Nearly a year-and-a-half after an environmental nonprofit appealed the Department of Environmental Protection’s renewal of permits for two Penn Township gas wells, the case will be reviewed by the state Environmental Hearing Board.

Environmental advocacy organization Protect PT, based along Route 130 in Penn Township, appealed permit renewals for unconventional natural gas wells 1H and 7H on the township’s Drakulic well pad in September 2023, according to Environmental Hearing Board documents.

Created in 1988, the Environmental Hearing Board reviews appeals from decisions made by the DEP. The board holds hearings — similar to non-jury civil trials before a county judge — and issues decisions, opinions and orders, according to its website.

The board will hold a hearing on the permit renewals on Wednesday, Jan. 15 at Piatt Place Downtown, located along Fifth Avenue in Downtown Pittsburgh.

The DEP issued two permits for wells on the Drakulic pad in July 2021.

Though a Westmoreland County judge and, later, the state Commonwealth Court ruled in favor of Penn Township on related issues, the Environmental Hearing Board will examine the DEP’s decision through the lens of state fracking regulations and environmental rights, Graber said.

Protect PT believes that a proper emergency evacuation plan was not developed before the gas wells received permits and that the Drakulic gas wells will infringe upon Penn Township residents’ right to clean air and water, Graber said.

“We feel that the DEP made the incorrect decision by permitting this well site,” she said. “We feel that there are certain things that were not considered.”

Located near Penn Township’s border with Trafford, the Apex Energy-owned Drakulic well pad is situated between First Street and Route 130.

It is tucked in among housing developments where about 3,500 residents live, according to Gillian Graber, executive director of Protect PT.

“When we moved to this wonderful neighborhood 11 years ago, we thought we found the best neighborhood to raise our young children,” Graber said, “but didn’t expect less than a year later we would be dealing with the threat of a heavy industrial operation near our home that could put our family’s health at risk.

“I didn’t set out to form an organization or fight for 10 years for our community. I just wanted to keep my kids safe.”

Calls and emails sent to Apex Energy — which will be acquired in a $505 million deal by CNX Resources Corp. in the first quarter of 2025 — were not returned.

Discussions of the Drakulic well pad have circulated Penn Township for about eight years.

The township’s zoning hearing board approved in March 2017 special zoning exceptions for the Drakulic well pad and two others owned by Apex — Backus and Deutsch. A 2017 land development plan approved by the township included about 17 acres of disturbed land and seven gas wells, according to Community Development Director Bill Roberts.

The approvals came after Penn Township settled with the Pine-based energy company to avoid a $300 million lawsuit — spurred by the Penn Township Zoning Hearing Board’s 2016 rejection of three other well pad proposals by Apex.

Apex agreed in the settlement to hire a third party to track air and sound quality during construction, create a 24-hour emergency hotline for township officials and build sound-blocking barriers around its sites.

Protect PT filed a lawsuit later in 2017, arguing the zoning hearing board improperly approved the special exception. A Westmoreland County Court judge ruled in favor of the township.

The nonprofit appealed the decision to the state Commonwealth Court, arguing that the wells would harm the township’s quality of air and water and that Apex’s proposals did not address the storage of wastewater from the wells. Commonwealth Court also upheld the township’s decision.