Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group Updates
December 12, 2013
To view photos, please sign up for newsletter at westmcg@gmail.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.
I have not yet
received links to the Duquesne Seminar or the League of Women Voters Seminar on
fracking—both were videotaped. If anyone has this information, please forward
it to me to share with the group.
Donations- Our
Sincere Thanks For Your Support!
The
Paluselli family
Jan
Kiefer
Mary
Steisslinger
Wanda
and Joe Guthrie
Lou and Dorothy Pochet for donating to group
printing costs.
Joe
and Judy Evans for printing costs of fracking tri-folds.
Jan
and Jack Milburn for donating to group printing costs.
Harriet
Ellenberger for donating to group printing costs.
WMCG Happenings
***Several of us have been flyering with handouts on fracking,
seismic testing, and health. We need more help though. (See flyercising below)
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.
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. Pick
any frack topic and get it in the public eye.***
The
following petitions and actions are active.
1. Wetlands and Streams –Unlimited Impacts
From PA Forest
Coalition
“This is big. It
almost went under the radar -- It would allow virtually unlimited impacts to
wetlands and streams from "temporary" (up to 2 years) activities that
currently need an Individual Permit.
The PADEP has
proposed to modify and reissue Chapter 105 General Permit 8.
Public comments on
this proposal are being accepted until 10 January 2014.
Comments can be emailed to:
RA-GP8Comments@pa.gov
For USPS :
Kenneth
Murin, Chief
Division of
Wetlands, Encroachments, and Training
PADEP Bureau
of Waterways Engineering and Wetlands
P.O. Box 8460
Harrisburg,
PA 17105-8460
Below are some
"talking points" to help you get started on you message.
Feel free to modify
or tailor the comments for your own use.
Please circulate them as widely as possible.
TALKING POINTS -
· The proposed modification of GP-8 is
contrary to the goals of environmental protection that the PADEP is supposed to
uphold.
· It represents a veiled attempt to
create an umbrella General Permit that can authorize virtually unlimited
impacts to wetlands and streams from a wide range of disparate activities
apparently associated with oil and gas operations, but which could be utilized
by other enterprises as well.
· The proposed modification
inappropriately expands the scope of covered activities.
· While GP-8 currently authorizes only
temporary road crossings, the proposed GP-8 would also authorize temporary electric
and telephone lines, water lines, and other pipelines as large as 24 inches in
diameter carrying undefined “pollutional materials”
· The proposed changes would allow
"temporary testing and monitoring activities" that conceivably could
encompass full-scale exploratory gas well projects.
IT GETS
WORSE:
· The proposed GP-8 sets minimal or no
limitations on the length or area of streams and wetlands that can be impacted
"temporarily" (up to 2 years)
· Sets no special restrictions on its use
or eligibility in Special Protection (EV or HQ) waters,
· Provides no mechanism to assure full
restoration of disturbed wetlands and streams, and
· Severely restricts transparency and
public oversight.
Happy
holidays to the industry; humbug to our environment?
Don’t
let it happen. Act now
R. Martin Coordinator
2. Tell FERC---Stop
Rubber-Stamping Frack Pipelines
On
September 29, Steven Jensen, a farmer in North Dakota, discovered a massive
865,000-gallon fracked oil spill in a wheat field on his land. The spill, which
is one of the largest inland oil-pipeline accidents in the United States ever,
may have gone on for weeks unnoticed before it was discovered.
The
spill in North Dakota is not an isolated incident. Every week there are news
reports about pipeline leaks and explosions that contaminate our land and water
and sometimes kill. But instead of fixing its crumbling infrastructure, the oil
and gas industry has embarked on a reckless spending spree. It wants to
build thousands of miles of new pipelines so that it can frack America and make
us dependent on dirty fossil fuels for decades to come.
We
have to speak out now to stop it. The petition, which is to the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, says the following:
America
doesn’t need endless pipelines and related infrastructure that impact local
communities and that choke off the development of clean, renewable energy
supplies. It is time for FERC to put down its rubber stamp and place a
moratorium on new fracking and oil- and gas-related infrastructure projects.
Tell the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission: Stop approving
oil and gas infrastructure.
Private
land is seized by eminent domain. Dangerous and polluting compressor stations
are constructed in the middle of residential neighborhoods. One gas pipeline is
slated to cut through the Gateway National Recreation Area. And now there’s a
plan to build another large and potentially explosive pipeline near a nuclear
reactor in one of the most densely populated areas of the country.
How
can this happen? Isn’t anyone looking out for the public’s safety and welfare?
That "someone" should be FERC, the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission. It’s supposed to consider “public convenience and
necessity” before permitting projects like these. But it’s fallen down on the
job. Instead of critically examining all the impacts associated with oil and
gas infrastructure, it’s become a rubber stamp for an industry that has shown
that it doesn’t give a damn about the health and safety of the American people.
Tell FERC that America doesn’t need endless
pipelines and related infrastructure that impact local communities and choke
off the development of clean, renewable energy supplies.
Will you join me and add your name to my petition to
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to demand that it stop approving oil
and gas infrastructure?
Thank you for your
support.
Jill Wiener
Frack Links
***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.
You can find the video on
PennEnvironment's
website, www.PennEnvironment.org, and also here:
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.
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. New Poll: Gas Drillers Should Minimize Impact On Nature
By Don Hopey / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Results
of a poll by The Nature Conservancy
in the six-state Marcellus Shale region of the Appalachians indicate strong
support for better regional planning to minimize impacts on forest and water
resources, as well as tougher environmental safeguards.
The poll
shows that a majority of those polled --
54 percent -- say conservation of natural habitats and water resources should
be a higher priority than shale gas development, even if that would produce
higher energy costs. Forty-two percent of those polled say creation of new gas
industry jobs should be a higher priority.
"Clearly
people value forests and rivers and natural habitats, and they don't want to
see natural gas development come at the expense of those areas," said Nels
Johnson, the oil and gas lead for the conservancy's North America Energy
Program.
Asked
about government actions to regulate shale gas development, overwhelming majorities said they support
requiring drilling companies to: avoid
damaging forests and streams important for hunting, fishing and hiking (93
percent); follow regional plans for location of wells and pipelines to minimize
wildlife habitat impacts (93 percent); mitigate adverse impacts to forests and
water quality (92 percent); and base well locations on sound science (91
percent).
Majorities above 80 percent said
they favored requiring drillers to take measures to prevent methane releases
during drilling, performing regional studies to determine how much water
fracking will use and where it will come from, and establishing a state
commission to set gas drilling standards.
Mr.
Johnson said he was surprised by the strong public support for regional
planning for locating shale gas development sites.
"There's been a lot of
polling on fracking and a lot of attention paid to economic issues, but not
much focus by policymakers on natural habitat issues," he said. "But
this [poll] shows that even though the policymakers aren't focused on valuable
habitat, the public is."
The Nature Conservancy poll
release is the first part of a multistage program aimed at minimizing the shale
gas development impacts on natural habitat and water resources. The conservancy
also is working with drilling companies to develop new tools to guide the
industry's siting of well pads, pipelines and other shale gas infrastructure to
minimize damage to natural habitats.
Travis Windle, a spokesman for
the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a gas industry lobbying organization, said he
wasn't aware of any coalition member companies working with the conservancy.”
2. Dr. Tony Ingraffea Speaks in Butler
From Sierra Club Allegheny
“ To an
audience of about 260 people, on November 21, Prof. Tony Ingraffea of Cornell
University spoke at the second of the grassroots Fracking & Health Speaker Series. This talk was titled “The
Science of Shale Gas: The Latest Evidence on Leaky Wells, Methane Emissions,
and Implications for Policy“. Prof. Ingraffea is the president of
Physicians, Scientists and Engineers for Healthy Energy, a nonprofit group. The
following summary is based on notes made by SC member Paul Heckbert.
Ingraffea described
the current situation:
PA gas
and oil wells leak at a significant rate. Leak means gas or liquid coming up
outside the casing (pipe) due to faulty cement between the casing and the
drilled hole. About 5% leak at first.
About 10-70% leak after 15 years (percentage depends on which set of wells you
look at).
The target density of wells in PA is about
10 wells per square mile. Wells drilled since 2009 leak at a higher rate
(probability) than older ones. Wells drilled in northeastern PA leak at higher rates than those in the rest of the
state, probably because of more complex geologic strata, and drilling haste.
Unconventional
wells (those using directional drilling and horizontal drilling) leak at about
4 times the rate of conventional wells (vertical drilling).
Inadequate
pollution protection:
Many DEP inspection reports have notes
indicating a leaky well, yet the inspector failed to report a violation when
they should have. There are hundreds of thousands of gas and oil wells in
PA. Many are abandoned and/or lost. The state is falling behind at keeping
track of them. Volunteers have begun to search for them. (Old abandoned wells provide a
conduit for chemicals and methane from fracking to reach groundwater. Jan)
The
state needs much stricter inspection, enforcement, and penalties. If drillers
are merely given a slap on the wrist when wells leak and contaminate water, ,
it will not curb their misbehavior. Fines must be many times larger.
The problem with methane:
A lot of
methane leaks from gas wells. Methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than
CO2, so curbing methane emission would slow global warming faster than cutting
back on CO2 release. Overall, natural gas appears to be worse for global
warming than coal. But data on methane leaks is limited; more measurement is
needed.
The gas industry says “PA water wells were
contaminated with methane before we ever fracked” but they fail to talk about concentrations.
Methane (and other) concentrations rose
dramatically and dangerously after drilling, in some areas.
Natural
gas is not “clean” or a “bridge fuel”. We should transition to solar & wind
power. We can’t eliminate all use of fossil fuels — they’re useful for
airplanes — but we should reduce their use for cars, buses, trucks, and home
heating.
In concluding, Ingraffea is optimistic that one day Exxon,
say, will announce: “we need to get off fossil fuels; Exxon will lead the way“.
Filed under: Marcellus,News — pwray @ December 8, 2013,
12:12 pm
3. Thumper Trucks
Coming to Murrysville
(From the Mt Watershed handout on seismic testing---
“Know your protections: If damage to property occurs legal recourse requires documented proof of conditions before and after. The seismic firm may offer to complete a home survey before testing occurs, or you may ask them. Seismic firms are not required to do a pre-‐test survey. Requests from community members and area officials may influence a company’s offering of home surveys. To file a claim, it is necessary to have binding evidence.”)
“Know your protections: If damage to property occurs legal recourse requires documented proof of conditions before and after. The seismic firm may offer to complete a home survey before testing occurs, or you may ask them. Seismic firms are not required to do a pre-‐test survey. Requests from community members and area officials may influence a company’s offering of home surveys. To file a claim, it is necessary to have binding evidence.”)
“It’s
certainly not a lot of money, but landowners in the Murrysville (Westmoreland
County), PA area may have the opportunity to pick up some pocket change. One
method used in seismic testing–finding out what’s down there–is to use “thumper
trucks” that pound the ground, sending sound waves into the earth that are
recorded with special equipment which allows geologists to draw maps of
underground rock structures.
ION
Geophysical Corporation of Houston, TX is sending thumper trucks to the
Murrysville area in February, and landowners who are selected and agree to
allow the trucks access on their land can get a one-time payment of $5 per
acre. Depending on how much land you own, it will at least buy a few cups of
coffee at Starbucks…”
http://marcellusdrilling.com/2013/12/thumper-trucks-coming-to-murrysville-make-a-very-few-bucks/?utm_source=Marcellus+Drilling+News&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=bc44a030e1-MDN_Daily_Alert&utm_term=0_5c988009b6-bc44a030e1-383588553
4. Cecil Township
- MarkWest Lawsuit
“CECIL –
Cecil Township supervisors on Monday authorized solicitor John Smith to attend
Dec. 11 oral arguments before Commonwealth Court on the lawsuit MarkWest
Liberty Midstream & Resources filed against the township zoning hearing
board.
The dispute dates to March 2011, when Cecil’s board turned down a request
by MarkWest to build a natural-gas compressor station on Route 980 near
Coleman Road. The board said it was not
appropriate for an area zoned for light industrial use and was not essential.
MarkWest countered by filing suit in Washington County Court, asking to let it
build the compressor station at that site. A Washington County Court judge
upheld the zoning hearing board’s decision in that case.
After the passage of Act 13, the state
law governing oil and gas drilling, in 2012, MarkWest also appealed to Commonwealth Court, claiming that the
facility would be allowed under the new law.
However, the zoning provisions of Act 13
were found to be unconstitutional by Commonwealth Court and no decision on Act
13 has been rendered by the state Supreme Court. Smith will accompany the
zoning hearing board’s solicitor and is waiving his fee in order to attend.
Supervisors
voted 4-1 in favor of Smith attending. Supervisor Elizabeth Cowden was opposed.”
5. Investigation
Requested By Rep. Jesse White
“State Representative Jesse White
called on county, state and federal authorities to investigate an unreported
spill and cover up of flowback water related to Marcellus Shale drilling
activity in Washington County.
That spill and cover up were detailed in
emails and personnel files from Red Oak Water Transfer, now doing business as
Rockwater Energy Solutions. Those documents were garnered through the discovery
process in a suit filed against Range Resources and more than a dozen of its
subcontractors by a group of residents who allege that their drinking water was
contaminated and family members sickened by drilling activity near their homes.
The
internal emails between Rockwater employees and executives, which were first
reported Saturday by the Marcellus Monitor website, detail a spill of gas well flowback water on Dec. 6, 2010, with a
minimum of 21,000 gallons spilling into an environmentally sensitive waterway
that empties into a trout-stocking stream.
The
emails describe black water pouring out of a pipe into the ground, and then
into a nearby stream. However, the exact location of the spill was not
specified, and sworn testimony from a
Rockwater executive, who was included in the emails, now denies any spill ever
occurred.
In a
letter directed to state Attorney General Kathleen Kane, Washington County
District Attorney Gene Vittone, U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton, the U.S Environmental
Protection Agency, the state Department of Environmental Protection and the
state Fish and Boat Commission White wrote:
In
September 2013, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane filed charges
against XTO Energy Inc. in relation to a spill of 50,000 gallons of flowback
water in Lycoming County. The Washington County would appear to be equally, if
not more egregious because the spill was never reported and was in fact covered
up by the companies. The emails indicate a minimum of 21,000 gallons of
flowback water, but the actual amount could have been far more.
Even
worse is the fact that the producer, Range
Resources, admitted in court filings that they do not know all of the chemicals
(it) uses in the hydraulic fracturing process. Based on that admission,
which was reported on in the national media, there is simply no way to know what was in the flowback water that
spilled. As such, the impact to the waterways and the subsequent impact to
humans, wildlife and fish cannot possibly be determined with any level of
specificity.
Based on
the seriousness of this incident, the uncertain impacts to the people and
habitat of Pennsylvania and the seemingly clear intent to cover up this
incident to avoid any level of responsibility and or accountability whatsoever,
I am asking you to investigate and if
necessary prosecute any responsible parties to the fullest extent of the law.
However,
in order for the attorney general to
take the case, it must be referred by the DEP, the Washington County district
attorney or the state Fish and Boat Commission — and White urged all three to
refer the case to the attorney general immediately.
“With
the companies involved still operating every day in southwestern Pennsylvania,
the people deserve immediate action and real answers about what really happened
out there,” White said Tuesday in a press release . “Identifying and punishing
bad actors is the only way to put the natural gas industry on notice that their
commitment to environmental safety must be more than industry talking points.
You have to practice what you preach.”
Messages
left on the cell phones and at the Harrisburg offices of state Rep. Brandon
Neuman, D-North Strabane, and state Sen. Tim Solobay, D-Canonsburg, seeking
comment on the matter were not returned Tuesday.”
The spill occurred in their Legislative districts.
http://marcellusmonitor.wordpress.com/2013/12/10/pa-state-rep-calls-for-investigation-of-unreported-spill-cover-up-by-marcellus-shale-company/
http://www.observer-reporter.com/article/20131211/NEWS01/131219860#.Uqnz5Cd4gig
Lawsuit claims unreported spill at Marcellus drilling site
in Amwell
Haney,
Voyles, Kiskadden Suit ---Unreported Spill
by Scott Beveridge
“A
Washington County judge will be asked next week to order a Texas-based water
hauler to turn over photographs it may have of an alleged spill at an Amwell
Township Marcellus Shale gas drilling site.
The motion will be presented by attorney John
Smith, who is representing a group of neighbors suing Range Resources over
claims they were sickened by the Yeager drilling operation, court records show.
As part
of the discovery process in the lawsuit,
Smith received documents from Red Oak Water Transfer indicating there was a
leak of 500 barrels of flowback water at the site in 2010, and a subsequent
cover-up of what took place. Other court documents in the case show a
company executive denying the spill took place and alleging that the story had
been fabricated by a disgruntled employee to get a coworker in trouble.
The
information prompted state Rep. Jesse White Tuesday to ask state Attorney
General Kathleen Kane to investigate the matter. Her spokesman, Joe Peters,
said the law prevents her from investigating such cases unless they are referred
to her by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
John
Poister, spokesman for the DEP in Pittsburgh, said the department is conducting
an internal investigation of its records to see if there was a spill reported
at the drilling site off McAdams Road in Amwell.
The
information the DEP has found thus far in its files does not correspond with
the allegations that surfaced in the lawsuit, Poister said.
The plaintiffs in the long-running case are
Stacey, Harley and Paige Haney; Beth, John and Ashley Voyles; and Loren and
Grace Kiskadden.
Last
month, President Judge Debbie O’Dell Seneca ordered 40 companies Range brought
to the property to provide Smith with every chemical they used in the drilling
process.
Red Oak,
which now operates as Rockwater Energy Solutions, did not respond to a message
seeking comment.
White
also forwarded his complaint to Washington County District Attorney Gene
Vittone. Assistant District Attorney Joe Zupancic said Vittone’s office would
review the matter, but it would be more a matter for the state to investigate.
http://www.observer-reporter.com/article/20131211/NEWS01/131219860#.Uqnz5Cd4gig
And from the article by Tim Puko.
Tribune review
“Both
companies have disputed that the spill happened. The state DEP appears to have
no record that it was reported or investigated, though an agency spokesman said
he cannot yet confirm that for certain.
“I
hesitated to contact Range due to the contentious relationship between our two
companies this past week,” Richard Hoffman, a regional safety director for Red
Oak, wrote to a company executive four days after he said the spill happened.
“If this incident is reported to Range, it could be the end of our business
relationship. That has to be your call.”
Hoffman's
email on Dec. 10, 2010, said he and another worker investigated the site in
Amwell, and they “think” at least 500 barrels of “flowback” spilled from a
failed pipeline, that one worker told others at the site to “keep this quiet”
and that workers at the scene never reported the spill to management or Range
Resources.
It never
mentions any reporting to the DEP, which is required immediately. Only one
worker there was willing to talk to them on the record about what happened, he
said.
Smith
filed the case in May 2012 for three families who claim they were exposed to carcinogens
and suffered health problems because of Range Resources Corp.'s drilling
operations in Amwell. Range Resources has denied those claims.
Smith
obtained the Red Oak documents as part of the lawsuit. Smith's motion Friday
included a hand-written personnel record for the worker who allegedly told
other workers to keep the incident quiet. It says he was suspended for a “cover
up of flow back water,” but doesn't say if that was for the spill Hoffman
described.
The only call the DEP received from that area at the time of
the spill was on Dec. 9, said John Poister, the agency's spokesman in
Pittsburgh.
A DEP
inspector that day found a one- to two-barrel leak of wastewater on a pipe
coming from the nearby Yeager Impoundment, records show. Range agreed in April
2012 to pay a $18,025 combined penalty for that incident and other brine and
drilling fluid leaks at properties in that area of Amwell in 2010 and 2011,
state records show. The DEP is doing an internal investigation to find out if
its staff looked into reports of the larger 500 barrel spill when it did
inspections for those other problems nearby, Poister said.
“We
don't know that there was a 500-barrel spill at all. That's what we want to
clear up,” he said.”
DEP
policy requires oil and gas companies and their contractors to immediately
report any spills that threaten the state's waterways.”
6. Radioactivity Concerns About Frack Waste
(KDKA) – “Peters
Creek has come a long way back from sewage-laden waterway to trout stream in
large part from the efforts of the local watershed association.
“Ultimately
the goal is to keep this as a resource for the community, to keep it fishable,”
Tim Schumann of the Peters Creek Watershed Association said.
But there are new concerns about whether
radioactive waste is finding its way into Peters Creek. Marcellus Shale waste being
hauled to the local landfill and leacheate from that landfill is being treated
at the municipal water authority.
“I think the major concern would be over long term it would
accumulate to levels that might be toxic to people,” Schumann said.
The process of extracting natural gas through drilling and
fracking produces a lot of radioactivity.
But, is it being properly handled and disposed of?
Some, like Professor Anthony Ingraffea of Cornell University
say we don’t know.
“We do not have a definitive answer about this process of
bringing radioactive material, which has been safely stored for millions of
years into the human environment,” Ingraffea said.
The radioactive waste comes in two forms. One is from the
so-called drill cuttings — the rock extracted from drilling gas wells.
The second is from the flowback water from the fracking
process.
The water coming back up from the well is filled with
solids, which are extracted and pressed into bricks, which are also
radioactive.
This waste is taken to a local landfill to be dumped. But,
before they’re allowed in, they’re screened for high levels of radioactivity.
Some so-called “hot loads” have been detected in the state
and transported to special disposal sites in Nevada and Texas.
At
Tervita’s Westmoreland Landfill in Belle Vernon, the operators say the loads
are rarely above the level of radioactivity present in our surroundings at all
times.
Still,
the uncertainty about radioactivity has prompted the Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental
Protection to launch a year-long study of radioactivity produced in the shale
gas extraction process.” http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2013/12/10/marcellus-shale-drilling-concerns-turn-to-radioactivity-levels/
7. Wheeling-Ohio
County Health Dept. Concerned About Benzene
Emissions At Drill Sites
(Note-Westmoreland Co. has no Dept. of Health. jan)
“A
substance believed to cause cancer in those exposed to it over an extended
period of time is in the air near Marcellus Shale fracking sites, according to Wheeling-Ohio County Health Department
Administrator Howard Gamble.
"The levels of benzene really pop out.
The amounts they were seeing were at levels of concern," said Gamble in
describing the results of testing his department recently performed at well
sites throughout Ohio County.
"The concerns of
the public are validated," he added.
Wheeling-Ohio
County Health Department Administrator Howard Gamble says benzene emissions at
some gas drilling sites throughout the county are “at levels of concern.”
Gamble
said he could not identify the specific wells his employees tested in Ohio
County because the information is being sent to Michael McCawley, chairman of
the Department of Occupational & Environmental Health Sciences in the
School of Public Health at West Virginia University as part of his ongoing
study on the matter. McCawley previously found high levels of
benzene in the air near one Wetzel County well site, which he said were so bad
he would recommend "respiratory protection" for those in the area.
According
to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, some short-term
symptoms of benzene exposure include dizziness, rapid heartbeat, headaches and
tremors. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services maintains that high
levels of benzene in the air can cause leukemia.
West
Virginia law requires wells be drilled at least 625 feet away from an
"occupied dwelling," but Gamble said this distance may not make much
difference because the benzene is probably not coming from under ground.
"It
is not necessarily what is coming out of the earth. They have a huge amount of
equipment that runs - and they have huge numbers of diesel trucks that are
going in and out the whole time," he said.
In addition to benzene, multiple legal
advertisements over the past few years by natural gas producers confirm the
"potential to discharge" various amounts of these materials into the
air on an annual basis from the operations at the natural gas wells and
compressor stations: carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur
dioxide, methane, carbon dioxide equivalent, xylenes, toluene and formaldehyde.
"This
is something that we need to keep track of because we are not sure how it will
impact us over the long-term," Gamble said.
To
evaluate the health impacts of fracking on local residents, Gamble said his
department is developing a website that should be up and running by early 2014.
The tool will allow individuals to report non-identifiable data on specific
health concerns and problems they may have occurring due to drilling activity
in their area.”
See: http://www.theintelligencer.net/page/content.detail/id/593209/Health-Dept--Concerned-About-Benzene-Emissions-Near-Local-Gas-Drilling-Sites.html?nav=510
8. Colorado Oil
& Gas Association Takes Legal Action Against
Fracking Bans
Dec 3, 2013
EXCERPT:
"Four
communities — Lafayette, Fort Collins,
Broomfield and the city of Boulder — passed measures to limit or ban "fracking" in November"
COMMENT:
The Lafayette
CELDF Bill of Rights ordinance was passed by 60% of the voters in a referendum
on the ballot through the initiative process which put this ordinance out to
the people in a popular vote rather than leaving the vote to the elected
officials on the city council. This show of democracy in the Town of Lafayette
is being challenged by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. They claim the citizens do not have right to
say "no" to their corporate assault on their community.
The Fort Collins moratorium put a
five-year ban on fracking. This along
with two other communities, Broomfield and the City of Boulder, put similar referendums on their ballots
voted upon by the citizens of their municipalities to limit or ban
fracking."
NMCCR
****
DENVER - The fracking bans in Fort Collins and Lafayette have
prompted legal action from the Colorado Oil & Gas Association (COGA).
A COGA
spokesperson calls the bans illegal. COGA's
Doug Flanders says that's because the Colorado Supreme Court has "ruled
that oil and gas development, which must employ fracking, supersedes local laws
and cannot be banned.
"The
City of Fort Collins put a five-year ban on all fracking within city limits.
Therefore, there is a conflict between the city's ban and state law. COGA
argues that Fort Collins has no constitutional authority to implement
regulations on oil and gas development, including fracking.
Flanders
says that according to the state Supreme Court - "Colorado law preempts
the local regulations when an issue constitutes a mixed state and local
concern."
http://www.9news.com/news/article/366962/339/COGA-takes-legal-action-against-CO-fracking-bans
9. DUG Conference
Pays Politicians Hundreds of Thousands Dollars
“Hart Energy's 2013 DUG East
conference was attended by a crowd of more than 4,000 oil and gas executives….
…Mr.
Bush's job was not to add another technical presentation in an already long
day. His was to be "the funny guy," to give convention delegates an
hour of recess during a long day of school. And at an estimated $150,000 per
appearance, his work doesn't come cheap. The
oil and gas industry spends millions annually bringing in high-profile
keynoters to their events, and Pittsburgh has seen the likes of former House
Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, oil executive T.
Boone Pickens and political consultant Karl Rove (twice), most of whom charge
more than $50,000 per appearance. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett addressed the
DUG East convention the same day as Mr. Bush, though he wasn't paid to do
so.
`Frequently, the speeches touch on energy only tangentially,
but all of them have a cheerleading component.
"It's
nice being in a room full of revolutionaries," Mr. Rove told the lunchtime
crowd at DUG East's 2012 event.
At the
most recent DUG East conference, Mr. Corbett praised the crowd for creating
jobs and explained to the country's biggest oil and gas executives that
directional drilling means going horizontally through the earth. He even
swooped his hand through the air to demonstrate.”
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/business/2013/11/24/Oil-and-gas-enlist-GOP-cheerleaders/stories/201311240122#ixzz2mdVzs8P7
10. Fatalities
Spike in Gas/Oil Industry
“About every three days, an oil and gas worker was killed on the
job in 2012 --
and in 2011 and 2010. In the U.S., fatalities in the booming industry have risen
to the highest level since the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics began
keeping score in 1992.
Last year, nonfatal accidents jumped as well, from a
five-year low of 1,400 in 2011 to a five-year high of 2,600. But even with that spike, the oil and gas
industry's rate of nonfatal injuries is still far below the average for all
private industries and has been for years. It also means that when things go wrong in the oil and
gas fields, it's much more likely to be a "DRT" injury -- "Dead
Right There," Mr. Snawder said at a recent health conference in
Pittsburgh.
The fatality rate in the oil and gas industry is between five and seven
times higher than for private employees in general. Agriculture, fishing
and forestry occupations have the highest death rates.
On Nov. 14, NIOSH, along with the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration and industry partners, organized
a national stand down -- a break in regular work activities so employees could
discuss safety lessons. The mining industry has had stand downs for years.
"Job gains in oil and gas
and construction have come with more fatalities, and that is
unacceptable," said U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez in August, when
preliminary data were first published.
Many of the fatalities, 40 percent, are the result of transportation
accidents, according to data from 2003 to 2009 presented by Ryan Hill,
program manager for NIOSH's Western States Office, during the Nov. 14 stand
down webinar. About half of the workers involved in crashes were not wearing a
seat belt, he said.
"Operating a vehicle in the
oil and gas industry presents a unique hazard," Mr. Hill said. Driving
often takes workers into rural, isolated areas, where gravel roads "lack
many of the safety features on highways."
Long workdays also raise concerns
about driver fatigue. Looking at more recent data, from 2012, Mr.
Hill pinpointed several emerging trends, including a rise in deaths of older
workers, more falls from height, and fires and explosions.”
Anya
Litvak: alitvak@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1455.
11. Akron Suburb Fights Ohio’s
State Gas Drilling Regs
“COLUMBUS,
Ohio — A closely watched lawsuit in Ohio is asking a question that's burning in
cities and towns throughout shale country: Can regulations in states eager for
the jobs and tax revenues that come with gas and oil drilling trump local
restrictions that communities say protect them from haphazard development?
The case was brought by Munroe Falls, an
Akron suburb of 5,000. It involves a well that Beck Energy Corp. began to drill
— with the state's permission — on private property in 2011. In the process,
the company sidestepped 11 local laws on road use, permitting and drilling, the
city contends.
The
legal disagreement over whether Beck's permit can pre-empt Munroe Falls'
regulations reached the Ohio Supreme Court this summer. Pro- and anti-drilling
forces are watching the case because it is further along in the courts than
similar lawsuits in other states, and the outcome could encourage or deter the
implementation laws elsewhere that would limit drilling.
The
case has implications for the spread of fracking. The case in Munroe Falls
centers on a traditionally drilled well, but the centralized oil and gas
regulation that's in question regulates both kinds.
Shared Systems-- Similar
cases have been decided in favor of shared regulation in New York, where
fracking is not yet legal, and Pennsylvania, where fracking is widespread. In
those cases, municipalities oversee such things as land use and aesthetics, and
the state oversees safety and construction. The lawsuit cites Texas,
California, Oklahoma and Colorado as states that use a shared system.
“If this goes the way that I hope and pray
it would go, it would restore some home rule to municipalities that has been
taken away by the state,” said Munroe Falls Mayor Frank Larson. “It would
uphold our right to be able to zone certain areas and exclude certain uses and
to allow those uses in other areas.”
The
2004 state law under which Beck's state permit was issued consolidated oil and
gas production operations under the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. The
company said in court filings that the idea was “to end the confusion,
inefficiency and delays under the earlier patchwork of local ordinances, and to
ensure that Ohio's oil and gas resources are developed on a uniform statewide
basis.”
Munroe Falls and its allies in the
suit — including cities, villages, environmental groups and a host of local
businesses — argue the law empowered the state to regulate drilling methods but
gave it no authority to protect the interests of local communities. That
“constitutional prerogative,” cities argue, has lain with Ohio's local
governments for nearly a century.”
AP
12. Pittsburgh’s Air Still Dirty
(So additional pollution from fracking
should not be tolerated. jan)
“According to an analysis by the Boston-based Clean Air Task Force,
our region experienced 245 “yellow light” days in 2012 when its air quality was
not rated “good,” as determined by the U.S. EPA.
Often our air quality is even
worse. Our region violated federal
health standards for either ozone or fine particulate matter nearly 10 percent
of the time — 35 days — in 2012. On these days, we are warned that the air
is unhealthy, especially for children, people with heart and lung disease,
older adults and those who are active outdoors
A report published in March titled “The Health Impacts of Pittsburgh Air Quality: A Review of the
Scientific Literature, 1970-2012” surveyed the extensive scientific
research on outdoor air pollution in the Pittsburgh area and how it affects
human health.
Since we all have to breathe, no
one is safe from these kinds of health effects. And some of our most vulnerable
citizens — children, the elderly, the sick and those living in poverty — are at
even higher risk, the report found.
These are the terrified children we treat in the ER gasping for every
breath, their caregivers unable to afford pricey asthma meds. These are the
premature infants who spend months in the neonatal intensive care unit until
they are strong enough to leave the hospital. These are the families struggling
financially when a parent can no longer work after a stroke or a diagnosis of
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. These are the beloved grandparents who
die well before their time.
The situation in Pittsburgh becomes even grimmer when gauged against
the lens of more stringent World Health Organization standards. By WHO guidelines, fine particulate matter
and ozone levels in the Pittsburgh region were unhealthy for nearly 16 percent
and 37 percent of last year, respectively. If the EPA had followed the
recommendations of its own advisory scientists to implement more
health-protective standards, Pittsburgh would be in violation for these
pollutants more than twice as many days.
Speaking in May at The Air We
Breathe conference Downtown on World Asthma Day, renowned environmental epidemiologist Joel Schwartz of the Harvard
School of Public Health noted that there is no evidence to suggest there is a
threshold below which air pollution has no health effects. Particulate air
pollution kills more people in the United States each year than AIDS, breast
cancer and prostate cancer combined. “The difference,” Dr. Schwartz said, “is
we know how to cure it.”
We know how to put scrubbers on
coal-burning power plants and how to reduce air pollution from large industrial
sources. We know how to retrofit diesel school buses and trucks and how to
control wood smoke. We know how to improve energy efficiency and make smarter
transportation choices. We know how to harness the energy of the wind and sun
to make cleaner power.
The light is yellow, signaling
that the moment has come for Pittsburgh to make a decision. Our air quality was among the worst in the
United States during the days of Big Steel — and it remains so today. Nine of
10 monitored areas in Allegheny County rank in the worst third in the nation
for particle pollution. The county ranks in the top two-tenths of 1 percent
with respect to cancer risk from large industrial sources and power plants.
Scratch just under the surface of these statistics, and you’ll find
your neighbor’s heart attack or your daughter’s asthma attack, your father’s
chronic bronchitis or your best friend’s long and painful battle with lung
cancer.
If we truly want to be the most
livable city, then it is time to slam the brakes on our air pollution problem.
All of us need and deserve to breathe clean, healthy air every day. If we
succeed, then every family in southwestern Pennsylvania will enjoy better
health, longer lives and lower health care bills.
The light is yellow most of the
time in Pittsburgh — and often red. History will judge our success as a region
by whether we decide to push through recklessly or to stop putting our
children’s lives in jeopardy. There’s really only one choice.”
Deborah Gentile is director of
research in the Division of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology at Allegheny General
Hospital. Keith Somers is a pediatrician with CCP-GIL (Children’s Community
Pediatrics). Jonathan Spahr is clinical director in the Division of Pediatric
Pulmonary Medicine at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.
13. Fine Particulate Matter and Nitrogen Dioxide =Reduced Fetal Growth
(As you know, these are pollutants associated
with fracking. The proposed Tenaska gas plant in Ruffsdale would add 400 tons
per year of NOX to regional air. Wells, processing plants, and compressor stations also add to the
pollution burden. jan)
David
A. Savitz*,
Zev
Ross,
Michelle
Yee
Thomas
D. Matte
Jennifer
F. Bobb,
Jessie
L. Carr,
Jane
E. Clougherty,
Francesca
Dominici,
Received
June 22, 2013.
Accepted
October 11, 2013.
Abstract
“Building on a
unique exposure assessment project in New York, New York, we examined the relationship of particulate matter with
aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 μm and nitrogen dioxide with
birth weight, restricting the population to term births to nonsmokers, along with other
restrictions, to isolate the potential impact of air pollution on growth. We
included 252,967 births in 2008–2010 identified in vital records, and we
assigned exposure at the residential location by using validated models that
accounted for spatial and temporal factors. Estimates of association were
adjusted for individual and contextual sociodemographic characteristics and
season, using linear mixed models to quantify the predicted change in birth
weight in grams related to increasing pollution levels. Adjusted estimates for particulate matter with diameter less than
2.5 μm indicated
that for each 10-µg/m3 increase in exposure, birth weights declined by 18.4,
10.5, 29.7, and 48.4 g for exposures in the first, second, and third trimesters
and for the total pregnancy, respectively. Adjusted
estimates for nitrogen dioxide indicated that for each 10-ppb increase in
exposure, birth weights declined by 14.2, 15.9, 18.0, and 18.0 g for exposures
in the first, second, and third trimesters and for the total pregnancy,
respectively. These results strongly support the association of urban air
pollution exposure with reduced fetal growth.”
14. Arsenic in Drinking Water and
Cancer
University of California, Berkley
(Arsenic in
water has repeatedly been associated with fracking. Jan
“For the first time, findings by the University of
California (UC) Berkeley Superfund Research Program (SRP) provide strong evidence in humans that ingested arsenic causes cancer
in specific kidney and ureter cells, called transitional cells. Other recent
findings from the group suggest that people exposed to both arsenic and other
known or suspected carcinogens have very high risks of lung or bladder cancer.
Millions of people worldwide are
exposed to arsenic in drinking water, which is generally a result of arsenic's
natural presence in local bedrock. The International Agency for Research on
Cancer has concluded that ingested arsenic causes lung, bladder, and skin
cancer. However, the same conclusion has not been made for kidney cancer
because of the lack of individual data on arsenic exposure and dose-response.
In addition, relatively few regulations and policies have taken into account
the cumulative effects of multiple agents, including arsenic, and cancer risk,
primarily because of lack of data.
This
study is the first investigation to identify clear dose-response relationships
between arsenic in drinking water and transitional cell kidney and ureter
cancers using individual data on exposure and by adjusting for other factors
linked to kidney cancer, such as smoking, body mass index, chronic renal
disease, diabetes, urinary tract infections, and hypertension. Although the
number of cases was small, the statistical significance measurements were high suggesting
that these findings were not due to chance. Findings are similar to previous
high-exposure studies across populations.”
UC
Berkeley SRP researchers
15. Scientists Boycott Scientific
Journal Elsevier
(This article
is actually about the corruption of science on GMO research—It is yet another
example of corporate control of science, but in this case, 100 scientists have committed
to boycott the journal Elsevier for its
unethical retraction of a research paper. Jan)
“ISIS
- Institute of Science in Society
Following
the retraction of the Seralini et al scientific paper which found health damage to rats fed on GM corn, over 100 scientists have pledged in this
Open Letter to boycott Elsevier, publisher of the Journal responsible.
To: Wallace Hayes, Editor in
Chief, Food and Chemical Toxicology; Elsevier
Re:
"Long term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant
genetically modified maize", by G E Séralini et al, published in Food and
Chemical Toxicology 2012, 50(11), 4221-31.
Your decision to retract the
paper is in clear violation of the international ethical norms as laid down by
the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), of which FCT is a member. According
to COPE, the only grounds for retraction are
1. clear evidence that the findings are
unreliable due to misconduct or honest error,
2. plagiarism or redundant publication, or
3. unethical research.
You
have already acknowledged that the paper of Séralini et al (2012) contains none
of those faults.
This
arbitrary, groundless retraction of a published, thoroughly peer-reviewed paper
is without precedent in the history of scientific publishing, and raises grave
concerns over the integrity and impartiality of science. These concerns are
heightened by a sequence of events surrounding the retraction:
· the appointment of ex-Monsanto
employee Richard Goodman to the newly created post of associate editor for
biotechnology at FCT
· the
retraction of another study finding potentially harmful effects from GMOs
(which almost immediately appeared in another journal)
· the failure to retract a paper
published by Monsanto scientists in the same journal in 2004, for which a gross
error has been identified.
The retraction is erasing from the public record results that are
potentially of very great importance for public health. It is censorship of
scientific research, knowledge, and understanding, an abuse of science striking
at the very heart of science and democracy, and science for the public good.
We
urge you to reverse this appalling decision, and further, to issue a fulsome
public apology to Séralini and his colleagues. Until you accede to our request,
we will boycott Elsevier, i.e., decline to purchase Elsevier products, to
publish, review, or do editorial work for Elsevier.
The background to this open
letter is described in Retracting Seralini Study Violates Science & Ethics
(ISIS report). and on this website at Scientific
journal retracts study exposing GM cancer risk.”
Donations
We are very appreciative
of donations to our group.
With your help, we have handed out thousands of flyers
on the health and environmental effects of fracking, sponsored numerous public
meetings, and provided information to citizens and officials countywide. If you
would like to support our efforts:
Checks to
our group should be made out to the Thomas
Merton Center/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
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jan at westmcg@gmail.com
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