VENANGO CO., Pa. — Seven violations and 14 permits for local gas and oil drilling activities were issued over the past month by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in and around Venango County and surrounding areas.
The following violations were issued in October:
Venango County: Seven environmental, health, and safety violations to Xite Energy Inc. on October 19 at drill sites in Cornplanter Township as follows:
– Three cases of failure to plug the well upon abandoning it
– One case of operator utilized the surface casing or casing functioning as the water protection casing as the production casing for a well(s) drilled, altered, reconditioned, or recompleted after February 5, 2011that did not meet the department’s exceptions for such wells
– One case of operator failed to drill a hole at least one inch greater than the outside diameter of the casing collar or casing coupling
– Two cases of operator failed to follow one of the approved requirements and notify the department after cement used to permanently cement the surface or coal protective casing failed to surface despite pumping a volume of cement equal to or greater than 120 percent of the calculated annular space.
The following gas permits were issued in October and early November:
Butler County:
– One permit to PennEnergy Resources LLC in Winfield Township on the Per W45 property
– Two permits to Re Gas Dev LLC in Oakland Township on the Frye property
– Three permits to Range Resources Appalachia LLC in Clinton Township on the John Allen property
– Three permits to XTO Energy Inc. in Butler Township on the AK Steel property
– Four permits to PennEnergy in Jefferson Township on the West property
— One permit to Re Gas in Oakland Township on the Shields property.
Also, Range Resources has started drilling on the John Allen site in Clinton Township, Butler County.
Data about drilling activities include reports from the DEP at www.depwebstate.pa.gov and SkyTruth at https://alerts.skytruth.org.
To report an incident, contact the DEP office, 230 Chestnut Street, Meadville, PA 16335, or call 814-332-6945, or call 800-373-3398 after hours.
