Marcellus drilling & fracking leading to LNG exports?
Stone Energy to pay $177,500 in EPA deal
From an Article by Ken Ward Jr., Charleston Gazette, November 4, 2014
A Louisiana company [with offices and operations in West Virginia] will pay $177,500 to resolve environmental violations cited by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at two natural gas operations in West Virginia, the EPA has announced.
Stone Energy Corp. agreed to the penalty settlement after EPA had cited the company for Clean Water Act violations that occurred during construction of two Marcellus Shale well pads and access roads.
EPA said that the company filled in about 680 feet of tributaries of Fishing Creek at the Weekley Well Pad and 420 feet of Duerrs Run and an associated tributary at the Maury Well Pad, in both instances without first obtaining a “dredge-and-fill” permit from the federal Army Corps of Engineers.
“Stone’s failure to apply for and receive a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before dredged or fill material, such as dirt or stone, was discharged into the waterways resulted in the violation,” EPA said in a press release. “This permit requirement protects important aquatic resources, and preserves their environmental, recreational, and economic functions, including flood control, water filtration, and wildlife habitat.”
In a disclosure filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Stone Energy said that EPA had cited the company in November 2012 and March 2013 for actions at those two locations after inspection three of Stone’s operations. Stone said it accepted EPA’s settlement offer in June 2014. The SEC filing did not explain what happened with the third site inspected by EPA.
Two other instances of unpermitted discharges in the oil and gas industry — involving Chesapeake Energy and TransEnergy — have prompted federal criminal pleas by companies. David McLeon, special agent in charge of EPA’s regional criminal division, said that his office was not involved in the Stone Energy matters covered by the agency’s civil settlement.
Last year, Stone Energy agreed to pay a $284,000 penalty in a deal with the state Department of Environmental Protection over an incident at a drilling site in the Wetzel Lewis Wildlife Management Area, where what the company described as a “slope failure” sent soil and debris into area streams.
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I’m glad for Ken Ward’s reporting on this, and frackcheckwv!
On Stone Energy at the Lewis Wetzel Wildlife Management Area, since I’m very familiar with their activity: The “slope failure” at #47-103-02680 is certainly not the only issue they’ve had in the WMA. An earlier pad of theirs in the same area slipped badly as well, and there was a violation on record for this at: https://apps.dep.wv.gov/oog/violations_new.cfm.
As a result, the creek involved (Wyatt Run) was, and is, badly affected and that is a shame. The whole area is now an industrial zone, not a WMA.
A few questions I would like answers to:
Why can’t I find this violation (or the one mentioned above) now? Was this a fine as well? How can we assess the industry without some reliable means to assess damages? Is this a win-win as far as industry/government is concerned, a lot of money for them and for us a legacy of blasted hills and ruined streams?