Markets Served

Energy and Utilities

Company founder, David Palmerton was developing oil and gas wells in the late 1970's and early 1980's. He discovered and named the Buffalo Creek gas field in Western New York. Upstream production and environmental management is second nature. We've managed everything from well plugging and oil field cleanup to complex groundwater contamination issues resulting from upstream and downstream operations.

Upstream Oil and Gas

Palmerton Group provides consulting services to the upstream oil and gas industry in both the exploration and operations phases. We are experienced in the development and coordination of well drilling permitting; water resources assessment, including hydrogeologic and geochemical evaluation of groundwater and surface water resources; drilling waste management, frac water management, oil and saltwater spill containment and remediation, flare pit decommissioning, designing and conducting environmental assessments, including drilling and soil sampling programs, conducting groundwater monitoring and sampling, and interpreting the collected environmental data and writing technical reports.

Palmerton Group also provides well plugging management, having successfully plugged over 500 oil wells in Pennsylvania, New York, and West Virginia over the past four years. Our services have included contractor management; site reclamation; wetland permitting; soil and sediment erosion control; oil spill assessment and remediation; demolition of oil field facilities; and removal of tanks.

With the latest activity surrounding the Marcellus Shale Gas development in New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia; Palmerton Group has adapted our experience and history of working in the Appalachian Basin oil and gas industry to assist shale gas operators with permitting, environmental assessment, wetlands, groundwater, and a variety of typical issues associated with oil and gas drilling and production.

Gas Pipelines and Transmission Lines

Our staff has been involved with environmental review, environmental compliance, investigation and remediation of contaminated soils and groundwater, environmental impact assessment, and geological review for route selection for transmission pipelines. Our staff has also assisted pipeline and PCB and mercury contamination at gas compressor facilities and assisting companies with negotiations with regulatory agencies for consent order technical issues.

Petroleum

The Palmerton Group assists clients with petroleum releases that have impacted soil, surface water, sediment or groundwater. Our staff has provided innovative solutions where the primary issue is petroleum impacted groundwater. For example, for a site where petroleum threatened the potable water supply of a rural neighborhood, Mr. Palmerton devised a way to install a temporary water supply well deep in the bedrock aquifer avoiding the light non-aqueous phase petroleum. This allowed the remediation of the separate phase water-table level petroleum while continuing to supply the neighborhood with potable water. Our staff also provides litigation support for companies having petroleum releases.

Manufactured Gas Plants

The technical and regulatory issues for former manufactured gas plant (MGP) sites are unique. Our staff has experience working through technical issues for several MGP sites in New York and Massachusetts. Our staff has developed RI/FS documents, work plans, and insurance recovery claims for utilities and others with MGP sites.

Coal

We manage legacy issues associated with former coal mines including acid mine drainage, NPDES permitting issues, coal refuse permits, waste water treatment issues, groundwater studies, and facilities decommissioning.

Utilities

For gas and electric utilities, our staff has managed litigation support for "sudden and accidental" releases, evaluation of historical environmental data, remediation of soil and groundwater containing PCB, coal tar, and other contaminants.