WILLIAMSPORT – A Chesapeake Energy company engaged in fracking in the Marcellus Shale region of Pennsylvania, will pay a $1.9 million fine and remediate environmental issues for failing to properly protect wetlands areas at 76 oil and gas well sites in five counties statewide.
The United States of America and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection of Harrisburg filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on March 24 versus Chesapeake Appalachia, LLC, of Charleston, W.Va.
The suit alleges Chesapeake violated the Clean Water Act and various Pennsylvania laws by placing fill or dredged material in wetland streams during the construction or operation of well pads, pipelines and impoundments, in the course of its fracking activities.
To that point, Chesapeake notified the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, DEP and the Army Corps of Engineers in 2014 that it initiated an audit to identify unauthorized discharges of dredged and fill materials.
The lawsuit contends that said illegal activity occurred at 76 different properties in Beaver, Bradford, Sullivan, Susquehanna and Wyoming counties.
Concurrently, the plaintiffs filed a consent decree to resolve the litigation, while neither admitting nor denying liability.
Under its terms, Chesapeake is to do the following:
• Pay $1.9 million in civil penalties, half of which will go to the DEP;
• Obtain permits to restore or mitigate impacts to aquatic life for 55 wetland acres and 4,410 linear feet of streams, some of which flow into the Susquehanna River;
• Provide for two years to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, DEP and the Army Corps of Engineers upon their request, a list of all its oil and gas facilities;
• Maintain for two years a compliance representative with the responsibility for oversight of all activities involving discharges of dredged or fill materials, or encroachments into waterways;
• Pay a fine beginning at $1,000 per day for any violation.
At the signing of the consent decree, Chesapeake will then be enjoined from creating obstructions or encroachments in streams, unless they comply with the Clean Water Act or applicable Pennsylvania state laws.
The plaintiffs may seek court approval to terminate the agreement, if the full civil penalty has been paid and there has been full compliance of all requirements. The plaintiffs further explained that Chesapeake previously signed a consent decree resolving similar allegations against it in West Virginia, in 2014.
“This settlement resolves many violations over several years and leads to a net increase of wetlands and restored streams,” DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell said.
McDonnell added the settlement “is a significant benefit to Pennsylvania’s public natural resources through restoration and replacement and, in particular, will result in a net increase of wetlands in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.”
The consent decree is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval. Chesapeake, which had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June in a Texas court, left Chapter 11 in February.
The plaintiffs are represented by Laura Jane Brown of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environmental and Natural Resources Division in Washington, D.C. and Margaret O. Murphy of Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection, in Harrisburg.
The defendant is represented by Andrew T. Bockis of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr in Harrisburg, plus Jason Hutt of Bracewell, LLP, in Washington, D.C.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania case 4:21-cv-00538
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com