Topic Highlights
Healthy biodiversity is necessary for healthy ecosystems. It forms the web of life that we depend on for everything from food, water, and medicine to a stable climate and economic growth. We take seriously the responsibility to prevent negative impacts on the local biodiversity through each step of our operations.
In 2023, we:
- Were awarded a first place Oil and Gas Reclamation Award from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection's Office of Oil & Gas, in recognition of our reclamation efforts across the state.
- Worked with a third-party surveying and mapping team to assess sites and create wetland delineation reports.
- Conducted geotechnical surveys to develop construction plans that minimize the risk of slope failure and use soil investigation surveys to confirm that our operations will not strain stormwater systems or contribute to flooding.
what we are doingWhat We are Doing
Land plays a vital role in our daily activities. We owned or leased approximately 2.1 million gross acres in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio in 2023. The potential impacts of natural gas operations on biodiversity, habitats, and land are highly regulated and a primary focus for local communities, landowners, and many industry associations. We acknowledge that prevention of negative impacts on the surrounding landscape and local biodiversity from each step of our operations — including site design, development, operation, and decommissioning — is critical to build trust with our valued stakeholders and maintain our commitment to environmental stewardship.
We aim to avoid, mitigate, and monitor any impacts on the land and wildlife where we operate throughout the life cycle of a site. As a member of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, we participate in working groups that focus on site planning, development, restoration, and other topics that foster land protection. Our Permitting and Civil group works closely with our Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) team and leverages our EHS Management System throughout site permitting, monitoring, and decommissioning.
For information about our operations, see EQT Production.
We do not conduct surface operations on legally protected lands such as federally designated wetlands, federal lands, and national parks. We follow federal, state, and local regulations regarding species and habitat protection during operational activity near protected lands or areas of high biodiversity.
2023 Leased or Owned Acreage in Legally Protected Areas[1]
|
| Wetlands (square kilometers [km2]) | Federal Land and Parks (km2) |
| Ohio | 16.3 | 11.5 |
| Pennsylvania | 116.5 | 885.1 |
| West Virginia | 20.8 | 76.1 |
| Other States | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 153.6 | 972.7 |
Surveys and Permitting
Prior to any site development, we assess each operating site for biodiversity risks — including those related to wetlands, ground stability, drainage systems, and endangered species. Our biodiversity risk assessments allow us to safely begin construction without significantly affecting the land and include:
- Working with a third-party surveying and mapping team to assess sites and create wetland delineation reports.
- Conducting geotechnical surveys to develop construction plans that minimize the risk of slope failure and use soil investigation surveys to confirm that our operations will not strain stormwater systems or contribute to flooding.
We also conduct studies in coordination with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and state wildlife resource agencies to determine whether threatened or endangered species exist in a region prior to commencing operations. Bats, clams, and Northeastern Bulrush (a plant species) are the most common federally identified endangered species found within our operating areas. If a threatened or endangered species is identified, we postpone development until appropriate mitigation activities — in consultation with a biologist — are completed. We also use various domestic environmental registries such as the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program and the U.S. FWS Information for Planning and Consultation tool to identify potential impacts to threatened, endangered, and special concern species or resources near proposed areas of operation. We make it a priority to avoid disturbing these species and habitats; where this is not possible, we work with appropriate federal and state agencies to develop and execute protection plans. Plans can include implementation of artificial structures such as bat boxes, artificial bark, and species relocation, if required.
Ongoing Monitoring of Active Sites
Once a site is in development, we continuously monitor for biodiversity and land impacts. Our site-specific environmental management plans align with stringent local regulatory requirements and often apply standards that exceed those required by law. Our management plans detail the site-specific actions to be taken in the event of an incident and include:
- Spill prevention, control, and countermeasure plans;
- Preparedness, prevention, and contingency plans;
- Groundwater protection plans; and
- Other topics applicable to the site.
For sites where endangered species have been identified and relocated, we continue to monitor species’ health in their new environment for up to 2 years. We also work with a third party to conduct monthly site inspections, documenting the condition of the site, and noting any stabilization issues, spills, or site damage.
Identified issues are reported to our Permitting and Civil team, which sends a maintenance crew to address the issue on a priority schedule based on criticality. Given the nature of the issue, our Permitting and Civil team also coordinates with our EHS team. Additionally, we use our digital work environment to report issues and promptly notify the relevant response teams.
Decommissioning and Inactive Sites
Once site operations are complete, we work with property owners to restore their land — as closely as possible — to its original condition. We reestablish contours close to the original land contours and revegetate with state-approved seed mixes, native seed mixes, and/or vegetation requested by landowners. We also commonly accommodate agency requests to use specialized seed mixes (e.g., pollinator mixes) and landowner requests for topsoil segregation. These techniques support local flora and fauna by allowing wildlife movement, restoration of the habitat, and prevention of invasive species.
To maintain positive relationships with landowners and communities, we work with landowners to successfully accommodate their preference for returning their land to its pre-construction condition, all while we meet the regulatory requirements set forth by state and federal agencies. We continue to monitor the site until the applicable state’s Department of Environmental Protection determines that we have met state requirements.
In 2023, EQT was awarded a first place Oil and Gas Reclamation Award from the West Virgina Department of Environmental Protection's Office of Oil & Gas, in recognition of our reclamation efforts across the state. The award demonstrates EQT’s strong performance in site reclamation and our commitment to ecosystem preservation.
[1] We use FWS and U.S. Geological Survey data to identify protected wetlands and land areas of high biodiversity. Source: https://www.fws.gov/wetlands/data/State-Downloads.htm; and https://www.usgs.gov/. We have certain leases that allow us to drill and develop deep shale formations outside of our primary operating areas in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. The numbers provided in this table exclude acreage above such leased deep formation development rights located in states other than Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio as we do not currently drill these deep formation rights in states other than Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio nor do we have plans to develop these deep formation rights within the next 5 years.
How We are Doing
We seek to prevent significant incidents with best management practices to assess, monitor, and mitigate potential or actual impacts on biodiversity and land. Failure to do so can result in environmental violations, which we track closely to evaluate our performance. A significant violation could prevent our future access to permits and associated license to operate, therefore we measure our notice of violation rate as it applies to violations specific to earth disturbance.
We also carefully track impacts on biodiversity and habitats. We did not conduct surface operations on any land classified as a protected area or area of high biodiversity value in 2023 and, instead, used our horizontal drilling technology to extract resources from beneath these areas.
In 2023, we received 56 notices of violation associated with biodiversity and land.
- In Pennsylvania, one potential impact was identified related to the concern species, Northern Long-eared Bat. As a conservation measure from the potential impact identification, we followed a time-of-year restriction on tree clearing.
- In West Virginia, we began construction on one site in 2023. In accordance with U.S. FWS requirements, we met time-of-year tree removal restrictions to mitigate potential impacts to endangered bat species.
- We had no new construction projects in Ohio in 2023 and therefore had no notices of violation associated with biodiversity and land.
2023 Proved and Probable Reserves in or Near Protected Areas
|
| 2023 |
| Proved reserves in or near sites with protected conservation status or endangered species habitat[1] | 64.1% |
| Probable reserves in or near sites with protected conservation status or endangered species habitat[2] | 73.5% |
We also closely track and identify threatened and endangered species within our core operating area. Eight endangered species and three threatened species occupy habitats within our core operating area — covering Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act protects certain species of birds whose breeding grounds or seasonal habitats overlap with our core operating area and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act protects certain bird species which nest in the area. The following table summarizes the species of concern located within our core operating area.
2023 U.S. FWS Threatened and Endangered Species — Core Operating Area
|
| Animal | Plant |
| Endangered |
|
|
| Threatened |
|
|
| Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act |
|
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We continuously work to improve our biodiversity and land protection processes in alignment with regulatory requirements and industry best practices, as informed by the Marcellus Shale Coalition. We use a benchmark established by our Civil and Permitting team to better understand how quickly we address and solve biodiversity issues identified by monitoring crews. The team uses benchmarking data to better define priority levels and identify solutions that enable our maintenance teams to respond to issues more efficiently.
We continue to explore additional opportunities to minimize our biodiversity and land impacts. As described in Water, we are connecting more sites with water pipelines, which enables the elimination of unnecessary water impoundments and reduces road traffic from water hauling. Our combo-development strategy also helps us achieve our production volume target with fewer drilling sites. For more information, see Climate Change Strategy and Operational GHG Emissions. For every site we eliminate, we estimate we will prevent 40 to 50 acres of tree removal and grading and reduce associated road impacts.
[1] Calculated based on the location of protected areas (with a 5-kilometer buffer around such locations) identified on the U.S. Geological Survey map (https://maps.usgs.gov/padus/), and surveys maintained by Protected Planet (https://www.protectedplanet.net/en/thematic-areas/wdpa?tab=WDPA) and the National Audubon Society (https://www.audubon.org/important-bird-areas), mapped against the location of EQT’s proved reserves.
[2] Calculated based on the location of protected areas (with a 5-kilometer buffer around such locations) identified on the U.S. Geological Survey map (https://maps.usgs.gov/padus/), and surveys maintained by Protected Planet (https://www.protectedplanet.net/en/thematic-areas/wdpa?tab=WDPA) and the National Audubon Society (https://www.audubon.org/important-bird-areas), mapped against the location of EQT’s probable reserves.
