The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has given their approval for a wastewater underground injection well for Grant Township in Indiana County.
The Yanity 1025 well near East Run, will be operated by Pennsylvania General Energy Company. Acting DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell says the applications met all regulations, and the plans submitted are sufficient to protect surface water and water supplies, and also suppress pollution.
Grant Township officials and citizens have been fighting against the installation of the injection well for the past four years. This included activating a community bill of rights in 2014 to maintain clean air, land and water, and the citizens changing Grant Township to a home rule government in November of 2015 to strengthen the power of local leaders to manage its land and waters. The township had filed a lengthy objection to the plan, saying the permit doesn’t disclose underground formations that would allow brine and other fluids to seep into the nearby ground and surface water supplies, and the high-pressure injection could force fluid to other abandoned wells that are not equipped to handle the waste.
The approval does have some conditions. A seismometer and continuous recorder will be put in place to monitor earth movement, seismology data must be captured and provided to research groups in real time, submission of a tectonic seismic contingency plan, and a provision to update the seismic monitoring and mitigation plan when needed.
Thirty-five people submitted public comment on the issue. You can view those comments in the full report from the DEP by going to http://www.dep.pa.gov/Business/Energy/OilandGasPrograms/OilandGasMgmt/Pages/Underground-Injection-Wells.aspx
