A Marcellus Shale driller’s lawsuit aimed at stopping Highland Township’s municipal ban on wastewater injection wells is moving forward, amid township attempts to have it thrown out by the court.
The lawsuit filed by Seneca Resources Corp. in Erie federal court in February asks a federal judge to overturn the township’s ban, calling it, among other things, unconstitutional and illegal.
But while the company touts a federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) permit for the project as trumping the local ban, lawyers for the township say the company has yet to complete a mechanical integrity test and that without it the permit remains invalid.
Township lawyers also argue a required permit from the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has yet to be obtained for the project.
“At present, Seneca cannot operate the well as an injection well, not because of the ordinance but because it has not obtained the DEP permit and has not satisfied the conditions set forth in the EPA permit,” the defense’s motion to dismiss reads.
In court filings, though, the company said the ordinance, not permitting issues, has prevented it from moving forward with the project involving the conversion of a working Highland Township gas well to the disputed injection well. The Houston-based oil and gas driller cites resulting financial injuries in seeking undisclosed damages through its lawsuit.
In earlier court filings, the company also says the DEP permit is in the works and the EPA permit was issued following a “rigorous technical review” of environmental and safety merits, a process that also included a public comment period. In Highland Township’s case public appeals of the federal permit were dismissed by a federal review board last year after it found some petitioners lacked standing or failed to meet filing deadlines.
Seneca said the review board also found the water supplies of concern to local officials and residents, which motivated the ordinance’s adoption by the township’s board of supervisors, are not in fact threatened by the well which it said will be located “outside the zone of endangering influence and in formations that will be protected through construction and operational requirements of the well.”
The township adopted the ordinance banning injection wells in 2013 in response to Seneca Resources’ plans to put one near the municipality’s James City water supply. Officials and their backers said an injection well there threatens local water quality and health.
And after years of threats over the ban’s legitimacy, Seneca filed suit earlier this year asking a court to intervene.
Last month, the board amended the ordinance to clarify the ban as only applying to wastewater injection wells, or those used to store byproducts of oil and gas drilling, like brine, at high pressures underground.
But Seneca said the amendment did little to correct issues with the ban which they say remains unlawful, a violation of the company’s right to do business and in direct conflict with state and federal laws over the activity.
As a result, its lawsuit is moving forward, court documents say.
The township’s board of supervisors is represented in court by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), a Mercersburg-based environmental law firm which helped to craft the 2013 municipal ordinance banning injection wells.
