Site Visit Report for

Reserved Environmental Services, LLC

Mt. Pleasant, PA

Centralized Waste Treatment

February 10, 2015
i

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

1.0 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................1-1

2.0 BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES .......................................................................................2-1

3.0 GENERAL FACILITY INFORMATION ...................................................................................3-1

4.0 PLANT PROCESS FLOW DESCRIPTION................................................................................4-1

5.0 COSTS ...............................................................................................................................5-1

6.0 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ..............................................................................................6-1

7.0 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PROVIDED DURING CONFERENCE CALLS ..............................7-1

Appendix A: LIST OF PARTICIPANTS ON THE RES SITE VISIT

Appendix B: RES MANIFEST RECORDS (MOUNT PLEASANT FACILITY)

Appendix C: RES MOUNT PLEASANT, PA PLANT PROCESS FLOW DIAGRAM
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LIST OF FIGURES

Page

Figure 1. Mr. Kicinski Testing for Conductivity in the Receiving Area ..................................... 4-3

Figure 2. Green Piping Transports Wastewater to the Three Reaction Tanks............................. 4-4

Figure 3. View of the Three Reaction Tanks from Above .......................................................... 4-5

Figure 4. Bench Setup in the Wet Chemistry Lab ....................................................................... 4-5

Figure 5. Parallel Clarifiers.......................................................................................................... 4-6

Figure 6. Parallel Clarifiers.......................................................................................................... 4-6

Figure 7. Filter Feed Tank with Some Crude Oil Floating at the Surface ................................... 4-6

Figure 8. Two of the Three Parallel Coal Filters......................................................................... 4-7

Figure 9. Mr. Kicinski Collecting a Wastewater Sample from the Reservoir Tank.................... 4-8

Figure 10. Close Up View of the Treated Wastewater from the Reservoir Tank in the 

Foreground and Red Frac Tank in the Background............................................. 4-8

Figure 11. Sludge Thickening Tank............................................................................................. 4-9

Figure 12. Sludge Filter Press...................................................................................................... 4-9

Figure 13. Inside View of the Sludge Dewatering Tank ........................................................... 4-10

Figure 14. Close-Up View of Sludge Cake ............................................................................... 4-10
1-1

1.0 INTRODUCTION

On July 28, 2014, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) met with 

representatives of Reserved Environmental Services, LLC (RES) at their centralized waste 

treatment (CWT) facility located at 1119 Old State Route 119, Mt. Pleasant, PA 15666.

Discussion topics included:

 General Facility Information, and

 Plant Flow Description.

Site visit participants are listed below. Contact information is included in Appendix A.

U.S. EPA Office of Water, Office of Science and Technology Engineering and Analysis 

Division

Lisa Biddle

Janet Goodwin

Adrian Hanley

Karen Milam

Jesse Pritts

U.S. EPA Region 3

Joel Blanco-Gonzalez

Eastern Research Group, Inc. (ERG) (EPA Contractor)

Cortney Itle

Kathleen Wu

RES

Nick Haden

Andrew Kicinski

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection

Katie Boone

Michael Kaufman

Pam McQuistian 

Prior to this site visit, EPA held conference calls with RES on 5 January 2012 and on 12 

June 2014. Topics discussed during these two calls included:

 Introductions;

 Company Background;

 Mount Pleasant Facility Information; and

 Drilling Fluid Wastewater Characteristics.
1-2

Information obtained during these conference calls has been used to supplement this site 

visit report. Appendix B is a database of manifest records provided by RES after the January 

2012 call.
2-1

2.0 BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

The recent increase in unconventional oil and gas (UOG) extraction activities through 

practices such as hydraulic fracturing has increased the need for management and disposal 

options for flowback, long-term produced water, and other wastewater that is generated. EPA is 

evaluating oil and gas extraction wastewater management practices, including CWT facilities 

accepting oil and gas extraction wastewaters. As part of this evaluation, EPA is collecting data 

from a variety of sources, including site visits at CWT facilities and other facilities that manage 

oil and gas extraction wastewater. The goals of these site visits are to evaluate treatment 

technologies (including factors such as their cost and performance), evaluate types and volumes 

of wastewater managed and the characteristics of these wastewaters, evaluate residuals 

management practices, and understand the economic and financial factors affecting the industry.

EPA conducted a site visit at RES’s Mt. Pleasant facility to collect background 

information on the oil and gas extraction wastewater treatment industry and observe wastewater 

treatment operations. Before the visit, the EPA reviewed information about CWT facilities in 

Pennsylvania that accept oil and gas extraction wastewater. During this review, the EPA 

identified RES as receiving oil and gas extraction wastewater for treatment.

Andrew Kicinski of RES led the wastewater treatment operations discussion and tour of 

the facility. The remainder of this report summarizes information discussed during the July 28, 

2014, site visit and previous phone calls with EPA.
3-1

3.0 GENERAL FACILITY INFORMATION

Andrew J. Kicinski, President of RES started CWT operations in 1997 in his Wheeling, 

WV facility, about 20 miles from the first Marcellus shale gas well. Currently, Mr. Kicinski 

operates RES has three CWT facilities that primarily service the Marcellus shale industry:

 Mount Pleasant Facility (Mount Pleasant, PA) — This plant has a 30,000 barrel 

per day capacity and accepts flowback, long-term produced water, and drilling 

fluid wastewater. Contaminated stormwater from secondary containments within 

the facility is also collected and treated.

 Butler Facility (Renfrew, Butler County, PA) — This plant has an 8,000 barrel 

per day capacity and accepts flowback and long-term produced water.

 Liquid Assets Disposal (LAD) Facility (Wheeling, WV) — Currently, this plant 

accepts only “low chloride” wastewater from oil and gas extraction activities such 

as compressor station wastewater. Mr. Kicinski noted that the Wheeling facility 

has about a 10% hurdle rate.

RES has about 45 total employees with about 22 at the Mt. Pleasant facility, 15 of which 

are truck drivers. The Butler facility, a smaller operation, has about 8 employees, and the 

Wheeling facility has only 4 employees, because it does not operate 24 hours per day.

During EPA’s 12 June 2014 call, RES also noted that they intend to open one new 

facility in Pennsylvania and one new facility in Ohio, but did not provide exact dates for when 

either facility was expected to open. During the July 2014 site visit, RES reported that they have 

a permit for a facility near State College, PA, but it is not yet operating.

RES reported that their Mount Pleasant and Butler CWT facilities operate similarly such 

that all treated wastewater is returned to operators for reuse in hydraulic fracturing. The Mount 

Pleasant facility accepts conventional and unconventional oil and gas. The Butler facility 

accepts only unconventional oil and gas. LAD is a CWT facility that did accept waste from 

multiple industries including UOG operators and discharges treated wastewater to the Wheeling, 

WV publically owned treatment works (POTW). However, during the June 2014 call, RES 

reported that their LAD facility no longer accepts “high chloride” wastewater at their LAD 

facility. This facility now accepts only stormwater, compressor station wastewater, and other low 

chloride wastewater streams from oil and gas operations.

RES indicated that the Mount Pleasant CWT facility, located on 133 acres of land in 

southwest Pennsylvania, was the state’s first CWT facility to treat UOG extraction wastewater. 

RES indicated that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) had no 

guidelines in place when RES applied for permits. As a result, many of the guidelines set in 

place today were formed through work between PA DEP and RES. The facility is permitted to 

accept only wastewaters from the oil and gas industry, and therefore does not accept any 

wastewaters from other industrial operations. At the time of the January 2012 call, the plant had 

been operating for 18 months, treating approximately 100 million gallons to date.
3-2

The Mt. Pleasant facility is the largest treatment facility operated by RES. The facility 

was originally part of a picture tube plant that had an existing wastewater treatment plant 

designed to remove metals, specifically antimony. The plant had been shut down for five years 

when RES leased it in 2006. RES spent $1.2 million converting the existing treatment plant to a 

zero discharge operation. RES indicated that it would cost approximately $7 million in capital 

costs to build an equivalent plant. By comparison, the Butler facility cost about $3.5 million and 

is about 1/3 the size of the Mt. Pleasant facility. RES plans to continue expanding to meet 

demand, but stressed the importance of having an “anchor client” who can provide a 

commitment of business to undertake expansion. Without such an arrangement, RES indicated 

that they will not establish new facilities. For example, a fifth RES location has been permitted 

for construction in Avis, PA near the State College Area, however RES has not broken ground as 

they have yet to identify an anchor client.

Customers

During the 2012 conference call, RES explained that their Mount Pleasant customers 

include approximately 16 operators with wells located in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Due 

to the high cost of trucking UOG wastewater more than one to two hours from the well site, 

RES’s Mount Pleasant facility has an approximate 60 to 90 mile radius of service area. Although 

customers will occasionally truck UOG wastewater farther distances, the recurring customers 

operate within a 90-mile distance of Mount Pleasant, PA. This includes some portions of West 

Virginia. Specific operators mentioned included XTO, Atlas, Rice Energy, Range Resources, and 

Williams Energy Production.

Although RES’s customers include 16 operators1, RES explained how it is difficult to 

predict how much UOG wastewater they will treat on any given day. This is because the wells 

owned by their customers are in different stages of production and produce different volumes of 

UOG wastewater depending on the current production activities at the well. Typically, at any 

given time, there are at least 5 or 6 customers who are fracturing and delivering UOG wastewater 

for treatment.

As of the time of the site visit in July 2014, the Mt. Pleasant facility had treated about 300 

million gallons of wastewater since its opening in 2010. It has a maximum operating capacity of 

1.2 million gallons/day (MGD) or 30,000 barrels/day. The facility accepts wastewater from

unconventional oil and gas extraction operations, but primarily from the Marcellus shale play

and some from the Utica play. RES indicated that accepted wastewater includes oil and gas 

extraction wastewater, produced wastewater, compression station wastewater, drilling 

wastewater, conventional (coal-bed methane) wastewater, flowback water, containment water,

and sludge waste. 

While the facility is zero discharge, they do have a NPDES permit (PA0254185) with PA 

DEP because they are categorized as a Major Industrial Waste site. PA DEP noted that they have 

zero discharge and have never had any DMR violations. All processed wastewater is recycled to 

drilling sites.

 

1

SGE00246 contains a list of operators that dumped or recycled wastewater at the plant between 1 November 2011 

and 31 December 2011.
3-3

RES is an integrated business that owns 7 trucks and vehicles that transport wastewater to 

and from their clients’ sites. The RES Mt. Pleasant facility has a 10-million gallon, double-lined 

pond that allows their clients to store wastewater onsite if needed. RES indicated that this feature 

is an advantage for them because when drilling companies are in the process of moving their 

rigs, there is an approximately 60-day window in which they do not need their recycled 

wastewater back. In addition, RES Mt. Pleasant also has a 100,000-gallon auxiliary reservoir 

tank for temporary storage. When both the pond and the auxiliary tank are full, RES accepts 

additional wastewater in a barrel-in/barrel-out mode.

Services

The plant is a 100% recycle, zero discharge facility. This means that all of the influent 

wastewater is treated and returned to the field for reuse. The company offers two main services 

(dumping and recycling) and also provides temporary storage, if needed:

 Disposal — Operators pay to drop a load of UOG wastewater off and truck leaves 

empty.

 Recycling — Operators pay to drop off a load of UOG wastewater and pick up a 

load of treated UOG wastewater at the same time. They use the treated UOG 

wastewater for the next fracturing job. The price for this service is lower than 

dumping, but may involve signing a contract. This arrangement may be beneficial 

to operators because it can reduce trucking costs.

 Temporary Storage — RES operates a 10 million gallon holding pond and 

100,000-gallon auxiliary reservoir tank where an operator can pay to temporarily 

store UOG wastewater.
4-1

4.0 PLANT PROCESS FLOW DESCRIPTION

Although the facility has a maximum treatment capacity of 1.2 MGD (30,000 barrels per 

day), it treats around 400,000 gallons on a typical day. A process flow diagram provided by RES 

can be found in Appendix C.

Most RES clients require treated wastewater with less than 5 mg/L of TSS, and about 

150,000 ppm TDS. The facility noted that in previous years drill sites would not take back 

treated wastewater unless the TDS levels were between 60,000 to 100,000 ppm because 

operators were concerned about higher levels of friction reducers required by the recycled water. 

However, now they have more flexibility and will accept TDS levels between 150,000 and 

200,000 ppm.

The desired level of metals returning to the field varies by producer. Previously 

customers had criteria for taking back water including pH, barium, strontium, and 30,000 to 

60,000 mg/L TDS due to friction reducers. Current friction reducers now allow customers to take 

back a wider range of components in the recycled water. The following are some specific 

changes in water metals characteristics that customers will accept.

 Iron – less than 1 mg/L;

 Strontium – previously needed to provide 50% removal; however, strontium 

concentrations are no longer a concern (perhaps due to down hole chemistry

changes);

 Sulfates – previously wanted zero, but now will accept up to 100 mg/L (concern 

is the formation of BaSO4, which can plug wells); and

 Barium – previously limited to less than 100 mg/L, but now 1,000 mg/L is 

acceptable.

RES also noted that less stringent requirements for barium have resulted in lower 

radioactivity in wastewater treatment residuals (sludge).

The following describes each step in the RES treatment process, along with photos from 

the site visit. Photos are not included for some treatment steps to comply with RES 

confidentiality requests.

Treatment Steps

1. Receiving and “Clearing House”— RES collects a sample from each tank truck 

that enters the facility, using a sampling port built into the top of the tank. The 

sample is analyzed before any of the wastewater enters the treatment system. The 

sampling effort typically requires three employees and operates 24/7. Tested

parameters include:

 Flash test to detect the presence of “drip gas” (natural gas condensate);

 Oil and grease;

 Total suspended solids;
4-2

 pH, and

 Conductivity (Figure 1).

Any wastewater that tests positive for drip gas is rejected as it is an explosion

hazard. Facility personnel noted that currently about 1 out of 1,000 trucks tests

positive (i.e., RES has not had a positive hit in 3 or 4 months), while a few years 

ago drip gas was more common at about 1 out of 100 trucks. RES attributes this 

reduction to the drilling companies having learned to identify the presence of drip 

gas and having developed procedures to prevent it from leaving the drilling site. 

RES indicated that companies have adopted these procedures for two reasons: (1) 

to ensure that their wastewater is not rejected at the CWTs, and (2) to retain the 

drip gas for sale because it has a current market value of $2.50/gallon.

During the January 2012 conference call, RES noted that they do not accept the 

following materials:

 Condensates — No hydrocarbons are allowed to be unloaded into the 

main treatment train. If possible, an RES worker will withdraw UOG 

wastewater from the bottom of a truck load leaving floating oils behind. 

Prior to January 2012, if the customer desired, they may have dumped the 

remaining oil in a hydrocarbon recovery tank located on site. Periodically 

RES delivered the content of this recovery tank to a different company 

who processed the material to produce fuel. RES terminated this practice 

January 2012 and no longer accepts any condensates or oils.

 Synthetic Drilling Fluid Wastewater — Drilling fluids with a synthetic oil 

base. Treatment of this fluid requires a special treatment unit that RES 

does not have. RES made it clear that this fluid is not accepted at their 

plant. They also mentioned this fluid is very valuable and costs $13 per 

gallon. Synthetic muds may be picked up from a well site by truck drivers 

thinking it is a waste fluid.

Once the truck load has been approved, all paperwork, manifests, and analytical 

data are entered into a tracking database. Approximately 20 minutes are required 

for testing and offloading, and another 10 minutes are required for the truck to 

reload for a total of 30 minutes with treated wastewater and leave. The facility has 

three lines for unloading wastewater. All trucks are equipped with GPS systems 

that track how long each process takes and helps the facility stagger loading and 

offloading.
4-3

Figure 1. Mr. Kicinski Testing for Conductivity in the Receiving Area

2. Sedimentation Tanks — Wastewater is pumped through a series of three lines of 

sedimentation tanks (“rock boxes”). The facility operates two of these tanks, in 

parallel. The parallel tank setup allows for three trucks to offload wastewater at 

the same time. Each sequential box removes smaller and smaller pieces of 

sediment. According to Mr. Kicinski, about 80 to 100 tons of rocks and sediment 

are collected every 3 months and are disposed of at landfills. Rocks are removed 

from the bottoms of the tanks while residual oil is skimmed from the top of the 

tanks and recycled as waste oil. The water is withdrawn from the middle layer and 

is sent to a flash mix box.

3. Flash Mix Box — The flash mix box has a detention time of 2 minutes. 

Chemicals (e.g., sodium hypochlorite, sodium hydroxide) are added to assist in 

removal of iron and other metals. The treatment chemicals added depend on the 

treatment requirements for each batch of wastewater. Sodium hydroxide is added 

to adjust the wastewater pH, and sodium hypochlorite is added for disinfection. 

Raw wastewater pH generally ranges between 5 and 6 and is adjusted to 8.5 to 

9.0.

4. Equalization and Aeration Tanks — After chemicals are added, wastewater is 

pumped to two 100,000-gallon equalization/aeration tanks operated in parallel to

precipitate dissolved iron and other metals. Aeration is achieved using positive 

displacement blowers and a diffuser at the bottom of the tanks. These tanks also

provide wastewater storage capacity as needed.

5. Reaction Tanks — RES operates three 7,000-gallon reaction tanks in series, to 

coagulate and flocculate precipitated metals (Figure 2 and Figure 3). Coagulant is 
4-4

added to the first tank and polymers are added to the second two tanks. At this 

point, the pH of the wastewater is between 7.7 and 8.0. RES noted that the 

wastewater in the reaction tanks is analyzed every 2 hours for pH and percent 

solids, and to adjust the levels of additives (Figure 4). Treatment chemicals used 

in the reaction tanks include polyaluminum chloride and sodium sulfate (for 

barium removal).

Figure 2. Green Piping Transports Wastewater to the Three Reaction Tanks
4-5

Figure 3. View of the Three Reaction Tanks from Above

Figure 4. Bench Setup in the Wet Chemistry Lab
4-6

6. Clarifiers — Two 110,000-gallon parallel tanks (Figure 5 and Figure 6) provide a 

4-hour retention time for sludge settling.

Figure 5. Parallel Clarifiers Figure 6. Parallel Clarifiers

7. Filter Feed Tank — Anti-foaming agents and sodium hypochlorite are added to 

the wastewater entering the filter system (Figure 7). At this stage, any crude oil 

that appears at the surface is periodically skimmed from the surface. RES collects 

about 1 quart of crude oil for every 500,000 gallons of wastewater treated (i.e.,

about 1 quart per day). The collected crude oil is recycled as part of waste oil.

Figure 7. Filter Feed Tank with Some Crude Oil Floating at the Surface
4-7

8. Coal Filters — After skimming, the clarified wastewater passes through an

anthracite coal filter to remove total organic carbon and suspended solids (Figure 

8). RES operates three 4-foot deep filters in parallel. Each filter lasts about a year 

before regeneration. There is an additional chlorination step following the 

filtration process.

Figure 8. Two of the Three Parallel Coal Filters

9. Final Sampling — An automatic sampler takes an aliquot from the anthracite 

coal filter effluent stream every hour. RES staff uses a portable GC/MS to 

measure the hydrocarbon content and BTEX. TOC is also analyzed. In addition to 

verifying the quality of the treated effluent, the GC/MS results help inform 

changes in treatment chemical dosages for the entire treatment system. Chemistry 

is adjusted every two hours, if needed.

10. Reservoir Tank/Pond — Treated wastewater is routed to the 100,000-gallon 

reservoir tank, which holds the treated wastewater before it is pumped onto 

trucks. The 10 million gallon storage pond is used to store treated wastewater for 

longer periods of time (Figure 9 and Figure 10).
4-8

Figure 9. Mr. Kicinski Collecting a Wastewater Sample from the Reservoir Tank

Figure 10. Close Up View of the Treated Wastewater from the Reservoir Tank in the 

Foreground and Red Frac Tank in the Background

11. Frac Tanks — RES uses 500 BBL (21,000 Gallon) frac tanks to store treated 

effluent withdrawn from the storage tanks before it is loaded into trucks. One frac 

tank is located after the reservoir tank (Figure 10) and two are located after the 

pond.
4-9

12. Sludge Thickening Tank — The sludge collected from the bottom of the circular 

clarifiers described in Step 6 is sent a sludge thickening tank (Figure 11).

Figure 11. Sludge Thickening Tank

13. Sludge Dewatering Box/Filter Press — RES uses either dewatering tanks to 

store sludge and allow it to dry through evaporation or uses a filter press to further 

dry the sludge (Figures 12). Solids and sludges are solidified using cement kiln 

dust before disposal at a landfill, if needed. RES indicated that the sludge is 

generally composed of 23 percent suspended solids. The remaining liquid is 

composed of sodium chloride, calcium chloride, and has a small magnesium 

chloride component (see Error! Reference source not found.3 and 14).

*Photo was provided by the facility in February 2015 following the site visit.

Figure 12. Sludge Filter Press
4-10

*Photo was provided by the facility in February 2015 following the site visit.

Figure 13. Inside View of the Sludge Dewatering Tank

*Photo was provided by the facility in February 2015 following the site visit.

Figure 14. Close-Up View of Sludge Cake
5-1

5.0 COSTS

RES offers recycling of wastewater and temporary storage of treated wastewater at their 

Mt. Pleasant facility. Operators pay to have wastewater picked up and treated wastewater 

delivered to their sites. RES charges a flat rate of $4.00 per barrel to recycle wastewater (i.e., for 

every barrel of wastewater brought in, a barrel of treated wastewater is returned to the operator) 

and $7.00 per barrel for final disposal (i.e., treated wastewater is not returned to the operator that 

brought it in2). RES adds a surcharge to wastewater that contains more than 2 percent solids to 

account for increased landfill costs. RES provides treated wastewater to the end user at no 

additional charge.

 

2

In January 2012, RES reported cost for dumping wastewater was $5.25/barrel.
6-1

6.0 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

 In addition to the wet chemistry laboratory, the facility also has a portable mass 

spectrometer used to analyze treated effluent for an array of pollutants every hour. 

RES uses this analysis to ensure the treatment system is operating properly and to 

guarantee the quality of the wastewater leaving the facility.

 Mr. Kicinski noted that in his experience producers have no interest in running 

their own CWTs and all prefer to contract out their wastewater treatment because 

their operations are mobile. While there are mobile CWT units, he indicated that 

they have many disadvantages such as inability to operate in the winter time; 

inability to handle sludge; and lack of capacity to handle the range of wastewater 

volumes generated.

 Mr. Kicinski noted that about 20 companies are currently drilling wells in the 

area. Installation and development of each well costs about $4-6 million.

 Mr. Kicinski noted that RES actively screens all trucks entering the facility for 

radioactivity using a Geiger counter. Although they know that radioactive 

isotopes are present in the wastewater, they have measured very little activity.

RES has contracted with Pace Laboratories to test treated wastewater and 

wastewater treatment sludge for radium 226. RES has never detected any radium 

226 in the treated wastewater using a Ludlum meter, but they have found 

measureable amounts in the clarifier sludge. RES personnel believe that the 

radium is removed along with the barium, and because the sulfate added to the 

clarifiers precipitates out the barium, radium also precipitates. All RES sludge is 

disposed of at municipal landfills. At the time of the site visit, RES used five

different landfills for sludge disposal and indicated that they have had no issues

meeting their radioactivity limits. The receiving landfill requires that RES test the 

sludge for radioactivity. In January 2012, RES reported that radioactivity was 

detected in the sludge waste typically around 80 mrem per hour, below the 

landfill’s limit of 140 mrem per hour for accepting waste. During the July site 

visit, RES explained that oil and gas operators are becoming more willing to 

accept higher levels of barium in the treated wastewater. For this reason, the CWT 

generates less barium precipitate, and the sludge from wastewater treatment 

contains decreasing concentrations of radium and radioactivity, as well.

 In addition to its wastewater treatment operations, RES Mt Pleasant also 

purchases freshwater at 0.5 center per gallon, which they sell to customers for 1.5 

cents per gallon.

 Treated wastewater that leaves the facility is accompanied with monitoring data 

that can include pH, iron, sulfate, barium, strontium, conductivity, chlorine 

residual, TOC, TDS, and TSS. Generally, the parameters are dictated by each 

individual operator.

 During a standard 400,000-gallon per day treatment flow rate, approximately 30 

to 40 tons of solids are captured in the sludge and disposed of at a landfill.
6-2

Residuals are tested every 6 months using toxicity characteristic leaching 

procedure to evaluate for toxicity.
7-1

7.0 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PROVIDED DURING CONFERENCE CALLS

 During the January 2012 call, RES commented that they have maintained detailed 

manifest records (see Appendix B for an example) since they first started 

operations. These records include well operator name, well name, type of UOG 

wastewater, and volume of UOG wastewater. They also have adopted a strict 

policy that truckers who deliver UOG wastewater must provide detailed proof of 

identification.

 During the June 2014 call, RES and EPA discussed characteristics of UOG 

drilling fluid wastewater. RES explained that there are three types of drilling fluid 

wastewater streams generated during drilling:

— Top hole;

— Water-based; and

— Synthetic oil-based.

Top hole water is generated when UOG operators use “air rigs” to drill through 

aquifer layers and is usually representative of groundwater. Water-based and 

synthetic based fluids are generated when operators use larger rigs to drill the 

remaining length of the wellbore. RES reported that they treat only top hole and 

water-based drilling fluids at their CWT facilities.

During the drilling process, RES explained that cuttings are removed from drilling 

fluids when they return to the surface so that the drilling fluids can be recirculated 

down hole. Operators remove the cuttings using technologies such as shale shaker 

tables and centrifuges. RES described characteristics of drilling fluid wastewater 

after the operator removes cuttings, which is also typically how RES receives the 

wastewater.
Appendix A

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS ON THE RES SITE VISIT
A-1

Table A-1. List of Attendees

First Name Organization Phone Number Email

Lisa Biddle U.S. EPA (202) 566-0350 Biddle.Lisa@epa.gov

Joel Blanco-Gonzalez U.S. EPA Region 3 (215) 814-2768 Blankco-gonzalez.joel@epa.gov

Katie Boone PADEP (724-92505423 Kaboone@pa.gov

Jan Goodwin U.S. EPA (202) 566-1060 Goodwin.Janet@epa.gov

Nick Haden RES (412) 784-3399 nhaden@reswater.com

Adrain Hanley U.S. EPA (202) 564-1564 Hanley.Adrian@epa.gov

Cortney Itle ERG (703) 424-8360 Cortney.Itle@erg.com

Andrew Kicinski RES (724) 454-1611 AKicinski@reswater.com

Michael Kaufman PADEP (724) 925-5404 mkaufman@pa.gov

Pam McQuistian PADEP (412) 680-6793 pmcquistia@pa.gov

Karen Milam U.S. EPA (202) 564- 9752 Milam.Karen@epa.gov

Jesse Pritts U.S. EPA (202) 566-1038 Pritts.Jesse@epa.gov

Kathleen Wu ERG (703) 633-1625 Kathleen.Wu@erg.com
Appendix B

SAMPLE OF RES MANIFEST RECORDS (MOUNT PLEASANT FACILITY)
B-1
Appendix C --

RES MOUNT PLEASANT, PA PLANT PROCESS FLOW DIAGRAM
C-1