Penneco Won't Take "No" For an Answer

They want profits, we want good health.

On February 4th, the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas heard arguments in Penneco Environmental Solutions, LLC v. The Zoning Hearing Board of the Borough of Plum. Protect PT intervened in this case to protect Plum Borough’s residents from a second fracking waste injection well that is expected to increase water contamination, air pollution, diesel fumes, and the frequency of noisy, industrial tanker trucks. After the Zoning Hearing Board rightfully denied the permit in order to protect the health and well-being of the community, Penneco appealed to ask the court to force Plum Borough to allow this second well less than 500 feet from a residential home, in violation of the Plum Borough Zoning Ordinance. At the oral argument, the attorney for Penneco made a baseless assumption that the entire Borough of Plum is biased against the otherwise respectable business of injecting fracking fluids next to people’s homes. That’s not a joke, they really said that! The attorney for Penneco also went on to say that the testimony given by residents at the ZHB about the disruption of their daily lives from trucks and pollution was “speculative.” How can someone’s lived experiences be speculative?

Penneco defended its request based on the idea that they have been a good neighbor at their property along 1815 Old Leechburg Road, but nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is that mere months after Penneco began operating its first injection well at the property, they received permission from the EPA to double their injection of fracking waste fluids despite Protect PT expert engineers asking EPA to withdraw the change in use approval because of the high likelihood of casing failure. A request the EPA denied. So it was no surprise when a failure of Penneco’s well casing exposed the well and its dangerous, radioactive fluids to the surrounding environment. After an attempt to replace the casing, this new casing failed again and needed to be replaced yet another time. Just over a month later, Penneco failed to notify the Department of Environmental Protection that a nearby landowner had reported water contamination at their home. Does this sound like a good neighbor?

This is the foreseeable result of industrial operators flouting the law in residential communities and keeping them in the dark about imminent dangers to their health, safety, and welfare. Now, Penneco wants to operate a second well “identically,” even closer to a residential home. But it still downplays the real experiences of local residents as mere speculation. Plum Borough’s zoning ordinance allows the Zoning Hearing Board to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the community, and it has done just that. Plum’s residents will know in a few months if their local government will still be allowed to protect local residents. No matter the result, Protect PT will be ready to defend the rights of all of Plum’s residents to clean air, clean water, and a healthy environment, just as it’s done in court time and time again.