Westmoreland
Marcellus Citizens’ Group Updates January 31,
2013
To receive our news updates, please email jan at janjackmil@yahoo.com
* For articles and updates or to just vent, visit us on facebook; https://www.facebook.com/groups/MarcellusWestmorelandCountyPA/
*
To discuss candidates: http://www.facebook.com/groups/VoteProEarth/
* To contact your state
legislator: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/
Click on the envelope under
the photo for email address
* For information on the state gas legislation
and local control: http://pajustpowers.org/aboutthebills.html-
Calendar of Events
***Fracking and Your
Health-Public Meeting
St Vincent College, Tuesday March 19, evening
Speakers: Nadia
Steinzor of Earthworks; Raina Rippel of
Southwest Health and Environment, Ralph Miranda, MD and Moderator, and the
personal experience of the Headley family
Q and A will follow
Sponsored by: WMCG and Mt Watershed Assoc
***Westmoreland County Commissioners Meeting- 2nd and 4th Thursday of
the month at the county courthouse at 10:00
***Climate
Change Rally in DC-from Thomas
Merton-Sierra Club
PITTSBURGH BUS TO DC On Sunday, February 17,
thousands of Americans will head to Washington, D.C. to make Forward on Climate
the largest climate rally in history.
Join this historic event to make your voice heard and help the president
start his second term with strong climate action.
More
about the day can be found at
350.org
We're
bringing a bus from Pittsburgh to DC on February 17, and we would love for you
to join us.
We have 56 seats available so sign up now! Bus
Departure: 7 AM, Sunday, February 17 (please arrive at 6:45 AM)
Departure Location: The bus will leave
promptly at 7 AM from the Edgewood Towne
Center near the Parkway East in Swissvale from the back-most parking lot.
We're
asking everyone to contribute $40 towards the cost of your seat with reduced
fare of $25 for students and those with limited income.
To
register: Please register with pjwray@verizon.net and more information will be
sent to you. If you are 17 years of age or younger you must be accompanied by
an adult.
We
welcome any and every contribution from well wishers and organizations to cover
the cost. We suggest that donations be made to our informal Climate Rally
Reserve Fund (CRRF). The Fund will help
cover the cost discrepancy between the full $40 fare and the student or limited
income fare of $25, and provide a reserve for any unforeseen expenses related
to the rally. Checks in any amount
should be made payable to "Sierra Club, Allegheny Group", marked CRRF
and mailed to our treasurer, Bob Lang, Sierra Club, 817 Jefferson Dr., Pittsburgh
PA 15229.
Recruitment and sponsorship provided by:
Allegheny Group Sierra Club
Environmental Justice Committee Thomas
Merton Center,
Environmental Quaker Action Team Pittsburgh
(EQAT),
PennFuture
and local friends of Earth ....
For a full calendar
of area events please see “Marcellus Protest” calendar:
TAKE ACTION !!
***Good Work on DOE Comments!! From Gloria
THANK
YOU ALL! The DOE received over
200,000 comments on the proposed terminals for LNG (liquefied natural gas)!
*** Call Public Radio
Call in during the WESA winter membership drive to
voice your opposition to Range Resources ads on this Pittsburgh radio
station. Call 412-697-2055 this week 1/28 - 2/2 and talk to volunteers about why
you will drop memberships and donations until WESA stops advertising for
RR. The false statements in the RR ads
make WESA complicit in misinforming the public on the important issues of gas
industry development, and they lose the public trust in the station's ability to
report on energy issues without a conflict of interest.
(They will make a note of and pass on your comments. jan)
*** Sign Petition To
Pennsylvania Game Commission
Oppose the proposed oil and gas lease of State
Game Lands
Started by: Suzanne, West Middlesex, Pennsylvania
COMMONWEALTH
OF PENNSYLVANIA - Pennsylvania Game Commission, we call upon you, as public
servants sworn to uphold the Pennsylvania Constitution, to oppose the proposed
oil and gas lease of State Game Lands #150, Tract 150A-12 containing
approximately 586.007 acres, located in Pulaski Township, Lawrence County, PA.
Portions of State Game land #150 are
located within 1000 feet of the Pulaski Elementary School and are also within a
100-year flood zone.
The
controversial method of drilling for natural gas that has been tied to
groundwater contamination across the U.S and around the world. Gas drilling in
the Marcellus and Utica Shale has become one of the greatest threats to
Pennsylvania’s environment and public health in decades, including:
•
Contaminating drinking water supplies;
•
Destroying the public lands of the Commonwealth; and
•
Increasing air pollution
https://www.change.org/petitions/commonwealth-of-pennsylvania-pennsylvania-game-commission-oppose-the-proposed-oil-and-gas-lease-of-state-game-lands?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=17001&alert_id=dzGAVNSLht_hetqFFrhlH
***Penn State
Conducting Online Survey About Pennsylvania's Water Resources
“This is your chance to be heard on the value and importance
of water resources in Pennsylvania!
Researchers
from Penn State along with several other agencies are conducting an online
survey of Pennsylvania residents about the state's water resources. The object is
to collect opinions from a large number of Pennsylvania residents on the
current status of our water and how to prioritize funding and other resources
to best protect and manage our water resources.
This informal survey is intended as a public engagement project and does
not necessarily represent a statistical sampling of opinions.”
The five-minute
survey can be completed online at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PaWater The survey will
remain open until February 28, 2013 and a summary of results will be published
on the Pennsylvania Water Resources Research Center website in Spring 2013 at: http://www.pawatercenter.psu.edu/.
This
survey is funded by the Pennsylvania Water Resources Research Center and Sea
Grant Pennsylvania in partnership with Penn State Extension and the
Pennsylvania American Water Resources Association.
FRACK LINKS
***The Recorded Ingraffea Englender Debate is now
available
*** New and Better Frac Mapper
A new mapping utility for website visitors who want an
easy-to-use point and click tool.
*** Report – Gas Patch Roulette
How Shale
Gas Development Risks Public Health in PA
*** Sky Truth-Sign up for
reports on gas activity in your area
Sign up to receive reports on the geographic area you
select. You will receive regular updates on permits issues, well spud, and
violations in your area.
***GASP Releases Citizen Handbook for Commenting on
Marcellus Air Permits
FRACK NEWS
1. DEP Misrepresented Permit
For Wastewater Treatment
Permit Rescinded Only After Penn Future Sues
(DEP misrepresented the wastewater permit, it also did not send full
reports on water quality to residents who were sick and claimed their water had
changed once fracking started, it will not aggregate compressor pollution as recommended
by the EPA, It met with industry behind closed doors to revise and weaken GP5
regs for NOX and other pollutants and on and on. The PA DEP has increasingly
become an embarrassment.)
The DEP has
rescinded a Marcellus Shale wastewater treatment permit that would have allowed
a New Jersey company to spread chemically contaminated salts on roadways,
sidewalks and fields statewide.
The DEP
pulled the permit, issued in August to Integrated Water Technologies Inc., after admitting the required public notice
about the permit did not accurately describe the permitted activity and the
department hadn't fully considered the impact on the environment.
The DEP's decision to rescind the permit
for the as-yet-to-be-built treatment plant in North Fayette was announced
Saturday in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
It comes
less than four months after Citizens for
Pennsylvania's Future filed an appeal with the state Environmental Hearing
Board that alleged the department had pulled a "switcheroo" by not
accurately describing the permit in its public notice. The environmental
advocacy organization also asked the hearing board to rescind the permit.
At that time, Kevin Sunday, a DEP
spokesman, issued a statement that called PennFuture's appeal
"baseless" and "an attempt to manufacture a controversy."
Mr. Sunday,
in a statement issued Monday, said the DEP expects to republish the permit
notice.
"We
are, in the interest of public participation and transparency, providing the
public an additional opportunity to comment on this permit," the statement
said.
The DEP's
original public notice described the permit narrowly -- for the treatment and
processing of wastewater from hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, operations at
Marcellus Shale gas wells. But after
meeting privately with officials of the firm, the DEP issued a permit that
allowed two chemical compounds originally classified as waste to be classified
as "beneficial use" material that could be used as road and sidewalk
de-icer, for roadway dust suppression and for soil stabilization in fields.
And, according to
that altered permit, issued in August without public participation on those
changes, those salty compounds -- crystallized sodium chloride and liquid
calcium chloride -- also can contain
limited amounts of arsenic, lead, mercury, ammonia, volatile organic compounds
and diesel hydrocarbons.
Those are significant changes, according to
PennFuture, and could impact public health, but no public comment or input was
sought by the DEP.
"One
of our jobs is to protect the public's right to participate in government
decision making," said George Jugovic Jr., who served as DEP southwest
region director in the Rendell administration and is now PennFuture president
and chief executive officer. "DEP
misrepresented what the permit was about and did so after extensive
back-and-forth meetings with the company."
Integrated
Water, based in Parsippany, N.J., could not be reached Monday for comment. In
October, a spokesman said the company was in the process of getting financing
for the wastewater treatment facility, which, according to plans, would be
capable of processing between 500,000 and 1 million gallons of wastewater a day
from the fracking process.
(Don
Hopey: dhopey@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1983.
(Range-- being the good neighbor it is. jan)
“Range Resources Corp. is taking Robinson,
Washington County, to court to win approval for two gas well sites.
The Texas
company's local subsidiary filed suit in a state appeals court Monday asking it
to review land-use decisions from township supervisors. The company claims
township officials aren't following their own laws and have illegally extended
local permit hearings since November.”
3. It’s Official: Wind Beats
Natural Gas As Top Source of New Power in 2012
According to the industry group American Wind Energy Association, the U.S. wind power industry not only had its best year ever in 2012, but exceeded natural gas in the installation of new electric generating capacity. Now the total wind generation capacity in the U.S. stands at over 60,000 MW (60 gigawatts, or GW). Remember that it took the U.S. 25 years to reach 10 GW of wind energy capacity. Between 2008 and 2012, that amount surged from 20 GW to 60 GW.
The new
milestones will be a shot in the arm for clean energy advocates, who have
witnessed a roller coaster of hopes and disappointments the last several years.
For example, T. Boone Pickens was once a big proponent of wind power, only to
eventually pull his support out of all wind projects in which he had invested.
Ironically, much of the new wind power capacity is in the central or prairie
states Pickens had envisioned, including Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Iowa.”
http://www.triplepundit.com/2013/01/official-wind-beats-natural-gas-top-source-new-power-2012/
4. Farm Supporters Lock Down
to Giant Pig at Fracking Well-Site, Highlight Risks to Safe Food Source
Bessemer, PA – This afternoon, residents of Western
Pennsylvania and friends of Lawrence County farmer Maggie Henry locked
themselves to a giant paper-mache pig in the entrance to a Shell natural gas
well site in order to protest the company’s threat to local agriculture and
food safety. The newly-constructed gas well is located at 1545 PA Route 108,
Bessemer, PA , 16102, less than 4,000 feet from Henry’s organic pig farm.
The farm
has been in the Henry family for generations and has been maintained as a small
business despite pressure from industry consolidation. The Henry’s made a
switch from dairy to organic pork and poultry production several years ago as
part of their commitment to keeping the operation safe and sustainable for
generations to come. Joining Maggie Henry at the well site are residents from
other Pennsylvania counties affected by natural gas drilling and
Pittsburgh-area residents of all ages who support Henry’s fight. Many are
customers who buy her food at farmers’ markets and grocery stores who do not
want to see the integrity of their food source compromised.
The Henry
farm is especially vulnerable to the risks associated with fracking because it
is located in an area riddled with hundreds of abandoned oil wells from the
turn of the 20th century. According to hydro-geologist Daniel Fisher who has
studied the area, “Each of these abandoned wells is a potentially direct
pathway or conduit to the surface should any gas or fluids migrate upward from
the wells during or after fracking." Methane leaks from gas wells have
been responsible for numerous explosions in or near residences in Pennsylvania
in recent years. Migrating gas and fluids also threaten groundwater supplies,
on which Henry and her animals depend for their drinking water. Last summer a
major gas leak in Tioga County, PA caused by Shell’s own drilling operations,
produced a 30 ft geyser of methane and water, which spewed from an unplugged
well and forced several families to evacuate.
The nine ft. tall pig is
stationed in the driveway of the site with four protestors chained to its'
legs, obstructing traffic to and from the site. The protestors are wearing
signs that read, “Fracking Threatens Food” and “Protect Farms for Our Future”.
A couple dozen supporters are also on the scene.
Nick
Lubecki, one of the protestors locked to the pig, recently started a farm of
his own in Allegheny County. He worries about the future of agriculture in
Pennsylvania, which is the state’s number one industry. “It is extremely
disturbing as a young farmer to have to worry about the safety of the water
supply in a chaotically changing climate while these out of state drillers have
the red carpet rolled out for them. In a few years the drillers will all be
gone when this boom turns to bust like these things always do. I don’t want to
be stuck with their mess to clean up
Keystone XL pipeline, slated to transport crude oil from the
devastating Tar Sands Prior
to this action, Henry exhausted all avenues to prevent or shut down the well
through the legal system. Supporters of her farm have also held previous
protests at the site. Despite the heightened risks posed by the abandoned wells
in the area, Shell is moving forward with their operations, and Maggie’s
supporters have turned to civil disobedience.
The
action comes on the heels of escalating civil disobedience across the continent
to stop extreme energy projects, like fracking, strip mining, and tar sands oil
mining, which destroy communities and fuel the climate crisis. Last week a
coalition of Appalachian and Navajo communities impacted by strip mining,
blockaded Peabody Coal’s headquarters in St. Louis, MO. And earlier this month
protestors in eastern Texas erected a tree sit blockade to halt construction of
TransCanada’s mining
in Alberta, Canada to refineries in Texas.
Follow the story: dbushcollective.org,
Twitter - @shadbushcollect #maggiesfarm
Contact:
Ben Fiorillo – 412-999-9086, or Diane Sipe – 724-272-4539
5. DEP Gives $20 million to
Convert Fleets to Gas
“The DEP has begun accepting applications for
its Natural Gas Vehicle grant program which will provide up to $20 million over the next three years to pay for the
purchase and conversion costs of gas fleet vehicles.”
(DEP announces opening of natural gas vehicle grant,
12-9-12, Latrobe bulleting.
6. New York Regulators Get
204,000 Anti-Drilling Letters
“ State
regulations make for pretty dull reading, but you'd never know it from the mountains of cardboard boxes of public
comments generated by the latest gas-drilling guidelines proposed by New York's
environmental agency.
Many of the
204,000 letters anti-drilling groups say they submitted are the result of
social media outreach and meetings at libraries, community centers and churches
where organizers would hand out form letters and stamped envelopes.
A statewide
network of hundreds of anti-drilling groups revved up the effort shortly after
the Department of Environmental Conservation posted updated regulations online
at the end of November. When the public comment period ended Jan. 11, a
coalition of groups called New Yorkers Against Fracking announced it had
presented 204,000 comments to the agency.”
7. IGS Will Build Natural
Gas Station on I-79
IGS will
build a $10 million network of
compressed natural gas fueling stations for vehicles along I-79 from Charleston
to Mount Morris, PA. It is to serve the growing number of businesses and
residents converting to natural gas vehicles.
The fueling corridor is the first of its kind.
(IGS
Energy to Build Natural gas Stations on I-79, Latrobe bulletin, 1-18-13)
8. Will Ohio Start Accepting
Drilling Brine at 40 Landfills?
“A scenario
of large quantities of solidified brine coming into the state worries
environmentalists. “It’s bizarre that Ohio would be letting brine go into its
landfills,” said activist Teresa Mills, of Columbus.
Because
Ohio landfills cannot accept liquid wastes under current law, the liquid would
have to be solidified by adding materials like cement kiln dust, fly ash,
foundry sands, shredded auto parts or wood chips. It then could be classified
as solid waste, not hazardous waste, which requires the special and more costly
treatment that critics advocate.
The liquid
wastes can contain significant amounts of salts and total dissolved solids;
low-level radiation and toxic heavy metals picked up from the underground rocks;
oils and grease; leftover toxic chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing of
the underground rock; and certain volatile organic compounds, including
cancer-causing benzene.”
9. Obama Delays Frack Rules Opposed
by Industry and Environmentalists
“In
response to criticism from both the oil industry and environmentalists, the
Obama administration is scrapping a 2012 plan to impose new mandates governing
drilling on public lands.
The measure would have forced energy companies
to reveal chemicals used when drilling for oil and natural gas on federal
lands.
In a move that riled
environmentalists, the Interior Department decided to require those disclosures
only after the substances are pumped underground.
The proposed rule also
would have imposed new well construction standards, testing requirements and
mandates for managing and storing water that flows back after fracturing
begins.
It is
unclear how much the proposal could change, but it appears likely the new draft
rule still will include some kind of chemical disclosure, well-bore integrity
assurances and plans for managing flowback water. The Bureau of Land Management
is using more than 170,000 public comments to guide the rewrite.”
Pa. DEP Photo :
This 90-degree plastic elbow cracked, allowing 10,500 gallons of flowback to
enter a small tributary of Brush Run in Washington County, Pa. Only 500 gallons was recovered.
10. Shell Considering Only PA
for the Highly Polluting Cracker Plant
“Royal
Dutch Shell is not scouting other states for sites to put the massive
petrochemical plant that it has delayed building in PA, Gov. Tom Corbett said.
"If they're going to build it, they're going to build it here,"
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/news/corbett-shell-not-considering-other-sites-for-beaver-county-ethane-cracker-672617/
Photo by Bob Donnan
11. Fracking Has Not
Been Done for Decades As Industry Claims--Ingraffea
“ The technology for fracking horizontal or deviated
shallow gas or tight oil is not 60 years old,”
(as the industry claims, jan) notes world expert Ingraffea.
Only in the
last two decades have four different technologies made it possible to fracture
deep shale rock formations one to two kilometres underground. They include directional drilling (wells that go down
a kilometre and then extend horizontally for another kilometre): the use of millions of litres of fracturing fluids
including sand, water and toxic chemicals; slick
water (the use of gels and high fluid volumes at 100 barrels a minute) and multi-well pad and cluster drilling
(the drilling of six to nine wells from one industrial platform).
"All four of these technologies had to
come together to allow shale gas fracturing," says Ingraffea.
The first
horizontal shale gas well was drilled in 1991; the first slick water fracture
took place in 1996; and the use of cluster drilling from one pad didn't happen
until 2007.
Until a
decade ago it just wasn't possible to open fractures in walls of shale rock 20
metres thick, a kilometre under the ground, with 20 million litres of fracking
fluid pumped by 20,000 worth of horsepower to drain trapped methane in an area
as large two kilometres by one kilometre.
Expertise
is also limited. Of 75 oil and gas firms that recently invaded Pennsylvania to
develop the Marcellus shale play, only a half dozen had any experience
combining all four technologies.
So the
industry claim that hydraulic fracturing is a proven 60-year-old technology is
just that: a provocative myth containing a pebble of truth.”
12. Ingraffea on Methane
Leaks
Wellshttp://thetyee.ca/News/2013/01/09/Leaky-Fracked-Wells/
“Industry
studies clearly show that five to seven per cent of all new oil and gas wells
leak. As wells age, the percentage of leakers can increase to a startling 30 or
50 per cent. But the worst leakers are
horizontal wells commonly used for hydraulic fracturing.
In 2010,
111 of 1,609 wells drilled and fracked failed and leaked. That's a 6.9 per cent
rate of failure. In 2012, 67 out of 1,014 wells leaked -- a seven per cent rate of failure.
In fact
leaking wellbores has been a persistent and chronic problem for decades. Even a
2003 article in Oil Field Review, a publication of Schlumberger, reported that,
"Since the earliest gas wells, uncontrolled
migration of hydrocarbons to the surface has challenged the oil and gas
industry."
In 2012
Ingraffea and colleagues read through 16,017 inspection reports filed over the
last four years. What they found was a significant and steady rate of methane
leaks at the wellbore or what is known in industry jargon as "bubbling in
the cellar."
The
scientific truth is irrefutable says Ingraffea: "Fluid migration from faulty wells is a well-known chronic problem with
an expected rate of occurrence." Inadequate well construction and
monitoring remains a persistent industry problem.
The health implications are also serious.
The migration of methane or fracking fluid has repeatedly contaminated
groundwater across North America or polluted the atmosphere with methane, a
potent greenhouse gas.
The natural gas industry is now the largest source of
methane releases into the atmosphere after factory farms and landfills.
Most of the
problem comes from leakage. Methane wafts into the air during drilling as well
as during frack fluid flowback. Some leaks occur during the compression of
natural gas and others during pipeline transport.
Natural gas
plants, which scrub the gas free of impurities and water, also leak substantive
amounts of methane. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers once
estimated that a typical sweet gas plant might leak 188 tons of methane a year
and a sour gas plant about 251 tons. But a 2004 survey by Alberta researcher
Allan Chambers using a special radar and gas leak camera found real methane
leaks at six Alberta gas plants were four
to eight times higher than industry estimates. The sweet plant leaked 1264 tons
while the sour plant leaked 1020 tons a year.
The scale
of leakage rates has stunned researchers. In
a city like Boston the local gas delivery system leaks as much as five per cent
of the product according to new research from Boston University geographer
Nathan Phillips. The study, the first of its kind, found pervasive methane
leaks throughout an aging delivery system (some 3,300 leaks) that damaged trees
and wasted millions of dollars.
But new studies on heavily fracked natural gas
fields indicate leakage rates from wells can range anywhere from four to nine
per cent of total methane or natural gas production. That's nearly double or
triple of previous estimates of leakage.
A 2013
study in Nature, one of the world's
leading scientific journals, found that fractured
gas fields in Colorado and Utah were leaking nine per cent of their methane
into the air.
It is now estimated that methane emissions from shale gas are nearly 30 times more than those of
conventional gas over the lifetime of a well.”
13. PA DEP Will Study Radiation
(Many fracking studies are being proposed only now, as
thousands of wells have already been and continue to be permitted and drilled.
Thanks to Governor Corbett and his allies, we are an experiment. Jan)
“The DEP
has announced a year long study of radiation levels in equipment and wastes
associated with oil and gas development it says will be the "most
extensive and comprehensive" ever conducted. The regulatory agency
announced the study Thursday and said it
will test radiation levels at dozens of well pads, wastewater treatment plants
and waste disposal facilities statewide.
Oil and gas-bearing rock formations
like the Marcellus Shale contain naturally occurring radiation that is brought
to the surface in wastewater and rock waste. It can concentrate on pipes or equipment or in wastewater sludges.
Some fluid samples from shale drilling indicate "significant
concentrations" of radium 226, a naturally occurring radioactive metal,
according to the study proposal by Perma-Fix Environmental Services of Pittsburgh.”
14.
WASTE & WASTEWATER FACILITIES listed by the PA
DEP in the reporting period Jan 1, 2012 - June 30, 2012 (the next
report is due out around Feb. 15)
(Bob listed
the facilities. In scanning the list I noticed several from the western PA
area. Jan)
Yukon Facility – Yukon, Pa.
McCutcheon Enterprise – Apollo, Pa.
Mostoller Landfill - Somerset, Pa.
Reserved Environmental Services - Mount Pleasant, Pa.
South Hills Landfill - 3100 Hill Road - South Hills, Pa
15129
Waste Management, Inc – Arden Landfill, Inc. - Washington,
Pa.
Waste Management, Inc. - Laurel Highlands Landfill -
Johnstown, Pa
Waste Recovery Solutions, Inc. - Myerstown, Pa.
Wayne Township Landfill (Clinton County) - McElhattan, Pa.
Weavertown Environmental Group - McDonald, Pa.
Westmoreland Waste, LLC – Belle Vernon, Pa.
White Pines Landfill – Millville, Pa.
15. Fracking Wastewater Can
be Highly Radioactive- Especially
Marcellus Wastewater
“Its contents remain mostly a mystery. But
fracking wastewater has revealed one of its secrets: It can be highly
radioactive. And yet no agency really
regulates its handling, transport or disposal. Studies from the U.S.
Geological Survey, Penn State University and environmental groups all found
that waste from fracking can be radioactive -- and in some cases, highly
radioactive. A geological survey report found that millions of barrels of
wastewater from unconventional wells in Pennsylvania and conventional wells in
New York were 3,609 times more
radioactive than the federal limit for drinking water and 300 times more
radioactive than a Nuclear Regulatory Commission limit for nuclear plant
discharges. And Mark Engle, the USGS research geologist who co-authored the
report, said that fracking flowback from
the Marcellus shale contains higher radiation levels than similar shale
formations.
Randy Moyer hasn’t
been able to work in 14 months. He’s seen more than 40 doctors, has 10
prescriptions to his name and no less than eight inhalers stationed around his
apartment. Moyer said he began transporting brine, the wastewater from gas
wells that have been hydraulically fractured, for a small hauling company
in August 2011. He trucked brine from wells to treatment plants and back to
wells, and sometimes cleaned out the storage tanks used to hold wastewater on
drilling sites. By November 2011, the 49-year-old trucker was too ill to work.
He suffered from dizziness, blurred vision, headaches, difficulty breathing,
swollen lips and appendages, and a fiery red rash that covered about 50 percent
of his body. “It’s time to move if you want to live,” he said. “Stay if you
want to die. And I want to live.”
http://www.timesonline.com/news/local_news/fracking-wastewater-can-be-highly-radioactive/article_ac1dd0e8-5a2f-57aa-8c5d-1d80273e261e.html
16. GAO Releases Gas
Pipeline Safety Report
“The report comes a month after a
20-inch line owned by Columbia Gas Transmission ruptured in West Virginia,
triggering a massive fire. The Dec. inferno destroyed four homes and charred a
section of Interstate 77 , 15 miles north of Charleston.
Federal investigators say it took
Columbia Gas Transmission, a subsidiary of Texas-based NiSource Gas
Transmission & Storage, more than an hour to manually shut off the gas that
fueled the fire, which sent flames as high as nearby hilltops.”
http://www.theintelligencer.net/page/content.detail/id/283213/GAO-releases-gas-pipeline-safety-report-.html?isap=1&nav=535
17. North Carolina Setting
Fracking Rules- 5000 feet
“NC may be
discussing the most stringent standards in the nation for well water testing before
drilling and fracking get under way. They are proposing that a drilling company, at its own expense, test
every water source within 5,000 feet of a natural gas wellhead.
Other
states generally require testing within 1,000 or 2,000 feet, said Hannah
Wiseman, a law professor at Florida State University who tracks fracking laws
and rules.
Commissioner
Amy Pickle said the 5,000-foot testing distance is just one of several factors.
Another important issue the commission will have to decide is what constituents
it will require testing for.
Commissioner
Howard said the board also will discuss
injecting tracers into fracked gas wells to help determine whether the wells
are leaking chemicals and methane gas. He said the commission is guided by
the state law passed last summer that holds drillers responsible for any water
contamination within 5,000 feet of a wellhead unless they can prove otherwise.
“The beauty
of a presumptive liability law is that it protects companies from paying for
bad water they didn’t cause,” Duke University environmental scientist Robert
Jackson said. “It protects homeowners in case their water quality changes.”
Duke
University also has tested about 55 private wells in Lee County to establish
baseline quality measures. Duke’s testing analyzes the presence of such metals
as boron and arsenic, salts and methane gas, such chemicals as benzene and
toluene, as well as radioactive elements.”
(Read
more here:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/01/25/2633396/fracking-board-set-to-propose.html#storylink=cpy)
18. Scientist Who Worked for
Oil/Gas Sues Encana-Canada
“Jessica Ernst, a scientist who worked as a
consultant for the oil and gas industry, gained notoriety beginning in 2005
when she demonstrated how she could ignite the tap water in her home that was
fine when she moved there in 1998. Testing confirmed elevated levels of
methane, the main component in natural gas.
She told
environmental journalist Andrew Nikiforuk, in a 2006 article for Canadian
Business magazine, she suspected
drilling and fracking for CBM had “aggravated” an existing problem: Natural gas
migration from shallow wells and older wells due to unprecedented drilling
activity.
Encana was
adamant: The company’s testing showed its wells did not cause Ernst’s water
woes.
The $33-million lawsuit “effectively puts on trial the
practice and regulation of hydraulic fracturing.” said Klippenstein, Ernst’s
Toronto-based lawyer.
The dry
subject matter involving a half-dozen grey-suited lawyers didn’t deter about 70
people — many of them farmers from central Alberta — from cramming into the
courtroom. The court clerk had to corral extra chairs to accommodate all the
onlookers.
http://www.calgaryherald.com/technology/Ewart+Critic+boycotts+Encana+hearing+crusade+against+fracking+from+over/7842205/story.html#ixzz2J0ePZQPt
Jessica Ernst On You
Tube- The Consequences of Fracking (6:58)
19. Stiles Family’s Health
Problems
“Judy Armstrong Stiles had no idea what she was signing away
when she and her husband Carl leased with Chesapeake Energy three years ago.
Soon after the company started fracking,
both she and her husband began suffering severe rashes, stomach aches,
dizziness, fatigue, aching joints and forgetfulness, Stiles told Shalefield
Stories in November 2012.
“We saw
doctors who tried to figure out what was wrong with us,” she said. “Our symptoms
mirrored so many other diseases and disorders. The doctors could not figure out
what the problem was, and our health kept deteriorating.”
A few months later, a large hole that gave off a terrible
smell and leaked a foam-like substance opened in their front yard. Then their
daughter moved in and soon she, too, was sick.
Stiles said
they paid to have their water tested -- water Stiles said was yellow and
odorous. The test showed their water was
contaminated with lead, methane, propane, ethane, barium, magnesium, strontium
and arsenic. They called the PA DEP, which made a “visual determination”
that their water contained methane.
“We felt that we finally had proof that our health problems
were a result of some sort of contamination.”
Stiles then
requested a blood test from her doctors; they found barium and arsenic. But the
doctors, Stiles said, couldn’t treat her because they didn’t know what else was
in her blood. Chesapeake, along with other energy companies, is not required to
disclose the chemicals in the fluids used for hydraulic fracturing, commonly
referred to as fracking.
The family soon abandoned their home and moved
in with relatives, unable to sell their house. Radon tests came back,
Stiles said, showing radon gas in the air around their home. Trace amounts of
radium-226, radium-228 and uranium were found in the home’s water.
In February
2011, Carl was diagnosed with intestinal
cancer. Their daughter, then pregnant, had seizures and lead poisoning. “I’d
like to say that after moving out, our health improved, but it did not,” Stiles
said. Her daughter still has seizures and cannot work or drive. Carl, his
health rapidly deteriorating, killed himself.
“I don’t
blame him -- he was in too much pain, and his doctors could not help him,”
Stiles said. “I lost my home, my health and my husband. I want hydraulic
fracturing stopped.”
From article By Rachel Morgan shalereporter.com
photos by bob
donnan
Two Check Lists—What to Ask
before Signing A Lease
(The lists are lengthy. I copied list 2, see the link for
list 1 jan)
List 1. From Un- natural gas
The answers
to many of these questions should be written into your lease. Verbal assurances
offer no legal protection for you. Have the Landman number and initial every
page. Make photocopies of the lease. If the lease returned to you has any
missing pages, cancel it immediately via certified mail, and notify the NYS
Attorney General’s Office.
List 2. QUESTIONS TO ASK
BEFORE SIGNING A LEASE
From Fort Worth area.
HOW WILL THE PAD SITE AFFECT MY NEIGHBORHOOD?
Where
will the pad site be?
How
big will the pad site be?
How
many gas wells are planned for this pad?
Is
there potential for additional pad sites in my neighborhood
Besides
the "christmas tree" what other equipment will be installed on the
pad site?
Is
there an existing pipeline associated with this pad site?
If
not, will the pipeline be located within the neighborhood boundaries?
Will
the pipeline company need to access my surface property?
Will
there be a reserve pit associated with this pad site?
Will
there be a compression station associated with this pad site?
Will
there be a compression station within one mile of the neighborhood boundaries?
What
is the anticipated life term for this pad site?
When
will the pad site be restored to its original condition?
WILL ACCESS TO THE PAD SITE AFFECT MY
NEIGHBORHOOD?
How
will trucks access the pad site?
Is
there a plan for egress available to the neighborhood?
Will
water be trucked in and wastewater trucked out from this pad site?
THE ENVIRONMENT:
HOW DOES GAS DRILLING AFFECT MY
ENVIRONMENT?
WATER
Where
can I find a reliable report that illustrates how much water is used during
drilling?
Can
wastewater be used for fracturing?
Why
is recycling of wastewater not required?
Where
can I find an industry report that measures the number of times a well requires
fracturing?
Where
does the water used for gas drilling come from?
How
will years of drilling affect the water table?
How
do energy companies pay for water usage?
How
is water usage metered when it is taken directly from the river?
Does
drilling production stop during drought conditions?
Who
monitors drill sites near the river?
Are
drill sites exempt from the storm water run-off ordinance?
How
is the river protected from storm water run-off on sites with reserve pits that
are near the river?
Is
wastewater considered a toxic by-product?
How
is wastewater disposed of?
Are
there studies that show that deep well injection of wastewater it safe?
AIR QUALITY
Where
can I find an environmental report that shows the effects of gas drilling on
quality of air?
Does
Fort Worth meet air quality standards for ozone?
Is
the City fined for not meeting air quality standards?
Does
gas drilling contribute poor air quality?
Who
bears the burden for paying fines?
How
are drilling operations monitored for air pollution violations?
Who
monitors drill sites for air pollution violations?
What
is flaring and how does it contribute to air quality in the city limits?
Has
there been a study to gauge how the impact of increased truck traffic will
affect air quality?
INFRASTRUCTURE
Is
there a City of Fort Worth infrastructure impact study for urban gas drilling?
How
are the negative effects to city infrastructure measured?
When
roads and bypasses are damaged by truck traffic in neighborhoods, is the city
compensated?
Who
bears the financial burden of street repair?
Has
the City excluded gas companies from city ordinances regarding infrastructure?
SOIL POLLUTION
How
is area soil surrounding the drill pad site protected from contaminants used
during drilling?
How
are reserve pits monitored?
Who
monitors reserve pits at a drill pad site?
How
is the soil protected from reserve pit run-off, leaks, or spills?
How
are reserve pits cleaned up?
Are
companies required to submit a soil remediation plan for a drill site in the
event of soil contamination?
How
is contaminated soil disposed of?
What
are the effects of drilling contaminants on soil and plants?
GREEN
SPACES
Does
the City of Fort Worth have a plan to protect green spaces?
Why
are drilling companies excluded from the Tree Ordinance?
How
is the city protecting City Parks?
How
will the city measure the impact of drilling sites next to or near city parks?
Will
compression stations be located next to or near city parks?
Will
pipelines access city parks?
Are
there studies that document long term effects on trees, plants, soil quality
and wildlife near drill sites?
LEGAL ISSUES
WHAT
ARE THE LEGAL RAMIFICATIONS OF SIGNING A LEASE?
What
do the lease terms mean?
Once
I sign a lease when do the terms of my lease expire?
When
I lease my minerals, what does that include?
Am
I leasing more than just natural gas?
When
do my remaining minerals belong to me again?
When
drilling is completed will my remaining minerals and property be restored to
one account?
Will
a fluctuating natural gas market affect the production of this well?
Will
the energy company guarantee due diligence in producing minerals from this
well?
If
the production of this well ceases for a period of time, will the well be
capped and the pad site restored?
As
the mineral owner, am I protected from legal action in case of an accident?
Is
there a "hold harmless" article in my contract?
FINANCIAL QUESTIONS
WHAT
ARE MY TAX OBLIGATIONS IF I LEASE MY MINERALS?
Is
my bonus check subject to income tax?
Are
my royalty checks subject to income tax?
I
understand that I will pay an additional tax through the Tarrant Appraisal
District. What is the rate of that tax?
Will
that account be set up as a Business Account?
Will
I be taxed annually on the value of my minerals?
Will
I only be obligated to pay this tax on produced gas?
If
I choose not to sign a lease will I pay tax on my minerals?
Once
drilling ceases is my business account closed?
OTHER
FEES
I
understand that I may be responsible for fees associated with my mortgage. Is the energy company able to negotiate
subrogation fees with my mortgage company?
Will
I be responsible for paying additionally for a title search?
Will
production costs (legal, transportation, advertising and other production
related costs) be taken from the top before I receive my royalty payment?
OTHER ISSUES
Are
there studies the report the impact on the market value of my home if there is
a gas pad site near my home?
Will
I expect a rise in homeowner’s insurance if my home is near a gas pad site?
SAFETY RELATED QUESTIONS
HOW
IS MY NEIGHBORHOOD PROTECTED?
How
has the city prepared for a drilling accident?
Is
there an evacuation plan available for the neighborhood in case of accident?
Have
Fort Worth Fire and Police Departments trained for disasters related to gas
drilling in an urban environment?
Is
there evidence that the 600’ set-back is adequate to protect property and
families?
What
is a typical blast radius for a gas well explosion?
How
can I assure that waivers to the City’s 600’ setback, as detailed in the Gas
Drilling Ordinance, are not permitted in my neighborhood?
Who
is responsible for damage to my property in case of an accident involving gas
wells?
How
do neighbors contact the company with complaints of excessive noise, obtrusive
lights and dangerous truck activity?
What
are my legal rights to preserve a reasonable quality of life during the life of
the well?
SOCIAL JUSTICE QUESTIONS
How
has the City protected the quality of life for all citizens in the City of Fort
Worth?
How
has the city protected neighborhoods that lack the resources to negotiate
leases that are equitable to leases in affluent neighborhoods?
Does
the city provide a standard for the aesthetic quality of a pad site for all
neighborhoods?
Has
the city effectively provided information about the impact of gas drilling to
all citizens of
Summa Canisters Used for
Testing VOCs
Summa
canisters are described and illustrated on the summacanister.com website:
“The
term “SUMMA” Canister is a genericized trademark that refers to
electropolished, passivated stainless steel vacuum sampling devices, such as TO
canisters, SilcoCans, MiniCans, etc, which are cleaned, evacuated, and used to
collect whole-air samples for laboratory analysis. The samples can be analyzed
using methods such as EPA Method TO-15 for VOCs, ASTM Method D-1946 for Methane
and other hydrocarbons, and a host of other methods for other parameters.
Canister
Letter to the Editor sent
by Dorothy Bassett to the Observer Reporter:
I was very troubled to read the
article indicating the Range wants to sue Robinson Township in order to push
forward the drilling of two new well pads. The reality of the matter is
that Range’s documents included sound studies that showed that the planned well
pads exceeded Robinson Township’s noise ordinances. There were also other
questions that the township supervisors, as well as a number of residents, had
about the projects. However, Range did not have a representative at the
hearings held on January 14 about the proposed well pads and so the
questions remained unanswered. Strangely, Range’s attorney, Shawn
Gallagher, appeared prior to the meeting and sat among the residents, but
stayed for only a few minutes then left before the hearing about the well pads
even began.
As someone who did stay for the
entirety of the Robinson Township hearings, I would have to say that the
township supervisors proceeded in a very responsible way, raising the questions
and issues that came up as they reviewed Range’s documents, and even asking if
there were any Range representatives present to answer the questions. The
room was silent. Even any leaseholders who might have been there with
interests in the projects also remained silent. The only people in the
audience who spoke were those who had concerns about the proposed well pads –
concerns about truck traffic, failure of the project to adhere to existing
noise ordinances, air quality in the surrounding areas, and the like.
Robinson Township’s supervisors
acted in exemplary fashion throughout, and were very diligent in carrying out
their responsibilities as elected officials. Range, however, in apparent
disregard for the process, failed to even appear either to advocate for their
own interests or to respond to questions raised by the supervisors or area
residents. It is entirely likely that if Range had deigned to attend this
hearing, that the questions could have been answered, the concerns could have
been resolved, and the project could have gone on without difficulty.
(Recognize that Robinson Township already has active Range sites within it,
indicating that Robinson Township supervisors have a history of approving well
pads which were in compliance with local ordinances, and for which full
information was provided.)
Instead,
Range, as part of an apparent and long-standing pattern of disregard and
disrespect for local government bodies, failed to attend the hearing, and emailed
their comments about the meeting – a meeting they did not even attend - to the
O-R before the article of January 14 went to print. It would appear
that instead of wanting to avoid a lawsuit, Range was actually trying to behave
in such a fashion as to give themselves an excuse to file a
lawsuit. By providing the township with incomplete information and by
providing sound studies that indicated that the projects were in violation of
local ordinances, and then by failing to attend the meeting and respond to
questions, it appears that Range knew that the Robinson Township supervisors,
in the responsible execution of their duties, would not approve the pads
without the appropriate questions answered. By having no one there to
answer supervisors’ and residents’ questions, Range themselves hindered
the approval process. This, then raises the question – is this current
situation and lawsuit truly about these two well pads, or instead, is it
about attempting to punish a local governing body – Robinson Township – for
being among the group of townships that took legal action in opposition to Act
13?
Westmoreland
Marcellus Citizen’s Group—Mission
Statement
To raise the public’s general awareness and
understanding of the impacts of Marcellus drilling on the natural environment,
health, and long-term economies of local communities.
Officers: President-Jan
Milburn
Treasurer-Wanda
Guthrie
Secretary-Ron Nordstrom
Facebook
Coordinator-Elizabeth Nordstrom
Blogsite –April
Jackman
Science
Subcommittee-Dr. Cynthia Walter
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