Antero Midstream Partners LP last week filed a permit application with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection to construct a landfill near its proposed 60,000 barrel/day wastewater treatment complex in Doddridge County.

Announced in August 2015, the facility would be one of the largest of its kind in the Appalachian Basin (see Shale Daily, Aug. 19, 2015). It would process the wastewater from Antero Resources Corp.’s (AR) shale wells in Ohio and West Virginia and produce salt and sludge byproducts in the process. While the sludge would be trucked to other locations off site, the landfill would be used to dispose of salt the company can’t sell to third parties such as those that manufacture rock salt for roads.

It would be constructed on the 635 acres where the treatment facility would be located. AR in September dropped down its integrated water business in Ohio and West Virginia to Antero Midstream, giving the master limited partnership the producer’s fresh water delivery business, the right to provide fresh water for AR’s completion operations and the proposed $275 million treatment facility (see Shale Daily, Sept. 18, 2015).

The plant would be centrally located within AR’s 569,000 net acres in the Marcellus and Utica shales. Approximately 95% of AR’s water would be treated at the facility, basically eliminating the need for wastewater disposal wells. The facility would provide 41,000 barrel/day of freshwater for reuse at AR’s wells. It would also produce about 2,000 tons of salt for disposal in the landfill or for sale.

In an update recently posted on Antero Midstream’s website, the company said the facility would on average reduce water truck travel by more than 10 million miles annually. The facility is expected to employ 250 people during construction and 21 permanent employees once it’s built.

AR said in August that the facility would help cut completion costs by $150,000/well. The plant is still expected to be operational by 2017.