Happy New Year!
Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group Updates January 1, 2014
* 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 You
* Thank you to contributors to our Updates: Debbie Borowiec, Lou
Pochet, Ron Gulla, Marian Szmyd, Bob Donnan, Gloria Forouzan, Elizabeth Donahue,
and Bob Schmetzer.
Donations- Our
Sincere Thanks For Your Support!
The
Marc Levine family
The
Paluselli family
Jan
Kiefer
Mary
Steisslinger
Calendar
*** WMCG Steering Committee Meeting We meet the second Tuesday of every month at
7:30 PM in Greensburg. Email Jan for
directions. All are very welcome to attend.
*** Public
Hearings On Oil/Gas Regs The public hearings will be held at 6 p.m. A
list of locations and dates follows: (I copied those in our area. Jan)
Washington County
Jan. 22, 2014, Washington and Jefferson
College’s Rossin Campus Center / Allen Ballroom, 60 South Lincoln Street,
Washington, PA 15301
Indiana County
Jan. 23, 2014, Indiana University of
Pennsylvania’s Convention and Athletic Complex, 711 Pratt Drive, Indiana, PA
15705
CONTACT:
Lisa
Kasianowitz, Department of Environmental Protection
717-787-1323
(Also see article #1 under Take Action!)
Volunteers Needed!!
Flyercise-This is a good way to
work to protect your family from fracking and get exercise.
Flyering helps to inform
your area. If you want to distribute
information on fracking in your neighborhood, WMCG and the Mt Watershed have
handouts for you. Some rural areas are best reached by car and flyers can be
put in paper boxes (not mailboxes) or in doors.
Please contact Jan if you would like to help. Meetings are also 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.
***Volunteers Needed
to Map Frack Pits- Skytruth
You Can Support a Public
Health Study By John Hopkins At Home At Your Computer
Volunteers
Needed: Crowd sourcing Project to Map Fracking in Pennsylvania for a Public Health Study and National Mapping
Initiative
(You
are given a window to examine by Skytruth. . Your job is to Click on all the
frack pits you see in that square and the data will be processed by Skytruth.
jan)
Who:
SkyTruth
What:
FrackFinder PA - Project Moor Frog is crowd sourcing (using the public to help
do the work) project that needs cyber-volunteers to find fracking ponds on
aerial photographs.
Where:
Online at frack.skytruth.org/frackfinder
Why:
Data produced by the crowd will be
complied into series of maps identifying the location of fracking ponds in
Pennsylvania, and support a public health study with partners at the Johns
Hopkins School of Public Health.
SkyTruth will be launching the second phase of a
crowd sourcing project to map the impact of unconventional drilling and
hydraulic fracturing using aerial imagery. We need your help to engage even
more volunteers so that, state by state, we can build a nationwide, multi-year
map of fracking.
FrackFinder
is a web-based tool that presents cyber-volunteers, or skytruthers, with aerial
photos of permitted or active drilling sites, and asks users to perform a
simple image analysis task. In this phase of the project, we are asking volunteers to find all the fracking ponds at Marcellus
Shale drilling sites in PA. Learn more about our first FrackFinder project
here.
We are doing this work to
support a public health study with our partners at the Bloomberg School of Public
Health at Johns Hopkins. Additionally, we have arranged to have a reporter from
Wired magazine (a tech magazine with an audience of 3 million) cover the launch
of the effort, which we are calling FrackFinder PA – Project Moor Frog.
We are asking for your help to
promote this sky truthing project as we get nearer to the launch. Please feel
free to contact me if you would like to learn more and to coordinate efforts to
engage the public in this effort to produce a nationwide, multi-year map of the
impacts of fracking.
David Manthos: Outreach
& Communications Director http://frack.skytruth.org/frackfinder
Office: 304-885-4581 | Cell:
240-385-6423 |
david.manthos@skytruth.org”
Take Action!!
***As always letters to the editor are
important and one of the best ways to share information with the public. ***
1. Please Comment On Proposed Oil and Gas Regs
Environmental Quality Board Opens Public Comment Period on Proposed
Oil and Gas Regulations
Will Hold Public Hearings
Harrisburg – The Department of Environmental
Protection (DEP) and the Environmental Quality Board announced today that the
public comment period for a proposed regulation for environmental protection
performance standards associated with oil and gas activities will open on
Saturday, Dec. 14.
The
Environmental Quality Board (EQB) is a
20-member independent board chaired by the Secretary of DEP that adopts all of
the department’s regulations and considers petitions to change regulations.
During the public comment period, the EQB will be hosting seven public hearings
across Pennsylvania and offer multiple ways to submit comments.
Along
with the EQB hearings, DEP will be holding two
webinars on Thursday, Dec. 19, from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., and Friday, Jan. 3,
from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m., to present information and answer questions on the
proposed regulation.
“Public participation is a key part to forging
the best regulations possible,” DEP Secretary Chris Abruzzo said. “An
exceptional number of hearings are being offered by the EQB to gather
information and to be sure that people’s voices are heard.”
The proposed regulation implements key
provisions of Act 13 of 2012, including further consideration of impacts to
public resources, such as parks and wildlife areas; the prevention of spills;
the management of waste; and the restoration of well sites after drilling.
Additionally,
the draft rulemaking also includes standards affecting the construction of
gathering lines and temporary pipelines, and includes provisions for identifying
and monitoring abandoned wells close to proposed well sites.
Public
Hearings
People wishing to present verbal testimony at a
hearing are requested to contact the EQB at least one week in advance of the
hearing to reserve a time. Those who wish to present testimony at the hearing
may use the address below or call the EQB at 717-787-4526 to reserve time to
testify. All relevant written and oral comments that are received at a public
hearing will be considered when finalizing the regulation.
Witnesses
are limited to five minutes of
testimony and are requested to submit
three written copies of their testimony to the hearing chairperson at the
hearing. Organizations are limited to
designating one witness to present testimony on their behalf at each
hearing.
Online Comments
The public is being invited to
submit comments to the EQB regarding the proposed rulemaking by Feb. 12, 2014.
Along with their comments, people can submit a one-page summary of their
comments to the EQB. Comments, including the one page summary, may be submitted
to EQB by accessing the EQB’s Online Public Comment System at http://www.ahs.dep.pa.gov/RegComments.
Written Comments
Written
comments and summaries should be mailed to Environmental Quality Board, P.O.
Box 8477, Harrisburg, PA 17105-8477.
The summaries and a formal comment and
response document will be distributed to the EQB and available publicly prior
to the meeting when the final rulemaking will be considered.
Email Comments
People
can also submit comments to RegComments@pa.gov.
Online and email comments must also be received by the EQB on or before
Feb. 12. If an acknowledgement of
comments submitted online or by email is not received by the sender within two
business days, the comments should be re-sent to the EQB to ensure receipt.
For
more information or to register for DEP’s Informational webinars, visit
www.dep.state.pa.us, keyword: Webinars. After registration, an email will be
sent containing a link to the webinar. The webinar will be recorded and posted
on the Oil and Gas webinars webpage for future viewing.
To view materials for the proposed regulation,
visit www.dep.state.pa.us and click the “Proposed Oil and Gas Regulations”
button.
Media Contact: Lisa Kasianowitz, DEP,
717-787-1323
Editor’s Note: The public hearings will be
held at 6 p.m. A list of locations and dates follows: (I copied those in our area. Jan)
Washington County
Jan. 22, 2014, Washington and Jefferson
College’s Rossin Campus Center / Allen Ballroom, 60 South Lincoln Street,
Washington, PA 15301
Indiana County
Jan. 23, 2014, Indiana University of
Pennsylvania’s Convention and Athletic Complex, 711 Pratt Drive, Indiana, PA
15705
CONTACT:
Lisa
Kasianowitz, Department of Environmental Protection
717-787-1323
Bob
Donnan-- Notes on the Proposed Changes
For citizens
of the Commonwealth here is a chance to provide comments and input. Here are
some highlights on past hot-button topics:
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY BOARD-
[ 25 PA. CODE
CH. 78 ]
Environmental Protection Performance Standards
at Oil and Gas Well Sites
The Environmental Quality Board (Board) proposes to
amend Chapter 78 (relating to oil and gas wells). The
proposed rulemaking would amend Chapter 78 to update
the requirements regarding surface activities associated
with the development of oil and gas wells. Additionally,
the proposed amendments would address recent statutory
changes in the act of February 14, 2012 (P. L. 87, No. 13)
(Act 13), codified at 58 Pa.C.S. §§ 2301—3504.
The proposed
rulemaking would update existing requirements
regarding
containment of regulated substances,
waste
disposal, site restoration and reporting
releases. The proposed
rulemaking would establish new
planning, notice, construction, operation, reporting and
monitoring standards for surface activities associated
with the
development of oil and gas wells. This includes
requirements
for freshwater impoundments, centralized
impoundments,
containment systems and practices for
unconventional
wells, wastewater processing, borrow pits,
gathering
lines, horizontal directional drilling, temporary
pipelines and
road-spreading of brine. The proposed rulemaking
would also add new requirements for addressing
impacts to
public resources, identifying and monitoring
orphaned and
abandoned wells during hydraulic fracturing
activities, and water management planning. These
additional requirements will provide increased protection
of public health, safety and the environment.
APPLYING
BRINE FROM CONVENTIONAL WELLS ON ROADWAYS:
§ 78.70a. Pre-wetting, anti-icing and de-icing.
(a) Use of brine from oil and gas wells for pre-wetting,
anti-icing and de-icing shall only be conducted under a
plan approved by the Department and may not result in
pollution of the waters of the Commonwealth. Only
production brines from conventional wells, not including
coalbed methane wells or wells drilled in hydrogen sulfide
areas, may be used for pre-wetting, anti-icing and deicing
under this section. The use of drilling, hydraulic
fracture
stimulation flowback, plugging fluids, or production
brines mixed
with well servicing or treatment fluids,
except
detergents, may not be used for pre-wetting,
anti-icing
and de-icing activities.
CENTRALIZED IMPOUNDMENTS:
(9) The freshwater and centralized impoundment,
if any, used in the development of the well.
(c) When the well operator submits a stimulation record,
it may
designate specific portions of the stimulation
record as
containing a trade secret or confidential proprietary
information.
The Department will prevent disclosure
of the
designated confidential information to the
extent
permitted under the Right-to-Know Law (65 P. S.
§§ 67.101—[ 67.3103 ] 67.3104) or other applicable
State law.
[ (d) In addition to submitting a stimulation record
to the Department under subsection (b), and
subject to the protections afforded for trade secrets
and confidential proprietary information under the
Right-to-Know Law, the operator shall arrange to
provide a list of the chemical constituents of the
chemical additives used to hydraulically fracture a
well, by chemical name and abstract service number,
unless the additive does not have an abstract
service number, to the Department upon written
request by the Department. ]
UNDERGROUND STORAGE:
Subchapter H. UNDERGROUND STORAGE
§ 78.402. Inspections by the gas storage operator.
* * * * *
(c) Storage operators shall inspect the gas storage
reservoir and
storage protective area at least annually to
discover if
material changes have occurred that require
an amendment
or supplement of the map and data as
required in section [ 301(a) and (b) of the act (58 P. S.
§ 601.301(a) and (b)) ] 3231(a) and (b) of the act
(relating to reporting requirements for gas storage
operations). As part of that inspection, gas storage
operators
shall inspect known abandoned wells and
plugged wells
within the gas storage reservoir area and
the gas storage protective area, subject to the right of
entry, at the end of the injection season when the storage
pressure is at its highest. The inspection record shall
include
observed evidence of gas leaking and other conditions
that may be
hazardous to the public or property.
TEMPORARY
PIPELINES:
§ 78.68b. Temporary pipelines for oil and gas operations
This proposed section contains the requirements for
temporary
pipelines associated with oil and gas operations,
including
installation, construction, flagging, pressure
testing,
inspection operation, recordkeeping and removal
requirements.
This section also contains cross
references to applicable regulatory requirements in Chapters
102 and 105.
2. DEP Should Extend Comment Period
From
Move On.ORg
"By any responsible account, the exploitation of the Marcellus
Shale Formation will produce a detrimental effect on the environment, on the
people, their children, and the future generations, and potentially on the
public purse, perhaps rivaling the environmental effects of coal
extraction."
Know where that comes
from? Would it surprise you to know that it came from the Pennsylvania Supreme
Court's ruling on Act 13, the law that put a gag order on physicians treating
fracking victims and sought to remove local control over gas drilling
operations?
This week, the
Pennsylvania Supreme Court gave the gas industry and government officials who
love it a powerful smackdown, but there's more work to be done.
Now, the Department
of Environmental Protection is accepting public comments on a proposed set of
fracking rules. Their Environmental Quality Board will hold 7 public hearings
across the state in January.
Trouble is that 38 counties in PA
are being fracked, yet only 5 of the hearings are in those counties and the
most heavily impacted counties have been passed over. To make
matters worse, the DEP is only accepting written comments for a 60-day period
that started on December 14th.
Sure seems like
they're not interested in hearing from those whose lives have been turned
upside down from drilling!
Please tell the DEP to extend the comment period and hold hearings in
every county where fracking is occurring!
Frack Links
***WTAE- Societal
Effects Of Gas Industry Some notes by jan): “Many gas industry workers are
not local people but are from out of state. There have been increased criminal
cases and abuse problems, and housing has become unaffordable especially for low-income
families. In Greene County, the influx of workers spiked housing costs--a $350
apartment may now be $700. Greene has had the highest peak in protection from
abuse orders in more than a decade. Nearby counties had similar increases. The
Washington County DA notes a steady increase of 700 criminal cases each year
since the industry arrived 5 years ago. He attributes this to a rise in drug
abuse and also more people coming in from the oil and gas industry.
In West
Virginia (Ohio County), calls for emergency service nearly doubled. Larceny
increased more than 50% and criminal citations more than quadrupled. During the
same period in Green County, larceny climbed 50% and Fayette County drug abuse
violations by 20%. In Westmoreland County curfew and loitering increased by 55%.
Two out-of-state industry workers were recently charged with murder in the
beating death of a Wheeling Jesuit University athlete. No one is tracking
whether it is oil and gas workers who have led to these increases. However, in
Bradford County, the DA does say they see a 40% increase in criminal cases mostly
due to the gas industry. Bradford County has asked a Senate committee for more
state police resources
To view the video:
***Video: Hidden Financial Dangers of Fracking-- 16-25 % drop in Property Value--Two
Studies cited in the video: Property values drop if you have a water well and
live within 1 km of a gas well, property values drop by 16%: Denver study if you live near a well values
drop by 25%.
Reuters recently told
the story of one Los Angeles man who blames Freeport McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) for the fact that his property's
value has plummeted, leaving him unable to sell his house for anything near
what he bought it for. Brian Stoffel
discusses how those who hold out are being hurt, and what they are threatening
to do. Lawsuits are being filed by affected landowners.
***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 have 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/
***New Penn Environment Video
PennEnvironment, along with the federal
organization, EnvironmentAmerica, released a new video exposé on fracking.
Narrated
by Martin Sheen and filmed on location in Pennsylvania, the piece will allow
public television viewers to hear from:
· A Pennsylvania family whose well water
was contaminated and granddaughter became ill after fracking operations
commenced nearby;
· Dr. Poune Saberi, who has examined
health data from nearby residents and workers and believes that the numerous,
documented cases of residents becoming ill near drilling operations are likely
"the tip of the iceberg;" and
· Lou Allstadt, former Executive Vice
President of Mobil, explaining why he now sees fracking as inherently fraught
with environmental destruction.
A couple of facts from the video: In 3 years there have been
more than 3,000 violations and 1.3 billion gallons of toxic waste produced
The
segment has the potential to reach up to 60 million households this year. In addition, we have <http://youtu.be/ljHCJfkZ308> a shorter
commercial-length version of the video that is being rolled out to other networks
like CNN and MSNBC starting this month.
***Pipeline/Eminent
Domain Factsheet-Handout
Food and Water Watch
***Frackademia
Handout-Industry’s influence on Education:
***Orange You
A'Peelin'? Guide to PA Fracking Permit Appeals
You can print this booklet off the site.
***Video-- Dr
Ingraffea Speaks at Butler Community College
Published on Nov 22,
2013
The
science of shale gas: The latest evidence on leaky wells, methane emissions,
and implications for policy. A.R. Ingraffea Ph.D, P.E.; M.T. Wells, Ph.D,
Cornell University; R. Santoro, R. Shonkoff, Ph.D, Physicians, Scientists and
Engineers for Healthy Energy, Inc. Butler Community College, Butler Pa,
November 21, 2013.
The
latest evidence on leaky Gas wells.
Fracking News
1.
Act 13 Articles
**Editorial in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The ACT 13 Decision is a welcome
gift
December 25, 2013 12:00 AM
“Heartfelt thanks to
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justices Ronald Castille, Debra McCloskey Todd,
Seamus McCaffery and Max Baer for overruling Act 13’s theft of our ability to
protect ourselves in our communities from being assaulted without recourse by
the industrialization, the pollution and the environmental degradation of
fracking (“High Court Sides With Towns Over Gas Drilling,” Dec. 20).
And thanks, too, to
South Fayette and other communities that went to the trouble and expense of
bringing the case. This decision is a hope-engendering holiday gift to the
people of Pennsylvania.
The Corbett
administration and its allies have treated the huge, out-of-state drilling
companies as their constituents, while disenfranchising the citizens who
elected them by forbidding local zoning prohibitions and, astoundingly, by
trying to muzzle the ability of physicians even to tell patients about health
impacts of drilling. The complete capitulation of the administration to the gas
companies raises the question of what the drilling companies’ wealth might be
buying them.
We should all
remember in the next election cycle who stood on our side and who was willing
to sell our health and environment to the highest bidders.”
JOSEPH CENNAME
SUSAN ORENSTEIN, M.D.
Indiana Township
Read more:
http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/letters/2013/12/25/The-ACT-1/stories/201312240121#ixzz2oVrHwS75
**Act 13
Ruling elevates environmental rights amendment
BY ROBERT SWIFT (HARRISBURG BUREAU CHIEF)
HARRISBURG - The state Supreme Court ruling striking down a state law
limiting the ability of local governments to zone gas drilling marks the broadest application yet of
Pennsylvania's Environmental Rights Amendment to statewide legal issues, the
amendment's author said Friday. The court voted 4-2 on Thursday to hold a
provision in the gas drilling impact fee law giving state agencies oversight
over local drilling zoning regulations unconstitutional. Three of the justices
in the majority opinion said it conflicts
with the environmental rights amendment, Article 1, Section 27 of the state
constitution. This amendment says that
Pennsylvanians have a right to clean air, pure water and preservation of
natural, scenic, historic and aesthetic values of the environment, and the
state has a trustee role to conserve and maintain public natural resources for
all the people, including future generations.
"I think this (ruling) creates the beginning of a new
environmental jurisprudence," said former Sen. Franklin Kury of
Northumberland County, who wrote the amendment. "The court in my opinion
got it right on how to interpret the amendment." The court's numerous references to the amendment means it will have
increasing importance in future environmental cases, said Mr. Kury. He said
he's not involved in the impact fee case. The practical effect of the amendment
so far has been to give the public legal standing to challenge environmental
decisions in court and to require local officials to take environmental issues
into consideration when awarding permits or approving new development, Mr. Kury
has written. The amendment has its roots in the environmental pollution left by
anthracite mining during the 19th and early 20th centuries in Northeast
Pennsylvania. As a young boy, Mr. Kury lived in Shenandoah where his two
grandfathers were coal miners.
Complete story:
http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/ruling-elevates-environmental-rights-amendment-1.1605008
**Bob
Donnan Quotes “A local sage”:
A local sage puts the recent Pa. Supreme Court ruling this
way:
“Wow what an
opinion! It is an amazing piece of
work. Chief Justice Castile really wrote
a masterpiece. I have read many opinions
of court in the paralegal gig and in the Council. It is simply one of the most interesting and
well-crafted Opinions I have ever seen.
The Opinion is so detailed and rich. It just makes me so proud to be an American
again. The word “citizen” now has
powerful meaning.
Chief Justice
Castile has left us a legacy opinion that will serve us and our heirs for
generations to come. Thank God
someone back in the late 60’s was forward thinking enough to get Section 27
amended to the PA Constitution.
Merry Christmas! What a gift we now have.”
**Quotes
From The Ruling By the PA Supreme Court
*** The PA Supreme Court
has ruled Act 13 is unconstitutional on the grounds that it violates the Environmental Rights Amendment
to the Pennsylvania Constitution.
Notably, the Court stated, ““As the citizens illustrate, development of
the natural gas industry in the
Commonwealth unquestionably has and will
have a lasting, and undeniably
detrimental, impact on the quality of these core aspects [life, health, and
liberty: surface and ground water, ambient air, etc.] of Pennsylvania’s
environment, which are part of the public trust.” Opinion at 117
***Justices Castille, Todd, and McCaffrey held that the provisions
violate Article I, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution – the
Environmental Rights Amendment. Justice
Castille stated that “we agree with the citizens that, as an exercise of the police power, Sections
3215(b)(4) and (d), 3303, and 3304 are incompatible with the Commonwealth’s
duty as trustee of Pennsylvania’s public natural resources.” In discussing Section 3304’s uniform zoning
provisions, Justices Castille, Todd, and McCaffrey agreed that the provisions “sanctioned a direct and harmful degradation
of the environmental quality of life in these communities and zoning
districts.” They also concluded that the
Act forced some citizens to bear “heavier environmental and habitability
burdens than others” in violation of Section 27’s mandate that public trust
resources be managed for the benefit of all the people.
***"By any responsible account, the exploitation of the Marcellus Shale Formation will produce a
detrimental effect on the environment, on the people, their children, and the
future generations, and potentially on the public purse, perhaps rivaling the
environmental effects of coal extraction." PA Supreme Court Chief
Justice Ronald Castille. Opinion at 118
****The Court held "To describe this case simply as a zoning or
agency discretion matter would not capture the essence of the parties'
fundamental dispute regarding Act 13. Rather, at its core, this dispute centers
upon an asserted vindication of citizens'
rights to quality of life on their properties and in their hometowns, insofar
as Act 13 threatens degradation of air and water, and of natural, scenic, and
esthetic values of the environment, with attendant effects on health, safety,
and the owners' continued enjoyment of their private property. The citizens’
interests as a result, implicate primarily rights and obligations under the
Environmental Rights Amendment -- Article I, Sec. 27.
The people have a
right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic,
historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania's public natural
resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet
to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and
maintain them for the benefit of all the people.)
***Page 39, Residential Districts a sanctuary- Addressing
residential districts in particular, the court noted that “reserving land for
single-family residences preserves the character of neighborhoods, securing
zones where family values, youth values, and the blessings of quiet seclusion
and clean air make the area a sanctuary for people.” Id. at 481 (quoting
Village of Belle Terre v. Boraas, 416 U.S. 1, 9 (1974)). But, the court
observed, Act 13 requires municipalities
to act affirmatively to allow incompatible uses, such as “drilling operations
and impoundments, gas compressor stations, storage and use of explosives” in
all zoning districts, including residential, and “applies industrial criteria to
restrictions on height of structures, screening and fencing, lighting and
noise.” Id. at 484-85. The court held that, because it commands
unconstitutional zoning outcomes, Section 3304 violates due process.
***Justice Baer concurred in finding Act 13 unconstitutionality,
agreeing with the Commonwealth Court’s reasoning. Justice
Baer stated that the provisions “force municipalities to enact zoning
ordinances, which violate the substantive due process rights of their
citizenries.” He further noted “Pennsylvania’s
extreme diversity” in municipality size and topography and that zoning
ordinances must “give consideration to the character of the municipality,”
among other factors, which Act 13 did not.
***Additionally,
in a reversal of the findings of the Commonwealth Court, the Pennsylvania
Supreme Court found that Dr. Khan satisfies standing requirements. The court
noted that “existing jurisprudence permits pre-enforcement review of statutory
provisions in cases in which petitioners must choose between equally
unappealing options and where the third option, here refusing to provide
medical services to a patient, is equally undesirable.” Opinion at 25. In other
words, provisions of Act 13 put Dr. Khan in the untenable and objectionable
position of choosing between violating Act 13’s confidentiality agreement and
“violating his legal and ethical obligations to treat a patient by accepted
standards, or not taking a case and refusing a patient medical care.” Id.
Therefore, Dr. Khan’s interests were indeed “substantial and direct…not
remote,” and conferred standing. Opinion at 26. The Court remanded Dr. Kahn’s
case to the Commonwealth Court for further proceedings.
In a 4-2 decision, the court held that portions of the law dealing
with restrictions on local zoning violate Pennsylvania’s constitution. Chief Justice Ron Castille was joined by
justices Todd, McCafferty and Baer in the majority. Justices Saylor and Eakin issued dissenting opinions.
The Decision and concurring opinion can be found at: http://www.delawareriverkeeper.org/resources/Reports/Opinion
J-127A-D-2012oajc.pdf
**CELD
Comments On Court Ruling
“In today’s decision,
the Pennsylvania Supreme Court also ruled in favor of the Plaintiffs. However,
in a departure from the lower court, the state Supreme Court rooted its
decision not in the property rights of landowners, but on Pennsylvania’s
Environmental Rights Amendment.
The Amendment,
adopted in 1971 by the voters of the State as part of the State Constitution’s
Declaration of Rights, declares the right of citizens to “clean air and pure
water” and to the “preservation of natural, scenic, historic, and esthetic
values of the environment.” The
Amendment also declares that the State and its municipalities must act as
trustees to protect the rights of Pennsylvania citizens under the Amendment.
The Court ruled that
Act 13’s elimination of zoning and land use planning authority – the primary
method through which municipalities act as trustees – was
unconstitutional. For, the Court found, the State cannot interfere with the
constitutional duty of municipal governments to carry out the duties imposed by
the Environmental Rights Amendment.
In essence, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court delivered a ruling today
which limits the power of the State to interfere with the duty of
municipalities to act as a trustee of natural resources.
The Court thus
overturned several sections of Act 13, including the sections creating the
power of the State to nullify municipal zoning provisions which ran afoul of
the Act’s requirement that oil and gas drilling could occur in any area of a
municipality, regardless of how that area was zoned.
The Court’s decision was a drastic
departure from that of prior courts with respect to the Environmental Rights
Amendment. Ever since the Amendment’s
overwhelming adoption by the people of the Commonwealth, courts have generally
disregarded it, holding that its sole purpose was to provide additional
authority to state agencies to protect the natural environment.
In response to the
decision, Thomas Linzey, the Executive Director of the Community Environmental
Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) based in Mercersburg, PA, stated, “Today was a
significant victory for municipalities seeking to regulate the placement of oil
and gas wells and other structures on the surface of land.”
“Further, today’s
decision may not only affect Act 13 or oil and gas drilling. For
years, the state legislature has sought to eliminate local authority on
extraction and other activities, including forestry and coal, which the Court
referenced in its decision.”
For many years, the Community
Environmental Legal Defense Fund has represented municipal clients adopting
local ordinances that ban corporate projects harmful to communities. As part of that work, the Legal Defense Fund
has fought to overturn another Pennsylvania law – known as ACRE (“Agriculture,
Communities, and Rural Environment”) – which forced corporate factory farms
into communities regardless of local zoning and land use planning laws which
sought to limit industrial agriculture.
Linzey stated, “The Court’s decision calls into question
the constitutionality of any state laws which nullify the authority of
municipal zoning ordinances and land use plans.
Today’s ruling gives new life to people’s environmental rights, and
serves more importantly, in some ways, to shield our communities from a state
legislature that has been privatized by certain industries.”
Linzey further explained, “This ruling, while
welcome, does not stop fracking of Pennsylvania’s communities, nor does it
recognize the right of the people of Pennsylvania to govern their own
communities without state or corporate interference.”
“Today’s decision does, however,
for the first time open the door for future rulings that would add that
law. However, there remain tremendous
legal barriers in place which subordinate the authority of people, communities,
and nature to protect themselves from fracking and the wide range of activities
that the state legislature has forced into our municipalities,” explained
Linzey. “http://www.celdf.org/press-release-statement-on-the-pennsylvania-supreme-courts-ruling-that-parts-of-act-13-are-unconstitutional#.Ur533nYljEk.email
Contact: Ben Price Projects Director
benprice@celdf.org
(717) 254-3233
2. North
Huntingdon Residents Question Drilling Park
The Industry (Huntley and Huntley) Offers to Bring the DEP
To Meetings
By Amanda Dolasinski
“Residents fearful
that drilling would destroy Braddock's Trail Park in North Huntingdon urged commissioners to forbid a land survey
company to have the exclusive mineral rights on the public property.
“We received a
proposal from Huntley and Huntley, which we felt should be presented to the
board for discussion and consideration,” Mike Turley, assistant township
manager, said at the commissioners' meeting.
The potential lease
on Braddock's Trail and Oak Hollow parks could generate more than $411,000 for
the township.
Township officials have been in deliberations with the company
throughout the year, Turley said. Huntley and Huntley officials are interested
in a nonsurface lease, he said.
As part of that type
of lease, there would be no facilities on township property, he said.
Essentially, a drill site would be placed on another parcel, and horizontal
drilling below the surface would occur to extract the gas.
“This met one of our
concerns that we minimize or eliminate any impact to the surface of park
properties,” Turley said.
The potential lease,
which could be for 10 years, would include an upfront payment of $1,500 per
acre or about $411,000 for 274 acres. It also would include a 16-percent
royalty rate if drilling would occur.
Turley said there aren't any Marcellus wells drilled in the township,
although drilling is happening nearby, he said.
He also said proposed
seismic testing activity could occur in the township sometime next year.
Seismic testing is necessary for natural-gas companies to determine the best
locations to drill.
“The result is that
we've expected for some time that there will be wells drilled in the township
and, in particular, these two areas that we're talking about,” Turley said.
“This is to occur regardless of whether we participate or not. We just happen
to own two large parcels in the area of interest.”
Although commissioners have the authority to forbid
drilling in public parks, residents in the township can approve private
contracts with Huntley and Huntley on their properties.
Commissioner Richard
Gray said he worries a lease would not directly benefit residents.
“What I've seen … it
never seems to benefit the residents,” he said. “If the township can make money
from this, it should be directly tied to a tax decrease rather than just be
sitting in the bank.”
Luke Bungard, senior
landman with Huntley and Huntley, said he attended to the meeting to hear
residents' worries. He offered to
provide specialists from the state DEP to attend future meetings.
Numerous residents
protested the potential lease on park property.
“I am appalled that
fracking is even being considered as a possibility at this park or Oak Hollow,”
said Marie Moore, who said she lives on
property adjacent to Braddock's Trail Park.
“Residents rely on parks for a
quiet, safe place to enjoy nature,” she said. “Residents look to you, as
commissioners, to improve the community. Yes, that includes bringing in new
business and creating jobs, but it also includes protecting the parks that we
have and the health of your residents.”
Don Miller, of Sycamore Drive near the
park, said he is worried future drilling could contaminate well water that he
and his wife still use. “I'm concerned you're going to ruin the park; you're
going to ruin the well,” he said.
North Huntingdon
commissioners could continue discussions on the potential lease before the end
of the year.
Amanda Dolasinski
is a staff writer for Trib Total Media.
http://triblive.com/mobile/5238985-96/residents-drilling-township
3. Fracknation
Shown in Indian Creek
Good work Kathryn, Anne, and Doug and Briget!
The Mountain Laurel Chamber of Commerce
conducted a presentation on fracking at the Indian Creek Valley Community
Center on Dec. 10. FrackNation, was created by investigative
journalist Phelim McAleer. (McAleer was referred to by
the San Francisco Chronicle as "climate denial's Michael Moore. Jan)
The documentary examined the process of fracking and aimed to address
what the filmmakers say is
misinformation about fracking — such as that it leeches chemicals into the
ground, therefore contaminating water supplies, and is known to trigger
earthquakes. (the misinformation that
has been corroborated by independent
research. Jan)
Panel discussion
followed the viewing, and a question and answer session concluded the meeting.
Speakers included Jordan Frei, state
Rep. Mike Reese's office; Kathryn Hilton, Mountain Watershed Association
Marcellus Shale Citizen Collation; Davitt Woodwell, Western Regional
Pennsylvania Environmental Council; Susan Oliver, WPX Energy; and Jason Rigone,
Westmoreland County Economic Development Corporation.
Susan Oliver, manager of community
relations with WPX Energy said fracking is currently being conducted in Cook
Township and the Donegal area.
“Natural gas
development provides the Laurel Highlands area, and our entire nation, the
opportunity to benefit from clean burning, low cost, energy that is safely
produced right here in Westmoreland County,” Oliver said. It was noted that
fracking in the area created many jobs and helped keep the Commonwealth afloat
after the 2008 recession.
“Many jobs are supported by the natural gas industry,” said Rigone,
executive director of Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corporation.
“From an economic impact standpoint, this low-cost abundant supply of
energy can bring even more jobs back to PA.”
Hilton, a community organizer of the Mountain Watershed Association,
attended to discuss the organization's Marcellus Citizen Stewardship Project —
developed to provide assistance to citizens in areas where shale gas
development is occurring.
“All
parts of the life-cycle of natural gas industrialization expose residents and
workers to toxic substances which lead to negative health impacts,” said
Hilton. “During every part of the life-cycle, from well pad, to pipeline, to
compressor station, to processing facility, to natural gas fired power plant,
there is an inevitability of human error and mechanical failure which will
further expose residents and workers to toxins.”
The
stewardship project assists citizens in protecting their property, health and
environment from impacts of Marcellus shale activity, said Hilton.
“We also assist citizens in
reporting pollution incidents as well as gathering information that can be used
by others to tell the story of drilling impacts, she said.”
Hilton said that the fact of the
matter is that the impacts of drilling for natural gas are just now starting to
come to the surface.
“As time goes on, more and more
instances of contamination are coming to light,” she said.
During the question and answer portion
of the evening, many locals expressed concern about contamination of water
sources.
Annie MacDougall of Cook Township questioned the fracking process in
her community. She cited an example of a family in the Donegal area who was
having water contamination issues after fracking occurred on their property.
“What is WPX doing to rectify this
situation?” she asked. In response, Oliver stated that it was not determined
that the drilling was the cause of the contamination.
Douglas and
Bridget Shields who owns a residence in Rector also voiced concerns.
“The promoters of drilling always
avoid the downside and promote the up side. There is no mention or illustration
of hazard and risks,” said Douglas Shields. “Inability to get a mortgage,
homeowners insurance, how it impacts a mine subsidence insurance policy if
other third parties are released from liability or possible surface or
subsurface contamination of the owners property. And the worst is the non-disclosure
of the health risks from exposures to BETX and other airborne toxins. This is
all typical of a meeting sponsored by industry and their supporters. People
come to them for information and they get a glossed over and contorted view of
the matter. The ‘jobs and money' matters are pushed and the realities are
hidden away.”
In March, the group
will cover Act 13 impact fee and the many economic benefits to local
communities and businesses in the area.
Cami DiBattista is a contributing writer for Trib Total Media.
4. Decision
Restores Murrysville's Right to Regulate Drilling
Daveen Rae Kurutz
“A state Supreme Court decision has restored Murrysville officials'
rights to regulate Marcellus shale drilling.
Last week, the Supreme Court returned constitutional powers to
municipalities and community leaders with a 4-2 decision overturning large
portions of Act 13, the state's oil-and-gas regulations.
“I'm ecstatic with what they've done,” Murrysville Councilman Dave
Perry said. “They've come back and said that drilling procedures and gathering
has an impact on the quality of people's lives.”
Murrysville adopted
its own regulations in October 2011, but that ordinance was superseded by the
state legislators' adoption of Act 13 in February 2012.
Municipal officials did not support the restrictions of the act. While
council did not financially back the legal challenged filed by several
southwest Pennsylvania communities, it issued letters of support and backed a
plea by the National Resource Defense Council in September 2012. That “friend-of-the-court” brief was
filed by a New York City-based nonprofit group that lobbies in favor of
environmental issues and against Marcellus shale drilling in favor of
overturning the legislation.
Murrysville chief administrator Jim Morrison said council will
reexamine its ordinance to see if there is additional information that needs to
be addressed.
He said he was
pleased that the ruling supported the idea that municipalities can continue to
handle zoning locally. “The ruling is
pretty clear,” Morrison said. “The industry had an impact on the environment
and citizens' rights to clean air and clean water, and local communities have
the right to protect that.”
Read more:
http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourmurrysville/yourmurrysvillemore/5291805-74/murrysville-drilling-act#ixzz2ocTgoCCX
5. Update
on Dimock
Vera Scroggins made a right to know
request from DEP about the Dimock Water contamination.
"... [Y]ou asked
'to see any documents stating that the DEP has found the water wells safe to
use and drink with these families and with the original 18 homes affected by
gas drilling in Dimock, Pa., Susquehanna County'.
The
Department ... does not posses records stating that any of these residents'
private water supplies are safe to use and drink." -- PA DEP 12/24/2013
6. EPA Inspector
General Says EPA Was Justified Investigating
Texas Water Contamination
“The EPA was justified in intervening to
examine possible risks of gas drilling to Texas drinking water, the agency's
internal watchdog reported.
But environmentalists say the
report raises fresh concerns about the EPA's 2012 decision to halt its
investigation into possible well-water contamination in Parker County, Texas.
Over
three years, the EPA has sampled water in Dimock, Pa., Pavillion, Wyo., and
Parker County after residents complained that their water had turned foul once gas
drilling began nearby. In each case, the
EPA found evidence of contamination but declined to pursue further water
sampling or disciplinary action against the energy companies.
Critics have accused
the Obama administration of backing away from the inquiries amid industry and
political pressure, and because it views gas drilling as crucial to the economy
and a cleaner environment.
In July, an internal EPA report indicated that
workers in its Philadelphia office wanted to keep monitoring Dimock's drinking
water but EPA headquarters closed the investigation.
The inspector
general's inquiry was started at the behest of Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.)
and other lawmakers who contend that EPA's regional office in Texas, EPA Region
6, had exceeded its authority during the Parker County investigation. Many
Republicans viewed the EPA's investigation as a politically motivated attack
against the oil and gas industry.
Inhofe's office dismissed the inspector general's report, saying it had
"failed to examine [a] closed-door conspiracy" to ruin the reputation
of the energy company involved, Range Resources.
But environmentalists
welcomed it as vindication of efforts by the EPA and independent scientists to
explore the potential pollution risks of kfracking. The EPA got involved in 2010 because Range Resources and Texas
regulators failed to act immediately on homeowners' complaints of possible
drinking water contamination, the report says.
When the EPA conducted its own
tests, it found such high levels of methane in the water supply of two homes
that it posed a risk of explosion, the report says. EPA tests also showed that
the water contained benzene, a known carcinogen, above the agency's maximum
contamination levels.
Methane
is the main component of natural gas, and an analysis performed for the EPA by
an independent scientist found samples from the water supply to be nearly
identical to the natural gas from the nearby Range Resources gas well.
Range Resources and
Texas denied that the company's gas development had contaminated the residents'
water.
The EPA issued an
emergency order against Range Resources to provide drinking water to the
affected residents and to better monitor the gas well. When Range Resources did
not fully comply, the Justice Department filed a complaint on behalf of the EPA
in January 2011 but withdrew it by March 2012.
The inspector general's report said the EPA and Justice Department
halted their action because the EPA worried about the costs and legal risks
of the case. Although most officials were confident of their evidence,
"there was always a risk that the judge could rule against the EPA. If
that happened, it would risk establishing case law that could weaken the EPA's
ability to enforce" parts of the Safe Drinking Water Act, the report said.
Range Resources
threatened to refuse to cooperate with a study the EPA had begun into possible
effects of fracking on drinking water if the agency disciplined it, the
report said. The EPA shelved its complaint after getting a nonbinding agreement
for access to the company's sites, the report said, but so far Range Resources
has declined to participate in the study.
A policy analyst for
the Natural Resources Defense Council,
Amy Mall, said the EPA had enough evidence to intervene but "chose to step
away from enforcing the law when drinking water was unsafe.... Drinking water
quality should never be traded for a hollow promise that may never be
fulfilled."
In a statement, the EPA said the report determined its actions were
"supported by law and fact."
Range Resources spokesman
Matt Pitzarella denied that its natural gas development had contaminated
drinking water and said it was reviewing the report. The company is pursuing a $3-million defamation
lawsuit against Steve Lipsky, one of the homeowners who complained about his
water.”
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-epa-fracking-20131225,0,6042944.story#ixzz2obeXaOsC
7. Allegheny Co. Park Gas--- $3.5 Million
Signing Bonus
“Allegheny County
stands to gain $3.5 million in signing bonuses and potentially more than $70
million to lease the acreage beneath Deer Lakes Park for gas well drilling.
`According to
documents that the Post-Gazette requested from energy giant Range Resources,
the company, in conjunction with driller Huntley & Huntley, forwarded a
proposal to county Executive Rich Fitzgerald last month, calling for a one-time
signing bonus of $3,000 per acre for the park's 1,180 acres and a 17 percent
royalty rate on all future gas sales.
The companies have
already built 4 well pads in the area surrounding the park, Pitzarella said
with 19 wells drilled over the past five years and more on the way. So the county’s
property will soon be completely encircled by gas wells.
State Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park, says the environmental and
unknown impacts of Marcellus Shale drilling outweigh any benefit -- including
tens of millions of dollars.
"I'm adamantly
opposed to drilling," Mr. Ferlo said. "I work with Rich Fitzgerald. I
respect him, but I think he's taking the quick way out. We've seen this at the
airport and now we're threatening county parks."
Mr. Ferlo said he's
concerned that Mr. Fitzgerald will use revenues generated by drilling at the
airport and county parks to plug budget holes, but he wants the county executive
and others to delay further drilling until the impact on the environment is
known. He's proposed a statewide moratorium, but acknowledges that it has
little legislative support.
Washington County learned
from the mistakes that were made at Cross Creek Park, including one wastewater
spill in 2009, several environmental violations and the accidental
clear-cutting of more than 100 trees by a Range subcontractor in 2011.”
Read more:
http://www.post-gazette.com/local/north/2013/12/15/Park-gas-offer-includes-3-5M-bonus/stories/201312150160#ixzz2ohoHPQ49
8. DEP --
New Mapping Tool
From Bob Donnan:
I already heard
back from a couple people with problems viewing the Pa DEP mapping tool (I was
using my Windows desktop computer). Here is the first comment I got:
“I clicked on the link, was told to download
Silverlight Mircrosoft program, did so [on my MAC] and that message continues
to come up and won't redirect to the DEP site.
Is there something else I need to be doing?”
So I tried the mapping tool link on my iPhone
since it is also an Apple product (uses Safari for a web browser) and got the
same prompt to install Silverlight. I then went to the App Store and installed
Google Chrome on my iPhone, tried to go to the mapping site again, and still
got the install Silverlight prompt, but the install failed. I tried to download the Firefox browser on my
iPhone and got the message; “Sorry, Firefox is currently unsupported by iOS
devices.”
So apparently the ‘Christmas gift’ is not so
much for Apple product users as it is for desktop PC folks… maybe one of the
computer gurus on this mailing list can tell me why. It would be my guess that
the ESRI mapping data is more Microsoft based and formatted.
The map DOES view well on both Firefox and
Internet Explorer if you have access to a Microsoft based PC with either
software installed. (…at least we hope
it will work…)
Happy Holidays -
Bob
(I could not get this tool to work at all. Nothing
happened after downloading Silverlight. Jan)
++++++++++++++
About the Mapping Tool
Dec 21 - A new state Department of Environmental Protection mapping
tool allows online users to look up
well-by-well information across the commonwealth. Using the tool, which
went live Thursday, users can view unconventional wells, the majority of which
tap Marcellus Shale, as well as conventional, vertical wells, many of them
going back to the 1970s and 1980s. The Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas
Association estimates the state has 70,000 active conventional oil and gas
wells. Around 7,700 unconventional wells have been drilled or are under
development, according to MarcellusGas.org.
ESRI - Pa DEP Oil & Gas
Mapping
Users can also select map layers, such as
exceptional value and high-quality streams or state forests, parks and game
lands. These layers let users see where drilling occurs near important water
bodies and public lands. Other data points include oil wells, injection wells,
plugged wells and abandoned wells. Clicking on each point on the map reveals
the well's name, operator, development status and township location, among
other information (NOTE: You have to click on the “i” inside the blue/white
square icon [information button] at the top of the map to activate this
feature). DEP spokeswoman Colleen Connolly said 12 to 15 DEP employees worked
to develop the map over the past year. She said the department is working on
including inspection and violation information with each well.
9. Mt. Pleasant Twp Approves Marcellus Tank Pad
By
Bob Donnan
Fleet of Wastewater
tankers
“ From freshwater impoundment to recycled wastewater tank farm, Range
Resources can now make the conversion with Mt. Pleasant Township’s approval.
After shooting down several proposals from the Marcellus Shale company in
recent months, township officials reached an agreement regarding the Stewart
impoundment during a special meeting Friday.”
http://www.observer-reporter.com/article/20131220/NEWS01/131229962#.UrV8YLRdCCU
Conceptual Image of tank farm
with 15 tanks
10. Seneca NY Gas Storage Causes Outrage
“Inergy Midstream is proposing
to use a series of caverns at Seneca Lake to store 88 million gallons of liquid
petroleum gas and has also proposed using adjacent caverns for additional
natural gas storage expanding capacity to 2 billion cubic feet. Inergy is awaiting
approval by state and federal officials. The list of concerns regarding the
plan includes: the structural integrity of the two caverns is questionable. Another
cavern site directly below a rock formation plagued by rock movement and intermittent
collapse. An earthquake registering 2.0 occurred on the west shore of Seneca
Lake a mere 12 miles form the caverns. If gas would escape from the cavern the results
could be deadly, setting of explosions. An industry insider, John Hopper, found
that between 1972 and 2004 there were 10 catastrophic accidents involving
underground storage sites for gas. All occurred in salt caverns.
Other concerns include the cumulative environmental and health impacts
associated with building an industrial storage facility in a rural area.”
Earthjustice
11. Federal Investigation Reveals Massive Taxpayer Giveaway to Oil/ Gas Drillers
Interior
Department Abandons Reforms that Would Have Addressed this Giveaway
Oil and gas
wells in Colorado: The impacts from drilling are undeniable; the least
that should be done is to require drillers to pay their fair share.
The General Accounting Office (GAO),
the investigatory arm of the federal government, released findings of a new
investigation concluding
that the Department of
Interior (DOI) has failed to ensure that U.S.
taxpayers are being fully compensated for revenues generated by drilling
activities on their public lands. Despite decades of recommendations and studies that have
established that DOI has been negligent in addressing this taxpayer rip-off,
GAO investigators learned recently that DOI officials decided to
basically throw in the towel and abandon a series of remedies that were in the
works that would have attempted to address this inequity.
The Interior Department
oversees hundreds of millions of acres of lands and waters that are utilized
for energy development. The U.S. taxpayer should be receiving far more from
drilling operations that occur physically on public lands (also known as
onshore lands). Compared with the royalty rate of 18.75 percent that is
collected for offshore drilling activities, the Interior Department charges for
onshore a paltry 12.5 percent rate – a royalty that the GAO found in
2007 to be
“one of the lowest government takes in the world.” Such a bottom basement rate means that taxpayers are being shortchanged
out of billions of dollars of likely revenue.
That situation is bad in itself, but
other successive GAO reports concluded that the agency’s accounting system to
assess drilling operations was fundamentally nonexistent, and that it basically relied on the good word
of oil companies to self-report via an honor system how much they should be charged for oil and gas produced on
federal lands. Given that
dubious practice, GAO in 2011 listed Interior’s oil and gas management on
a “list of programs at high risk of fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement.”
. Rather than adopting a
series of recommendations offered by GAO, Interior officials informed the GAO
that they had “discontinued its efforts to pursue the revised regulations
because, according to Interior officials, the department does not have enough
information to determine how to adjust onshore royalty rates.”
In short, Interior Department officials
decided to not initiate fixes to their deeply troubled program based on a
technicality, despite the fact that literally billions of dollars were at stake
for taxpayers. Interior’s attitude is troubling in a number of ways. But it is especially concerning given that
this posture puts millions of acres of public lands at jeopardy. When the
Interior Department sanctions measures that vastly undervalue our lands for
such operations as oil and gas drilling, mining, grazing, and coal extraction,
to name a few, the viability of our public lands are put at additional risk.
Utilizing these lands for such operations is a privilege, and the price to
develop on our nation’s landscapes should be consistent with the market. But in
allowing below rates
to persist, development is perversely incentivized while conservation funding
becomes vastly shortchanged. One just needs to look at the number of drilling leases that sit idle
– for at last count over 25,000 leases were not being utilized. The dynamic that allows this gross
speculation to occur, that ties up millions of acres that could be set aside
for conservation, is a direct result of the fact that the cost to drill is
phenomenally low.
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/bmcenaney/federal_investigation_reveals.html
12. Failure to Pass Tax Credit For
Wind Industry
By Ryan Koronowski
` “The U.S. House of
Representatives has already gone on vacation and the Senate effectively
adjourned for 2013, meaning that the
one-year extension of the Wind Production Tax Credit (PTC) will expire on Jan.
1, 2014.
The PTC is a $0.022 per
kilowatt-hour tax credit on the power that new wind farms in the United States
generate for the first ten years of their operation. These farms have to be
“under construction” in 2013 to receive the credit, which is different than how
it worked over the law’s prior 20-year history.
Wind is now within 5.5 percent of
the cost of coal, and as the trends continue to make wind cheaper and more
reliable, it’s also a good investment. Wind
is 90 percent cheaper than it was twenty years ago, and 30 percent cheaper than
it was three years ago.
In November, a
multitude of conservative groups, led by
the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity sent a letter to Congress urging them
to let the wind PTC expire. The letter said that the wind industry “has
very little to show after 20 years of preferential treatment,” ignoring the improvements
in manufacture and costs, as well as all the jobs created and carbon pollution
saved. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Joe
Manchin (D-WV), and eight other Republican Senators sent a similar letter to
Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus calling for the end of the production tax
credit for wind power.
All forms of energy get government support through tax breaks—the oil
and gas industry gets billions, and so does coal—but it’s mainly the renewable,
clean energy that has to fight for an extension every year. AWEA’s CEO Tom
Kiernan said on Monday at an Iowa press conference announcing the MidAmerican
order, “If Congress were to remove all the subsidies from every energy source,
the wind industry can compete on its own.”
Congressional
Democrats pushed for a vote to extend, but there was really no legislative
fight like the one seen last year.
The main reason for
this? There was an extremely minimal chance that the House and the Senate would
pass a stand-alone clean energy bill.”
http://ecowatch.com/2013/12/23/failure-tax-credit-uncertainty-wind-industry/
13. Endocrine Study Reports
**News Report on Endocrine
Disrupting Frack Chemicals “A new study out of the University of Missouri and carried out
in Garfield
County, CO links chemicals tied to natural gas drilling activities with
endocrine system disruptions in the human body.
The study was released by a team of
researchers, including Susan Nagel, head of the Endocrine Disruptors Group and
assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and women’s health at MU.
It
found that both surface and groundwater samples taken from test sites in
Garfield County that had “known natural gas drilling incidents,” such as spills
of hydraulic fracturing fluids, had greater levels of endocrine-disrupting
chemicals (EDCs) than samples taken in areas devoid of drilling.
The researchers chose Garfield
County for their primary samples because it is home to more than 10,000 active
natural gas wells.
Water samples were taken in
September 2010 from ground and surface sources, including the Colorado River,
in five sites with between 43 and 136 natural gas wells within one mile, and
where a spill or other reported incident had been reported within six years.
Reference samples were taken from
other areas in the county that have little drilling, and from nondrilling areas
in Missouri for comparison.
“In the present study, we identified
EDC activity of several individual chemical components used in natural gas
operations that may contribute to the activity that we measured in water,”
Nagel and the other researchers wrote in the report.
The report concludes that most water samples from sites with known
drilling-related incidents in the region exhibited more chemicals known to
impact human sex hormone activity than the water samples collected from the
other control sites.
The study measured 12 chemicals used
in drilling operations, included those associated “fracking,” The findings “suggest that gas
drilling operations may result in elevated EDC activity in ground and surface
water,” the researchers wrote in the report.
Nagel
told MedPage Today, an online medical journal, after the report was released
that the study is the first of its kind to show a connection between gas
drilling activities and EDCs.
She also said more comprehensive
sampling needs to be done at drilling sites in Garfield County to confirm the
findings of the study.
One
industry spokesman, David Ludlam, director of the Western Slope chapter of the
Colorado Oil and Gas Association, noted the MU study’s link to “one of the
nations’ most renowned anti-drilling activists,” which he said “leaves wide
space for questioning the project’s claims and conclusions.”
He was
referring to Theo Colborn, a gas industry critic from Paonia who is also an
endocrinologist and president of the Endocrine Disruption Exchange.
Colborn acknowledged that she met Nagel in the mid-1990s and
has encouraged her to do more research into the impacts of drilling on human
hormone health. But she said she was not directly involved with the study.
Colborn
hailed the study as an important breakthrough in research about the impact of
chemicals used not only by the gas industry, but other industry as well, on
human health.
“This is a very important paper, and it just might make
people wake up to the fact that the only laws we have in place to protect us
use very crude health end points,” Colborn said of measures to protect humans
from high doses of chemicals that can cause serious disease, birth defects or
death.
`“There are a lot of other health effects that we have to
live with that are certainly annoying and that need to be taken into account,”
she said.
Because of an exemption for fracking operations from
regulatory acts such as the Clean Water Act, the EPA can’t even address it,
said Colborn.
She
said it’s also important not to refer to Nagel’s work as a “fracking study” per
se, but rather one that addresses the impacts of oil and gas development beyond
just the fracking phase of the process.”
**Fracking Chemicals Found to
Disrupt Hormone Function
“Endocrine
disruptors interfere with the body’s endocrine system, which controls numerous
body functions with hormones such as the female hormone estrogen and the male
hormone androgen. Exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals has been linked by
other research to cancer, birth defects and infertility.
“More than 700 chemicals are used in the fracking process, and many of
them disturb hormone function,” researcher Susan Nagel, Ph.D, associate
professor of obstetrics, gynecology and women’s health at the University of
Missouri School of Medicine said in a media release. “With fracking on
the rise, populations may face greater health risks from increased
endocrine-disrupting chemical exposure.”
The study involved two parts. The research team performed laboratory tests of
12 suspected or known endocrine-disrupting chemicals used in hydraulic
fracturing, and measured the chemicals’ ability to mimic or block the effects
of the reproductive sex hormones estrogen and androgen. They found that 11 chemicals blocked estrogen hormones, 10 blocked
androgen hormones and one mimicked estrogen. The researchers also collected
samples of ground and surface water from several sites, including:
•
Accident sites in Garfield County, CO, where hydraulic fracturing
fluids had been spilled.
•
Nearby portions of the Colorado River, the major drainage source for
the region.
•
Other parts of Garfield County, CO, where there had been little
drilling.
•
Parts of Boone County, MO, which had experienced no natural gas
drilling
The
water samples from drilling sites demonstrated higher endocrine-disrupting
activity that could interfere with the body’s response to androgen and
estrogen hormones. Drilling site water
samples had moderate-to-high levels of endocrine-disrupting activity, and
samples from the Colorado River showed moderate levels. In comparison, the
researchers measured low levels of endocrine-disrupting activity in the
Garfield County, CO, sites that experienced little drilling and the Boone
County, MO, sites with no drilling.
“Fracking
is exempt from federal regulations to protect water quality, but spills
associated with natural gas drilling can contaminate surface, ground and
drinking water,” Nagel said. “We found more endocrine-disrupting activity in
the water close to drilling locations that had experienced spills than at
control sites. This could raise the risk of reproductive, metabolic,
neurological and other diseases, especially in children who are exposed to
endocrine-disrupting chemicals.”
The study, “Estrogen and Androgen Receptor Activities
of Hydraulic Fracturing Chemicals and Surface and Ground Water in a
Drilling-Dense Region,” will be published in the journal Endocrinology. http://ecowatch.com/2013/12/16/fracking-chemicals-found-to-disrupt-hormone-function/
**Estrogen and Androgen Receptor Activities of Hydraulic Fracturing
Chemicals and Surface and Ground Water in a Drilling-Dense Region
Christopher
D. Kassotis, et al.
Endocrinology
December 16, 2013 en.2013-1697
. “Hundreds of products containing more
than 750 chemicals and components are potentially used throughout the
extraction process, including over one hundred known or suspected endocrine
disrupting chemicals. We hypothesized that a selected subset of chemicals used
in natural gas drilling operations and also surface and ground water samples
collected in a drilling-dense region of Garfield County, CO would exhibit
estrogen and androgen receptor activities. Water
samples were collected, solid-phase extracted, and measured for estrogen and
androgen receptor activities using reporter gene assays in human cell lines. Of
the 39 unique water samples, 89%, 41%, 12%, and 46% exhibited estrogenic,
anti-estrogenic, androgenic, and anti-androgenic activities, respectively.
Testing of a subset of natural gas drilling chemicals revealed novel
anti-estrogenic, novel anti-androgenic, and limited estrogenic activities.
The Colorado
River, the drainage basin for this region, exhibited moderate levels of
estrogenic, anti-estrogenic, and anti-androgenic activities, suggesting that
higher localized activity at sites with known natural gas related spills
surrounding the river might be contributing to the multiple receptor activities
observed in this water source. The majority of water samples collected from
sites in a drilling-dense region of Colorado exhibited more estrogenic,
anti-estrogenic, or anti-androgenic activities than reference sites with
limited nearby drilling operations. Our
data suggest that natural gas drilling operations may result in elevated EDC
activity in surface and ground water. “
**Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals
Found At Fracking Sites Linked To Cancer, Infertility: Study
The Huffington Post | By Dominique Mosbergen
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/20/fracking-chemicals-cancer-study_n_4468243.html5
“EDCs,
which have the ability to interfere with normal hormone action, have been
linked to a number of health issues. Last
year, the World Health Organization issued a report highlighting the health
risks associated with the chemicals, including cancer, infertility and impaired
neural and immune function. Previous studies have also suggested that EDCs may
have adverse effects on the reproductive system in both women and men.”
14. Harvard Study Blows Apart Obama's Case for Natural Gas
“We've
long known that gas is only better than coal if it leaks at a rate of less than
2.7 times during production. The study makes it clear that gas wells are
leaking at least that much.
In his last two State of the Union
addresses, President Obama gave natural gas his full endorsement, and his party has followed suit. Now, a new study from researchers at Harvard has found that methane
concentrations in the atmosphere are higher than thought. Obama's embrace of
natural gas, it now appears, is actually an anti-science position that the
president must reverse if he is serious about tackling the climate crisis.
The president's "all of the above" energy strategy has been revealed
for what it is: A naked attempt to please everyone (except the physics and
chemistry of the planet) and a failed attempt to create a shield against the
GOP's claims that Obama is against the exploitation of fossil fuels.
The Harvard study, "Anthropogenic Emissions of Methane in the United States," found that greenhouse gas
emissions from "fossil fuel extraction and processing (i.e., oil and/or
natural gas) are likely a factor of two or greater than cited in existing
studies." In regards to methane,
and this is key, the researchers found that "fossil fuel extraction and
processing could be 4.9 +/- 2.6 times larger than in EDGAR, the most
comprehensive global methane inventory."
The great promise of gas was that it
could replace coal and reduce GHG emissions, but only if methane didn't leak
into the atmosphere during drilling or transport, and only if natural gas
didn't crowd out renewable energy development.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-kessler/harvard-study-blows-apart_b_4393599.html?utm_hp_ref=fracking
15. The Fracking/Real Estate Conundrum
Are home value declines near
wells another multi-billion dollar subsidy for oil and gas industry?
“New research indicates that many of the
15.3 million Americans living within a mile of a hydraulically fractured well
that’s been drilled since 2000 may have lost or be in the process of losing a
good portion of their wealth as a result of this drilling activity.
So just how big of a loss are we talking
about cumulatively? If the research is correct, it’s billions upon billions of
dollars. As a matter of perspective, recent research indicates that
drilling wells within just one mid-size community such as Longmont could, in a worst-case scenario, trigger a drop in home values of more than
15 percent. And a 15 percent drop in Longmont real estate values, a town
with a population of only 88,000, would equal somewhere around a $1.2 billion
loss.
The
losses of those living near wells is due to the diminishing values of their
homes and property as a result of the fact that
an increasing number of buyers have become hesitant to purchase real estate
near fracked wells and their accompanying industrial production platforms.
It also doesn’t help that fracking/oil and gas shale development is also threatening
the primary and secondary mortgage markets. No buyer, no sale. No mortgage, no
sale. It’s that simple.
For
the most part, the real estate market operates on just one principle; if a
prospective buyer isn’t sure that they will be able to sell a property later
for at least what they paid for it today, they won’t buy. Because of that apprehension,
regardless of whether or not it is justified, a growing number of people don’t
want to live or invest in a property near an existing well or even in an area
that could one day end up with a well nearby because some third party owns the
mineral rights.
Because
perception is reality in the real estate market, informed buyers and qualified real estate agents are beginning to steer
clear of houses and properties near oil and gas shale plays unless they are at
a substantial discount to similar properties that are not threatened by such
drilling activity. And if buyers and agents are aware of fracking’s impact
on real estate values, you can bet that banks are also well aware of their
potential exposure when lending money in those same areas.
If
housing prices in an area fall because of the fear of fracking, then lenders
stop lending in areas where fracking may occur, and when that happens, prices
in those areas fall still further. Like many ups and downs within the
investment community, it is a chain reaction triggered entirely by perception,
but the results are all too real.
First,
if people in communities and counties sitting atop oil and gas shale formations
realize that they could potentially lose 5 percent to 20 percent of their
property values should drilling occur anywhere near their homes, they would
likely go the same route as Colorado’s Front Range citizens and begin to vote
for moratoriums and outright bans on fracking. And that would create a
disastrous delay for an industry whose economic vitality is literally dependent
upon its ability to drill, produce and export our natural gas overseas as
quickly as possible.
Foreign
markets are currently willing to pay as much as four times the going rate for
gas here in the states, but that won’t last forever. In fact, it is predicted
that most foreign markets will be using their own domestically produced shale
gas within the next five to 10 years.
The
second reason the industry claims that oil and gas shale development is a
positive for real estate values is because it has been so in some select areas.
These exceptions to the lower price-near-drilling rule are often used as
examples by the industry to try and quell a community’s fear that its real
estate values could be harmed by nearby drilling activity. But it seems a
somewhat disingenuous argument when all the facts are known.
Communities that have experienced a boost
in real estate prices due to oil and gas shale development tend to be small,
isolated towns located in close proximity to a major shale play during the
drilling phase.
For
example, Williston, N.D., has seen an extraordinary increase in property values
due to the current oil shale drilling boom in the Bakken formation. Why this
has occurred is not a mystery, nor is it applicable to other locations around the country such as the
Front Range of Colorado.
In
Williston, 15,000 mostly short-term (a few years at best) workers have descended,
almost overnight, onto the tiny town with a population of 12,000 locals who already occupied nearly all
of the 5,230 existing houses in the community.
As
a result, wheat fields around the town have become home to thousands of travel
trailers and motor homes of every size and shape. In these “man camps,” as they’re called by locals, it’s not unusual to
find recently arrived workers paying thousands of dollars a month for the
privilege of sleeping in a bunk in a crowded travel trailer. Many workers wind
up living in their cars.
It’s
true that existing home prices in the
area have increased three- to fivefold because, during the drilling boom, they
are being sold as rental properties that can be used to house the glut of
workers who are willing to pay thousands to share a room with four to six of
their oil-patch pals. Fast money tends to inflate things.
Like
the landlords, the local restaurants in Williston are enjoying the boom, but
they are also shelling out $25 an hour just to get someone to wipe down tables
or wash dishes. And more often than not, the restaurant owners also have to
provide housing for employees in the form of a trailer in the eatery’s parking
lot.
But as with all booms, the bust will
most assuredly come when the brunt of the drilling activity moves on to the
next play. This is Williston’s third “boom” since 1981. I was there for the
first one and can assure you that the real estate prices went up and then fell
back to reality as soon as the rig count plummeted and the oilies moved on.
The
only thing that will be left when the current boom subsides will be a
devastated little North Dakota town with a bad case of culture shock and a few
new tattoos.
This
is what has happened to some extent in small towns near shale plays all across
the country, including Colorado towns
like Rifle and Trinidad that have already experienced the boom and bust cycles
attributable to shale gas.
The
housing additions that were new and promising a few years ago are today
bank-owned eyesores. The new restaurants,
hotels and businesses that came have mostly gone. Today even the businesses
that existed before the wells came are struggling to hold on now that the oil
patch has shifted to the next unsuspecting, ill-prepared community.
It
seems hardly an honest position for the oil and gas industry to point to such
boomtowns as examples of oil and gas shale development’s positive influence on
real estate values. Industry folks know that, for the most part, the benefit to
real estate values only occurs during a drilling boom phase of development due
to severe housing shortages for workers in less populated corners of rural
America.
In most areas where a larger population
exists before the rigs move in — areas such as Colorado’s Front Range or
similarly populated parts of Pennsylvania, New York and Texas — researchers have found that fracking has a
substantial and negative influence over real estate prices.
In these more populated, more developed
areas there is no upward pressure on housing prices when the drilling comes
because there is ample housing and other businesses to handle any
short-term influx of the drilling related workforce.
So
the real, long-term impact on housing values for most Americans living near oil
and gas shale development is to the downside due to the perception, right or
wrong, that drilling and fracking may contaminate the air and water, create a
visual/noise nuisance and threaten public health, at least that is what the
research is finding.
A recent study titled “A Review of Hydro-Fracking
and its Potential Impacts on Real Estate” which was conducted by the University
of Denver’s Ron Throupe, a professor in the Daniels College of Business, along
with his DU colleague Xue Mao and Robert A. Simons of Cleveland State
University, found that the term “fracking” is having an influence on public
opinion, and that when it comes to real estate, that influence is likely
causing people to not buy or at best pay less for homes near such oil and gas
activity.
The
study surveyed homeowners in Texas, Alabama and Florida. The homeowners were
asked if they would buy a home under certain conditions, which included that
“an energy company had bought the rights to (frack. Jan)…..
In Texas, where residents have
had a long relationship with the oil and gas industry, only about a quarter of
those surveyed said they would be willing to purchase the house. Of those who said they would
still purchase the home, the best offers were around 6 percent below what
should have been the home’s market value.
In
a recent interview, Throupe told BW that in a county such as Boulder, where the apprehension over
fracking is quite high, it is likely that homes near drilling operations could
easily lose as much as 20 percent of their value. And he also pointed out
that it isn’t just the homes adjacent to drilling that are being impacted. For
instance, if a well is being drilled and fracked on the edge of a housing
addition or within a town, the homes located in close proximity to the well
and/or production platform will decrease in value, but so will all the homes within the addition or within a certain
distance to the well. This loss in real estate value to homes that can’t even
be seen from a well site is due to the comparable sales process used during the
appraisal process.
The
DU research also found that other
factors near drilling operations, such as whether or not a home was on well
water or city supplied water, also influenced potential purchasers’
willingness to buy and pricing.
In 2004, another study titled, “The impact of oil and natural gas facilities on
rural residential property values: a spatial hedonic analysis” was conducted by
Peter C. Boxall and Melville L. McMillan of the University of Alberta and Wing
H. Chan of Ontario’s Wilfrid Laurier University. For simplicity this research
will be referred to as the Boxall study.
The
peer-reviewed Boxall study is believed to be the first actual study of the
impact of oil and gas industry activity on real estate values. Because it
examined a region on the edge of a significant population center, its findings
may well be applicable to Colorado’s Front Range.
The Boxell study looked at the
impact of gas wells and other associated industry development such as pipelines
and production facilities on the values of real estate located just on the edge
of Calgary, a million-plus-population city in Alberta, Canada. So the study
looked at a populated area more similar to Colorado’s Front Range or the
Barnett Shale’s proximity to Fort Worth, Texas, as opposed to a small isolated
town like Williston, N.D.
The Canadian researchers examined
how the fear of health risks from gas wells and the perceived lost amenity
attributes caused by wells affected real estate values.
However,
the peer-reviewed Boxell study researchers found that all three industry-funded
papers had serious shortcomings in the processes used to arrive at their
conclusions and that the findings were, in fact, in error.
The Boxell study concluded, “The
results of this analysis strongly suggest that the presence of oil and gas
facilities can have significant negative impacts on the values of neighboring
rural residential properties.”
The report found that properties located within four
kilometers (2.48 miles) of gas wells lost between 4 percent and 8 percent of
their value.
Perhaps
most importantly, the Boxell study researchers also recommended that the
findings of this study and others that would be done subsequently should be
used in the U.S. and Canada as a way to
help determine proper compensation to homeowners whose property values have
been negatively impacted by oil and gas activity.
If oil
and gas companies were legally made to pay proper compensation for surface
damages, which logically should include real estate value damages to
homeowners, it is likely that much of the proposed drilling near populated
areas such as Colorado Front Range communities like Longmont, Lafayette, Fort
Collins and Broomfield would be deemed uneconomical,
as damages could easily reach into the tens of millions of dollars or more for
any well located in close proximity to concentrated housing.
At this
point, the only reason that oil and gas companies can drill close to or even
within communities is because outdated state laws regarding surface damages
which exclude real estate value losses to nearby homeowners are, in fact,
acting as a multi-billion dollar subsidy for the world’s most profitable
industry.
And this is only the impact that
the oil and gas industry is having on real estate values. Next week BW will be
examining how oil and gas development is
threatening to implode the primary and secondary mortgage markets of the United
States. It’s a problem that has thus far stumped some of the best legal
minds in the country. But a solution must be found quickly before the next
chain reaction starts unwinding more financial markets.”
http://www.boulderweekly.com/article-12047-the-fracking_real-estate-conundrum.html
16. DEP Relied On Driller for Franklin Forks Investigation
Says John
Hanger
“Democratic gubernatorial candidate
John Hanger criticized DEP's handling of a water contamination case during a press
conference .
Hanger is accusing the DEP
of giving WPX too much influence over the investigation of a high-profile
water contamination complaint in Susquehanna County. `
Hanger, a former
DEP secretary, said that DEP handed key
portions of its investigation into the cause of high levels of methane, metals
and salt in the groundwater in Franklin Forks to WPX Energy, the company
accused of damaging the water supplies.
A DEP
spokeswoman said the agency routinely asks for reports from companies suspected
of causing environmental impacts and it also gathers information from people
making complaints.
“Our
determination is based totally on our 16-month investigation by our trained oil
and gas specialists,” spokeswoman Colleen Connolly said. “We review all
the evidence and reach our own independent conclusion. WPX Energy had no say in
our conclusion.”
DEP
has refused to release its own report of the investigation, citing a need to
protect residents’ private information. DEP regularly makes available or redacts
homeowners’ names, addresses and water quality data in its public files, but
Connolly reiterated Thursday that DEP will not release the report “at this
point.”
Hanger, who said he has not seen DEP’s report, said WPX’s
involvement in the Franklin Forks investigation differs from normal information
exchanges between regulators and companies.
“From
what I can determine, this is a case where DEP has actually relied on WPX to do
major parts of the investigation,” he said during a press conference
outside DEP’s Wilkes-Barre office. “These investigations need to have DEP staff
and DEP resources in charge.”
Last week, Hanger called for DEP to reopen
the Franklin Forks investigation to consider new data about the well water
gathered by an Ohio State University scientist.
In November,
WPX won a court order to remove temporary water supplies it had installed last year at
two Franklin Forks homes. The company dropped that effort on Friday and donated the water
tanks to the families instead after critics called the company’s actions
cold-hearted.” LAURA LEGERE / STATEIMPACT PENNSYLVANIA
http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2013/12/19/dep-relied-on-gas-driller-for-franklin-forks-investigation-candidate-claims/
17. Top Pipeline Regulator: Lack of
Oversight ‘Keeps Me Up At Night’
Some
200,000 miles of rural gathering lines go entirely unregulated.
'In
Pennsylvania, everything has been up to the industry to police themselves—whether
it’s wellpads, whether it’s pipelines, whatever it is. … Our governor has
handed over the keys of the state to the gas industry.'
While the natural gas industry has long insisted that pipelines are a
safe means of transportation, hundreds of accidents have punctuated the shale
gas boom of the last five years.
Usually they’re not
fatal: In 2013, there have been dozens of leaks and explosions on gas pipelines
in sparsely populated areas—in rural Wyoming, Texas, Missouri, Louisiana and West Virginia, to name a few—without any loss of life. But such
accidents in crowded areas can be deadly. In September 2010, a gas pipeline
explosion in the San Francisco suburb of San Bruno killed eight, injured 58 and leveled several
blocks. The following year, five people died in a similar explosion on a
pipeline in Allentown, Pa.
Since most pipeline operators have
to meet a bare minimum of safety requirements, critics have often charged the
federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) with
failing to properly oversee the hundreds of thousands of interstate pipelines
that fall within its jurisdiction. It’s no secret that the small-budget agency
based in the Department of Transportation—whose 151 inspectors are tasked with
covering more than 2 million miles of pipeline across the country—has its fair share of troubles in fulfilling its
regulatory mandate.
But while PHMSA has enough trouble looking after
its existing jurisdiction, a high-ranking agency official recently
expressed major concern about something that remains outside of her agency’s
watch entirely. More than 200,000 miles
of energy pipelines aren’t subject to any federal or state regulation at all:
the so-called “gathering lines” that transport mostly gas, but some oil,
directly from wells to processing sites.
“What keeps me up at
night? Gathering lines,” Linda Daugherty, PHMSA’s deputy associate
administrator for field operations, told a
crowd of safety advocates at the Pipeline Safety Trust’s annual conference
in New Orleans last month. “There’s a whole lot of gathering lines out
there that no one is inspecting. There are no safety standards applicable to
those lines, and no safety agency or regulator is looking at them.”
Unlike larger
transmission pipelines, which typically transport oil and gas over long
distances, and distribution lines, which deliver consumable energy to customers, federal regulations don’t apply to about
90 percent of the nation’s 240,000 miles of gathering lines.
That means that unless a state has its own regulations—and most of them
don’t—nobody’s looking after the pipelines. What’s more, the lack of basic
data-collection requirements at both the federal and state levels means that
nobody knows exactly how many pipelines are out there.
“Overall, there’s no
requirement to report accidents to PHMSA, so nobody really knows how many are
occurring,” says Darin Burk, head of the National Association of Pipeline
Safety Representatives and pipeline safety program manager at the Illinois
Commerce Commission. “I personally have heard of one or two in this state over
the years, but whether that’s all that’s happened, I couldn’t tell you.”
PHMSA regulates pipelines according to “class”—a category that’s largely
determined by the number of buildings that fall within a 660 feet radius of the
line. The roughly 10 percent of gathering lines that cross medium to
high-density areas—classes 2, 3 and 4—have to meet minimum safety requirements.
But the 90 percent that fall under class 1 do not.
Although these
unregulated lines are, in theory, traversing only rural areas, that’s not
exactly a reassuring thought for the people living near them, especially in
shale-rich parts of the country where contractors are hard at work installing
more and more infrastructure to keep the gas flowing.
“They get to say in the
event of an incident, it’s only forest or trees that will be affected, not the
population,” says Meryl Solar, 60, a retired computer programmer living in New
Milford, Pa., whose house sits about 2,000 feet from DTE Energy’s unregulated Bluestone
Gathering Line. “I guess I’m just either a forest or a tree, so are my neighbors.”
The Bluestone is one of
many new lines to be installed in the fracking hotbed of Susquehanna County,
supplying gas from the Marcellus Shale to transmission lines in New York and
the southern portion of the county. Although
Pennsylvania is home to one of the richest shale formations in the nation, it’s
one of many states that lacks gathering-line regulations: The law
simply requires contractors and homeowners to notify the state before they start any
digging or excavation projects. That means it’s up to residents like Solar to
do the kind of basic safety oversight that one might typically expect of
regulators.
Solar says she received
a booklet from DTE Energy about how to take “shared responsibility” for the
pipeline, such as detecting potential leaks. She says the pamphlet included an
erroneous suggestion to be alert for strange odors (unprocessed natural gas is
odorless). The booklet also urged her to be on the lookout for what the
industry calls “third-party intrusions”—that is, any unauthorized guests or
construction crews who might pose a threat to the pipeline’s integrity.
An accident waiting to happen?
The lack of oversight is of growing concern as the natural gas industry
continues to expand. Of course, the more wells that are dug, the more gathering
lines will be needed to transport the shale gas that’s extracted. Indeed the
number of miles covered by such lines is expected to reach about 640,000 by
2035, according to the Interstate
Natural Gas Association of America.
But the sheer growth in
pipeline mileage isn’t the only safety concern.
Today’s gathering
lines are larger and pumping gas at higher pressures than ever before.
Traditionally, they were 2 to 12 inches in diameter. By contrast, today’s
shale-bearing ones range anywhere from 12 to 36 inches and feature maximum
allowable pressures that far exceed “historical operating parameters,” a PHMSA advisory committee found two years ago.
The Bluestone Line that
runs by Solar’s house, for instance, ranges from 16 to 20 inches in diameter.
On its website, DTE Energy boasts of the “high pressure” system that “has the
ability to move a larger volume of gas through a single line.” It’s not just
the Bluestone—whether it’s other drilling-intensive areas lying in the
Marcellus Shale or further out West in North Dakota’s Bakken Shale, large
high-pressure lines are the new norm.
They’re also encroaching
into more populated zones.
“Over the years, the location of gathering lines has
changed,” says Darin Burk. “They used to be pretty rural, non-populated, a lot
of the time on private property. Well with the shale gas development, that’s
changing. The gathering lines are starting to get into the more populated
areas.”
What’s the hold-up?
Even
the most basic federal oversight has proceeded at a snail’s pace. In 1992,
Congress passed the Pipeline Safety Act, which gave PHMSA the authority to
regulate gathering lines for the first time. But it wasn’t until 2006 that PHMSA actually published a rule that defined
what a “gas gathering line” was—a decision it reached through extensive
collaboration with the energy industry.
The
charge that PHMSA is more of a friend to the oil and gas industry than a
regulator is a familiar one.’ ”
Even
so, one might have expected the Obama administration to usher in new oil and
gas pipeline safety rules after the costly million-gallon spill in the
Kalamazoo River in July 2010 and the San Bruno tragedy.
But efforts to draft an array of
new pipeline regulations in the wake of these tragedies, which would make a
flurry of improvements such as new leak detection requirements and better
safety inspections, have ground to halt. Earlier this year, a
high-ranking PHMSA official, Jeffrey Wiese, described the process as “kind of dying.”
Rulemaking on gathering lines has similarly
stalled.
When
asked what’s taking the agency so long, Hill says that the gas pipeline rule in
question covers a variety of different topics and that the agency has to
balance its competing concerns and “prioritize things.” PHMSA has dozens of congressional mandates,
mostly housekeeping requirements and reports, from the 2011 Pipeline Safety
Act, in addition to recommendations from the Government Accountability Office
and Inspector General.
Political
pressures have probably also driven the rule’s delay. Both Congress and the
White House would likely prefer that PHMSA not undercut the mandates of the
Pipeline Safety Act by preemptively issuing its own sweeping rules on gathering
lines—and other topics.
But
if the energy industry has its way—not an unlikely prospect, given PHMSA’s
institutional history—it’s hard to imagine a rule that simply extends existing
safety regulations to all gathering lines. The
American Petroleum Institute, the Independent Petroleum Association of America
and Gas Processors Association are all opposed to extending those regulations
before implementing basic data collection requirements. Since those basic data
collection requirements would likely need to come first, an expansion of
existing safety regulations is probably at least a couple years away.
In the meantime, PHMSA is encouraging states to
pass their own regulations. Texas and Ohio, for example, recently passed new
safety requirements on gathering lines. It remains unclear how many other
shale-rich states will follow suit.
Solar, for one, isn’t too optimistic about the
prospects of that happening in her state.
“They’ve
pretty much dug up all of rural Pennsylvania,” she says. “In Pennsylvania,
everything has been up to the industry to police themselves—whether it’s
wellpads, whether it’s pipelines, whatever it is. … Our governor has handed
over the keys of the state to the gas industry.”
Cole Stangler is an In These Times staff writer
based in northeast D.C., covering Congress, corruption and politics in
Washington. His reporting has appeared in The Huffington Post and The American
Prospect. He can be reached at cole[at]inthesetimes.com. Follow him on Twitter
@colestangler. http://inthesetimes.com/article/16020/top_pipeline_regulator_says_lack_of_oversight_keeps_her_up_at_night/
18. ALEC Calls for ‘Guerilla Warfare’ To
Weaken Carbon Emissions Standards
From National Resources Defense Council
“The American
Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a clandestine network of corporations and
conservative state lawmakers held a special session to discuss upcoming EPA carbon-pollution standards for power
plants.
According to reports,
ALEC members and industry lawyers
encouraged state legislators to limit their states’ cooperation with EPA, and
even to engage in “guerrilla warfare” to weaken the agency’s ability to reduce
carbon pollution.
Participants in the
closed-door ALEC Environment Task Force meeting at the summit also discussed
two draft resolutions to obstruct EPA’s carbon pollution standards. These resolutions, when introduced by ALEC
members in state legislatures next year, will bear no mark of the corporations
that designed them in the ALEC Task Force.
While it is known
that American Electric Power chairs that ALEC task force, the current list of
corporate members is secret. However, thanks
to leaked internal ALEC documents, environmental advocates know the 2011
corporate member participants. They include American Coalition for Clean Coal
Electricity (ACCCE), American Electric Power Company, American Gas Association,
American Petroleum Institute, BP, Duke Energy Corporation, Edison Electric
Institute, Exxon Mobil Corporation and Peabody Energy. “
19. Faith
motivates Michael and Karen Bagdes-Canning
“As leaders in the Marcellus
Outreach Butler, the couple has joined with dozens of Butler County residents
to call attention to the dangers they believe fracking poses to people's lives.
They said their work is largely motivated by their Catholic faith and the
legacy they leave their grandchildren.
"I think we're
called to be stewards of the planet," Michael, 60, a longtime member of
the Cherry Valley Borough Council, told Catholic News Service.
Karen, 58, who taught
autistic children before retiring, said she was just as concerned about the
future facing the couple's grandchildren.
"The plan,"
she explained, "was to be involved with the grandkids, organic farming,
the animals, feeding ourselves, living a healthy lifestyle. Then we heard about
this (fracking) and we thought that's going to be all shot to hell."
Michael, who taught
teenagers in a state juvenile detention facility for 29 years, believes
otherwise. He has seen normally
healthy people become ill with nausea, severe nose bleeds, unexplained skin
rashes, breathing difficulties, hair loss and even leukemia where the symptoms
developed only after a well has been constructed and the fracking process was
executed. He has seen playful pets die after their owners unknowingly provided
them contaminated water. The
Bagdes-Cannings keep a one-gallon container of orange-tinged water collected in
August from a home in a rural community known as the Woodlands near Butler,
Pa., to show what came out of one homeowner's tap after a well was put into
operation nearby.
Michael acknowledged that it is
difficult to legally prove the ill health of residents to natural gas drilling.
But he said he would rather be safe than sorry and wants to see stronger
regulations of the natural gas industry not just in Pennsylvania but across the
country. The couple maintained they are
speaking out for future generations. "What
kind of thing are we leaving our grandchildren?" Michael said of fracking.
"How am I going to look at (my grandson) and see the planet is
irretrievably harmed? What am I going to say when he asks 'What did you do?' I
gotta say 'I did something, at least I tried.’”
20. Chesapeake Fined $3.2 Million For
Water Violations in WVa
“U.S. federal regulators said oil and gas company
Chesapeake Energy Corp will pay a civil penalty of $3.2 million to settle
Clean Water Act violations in West Virginia where it drills in the Marcellus
Shale.
Chesapeake
will also pay an estimated $6.5 million to restore streams and wetlands. The U.S. oil
and gas company allegedly dumped rocks, sand and dirt into wetlands while
building drill sites and roads, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Companies using hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling construct
drilling pads for rigs by clearing land that is then covered by crushed rock.
Roads also need to be built to accommodate truck traffic to and from drilling
sites.
The
$3.2 million penalty, one of the largest of its kind ever levied by the federal
government, is for violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA), which prohibits the
filling or damming of wetlands, rivers, streams, and other U.S. waters without
a federal permit, the regulators said.
"Chesapeake
Appalachia LLC has reached a key milestone in the settlement process to resolve
federal and state claims relating to surface construction activities that
occurred in West Virginia prior to November 2010," the company said in a
statement.
The settlement, which required court
approval, also resolves alleged violations of state law brought by West
Virginia's Department of Environmental Protection.
In December 2012, the
Oklahoma City, the Oklahoma company pleaded guilty to three violations of the
Clean Water Act related to natural gas drilling in Wetzel
County, at one of the sites subject to this latest settlement.
Chesapeake was
sentenced to pay a $600,000 penalty to the federal government for discharging
crushed stone and gravel into Blake Fork, a local stream, to create a roadway
to improve access to a drilling site. The company has already fully restored
the damage done to the site.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/19/us-chesapeake-penalty-idUSBRE9BI19Z20131219
Donations
We are very appreciative
of donations, both large and small, 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/Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group. And in the Reminder line
please write- Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group. The reason for this
is that we are one project of 12 at Thomas Merton. You can send your check to:
Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group, PO Box 1040, Latrobe, PA, 15650. 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.
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 and Thomas Merton Liason-Lou Pochet
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
