Maps
Pennsylvania Bulletin Listings

PROPOSED RULEMAKING Control of VOC Emissions from Oil and Natural Gas Sources
Annual Ambient Air Monitoring Network Plan

eFACTS Listings

JEANETTE GLASS 70 Drill & Operate Well Permit Adoption Issued 5/27/2020 (New)
DOGBONE CENTRALIZED WATER FACILITY RW General Permit Renewal, Fac
SHAMROCK COMP STA Minor Facility Plan Approval New Source Performance Std Extension Issued 5/20/2020
S PA GATH SYS ABAN PPL 7709 & 7844 PROJ GP8 & GP11 BWM-GP-11 Maintenance, Testing, Repair, Rehabilitation or Replacement General Pmt Issued 5/20/2020
S PA GATH SYS ABAN PPL 7709 & 7844 PROJ GP8 & GP11 GP-08 Temporary Road Crossings Issued 5/20/2020

Notes




Source: Pennsylvania Bulletin

PROPOSED RULEMAKING
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY BOARD
[ 25 PA. CODE CHS. 121 AND 129 ]
Control of VOC Emissions from Oil and Natural Gas Sources
[50 Pa.B. 2633]
[Saturday, May 23, 2020]

 The Environmental Quality Board (Board) proposes to amend Chapters 121 and 129 (relating to general provisions; and standards for sources) to read as set forth in Annex A. This proposed rulemaking will add §§ 129.121—129.130 to adopt reasonably available control technology (RACT) requirements and RACT emission limitations for oil and natural gas sources of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions which are in existence on or before the effective date of this proposed rulemaking, when published as a final-form rulemaking. These sources include: storage vessels; natural gas-driven pneumatic controllers; natural gas-driven diaphragm pumps; reciprocating and centrifugal compressors; and fugitive emissions components. This proposed rulemaking will also add definitions, acronyms and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) methods to § 129.122 (relating to definitions, acronyms and EPA methods) to support the interpretation of the measures.

 This proposed rulemaking will be submitted to the EPA for approval as a revision to the Commonwealth's State Implementation Plan (SIP) following promulgation of the final-form rulemaking.

 This proposed rulemaking was adopted by the Board at its meeting on December 17, 2019.

A. Effective Date

 This proposed rulemaking will be effective upon final-form publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.

B. Contact Persons

 For further information, contact Virendra Trivedi, Chief, Division of Permits, Bureau of Air Quality, Rachel Carson State Office Building, P.O. Box 8468, Harrisburg, PA 17105-8468, (717) 783-9476; or Jennie Demjanick, Assistant Counsel, Bureau of Regulatory Counsel, Rachel Carson State Office Building, P.O. Box 8464, Harrisburg, PA 17105-8464, (717) 787-7060. Information regarding submitting comments on this proposed rulemaking appears in section J of this preamble. Persons with a disability may use the Pennsylvania AT&T Relay Service, (800) 654-5984 (TDD users) or (800) 654-5988 (voice users). This proposed rulemaking is available on the Department of Environmental Protection's (Department) web site at www.dep.pa.gov (select ''Public Participation,'' then ''Environmental Quality Board'').

C. Statutory Authority

 This proposed rulemaking is authorized under section 5(a)(1) of the Air Pollution Control Act (APCA) (35 P.S. § 4005(a)(1)), which grants the Board the authority to adopt rules and regulations for the prevention, control, reduction and abatement of air pollution in this Commonwealth. Section 5(a)(8) of the APCA also grants the Board the authority to adopt rules and regulations designed to implement the provisions of the Clean Air Act (CAA) (42 U.S.C.A. §§ 7401—7671q).

[Details omitted; see the link below for the full text.]

J. Public Comments

 Interested persons are invited to submit to the Board written comments, suggestions, support or objections regarding this proposed rulemaking. Comments, suggestions, support or objections must be received by the Board by July 27, 2020.

 Comments may be submitted to the Board by accessing the Board's online comment system at http://www.ahs.dep.pa.gov/eComment.

 Comments may also be submitted by e-mail to RegComments@pa.gov. A subject heading of this proposed rulemaking and a return name and address must be included in each transmission.

 If an acknowledgement of comments submitted online or by e-mail is not received by the sender within 2 working days, the comments should be retransmitted to the Board to ensure receipt. Comments submitted by facsimile will not be accepted.

 Comments may also be submitted to the Board by mail or express mail. Written comments should be mailed to the Environmental Quality Board, P.O. Box 8477, Harrisburg, PA 17105-8477. Express mail should be sent to the Environmental Quality Board, Rachel Carson State Office Building, 16th Floor, 400 Market Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101-2301.

K. Public Hearings

 In accordance with Governor Tom Wolf's emergency disaster declaration and based on advice from the Department of Health regarding the mitigation of the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the Board will hold three virtual public hearings for the purpose of accepting comments on this proposed rulemaking. The hearings will be held as follows:

June 23, 2020, at 6 p.m.
June 24, 2020, at 2 p.m.
June 25, 2020, at 6 p.m.

 Persons wishing to present testimony at a hearing must contact Jennifer Swan for the Department and the Board, at either (717) 783-8727 or RA-EPEQB@pa.gov a minimum of 24 hours in advance of the hearing to reserve a time to present testimony.

 Witnesses must be a resident of this Commonwealth to provide testimony. Organizations are limited to designating one witness to present testimony on their behalf at only one hearing. Verbal testimony is limited to 5 minutes for each witness. Video demonstrations and screen sharing by witnesses will not be permitted.

 Witnesses are requested to submit written copy of their verbal testimony by e-mail to RegComments@pa.gov after providing testimony at the hearing.

 Information on how to access the hearings will be available on the Board's webpage found through the Public Participation tab on the Department's web site at www.dep.pa.gov (select ''Public Participation,'' then ''Environmental Quality Board''). Prior to each hearing, individuals are encouraged to visit the Board's webpage for the most current information for accessing each hearing.

 Any members of the public wishing to observe the public hearing without providing testimony are also directed to access the Board's webpage. Those who have not registered in advance as described previously will remain muted for the duration of the public hearing.

 Persons in need of accommodations as provided for in the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 should contact the Board at (717) 783-8727 or through the Pennsylvania AT&T Relay Service at (800) 654-5984 (TDD) or (800) 654-5988 (voice users) to discuss how the Board may accommodate their needs.

PATRICK McDONNELL, 
Chairperson
<http://www.pacodeandbulletin.gov/Display/pabull?file=/secure/pabulletin/data/vol50/50-21/684.html>
This item is up for comment at the DEP's official eComment web site:
<https://www.ahs.dep.pa.gov/eComment/>
DEADLINE: 7/27/2020

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NOTICES
DEPARTMENT OF
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Pennsylvania's 2020 Annual Ambient Air Monitoring Network Plan
[50 Pa.B. 2787]
[Saturday, May 30, 2020]

 The Department of Environmental Protection (Department) is seeking public comment on Pennsylvania's 2020 Annual Ambient Air Monitoring Network Plan (Plan). The Plan has been updated to address changes that have been made in the Commonwealth's ambient air monitoring network and to identify changes that are anticipated to occur in the remainder of 2020 and in 2021.

 On October 17, 2006, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) promulgated final amendments to the National ambient air monitoring requirements for criteria pollutants at 40 CFR Parts 53 and 58 (re- lating to ambient air monitoring reference and equivalent methods; and ambient air quality surveillance). See 71 FR 61236 (October 17, 2006). The EPA's final rule requires state and local agencies to enhance air monitoring to ''improve public health protection and better inform the public about air quality in their communities.'' Under 40 CFR 58.10 (relating to annual monitoring network plan and periodic network assessment), air quality state and local monitoring agencies must adopt an annual air monitoring network plan and make the plan available for public inspection for at least 30 days prior to final submission to the EPA Regional Administrator. The Plan, which is due July 1, 2020, must include a statement of purpose for each monitor and evidence that siting and operation of each monitor meets Federal requirements. The EPA may also provide an opportunity for review and comment prior to approving or disapproving a state's monitoring network plan.

 The Plan is available on the Department's web site at www.dep.pa.gov/Business/Air/BAQ/Pages/default.aspx or by contacting Nick Lazor at nlazor@pa.gov or (717) 783-9268.

 The Department must receive comments no later than Monday, June 29, 2020. Commenters are encouraged to submit comments using the Department's online eComment tool at www.ahs.dep.pa.gov/eComment or by e-mail to ecomment@pa.gov. Comments submitted by facsimile will not be accepted. All comments, including comments submitted by e-mail, must include the commenter's name and address. Written comments may be mailed to the Policy Office, Department of Environmental Protection, Rachel Carson State Office Building, P.O. Box 2063, Harrisburg, PA 17105-2063. Use ''2020 Annual Monitoring Network Plan'' as the subject line in written communication.

PATRICK McDONNELL, 
Secretary
<http://www.pacodeandbulletin.gov/Display/pabull?file=/secure/pabulletin/data/vol50/50-22/711.html>
The actual plan is available here:
<http://www.depgreenport.state.pa.us/elibrary/GetDocument?docId=1677071&DocName=DRAFT%20-%20PENNSYLVANIA%E2%80%99S%202020%20ANNUAL%20AMBIENT%20AIR%20MONITORING%20NETWORK%20PLAN.PDF%20%20%3C>

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Source: Reuters Commodities: Energy Notes:

The Dogbone Centralized Water Facility has a long and complex history in which Fayette Marcellus Watch has been deeply involved, having commented on the original WMGR123 permit, and having alerted the Fayette County Office of Planning, Zoning, and Community Development to the fact that this facility needed a Special Exception from the Zoning Hearing Board. That case, ZHB 17-41, resulted in two hearings, at which objections were raised by members of both Fayette Marcellus Watch and Freedom From Fracking. The Zoning Hearing Board never issued a signed resolution in that case, whereupon Chevron asserted a "Deemed Approval" under the Municipalities Planning Code, meaning that they received their Special Exception as applied for. (Apparently there was a draft resolution from the ZHB that included conditions.) Freedom From Fracking appealed the Deemed Approval to the Fayette County Court of Common Pleas as Case # 1108 of 2018. That case is still ongoing.

As originally applied for, Chevron intended to build a tank farm consisting of 5 one-million-gallon tanks (scaled back from 6 during the application review) to contain both "fresh" water and flowback / produced water; the intent was for water to be delivered via both trucking and pipelines (in which water would flow in both directions between the tank farm and well pads). Chevron subsequently announced (orally) that their plans had changed to only two tanks with no frackwater. This assertion was repeated in court by Chevron's attorney during oral argument in the appeal case.

The renewal application indicates that Chevron intends no modifications since the original permit. If Chevron has no intent to store frackwater in the Dogbone Centralized Water Facility, they don't need a WMGR123 permit. One can only guess they are renewing the permit in preparation for selling off their Chevron Appalachia assets (as announced to the public in December).

The story of exactly what happened behind the scenes in the Zoning Hearing Board's failure to issue a signed resolution in case ZHB 17-41 has not been made public.

DEP defines an environmental justice area as "any census tract where 20 percent or more individuals live in poverty, and/or 30 percent or more of the population is minority". (See:
<https://www.dep.pa.gov/PublicParticipation/OfficeofEnvironmentalJustice/Pages/default.aspx>). There are supposed to be enhanced public participation requirements for permits in environmental justice areas, but news of this actually ever happening is scarce. In Fayette County, the entirety of Redstone, Springhill, Nicholson, and German Townships are environmental justice areas, as well as a large part of Dunbar Township. DEP's policy document on public participation guidelines for environmental justice areas is located here:
<https://www.elibrary.dep.state.pa.us/dsweb/Get/Version-48671/012-0501-002.pdf>

eNOTICE records are likely to list the same permit multiple times, as that permit moves through the DEP process.

Oil & Gas Wells designated with a site a number and the letter H typically designate horizontal wells.

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Resources:

Pennsylvania Bulletin: <https://www.pabulletin.com/>

eNOTICE: <https://www.ahs2.dep.state.pa.us/eNOTICEWeb/>

DEP Oil and Gas Reports: <https://www.dep.pa.gov/DataandTools/Reports/Oil%20and%20Gas%20Reports/Pages/default.aspx>

DEP Permits Issued Detail Report:
<https://www.depreportingservices.state.pa.us/ReportServer/Pages/ReportViewer.aspx?/Oil_Gas/Permits_Issued_Detail>

DEP SPUD (drilling started) Report:
<https://www.depreportingservices.state.pa.us/ReportServer/Pages/ReportViewer.aspx?/Oil_Gas/Spud_External_Data>

DEP Oil and Gas Compliance Report:
<https://www.depreportingservices.state.pa.us/ReportServer/Pages/ReportViewer.aspx?/Oil_Gas/OG_Compliance>

DEP PA Oil & Gas Mapping:
<https://www.depgis.state.pa.us/PaOilAndGasMapping>

Data Portal Services Directory [Technical]
<https://www.depgis.state.pa.us/arcgis/rest/services>
Query: Oil and Gas Wells All (ID: 3) [Technical]:
<https://www.depgis.state.pa.us/arcgis/rest/services/OilGas/OilGasAllStrayGasEGSP/MapServer/3/query?where=&text=&objectIds=&time=&geometry=&geometryType=esriGeometryEnvelope&inSR=&spatialRel=esriSpatialRelIntersects&relationParam=&outFields=*&returnGeometry=true&returnTrueCurves=false&maxAllowableOffset=&geometryPrecision=&outSR=&returnIdsOnly=false&returnCountOnly=false&orderByFields=&groupByFieldsForStatistics=&outStatistics=&returnZ=false&returnM=false&gdbVersion=&returnDistinctValues=false&resultOffset=&resultRecordCount=&f=html>
(Be sure to enter a Where clause in SQL format. Dates are in milliseconds since midnight 1/1/1970).

DEP Oil and Gas Electronic Submissions
<https://www.ahs.dep.pa.gov/eSubmissionPublicSearch>

DEP Oil and Gas Electronic Notifications
<https://www.depreportingservices.state.pa.us/ReportServer?/Oil_Gas/OG_Notifications>

DEP Oil and Gas Well Pad Report
<https://www.depreportingservices.state.pa.us/ReportServer?/Oil_Gas/Well_Pads>

Fayette County Assessment Office Search For Tax Records:
<http://property.co.fayette.pa.us/search.aspx>

Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access:
<https://www.pasda.psu.edu/default.asp>
DEP Spatial Data Repository:
<ftp://www.pasda.psu.edu/pub/pasda/dep/>

National Response Center:
<https://www.nrc.uscg.mil/>

EPA-Echo: <https://www.epa-echo.gov/echo/compliance_report_air.html>

FERC citizen involvement: <https://www.ferc.gov/for-citizens/get-involved.asp>

Follow the directions and enter the docket number to subscribe to.

Township  Supervisors receive information regarding Erosion & Sedimentation permits, and these records may be reviewable at township municipal offices.

DEP permits are reviewable through the File Review process, for application to do file review see: <https://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/southwest_regional_office/13775/file_review/593164>

Environmental Hearing Board: <https://ehb.courtapps.com/public/index.php>

PA DEP Environmental Policy Comment System:
<https://www.ahs.dep.pa.gov/eComment/>

Federal Register Environment: <https://www.federalregister.gov/environment>

SkyTruth Fayette County Drilling Alerts: <https://frack.skytruth.org/pennsylvania-frack-alerts/fayette_pa>

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Pittsburgh District, Public Notices:
<https://www.lrp.usace.army.mil/Missions/Regulatory/Public-Notices/>

EPA Pennsylvania Public Notices: <https://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/epa-pennsylvania#notice>

Energy Assurance Daily: <https://www.oe.netl.doe.gov/ead.aspx>

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Disclaimers:

This compilation from the above sources was done in part by hand using copy and paste and in part using automated methods; it may omit relevant permits.

Parcel data is provided via the tax records search web page offered by the Fayette County Assessment Office (http://property.co.fayette.pa.us/). Presumed Parcel Id links are subject to availability provided by that agency and associated web sites. Presumed Parcel Ids are determined as the mapped parcel containing a given latitude and longitude, are a best effort determination which is subject to error, and are not official. In cases where a facility is leased and there is a separate parcel id for the lease, if this parcel id is not separately mapped, the parcel id shown will be the id for the enclosing parcel. Parcel owners may be surface owners only and may or may not have any relationship to oil & gas facilities.

Does not currently include water supply permits. Does not include landfill permits even though many such are for Marcellus Shale waste. (It is not possible at this time to distinguish which landfill permits are for Marcellus Shale waste and which are not without doing File Review for each permit.)

Erosion & Sedimentation permit records do not currently include latitude and longitude. Where I am publishing latitude and longitude with E&S permits it is by inferring an associated well permit and using published latitude and longitude for the well. It is possible I may be inferring the wrong well site.

Municipalities are shown from eFACTS records on the DEP web site. The DEP has been known to list a municipality incorrectly.