Find Out

Moon Mist, Susquehanna
Brian Keeler Studio, www.briankeeler.com

So how do you find out what is going on? 

eNOTICE and eFACTS

Probably the earliest way to find out that an application has been filed is to sign up for DEP eNOTICE. An eNOTICE subscriber will receive notice when a permit application has been entered into eFACTS by DEP. 

To find out what is going on in neighboring municipalities that could affect your municipality, the borough/township secretary could subscribe to eFACTS for more than just your municipality. 

The DEP notice will tell you what has been filed with a given municipality before it is published in the PA Bulletin.  You will get notices when DEP has completed an application review step. 

To sign up, see Submission and Tracking of Permits on the bottom of the Pubic Participation page.     

Here are some tips for getting started with eFACTS: 

First you need to create a login for yourself – so that you can change your filters in the future.  eNOTICE will only save four of your filter selections. If you choose a fifth, it will replace your fourth choice.  To get more than four types of notices, you will need to set up a different set of credentials.    

Once you have set up your credentials and are logged in, make your selections. Add new item (e.g., Air Quality); check Countywide; Save selections.  Repeat these clicks to add Oil & Gas, Water Planning and Conservation, Waste Management.  DEP has different Programs. The ones that are most relevant to gas activity are Air Quality (permits gas processing plants), Oil & Gas (permits well pads), Water Planning and Conservation (permits earthmoving for gathering/pipelines and facility construction), Waste Management (fracking residual waste disposal).  One particular “site” might involve more than one of these program areas. 

Note: Some Waterways and Wetlands program permits are not tracked in eFACTS, so a subscriber will not receive notice on those.

Here is an eFACTS tutorial.

Act 14 Notice

Most, but not all, new facility applications will involve some earth moving and require a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit.  Act 14, which amended the Commonwealth's Administrative Code. requires every applicant for a new, amended, or renewed NPDES permit to give written notice to each municipality and county in which the facility is located.
http://www.environmentalintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Act-14-Municipal-Notification-Letters.pdf
https://www.dep.pa.gov/Business/Water/CleanWater/WastewaterMgmt/Pages/NPDESWQM.aspx

Act 14 notices are also sent to the host municipality for Air Quality permitting. 
https://www.dep.pa.gov/Business/Air/BAQ/Permits/Pages/default.aspx 

When the industry comes to town, it is only required to notify the “host” community (municipal officials), per Pennsylvania Act 14. Contiguous or other area municipalities will not be notified. Your County will receive a copy of the Act 14 notice, but has no obligation to advertise it and, usually, will simply file it.   To find out if an Act 14 notice has been filed (somewhere) that could affect your municipality, you will need to establish communication expectations with your County Officials. 


Pennsylvania Bulletin

Subscribe to the Pennsylvania Bulletin and have it delivered to your email inbox every Friday.  https://www.pacodeandbulletin.gov/Account/PARegister

Notices in the PA Bulletin are program-specific, and driven by each program’s regulatory framework. Some requirements are derived from federal requirements.  For some programs, notice of permit application is required to be published in the PA Bulletin shortly after DEP receipt of the application; others are not published until after a draft permit is crafted.  Still others are not published until they are about to be issued.  

Tips for using the PA bulletin:

  • Download it and search by name of municipality and/or county and “gas”, “pipeline”, “LNG.”  Or, do a wider search under Northeastern, Northcentral, and Eastern (for the three DEP offices), in order to capture gas-related applications and actions/approvals in northern PA. 

  • There will be separate applications for gas processing facilities, well pads, pipelines, and water disposal.   

  • The PA Bulletin displays the name of the company applying to DEP. Remember, there are different companies for wellpads, frack-waste disposal, gathering lines, pipelines and compressor stations, and gas-processing plants.  The PA Bulletin will not connect the dots for you as to what company/application is connected to what other company/application. 

  • The PA Bulletin states the office handling the application and will describe the allowed public participation. 

  • The announcement will start with a number. That is the permit number. To find the site in eFACTS,  put that number into the box for Permit number.  

DEP File Review and Right-To-Know

You have the right to request to see a file. Procedures are found here. 

DEP Permit Types

You can read more about regulations and permitting at the DEP elibrary.

Permit and Authorization Packages will show you the permits by Program.

Natural Gas Compression Stations, Processing Facilities and Well Pads, links to permit information. 

Water Quality Permitting Web page

Air Quality Permitting Regulations 

Some common permits related to the gas industry are:

There is a General Information Form (GIF) that may have been used for DEP and the applicant to determine what permits are needed.

If your municipality is having a zoning hearing, you may want to contact the relevant DEP office to find out all of the types of permits that may be required for a project so that you can bring informed questions to the hearing. 

DEP Community Relations Coordinators.  These people are very willing to put your question out to the one or more offices if you heard a rumor or if you can’t find the information on the DEP website.  

You may want to contact the relevant DEP office to find out all of the types of permits that may be required for a project.

A permit may have a set of requirements attached to it. For example, Pennsylvania Natural Diversity Inventory (PNDI) is required for an Air Quality GP-5 and GP-5A.

Conservation District Permitting

The Conservation District has been delegated by DEP to review and approve permits for certain types of earthmoving and stormwater management affecting waterways.  Read more at the website of your county’s Conservation District.

Susquehanna River Basin Commission

The Susquehanna River Basin Commission authorizes water withdrawals.  The scope of the Susquehanna River Basin Commission is found in a Regulatory Document. 

  • Already approved water withdrawals and applications can be researched on their website.

  • Public Hearings and Quarterly Business Meetings. 

    “The Commission conducts four quarterly business meetings a year. One month prior to a business meeting, a public hearing is held to take oral testimony on any business required to be subject of a public hearing.”

    The schedule of upcoming Hearings is posted on the SRBC website.

  • Permit applications are posted.  

    “To submit a comment on specific project applications, select each one from the Projects Scheduled for Action below and click on ‘Submit Comment’.”

  • A request for information can be made here. 

FERC 

Projects that involve interstate movement of gas are required to engage with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission(FERC).  

Go to FERC.gov and eLlibrary. Dockets relevant to the Wyalusing Township to Gibbstown project are CP20-524, CP20-522, CP22-509.

Other Ways to Find Out

  • Investigate Pennsylvania gas wells, infrastructure, violations, and other information through FracTracker.  

  • Blogs:

    • PA Environment Digest Blog. An update on Environmental Issues in Pennsylvania. Edited by David E. Hess, former Secretary DEP.

    • Various industry blogs.

  • Property transfers.  To find out what might be going on, review the property transactions that are published in your local newspaper under court notices.

  • Chambers and Business associations. Many have a feature that lets you sign up for a newsletter. Many web sites have links to related business organizations. 

  • You have a Right to Know. Read more here. The web page of each municipality will have the RTK form for you to download. If the municipality does not have a website, the municipality secretary can provide one to you. 

  • Follow the money. Contact your county Department of Elections and make arrangements to view County Commissioner campaign records.