Source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, October 18, 2012
Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com
A Findlay-based drilling company agreed to pay a $84,506 federal fine for air pollution and hazardous chemical violations in Washington County, the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday.
The EPA cited a subsidiary of Atlas Energy LP for several storage problems in 2008 and 2009. Atlas failed to notify emergency responders about hazardous chemical storage, improperly stored some of its gas by-products and had storage tanks that leaked vapor, the agency said.
The company’s Philadelphia-based spokesman could not be reached.
Nobody was harmed because of the problems, EPA spokeswoman Bonnie Smith said. It found the problems through an investigation that started after a March 31 fire at a pit at one of the company’s wells, she said.
The company has stopped its drilling and production in Washington County while it reviews eight facilities in Hopewell and Cross Creek for air pollution and environmental risks, the agency said. The company did not admit to or deny the agency’s allegations in the settlement, according to the agency.