Some Plum residents, officials and local activists are continuing to push against the possibility of a second injection well in the borough.

Delmont-based Penneco Environmental Solutions is looking to launch a second injection well on a site off Old Leechburg Road, where the company has had one Sedat injection well in operation since spring 2021.

The first well was approved as a nonconforming use because the borough’s zoning code did not have anything specifically covering injection wells. Since then, Penneco applied for a second injection well within the same site, characterizing it as an expansion of the existing nonconforming use.

Plum’s zoning board approved that measure, but the borough has joined a number of residents and environmental groups in opposing the injection well.

In a public hearing in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, Commonwealth Court heard debate on the proposed new injection well, called Sedat 4A, which would actually convert a well originally drilled in 2004. Tim Fitchett, a lawyer for Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services, said it is unclear when the court will rule on the matter.

The court could rule to send the measure back to the zoning board for additional consideration or could nix the zoning board’s decision, sending Penneco back to the beginning of the process for approval.

Amanda Cashman, who represented Penneco on Tuesday, argued Penneco went through the proper process with its proposal. If the zoning board had wanted to place conditions on the proposal in response to residents’ concerns, it could have done so, she said, “and it chose not to do so.”

The injection well, she said, could cause a “minor” traffic increase, but “the facility itself is not changing.”

Cashman told the court there has been no evidence the development would impact the community’s health, safety or welfare.

Residents and activists, however, continued to voice concerns the site could be harmful to their health and water supplies.

After Tuesday’s hearing, Katie Sheehan, who lives near the site, said she is concerned about water contamination from the site.

“Once the water’s contaminated, there’s nothing we can do,” she said.

Sheehan has lived adjacent to the site for three years in a home previously owned by her grandmother. She said she’s concerned living that close to the Penneco facility could be harmful.

“I’m already feeling the mental and physical effects,” she said.

Laura Dagley, a nurse who has voiced opposition to the project, said the injection well could expose nearby residents to contaminants that could cause asthma attacks, respiratory illness and — over long periods of time — cancer and cardiac issues.

The injection well, she said, is “gambling with people’s health.”

Penneco claims the injection wells are safe, as the wastewater is “returned to the confining geologic layers where it occurs naturally” and “only injected into the geologic strata where the water is not suitable for drinking.”

The wells are highly regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency and constructed with several layers of protective materials, including steel and cement, according to the company.

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