CYCLONE — A town hall meeting to address the appeals process regarding approval of a permit for an oil and gas wastewater injection well off Pithole Road is set for 10 a.m. to noon Saturday.
The meeting — addressing the state Department of Environmental Protection’s approval of Catalyst Energy Inc.’s underground injection control well — will take place at the Hilltop Volunteer Fire Department, 4351 Route 646.
Catalyst intends to transport more than 30 loads of oil and gas wastewater per day, in semi-sized tankers, along Route 646 to the well site. There is no requirement for the company to put up a bond in the event that repairs are required for the increase in road use by heavy trucks, according to information reported at an earlier town meeting with the company and residents.
A routine inspection of the existing well, inspection record number 3700826, was performed by the DEP days after the approval of the permit to Catalyst. DEP Oil and Gas Inspector Douglas Welsh, noted the following in his remarks: “This well is now permitted to be changed to a disposal well. The flange and slips for the 4½-inch casing are a little below ground level and covered with water. There is gas bubbling on the outside of the 4½-casing.”
A follow-up inspection was to take place the same day, yet no record of it has been revealed.
The people of the Cyclone area have Laurie Barr, co-founder of Save Our Streams, working on their behalf. Barr has been an advocate of the people and the environment in Potter County, and helped to stop an injection well plan from going through at the Clara Township location. Save Our Streams is a well-plugging advocacy group that promotes raising awareness of the environmental, health, safety, economic and regulatory issues associated with Pennsylvania’s lost, orphan and abandoned oil and gas wells.
Additionally, Cyclone residents are concerned about the lack of information on the hundreds of old wells in the area that were not identified or factored into the agreement when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the DEP approved Catalyst’s well plan. The concern that there are plenty of pathways for fluid migration was shown at a September meeting by way of a 1937 map of the area. The map detailed each spot that had been drilled and looked like a pin cushion.
For the Keating Township Board of Supervisors meeting set for Aug. 4, 2021, the EPA Injection Well Permit was listed on the agenda under “communication.” However, there was no further information regarding the permit.
The township supervisors in 2021 included Jim McClain, John Anderson and Robert Wheeler. Doug Covert had resigned in the July 28, 2021, special meeting.
Dennis Johnson, one of the residents who has been working to stop the injection well, had previously spoken at the Sept. 1, 2021, supervisors meeting a month after the federal EPA Injection Well Permit had been brought up.
Per the meeting minutes, Johnson related to those at the meeting that he had “spoken with someone in the EPA regarding the injection well in Cyclone and he stated that there is not going to be a public meeting due to not enough interest. The company did state that the public has until Sept. 23, 2021, to make a public comment,” the minutes read.
Nothing more was said at any township meeting, according to the minutes, in 2021 or 2022. In November of 2023, a resident inquired about the injection well, the minutes read. No response was recorded from Supervisors Dana Spittler, Anderson, or McClain.
Current Supervisors Anderson, McClain, and Ryan Herzog have not addressed the matter in 2024.
The deadline to file an appeal to the DEP is Feb. 22. Forms and assistance filling them out is available on Saturday. Senator Cris Dush, R-Brookville, has forms available in his Smethport office location as well. Otherwise, a Notice of Appeal form and the Environmental Hearing Board’s rules of practice and procedure can be obtained online at http://ehb.courtapps.com or by contacting the Secretary to the Board at (717) 787-3483.
