal for Plum. Engelder’s advice to Penneco? “[B]e a little bit cautious because [you] don’t really know how the rock will respond to this foreign fluid”…
Read More “‘Father of Marcellus’ Weighs in on Proposed Plum, PA Injection Well”
Antero Resources | Doddridge County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Wastewater | West Virginia

WV Trade Groups Defend Antero’s Wastewater Recycling Facility
July 26, 2017July 26, 2017

The heads of both WVONGA (West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association) and IOGA WV (Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia) teamed up to write a column in the Charleston Gazette-Mail by touting (defending?) Antero Resources’ Clearwater Facility–a $275 million frack wastewater recycling facility due to go online later this year. WVONGA and IOGA WV use the Clearwater Facility as evidence of the industry’s efforts at becoming more “green” (environmentally friendly) year in and year out. They point out that our air is getting cleaner, and our water is getting cleaner too. Last fall Antero responded to so-called environmentalists who were criticizing the facility (see Antero Responds to Critics of New WV Wastewater Facility). You would think “environmentalists” would be in favor of recycling and reusing frack wastewater, rather than pumping it down a hole into the ground. But no, they continue to harp on the facility–which points out their own hypocrisy. Here’s what WVONGA and IOGA WV had to say about the soon-opening Clearwater Facility…
Read More “WV Trade Groups Defend Antero’s Wastewater Recycling Facility”
Allegheny County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Wastewater

New Frack Wastewater Well on the Way in Allegheny County, PA
July 21, 2017July 21, 2017

The Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is the agency in charge of approving oil and gas wastewater injection wells, will hold a hearing next Wednesday in Plum, PA (Allegheny County, near Pittsburgh) on whether or not to approve an application and plan from Penneco Environmental Solutions (division of Penneco Oil Co.) to convert a plugged gas well into a brine (wastewater) injection well. Typically when a hearing like this is held, it’s an indicator that the EPA will approve the project. However, just because the EPA approves it doesn’t mean it’s a done deal. After an EPA approval, the application then goes to the PA State Dept. of Environmental Protection where it goes through another round of reviews–and likely more public hearings. The stuff getting disposed of, which we generically call wastewater, is technically called brine, because of it’s salty/mineral-ly composition. Brine is naturally occurring water from the depths that comes out of oil and gas wells for years after they are drilled. Because of the high concentration of minerals in the water, it either must go through a rigorous recycling process, or get disposed of via an injection well. OH has more than a hundred such wells. WV has a few dozen. PA has less than a dozen, due to the geology needed. Every new injection well in PA is a big deal, including this one…
Read More “New Frack Wastewater Well on the Way in Allegheny County, PA”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA | Wastewater

New Penn State Frack Wastewater “Study” Beats a Dead Horse
July 21, 2017July 21, 2017

Not long after Michael Krancer was appointed Secretary of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection in 2011, he “requested” (which was more order than request) that municipal sewage treatment plants still accepting and processing Marcellus drilling wastewater stop the practice. At the time there were 15 plants accepting Marcellus wastewater. Under pressure from Krancer, they ended the practice in May 2011 (see PA DEP, Marcellus Shale Coalition Admit Drilling Wastewater Likely Contaminating Drinking Water). His prescience was rewarded. A year later there were far lower bromide levels in PA rivers (see Marcellus Wastewater Ban Leads to Lower Bromide in PA Rivers). That’s how things should work: the state looks after its own environment. But that means less power for the power-mad bureaucrats in Washington, DC. Right on cue, before Obama was ejected from office next January 2017, his out-of-control EPA issued rules that do what Krancer did without a new law back in 2011. The EPA has issued a new regulation (i.e. unlegislated law) that declares no municipal sewage treatment plant in any state (not just PA) can accept and process shale wastewater (see EPA Bans Disposal of Frack Wastewater at Public Sewer Plants). Researchers at Penn State thought it would be fun to study this issue that no longer exists–disposing frack wastewater via municipal sewage treatment plants. They found evidence of “lasting environmental damage” in Conemaugh River Lake, claiming the damage came from Marcellus Shale wastewater treated at two centralized waste treatment (CWT) facilities years ago. Uh, OK. We already knew that. We already stopped it. But mainstream fake news is now treating this new “study” as some sort of revelation, implying one can never recycle frack wastewater again without grave consequences. More nonsense…
Read More “New Penn State Frack Wastewater “Study” Beats a Dead Horse”
Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Trumbull County | Wastewater

ODNR Approves Plans for 2 New Trumbull County Injection Wells
June 29, 2017June 29, 2017

Some good news for Utica (and Marcellus) drillers: The Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) has just approved permits for two new frack wastewater injection wells in Trumbull County, OH. Which doesn’t make the local anti-fracking nutters with FrackFree America happy. One of them calls the approvals “immoral.” She’s calling on the company building the wells, Highland Field Resources, to “abandon its plans.” (chuckle) The wells will be built in the town of Brookfield. ODNR has attached a myriad of conditions and required testing before the wells can go live. Here’s the immoral details…
Read More “ODNR Approves Plans for 2 New Trumbull County Injection Wells”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Patriot Water Treatment | Trumbull County | Wastewater

Radical Enviro Group Sues Warren Frack Wastewater Plant
June 29, 2017June 29, 2017

The Fresh Water Accountability Project, an anti-fracking group based in Michigan, has filed a frivolous lawsuit against the Patriot Water Treatment facility and the City of Warren, OH, claiming they are processing frack chemicals at their plants that don’t get processed enough–and consequently get released into the Mahoning River. This is not Patriot Water’s first time in court. Patriot has had a long-running feud with the Ohio EPA and Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR)–a feud that goes all the way back to 2011 (see MDN’s string of Patriot Water stories here). Patriot processes frack wastewater at it’s Warren plant and then disposes of the wastewater by using the local Warren municipal sewage treatment plant. That is, Patriot strips out all of the really nasty stuff, and then the sewage plant finishes off the process and the water is then released into the Mahoning River, near Youngstown. The OH EPA and ODNR pulled Patriot’s permits to operate for a four-month period in 2012, but Patriot sued and won the right to continue operating, sending their wastewater to the sewage plant. Everything is legal. So now a non-profit group, Fresh Water Accountability Project, is going to try and shut down Patriot with a new lawsuit. If Fresh Water Accountability loses, can we shut them down? At the very least, their tax-exempt status should be stripped away for engaging in overtly political activities…
Read More “Radical Enviro Group Sues Warren Frack Wastewater Plant”
Beaver County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Shell | Wastewater

Shell Gets Important Wastewater Permit for Beaver Cracker Plant
June 27, 2017June 27, 2017

It was more than six months in the making, but finally the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection has granted Shell a permit that allows the facility to discharge wastewater and storm water into the Ohio River. Which may sound like Shell just got a permit to pollute the Ohio River–but that’s not what is happening. Shell is building their mighty $6 billion ethane cracker on a site formerly used as a zinc smelter. The old Horsehead Corp. plant held a permit that allowed the plant to discharge wastewater with some total dissolved solids (TDS) into the Ohio. When Shell bought the site, they also inherited the Horsehead permit for wastewater discharge. Shell filed a plan back in December with the PA DEP to modify that permit for the forthcoming cracker plant (see Shell Cracker Wastewater Discharge Becomes an Issue). So-called environmentalists jumped up and down like a rattlesnake had entered the room–but their showboating had no effect. After six months of review, the DEP has determined Shell’s wastewater request is OK by them, and will not unduly harm the environment. So last Friday, the DEP issued a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit amendment for the cracker plant. This is an important step, without which construction on the plant would not begin…
Read More “Shell Gets Important Wastewater Permit for Beaver Cracker Plant”
Industrywide Issues | Research | Wastewater

Research Breakthrough: Separating Oil from Produced Water
June 15, 2017June 15, 2017

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin say they’ve found a better/cheaper/faster way to remove oil from water. Which obviously would have a huge impact on the shale industry and the prodigious amounts of produced water (i.e. wastewater) that comes out of wells long after they’re drilled. The UT researchers, in a paper published in the Journal of Nanoparticle Research, reveal how they use nanoparticles and a magnet to separate oil from water. In fact, they filed a short, 10-second video that illustrates the process. In just a few seconds, oil embedded in water collects in one location when a magnet is put next to it. Really cool stuff! Is this the future of shale wastewater treatment?…
Read More “Research Breakthrough: Separating Oil from Produced Water”
Clearfield County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Wastewater

PA DEP Green Lights Wastewater Injection Well in Clearfield County
June 1, 2017June 1, 2017

Here’s one that flew mostly under the radar. The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has just granted final approval for the state’s ninth wastewater injection well to begin operation. The DEP approved Sammy-Mar, LLC’s Povlik #1 injection well, located in Huston Township, Clearfield County, more than two years after the federal Environmental Protection Agency had approved it. Huston Township in Clearfield County, unlike Highland Township in Elk County, and Grant Township in Indiana County, did not oppose the well. You may recall the DEP approved injection wells in Elk and Indiana counties in March, and had to sue the towns involved over their illegal home rule laws that sought to keep the wells out (see PA DEP Issues 2 Wastewater Injection Well Permits, Sues 2 Towns). This time around, Huston Twp wisely decided not to attempt regulating what only the state, by law, can regulate. This injection well will be an important new resource for Marcellus drillers to dispose wastewater…
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Accidents | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Tioga County (PA) | Wastewater

PA Hearing Board Reduces EQT Fine from $4.5M to $1.1M
June 1, 2017June 1, 2017

In October 2014, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) fined Marcellus driller EQT a whopping $4.53 million for a leaky wastewater impoundment in Tioga County, PA (see PA DEP Levies Biggest Fine Ever, $4.5M Against EQT). While EQT did not say there wasn’t a problem with leaks at the site, they did say the way the DEP calculated the fine is unreasonable and arbitrary. EQT appealed the fine and the case all the way to the PA Supreme Court. In December 2015, the high court handed EQT a “procedural victory” by saying EQT has a point about the manner in which the DEP is calculating the fine (see PA Supreme Court Gives EQT “Procedural Victory” in $4.5M Fine Case). The Supreme Court sent the case back to a lower court, PA Commonwealth Court, for follow up work, and in January 2017, a three-judge panel ruled that the method the DEP currently uses to assess fines–by how many days pollution lingers, instead of by how many days the initial release of pollution lasted–is not legal nor common sense (see EQT Wins Court Case Against PA DEP re $4.5M Wastewater Leak Fine). The judges said such a method in fining, “would result in potentially limitless continuing violations.” Under the old way of calculating fines, the DEP was considering upping the fine on EQT to an insane $157 million. Calculating it under the new way will mean a fine of around $120,000. We thought with that ruling it was all done and dusted. Not so. The soap opera continued when the DEP appealed the Commonwealth Court panel’s ruling back up to the PA Supreme Court where the Supremes will consider it all over again (see DEP Appeals $4.5M Wastewater Leak Fine Against EQT to Supremes). Into this mess, let’s now throw in another wrinkle. While the courts have been grappling with issues of procedure and whether or not the DEP can assess fines the way it claims it can (that is, Constitutional issues), at the same time the matter was brought up before the PA Environmental Hearing Board (EHB), a sort of quasi-court set up to hear appeals of decisions made by DEP. The EHB has decided to adjust the fine down significantly–from the DEP’s initial levy of $4.53 million down to $1.1 million. Here was their reasoning… Read More “PA Hearing Board Reduces EQT Fine from $4.5M to $1.1M”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County | Wastewater

PA Supreme Court Rejects Range Resources Well Contamination Case
May 4, 2017May 4, 2017

For years we’ve followed the story of Range Resources and their (former) wastewater impoundments in Washington County, PA. The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) fined Range a whopping $4.15 million for violations in September 2014 (see PA DEP Fines Range Resources $4.15M for Wastewater Impoundments). Some of the nearby neighbors claimed that Range’s leaky impoundments (a quarter of a mile away) contaminated their water wells. One of those landowners was Loren Kiskadden, who sued Range in civil court. The problem is, the DEP determined that the nearby Yeager impoundment had not contaminated Kiskadden’s well, which led to allegations that the DEP had bungled the investigation (see Did DEP Mishandle Range Wastewater Impoundment Investigation?). Kiskadden had to press on, because if the DEP doesn’t reverse its finding, he has no civil case against Range. Press on he did (see Hearing on Range Yeager Impoundment/Water Contamination Continues). The matter was heard by the DEP’s Environmental Hearing Board (EHB). The EHB found that Kiskadden didn’t have a case–his well was not contaminated by Range’s impoundment. So Kiskadden and his lawyers asked for a re-hearing. The result of that re-hearing came in December 2015 and, we thought, finally closed the door, once and for all (see DEP Final Determination: Range Didn’t Pollute Kiskadden Water Well). But no, that was not the end. Kiskadden appealed again, and in October 2016 a Commonwealth Court appeals panel affirmed the EHB’s 2015 dismissal of Kiskadden’s appeal of the DEP 2011 ruling that Range’s Yeager site operations did not contaminate Kiskadden’s well water. Case closed, right? Nope. Kiskadden had one card left to play and he did it–filing an appeal with the PA Supreme Court (see Landowner Appeals Range Well Contamination Case to PA Supreme Crt). Earlier this week, the Supreme Court sent back the appeal marked “case denied.” The fat lady has now sung…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research | Statewide WV | Wastewater | West Virginia

NRDC Study Finds No Groundwater Contamination from Fracking in WV
April 25, 2017April 25, 2017

MDN has previously chronicled bought-and-paid-for research done by Duke University’s Avner Vengosh, professor of geochemistry and water quality at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment (see Duke Hit Piece on Shale Water Usage from Same Park-Sponsored Prof and Latest Case of Duke U Bought & Paid “Research” by Park Foundation). Here’s how it works: Park funds Dr. Vengosh’s “research,” and he conveniently “discovers” all sorts of nasty things about shale fracking, publishing his “research” in obscure, peer reviewed journals. Mainstream media picks it up and runs it. Readers who only scan headlines get the impression fracking is evil. Mission accomplished for Park (another hit on fracking) and for Vengosh (another buck in his pocket). But last October that pattern changed. Vengosh released new research that found there’s really nothing to worry about after all when it comes to Marcellus Shale wastewater (see Duke U Researcher Tries to Repair Reputation with Wastewater Study). He’s just done it again. Vengosh and researchers from Penn State, Ohio State, and Stanford University published a study on Monday in which they declare fracking “has not contaminated groundwater in northwestern West Virginia.” They did find that on occasion wastewater spills have fouled creeks–something everyone knows. But then, on occasion rail cars overturn with nasty chemicals not related to fracking that foul local water supplies. This is not news. Still, the fact that this study, which contains real research in monitoring water wells over a three-year period, coming from Duke University and Vengosh, marks a turnabout. The really interesting news is that the study was funded, in part, by the virulently anti-drilling National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The NRDC did not get their money’s worth with this one! We doubt Vengosh can expect any more funding from the NRDC in the future. Below are details about, and from, the study that finds fracking in WV is peachy-keen…
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Industrywide Issues | Wastewater

Shale Gas Wastewater Tech Inventor Chosen ‘Inventor of the Year’
April 21, 2017April 21, 2017

Dr. Shyam V. Dighe

The Pittsburgh Intellectual Property Law Association (PIPLA), a group of more than 180 intellectual property lawyers in Western PA, bestowed their Inventor of the Year award to Dr. Shyam V. Dighe, founder and president of AquaSource Technologies Corporation, earlier this week. It is the 34th year in a row PIPLA has made such an award. This year’s winner, Dr. Dighe, is notable because the award is for an invention that cleans up fracking wastewater. The patented process, which cleans up 100% of the nastiest wastewater, reduces or eliminates the need for injection wells. Dr. Dighe was honored at a dinner ceremony earlier this week…
Read More “Shale Gas Wastewater Tech Inventor Chosen ‘Inventor of the Year’”
Elk County | Indiana County | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Wastewater

2 PA Townships Won’t Enforce “Home Rule” Against Injection Wells
April 17, 2017April 17, 2017

We’ve previously reported on the story of two Pennsylvania towns that were either hoodwinked, or perhaps willing led astray, by the radical Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) into passing (now overturned) bans on fracking and injection wells in their towns–Highland Twp (Elk County) and Grant Twp (Indiana County). The two townships thought they would do an end-run around the state’s authority to issue permits for two injection wells–one in each township, by re-incorporating under so-called home rule charters. The towns essentially declared themselves independent of the state for a variety of matters, including oil and gas permits–which the PA state constitution clearly says is a function of ONLY the state Dept. of Environmental Protection. In March, the DEP issued final permits to each town, and at the same time sued each town to get those portions of their home rule charters, dealing with oil and gas, overturned (see PA DEP Issues 2 Wastewater Injection Well Permits, Sues 2 Towns). The new news is that the towns will “stand down” and, during their lawsuits, not oppose the DEP’s permits. The towns have “temporarily” acquiesced and will allow the companies building the wells to proceed…
Read More “2 PA Townships Won’t Enforce “Home Rule” Against Injection Wells”
Earthquakes | Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | Ohio | Wastewater

OH Injection Well that Caused OH Earthquakes Shutting Down Forever
April 13, 2017April 13, 2017

In late December 2011 a 4.0 earthquake hit the Youngstown, OH area. It was the latest in a string of quakes that began in March 2011, shortly after a wasterwater injection well went online–the Northstar #1 well. In March 2012 the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) made a determination that indeed, it was the Northstar well that caused the quake–due to its location over an active fault (see ODNR Finds Youngstown Injection Well Caused Earthquakes). When you force liquid of any kind deep into the ground and into a fault (gigantic crack running through the rock layers), that liquid acts like grease allowing the rock layers to slip and slide, causing an earthquake. It’s a rare occurrence, at least in Ohio. Without recounting the entire sordid story, ownership of Northstar #1–originally owned by D&L Energy, whose owner was found guilty of illegal wastewater dumping unrelated to the injection well–the current owner has filed an application to permanently, and for all time, plug and close Northstar #1…
Read More “OH Injection Well that Caused OH Earthquakes Shutting Down Forever”