DEP Penalizes EQT for Release of Abandoned Mine Drainage into Monongahela River

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Pittsburgh, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced that EQT Production Company (EQT) has paid a $294,000 civil penalty prescribed in a consent order and agreement for Clean Streams Law violations in Allegheny County.

On January 29, 2017, EQT was using horizontal directional drilling (HDD) to bore a hole under State Route 136 for the construction of its Monongahela to Rostosky Waterline located in Forward Township, Allegheny County. During boring activities, EQT inadvertently bored into the abandoned Gallatin mine causing a discharge of abandoned mine drainage (AMD) into the Monongahela River. EQT planned to use the waterline to transport freshwater from the Monongahela River to the Rostosky well site for use in unconventional well development.

Up to the time that EQT stopped the discharge on January 31, 2018, approximately four million gallons of AMD were illegally discharged through the waterline borehole to unnamed tributaries to the Monongahela River, the Monongahela River, and associated wetlands.

When EQT applied for an Erosion and Sediment Control General Permit authorization for earth disturbance associated with this waterline project in July 2016, EQT stated that several abandoned coal mines were within the limit of disturbance of the site. EQT had relied on regional mapping that generally described mine pools as “not flooded or unknown” but did not undertake any further investigation. There were seeps of orange water near the area of the waterline borehole.

EQT has stated that since the incident, it has implemented an internal multi-department process to prevent future mine water releases. EQT also constructed a subsurface collection and conveyance system to reestablish the collection and drainage system in place at the time of the release. This and all violations in the COA were corrected by August 17, 2017. EQT also agreed to establish a $100,000 fund with the Clean Streams Foundation to provide for the maintenance, operation, and replacement of the system.

A copy of the signed COA can be found here.