Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group Updates
April 10, 2014
* For articles and updates or to just vent, visit us on facebook;
* To view permanent documents, past updates,
reports, general information and meeting information
http://westmorelandmarcellus.blogspot.com/
* Our email address: westmcg@gmail.com
*
To discuss candidates: http://www.facebook.com/groups/VoteProEarth/
* To contact your state
legislator:
For the email address, click on the envelope
under the photo
* For information on PA state gas legislation
and local control: http://pajustpowers.org/aboutthebills.html-
WMCG
Thank You
* Thank you to contributors to our Updates: Debbie Borowiec, Lou
Pochet, Ron Gulla, the Pollocks, Marian Szmyd, Bob Donnan, Elizabeth Donahue, and Bob Schmetzer.
***
WMCG Group 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.
***Allegheny County Parks Meeting-_April 12
To
all,
As
you know, Allegheny County Council is now acting on the County Executive's
request to approve the fracking of Deer Lakes County Parks. Council will hold several general public and
open committee meetings over the next few weeks before a final vote.
The
Protect Our Parks coalition, invites you to an organizational meeting on
Saturday morning.
THIS
IS A CHANCE FOR YOU TO LEARN
WHAT
IS HAPPENING IN THIS CAMPAIGN, AND
HOW
CITIZENS CAN HELP COUNCIL MAKE THE RIGHT DECISION.
10:00 to 11:30 am. Saturday
April 12
East Liberty Presbyterian
Church
116
S Highland Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15206
PLEASE
DO YOUR BEST TO BE THERE!
Let
Tom Hoffman know that you will be joining him on Saturday,
<tomhoffman@cleanwater.org>
Take Action!!
***Letters to the editor are important
and one of the best ways to share
information with the
public. ***
**Tenaska Plant Seeks to Be Sited in South
Huntingdon, Westmoreland
County***
Petition !! Please forward to your lists!
Please
share the attached petition with residents of Westmoreland and all bordering counties.
We ask each of you to help us by sharing
the petition with your email lists and any group with which you are affiliated.
As stated in the petition, Westmoreland County cannot meet air standards for
several criteria. Many areas of Westmoreland County are
already listed as EPA non-attainment areas for ozone and particulate matter
2.5, so the county does not have the capacity to handle additional emissions
that will contribute to the burden of ozone in the area as well as health
impacts. According to the American Lung
Association, every county in the Pittsburgh region except for Westmoreland County
had fewer bad air days for ozone and daily particle pollution compared with the
previous report. Westmoreland County was the only county to score a failing grade for particulate matter.
The
Tenaska gas plant will add tons of pollution to already deteriorated air and
dispose of waste water into the Youghiogheny River. Westmoreland County already has a higher
incidence of disease than other counties in United States. Pollution won’t stop at the South Huntingdon
Township border; it will travel to the surrounding townships and counties.
If you know of church groups or other
organizations that will help with the petition please forward it and ask
for their help.
***Forced Pooling Petition
“The PA DEP announced the
first public hearing on forced pooling in PA to be held in less than two weeks. We're pushing on the DEP to
postpone the hearings and address the many problems we have with their current
plans. In the meantime, we're circulating a petition to the legislature calling
on them to strike forced pooling from the books in PA.
Forced pooling refers to the ability to drill under private property
without the owner's permission. It's legal in the Utica Shale in western PA,
but the industry has not made an attempt to take advantage of it until now. Forced
pooling is a clear violation of private property rights and should not be legal
anywhere.
I know I've asked a lot of you.
Unfortunately, we're fighting battles on many fronts and they just keep coming.
But with your help, we've made lots of progress, so I'm asking you to help me
again by signing and sharing this petition.”
Appreciatively,
as always,
Karen”
From
DelawareRiverkeeper
Frack Links
***The Daily Show
Public Herald
Public Herald’s Josh Pribanic and Melissa Troutman with Bradley
County Residents
If
you missed this Daily Show segment based on the reporting of the producers of
Triple Divide, a video will be available
on line at the show’s website http://thedailyshow.cc.com/ or go to www.publicherald.org
.
Joshua
Pribanic [@jbpribanic] describes water contamination in Leroy Township,
Bradford Co., PA to Daily Show with Jon Steward correspondent Aasif Mandvi and
crew. Photo by Melissa Troutman [@melissat22].
***Act 13 Forum
Video Is Up
The
video is split into 2 parts for a total viewing time of about 2 hours. There is a small amount of blank time (about
a minute) at the beginning of Part 1, but just let it play...
Our
Water, Our Air, Our Communities — And Forced Gas Drilling?
What: Delaware Riverkeeper
Network hosted a forum with the lead litigators and litigants of the landmark
Act 13 case – the case in which the conservative Pennsylvania Supreme Court
declared that the rights of pure water, clean air, and a healthy environment,
across the generations, must be protected by state and local legislators.
The forum included a discussion
of how Act 13 came to be passed, how and why the legal challenge was
formulated, including the interesting alliance between the 7 towns and the Delaware
Riverkeeper Network, and the implications for environmental, municipal, and
legislative decision making going forward.
***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
***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/
DEP Activity
DEP Response on Hermine
Compressor Station—Many of you commented on this station
Apr
2 at 1:19 PM
Dear
Commenter,
On March 31, 2014, the Department modified Plan Approval PA-65-00979A to
reflect the removal of the Waukesha L5794LT compressor engine, require
installation of an oxidation catalyst to control the Caterpillar G3516LE
compressor engine, prohibit the simultaneous operation of the Caterpillar
G3516LE and G3512LE compressor engines, and allow the second new Caterpillar
G3612LE engine currently authorized under PA-65-00979A to begin temporary
operation at the Herminie Compressor Station located in South Huntingdon
Township, Westmoreland County.
This notice is being provided in accordance
with the requirements of 25 Pa. Code §127.51 to all protestants who have
submitted comments.
A
summary of the comments received during the public comment period and the
corresponding Department responses can be found in the attached Comment and
Response Memo which is included in the Plan Approval file. I have also attached a copy of the modified
plan approval. All other documents relating
to the Herminie Compressor Station air quality plan approval are available for
review at Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Southwest
Regional Office, 400 Waterfront Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. Instructions for scheduling a file review may
be found under the Regional Resources section of the Department’s website
(www.dep.state.pa.us).
Sincerely,
Alan Binder | Air Quality Engineering
Specialist
Department
of Environmental Protection
Southwest
Regional Office
400
Waterfront Drive | Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Phone:
412.442.4168 | Fax: 412.442.4194
www.depweb.state.pa.us
Page 122 of Robinson v. Commonwealth Is Worth Repeating
The court ruled- governments have trustee obligations.
"Proper exercise of a Trustees discretion is
measured by benefits "bestowed upon all [the Commonwealth's] citizens in
their utilization of natural
resources" rather than " by the balance sheet profits and
appreciation [the Trustee] realizes from its resource operations".
All articles are excerpted.
Please use links to read the rest of the stories. Jan
FRACK News
1. The People Speak---A Majority Oppose Drilling Parks in Allegheny County
“Tonight
over 50 people signed up to speak at the Allegheny County Council meeting. Only
4 of them were pro-fracking, they all get regular checks from the fracking
industry.
Meanwhile, we the people, came with the simple
agenda of keeping fracking out of OUR parks, to keep our families and
communities safe.
It's
not over yet, we understand that, but man it was wonderful to see so many new
faces from every corner of our county. Stay strong more coming up. But I wanted
to end tonight with a big thanks to everyone who came.” From A Group Member
2. Act 13 Decision -What does
it mean? -Jan
There have been some meetings with local officials
and a video conference with officials and the Act 13 attorneys recently. Other
forums are being planned. The following are the opinions of local township
officials or Act 13 attorneys on what that decision means as well as some other
facts related to fracking that they conveyed. Jan
*
The gas industry lowers the tax base because it lowers property values. In
Denton Texas there is so much drilling that there is no room for any other
development.
*
Can you keep drilling out of a community? Communities will probably still need to
leave some area for drilling. There was a question of how can residents be protected
if the community is fully developed.
*The zoning provisions of Act 13 never took
effect, so there was no reason for local authorities to change ordinances.
*
Judge Quigley asked the important question- “What makes the gas industry
special to be allowed in residential areas?”
* Someone asked, “Are gas overlay areas legal?”
Overlays place an industrial drilling area over a previously zoned residential
area, as in Murrysville. The legality of this system was questioned.
*The
gas industry wants to be permitted everywhere, in every district. It seeks
density.
*Even
if drilling occurs in an industrial zone, it should still be allowed only as a conditional
use. (Cecil Twp-The Compressor station must go in the heavy industrial zone only)
*
People buy their home with the expectation of protection of property and health
via zoning ordinances.
*A Marcellus
pad can be 2000x bigger than shallow well pad.
*Gas
companies can run compressor stations on gas containing frack chemicals, which
is very dirty. They should use electric motors.
*
Gas companies can lease 500 acres, use only 20 acres, and hold open the other
acreage forever.
*Most
leases are forever. So if ever want to sell your home, the gas companies own
the lease. This is not something many buyers desire.
*The
following issues are yet undecided and were kicked back to the Commonwealth
Court:
-Gag rule being placed on doctors
-Water well owners having to be
notified of spills
-Eminent domain being used to
acquire gas storage
-PUC having the right to review
zoning ordinances
*Gas
sites can see activity for 8 to 9 years-There can be a constant cycle of
drilling, refracking, and sometimes
processing at facilities.
*You
don’t want storage tanks in your area. There is constant truck traffic along
with other issues.
*Gas
companies won’t admit that some workers are on site 8 hours a day—that may
violate exposure allowances.
*Twp.
can zone out centralized impoundment pits, which can have activity for years.
(This is not the same as regular frack pits.)
*It
is wise to use engineers who do not work for gas industry. There should be no conflict of interest.
*Townships
can now require vapor recovery.
3. Company Sues
Hempfield for Denying Seismic Testing On
Roads and Right of Ways
“A
seismic testing company claims in a federal lawsuit that a Westmoreland County
township has violated its due process rights by refusing to allow the company
to conduct tests along township roadways and rights-of-way.
ION Geophysical Corp. of Houston,
Texas, claims that because Hempfield
doesn't have an ordinance regulating or banning seismic testing, it doesn't
have the authority to prohibit it. The company is conducting testing for
oil and gas operators.
Hempfield's solicitor couldn't be
reached for comment. The company wants a federal judge to order Hempfield to
allow the testing and exempt the company for a year from any ordinance the
township might pass in an attempt to regulate or ban seismic testing.”
Read
more: http://triblive.com/news/westmoreland/5845884-74/company-testing-seismic#ixzz2xGFi6ley
This news just in-- And not good (Jan)
Federal judge allows seismic testing in Hempfield
By
Brian Bowling
Published:
Thursday, April 10, 2014, 7:24 p.m.
Updated
less than a minute ago
“A Westmoreland County township can't interfere with a ION Geophysical when
it uses public roads to conduct seismic testing later this month, a federal
judge ruled Thursday.
ION Geophysical of Houston sued
Hempfield after the township's board voted to halt negotiations for a seismic
testing agreement.
The company contends the township lacks the authority to block the
testing because it hasn't passed an ordinance regulating it, and that the
board's decision to stop talks violated the company's due process rights
because ION had no way to appeal the refusal.
The township contends that it has
a right to refuse to enter into an agreement, and its rights-of-way agreements
don't provide for seismic testing.
The tests send vibrations deep
underground to get a picture of potential reserves of natural gas.
U.S. District Judge Maurice Cohill granted the company's request for a
preliminary injunction that will allow it to conduct the tests until the
lawsuit is resolved. Cohill said blocking the tests would hurt the company
while allowing it won't hurt the township.”
Read
more:
http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/5927416-74/township-company-testing#ixzz2yXCFYFWv
4. DEP: Drillers Extract
Thousands of Tons of Radioactive Cuttings
in Pa.
“ Environmental
watchdogs say a system for tracking radioactive material unearthed during gas
drilling depends too much on the industry’s self-policing, making it impossible to judge how much waste is
generated or how dangerous it might be. Their concern centers on cuttings –
the rock unearthed during the drilling process.
The deepest rocks are sometimes
radioactive. They may become more volatile when exposed to chemicals used
during fracking, said Nadia Steinzor, program coordinator for the Oil and Gas
Accountability Project of Earthworks.
During 2012, an estimated 4,175
tons of cuttings were radioactive, said Morgan Wagner, of DEP. The DEP does not
have an estimate for how much radioactive material was unearthed last year,
Wagner said.
Environmentalists say the state’s
estimates, when they exist, are difficult to verify.
“We
don’t know the scope of the problem,” said Adam Garber, field director for
PennEnvironment. “… It’s only (going) to get worse.”
Two years ago, state regulators identified “several containers” of
waste which were so radioactive that state officials required it to be moved
out of state, Wagner said.
In April 2012, a Westmoreland County landfill rejected
a load of drilling waste when it triggered a radiation alarm. That load also reportedly
was shipped to Idaho.
Earlier this month, regulators in
North Dakota reported finding black
trash bags stuffed with radioactive “drilling socks” – filters used to strain
liquid during the drilling process. The Pennsylvania DEP is studying the
use and disposal of the same type of filters as part of its study.
A DEP website that tracks the disposal of Marcellus Shale waste
includes no reference to either the 2012 or 2013 Idaho shipments. Steinzor said
that data gap is typical because the state’s
system relies on self-reporting by gas drillers.
Data provided by drilling
companies show a staggering amount of waste.
Pennsylvania landfills last
year accepted 785,000 tons of drill cuttings. Another
81,000 tons were shipped across the border into New York.
http://www.tribune-democrat.com/latestnews/x787237161/DEP-Drillers-extract-thousands-of-tons-of-hot-rocks-in-Pa
5. DEP Doesn’t Notify Private Water Well
Owners of Nearby Contamination
Unreported, Unrecorded-What You Don’t
Know
By Don Hopey / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Even when pollution discharges
from gas well pads and impoundments contaminate private water supplies, those
violations often go unrecorded or publicly reported by state environmental
regulators, according to documents filed in the Pennsylvania Superior Court
case challenging the constitutionality of the state's oil and gas law, Act 13.
According
to a 40-page brief, filed with the court in Harrisburg, it is the
"practice" of state DEP
regulators not to issue a violation notice, fines or formal determinations of
contamination where gas development companies reach private settlements with
water well owners.
That
makes it impossible, according to the brief, for the public to know where and
when groundwater, wells and springs are contaminated, because there is no
publicly accessible record.
"For us, this is all about transparency and
the ability to protect water supplies," said John Smith, one of four
attorneys representing municipalities that challenged the constitutionality of
the state's 2012 oil and gas law. "The DEP must provide citizens with
information about the potential harm coming their way. If it doesn't record and
make available the violations records then it is denying the public accurate
information, which is unconscionable."
The
state Supreme Court ruled that the
primary provisions of Act 13 that prevented municipalities from having a say
in the placement of wells, pipelines and compressor stations were
unconstitutional, but remanded other sections of the law to the Superior
Court for reconsideration.
The
brief filed with the court Tuesday argues that a provision of Act 13 that requires the DEP to notify public water
systems but not private water well users about drilling industry spills is
unconstitutional because it is a "special law" that violates the
state's equal protection principals for the sole benefit of the oil and gas
industry," and "bears no rational basis to any legitimate public
interest."
The
brief used the deposition testimony to illustrate that private water supply
users faced health risks without a legal requirement that DEP notify private
water supply users of contamination affecting their water supplies. More than 3
million Pennsylvania residents rely on private well water for drinking and
everyday use, according U.S. Census Bureau statistics cited in the brief.
Mr.
Eichler was asked, during his deposition Jan. 29 for a water contamination case
involving Range Resources' Yeager drilling operation in Amwell, if an
individual could find out if his neighbor's well water had been contaminated if
his neighbor and the shale gas drilling company had settled the complaint.
According
to the deposition transcript from that case, now before the state Environmental
Hearing Board, Mr. Eichler said, "Well ... no, when I think about what
information we have on file and what (the plaintiff neighbor) would have access
to it's not clear to me how he might become aware of a problem at the Yeager
water supply."
The
brief also notes, that since the DEP is supposed to consider a firm's violation
history when issuing subsequent permits, a full picture of a firm's past
performance is unavailable to decision makers and the public in such settlement
cases.
Asked
if DEP considered the water contamination complaint against Range in deciding
whether to approve subsequent drilling permits at the Yeager farm well pad
site, according to the deposition transcript, Mr. Eichler said that it did not.
But
on Tuesday evening, the DEP's legal department sent the Post-Gazette a 10-page
"Errata Sheet" that makes 64 "clarifications and
corrections" to the sworn transcript record of the first two days of his
three-day deposition, Jan. 29-31.
The
document, dated March 14 and signed by Mr. Eichler, changes his testimony that
DEP records about water contamination aren't publicly available. In the amended record, Mr. Eichler now states that
the private settlement agreement between Range and the owner of the
contaminated water supply on the Yeager farm is "in the permit file that
is open to the public," along with a document assessing Range a penalty
for contaminating the springs.
Mr.
Smith said he will file a motion to strike the testimony changes because
"a deposition isn't a take-home exam."
But, like the Yeager case, not all
contamination determinations are formalized by a letter. Responding to
another question, Mr. Eichler said in the deposition that in the Yeager case the DEP didn't issue a Notice of Violation or assess
a fine, or issue a determination letter that he could remember. But he said
the DEP could keep track of such cases on its "Complaint Tracking
System."
Those CTS records are not available to the public,
he said.
In
response to follow-up questions, the DEP
said no contamination determination letters are available on the department's
"eFacts" Web page, where permit and enforcement records are available
to the public but can be found by searching paper files at DEP regional
offices. While those determination letters are public record, according to the
DEP, the names of the complainants are redacted and all of the materials,
records and investigation documents and reports are confidential.
"Non-criminal
investigative records are not required to be produced to the public even upon
conclusion of an investigation, according to the (state) Right to Know
Law," Morgan Wagner, a DEP spokeswoman wrote in an email response.
"Once it is an investigative record, it is always an investigative
record."
6. Chevron Denies Access To DEP At Explosion Site
“When a
Chevron gas well exploded in Greene County, killing a worker, the company
blocked personnel with the DEP from accessing the site for nearly two days. The
DEP acquiesced, despite its regulatory authority. Now, that issue is one of
nine violations the DEP outlined in a letter to Chevron last month.
Drilling
companies are always required to grant access to DEP officials, regardless of
the circumstances, according to their state-issued permits.
In its notice of violation letter, the DEP
cited Chevron for “hazardous venting of gas,” “open burning,” and “discharge of
production fluids onto the ground.” However, Poister stressed that Chevron’s
most serious violation was not blocking state regulators, but an equipment
failure on the wellhead that is believed to have caused the explosion that took
the life of 27-year-old Ian McKee, a contractor on the site.
DEP’s Scott Perry said that the lack of direct access to the site would not impact its investigation. “It
did impede our ability to monitor the conditions at the site which was one of
our concerns, whether or not the conditions could change and pose a threat to
public safety,” .http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2014/04/09/chevron-blocked-access-to-dep-after-fatal-well-fire-in-southwest-pa/
7. Congress to EPA: Investigate!
“For
the first time, members of Congress
called upon EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy to “investigate the water
contamination” in Dimock, PA; Parker County, TX; and Pavillion, WY.
In all three communities, the EPA has withdrawn investigations into
water contamination and stopped providing residents with clean drinking water.
Eight Representatives, led by Rep. Matt
Cartwright (PA-17), made the request in a letter to Administrator McCarthy.
The EPA had investigated alleged fracking-related oil and gas pollution of drinking
water supplies in the three communities. In
each case, the EPA’s preliminary results indicated oil/gas development was the
cause of the drinking water pollution but in each case, the EPA withdrew before finalizing the results of the investigations.
Emerging
data shows that the EPA was misguided in closing its
investigations. In Parker County, TX, independent water
testing from Duke University reveals that residents’ drinking water was still
contaminated when the EPA determined it was safe due to relying on faulty gas
industry testing.
The
EPA’s investigations into fracking-related threats to drinking water are
especially important as the Obama Administration
advocates for increased natural gas exports as a counterweight to Russia’s influence in Eastern Europe.
Because more than 90% of all gas wells are fracked, increased exports mean
increased fracking.
“Europeans aren’t fracking their own
countries’ shale gas because they are worried about its environmental and
health impacts,” said Ray Kemble, an affected resident of Dimock,
Pennsylvania. He continued, “They’re right to worry. I haven’t had clean water
for four years, and its due to oil and gas drilling.”
“President Obama’s arguments for fracking
change with the wind,” said Kemble. He continued, “Need a bridge fuel to a
clean energy future? Fracking! Want energy independence? Fracking! Weaken
Putin? Fracking! All the while his administration avoids clear evidence that
fracking-related oil and gas development is poisoning Americans. Hopefully this
letter will shake some sense into them.”
The eight members of Congress who signed the
letter are:
◦
Matt Cartwright (PA-17)
◦
Alan Lowenthal (CA-47)
◦
Jared Huffman (CA-02)
◦
Raul Grijalva (AZ-03)
◦
Keith Ellison (MN-05)
◦
David Scott (GA-13)
◦
Mark Pocan (WI-02)
Rush Holt (NJ-12)
8. Oil/ Gas Wells
Cause More Ozone In Utah’s Uintah Basin Than
In Los Angeles
Also high levels
of Benzene
These results were reported in Highly Elevated Atmospheric Levels of Volatile
Organic Compounds in the Uintah Basin, Utah, a paper by a group of
University of Colorado Boulder researchers like Detlev Helmig and Chelsea
Thompson of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. The paper made its way
to this month’s Environmental Science & Technology journal, published by
the American Chemical Society (ACS).
“Uintah County is home to a combined 11,200
oil- and gas-producing wells. Over time, their presence led to researchers’
discovery that the Utah’s Uintah Basin area
exceeded the EPA s eight-hour National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)
level for ozone pollutants for 39 days last winter, placing it above the Los
Angeles Basin’s typical summertime levels.
The group wrote that its 2013 observations
from the Uintah Basin oil and gas development area are, “to the best of our
knowledge, among the highest-ever reported mole fractions of alkane non-methane
hydrocarbon in ambient air. Mole fractions for the aromatic compounds reach or
exceed those reported from the most heavily polluted inner cities.”
There are about 25,000 more wells under proposal,
according to the study.
Researchers found that Uintah Basin benzene levels often exceeded 1.4
parts per billion, which is a benchmark for chronic exposure, Lisa M.
McKenzie, a public health researcher at the University of Colorado, Denver,
told the ASC’s Chemical & Engineering News.
But since benzene is considered a
carcinogen, the EPA does not define a safe threshold for its presence.
“These observations reveal a strong causal link between oil and gas emissions, accumulation
of air toxics and significant surface production in the atmospheric surface
layer,” the study reads.”
http://ecowatch.com/2014/03/28/oil-and-gas-wells-utah-ozone/
9. Mortgage Lenders
Tighten Policies
There
is clear evidence that fracking in a community causes property to lose significant
value. The mortgage industry, recognizing how drilling adds risk and reduces
value, is beginning to tighten policies
on lending on properties that have wells on or near them, or that are subject
to leasing.
As more Americans live closer to
oil and gas wells, what lending institutions are most worried about are the additional risks brought by drilling:
*Uninsurable property damage for oil and gas activities outside of a landowner’s
control.
*Lending
institutions refusing to provide
mortgage loans on homes with gas leases because
they don’t meet secondary mortgage market guidelines.
*The possibility of default
because a borrower signed a mineral lease
*Prohibitively expensive
appraisals and title searches made complicated
by the long paper trail associated with mineral rights and attached
liabilities.
*Difficulty
of getting construction loans, which
require a risk-free property.
The number of banks that are applying stringent
conditions or refusing to make loans to properties associated with oil and gas
drilling is increasing. Here are some examples:
* In North Carolina the State Employees’ Credit Union (NCSECU) has
announced that it will no longer approve
mortgage financing for split estates. The credit union, which manages
almost $12 billion in residential mortgages, said it considers loans on such
land to be riskier than those where the mineral rights remain with the land.
“You could end up where someone puts a drilling platform on a property,” says
NCSECU President Jim Blaine, “We’d have to tell their neighbors, ‘we’re sorry,
your property value just went down.’”
* According
to American Banker, at least two mortgage lending institutions in addition to
NCSECU — Tompkins Financial in Ithaca,
NY and Spain’s Santander Bank — will no longer write mortgages on land where oil
or gas rights have been sold to an energy company.
* Language in the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation’s (Freddie Mac) standard
mortgage contract prohibits a “borrower from taking any action that could cause
the deterioration, damage or decrease in value of the subject property.” If a
landowner breaks that clause by signing a drilling lease or entering into a
mineral rights agreement, Freddie Mac has the legal authority to exercise a
call on the full amount of a mortgage, according to an agency spokesman.
* According to a white paper prepared
for the New York State Bar Association,
Wells Fargo, one of the largest home mortgage lenders in the United States, is
approaching home loans for properties that have gas drilling leases attached to
them with a high degree of caution.
* The Tompkins Trust Company has prepared a white paper
that details how several companies, including Provident Funding, GMAC, FNCB,
Fidelity and First Liberty, First Place Bank, Solvay Bank, and CFCU Community
Credit Union, are putting hard-to-meet conditions on mortgages or denying loans
altogether on properties with oil and gas leases.
Fracking
and associated injection wells can lead to earthquakes that can damage
property, a concern for a number of lenders.
*A
Pennsylvania couple was recently denied
a new mortgage on their farm by Quicken Loans because of a drilling site across
the street. According to the lender, “gas wells and other structures in
nearby lots…can significantly degrade a property’s value” and do not meet
underwriting guidelines. Two other lenders also denied the family mortgages.
Federal
lending and mortgage institutions (FHA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac) all have
prohibitions against lending on properties where drilling is taking place or
where hazardous materials are stored. A drilling lease on a property financed
through one of these agencies would result in a ”technical default.” FHA’s
guidelines also don’t allow it to finance mortgages where homes are within 300
feet of an active or planned drilling site.
As
we’ve seen over and over, increased oil and gas drilling causes irreparable
damage to a community. Lending institutions are reacting because it’s their
money that’s on the line.
Their
increasing unwillingness to lend will further hurt property values and drive up
mortgage rates.
10. Pipeline
Company Pays 2.1 Million in Eminent Domain Battle-Texas
Loss of Property Value
“Mar
24 – North Texas family members have won
a $2.1 million verdict against a pipeline company after their parcel of land
lost value because an easement was taken for a gas line. This marks the third
time Texas property owners recently have prevailed in similar eminent domain
cases. The Johnson County dispute represents a fundamental debate between
the pipeline industry and Texas landowners: Does a pipeline devalue only the narrow easement strip or some larger
portion of the overall property? The jury agreed that land outside the easement
lost value.
"This verdict sends a strong message that pipeline easements
often cause significant damages to property beyond the easement area,"
says Austin-based eminent domain attorney Luke Ellis of Johns Marrs Ellis &
Hodge LLP, who represented the family. "Unfortunately,
many Texas landowners don't realize that they have a constitutional right to
seek just compensation for such damages." The dispute began in 2007 when
Midland-based Peregrine Pipeline Co. sued family-owned Eagle Ford Land Partners
to gain a mile-long easement for a natural gas pipeline. Peregrine claimed
Eagle Ford's damages totaled only about $80,000. The family's appraisers and
lawyers countered that damages should account not only for the easement strip,
but also for the loss in value to the remaining property.”
http://www.abc12.com/story/25056405/texas-landowners-win-21-million-judgment-against-pipeline-company-over-lower-property-value
11. Obama Has Head In Sand On Methane
Emissions
His
Plan Iffy and Voluntary
“Methane
emissions have decreased by 11 percent in the past 24 years, but they could
pick back up by 2030 if actions aren’t taken to combat them
The president’s newly announced
methane emissions strategy identified a few key methane
emissions sources that the country needs to focus on: Landfills, Coal Mines, Agriculture,
and
◦
The EPA will
solicit input from independent experts on how best to pursue further
methane reductions from these sources. If EPA decides to develop additional regulations, it
will complete regulations by the end of 2016. The EPA will also work
with the industry to expand voluntary efforts to reduce methane emissions through the
Natural Gas STAR program.
Lauren
Pagel, policy director of Earthworks, says the methane
strategy will have the best chance of working if it requires the EPA to
directly regulate methane pollution from fracking. “Unfortunately, when it comes to the downsides of fracking-enabled oil
and gas development, so far the Obama administration has had its head in the
sand,” Pagel said. “We hope that this plan signals a shift for this
administration, putting their words into actions to limit the harms from oil
and gas production.
“But,
no matter how stringent the methane pollution controls, they are no substitute
for dropping dirty fossil fuels like fracked gas and replacing them with truly
clean alternatives like conservation and renewables.”
12. Pa. Leases Over 1,400 Acres Under
Rivers and Streams
“Over the past year the PA Department of
Conservation and Natural Resources has raised nearly $5.9 million by quietly
leasing more than 1,400 acres of mineral rights underneath publicly-owned
waterways to gas companies.
The most recent lease
agreement gives Chesapeake Energy the rights to extract gas from under 1,092
acres of the Susquehanna River in Wyoming and Bradford Counties for five years.
The state has entered
into nine lease agreements of streambeds since March 2012. Pennsylvania
waterways are considered publicly-owned if they are, or ever have been, used
for travel or commerce.
Other lease agreements executed this year include
80 acres to Vantage Energy in at Ten Mile Creek in Greene County, 57 acres to
Chevron at Dunkard Creek in Greene County, and 18.7 acres to ExxonMobil
subsidiary XTO Energy at Black Lick Creek in Indiana County.
Former
DCNR Secretary John Quigley, who served under Governor Ed Rendell, a
Democrat, says he first became aware that gas companies were drilling under
publicly-owned streams and rivers around 2009.
Mark Szybist an attorney with the environmental group,
PennFuture, believes the stream leases may be at odds with Rendell’s 2010
executive order, which placed a moratorium on new leasing of “lands owned and
managed” by DCNR for oil and gas development.
“If you read the executive order, it prohibits leasing
of any lands administered by DCNR–not just state forests or state parks,” says
Szybist. “So technically these leases would appear to violate the executive
order, even if this is not the leasing Rendell had in mind.”
Governor
Corbett has said in the near future he plans to overturn the Rendell moratorium
and open up more state park and forest land for drilling by issuing a new executive order which places a
moratorium on leasing that would create an additional surface disturbance.”
13. Scientists Criticize Government –Not Enough Fracking
Data
"A
new University of Texas-Austin analysis of fracking
near Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, criticizes state and federal regulatory
agencies for dismissing public concern about the health and environmental
impacts of gas and oil operations. Shale oil and gas production, is likely to
be a driver of climate change, not only because burning petroleum products
emits vast amounts of carbon dioxide, but because gas production and
distribution systems are likely to
leak methane, a gas about 35
times more potent than carbon as a greenhouse gas.
Susan Brantley, a Pennsylvania State University biogeochemist unaffiliated with the UT-Austin study, is
among the scientists who have spoken out about the fracking data gap. "A
few health studies have been initiated, but data are few and far between that
allow scientists to interpret potential impacts," Brantley said.
"In addition, the lack of federal oversight on a lot of activity
which is controlled by the states makes for difficulties for scientists to
evaluate or even get hold of needed data. In Pennsylvania, it is even
difficult to determine exactly where spills have occurred, let alone the volume
of the spill, the timing or the chemicals that were spilled."
14. Approval of LNG Exports Means More
Money for Big Oil and Gas, More
Fracking In U.S. Communities
Statement of Food & Water Watch Executive
Director, Wenonah Hauter
Washington, D.C. – “On
Wednesday, the U.S. House’s Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on
Energy and Power voted in favor of a bill to export liquefied natural gas
(LNG) abroad under the guise of aiding Ukraine. But this bill, H.R.6, would
only serve to increase profits for the oil and gas industry, greatly
accelerating fracking here at home, endangering American communities, public
health and the climate. We strongly recommend that both houses of Congress
reject any and all plans to export LNG overseas.
“Selling LNG abroad will drive up the industry’s
profit margins, ultimately increasing gas prices here in the U.S. Ramping up
fracking in the U.S., a requirement for meeting export demands, will only lead
to more water contamination, more dangerous explosions and pipeline bursts and
more methane emissions that will exacerbate global climate change.
“The illogical nature of the subcommittee’s vote to
expedite LNG export approvals because of the tensions between Russia and
Ukraine is made evident by the fact that the United States will not have the
infrastructure to support the proposed volumes of LNG exports until at least
2016. Moreover, once export facilities are built, U.S. fracked gas will
likely go to Asia where the industry can fetch the highest prices.
“It is obvious that oil and gas industry and top
energy officials have been using the crisis in Ukraine to slip their agenda
through Congress, and some members of Congress have bought in. But the truth
is, natural gas should not be used as a geopolitical bargaining chip and the
health and safety of our communities at home are too precious to be gambled
with.”
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/pressreleases/house-subcommittees-approval-of-lng-exports-means-more-money-for-big-oil-and-gas-more-fracking-in-u-s-communities/
15. The Netherlands Joins Fossil Fuel
Divestment Movement
“The
Netherlands announced that would join the United Kingdom
and others in ending support for public
financing for new coal-fired power plants is a good sign
for the growing fossil fuel divestment movement.
“This
is another sign that the coal
industry is on its last legs,” said Tim Ratcliffe, of 350.org, which is helping coordinate the global
movement to divest from the fossil fuel industry. “There’s a growing consensus
that coal has no place in a carbon constrained
world. Coal isn’t just bad news for the climate; it’s
increasingly bad news for any financial portfolio. Institutional investors
should read the writing on the wall and divest.”
16. DEP- Water Oversight Lacking
"A 2½-month investigation by the
Tribune-Review found that Pennsylvania state inspectors failed to examine more
than 45 % of the 4,075 industrial plants, refineries, mines, sewage treatment
plants and other facilities with permits to discharge into the Ohio River
watershed over the past five years." The
Trib collected and analyzed tens of thousands of state and federal government
records involving water discharge permits and their oversight in the Ohio River
watershed. The newspaper's examination found:
• Inconsistent oversight:
Of the 796 places the DEP never visited, 352 are facilities with industrial or
livestock waste, storm water potentially containing industrial pollutants, and
pesticides.
• More spills: In 2012,
the U.S. Coast Guard documented 76 incidents that led to substances illegally
entering the Ohio or its tributaries. Last year, the number increased to 98
spills.
• Persistent scofflaws:
DEP inspectors found a record 935 water pollution violations at 525 facilities
in 2013 — three times as many as in 2008. Over that five-year span, DEP reached
settlements totaling $9.4 million in fines against 1,068 sites within the
watershed. DEP is limited to a $10,000 per day levy on a facility, but federal
regulators can shutter a site if it continues to pollute.
• Budget cuts:
Pennsylvania lawmakers earmarked $127.7 million in fiscal 2013 for DEP, 63
percent less than they budgeted in fiscal 2000.
State regulators told the Trib they do the best with
resources they have. The agency's 45 inspectors statewide tallied a record
3,134 inspections in 2013, nearly as many as the two previous years combined.
Read more: http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/5432179-74/river-dep-ohio#ixzz2yKoSNW4B
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
Blogsite
–April Jackman
Science
Advisor-Dr. Cynthia Walter
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