Post-Gazette: EQT Drilling Again Challenges The Way DEP Calculates Penalties In $1.1 Million Fine Appeal

Laura Legere reported in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Saturday Shale gas driller EQT again appealed a penalty levied by the Department of Environmental Protection because of the way the $1.1 million penalty was calculated.

The penalty was imposed by the Environmental Hearing Board at the end of May for a water contamination plume that leaked from a 6 million gallon wastewater impoundment at a Tioga County drill pad.

EQT alleges the way DEP has calculated penalties for more than 40 years, that each day is a separate offense, is illegal.

This new penalty appeal involves the same case that EQT previously appealed for the same reason and won in Commonwealth Court.  That ruling involved a $4.5 million fine that could be reduced to a mere fraction of that amount.

DEP appealed that ruling to the PA Supreme Court in mid-May as DEP also appealed this new penalty, largely to preserve their legal position in the main penalty case involving this same incident.

NewsClip:

EQT, DEP Appeal $1 Million Pollution Fine For Tioga County Spill

Related Stories:

Will Gas Drilling Company Overturn The Way DEP Has Calculated Penalties For Nearly 40 Years?

Nearly 100 Groups File Brief Supporting DEP In EQT Water Penalty Case Before PA Supreme Court

DEP Seeks $4.5 Million Penalty From EQT For Drilling-Related Pollution In Tioga County

EQT Drilling Company files Counter-Complaint Challenging Clean Streams Law