Some Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling news from across the border: a proposed privately constructed, privately operated wastewater treatment plant near Athens, PA Towanda Daily Review Wastewater treatment plant proposed BY BRIAN BISHOP STAFF WRITER Published: Wednesday, June 3, 2009 3:14 AM EDT The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has received a permit application for a water treatment plant to treat wastewater from the natural gas well drilling process in Athens Township.
The application for a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit was received by DEP from Somerset Regional Water Resources LLC of Tunkhannock on May 15, according to Dan Spadoni, a spokesman for DEP’s North Central Regional Office in Williamsport. The proposed site for the water treatment plant is a lot in the Valley Business Park off of Wilawana Road, which is currently a cornfield, according to an Act 14 notification of the application received by the Bradford County Office of Community Planning and Grants. Act 14 notifications are received by the county on a variety of projects, such as water withdrawal, water discharge and water crossings, according to Ray Stolinas, Bradford County planning director. Stolinas said that while the county has received notifications for water withdrawals, the planned Athens Township facility is the first proposed water treatment and discharge site in the county. If constructed, the plant would employ an estimated 30 people, the notification stated, with a start date for construction listed as fall of 2009. The plant will treat up to a million gallons of wastewater produced in the gas well drilling process a day before discharging it into the Chemung River, Spadoni said. The application is “administratively complete,” Spadoni said, but hasn’t yet undergone the DEP approval process. Spadoni was unsure of how long that process would take, as DEP has numerous applications for similar plants pending review. DEP has received applications for seven new facilities along the West Branch of the Susquehanna, Spadoni said. Most of those applications are for plants planned to process between 400,000 and 500,000 gallons of water per day. At a proposed 1 million gallons a day, the plant in Athens Township would be the largest such facility in the area, Spadoni said. Spadoni said the proposed facility was the only one on the Chemung River or North Branch of the Susquehanna River (which the Chemung flows into) that the North Central Regional Office of DEP had received an application for, but noted that the North Branch of the Susquehanna flows out of that office’s jurisdiction and he would not be aware of any plans for similar facilities outside of his office’s jurisdiction. Before the application is approved, it must be published in draft form in the Pennsylvania Bulletin for a 30-day public comment period before DEP makes a final decision on the project, Spadoni said. The NPDES permit would specify how clean wastewater must be when it leaves the plant, Spadoni said. To begin actual construction of the project the company would have to apply for a Water Quality Management permit as well, he said. The NPDES permit is usually obtained before a company would file for a Water Quality Management permit, he said, as the NPDES permit will have a bearing on the final design of the structure. In addition to the DEP permitting process, the plant would have to go through the zoning process at the local level, Stolinas said. Officials from Athens Township said they hadn’t received any information on the facility yet. Brian Bishop can be reached at (570) 888-9652; or e-mail: [email protected]. _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins Questions about the list? ask [email protected] free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
