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Bad Guys Win: PA General Energy to Plug Grant Twp Injection Well

Since 2015 we’ve reported on the case of Grant Township (Indiana County, PA), a town that passed an ordinance cooked up by the radical Big Green group Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) to try and block a state-approved injection well proposed by Pennsylvania General Energy (see our Grant Township articles here). There have been number of legal twists and turns–with Grant and the CELDF losing every single time. We have a very sad update to share: Pennsylvania General Energy (PGE), the builder seeking a permit to expand a depleted well to use as an injection well, is throwing in the towel.
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Clara Township Adopts Modified Ordinance Banning Injection Wells

Class II Injection Well (click for larger version)

Earlier this month, MDN told you about the long-festering issue of building a shale wastewater injection well in Clara Township in Potter County, PA (see EPA Approves Potter County, PA Injection Well, Waiting Now for DEP). It appears the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is about to issue a permit for the well. The federal EPA has already signed off and approved the plan. However, the township is attempting to block the injection well by amending a previous ordinance. On March 31, the Clara Town Board passed an amended version of its 1987 ordinance governing injection wells. The newly amended ordinance bans all injection wells in the township–something that is (according to our understanding) illegal under Pennsylvania state law.
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Ivy League “Study” Claims Poor Old Folks Suffer from M-U Fracking

For a moment, we thought we were reading an article in The Onion. But no! It was a real article appearing on the American Geophysical Union website. The article is a summary of a newly published “study” by researchers at Princeton and Yale purporting to find that communities with “high proportions of lower-income and elderly people in rural areas” are the “most vulnerable” to groundwater pollution from fracking in the Marcellus/Utica region. It’s a joke, right? Nope. Not a joke. However, the “study” is a complete sham. A farce. Worthless. And we’ll prove it to you.
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Clara Twp Stops Responding re Ordinance Banning Injection Wells

Last week MDN told you about the long-festering issue of building a shale wastewater injection well in Clara Township in Potter County, PA (see EPA Approves Potter County, PA Injection Well, Waiting Now for DEP). It appears the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is about to issue a permit for the well. The federal EPA has already signed off and approved the plan. However, the township is attempting to block the injection well by amending a previous ordinance. The town is on the cusp of adopting an amendment to the existing injection well ordinance. At least, that’s how it appears. Clara Township has stopped responding to requests for information about the status of the amendment.
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Grant Twp Asks PA Supreme Court to Ban Injection Wells

Since 2015 we’ve reported on the case of Grant Township (Indiana County, PA), a town that passed an ordinance cooked up by the radical Big Green group Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) to try and block a state-approved injection well proposed by Pennsylvania General Energy (see our Grant Township articles here). There have been number of legal twists and turns–with Grant losing every single time. In a Hail Mary move, the township (and its CELDF-paid attorneys) appealed a Commonwealth Court decision to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The new (and good) news is that the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is still fighting Grant’s illegal attempt to regulate oil and gas within the township.
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EPA Approves Potter County, PA Injection Well, Waiting Now for DEP

An issue that’s been festering for more than two years appears to be coming to a head in western Potter County, PA. In early 2021, Roulette Oil and Gas applied for a Class II Injection Well Permit to drill an injection well in Clara Township. The leftists from Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) immediately began to whisper the siren song of “home rule” into the ears of Clara’s residents (see Clara Twp, PA Considers Illegal Home Rule to Stop Injection Well). Since that time, the federal EPA granted its approval for the project. It’s now over to the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) to issue a final permit, and the locals are not happy that they haven’t “had a say” to try and convince the DEP to deny the permit.
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PA DEP Wants to Take Over Regulation of Injection Wells from EPA

Yesterday at a Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board meeting, Kurt Klapkowski, Acting Deputy for Oil and Gas Management (part of the Dept. of Environmental Protection), told board members the DEP is about to file a letter of intent as early as this week to apply for “primacy” to regulate underground injection wells in the state. Currently, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the primary regulator of PA injection wells–including oil and gas injection wells. In some states with the necessary structure in place, the EPA delegates its authority to oversee and regulate such wells. PA wants to be one of those states. Me before you.
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Grant Twp Charter Banning Injection Wells Heads to PA Supreme Court

Since 2015 we’ve reported on the case of Grant Township (Indiana County, PA), a town that passed an ordinance cooked up by the radical Big Green group Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) to try and block a state-approved injection well proposed by Pennsylvania General Energy (see our Grant Township articles here). Last summer, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled against Grant’s attempt to override state law with its own home-cooked regulations (see Grant Twp Charter Banning Injection Wells Struck Down by PA Court). However, Big Green CELDF appealed the case to its favorite group of lefty Democrats–the PA Supreme Court–which accepted the case.
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Fed EPA Issues Draft Permit for New Brine Injection Well in PA

Proposed injection well schematic (click for larger version)

Yesterday the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Mid-Atlantic Region announced it has issued a draft permit to build and operate an underground brine wastewater injection well in Young Township (Jefferson County), Pennsylvania. The EPA plans to hold an online hearing on Feb. 13 to elicit public feedback on the proposed well. By our count, this will be the 17th wastewater injection well in the state (compared to more than 100 in Ohio).
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Trumbull County Injection Wells Resume Operation After 2015 Shutdown

Trumbull County, OH

In 2015, MDN told you about five injection wells in Trumbull County, OH, that had been shut down by the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) following a finding that some of the frack wastewater intended for the wells had been found in a local wetland and nearby pond (see ODNR Shuts Down 5 Injection Wells in Vienna, OH After Spill). As it turned out, the injection wells themselves were not to blame, but a salvage yard located at the same facility was the source (see Trumbull Injection Wells NOT the Source of Wetland Contamination). Fast forward seven years, and it appears the wells (or well, not sure if it’s just one well or multiple wells) are now operating again. Finally.
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Antero Midstream Wins $248M Lawsuit Against Veolia re WV Plant

Antero Midstream hired Veolia Water Technologies to build and operate a state-of-the-art frack wastewater recycling facility in Doddridge County, WV, which began operations in 2017 (see Antero’s $275M WV Wastewater Recycling Facility Ready to Launch). The Clearwater Treatment Facility can process up to 60,000 barrels of wastewater per day, separating water, salt, and radioactive particles. Less than two years after it began operation, Antero suddenly shuttered the plant (see Antero Idles WV Frack Wastewater Plant Launched 2 Years Ago). What we didn’t know until now is that a lawsuit ensued between Antero Midstream and Veolia over the shuttered plant.
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DRBC Adopts Meaningless Prohibition on Shale Wastewater Disposal

DRBC Iron Curtain (click for larger version)

The leftists of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) voted yesterday to approve a final rule prohibiting the discharge of wastewater from high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) to water or land in the Delaware River Basin. The final rule also “clarifies” the circumstances in which water, including wastewater, may be exported from or imported into the Basin. The bottom line from yesterday’s action is that nothing has materially changed. Fracking is currently banned in the Basin under a previous action by the Commission. And nobody discharges frack wastewater on the ground or in streams and rivers anywhere, including in the Delaware River Basin. So what did the vote accomplish for the rabid left? Just more virtue signaling.
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Sen. Katie Muth’s Attempt to Block Dimock Wastewater Plant Dismissed

Pennsylvania State Senator Katie Muth’s attempt to block a proposed frack wastewater treatment plant in Dimock (hours away from her own district) has completely bombed out. Muth tried to challenge and block a permit for the plant, an effort which was mostly rejected in court back in June (see PA EHB Dismisses Senator’s Request to Block Dimock Wastewater Plant). The PA Environmental Hearing Board (EHB), a special court set up to hear challenges to Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) decisions, allowed Muth one final remaining way to continue her challenge–by claiming she has personal “standing” to challenge the permit as a resident of the state. In September, Eureka Resources, the builder of the facility, asked the court to quash her claim of standing (see Dimock Wastewater Plant Hits Back Against PA Sen. Katie Muth). The court granted Eureka’s request on Wednesday.
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Latest Attack from Left on M-U Fracking – Block Ohio Injection Wells

Here’s the latest ingenious way radicalized anti-fossil fuelers are attempting to cut off and strangle the Marcellus and Utica shale industry: Deny drillers any kind of means to dispose of the brine (naturally occurring water from the depths) that comes out of the borehole for years after a well is drilled. One of the best, most environmentally safe ways to dispose of brine is via injection wells. Antis are trying to strip Ohio’s right to regulate injection wells in the Buckeye State, hoping if the feds take over, many of those wells would get shut down.
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Extracting Lithium from Oil & Gas Wastewater Brine

Eureka Resources, which operates three frack wastewater treatment facilities in the Marcellus Shale, is doing really cool stuff. In October 2019, the company began extracting lithium from Marcellus wastewater at one of its plants in Bradford County, PA (see Marcellus Wastewater Plant in PA Extracts 1st Batch of Lithium). The company claims its plants can theoretically supply up to 25% of the country’s annual lithium demand, solely with lithium recovered from Marcellus wastewater (see Eureka Can Supply 25% of US Lithium Demand from Marc. Wastewater). Others are now noticing that lithium can be extracted from wastewater (i.e. brine).
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Worker Dies After Accident at Eureka Resources Plant in Wysox, PA

Jeremy Lanzo, pictured with his beautiful family and Santa

Some sad news to share with you that had escaped our notice until today. A 39-year-old man from Sayre, PA, Jeremy Lanzo, died from burns that he received in an accident at Eureka Resources’ shale wastewater treatment plant in Wysox Township (Bradford County, PA) on Tuesday morning, Sept. 13. Initial media accounts report there was an explosion at the plant. However, Eureka CEO Dan Ertel says flatly, “There was no explosion.” Eureka treats and recycles wastewater (brine) from Marcellus Shale wells.
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