Politicians, Others Tour 2 Lithium-from-Wastewater Plants in NEPA
Yesterday, Congressman Dan Meuser (PA-09) joined Pennsylvania State Representative Jonathan Fritz (PA-111), other state legislators, and industry leaders to tour two lithium-from-wastewater facilities in Susquehanna County, PA, followed by a roundtable discussion focused on positioning PA as a national leader in the domestic production of critical minerals like lithium and rare earth elements. Of particular interest for us is that the name/location of one of the two facilities was officially revealed, something MDN did in June. (You stay ahead of the curve when you read MDN!) Read More “Politicians, Others Tour 2 Lithium-from-Wastewater Plants in NEPA”
Penneco Environmental Solutions wants to build a second wastewater injection well in Plum Borough (Allegheny County), PA, next to an existing injection well. Penneco’s first wastewater injection well in Plum finally opened for business in mid-2021, overcoming all sorts of smears, slanders, and lawsuits by the enviro-left (see 
Lithium extracted from Marcellus shale wastewater (brine) has been in the news over the past week or so. Last week, we brought you the exciting news that a Boston-based company, Gradiant, is working on building a lithium production facility in an undisclosed PA location, which we were able to identify as Susquehanna County (see 
MDN previously brought you the news that the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) approved a plan by Catalyst Energy to convert an existing conventional gas production well on Route 646 in Cyclone (Keating Township, McKean County, PA) into a shale wastewater injection well (see 
A Boston-based company, Gradiant, issued a press release to make a really big, really important announcement: The company’s lithium business, called alkaLi, will design, build, own, and operate a commercial lithium production facility in the Marcellus Shale Formation of Pennsylvania beginning in early 2026. The 
Two conventional oil producers in Southeast Ohio say dozens of their wells have been flooded with industrial waste (brine) from the fracking industry. They claim that nearby injection wells that handle frack waste/brine are leaking. State regulators agree that injection wells, at least at some locations, are leaking. Not only have these leaks (if true) affected oil wells, but there’s a concern they may be contaminating area water wells. 
One of the significant stories of 2024 in the Ohio Utica was about Austin Master Services (AMS), a radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry, Ohio, that handles fracking waste by transporting it for disposal. AMS ran into trouble when it ran out of money. The Martins Ferry facility in Belmont County, where waste is temporarily stored, had exceeded its permitted maximum of 600 tons of stored waste, resulting in a violation of its permit. The Ohio Attorney General’s office filed a lawsuit against the company in March 2024 to force compliance and to force the cleanup of the facility. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) stepped in to do the cleanup work. As of today, cleaning and testing are done. 
