Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group Updates
November 7, 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 PA 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 Bob
Schmetzer.
* Thank you to
Jenny Lisak for working with the group’s suggestions to create our logo.
Donations- Our
Sincere Thanks For Your Support!
Jan
Kiefer
Mary
Steisslinger
Wanda
and Joe Guthrie
Lou and Dorothy Pochet for donating to group
printing costs.
Joe
and Judy Evans for printing costs of fracking tri-folds.
Jan
and Jack Milburn for donating to group printing costs.
Calendar
***
WMCG Steering Committee Meeting We meet the second Tuesday of every month at
7:30 PM in Greensburg. Nov. 12. Email Jan for directions. All are very welcome
to attend. .
***Nov 12- Radioactive Drill Cuttings Reclassified -
Columbus Ohio
Public forum at Columbus Public Library, Tuesday Nov. 12th, 7pm.
The Ohio
state legislature snuck language into the 2013 budget bill in June that reclassifies shale
production drill cuttings from TENORM (Technically Enhanced Normally Occurring
Radioactive Materials) to NORM (normally-occurring radioactive materials),
which makes radioactive content invisible to the regulatory environment. The "beneficial uses" clause of the
bill allows these potentially radioactive materials to be used in applications,
such as in landfills as clay liners.
The
test case is right here in Columbus, where the Ohio EPA has permitted Ohio Soil
Recycling
(http://www.soilrecycling.com/services/ ) to receive drill cuttings (and
according to the website, this material includes drilling muds which are still
classified as TENORM) to be used as a claytopper to the Integrity Drive drum
dump. This landfill is a legacy dump
where barrels full of toxic wastes were buried over the past decades, and has a
history of leaching toxins into the nearby Alum Creek. There are 39 licensed landfills in Ohio now
susceptible to receiving these radioactive
materials
which are completely de-regulated.
Presenters at the forum
include -
Yuri Gorby - expert on microbe
effects, particularly pertinent to the soil remediation process used by Ohio
Soil Recycling
http://faculty.rpi.edu/node/1179
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tssuNWKyLSI
Dr. Julie Weatherington Rice - geologist, Adjunct
Faculty The Ohio State University and Bennett & Williams
http://www.ernstversusencana.ca/radioactive-drilling-waste-shipped-to-landfi
lls-raises-concerns
http://www.ohiowater.org/otco/new%20site/docs/presentations/2013/Water_Works
hop/Day_2_Groundwater/Shale%20Gas%20Wastes.pdf
Terry Lodge, attorney from Toledo area
who specializes in industrial radiation contamination issues
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/nuclear-power/2013/7/19/davis-besse-hearing-docket.html
There
will be other speakers as well.
If
you can share this with any networks that you are a part of, we would look
forward to having audience members from Pennsylvania as well.
Take
care,
Greg
Pace
Fresh
Water Accountability Project www.fwapoh.com <http://www.fwapoh.com>;
Radioactive
Waste Alert Organization
www.radioactivewastealert.org
<http://www.radioactivewastealert.org/>;
www.globalcommonstrust.org
<http://www.globalcommonstrust.org/>;
Guernsey
County Citizens Support on Drilling Issues
***Nov 21 Dr. Anthony Ingraffea, Dwight C.
Baum Professor of Engineering,
Cornell University Butler, PA On
the science, safety and debate over hydraulic fracturing.
*** Nov 25, 26 Facing
the Challenges-- Duquesne University Researchers present on: Air and
water, Animal and Human Health, Geological, Biological investigations.
***Nov 17 Fall
Summit, Parish Hill, North Park
“ On
November 17, 2013 we will hold our 1st annual Fall Shindig at North Park in
Allison Park, PA. , from 9-5pm. The
building has a capacity of 150 persons and we want to have great regional
representation so please, invite your friends and colleagues.
$10 registration fee
to cover the building and food.
Peace and solidarity,
Kathryn Hilton, Community Organizer, Mountain Watershed
Association”
Register at:
www.mtwatershed.com/blog
For a calendar of area events please see “Marcellus Protest”
calendar:
http://marcellusprotest.org/
Donations
We are very appreciative
of donations to our group.
With your help, we have handed out thousands of flyers
on the health and environmental effects of fracking, sponsored numerous public
meetings, and provided information to citizens and officials countywide. If you
would like to support our efforts:
Checks to
our group should be made out to the Thomas Merton Center and in the Reminder
line please write- Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group (no abbreviations).
You can send your check to: Thomas Merton Center attn. Ros Malholland , 5129 Penn Ave,
Pittsburgh, PA 15224. Or you can give
the check or cash to Lou Pochet or Jan Milburn.
To make a contribution to our
group using a credit card, go to www.thomasmertoncenter.org. Look for the contribute
button, then scroll down the list of organizations to direct money to. We are
listed as the Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group.
Please
be sure to write Westmoreland Marcellus
Citizens’ Group on the bottom of your check so that WMCG receives the
funding since we are just one project of many of the Thomas Merton Center. You
can also give your donation to any member of the steering committee.
Volunteers Needed!!
We need volunteers
who will take an hour or so to distribute flyers in Westmoreland Neighborhoods. You can help to inform your own area or we
can suggest an area. Some rural areas are best reached by car and flyers can be
put in paper boxes. Please contact Jan
if you are able to help. Meetings are good venues for distributing flyers as
well—church meetings, political, parent groups, etc. If you can only pass out
fifteen, that reaches fifteen people who may not have been informed.
Take Action!!
The following petitions
are active.
Estimated time to sign all petitions-3-4 minutes
*** Safeguard
Federal Lands from Pro-Fracking Legislation!
“Our nation's public lands belong to
all Americans, but pro-fracking members of Congress have introduced legislation
to let states decide how the oil and gas industry will drill and frack our
national forests, wildlife refuges, and public lands. Congress may soon vote on
this terrible bill, H.R. 2728, which
would turn control of dirty and dangerous fracking and drilling on our federal
lands over to the states. “
***Tell FERC---Stop Rubber-Stamping
Frack Pipelines
On
September 29, Steven Jensen, a farmer in North Dakota, discovered a massive
865,000-gallon fracked oil spill in a wheat field on his land. The spill, which
is one of the largest inland oil-pipeline accidents in the United States ever,
may have gone on for weeks unnoticed before it was discovered.
The
spill in North Dakota is not an isolated incident. Every week there are news
reports about pipeline leaks and explosions that contaminate our land and water
and sometimes kill. But instead of fixing its crumbling infrastructure, the oil
and gas industry has embarked on a reckless spending spree. It wants to
build thousands of miles of new pipelines so that it can frack America and make
us dependent on dirty fossil fuels for decades to come.
We
have to speak out now to stop it. My petition, which is to the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, says the following:
America
doesn’t need endless pipelines and related infrastructure that impact local
communities and that choke off the development of clean, renewable energy
supplies. It is time for FERC to put down its rubber stamp and place a
moratorium on new fracking and oil- and gas-related infrastructure projects.
Tell the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission: Stop approving
oil and gas infrastructure.
Private
land is seized by eminent domain. Dangerous and polluting compressor stations
are constructed in the middle of residential neighborhoods. One gas pipeline is
slated to cut through the Gateway National Recreation Area. And now there’s a
plan to build another large and potentially explosive pipeline near a nuclear
reactor in one of the most densely populated areas of the country.
How
can this happen? Isn’t anyone looking out for the public’s safety and welfare?
That "someone" should be FERC, the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission. It’s supposed to consider “public convenience and
necessity” before permitting projects like these. But it’s fallen down on the
job. Instead of critically examining all the impacts associated with oil and
gas infrastructure, it’s become a rubber stamp for an industry that has shown
that it doesn’t give a damn about the health and safety of the American people.
Tell FERC that America doesn’t need endless pipelines and
related infrastructure that impact local communities and choke off the
development of clean, renewable energy supplies.
Will you join me and add your name to my petition to
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to demand that it stop approving oil and
gas infrastructure?
Thank you for your
support.
Jill Wiener
***
Fossil Free Pittsburgh Petition
“ The campaign: City of Pittsburgh:
Invest in Thrive-ability - Divest from Fossil Fuel. Add your name to this fossil fuel
divestment campaign.
The divestment movement is
catching on like wildfire, and with good reason: If it is wrong to wreck the
climate, then it is wrong to profit from that wreckage. We believe that
educational and religious institutions, city and state governments, and other
institutions that serve the public good should divest from fossil fuels.
Every name that is added builds momentum
around the divestment effort and makes it more likely for us to win. “http://campaigns.gofossilfree.org/petitions/city-of-pittsburgh-invest-in-thriveability-divest-from-fossil-fuel
*** 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
*** Health Effects
of Drilling with Theo Colburn-6 minutes
Short
Excerpt: “Gas in not all methane-at most 82%.
The rest of the composition is short -chained hydrocarbons and
benzene-like compounds. Tons per day are emitted from just one well. Toluene come up from the well in higher
concentrations than benzene. Toluene
goes right for the brain. Workers are experiencing peripheral neuropathy which
is irreversible. The government has ignored these problems completely.”
*** Ads Sponsored by Frack- Free Colorado Whistleblower
Wes Wilson and Professor Ingraffea
About 2 minutes each.
*** 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.
***PA has only
seen tip of fracking iceberg-Dr Ingraffea
Short excerpt: Dr Ingraffea explains that fracking has just
begun, far more is planned, and consequently there will be increased impacts.
30-40% of all gas wells are leaking presently and this will be the case in the
future.
5-10% leak immediately.
Of all wells drilled between 2010 and today in PA, 10 % are leaking.
Over 1000 people in PA have said their water was affected by
fracking. DEP has confirmed 161 incidents.
***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 when they became sick after fracking began in their area. http://pennsylvaniaallianceforcleanwaterandair.wordpress.com/the-list/
Fracking News
All
articles are excerpted. Please use the links
to read the articles in full.
1. State of PA
Sued for Alleged Violations to the State Constitution
PA Environmental
Defense Fund (PEDF) Sues Governor Corbett in Commonwealth
Court of PA (by Randy Shannon)
“The
PEDF has sued the Governor to reverse numerous acts that have gutted the
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. These acts have turned the DCNR into an agency that sells our natural
resources to fund other government programs and has practically eliminated the
DCNR’s role to protect our natural resources. These acts of the Governor
violate the Pennsylvania Constitution. The lawsuit contains eight counts of
violation of the constitution and other laws designed to protect the state’s
natural resources and seeks relief through a declaratory judgement of the
court.
The
Commonwealth Court has accepted the suit. On August 20, 2013 the Court denied a request from the Republican
Caucuses to intervene in the suit. The Republican
Caucuses contended that when gas resources are present all the laws protecting
the Commonwealth’s air, water, and land are inoperable. The lawsuit is
now in the discovery process.
The gas
industry projects that by 2030 there will be 60,000 wells in PA. Presently
there are around 3,000 permits. If these
projections are accurate, 200,000 acres of land will be cleared for well pads.
More land will be cleared for roads, pipelines, and communication systems.
Pennsylvania
water resources will lose 240 billion gallons of fresh water forever, as this
water will be chemically poisoned and injected over one mile into the Marcellus
shale stratum. Approximately 10 billion gallons of radioactive water will be
produced at the surface for disposal.
About the Lawsuit
PA Commonwealth Court has agreed to
determine whether the Corbett and
Rendell
Administrations have breached their duties to protect the citizens'
rights to clean air,
pure water, and the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic, and esthetic
values of the environment.
What PEDF Is Doing-- Specifically,
our lawsuit asks that the governor be required to fulfill his responsibilities
to protect the right of all citizens to “clean air, pure water, and the
preservation of the natural, scenic, historic, and esthetic values of the
environment.” (Article 1, Section 27,
Pennsylvania Constitution) PEDF's
lawsuit is the only legal action taken by any organization that is designed to
bring some sanity and prudence to the overall State leasing process.
The suit is progressing and asking the
courts to require the governor to:
*Conduct a comprehensive
environmental impact analysis on the current and potential effects of
drilling on State lands;
*Uphold the referendum
that prohibits any further surface disturbance on State lands;
*Retain all funds
gained from gas leases and royalties in the Oil and Gas Lease Fund, as
necessary to deal with the impacts from the gas extraction process;
* Restore the
$383,000,000 taken from the Oil and Gas Lease Fund and put into the General
Fund by former Governor Rendell.
All the information is available at
www.pedf.org/current-litigation.html.
PLEASE COME TO HEAR John Childe, Pennsylvania Environmental
Defense Foundation attorney, will discuss the lawsuit charging Corbett &
Rendell with failing to protect Pennsylvanians' constitutional rights.
Wednesday, November 20th
- 6:30 - wine & cheese
- 7:25 - presentation by John Childe, attorney for
PEDF
Gmeiner Center, 134 Main St, Wellsboro PA”
PEDF needs donations
and support:
http://beavercountyblue.org/2013/11/03/pa-environmental-defense-fund-sues-gov-corbett/
2. Colorado Ballot
Results on Frack Bans and Moratoriums
Boulder: Winning to
achieve a moratorium at 76.95% of the vote
Lafayette: Winning to achieve a ban and citizens
bill of rights 57.89% of the vote
Fort Collins: Winning to achieve a moratorium at
55.3% of the vote
Broomfield: It's
not over yet, too close to call!. The results of Broomfield’s fracking vote won’t be known until later
this month, at the earliest, and will likely be determined by a recount. The
proposed five-year hydraulic fracturing ban fell 13 votes short of passing in
Tuesday night’s initial count. The tally won’t be official until officials have
counted all overseas and military ballots, provisional ballots and other
ballots with problems like missing signatures.
For Immediate Release November 5, 2013
Statement from Frack
Free Colorado on Fracking Ballot Initiatives from Russell Mendell, Statewide Director
"Today's
election show us that Coloradans can see beyond the lies and misinformation of
the Gas and Oil Industry. Throughout the campaign, the Colorado Gas and Oil
Association has tried to deflect attention from the fact that it has spent
almost a million dollars on fighting local community's rights to
self-determination, by saying outside groups were pushing some sort of
nefarious agenda. This is especially ironic considering that COGA's Board of
Directors is made up of mostly multi-national and national corporations,
including Haliburton, Deloitte & Touche, LLP, Shell Oil, and British
Petroleum. How many CEO's of these
companies live in Colorado? Better yet, how many of them are living next to a
fracking site? How many of them send their children to a school hundreds of
yards away from a fracking well? Simply put, they were grasping at straws.
Most of
the organizations that worked tirelessly on the local ballot initiatives,
including Frack Free Colorado, relied heavily on volunteers and in kind
donations. The reason why there is such a strong grassroots movement to protect
our communities from fracking is because state and national leaders have
refused to do so. When you have an industry that is exempt from the most basic
provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Air Act, something is
obviously wrong. This says that the
fracking industry cannot survive unless it passes the cost of doing
business--be it health effects or air and water contamination--onto the
communities in which they are drilling in.
Well
today Colorado residents have shown that they can decide for themselves whether
or not they want fracking in their communities. COGA's millions will not change
that."
Huge Election Victories for
Colorado’s Anti-Fracking Movement
From EcoWatch
“Tuesdays
election brought huge results for anti-fracking voters in Fort Collins, Boulder
and Lafayette where all measures were approved that will either ban or pause
the practice of hydraulic fracturing. Initial results show Broomfield with a
tally so close—13 votes—that it will force a recount.
“With
wins in Boulder, Lafayette and Fort Collins—and a partial-victory in
Broomfield—this election sends a huge wake-up call to Governor Hickenlooper
that the people of Colorado do not want
to be fracked,” said Gary Wockner of Clean Water Action. ”Fort Collins’
vote is especially revealing—a decisive 10 point win in a swing county while being outspent 40 to 1. The oil and
gas industry poured in almost $900,000 to try and force citizens to be exposed
to their cancer-causing fracking chemicals. Their money back-fired.”
“Here’s the message to Governor Hickenlooper:
Can you hear us now?” said Wockner.
In all four races,
proponents were heavily outspent by the opposition. According to The Denver
Post, Colorado Oil and Gas Association opened its wallet wide to oppose all of
the anti-fracking measures, spending $878,120 on city-specific campaigns by
Halloween. Anti-fracking groups raised more than $26,000 in the same time.
The Fort
Collins initiative—which won with 55 percent of the vote—halts fracking and the
disposal of related waste for five years. In Boulder, Issue 2H won with 77
percent of the vote, which extends by four years a one-year moratorium on oil
and gas extraction that would otherwise expire June 3, 2014. In Lafayette, 59
percent of the voters decided to change the city charter to ban the practice
outright. In Broomfield, Question 300 would prevent any drilling activity that
uses hydraulic fracturing for a total of five years.”
http://ecowatch.com/2013/11/06/huge-election-victories-colorados-anti-fracking-movement/
3. Revolving Door:
PA DCNR Welcomes Former Chesapeake
Energy Director
“In an announcement on Friday Oct. 25 former
Senior Director of Corporate Development at Chesapeake Energy, Brian Grove is
now Deputy Secretary for Administration at DCNR, an agency charged with
managing the state’s forests, park system, and wild natural resources.” http://www.publicherald.org/archives/18454/opinion/
Bob Donnan: “My
big question is… What might he think about DCNR’s 2009 study, which found that
there were zero acres left for oil and gas development in state forests that
would not lead to significant degradation and loss of primitive ecosystems?”
4. Frack Water To Go Down The Ohio River On Barges?
“The
Coast Guard is proposing to let shale drillers ship their wastewater on barges,
a move that could lower disposal costs for energy companies but fuel fears
about the risks of transporting potentially toxic waste on rivers that supply
drinking water.
The
Coast Guard did not cite environmental risks in its policy proposal but focused
on the threat to barge workers. It may allow barge transport if companies
analyze the chemicals in each shipment, keep radioactive particles below set
levels and limit workers' exposure to gas venting from the tanks, according to
a policy proposal.
The decision occurs after more
than a year of study by the Coast Guard, which oversees the nation's waterways.
Opposition is starting to build.”
Read
more:
http://triblive.com/business/headlines/4981751-74/coast-guard-river#ixzz2jWEl6E7J
5. Range
Resources’ Suppliers Must Reveal Amwell Frack Chemicals
(“The 25-count lawsuit
charges Range with negligence, partly over allegations it allowed a hole to
develop in the impoundment pond’s liner and contaminate the soil and
groundwater.” Elizabeth D.)
“All
suppliers to Range Resources’ drilling site and fracking impoundment in Amwell
Township must turn over a detailed list of their product’s formula under a
lawsuit filed by nearby residents who claim they were sickened by the
operation, a Washington County court order states. President Judge Debbie O’Dell Seneca gave 40 contractors and
subcontractors to the Southpointe-based Marcellus Shale natural gas exploration
company’s Yeager site on McAdams Road 30 days to provide the court with all chemicals,
components or substances used there since 2009, court records show.
Her Tuesday order followed a status conference Thursday on the July 2012 lawsuit filed by Cecil Township attorneys John and Kendra Smith on
behalf of eight Amwell residents who also claim the drilling project
contaminated their well water. The order is a result of the “plaintiffs’
efforts to determine what was used at the site and when,” John Smith said,
declining to comment further on the record about the case. Range has denied the
allegations and argued in court documents that the plaintiffs failed to provide
the court with clear evidence of their injuries.”
The lawsuit lists the
plaintiffs as Stacey, Harley and Paige Haney; Beth, John and Ashley Voyles; and
Loren and Grace Kiskadden.
In court documents, Stacey Haney
claimed to have suffered neurological, gastrointestinal and dermatological
symptoms consistent with toxic exposure. In a separate appeal to the state
Environmental Hearing Board, Loren Kiskadden claimed his well water turned gray
and foamed as a result of the contamination.
Kiskadden accused Range in the
EHB suit of not knowing or being able to determine all of the chemicals used at
its Pennsylvania drilling sites.
State
Rep. Jesse White, D-Cecil, has called for an investigation into the state
Department of Environmental Protection as a way for residents to obtain more
accurate reporting information at drilling sites.
Meanwhile,
environmental groups, such as Clean Water Action, have cited the Yeager case in
pleas to Gov. Tom Corbett to order reforms at the DEP in regards to Marcellus
oversight.
In
a separate case filed by the Voyles
against the DEP over regulating the Yeager impoundment, the higher court
ordered Range on Sept. 23 to remove any fluids from the pond and not use it for
any purpose in preparation for its November closing, the record shows.”
6. Corbett
Exaggerates Job Numbers to Boost Campaign
“Governor
Tom Corbett, who faces tough poll numbers when it comes to his hopes for
re-election, formally launched his campaign today in Pittsburgh, highlighting the
state’s Marcellus Shale industry as one of the key successes of his time in
office.
“The
energy industry in Pennsylvania is now supporting the livelihoods of over
200,000 people and their families who work in good-paying middle class jobs,”
he told the crowd.
But economists say that jobs number is questionable.
The most
recent figures from the state Department of Labor and Industry show 28,155
people working directly in the oil and gas industry. The 200,000 figure
includes workers in ancillary (or related) industries.
In its attempt to quantify the affect of the
Marcellus Shale, the state counts every worker in 30 related industries–
including every trucker, road construction worker, and steel worker in
Pennsylvania.
Penn State professor Tim Kelsey,
co-director of the university’s Center for Economic and Community Development,
thinks the governor’s jobs estimate is off.
Corbett’s overall
figure is seven times the number of direct oil and gas jobs.
“Any multiplier higher than two is looked
at pretty suspiciously by economists,” says Kelsey. ”[The state is counting]
related sectors, including transportation. So they’re counting FedEx and UPS
drivers and long-haul truckers that have nothing to do with Marcellus.”
Bucknell economics
professor Thomas Kinnaman agrees.
He says
even though the gas industry employs many independent contractors in related
jobs (like truck drivers hauling water, for example) and there are other
induced effects (like hotels and restaurants seeing more business) Corbett’s
number is still questionable.”
Wake up People!
Pennsylvanians better wake up and fight fracking-more of us.
It's been
a little more than two years since Gov. Corbett famously pledged to make
Pennsylvania "the Texas of the natural-gas boom"
The picture below is our future if more people don’t get
involved in the struggle. Dr. Ingraffea points out that the industry profits by
this density of wells and well pads. You
really need to click on the link to get the full impact of the devastation
wrought on the fracked area. jan
The photo, posted by Amy Youngs, carries the inscription:
“Saw these strange new human-made landscapes on my flight
from Sacramento to Houston. Not farming, not subdivisions, but many miles of
rectangular patches etched out of the earth, some with pools (frack pits, jan)
next to them, all with roads to them. I doubt that people see these when
driving on major roads – I never have – but they were very visible from a
plane. Welcome to your new landscape.”
“Modern-day hydraulic fracturing was first developed in
Texas’ Barnett Shale. As of 2011, the state led the nation with over 100,000
gas wells – many of which have involved fracking in recent years. The
water-intensive process is being questioned as Texas faces drought conditions.”
7. State Gives
Huge Subsidies to Gas industry
Could
reach $1 billion over a decade
BY MARC LEVY (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
“Bills pending in the Republican-controlled Legislature could deliver
hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies over a decade - possibly
approaching $1 billion - and that's in addition to the expanding number of
checks being written by Gov. Tom Corbett.
With the
assent of lawmakers, Mr. Corbett R, has tapped four pots of money for more than
$30 million for natural gas projects.
That includes money for a processing project by
plastics maker Braskem S.A. of Brazil, pipeline construction to link facilities
of French drug maker Sanofi SA, scores of compressed natural gas vehicles and
about a dozen fueling stations. About one-fifth of that money is drawn from
a $200 million-a-year drilling fee on the industry.
On top
of that, lawmakers last year approved what could become the state's biggest
taxpayer-paid economic development incentive ever - possibly in excess of $1 billion over 25 years - to entice the
construction of a multibillion-dollar petrochemical refinery to convert gas
liquids into ethylene for the plastics and chemicals industries.
Netherlands-based oil and gas giant Royal Dutch Shell PLC is considering it.
Mr.
Henderson said, the state so far has made a "relatively modest investment
of dollars" for compressed natural
gas vehicles and fueling stations, primarily to convert diesel-powered bus and
truck fleets.
The
argument for Pennsylvania's rising natural gas vehicle subsidies is that the
money boosts the local economy by favoring a domestic industry and diversifies
the nation's fuel sources by displacing oil that is more expensive and often
from abroad. Supporters also tout natural
gas as a cleaner energy source, but researchers at the Engine Research
Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Center for Alternative
Fuels, Engines and Emissions at West Virginia University say there is very little difference in pollution from a new diesel
engine and a natural gas engine.
The
Corbett administration wants to strategically plant vehicles and fueling
stations to encourage public and private sector fleet managers to invest their
own money in the enterprise, Mr. Henderson said.
Recipients
of the money include Seal Beach, Calif.-based Clean Energy Inc., Houston-based
Waste Management Inc. and Philadelphia-based Sunoco Inc.
In
Pennsylvania, tens of millions more dollars, at least, are available for Mr.
Corbett to commit to natural gas projects if he desires.
Of the
bills pending in the Legislature, up to $60 million a year in a wide-ranging
transportation funding bill passed overwhelmingly by the Senate in June would
be available to help the state's mass transit agencies convert their fleets to
"an alternative energy source, including compressed natural gas."
Despite
the narrow wording in the bill, Department of Transportation officials, who
requested that provision, say they would make the money more broadly available
for any money-saving alternative fuel project.
Mr.
Henderson was noncommittal toward several other House bills that, combined,
would devote an additional $360 million over a decade to natural gas vehicles
and fueling stations.
"It is a lot of money," Mr. Henderson said.
"We do have to be mindful of that."
http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/gas-drilling/state-subsidies-to-gas-industry-could-reach-1-billion-over-a-decade-1.1579784
8. Glycol Ethers
(As you may know, glycol ethers are frequently mentioned in
conjunction with fracking. Jan)
From Environmental Working Group
“Shrunken
testicles: Do we have your full attention now? This is one thing that can
happen to rats exposed to chemicals called glycol ethers, which are common
solvents in paints, cleaning products, brake fluid and cosmetics. Worried? You
should be. The European Union says that some of these chemicals “may damage
fertility or the unborn child.” Studies of painters have linked exposure to
certain glycol ethers to blood abnormalities and lower sperm counts. And
children who were exposed to glycol ethers from paint in their bedrooms had
substantially more asthma and allergies.”
9. Newfoundland Enacts Fracking
Moratorium
“As
First Nations continue to fight fracking in New Brunswick, the neighboring
provincial government of Newfoundland and Labrador has halted the controversial
fracking.
The
government is arguing that more research is needed to see if it is safe for
both people and the environment.
Gros
Morne National Park is a world heritage site located on the west coast of
Newfoundland. The tourist destination lies above Western Newfoundland’s shale
oil reserves.
Western
Newfoundland’s shale-oil deposits have been described as a potentially vast,
but the region includes the Gros Morne National Park, which is a world heritage
site and huge tourist attraction.
Exploration
licenses had already been granted in the Green Point shale near the Park.
But
UNESCO had recently indicated that the Park’s heritage status could be at risk
if fracking is allowed to proceed near its boundaries.
“Our government will not be accepting
applications for onshore and onshore to offshore petroleum exploration using
hydraulic fracturing,” said Natural Resources Minister Derrick Dalley in the
State’s House of Assembly on Monday.
“Our first consideration is the health and
safety of our people,” Dalley added. “In making this decision, our government
is acting responsibly and respecting the balance between economic development
and environmental protection.”
http://ecowatch.com/2013/11/06/new-brunswick-fracking-protests-continue-newfoundland-enacts-moratorium/
10. Moms Protest
Air Pollution In CO With 'Gas Patch Kids'
“A group of Colorado moms
protested Colorado's current air quality regulations by showing up at Gov. John
Hickenlooper's (D) office with Cabbage Patch Kids dolls, which they've renamed
"gas patch kids" to represent real children living in areas impacted
by the surge of oil and gas drilling in the state.
The
Colorado Moms Know Best group showed up with a petition signed by over 8,000
Colorado moms. It called for Hickenloooper to implement "common sense yet
innovative standards to control oil and gas emissions, which can harm kids’
health," according to a statement from the group.
“We were shocked and angry when learned that
after almost a year of meetings, the Colorado Department of Public Health and
Environment is recommending air pollution rules that are weaker instead of
stronger,” Jaime Travis of Colorado Moms Know Best said in a statement.
According
to a recent "State of the Air" report from the American Lung
Association, four counties in Colorado all received "F" grades. An
"F" is given to a region when it spends nine days or more over the
air quality standard and includes at least one or more day with unhealthy, very
unhealthy or hazardous air. Boulder, La Plata and Weld counties all received
"D" grades, which means seven to nine days were spent over the
standard in a region.
All of those counties are counted among some of the most densely
drilled areas in the state.
Smog and
ozone levels have been rising in Colorado since 2010, with several areas in the
state exceeding the federal ozone limit of 75 parts per billion.
There
are more than 51,000 drill sites operating in Colorado and in the last four
years the state has failed to meet federal ozone standards.
The Colorado moms who staged the "gas patch
kids" protest are calling for state air quality standards that require the
oil and gas industry to stop natural gas venting (including methane), use
capture technologies on storage tanks, disclose chemical emissions and use
high-tech infrared cameras to detect drilling leaks and repair them quickly.
“It is 100 percent
unacceptable to allow companies to spew even more pollutants into the air my
kids breathe every time they play outside, right next to our backyard,” said
Andrea Roy, Erie mom and supporter of the Colorado Moms Know Best network in a
press statement. “While I am furious that the rules seem to be getting weaker
rather than stronger, I have hope that Gov. Hickenlooper will intervene since
he said that not only does he want Colorado to be the healthiest state in the
country, but that we should have a zero tolerance policy for methane emissions,
as well.”
11. Spanish
Researchers Debunk Wind Energy Myth
Renewables
Capable of Replacing Fossil Fuels
“One of
the most oft-repeated arguments of the anti-wind lobby is that turbines produce
electricity only intermittently, when there is enough wind to turn them. This, the wind critics argue, means that so
much gas has to be burnt to provide a reliable back-up supply of electricity
that wind power’s overall benefit to the environment is erased.
But extensive research in Spain
means this claim can now definitively be declared a myth. Wind, the researchers
found, is a very efficient way of reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
`The
anti-wind campaigners claim that fossil fuel plants have to be kept running at
a slow speed, continuously producing CO2, just in case the wind fails. At slow
speeds these plants are less efficient and so produce so much CO2, wind
opponents say, that they wipe out any gains from having wind power.
Not
true, according to a report published in the journal Energy by researchers at
the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. There
are some small losses, the researchers say, but even if wind produced as much
as 50 percent of Spain’s electricity the CO2 savings would still be 80 percent
of the emissions that would have been produced by the displaced thermal power
stations.
Spain is second behind Germany
in wind energy production in Europe, according to the U.S. Energy Information
Agency. The country regularly obtains 25 percent of its electricity from wind,
reports Renewables International, a trade magazine.”
http://ecowatch.com/2013/10/25/spanish-researchers-debunk-wind-energy-myth-showing-renewables-capable-replacing-fossil-fuels/
12. Range Sues Steve
Lipsky
“Weatherford, TX, homeowner Steve Lipsky has nothing to
hide. He is not trying to take down Range Resources, a large oil/gas company
with a reputation for bullying its critics, nor is he trying to defame the company
as it has accused him of in a defamation suit. After what looked at first like an open
and shut case of industrial negligence turned into a lengthy legal battle,
he must either fight or accept financial ruin from a lawsuit
demanding more than $3 million. In 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) determined that Range Resource’s
drilling activities at a nearby fracking project had
contaminated Lipsky’s well. Lipsky can light the water coming out of his well on fire.
He discovered this
when Peck’s Well Service, the company that drilled the water well in 2005,
came to figure out why it wasn’t working properly in July 2010.
Peck’s found that gas building up inside
the well was lowering the water pressure and causing a gas
lock. Peck’s lit Lipsky’s water on fire while explaining to him why it
wasn’t functioning normally, showing Lipsky it was full of gas.
They installed a vent to allow some of the gas to escape for safety
reasons.
Lipsky decided to
shut off the well to the house and has since trucked water
in at an average cost of $1,000 a month to keep his family safe. Since
then, Lipsky only turns on the well for testing and to demonstrate the
phenomenon to journalists, the EPA, the Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality, the Parker County Fire Marshal’s Office, the Texas Railroad
Commission, Department of Justice and representatives of Range Resources.
On Oct. 10,
the Fort Worth Court of Appeals ruled that Range Resources could move
forward with their defamation suit against Lipsky, based in part on
accusations that Lipsky is misleading the public about being able to set
his water on fire.
A point of
contention is a piece of garden hose that Lipsky attached to the vent
coming out of his water well headspace. In a video he released online and provided to regulatory agencies,
Lipsky sets fire to gas flowing through the hose that he attached to the vent. Range Resources claims the use of the hose
made it seem like Lipsky was setting his water on fire.
“The hose was used in the
interest of safety, not to deceive anyone,” Lipsky counters. The
first time he lit the vent on fire the whole well ignited. Lipsky
attached the hose to direct the venting gas downwind of the well before
lighting it again. In the video, Lispky never claims to
be setting his water ablaze. Why would he make gas seem like
flammable water, when he has water he can set on fire too?
Lipsky’s dream
house has become a nightmare. He is not alone. Several of his
neighbors have the same problem he does, but after witnessing what has
happened to the Lipskys for fighting back, they’re reluctant to speak out.
Range Resources spent millions of dollars
putting on a one-sided case for the Railroad Commission, attacking all of the
EPA’s findings. Dr. Geoffrey Thyne, who conducted the testing for
the EPA, reviewed the Railroad Commissions’ findings that cleared Range
Resources. He wrote:
My conclusion,
that the gas well could be the source of methane in the (Lipsky) water
well, was based on the chemical and isotopic data. After reviewing
the Range presentation to the Texas RRC my opinion is unchanged.
The Lipskys sued Range Resources after the EPA named the company
the party responsible for contaminating the well. The family was promptly
counter-sued by Range Resources for defamation.
The
presiding judge, Trey Loftin, dismissed the Lipskys’ claims,
citing lack of jurisdiction, but allowed Range’s defamation suit to
proceed.
The Lipskys’ lawyer, Allen
M. Stewart, argued that the libel suit went against the Texas
Citizens Participation Act, also known as the Texas Anti-SLAPP Act,
which was passed in order to allow citizens sued in retaliation for
the exercise of their constitutional and common law rights of freedom of
expression to avoid the expense and burden of defending meritless suits
for defamation, business disparagement and similar torts based on the
exercise of those rights. The act achieves its purpose by allowing
defendants in such suits to seek and obtain early dismissal before being
forced to participate in costly discovery. But the Lipskys’ request to dismiss
the case was denied.
Lipsky
is still baffled by Range Resources’ test results and the letter they sent
him and his neighbors on Feb. 2, 2011, assuring them their air and water
were safe. One set of results the company produced shows zero gas in his
well.
Either Range Resources’ tests were done
incorrectly and are not credible, or based on the zero reading for gas in
his well, Range Resources has provided Lipsky with a baseline he
can use to show how much worse things have gotten since 2010.”
13. Study Shows PM1 Air Pollution
is Most Harmful But Rarely
Monitored
(There has been
significant research lately indicating that polluted air is far more harmful to
the body than previously thought and linked to diseases not formerly associated
with air pollution—such as cardiovascular disease. jan)
“A
recent study led by Chinese scientists shows a strong link between smaller air
pollution particles and a range of serious health conditions. Scientists said the smaller the airborne
particles, the more likely they are to cause illness, suggesting the need for
monitoring of particulate matter of 1 micron or less in diameter — a category
of pollution rarely monitored.
Among
the key findings was that those areas with larger concentrations of smaller
particles showed higher incidences of particular illnesses.
"Our study, based on epidemiological
investigation, showed that fine particles in the air measuring between 0.25 to
0.5 microns in diameter have a closer relationship to human health, especially an increased risk of
cardiovascular diseases," said Kan Haidong, a professor at the School
of Public Health at Fudan University.
The
fine particles measuring between 0.25 to 0.5 microns in diameter accounted for
about 90 percent of the total number of particles found in the air during the
study.
Kan
said the smaller the particle, the higher the concentration in any given volume
of air and so the greater the number of particles coming into contact with
tissues inside the human body.
"Besides
that, there may also be a relationship with the settlement of particles of
different diameters in the lower respiratory tract." Kan said.
Kan
said the smaller particles can also pass through the blood-air barrier in the
lungs, entering the blood as toxins, and causing cardiovascular disease. Larger
particles are not able to pass through the blood-air barrier so easily. He also
said that smaller particles in the body can harm the regulation of the human
nervous system.”
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2013-10/28/content_17061997.htm
14. California Refuses to Regulate
Toxic Waste Disposal
“As fracking threatens to expand drilling
in California, a coalition of environmental justice and community health groups
sent a letter yesterday challenging the legality of the Central Valley Regional
Water Quality Board’s plan to keep letting
oil companies dump toxic drilling-mud waste throughout the valley with minimal
safeguards.
Citing
state environmental laws, the letter urges the water board not to move forward
next month with a proposal to exempt
drilling mud waste discharge from regulations. Drilling muds—used to facilitate
drilling of oil and gas wells—contain scores of chemicals that can pose severe
risks to human health.
“The
water board will endanger the health of every person in the Central Valley if
it gives these toxic drilling muds a free pass,” said Hollin Kretzmann, an
attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “As fracking and acidization
open new areas to oil drilling, the board has a duty to the people to protect
our water and public health—not make it easier for oil companies to dump their
dangerous waste without safeguards.”
Exposure
to the chemicals contained in drilling muds can damage the skin, eyes and other
sensory organs, liver, kidney and brain, as well as the respiratory,
cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, immune and nervous systems.
Drill cuttings, which mix with drilling mud
and other boring waste, can also contain dangerous heavy metals such as
aluminum, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, chromium, copper, lead, nickel and zinc.”
http://ecowatch.com/2013/11/05/fracking-expands-board-refuses-to-regulate-waste/
15.
Violations Per Well Among PA Operators
http://www.fractracker.org/2013/10/violations-per-well-among-pa-operators/
BY MATT KELSO – OCTOBER 29, 2013
“People often want to know
which operators perform the best (or worst) among their peers in terms of
adhering to the laws set forth in a given state. In principle, the easiest
metric for determining this is to look at the ratio of violations issued per
well, or VpW.
However,
in order to make that analysis, we would obviously need to have violations
data. Unfortunately, out of the twenty states that we have shale viewers for on
FracMapper, we only have violations data for Arkansas, Colorado, and
Pennsylvania, with the latter being far and away more robust and complete when
compared to the other two.
Then,
of course, there is the realization that, “What is a violation?” is actually
somewhat of a philosophical question in Pennsylvania. In the past, I’ve determined that the PA DEP uses the number of unique violation ID
numbers issued to calculate their totals. However, historically, the department would often lump several issues
that showed up on the Compliance Report together under the same violation ID. Others have taken to looking at Notices of
Violations (NOV’s), which are more limited in number. Still others exclude any
violations marked as being administrative in nature, an idea that makes sense
superficially, but a closer look at the data shows that the label is extremely
misleading. For example, “Pits and tanks not constructed with sufficient capacity
to contain pollutional substances” is an administrative violation, as is,
“Improper casing to protect fresh groundwater”.
In
addition to all of that, the cast of operators is constantly shifting as new
operators come on board, old ones get bought out by rivals, joint ventures are
formed between them, and the like.
Sometimes a parent company will shift the active operator status to one of
its subsidiaries, so wells that were originally
Consol will then be listed under CNX, for example.
In
terms of violations per well, there is a further complication, in that all of
the drilled wells data reflect the current
custodians of the wells, whereas the violations
data reflect those that received the violations. The result is that there are records issued
for Turm Oil (really!) for wells where Chesapeake is now listed as the
operator. In some respects, this
makes sense: why should Chesapeake carry
the burden of the legacy mistakes of Turm in their compliance record?
But it does make analysis somewhat tricky. My approach has been to combine operators that are obviously the
same parent company, and to do the analysis in several different ways, and over
different time frames. Who’s ready for
some numbers?
Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group Updates
November 7, 2013
* For articles and updates or to just vent, visit us on facebook;
https://www.facebook.com/groups/MarcellusWestmorelandCountyPA/
* To view permanent documents, past updates,
reports, general information and meeting information
http://westmorelandmarcellus.blogspot.com/
* Our email address: westmcg@gmail.com
* To contact your state
legislator:
For the email address, click on the envelope
under the photo
* For information on PA state gas legislation
and local control: http://pajustpowers.org/aboutthebills.html-
To
read former Updates please visit our blogspot listed above.
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 Bob
Schmetzer.
* Thank you to
Jenny Lisak for working with the group’s suggestions to create our logo.
Donations- Our
Sincere Thanks For Your Support!
Jan
Kiefer
Mary
Steisslinger
Wanda
and Joe Guthrie
Lou and Dorothy Pochet for donating to group
printing costs.
Joe
and Judy Evans for printing costs of fracking tri-folds.
Jan
and Jack Milburn for donating to group printing costs.
Calendar
***
WMCG Steering Committee Meeting We meet the second Tuesday of every month at
7:30 PM in Greensburg. Nov. 12. Email Jan for directions. All are very welcome
to attend. .
***Nov 12- Radioactive Drill Cuttings Reclassified -
Columbus Ohio
Public forum at Columbus Public Library, Tuesday Nov. 12th, 7pm.
The Ohio
state legislature snuck language into the 2013 budget bill in June that reclassifies shale
production drill cuttings from TENORM (Technically Enhanced Normally Occurring
Radioactive Materials) to NORM (normally-occurring radioactive materials),
which makes radioactive content invisible to the regulatory environment. The "beneficial uses" clause of the
bill allows these potentially radioactive materials to be used in applications,
such as in landfills as clay liners.
The
test case is right here in Columbus, where the Ohio EPA has permitted Ohio Soil
Recycling
(http://www.soilrecycling.com/services/ ) to receive drill cuttings (and
according to the website, this material includes drilling muds which are still
classified as TENORM) to be used as a claytopper to the Integrity Drive drum
dump. This landfill is a legacy dump
where barrels full of toxic wastes were buried over the past decades, and has a
history of leaching toxins into the nearby Alum Creek. There are 39 licensed landfills in Ohio now
susceptible to receiving these radioactive
materials
which are completely de-regulated.
Presenters at the forum
include -
Yuri Gorby - expert on microbe
effects, particularly pertinent to the soil remediation process used by Ohio
Soil Recycling
http://faculty.rpi.edu/node/1179
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tssuNWKyLSI
Dr. Julie Weatherington Rice - geologist, Adjunct
Faculty The Ohio State University and Bennett & Williams
http://www.ernstversusencana.ca/radioactive-drilling-waste-shipped-to-landfi
lls-raises-concerns
http://www.ohiowater.org/otco/new%20site/docs/presentations/2013/Water_Works
hop/Day_2_Groundwater/Shale%20Gas%20Wastes.pdf
Terry Lodge, attorney from Toledo area
who specializes in industrial radiation contamination issues
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/nuclear-power/2013/7/19/davis-besse-hearing-docket.html
There
will be other speakers as well.
If
you can share this with any networks that you are a part of, we would look
forward to having audience members from Pennsylvania as well.
Take
care,
Greg
Pace
Fresh
Water Accountability Project www.fwapoh.com <http://www.fwapoh.com>;
Radioactive
Waste Alert Organization
www.radioactivewastealert.org
<http://www.radioactivewastealert.org/>;
www.globalcommonstrust.org
<http://www.globalcommonstrust.org/>;
Guernsey
County Citizens Support on Drilling Issues
***Nov 21 Dr. Anthony Ingraffea, Dwight C.
Baum Professor of Engineering,
Cornell University Butler, PA On
the science, safety and debate over hydraulic fracturing.
*** Nov 25, 26 Facing
the Challenges-- Duquesne University Researchers present on: Air and
water, Animal and Human Health, Geological, Biological investigations.
***Nov 17 Fall
Summit, Parish Hill, North Park
“ On
November 17, 2013 we will hold our 1st annual Fall Shindig at North Park in
Allison Park, PA. , from 9-5pm. The
building has a capacity of 150 persons and we want to have great regional
representation so please, invite your friends and colleagues.
$10 registration fee
to cover the building and food.
Peace and solidarity,
Kathryn Hilton, Community Organizer, Mountain Watershed
Association”
Register at:
www.mtwatershed.com/blog
For a calendar of area events please see “Marcellus Protest”
calendar:
http://marcellusprotest.org/
Donations
We are very appreciative
of donations to our group.
With your help, we have handed out thousands of flyers
on the health and environmental effects of fracking, sponsored numerous public
meetings, and provided information to citizens and officials countywide. If you
would like to support our efforts:
Checks to
our group should be made out to the Thomas Merton Center and in the Reminder
line please write- Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group (no abbreviations).
You can send your check to: Thomas Merton Center attn. Ros Malholland , 5129 Penn Ave,
Pittsburgh, PA 15224. Or you can give
the check or cash to Lou Pochet or Jan Milburn.
To make a contribution to our
group using a credit card, go to www.thomasmertoncenter.org. Look for the contribute
button, then scroll down the list of organizations to direct money to. We are
listed as the Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group.
Please
be sure to write Westmoreland Marcellus
Citizens’ Group on the bottom of your check so that WMCG receives the
funding since we are just one project of many of the Thomas Merton Center. You
can also give your donation to any member of the steering committee.
Volunteers Needed!!
We need volunteers
who will take an hour or so to distribute flyers in Westmoreland Neighborhoods. You can help to inform your own area or we
can suggest an area. Some rural areas are best reached by car and flyers can be
put in paper boxes. Please contact Jan
if you are able to help. Meetings are good venues for distributing flyers as
well—church meetings, political, parent groups, etc. If you can only pass out
fifteen, that reaches fifteen people who may not have been informed.
Take Action!!
The following petitions
are active.
Estimated time to sign all petitions-3-4 minutes
*** Safeguard
Federal Lands from Pro-Fracking Legislation!
“Our nation's public lands belong to
all Americans, but pro-fracking members of Congress have introduced legislation
to let states decide how the oil and gas industry will drill and frack our
national forests, wildlife refuges, and public lands. Congress may soon vote on
this terrible bill, H.R. 2728, which
would turn control of dirty and dangerous fracking and drilling on our federal
lands over to the states. “
***Tell FERC---Stop Rubber-Stamping
Frack Pipelines
On
September 29, Steven Jensen, a farmer in North Dakota, discovered a massive
865,000-gallon fracked oil spill in a wheat field on his land. The spill, which
is one of the largest inland oil-pipeline accidents in the United States ever,
may have gone on for weeks unnoticed before it was discovered.
The
spill in North Dakota is not an isolated incident. Every week there are news
reports about pipeline leaks and explosions that contaminate our land and water
and sometimes kill. But instead of fixing its crumbling infrastructure, the oil
and gas industry has embarked on a reckless spending spree. It wants to
build thousands of miles of new pipelines so that it can frack America and make
us dependent on dirty fossil fuels for decades to come.
We
have to speak out now to stop it. My petition, which is to the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, says the following:
America
doesn’t need endless pipelines and related infrastructure that impact local
communities and that choke off the development of clean, renewable energy
supplies. It is time for FERC to put down its rubber stamp and place a
moratorium on new fracking and oil- and gas-related infrastructure projects.
Tell the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission: Stop approving
oil and gas infrastructure.
Private
land is seized by eminent domain. Dangerous and polluting compressor stations
are constructed in the middle of residential neighborhoods. One gas pipeline is
slated to cut through the Gateway National Recreation Area. And now there’s a
plan to build another large and potentially explosive pipeline near a nuclear
reactor in one of the most densely populated areas of the country.
How
can this happen? Isn’t anyone looking out for the public’s safety and welfare?
That "someone" should be FERC, the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission. It’s supposed to consider “public convenience and
necessity” before permitting projects like these. But it’s fallen down on the
job. Instead of critically examining all the impacts associated with oil and
gas infrastructure, it’s become a rubber stamp for an industry that has shown
that it doesn’t give a damn about the health and safety of the American people.
Tell FERC that America doesn’t need endless pipelines and
related infrastructure that impact local communities and choke off the
development of clean, renewable energy supplies.
Will you join me and add your name to my petition to
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to demand that it stop approving oil and
gas infrastructure?
Thank you for your
support.
Jill Wiener
***
Fossil Free Pittsburgh Petition
“ The campaign: City of Pittsburgh:
Invest in Thrive-ability - Divest from Fossil Fuel. Add your name to this fossil fuel
divestment campaign.
The divestment movement is
catching on like wildfire, and with good reason: If it is wrong to wreck the
climate, then it is wrong to profit from that wreckage. We believe that
educational and religious institutions, city and state governments, and other
institutions that serve the public good should divest from fossil fuels.
Every name that is added builds momentum
around the divestment effort and makes it more likely for us to win. “http://campaigns.gofossilfree.org/petitions/city-of-pittsburgh-invest-in-thriveability-divest-from-fossil-fuel
*** 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
*** Health Effects
of Drilling with Theo Colburn-6 minutes
Short
Excerpt: “Gas in not all methane-at most 82%.
The rest of the composition is short -chained hydrocarbons and
benzene-like compounds. Tons per day are emitted from just one well. Toluene come up from the well in higher
concentrations than benzene. Toluene
goes right for the brain. Workers are experiencing peripheral neuropathy which
is irreversible. The government has ignored these problems completely.”
*** Ads Sponsored by Frack- Free Colorado Whistleblower
Wes Wilson and Professor Ingraffea
About 2 minutes each.
*** 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.
***PA has only
seen tip of fracking iceberg-Dr Ingraffea
Short excerpt: Dr Ingraffea explains that fracking has just
begun, far more is planned, and consequently there will be increased impacts.
30-40% of all gas wells are leaking presently and this will be the case in the
future.
5-10% leak immediately.
Of all wells drilled between 2010 and today in PA, 10 % are leaking.
Over 1000 people in PA have said their water was affected by
fracking. DEP has confirmed 161 incidents.
***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 when they became sick after fracking began in their area. http://pennsylvaniaallianceforcleanwaterandair.wordpress.com/the-list/
Fracking News
All
articles are excerpted. Please use the links
to read the articles in full.
1. State of PA
Sued for Alleged Violations to the State Constitution
PA Environmental
Defense Fund (PEDF) Sues Governor Corbett in Commonwealth
Court of PA (by Randy Shannon)
“The
PEDF has sued the Governor to reverse numerous acts that have gutted the
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. These acts have turned the DCNR into an agency that sells our natural
resources to fund other government programs and has practically eliminated the
DCNR’s role to protect our natural resources. These acts of the Governor
violate the Pennsylvania Constitution. The lawsuit contains eight counts of
violation of the constitution and other laws designed to protect the state’s
natural resources and seeks relief through a declaratory judgement of the
court.
The
Commonwealth Court has accepted the suit. On August 20, 2013 the Court denied a request from the Republican
Caucuses to intervene in the suit. The Republican
Caucuses contended that when gas resources are present all the laws protecting
the Commonwealth’s air, water, and land are inoperable. The lawsuit is
now in the discovery process.
The gas
industry projects that by 2030 there will be 60,000 wells in PA. Presently
there are around 3,000 permits. If these
projections are accurate, 200,000 acres of land will be cleared for well pads.
More land will be cleared for roads, pipelines, and communication systems.
Pennsylvania
water resources will lose 240 billion gallons of fresh water forever, as this
water will be chemically poisoned and injected over one mile into the Marcellus
shale stratum. Approximately 10 billion gallons of radioactive water will be
produced at the surface for disposal.
About the Lawsuit
PA Commonwealth Court has agreed to
determine whether the Corbett and
Rendell
Administrations have breached their duties to protect the citizens'
rights to clean air,
pure water, and the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic, and esthetic
values of the environment.
What PEDF Is Doing-- Specifically,
our lawsuit asks that the governor be required to fulfill his responsibilities
to protect the right of all citizens to “clean air, pure water, and the
preservation of the natural, scenic, historic, and esthetic values of the
environment.” (Article 1, Section 27,
Pennsylvania Constitution) PEDF's
lawsuit is the only legal action taken by any organization that is designed to
bring some sanity and prudence to the overall State leasing process.
The suit is progressing and asking the
courts to require the governor to:
*Conduct a comprehensive
environmental impact analysis on the current and potential effects of
drilling on State lands;
*Uphold the referendum
that prohibits any further surface disturbance on State lands;
*Retain all funds
gained from gas leases and royalties in the Oil and Gas Lease Fund, as
necessary to deal with the impacts from the gas extraction process;
* Restore the
$383,000,000 taken from the Oil and Gas Lease Fund and put into the General
Fund by former Governor Rendell.
All the information is available at
www.pedf.org/current-litigation.html.
PLEASE COME TO HEAR John Childe, Pennsylvania Environmental
Defense Foundation attorney, will discuss the lawsuit charging Corbett &
Rendell with failing to protect Pennsylvanians' constitutional rights.
Wednesday, November 20th
- 6:30 - wine & cheese
- 7:25 - presentation by John Childe, attorney for
PEDF
Gmeiner Center, 134 Main St, Wellsboro PA”
PEDF needs donations
and support:
http://beavercountyblue.org/2013/11/03/pa-environmental-defense-fund-sues-gov-corbett/
2. Colorado Ballot
Results on Frack Bans and Moratoriums
Boulder: Winning to
achieve a moratorium at 76.95% of the vote
Lafayette: Winning to achieve a ban and citizens
bill of rights 57.89% of the vote
Fort Collins: Winning to achieve a moratorium at
55.3% of the vote
Broomfield: It's
not over yet, too close to call!. The results of Broomfield’s fracking vote won’t be known until later
this month, at the earliest, and will likely be determined by a recount. The
proposed five-year hydraulic fracturing ban fell 13 votes short of passing in
Tuesday night’s initial count. The tally won’t be official until officials have
counted all overseas and military ballots, provisional ballots and other
ballots with problems like missing signatures.
For Immediate Release November 5, 2013
Statement from Frack
Free Colorado on Fracking Ballot Initiatives from Russell Mendell, Statewide Director
"Today's
election show us that Coloradans can see beyond the lies and misinformation of
the Gas and Oil Industry. Throughout the campaign, the Colorado Gas and Oil
Association has tried to deflect attention from the fact that it has spent
almost a million dollars on fighting local community's rights to
self-determination, by saying outside groups were pushing some sort of
nefarious agenda. This is especially ironic considering that COGA's Board of
Directors is made up of mostly multi-national and national corporations,
including Haliburton, Deloitte & Touche, LLP, Shell Oil, and British
Petroleum. How many CEO's of these
companies live in Colorado? Better yet, how many of them are living next to a
fracking site? How many of them send their children to a school hundreds of
yards away from a fracking well? Simply put, they were grasping at straws.
Most of
the organizations that worked tirelessly on the local ballot initiatives,
including Frack Free Colorado, relied heavily on volunteers and in kind
donations. The reason why there is such a strong grassroots movement to protect
our communities from fracking is because state and national leaders have
refused to do so. When you have an industry that is exempt from the most basic
provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Air Act, something is
obviously wrong. This says that the
fracking industry cannot survive unless it passes the cost of doing
business--be it health effects or air and water contamination--onto the
communities in which they are drilling in.
Well
today Colorado residents have shown that they can decide for themselves whether
or not they want fracking in their communities. COGA's millions will not change
that."
Huge Election Victories for
Colorado’s Anti-Fracking Movement
From EcoWatch
“Tuesdays
election brought huge results for anti-fracking voters in Fort Collins, Boulder
and Lafayette where all measures were approved that will either ban or pause
the practice of hydraulic fracturing. Initial results show Broomfield with a
tally so close—13 votes—that it will force a recount.
“With
wins in Boulder, Lafayette and Fort Collins—and a partial-victory in
Broomfield—this election sends a huge wake-up call to Governor Hickenlooper
that the people of Colorado do not want
to be fracked,” said Gary Wockner of Clean Water Action. ”Fort Collins’
vote is especially revealing—a decisive 10 point win in a swing county while being outspent 40 to 1. The oil and
gas industry poured in almost $900,000 to try and force citizens to be exposed
to their cancer-causing fracking chemicals. Their money back-fired.”
“Here’s the message to Governor Hickenlooper:
Can you hear us now?” said Wockner.
In all four races,
proponents were heavily outspent by the opposition. According to The Denver
Post, Colorado Oil and Gas Association opened its wallet wide to oppose all of
the anti-fracking measures, spending $878,120 on city-specific campaigns by
Halloween. Anti-fracking groups raised more than $26,000 in the same time.
The Fort
Collins initiative—which won with 55 percent of the vote—halts fracking and the
disposal of related waste for five years. In Boulder, Issue 2H won with 77
percent of the vote, which extends by four years a one-year moratorium on oil
and gas extraction that would otherwise expire June 3, 2014. In Lafayette, 59
percent of the voters decided to change the city charter to ban the practice
outright. In Broomfield, Question 300 would prevent any drilling activity that
uses hydraulic fracturing for a total of five years.”
http://ecowatch.com/2013/11/06/huge-election-victories-colorados-anti-fracking-movement/
3. Revolving Door:
PA DCNR Welcomes Former Chesapeake
Energy Director
“In an announcement on Friday Oct. 25 former
Senior Director of Corporate Development at Chesapeake Energy, Brian Grove is
now Deputy Secretary for Administration at DCNR, an agency charged with
managing the state’s forests, park system, and wild natural resources.” http://www.publicherald.org/archives/18454/opinion/
Bob Donnan: “My
big question is… What might he think about DCNR’s 2009 study, which found that
there were zero acres left for oil and gas development in state forests that
would not lead to significant degradation and loss of primitive ecosystems?”
4. Frack Water To Go Down The Ohio River On Barges?
“The
Coast Guard is proposing to let shale drillers ship their wastewater on barges,
a move that could lower disposal costs for energy companies but fuel fears
about the risks of transporting potentially toxic waste on rivers that supply
drinking water.
The
Coast Guard did not cite environmental risks in its policy proposal but focused
on the threat to barge workers. It may allow barge transport if companies
analyze the chemicals in each shipment, keep radioactive particles below set
levels and limit workers' exposure to gas venting from the tanks, according to
a policy proposal.
The decision occurs after more
than a year of study by the Coast Guard, which oversees the nation's waterways.
Opposition is starting to build.”
Read
more:
http://triblive.com/business/headlines/4981751-74/coast-guard-river#ixzz2jWEl6E7J
5. Range
Resources’ Suppliers Must Reveal Amwell Frack Chemicals
(“The 25-count lawsuit
charges Range with negligence, partly over allegations it allowed a hole to
develop in the impoundment pond’s liner and contaminate the soil and
groundwater.” Elizabeth D.)
“All
suppliers to Range Resources’ drilling site and fracking impoundment in Amwell
Township must turn over a detailed list of their product’s formula under a
lawsuit filed by nearby residents who claim they were sickened by the
operation, a Washington County court order states. President Judge Debbie O’Dell Seneca gave 40 contractors and
subcontractors to the Southpointe-based Marcellus Shale natural gas exploration
company’s Yeager site on McAdams Road 30 days to provide the court with all chemicals,
components or substances used there since 2009, court records show.
Her Tuesday order followed a status conference Thursday on the July 2012 lawsuit filed by Cecil Township attorneys John and Kendra Smith on
behalf of eight Amwell residents who also claim the drilling project
contaminated their well water. The order is a result of the “plaintiffs’
efforts to determine what was used at the site and when,” John Smith said,
declining to comment further on the record about the case. Range has denied the
allegations and argued in court documents that the plaintiffs failed to provide
the court with clear evidence of their injuries.”
The lawsuit lists the
plaintiffs as Stacey, Harley and Paige Haney; Beth, John and Ashley Voyles; and
Loren and Grace Kiskadden.
In court documents, Stacey Haney
claimed to have suffered neurological, gastrointestinal and dermatological
symptoms consistent with toxic exposure. In a separate appeal to the state
Environmental Hearing Board, Loren Kiskadden claimed his well water turned gray
and foamed as a result of the contamination.
Kiskadden accused Range in the
EHB suit of not knowing or being able to determine all of the chemicals used at
its Pennsylvania drilling sites.
State
Rep. Jesse White, D-Cecil, has called for an investigation into the state
Department of Environmental Protection as a way for residents to obtain more
accurate reporting information at drilling sites.
Meanwhile,
environmental groups, such as Clean Water Action, have cited the Yeager case in
pleas to Gov. Tom Corbett to order reforms at the DEP in regards to Marcellus
oversight.
In
a separate case filed by the Voyles
against the DEP over regulating the Yeager impoundment, the higher court
ordered Range on Sept. 23 to remove any fluids from the pond and not use it for
any purpose in preparation for its November closing, the record shows.”
6. Corbett
Exaggerates Job Numbers to Boost Campaign
“Governor
Tom Corbett, who faces tough poll numbers when it comes to his hopes for
re-election, formally launched his campaign today in Pittsburgh, highlighting the
state’s Marcellus Shale industry as one of the key successes of his time in
office.
“The
energy industry in Pennsylvania is now supporting the livelihoods of over
200,000 people and their families who work in good-paying middle class jobs,”
he told the crowd.
But economists say that jobs number is questionable.
The most
recent figures from the state Department of Labor and Industry show 28,155
people working directly in the oil and gas industry. The 200,000 figure
includes workers in ancillary (or related) industries.
In its attempt to quantify the affect of the
Marcellus Shale, the state counts every worker in 30 related industries–
including every trucker, road construction worker, and steel worker in
Pennsylvania.
Penn State professor Tim Kelsey,
co-director of the university’s Center for Economic and Community Development,
thinks the governor’s jobs estimate is off.
Corbett’s overall
figure is seven times the number of direct oil and gas jobs.
“Any multiplier higher than two is looked
at pretty suspiciously by economists,” says Kelsey. ”[The state is counting]
related sectors, including transportation. So they’re counting FedEx and UPS
drivers and long-haul truckers that have nothing to do with Marcellus.”
Bucknell economics
professor Thomas Kinnaman agrees.
He says
even though the gas industry employs many independent contractors in related
jobs (like truck drivers hauling water, for example) and there are other
induced effects (like hotels and restaurants seeing more business) Corbett’s
number is still questionable.”
Wake up People!
Pennsylvanians better wake up and fight fracking-more of us.
It's been
a little more than two years since Gov. Corbett famously pledged to make
Pennsylvania "the Texas of the natural-gas boom"
The picture below is our future if more people don’t get
involved in the struggle. Dr. Ingraffea points out that the industry profits by
this density of wells and well pads. You
really need to click on the link to get the full impact of the devastation
wrought on the fracked area. jan
The photo, posted by Amy Youngs, carries the inscription:
“Saw these strange new human-made landscapes on my flight
from Sacramento to Houston. Not farming, not subdivisions, but many miles of
rectangular patches etched out of the earth, some with pools (frack pits, jan)
next to them, all with roads to them. I doubt that people see these when
driving on major roads – I never have – but they were very visible from a
plane. Welcome to your new landscape.”
“Modern-day hydraulic fracturing was first developed in
Texas’ Barnett Shale. As of 2011, the state led the nation with over 100,000
gas wells – many of which have involved fracking in recent years. The
water-intensive process is being questioned as Texas faces drought conditions.”
7. State Gives
Huge Subsidies to Gas industry
Could
reach $1 billion over a decade
BY MARC LEVY (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
“Bills pending in the Republican-controlled Legislature could deliver
hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies over a decade - possibly
approaching $1 billion - and that's in addition to the expanding number of
checks being written by Gov. Tom Corbett.
With the
assent of lawmakers, Mr. Corbett R, has tapped four pots of money for more than
$30 million for natural gas projects.
That includes money for a processing project by
plastics maker Braskem S.A. of Brazil, pipeline construction to link facilities
of French drug maker Sanofi SA, scores of compressed natural gas vehicles and
about a dozen fueling stations. About one-fifth of that money is drawn from
a $200 million-a-year drilling fee on the industry.
On top
of that, lawmakers last year approved what could become the state's biggest
taxpayer-paid economic development incentive ever - possibly in excess of $1 billion over 25 years - to entice the
construction of a multibillion-dollar petrochemical refinery to convert gas
liquids into ethylene for the plastics and chemicals industries.
Netherlands-based oil and gas giant Royal Dutch Shell PLC is considering it.
Mr.
Henderson said, the state so far has made a "relatively modest investment
of dollars" for compressed natural
gas vehicles and fueling stations, primarily to convert diesel-powered bus and
truck fleets.
The
argument for Pennsylvania's rising natural gas vehicle subsidies is that the
money boosts the local economy by favoring a domestic industry and diversifies
the nation's fuel sources by displacing oil that is more expensive and often
from abroad. Supporters also tout natural
gas as a cleaner energy source, but researchers at the Engine Research
Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Center for Alternative
Fuels, Engines and Emissions at West Virginia University say there is very little difference in pollution from a new diesel
engine and a natural gas engine.
The
Corbett administration wants to strategically plant vehicles and fueling
stations to encourage public and private sector fleet managers to invest their
own money in the enterprise, Mr. Henderson said.
Recipients
of the money include Seal Beach, Calif.-based Clean Energy Inc., Houston-based
Waste Management Inc. and Philadelphia-based Sunoco Inc.
In
Pennsylvania, tens of millions more dollars, at least, are available for Mr.
Corbett to commit to natural gas projects if he desires.
Of the
bills pending in the Legislature, up to $60 million a year in a wide-ranging
transportation funding bill passed overwhelmingly by the Senate in June would
be available to help the state's mass transit agencies convert their fleets to
"an alternative energy source, including compressed natural gas."
Despite
the narrow wording in the bill, Department of Transportation officials, who
requested that provision, say they would make the money more broadly available
for any money-saving alternative fuel project.
Mr.
Henderson was noncommittal toward several other House bills that, combined,
would devote an additional $360 million over a decade to natural gas vehicles
and fueling stations.
"It is a lot of money," Mr. Henderson said.
"We do have to be mindful of that."
http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/gas-drilling/state-subsidies-to-gas-industry-could-reach-1-billion-over-a-decade-1.1579784
8. Glycol Ethers
(As you may know, glycol ethers are frequently mentioned in
conjunction with fracking. Jan)
From Environmental Working Group
“Shrunken
testicles: Do we have your full attention now? This is one thing that can
happen to rats exposed to chemicals called glycol ethers, which are common
solvents in paints, cleaning products, brake fluid and cosmetics. Worried? You
should be. The European Union says that some of these chemicals “may damage
fertility or the unborn child.” Studies of painters have linked exposure to
certain glycol ethers to blood abnormalities and lower sperm counts. And
children who were exposed to glycol ethers from paint in their bedrooms had
substantially more asthma and allergies.”
9. Newfoundland Enacts Fracking
Moratorium
“As
First Nations continue to fight fracking in New Brunswick, the neighboring
provincial government of Newfoundland and Labrador has halted the controversial
fracking.
The
government is arguing that more research is needed to see if it is safe for
both people and the environment.
Gros
Morne National Park is a world heritage site located on the west coast of
Newfoundland. The tourist destination lies above Western Newfoundland’s shale
oil reserves.
i Western
Newfoundland’s shale-oil deposits have been described as a potentially vast,
but the region includes the Gros Morne National Park, which is a world heritage
site and huge tourist attraction.
Exploration
licenses had already been granted in the Green Point shale near the Park.
But
UNESCO had recently indicated that the Park’s heritage status could be at risk
if fracking is allowed to proceed near its boundaries.
“Our government will not be accepting
applications for onshore and onshore to offshore petroleum exploration using
hydraulic fracturing,” said Natural Resources Minister Derrick Dalley in the
State’s House of Assembly on Monday.
“Our first consideration is the health and
safety of our people,” Dalley added. “In making this decision, our government
is acting responsibly and respecting the balance between economic development
and environmental protection.”
http://ecowatch.com/2013/11/06/new-brunswick-fracking-protests-continue-newfoundland-enacts-moratorium/
10. Moms Protest
Air Pollution In CO With 'Gas Patch Kids'
“A group of Colorado moms
protested Colorado's current air quality regulations by showing up at Gov. John
Hickenlooper's (D) office with Cabbage Patch Kids dolls, which they've renamed
"gas patch kids" to represent real children living in areas impacted
by the surge of oil and gas drilling in the state.
The
Colorado Moms Know Best group showed up with a petition signed by over 8,000
Colorado moms. It called for Hickenloooper to implement "common sense yet
innovative standards to control oil and gas emissions, which can harm kids’
health," according to a statement from the group.
“We were shocked and angry when learned that
after almost a year of meetings, the Colorado Department of Public Health and
Environment is recommending air pollution rules that are weaker instead of
stronger,” Jaime Travis of Colorado Moms Know Best said in a statement.
According
to a recent "State of the Air" report from the American Lung
Association, four counties in Colorado all received "F" grades. An
"F" is given to a region when it spends nine days or more over the
air quality standard and includes at least one or more day with unhealthy, very
unhealthy or hazardous air. Boulder, La Plata and Weld counties all received
"D" grades, which means seven to nine days were spent over the
standard in a region.
All of those counties are counted among some of the most densely
drilled areas in the state.
Smog and
ozone levels have been rising in Colorado since 2010, with several areas in the
state exceeding the federal ozone limit of 75 parts per billion.
There
are more than 51,000 drill sites operating in Colorado and in the last four
years the state has failed to meet federal ozone standards.
The Colorado moms who staged the "gas patch
kids" protest are calling for state air quality standards that require the
oil and gas industry to stop natural gas venting (including methane), use
capture technologies on storage tanks, disclose chemical emissions and use
high-tech infrared cameras to detect drilling leaks and repair them quickly.
“It is 100 percent
unacceptable to allow companies to spew even more pollutants into the air my
kids breathe every time they play outside, right next to our backyard,” said
Andrea Roy, Erie mom and supporter of the Colorado Moms Know Best network in a
press statement. “While I am furious that the rules seem to be getting weaker
rather than stronger, I have hope that Gov. Hickenlooper will intervene since
he said that not only does he want Colorado to be the healthiest state in the
country, but that we should have a zero tolerance policy for methane emissions,
as well.”
11. Spanish
Researchers Debunk Wind Energy Myth
Renewables
Capable of Replacing Fossil Fuels
“One of
the most oft-repeated arguments of the anti-wind lobby is that turbines produce
electricity only intermittently, when there is enough wind to turn them. This, the wind critics argue, means that so
much gas has to be burnt to provide a reliable back-up supply of electricity
that wind power’s overall benefit to the environment is erased.
But extensive research in Spain
means this claim can now definitively be declared a myth. Wind, the researchers
found, is a very efficient way of reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
`The
anti-wind campaigners claim that fossil fuel plants have to be kept running at
a slow speed, continuously producing CO2, just in case the wind fails. At slow
speeds these plants are less efficient and so produce so much CO2, wind
opponents say, that they wipe out any gains from having wind power.
Not
true, according to a report published in the journal Energy by researchers at
the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. There
are some small losses, the researchers say, but even if wind produced as much
as 50 percent of Spain’s electricity the CO2 savings would still be 80 percent
of the emissions that would have been produced by the displaced thermal power
stations.
Spain is second behind Germany
in wind energy production in Europe, according to the U.S. Energy Information
Agency. The country regularly obtains 25 percent of its electricity from wind,
reports Renewables International, a trade magazine.”
http://ecowatch.com/2013/10/25/spanish-researchers-debunk-wind-energy-myth-showing-renewables-capable-replacing-fossil-fuels/
12. Range Sues Steve
Lipsky
“Weatherford, TX, homeowner Steve Lipsky has nothing to
hide. He is not trying to take down Range Resources, a large oil/gas company
with a reputation for bullying its critics, nor is he trying to defame the company
as it has accused him of in a defamation suit. After what looked at first like an open
and shut case of industrial negligence turned into a lengthy legal battle,
he must either fight or accept financial ruin from a lawsuit
demanding more than $3 million. In 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) determined that Range Resource’s
drilling activities at a nearby fracking project had
contaminated Lipsky’s well. Lipsky can light the water coming out of his well on fire.
He discovered this
when Peck’s Well Service, the company that drilled the water well in 2005,
came to figure out why it wasn’t working properly in July 2010.
Peck’s found that gas building up inside
the well was lowering the water pressure and causing a gas
lock. Peck’s lit Lipsky’s water on fire while explaining to him why it
wasn’t functioning normally, showing Lipsky it was full of gas.
They installed a vent to allow some of the gas to escape for safety
reasons.
Lipsky decided to
shut off the well to the house and has since trucked water
in at an average cost of $1,000 a month to keep his family safe. Since
then, Lipsky only turns on the well for testing and to demonstrate the
phenomenon to journalists, the EPA, the Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality, the Parker County Fire Marshal’s Office, the Texas Railroad
Commission, Department of Justice and representatives of Range Resources.
On Oct. 10,
the Fort Worth Court of Appeals ruled that Range Resources could move
forward with their defamation suit against Lipsky, based in part on
accusations that Lipsky is misleading the public about being able to set
his water on fire.
A point of
contention is a piece of garden hose that Lipsky attached to the vent
coming out of his water well headspace. In a video he released online and provided to regulatory agencies,
Lipsky sets fire to gas flowing through the hose that he attached to the vent. Range Resources claims the use of the hose
made it seem like Lipsky was setting his water on fire.
“The hose was used in the
interest of safety, not to deceive anyone,” Lipsky counters. The
first time he lit the vent on fire the whole well ignited. Lipsky
attached the hose to direct the venting gas downwind of the well before
lighting it again. In the video, Lispky never claims to
be setting his water ablaze. Why would he make gas seem like
flammable water, when he has water he can set on fire too?
Lipsky’s dream
house has become a nightmare. He is not alone. Several of his
neighbors have the same problem he does, but after witnessing what has
happened to the Lipskys for fighting back, they’re reluctant to speak out.
Range Resources spent millions of dollars
putting on a one-sided case for the Railroad Commission, attacking all of the
EPA’s findings. Dr. Geoffrey Thyne, who conducted the testing for
the EPA, reviewed the Railroad Commissions’ findings that cleared Range
Resources. He wrote:
My conclusion,
that the gas well could be the source of methane in the (Lipsky) water
well, was based on the chemical and isotopic data. After reviewing
the Range presentation to the Texas RRC my opinion is unchanged.
The Lipskys sued Range Resources after the EPA named the company
the party responsible for contaminating the well. The family was promptly
counter-sued by Range Resources for defamation.
The
presiding judge, Trey Loftin, dismissed the Lipskys’ claims,
citing lack of jurisdiction, but allowed Range’s defamation suit to
proceed.
The Lipskys’ lawyer, Allen
M. Stewart, argued that the libel suit went against the Texas
Citizens Participation Act, also known as the Texas Anti-SLAPP Act,
which was passed in order to allow citizens sued in retaliation for
the exercise of their constitutional and common law rights of freedom of
expression to avoid the expense and burden of defending meritless suits
for defamation, business disparagement and similar torts based on the
exercise of those rights. The act achieves its purpose by allowing
defendants in such suits to seek and obtain early dismissal before being
forced to participate in costly discovery. But the Lipskys’ request to dismiss
the case was denied.
Lipsky
is still baffled by Range Resources’ test results and the letter they sent
him and his neighbors on Feb. 2, 2011, assuring them their air and water
were safe. One set of results the company produced shows zero gas in his
well.
Either Range Resources’ tests were done
incorrectly and are not credible, or based on the zero reading for gas in
his well, Range Resources has provided Lipsky with a baseline he
can use to show how much worse things have gotten since 2010.”
13. Study Shows PM1 Air Pollution
is Most Harmful But Rarely
Monitored
(There has been
significant research lately indicating that polluted air is far more harmful to
the body than previously thought and linked to diseases not formerly associated
with air pollution—such as cardiovascular disease. jan)
“A
recent study led by Chinese scientists shows a strong link between smaller air
pollution particles and a range of serious health conditions. Scientists said the smaller the airborne
particles, the more likely they are to cause illness, suggesting the need for
monitoring of particulate matter of 1 micron or less in diameter — a category
of pollution rarely monitored.
Among
the key findings was that those areas with larger concentrations of smaller
particles showed higher incidences of particular illnesses.
"Our study, based on epidemiological
investigation, showed that fine particles in the air measuring between 0.25 to
0.5 microns in diameter have a closer relationship to human health, especially an increased risk of
cardiovascular diseases," said Kan Haidong, a professor at the School
of Public Health at Fudan University.
The
fine particles measuring between 0.25 to 0.5 microns in diameter accounted for
about 90 percent of the total number of particles found in the air during the
study.
Kan
said the smaller the particle, the higher the concentration in any given volume
of air and so the greater the number of particles coming into contact with
tissues inside the human body.
"Besides
that, there may also be a relationship with the settlement of particles of
different diameters in the lower respiratory tract." Kan said.
Kan
said the smaller particles can also pass through the blood-air barrier in the
lungs, entering the blood as toxins, and causing cardiovascular disease. Larger
particles are not able to pass through the blood-air barrier so easily. He also
said that smaller particles in the body can harm the regulation of the human
nervous system.”
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2013-10/28/content_17061997.htm
14. California Refuses to Regulate
Toxic Waste Disposal
“As fracking threatens to expand drilling
in California, a coalition of environmental justice and community health groups
sent a letter yesterday challenging the legality of the Central Valley Regional
Water Quality Board’s plan to keep letting
oil companies dump toxic drilling-mud waste throughout the valley with minimal
safeguards.
Citing
state environmental laws, the letter urges the water board not to move forward
next month with a proposal to exempt
drilling mud waste discharge from regulations. Drilling muds—used to facilitate
drilling of oil and gas wells—contain scores of chemicals that can pose severe
risks to human health.
“The
water board will endanger the health of every person in the Central Valley if
it gives these toxic drilling muds a free pass,” said Hollin Kretzmann, an
attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “As fracking and acidization
open new areas to oil drilling, the board has a duty to the people to protect
our water and public health—not make it easier for oil companies to dump their
dangerous waste without safeguards.”
Exposure
to the chemicals contained in drilling muds can damage the skin, eyes and other
sensory organs, liver, kidney and brain, as well as the respiratory,
cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, immune and nervous systems.
Drill cuttings, which mix with drilling mud
and other boring waste, can also contain dangerous heavy metals such as
aluminum, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, chromium, copper, lead, nickel and zinc.”
http://ecowatch.com/2013/11/05/fracking-expands-board-refuses-to-regulate-waste/
15.
Violations Per Well Among PA Operators
http://www.fractracker.org/2013/10/violations-per-well-among-pa-operators/
BY MATT KELSO – OCTOBER 29, 2013
“People often want to know
which operators perform the best (or worst) among their peers in terms of
adhering to the laws set forth in a given state. In principle, the easiest
metric for determining this is to look at the ratio of violations issued per
well, or VpW.
However,
in order to make that analysis, we would obviously need to have violations
data. Unfortunately, out of the twenty states that we have shale viewers for on
FracMapper, we only have violations data for Arkansas, Colorado, and
Pennsylvania, with the latter being far and away more robust and complete when
compared to the other two.
Then,
of course, there is the realization that, “What is a violation?” is actually
somewhat of a philosophical question in Pennsylvania. In the past, I’ve determined that the PA DEP uses the number of unique violation ID
numbers issued to calculate their totals. However, historically, the department would often lump several issues
that showed up on the Compliance Report together under the same violation ID. Others have taken to looking at Notices of
Violations (NOV’s), which are more limited in number. Still others exclude any
violations marked as being administrative in nature, an idea that makes sense
superficially, but a closer look at the data shows that the label is extremely
misleading. For example, “Pits and tanks not constructed with sufficient capacity
to contain pollutional substances” is an administrative violation, as is,
“Improper casing to protect fresh groundwater”.
In
addition to all of that, the cast of operators is constantly shifting as new
operators come on board, old ones get bought out by rivals, joint ventures are
formed between them, and the like.
Sometimes a parent company will shift the active operator status to one of
its subsidiaries, so wells that were originally
Consol will then be listed under CNX, for example.
In
terms of violations per well, there is a further complication, in that all of
the drilled wells data reflect the current
custodians of the wells, whereas the violations
data reflect those that received the violations. The result is that there are records issued
for Turm Oil (really!) for wells where Chesapeake is now listed as the
operator. In some respects, this
makes sense: why should Chesapeake carry
the burden of the legacy mistakes of Turm in their compliance record?
But it does make analysis somewhat tricky. My approach has been to combine operators that are obviously the
same parent company, and to do the analysis in several different ways, and over
different time frames. Who’s ready for
some numbers?
(Violations per Well (VpW)
for operators of unconventional wells in Pennsylvania with 50 or more wells.
Those operators with scores higher than the average of their peers are
highlighted in pink.)
Here, violations per well are based on the number of violation ID’s issued, where as NOVpW is based on the number of Notices of Violations. The date range for this table is from January
1, 2000 through October 21, 2013, and please note that the totals represent
those that are included on the chart, not statewide totals. A lot of violations are lost in the shuffle
when we look at only the largest current operators, but it also helps eliminate
some of the noise that can be generated with small sample sizes, as well as
with the inconsistencies described above.
Here’s a look at data from this year:
For Chart Below:
(Violations per Well (VpW) for operators with
unconventional wells in
Pennsylvania in 2013, through October 21. Those
operators with scores higher than the average of their peers are highlighted in
pink.)
Notice that the highest
violations per well and notices of violations per well scores are much higher
than the data aggregated since 2000, whereas the statewide averages of the two
scores are actually much lower. The
former is almost certainly attributable to having a smaller sample size, but
there is something else at play with the latter:
Violations per well of Pennsylvania’s
unconventional wells. 2013 data through 10/21/2013.
The number of violations
per well drilled has been steadily decreasing since 2009, and it is now down to
an average of less than one violation issued per every two wells. There is
nothing in the data that
indicates why this is the case, however.
Westmoreland Marcellus Citizen’s Group—Mission Statement
WMCG
is a project of the Thomas Merton Society
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
To receive our news updates, please email
jan at westmcg@gmail.com
To remove your name from our list please put
“remove name from list’ in the subject line
(Violations per Well (VpW)
for operators of unconventional wells in Pennsylvania with 50 or more wells.
Those operators with scores higher than the average of their peers are
highlighted in pink.)
Here, violations per well are based on the number of violation ID’s issued, where as NOVpW is based on the number of Notices of Violations. The date range for this table is from January
1, 2000 through October 21, 2013, and please note that the totals represent
those that are included on the chart, not statewide totals. A lot of violations are lost in the shuffle
when we look at only the largest current operators, but it also helps eliminate
some of the noise that can be generated with small sample sizes, as well as
with the inconsistencies described above.
Here’s a look at data from this year:
For Chart Below:
(Violations per Well (VpW) for operators with
unconventional wells in
Pennsylvania in 2013, through October 21. Those
operators with scores higher than the average of their peers are highlighted in
pink.)
Notice that the highest
violations per well and notices of violations per well scores are much higher
than the data aggregated since 2000, whereas the statewide averages of the two
scores are actually much lower. The
former is almost certainly attributable to having a smaller sample size, but
there is something else at play with the latter:
Violations per well of Pennsylvania’s
unconventional wells. 2013 data through 10/21/2013.
The number of violations
per well drilled has been steadily decreasing since 2009, and it is now down to
an average of less than one violation issued per every two wells. There is
nothing in the data that
indicates why this is the case, however.
Westmoreland Marcellus Citizen’s Group—Mission Statement
WMCG
is a project of the Thomas Merton Society
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
To receive our news updates, please email
jan at westmcg@gmail.com
To remove your name from our list please put
“remove name from list’ in the subject line
