May 4, 2016 July 22, 2016 West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection Division of Water and Waste Management 601 57Th St. SE Charleston WV 25304 Submitted electronically to DEP.comments@wv.gov Re: Consent Order #8060 Dear Director Mandirola, West Virginia Rivers Coalition, on behalf our members and the organizations signed below, respectfully submit the following comments on Antero Resources Corporation’s Consent Order. This enforcement action sets a bad precedent by signaling to irresponsible drilling companies that non-compliance is cheaper than compliance. Antero’s degree of non-compliance reinforces the perspective that drilling companies can get away with violating permit requirements and in fact shirk the permitting process completely with minimal repercussions. WVDEP must hold the company accountable for their blatant disregard for the law, implement stricter enforcement actions, and provide consequences that deter non-compliance rather than allowing drilling companies to escape compliance with a minimal financial penalty. With a total of 4 documented spills and an additional 4 reported spills which have yet to be remediated, only 3 Notice of Violations were issued. We are disappointed that DEP did not issue a Notice of Violation for the spill on August 18, 2014 where Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons were found over 6 times the action level outlined in the DEP Groundwater Program Remediation Guidance Document. To date, it appears the spills have yet to be remediated. For 2.5 years the contaminants have persisted in the environment and been allowed to migrate, endangering nearby surface water or groundwater. A contaminant migration investigation should be required as part of the plan of corrective action to determine the extent of the contaminant migration and if it has entered nearby streams or groundwater. There is no excuse for leaving the spills unaddressed for this long and allowing the contaminants to persist in the environment. In addition, it appears from the consent order that Antero has been operating several sites without the proper permit. We question why WVDEP has allowed this blatant disregard for WV Antero Consent Order WV Rivers Coalition 1 Legislative Rules for so long. In the Consent Order, the company is allowed 45 days to acquire the necessary permits for sites in non-compliance when these permits should have been secured prior to construction even beginning. A penalty for operating sites without a permit should be added to this consent order. Further, this company should be issued a cease and desist order on all sites operating without a permit until the proper permits are acquired. A meeting was held with WVDEP and Antero in December of 2014 where the items listed in the Consent Order were first requested. No penalty was assessed when the materials requested were not provided on time. The plans submitted were inadequate and not approved, but WVDEP still issued a permit for the unlawful site. No new permits should be issued to this company until the items requested, first on December 22, 2014 and again through this consent order are provided and the company is back in compliance. Aside from the fine, the Consent Order simply gives Antero more time to do what was already required of them. How much of the $11,190 will recoup the investigative costs accrued and remediate the damage to the environment? The fines appear to do nothing to remediate the damage caused by the spills and are such a relatively miniscule amount that they do nothing to recover costs expended by the agency or deter future non-compliance. This same company has submitted plan to operate a landfill and wastewater treatment facility. As Antero and other companies seek to expand their operations in this state, it is important to create a culture of compliance to avoid future violations of state laws. We strongly urge WVDEP to increase the base penalty for FOF# 2a to the maximum for that category to $4,000 instead of the $3,200 listed. We commend DEP on increasing the base penalty adjustments for willfulness and/or negligence and compliance/noncompliance history and believe an increase from the listed 30 and 25%, respectively, is warranted. We respectfully request to review the plan of corrective action once approved by WVDEP. Thank you for your consideration, Angie Rosser & Autumn Bryson West Virginia Rivers Coalition Gary Zuckett West Virginia Citizens Action Group Julie Archer West Virginia Surface Owner Rights Organization Cynthia Ellis & Cindy Rank West Virginia Highlands Conservancy Antero Consent Order WV Rivers Coalition 2 Vernon Haltom Coal River Mountain Watch Chris Hale Friends of Water Allen Johnson Christians for the Mountains Beth Little Eight Rivers Council Antero Consent Order WV Rivers Coalition 3