DEP Investigating Oct. 4 Seismic Event In Westmoreland County To Determine If There Is A Relationship To Local Shale Gas Operations

Posted Saturday, October 24, 2026 10:53 am

David E. Hess (via PA Environmental Digest)

On October 9, 2026, the Department of Environmental Protection inspected the EQT Production Co. Porter shale gas well pad in Allegheny Township, Westmoreland County as part of an investigation into an October 4 seismic event.

DEP said a “seismic event” was reported on Sunday, October 4 and the Porter pad was within 6 miles of the epicenter of the earthquake.

At the time of DEP’s visit, fracking was underway at three of the shale gas wells and three others were completed.

DEP reviewed pressure logs from the wells for October 4, but did not see any abnormal fluctuations.

DEP also requested stage reports for all the shale gas wells fracked on the pad in August, September and October.

DEP’s Oil and Gas Mapping Tool shows there are about a dozen shale gas well pads within a six mile radius of the Porter pad, but it is not known how many other pads had drilling or fracking going on at the time of the seismic event.

No other requests of the pad owner were made in the DEP inspection report.

Earlier Westmoreland Seismic Events

On March 4, 2026, the Department of Environmental Protection inspected the Penneco Environmental Solutions LLC Sedat 3A oil and gas wastewater injection well in Plum Boro, Allegheny County as a result of a seismic event recorded at the Sedat 3A monitoring station on Feb. 7, 2026 at 5:26 a.m.

The epicenter of the event was near Murrysville, Westmoreland County approximately six miles from the injection well.

Penneco reported normal operations at the injection well on the day of the seismic event. Read more here.

Plum Boro is just east of the Porter well pad-- and others. Murrysville is about 10 miles southwest of the Porter well pad.

On February 20, 2025 DEP conducted a “stimulation” [fracking] inspection of the Hephaestus shale gas well pad and six gas wells in Upper Burrell Township, Westmoreland County “due to recent observations of seismic activity within the vicinity of the well” pad.

Fracking on wells 1, 3 and 5 was completed on February 9. Fracking began on wells 7, 9 and 11 on February 9. “No pressure anomalies noted on the wells being monitored on/off pad” by the well owner representatives.

The Hephaestus well pad is within six miles of the Porter pad.

Seismic Monitoring Network

DEP has documented one seismic event related to shale gas operations and that was in 2016 in Lawrence County. Read more here.

The Commonwealth established the Pennsylvania State Seismic Network in 2019 to better monitor earthquakes and other seismic events from shale gas development, quarries and coal mining. Read more here.

In addition to the Seismic Network, DEP requires Seismic Monitoring and Mitigation Plans for oil and gas wastewater injection wells as a special condition of their permits since seismic events can be associated with these facilities.

Click Here for an example.

Check These Resources

Visit DEP’s Compliance Reporting Database and Inspection Reports Viewer webpages to search their compliance records by date and owner.

Sign up for DEP’s eNOTICE service which sends you information on oil and gas and other permits submitted to DEP for review in your community.

Use DEP’s Oil and Gas Mapping Tool to find if there are oil and gas wells near or on your property and to find wells using latitude and longitude on well inspection reports.

(Report courtesy of Protect PT Oil & Gas Permits & Violations Weekly Round-Up.)

(Map: Six mile radius around the EQT Porter shale gas well pad in Allegheny Twp., Westmoreland County.)

[Note: If you believe your company was listed in error, contact DEP’s Oil and Gas Program.]

[Note: These may not be all the NOVs issued to oil and gas companies during this time period. Additional inspection reports may be added to DEP’s Oil and Gas Compliance Database.]

PA Oil & Gas Industry, Public Notice Dashboards:

PA Weekly Oil & Gas Compliance Snapshot - October 17 to 23

-- DEP - Day 119: Contaminated Water Discharges Continue, Failure To Comply With Cleanup Order At Equitrans Water SVC [EQT] Richter Impoundment In Greene County [PaEN]

-- DEP: Routine Inspections Find 16 Anderson Energy SVC LLC Conventional Wells Abandoned, Not Plugged In Forest County [PaEN]

-- DEP: Follow-Up Inspections Of 4 Michael Harju Conventional Wells Found They Continue To Be Abandoned, Not Plugged Going Back To 2020 In Westmoreland County [PaEN]

-- DEP: Routine Inspections Find 3 Keystone Crude LLC Abandoned, Unplugged Conventional Gas Wells In Allegheny County [PaEN]

-- DEP: Equitrans LP [EQT] Conventional Well Plugging Results In Multiple Spills, Inadvertent Returns, Failure To Comply With Permits In Greene County [PaEN]

-- DEP: Bialy Gas Production Intent To Plug Abandoned Conventional Well Leads To Discovery Of Severely Corroded Contaminated Water Tanks With Holes, Leaking Fluids In Beaver County [PaEN]

-- DEP: EQT Production Site Prep For Well Plugging Leads To Significant Well Pad, Access Road Erosion Violations In Fayette County [PaEN]

-- DEP: Contaminated Water Tank Failed Causing Release At Diversified Production LLC Conventional Oil & Gas Well Site In Warren County [PaEN]

-- DEP: Contaminated Water Release Discovered At Deer Run Oil & Gas LLC Conventional Oil & Gas Well Site In Crawford County

-- DEP - Day 645: First Amer Energy Inc. Failed To Comply With Order To Restore 3 Conventional Oil & Gas Well Sites In Warren County [PaEN]