Saturday, February 11, 2012


Feb.10,2012          Major Blow to Local Muncipalities 



       Governor Corbett stated in his budget address that he wants to make "Pennsylvania the Texas of the natural gas boom."  Unfortunately it appears Corbett may keep that promise with the recent passing of HR1050.   His new budget will cut the Dept. of Environment by 8% while the Dept of Conservation and Natural Resources will be cut by 4.6%!  We are presently lacking oversight and inspections of drilling activities.  Who will protect the health and welfare of PA citizens?

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     Penn Environment announced that there were 3355 drilling violations made by the  4596 wells drilled during the  2008 to 2011 time period. Penn Environment  found Cabot, Chesapeake and Chief gas companies (respectively) as  the most frequent violators. 70 % of these violations  "posed a direct threat to the environment".  Correct me if I am wrong, but this means there is  approximately a 72% chance that a drilling site will have an environmental violation. Not good odds if you live 500 feet from a well.  To read the entire article released Feb. 8, 2012 : Penn Environment


     Chesapeake was fined 250K for the "blow out" in Bradford which supposedly caused "no contamination" to the ground water. The Oklahoma company ended up with a total of 565K in fines for three environmental incidents. Read more at the allegheny front website: 
Allegheny Front
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      The recent HB 1950 passed 101-90. This will severely limit a local municipality's power to impose zoning restrictions on the marcellus gas companies. There were some positive aspects of the bill, but the limitation of our civil rights and liberties outweigh the few superficial benefits.  Compressors, drill rigs, pipelines and the subsequent industrialization of residential areas will now be  legal with little recourse by the municipalities or  individual homeowners. Corbett and his million dollar campaign contributors (the gas companies)  pushed this bill through under the guise of an economic/ employment boom. Strange how few PA license plates I see driving out of the local drilling sites. FYI next election, please scroll down and view how your representative voted on this crucial bill.

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Want to know how bad HB 1950 is? Can compressor Stations be located in residential areas? The following is from Sierra Club Conservation Committee Chair Tomas Au:


Most definitely. It requires all local ordinances to allow the siting of compressor stations in all zoning districts. Look at section (7) below.

(b) Reasonable development of oil and gas resources.‑‑In order to allow the for the reasonable development of oil and gas resources, a local ordinance:

(1) Shall allow well and pipeline location assessment operations, including seismic operations and related activities conducted in accordance with all applicable Federal and State laws and regulations relating to the storage and use of explosives throughout every local government.

(2) May not impose conditions, requirements or limitations on the construction of oil and gas operations that are more stringent than conditions, requirements or limitations imposed on construction activities for other industrial uses within the geographic boundaries of the local government.

(3) May not impose conditions, requirements or limitations on the heights of structures, screening and fencing, lighting or noise relating to permanent oil and gas operations that are more stringent than the conditions, requirements or limitations imposed on other industrial uses or other land development within the particular zoning district where the oil and gas operations are situated within the local government.

(4) Shall have a review period for permitted uses that does not exceed 30 days for complete submissions or that does not exceed 120 days for conditional uses.

(5) Shall authorize oil and gas operations, other than activities at impoundment areas, compressor stations and processing plants, as a permitted use in all zoning districts.

(6) Shall authorize impoundment areas used for oil and gas operations as a permitted use in all zoning districts, provided that the edge of any impoundment area shall not be located closer than 300 feet from an existing building.

(7) Shall authorize natural gas compressor stations as a permitted use in agricultural and industrial zoning districts and as a conditional use in all other zoning districts, if the natural gas compressor building meets the following standards:

(i) is located 750 feet or more from the nearest existing building or 200 feet from the nearest lot line, whichever is greater, unless waived by the owner of the building or adjoining lot; and

(ii) the noise level does not exceed a noise standard of 60dbA at the nearest property line or the applicable standard imposed by Federal law, whichever is less.

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       Opinion: There appears to be little effort by  Gov. Corbett to curtail environmental  atrocities caused by the gas industry, even though he promised stricter environmental regulations. We now will have access to a list of chemicals placed into the  fracking water which is inserted into the well, but we will not know the composition of the water which returns after the fracking process concludes (example radioactive materials). Nor will we know the proportions of chemicals used in fracking water as this is considered a proprietary mixture.  In the meantime with all the local environmental damage, Corbett cut research funding to many important groups devoted to creating an  impartial analysis of data concerning environmental effects of gas drilling.

        An interesting interview concerning local research groups that lost funding due to Corbett's cuts may be found at the  Allegheny Front's website (an excellent local environmental radio program on NPR 7:30 am Sat mornings): Allegheny Front

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Pennsylvania House of Representatives Roll Calls
Session of 2011 - 2012
Details for RCS# 1133
Wednesday Feb. 8, 2012
3:58PM
House Bill 1950 PN 3048
CONF REPORT
Summary
YEAS  101

NAYS  90

LVE  2
N/V 4
TOTAL197
Prime Sponsor
Short Title
An Act amending Title 58 (Oil and Gas) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, providing for an unconventional gas well fee and for transfers from ...

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Y CAUSER
Y CHRISTIANA
Y CLYMER
Y COX
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Y GILLESPIE
Y GINGRICH
Y GODSHALL
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Y HACKETT
Y HAHN
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Y HARPER
Y HARRIS
Y HEFFLEY
Y HELM
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Y HESS
Y HICKERNELL
N HUTCHINSON
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Y KAUFFMAN
Y KELLER, F.
Y KELLER, M.K.
Y KILLION
Y KNOWLES
N KRIEGER
Y LAWRENCE
Y MAHER
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Y MASSER
N METCALFE
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Y MICCARELLI
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N MUSTIO
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E SCHRODER
Y SIMMONS
Y SONNEY
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Y STERN
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Y TOBASH
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