Wastewater

Greene County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Washington County | Wastewater

PA DEP Says Ten Mile Creek Radiation-Free; Antis Still Peddle Lies
December 5, 2016December 5, 2016

In 2014 Pennsylvania anti-drillers from a local chapter of the Izaak Walton League, a so-called conservation organization, attempted a smear job on the Marcellus Shale industry. They alleged that shale drillers were illegally dumping frack wastewater in an abandoned coal mine, the Clyde Mine, which sits near the Ten Mile Creek where the creek joins the Monongahela River. According to the smearmeisters, the illegally dumped wastewater was leaking out of the mine and into Ten Mile Creek (see Is Shale Wastewater Causing Radiation Spike in Ten Mile Creek?). They claimed testing they had done showed high levels of radioactivity that could not come from just acid mine drainage, that it is radioactivity typically seen in shale wastewater. Of course the allegations got a lot of media attention. The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) investigated and echoed their concerns with initial tests also showing high radioactivity. Except the testing done by the DEP, and the testing done by the Izaak Walton League, WAS THE WRONG TYPE OF TEST. They blew it. Researchers from West Virginia University came in and tested using the appropriate type of test and found no elevated radioactivity (see PA DEP Screws Up Water Test at Ten Mile Creek – Egg on Face). After the humiliation of being outed as using the wrong test, the DEP re-ran tests for six months in 2015–the right kind of tests–and found NO elevated radioactivity in Ten Mile Creek nor anywhere else in the area (see PA DEP Admits No Radiation in Ten Mile Creek, Closes Investigation). The DEP has continued to run tests since that time and issued a final report in November (full copy below) finding, once again, NO elevated levels of radiation in Ten Mile Creek. The response by anti-drilling radicals with an agenda to smear the Marcellus industry? Unbelievably, they once again repeated their allegation of illegal wastewater dumping…
Read More “PA DEP Says Ten Mile Creek Radiation-Free; Antis Still Peddle Lies”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County | Wastewater

Landowner Appeals Range Well Contamination Case to PA Supreme Crt
December 2, 2016December 2, 2016

For some time 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 it finally closed the door, once and for all, on the case (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 has one card left to play, and he’s done it. Kiskadden’s attorneys have appealed the case to the PA Supreme Court…
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Earthquakes | Energy Services | Fairmont Brine Processing | Industrywide Issues | Wastewater

WV Wastewater Co Grabs Nat’l Headlines re OK Earthquakes
November 15, 2016November 15, 2016

For a number of years we’ve had our eye on Fairmont Brine Processing, headquartered in Fairmont, WV. We originally started writing about the company in 2010 when it was AOP Clearwater (see AOP Clearwater Plant in WV a Big Success in Treating Marcellus Shale Wastewater). New owners expanded the operation in 2014 (see New Brine Processing Plant Coming to Panhandle of WV). Earlier this year Fairmont secured a $90 million line of credit to build a new wastewater processing plant in southwest PA (see Fairmont Brine Gets $90M to Build New Wastewater Recycling Plant). Imagine our surprise at seeing the company’s name in a major Bloomberg article about Oklahoma earthquakes! Brian Kalt, CEO of Fairmont Brine, is floating an idea that will settle the man-induced earthquakes in Oklahoma, which come from injecting shale wastewater deep underground: Don’t inject it anymore. Instead, using Fairmont’s recycling technology to separate out the salty minerals and then release purified water into streams and rivers. That Bloomberg article actually made the Drudge Report for a while yesterday! Kudos to Fairmont and Brian Kalt…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Wastewater

PA Congressman Ask EPA for “Assurances” re Wastewater Rule
November 2, 2016November 3, 2016

11/3/16 Update: The Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association (PIOGA)–the only PA organization that represents both conventional and unconventional drillers–submitted comments to the EPA on Monday regarding this rule. PIOGA is urging the EPA to extend existing guidelines for an additional three years to allow PA’s conventional drillers an opportunity to work on alternative disposal methods. See a copy of the comments submitted below.

In June MDN reported on yet another new unlegislated law (called a “rule”) issued by the rogue federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that bans the disposal of wastewater from oil and gas drilling via public wastewater/sewage treatment plants (see EPA Bans Disposal of Frack Wastewater at Public Sewer Plants). The rule is meant to ban wastewater coming from unconventional (shale) wells, and not conventionally drilled oil and gas wells, which are shallow wells compared to shale wells. However, conventional drillers in Pennsylvania raised the alarm that the way the rule is written, it will prevent them from disposing their shallow (and much lower volumes of) wastewater by carting it to the local sewage treatment plant–as many of them do now (see EPA Shale Wastewater Rule Will Crush PA’s Conventional Drillers). The upshot is that the EPA needs to revise its rule. But it hasn’t, and that has three PA congressman asking the EPA for “assurances.” We’re not holding our breath on that one…
Read More “PA Congressman Ask EPA for “Assurances” re Wastewater Rule”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County | Wastewater

PA Court Says Range Impoundment Did NOT Contaminate Water Well
October 31, 2016December 2, 2016

You may recall that for some time we’ve been following the back and forth between 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 is suing Range in civil court. The problem is, the DEP found 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 back in December and (we thought) closed the door, once and for all, on the case (see DEP Final Determination: Range Didn’t Pollute Kiskadden Water Well). But no, that was not the end. Kiskadden appealed again. Last week 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. Have we finally reached the end of this drawn-out saga?…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research | Wastewater

Duke U Researcher Tries to Repair Reputation with Wastewater Study
October 21, 2016October 21, 2016

For years now the radical Park Park Foundation has been buying its research from a few select professors at a few select universities. One of the scientists for sale is 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). That’s how it works in the world of bought-and-paid-for fractivism. But when the Park Foundation doesn’t pay the bill for the research, Vengosh turns in research that doesn’t slam fracking. Case in point: Vengosh has just published yet another study, this time in the journal Science of The Total Environment, funded by the National Science Foundation. Vengosh’s new research finds there’s really nothing to worry about after all when it comes to Marcellus Shale wastewater. He goes so far as to say with proper treatment, shale wastewater “potentially could have beneficial reuses.” Imagine that? From the same guy who previously bashed fracking as one of the world’s evil activities…
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Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | Ohio | Wastewater

Former D&L Injection Well in Ohio Goes Online “in a Big Way”
September 16, 2016September 16, 2016

Good news for Marcellus/Utica drillers. You now have access to a previously-shuttered wastewater injection well in the Youngstown, OH-area. You may recall the sad story of D&L Energy, a Youngstown, OH operator of several wastewater injection wells. D&L’s owner was Ben Lupo, who also owned sister company Hardrock Excavating, operating both companies under the D&L Energy Group umbrella. In September 2012, Lupo instructed a Hardrock employee to dump untreated frack wastewater down a sewer drain that emptied into the Mahoning River. Lupo and the driver were found out in early 2013 (see Youngstown Business Dumped >200K Gal of Untreated Wastewater). The Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) promptly shut down both D&L Energy and Hardrock in February 2013 (see OH Wastewater Dumper D&L Energy Gets Business Death Sentence). Both Lupo and the driver received prison sentences and fines for their role in this ignominious affair. One of the injection wells D&L drilled was located in Beaver Township, known as Northstar Lucky #4. The well never did begin operations because of the action shutting down D&L. D&L filed for bankruptcy and sold its assets in late 2013. The buyer of those assets, Denver-based Resource Land Holdings LLC, “expressed interest in operating the well in the future” and began work at the site to reopen the well in July (see Shuttered D&L Injection Well Near Youngstown, OH May Reopen Soon). The good news is that the well “has come back to life in a big way”…
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Industrywide Issues | Wastewater

New Frack Wastewater Recycler Launches in Marcellus
September 16, 2016September 16, 2016

We have a new entrant into the frack wastewater treatment industry in the Marcellus Shale. Gradiant, which was founded in 2012 by a group of engineers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has rapidly established itself in both the Marcellus and Permian shale plays with innovative technology to treat and recycle produced water from shale wells. Gradiant has been experimenting in the Marcellus and Permian and is now ready to roll out their technology to all comers. In order to roll it out, Gradiant the mother ship is establishing a wholly-owned subsidiary called Gradiant Energy Services. Here’s more about the company and their new technology…
Read More “New Frack Wastewater Recycler Launches in Marcellus”
Industrywide Issues | Research | Statewide WV | Wastewater | West Virginia

WVU Scores Another $4M Grant – to Study Produced Water
September 13, 2016September 13, 2016

(WVU Photo by M.G. Ellis) — Paul Ziemkiewicz, Director of the West Virginia Water Research Institute at WVU, and Jay Hewitt, Northeast Natural Energy, work at the Marcellus Shale Energy and Environment Laboratory in Morgantown.

At the end of 2014 West Virginia University (WVU) scored a major grant from the U.S. Dept. of Energy, which forked over $11 million to WVU and Ohio State University to conduct a five-year project to study “baseline measurements, subsurface development and environmental monitoring” in the Marcellus and Utica Shale (see WVU/OSU Get $11M Grant to Study Shale Energy Best Practices). WVU’s efforts are yielding fruit. In July we told you that WVU had studied frack waste and pronounced it safe (see Independent Research @ WVU Concludes Frack Waste is Safe). We’d call that a good use of taxpayer money! One of the innovations WVU has been working on is “green” drilling mud, a more environmentally-friendly drilling mud used to drill Marcellus/Utica wells (see WVU Effusive Over “Green” Drilling Fluid Used in Test Wells). WVU has done it again. WVU, along with the University of Kansas, has just been awarded a $4 million grant from the National Science Foundation to study “produced water”–which is water from the depths that comes out of the borehole long after drilling and fracking are done. This naturally occurring water is super salty–far more salty (with minerals) than sea water. Typically drillers will either recycle it and reuse it for more drilling and fracking, or dispose of it via an injection well. WVU and KU are charged with developing “cutting-edge strategies for better management, treatment, protection and recovery of produced water.” Here’s the announcement and good news that WVU is on the case for better handling of produced water…
Read More “WVU Scores Another $4M Grant – to Study Produced Water”
Antero Resources | Doddridge County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Wastewater | West Virginia

Antero Responds to Critics of New WV Wastewater Facility
September 6, 2016September 6, 2016

Two weeks ago MDN provided an update on the new Antero state-of-the-art frack wastewater treatment plant and landfill being built in West Virginia (see Update on Antero’s $275M Wastewater Facility in WV). Once built, this new plant will recycle 98% of the water used, for re-use by Antero in its fracking and drilling operations. According to Antero’s regional senior vice president and chief administrative officer, Al Shopp, although it may be cheaper to just inject the wastewater down an injection well somewhere, the more environmentally friendly, long-term solution is to do what they are doing–recycle it all. You might think that would please environmental Nazis–but you would be wrong. They want zero drilling and anything, including a better way to handle wastewater, will lead to more drilling and therefore is opposed by these nutters. Al Shopp responds to some of their nonsensical arguments against the new plant…
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Antero Resources | Doddridge County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Wastewater | West Virginia

Mon Power Completes Project to Support WV Shale Industry
September 2, 2016September 2, 2016

Last week MDN provided an update on Antero Resources’ $275 million state-of-the-art frack wastewater treatment plant in Doddridge County, WV (see Update on Antero’s $275M Wastewater Facility in WV). Things are progressing very nicely at the facility. Another important piece has just fallen into place for the facility. In order to operate it, you need LOTS of electricity. Enter Mon Power. Mon has just completed a new substation and power lines–a $5 million project–to provide electric service to the Antero frack wastewater treatment plant being built…
Read More “Mon Power Completes Project to Support WV Shale Industry”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Wastewater

EPA Shale Wastewater Rule Will Crush PA’s Conventional Drillers
August 30, 2016August 30, 2016

In June MDN reported on yet another new unlegislated law (called a “rule”) issued by the rogue federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that bans the disposal of wastewater from oil and gas drilling via public wastewater/sewage treatment plants (see EPA Bans Disposal of Frack Wastewater at Public Sewer Plants). The rule is meant to ban wastewater coming from unconventional (shale) wells, and not conventionally drilled oil and gas wells, which are shallow wells compared to shale wells. However, conventional drillers in Pennsylvania are raising the alarm that the way the rule is written, it will prevent them from disposing their shallow (and much lower volumes of) wastewater by carting it to the local sewage treatment plant–as many of them do now. The upshot is that the EPA needs to revise its rule…
Read More “EPA Shale Wastewater Rule Will Crush PA’s Conventional Drillers”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Companies | Indiana County | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania General Energy | Wastewater

Federal Court Denies CELDF’s Re-Hearing Request in Grant Twp Case
August 26, 2016August 26, 2016

We believe this bit of news is exclusive to MDN–we’ve not seen it anywhere else, yet. In early August MDN reported that the novel legal argument offered by the radical leftist PA-based group Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) in Grant Township (Indiana County), PA claiming to represent a local ecosystem had failed (see CELDF Loses Case to Represent Ecosystem – Turtles Disappointed). The CELDF tried to claim the Little Mahoning Watershed, an ecosystem, is a “person” under the law–an asinine notion. The CELDF had hoodwinked local anti-drillers in Grant who are opposed to a legally-permitted injection well, attempting to block the well from getting built and operated by Pennsylvania General Energy (PGE). Claiming they speak for the ecosystem was the legal shenanigan the CELDF tried to pull–and it didn’t work. The federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals rejected their arguments, clearing the way for PGE to build the injection well and continue with a $1 million lawsuit against Grant for causing economic harm to the company. Here is the new and exclusive news: The CELDF, masquerading as the Little Mahoning Watershed (the “ecosystem”), along with CELDF’s sibling organization called East Run Hellbenders Society, immediately petitioned the full Third Circuit (all of the justices) asking for a rehearing–something called a Sur Petition for Rehearing. The CELDF wanted another bite at the apple–a chance to prove to other justices that the Little Mahoning Watershed is a “person” under the law and should be represented by the crazies at the CELDF. The justices of the Third Circuit unanimously and swiftly rejected the petition for rehearing. It’s the end of the road for the CELDF and Grant Township in this case, which means the PGE injection well will now get built, and Grant Township taxpayers will have to pony up $1 million (if PGE wins their lawsuit, as we expect they will)…
Read More “Federal Court Denies CELDF’s Re-Hearing Request in Grant Twp Case”
Antero Resources | Doddridge County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Statewide WV | Wastewater | West Virginia

Update on Antero’s $275M Wastewater Facility in WV
August 22, 2016August 22, 2016

In August 2015, MDN told you that one of the biggest drillers in the Marcellus/Utica, Antero Resources, floated the idea of building a $275 million state-of-the-art frack wastewater treatment plant in Doddridge County, WV (see Antero Building New 60K Bbl Wastewater Recycling Facility in WV). The new plant, which will process 60,000 barrels of wastewater per day, will save Antero $150,000 per well in completion costs once it’s up and running. In February 2016, Antero filed for a permit to build a landfill next to the wastewater plant (see Antero Plans Salt Landfill Next to Proposed Wastewater Recycling Plant). The wastewater plant will separate water, salt and radioactive particles. The salt can be sold to municipalities for use as road salt–but frankly there’s not enough of a market to sell it all. And not all of it will be of sufficient quality to be sold that way. So Antero needs a place to dispose of it, hence the $20 million landfill proposal. Predictably, there has been some resistance to the new facility and landfill. The good news is that the facility is on track for a 2017 opening. Below is an update on the wastewater facility and the salt landfill next to it…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Fayette County | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Regulation | Wastewater | West Virginia

Fayette County, WV Appeals Federal Court Ruling on Injection Well
August 19, 2016August 19, 2016

In January, three liberal Democrat county commissioners from Fayette County, WV, 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 the 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). In June, a federal judge tossed out Fayette’s illegal ban (see Federal Judge Rules Fayette County Injection Well Ban Illegal). Now the lib Dems, with the assistance of the radical Appalachian Mountain Advocates, has had the gall to appeal the federal judge’s decision…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Elk County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Seneca Resources | Wastewater

Elk County Town Wises Up, Abandons Effort to Block Injection Well
August 15, 2016August 15, 2016

There is a new development in the case of an illegal ban on injection wells passed by Highland Township in Elk County, PA. In 2013 the radical leftist PA-based group Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) convinced ignoramuses in Highland Township to pass a so-called Community Bill of Rights. Seneca Resources, a driller with leases and an active drilling program in Elk, had planned to drill an injection well on their own property to dispose of their own flowback and produced water. The CELDF-inspired ordinance Highland Twp prevented it, and Seneca threatened to sue the town (see Seneca Resources Threatens to Sue PA Town over Injection Well). Seneca made good and filed to sue, but the town and CELDF tried to prevent the lawsuit. In March of this year, U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Paradise Baxter ruled that Seneca has standing to sue and allowed the lawsuit to go forward (see Judge Rules Seneca May Challenge Injection Well Ban in Elk County). Faced with losing the lawsuit and taxpayers owing Seneca big money, township supervisors voted to overturn the so-called Community Bill of Rights. Another crushing defeat for the CELDF…
Read More “Elk County Town Wises Up, Abandons Effort to Block Injection Well”