So far this year-- as of April 12-- DEP took these actions--
-- NOVs Issued In Last Week: 39 conventional, 23 unconventional
-- Year To Date - NOVs Issued: 2,869 conventional and 302 unconventional
-- Enforcements 2024: 174 conventional and 43 unconventional
-- Inspections Last Week: 272 conventional and 432 unconventional
-- Year To Date - Inspections: 4,669 conventional and 7,500 unconventional
-- Wells Drilled Last Week: 5 conventional and 6 unconventional
-- Year To Date Wells Drilled: 35 conventional and 110 unconventional
Criminal Charges Filed Against Shell Falcon Pipeline
On April 19, 2024, Attorney General Michelle Henry announced the filing of charges against Shell Falcon Pipeline LP for violations of Pennsylvania’s Clean Streams Law regarding construction of a 45-mile pipeline in western Pennsylvania.
Construction of the pipeline, which spanned through Washington, Allegheny and Beaver Counties, began in January 2019 and brings ethane feedstock from natural gas to the Shell Petrochemical Plant in Beaver County..
[In October 2022, DEP assessed a $670,000 against Shell Pipeline Company, LP and its contractor Minnesota Limited LLL for violations of its permit and other laws and regulations that occurred in 2019 and 2020 during pipeline construction. Read more here.]
The Office of Attorney General’s investigation revealed that Shell allegedly failed to notify the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) about multiple issues that the company encountered during some of the horizontal directional drills (HDD) that were utilized to construct some portions of the pipeline. Read more here on criminal charges.
12 Abandoned Conventional Wells
On April 11, 2024, DEP did a follow-up inspection on the Walker 1616 conventional well in Addison Township, Somerset County owned by Oil & Gas Mgmt. Inc. and found it to be abandoned and not plugged.
DEP’s inspection report included new violations for abandonment and continued violations originally issued on March 9, 2023 for failure to submit annual production, waste generation and well integrity reports.
The owner was requested to submit a written report on how the well will be brought into compliance.
On April 15, 2024, DEP, in response to a private water supply contamination complaint, inspected the Himes 1 conventional well in Winslow Township, Jefferson County owned by Stonehaven Energy Mgt Co LLC and found it to be abandoned and not plugged.
The owner also did not submit annual production, waste generation or mechanical integrity reports on the well.
DEP’s inspection report includes violations for abandonment and the others and requests the owner to submit a written plan on how the well will be brought into compliance.
On April 16, 2024, DEP did follow-up inspections on four conventional wells-- Opperman 1, Murray 1, Smith 1, and Smiley 1-- in Georges Township, Fayette County owned by Blackrock Enterprises, LLC and found the wells were abandoned and not plugged, several were venting gas.
The owner had ignored violations issued on March 4 for abandonment and failure to submit annual production, waste generation and well integrity reports for at least the last three years.
DEP’s inspection reports [Opperman 1 example] again asked the owner to submit a written report on how the wells would be brought into compliance.
On April 17, 2024, DEP did a follow-up inspection on the Maude Mountain 1 and Eberly 1 conventional gas wells in Springfield Township, Fayette County owned by Diversified Prod LLC and found the Maude Mountain 1 well to be abandoned and not plugged and venting gas.
The Eberly 1 well was venting gas in a way that was a public health and safety hazard.
The original violations for these infractions were issued on March 6 and the owner did nothing to correct them.
DEP’s inspection reports [Maude Mountain example] requested the owner to again submit a written report on how the wells will be brought into compliance.
On April 18 & 19, 2024, DEP inspected five conventional wells in Sheffield Township, Warren County listed as abandoned and not plugged with Unknown owners to confirm their status.
DEP’s inspection reports [Orphan 1 example] refers to them only as Orphan 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
427 Conventional Abandoned Well Violations In 2024
So far in 2024, DEP issued 427 new or continued violations to conventional oil and gas well operators for abandoning wells and not plugging them.
Conventional Wastewater Releases
On April 17, 2024, DEP did a follow-up inspection of the Hixenbaugh 1 conventional well in West Bethlehem Township, Washington County owned by K Petroleum, Inc. and found some work had been done to cleanup spills at the site, however, new leaks from the wastewater storage tank were discovered.
DEP’s inspection report issued new violations for failure to notify DEP of the releases and for the pollution caused by the release.
The well owner was requested to submit a written report-- again-- on how the well site will be brought into compliance.
On April 16, 2024, DEP did an inspection of the Brodak 1 conventional well in East Huntingdon Township, Westmoreland County owned by Questa Petro Co. and found evidence of a wastewater spill.
DEP’s inspection report includes violations related to the wastewater release and requests the owner to submit a written plan on how the well site will be brought into compliance.
On April 16, 2024, DEP did follow-up inspections on the Brodak 2 and Hyskell 1 conventional wells in East Huntingdon Township, Westmoreland County owned by Questa Petro Co. and found the owner ignored previous violations related to wastewater spills.
A wastewater tank on the Hyskell 1 site was “actively leaking” wastewater at the time of the inspection.
DEP issued the original violations on February 20 and the owner failed to take action.
DEP’s inspection report [Hyskell 1 example] continued the earlier violation, but had no follow-up actions for the well owner.
2024 Act 2 Oil & Gas Facility Pollution Cleanups--
So far in 2024, DEP received or acted on 111 Act 2 Land Recycling notices related to oil and gas facility site cleanups.
Failed To Fix Conventional Wells Venting Gas
On April 10, 2024, DEP did an inspection of the Carson 032-1 conventional gas well in Fallowfield Township, Washington County owned by Washington Energy Co., LLC in response to a complaint and found gas was actively leaking from the soil around the outside of the well casing.
The owner, notified of the gas leak by the Fallowfield Township Volunteer Fire Department on March 25, 2024, said “a plan to address the leak was being developed” (weeks later).
DEP’s inspection report included violations related to the leak and gave the owner until April 27 to submit a written plan to bring the well into compliance.
On April 16, 2024, DEP did a follow-up inspection at the Fed Distr Co Inc 1 conventional gas well in the City of Erie, Erie County owned by Fed Distr Co. and found it was still venting gas.
DEP’s inspection of the well on April 9 determined it was abandoned and not plugged.
DEP’s inspection report said yellow caution tape was placed around the well and “no explosive levels [of gas] could be detected outside of the tape.”
The owner has done nothing to address the violations so far and is under an obligation to submit a written plan to DEP by May 7 on how the well will be brought into compliance.
On April 17, 2024, DEP inspected the Morehouse 1 conventional gas well in Sharon Township, Potter County owned by JJ Bucher Producing Corp and found it was still venting gas and areas impacted by a release of wastewater were not cleaned up.
The original violations were issued for these infractions on January 24 and the owner ignored them.
DEP’s inspection report continued previous violations, but had no follow-up obligation on the owner of the well.
Multiple Landslide Incidents
On April 9, 2024, DEP inspected the RHL71-8-99 Gas and Water Pipelines in Richhill Township, Greene County in response to a notification by CNX Midstream OPR Co. LLC of a slope failure on the right-of-way.
DEP’s inspection report included violations related to the failure and a request the owner submit a written plan by April 26, 2024 on how the site will be brought into compliance.
On April 15, 2024, DEP did a follow-up inspection at the Hephaestus Shale Gas Well Pad in Upper Burrell Township, Westmoreland County owned by Olympus Energy, LLC and found the owner failed to address all the violations issued on March 13 for landslide areas the owner reported.
DEP’s inspection report continues the earlier violations and-- again-- asks the operator to submit a written report on how the well pad will be brought into compliance.
EQM Gathering OPCO, LLC reported several more landslide incidents--
-- April 12: NIPI-D001 Pipeline in Richhill Twp., Greene County: DEP inspection report
-- April 12: Beta McNicholas Pipeline in Aleppo Twp., Greene County: DEP inspection report
-- April 15: NIDBH005 Pipeline in Aleppo Twp., Greene County: DEP inspection report
-- April 17: NIAMS009 Pipeline in Amwell Twp., Washington County: DEP inspection report
Violations were issued and the owner was asked to submit a written report on how the sites will be brought into compliance.
ETC Northeast Pipeline LLC Revolution Pipeline in Beaver County was the subject of follow-up inspections by DEP from last week’s reports at multiple landslide locations.
DEP saw progress in stabilizing the slides, but did not remove any of the violations related to the failure of erosion and sediment controls.
Report Violations
To report oil and gas violations or any environmental emergency or complaint, visit DEP’s Environmental Complaint webpage.
Text photos and the location of abandoned wells to 717-788-8990.
Check These Resources
Visit DEP’s Compliance Reporting Database webpage to search their compliance records by date and owner and the Inspection Reports Viewer.
Sign up for DEP’s eNOTICE service which sends you information on oil and gas and other permits submitted to DEP for review in your community.
(Photos: Row 1-- Oil & Gas Mgmt. Inc. abandoned conventional wastewater storage tank; Washington Energy Co., LLC gas leaking from conventional well; Blackrock Enterprises, LLC conventional well venting gas; Diversified Prod. LLC conventional well venting gas;
Row 2 - EQM Gathering OPCO LLC slope failure along pipeline route; Fed Distr Co. abandoned conventional well venting gas; JJ Bucher Producing Corp conventional well spill area; Unknown owner of abandoned conventional well; Row 3- Questa Petro Co. conventional wastewater tank actively leaking; K Petroleum, Inc. conventional well wastewater spill area; Stonehaven Energy Mgt Co LLC abandoned conventional well.)
[Note: If you believe your company was listed in error, contact DEP’s Oil and Gas Program.]
[Note: These may not be all the NOVs issued to oil and gas companies during this time period. Additional inspection reports may be added to DEP’s Oil and Gas Compliance Database.]
PA Oil & Gas Industry Public Notice Dashboards:
-- Attorney General Henry Files Charges Against Shell Falcon Pipeline For Failure To Report Drilling Issues That Caused Industrial Waste, Potential for Water Pollution [PaEN]
-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices, Opportunities To Comment - April 20 [PaEN]
-- DEP Posted 74 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In April 20 PA Bulletin [PaEN]
Related Articles This Week - Gas:
-- Senate Hearing: The Case For An Immediate, Total Ban On Road Dumping Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater [PaEN]
-- Senate Hearing: Penn State Expert: ‘No More Research That Needs To Be Done’ To Justify A Ban On Road Dumping Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater [PaEN]
-- Senate Hearing: First-Hand Account Of Health, Environmental Impacts From Road Dumping Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater - ‘Inhaling Oil & Gas Wastewater 24-Hours A Day’ [PaEN]
-- Senate Hearing: 3.5 Million Gallons Of Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater Dumped On PA Public Roads Since DEP’s ‘Moratorium’ On Dumping Started 6 Years Ago [PaEN]
-- Senate Hearing: DEP Still Evaluating The Data On Road Dumping Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater; Asks Public To Report Road Dumping [PaEN]
-- PA Marcellus Shale Gas Coalition Doubles-Down On Support For Exporting PA Natural Gas To China, Our Economic, Military Competitor [PaEN]
-- Bloomberg: Europe’s Demand For LNG Gas Set To Peak In 2024 As Crisis Fades
-- Commonwealth Court Affirms EHB Ruling Sen. Muth Lacks Standing To Appeal A DEP Permit For Eureka Resources Oil & Gas Wastewater Treatment Facility [PaEN]
-- Protect PT Hosting April 30 Webinar On How Your Municipality Can Protect Itself From The Dangers Of Oil & Gas Wastewater Injection Wells [PaEN]
-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission Holds May 2 Hearing On Water Use Requests, Including 7 Shale Gas Drilling Uses In Lycoming, Susquehanna, Tioga, Wyoming Counties [PaEN]
-- Guest Essay: Claims That Only Thermal Energy Resources Can Ensure Electric Grid Reliability Don’t Pass The Laugh Test - By John Quigley, Kleinman Center For Energy Policy, University of Pennsylvania [PaEN]
NewsClips - Gas:
-- Environmental Health Project: Gov. Shapiro’s Record On Shale Gas And Health - A Look At The Grand Jury Recommendations One Year In
-- The Allegheny Front - Reid Frazier: Attorney General Files Criminal Charges Against Shell Falcon Pipeline On Whistleblower Reports Over Pipeline Spills
-- PA Capital-Star: Democratic State Senators Want To End Road Dumping Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater
-- MyChesterCounty.com: PA Senators Call For Ban On Spraying Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater On Roads
-- Post-Gazette - Anya Litvak: PA Oil & Gas Wastewater Treatment/Disposal Company Was Building A Conglomerate; What’s Left Is A Pile Of Waste
-- Warren Times Editorial: Government Too Quick To Use Taxpayer Money To Plug Abandoned Conventional Wells
-- Chesapeake Bay Journal - Ad Crable: Power, Pipeline Corridors Becoming Wildlife Habitat
-- The Guardian: Carbon Dioxide Pipeline Leak Exposes Carbon Capture Safety Gaps In Louisiana April 3
-- The Energy Age Blog: PA Oil & Gas Well Terminology From DEP
[Posted: April 20, 2024] PA Environment Digest
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