EQT fined for hitting abandoned mine, causing leak during pipeline construction

Amy Sisk

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Amy Sisk reports for StateImpact Pennsylvania and WESA, Pittsburgh's NPR member station. She comes to Pennsylvania from another energy-rich state, North Dakota, where she told stories from coal mines, wind farms and the Bakken oil patch for Inside Energy and Prairie Public Broadcasting. Amy's stories often air on NPR, including those from the eight months she spent following the Dakota Access Pipeline protests. A reporting trip to the Bakken during its boom years sparked her interest in energy. Ever since, she's covered the industry -- from the way it is regulated to its influence on policy to its impact on people and the environment.

Michael Rubinkam / AP Photo

A shale gas drilling rig in Washington, Pa.

November 13, 2018 | 6:05 PM

State environmental officials have fined natural gas operator EQT for drilling into an old mine in 2017 and releasing 4 million gallons of abandoned mine drainage into the Monongahela River and surrounding wetlands in Allegheny County.

The company was drilling under State Route 136 to create a route for a pipeline meant to carry water from the river to a natural gas well site. In the process, it inadvertently hit an abandoned coal mine, which caused the leak, according to an agreement between the company and the Department of Environmental Protection that the state released Tuesday.

DEP has levied a $294,000 penalty against the company.

The leak occurred in Forward Township south of Pittsburgh in January 2017. DEP said when the company applied for a permit for the project, EQT had relied upon maps of the area that classified the status of nearby abandoned mines as either “not flooded” or “unknown.”

EQT has since established new procedures to do a field investigation if the risk of a leak is unclear, according to the agreement.

Company spokesperson Linda Robertson said in an email that EQT took immediate action to stop the flow of mine drainage.

“Safety is a core value for everyone at EQT and we strive to respect and protect the land, as well as the members of the communities in which we operate,” she said.

The company has also agreed to put an additional $100,000 toward a mine drainage project at the site.