On May 6, the Department of Environmental Protection announced it has collected $330,775 in civil penalties from EQT Production Company for violations at its Prentice and Fetchen well sites in Forward Township, Allegheny County.
A February 23, 2018, DEP inspection revealed sediment-laden water from unstabilized portions of both well sites had overtopped numerous erosion and sedimentation controls beyond the limit of disturbance of both sites.
The sediment-laden water flowed from the Prentice site into roadside ditches and ultimately into an unnamed tributary to Kelly Run.
DEP’s inspection also showed that a proposed access road — from the Prentice site to a meter station that EQT was working with DEP to authorize — had already been constructed without a permit.
Numerous erosion and sedimentation controls were found to be inoperable or ineffective. EQT also violated state law and its permit by failing to report the inoperable or ineffective erosion and sedimentation controls.
Many of these problems continued into March at the Prentice well site and July at the Fetchen well site.
As of May 29, 2018, EQT completed all corrective actions at the Prentice well site and DEP approved a modification to properly permit the illegal access road, correcting these violations.
The violations at the Fetchen well site were corrected by November 1, 2018.
“DEP expects all permittees — particularly large, longtime operators — to construct facilities and report problems in accordance with state regulations and permit conditions, but these failures demonstrate the importance of verifying compliance and enforcing the regulations,” said DEP Deputy Secretary for Oil and Gas Management Scott Perry.
Click Here for a copy of the Consent Assessment of Civil Penalty for the Prentice well site. Click Here for a copy of the Consent Assessment of Civil Penalty for the Fetchen well site.
Questions should be directed to Lauren Fraley, DEP Southwest Regional Office, 412-442-4203 or send email to: lfraley@pa.gov.
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