Wednesday, August 28, 2024

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] 

-- Range Resources Shale Gas Water Pipeline Suffers Blowout In Washington County  [PaEN]

-- 9-Year-Old Drives Tractor Into Conventional Well Causing Gas Leak  [PaEN] 

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices, Opportunities To Comment - August 31 [PaEN] 

-- DEP Posted 66 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In August 31 PA Bulletin  [PaEN]

Related Articles:

-- Sept. 19 Webinar: A Year Later: Have Leaders Addressed Health Concerns From Natural Gas Development Raised In University Of Pittsburgh Public Health Studies?  [PaEN]

-- DEP Oil & Gas Technical Advisory Board Meets Sept. 5 On Strategies To Prevent Well Abandonments; Injection Well Primacy; Tracking Water Contamination; Other Topics  [PaEN] 

-- State, United Mine Workers Announce First-In-PA Registered Apprenticeship Program To Plug Oil And Gas Wells Abandoned By Conventional Well Owners; DEP Issued 711 Violations For Well Abandonment So Far In 2024  [PaEN]

-- Appalachian Regional Commission Selects Job Training, Revitalization Groups For Communities Impacted By Coal, Power Plant Closures; Underserved, Marginalized Communities; 5 In PA Serving Coal, Oil & Gas Counties  [PaEN] 

-- Pittsburgh Works Together Releases New Report: The PJM Grid In Peril: What Will Keep The Lights On?  [PaEN]

-- Sen. Yaw To Introduce Bills To Establish PA Baseload Energy Development Fund Based On Texas Model; And Have One Permit For Power Plants  [PaEN] 

-- Ready For 100% Montgomery County: Communities With Half The County Population Support Clean Energy Future  [PaEN] 

-- DEP Permitting Efficiency: 19,222 Permits Since 11/2023; Decisions On 15,794;  2 Currently Eligible For PAyback Did Not Meet Decision Deadlines; No Application Fees Refunded [8.27.24]

-- Washington & Jefferson College To Host Pittsburgh Regional Carbon Capture Conference Oct. 22 In Washington County  [PaEN] 

NewsClips:

-- TribLive Guest Essay: Gov. Shapiro Needs To Step Up His Environmental Game - By Tom Pike, Protect PT 

-- Public News Service: Shale Gas Fracking Boom In PA Raises Health, Environmental Concerns

-- Tribune-Democrat: Shapiro, Mineworkers Create Apprenticeship To Plug Oil & Gas Wells Abandoned By Conventional Well Owners

-- Wilkes-Barre Times: State Announces Apprenticeship Program To Plug Oil, Gas Wells Abandoned By Conventional Well Owners

-- TribLive: PA Apprenticeship Program Expands To Including Training To Plug Oil, Gas Wells Abandoned By Conventional Well Owners

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: State, United Mine Workers Partner On New Apprenticeship On Plugging Oil & Gas Wells Abandoned By Conventional Well Owners

-- The Center Square - Anthony Hennen: Natural Gas Subsidy Plan Rolled Out To Stabilize Grid [Sen. Yaw’s Energy Development Fund ]

-- Utility Dive: PA Senator [Sen. Yaw] To Introduce Energy Fund Bill, Bill To Require One Permit With One  ‘Statute of Limitations’ For Power Plant Projects

-- Reuters: Texas Energy Fund Approves Gas-Fired Power Plants For Next Stage Of Consideration 

-- Utility Dive: Texas Energy Fund Elects 17 Gas-Fired Power Plant Projects Totaling Almost 10 GW For Possible Loans

-- Utility Dive: PJM December Electricity Auction Prices Could Jump 157% Over July Auction, Morgan Stanley 

-- The Center Square - Anthony Hennen: Pittsburgh Works Report: Red Tape, New Power Plant Delays Put PJM Electric Grid ‘In Peril’

-- Utility Dive Guest Essay: Getting Real About Electric Grid Reliability In PJM After July Capacity Auction - By Glen Thomas, Former Chair of the PA Public Utility Commission 

-- PennLive Guest Essay: Troubling Times Are Ahead For American Energy - By Commonwealth Foundation  [59% Of Energy On PA’s Electric Grid Comes From One Fuel]

-- TribLive Guest Essay: Biden Clean Power Plant Reboot Will Cripple PA’s Energy Affordability - By Sen. Greg Rothman (R-Cumberland)  [Need To Diversify Our Energy Generation Away From 59% Natural Gas To Prevent Price Spikes]

-- WHYY/BillyPenn: PECO Customers Could Face Double-Digit Electricity Bill Increases Next Year; Experts Blame Growing Demand, Lagging Transition To Renewable Energy

-- Inside Climate News: US Appetite For Electricity Grew Massively In First Half Of 2024; Solar Power Rose To The Occasion

-- Chesapeake Bay Journal - Ad Crable: Air Monitoring Study By CNX Resources Finds Fracking ‘Poses No Public Health Risk’; Environmental Groups Critical

-- WHYY: Philadelphia Gas Commission Passes Rules To Limit Public Participation In Budget Process

[Posted: August 28, 2024]  PA Environment Digest

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