A decision by state environmental regulators to deny an energy company’s request to draw up to 3 million gallons of water a day from Big Sewickley Creek and one of its tributaries for fracking is being lauded as an important step toward protecting the waterway’s ecosystem.

PennEnergy Resources’ application in June to draw water from the creek for natural gas drilling was met by resistance from a local state lawmaker whose district includes portions of the waterway. The company’s request included Big Sewickley and the North Fork Big Sewickley Creek tributary.

Members of the Big Sewickley Creek Watershed Association also raised concerns that drawing so much water from the creek could be harmful to wildlife because the creek already experiences low levels during dry periods.

They said any water drawn from the creek could permanently affect the existing habitat.

The water drawn from the creeks would be used for hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” a technique used to extract oil and gas from bedrock by injecting a high-pressure mixture of water, sand or gravel and chemicals.

State Rep. Bob Matzie, D-16th, said while he supports natural gas extraction, he called on PennEnergy to find an alternative source for the water it needs.

He sent a letter to state environmental officials in July asking them to reject the application.

“I am pleased by the denial,” Matzie wrote in a news release on Wednesday. “(The) Department of Environmental Protection noted no less than seven areas of concern and deficiencies in the application by PennEnergy Resources to draw water from the Big Sewickley Creek.

“While the clock on the appeal process begins, I am hopeful that PennEnergy finds a different source of water rather than go against the wishes of the communities and many individuals who care deeply about any possible damage to this valuable water source.

“In most cases, I believe we can have energy extraction and maintain a clean, healthy environment,” Matzie wrote. “I do not believe this is one of those cases.”

Matzie said even if the company appeals the decision and it is overturned, PennEnergy should abandon its plan, “not because it’s the most sound business decision, but because it’s the right thing to do.”

PennEnergy has 30 days to appeal the DEP’s decision.

Company officials did not respond to messages seeking comment about the application denial or whether they plan to file an appeal.

Dakota Raap, a fisheries biologist for the state Fish and Boat Commission, said in an email to the Tribune-Review that the agency notified the DEP that Big Sewickley Creek supports a stocked trout population and both it and the North Fork tributary are home to the Southern Redbelly Dace, which is a threatened species in Pennsylvania.

In its Oct. 13 letter denying PennEnergy’s application, DEP officials noted, among other things, that the company failed to provide enough information about how the reduction in water levels caused by the withdrawal will affect the threatened fish species or the wetlands that have been identified in the area.

A number of the items identified by the DEP as deficient in PennEnergy’s application are related to the equipment and processes used to draw water from the creek.

Also among the seven deficiencies noted in PennEnergy’s application was a failure to provide “enough information to determine if the proposed project has a substantial risk to the environment.

”To date, PennEnergy has not satisfied this application requirement,” DEP officials wrote in their letter to PennEnergy, a copy of which was obtained by the Trib.

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