Jessica Lilly Published

W.Va. DEP Shuts Down Danny Webb Construction Waste Site, For Now

Department of Environmental Protection, DEP

The W.Va. Department of Environmental Protection has Statement About Danny Webb waste site in Fayette County. DEP Communications Director, Kelly J. Gillenwater said in an email Friday:

"The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection's Office of Oil and Gas has shut down operations at the Danny E. Webb Construction Inc. underground injection control facility in Fayette County until further notice. The shutdown, effective immediately, is in response to an April 8 decision by the Environmental Quality Board. The board ruled that a March 2014 order under which the facility was operating was unlawful and gave the DEP 30 days to either issue a new permit or require the operations to cease. Two permit applications from Danny Webb for the facility are currently under thorough review, and DEP is taking into consideration all comments submitted during the public comment period regarding these proposed permits. There is no deadline by which DEP must make a decision whether to approve or deny the applications and the agency has no estimated timeframe on when that decision will be made."  

A permit to operate an underground injection well had expired in October 2012 but the operator continued to collect waste.

The underground (UIC) permit was granted February 6, 2014 under the condition that the operator close an above ground pit used to collect fluids from oil and gas exploration, development drilling, and production before being injected into the underground well.  

In a letter of appeal filed in March 2014, attorney Tom Rist said the permit did not specify the closure requirements and should have been addressed before granting the permit. The operation permit was revoked in March, but the order still allowed the operator Danny Webb Construction to continue to work at the site.

The West Virginia Environmental Quality Board ruled in April that the Department of Environmental Protection violated state law when it allowed Danny Webb Construction to operate the injection wells in Fayette County without a permit. Danny Webb Construction had until May 8 to issue a new permit or cease operations.