Plum residents raise objections to 2nd proposed oil and gas well

The Plum Zoning Hearing Board will reconvene on March 31 as the borough and environmental advocacy group Protect PT expect to wrap up testimony in their case against allowing development of a second injection well at a site along Old Leechburg Road.

The board continued the hearing for a third session after hearing Thursday from two residents who said their lives have been disrupted by living near an existing injection well Penneco Environmental Solutions operates at the site.

Katie Sheehan became emotional while testifying that she has been troubled by water quality concerns and truck traffic and noise since Penneco Environmental Solutions began operating the existing well.

She said a second such well would add to the problems.

Sheehan said she’s experienced nausea and headaches and odors similar to mold or a chemical. She said she no longer feels safe using her well water and has paid to have water trucked to her home.

“Now I have a 4-month-old daughter, and I have to worry about the effects that she’s going to have,” she said.

Sheehan acknowledged that a study of her water supply by state environmental officials could not demonstrate a link to the well operations.

A separate university analysis of her drinking water found “higher-than-recommended levels of several elements,” she said, but that study was rejected as evidence.

Penneco is seeking a zoning variance so it can convert a natural gas well on the 69-acre property into an injection well — to dispose of waste fluids, known as brine, from oil and natural gas operations.

Located about 1,000 feet from the existing injection well, the second well has similar dimensions —measuring 6 to 8 inches in diameter and running about 1,800 feet below the surface.

The second well requires a zoning variance because, according to Penneco, it is situated about 350 feet from a property line. Borough regulations require such a well to have a setback of at least 500 feet from the nearest property line.

Appearing at the request of Protect PT, mapping and data science expert Matt Kelso cited what they say is a discrepancy in descriptions of the second well’s location that were included among various documents submitted to officials by Penneco.

Protect PT has argued that having a second well at the Plum site will endanger the health of residents in the community.

Protect PT consultant Makenzie White, who is a public health practitioner, testified about harmful substances that may occur in well brine — including radium, which can decay into radon, a known cancer-causing gas.

Penneco attorney Amanda Cashman said the material is contained within piping and would not be released from the well unless a mishap were to occur.

The company has said having a second injection well online would increase capacity of operations at the site by 50%, from 30 to 45 loads of brine per day.

Sheehan said that additional truck traffic would add to the noise that disturbs her.

“It’s very loud,” she said. “It wakes you up in the middle of the night. That’s when most of the truck traffic occurs.”

“I can hear it in the mornings, at 2 or 3 a.m.,” said her father, Frank Smolenski, who lives across the road from her. “There are three or four trucks in a row.”

Greg Coudriet, who completed an acoustics study for Penneco based on the site’s existing well, testified that three trucks off-loading brine at the same time would not exceed the maximum noise level permitted by the borough — which is 60 dBa at the property line, according to zoning board Solicitor Gavin Robb. That weighted decibel measurement expresses the relative loudness of sounds as perceived by the human ear.

Coudriet placed the sound of the well operation itself at 34 dBa at a distance of 100 feet, adding that “30 decibels is sort of the level of a whisper.”

Attorney Tim Fitchett, who is representing Protect PT, said he expects to call two more expert witnesses when the zoning hearing resumes — including one meant to counter Coudriet’s evidence.

The borough engineer also is slated to testify.

Penneco has operated a natural gas well on the Plum property since 1989.

The borough zoning hearing board initially approved Penneco’s plan for the second injection well in January 2022, saying at the time that it had no power to regulate such wells and a decision to reject the plan would be overturned in court.

The company also obtained a permit from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to operate an underground injection well at the site.

After Protect PT and the borough appealed the initial zoning decision, the state Commonwealth Court eventually ruled that the borough zoning panel can add conditions to the approval of an injection well.

The court ordered the zoning board to reconsider the necessity of the proposed expansion to a second injection well at the site, to make findings of fact and to consider whether additional requirements protecting public health, safety and welfare apply.

Penneco has noted that, in addition to increasing capacity, having a second injection well in place would allow operations to continue if one of the wells is offline for servicing.