(The Center Square) — Both local residents and elected officials say they oppose a proposed injection well in Fayette County for wastewater from natural gas and oil development.
The well would hold the waste fluid – or “brine” – about 3,400 feet below the surface, according to an EPA public notice, and the issuing permit would last for 10 years.
The permit would allow G2 STEM, a Virginia-based company, to pump “a monthly maximum injection volume of 77,500 barrels” into the well in Nicholson Township, with one barrel being equal to 42 gallons.
The EPA held a hearing on July 11 and public comments on the well are due by July 26. Rep. Charity Grimm Krupa, R-McClellandtown, spoke out against the well at the meeting.
“I understand the intent of these disposal wells is to avoid contamination of our groundwater and subsurface water,” she said. “However, I have some serious concerns.”
In a recent newsletter, Krupa said the water in the wells can be “toxic” and “sometimes contain radioactive material.
“If anything goes wrong, Nicholson Township will bear the brunt of the consequences,” she said. “Plus, if the company requesting this disposal well were to file for bankruptcy, innocent landowners may have to foot the bill for the clean-up due to the Brownfield Act.”
The Center Square tried to reach the EPA for comment, but received no response.
The agency did note in public documents that no drinking water wells were within the area reviewed for the permit and the well, named Higinbotham #1, “is situated in the lowest seismic risk area in the state.”
G2 STEM also has a mandated financial burden within the rules of the permit, with the EPA requiring “financial responsibility and resources to close, plug and abandon the Injection Well” for a cost in excess of $135,000.
“The government has an obligation to protect its citizens,” Krupa said. “I ask that the EPA ensures one of the poorest regions in Pennsylvania is protected from unnecessary toxins being pumped into the land we live on.”
