Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group Updates January 29, 2014
* For articles and updates or to just vent, visit us on facebook;https://www.facebook.com/groups/MarcellusWestmorelandCountyPA/
* To view permanent documents, past updates,
reports, general information and meeting information
http://westmorelandmarcellus.blogspot.com/
* Our email address: westmcg@gmail.com
*
To 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!
Mike
Atherton and Cynthia Walter
The
Marc Levine family
The
Paluselli family
Jan
Kiefer
Annie
Macdougall
Mary
Steisslinger
Calendar
*** WMCG 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.
Take Action!!
***As always letters to the editor are
important and one of the best ways to share information with the public. ***
Everyone Must Do This To
Have An Impact
EQB Comments
Many of us braved the cold to testify at hearings in
Indiana and Washington PA. Others attended hearings in other parts of the
state. The industry is out in full force. They have paid employees at every
hearing-actually they have the same people sometimes reading the same
statements at every hearing. It is up to us, to you, to speak for the air and
water quality and property values that we feel need to be protected. My award
for most unbelievable comment of the night goes to the representative from
Dogwood Energy who said that the regs should be established without the input
of citizens’ groups. So
apparently the democratic process to drillers means only the industry speaks
and they write their own rules.
We have more wells going
in every day. I receive, on average, a call a week from a distraught area
resident whose neighbor sold out to the industry. PA doesn't have a moratorium
as do more cautious states, so these regs are critical. Zoning can help to
restrict the placement of gas operations but not the "how they
operate aspect”. If fracking occurs
anywhere near you, these are the regulations that govern much of that process,
that, for example, allow a toxic frack
pit near your home or school or radioactive drill cuttings to be stored or
buried on site.
The PA oil/gas regs were never meant to
regulate fracking. They were written for shallow gas wells and do not protect
the public. Below are links to comments. You can rephrase and add your thoughts
to send in a statement of your concerns. jan
To view what other people wrote thus far: http://www.irrc.state.pa.us/full_list.aspx?IRRCNo=3042&type=1
To view what we presented:
Online Comments
The public is being invited to submit comments to the EQB regarding the
proposed rulemaking by March 14. 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
Online
and email comments must also be received by the EQB on or before March 14.
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.
To view materials for the
proposed regulation, visit www.dep.state.pa.us and click
the “Proposed Oil and Gas Regulations” button.
***Other Legislation***
From Sierra Club, Allegheny Group
Pressure continues from the gas industry to drill wherever
and however they wish.
Say No to:
***Avoiding liability
for treating acid mine pollution with fracking waste water (SB411) (http://alleghenysc.org/?p=16175).
***Fracking and the
Trans-Pacific Partnership. ACTION:
Tell President Obama that no trade agreement should pave the way for increased
fracking. http://alleghenysc.org/?p=16163
***Tell Congress to CLOSE
THE FRACKING LOOPHOLES!
Five
Congressional bills, the Frack Pack, would force the industry to follow the
environmental laws that protect our air and water.
Use this automatic
form or contact your Congressman on your own, https://secure.nrdconline.org/site/Advocacy;jsessionid=C93FD11CD0E3ACF78C2A6A63B0708B44.app337a?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=3181&autologin=true&utm_source=alert&utm_medium=text1&utm_campaign=email
These are all issues that we ordinary citizens can help
control, by speaking out and writing to our elected officials.
*********************************************************
Derry Twp. TRUTH ALERT:
PA
PERMIT VIOLATION ISSUED TO HOME GAS & OIL CO INC IN DERRY TWP,
WESTMORELAND COUNTY 2014-01-17
Report
Details
Operator Home Gas &Amp; Oil Co Inc
Violation
Type Environmental Health & Safety
Violation
Date 2014-01-17
Violation
Code 78.65(2) - Failure to restore site
within 30 days of permit expiration when well not drilled
Violation
ID 686947
Permit
API 129-27230
Unconventional N
County Westmoreland
Municipality Derry Twp
Inspection
Type Complaint Inspection
Inspection
Date 2014-01-17
Comments Spoke with Complainant on 1/15/2014.
Set up a meeting for Friday 1/17/2014. The Department also contacted the
Operator in 1/15/2015 to inquire about the current condition of the site. As on
1/17/2014 the Department has not received a return phone call from the
Operator. During the inspection the Department
observed a well pad with an excavated unlined drill pit located onsite. The
Department notes that the permit expired on 1/3/2010. The Department suggests
the operator restore the site at their earliest convenience.
Frack Links
***Concerned about the air quality in your community due to
drilling?—Speaker Available
Southwestern Pennsylvania
Environmental Health Project will provide a professional speaker if you host a
community meeting. “Tyler Rubright is available throughout the next couple of
weeks to come to meetings and present and/or help to facilitate and answer any
questions.”
Contact Jessa Chabeau
***Energy
Industry Runs Roughshod Over North Dakota-Video
Rachel Maddow reports on recent oil disasters in North
Dakota and how accountability is sacrificed for fear of discouraging energy
industry. http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/watch/energy-industry-runs-roughshod-over-nd-105687108001/www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/watch/energy-industry-runs-roughshod-over-nd-105687108001
***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/
*** Link to the Duquesne Seminar:
Mediasite presentation -- Facing the
Challenges Conference, Duquesne University, November 2013
List of Presentations:
Bain - Establishing a
Water Chemistry Baseline for Southwest Pennsylvania: The Ten Mile Creek Case
Bamberger, Oswald - Impacts of gas
drilling on human and animal health: updates
Boufadel - The potential for air
migration during pneumatic drilling: Recommendations for best performance
Brittingham - The effects of shale
gas development on forest landscapes and ecosystems
Brown - Understanding exposures from
natural gas drilling puts current air standards to the test
Capo, Stewart - Isotopic signatures as
tracers for shale gas fluids
Christopherson - Why local
governments take action in response to shale gas development
Collins - Regulatory structures for
reuse and disposal of shale gas wastewater
Drohan - How fracking technology is
changing landscapes compared to past resource extraction disturbance
Grant - Marcellus shale and mercury:
assessing impacts on aquatic ecosystems
Howarth - Shale gas aggravates global
warming
Ingraffea - A statistical analysis of
leakage from Marcellus gas wells in Pennsylvania
Jackson - Water interactions with
shale gas extraction
Jansa - Gas Rush Stories
Kelso, Malone - Data inconsistencies
from states with unconventional oil and gas activity
Porter - Impact of Marcellus
activities on salamanders and fish populations in the Ten Mile Creek watershed
Rabinowitz - Health complaints, water
quality indicators, and proximity to gas wells in Washington County PA
Robinson - Air Quality and Climate
Issues with Natural Gas Development and Production
Stolz - The Woodlands: a case study of
well water contamination related to unconventional shale gas extraction
Stout - Wheeling, West Virginia
Experience with Frackwater: What "Brinewater" and "Residual
Waste" Trucks are Really Carrying
VanBriesen - Challenges in assessing
effects of shale gas produced water on drinking water treatment plants
Ward - Measuring the human and social
service impacts of natural gas development
Ziemkiewicz - What does monitoring in
the three rivers tell us about the effects of shale gas development?
All articles are excerpted or summarized. Please
use links to read more.
Fracking News
1. PA Supreme Court---- GOP Leaders Cannot Intervene in Act 13 Case
“The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that two
state GOP leaders still have no place in the court battle regarding Act 13, the
law governing Marcellus Shale drilling. State
Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati and Speaker of the Pennsylvania
House of Representatives Samuel H. Smith, both Republicans, had sought to
intervene in the Act 13 challenge.
But the Commonwealth Court “held that
the legislators did not have a legally enforceable interest in the action.” The
Supreme Court agreed Tuesday, affirming the ruling.”
http://marcellusmonitor.wordpress.com/2014/01/21/pa-supreme-court-sorry-gop-leaders-you-cannot-intervene-in-act-13-case/
2. Discord at EQB Hearings
By Anya Litvak / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Four members of the DEP presided over a divided house
Wednesday night at Washington & Jefferson College.
Every
five minutes, either the left side of the room or the right would break into
applause at the southwestern Pennsylvania public hearing of the agency's
proposed new oil and gas regulations.
Citizens who felt the regulations
don't go far enough to control the shale gas industry in Pennsylvania
outnumbered industry supporters at the meeting organized by the DEP's
Environmental Quality Board.
The DEP is
proposing that drillers be required to restore the water to its pre-drill quality
but most speakers urged the agency to require drillers to ensure impacted water
is brought up to the federal safe drinking water standard, even it fell below
that standard before gas activity began.
Many
speakers opposed the use of open storage
pits and the practice of burying drilling waste at the site of the well, which
is allowed under the proposed standards. Some suggested that all well waste
should be tested and potentially categorized as hazardous material.
Cynthia Walter of Greensburg took to the
podium with an empty milk jug and urged the DEP to disregard what might be
"inconvenient," "cumbersome" and deemed an
"unnecessary burden" by oil and gas companies.
"Pennsylvania is fourth in the
nation for milk production. Any contamination from frack water or beneficial
reuse [and] this is at risk," she said pumping the milk jug into the air.
The
proposed guidelines are the DEP's response to the environmental portions of Act
13, Pennsylvania's 2012 oil and gas law that imposed an impact fee on drillers
and prescribed a spate of environmental restrictions on shale gas operations.
Some
of the changes proposed involve:
•
Requiring operators to identify orphaned or abandoned wells within 1,000 feet
of the well bore, monitor them and plug them if fracking somehow interferes
with such wells.
•
Allowing lined and fenced-in open pits only for temporary storage of solid
waste.
•
Protecting all tanks from unauthorized acts of third parties.
•
Requiring freshwater impoundments to be lined and fenced in.
•
Mandating secondary containment at all unconventional well sites, which would
be inspected at least weekly.
DEP extended the
comment time until March 14.
Many
speakers praised the DEP's initiative to require drillers to locate and monitor
abandoned wells, but some -- like John Walliser, vice president for legal and
government affairs with the Pennsylvania Environmental Council -- wanted the
agency to go a step further.
Drillers shouldn't just monitor these wells
but should actively avoid or mitigate potential impacts on abandoned wells or
natural faults underground, he said.
Mark Cline,
a fourth-generation oil man with Bradford-based Cline Oil, has attended two EQB
hearings so far and plans to speak at one being held in Indiana Township
tonight, but couldn't make it to Washington to plead his case that conventional wells should be wholly excluded
from these regulations.
"We're
not the same as the Marcellus Shale industry," he said. "We're making
the point that we've been here 150 years. We've been regulated to
death."Cline Oil has hundreds of active wells, none deeper than 2,000
feet. They trickle oil at small quantities -- not enough to pay for compliance
with these regulations, he said.
DEP's proposed regulations do distinguish between
conventional and unconventional development for some requirements. But for
others, they appear neutral to the source of the fuel.
Gary Hovis,
president of Hovis Oil Co. in Venango County, gave a brief history of fuel use
and polled the audience on how many people walked to the meeting.
"Horse and buggy?" he said, looking around the
room and drawing sparse chuckles.
Carmichaels resident
Veronica Coptis answered the joke.
"How many of you drank a glass of water today? How
many of you took a breath of air?" she said. "If we don't have clean
water and clean air, it really doesn't matter what type of transportation we
use."
Anya Litvak: alitvak@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1455. First
Published January 22, 2014 11:59 PM
3. Townships Respond In Act 13 Case
“Local townships are asking the
Pennsylvania Supreme Court to not reconsider its opinion that struck down key
provisions of the state’s Act 13 case.
Seven municipalities, including
Robinson, Mt. Pleasant, Cecil and Peters townships, formally responded to a request
made by the state DEP and PUC to rehear the case. Both the PUC and DEP argued
the court should consider more evidence after it ruled in December that parts
of Act 13 were unconstitutional.
The
municipalities countered state agencies had no compelling reason for rearguing
Act 13, which governs oil and gas drilling in Pennsylvania. They also argued in
the 15-page document the court’s decision was never based on factual evidence
because it was purely a legal determination.
“From the beginning,
the question was one of law,” said David Ball, a plaintiff in the case as both
an individual and councilman for Peters Township. “We challenged the law as
being unconstitutional, and the court ruled that segments of the law were
unconstitutional. I don’t know how much clearer it really gets than that.”
Municipalities submitted about 150 evidence
exhibits throughout the case hearings, but those facts were never disputed by
the agencies, Ball said. In addition, the agencies did not submit any of
their own documents supporting their case. Ball and others argued that while
those supplementary materials were provided to the court, that evidence was not
the basis from which the court reached its opinion.
“Neither the Commonwealth Court nor this
court required factual findings to conclude that statutory language allowing
heavy industrial activity next to homes, schools and sensitive natural
resources without consideration of local conditions and preventing
municipalities from ameliorating adverse impacts violated the people’s inherent
rights as guaranteed under the Pennsylvania Constitution,” read the response.
In the
document, municipalities also pointed to the fact that Attorney General Kathleen Kane never sought reargument of the
case, even though it is her duty to defend the constitutionality of all laws
passed by the General Assembly. The appellees wrote that, “By contrast, the
DEP is charged with protecting this commonwealth’s environment, yet rather than
defend its … fiduciary duties, agencies seek to undermine their constitutional
role.”
The
municipalities said the Supreme Court, as the highest court in the state, needs
to put its foot down.
“Our contention … is
that the court has ruled, and there needs to be finality in a court decision,”
Ball said. “You can’t just keep rehearing, rehearing, rehearing.”
In its
opinion, the court also remanded several provisions to Commonwealth Court for
consideration, including the severability of Act 13, or whether the
unchallenged provisions of the law can hold up without the remainder. Attorney
John Smith, one of the appellees in the case, said the Supreme Court needs to
make a decision on whether it will rehear the case before those provisions can
be considered by the lower court.
“We are hoping for a quick
determination, because the court has remanded a number of important issues back
to the Commonwealth Court that can’t be decided until the (Supreme Court)
disposes of this request,” Smith said.
Smith said he was not immediately
aware of any cases in which the Supreme Court reconsidered its opinion –
especially one that stretches over 160 pages.
“It’s a very unusual
request, and it’s even more extraordinary if the court would entertain it,”
Smith said.
Ball said he believes this is a
last-ditch effort by the administration after previous attempts to preserve the
law failed.
“The PUC and DEP, to me, this is a
Hail Mary. They’re desperate,” Ball said. “They need to appease the people in
the gas industry, apparently. They’re grasping at straws.”
4. Oil and Gas Charter School
The Southern Local Board of Education moved
forward with plans to establish and operate a gas- and oil-oriented community
school - also known as a charter school - by approving a preliminary agreement
with Jefferson County Educational Service Center (ESC).
Southern
Local Superintendent John Wilson laid out his vision for the proposed school
for the public at the board of education meeting. He said the school will be geared toward preparing students for careers
in the gas and oil industry, but will also offer a traditional curriculum as
per state requirements.
The school
will be open enrollment for students grades 9-12, and most of their studies
will be through online modules, said Wilson. He noted teachers will also be
onsite at the community school to provide guided instruction in conjunction
with the student's online learning. Wilson emphasized that plans for the school
are still in the early phases, and the charter for the school is not yet
complete.
The
community school is the brainchild of Wilson and Ash. Both men were looking for
ways to prepare students for careers in the gas and oil industry that has
developed heavily in both of their school districts in recent years. A charter
for the school was obtained by Ash and the two set to work.
The
Jefferson County ESC granted its approval to the proposed community school last
month. As for the name of the school, Wilson said the tentative name for the
school is the Utica Shale Academy of Ohio or U.S.A of Ohio for short.
http://www.morningjournalnews.com/page/content.detail/id/549211/Charter-school-with-shale-slant-proposed-at-Southern-Local.html?nav=5006#sthash.KMljFe0q.dpuf
5. Gas Propaganda In The Schools
from Bob Donnan
A little birdie told
me recently that Oil & Gas is trying to get into classrooms in South
Fayette schools to do pro-drilling presentations. Talk about a Hearts &
Minds campaign from the ground up! Makes
you think
fractivists should also be actively seeking to do
presentations in schools, or at least alerted to present a differing opinion.
6. Fracking and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court
By Cliff Rieders, Esq.,
“Section 27
of the Declaration of Rights in the Pennsylvania Constitution states that the
people of the Commonwealth shall have the 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.” The Commonwealth was
appointed as trustee of these resources to “conserve and maintain” them for the
benefit of all the people.
The opinion represents a marvelous explanation of the nature of the
Marcellus Shale formation, how drilling is done, and the scope of the
amendments to the Oil and Gas Act.
Justice Castille, casting off any pretest of shyness, noted that Act 13
introduced heavy-duty industrial uses, natural gas development and processing,
including permission to store waste water, into all existing zoning districts
as a right including residential, agricultural, and commercial. “…[a]t 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.” At slip opinion p. 57. This,
wrote the Chief Justice, implicates the Environmental Rights Amendment, Article
IA, Section 27.
Pennsylvania’s Environmental
Rights Amendment has no counterpart on the federal level.. The Court utilized
the dispute over Act 13 to undertake a necessary explication of the
Environmental Rights Amendment, including foundational matters. In other words,
what does the Environmental Rights Amendment really mean and how far does it
go? Justice Castille wrote his legacy with an answer to the question which he
so aptly raised. “The environmental public trust was created by the people of
Pennsylvania, as the common owners of the Commonwealth’s public natural
resources; this concept is consistent with the ratification process of the
constitutional amendment delineating the terms of the trust.” At slip opinion
p. 83. The Commonwealth is a fiduciary which has a duty to act toward the
corpus of the trust, the public natural resources, with “prudence, loyalty, and
impartiality.” At slip opinion p. 84.
The Commonwealth has an
obligation to refrain from performing its trustee duties respecting the
environment unreasonably, including legislative enactments or executive action.
The Commonwealth has a duty to refrain from permitting or encouraging the
degradation, diminution, or depletion of public natural resources, whether such
degradation, diminution or depletion would occur through direct state action or
indirectly. Indirect depletion, diminution or degradation would be caused by
the state’s failure to restrain the actions of private parties. Id.
The Court explained why the Pennsylvania
Constitution places citizens’ environmental rights on par with political rights.
Three and a half centuries ago forests blanketed ninety percent of the
Commonwealth’s surface of over twenty million acres. Two centuries later, the
state experienced a lumber boom that by 1920 had left much of Pennsylvania
naked to vegetation by trees. Loggers scarred the land and left it desolate.
This devastation was the subject of rage which was manifested in the
Pennsylvania Constitution. “Never again,” said the people of Pennsylvania.
The sweeping
scope of this opinion is the statement that the likes of Teddy Roosevelt would
have admired. Justice Castille has
enshrined himself forever in the Hall of Fame occupied by our nation’s most
important environmental protectors.
The Court
proceeded to examine the law chapter by chapter and section. Local
government, noted the Court, would be required under Act 13 to authorize oil
and gas operations, impoundment areas, and location assessment operations
(including seismic testing and the use of explosives) as permitted uses in all
zoning districts throughout a locality.
Local government would be required to authorize natural gas compressor stations
as permitted uses in agricultural and industrial districts, and as conditional
uses in all other zoning districts. Local
governments were commanded to authorize natural gas processing plants as
permitted uses in industrial districts and as conditional uses in agricultural
districts. The authority of local governments in connection with virtually any
component of Marcellus Shale drilling was denuded by Act 13 in an
unconscionable rush to exploit the subterranean environment. As the Court
noted, “local government zoning role is reduced to pro forma accommodation…”
At slip opinion p. 111.
The Chief
Justice wrote that Pennsylvania has a “notable history of what appears
retrospectively to have been a shortsighted exploitation of its bounteous
environment, affecting its minerals, its water, its air, its flora and fauna,
and its people.” At slip opinion 117. This Court, led by its chief, is not
about to let that happen again, not on their watch and not on their sacred
land. The Court verbally explored the scars on the land as a result of
unregulated and uncaring destruction of one of the greatest land grants in
history.
In a
manner, this opinion is a conservative piece of art. Local governments, it was
reinforced, have the power to frame local ordinances they see fit within the
limitations of their delegated powers. A
political branch of government hungry for corporate oil and gas donations
cannot override the legitimate place of grass roots government. The
entire Act was not, of course, found invalid. What was declared improper is a
statutory scheme hatched by the Governor and devoured by many legislators which
would have permitted and even encouraged gas development with no rules and no
restrictions regardless of the harm which that exploitation might cause.
Courts do
not have armies, navies or air forces to enforce their rulings. Courts speak
effectively only when they have moral authority behind them based upon an
honest articulation of the law. Reading the opinion in Robinson Township v.
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania should make any citizen proud of the viability of
our Pennsylvania Supreme Court. May our Justices continue to serve in good
health, peace and contentment throughout 2014 and beyond.
Clifford A. Rieders,
Esquire
Rieders, Travis,
Humphrey, Harris, Waters, Waffenschmidt & Dohrmann
Cliff Rieders, who
practices law in Williamsport, is Past President of the Pennsylvania Trial
Lawyers Association and a member of the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority.
None of the opinions expressed necessarily represent the views of these
organizations.
http://www.phoenixvillenews.com/opinion/20140113/fracking-and-the-pennsylvania-supreme-court#.UtRgeCX8N3o.email
7. Radioactive Gas Drilling Waste Sets Off More Radioactivity Alarms
May 2013. Iris Bloom, Protecting our Waters
“Fracking industry truck drivers have been
blowing the whistle for some time, saying that radioactivity alarms are going
off “all the time.” Workers report that the radioactivity levels are sky-high,
even in empty trucks that have already dumped their load of drill cuttings at
landfills. Now the Pittsburgh
Tribune-Review, Associated Press, StateImpact PA, Shale Reporter and other news
outlets are revealing some of the numbers supporting an increased urgency to
stop dumping radioactive waste all over Pennsylvania.
The basic
AP story includes alarming numbers followed by empty reassurances from PA DEP
with no data and no information to back up the myth that everything is just
fine. No physicians, impacted residents, radioactivity experts or workers are
interviewed — just the PA DEP spokesman, Kevin Sunday, whose job is to stifle
public outrage. Here is the Shale Reporter version of the AP story:
“Gas drilling waste is setting off radiation
alarms at Pennsylvania landfills –Tribune Review
“The
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that the
alarms went off 1,325 times in 2012, with more than 1,000 of those from oil and
gas waste, according to Department of Environmental Protection data.
DEP
spokesman Kevin Sunday tells the paper that all the data so far indicates that
public health is protected. After an alarm workers flag the waste for special
treatment.
The state
began requiring radiation monitors at landfills in 2002 because of medical
waste. But oil and gas drilling brings up mineral fragments containing
naturally occurring radiation.
DEP says
past research has shown problems are unlikely. DEP started a review in January
to examine radioactivity in drilling waste and on all the equipment that
handles it.”
Iris Bloom,
Protecting Our Waters:
One wonders
what this “past research is” that indicates that “problems are unlikely.” To the contrary, past research, in fact, has
shown flowback returning from Marcellus Shale drilling in Pennsylvania with
Radium 226 levels thousands of times the safe limit for drinking water. It
is well known that fracking waste pits all over PA (like the one in Lycoming County
where the plastic liner was found full of over 100 holes) leak toxic
radioactive waste into our soil and groundwater every day. Flowback spills are
a daily occurrence at frack pads, so routinely so that workers endure 18-hour
shifts doing nothing but vacuuming up spills.
And Mac Sawyer, a former fracking truck driver and environmental cleanup
worker in the Marcellus Shale industry in Pennsylvania, has stated that
sometimes “they just disable the alarm” rather than treating flowback or drill
cuttings waste with the special care required of radioactive waste. Uranium is
mobilized by fracking, along with radium 226.
Radium 226
causes bone, liver, and breast cancer, according to the ATSDR (Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry). Radium 226 has a half-life of 1,500 years.
Radium has also been shown to impact the blood, eyes, teeth, and more. ATSDR
reports:
How can radium affect
my health?
Radium has
been shown to cause effects on the blood (anemia) and eyes (cataracts). It also
has been shown to affect the teeth, causing an increase in broken teeth and
cavities. Patients who were injected with radium in Germany, from 1946 to 1950,
for the treatment of certain diseases including tuberculosis were significantly
shorter as adults than people who were not treated.
How likely
is radium to cause cancer?
Exposure to high
levels of radium results in an increased incidence of bone, liver, and breast
cancer. The EPA and the National Academy of Sciences, Committee on
Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation, has stated that radium is a known
human carcinogen.
A number of
people, including one 26-year old man, reported losing their teeth by late 2012
after drinking spring water (for years, apparently) that was contaminated by
the gas drilling blowout (2010) in Moshannon State Forest. The spring had a sign warning the water is
contaminated, but the people who had always drunk from this perfectly good,
pristine spring water collected their water from a different point where the
sign was
(Fracking truck in Towanda, Bradford County, PA
in June 2011. PA laws allow toxic radioactive fracking waste to be labeled
“residual waste.” Photo: Iris Marie Bloom)
not visible. In case you’ve forgotten, that blowout
spewed fracking flowback waste and methane high into the air for over 16 hours
and “could have been” a “major catastrophe” according to the generally
understated John Hanger, then-secretary of PA DEP.
Former PA
Governor Ed Rendell, who now invests in and profits from Marcellus Shale
industries, looked the other way while three
of his former staffers approved the policy allowing trucks to carry toxic
radioactive fracking waste while labeling it “residual waste” and not carrying
a manifest, or placard, saying where the waste came from, what’s in it, how
much there is of it, and where it’s going. Rendell’s former staffers jumped
ship to work for the industry, and Rendell himself has become an industry
cheerleader
PA DEP is and has been
behind the eight ball — to put it mildly — when it comes to monitoring, fining,
penalizing and reporting on the fracking industry. Empty reassurances just aren’t enough when
workers’ and residents’ health, and environmental well-being, is at stake. In a
state that still allows fracking flowback to be dumped on roads legally for
“dust suppression” and “de-icing” purposes, where spraying fracking waste on
land is reported to continue, and where trucks with toxic radioactive waste are
allowed to be labeled “residual,” we’d like to hear some outrage, instead of
outrage management, from policymakers, opinion-makers and legislators.
Two-Thirds of Pennsylvanians
Support a Gas Drilling Moratorium Now
On
the good news side, PA Senator Leanna Washington has joined the list of
co-sponsors for PA State Senator Ferlo’s gas drilling moratorium bill. The two-thirds majority in Pennsylvania who
support a gas drilling moratorium are starting to wake up and speak up. Radioactive fracking waste is one more reason
to step up the support for a moratorium now.
http://protectingourwaters.wordpress.com/2013/05/16/radioactive-gas-drilling-waste-sets-off-more-radioactivity-alarms/
8. Range
Finds Nothing-- But Independent Researchers Find Methane Contamination Is Spreading
“Texas'
oil/ gas regulators have opened a new investigation into allegations that
methane is contaminating North Texas water after residents complained that
independent sampling by university researchers revealed high levels of the
explosive gas in their residential wells, the state agency and scientists said.
Further
analysis by independent scientist,
Geoffrey Thyne, of testing done by the EPA and Range Resources indicates the contamination is spreading to
more wells and the levels are increasing in some cases. Thyne said his
preliminary analysis strengthens his belief that the contamination originates
at wells drilled by Fort Worth-based Range.
Thyne: "The leak continues and it's spreading. I can
say, based on the current data, there are at least two other wells that show
the same source ... which is the Range well."
Range
Resources has no evidence the gas in the water and the gas it is producing is
the same, company spokesman Matt Pitzarella said in an email. The gas in the
water is naturally occurring, as sometimes happens. Range's tests do not find
dangerous levels of methane in the water, but the company encourages all
homeowners to vent their wells.
However, Thyne and Duke University
scientist Rob Jackson say they have seen dangerous levels of methane. The
findings are likely different because the oil and gas industry typically uses a
different sampling method, Thyne said.
It’s A
Match
Thyne's study includes isotopic analysis.
This fingerprint-type analysis allowed him to review the unique chemical makeup
of the gas found in the water wells and compare it to the gas Range Resources
is producing and methane in a rock formation called the Strawn, which is where
Range says the gas contaminating the water originated.
Thyne had
already reviewed some data for the EPA after it opened its investigation in
2010, but in recent months he did a more thorough analysis. Now, after a
preliminary review, Thyne said he is
more convinced the gas in at least three of the water wells originates in the
Barnett shale — the rock layer from which Range Resources is extracting gas —
and is identical to what is found in the company's well bore.
At first
glance, it may appear that the gas in the Strawn and Barnett layers are
indistinguishable "but in fact, people are able to notice subtle
differences," Thyne said.
Jackson, the Duke University
professor, also specializes in isotopic analysis. He declined to share his
study — funded by Duke and the National Science Foundation — until it is
peer-reviewed and published, but some homeowners shared test results with the
AP.
Jackson found higher levels of
methane in some water wells — sometimes five to 10 times higher — than what
Range Resources' tests showed. In
some cases, the levels are five times higher than the 10 parts per million per
liter set as a threshold limit by the U.S. Geological Survey.
"We're
seeing high methane concentrations and that result alone indicates to me that
EPA closing the case was premature," Jackson told the AP.
Elizabeth
Struhs, whose property abuts Lipsky's, fears her family is in danger. Jackson's samples found 17 parts per
million of methane per liter of water in her well, while Range Resources said
its tests did not detect any hazardous methane level.
"We had
good water before they came here and we should have good water now,"
Struhs said.”
9. Allegheny County to Monitor Air In Drilling Near Airport
“Jan 20 - The first big Marcellus Shale gas development project in
Allegheny County, on county-owned land near Pittsburgh International Airport, will get special air pollution monitoring
attention from the Allegheny County Health Department before and after the drilling begins. The county announced Monday that it will soon begin air quality monitoring on more than 9,000 acres in Findlay
where Consol Energy Inc. plans to drill 47 shale gas wells and construct 17
miles of gas collection lines and 12 miles of water supply lines.
` According to the
county, Consol will begin development of drilling pads, impoundments and
pipelines in the second quarter of 2014, with drilling on the first two wells
in July. "This project represents the first large-scale development of a
wet gas field in Allegheny County," said Jim Thompson, the Health
Department's deputy director of environmental health. "... we will
conduct an air monitoring study in a community near to the project to make
certain there are no unforeseen problems." Marcellus Shale gas drilling operations and gas compressor stations
release tons of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds into the air
annually, although NOX emissions have declined in Pennsylvania due to the
shutdown of several coal-burning power plants.”
10. U.S. Solar Employment Rate Growing 10 Times Faster Than
National Job Average
“According to the annual National
Solar Jobs report released today by The Solar Foundation (TSF), an independent
nonprofit solar energy research and education organization, the solar industry
added 23,682 jobs from September 2012 to September 2013. Solar employment grew by
20 percent during that period.
Total employment for
the U.S. solar industry reached 142,698 in 2013.
Solar employment grew
10 times faster than the national average employment growth rate of 1.9 percent
in the same period.
“The solar industry’s
job-creating power is clear,” Andrea Luecke, executive director and president
of The Solar Foundation, said in a statement. “The industry has grown an
astounding 53 percent in the last four years alone, adding nearly 50,000 jobs.
Our Census findings show that for the fourth year running, solar jobs remain
well-paid and attract highly-skilled workers. “That growth is putting people
back to work and helping local economies.”
11. Marcellus Industry Job Numbers Fabricated Based on Penn State
Research
(From Jon Bogle…
The Responsible Drilling Alliance
in Williamsport, PA calls on the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry
to cease issuing its deceptive Marcellus shale employment reports.)
“When Marcellus drilling arrived in
Pennsylvania in 2006-2007, they sold themselves as an economic game changer,
“The Goose that Lays the Golden Egg,” according to then Governor Rendell. They commissioned a wildly exaggerated
report on their economic potential which was disseminated as independent
research by Pennsylvania State University.
The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and
Industry (L&I) soon began to cooperate with the industry to track this new
phenomena. The result is the monthly “Marcellus Shale Fast Facts”: an extensive
20-page report designed to inflate the importance of the gas industry. In its
Marcellus reports, L&I created a new statistical category, “ancillary
industries.” The 204,000 workers in the 30 ancillary industries are all counted
as gas industry induced jobs even though only a small fraction have any
involvement with the gas industry.
John
Augustine, community outreach manager for the Marcellus Shale Coalition,
announced, in a recent public presentation, that the gas industry employs
232,000 people with an average salary of $83,000 per year. Augustine’s claim of
232,000 jobs includes the 204,000 in the ancillary industries. The $83,000
compensation is only claimed in the core industries and even that is
considerably greater than wage assessments for those occupations elsewhere in
state reports.
The Marcellus industry is a kernel within
the economic occupational category “Mining and Logging” which includes mining,
quarrying, logging, and oil and gas drilling. The entire category of Mining and Logging
employs 35,000 or only 6/10’s of one percent of the state’s labor force with the Marcellus gas industry being 4/10’s of one
percent. The invention of “ancillary
industries” have given cover to a very small industry.
Before
the Marcellus drilling started in Pennsylvania, tens of thousands of vertical
gas wells had already been drilled by a native industry. In the rollover from
the Rendell to the Corbett administration, L&I’s “Fast Facts” suddenly
added 7000 new jobs to the core Marcellus industry. The existing native gas industry had apparently been quietly
incorporated into the Marcellus numbers, adding both to their weight, and
giving an appearance of growth. If these workers are subtracted, the remaining
Marcellus jobs number about 21,000 or only 10,000 new jobs since 2009. Along
the way, L&I also shifted the statistical base year from 2008 to 2009, the
nadir point of the great recession, thus making all the industry stats that
followed it look better.
Contact:
Jon Bogle
boglejon@comcast.net
570-772-0151
12. Doctors Reluctant to Treat Patients
Alberta Canada
“Hearings are scheduled
to begin on emissions and vapors emanating from the tar sands, specifically
around the Peace River area in northwestern Alberta, Canada.
The hearings, which
have been scheduled by the Albertan Energy Regulator, have come after years of
complaints by local residents into the odors, which are so bad some families
have been forced to move from their homes. Local residents have been
complaining of symptoms such as severe headaches, dizziness, sinus problems,
vomiting, muscle spasms and fatigue, amongst others.
But we do not know how
badly the tar sands are really impacting people’s health. This is because
according to a report commissioned specifically for the hearings by a public health
specialist, some local doctors are
reluctant to treat patients who draw connections between the tar sands industry
and their personal health problems.
The report,
prepared by Dr. Margaret Sears, concludes that: “There were reports from
various sources that physicians would not diagnose a relationship between
bitumen exposures and chronic symptoms.”
“Physicians are
quite frankly afraid to diagnose health conditions linked to the oil and gas
industry,” she adds.
And it gets worse. For those
individuals who suggested there was a “connection” between their health
problems and the tar sands, Sears records how “Physician care was refused … and that analytical services were refused by an Alberta laboratory when told that the
proposed analysis was to investigate exposure to emissions related to bitumen
extraction.”
Locals are arguing that the regulator must force the industry to
capture the emissions: “The best result possible is that they make some
regulations to get companies to capture their vapors,” believes Alain
Labrecque, who has had to vacate his farm after suffering numerous symptoms
including headaches, dizziness, fatigue and memory loss.
His family only started experiencing symptoms in 2011, after Baytex
Energy purchased nearly 50 wells and in the area and started heating bitumen in
above-ground tanks to extract the oil.
“There is definitely a
regulatory gap,” Labrecque argues. “We just want more accountability—we want
the regulator to take on a greater role, and have regulations in place so they
can enforce them, and just provide more accountability to industry.”
Baytex,
for its part, predictably argues that “there are no human health impacts
associated with the emissions from our projects.”
The
Labrecques have also now filed an injunction against Baytex to force the
company to stop operating. The hearing,
though, won’t be heard until March.
Local
residents will also have to wait until March for the report into the hearings
to be published by the regulator.”
http://ecowatch.com/2014/01/21/alberta-reluctant-to-treat-patients-tar-sands-and-health/
13. Fracking For
Energy Renaissance That Will Not Come
“Geology is
now showing that even impressive new technologies cannot necessarily conquer
high-priced oil.
"Ah,"
you say, "you're leaving out natural gas. The fracking boom has certainly
been a real wonder in the natural gas industry."
Actually,
it turns out that what we should really be wondering is how so many smart
people could get sucked into an investment scheme that lost so much money. The
U.S. natural gas industry overproduced badly and is still suffering today from
that mistake. It is doubtful that all but the most prolific shale gas wells are
making any money--even at current prices which have more than doubled since the
bottom. Some will say this is an incorrect assessment; but, these people tend
not to include the cost of land and lease acquisition. Exxon Mobil Corp.'s CEO
Rex Tillerson, whose company has one of the largest portfolios of U.S. shale gas
assets, was succinct about shale gas profitability in mid-2012: "We are
losing our shirts."
Despite all
this, wonders-yet-to-come seem to dominate U.S. energy policy. There is talk of
changing laws to allow the exporting of oil and natural gas. There is talk of
American energy independence. There is talk of an American energy renaissance
and the ruination of OPEC. It is all very breathless and essentially baseless.
It is an
hysteria created by an industry that can no longer deliver on the promise of
cheap, reliable energy--an industry that finds itself in the fight of its life,
a fight against physics and geology that is increasingly unbending in the face
of wonders-yet-to-come.”
-----http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Energy-Voices/2014/0112/Fracking-for-an-energy-renaissance-that-will-not-come
14. Shake, Rattle & Roll…Seismic Testing
From Bob Donnan News
“The company Geokinetics is set to begin seismic
testing in many areas .
Look where they buy
their explosives, Wampum Hardware. And my source also points out, that unlike
any other industry, they can put these charges in the ground for up to 120-days
without security even in a ‘911 world.
PENTOLITE
Pentolite is a high
explosive used for military and civilian purposes e.g. warheads and booster
charges. Military pentolite comprises a mixture of 50% PETN and 50% TNT. A
50:50 mixture has a density of 1.65 g/cm3 and a detonation velocity of 7400
m/s. Civilian pentolite sometimes contains a lower percentage of PETN. Civilian
pentolite has a detonation velocity of approximately 7,800 metres per second.
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
2.2 lbs charges are
placed in augered holes that are 8 to 35
feet deep
From Encyclopedia Britannica:
PETN,
abbreviation of pentaerythritol tetranitrate, a highly explosive organic
compound belonging to the same chemical family as nitroglycerin and
nitrocellulose. PETN has the chemical formula C5H8N4O12. It is prepared by
reacting pentaerythritol (C5H12O4), an alcohol traditionally used in paints and
varnishes, with nitric acid (HNO2). The reacting solution is chilled to
precipitate the PETN, which is filtered out, washed, dried, and recrystallized
to produce a colourless crystalline material that is generally stored and
shipped as a mixture with water and alcohol.
PETN
retains its properties in storage for longer periods than do nitroglycerin and
nitrocellulose. Nevertheless, it is a sensitive compound and is easily
detonated by an appropriate mechanical shock. PETN was first synthesized in
1894 and was introduced as a commercial explosive after World War I. It has
been valued in both military and civilian applications for its shattering force
and efficiency. It is used by itself in detonators, blasting caps, and a
detonating fuse known as Primacord, which is used to propagate a series of
detonations from one explosive charge to another. A mixture of roughly equal
amounts of PETN and trinitrotoluene (TNT) creates a military high explosive called
pentolite, which is used in grenades, artillery projectiles, and shaped-charge
warheads such as the ones launched by the old bazooka-type antitank weapons of
World War II and their modern descendants.” Bob Donnan
15. RADON:
BREATHING IT WHEN MARCELLUS GAS BURNS?
From a 2012 report “Radon in Natural Gas from
Marcellus Shale By Marvin Resnikoff, Radioactive Waste Management Associates
Executive Summary, January 10, 2012
From the report:
“It is well known that radon (radon-222) is present in natural
gas. Published reports by RH Johnson of the US Environmental Protection Agency
and C V Gogolak of the US Department of Energy also address this issue. Radon
is present in natural gas from Marcellus Shale at much higher concentrations
than natural gas from wells in Louisiana and Texas. Radon is an inert
radioactive gas. It does not react chemically with other elements. Whatever
radon is in the pipeline and is delivered to homes is released to the home
environment from kitchen stoves and space heaters. The radon is not oxidized
and is not made benign or non-radioactive in the burning process.”
16. Fracking—It’s
about Health
Alberta Canada
“Countless of the aggrieved have been
silenced. Award winning Journalist
Andrew Nikiforuk states: “As somebody who has reported for 20 years on this
industry in [Alberta], I can tell you
I’ve met hundreds of people in this province who have signed confidentiality
agreements once their water was blown, once their livestock was killed, once a
member of their family were injured, once they lost most of their grass or
their trees as a result of fouling events, contamination events, air pollution,
you name it. It is common practice in this province to buy people out, and
then buy their silence … so there is no record of how this industry quite often
performs badly.”
Alberta sports 5,300 flare
sites (a conservative figure I’ve drawn from Alberta Research Council’s 2000
research doc prepared for Alberta Environment – a very difficult figure to
track down. See below). The air borne toxic compounds found in
fracking communities include toluene, benzene and formaldehyde. Moderate exposure to toluene can cause
excessive sleepiness, confusion, hearing loss and brain damage. Long-term exposure to benzene can affect the
immune system and cause cancer – notably leukemia. Formaldehyde causes severe
central nervous system impairment. Chromosomal damage. And cancer.
Anything else these toxins are famous for? Neurological, pulmonary, gastroenterological,
dermatological, immunological, hematological, endocrinological,
ophthalmological, reproductive, and genetic illnesses and abnormalities. And, perhaps needless to say, death. Likely a very painful and egregious one.
I wish I could report that I’ve
actually been revealing a Margaret Atwood dystopia. But no.
This is the reality of towns across North America where people raising a
family in tranquility wake up one day and find a well across the street. Literally.
Or in their next-door neighbor’s back yard. Within days entire blocks of
their neighborhoods are ravaged. They
can’t sleep because the booming is relentless even throughout the night. Convoys are barreling through school
zones. Children are passing out in the
shower. People are developing
tumors. Animals die. Tap
water lights on fire. A house in
Bainbridge Ohio actually got lifted right off its very self and was destroyed –
while Richard and Thelma Payne were in it.
That was the end of their home of 51 years. Calvin Tillman, the mayor of Dish, Texas
abandoned his mayor ship along with the home and property he and his wife had
painstakingly built for their family and fled to protect their children’s lives
– after the severe nosebleeds his sons were suffering began to resemble the
scene of a bloody murder. His
description. Gary Gless bought his dream
home in the sublime neighborhood of Windsor Hills, Los Angeles in 2002,
anticipating his elite view of the first tee and clubhouse of the projected 18-hole
golf course. Today, he leans over his
balcony into the noise and toxic, rotten egg odor of the 1,000-acre Inglewood
Oil Field that has reduced his property value by 80% and turned him into an
activist for a fracking ban in California.
There is no moral compass within
the map of this industry’s invasion. In Pennsylvania, more than 3,000 fracking
wells were identified within two miles of 320 day care centers, 67 schools and
nine hospitals. In Texas, breast cancer
rates are spiking among women living in the six counties with the most
drilling, while breast cancer rates declined in the rest of Texas. Women’s cancers found in areas of intense
activity include breast, cervix, colon, ovary, rectum, uterus, and vagina. I’d never even heard of vagina cancer till
now. Had you? Men living in the same region are in the
highest bracket for deaths from cancer of the bladder, prostate, rectum,
stomach, and thyroid (based on National Cancer Institute cancer mortality maps
and graphs 2011).
The
air pollution is equally shocking. Gas drilling air pollution is released
during all phases of operations - including Venting, which releases gas during
well, pipeline and tank maintenance; and
Flaring, which burns gas that’s a safety hazard. Flares explode into the sky
with the noise of a jet engine, deliriously emitting chemicals of as yet
unknown quantity. They run night and
day. Next to the klieg lights. Sweet dreams..” By
Judith Cockman
http://judithfire.com/writing/2014/01/what-you-wish-you-didnt-have-to-know-about-fracking-2/#more-764
17. Judge to Rule
in Sunoco Eminent Domain Case
Sunoco Pipeline
“Jan 22 - Sunoco
Pipeline believes Pennsylvania’s Business Corporation Law authorizes it to have
eminent domain powers to condemn private property its needs across Washington
County to develop a pipeline to ship Marcellus Shale products. Kandice
Hull, a Harrisburg attorney representing the Philadephia company, claimed in court the law qualifies Sunoco
as a privately owned utility that can take property without federal approval
for easements because it’s involved in developing an interstate pipeline for
products classified as oil. “We meet that law requirement without reference
to any other authority,” Hull argued before Judge Katherine B. Emery as part of
a challenge filed against Sunoco by the owners of 25 properties.
“This is not one of
those exceptions under the Business Corporation Law,” argued Harrisburg
attorney Michael F. Faherty, who represents owners of 10 of the properties,
including Ronald and Sallie Cox, who are fighting to protect the wooded area
they own in front of their home on South Spring Valley Road. The Cox case has
become the first to reach a judge, and its outcome is expected to determine how
the remaining cases will proceed through court. Faherty said he believes Sunoco needs approval to use eminent domain
power from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Sunoco has four customers that would use
the pipeline to ship ethane and propane. Range Resources of Southpointe
identified itself as a major shipper on the line, while Sunoco declined to
make public in court the identities of its other three customers in the
project. Emery said she planned to issue a “prompt” ruling in the Cox case but
would give Faherty another week to submit a response to a previous Sunoco
filing.”
Story:
From Bob Donnan News:
Thanks to Bill & Mary
Belitskus of Kane, Pa for sharing these photos of the Royal Dutch Shell Well Site in the
Allegheny National Forest adjacent to the Belitskus Homestead (approximately
6,000 ft. from their water well).
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 Lou Pochet or Jan Milburn.
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
Science Advisor-Dr. Cynthia Walter
To receive our news updates, please email jan at westmcg@gmail.com
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