DOJ makes settlement with Antero about Marcellus fracturing

Feb. 12, 2019
Antero Resources Corp. has agreed to pay $3.15 million for Clean Water Act violations at 32 sites in three West Virginia counties affected by Antero’s Marcellus shale natural gas operations, the US Department of Justice reported. DOJ, the US Environmental Protection Agency, and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection said the West Virginia counties involved are Harrison, Doddridge, and Tyler.

Antero Resources Corp., Denver, has agreed to pay $3.15 million for Clean Water Act violations at 32 sites in three West Virginia counties affected by Antero’s Marcellus shale natural gas operations, the US Department of Justice reported.

DOJ, the US Environmental Protection Agency, and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection said the West Virginia counties involved are Harrison, Doddridge, and Tyler.

Documents filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia said Antero will pay a civil penalty and conduct restoration, stabilization, and mitigation work. The proposed settlement is subject to a 30-day public comment period.

The work will involve 51½ acres, EPA said, estimating the proposed mitigation and restoration will cost $8 million. The area includes more than 3 acres of wetlands.

The violations involved the unauthorized disposal of dredged and fill materials into water nearby Antero’s hydraulic fracturing operations, DOJ said in a news release. Some of the incidents date back to 2011.

A consent decree said Antero will pay for the rehabilitation work, which will be directed by US and state environmental officials along with the US Army Corps of Engineers.

Antero will divide the penalty payment between West Virginia and the US government, the consent decree said.

“During a series of inspections between Apr. 8 and Apr. 11, 2014, EPA and the state identified ongoing poor operational practices at a number of sites, including significant sedimentation, incorrectly installed culverts and outfalls, impacts to unprotected mapped streams and wetlands, and a general lack of maintenance leading to further erosion,” court documents said.

In addition, Antero agreed to develop training for its workers.

Contact Paula Dittrick at [email protected].