PA Environment Digest Blog: Range Resources Shale Gas Water Pipeline Suffers Blowout In Washington County

On August 15, 2024, the aboveground Yonker Well & Tank Pad to Carns Well & Tank Pad waterline pipeline owned by Range Resources Appalachia, LLC in Mount Pleasant Township, Washington County suffered a blowout that launched a “pig” sent through the pipeline into the air.

The blowout was reported to DEP by a landowner at 11:15 a.m. on August 15 who said a pipeline that runs through his property ruptured and caused property damage.

DEP notified Range Resources, who sent a representative to the scene.

At 10:03 a.m. on August 16, 2024, DEP Oil and Gas Inspector Marcella Dantzler, did an inspection at the site, after earlier conferring with a Range Resources representative Derek Zofchak by phone.

Zofchak said the company sent a “pig” down the pipeline from Carns to Yonker.

A “pig” is usually a spherical or cylindrical device that sweeps the inner walls of the pipelines, scraping the sides as it pushes debris through towards an exit point.

He said the pig “got stuck in the waterline causing the line to blow apart sending the pig into the air.” He said the pipeline was not operating at maximum pressure.

Zofchak explained “the movement of the waterline caused property damage;” presumably as the pipeline whipped back and forth like a garden hose ripping an estimated 20 fence posts out of the ground holding about 100 feet of wire in a pasture. No livestock were present.

DEP’s inspector noted at the time of the inspection a temporary fence was in place and Range Resources had contractors on the site working to replace the fence.

Dantzler took conductivity readings to determine if any wastewater was involved in the blowout.

Readings were elevated above background levels for the area “but were within the normal range.” Dantzler said the higher readings “could be attributed to the manure in the pasture.”

The source of the water for the pipeline was the Ohio River at Beech Bottom, West Virginia approved by DEP on July 16, 2024.

DEP said there was bare earth where the pipeline previously ran on the top of the ground, so its original route was easy to follow.

DEP requested Range Resources to evaluate the release of water, provide a quantity of what was released, what specific fluids were released, and an explanation of when and how the release occurred.

DEP requested the evaluation be submitted by August 30.

DEP’s inspection report included a violation for not notifying the agency of the pipeline rupture, but it was cleared because of DEP’s discussion with Range Resources.

No other violations were included.

Water and wastewater pipelines and natural gas gathering pipelines running between well pads and other facilities are not regulated by any state agency for safety.

There are no construction and operational standards and no criteria for selecting their routes.

(Photos: Some provided to DEP by Range Resources and from inspection report.)

Resource Links - Unregulated Pipelines:

-- No One Warned A Cameron County Family Their Water Well Was Contaminated By A Seneca Resources Shale Gas Wastewater Pipeline Rupture [PaEN] [Pipeline Construction Standards, Safety, Routes Not Regulated By State]

-- Natural Gas Pipeline Pigging Facility Malfunction Dec. 27 Released 1.1 Million Cubic Feet Of Natural Gas; Same Facility Plagued Community With Blowdowns 3 Times A Day, 7 Days A Week For Nearly 10 Years Until Criminal Charges Brought Against CNX [PaEN]. [Pipeline Construction Standards, Safety, Routes Not Regulated By State]

-- 3 Days That Shook Washington County: Natural Gas Plant Explosion; Pipeline Leak Of 1.1 Million Cubic Feet Of Gas; 10,000 Gallon Spill At Compressor Station [PaEN]

-- KDKA: Natural Gas Gathering Pipeline Crashes Into, Thru Westmoreland County Home And A Loophole In State Law That Doesn’t Regulate Gathering Pipelines For Safety [PaEN] [Pipeline Construction Standards, Safety, Routes Not Regulated By State]

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - July 6 to 12 - Double Shale Gas Wastewater Pipeline Failure; 19 + 12 Abandoned Conventional Wells; Draining Water Impoundment By Spraying [PaEN]. [Pipeline Construction Standards, Safety, Routes Not Regulated By State]

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - April 6 to 12 - Rain Causes Multiple Landslides; Ignored Request To Clean Up Spill; Venting Gas [PaEN]. [Pipeline Construction Standards, Safety, Routes Not Regulated By State - Most]

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - Feb. 10 to 16 - 31 More Conventional Abandoned Well NOVs - 103 For Year; Pipeline Land Slips; Water Supply, Stray Gas Complaints [PaEN] [Pipeline Construction Standards, Safety, Routes Not Regulated By State - Most]

PA Oil & Gas Industry Public Notice Dashboards:

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - August 24 to 30 - Water Pipeline Blowout; 9-Year-Old Hits Conventional Gas Well; 5 Abandoned Shale Gas Wells [PaEN]