It’s a win, for now, but Clara Township Supervisor Steve Mehl, for one, isn’t stopping.
A proposed injection well for Clara Township, Potter County, is off the table, with the company, Roulette Oil & Gas, withdrawing its petition.
However, Mehl wants to be sure this sort of thing doesn’t happen again.
He explained a bit of background on this permit. He said he was quite surprised to find out that on Dec. 31, 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency approved an application from Roulette Oil & Gas Co. to turn a well in Clara Township into an injection well.
“They never notified the township, never notified the county,” Mehl said. “Someone called me on Jan. 4, 2021, and said ‘Do you know what’s happening?’ We had no clue.”
It was a lengthy process, involving the state Department of Environmental Protection and assistance from state Sen. Cris Dush, R-Brookville, and Sen. Katie Muth, D-Royersford.
Neighboring townships of Roulette and Pleasant Valley were in support of Clara Township, too.
“Everyone is on well or spring water,” Mehl said, “would you want an injection well in your backyard?”
As the opposition grew, the DEP was notified that the oil and gas company was backing off.
Megan Lehman, DEP spokesperson, said, “On Thursday, September 14, Roulette Oil & Gas contacted DEP to withdraw the change-of-use application for the Clara Field #20 in Clara Township, Potter County.”
That doesn’t mean the fight is over. Mehl, who said he served in the military for 41 years, isn’t one to give up before the problem is solved. And there’s a lot to fight for in Potter County, he added.
“The county commissioners are the guardians of the Triple Divide,” he said, “the headwaters of three major bodies of water. Water is life.”
The chance that an injection well might pollute the ground or water in God’s County of Potter County is not a gamble Mehl is willing to take.
“We had an injection well ordinance created in 1987 by previous supervisors,” he said, explaining the current board is working to strengthen it. “It’s about procedure, if and when we do go to court, we’re strengthening the township code to have better standing in the court of law.”
He’d like to see Potter County create an ordinance banning injection wells, as Fayette County has already done.
“Why any organization would think they can take their toxic waste and inject it into our community is beyond me,” Mehl said. “Why would any group want that?”
Referring to his military service, Mehl said he was in places around the world where disease was rampant because of contaminated water.
“I do believe in American energy independence, but there’s a difference between producing and injecting,” he said. “You can be for energy jobs, but no one who has any common sense can be in support of injection wells.”
Problems seen in Ohio with injection wells have convinced Mehl. “Ohio has been a guinea pig. They’ve been sold a bill of goods that’s really not true.”
Pennsylvania has 12 active injection disposal wells for wastewater that drillers can’t recycle. Ohio had 228 in 2021, according to Inside Climate News, which said investigations showed waste had migrated to other wells through abandoned wells and endangered water supplies.
“I’m not an activist,” Mehl said. “We’re just trying to make a living and enjoy life.
“If an industry is making profits in the billions, and they take their waste and push it on the American people, especially in rural townships, then something is wrong,” he continued. “This is not the 1970s. They need to be able to clean up their own waste without poisoning the American people.”
According to the DEP’s fact sheet on the Roulette Oil & Gas plan, the permit application was accompanied by an erosion and sedimentation plan, a control and disposal plan, a casing and cementing plan and the permit issued by the EPA.
As part of the DEP’s process, the application is reviewed by a geologist, a water quality specialist and an inspector before the process goes to public comment.
