MEADVILLE — The Department of Environmental Protection has issued two corrected natural gas well-drilling permits to Lake Erie Energy Partners LLC after the company provided complete information to remedy the original application defects.
The corrected permits are for the Dohler 1 and Dohler 3 non-Marcellus wells in North East Township, Erie County. Township residents contacted DEP after observing water supply notification shortcomings in the permit applications.
Lake Erie Energy Partners corrected those application defects, leading to today’s action. The original permits for the wells were revoked simultaneously with the issuance of the new permits.
DEP also revoked the permits for the Rahal 3 and Rahal 4 non-Marcellus wells in North East Township. The applications for these wells were revoked as a result of an omission of required information in the original drilling permit application. In the Rahal 4 case, the application failed to meet the setback provisions of the Oil and Gas Act, which prohibits building well sites less than 200 feet from an occupied structure. The new Rahal 3 location plat, or map, submitted to DEP indicates the well is being moved 57 feet from the original location without giving proper notification as required under the Oil and Gas Act.
If the company intends to construct Rahal 3 and Rahal 4, it will need to submit a new well drilling application that addresses the setback and notification requirements.