Monday, April 28, 2025

EPA Will Hold May 6 Virtual Hearing On Proposed Permit For A Sandstone Development Oil & Gas Wastewater Injection Well In Lafayette Twp., McKean County

On April 28, the US Environmental Protection announced by email it will
hold a May 6 virtual hearing on a proposed underground oil and gas wastewater injection well for enhanced recovery of oil and gas owned by Sandstone Development, LLC in Cyclone, Lafayette Township, McKean County.

Sandstone applied for one UIC Class IIR injection well permit for the injection of produced fluids in the McKay 7A conventional well for the enhanced recovery of oil and gas in the McKay Lease area.

The draft permit will allow Sandstone to inject up to 10,500 gallons of oil and gas wastewater a day into the Upper Devonian Kane Sandstone Formation in the subsurface interval between approximately 2,295 feet to 2,315 feet below ground surface.

If the EPA issues the final permit to Sandstone, the permit will remain in effect for the operational life of the facility.

Hearing

The virtual hearing will be held on May 6 starting at 6:00 p.m..  No in-person hearing will take place.

The call-in number is (484) 352-3221, Conference ID: 381 733 216#

The hearing will also be available by Microsoft Teams.

There is no need to register in advance for the virtual hearing.

Comment Deadline Extended

The deadline for public comments has been extended to May 20.  Comments can be submitted by email to: R3_UIC_Mailbox@epa.gov

Click Here for a copy of the application, public notice and other information on the Sandstone Development, LLC UIC application.

Another Injection Well In Cyclone

In January 2024, DEP issued a permit to Catalyst Energy, Inc. for a controversial oil and gas wastewater injection well in Cyclone, Keating Township, McKean County.

EPA issued a permit for the well in August of 2022.

DEP’s permit has since been appealed.

See Resource Links for articles related to this injection well and water well issues in the same area.

NewsClip:

-- Bradford Era: Another Oil & Gas Wastewater Injection Well Proposed In McKean County; Hearing Will Only Be Held By Public Request  [PDF of Article]

Resource Links - McKean Injection Wells:

-- Homeowner Complaint Results In DEP Emergency Plugging Of A Penn Resources, Inc. Conventional Oil Well Leaking Gas, Oil, Wastewater In McKean County  [PaEN]  [Lafayette Twp.]

-- Exploding Water Well Shed Triggers DEP Investigation Of 59+ Abandoned Conventional Oil & Gas Wells In Cyclone, McKean County; Highlights Limits On Providing Temporary Water For Well Owners Impacted [PaEN] 

-- Marcellus Drilling News: DEP Approves Catalyst Energy Oil & Gas Wastewater Injection Well In McKean County [Jan. 26 Inspection Found Gas Bubbling From Well]  [PaEN] 

-- Guest Essay: DEP Ignored Abandoned Wells During Oil & Gas Wastewater Injection Well Permitting Process  [PaEN]

-- 40 Individuals File Appeals, Most Handwritten, Of DEP’s Permit For Catalyst Energy Oil & Gas Wastewater Injection Well In McKean County  [PaEN] 

-- Environmental Hearing Board Denies Supersedeas, Allows Operation Of Catalyst Energy, Inc. Oil & Gas Wastewater Injection Well In McKean County During Appeal [PaEN] 

-- Bradford Era: 7-Part Series Details Concerns Residents Of Cyclone, McKean County Have With Catalyst Energy Oil & Gas Wastewater Injection Well  [PaEN]

PA Oil & Gas Industry Public Notice Dashboards:

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - April 26 to May 2: Contaminated Livestock Water Supply; Ruptured Gathering Pipeline; Failure To Comply With Shale Gas Well Plugging Order  [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices, Opportunities To Comment - May 3 [PaEN]

-- DEP Received Air Quality Permit For 4.6 Gigawatt Homer City Generation Natural Gas Power Plant For Data Center In Indiana County  [PaEN] 

-- DEP Posted 77 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In May 3 PA Bulletin  [PaEN]  

Related Articles This Week:

-- PA Senate Committee Meets May 7 On Bill To Punish Communities Taking Steps To Protect Their Residents From Health, Environmental Impacts Of Shale Gas Drilling  [PaEN]

-- Ohio River Valley Institute May 6 Webinar To Announce New Report On The Growing Cost Of Plugging Thousands Of Shale Gas, Conventional Oil & Gas Wells  [PaEN] 

-- Conventional Oil & Gas Well Owners Continue To Push DEP To Legalize Road Dumping Their Wastewater  [PaEN] 

-- Consol Conventional Well Plugging Incident Contaminates A Livestock Water Supply, 2 Springs, Stream In Morris Twp., Greene County  [PaEN]  

-- Conventional Oil Well Storage Tank Rupture Causes 2,100 Gallon Spill Of Wastewater, Crude Oil In Upper Burrell Twp., Westmoreland County  [PaEN] 

-- 6-Inch Conventional Natural Gas Gathering Pipeline Rupture Causes Spill In Rostraver Twp., Westmoreland County; State Agencies Have No Jurisdiction Over Safety Issues  [PaEN] 

-- EPA Will Hold May 6 Virtual Hearing On Proposed Permit For A Sandstone Development Oil & Gas Wastewater Injection Well In Lafayette Twp., McKean County  [PaEN]

-- Capital & Main - Audrey Carleton: Fracking Gas-Powered Cryptocurrency Mining Operation In PA Shuts Down Without A Word To Regulators, Site Found Abandoned  

-- PJM Interconnection: 51 Generation Projects, 9.3 GW To Move Forward To Address Near-Term Electricity Demand Growth-- 39 Upgrades, 12 New Construction  [PaEN] 

-- Gov. Shapiro, CNX Resources Announce New Shale Gas Well Pad Air Monitoring Initiative  [PaEN] 

-- Environmental Defense Fund To Receive Dickinson College Rose-Walters Prize For Environmental Activism  [PaEN] 

NewsClips:

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: Shapiro, CNX Expand Air Quality Monitoring At A Shale Gas Drilling Site In Washington County

--  TribLive: Proposed TECfusions Data Center To Use 2 Gigawatts Of Natural Gas-Fired Electric Generation In First Phases [‘No Health Effects’ To The Community From Burning Fossil Fuels]

-- PA Reps. Nelson, Mullens, Barton Announce Legislation To Accelerate Data Center Permitting 

-- TribLive: Eastern Gas Transmission & Storage Hosted An Open House Tuesday On The Proposed Appalachian Reliability Gas Pipeline Project In Westmoreland 

-- LevitttownNow.com: Waste Management Opens $131 Million Landfill Gas Facility In Falls Twp., Bucks County 

-- Inquirer - Frank Kummer: How Bucks County Landfill Produces Enough Gas To Power 63,000 Homes

-- Utility Dive: Electric, Gas Utilities Urge FERC To Launch Inquiry To Consider Natural Gas Pipeline Reliability Measures To Cope With Extreme Weather, Increased Demand

-- Grist.org: President Bypassing Community Input In US Army Corps Of Engineers Permits To Fast-Track Energy Projects That Risk Pollution

-- Financial Times: China Says It Can Live Without US Farm, Energy Goods  [PA Exported $3.1 Billion In Farm Products To China In 2023]

-- Center For Biological Diversity: Federal Court Orders EPA To Reconsider Approval Of Unlimited Oil/Gas Fracking Air Pollution In Colorado

-- Courthouse News Service: Federal Court Finds EPA Overlooked Oil/Gas Fracking Emissions In Regulating Colorado Air Pollution 

-- S&P Global: Reality Will Force President To Moderate US Energy ‘Drill, Baby, Drill’ Policies: Fmr FERC Chair 

[Posted: April 28, 2025]  PA Environment Digest

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