The next step to putting a water treatment facility in Eulalia Township, Potter County, is in the hands of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
DEP is accepting written comments on Epiphany Allegheny LLC’s project until Monday. The company applied during the summer of 2017 for a permit to open a facility that would clean fracking water.
“I think it will be a benefit to the industry to have a successful, useful way to dispose of fracking water. I haven’t found anything that would make me not proceed with this project,” Coudersport Area Municipal Authority chairman Bill Krog told The Era Thursday.
The DEP held a meeting Jan. 16 on the project at the Gunzburger Building in Coudersport, and Mike Broeker, president/chief operating officer of Epiphany Water Solutions of Pittsburgh, said that 11 people spoke at the session, including many in support of the project.
“We want this facility to be an international showcase for this clean, efficient technology and for Potter County,” he said. “We expect our Epiphany System facility to host potential customers from throughout the United States to see our facility and to see firsthand scenic Potter County.”
He outlined the benefits the system will have on Potter County.
For instance, Broeker said the facility will provide $80,000 per year in added revenues to the municipal authority at no additional taxpayer cost.
“New permanent jobs and interim construction jobs will be created by this project,” he said. “Local subcontractors will be used for trucking and other outsourced services. The Epiphany facility will reduce pollution.”
In addition, the facility would significantly reduce truck traffic, resulting in more than 700 fewer tons of air pollution, Broeker said. He also said that the footprint of the Epiphany facility would be less than half an acre.
There has been some opposition against the proposed project, though. A citizen group, Save the Allegheny, formed in response to the partnership between Epiphany and the Coudersport Area Municipal Authority property. The group expressed concerns, including worry over the proposed facility’s proximity to Coudersport Elementary School.
Initially, the plant would process about 20,000 gallons of fluid per day through a cellular water treatment system, which uses distillation and mist evaporation.
The process involves removing minerals and heavy metals from the fluid.
“Solids are contained, dried and disposed of in state-licensed landfills,” according to a newsletter from the Natural Gas Resource Center of Potter County. “The brine that remains is processed in the second stage. Its by-products include distilled water, as well as salt that can be sold for commercial use such as road application.”
Wastewater would be transported to the processing plant in tankers and returned to well pads or processed through the borough’s treatment facility, the newsletter states.
There is no timeframe for the project, Krog said.
“It really depends on the permitting. That’s a DEP process. We just have to work on their timeline,” Broeker said.
Written comments can be sent to Thomas Randis, environmental program manager, at 208 West Third St., Suite 101, Williamsport, PA 17701; or via email at RA-EPNCEPIPHANY@pa.gov. Those with questions about the permitting process can contact Randis at 570-327-0530.
