PA Environment Digest Blog: PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - June 1 to 7 - 38 Conventional Wells Evaluated For Plugging; Spills; Failure To Comply With Cleanup Order; Failure To Notify DEP Of 121 Conventional Well Owner Transfers

From June 1 to 7, DEP’s Oil and Gas Compliance Database shows oil and gas inspectors filed 546 inspection entries, and caught up with previous week’s postings.

So far this year, DEP took these actions as of May 31--

-- NOVs Issued In Last Week: 9 conventional, 18 unconventional

-- Year To Date - NOVs Issued: 3,940 conventional and 473 unconventional

-- Enforcements 2024: 243 conventional and 64 unconventional

-- Inspections Last Week: 70 conventional and 282 unconventional

-- Year To Date - Inspections: 6,677 conventional and 10,448 unconventional

-- Wells Drilled Last Week: 2 conventional and 4 unconventional

-- Year To Date Wells Drilled: 59 conventional and 144 unconventional

Abandoned Conventional Wells

On May 30, 2024, DEP did an inspection of the Warren Rail Car 2 conventional well in Warren City, Warren County owned by Armac Resources LLC in response to a complaint and found the well owner in the process of plugging the abandoned well.

The owners received a violation for well abandonment on December 4, 2023 as part of a stray gas investigation and made attempts to plug the well but it proved to be a difficult well to plug.

DEP’s eFACTS database shows Armac Resources LLC-- not to be confused with Armac Resources-- has 88 conventional well permits all but one active.

DEP’s inspection report says the owner was making another attempt to plug the well during the inspection and the owner will notify DEP when this attempt is complete.

DEP continued the violation for well abandonment.

On June 5, 2024, DEP inspected four conventional wells-- Jane McGill 1, McBride 3, 4 & 5-- in North Fayette Township, Allegheny County owned by Frank D. Washabaugh to score the wells for the Orphan and Abandoned Well Plugging Program.

The wells are on property managed by the Pittsburgh Botanical Gardens.

Along with abandoned wastewater storage tanks, the wells were leaking methane.

DEP’s eFACTS database shows Frank D. Washabaugh-- not to be confused with Frank L. Washagaugh Oil Producers or Rebecca & Robert Washabaugh or Dwight B. Washabaugh-- has permits for 20 conventional wells all but one listed as active.

DEP’s inspection reports [McBride 3 example] describe the issues and the site, but did not result in any violations being issued.

Between June 3 and 7, 2024, DEP did inspections of conventional wells with unknown owners to determine if they would be good candidates for plugging under the federal Well Plugging Program or because contractors submitted a notice to DEP they are plugging the wells or have plugged them [presumably under the Act 96 Blanket Bond Increase Waiver Program]--

-- Allegheny County

-- Coraopolis Borough: Sklarsky 1

-- Franklin Park Borough: Holman 1

-- Kennedy Township: Stikarofsky Jr 1

-- Moon Township: Montour Woods Conservation Area 1; Meeks Run 1; Charlton Heights 1

-- North Fayette Township: North Branch Road 1

-- Ohio Township: Douglas 1 [Being plugged by contractor]

-- Plum Borough: WJ Sharp; Belle A. Maxwell

-- Ross Township: Sunnyhill 1 [Being plugged by contractor]

-- Erie County

-- Girard Township: 7820 Cole Springs Rd 1; 7820 Cole Springs Rd 2

-- Millcreek Township: 5224 Barmblewood Ln 1; 317 Peninsula Dr 1

-- McKean County

-- Foster Township: Milton Dana Lease 1; Hooker 1; Hooker 3; Hooker 4

-- Venango County

-- Cherrytree Township: Langman AWI 1; Langman AWI 2; Langman AWI 3; Langman AWI 4; Langman AWI 5; Langman AWI 6 ; Langman AWI 7; Langman AWI 8; Langman AWI 9 [wells inspected in response to a phone call to DEP]

-- Warren County

-- Mead Township: Wolfe 218 [To be plugged by contractor]; Wolfe 219 [Plugged by contractor] ; Wolfe 220 [Plugged by contractor]

-- Sheffield Township: 438 Orphan 1 [To be plugged by contractor] ; 438 Orphan 2 [To be plugged by contractor]; 438 Orphan 4

No violations were issued because the owners are unknown.

485 Conventional, 8 Shale Gas Abandoned Well Violations In 2024

So far in 2024, DEP issued 485 new or continued violations to conventional oil and gas well owners for abandoning and not plugging wells; and 8 violations were issued to five shale gas well owners [Repsol Oil & Gas, EQT Chap LLC, M4 Energy, EQT (Rice Drilling B LLC) and Roulette Oil & Gas LLC)] for abandoning wells and not plugging wells.

Conventional Well Venting Gas, Spills, Failure To Comply With Order

On May 29, 2024, DEP inspected the Kiskiminetas Springs School conventional gas well in Loyalhanna Township, Westmoreland County owned by Oil & Gas Mgmt Inc. and found it continued to vent gas and the owner continues to fail to meet the terms of a February 10, 2023 compliance order.

DEP noted this is the ninth inspection at the site and although attempts have been made to comply with the remediation order the owner has failed to comply with a whole series of deadlines.

In addition, “The well head hissing and bubbling has worsened to where it can be seen and heard from all seams in the casing” and erosion and sedimentation control failures were noted.

DEP’s inspection report continues violations for drilling or altering a conventional well without a permit and failure to dispose of wastewater according to the regulations.

No specific follow-up actions are requested of the owner.

On May 29, 2024, DEP did follow-up inspections on two conventional wells owned by Questa Petro Co in Westmoreland County--

-- Bell Township - Morton 1: DEP’s inspection report shows the owner failed to clean up a leaking wastewater storage tank and other violations at the well site as requested following violations issued on February 21, 2024. DEP continued the violations with no specific direction to well owner.

-- Loyalhanna Township - Joseph We. Serene 2554: DEP’s inspection report shows the owner failed to clean up a leaking wastewater storage tank and other violations at the well site as requested following violations issued on February 16, 2024. DEP continued the violations with no specific direction to well owner.

On June 4, 2024, DEP did an inspection in response to a spill notification by Diversified Prod LLC at the Davenport 8271 well in Derry Township, Westmoreland County.

DEP found a spill of up to an estimated 840 gallons of production wastewater occurred and traveled downhill away from the storage tank and into a wooded area.

A Diversified representative onsite said they would be cleaning up the site to Act 2 Land Recycling Program cleanup standards.

DEP’s inspection report noted violations for the spill and requested the owner to submit a report by June 21, 2024 on how the site will be brought into compliance.

On June 6, 2024, DEP did a routine inspection of the Jill 13 conventional well in Harmony Township, Forest County owned by Tatonka Oil Co LLC and found evidence of a wastewater spill.

DEP found wastewater beside the tank and noted it “sits on an unlined pad with insufficient containment diking.”

DEP’s inspection report includes violations related to the spill and requests the owner to submit a report by June 24, 2024 on how the site will be brought into compliance.

2024 Land Recycling/Brownfield Cleanups

So far in 2024, DEP received or acted on 145 Act 2 Land Recycling notices related to oil and gas facility site cleanups. Read more here.

Failure To Notify DEP Of 121 Well Ownership Transfers

On June 7, 2024, DEP issued a notice of violation to Terrence L. Allshouse, Jr. for failing to notify the department of the transfer of 121 conventional oil and gas wells in Glade Township, Warren County to Stonehaven Energy Management Company, LLC.

The transfer was recorded in the Warren County Courthouse on December 12, 2023.

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-- Armac Resources LLC attempting again to plug an abandoned conventional well; Oil & Gas Mgmt Inc. fails to comply with conventional well cleanup order; Questa Petro Co one of two leaking wastewater tanks at two conventional well sites; Diversified Prod LLC conventional well spill impacted vegetation downhill from wastewater storage tank;

Row 2-- Tatonka Oil Co LLC leaking conventional well wastewater tank; Unknown owner of Cole Springs Rd 2 conventional well venting gas in Girard Twp., Erie County; Unknown owner of Montour Woods Conservation Area 1 conventional well leaking methane in Moon Twp., Allegheny County used as educational display; Frank D. Washabaugh abandoned well, storage tanks on Pittsburgh Botanical Gardens property.)

[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:

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - June 1 to 7 - 38 Conventional Wells Evaluated For Plugging; Spills; Failure To Comply With Cleanup Order; Failure To Notify DEP Of 121 Conventional Well Owner Transfers [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices, Opportunities To Comment - June 8 [PaEN]

-- DEP Posted 85 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In June 8 PA Bulletin [PaEN]