Olympus submits DEP application for 5th well pad in Upper Burrell

A fifth natural gas drilling well pad may be on its way to Upper Burrell.

Township officials received notification that Olympus Energy of Canonsburg is applying for an erosion and sediment control permit to the state Department of Environmental Protection for the proposed Artemis well pad project.

Artemis would be located about 1.5 miles west of the intersection of Merwin and Seventh Street roads, at the Edgar Industries property, said Supervisors Chairman Ross G. Walker III.

The project will consist of a well pad about 500 feet by 260 feet, an interconnect pad 150 feet by 150 feet and an access road about 2,600 feet long.

According to township documents, about 1,110 feet of two 16-inch steel gas pipelines will be built to connect the proposed well pad to the proposed interconnect pad.

The company also will apply for permits for utility line crossings and temporary road crossings for wetland and floodway impacts associated with the project, according to the township.

Jen Hoffman, vice president of EHS and Regulatory for Olympus, said the company starts the conditional-use process closer to the construction date. She said the erosion and sediment permit from the DEP is valid for five years, whereas a conditional-use approval in Upper Burrell is valid only for one year.

“At the appropriate time, we will hold a pre-application meeting with the township and then submit the application following the discussion,” she said.

She said Olympus hasn’t determined when it will submit the application to the township.

Artemis is the fifth well pad proposed by Olympus in Upper Burrell.

In 2017, supervisors awarded a permit for the Zeus well, along Guyer Road. Hoffman said Olympus has six producing wells at Zeus, with another five drilled and waiting to be completed.

Calliope is located off White Cloud Road and has six producing wells, Hoffman said.

The Selene well pad is along Seventh Street Road. There are three producing wells at Selene, Hoffman said.

Last November, Olympus won approval for the Hephaestus well pad located on private property in the 400 block of Merwin Road, less than a quarter-mile from its intersection with Morrow Lane.

Hoffman said Hephaestus is being built.