Leatherwood LLC is a company related to Consol Energy. The DEP notice of violation was emailed to an @ConsoleEnergy.com email address.
[Note: On August 12, 2025, DEP issued violations to Leatherwood LLC for failing to report how waste from restored drill sites was disposed of safely from 31 conventional wells in Greene and Westmoreland counties. Read more here.]
[Note: Last week, DEP issued violations to Iron Cumberland LLC for illegal disposal of 66,780 gallons of drilling fluids from conventional well plugging operations at the Emerald Mine No. 1 coal refuse disposal area #2 in Franklin Township, Greene County.. Read more here.]
The conventional wells involved in this week’s violations were the Leatherwood LLC Cheek 1 well in Aleppo Township, Greene County and the Dunn Mar Oil & Gas Co. Fred R. Lightner 673 well in Morris Township, Greene County.
The drilling fluid was dumped in the Consol Coal Company Bailey Mine Coal Refuse Disposal Area #5 in Richhill Township, Greene County.
19,152 gallons were from the Cheek 1 well and 24,024 gallons from the Lightneer 674 well.
DEP said it learned of the illegal disposal from the Well Site Restoration Reports filed by the well owner.
Leatherwood LLC was cited for violations under both the Oil and Gas regulations and the Solid Waste Management Act.
DEP requested the owner to "submit a full and complete list of all wells within Leatherwood, LLC’s inventory where known or suspected waste was generated, transported, and/or disposed of at CRDAs (coal refuse disposal areas)."
Leatherwood LLC holds 225 permits, including 6 wells DEP listed as abandoned.
There is no record in eFACTS of a DEP permit ever being issued for the Cheek 1 well and it was last inspected on December 4, 2024.
Dunn Mar Oil & Gas Co. holds 46 permits, including one abandoned well.
There is no record in eFACTS of a DEP permit ever being issued for the Lightner 673 well and it was last inspected on March 24, 2025.
DEP also requested the owner to "retain and preserve all documentation" related to the well sites and asked for a response within 15 days of receiving the notice of violation.
Click Here for a copy of the notice of violation.
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.
Resource Links:
-- DEP Issued Violations To Iron Cumberland, LLC For Illegally Disposing Of 66,780 Gallons Of Conventional Well Plugging Wastes At Coal Refuse Disposal Area In Greene County [PaEN]
-- DEP Issues Violations For Failing To Report How Waste Was Disposed Of Safely From 133 Conventional Oil & Gas Wells, Including 50 Owned By CNX Gas Company [PaEN]
[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 - August 16 to 22 - Conventional, Shale Gas Wastewater Spilling All Over, Seeping From Hillsides; 4th Pipeline Construction Spill; Where Did You Put That Waste? [PaEN]
-- DEP Issues Violations For Failing To Report How Waste Was Disposed Of Safely From 133 Conventional Oil & Gas Wells, Including 50 Owned By CNX Gas Company [PaEN]
-- DEP: 3rd & 4th Spills From Horizontal Drilling At EQM Gathering Pipeline Project In Washington County; Overflowing Tanks; Water Supply Complaint Investigated [PaEN]
-- DEP: Contaminated Wastewater Found Seeping From Saturated Shale Gas Well Pad Fill Slope In Great Bend Twp., Susquehanna County [PaEN]
-- DEP: Day 38 Of Cleanup: Borehole Found Under Stormwater Basin During Continuing Cleanup Of Repsol Shale Gas Well Pad After A 34-Hour Uncontrolled Wastewater Release In Bradford County [PaEN]
-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices, Opportunities To Comment - August 23 [PaEN]
-- DEP Now Accepting Bids To Plug 7 Conventional Gas Wells In Washington County [PaEN]
-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission Approved 57 Shale Gas Well Pad Water Use General Permits In June/July; 282 In 2025 [PaEN]
-- DEP Posted 61 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In August 23 PA Bulletin [PaEN]
Related Articles This Week:
-- Conventional Oil & Gas Well Owners Pushing 3 More Ways To Legalize Road Dumping Their Wastewater; Not Clear How The Public, Put At Risk By Dumping, Will Be Involved [PaEN]
-- Susquehanna River Basin Low Flow Water Conditions Trigger Water Withdrawal Restrictions On 47 Shale Gas Development Water Withdrawal Points In PA [PaEN]
-- Joint State Government Committee Identifies 382 Potential Sites For Geothermal Facilities Using Abandoned Mine Pools; Geothermal Energy Could Reduce A.I. Data Center Energy Demand By 30-40% [PaEN]
-- In Case You Missed It: A.I./Data Center Articles & NewClips From Last Week - August 24 [PaEN]
NewsClips:
-- Middle Susquehanna RiverKeeper Blog: More Than 1.3 Million Gallons Of Oil & Gas Wastewater Stored At Eureka Resources Facility In Williamsport Without Required Alarms Among Violations DEP Issued 10 Days Prior To River Spill
-- Middle Susquehanna RiverKeeper Blog: Initial Radioactivity Scan Show No Elevated Levels From Eureka Resources Oil & Gas Wastewater Spill In Williamsport
-- Middle Susquehanna RiverKeeper Volunteers Find Persistent Oily Waste From Eureka Resources Oil & Gas Wastewater Treatment Plant Spill In Williamsport; Advise Public To Avoid Recreational Use Of River For Now
-- PennLive - John Beauge: DEP Issued Violation 10 Days Before Tank At Eureka Resources Oil & Gas Wastewater Facility Leaked Oily Discharge Into Susquehanna River
-- PennLive - John Beauge: Oily Substance From Tank In Closed Oil & Gas Wastewater Treatment Plant Leaks Into Susquehanna River [PDF of Article]
-- Williamsport Sun: Extensive Cleanup Underway After Oil Substance Leaks Into River In Williamsport [PDF of Article]
-- The Derrick: Leak Found In Service Station Underground Gasoline Tank In Downtown Titusville, Crawford County
-- Post-Gazette/Inside Climate News: Pennsylvania Lured The Shell Petrochemical Plant To The State With A $1.65 Billion Tax Break, Now The Company Wants To Sell The Plant
-- PA Capital-Star/Inside Climate News: Pennsylvania Lured The Shell Petrochemical Plant To The State With A $1.65 Billion Tax Break, Now The Company Wants To Sell The Plant
-- The Allegheny Front/Inside Climate News: Pennsylvania Lured The Shell Petrochemical Plant To The State With A $1.65 Billion Tax Break, Now The Company Wants To Sell The Plant
-- Williamsport Sun Editorial: Natural Gas Remains ‘Keystone’ Of Future Economic Growth [PDF of Article]
-- Reuters: Drop In Natural Gas Demand Signals 2 Top LNG Gas Exports Facilities May Have Outages
-- The Guardian: US Pipeline Protester’s Obstruction Conviction Overturned By Minnesota Appeals Court Finding ‘Pervasive’ Prosecutorial Misconduct
[Posted: August 20, 2025] PA Environment Digest
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