DEP fines pipeline company $250,000 for violations in Lycoming County

The Department of Environmental Protection fined NFG Midstream Trout Run for violating the state Clean Streams Law 13 times over a seven-month stretch beginning in October, 2011. The infractions occurred during the construction of a 16-mile length of pipeline running from a Seneca Resources well pad in McIntyre Township to the Transco transmission pipeline in Loyalsock Township. DEP says the company discharged sediment into local streams.
“NFG’s failure to implement and maintain erosion and sediment control best management practices resulted in several sediment discharges into unnamed tributaries to Mill Creek and Lycoming Creek, Lycoming Creek, and an exceptional value wetland,” wrote DEP district director John Ryder in a release.
Although DEP says the waterways were impacted, the department says it didn’t document any effects on aquatic life. The fine seems small compared to DEP’s recent $4 million dollar assessment against Range Resources. But it still tops the highest fine incurred by the oil and gas industry in 2013, which was $198,500 paid by Seneca Resources.
 

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