Westmoreland
Marcellus Citizens’ Group Updates June 13, 2013
* For articles and updates or to just vent, visit us on facebook;
* To view permanent documents, past updates,
reports, general information and meeting information
http://westmorelandmarcellus.blogspot.com/
*
To discuss candidates: http://www.facebook.com/groups/VoteProEarth/
* To contact your state
legislator:
For email
address, click on the envelope under the photo
* For information on the state gas legislation
and local control: http://pajustpowers.org/aboutthebills.html-
June Attachment —Flyer
for Fracktracker Training Session
If you would like an
event or news article posted in the Updates please put in your email subject
title —post in Updates. Otherwise, I may read the email after the updates are
already completed and miss your deadline.
Calendar of Events- June
is Busy
***Fracktracker Training-Free--Sign
Up Now
To
follow what is going on with gas operations/violations near you. We will learn how to track
permits, wells, and violations using the Fracktracker computer program.
June 26- Two sessions 3-5pm or 6-8pm
ST
Vincent College Dupre Science Pavilion, West Building, Room WG02
Presented by Mt Watershed Assoc and FracTracker Alliance
Also sponsored by Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group
To RSVP for one of the 2 hour sessions contact Kathryn
Hilton at Kathryn@mtwatershed.com
or 724-455-4200 ext. 4
Please help us post flyers for
this meeting. Everyone please make a
few copies of the attachment and post in your area library, grocery stores,
churches, community bulletin boards, etc.
***Westmoreland County Commissioners Meeting--2nd
and 4th Thursday of the month at the County Courthouse at 10:00 am
***WMCG Steering
Committee Meetings--2nd Tuesday of every month at 7:30 pm
***Gasland Part II Coming to
Pittsburgh June 20, 7:00 pm- Join
hundreds of your friends and neighbors to hear what fracking is doing to the
health of individuals, communities, and the environment. Learn what you can do to STOP THE FRACKING
ASSAULT.
FREE AND OPEN TO THE
PUBLIC
Bring your friends, spread the word!
As part
of a national ‘preview’ tour, Gasland Part II will be shown free to the public
at the Soldiers and Sailors Hall in Oakland. Doors open at 6 pm with live music and the screening begins at 7 pm.
Director Josh Fox will be present.
Film followed by a Q and A session with Josh Fox .
Parking is available in the garage beneath Soldiers and
Sailors and on Pitt campus streets. For
bus routes and schedules see “Trip Finder” at
http://www.portauthority.org/paac/SchedulesMaps/TripPlanner.aspx
The handicapped entrance is on University Place.
Organized primarily by Marcellus Protest with help from
Clean Water Action, PennEnvironment, Mountain Watershed Assoc., Sierra Club and
additional support from Beaver County Marcellus Awareness, Butler Marcellus
Outreach, Center for Coalfield Justice, CURE, East End Food Coop, Frac Tracker,
Green Energy Collaborative, Murrysville Marcellus Community Group, Pittsburgh
National Lawyers Guild, SHADD, Southwest PA Environmental Health Project, Three
Rivers Community Foundation, and Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens Group.
================================
**Grassroots’ Summer Summit-Mountain Watershed
MWA is proud to announce the Grassroots Summer Summit - June 21st and 22nd 2013 – the first in
a series of events MWA plans to hold twice per year for grassroots community
and environmental advocates and citizens to come together for organizing and
rejuvenation. We aim to nurture a network of support for those in the ‘Good
Race’ to protect themselves, their families, and their communities. Featured
speakers include Lois Gibbs (of Love Canal), Simona Perry, and Elliot Adams
(Veterans for Peace). A tentative schedule is available for download.
Registration
is only $10 and includes bunk accommodations (you may also bring a tent if you
prefer) and meals. Participation is limited and is filling up quickly! To save
your spot, contact Melissa at 724-455-4200 ext. 6# or Melissa@mtwatershed.com.
***Register for Pennsylvania's Lobby Day June 18 2013
“On
Tuesday, June 18th, 2013, Clean Water Action will hold their annual Lobby Day
at the state capitol in Harrisburg. The day will consist of the opportunity to
meet with your state senator and representative as well as taking part in our
rally for DEP accountability at noon in
the capitol rotunda.
It
takes strength in numbers to show our elected officials that the people of
Pennsylvania want to be protected from the dangers of fracking and want the
Department of Environmental Protection to do its job! Join us!
We will probably leave Pittsburgh around 8AM
if not earlier. We should be able to make a stop to pick folks up in Westmoreland
County off the Turnpike. Feel free to give me a call if you have any questions.
My number is (412)765-3053 extension 240.”
Cassi
TAKE ACTION!!
***Call WESA about Range Resources’ Ads On Public Radio
Public
Radio is still running Range Resource ads and I am still hearing a lot of
complaints. . We need to continue to call and tell WESA this is not the mission
of public radio –to be a mouthpiece for the industry—to present industry
propaganda as fact .
Call or email WESA
and let them know if you will not donate because of this issue and that you
disagree with this policy. I spent quite awhile on the phone with one of the
program directors. We all need to do this.
WESA Phone 412- 381 -9131
***If Your Water
Has Been Affected or DEP Tested Your Water---
The
Pennsylvania Campaign for Clean Water is seeking help from Pennsylvanians whose
water supply has been affected by natural gas drilling (or other gas extraction
activities). Also of interest is if any tests were done by the DEP. Please tell
your story by filling out the form available HERE. http://www.pacleanwatercampaign.org/stories/
Your information will be kept confidential. If you would
prefer tell us your story over the phone, please call Steve Hvozdovich at Clean
Water Action, 412-765-3053, x210.
FRACK LINKS
***US Subsidizing LNG Development Near Great Barrier Reef—from Amy
AXS TV...showing it all week I think. ( Dan
Rather) U.S. is subsidizing enormous LNG development next to the Great Barrier
reef. Scientists studying effects,
report published showing the usual effects on life ( bizarre sea life
illness/death, fishing industry decline)....industry studies disagree and find
nothing wrong.
***6 Minutes Over A Fracked Dimock -from Bob
Who Would Want to Live Here?
Notice how close together these sites are located:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg72ZvDLqMU
u
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg_toMHXtuM&feature=share
***To sign up for notifications
of activity and violations for your area:
***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/
***Health Problems Forum-Video
Mac Sawyer, former gas field truck driver, Joe Giovannini mason and resident of
Cannonsburg, Robert McCaslin who
worked as master driller. Larysa Dyrszka, MD, Board certified pediatrician, former director of pediatrics at Holy
Name Hospital in Teaneck, NJ, attendee at the first US Health Impact Assessment
Conference in Washington DC., and affiliate member of Physicians Scientists and
Engineers for Healthy Energy and Lauren
Williams, Esq, PA attorney specializing in environmental and public law who
focuses on land use issues including those that relate to gas drilling. Lauren
William’s discussion of the gag order on doctors is a good explanation of the
problems surrounding the Act 13 order.
You must click on each speaker in turn to hear all the presentations.
***Photos of Pipeline Crossing-from John Trallo
From Skytruth
A Few of the Violations Listed in Skytruth Alerts (to
sign up see link above)
Environmental Health & Safety violation
issued on 2012-06-20 to Xto Energy Inc in Fairfield Twp, Westmoreland county.
78.54 - Failure to properly control or dispose of industrial or residual waste
to prevent pollution of the waters of the Commonwealth.
Tags: PADEP, frack, violation, drilling
Environmental Health & Safety violation
issued on 2012-03-12 to Xto Energy Inc in Loyalhanna Twp, Westmoreland county.
102.4 - Failure to minimize accelerated erosion, implement E&S plan,
maintain E&S controls. Failure to stabilize site until total site
restoration under OGA Sec 206(c)(d)
Tags: PADEP, frack, violation, drilling
Environmental Health & Safety violation
issued on 2012-01-17 to Wpx Energy Appalachia Llc in Derry Twp, Westmoreland
county. 401CLS - Discharge of pollultional material to waters of Commonwealth.
Tags: PADEP, frack, violation, drilling
Administrative violation issued on 2013-04-15
to Wpx Energy Appalachia Llc in Donegal Twp, Westmoreland county. 212WELLRCD -
Failure to submit well record within 30 days of completion of drilling
Tags: PADEP, frack, violation, drilling
Administrative violation issued on 2012-01-11
to Wpx Energy Appalachia Llc in Donegal Twp, Westmoreland county. 78.56(2) -
Failure to maintain 2 ' of freeboard in an impoundment.
Tags: PADEP, frack, violation, drilling
Environmental Health & Safety violation
issued on 2012-09-06 to Penneco Oil Co Inc in Upper Burrell Twp, Westmoreland
county. 78.54 - Failure to properly control or dispose of industrial or
residual waste to prevent pollution of the waters of the Commonwealth.
Tags: PADEP, frack, violation, drilling
Environmental Health & Safety violation
issued on 2012-08-21 to Penneco Oil Co Inc in Upper Burrell Twp, Westmoreland
county. 78.54 - Failure to properly control or dispose of industrial or
residual waste to prevent pollution of the waters of the Commonwealth.
Tags: PADEP, frack, violation, drilling
Administrative violation issued on 2012-02-06
to Mieka Llc in Hempfield Twp, Westmoreland county. 206C - Failure to restore
well site within nine months after completion of drilling, failure to remove
all pits, drilling supplies and equipment not needed for production.
Tags: PADEP, frack, violation, drilling
Administrative violation issued on 2012-01-24
to Kriebel Minerals Inc in Unity Twp, Westmoreland county. 102.4HQBMP - Failure
to implement Special Protection BMPs for HQ or EV stream.
Tags: PADEP, frack, violation, drilling
Environmental Health & Safety violation
issued on 2012-07-23 to Cnx Gas Co Llc in Bell Twp, Westmoreland county. 401CSL
- Discharge of pollultional material to waters of Commonwealth.
Tags: PADEP, frack, violation, drilling
Environmental Health & Safety violation
issued on 2012-06-14 to Chevron Appalachia Llc in Sewickley Twp, Westmoreland
county. SWMA301 - Failure to properly store, transport, process or dispose of a
residual waste.
Tags: PADEP, frack, violation, drilling
Environmental Health & Safety violation
issued on 2012-03-12 to Xto Energy Inc in Loyalhanna Twp, Westmoreland county.
102.4 - Failure to minimize accelerated erosion, implement E&S plan,
maintain E&S controls. Failure to stabilize site until total site
restoration under OGA Sec 206(c)(d)
Tags: PADEP, frack, violation, drilling
Frack Facts
1. Headley
vs Chevron --Drillers Face Lawsuit
This Suit Based On Nuisance Laws
“Chevron Corp. (CVX),
Williams Cos. and WPX Energy Inc. (WPX) face a lawsuit by six Fayette County
families who claim nearby gas wells are a nuisance that have diminished their
ability to make use of their property. The suit breaks the defendants into
three groups: well defendants, pipeline defendants and compressor station
defendants. Each is being sued for alleged negligence and recklessness and for
being private nuisances.
The
families say the companies’ activities have ruined the “quiet use and
enjoyment” of their homes and caused emotional damages including anxiety and
fear. The homeowners seek unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for the
effects of toxic chemicals, noise and odor from nearby gas wells, according to
a copy of a complaint provided by the families’ lawyers.
Since
2009, more than 35 lawsuits that allege fracking contaminated water have been
filed in eight states, according to a Jan. report from the law firm
Fulbright & Jaworski LLP.
In
those cases, homeowners must rely on scientific evidence that may not be
conclusive, according to Charlie Speer, whose Kansas City, Missouri-based law
firm is handling the complaint. In a nuisance case, a jury is asked to consider
the intrusion into people’s lives as a result of drilling.
Twelve
wells near the residents’ properties have been leaking natural gas, methane and
other toxic and radioactive substances into the air and ground, according to
the complaint. Faulty design, construction and maintenance are allegedly to
blame. They say the problems were brought to the defendant’s attention but
never resolved.
Also the brine tanks
associated with the wells allegedly have been observed to have rust and holes
which allow the contents to leak. The dikes built to contain spillage form the
brine tanks are insufficient to hold the entire contents of the tanks. The suit
alleges.
The plaintiffs claim they are able to observe gas bubbling near the well
heads indicating possible methane migration.
The suit contends
that the pipeline defendant while contructing the pipeline created a nuisance
by excessive noise, lighting equipment traffic and substantial amounts of litter.
Addition the employees repeatedly defecated and urinated on their
properties and haven engaged in repeated harassment ,intimidation,
disrespect, and obnoxious behavior
towards the property owners.
Susan Oliver, a spokeswoman for WPX Energy,
said the company has no operations in the county. The oil and natural gas
producer was spun off from Williams Cos. on Title Chain
Speer said the company appears in the chain of
title and will be removed from the suit if that’s an error. Speer’s clients allege that some of the wells
began leaking as early as the fall of 2011.
Residents David and
Linda Headley, who own 116 acres of farmland, repeatedly notified Atlas
Resources LLC and other defendants about defects in the wells’ construction and
design, according to the complaint.
New Tanks
Efforts
by the companies to fix the problems by installing new seals, tanks and bypass
lines have failed, according to the complaint. The wells continue to leak
dangerous substances, have killed trees and a hayfield used by the Headleys’
horses and routinely make noise, sometimes hourly, according to the filing.
Pipeline construction has brought with it heavy equipment and truck
traffic that has damaged roads, according to the plaintiffs. Drilling causes
nearby houses to vibrate and pipeline company employees repeatedly urinate and
defecate on their properties, according to the homeowners.
The DEP has repeatedly cited defendant Laurel
Mountain Midstream Operating LLC, a subsidiary of Williams Cos.’s Williams
Partners LP (WPZ) unit, for discharging industrial waste into a creek near the
Headley’s property, according to the complaint, which cites violations in June,
July and August 2012.
Bieri alleged the pipeline defendants were
responsible for spilling 2300 gallons of bentonite into Georges Creek June
2012. They noted that Laurel Mountain
was found by the DEP to be in violation of various state codes for discharging
industrial waste into the creek and for failing to properly store, transport,
process or dispose of residual drilling waste.
In the course of their work, the pipeline
defendants are alleged to have compromised the spring water supply to multiple
plaintiffs’ houses. Those plaintiffs were force to run a domestic supply line
from the city water line at their own expense and the defendants drove heavy
equipment over those lines compromising those as well, Bieri wrote.
Noise from a compressor station run by
Laurel Mountain forced Benjamin Groover Sr. and his wife Lori to abandon their
residence along with their two children in June 2009. The couple has since
moved within the county but still own and use the property, according to the
complaint. Robert Nicklow, who lives within 800 feet (244 meters) of the
station, is subjected to a “high decibel screeching sound” that can sometimes
last all day, as well as high pressure venting noises and a near constant low rumble.
It also emits toxic substances including benzene, toluene, methane and ethane
and radioactive substances. . The site was so noisy the Groovers were forced to
move to a different home.
“On many occasions, Nicklow is forced to
stay indoors,” according to the complaint.
The case is Headley v. Chevron Appalachia
LLC, Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh).”
(To contact the reporters
on this story: Sophia Pearson in Philadelphia at spearson3@bloomberg.net; Jim
Efstathiou Jr. in New York at jefstathiou@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor
responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net: Jon Morgan
at jmorgan97@bloomberg.net
And from the Herald by Susy
Kelly)
2. Radium
Off the Charts in PA Wastewater
Wake
Up Westmoreland!! More frack pits are
coming
“The
sampling results of brinewater trucks in Wheeling show that the frack wastewater
coming from Westmoreland County measured extremely high in certain contaminants.
These lab results were included in a report by Dr. Ben Stout , Professor of
Biology at Wheeling Jesuit College, to Wheeling City Council members.
Some of the Measurements:
Barium measured 834 Dr.
Stout notes that this sample from a frack pit in Westmoreland is 417 times the
primary drinking standard.
Sulfate measured 565 (250 is the standard)
Tph-dro measured 6 (WVA DEP action level is 1),
Radium 226 was ~1136
(the standard is 5pci/L),
Gross
alpha (an indicator of radioactivity) was ~4846 (primary standard is 15pCi ) Dr Stout noted
that one sample from a frack pit at the Phillips 20 site in Westmoreland
county yielded the 4846 reading though the drinking water standard is 15. In fact the same sample had combined radium
readings well over 1000pCi/L, in excess of 200 times the standards. It
should be noted that none of the samples triggered a response from radiation meters.”
(I will
attach the pdf file . jan)
3. Drillers
Silence Families
Data Kept from Policymakers and Researchers
“Chris
and Stephanie Hallowich were sure gas drilling near their home was to blame for
the headaches, burning eyes and sore throats they suffered after the work
began.
Companies
insisted fracking wasn’t the cause. Nevertheless, in 2011, a year after the
family sued, Range Resources, and two other companies agreed to a $750,000
settlement. In order to collect, the Hallowiches promised not to tell anyone,
according to court filings.
In cases from Wyoming to Arkansas,
Pennsylvania to Texas, drillers have agreed to cash settlements or property
buyouts with people who say fracking, ruined their water, according to a review
by Bloomberg News of hundreds of regulatory and legal filings. In most cases
homeowners must agree to keep quiet.
The
strategy keeps data from regulators, policymakers, the news media and health
researchers, and makes it difficult to challenge the industry’s claim that
fracking has never tainted anyone’s water.
“At
this point they feel they can get out of this litigation relatively cheaply,”
Marc Bern, an attorney with Napoli Bern Ripka Sholnik LLP in New York who has
negotiated about 30 settlements on behalf of homeowners. “Virtually on all of
our settlements where they paid money, they have requested and demanded that
there be confidentiality.”
Because
the agreements are almost always shrouded by non-disclosure pacts -- a judge
ordered the Hallowich case unsealed after media requests -- no one can say for
sure how many there are. Some stem from lawsuits, while others result from
complaints against the drillers or with regulators that never end up in court.
Laura
Amos believed gas drilling near her home in Silt, Colorado, was to blame for a
tumor she developed. Encana, which owns the well, disagreed that fracking made
her sick. Yet the company bought her 30-acre property in 2006 for $310,000,
according to public records.
Amos’
complaint and the existence, though not details, of a settlement and non-disclosure
pact were disclosed in filings with the oil and gas commission. In December,
the agency subpoenaed Amos to testify about a rule it was considering to
require water tests. Matt Sura, an environmental attorney in Boulder,
Colorado, who represented conservation groups that were seeking Amos’
testimony, said an Encana attorney told him the company would sue Amos if she
talked. She didn’t want to face a lawsuit from Encana and Sura said he
asked the commission to withdraw the subpoena.
“She
had really relevant testimony,” Sura said in an interview. “Because they’ve
bought everyone’s silence, they often state that they haven’t damaged anyone.”
In
filings with the commission, Amos said gas drilling on a neighbor’s property in
2001 caused her water well to blow out “like a geyser at Yellowstone.” Two
years later she said she developed health problems that her doctors could not
explain and she believes were related to the drilling.
The
commission had concluded that Encana was responsible for methane in Amos’s
well, though it said it found no evidence of fracking fluids in her water.
Encana disputed the finding yet agreed to a $99,400 fine and to monitor the
well until methane levels dropped.
“Encana
settled the Amos case as it had been an issue a predecessor company had been
working with since 2001 and rather than continue with a lengthy and costly
process, Encana decided to settle,” said Jay Averill, a spokesman for Encana,
in an e-mail. He didn’t respond to a question about why the company sought to
keep Amos from testifying to the commission.
Amos declined to comment on any aspect of the
case when contacted by telephone.”
From article by:
By Jim Efstathiou Jr. and
Mark Drajem
See:
4. What Do We Do With the Radioactive Frack Waste?
“How will we handle
the massive amounts of toxic waste that each well produces when fracking is
used? Will we dump the millions of gallons of wastewater produced from each
well into rivers, pass it through sewage treatment plants, allow it to
evaporate in open-faced pits, inject it into the ground at special disposal
sites?
One of the reasons these questions are so urgent is that this wastewater
is often radioactive. When it was revealed in February 2011 that Pennsylvania
was not only sending millions of gallons of this waste, sometimes with radium
levels 3,000 times the safe level—through sewage treatment plants incapable
of correcting radioactivity—which then discharged into rivers, state officials
panicked and denied there was cause for concern.
This
January, the DEP announced that it would undertake a “comprehensive” study of
radiation from oil and gas development in the state. At the same time, the
agency re-publicized results from tests downstream from wastewater treatment
plants, which until 2011 had taken Marcellus wastewater carrying naturally
occurring radioactive materials like radium and uranium.
“Most
results showed no detectable levels of radioactivity, and the levels that were
detectable did not exceed safe drinking water standards,” the agency said in
its January statement.
But
it turns out those results weren’t the whole story when it comes to the
handling of radioactive materials from the state’s fracking boom.
In
May, the U.S. EPA announced it has reached a settlement with an industrial
waste treatment plant which had been discharging gas wastewater into a PA creek
without properly treating it. Environmental regulators discovered high levels
of radium around the plant’s discharge pipe. The plant was fined over $80,000
and the operator agreed to make up to $30 million in upgrades before accepting
any more Marcellus shale wastewater.
The
industrial wastewater plant, Pennsylvania Brine Treatment Josephine,
was first studied by Conrad Volz and a team of students at the University of
Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health, who found high levels of
contaminants associated with drilling wastewater in Blacklick Creek, part
of the Allegheny River watershed, where the plant discharged. Professor Volz’s
team did not test for radioactivity, however. In April 2011, the Pennsylvania
DEP asked drillers to voluntarily stop trucking wastewater to plants that
discharged into the state’s rivers and streams.
But
in June of that year, state officials tested sediments around Pennsylvania
Brine Treatment’s Josephine plant. Those tests uncovered high levels of radium
226—44 times the drinking water standard—in the plant’s discharge pipe.
There’s
a saying among environmental regulators that “dilution is the solution to
pollution” because when contaminants are watered down, levels of toxic
materials can fall below safety thresholds. Wastewater from treatment plants is
discharged into rivers and streams, so many shale gas boosters argued that even
if treatment plants could not remove radioactive materials, the fast-moving
water could dilute any resulting contamination. But the tests around the
Josephine plant showed that dilution was not sufficient—levels of radium 226
over 65 feet downstream were 66 percent higher than the drinking water
standard.
The
levels of radioactivity found at the Josephine plant were not high enough to
cause any health threat to passersby or to workers, but those levels are high
enough that if the radium entered a person’s body—whether through an open wound
or through drinking contaminated water—there could be a health hazard. Radium
also bioaccumulates in fish, meaning that fish in the creek who ingested
the radioactive metal could carry higher levels than were in the water.
In
February of 2011, several months before those tests were taken, Pennsylvania
had drawn national attention for allowing plants to discharge Marcellus
wastewater into drinking water sources like rivers and streams, It carries
higher levels of radioactive materials than waste from other oil and gas
formations—without testing at any point to make sure that drinking water
standards were not exceeded. Desmog has previously reported on the threat
from radionuclides in shale gas waste.
The
DEP in PA is being run, part-time, by a person with no environmental background
who is pulling double-duty as the governor’s deputy chief of staff.
Of course, this interim appointment was made
because the former secretary, Michael Krancer, stepped down while under
investigation by the state’s auditor general for how his office handled water
contamination testing related to shale gas.
All of this calls into question the ability of
states to regulate fracking booms effectively.
The
hazards from shale gas drilling are complex. Another concern related to the
high levels of radium in shale wastewater is the radon produced alongside the
natural gas. Radon, a highly carcinogenic gas, is produced when radium
undergoes radioactive decay and does not burn so it could be released into
houses and workplaces by gas-fired appliances.
Earlier
this month, kitchen workers in New York City organized a public forum on the
gas and the possible risks for the health of New Yorkers if a new pipeline,
designed to ship Marcellus gas to major metropolises in the region, is
constructed.”
(http://ecowatch.com/2013/concerns-over-radioactive-fracking-waste-mount/)
5. Beaver
Run Reservoir Incident
From Sky Truth Alert
CNX @ Beaver Run78.54
Type Incident- Response to Accident or Event
Violation(s)
ID: 669515 Date: 2013-06-03 Type: Environmental Health & Safety
78.54 - Failure to properly
control or dispose of industrial or residual waste to prevent pollution of the
waters of the Commonwealth.
ID: 669516 Date: 2013-06-03 00:00:00 Type: Administrative
78.56(1) - Pit and tanks not
constructed with sufficient capacity to contain pollutional substances.
What
Kathryn of Mt Watershed was able to find out:
According
to the DEP: Incident involved 100
gallons of flowback water- not believed to have reached waters of the
commonwealth. Apparently the spill took
place on the well pad, but precautionary measures were taken to ensure that
there was no contamination off the pad.
The spill was stopped on the day it occurred. All impacted areas have been “remediated” and
contaminated materials are currently being stored on site in lined roll off
boxes. The DEP office of Waste
Management will deal with where the material is disposed of, and the O&G
staff will be notified of where it was sent after it is disposed of.
6. Town of State College Rejects Gas Pipeline
Columbia
Sues
“Columbia
Gas filed a civil lawsuit against State College and Borough Manager Tom
Fountaine for refusing to issue a permit to begin construction on Penn State’s
pipeline project.
Penn State needs to upgrade the West Campus Steam Plant to natural gas.
In order to do so, the university needs to build a high-pressure pipeline from
the East side of campus to the West side. Because the ground under campus is
too elaborate with other pipes and tunnels, the plan was to build the pipeline
through parts of downtown State College, including residential areas. Residents
were understandably pissed off, motivated by safety issues and potential
property value decline, and made sure Borough Council knew it during the public
comment hour at recent meetings. Council decided to deny Columbia Gas a
building permit, but because state law dictates energy issues, the
Borough would likely lose a court battle on the issue and the prudence of
denying a permit was questioned. Columbia Gas wasn’t happy, but Penn State
asked the company to reevaluate the campus underground to see if the project
might be feasible.
That’s
where we are now. No one is happy …..
Borough Council issued this statement after
the initial media report from the CDT was posted.
“Council
and staff understand that the public is extremely concerned about the natural
gas pipeline,” officials wrote in the statement. “Concerns about public
safety and the need for transparency in decisions that affect the health,
safety and welfare of the community have been heard by council, and the borough
is fully committed to defending its position in not permitting this pipeline
installation through residential neighborhoods.”
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-06-06/drillers-silence-u-dot-s-dot-water-complaints-with-sealed-settlements#p2
7. Sandra Steingraber Issues Manifesto
“With
New York readying to rescind or keep in place that state's temporary
moratorium, and high stakes battles taking place across the nation about
whether to regulate fracking or place moratoriums on it, Steingraber and a
network of citizen groups have viewed Illinois as the staging ground for a
fracking rush that will have an extraordinary ripple effect.
Once
hailed by the Sierra Club as the "new Rachel Carson," Steingraber
denounced Illinois’ bill as "the result of closed-door negotiations
between industry representatives and compromise-oriented environmental
organizations." She testified in front of a last minute committee
hearing of the Illinois House of Representatives, protested with sit-in
activists, met with bill negotiators, and was even tossed out of the Illinois
General Assembly for speaking out (see video at the bottom of this article).
With
Gov. Pat Quinn's signature imminent, Business Insider gushed that Illinois
“could become the epicenter of America's next oil boom."
Not under their watch, says Steingraber and
the Illinois anti-fracking shock troops.
Issuing
a "Fracking Manifesto," she has thrown down the gauntlet on Illinois'
regulatory fallout as a cautionary tale for citizens groups, environmental
organizations and frackers across the nation.
"We call for a
mobilization that brings fracking realities to the rest of the nation,"
the manifesto declares. "If our elected officials refuse to visit the
fracking fields, then we will bring the fracking fields to them—in the form of
science, stories, photographs, film, lectures, hearings, and journalism. If
elected officials refuse to defend our land, water, air, and health against
those who would despoil them for their own profit, then we will do it
ourselves, using peaceful, non-violent methods."
A Fracking Manifesto
From Sandra Steingraber and the people of Illinois to the nation
**We know that high-volume horizontal hydraulic
fracking, or HVHF, is an accident-prone, inherently dangerous industrial
process with risks that include catastrophic and irremediable damage to our
health and environment.
**We know that HVHF and its attendant technologies:
contribute to groundwater
contamination, including 219 cases in Pennsylvania alone;
turn massive amounts of fresh, drinkable water into
massive amounts of briny, poisonous flowback fluid for which there is no
failsafe disposal solution;
vent hazardous air
pollutants that are associated with cancer, asthma, heart attack, stroke, and
preterm birth;
release radioactive substances—including radon,
which is the number two cause of lung cancer—and benzene, which is a proven
cause of leukemia—from deep geological strata;
fragment forests in ways that decimate birds and
wildlife, sabotage natural flood control systems, and pour sediment into rivers
and streams;
industrialize communities
in ways that vastly increase truck traffic, noise pollution, light pollution,
stress, crime, and the need for emergency services;
offer jobs that are dangerous, toxic, and
temporary, with a fatality rate seven times that of other industries; and
leak prodigious amounts
of methane, a potent heat-trapping gas.
**We know these problems cannot be prevented by any
set of rules or government office, let alone state agencies like those in
Illinois, which have been cut to the bone by budget cuts and cannot be counted
on for regulatory enforcement.
**We have heard the warnings of our brothers and
sisters living in the gas fields of Pennsylvania and Ohio, whose children,
pets, and livestock are sick, whose property values are ruined, whose water is
undrinkable.
**We have heard the pleas of our neighbors in
Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, where strip-mining for “ frac sand” has
devastated communities, destroyed landscapes, and filled the air with
carcinogenic silica dust. We are aware that our own beloved Starved Rock State
Park is already threatened by industrial mining of silica sand used for
fracking operations and that the pressure to strip-mine Illinois for sand will
only increase with every well that is drilled and fracked.
**We assert that fracking is a moral crisis. In a time
of climate emergency, it is wrong to further deepen our dependency on fossil
fuels. In a state such as Illinois, where chronic drought and water shortages
are already forecast for our children’s future, it is wrong to destroy fresh
water resources in order to bring new sources of climate-killing gas and oil
out of the ground.
**We reject the legitimacy of Illinois’ fracking
regulatory bill, which was the result of closed-door negotiations between
industry representatives and compromise-oriented environmental organizations.
Responsible only to their funders and their members, these environmental groups
do not represent us nor are they empowered to negotiate on our behalf. We
consider the fracking regulatory bill to be a subversion of both science and
democracy. Throughout its creation, no comprehensive health study or
environmental impact study was ever commissioned. No public hearings or public
comment periods ever took place. And yet it is the public that is being
compelled to live with the risks sanctioned by this bill. It is an unjust law.
**Knowing that our own government has abdicated its
responsibility to protect the safety and well-being of the citizenry, knowing
that no one is coming to save us, we declare our intent to save ourselves from
the ravages of shale gas and oil extraction via HVHF. We declare our intent to
join together in a fracking abolitionist movement.
**As such, no longer shall national environmental
organizations based far from impacted realities make decisions that will have
life-changing impacts on the people living in impacted zones. We will call out
organizations that betray core values and integrity. We will openly inform
their membership and their funders and reveal the truth of where they stand and
at whose expense.
**We call for a mobilization that brings fracking
realities to the rest of the nation. If our elected officials refuse to visit
the fracking fields, then we will bring the fracking fields to them—in the form
of science, stories, photographs, film, lectures, hearings, and journalism. If
elected officials refuse to defend our land, water, air, and health against
those who would despoil them for their own profit, then we will do it
ourselves, using peaceful, nonviolent methods.
**We hereby commit ourselves to building a powerful
movement that will protect Illinois’ children—and safeguard the living
ecosystem on which their lives depend—for generations to come. In short, we
declare our intent to take the future into our hands. And that future is
unfractured.
Sign on and join our movement.
Dr. Sandra Steingraber
Springfield, Illinois
Photo:
Drilling
mud draining into Muncy Creek Pa from Wendy Lee
Westmoreland
Marcellus Citizens’ 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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