PA Environment Digest Blog: Attorney General Sunday Files Criminal Charges Against Equitrans For 2022 Leak Of 1.1 Billion Cubic Feet Of Natural Gas From Its Rager Mountain Gas Storage Field In Cambria County

Thursday, July 24, 2025

On July 24, Attorney General Dave Sunday announced criminal charges against Equitrans, LP, regarding the energy company’s failures to maintain a well that leaked 1.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas in 2022 across southern Pennsylvania and into several states, while also contaminating nearby ground and waters.

Equitrans was charged Thursday with 14 counts of unlawful conduct, prohibition against discharge of industrial wastes, and prohibition against other pollutions from its Rager Mountain Gas Storage Area in Jackson Township, Cambria County.

[Bloomberg News called the Rager Mountain gas leak the worst US climate disaster in 2022. Read more here.]

[Equitrans was purchased by EQT Corporation in July 2024.]

An investigation by the Office of Attorney General revealed that a gas well owned and operated by Equitrans at the Rager Mountain Storage Field in Cambria County leaked natural gas into the atmosphere for 14 days.

The 51st Statewide Investigating Grand Jury recommended charges under the Air Pollution Control Act and Clean Streams Law regarding negligent maintenance and upkeep of the well.

“This company’s failures to properly maintain this well went beyond negligence — the conduct alleged here demonstrates a reckless disregard for neighboring communities who were potentially exposed to unsafe air and water,” Attorney General Sunday said. “Energy producers have a legal responsibility to protect the public from such exposures. I am committed to protecting our constitutional right to clean air and pure water by prosecuting these flagrant violations.”

The Grand Jury investigation revealed that Equitrans employed insufficient programs to monitor and mitigate corrosion of well sites at the Rager Mountain facility.

The lack of maintenance caused one of the wells to corrode and rupture. As a result, the natural gas that had been stored within the Rager Mountain Storage Field escaped out of the well and into the atmosphere, extending across southern Pennsylvania, as well as portions of Maryland, Delaware, and over the Atlantic Ocean.

To stop the release, Equitrans hired a well control specialist to pump salt water down into the well to counteract the pressure of the gas coming out of the well casing.

This took several attempts, which heavily contaminated the soil, groundwater, and vegetation around the well with salt water.

Equitrans also has additional charges pending in Greene County, based upon a Presentment issued by the 51st Statewide Investigating Grand Jury [related to a 2018 natural gas explosion that destroyed a home.] [Read more here.]

This case is being prosecuted by Deputy Attorney General Shane T. Crevar.

Criminal charges, and any discussion thereof, are merely allegations and all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

Click Here for a copy of the criminal charges.

Click Here for a copy of the announcement.

[Oil & Gas Criminal Convictions, Record Penalties

[The oil and gas industry’s number of criminal convictions and record penalties and restitution for environmental and safety violations imposed by state agencies is among the worst of any industry. Read more here.

[Just in the last five years, nine Big Shale Gas-related companies have been convicted of criminal charges by the state Attorney General for environmental violations in Pennsylvania, including CNX Resources Corporation; Coterra Energy, Inc.; ETC Northeast Pipeline LLC [Energy Transfer Partners]; Sunoco Pipeline LP [Energy Transfer Partners]; Greylock Production, LLC; Inflection Energy; Range Resources; Shell Falcon Pipeline, LP; and Southeast Directional Drilling. Read more here.

[From 2009 to this year, the Department of Environmental Protection was involved in penalty settlements totaling over $129.7 million assessed against Big Shale Gas and related petrochemical industries for environmental violations.

[One company-- Energy Transfer Partners and related Sunoco Pipeline, LP and ETC Northeast Pipeline LLC-- account for over $48.1 million of those penalties. Read more here.

[The total penalties and restitution come to over $158 million. Read more here.]

(Photo: The Rager Mountain natural gas leak as seen from space, courtesy of the Environmental Defense Fund.)

NewsClips:

-- WJAC: Attorney General Files Charges Against Gas Company Responsible For 2022 Natural Gas Leak In Cambria County

-- Tribune-Democrat: Attorney General Files Charges Against Company Over 2022 Natural Gas Leak At Cambria County Storage Field

Resource Links - Rager Mountain:

-- DEP Issues $1.1 Million Civil Penalty To Equitrans For Violations Related To The Uncontrolled Venting Of 1.1 Billion Cubic Feet Of Gas From The Rager Mountain Gas Storage Area In Cambria County

-- Equitrans Determined Leak Of Over 1.1 Billion Cubic Feet Of Natural Gas From Cambria County Storage Facility Was Caused By Corrosion In Conventional Gas Well Casing

-- DEP/Equitrans Settlement: DEP, Preempted By Federal Law, Withdraws Order, Closes NOVs Against Equitrans For Cambria County Natural Gas Storage Leak Releasing 1 Billion Cubic Feet Of Natural Gas

-- DEP Issues Orders To Equitrans To Plug Additional Wells At Cambria County Underground Natural Gas Storage Facility, Bring Other Wells Up To Current Casing Standards And Take Other Actions

-- DEP Has Ordered A ‘Top To Bottom Review’ Of How It Regulates Underground Natural Gas Storage Areas As A Result Of The Equitrans Gas Leak In Cambria County In Nov.

-- After 14 Days, Efforts To Stop A Natural Gas Leak At A Cambria County Underground Gas Storage Area Have Apparently Been Successful