Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group Updates October 10, 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/
* Our email address: westmcg@gmail.com
*
To discuss candidates: http://www.facebook.com/groups/VoteProEarth/
* To contact your state
legislator:
For the email address, click on the envelope
under the photo
* For information on the state gas legislation
and local control: http://pajustpowers.org/aboutthebills.html-
WMCG Thank Yous
*Thank you to contributors to our Updates: Debbie Borowiec, Lou Pochet,
Ron Gulla, Marian Szmyd, Bob Donnan, Gloria Forouzan, Elizabeth Donahue, and
Briget Shields.
Calendar
*** WMCG Steering
Committee Meeting This month we will meet this week Tuesday, October 15, 7:30 PM
at Mike and Cindy’s, Greensburg. Email Jan for directions. All are invited.
***Southwest PA
Solar Tour-Oct. 12
See
Pittsburgh's best solar homes and businesses Saturday
Join The Sierra Club and
PennFuture for a free, self-guided tour of local homes and businesses that use
solar energy and other green technologies.
There are 22 different locations in Pittsburgh and across
western PA on the tour, so feel free to visit as few or as many as you'd like.
The 2013 tour is FREE, but you will need to register so that we can send you
the guidebook and a link to the Google map to plan your solar tour. Come out for a fun fall day and see solar in
action in Southwest PA.
Event Details
WHO: You and solar owners who want to show off their homes and
businesses
WHAT: Southwestern PA Solar Tour
WHEN: Saturday, October 12, 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
WHERE: All around the Pittsburgh region (map)
RSVP: http://action.sierraclub.org/PittsburghSolarTour
Questions: Contact
Randy Francisco at randy.francisco@sierraclub.org
You'll
find something spectacular around every corner - from the greatest new modern
green homes and facilities, to Pittsburgh area classics that have undergone
green renovations. From backyard solar farms to farms that use solar to power
nearly everything. Stay in the city or wander the countryside.
Thanks for all you do to protect the environment,
Randy Francisco PA Organizing Representative Sierra Club
***Youth Power
Shift Needs Housing
“This
fall, the largest gathering of social change makers in 2013 will happen in
Pittsburgh at Power Shift 2013, and we could really use your support. More
specifically, support in housing participants. Youth leaders from across the
country are counting on the Pittsburgh community to make their experience a
welcoming and empowering memory.
On October 18th-21st,
Power Shift 2013 will have over 10,000 young people converge at the David L.
Lawrence Convention Center. For the first time ever, Power Shift is being
hosted outside of Washington, DC.
This year we are coming to Pittsburgh, a city at the
crossroads of the fight for a clean and just energy future – at the center of building
the green economy, yet also directly in the crosshairs of the coal and fracking
industries. At Power Shift we will not just tackle environmental issues, but
also encompass other social movements from LGBTQ to student debt to food
politics to fight systemic oppression. Here’s how
you can help:
Open your home.
Community is a huge focus at Power Shift and we want to
emphasize the importance of returning the empowerment attendees feel afterwards
to contribute to their communities. Pittsburgh’s collective power fighting for
clean energy is the same momentum we want our attendees to push when they
return home.
A housing board is set up for folks in the Pittsburgh
community who are able and willing to open their homes to Power Shift 2013
participants. A $10 discount code is now available for Pittsburgh locals
registering to attend Power Shift. Please push this housing board link out to
your network and connections: http://www.wearepowershift.org/travel/housing-board
Community
Spaces, Religious Institutions, etc.
Anybody
with connections to places with available floor space to house a larger group
of people over the weekend should get in touch with Jenna Grey Eagle our
coordinator for housing. We realize that requesting this type of space over
night can lead to extra work, so the option of requiring a fee is open. Any
available space would be posted on our website with information on what
supplies students should bring (sleeping bag, towels, etc.), what rules they
should abide by, payment options, and any other vital information to be
included.
If
you are aware of other types of housing opportunities or have connections
within your community that can help out, please contact Jenna at jenna@energyactioncoalition.org
or <605-553-8327>
Be
a part in helping Shift the Power! We can’t do this without you!”
Power Shift
***Register for the
Web-based Conversation-October 17
Union Concerned
Scientists
When it comes to air and water quality, we can't play around
with the facts. Join experts from the Union of Concerned Scientists as they
discuss the new report, Toward an
Evidence-based Fracking Debate, and learn how you can help ensure
independent science plays a strong role in informing decisions being made about
fracking.
Date: Thursday, October 17
Time: 3:00 p.m. EDT
Featured facilitators:
• Gretchen Goldman, lead author and analyst, Center for
Science and Democracy; and
• Andrew Resenberg, director, Center for Science and
Democracy.
Also,
be sure to check out the full report, Toward an Evidence-based Fracking Debate:
Science, Democracy, and Community Right to Know in Unconventional Oil and Gas
Development.
*** Pittsburgh
Environment and Health Conference-Oct 25
“At
the Pittsburgh Environment & Health Conference we will talk about the links
between the environment and your health. They don't just affect you; they
affect your entire community.
The conference includes lunch, and
you will leave with information that can help you live a greener, healthier
life. With small changes, you can help your kids and their kids live healthier.
Featuring
Keynote Speakers:
Nancy
Alderman - Environment and Human Health, Inc.
Cecil
Corbin-Mark - WE ACT for Environmental Justice
Lois
Gibbs - Center for Health, Environment and Justice
Edward
Humes - Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist & Author
Richard
Louv - Children and Nature Network
David
Orr - Environmental Studies Program, Oberlin College
Ted
Schettler, MD - Science and Environmental Health Network
During
afternoon workshops you will hear from and interact with local experts who will
address a series of environmental and health-related topics and describe the
work that is taking place right in our communities.
Space is limited! Click here to register
todayfile://localhost/!
http/::pittsburghenvironmenthealth.org:
Where
& When
David Lawrence Convention
Center
1000
Fort Duquesne Blvd.
Pittsburgh,
PA 15222
October
25, 2013
8:30
am - 4:30 pm”
***Dr. Anthony
Ingraffea, Dwight C. Baum Professor of Engineering,
Cornell University -November 21- Butler, PA On
the science, safety and
debate over hydraulic fracturing. More information to follow.
*** Facing the
Challenges-- Duquesne University-- Nov 25, 26 Researchers present on: Air and water,
Animal and Human Health, Geological, Biological investigations.
***Fall Summit,
North Park- November 17
Hey
folks! Thank you to everyone who made
our 2013 Summer Summit a success. To all
who were unable to attend, I hope this next adventure works for you! With fall finally here, it is time for our
next gathering. On November 17, 2013 we
will hold our 1st annual Fall Shindig at North Park in Allison Park, PA. We anticipate the day running from 9-5pm. I’ve attached a save the date for your
use. The building has a capacity of 150
persons and we want to have great regional representation so please, invite
your friends and colleagues. We do
anticipate a $10 registration fee to cover the building and food. More details to come!!
Because we want this to be an
event YOU want to attend the steering committee would like to have some
feedback on the type of workshops that would be helpful. Below is a running list of suggestions. Please either choose your top 3 workshops, or write in your own
and e-mail them back to mailto:kathryn@mtwatershed.com. I’d like to have replies by 10/9/2013 to
ensure we have adequate time to prepare.
Suggested sessions:
-Communications,
social media instructions
-Building
connections across state and regionally
-Creative
expression, Art Therapy
-Frac
Water Treatment/where does the waste go
-Pipelines
and pipeline monitoring
-Radiation
-Non
Violent Communication
-Divestment
-Air
quality predictions/limiting exposure
-Natural
Gas power plants
Peace and solidarity,
Kathryn Hilton, Community Organizer, Mountain Watershed Association
For a calendar of area events please see “Marcellus Protest”
calendar:
http://marcellusprotest.org/
Take Action!!
The
following petitions are still active.
*** Call--- For
renewable energy jobs in Pennsylvania! (Sierra Club)
You can
help fight climate change here in Pennsylvania today!
State Senator Daylin
Leach is about to introduce a bill to increase the amount of electricity
provided by renewable sources to 15% by 2023. Even better, it would prioritize
wind energy produced in Pennsylvania!
Climate
change is a big problem, but the solutions are simple -- invest in homegrown
renewable energy that creates jobs for Pennsylvania families and stimulates a
growing industry. To make that happen we need to let our elected officials know
there's strong public demand to get Senator Leach's bill passed!
Will you call your state senator urging them to co-sponsor
Senator Leach's bill?
In a state the size of Pennsylvania we can make a big
difference for renewable energy and climate protection. Pennsylvania produces
1% of the entire planet's greenhouse gas emissions!
We've
seen renewable energy projects create good family-sustaining jobs in the wind
and solar industries, as a result of the stimulus created by the original passage
of the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard in 2005. But since that time many
of our neighboring states have adopted stronger renewable energy policies while
we have languished. As a result, the good green jobs created by our AEPS are
being lost to states like New Jersey, Delaware and New York. Let's make
Pennsylvania a leader in true renewable energy sources like wind and solar
again, not climate disrupting natural gas.
You can
help protect the climate and bring more renewable energy jobs to Pennsylvania
by urging your state senator to support Senator Leach's bill.
Thanks for all you do to protect the environment,
Randy Francisco
Pennsylvania Organizing Representative Sierra Club
P.S. After you take action, be sure to forward this alert to
your friends and colleagues!
***Stop NPR from
Accepting Natural Gas Industry $
(From Move on)
Petition Background
NPR receives underwriting funds from the
American Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA). In
exchange, NPR airs misleading ads promoting further development of natural gas,
which must now be mined by the environmentally damaging extreme extraction
process, “fracking”. This path would
commit the US to decades more of increasing dependence on fossil fuels. NPR refuses to disclose its policy on how
it selects sponsors from which to accept funding. (For a detailed account of
my two-year unsuccessful attempt to get through NPR’s corporate wall of secrecy
surrounding its underwriting practices go to http://wp.me/pJm45-33d.)
NPR (National Public Radio) should stop accepting funds and
airing underwriting announcements from the American Natural Gas
Alliance (ANGA). NPR must be transparent and accountable with its sponsorship
practices.
*** Take Action On
PA Endangered Species (Sierra Club)
Just
when you thought the special interests couldn't find another way to eliminate
environmental protection in Pennsylvania, "there they go again......"
This time they are going after the protectors of Pennsylvania's threatened and
endangered species, such as the osprey, the great egret, the bog turtle and the
banded sunfish.
The mining, gas drilling, and timber
industries want to undermine the independence of the PA Fish and Boat
Commission and the PA Game Commission to administer Pennsylvania's endangered
species laws.
House
Bill 1576 would send the Commissions' endangered species lists to the
Independent Regulatory Review Commission -- an agency dominated by the
legislature -- for additional scrutiny.
These
changes proposed in the bill blunt the effect of the Commissions' list of
threatened and endangered species of fish and wildlife, allowing more mining,
drilling and clear-cutting in Pennsylvania's lands. The Commissions would have
to go through a very cumbersome regulatory review process. To make matters even
worse, under the current versions of the bills the agencies would only be allowed
to protect fish and wildlife already listed by the federal government.
At the same time, permit applications for
mining, oil and gas drilling, and timbering would be approved, without any
on-the-ground check for their impacts on the PA endangered species.
This week, Sierra Club's
Conservation Chair Tom Au testified before a Joint House Committees hearing
urging opposition to HB 1576. He pointed out that the agencies' scientists are
better judges of the threats to wildlife and aquatic life. He explained that
the agencies make decisions proposals for protecting rare, threatened, or
endangered species in an open, transparent manner. The agencies publish the
scientific data collected, have it reviewed by other scientists, publish
proposed lists and protection plans, accept public comment, and hold public
hearings. It is hard to find fault with this deliberative process.
TELL
YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TO OPPOSE HB 1576.
Don't let the mining,
drilling, and timber industries drive our precious wildlife, fish and plants
into extinction in Pennsylvania!
Thanks, Jeff Schmidt, Director, Sierra Club Pennsylvania
Chapter
***Ask Pres. Obama
to Resume Fracking Studies
From Food and Water Watch
“Last
week, there was breaking news from EPA whistle-blowers that in 2012 the EPA abandoned an investigation of fracking-related
water contamination in Dimock, Pennsylvania after an EPA staff member raised
the flag that it was likely caused by fracking¹.
There's
an unfortunate trend here, because they've also abandoned their
fracking-related water contamination investigations in Pavillion, Wyoming² and
Weatherford, Texas³. This is
unbelievable, and totally unacceptable.
1.
Parker County, TX – The EPA began an investigation after a homeowner reported
that his drinking water was bubbling like champagne. But after fracking company
Range Resources threatened not to participate in another study in March 2012,
the EPA set aside the "smoking gun" report connecting methane
migration to fracking. EPA halted 'fracking' case
after gas company protested. USA Today, January 16, 2013.
2.
Dimock, PA – The mid-Atlantic EPA began testing water in Dimock, PA after
residents complained that their drinking water was contaminated from nearby
fracking operations. But the federal EPA closed the investigation in July 2012
even after the staff members who had been testing the water warned of methane,
manganese and arsenic contamination.
(Internal
EPA report highlights disputes over fracking and well water. LA Times, July 27,
2013.)
3.
Pavilion, WY – The EPA released a draft report in 2011 linking fracking to
contamination of an underground aquifer. After drawing criticism from the oil
and gas industry, the EPA handed the investigation over to the state of Wyoming
in June 2013 to be completed with funding from EnCana, the drilling company charged
with contaminating the water wells in the first place. (EPA Drops Fracking Probe in Wyoming. Wall
Street Journal, June 20, 2013.)
The
EPA abandoned citizens when they needed them most. This is no coincidence.
Tell
President Obama and the new EPA administrator, Gina McCarthy, to immediately
reopen these investigations and deliver safe drinking water to the residents of
these communities while the investigations commence.
We're
up against a powerful industry, but Americans know how dangerous fracking is —
and they're fighting back. Last month, along with our partners we delivered
over 600,000 petitions to President Obama to ban fracking on federal lands. In
the last two weeks, Los Angeles city council members introduced a fracking
moratorium and Highland Park, New Jersey became the first town in the state to
ban fracking. We're building a broad, powerful movement to fight back...and
win.
Will
you join me today in calling on President Obama and his new EPA administrator
Gina McCarthy to immediately reopen these investigations and deliver safe
drinking water to the residents of these communities while the investigations
commence?
Thanks
for taking action,
Sarah Alexander, Deputy Organizing Director, Food &
Water Watch”
***Sick of Dirty
Fossil Fuels? Consider Ethical Electric
From Sierra Club
“Would you rather power your home with dirty fossil fuels or
clean wind power?
Now you have a choice: Ethical Electric.
The
Sierra Club has partnered with Ethical Electric because they use only 100%
renewable energy and they stand with the Sierra Club fighting for clean air,
clean water, and protecting the environment.
Ethical
Electric recently started taking customers in Pennsylvania, and we’re
encouraging people like you to make the switch to clean energy now!
Ethical
Electric buys wind power from local sources and provides it to your utility who
then delivers it to you. You’ll take
thousands or even tens of thousands of pounds of climate-changing pollutants
out of the atmosphere every year that you power your home with Ethical
Electric.
And, since Ethical Electric obtains power from local wind
farms, you’re helping America shift to clean alternatives every time you pay
your electric bill.
Switching
to Ethical Electric is fast and easy. There’s no home visit. You get the same
bill, same service on the same power lines. The only thing that changes for you
is that your utility will be required to use local, clean electricity from our
new Sierra Club partner, Ethical Electric.
Enrolling
with Ethical Electric takes only a few minutes online through Ethical
Electric’s website. Or call 1-888-700-6547 to get started.
Make your choice for clean energy and switch to Ethical
Electric today.
Sincerely, Michael Brune, Sierra Club Executive Director
P.S. The more of us that switch to Ethical Electric, the
more demand there will be for clean, local power. Choosing an Ethical Electric
plan is fast and easy. Make the switch
*** New Action----ACT
NOW TO PROTECT ALLEGHENY COUNTY PARKS –
(from
Sierra Club)
“Members
of Allegheny County Council are being heavily lobbied by County Executive Rich
Fitzgerald and Gov. Tom Corbett to vote down the call for a hold on drilling in
the regional County Parks system.
CONTACTING YOUR COUNTY COUNCIL MEMBER IS ESSENTIAL
and then find your member’s email address by clicking on
their photo in the member’s directory.
The message is simple:
"Please vote YES in favor of Councilwoman Daly Danko's resolution that
places a hold on any drilling within or beneath all county parks until a
thorough examination of the risks and liabilities has been
completed."
The important preamble to Danko's resolution is at
http://alleghenysc.org/?p=14140
Sign the ‘No Fracking in Our Parks’ PETITION.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP”
Frack Links
***FrackSwarm.org (part of
Sourcewatch) is a new clearing house for information on all things frack
related. Both Coaolswarm and FrackSwarm's pages are housed
on SourceWatch, a 60,000-article open-source encyclopedia sponsored by the Center for Media and Democracy. CoalSwarm has been
widely praised by activists; it is frequently utilized by students, journalists
and lawmakers. Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute says, “CoalSwarm is
the central nervous system that this movement [against coal] needed.” Likewise
we believe FrackSwarm will fill a similar void within the anti-racking
movement, which, like the fight against coal, is diverse, dispersed and largely
grassroots.
FrackSwarm's
decentralized platform allows activists and others to update its content, while
editors work to ensure the material is up to date, accurate and adequately
sourced. Its unique in that FrackSwarm
leverages the power of the grassroots: anyone can add information, all
information is footnoted, the entire resource is linked smoothly from local
to international content and it builds collaborative spaces among groups
working on various issues related to fracking.
*** Shale Truth Series
-- Dr. Anthony Ingraffea of Cornell University says the gas industry has
changed communities, and that many people who once lived in rural or suburban
areas now find themselves living in industrial zones.
In the
previous two segments with Dr. Ingraffea we heard him discuss shale gas
drilling and the unique dangers it poses to communities and their drinking
water. How the gas and oil industry will
leave Pennsylvania a polluted landscape after it finishes tapping the Marcellus
formation.
A new
Shale Truth segment can be seen on The
Delaware Riverkeeper Network's YouTube channel every Wednesday at http://bit.ly/ShaleTruth
***Pa has only
seen tip of Fracking Iceberg-Dr
Ingraffea
***To sign up for
notifications of activity and violations for
your area:
***List of the Harmed--There are now
over 1600 residents of Pennsylvania who placed their names on the list of the
harmed because they became sick after fracking began in their area. http://pennsylvaniaallianceforcleanwaterandair.wordpress.com/the-list/
***Problems with
Gas?—Report It-from Clean Air Council
Clean
Air Council is announcing a new auto-alert system for notifying relevant
agencies about odors, noises or visible emissions that residents suspect are
coming from natural gas operations in their community.
Just
fill out the questions below and our system will automatically generate and
send your complaint to the appropriate agencies.
Agencies that will receive your e-mail: the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection (Regional Office of sender and
Harrisburg Office), the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Agency for
Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
Take Action Here
If you witness the release of potentially hazardous
material into the environment, please also use the National Response Center's
online form below:
Thanks for your
help.
Sincerely, Matt Walker, Community Outreach Director, Clean
Air Council
***Dr. Brasch
Hosts Fracking Program-- Dr. Walter Brasch, author of the critically
acclaimed book, Fracking Pennsylvania,
is hosting a weekly half-hour radio show about fracking. "The Frack Report" airs 7:30 p.m.,
Mondays (beginning July 29) and is re-run 7:30 a.m., Wednesdays, on WFTE-FM
(90.3 in Mt. Cobb and 105.7 in Scranton.) The show will be also be live
streamed at www.wfte.org and also available a day after the Monday night
broadcast on the station's website. He will be interviewing activists, persons
affected by fracking, scientists, and politicians. Each show will also feature
news about fracking and the anti-fracking movement.
***Preview
- Glass Half Empty: An American Water War
FRACK News
1. Report: Fracking
by the Numbers
Environment America Research &
Policy Center
Elizabeth Ridlington Frontier Group
John Rumpler
“A recent report by Environment America showed that the
fracking boom has created a previously 'unimaginable' situation in which
hundreds of billions of gallons of the nation's fresh water supply are being
annually transformed into unusable—sometimes radioactive—cancer-causing
wastewater.”
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/10/09-5
“Our analysis shows
that damage from fracking is widespread and occurs on a scale unimagined just a
few years ago.
Report Quantifies Damage Done by Gas Drilling
“This report seeks to
quantify some of the key impacts of fracking to date – including the production
of toxic wastewater, water use, chemicals use, air pollution, land damage and
global warming emissions.
Reviewing
the totality of this fracking damage, the report’s authors conclude:
Given the scale and severity of fracking’s myriad impacts,
constructing a regulatory regime sufficient to protect the environment and
public health from dirty drilling—much less enforcing such safeguards at more
than 80,000 wells, plus processing and waste disposal sites across the
country—seems implausible. In states where fracking is already underway, an
immediate moratorium is in order. In all other states, banning fracking is the
prudent and necessary course to protect the environment and public health.
State and Total Water
Used since 2005 (billion gallons):
Arkansas 26
Colorado 26
New Mexico 1.3
North Dakota 12
Ohio 1.4
Pennsylvania 30
Texas 110
West Virginia 17
Air pollution:
Fracking-related activities release thousands of tons of health-threatening air
pollution.
*Nationally, fracking released 450,000 tons of pollutants
into the air that can have immediate health impacts.
*Air pollution from fracking contributes to the formation of
ozone “smog,” which reduces lung function among healthy people, triggers asthma
attacks, and has been linked to increases in school absences, hospital visits
and premature death. Other air pollutants from fracking and the
fossil-fuel-fired machinery used in fracking have been linked to cancer and
other serious health effects.
*Toxic wastewater:
Fracking produces enormous volumes of toxic wastewater—often containing cancer-
causing and even radioactive material. Once brought to the surface, this toxic
waste poses hazards for drinking water, air quality and public safety:
• Fracking
wells nationwide produced an estimated 280 billion gallons of wastewater in
2012.
• This
toxic wastewater often contains cancer- causing and even radioactive materials,
and has contaminated drinking water sources from Pennsylvania to New Mexico.
Damage to our natural
heritage: Well pads, new access roads, pipelines and other infrastructure turn
forests and rural landscapes into industrial zones.
*Infrastructure to support fracking has damaged 360,000
acres of land for drilling sites, roads and pipelines since 2005.
*Forests and farmland have been replaced by well pads,
roads, pipelines and other gas infrastructure, resulting in the loss of
wildlife habitat and fragmentation of remaining wild areas.
*In Colorado, fracking has already damaged 57,000 acres of
land, equal one-third of the acreage in the state’s park system.
*The oil and gas industry is seeking to bring fracking into
our national forests, around several of our national parks, and in watersheds
that supply drinking water to millions of Americans.
Drinking Water
*State data confirm more than 1,000 cases of water
contaminated by dirty drilling operations. For example:
• In
Colorado, approximately 340 of the leaks or spills reported by drilling
operators engaged in all types of oil and gas drilling over a five-year period
polluted groundwater;
• In
Pennsylvania, state regulators identified 161 instances in which drinking water
wells were impacted by drilling operations between 2008 and the fall of 2012;3
and
• In New
Mexico, state records show 743 instances of all types of oil and gas operations
polluting groundwater—the source of drinking water for 90 percent of the
state’s residents.
Migration of
Contaminants
A recent study of contamination in drinking water wells in
the Barnett Shale area of North Texas found arsenic, selenium and strontium at
elevated levels in drinking water wells close to fracking sites. The
researchers surmise that fracking has increased pollution in drinking water
supplies by freeing naturally available chemicals to move into groundwater at
higher concentrations or through leaks from faulty well construction.
National Environmental
and Public Health Impacts of Fracking
Fracking Wells since 2005- 82,000
Toxic Wastewater Produced in
2012 (billion gallons)- 280
Water Used since 2005
(billion gallons)- 250
Chemicals Used since 2005
(billion gallons)- 2
Air Pollution in One Year
(tons)- 450,000
Global Warming Pollution
since 2005 (million metric tons CO2-equivalent)- 100
Land Directly Damaged since 2005- (acres)-360,000
2. Radioactive Discharges
from Fracking In Indiana County
Duke U. Study
Has fracking
contaminated water supplies? A Duke University study says its wastewater wasn't
adequately treated before being released into a Pennsylvania river, causing
elevated levels of radioactivity.
Radium
levels were about 200 times greater in sediment from a creek where wastewater
was discharged from a treatment plant than in sediment upstream, according to
the peer-reviewed study in the Environmental Science & Technology journal.
The amount exceeded thresholds for safe disposal of radioactive waste.
"We were surprised by the magnitude of
radioactivity," says co-author Avner Vengosh, geochemistry professor at
Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment. "It's unusual to
find this level," he says, urging that other sites be investigated and
that such water not discharged.
“DEP
is very well aware of this,” DEP spokeswoman Lisa Kasianowitz said about the
study that called radiation levels in Black Lick Creek alarming.
Josephine treatment plant owner Fluid Recovery
Services signed an agreement in May that bars the facility from accepting,
treating or discharging wastewater from “fracking.”
The agreement and related fines
from the Environmental Protection Agency came from tests in 2011 that showed excessive
levels of radioactive chemicals in the creek's sediment near the plant.
Study co-author Avner Vengosh, a professor at Duke's Nicholas School
of the Environment,
said isotopes in the water that researchers sampled for more than two years
indicate the plant continued to treat and release wastewater from Marcellus
fracking sites even though the plant and the DEP said it stopped in 2011.
Devesh
Mittal, vice president of Canonsburg-based Aquatech, which bought Fluid
Recovery Services this year, denied that claim.
Vengosh said data from the peer-reviewed study, published in
Environmental Science
& Technology, showed the ratio of fracking wastewater in the creek
decreased but never disappeared.
“How
does the facility know what's in the trucks” that drillers bring, Vengosh
asked. “It could be mixed.”
"What's lacking is enforced
monitoring," Vengosh says, noting that the samples collected by Duke
suggest that radioactive water was still being discharged in 2012. He says
more research is needed.
Kasianowitz
said regulators monitor what the plant discharges and have been back to the
Josephine plant since May to ensure no more fracking water is treated or
discharged.”
David Conti, Trib Total
Media And USA Today
3. UPMC/University
of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences
International Journal of Occupational and Environmental
Health
Authors: Kyle Ferrar, Jill Kriesky,
Ph.D.; Charles Christen, Dr.P.H.; Lynne Marshall; Samantha Malone, M.P.H.,
C.P.H.; Ravi Sharma, Ph.D.; and Drew Michanowicz, M.P.H., C.P.H., all of Pitt
Public Health.
Health Effects of
Fracking
“Pennsylvania residents living near “fracking,” sites attribute several dozen
health concerns and stressors to the Marcellus Shale developments in their
area, according to a long-term analysis by University of Pittsburgh Graduate
School of Public Health researchers.
Reported health impacts persist and increase over time, even after the
initial drilling activity subsides, they noted. The study, which will be
published in the May issue of the International Journal of Occupational and
Environmental Health, did not include clinical examinations of the
participants’ physical health or any environmental tests. Researchers surveyed
those who believe their health has been affected by hydraulic fracturing
activities for self-reported symptoms and stressors. The most commonly cited
concern was stress, which 76 percent of participants said they’d experienced.
With the
spread of hydraulic fracturing come untoward social and somatic health effects.
But
there’s a less obvious risk. Fracking
doesn't only impact health when mistakes are made. It also impacts health when
everything goes right, the population explodes, and a town is drastically
changed.
A recent paper by University of Pittsburgh
researchers brings the camera in close to show how the fracking boom impacts
health. Kyle Ferrar and colleagues interviewed community members who live near
the Marcellus Shale development in Pennsylvania. They spoke with these
community members three times. This is because they wanted to know if their
symptoms got worse (spoiler: They did). They simply wanted to sketch out the
self-reported health of this boomtown.
The results are alarming. Community members reported 59 health
impacts and 13 stressors from the Marcellus Shale development. They complained
of rashes and sores, headaches and changes in vision, diarrhea and nausea,
shortness of breath, and loss of sleep.
Their
in-depth interviews produced vivid accounts of life in a boomtown. “They came
in and set up flare stacks and were flaring wells consistently for at least a
two week period, of which we slept none probably for those two weeks,” one man told
the researchers, “Because of both the noise and the light, it was like living
inside a football stadium.”
Another
man worried about his dying animals. His cattle had been drinking the water in
the field. He suspected the water was contaminated, even though the drilling
company denied it. He told the researchers that he lost 10 calves and others
were born blind or with cleft palates.
But the
most common symptom was stress. These stressors included ‘concerns/complaints
ignored’ and having been ‘denied (information) or provided with false
information.’ The most frequently reported stressor, however, was a ‘concern
for health.’ This raises an important point. “If you’re living across the
street from a gas field,” Jacquet said, “there may be stress from perceiving
environmental contamination, whether it’s happening or not.”
There are cancer and non-cancer risks from
exposure to fracking-related chemicals. But there is also a health risk from
merely the fear of exposure. “
4. New Report
Finds Fracking Poses Health Risks to Pregnant Women and Children
Toxic and Dirty Secrets: The Truth About Fracking and Your
Family’s Health,
Center for Environmental Health
The
Center for Environmental Health (CEH) released a new report outlining the
health risks to pregnant women and young children from harmful chemicals used
in fracking. The report, Toxic and Dirty
Secrets: The Truth About Fracking and Your Family’s Health, shows how
chemicals related to the oil and gas industry when conducting fracking
operations can pollute the air and water in communities around fracking sites
and pose health risks especially to pregnant women and children, who are most
vulnerable to chemical exposures. The study, which will be published in the May
issue of the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health,
did not include clinical examinations of the participants’ physical health or
any environmental tests.
“Nurses
are deeply concerned about the irreparable harm fracking inflicts upon the
people and communities in their care,” said Kathy Curtis, LPN, Board Member of
the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments. “Environmental damage,
diseases and disorders and negative social impacts are just part of the
problem. What we don’t hear much about is another chemical industry dirty
little secret: much of the fracked gas will supply cheap energy and feedstock
to make yet more toxic chemicals. Further, our communities will be irrevocably
contaminated, not to provide inexpensive home heating as has been advertised,
but to ship the gas to China.”
“Fetuses and children are disproportionately
vulnerable to the deleterious effects of exposure to environmental toxicants,”
said Dr. Sheila Bushkin, MD, MPH. “Although health impacts from industrial
chemicals already exist in our population, the magnitude of risk would be
greatly increased if High-volume Hydraulic Fracturing (HVHF) is permitted
within the state of New York. Exposure to industrial chemicals and to ionizing
radiation cause greater injury during development and early life. This may
result in greater likelihood of birth defects, cognitive and behavioral
development and lifelong disabilities. Likewise, environmental exposures to
these substances, place pregnant women at greater risk from complications of
gestation, resulting in increased maternal illnesses and mortality. From an
ethical point of view, it is the responsibility of the medical community and
legislative leaders to protect the health of the people of New York State and
future generations. The first step would be to conduct a comprehensive Health
Impact Assessment, prior to permitting the onset of HVHF activities within this
beautiful state.”
5. Forced Pooling in PA?
“Hilcorp Energy Co. has taken legal steps to
access gas beneath Bob Svetlak’s 14.6 acre Lawrence County family homestead,
owned since 1949, without his consent, arguing a law more than five decades old
gives it the right to combine his land with others into a drilling unit.
If
Hilcorp succeeds, it would be the first time in PA shale boom that a driller
used the tactic, and it could lead to more widespread use.
“I
didn't buy this land to sell it,” said Svetlak, 73, of Pulaski. “I bought it
for peace and property, like a lot of people in this country. I live here for
the tranquility.”
Hilcorp is using a legal maneuver known as
forced pooling, in which neighboring plots of land are combined into a single
unit for drilling. In geologic formations deeper than the Marcellus shale, the
1961 law allows drillers to combine gas rights into pools, even if property
owners oppose.
Any use
of forced pooling likely will ignite a public outcry. Attempts to extend broad
pooling powers to Pennsylvania's Marcellus shale drillers have been met with
swift opposition — even Gov. Tom Corbett, a supporter of gas drilling, opposed
the idea in 2011, calling it “private eminent domain.”
The
company acquired the right to drill on all but 35 acres, which includes at
least four properties whose owners don't want to lease or who leased with
another company, according to the Aug. 26 filing Hilcorp made to the state
Environmental Hearing Board.
6. Court Affirms Surface Rights, Even US Forest Service Is Subservient
“Pennsylvania energy attorneys
said a recent appeals ruling restricting the U.S. Forest Service's regulatory
authority over drilling in the Allegheny National Forest reaffirms the
long-standing legal tenet that mineral rights owners have primacy over surface
owners -- and could apply more broadly to other federally owned land.
Other
attorneys said the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruling also provides guidance
as to when the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, which requires a
lengthy environmental impact study, is triggered.
The decision said the Forest Service has no
regulatory authority over the mineral rights beyond whatever may have been
explicitly stated in the original instruments of conveyance.
George
A. Bibikos, a partner in K&L Gates' energy practice who was not involved in
the Minard Run litigation, said the
ruling serves as another example of the "bedrock principle of oil and gas
law" that a surface owner is subservient to a mineral rights or oil and
gas rights owner.
"You can't quite
have a different rule for a government surface owner and a private surface
owner."
Read
more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/legal/court-affirms-that-surface-rights-owners-even-uncle-sam-are-subservient-706538/#ixzz2hBm58AgT
7. New Yorkers Write To Hillary
“Last
week, Hillary Clinton gave a lecture on a range of topics at Hamilton College
in Oneida County, NY. Unfortunately, she
was gravely wrong to tout the fact that the U.S. is seeing record-breaking oil
and gas production as good news, which is tied to the expansion of fracking.
We hope that Ms. Clinton will consider the facts and reconsider her position.
Dear Ms. Clinton,
We are writing to you from upstate New York, a place you
recently called “a land of treasures.” We write on behalf of New Yorkers
Against Fracking, a coalition which includes more than 200 organizations, 1,000
business owners and 300 faith leaders from across this great state. We
appreciate this “land of treasures” every day of our lives and we want you to
know that turning our lands into an industrial wasteland from fracking has no
place in our environmental or economic future.”
8. Air Pollution From Gas Facilities
Evaluated Individually To Avoid Pollution Regulations
More than 450 natural gas
compressor stations and processing plants have been built in PA since 2008,
when Marcellus gas development kicked into high gear. Collectively, the rapidly multiplying facilities emit tens of thousands
of tons of pollutants a year. And the growing emissions load may eventually
lead to poorer air quality, according to environmental organizations. Despite that emissions load, none of those
Marcellus gas facilities are grouped together for permitting purposes by the
state and labeled a "major source" of pollution -- a Clean Air Act
designation that could require more extensive, and expensive, emission
controls. Roy Seneca, an EPA spokesman, said this month the agency is still
reviewing Pennsylvania's compliance with the Clean Air Act as part of a
potential enforcement action.
"There are a lot of shale gas sources
right now with emissions just below the 100-ton-per-year 'major source'
threshold," said James Duffy, an attorney with the Clean Air Council.
"They're treated as minor sources. But put together, they are major
sources and the people living next to them are receiving major doses of
pollution. They should demand a
remedy." Two years ago, the
Clean Air Council appealed a state decision to grant individual permits to a gas
production facility and 10 gas compressor stations linked to it by pipelines,
all in Washington County. Collectively those 11 facilities, all owned by
MarkWest Liberty Midstream LLC, can emit more than 900 tons of nitrogen oxides
a year -- or more than three times the amount emitted by U.S. Steel's Edgar
Thomson steel mill in Braddock, which is designated a major source. According
to the EPA, even short-term exposure to nitrogen oxides can impair respiratory
health, causing throat and lung inflammation and exacerbating asthma.
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/marcellusshale/marcellus-gas-facilities-near-to-one-another-or-even-linked-are-evaluated-individually-for-pollution-706406/
9. DEP Shuts Down Drilling Wastewater Plant-Indiana County
“ State regulators have shut down
a gas drilling wastewater treatment facility, Aquatic Synthesis Unlimited and
its partner company, Terra Services, of Irving, Texas. They announced two years
ago they would treat wastewater so it could be reused for fracking, instead of
fresh water. Planners also said the plant in Rayne Township, Indiana County,
would eventually treat acid drainage from abandoned coal mines, but that didn't
materialize.
"They could never get
going," department spokesman John Poister told the Indiana Gazette.
"They were only able to operate sporadically between July and August"
last year, before the plant was idled in September.
No water was supposed to be
stored or discharged from the site, but Poister said about 1 million gallons of
water accumulated and remains at the plant and must be cleaned up.
The company tried to haul some of the water
away, so it could be disposed of at injection wells, but the department stopped
that because it violated a conditional permit the plant received in April 2012
to treat and recycle the wastewater, Poister said.
Rows of 21,000-gallon storage
tanks remain on the site, though Poister said he wasn't sure how many contained
wastewater.
The company forfeited a $1
million bond posted before any of the work began.
The
department has hired URS Energy and Construction, a Pittsburgh firm, to clean
up the site that is about 50 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. That should begin
in a few weeks, Poister said.”
10.Polluted Air and Bowel Disease
“ Is fracking air pollution giving you gas?
You’re not alone. We have a long list of
anecdotal stories about how fracking air pollution effects the guts of those
who live in sacrifice zones. Now there are some studies that substantiate these
stories.
A study of hospital
admissions in Wisconsin found that high air pollution emissions were associated
with a 40 percent increase in the rate of bowel disease hospitalizations in
2002. The authors accounted for carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxide,
volatile organic chemicals and fine particulate matter.”
http://www.texassharon.com/2013/10/01/dirty-fracking-air-and-bowel-disease/
11. Wastewater Storage Proposed At Former Hallowich Property
(by Bob Donnan)
“Remember
the recent public meeting between Mt Pleasant Twp & Range Resources? Range was presenting plans for a wastewater
tank farm next to and on the former Hallowich property. Someone did research
since that meeting and came up with what that tank farm would have to look like
to hold the 15-million gallons of toxic fluids proposed...
It would actually
take 15 tanks, nearly double the number Range showed on their site plan.”
12. Illinois Citizens’ List Their Demands
“As
absentee oil and gas companies register with the state of Illinois this month,
downstate citizens groups are taking the lead among statewide environmental
groups and laying out scientific and legal standards for the Illinois
Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) and Joint Committee on Administrative
Rules to consider prior to drafting the controversial fracking rules.
At
a recent meeting in Springfield between representatives of IDNR, Illinois
People’s Action (IPA) and SAFE, the key citizens groups expressed their
concerns with the state’s admittedly flawed legislation and the rule-making
process.
“Upon inquires from
IPA and SAFE, the IDNR
representatives refused to acknowledge IDNR’s broad authority to deny a permit
application,” said Vito Mastrangelo, an attorney and representative on
SAFE’s legal affairs committee. “Section
1-53 of the new legislation includes this provision: “(a) the Department shall
issue a high volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing permit, with any conditions
the Department may find necessary, only if the record of decision demonstrates
that *** the proposed hydraulic
fracturing operations will be conducted in a manner that will protect the
public health and safety and prevent pollution or diminution of any water
source[.]“
Mastrangelo
added: “And I asked the IDNR
representatives pointedly whether, if we were to convince IDNR staff that the
HVHF process was not safe, they would relay their concerns to the legislators
on the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules or to the legislature. They
would not agree to do so.”
Along
with the letter, citizen groups included a list of demands drafted by the IPA
on Disclosure and Transparency, Regulations and Inspection and Enforcement.
Notably in the current process of drafting administrative rules by the IDNR,
the list includes:
Disclosure and
Transparency
1.
With regard to disclosures about the rule-making process, the Illinois
Department of NaturalResources (IDNR) shall: (Creed #1, 3, 6)
a.
Publish the names of those who drafted the rules governing hydraulic fracturing
in the State of Illinois in a state newspaper and on the IDNR website,
including the drafters’ qualifications or backgrounds pertaining to their work
on the hydraulic fracturing bill, within thirty (30) days of their appointment
to the hydraulic fracturing committee.
b. Publish in a state newspaper and on the
IDNR website a list of the names of those public health and environmental
scientists involved in rule-making process with a description of their
qualifications or backgrounds pertaining to the hydraulic fracturing bill
within thirty (30) days of their appointment to the hydraulic fracturing
committee.
c.
Name scientists and/or direct action leaders on the [hydraulic fracturing
committee] submitted by Illinois People’s Action and/or other Illinois social,
political or environmental groups who share the opinions of those Illinois
citizens working to oppose hydraulic fracturing.
2.
With regard to personnel responsible for approving or rejecting hydraulic
fracturing permits, the IDNR will:
a.
Disclose the qualifications of personnel responsible for issuing hydraulic
fracturing permits and provide a list of the permits issued by said personnel.
b.
Identify the qualifications of personnel responsible for inspecting, approving,
or rejecting hydraulic fracturing and their capacity to verify information
provided by the applicant.
c.
Identify the capacity of personnel responsible for approving or rejecting
hydraulic fracturing to access the necessary resources to conduct thorough
background checks on the operators requesting permits including, but not
limited to, current and past violations.
d.
Increase public transparency regarding the hydraulic fracturing regulation
process, disclose the number of inspectors hired as well as the nature and
duration of the training they have or will have undergone before they undertake
this assignment, and/or any qualifications said inspectors brought to the
position before being hired by IDNR.
3. Require all hydraulic permit applications
to publicly disclose the depth, direction(s) and length(s) of any and all
drilling done in relation to a single well head, and make this information
available on the IDNR website.
4.
Public Disclosure: Real time reporting and transparency: IDNR shall not issue a
permit until the following public information and emergency notification
systems are in place: (Creed #2, 3, 4, 5,6)
a. A list of all chemicals to be used in the
well, or in the vicinity of the well, potential adverse effects of those chemicals
and treatment recommended if exposed to them.
b.
A Public Information guide developed in consultation with Public health
officials, seismologists, and emergency medical and rescue workers and
published on the IDNR site and distributed in booklet form to residents within
1 mile of any part of a fracking operation (including any part of an
underground horizontal leg).
c.
The company Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for each chemical or product used
in the well or its vicinity during any stage or for any action related to the
hydraulic fracturing process.
i.
The MSDS must also be distributed to local fire departments, and local and
state emergency planning officials under Section 311 of the Emergency Planning
and Community Right-to-Know Act. This distribution must happen at least thirty
(30) days prior to use of the product on the hydraulic fracturing site.
ii.
With regard to chemicals used, the MSDS shall list all chemicals to be used in
the well or in its vicinity, potential adverse effects of those chemicals, and
recommended treatment if exposed.
d. Creation of an Operator’s Violations page
on the website that is easy to locate and navigate. Violations and/or accidents are to be posted within 48 hours of an
event, with easy-to-comprehend descriptions of:
i.
what caused the event;
ii.
what were the damages to property, life, environment, public health;
iii.
closure of operation (even if temporary);
iv.
license suspensions and/or license revocations.
v.
the dollar amount of fine.
Items to be reported include but
are not limited to: traffic accidents, well-casing failures, spills, dumping of
produced water, frack pad fires, overflow of open pit storage, intentional or
accidental venting of methane, increased levels of methane and/or other
chemicals in surrounding groundwater, soil or air, explosions, radiation
leaks/exposure, transportation spillage, and aquatic and wildlife kills.
5. If a hydraulic fracturing company contests
a penalty, or negotiates with the State of Illinois or a private citizen to
settle a dispute out of court, all such settlements
and/or lawsuit decisions must be described on the IDNR web site. If a
hydraulic fracturing company requires that a settlement or details of a court
decision be kept confidential in order for settlement to be reached, the IDNR
will refuse to grant any future drilling permits to said company until the
settlement details or court case details are publicly disclosed as required by
the IDNR.
6.
Corporate Liability: (Creed #2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
Recognizing
that many of hydraulic fracturing’s effects on public health have yet to be
determined, and further recognizing that only the open sharing of health data
will allow such detrimental health effects to be discerned, the IDNR hereby
calls for a completely transparent approach
to all health records likely to be related to hydraulic fracturing. In the
event that IDNR learns through its inspectors or citizen reports of a public
health occurrence or occurrences reasonably believed to be connected with a
hydraulic fracturing site, IDNR will publish the details of such events, though
not the names of the affected individuals unless permission is secured from
citizens affected negatively by exposure to the hydraulic fracturing process.
The IDNR further requires that any non-disclosure agreements as related to
disputes, settlements or court cases between physicians and industry or
patients and industry are forbidden.”
13. The Deadly Chemicals That Fracking Companies Use
“A
wasteful, chemical-ridden endeavor, each fracturing uses 1-8 millions gallons
of water and about 40,000 gallons of about 600 different chemicals, including
deadly toxins and carcinogens. At it’s current rate, the 500,000 active wells
in the country require an accumulated amount of 72 trillion gallons of water
and 360 billion gallons of chemicals to operate.
Canada
has been infected with the plague of fracking in very much the same way that
the United States has. However, their disclosure laws are more environmentally driven,
as there is more open access to information about fracking companies and their
processes than in the states.
The British Columbia Oil and Gas
Commission, a fracking company-transparency group, has worked to make sure that
legislators, domestically and abroad, know what kind of chemicals these
companies are using. The group compiled a list of many of the chemicals
that energy companies use during the fracking process.
Below is
a comprehensive table of the most dangerous and deadly chemicals, with effects
ranging from minor skin irritation to severe effects like organ failure and
death.
Chemical and Effects of Exposure:
taraldehyde
Prolonged inhalation and skin
contact can cause asthma, conjunctivitis, and can irritate the lungs and
throat.
Ammonium
Chloride
Damage to the respiratory
system, dyspnea, and pulmonary sensitization.
Quaternary
Ammonium Chloride
Sore throat and skin burns to
severe symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and shock and collapse.
Ammonium
Persulphate
An oxidizing compound, this
chemical could cause lung edema, symptoms similar to asthma, and
life-threatening shock, if inhaled.
Magnesium Peroxide
Severe eye irritation,
shortness of breath, bloating, vomiting, nausea, and diarrhea.
Calcium
Chloride
Respiratory irritation,
gastrointestinal irritation, nausea, vomiting.
Tetramethyl
ammonium chloride
Severe eye damage, skin
irritation, if ingested, can burn the insideof the oral cavity and GI tract,
and could also be fatal.
Methanol
Prolonged exposure can cause
coma, shock, and kidney failure with long term effects including blindness and
nervous system damage.
Formic Acid
Irritates the upper respiratory
tract and skin. Ingestion can lead to burning of the mouth, bloody vomit, and
death.
Petroleum
Distillate
Immediately dangerous to
human health, can cause dizziness, headaches, nasal irritation, and death.
Hydrotreated
Light Petroleum Distillate
Headaches, nausea,
unconsciousness, diarrhea, and vomiting.
Triethanolamine
Zirconate
Repeated skin and eye contact
can cause kidney and liver damage and ingestion can cause nausea, vomiting,
collapse, and induce comas.
Boric Acid
Boric Acid poisoning causes
blue-green vomit, convulsions, collapse, soma, muscle spasms, and blisters.
Ethylene Glycol
Acute exposure can cause
central nervous system depression, damage cardiopulmonary functions of the
body, and cause renal damage.
Polyacrylamide
A probable human carcinogen,
can cause numbing of the limbs, dull tendon reflexes, and is thought to cause
lung, thyroid, and adrenal gland tumors.
Thioglycolic
Acid
Can cause olfactory
paralysis, shortness of breath, liver damage, severe eye damage, conjunctival
inflammation, central nervous system depression, and burning within the oral
cavity and GI tract.
Sodium
Erythorbate
Headaches, flushing, can
cause red blood cells to rupture, vomiting, nausea, kidney stones, and bloody
urine.
Lauryl Sulphate
Cited as a cancer risk by the
EPA, high exposure can damage the liver and kidneys. Very high exposure can
also be fatal.
Sodium
Hydroxide
Acute effects are possible
permanent eye damage, pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs) with bronchitis and
permanent lung damage after repeated exposure.
Potassium
Hydroxide
Exposure effects are almost
identical to that of Sodium Hydroxide.
Acetic Acid
Skin corrosion, deep tissue
burns, pulmonary edema, blindness, respiratory failure, cardiac arrest, and
death.
Sodium
Carbonate
Skin irritation; nausea,
vomiting, diarrhea if swallowed, with long-term exposure linked to hand ulcers
and nasal perforation.
Phosphonic
Acid Salt
Eye burning and irritation,
coughing, and can cause bronchitis over long-term exposure.
Ethanol
Deadly if swallowed or
inhaled. This flammable gas can damage the liver, kidneys, and nervous system,
and has been suspected of causing blood cancer.
Naphthalene
Exposure has been linked to
jaundice, renal shutdown, corneal damage, and optimal neuritis.
2-Butoxyethanol
Acute exposure can lead to
nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, with other effects being that it can damage the
liver and kidneys.
http://www.ringoffireradio.com/2013/10/deadly-chemicals-energy-companies-use-fracking/
14. Texas Pipeline Explosion Leaks Toxic H2S
KBYG - Special to NewsWest 9
Howard County Volunteer Firefighters and other
officials were called out to a big pipeline rupture in SW Howard County Monday
afternoon.
There
was no explosion or flames, but the
break was leaking vapor that included poisonous H2S gas.
Once officials
became aware of the presence of poisonous gas, a perimeter of about a half-mile
was set up around the immediate line rupture and several roads were closed.
No one
was hurt in the incident and no evacuations were required, though the situation
was monitored very closely due to the H2S gas.” http://www.newswest9.com/story/23630636/officials-working-pipeline-explosion-in-howard-county
**************************************************************
Letters to the Editor
Drilling in Parks in Allegheny Co.
By Keith McDonough
Oct 4 at 6:20 PM
Dear,
Allegheny Council members, to those of you that would allow drilling in our
parks, I respectfully ask you to research the significant danger you are
considering exposing to your constituents. Below is just one current events
example of real human health harm caused by the release of carcinogens and
toxins as a result of deep drilling techniques referred to commonly as
fracking. I am willing to come before
you and testify I have personally witnessed these same symptoms in children
about the age of the one in the picture below and provide detailed information
about how both the people impacted and the drilling industry came to the same
conclusion; that the nearby drilling and the children’s symptoms, were directly
correlative. I am also willing to come before you and present volumes of
research I have collected over the last three years that clearly indicates
Marcellus drilling can not only be harmful to human health but is also a highly
industrial and dangerous activity, is harmful to the environment and negatively
impacts home values and residential insurability.
The
bottom line is that there is plenty of empirical evidence if you look that
shows this drilling technology is just not just ready to be comingled with
urban residential areas.
I
would also ask you also to consider the economics involved and how they don’t
suit a governmental entity. One thing is very clear; the funds flow will not be
sustainable. Temporary funding to any public entity means your council
successors down the road will inherit public programs with no funding to
support them other than tax increases.
The
air we breathe is in South Fayette is carried by the wind from the direction of
the southwest and places like Hickory and Cecil, Washington County, where
drilling activity is heavy and seems to be increasing. We are and you as our
public servants are helpless to stop this detrimental air impact to our
families in the southwest corner of Allegheny County. Please don’t exacerbate
our air conditions by drilling our Allegheny County parks.
Please
note I blind copy our Friends of South Fayette email list of over 450
recipients.
Thank you,
Respectfully,
Keith McDonough, board member, Friends of
South Fayette
101
Fryes Lane
McDonald,
Allegheny County, PA 15057
The News Article
(excerpt): Boxer asks EPA to ensure safety of L.A. neighborhood near oil field
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-0927-fumes-20130927,0,5475948.story
U.S.
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) asked federal environmental officials Thursday to
ensure the safety of a low-income South Los Angeles community where residents
worry that their dizziness, headaches and nosebleeds may be linked to noxious
odors from an urban oil field.
In a terse letter, Boxer asked
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy to
"immediately address these unacceptable situations using all available and
appropriate authorities."
Boxer requested a response by
Monday describing the steps that the EPA will take to address the chemical
smells, which waft through the University Park neighborhood from an oil-pumping
operation on land Allenco Energy Co. leases from the Catholic Archdiocese of
Los Angeles.
Residents say they have suffered
from respiratory ailments, headaches and nosebleeds since 2010, when Allenco
ramped up production at its wells by more than 400%. Neighbors complained to
state air quality officials 251 times over the next three years. The South
Coast Air Quality Management District responded by issuing 15 citations against
Allenco for foul odors.
After analyzing three air samples
collected in 2011, the district concluded that the odors pose no health risks.
Allenco has declined to comment
on its operation.
The action was welcomed by University
Park residents including Monic Uriarte and her 12-year-old daughter, who
suffers from recurring nosebleeds.
"We're grateful to have the
attention of Sen. Boxer," Uriarte said. "If it turns out that our
illnesses are related to those odors, we will demand that the oil field
immediately cease production."
Angela Johnson Meszaros, general
counsel with the Los Angeles chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility,
agreed.
"Finally, this issue is
being taken seriously," Meszaros said. "It's also sad that it takes
someone in Washington to send a latter to someone else in Washington to get
California regulators to do something about a problem that's been going on way
too long."
Air quality district officials
were not available for comment.”
By Bob Donnan
(Letter Shared With the Public)
Bob Donnan Refutes AP Story About Bob Donnan
“You
may have seen the nationally released AP story that Kevin Begos and Michael
Rubinkam did on me in the newspaper today.
“Robert Donnan has earned his stripes! “ That is the
compliment paid to me by other lead fractivists. Why?
Because once you become a big focus of pro-industry reporters, it lets
you know how effective you have become in your work on fracking issues.
So let's get to the real story, beginning with what Begos
and Rubinkam wrote about me”:
Some anti-drilling activists change tone
Outspoken McMurray
critic leases land to Range
By Kevin Begos and Michael Rubinkam
Associated Press October 6, 2013
“Some drilling critics,
meanwhile, have become reluctant partners with an industry they dislike.
Robert
Donnan had been an outspoken critic of drilling in general and Range Resources,
the company that sunk the first Marcellus well in 2004, in particular. In
February, the McMurray man leased his land to Range, according to public
documents obtained by The Associated Press.
Donnan
didn’t respond to requests for comment, nor did members of the group to which
he belongs, Marcellus Protest, whose stated goal is to “stop the destruction of
our environment and communities caused by Marcellus drilling.”
But
one of Donnan’s cousins said family members felt they had little real choice,
considering their 296-acre property southwest of Pittsburgh is already
surrounded by drilling.
“The
choice is either sign the lease and have some control, or don’t sign and have
no control” over what happens in the area, said Geoffrey Smith, adding the
family will still keep an eye on everything the drillers do.
“We’re
watching for any spills, any violation of the lease, for any hanky-panky with
the money,” said Smith, who praised his cousin for keeping the industry’s “feet
to the fire” on environmental issues.
Donnan
is still speaking out, too. In the spring, he published a letter to the editor
saying “gas production is filthy business.” He also denounced drilling at a
public forum in Pittsburgh — though without telling the audience he had signed
a lease.
Range
spokesman Matt Pitzarella said the company views Donnan’s decision to sign a
lease after years of criticizing the industry “as an endorsement” of drilling,
since he’s clearly aware of the risks involved.
By Bob Donnan:
Here's the story Begos &
Rubinkam missed:
“Imagine my surprise in late-2012
when I learned during a Pa DEP file review that 74 acres of gas rights, a small
portion owned by myself and a couple dozen other family heirs, was in the
process of being drilled into by Range Resources! Imagine my greater surprise, when I learned
through a cousin, who still owns much of that surface land, that no family
heirs had signed a drilling lease!
Good,
or so I thought.
Before
that, I had been very pleased thinking that we had blocked Range from any
drilling into our gas rights from a drilling pad situated in a county park. For
years I had fought to stop that very drilling, but failed in my earnest and
dedicated efforts, partly due to public apathy.
In
that same spirit of stopping drilling in the park, I had already refused to
sign the lease a Range landman presented to me earlier in the year. He suddenly
appeared in our driveway one afternoon, and I sent him packing, "No
thanks, especially not with Range. I have too many friends from Hickory that
have been adversely affected by their drilling, but I know you are just doing
your job."
You
see, I had become good friends with Ron Gulla and Stephanie & Chris
Hallowich over the previous 4 years. You may recall the shock expressed by
everyone when they found out Range, Williams and MarkWest not only gagged them,
but also gagged their young children, in a lawsuit the Hallowiches filed so they
could move their children to safety.
Ron
Gulla has been one of the strongest and most forthright people I know in his
attempts to educate others about fracking. Range is actually afraid of Ron, as
well they should be, how could they afford to have any more of his story out
there?
Back
to my personal situation...
Further research by family
members revealed that Range had proceeded with drilling into our gas rights
since they said they had signed two family heirs to a lease, and that 2%
heirship interest was enough for them to proceed with drilling. (Attorneys had been telling
me they felt they would not drill with any less than 50%. So much for that
theory!) Only one problem, well actually two problems, neither person who
signed a Range lease was related to our family. At that point I was ready to
move forward with a lawsuit, but no attorney I approached would proceed on
contingency, without being paid a high hourly fee.
In
the meantime, these latest developments were enough to make my cousin who owns
that surface property above part of our gas rights, very, very nervous, and
rightly so. What if one or two heirs
signed a ‘bad lease’ giving Range the right to install roads, impoundments,
pipelines and drilling pads on her property? That was the last thing she wanted.
So at that point she knew she had to protect her property and hired a skilled
attorney to craft an extremely protective lease, one that would prevent any
surface activity on her land. A couple other family heirs, including Geoffrey
Smith who is mentioned in the AP story, signed a lease at the same time.
It
was time for the rest of the heirs in our family to make a decision. By now it
was too late for any heir who decided not to sign to change what had already
happened, since the drilling was completed and the wells would be producing in
March. A senior land agent at Range told heirs representing our family that any
heir who did not sign a lease by May 31st would not get any royalties, not even
the minimum payment required by law. Steal our gas and not pay us??
It
was time for me to make a big decision, even though I only own a small portion
of the 74 acres, equivalent to less than 1.5 acres. By not signing a lease, I
would forfeit money that would go back into Range’s purse. By signing, I would
have some additional funds to continue my fractivist efforts. My decision came
down to the lesser of two evils, since I could not bear the thought of Range
ripping me off and keeping my money. So
I signed.
So
what makes my story worth putting in the national news? I have been a lead
activist in the fight for our air and water. It began when our tap water became
contaminated by the dumping of drilling waste into the Monongahela River, the
source of all our water. (See my earlier posts on Bob's Blog). My efforts in
that fight were very effective and I accomplished most of my goals, even
stepping forward to be a standing witness in two lawsuits directed against
facilities that were, or soon would be, dumping drilling waste upstream from
our tap water intake on the Mon River.
My
focus had always been water, but other fractivists began educating me more on
the serious air quality issues related to gas drilling and processing. Keep in
mind that most of the counties around Pittsburgh, including our own, are
non-attainment counties with existing air quality problems. So I began
splitting my efforts between water and air quality issues.
Strongly
believing that one picture is worth a thousand words, I knew aerial photos
would be extremely valuable in the fight against fracking, since most drilling
facilities in our area are elevated and can’t be seen from the ground. I went
out and bought an expensive camera and lens which helped, but it still took me
over a year to get in the air. Since 2009, I have flown 23 times, taking thousands
of photos of the widespread destruction caused by hydraulic fracturing. These photos have been published and shared
around the globe. I also continue to attend (boring) meetings on drilling
issues in our area, in an attempt to hold local drillers’ feet to the fire.
Now
to the hatchet job part of the AP story… I declined an interview with Kevin
Begos because of the pro-industry slant of his earlier writings. Everyone has
noticed it, not just me. Besides that, there are family matters and
relationships that need to be preserved and protected, ones that are none of
his fracking business. I was sure that whatever I would give him would be
twisted and slanted in an effort to smear me. So with very few facts, and at
least one bald faced lie, as well as an idiotic quote from Pitzarella at Range,
he wrote his hatchet job story on me anyway.
So
as the old saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished. My long time opposition
to the dastardly effects of gas drilling and fracking has not changed a single
bit. Now, I will have a few more dollars to support my fractivist efforts. We
gave $1,000 of Range’s money to Clean Water Action at their Pittsburgh
fundraiser Friday night.
And
for the record, I am not an active member of any groups (like Marcellus
Protest) other than groups related to veterans. I am actually the proud Founder
of a Vietnam artillery reunion group that has swelled its ranks to 700
veterans, as well as being a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and
Vietnam Veterans of America. Begos wanted to take a swipe at Marcellus Protest,
so he painted me as a member and then tried to use it to discredit them. As
Steelers coach Chuck Noll once said, “Never let the facts get in the way of a
good story.”
Ha,
Kevin didn’t write anything even close to a good story, just a poorly
researched hatchet job. Nice try Kevin, but you and Rubinkam blew it, big time!
“
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 and Thomas Merton Society Liason-Lou Pochet
Secretary-Ron Nordstrom
Facebook Coordinator-Elizabeth Nordstrom
Blogsite –April Jackman
Science Subcommittee-Dr. Cynthia Walter
