Westmoreland
Marcellus Citizens’ Group Updates May 9, 2013
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3 CRITICAL ACTION
ALERTS!! Can you take 10 minutes?
***Tell the
Pennsylvania General Assembly: Don't subsidize the fracking industry
Sign the petition
“Subsidizing
fracked natural gas vehicles is a dangerous waste of money. Kill the
"Marcellus Works" package of bills being pushed by pro-fracking
Republicans.
Pennsylvania House Republicans are pushing to give a
multimillion-dollar handout to the fracking industry.
They're
pushing a package of bills--dubiously called the "Marcellus Works"
package by their supporters--that would create huge subsidies to incentivize
the production of vehicles that run on fracked natural gas. Three bills have
already passed in the House and are headed for the Senate. The rest could come
up for a floor vote very soon.1 2 3
Pennsylvanians
are already suffering from the toxic effects of fracking. It's unconscionable
to try to expand the demand for fracked gas by subsidizing a natural gas
vehicle buildout at government expense.
Tell the
Pennsylvania General Assembly: Don't waste millions of dollars subsidizing
fracked natural gas vehicles.
As all
too many Pennsylvanians know, fracking is a serious threat to the health of
nearby communities, not a formula for economic growth. Subsidies for the
fracking industry may increase the industry's profits, but they'll hurt
Pennsylvanians.
Furthermore,
plowing millions of dollars into natural
gas vehicles and fueling stations makes no sense when we know that we have to
transition off of fossil fuels, including natural gas, to avoid climate
catastrophe.
Encouraging
a buildout of fracked gas infrastructure is a dangerous waste of money and a
craven handout to the fracking industry. We need to shame the legislators
responsible for this package of bills and encourage more moderate legislators
to kill the legislation.”
Tell the Pennsylvania General Assembly: Don't waste
millions of dollars subsidizing fracked natural gas vehicles.
*** Money from Wind and Solar to Go to Gas!
Don't let dirty fuel interests weaken Pennsylvania's clean energy
programs
A bill to give gas
the same incentives normally reserved for wind and solar has been introduced in
the state legislature. This is nothing short of a back-door attempt to
repeal Pennsylvania's Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard (AEPS) and clean
energy programs.
Tell your state rep (the link to legislators contact info is listed at
the top of the newsletter) that gas does not deserve clean energy incentives!
If passed, this bill will allow
gas to count for all of Pennsylvania's clean energy sources, remove incentives
for developing cleaner energy sources like wind and solar. Don't let dirty fuel
interests frack Pennsylvania’s clean energy jobs away!
Tell your representative that we need to promote true clean energy
sources, not natural gas.
The purpose of the
AEPS is to help grow a new, pollution-free energy industry in Pennsylvania.
Fracking for gas creates serious air and water pollution problems and
contributes to climate disruption. In addition to harming public health, this
will put thousands of good clean, renewable energy jobs in jeopardy. When it
comes to clean energy, we should be doubling down, not watering down our
investment.
Thanks for all you do to protect the environment,
Randy Francisco, Pennsylvania Beyond Coal, Sierra Club
***Breathe Act and
Fresher Act
The FRESHER Act
would close a Clean Water Act loophole and hold oil and gas companies to the same standards as other
industries by requiring them to obtain storm water runoff permits for
construction and drilling activities. In addition, the bill directs
regulators to study the effects of dirty storm water runoff from fracking
operations on public lands. Drilling and its related construction activities
can cause significant amounts of soil erosion and result in fossil fuel
polluted sediments reaching our streams and waterways. Left unchecked, this
pollution degrades drinking water, harms aquatic habitats, and creates
increased costs for local water authorities.
The BREATHE Act would restore Clean Air Act
protections for communities experiencing intensive oil and gas drilling
operations where the industry operates large numbers of wells in close
proximity to each other. Right now, many gas wells fall squarely within a loophole in the Clean Air Act that allows
them to release more toxic air pollution with fewer emission controls than
other larger industrial polluters --even though the cumulative air pollution
from all of these closely associated wells can be quite toxic and harmful to
people and communities. This bill would also require that toxic hydrogen sulfide gas, which can be released
during drilling operations, be added to
the list of hazardous air pollutants that industry must control.
Calendar of Events
*** Westmoreland
County Commissioners Meeting - 2nd
and 4th Thursday of the month at the county courthouse at 10:00
From Marcellus
Protest Calendar:
May 11 (Pittsburgh, PA): Frack Forum (1:00 pm). Fourth
bimonthly Frack Forum, at the Friends Meeting House in Shadyside
(Pittsburgh). Pot-luck lunch followed by
“How to Fight the Frackers—An Organizers’ Panel” featuring four local
groups.
May 21 (State-wide): Primary Election Day.
May 22 (Washington, DC): Stop the Frack Attack. Come to DC, lobby your representatives, and
attend Senate Committee sessions .
Marcellus Protest is one of 140 Member Organizations of the Stop the
Frack Attack Network.
Frack Links
*** “Fracking & Public Health’ on You
Tube
Seminar held at St. Vincent
College in Latrobe, Pa
***To sign up for notifications
of activity and violations for your area:
***To view companies with the most violations
***List of the Harmed--There are now
over 1200 names of residents of Pennsylvania who became sick after fracking
began in their area and have placed their name on the list of the harmed. http://pennsylvaniaallianceforcleanwaterandair.wordpress.com/the-list/
***VIDEO: Presentations
by gas workers whose health has been affected. Mac Sawyer, Joe
Giovaninni, Robert McCaslin. Randy Moyer was too sick to attend.
***VIDEO: Al Appleton on Spectra Pipeline (4:23)
“Marcellus gas has 4 to 5 times
the radon level of Texas gas”
Al Appleton is an
international environmental consultant with more than 15 years' experience in
water resource management, watershed protection and land use, infrastructure
economics and public finance, sustainable development, and market-based
strategies such as Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES).
Frack News
(I have decided to identify any bills or proposed action to
regulate fracking by posting symbols
signifying democrat or republican sponsorship. I soon realized there is nothing-nothing proposed by Republicans. We know
there are actively involved Republican supervisors. Where are the Republicans
legislators? Jan)
1. 100,000 Signatures for a Moratorium on
Fracking Delivered to Gov. Tom Corbett
“With public concern
about serious harms caused by the gas drilling process known as fracking
continuing to rise, PennEnvironment
Research & Policy Center and a coalition of public health, community and
environmental groups delivered more than 100,000 petitions to the state
Legislature and Gov. Tom Corbett today. The
petition calls for a moratorium on gas drilling in Pennsylvania until our
environment and public health can be protected.
This
is believed to be the largest public outcry on fracking in state history.
“As nurses, our focus is
on preventing illness by reducing hazards and advocating for healthy
environments,” said Nina Kaktins,
Co-Chair of the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association Environmental Health
Committee. “A number of illnesses have been
reported in areas where fracking occurs, including nosebleeds, headaches, skin
irritation, fatigue, stomach pains, difficulty breathing, and more. While research projects are underway to
investigate the health effects of fracking, a moratorium is a common-sense
measure to prevent further illness.”
"My life has been devastated by working in the gas fields. Without
proper training, tools or protection, I was routinely sent out to handle toxic
fracking fluid in unsafe ways,” said Rick “Mac” Sawyer. “Now, a year later, I'm
sick, with no health insurance. The
gas companies don't care about the health and safety of their employees, or any
Pennsylvanians for that matter."
"I am proud to introduce legislation
in the coming days which will halt fracking in order to do thorough and
accurate study of its environmental effects. I ask my colleagues in the General
Assembly to take heed of the request of these 100,000 petition signers, and I
ask citizens to continue their tireless advocacy on behalf of the
Commonwealth's environment,” said Senator
Ferlo (Allegheny).
"After years of poisoned
drinking water, toxic spills and air pollution, Pennsylvanians are increasing
becoming fed up with fracking. They're organizing street by street and town by
town - at churches, at colleges and at coffee shops,” said Sam Bernhardt, Food & Water Watch’s Pennsylvania organizer. “
"Drillers
are dumping radioactive drill cuttings and toxic fracking flowback all over the
state, starting up operation of compressor stations despite explosions, fires,
and health. With impacts this extreme, it's time to admit the fracking
experiment has failed and call a halt before more people get hurt," said Iris Marie Bloom, Director of Protecting
Our Waters.”
2.
John Smith Presents at DEP Smith Compressor Station Public Hearing:
John’s statement begins at about
36 minutes
Excerpt
(Recommendations for the Station)
-Replace glycol dehydrator with desiccant dehydrators to reduce by 90%
methane VOCs, HAPS, and
maintenance costs
-Use electric motors which will reduce air pollution
-DEP should do air modeling
-DEP should consider wind speed and topography
-Consider the County study (Rand) that notes that compressor stations
result in 60-75 % of all gas operations damages, that Washington County
experiences highest damage costs in PA, that Washington County is bearing the
brunt of air pollution damages
Smith Township Compressor
Hearing
“About
500 people showed up for a DEP hearing on the planned expansion of a gas
compression station in Smith Township. Representatives from MarkWest opened the
meeting with a short presentation.
Nathan
Wheldon, environmental manager for MarkWest, said the company planned to expand
the site’s capability from two engines
to as many as 10 in order to meet demand. He highlighted the various safety
features of the plant, including daily inspections, regular equipment checks,
maintenance and technological improvements like flash and gas detectors.
“If
these detectors see anything out of order, the plant will shut down before
anything else happens,” Wheldon said.
The
public meeting was announced after MarkWest’s application for the expansion
caused the DEP to receive a number of public comments. Following the
presentation by Wheldon and McHale, members of the public were asked to speak. DEP officials said they would
answer questions in writing as part of a “comment and response document” made
available on Pennsylvania Bulletin, the commonwealth’s outlet for public
information.
Members of the audience were split, with a slightly larger
portion of the presenters in favor of the gas industry.
Veronica
Coptis, community organizer for the Center for Coalfield Justice in Washington,
said many of the emission levels laid out in the permit application would be
harmful to residents.
“The Smith compressor would be one of the
largest in the county,” Coptis said. The planned expansion “produced an
increased risk for formaldehyde exposure … We’re opposed to emissions of these
known carcinogens.
“The
voices of the citizens of Washington County should be considered above industry
interests.”
State
Sen. Tim Solobay, D-Canonsburg, also said the impact of Marcellus Shale
exploration was good for the area.
“Natural
gas is having a positive environmental impact,” Solobay said, pointing to a
federal study that claimed air pollution had decreased between 2005 and 2011.
“This trend can only improve air quality, not only in our region, but in the
country as a whole.”
Attorney John Smith, solicitor for Robinson
Township, shared a petition signed by 20 residents of that municipality
voicing air quality concerns.
“Many of the people
(of Robinson Township) live in low-lying areas,” Smith said. “Many of these chemicals tend to lay in low levels.”
Smith said similar
compression stations elsewhere in the country have utilized electric engines
instead of the 1,980-horsepower, natural-gas-burning engines the Smith
compressor would employ. He said the electric engines had less of an air
quality impact because they emitted fewer pollutants. In addition to
formaldehyde, volatile organic compounds were also singled out as especially
harmful.
“These are known
cancer-causing agents that can affect these individuals,” Smith said.
3. New York Towns Can Ban Fracking
“An appeals court said local governments in
New York can ban fracking within their borders, delivering a major blow to the gas
industry and landowners who had sought to have the bans overturned.
The state Appellate
Division ruled unanimously in favor of the Tompkins County town of Dryden and
the Otsego County town of Middlefield, both of which passed zoning laws that
prohibit gas drilling. The rulings upheld decisions last year from a lower
court.
The so-called “home
rule” issue has been a topic of contention among the gas industry and critics
of fracking, a technique where water, sand and chemicals are injected deep
underground to fracture shale and release natural gas.
Proponents of
fracking contended New York law prohibits local bans because it defers all
regulatory oversight of drilling to the state; Dryden and Middlefield argued
the clause in state law doesn’t impede on their ability to use zoning laws as
they see fit.”
Jon Campbell: JCAMPBELL1@gannett.com;
Twitter.com@JonCampbellGAN
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20130502/NEWS/305020048/Appeals-court-says-NY-towns-can-ban-fracking?gcheck=1
4.
Letters from DEP Clearly State Drilling Contaminated Wells
“The Department (Pa. DEP)
investigation indicates that gas well drilling has impacted your water supply.”
Despite the oft-repeated gas industry canard that there are no confirmed cases
of fracking contaminating water supplies, the following Determination Letters
from the PA DEP clearly state that “gas well drilling” has contaminated
wells in Granville, Tuscarora, Terry, Orwell, Wilmot and Monroe Townships, and
in Alba Boro.
To view the letters see the following site and click on the
township:
Copies of the Letters:
5.
Fracking Ourselves to Death in Pennsylvania
(This is a good
article to share with people who are not aware of what is going on. Jan )
http://www.alternet.org/fracking-ourselves-death-pennsylvania?page=0%2C0
“Now, a new
generation of downwinders is getting sick as an emerging industry pushes the
next wonder technology -- in this case, high-volume hydraulic fracturing.
Whether they live in Texas, Colorado, or Pennsylvania, their symptoms are the
same: rashes, nosebleeds, severe headaches, difficulty breathing, joint pain,
intestinal illnesses, memory loss, and more. “In my opinion,” says Yuri Gorby of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
“what we see unfolding is a serious health crisis, one that is just beginning
The
industry that uses this technology calls its product “natural gas,” but there’s
nothing natural about up-ending half a billion years of safe storage of methane
and everything that surrounds it. It is, in fact, an act of ecological violence
around which alien infrastructures -- compressor stations that compact the gas
for pipeline transport, ponds of contaminated flowback, flare stacks that burn
off gas impurities, diesel trucks in quantity, thousands of miles of pipelines,
and more -- have metastasized across rural America, pumping carcinogens and
toxins into water, air, and soil.
The corporations
that are exploiting the shale come to the state with lavish federal entitlements:
exemptions from the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Clean Drinking Water Acts, as
well as the Superfund Act, which requires cleanup of hazardous substances. The
industry doesn’t have to call its trillions of gallons of annual waste
“hazardous.” Instead, it uses euphemisms like “residual waste.” In addition,
fracking companies are allowed to keep secret many of the chemicals they use.
Randy Moyer
is a pleasant-faced, bearded 49-year-old whose drawl reminds you that Portage,
his hardscrabble hometown in southwestern Pennsylvania, is part of Appalachia.
He worked 18 years -- until gasoline prices got too steep -- driving his own
rigs to haul waste in New York and New Jersey. Then what looked like a great
opportunity presented itself: $25 an hour working for a hydraulic-fracturing
subcontractor in northeastern Pennsylvania.
In
addition to hauling fracking liquid, water, and waste, Randy also did what’s
called, with no irony, “environmental.” He climbed into large vats to squeegee
out the remains of fracking fluid. He also cleaned the huge mats laid down
around the wells to even the ground out for truck traffic. Those mats get
saturated with “drilling mud,” a viscous, chemical-laden fluid that eases the
passage of the drills into the shale. What his employer never told him was that
the drilling mud, as well as the wastewater from fracking, is not only highly
toxic, but radioactive.
In
the wee hours of a very cold day in November 2011, he stood in a huge basin at
a well site, washing 1,000 mats with high-pressure hoses, taking breaks every
so often to warm his feet in his truck. “I took off my shoes and my feet were
as red as a tomato,” he told me. When the air from the heater hit them, he
“nearly went through the roof.”
Once
at home, he scrubbed his feet, but the excruciating pain didn’t abate. A “rash”
that covered his feet soon spread up to his torso. A year and a half later, the
skin inflammation still recurs. His upper lip repeatedly swells. A couple of
times his tongue swelled so large that he had press it down with a spoon to be
able to breathe. “I’ve been fried for over 13 months with this stuff,” he told
me in late January. “I can just imagine what hell is like. It feels like I’m
absolutely on fire.”
Family
and friends have taken Moyer to emergency rooms at least four times. He has
consulted more than 40 doctors. No one can say what caused the rashes, or his
headaches, migraines, chest pain, and irregular heartbeat, or the shooting
pains down his back and legs, his blurred vision, vertigo, memory loss, the
constant white noise in his ears, and the breathing troubles that require him to
stash inhalers throughout his small apartment.
In an earlier era,
workers’ illnesses fell into the realm of “industrial medicine.” But these
days, when it comes to the U.S. fracking industry, the canaries aren’t
restricted to the coalmines. People like Randy seem to be the harbingers of
what happens when a toxic environment is no longer buried miles beneath the
earth. The gas fields that evidently poisoned him are located near thriving
communities.
“For
just about every other industry I can imagine,” says Anthony Ingraffea of
Cornell University, coauthor of a landmark
study that established fracking’s colossal greenhouse-gas footprint,
“from making paint, building a toaster, building an automobile, those traditional
kinds of industry occur in a zoned industrial area, inside of buildings,
separated from home and farm, separated from schools.” By contrast, natural gas
corporations, he says, “are imposing on us the requirement to locate our homes,
hospitals and schools inside their industrial space.”
In
2002, a “landman” knocked on the door and asked
Angel and her husband Wayne Smith to lease the gas rights of their 115-acre
farm to the San Francisco-based energy corporation PG&E(Pacific Gas & Electric.) At
first, he was polite, but then he started bullying. “All your neighbors have
signed. If you don’t, we’ll just suck the gas from under your land.” Perhaps
from weariness and a lack of information (almost no one outside the industry
then knew anything about high-volume hydraulic fracturing), they agreed. Drilling
began in 2002 on neighbors’ land and in 2005 on the Smith’s.
Little
Rose was Angel Smith’s favorite horse. On January 30, 2007, Little Rose
staggered, fell, and couldn’t get up. Her legs moved spasmodically. When Wayne
and Angel dragged her to a sitting position, she’d just collapse again. “I
called every vet in the phone book,” says Angel. “They all said, ‘Shoot her.’”
The couple couldn’t bear to do it. After two days, a neighbor shot her. “It was
our choice,” says Angel, her voice breaking. “She was my best friend.”
Soon,
the Smiths’ cows began showing similar symptoms. Those that didn’t die began
aborting or giving birth to dead calves. All the chickens died, too. So did the
barn cats. And so did three beloved dogs, none of them old, all previously
healthy. A 2012 study by Michelle
Bamberger and Cornell University pharmacology professor Robert Oswald indicates
that, in the gas fields, these are typical symptoms in animals and often serve
as early warning signs for their owners’ subsequent illnesses.
The
Smiths asked the DEP to test their water.
The agency told them that it was safe to drink, but Angel Smith says
that subsequent testing by Pennsylvania State University investigators revealed
high levels of arsenic. Meanwhile, the couple began suffering from
headaches, nosebleeds, fatigue, throat and eye irritation, and shortness of
breath. Wayne’s belly began swelling oddly, even though, says Angel, he isn’t
heavy. X-rays of his lungs showed scarring and calcium deposits. A blood
analysis revealed cirrhosis of the liver. “Get him to stop drinking,” said the
doctor who drew Angel aside after the results came in. “Wayne doesn’t drink,”
she replied. Neither does Angel, who at 42 now has liver disease.
By
the time the animals began dying, five high-volume wells had been drilled on
neighbors’ land. Soon, water started bubbling up under their barn floor and an
oily sheen and foam appeared on their pond. In 2008, a compressor station was
built half a mile away. These
facilities, which compress natural gas for pipeline transport, emit known
carcinogens and toxins like benzene and toluene.
The
Smiths say people they know elsewhere in Clearville have had similar health
problems, as have their animals. For a while they thought their own animals’
troubles were over, but just this past February several cows aborted. The
couple would like to move away, but can’t. No one will buy their land.
Excerpt from the Headley story: All the
brine tanks have leaked toxic waste onto the Headley’s land. Contaminated soil
from around the high-volume tank has been alternately stored in dumpsters and
in an open pit next to the well. The Headleys begged the DEP to have it
removed. David says an agency representative told them the waste would have to
be tested for radioactivity first. Eventually, some of it was hauled away; the
rest was buried under the Headleys’ land. The test for radioactivity is still
pending, though David has his own Geiger counter which has measured high levels
at the site of the well.
An
independent environmental organization,
Earthworks, included the Headleys among 55 households it surveyed in a
recent study of health problems near gas
facilities. Testing showed high levels of contaminants in the Headleys’ air,
including chloromethane, a neurotoxin,
and trichloroethene, a known carcinogen.
Perhaps
more telling is the simple fact that everyone in the family is sick.
Seventeen-year-old Grant has rashes that, like Randy Moyer’s, periodically
appear on different parts of his body. Four-year-old Adam suffers from stomach
cramps that make him scream. David says he and Linda have both had “terrible
joint pain. It’s weird stuff, your left elbow, your right hip, then you’ll feel
good for three days, and it’ll be your back.” At 42, with no previous family history
of either arthritis or asthma, Linda has been diagnosed with both. Everyone has
had nosebleeds -- including the horses.”
To read more about the Headleys (who spoke at our
St Vincent meeting) and the rest of the article see:
6.
Are You In the Zone?-from Bob
“The number of natural gas wells in Pennsylvania expected to increase
ten-fold to 60,000”
What
we have seen with drilling so far is just the tip of the iceberg folks, and we
are getting more reports of people with respiratory issues and unexplained “dry
coughs” -- many of these people live in Greene County and Washington County,
Pa. As far as deteriorating air quality issues,
people living in these counties not only have all the gas drilling, fracking,
dehydrating and processing in their own counties, but also what blows in on
prevailing westerly winds from heavily drilled West Virginia and Ohio. A friend who lives near the monstrous
MarkWest gas processing plant told me she awoke late one night this week with an
uncontrollable coughing spell, and their cat was throwing up blood. Why
does this sound so much like other Marcellus Shale horror stories we have
heard?”
7.
Toxic Chemicals Used in Fracking Include Hydrochloric Acid and Ethylene Glycol
Toxic
chemicals such as hydrochloric acid and ethylene glycol (antifreeze) are among
those pumped underground to help release gas through hydraulic fracturing,
according to a database operated by the B.C. Oil and Gas Commission.
Environment Canada wants gas companies to fully disclose what fluids they
inject deep underground during fracking. Disclosure is voluntary and the database
FracFocus.ca reveals some of the fluids used. However, it doesn’t list
quantities, and types of chemicals vary from site to site.
“There is an unquestionable link with water
contamination in some states in the United States as a result of fracking activities.”
The non-profit ProPublica newsroom has
reported water contamination in almost 1,000 rural water wells in regions where
drilling is taking place. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is
investigating the link between hydraulic fracturing and water contamination and
expects to release its report next year.
http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/energy-resources/Chemicals+used+fracking+includes+hydrochloric/8345056/story.html?__lsa=5a13-2e8c
8.
House Democrats Seek More Drilling Safeguards
“House Democratic lawmakers are
preparing new legislation to expand safeguards for the impact of Marcellus
Shale drilling on the environment and public health. The caucus policy committee held
a hearing this week where a former state official and environmental and public
health advocates called for a rewrite of
state laws addressing air and water quality, public health monitoring and
public land issues related to drilling. Safety issues are still important
with the number of natural gas wells in Pennsylvania expected to increase
tenfold to 60,000 during the next couple of decades, added Mr. Vitali. The two
issues drawing the most attention are water and air protection, said Rep. Frank
Farina, D-115, Jessup.
The state needs to create a health registry
of people who report plausible symptoms related to drilling, said Jill Kriesky,
associate director of the Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project.
In the impact fee law, legislators left out a provision to establish a
registry, she said. "Such data is invaluable to public health researchers,
toxicologists and physicians who seek to identify specific symptoms associated
with exposures to various stages of the gas extraction process," said Ms.
Kriesky. Democratic lawmakers are preparing legislation aimed at protecting state-owned lands from drilling.
State parks in the Marcellus Shale formation are at risk because the state only
owns the mineral rights under about 20 percent of the total state park land,
said Steve Stroman, policy director for PennFuture, an environmental group.”
9.
PA Supreme Court-Replacement for Orie Melvin Not Likely to Emerge Anytime Soon
“According to
knowledgeable sources in the Pennsylvania legal community, Governor Tom Corbett
has not yet made any moves to fill the vacancy on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
Sources also told The Legal that
there is even a possibility that Corbett may not make any nomination to fill
the vacancy because the governor is focusing on other pressing political issues
like the budget, the possible expansion of eligibility for Medicaid, and the
privatization of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.
One source familiar
with the Corbett administration said, "I can tell you with relative
certainty there's minimal chance anything will happen before the budget. I
don't think it's possible." The state budget is supposed to be passed into
law by June 30.
There's a "very
real possibility" Corbett will choose not to nominate anyone, the same
source said. Corbett has 90 days starting from Orie Melvin's resignation to
submit a nominee for confirmation by two-thirds of the state Senate. A nominee
would serve until January 5, 2016, and a new justice would be elected in
November 2015.
Some of the names include Michael Krancer, former secretary of the
state Department of Environmental Protection; Stephen Aichele, Corbett's
chief of staff; and William R. Sasso, chairman of Stradley Ronon Stevens &
Young's management committee.
Krancer, who ran
unsuccessfully for the Supreme Court in 2007, said it is an honor to be a name
mentioned as a possible nominee. If Corbett asked him to consider being
nominated, Krancer said he would respond affirmatively.
"When a chief executive asks you to do something, it's something
that is incumbent upon you as a duty to do," he said.
There are many important issues being considered by the Supreme Court,
Krancer said, like legislative reapportionment, the state's voter
identification law, and Act 13 issues like whether the state can pre-empt local
ordinances regarding natural-gas drilling.”
Amaris Elliott-Engel and Zack Needles
2013-05-06 12:00:00 AM
10.
Marcellus Shale in Pa.-Not as many Jobs As Thought
“Gov. Corbett, who found himself in the hot
seat last week over his comments on the state's lagging employment rate, has
promoted Pennsylvania as a rival to Texas as a regional energy hub. In his
budget address this year, he talked about the energy sector creating
"hundreds of thousands of new jobs." Most economists credit the
Marcellus Shale development with creating jobs and having a profound economic
effect in the rural areas where drilling is taking place. But they say energy
development can have only a modest effect in an economy as diverse as
Pennsylvania's.
"Gas
development has not been as big as we thought and is not the size that it will
cure all the state's employment problems," said David Passmore, director
of the Penn State Institute for Research in Training and Development. Even if shale-gas
development has created 245,000 direct and indirect jobs - the number used by
the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, and touted by industry trade
groups - that still amounts to only 4
percent of total employment in a state with 5.7 million jobs. Mark Price, a labor economist with the
liberal-leaning Keystone Research Center, says he can find only 20,000 direct
jobs created from Marcellus Shale. Even
if all coal-mining and legacy natural gas drilling is added together,
"this is a sector that still only makes up half of 1 percent of
Pennsylvania's economy," he said.
http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20130505_Debating_economic_impact_of_Marcellus_Shale_in_Pa_.html
11.
Sen. Ferlo Proposes Moratorium on Marcellus Shale Drilling
“At a Harrisburg rally yesterday, there were
petitions signed by 100,000 people for Gov. Tom Corbett, and State Sen. Jim Ferlo (D-Allegheny)
announced he will introduce legislation calling for a temporary moratorium on
any new Marcellus Shale gas drilling. Ferlo said with 10,000 wells
operating, it's time to take a step back because evidence has grown of water
contamination and air pollution, as well as adverse impacts on personal health,
property values and the state’s billion-dollar industries: agriculture and
tourism.
If
and when a moratorium is declared, Ferlo has called for an independent study
commission to evaluate environmental and health concerns related to the
drilling. He said the industry came into the state and started drilling before
laws and regulations were in place. And even now, Act 13, which governs
drilling, is woefully inadequate, Ferlo said. He has introduced 17 amendments
to strengthen the law”.
http://wesa.fm/post/ferlo-proposes-moratorium-marcellus-shale-drilling
12.
Former DEP Secretary Krancer Now Helps Gas Industry “Navigate” Regs
Under former Secretary
Krancer at the DEP, right-to-know requests for inspectors’ notes about
drilling-related water complaints were denied. Requests to speak directly to
DEP field officers were denied because “they were too busy” to talk.
Calling to DEP staffers at home for interviews was decried as “unacceptable”
and “unprofessional” behavior.
Sometimes days would
pass before requests for comments or information about drilling-related spills
and accidents got answered by DEP.
One memorable
example was a June 19 incident in Tioga County about 35 miles from Williamsport. After an anonymous tipster reported a
well leak, DEP at first could provide no information in response to
StateImpact’s inquiries.
Scott Detrow, then a StateImpact reporter, hustled to the scene and
found a 30-foot geyser of gas and water that had been spraying out of the
ground for more than a week in Union Township, Tioga County. In fact,
Shell, the company drilling nearby that caused the blow-out, had temporarily
evacuated nearby residents. Here’s more from Scott’s
report:
The
geyser wasn’t the only way the methane leak manifested itself. At the Ralston
Hunting Club, a water well inside a cabin overflowed, flooding the building.
Methane bubbled out from a nearby creek, as well. Shell asked the handful of
nearby landowners to temporarily evacuate their homes while the company worked
with well control specialists, a fire department and state environmental
regulators to bring the leak under control.
Eventually,
once Scott was on the scene, DEP did answer his questions. But the tone
at the top during Krancer’s tenure at DEP seemed to be to regard media
questions as intrusive and irksome.
But
Krancer has moved on, or moved back,
to a position with the major Philadelphia law firm of Blank Rome, where he has
been promoted as someone who can now
help industry navigate state and federal regulatory issues. The
Pennsylvania Ethics law prevents former public officials like Krancer from
representing clients before their former governmental employer, in this case
the DEP. But there appears to be an exception made for attorneys.
So
it happened that last week, StateImpact Pennsylvania received an email from a NY
public relations firm, Greentarget, offering up Krancer for an interview. Greentarget,seems to specialize in promoting
law firms. Here’s the email:
Hi Susan,
As you may be aware, Michael Krancer, former Secretary of the
Pennsylvania (DEP) under Governor Tom Corbett, has recently joined Blank Rome
to head its Energy, Petrochemical & Natural Resources Practice to support
current and potential upstream/midstream/downstream client companies looking to
benefit from Pennsylvania’s abundant natural gas reserves.
Michael offers
access to regional policy makers that other firms do not have,
as well as NERC, FERC, EPA and other policy making entities. He is sought-after
for his proven understanding of environmental regulation, governance and all
other issues relative to optimizing regional energy supplies, and can speak to
a track record of private and public success for creating new opportunities for
business expansion and investment.
Michael would be willing to speak on one of the following topics:
•
PA’s natural gas renaissance and what it means geo-politically
•
Fracking: Why regulation should be left to the states
•
How LNG exports should evolve
Are you interested in speaking to Michael? If so, I can arrange an
interview with him.
Thanks so much.
Best,
Samuel Eisele Junior Associate Greentarget
215 Lexington Ave. 17th Floor New
York, NY 10016
13. Colorado Democrats Push Fracking Rules
After Towns Bar Drilling
‘Colorado, is considering legislation to rein in the practice, drawing threats
from drillers who say they will flee the state if the restrictions become law.
The General Assembly is debating at least
nine bills that would require additional
groundwater sampling, prioritize inspections of oil and natural gas facilities,
increase penalties for violations, revise the state oil and gas regulator’s
mission, strengthen reporting standards for spills, and expedite certain air
permits.
“If you go walking
down the street in Erie you will see a drilling rig and a school 500 feet
away,” said state Senator Matt Jones, a Democrat from Louisville, about 22 miles
northwest of Denver
“It’s an industrial
activity going on 750 feet from peoples’ back doors,” said Jones, who is
sponsoring some of the most contentious bills. “A lot of middle-class people
that would never be involved in political issues contacted me with concerns.”
Fort Collins, the fifth-
largest city, voted in March to outlaw the method. The Colorado Oil & Gas
Association, a Denver-based trade group, filed a lawsuit challenging the
Longmont ban.
The Colorado Oil and
Gas Conservation Commission and the administration and the governor’s office
have been lobbying against them.”
14.
California--3 Bills Aim to Halt Fracking
“Three
bills that would halt fracking in California
won key votes, passing the Assembly Natural Resources Committee despite intense
pressure from the oil industry. The bills would place a moratorium on
fracking while threats posed by the controversial practice to California’s
environment and public health are studied. A.B. 1301—sponsored by the Center for Biological Diversity, Food & Water Watch and Clean Water Action—is supported by
the California
Nurses Association, Breast Cancer Action, Family Farm Defenders and more than
100 other health, labor, environmental and social justice organizations. A.B.
649, A.B. 1301 and A.B. 1323, (all sponsored by democrats), will next go to the
Assembly Appropriations Committee.
“This is a huge
win for Californians threatened by fracking pollution,” said Kassie Siegel of
the Center for Biological Diversity. “These bills will protect the air we
breathe and the water we drink from cancer-causing chemicals and other fracking
pollutants. That’s why a fracking moratorium is supported by nurses, farmers
and so many others concerned about our state’s health and environment.” http://ecowatch.com/2013/fracking-moratorium-bills-win-vote-ca/
15. Cheap Gas Prompts States
to Sour on Renewables
“More
than half the states with laws requiring utilities to buy renewable energy -
including Arizona - are considering ways to pare back those mandates after a
plunge in natural gas prices brought on by technology that boosted supply.
Sixteen of the 29 states with renewable portfolio standards are considering
legislation that would reduce the need
for wind and solar power, according to researchers backed by the U.S.
Energy Department. North Carolina lawmakers may be among the first to move,
followed by Colorado and Connecticut.
The efforts could benefit U.S. utilities such as Duke Energy and PG&E as well as Exxon Mobil, the
biggest U.S. oil producer, and Peabody Energy Corp., the largest U.S. coal
mining company. Those companies contributed to at least one of the lobby groups
pushing the change, according to the Center for Media and Democracy, a Madison,
Wis.-based nonprofit group. It would
hurt wind turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems and First Solar Inc., which
develops solar farms. "We're opposed to these mandates, and 2013 will
be the most active year ever in terms of efforts to repeal them," said
Todd Wynn, task force director for energy of the American Legislative Exchange
Council, or ALEC, a lobby group pushing for the change.”
16. Cutting-Edge Project to
Test Air Quality for Fracking in Colorado
Backpacks Measure an
individuals exposure
“Citizens
for a Healthy Community (CHC) announced that it is launching a cutting-edge air
quality sampling project. The project is
designed to establish an air quality baseline for the Delta County region in
Colorado by testing for toxic chemicals associated with natural gas drilling.
Formed in 2009 by a group of concerned residents, CHC’s mission is to protect
people and their environment from irresponsible oil and gas development in the
Delta County region.
Picture--Two
drill rigs working on a pad where ten wells have been previously completed. In
the bottom right you can see ten recovery water tanks. Note also the reserve
pit by the drill rigs. Photo courtesy of TEDX The Endocrine Disruption
Exchange.
Local residents will carry backpacks
containing air-sampling devices to collect data over 24-hour periods to
determine actual human exposure. CHC is beginning to work with local
residents to identify sampling locations so that the first round of sampling
can begin in September.
Three samples will be collected
at the same time at different locations as one collection set. Two sets will be
collected in a month during four months over the course of one-year, in order
to account for changes in the seasons.
The project was developed with input from scientists at The
Endocrine Disruption Exchange (TEDX). This cutting edge approach to
conducting an air baseline project uses backpack air sampling instead of a
stationary sampling location. This project will collect air samples to identify
if an individual has been exposed to chemicals in the air.
Picture--Cannons shooting
fracking wastewater to increase evaporation at the Ignacio natural gas
processing plant. Note the cracks in the dirt berm in the foreground. Photo
courtesy of TEDX The Endocrine Disruption Exchange.
While
drilling is relatively minimal in the Delta County region at this time, it is
important to establish a baseline to determine the current levels of chemicals
associated with drilling prior to any further gas and oil development,
especially given the unique wind patterns in the area. Also, many traditional air-sampling projects
overlook certain chemicals that can cause serious health effects at very low
levels, which sometimes cannot be seen or smelled. CHC will test for these
chemicals, called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), in sampling. The
American Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry says it is well
“established” that PAHs are carcinogenic, and have been linked to infertility,
immune disorders and fish mutation.
Understanding
personal exposure to chemicals is important because of the health effects of
certain chemicals used in, or released by, drilling and fracking. TEDX has
outlined the risks in their report, Chemicals in Natural Gas Operations: Health
Effects Summary. Other health effects include harm to the brain and the
endocrine and nervous systems, organ damage, and cancer and other “symptoms
such as burning eyes, rashes, coughs, sore throats, asthma-like effects,
nausea, vomiting, headaches, dizziness, tremors and convulsions.”
“It’s what we can’t see or smell—chemicals
in the air that come from drilling—that could be harming the health of local
families,” said Jim Ramey, director of CHC. “Our air sampling project could
serve as a model for other communities across the country who are fighting to
protect their health and environment from runaway drilling and fracking.”
Concerns in other gas-patch
communities have informed the design of this project. For example, at the
recent rulemakings of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission,
commissioners heard from numerous Garfield County and Front Range residents who
have experienced health effects that they believe were caused by airborne
pollution sourced from drilling. State officials frequently claim that Colorado
has the strongest regulations for oil and gas in the nation, but people are
still getting sick when drill rigs move in.
“Citizen science is critical to
holding the drilling industry and government responsible,” said Weston Wilson,
retired from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and currently with Be the
Change – USA. “Very few communities have the opportunity to establish their air
quality baseline before large scale drilling and fracking begin.”
Currently, drilling in the Delta
County region is limited to several wells per year. But, the community is
facing numerous proposals that could result in hundreds of new wells in the
area.” http://ecowatch.com/2013/test-air-quality-fracking-chemicals/
17. Hydraulic Fracturing
Faces Growing Competition for Water Supplies in Water-Stressed Regions
“A new Ceres research paper on
water use in fracking shows that a significant portion of this activity is
happening in water stressed regions of the U.S., most prominently Texas and
Colorado, which are both in the midst of prolonged drought conditions. It
concludes that industry efforts underway, such as expanded use of recycled
water and non-freshwater resources, need to be scaled up along with better
water management planning if shale energy production is to grow as projected.
The
research shows that nearly 47 percent of the wells were developed in water basins
with high or extremely high water stress. The research was based on FracFocus
data collected on 25,450 wells in operation from January 2011 through September
2012.
“These
findings highlight emerging tensions in many U.S. regions between growing hydraulic
fracturing activity and localized water supply needs,” said Ceres president
Mindy Lubber, in announcing the report, Hydraulic Fracturing & Water
Stress: Growing Competitive Pressures for Water, at Ceres’ annual conference in
San Francisco.
18. Letter to the Editor
Act 13 takes away zoning rights
“Drilling...It’s just the beginning,” is a saying that
appears on billboards for Range Resources, and it makes me pause and ponder
some things.
If the
zoning provisions of Act 13 are allowed to stand and drilling is just the
beginning, what will follow? Fertilizer plants? Act 13 allows industries to be
located in any zoned area of a community. This is exactly what happened
recently in Texas, where, tragically, homes and lives were lost when a
fertilizer plant exploded. The plant was located in a residential area even
though it was an industrial facility.
Local
zoning is supposed to keep industrial operations in areas zoned for industrial
use. But Act 13 takes away a community’s right to zone properly. This law
favors industry, namely oil and gas, not landowners. Industry wants all its
operations nearby – drilling rigs, flammable chemical storage, wastewater and
frack impoundments, compressor stations and more.
Robinson
Township, under its current board, along with Cecil, Mt. Pleasant and Peters
townships and other communities in Pennsylvania, has been a part of the
challenge to the zoning provisions of Act 13. The challenge, now in the hands
of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, is based on the desire of these communities
to continue to have the right to zone as they see fit. Without this ability,
dangerous industries with the potential to cause serious harm would be
permitted next to residential dwellings.
And yes,
drilling is at the top of a list of other industries which could come asking
for special treatment like the oil and gas industry is asking for in Act 13.
This law could open the door for all industrial-type operations to locate in
areas where they had been previously forbidden.
Cathy Lodge, Bulger
http://www.observerreporter.com/article/20130504/OPINION02/130509682/0/SEARCH#.UYZnoRzsOuQ
19. Wastewater Impoundments a Bad Practice
PA Rep. Jesse White
“My
amendments to House bills 302, 303 and 308 would ban open air impoundments for
the disposal of hazardous wastewater from drilling operations, leading to the
use of closed loop/closed containment systems instead. Closed loop/closed
containment systems should fit into anyone’s definition of “new and emerging
technologies,” and my amendments are “smarter and tighter regulations that
adapt” to those technologies. Many responsible drillers operating in
Pennsylvania have abandoned wastewater impoundments already, and they are
specifically discussed as a performance standard by the Center for Sustainable Shale
Development, which includes such companies as Shell, Chevron, Consol and EQT.
It is worth noting that Range refuses to participate in this initiative to
adopt industry wide best practices.
Last August, the PA DEP Office of Oil and
Gas Management issued a draft report with recommendations for updates to
drilling regulations. Section 78.58 clearly stated, “The long-term storage of
production fluids in a pit presents an unacceptable risk to the environment
though leaks or overtopping of the pit.” Somehow, this recommendation
disappeared from the final version of the regulations. I have submitted a
Right-to-Know request to determine
whether Range submitted comments to the DEP requesting the regulation be
removed; the DEP has yet to provide me with any information.
Wastewater
impoundments are simply not an industry best practice; they’re little more than
toxic waste dumps, and new and better technologies absolutely exist. While
Range Resources, through Matt Pitzarella, specifically told the readers of the
Observer-Reporter they lobby in favor of smarter regulations and new
technologies, Range’s paid lobbyist through the Marcellus Shale Coalition was
literally doing the exact opposite. So who is Range Resources lying to – the
readers of the Observer-Reporter, or the members of the Pennsylvania
Legislature?”
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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