Accidents | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Greene County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation
Freeport Twp (PA) Declares Disaster Emergency re EQT Frac-Out
Just coming to light for us: Freeport Township, located in Greene County, PA, declared a Disaster Emergency on June 23, 2025. The emergency is related to a “frac-out” at an EQT well that happened three years ago, in July 2022 (see Possible Frac-Out Reported at EQT Well Site in Greene County, PA). A frac-out, or “inadvertent return,” happens when drilling mud pops out of places where it’s not supposed to — places outside the borehole being drilled. The problem with this frac-out is that it is alleged to have affected many local water wells in the area (100 people). Read More “Freeport Twp (PA) Declares Disaster Emergency re EQT Frac-Out”
ECA Marcellus Trust I, the royalty interest holder in some of the wells drilled and maintained by Greylock Energy in Greene County, PA, announced on Friday that it will issue a 2-cent dividend to unitholders for the second quarter of 2025. The company continues to hold back some profits ($90,000 in 2Q25) to build a cash reserve for “future known, anticipated or contingent expenses or liabilities.” 
For the week of August 4 – 10, the number of permits issued to drill new wells in the Marcellus/Utica dropped like a rock from the previous week. It was lousy. There were 10 new permits issued across the three M-U states last week, 24 fewer than the 34 issued two weeks ago. Pennsylvania was the only state to issue new permits. Both Ohio and West Virginia got skunked with ZERO new permits. The story in PA is the story of a single well pad. Nine of the 10 permits issued in PA were for a series of wells on a single pad in Greene County for EQT (under the name of Rice Drilling). The other permit was issued to Campbell Oil & Gas for a well in Clearfield County. 
A kerfuffle has erupted in Morgan Township (Greene County), PA, between drilling and pipeline giant EQT Corporation and the town over the issue of hauling heavy equipment on Morgan’s roadways. Morgan supervisors prohibited EQT from using local town roads to haul heavy equipment to work sites. On June 18, EQT filed a lawsuit against the town, which the town is sure to lose (copy below). There is word that an agreement is already in the works to settle the dispute. 
A power project we’ve been tracking since 2017 is a 620-megawatt (MW) Marcellus-fired electric plant in Greene County, PA, called the Hill Top Energy Center (