Pillar Energy injection well has potential to pollute local streams and perhaps the Cheat River
From an Article by Rick Steelhammer, Charleston Gazette, January 20, 2020
After receiving 1,100 comments opposing a permit to dispose of nearly 600 barrels of brine and other drilling waste daily by injecting it into an inactive well along a Tucker County stream, the state Department of Environmental Protection has agreed to hold a public hearing on the matter.
The permit, sought by Pillar Energy LLC of Charleston, would authorize the operation of a disposal well along Horseshoe Run near the community of Leadmine to serve the company’s gas drilling activity in the area. The disposal well is located within about 250 feet of the trout stream, according to a map accompanying the permit application.
According to the Friends of Blackwater, a public hearing on the permit request is expected to take place sometime in March, following a two-month extension of a public comment period that ended last week.
Comments submitted to the DEP by members of the conservation group raised concerns about the dangers of drilling waste leaking from the injection well or nearby storage tanks into the groundwater or Horseshoe Run, a tributary of the Cheat River. Major flooding took place along Horseshoe Run in July 2018 and June of last year, they noted.
If the permit in its current form is issued, it “could undermine years of restoration work on the Cheat that has been completed to return ecological health to the watershed,” said Judy Rodd, Friends of Blackwater director.
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FRIENDS Of BLACKWATER Invite Participation in Public Hearing
On Thursday March 5th, from 5-8 PM, the WV Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is holding a public hearing for the Pillar underground injection well permit renewal that FOB is opposing, worried that it will contaminate Horseshoe Run and the Cheat River.
Join us at the hearing at the Tucker Co Board of Education Gym at 100 Education Ln, Parsons, WV 26287 (above RT. 72 north of the Parsons stop light) and sign our petition here to stand with FOB and 1700 other supporters to oppose this potential source of water pollution.
CONTACT US: FRIENDS OF BLACKWATER, PO Box 247
571 Douglas Rd, Thomas WV 26292. 304-345-7663
info@saveblackwater.org. — https://saveblackwater.org
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See also: Tri-State Environmental wants to put two injection wells on a piece of land in Barnesville OH | WTOV News 9, March 2, 2020
“There’s definitely not a reason for the public to be concerned. Brine is water that is naturally occurring in the earth,” said ODNR’s Adam Schroeder. [This is certainly a misleading statement as the brine contains many trace elements some of which are radioactive. DGN, FCWV].
The public comment period is open through March 14.
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