Legal Advocacy
Our Legal Advocacy in Southwest PA
Protect PT advocates for the constitutional rights of Pennsylvania residents to clean air, pure water, and the preservation of the environment. Members participate in appeals to public officials and government agencies charged with protecting your health and environmental rights.
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Find more information about each case below.
Drakulic Well Pad
Drill and Operate Permits:
Apex Energy, LLC, since acquired by CNX Resources, by its subsidiary WCAA Upstream, LLC (WCAA), obtained special exception zoning permits for a total of 7 well pads in Penn Township. Drakulic is one of those well pads and is located on 1st Street in Penn Township, adjacent to Trafford PA. Apex initially applied for the D&O permits in 2021, but because the permits expire in one year if drilling does not occur, those first permits expired and Apex was required to refile its application. Protect PT had appealed the second set of permits.
The Environmental Hearing Board (EHB), the adjudicative body that hears appeals from permits granted by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP), held hearings in January of 2025 on the PA DEP’s issuance of drilling and operating permits for fracking wells by WCAA at the Drakulic Well Pad.​​ Protect PT objected to well permits for Apex's 1H and 7H wells. The EHB rendered its decision in June and upheld the issuance of the permits by the DEP, however the hearing board amended the permits to include conditions on the well pad that WCAA (formerly Apex) had agreed to in a Consent Judgment that it had entered into with Penn Township in 2016. Protect PT appealed the EHB’s decision to uphold the issuance of the permits to the Commonwealth Court. WCAA appealed the EHB’s amendments to the permit requiring compliance with the provisions contained in the Consent Judgment.
Sedat 4A Injection Well
Residents Prevail in Plum, Blocking Penneco’s Hazardous Fracking Waste Injection Well!
On September 23, 2024, the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County issued an order that returned the Sedat 4a injection well permit back to the Plum Borough Zoning Hearing Board. The Court ordered the Zoning Hearing Board to clarify its original Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law. The Commonwealth Court explained in its opinion that the Zoning Hearing Board was free to deny the injection well permit, if it found that Penneco did not meet the required standards. The Zoning Hearing Board had the option to draw its conclusions from the transcript of original hearing held in 2022, or to conduct another hearing on the matter. The Board decided to conduct another hearing, which took place in March of 2025.
Guardian Compressor Station
In January 2024, Olympus, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Hyperion Midstream (Hyperion) filed for a Special Exception zoning permit for the Guardian Compressor Station (Guardian). Guardian is located between the Aphrodite pad and the Poseidon pad, between Pleasant Valley Road and Ramalley Road, near the Valley Landfill. A compressor station is associated with pipelines for the produced gas. It compresses the gas for transmission through the pipeline. Protect PT challenged the Special Exception zoning permit application before Penn Township’s Zoning Hearing Board. The hearings were held one night a month, over the course of nine months. The Zoning Hearing Board granted the permit and we have now appealed that decision to the Common Pleas Court, Westmoreland County, Judge Smail. Olympus challenged Protect PT’s right to bring the appeal, based on standing. In order to bring legal action, an individual or group must have personal stake or involvement in a particular issue and the result of a decision about that issue must have the potential to impact them in a significant way. Olympus is challenging whether we have enough members who will be sufficiently impacted by this decision for our case to go forward. Judge Smail is currently determining whether to schedule a hearing on the matter of standing.
Pictured: June 2024's packed Compressor Station Hearing with our Environmental Consultant, Makenzie White, as an Expert Witness.
Pictured from left to right: Community Advocate, Jim Cirilano and Protect PT's attorney Lisa Johnson, Esq. at the April 2024 Compressor Station Hearing
Pictured: Our Environmental Consultant, Makenzie White, serving as an expert witness at the June Compressor Station Hearing.
Slickville Pipeline
Protect PT along with Three Rivers Waterkeeper, in a joint appeal to the Environmental Hearing Board are challenging the DEP’s grant of a permit for a produced waste pipeline to CNX Midstream that would traverse and imperil 54 wetlands, 43 streams, and two ponds, in the area around Slickville, Pennsylvania. We have filed our appeal and are now in the discovery stage of the proceedings.
Aphrodite Well Pad
Olympus Energy, LLC (Olympus) received approval from Penn Township for its Aphrodite Well Pad off Pleasant Valley Road and Ramalley Road, near the Valley Landfill. After receiving approval from the Township, Olympus applied for Drill and Operate (D&O) permits from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Protect PT appealed the grant of the D&O permits to the Environmental Hearing Board (EHB), on the basis of violations of the Environmental Protection Amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution, Article 1, Section 27 (ERA). Protect PT alleged that because of the introduction of PFAS and PFOA type chemicals, the release of radioactive materials (TNORMs) into the township and the failure of the Commonwealth to adequately regulate those activities, the grant of the D&Os violated the ERA. This case will soon see motions and arguments before trial on which claims can go to trial.
The Well Pad Placement:
Olympus had applied for the Aphrodite Well Pad in January 2022 and the hearings concluded in June, 2022, findings of fact and conclusions of law were issued in August 2022 and the Aphrodite pad was granted the permit by Penn Township. Olympus then applied to the DEP for an erosion and sedimentation permit. Protect PT objected, pointing out to the DEP that the proposed pad interfered with an intermittent stream. Olympus then moved the pad to avoid the stream, and applied to Penn Township for a land disturbance agreement. Protect PT appealed this to the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland County, arguing that Olympus could not change the location of the well pad without another hearing before the Zoning Hearing Board (ZHB).
The matter was heard by Judge Smail and he ruled against Protect PT. This matter is on appeal to the Commonwealth Court, briefing is complete, and we await oral argument.
The OG71b Permit Allowing the Burial of Radioactive Waste in Penn Township:
In June of 2024, the DEP granted Olympus’ request to be permitted to bury radioactive drill cuttings on the Aphrodite pad instead of hauling them away for proper disposal. The permit that Olympus requested is called an “OG71b” and it is issued by the DEP without a hearing on the matter. Protect PT appealed the grant of this permit to the EHB contending that Olympus is not entitled to such a permit, and that burying radioactive waste is dangerous and improper.
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​In order to obtain a permit to dispose of waste through an OG71b, it must be based on a disposal system that is currently in place and permitted through an existing OG71a. There also must not be any violations associated with the original OG71a that the proposed OG71b is based on. The first Aphrodite OG71b was derived from a waste permit granted to the Olympus Calliope well pad. The Calliope disposal permit had numerous violations, however, which would void any potential OG71b for Aphrodite. Olympus then applied for an OG71b based on a prior waste disposal permit granted to the Olympus Metis well pad. Olympus claimed the Metis waste disposal permit is substantially different from Calliope’s. Protect PT granted the dismissal as to the Calliope derived permit and now challenges the grant based on the Metis permit.
Draftina Well Pad
Expiration of the Special Exception Approval:
Apex obtained a special exception zoning permit from Penn Township as part of the Federal Court action, which resulted in a Consent Order and Apex receiving special exception zoning permits for the well pads called Draftina, Drakulic, and Beattie in 2016. The special exception zoning permits, by the terms of the Penn Township Ordinance, expire, without notice, after two years if there is not substantial completion of the proposed use. In March 2024, Apex and the township entered into a Land Disturbance Agreement whereby Apex proposed to begin the development of the Draftina well pad. This would mean that the development was only beginning nearly eight years after the issuance of the special exception zoning permit. Protect PT appealed the Land Disturbance Agreement to the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland County. Attorney John Smith of the firm Smith Butz represents Protect PT in this matter. The case has been fully briefed and we are awaiting oral argument.
Drill and Operate Permit Appeal:
Protect PT has also appealed the DEP’s issuance of Drill and Operate permits for Draftina. Protect PT is objecting to well permits for Apex's 2H, 3H, 4H, 7H, 9H, 11H, and 13H wells because these wells are close to sensitive public gathering places, the permits do not consider the cumulative impact of nearby wells and compressor stations, the permits do not consider federal New Source Performance Standard regulations on air emissions, the permits include an exemption from hazardous and radioactive pollutants, which violates the Environmental Rights Amendment, and the permits do not restrict PFAS and PFOAS contamination. One of the wells also drills under Turtle Creek and could pollute this critical public waterway. Attorney Lisa Johnson represents Protect PT in this matter before the Environmental Hearing Board
For additional updates on our legal work, visit our blog page or contact our Community Advocate, Jim Cirilano.