"The facility, in Plum Borough outside Pittsburgh, would be the state’s 15th “injection” well. Pennsylvania’s gas industry has never had a comprehensive plan for disposing of vast quantities of highly polluting produced water."
"Attorneys representing Plum Borough and an environmental group opposed to fracking said in arguments on Tuesday before Commonwealth Court in Pittsburgh that a proposed second “injection” well for disposing of toxic fracking wastewater would violate the borough’s zoning code.
Penneco Environmental Solutions, an oil and gas company, began operating its first disposal well in the rural community 19 miles northeast of Pittsburgh in 2021 and has since encountered stiff opposition from borough residents over both the current and proposed wells, called Sedat 3A and Sedat 4A, respectively.
The case in Commonwealth Court is being closely watched by the environmental community and the state’s gas industry at a time when Pennsylvania frackers produce billions of gallons of toxic “produced water” each year extracting gas from the Marcellus Shale but are running out of places to dispose of it.
Until recently, most of the state’s produced water had been trucked to Ohio’s 200-plus injection wells. But well operators in Ohio, under pressure from nearby residents and environmentalists, are starting to balk, and Pennsylvania itself has just 14 injection wells. Sedat 4A in Plum Borough would be the 15th."
Jake Bolster reports for Inside Climate News October 10, 2023.
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