RIDGWAY–The Northwest Regional Office of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has been looking into the Pin Oak Central Facility permits in Ridgway Township following complaints from neighboring property owners and inquiries from the Elk County Commissioners.
Pin Oak Energy acquired the property producing Marcellus shale gas and conventional assets from an undisclosed seller in Elk County. In addition, the company entered into an agreement with the seller covering the development of over 20,000 net acres, also in Elk County, that is prospective for both Marcellus and Utica. Pin Oak Energy also acquired a 12-mile midstream gathering system capable of delivering a peak volume of 25,000 MMBtu/Day for a large industrial end-user as part of the transaction. Pin Oak Midstream LLC (a Pin Oak Energy affiliate) operates the midstream gathering assets. The company does provide some of the natural gas it produces through a direct pipeline to the Domtar Paper Factory in Johnsonburg. It is not Pin Oak that is operating the BitCoin mining operation, but their gas wells and generators are providing the massive amounts of electrical energy that is required for BitCoin mining. In the past few months, six cooling blocks have been brought in to exhaust the enormous amounts of heat generated by the application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC) used in bitcoin mining. Combined with the sound of the electric generators, the noise disturbing residents and animals has become a concern in the community.
Following inquiries from residents and the Commissioners, DEP dispatched representatives to meet with Pin Oak at the site in Ridgway Township. The DEP performed two site visits at the facility on March 17 and 24 to discuss DEP’s concerns about permitting at the site. Although not regulated by the DEP, Pin Oak acknowledged noise concerns from residents and expressed interest in working to find a solution to address those concerns during both visits.
The Pin Oak Central Facility, located in Ridgway Township, was initially permitted and installed under the authority of the DEP General Permit 5 (GP5), which is used to authorize the installation and operation of natural gas compression stations, processing plants, and transmission stations. The company has removed the original compressor at the site, but the remaining gas processing equipment installed under the GP5 continues to operate at the site. The company will need to renew that original general permit so that it can continue to operate that equipment while the current issues are addressed.
The engines used for the cryptocurrency (Bitcoin) operations at the central facility were more recently installed under the authority of a DEP General Permit 5A, which is used to install and operate unconventional natural gas well site operations and remote pigging stations. (A pigging station is a way that pipelines are periodically cleaned of buildup and debris through a mechanical “pig” being run through the line.) Following the visit on March 17, the DEP determined that although there is a gas well pad very close to the central facility station pad, the gas well is not located on the same pad as the central facility equipment, and therefore the General Permit 5A was not the appropriate mechanism to authorize and install the cryptocurrency equipment.
DEP has discussed its concerns with Pin Oak Energy Partners about the permitting process for the Bitcoin mine and has committed to correct the permitting issue by submitting a new plan approval to the Department of Environmental Protection as soon as possible. This plan approval is different from the general permit in that the plan approval process requires that DEP conduct a case-by-case technology review of the equipment and establish site-specific emission limits and requirements on the equipment. Once DEP has completed its application review, the department would provide a 30-day public comment period on its final proposed action.
Pin Oak Energy Partners was very cooperative with the DEP during the inspections and subsequent communications, which was noted in the DEP report. Pin Oak indicated that it would submit a plan approval once it makes a final decision on how to address the ongoing noise complaints from the site’s neighbors. The DEP expects that the decision and the plan will be submitted within the next month.
Pin Oak Energy Partners did not respond to a request for comment from the paper in time to meet the press deadline.
