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Concerned Residents, Advocates Call On DEP For The Opportunity To Comment On Proposed Roulette Oil & Gas Waste Injection Well In Potter County

By Laurie Barr, Save Our Streams PA

Residents of Clara Township in Potter County and environmental advocates are calling on the Department of Environmental Protection to provide them with an opportunity to weigh in on an injection well planned for their community.

The agency is currently reviewing an application submitted by Roulette Oil and Gas to convert the Clara 20 well, an active conventional gas well into a Class ll-D injection well in Clara Township.

Nearing the end of the process, a decision to approve or deny the request could be made soon, according to the DEP permitting geologist who is reviewing the application.

If approved, this Class ll-D injection well permit may be the first in the Commonwealth to be authorized in PA through a streamlined process with very limited public scrutiny.

It’s my opinion DEP has no business considering this application, or any other application. The DEP's database is filled with erroneous records. There are detailed inspection reports on file with the department for wells that were never drilled.

Additionally, the agency exceeded their workload capacity long ago and has not been able to enforce regulations in a manner that is protective of the environment.

That’s particularly evident at the site of the proposed injection well by Roulette Oil and Gas.

Clara 20 is currently an active gas well with storage tanks nearby. The storage tanks, according to inspection reports, are not properly labeled. Trees are growing through the plastic liner of the containment surrounding the tanks.

Photos of the large trees are attached to Clara 20's most recent DEP inspection report.

Nearby in State Game Lands 59, many of the wells operated by Roulette Oil and Gas (since 2017) have signage identifying Allegheny Enterprises (the previous operator) as the operator.

[In addition, Barr has reported and has photos of a tanker truck used by Roulette to haul wastewater has no vehicle license and an inspection sticker dated 2007 even though it travels on public roads.]

[Click Here for photos of the State Game Lands 59 site.]

The agency received the application to convert the well into an injection well in August of 2022.

DEP officials have refused requests from the Clara Township supervisors and environmental advocates to publish a notice in the local paper or PA Bulletin.

The officials and groups have also requested a public meeting and public comment period.

According to the Meadville DEP there will be no public meeting, public hearing or public comment period.

The DEP has offered to hold a conference to answer questions regarding the permit application, however the department has refused to make it available to the public on the agency's website ahead of time.

Very few Potter County residents are even aware the Class ll-D injection well permit is pending.

“A conference call is not a public meeting nor is it a public hearing. A proper public participation process involves both, as well as a written comment period to make the process as transparent and inclusive as possible. Pre-determined participants and cherry-picked questions selected by regulators in advance is quite the opposite of what public participation is supposed to be about,” said Karen Feridun, Co-founder of the Better Path Coalition.

The DEP has been asked to provide a link to the application on the agency's Underground Injection Well page so it would be available to Clara residents and other stakeholders and the agency refused.

Through a FOIA request the agency provided me with an un-shareable link to the application. It's been downloaded and made available here.

Every community throughout the oil and gas regions of the Commonwealth has skin in this game.

Injection wells threaten water supplies, the health of the environment and bring down property values.

A decision made behind closed doors may set a precedent for Class ll-D injection well permitting. This presents a real challenge to lower income and rural communities like Clara Twp.

These communities are more vulnerable, having limited resources to defend against operators looking for destinations for the oil and gas industry's waste.

[For more information on the application, visit the Save The Allegheny River website.]

[Note: The company obtained an EPA injection well permit for the site in December 2021.]

(Photos: Top- Trees growing through liner around storage tanks, wellhead - DEP inspection photos; Bottom- Clara well site - DEP inspection photo; unlicensed and uninspected truck used to haul drilling wastewater. This is where hundreds of thousands of gallons of drilling wastewater would be deposed of.)

Related Articles - Injection Well:

-- Local Officials, Residents, Advocacy Groups Call On DEP To Conduct A Robust Public Participation Process For Oil & Gas Waste Injection Well Applications

-- Clara Township Residents Push Home Rule To Protect Environment From Drilling Waste Injection Well In Potter County

PA Oil & Gas Public Notice Dashboards:

-- Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - April 15 to 21; 10 Abandoned Well NOVs; New Crude Oil Leak; Defective Casing/Cementing [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment - April 22 [PaEN]

-- DEP Posts 75 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In April 22 PA Bulletin [PaEN]

Related Articles This Week:

-- House Environmental Committee Sets April 24 Hearing On Plugging Abandoned Conventional Oil & Gas Wells; New Bill Restores Authority To Increase Conventional Well Bonding [PaEN]

-- Inside Climate News: Gov. Shapiro Provides Fresh Support To Key Changes Recommended In 2020 Grand Jury Report To Tighten Regulation Of The Natural Gas Drilling Industry To Better Protect Public Health, Environment [PaEN]

-- New State Health Plan Identifies Health Issues Related To Natural Resource Extraction, Climate Change In Top 5 Threats To Health Outcomes; No Update On University Of Pittsburgh Oil & Gas Health Impacts Study [PaEN]

-- Independent Regulatory Review Commission Approves Final Emergency Regs Setting VOC/Methane Emission Limits On Conventional Oil/Gas Operations [PaEN]