PA Environment Digest Blog: DEP: An Estimated 336,000 Gallons Of Fracking Flowback Water Was Released During An Uncontrolled Shale Gas Well Incident At The INR OPR LLC Cooper Well Pad In Young Twp., Indiana County

An August 17, 2026 inspection report posted by the Department of Environmental Protection documents how “copious quantities” of fracking water came “gushing” from an uncontrolled shale gas well at the INR OPR LLC Cooper well pad in Young Township, Indiana County contaminating an estimated 37 acres and polluting nearby Whiskey Run.

On August 31, 2026 DEP reported an estimated 336,000 gallons of fracking flowback water was released during the incident and an undetermined amount went into Whiskey Run.

In that same report, DEP and INR said the incident began at some point on August 16 during fracking “completions operations” in the well.

The Cooper 7H shale gas well was being fracked when DEP said “the casings split” causing large amounts of fracking water to spill from the well and flow onto the pad and off the site.

“The operator closed the well pad drains in an attempt to contain the release, however an unknown amount of frack flowback [water] overwhelmed secondary containment, permeated the well pad berms, and entered Whiskey Run.”

DEP took water samples from Whisky Run upstream and downstream of the incident location.

DEP records show the Cooper 7H well was SPUD (drilled) on Feb. 27, 2026.

Fire Companies Respond

On August 18, 2026, the Indiana Gazette reported firefighters from Indiana, Armstrong, Allegheny and Westmoreland counties were called to the Cooper well site to support a “specialized gas well response crew” brought in by Infinity Natural Resources (INR) to deal with the situation.

The Indiana Gazette reported the fire crews brought large amounts of water to the site to maintain a “water curtain” over the uncontrolled well while the specialized company crew worked to make emergency repairs.

A water curtain helps to mechanically dilute, disperse, knocks down heavy hydrocarbon vapors and lowers the concentration of any escaping natural gas below its lower explosive limit.

The Iselin-West Lebanon Volunteer Fire Company said in a Facebook post 14 fire companies and Murrysville Medic One responded to the incident along with the Indiana and Armstrong Salvation Army Canteen and DEP.

Iselin-West Lebanon said these companies responded-- Iselin/West Lebanon — Station 310; Saltsburg — Station 131: Tunnelton — Station 330; Elderton — Station 50; Kiski Township — Station 140; West Leechburg — Station 52; Coal Run/McIntyre — Station 290 — Fill Site; Parks Township — Station 200; North Apollo — Station 170 — Fill Site; Upper Burrell — Station 115; Washington Township — Station 102; Rossiter — Station 340; Monroeville #5 — Station 195; and Rural Valley — Station 210.

Follow-Up DEP Inspections

In follow-up inspections on August 24, 2026, August 25, 2026, August 26, 2026 and August 27, 2026, DEP said the INR OPR moved the fracking equipment off the well and intends to begin remediation of the well sometime during the week of August 31.

DEP issued multiple violations related to the incident in the August 17, 2026 inspection report and requested a written response by September 10.

DEP said-- “The nature of the incident will require a large-scale remediation effort.

“The area potentially affected by the incident can potentially be as large as +/- 37 acres with copious amounts of fracking fluid leaving the site and entering Whiskey Run.

“The operator will need to provide an estimated time frame for remediation to be completed.”

DEP said within 30 days, INR OPR was to notify DEP of whether they intend to use the Act 2 Land Recycling Program process or an alternative remediation process to clean up the contamination from the incident.

DEP also said-- “Whiskey Run will need to be monitored until conditions return to normal and it is certain that it is no longer being affected by the spill.

“The operator will also need to provide conductivity measurements and locations pre- and post remediation to ensure that all contaminated material has been collected and properly disposed of.”

On August 31, 2026 DEP reported INR intends to use the Act 2 Land Recycling Program standards in its cleanup.

In its initial August 27, 2026 written response to DEP on the incident, INR said-- “INR is currently in the process of delineating impacted areas and removing material while monitoring/sampling the upstream and downstream quality of the tributary.

“INR is committed to implementing reasonable and practicable measures to ensure compliance with all applicable local, state, and federal environmental regulations.”

DEP’s Northwest Regional Office and Northwest District Oil and Gas Office (814-332-6860) are handling this incident.

Click Here for the August 17 inspection report + photos.

DEP did another follow-up inspection on September 3 and said contaminated soil was still being removed from the south and west berms of the well pad and the owner’s consultant was onsite collecting soil samples.

DEP issued a new violation in this inspection for failure to connect deficiencies in its Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure and Preparedness, Prevention and Contingency Plan for the well pad.

DEP reported it notified INR on Feb. 14, 2026 of the deficiencies, but INR failed to respond to the notice within the 60 days.

Click Here for the September 3 inspection report.

What’s In Fracking Water

A fact sheet from the Environmental Health Project, fracking water is a mixture of water, chemicals (such as methanol, ethylene glycol, and biocides), and proppants (fine sand) used in shale gas drilling operations.

Fracking water is forced down the wellbore at high pressure in order to fracture the shale and free the gas.

As pressure is released, some of the HFF returns to the surface along with contaminated water from the gas formations, radioactive materials, gases, and metals.

This combination of materials is called flowback and “produced” (contaminated) water. It is considered highly toxic.

Some of the injected fluids are proprietary, so we don’t even know what they are.

DEP Chemical Disclosure

On January 26, 2024, the Department of Environmental Protection announced a new policy that required shale gas drilling companies to disclose the chemicals they use on their drilling sites as part of their site specific Preparedness, Prevention and Contingency (PPC) Plans. Read more here.

PPC Plans are usually available online through DEP’s Oil and Gas Mapping Tool under “well pad information” for each well site, but in this case no Plan was available.

As of August 31, there was no information in the DEP inspection reports about whether the Plan was available onsite, which it is required to be.

There was also no information on the FracFocus shale gas chemical disclosure registry about chemicals used at the site, as of August 31.

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 and Inspection Reports Viewer webpages to search their compliance records by date and owner.

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.

Use DEP’s Oil and Gas Mapping Tool to find if there are oil and gas wells near or on your property and to find wells using latitude and longitude on well inspection reports.

(Photos: Row 1-- Iselin-West Lebanon Volunteer Fire Company and West Leechburg Volunteer Fire Department early morning response; Frack water spraying onto the pad (DEP) ; Contaminated water flowing out of secondary containment (DEP); Row 2-- Flowing off the pad, down the hill (DEP); Flowing thru first tree line; Into Whiskey Run (DEP).)

[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:

-- Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Snapshot - August 29 to September 4 [PaEN]

-- DEP: Shell Petrochemical Plant Pays Another $15 Million In Penalties For Latest Air Pollution Violations In Beaver County; Air Pollution Penalties Total $27.6 Million Since Plant Opened [PaEN]

-- Inside Climate News: Energy Transfer/Sunoco Files Lawsuit To Preempt Criminal Charges By PA Attorney General In Bucks County Jet Fuel Pipeline Spill, Asks For State Clean Streams Law To Be Declared Unconstitutional [PaEN]

-- DEP: An Estimated 336,000 Gallons Of Fracking Flowback Water Was Released During An Uncontrolled Shale Gas Well Incident At The INR OPR LLC Cooper Well Pad In Young Twp., Indiana County [PaEN]

-- DEP - Day 1,331: Big Dog Energy LLC Shale Gas Well Pad Lacks Secondary Containment To Contain Spills, Has No Emergency Response Plan In Westmoreland County [PaEN]

-- DEP - Day 2,447: American Natural Resources LLC Fails To Comply, Does Not Respond To Order To Plug 6 Conventional Wells It Abandoned In Allegheny County [PaEN]

-- DEP - Day 221: HR McClure Fails To Plug 3 Conventional Oil & Gas Wells It Abandoned In Greene County; Failed To Submit Production, Waste, Well Integrity Reports For 5 Years [PaEN]

-- DEP: Contaminated Reuse Water Used In Fracking Overtopped Containment; Tank Truck Carrying Contaminated Water Rolls Over At Range Resources Appalachia Shale Gas Well Pad In Lycoming County [PaEN]

-- DEP - Day 545: Oil & Gas MGMT Inc Failed To Finish Cleanup Of Conventional Oil Well Spills Or Respond To DEP Violations In Westmoreland County [PaEN]

-- DEP: Wilmoth Interests Inc. Improperly Disposed Of Oil-Contaminated Soil From A Spill At An Allegheny National Forest Conventional Well Site In Warren County [PaEN]

-- 88 Abandoned Conventional Wells Inspected For Federal Well Plugging Program