Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group Updates
May 15, 2014
* For articles and updates or to just vent, visit us on facebook;
https://www.facebook.com/groups/MarcellusWestmorelandCountyPA/
* To view past updates, reports, general
information, permanent documents, and meeting information
http://westmorelandmarcellus.blogspot.com/
* Our email address: westmcg@gmail.com
* To contact your state
legislator:
For the email address, click on the envelope
under the photo
* For information on PA state gas legislation
and local control: http://pajustpowers.org/aboutthebills.html-
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.
A little Help Please
Take Action!!
***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 wastewater 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.
*********************************************************************************
Sierra Club Sues Texas Commission on
Proposed Tenaska Plant
SIERRA CLUB VS
TEXAS COMMISSION On ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY,
I. CASE
OVERVIEW
Sierra Club seeks an order reversing Defendant’s
December 29, 2010, final order in Docket No. 2009-1093-AIR.1 The order
authorizes the construction and operation of a new solid fuel-fired power plant
by approving the application of Tenaska Trailblazer Partners, L.L.C. (Tenaska,
Trailblazer, or Applicant) for state and federal air pollution permits.
This new facility is a large
solid fuel-fired electric generating unit, or power plant, to be constructed in
Nolan County, Texas. The Tenaska facility will generate about 900 megawatts
(MW) of electricity and is authorized to emit over 9,207 tons per year of
criteria air pollutants.2
While under the jurisdiction of the State
Office of Administrative Hearings, the proceedings bore SOAH docket number
582-09-6185. 2 There are several “criteria” pollutants: carbon monoxide, lead,
particulate matter with a diameter of less than 10 micrometers, particulate
matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers, nitrogen oxides, ozone,
and sulfur oxides. For each of these air pollutants, National Ambient Air
Quality Standards (NAAQS) have been established by the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) and are adopted through the Commission’s rules. See e.g 30 TEX.
ADMIN. CODE § 101.21 (“The National Primary and Secondary Ambient Air Quality
Standards as promulgated pursuant to section 109 of the Federal Clean Air Act,
as amended, will be enforced throughout all parts of Texas.”) Criteria
pollutants must be evaluated prior to obtaining a PSD permit.
1.
Filed
11 March 14 IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF TRAVIS COUNTY, TEXAS
.3
The facility will also emit an estimated 6.1 million tons per year of the
greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide (CO2).
At the heart of this
lawsuit, Sierra Club alleges the approval of the permit application was made in
violation of:
a. the requirements of the Texas
Administrative Procedures Act (TEX. GOV’T CODE, Chapter 2001) regarding
Defendant’s authority and duties upon adoption of a final order;
b. the requirements for a
preconstruction application and approval by TCEQ, including:
i) Deficient information and legal
bases for the findings related to hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) and the
corresponding maximum achievable control technology (MACT) determination.
ii) Deficient information and legal bases
for the findings related to prevention of significant deterioration (PSD)
review and the corresponding best available control technology (BACT)
determination.
iii) Failure to consider and minimize the
impact of greenhouse gas emissions. II. DISCOVERY
1. This case is an appeal of an
administrative agency’s actions, and therefore based on the administrative
record. Designation of a level of discovery is not applicable. If discovery
becomes necessary, it should be controlled by Level 3. TEX. R. CIV. PROC. §
190.4.
Calendar
*** 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.
***Fracking Documentary Triple Divide Norwin -May 17
Saturday
Matinee Screening, May 17 at 1 PM
Norwin
Public Library Community Room
100
Caruthers Lane, Irwin, PA 15642
Join producers Melissa Troutman
and Josh Pribanic at a screening of this
90-minute film.
Investigations
on the question, “How are the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection and the operators handling impacts from shale gas development?”
The
screening is sponsored by the newly formed North Huntingdon Environmental
Stewardship Project. For more information, please visit the project’s Facebook
page https://www.facebook.com/NHuntingdonEnvironment, email nhtesp@gmail.com or
call 724-864-6189..
***Penn Trafford Zoning-May 20, 7:00pm The PT Secretary has
announced a new zoning ordinance and map is listed on the township website,
penntwp.org. It's an eye opener as
there are major changes that require homeowner’s input.
***Dr. Jerome
Paulson, Sat. May 17: 2-3:30 PM
Friends
Meeting House, 4836 Ellsworth Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213
“Jerome A. Paulson, MD, FAAP, is a Professor
in the Department of Environmental & Occupational Health at The George
Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, and a
Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at The George Washington University
School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
As a clinician, a researcher and
an advocate, Dr. Paulson works to enhance children's health, and particularly
to identify and mitigate the impact of environmental hazards on pediatric
populations. He is director of the Mid-Atlantic Center for Children's Health
and Environment, a federally-funded environmental health specialty unit
affiliated with the Department of Environment and Occupational Health that
provides education and outreach to health professionals, parents and the
community.
Dr. Paulson is the chairperson of
the executive committee of the Council on Environmental Health American Academy
of Pediatrics, serves for the Children's Health Protection Advisory Committee
for EPA and on the technical advisory board for the Blacksmith Institute. Dr.
Paulson has served as a special assistant to the director of CDC's National
Center on Environmental Health, again focusing on children, and in 2000
received a Soros Advocacy Fellowship for Physicians from the Open Society
Institute working with the Children's Environmental Health Network.
At Children's National Medical
Center, Dr. Paulson serves as the Medical Director for National and Global
Affairs of the Child Health Advocacy Institute.
Dr. Paulson is an expert on the
health effects of hydraulic fracturing and has presented and lectured frequently
on the subject.
***PITTSBURGH
ARTISTS AGAINST FRACKING through June 1.
Garfield
Artworks, 4931 Penn Ave., Garfield.
412-361-2262
or
garfieldartworks.com
The exhibit Pittsburgh Artists
Against Fracking was organized in support of Protect Our Parks, a coalition
fighting to prevent hydrofracturing for gas in Allegheny County's public parks.
Protect Our Parks distributes information, speaks out, meets with officials and
circulates petitions. It's not surprising that many local artists support the
group, and a portion of all sales from this Garfield Artworks show will be
contributed to Protect Our Parks. (Last week, Allegheny County Council voted to
permit fracking beneath Deer Lakes Park.)
Art exhibits addressing
significant issues are a tradition, and the fracking of local parks is
certainly a significant issue. Exhibit organizer Bob Ziller wanted to be
inclusive, so he didn't require artworks to address fracking directly, though
he encouraged participants to exhibit works relating to nature. With more than
80 artists — almost all from Pittsburgh currently or previously — and more than
100 artworks, the exhibit makes a dramatic statement through quantity alone.
Some works explicitly address
environmental concerns. In Sandy Kaminski Kessler's "Danger Danger,"
the robot famous for warning "danger, danger" on the television show
Lost in Space appears to issue an environmental warning, as it's drawn on a
topographical map. Kyle Milne's "Untitled Maps" features a mound of
what appear to be gobs of tar on a mining map, creating an unnerving depiction
of the waste left over from resource extraction. Thommy Conroy's "Diagram
F" shows a cross-section in which sci-fi creatures battle on the surface
while drilling contaminates the water supply.
Most compelling in the context of
the exhibit are those works that address fracking more or less directly. David
Pohl's "Let them drink benzene, toluene, xylene, and ehtylbenzene" is
graphically strong, and the Marie Antoinette-inspired statement clearly
condemns recklessness regarding the public's health. In "Fracking the
Body," Maritza Mosquera likens the slow healing of the body after invasive
surgery to the healing the earth requires after being cut into for fracking.
Also directly related to fracking
is Bob Ziller's "Unicorn Love Cheney," ridiculing Dick Cheney's
infamous "Halliburton loophole," which exempts fracking from
regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act. And Paul Kuhrman's modified
baseball card "Ickey Rivers" manages to contain a fracking rig, a
stream of chemical pollution, "oops," "ickey rivers," and
"anger." That pretty well sums up the concerns here.
http://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/pittsburgh-artists-against-fracking-sounds-an-alarm/Content?oid=1751310
Webinars
***Webinar by TEDX
–starting April 21 for six weeks
Natural Gas
Development, Public Health, and Protecting the Most Vulnerable Populations
Join
Carol Kwiatkowski, TEDX's Executive Director April 21st at 2pm EDT for a
webinar hosted by the Center for Environmental Health. Dr. Kwiatkowski will be
speaking about the public health implications of natural gas development, with
an emphasis on air pollution and the hazards it might hold for vulnerable
populations, including children and pregnant women. Recent studies pointing
toward the endocrine disrupting effects of chemicals in natural gas operations
will be discussed.
This
webinar is the first in a six-week series
on Fracking, Natural Gas, and Maternal Health. The webinars feature
presentations by experts in the field of environmental health, medicine, and
public health. They will each run 45-60 minutes with 10-15 minutes for Q &
A.
http://endocrinedisruption.org/enews/2014/04/14/natural-gas-development-public-health-and-protecting-the-most-vulnerable-populations/
***Physicians for Social
Responsibility Webinars on Health
Begins Wednesday, May 7, 6:00 p.m
This PSR webinar -- one in a
series of three -- will provide science-based health information and an
unparalleled opportunity to ask your questions and hear an expert’s answers.
Are you concerned about hydraulic
fracturing (fracking)? Want to learn from a medical authority about fracking’s
potential harms to health? Join us next Wednesday, May 7 when fracking expert
Jerome Paulson, MD, presents "Potential Health Impacts of Unconventional Gas
Extraction."
To
find out how to sign in, and to get the dates for our other upcoming fracking
webinars, click here.
***Webinar on
Divestment- Wednesdays-- Web Workshops will happen
on the first Wednesday of every month, starting on May 7th.
How can fossil fuel divestment
help get us where we need to go? What are the intersections with larger climate
and social justice movements? What are the financial arguments for divestment?
And how in the world do I get started on my own campaign? Each month, Fossil
Free campaign staff & special guests will dive into strategies, arguments,
and crucial skills.
The first Web Workshop will be on
May 7th and explore the divestment "theory of change." That's wonky
campaigner speech for "how does this thing we're doing make the change we
want to see in the world." That's a question we get a lot at Fossil Free,
and we're excited to explore it with all of you. Will you join us?
*******************************************************************************************
TAKE ACTION !!
**Letters to the editor are important and one of the best ways to share
information with the public. ***
***See Tenaska Petition at the top of the Updates
***Petition- Help the Children of Mars School District
Below
is a petition that a group of parents in the Mars Area School District are
working very hard to get signatures.
Please take a moment to look at the petition and sign it. It only takes 5 minutes. We are fighting to keep our children,
teachers, and community safe here and across the state of Pennsylvania.
Please share this with your
spouses, friends, family, and any organizations that would support this
cause. We need 100,00 signatures
immediately, as the group plans to take the petition to Harrisburg within a
week.
Your
support is greatly appreciated!
Best
Regards,
Amy
Nassif
***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”
***Sunoco Eminent Domain Petition
“PA PUC for public utility status, a move that
would impact property owners and municipalities in the path of the Mariner East
pipeline. As a
public utility, Sunoco would have the power of eminent domain and would be
exempt from local zoning requirements. A December 2013 PA Supreme Court
ruling overruled Act 13’s evisceration of municipal zoning in gas operations
and upheld our local government rights. We
petition PA PUC to uphold the Pennsylvania Constitution and deny public utility
status to the for- profit entity, Sunoco.
That's why I signed a petition to
Robert F. Powelson, Chairman, Public Utilities Commission, John F. Coleman Jr.,
Vice Chairman, Public Utilities Commission, James H. Cawley, Commissioner,
Public Utilities Commission, Gladys M. Brown, Commissioner, Public Utilities
Commission, Pamela A. Witmer, Commissioner, Public Utilities Commission, and
Jan Freeman, Executive Director, Public Utilities Commission, which says:
"We, the undersigned,
petition the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission to uphold the
Pennsylvania Constitution and deny public utility status to the for-profit
entity, Sunoco."
Will
you sign the petition too? Click here to add your name:
Frack Links
***Video Beaver Meeting --Living in a Fracking
Sacrifice Zone
Panel
with Yuri Gorbi, Bill Hughes, Jill Kriesky
***Dr Ingraffea-
The Intersection Between Hydraulic Fracturing and Climate Change
***Lisa Parr Speaks from Bob Donnan
Lisa’s
Parr’s presentation begins at the 3:30 mark of this video:
Lisa Parr: “Imagine having your
dream home surrounded by gas drilling and fracking, and then ending up with 19
chemicals in your body!
When
it’s your daughter in the bathroom with a nosebleed in the middle
of the night everything
comes sharply into focus!”
***The Sky Is Pink --- Joe reminds us of this video.
"The
Sky is Pink", a short film by Josh Fox, deals with the issue of
"fairness" as well as the issue of gas migration. The answer from the panelist
"vanishingly small" is patently false. The recent study by Ingraffea supports DEP
and industry findings of about 6 to 7 percent of new wells leak and some fifty
percent leak after 30 years. Ingraffea
also points out that these numbers underestimate the real problem as only
leakage at the wellhead is reported. The
Sky is Pink can be seen:
It
is a good review of both issues and worth a second look if you have seen it
already.
Ingraffea's
work is referenced:
***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/
***US Chamber of Commerce is Prime Supporter of Fracking
From Journalist Walter Brasch:
“DID YOU KNOW . . . The U.S.
Chamber, which spends more in lobbying expenses than any company or
organization and has been a prime supporter of fracking, spent about $901.2
million between 1998 and 2012, with $95.7 million of it spent in 2012. Under
new Supreme Court ruling last week, the cap is off on contributions. The
anti-fracking movement doesn’t have the money to counter such massive financial
outlays by lobbyists AND INDIVIDUALS. But, it does have the spirit and can use
social media, rallies, and music to try to reach the people.
For
more information about fracking and its health and environmental effects, get a
copy of FRACKING PENNSYLVANIA, available at
http://www.greeleyandstone.com, amazon.com,
bn.com, or your local bookstore.”
Frack News
All articles are excerpted. Please use links for the full
article.
1. Appeals Court
Heard Arguments On 4 Sections of Act 13
Will water well
owners have to be notified of spills?
Will the PUC
have the authority to review ordinances
and withhold fees?
Will the
industry have eminent domain rights for gas storage units?
http://powersource.post-gazette.com/powersource/policy-powersource/2014/05/13/act0513/stories/201405080317
By
Laura Legere / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"A state appeals court will hear arguments on
Wednesday (May 14, jan) about whether several sections of Pennsylvania’s
contested drilling law can survive after the state Supreme Court struck down
key aspects of the law late last year.
The challenges to the state’s
2012 update of the oil and gas law, known as Act 13, have been narrowed to only
a handful of issues after the Supreme Court ruled in December that the law
unconstitutionally limited local governments’ right to say where well sites,
compressor stations and other oil and gas facilities can be located. The high court told the Commonwealth Court
to consider if the rest of the law can stand.
Now,
the parties have whittled the fight to four issues they will debate before the
judges:
-
Does the Public Utility Commission still
have jurisdiction to review municipal ordinances that regulate oil and gas
development?
- Can the law require DEP to alert public
water suppliers, but not private water well owners, of spills?
- Can companies use eminent domain to take
property for gas storage?
- Can medical professionals be blocked from
disclosing the chemicals used in oil and gas operations?
The two sides agreed not to
challenge the validity of the entire, wide-ranging act, which was the first
comprehensive update of the state’s oil and gas law since the 1980s and allows
the state to collect and distribute an impact fee on shale gas wells. The fee
has raised more than $630 million for state programs and communities in the
last three years.
In briefs filed to support the
PUC’s continued role in reviewing ordinances, the Commonwealth and several oil
and gas organizations said the commission still can offer advice to
municipalities and hear challenges to their ordinances even though the uniform
zoning provisions of the law were thrown out.
The
PUC’s review is “essential” to determine if local governments are eligible to
receive their share of the impact fee, the commission wrote.
But the challengers — who include several municipalities, local
officials, environmental groups and a doctor — said the state and its industry
supporters are simply looking for “a backdoor method” of imposing the law’s
remaining setback buffers around drilling operations as a cap rather than a
minimum, thereby limiting local governments’ say in where operations can take
place.
The law’s special system for ordinance reviews wrongly
takes the power away from local zoning hearing boards and county common pleas
courts and gives it to the commission, “a role the PUC is not equipped or
capable of handling effectively and fairly,” the Pennsylvania State Association
of Boroughs wrote in a brief supporting the municipalities.
The Pennsylvania State Association of Township
Supervisors also backed the municipalities’ position, writing that if the law’s
scheme for ordinance reviews is left standing, it would put the PUC and the
Commonwealth Court in the position of acting as “local zoning hearing boards,
but on a statewide level.”
“This would be an unreasonable
result because it would likely lead to decisions being made through the same statewide
lens that the Supreme Court rejected,” the association wrote.
Lawmakers in the General Assembly
might try again to define the role that municipalities can play in overseeing
oil and gas development, whether or not the court upholds the ordinance review
process.
“There
is still this open question about what local governments can do after the
Supreme Court’s decision, and the legislature may just decide to address that,”
he said.
The parties in the court case
also disagree about whether a provision of Act 13 is an unconstitutional
“special law” because it requires the
DEP to notify public water suppliers but not private water well owners of
spills at oil and gas sites.
Challengers argue that private
well owners should also be notified of spills because oil and gas operations —
and the pollution risks they bring with them — generally take place in rural
areas where residents primarily rely on private water wells.
The only reason not to treat
all water supply owners the same is “a desire to mask the true effects of the
oil and gas industry on rural communities,” the challengers wrote.
The full
significance of the Supreme Court’s ruling — including the revival of the
state’s environmental rights amendment that gives Pennsylvanians a right to
“clean air, pure water” and “the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic
and aesthetic values of the environment” — will not be settled by this next
stage of the process.
“The
biggest issue that remains is: What is the extent of protections that are
afforded by the environmental rights amendment to the Constitution?” Mr. Pifer
said. “That’s not something that’s going to be addressed on remand before the
Commonwealth Court.”
Judges hear debate on sections of Act 13 drilling law
May 14, 2014 11:43 PM
By Laura Legere / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“The challengers — who include municipalities,
local officials, environmental groups and a doctor — argued that four sections
of the law should be dropped or changed after the Supreme Court ruled in
December that the law unconstitutionally limited local governments’ right to
say where oil and gas facilities can be located.
In their questions Wednesday, the
judges probed the consequences and limits of the law’s notification and
disclosure rules that affect doctors, water well owners and drilling companies.
The state’s attorneys emphasized that Act 13 provides for more disclosure than
was required before the law was adopted in 2012, but the challengers said the
law provides inadequate or unequal protection.
If the court strikes down a
section of the law that limits what doctors can reveal about confidential
drilling chemicals that affect their patients, the state would return to a situation where doctors and patients are
not entitled to any of that information unless a company volunteers it, said
Howard Hopkirk, senior deputy attorney general.
“That kind of takes your breath
away, that statement,” said President Judge Dan Pellegrini, who repeatedly said
that the chemicals used to coax gas from wells are “essentially a big secret.”
The law requires companies to
disclose details about the chemicals they inject underground during hydraulic
fracturing, but it allows exemptions for trade secrets.
The judges also asked whether the
Public Utility Commission should still have a role in reviewing municipal
ordinances that regulate oil and gas development now that the universal zoning
provisions of the law have been struck down.
“At least two legs of a
three-legged stool are gone,” Judge Pellegrini said.
The PUC still has a crucial job in determining whether ordinances meet
the surviving standards of the law and whether municipalities are eligible to
receive impact fees paid on shale gas wells, said Matt Haverstick, an attorney
representing the commission.
“It’s
not the weak sister that is left over,” he said.
An attorney for several industry
trade groups indicated companies want a streamlined way to challenge ordinances
that are designed to curtail development.
“We’re trying to overcome
obstruction,” said David Overstreet, an attorney representing the Marcellus
Shale Coalition, the Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association and the
American Petroleum Institute.
The challengers said the PUC’s role is too connected to the invalid
provisions to function without them and should be eliminated. What might have
been a simple ordinance review by the commission would now be very complicated,
attorney Jordan Yeager said.
The parties also debated whether Act 13 can require the DEP to alert
public water suppliers but not private water well owners of spills, and whether
companies can use eminent domain to take property for gas storage.
The
attorneys and judges acknowledged that much about the law will be left
unsettled even after the Commonwealth Court rules on the issues in front of it.
Only future cases and new legislation will provide more clarity.
“We’ll
be back here someday,” Mr. Haverstick said.”
Read
more:
http://www.post-gazette.com/powersource/policy-powersource/2014/05/14/Judges-hear-debate-on-sections-of-Act-13/stories/201405140210#ixzz31pL0VRtV
http://www.post-gazette.com/local/west/2014/05/15/Drilling-farm-noise-addressed-in-Robinson-zoning-proposal/stories/201405150160
2. Robinson
Zoning –The Chairman (a Leaseholder) And
His
Sister Rewrite Code
“Loosened rules for Marcellus
Shale drilling are part of a proposed overhaul of zoning laws in Robinson,
Washington County.
Supervisors will hold a public
hearing at 6 p.m. June 2 in Fort Cherry High School auditorium, 110 Fort Cherry
Rd., to discuss amendments related to natural gas operations, zoning districts,
farm regulations and other issues.
Chairman Rodger Kendall, who
joined the board in January, has said he rewrote much of the zoning ordinance
with the help of attorney Loretta Kendall, his sister.
In a newsletter set to be
distributed to residents, drilling supporters Mr. Kendall and Vice Chairman
Stephen Duran said three public workshop meetings in February pointed out
problems with zoning regulations such as “a regulatory shut out [sic] of oil
and gas drilling,” split zoning of some properties and “unattainable noise
standards” on farms.
“The amendments proposed by Mr.
Kendall addressed the discovered discrepancies,” according to the newsletter.
Supervisor Mark Brositz said
Monday that he disagrees with much of the content of the newsletter. He voted
against copying and mailing it—a project estimated to cost about $1,500.
“I feel that there [are]
misstatements and lack of a complete story in several of the articles,” Mr.
Brositz said.
Mr. Kendall is a leaseholder with driller Range Resources, and Mr.
Duran’s father holds a drilling lease.
Township attorney Gretchen Moore
said Monday that a letter has been sent to the Pennsylvania State Ethics
Commission asking for an opinion on the appropriateness of the supervisors
voting on drilling issues.
“Regardless, we can move forward
with the hearing because the vote isn’t going to be taken that night,” Ms.
Moore said.
Robinson resident Brenda Vance
recently presented a petition with 281 signatures asking the board to keep the
zoning ordinance intact.
“It’s a drastic change,” Ms. Vance said of the proposed amendments.
“Somebody else should be monitoring [drilling] and governing it, not just
people who have such a great stake in it,” she said.
The proposal would alter the
zoning ordinance and map — including some Marcellus Shale drilling rules —
approved in December by Mr. Brositz and former supervisors Brian Coppola and
Terrence Love.
The proposal would allow
Marcellus Shale well site development on properties 10 acres or larger,
including combined parcels.
Well development would be a permitted use in the rural-residential,
agricultural, industrial and Interchange Business Development zoning districts,
and would be a conditional use in the commercial, single-family residential,
general residential and special conservation zones.
The proposal also addresses
subsurface gas facilities and activities, water impoundments, compressor
stations, processing plants, alternative fuel service stations, water recycling
facilities, temporary housing for well site workers, mineral excavation and
combined cycle gas turbine electric generation.”
Andrea
Iglar, freelance writer: suburbanliving@post-gazette.com.
Read
more: http://www.post-gazette.com/local/west/2014/05/15/Drilling-farm-noise-addressed-in-Robinson-zoning-proposal/stories/201405150160#ixzz31qqJrc5v
3. Panel in Beaver County: Health Risks
Abound With Drilling
“The
pollution from these gas drill rigs is a major concern to many area residents.
The noise pollution from truck traffic and the drilling site is also a problem.
Puffy skin, headaches and
breathing difficulties were some of the symptoms cited as health effects from
oil and gas drilling sites during a forum at the Community College of Beaver
County on Saturday.
A
West Virginia activist, New York state scientist and Pennsylvania advocate
against hydraulic fracturing discussed health problems, environmental concerns
and other issues to a crowd of 75-plus attendees.
“How
do we balance our society, our community’s needs for energy without destroying
our air, our water and our land?” activist Bill Hughes, of West Virginia, said.
“We all live in the same watershed. We share the same air."
Hughes says he frequently tells
Pittsburgh-area residents dealing with air pollution that any of the emissions
from his state’s well pads and compressor stations go northeast because of
prevailing winds.
“And it’s
all stamped, ‘Do not return to sender,’” he said.
Speaker
Jill Kriesky, associate director of the Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental
Health Project, said people who work in the gas and oil industry experience
problems, and when that happens, they try to find different work.
The
organization, which focuses on Washington County and addresses health issues
associated with the natural gas drilling industry, has found people with skin, eye, respiratory and neurological issues,
traits that aren’t attributed to preexisting conditions, Kriesky said.
She
advised people to call public health departments when they have symptoms, but
from what her organization has seen, those public services are not responsive,
she said. Her organization has a nurse practitioner who evaluates people who
think they’ve been sickened by drilling efforts.
Among
other recommendations, she said people should
keep a health diary that includes information like the weather that day,
drilling activity and whether a condition was new, preexisting or worsening,
suggesting doctors can help patients better with the more information they
have.
Scientist
Yuri Gorby heads the civil and environmental engineering department at
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., near Albany.
After
studying contaminated groundwater for some 20 years on the West Coast, he said
his team learned the best way to clean up contaminated sites is to not let it
become contaminated in the first place.
“If
we really want to be effective in dealing with the issues that we’ve already
created, we had better stop continuing
this activity until reputable scientists have the opportunity and the funds and
the time necessary to really address the issues that are already here,” he
said.
Ben
Avon resident Ted Popovich did his part to indicate his disdain for how Beaver
County has been interested in fostering the energy industry.
During
Saturday’s event, he donated an iPad to the Beaver County Marcellus Awareness
Committee, a prize he said he received from Shell Oil Co. after attending a
public meeting on the energy company’s proposed $2.5 billion petrochemical
plant.”
.
4. PA Still Has No Health Registry
“After more than five years and about 6,000 wells drilled in the
Marcellus Shale boom, public-health experts say the need to collect information
near fracking operations in Pennsylvania is urgent.
A health registry “is a critical issue that needs to
be addressed,” said Dr. Ralph Schmeltz, an endocrinologist and former president
of the Pennsylvania Medical Society.
Three
years ago, the Governor’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission recommended that
just such a registry be created to track people near fracking operations who
reported they believed they were sick because of fracking. “Yet Gov. Tom Corbett, a Republican who
appointed the commission, has made no move to create a registry, and funds for
it were stripped from Act 13, a bill that rewrote the state’s oil and gas law.
Without a registry, some
researchers are forming partnerships to study health information in drilling
communities. But there is little funding for the studies.
The gas industry maintains that
fracking is safe, existing health studies are unreliable and negative findings
on health cannot be linked to shale drilling.
Many residents blame natural gas drilling for health
problems that include headaches, stomach aches, respiratory issues and rashes,
as well as the psychological impacts from the noise, lights and heavy traffic
that are part of drilling.
But there’s been no long-term study about how drilling
affects public health overall, which is exactly what the Governor’s Commission
called for — following individuals who live within a one-mile radius over time.
While groundwater issues have long been a focus of the health debate,
research also is needed on air emissions, wastewater disposal and potential harm
to gas workers, public-health experts said.
Health departments in both New
York and Maryland, are working on health studies. Those studies are funded by
their respective state governments and their governors have refused to allow
fracking until the studies are complete.
Jay Pagni, Governor Corbett’s
press secretary, declined to respond to a question about why no impact-fee
funds have gone to the department. Nor would he respond to claims by health
experts that Corbett doesn’t want to look at the health consequences of shale
drilling.
Media sources have reported that
Corbett received around $1 million in contributions from the natural gas
industry for his 2010 election campaign.
The lack of funds for the
registry is a problem, said Dr. Bernard Goldstein, a former dean of the
University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.
“The impact fee goes to 17 different state agencies, sub-agencies and
commissions, but not the Pennsylvania Department of Health,” Goldstein said.
“Does that mean that the Department of Health is certain that there is no
impact on public health?”
Spokespersons
for both the governor’s office and the health department said that they
When asked if she sees a
state-led health registry getting created anytime soon, Raina Rippel, director
of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project, said: “Not under
this administration.”
It’s not the Health Department’s
fault, said Nina Kaktins, a nurse and co-chair of an environmental health group
within the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association.
“They
had their hands tied,” she said. “If there is no budget allocated, they can’t
perform the duties they are supposed to.”
The
Southwestern Pennsylvania Environmental Health http://publicsource.org/investigations/with-no-health-registry-pa-doesn-t-know-impact-of-fracking- - health
5. 1,100 TONS OF CONTAMINATED SOIL REMOVED
At RANGE RESOURCES IMPOUNDMENT
By
Amanda Gillooly
http://marcellusmonitor.wordpress.com/2014/05/13/update-1100-tons-of-contaminated-soil-removed-last-week-from-range-resources-impoundment-in-washington-county/
Photo of frack
pit from Marcellus shale u.s.
“A Pennsylvania DEP spokesman on
Tuesday said about 1,100 tons of dirt
was trucked out of a Range Resources’ centralized impoundment last week in
Amwell Township, Washington County – the site of a “significant leak” in
April that led to the agency issuing a Notice of Violation to Range Resources. DEP
spokesman John Poister said it is likely that 2,100 tons of contaminated soil
will ultimately need to be removed from the site.
“It’s
a mountain of soil,” he said.
He confirmed that the leak is “serious enough” that a DEP inspector has
been on scene at the John Day impoundment nearly every day.
“This
is something we are taking very seriously,” he said, adding that DEP is
committed to getting to the bottom of why
the impoundment’s leak detection system didn’t work.
“This is a case where it failed
miserably,” Poister said of the leak detection system. “Our concern is how long did this leak go unnoticed? We’re upset about this – the extent of the
leak and why it wasn’t spotted earlier.”
He added it was “obvious to our people that this is not a small thing.”
Poister
said the first step in the remediation process is the removal and replacement
of contaminated soil.
A soil analysis was not yet
available , but Poister confirmed that initial water quality tests indicated
that chloride – or salt - is the primary
contaminant.
“Salt
is very damaging,” Poister explained.
The soil is being transported out
of the site using an existing Form U. The company responsible for the cleanup
efforts, Weavertown Environmental, is currently in the process of obtaining a
new Form U, he said.
DEP issued a notice of violation
to Range Resources, and Poister said a civil penalty is possible, too. That,
though, is the final step in the process.”
Range Resources Equipment Failure Leads to Gas Leak , Evacuation
“The
PA DEP is investigating an “equipment failure” at a Range Resources well pad in
Washington County that caused a gas leak and spurred a precautionary evacuation
of about 35 residents Wednesday morning.
Poister said the failure led to a
release of methane into the air, and indicated that while such a release is a
violation, it is too early to tell if a formal notice of violation would be
issued to Range Resources.
“We
do not believe there was a tremendous amount of methane released,” he said.
However, DEP is taking air quality samples “just to be sure.”
https://marcellusmonitor.wordpress.com/author/amandabgillooly/
6. Letter to the
Editor
(Prosperity
is in Washington County, about 10 miles south of Washington, PA.)
http://www.observer-reporter.com/article/20140512/OPINION02/140519873#.U3GZuHa9Zwx
“Worrying About Fracking
When I bought my home in
Prosperity, it was a quiet rural area. It has now been turned into an
industrial work site.
Consol Energy has been developing
gas well sites for at least the last year. The quiet has been replaced by
drilling and fracking that occurs 24 hours a day. Sound testing has been done
by company representatives and Morris Township. They agree the noise level is
above those allowed in the township ordinance, but nothing has been done to
remedy this situation. My family is unable to sleep at night without using
earplugs. Consol Energy representatives offered a small amount of money as
compensation, but they required a signed release that would have absolved them
of all responsibility related to the drilling. The township does nothing.
The wells also create air
pollution. The clean air has been contaminated with diesel and chemical
pollution. Representatives from the Department of Environmental Protection say
their budget has been cut and they don’t have the resources to keep up with all
the complaints.
I worry about the quality of the
air surrounding my home and contaminants in our water supply that could harm me
and my family. Nobody seems to have a list of chemicals being pumped into the
earth during fracking. The company refuses to test my water for chemicals since
the fracking started.
Where is my family’s right to
live in a safe, quiet and healthy environment? When we moved here, that is what
we had. Now it is all changed. Surely many others are also affected.
Walter
A. Kasperowski
Prosperity”
7. Matrix Complications in the Determination of
Radium Levels in Hydraulic Fracturing
Flowback Water from Marcellus Shale
Environmental Science and Technology
(Yuri Gorby, PHD,
microbial physiologist, noted at a recent conference that testing may have been
detecting only 1-2% of radium levels in
flowback water. Jan)
ACS
ActiveView PDFHi-Res Print, Annotate, Reference QuickViewPDF [638 KB]PDF w/
Links[220 KB]Full Text HTMLAbstractSupporting Info ->FiguresReference
QuickView Add to ACS ChemWorx
Andrew
W. Nelson †‡, Dustin May ‡, Andrew W. Knight §, Eric S. Eitrheim §, Marinea
Mehrhoff ‡, Robert Shannon , Robert Litman , and Michael K. Schultz *†@
†
Interdisciplinary Human Toxicology Program, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
52242, United States
‡ University of Iowa State
Hygienic Laboratory, Research Park, Coralville, Iowa 52242, United States
§
Department of Chemistry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, United
States
Quality Radioanalytical Support, LLC, P.O. Box
774, Grand Marais, Minnesota 55604, United States
Radiochemistry Laboratory Basics, 1903 Yankee
Clipper Run, The Villages, Florida 32162, United States
@
Departments of Radiology and Radiation Oncology, Free Radical and Radiation
Biology Program, University of Iowa, 500 Newton Road, ML B180 FRRB, Iowa City,
Iowa 52242, United States
Environ.
Sci. Technol. Lett., 2014, 1 (3), pp 204–208
DOI:
10.1021/ez50003
Publication Date (Web):
February 10, 2014
Copyright
© 2014 American Chemical Society
*E-mail:
michael-schultz@uiowa.edu. Phone: (319) 335-8019.
Abstract
The rapid proliferation of
horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing for natural gas mining has raised
concerns about the potential for adverse environmental impacts. One specific concern is the radioactivity
content of associated “flowback” wastewater (FBW), which is enhanced with
respect to naturally occurring radium (Ra) isotopes. Thus, development and
validation of effective methods for analysis of Ra in FBW are critical to
appropriate regulatory and safety decision making. Recent government documents have suggested the use of EPA method 903.0
for isotopic Ra determinations. This method has been used effectively to
determine Ra levels in drinking water for decades. However, analysis of FBW by
this method is questionable because of the remarkably high ionic strength and
dissolved solid content observed, particularly in FBW from the Marcellus Shale
region.
These observations led us to
investigate the utility of several common Ra analysis methods using a
representative Marcellus Shale FBW sample. Methods examined included wet
chemical approaches, such as EPA method 903.0, manganese dioxide (MnO2)
preconcentration, and 3M Empore RAD radium disks, and direct measurement
techniques such as radon (Rn) emanation and high-purity germanium (HPGe) gamma
spectroscopy. Nondestructive HPGe and emanation techniques were effective in
determining Ra levels, while wet chemical techniques recovered as little as 1%
of 226Ra in the FBW sample studied.
Our results question the reliability of wet chemical techniques for the
determination of Ra content in Marcellus Shale FBW (because of the remarkably
high ionic strength) and suggest that nondestructive approaches are most
appropriate for these analyses. For FBW samples with a very high Ra content, large dilutions may allow the use
of wet chemical techniques, but detection limit objectives must be
considered.
http://pubs.acs.org/appl/literatum/publisher/achs/journals/content/estlcu/2014/estlcu.2014.1.issue-3/ez5000379/production/images/medium/ez-2014-000379_0002.gif
8. Impacts
of Shale Gas Wastewater Disposal on Water Quality
In Western PA
ACS ActiveView PDFHi-Res Print,
Annotate, Reference QuickViewPDF [1051 KB]PDF w/ Links[427 KB]Full Text
HTMLAbstractSupporting Info ->FiguresReference QuickViewCiting Articles Add
to ACS ChemWorx
Nathaniel R. Warner *, Cidney A.
Christie , Robert B. Jackson , and Avner Vengosh *
Division of Earth and Ocean Sciences,
Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
27708, United States
Environ. Sci. Technol., 2013, 47 (20),
pp 11849–11857
DOI: 10.1021/es402165b
Publication Date (Web): October 2, 2013
Copyright
© 2013 American Chemical Society
*(A.V.) Phone: 919-681-8050; fax:
919-684-5833; e-mail: vengosh@duke.edu., * (N.W.) Phone: 603-646-9961; e-mail:
Nathaniel.r.warner@dartmouth.edu.
Section:Water
Abstract
The safe disposal of liquid
wastes associated with oil and gas production in the United States is a major
challenge given their large volumes and typically high levels of contaminants.
In Pennsylvania, oil and gas wastewater is sometimes treated at brine treatment
facilities and discharged to local streams. This study examined the water quality and isotopic compositions of
discharged effluents, surface waters, and stream sediments associated with a
treatment facility site in western Pennsylvania. The elevated levels of
chloride and bromide, combined with the strontium, radium, oxygen, and hydrogen
isotopic compositions of the effluents reflect the composition of Marcellus
Shale produced waters. The discharge
of the effluent from the treatment facility increased downstream concentrations
of chloride and bromide above background levels. Barium and radium were
substantially (>90%) reduced in the treated effluents compared to
concentrations in Marcellus Shale produced waters. Nonetheless, 226Ra levels in
stream sediments (544–8759 Bq/kg) at the point of discharge were 200 times
greater than upstream and background sediments (22–44 Bq/kg) and above
radioactive waste disposal threshold regulations, posing potential environmental
risks of radium bioaccumulation in localized areas of shale gas wastewater
disposal.
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es402165b
9. Cove Point LNG Project Gets OK from FERC
(This
project will export millions of tons of gas out of the country thus supporting
the fracking boom. We will suffer the health and environmental effects. Jan)
Published
on Thursday, 15 May 2014 10:14
“Today the staff of the U.S.
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) released an environmental
assessment (EA) for the Dominion Cove Point LNG Project. FERC has concluded that approval of the proposed Cove Point LNG
Project, with appropriate mitigating measures, would not constitute a major
federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment.
Potential impacts would be reduced with the implementation of Dominion Cove
Point’s proposed minimization and mitigation measures and over 80 additional
measures recommended in the environmental assessment. The Cove Point LNG Project plans to export approximately 5.75
million metric tons per annum of LNG from the Dominion Cove Point LNG Terminal
located on the Chesapeake Bay
The proposed facilities associated with
the LNG Terminal include the following:
One
LNG liquefaction train consisting of gas treatment equipment, natural gas-fired
turbine-driven refrigerant compressors, waste heat recovery systems, fire and
gas detection and safety systems, and control systems.
Additional
power generation including waste heat-driven steam turbine generators and other
electrical accessories to supplement the existing on-site power generation.
Minor
modifications to the existing pier; and the use of two off-site areas to
support construction.
The
next step for FERC will be to officially approve or deny the Cove Point LNG
Project. Comments on the environmental assessment must be received in
Washington, DC on or before June 16, 2014. The FERC Commissioners will take
into consideration staff’s recommendations and comments received when they then
make a final decision on the Dominion Cove Point LNG Project.
The FERC Cove Point LNG Project
environmental assessment can be found online HERE.
To file a comment link to:
10. Bureau Land
Management Is Not Inspecting High-Risk Oil/Gas wells
‘The government has failed to inspect thousands
of oil and gas wells it considers potentially high risks for water
contamination and other environmental damage, congressional investigators say.
Investigators
said weak control by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management
resulted from policies based on outdated
science and from incomplete monitoring data.
The
findings from the Government Accountability Office come amid the increased use
of fracking. The audit also said the BLM
did not coordinate effectively with state regulators in New Mexico, North
Dakota, Oklahoma and Utah.
The bureau has
become a symbol of federal overreach to industry groups opposed to government
regulations related to oil and gas drilling. Environmental groups say the Obama
administration needs to do more to guard against environmental damage.
The report said
the agency “cannot accurately and efficiently identify whether federal and
Indian resources are properly protected or that federal and Indian resources
are at risk of being extracted without agency approval.”
In response to the
report, Tommy Beaudreau, a principal deputy assistant interior secretary, wrote
that he generally agreed with the recommendations for improved state
coordination and updated regulations.
The report makes clear in many instances that the BLM’s
failure to inspect high-priority oil and gas wells is due to limited money and
staff. BLM officials said they were in the process of updating several of
its policies later this year.
Investigators reviewed
14 states in full or part: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Louisiana, New
Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania,
South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming. In Ohio, Pennsylvania and
elsewhere, fracking has become increasingly prevalent.
The report said the BLM had failed to conduct inspections
on more than 2,100 of the 3,702 wells that it had specified as “high priority”
and drilled from 2009 through 2012. The agency considers a well “high
priority” based on a greater need to protect against possible water
contamination and other environmental safety issues.
In
Pennsylvania, for instance, an Associated Press investigation found the state
received 398 complaints in 2013 alleging that oil or natural gas drilling
polluted or otherwise affected private water wells. More than 100 cases of
pollution were confirmed over the past five years.
“This report reaffirms our concern that the
government needs to pay attention to the environment and protect public health
and drinking sources from the risks of oil and gas development,” said Amy Mall
of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
But Kathleen
Sgamma, vice president of government and public affairs at the Western Energy
Alliance, a trade group representing energy companies, said the report’s
findings show that states are better positioned to regulate oil and gas
drilling.”
11. Another Study On Climate
Harm From Gas Drilling
High Methane and
Benzene Levels
CHARLESTON,
W.Va. — Another study has found that global warming pollution from natural gas
drilling and production is likely far greater than estimated by current
government emissions inventories.
During two days of intensive
airborne measurements, oil and gas operations in Colorado’s Front Range leaked
nearly three times as much heat-trapping
methane as predicted by current inventory estimates, according to the new
study from the University of Colorado-Boulder.
The measurements also found that benzene emissions were
seven times higher than existing inventories, and that emissions of other
chemicals that contribute to smog were twice as high as estimates.
“These
discrepancies are substantial,” said lead
author Gabrielle Petron, an atmospheric scientist with the university’s
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Cooperative Institute for
Research in Environmental Sciences.
“Emission estimates or ‘inventories’ are the primary tool that policymakers and
regulators use to evaluate air quality and climate impacts of various
sources, including oil and gas sources,” Petron said. “If they’re off, it’s
important to know.”
The new study, published
last week in the American Geophysical Union’s Journal of Geophysical Research:
Atmosphere, provides confirmation of findings from research performed
from 2008 to 2010 by Petron and her
colleagues on the magnitude of air pollutant emissions from oil and gas activities
in northeastern Colorado.
For years, the conventional wisdom
was that natural gas was a good alternative to coal, producing half the carbon
dioxide emissions per unit of energy when burned in a power plant. However,
natural gas itself is mostly methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, and the conventional thinking didn’t take into
account methane emissions during the process of drilling for, producing and
transporting natural gas.
Three years ago, the issue gained
much more attention with the publication of a study by a team of Cornell
University researchers, led by ecology professor Robert Howarth. That study
reported that natural gas could be just as bad — or worse — than coal for
global warming, especially if the issue is examined on the short time frame in
which scientists believe action is needed to curb global warming.
President Obama is targeting
greenhouse emissions from coal-fired power plants as part of his plan to combat
climate change. But the administration has warmly embraced the natural gas
boom, citing the switch from coal to gas for electricity generation as one way
to combat climate change.
Last month, a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences likewise reported methane emissions greater than existing estimates
based on examination of natural gas wells in Pennsylvania.
“These regional scale findings and
a recent national study indicate that overall site leak rates can be higher
than current inventory estimates,” that paper said. “Additionally, a recent comprehensive
study of measured natural gas emission rates versus ‘official’ inventory estimates found that the inventories consistently
underestimated measured emissions and hypothesized that one explanation for
this discrepancy could be a small number of high-emitting wells or components.
“These high leak rates illustrate the urgent need
to identify and mitigate these leaks as shale gas production continues to
increase nationally.”
12. Sen. Whitehouse-- Limit Corporations/Protect Speech
Senate
Bill 23217
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
has introduced legislation to protect the health and safety of American
citizens by limiting the ability of big
corporations to demand that plaintiffs remain silent about their experiences as
a condition of settling their disputes.
Currently, for example, natural gas companies facing lawsuits from
citizens who claim their water has been contaminated by the extraction process
can require citizens to keep details of their cases secret in exchange for a
cash settlement.
Whitehouse’s bill, the Safety over Secrecy Act (S. 2317), could help to limit the use of
confidentiality agreements in cases involving hazards to public health and
safety.
“While
confidentiality agreements can be useful tools to protect sensitive information
and trade secrets, too often they are used to hide important safety concerns
from regulators, policymakers, the news media, public health experts, and the
general public,” Whitehouse said in a prepared statement submitted to the
Congressional Record. “Under current
law, judges are not specifically required to consider the public interest when
determining the enforceability of confidentiality agreements. In cases involving hazards to public health
and safety—and only in those cases—this bill would change that, and would
require judges to balance a party’s specific interest in confidentiality
against the public interest in disclosure of information when approving or
enforcing confidentiality agreements.”
An excerpt of Whitehouse’s Congressional Record
statement is below.
http://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/about/biography
-------------------------------------------------
“Typically in these cases, victims face large corporations that can
spend unlimited amounts of money defending lawsuits and prolonging their
resolution. Faced with mounting
litigation expenses and medical bills, plaintiffs often seek to settle their
suits. In exchange for damages, they are
forced to agree to provisions that prohibit them from discussing their cases or
revealing information disclosed during litigation. Defendants are thus able to
keep damaging information from getting out.
As a result, the public—as well as regulatory agencies—remain unaware of
the risks.
Let’s take fracking, where
drillers from Pennsylvania to Arkansas and Wyoming to Texas have entered into
cash settlements or property buyouts with individuals who claim fracking has
contaminated their water and polluted their air. In the vast majority of these
cases, the cost of the awards has been the plaintiffs’ silence. As Aaron Bernstein, associate director of the
Center for Health and the Global Environment at the Harvard School of Public
Health, put it in an interview, non-disclosure
agreements “have interfered with the ability of scientists and public health
experts to understand what is at stake” in the country’s quickly evolving
energy infrastructure.
Perhaps the most notorious case of
fracking hush money is the Hallowich case.
In that case, Chris and Stephanie Hallowich’s dream house—built on ten
acres of land in southwestern Pennsylvania—turned out to be sitting atop the
Marcellus Shale, one of the biggest fracking operations in the country. The previous landowner had leased the mineral
rights to various gas companies. Soon after moving in, Chris, Stephanie, and
their young children began experiencing headaches, nose bleeds, burning eyes,
and sore throats. After complaining for
three years of what they concluded were the side effects of contaminated air
and water, the Hallowiches brought suit.
Without accepting responsibility for any health effects, the companies
agreed to pay the Hallowiches $750,000 so that they could move off the
property, in exchange for the Hallowiches’ promise to remain silent about the
case. The case gained international
attention when the Pittsburg Gazette obtained an unsealed settlement transcript
two years later and discovered that the Hallowiches’ seven and ten year-old
children had been gagged for life along with their parents under the
confidentiality agreement. Needless to
say, these gag orders make it difficult to challenge industry claims about the
safety of the fracking process. And
fracking is just one of many areas where defendants impose secrecy as a
condition of settlement.
Under current law, judges are not
specifically required to consider the public interest when determining the
enforceability of confidentiality agreements.
In cases involving hazards to public health and safety—and only in those
cases—this bill would change that, and
would require judges to balance a party’s specific interest in confidentiality
against the public interest in disclosure of information when approving or
enforcing confidentiality agreements.
My bill would not prohibit secrecy agreements across the board because
there are appropriate uses for such agreements—including protecting trade
secrets and other confidential company and personal information. Given its narrow scope, this bill would not
place undue burdens on our judges or judiciary system.
In introducing the Safety over
Secrecy Act, I want to recognize former Senator Kohl and his Sunshine in
Litigation Act, which he introduced in various forms between 1995 and
2011. That bill, which I was proud to
support in the Judiciary Committee, was a broader version of the legislation I
have just introduced. I supported that
bill when Senator Kohl introduced it, and I plan to offer my full support when
it is introduced again in this Chamber.
I yield the floor.
Link:
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-113s2317is/pdf/BILLS-113s2317is.pdf
13. Rig Count In PA
Falls, Gas Production Rises
By
Anya Litvak / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“It's cheaper to partake in its
offerings than in those of other shale plays and, in some cases, investors get
twice as much gas for their money as anywhere else. It's so good that traditional
ways to calculate its benefits may no longer apply.
Let's take a standard metric: the number of rigs in the ground versus the
amount of gas coming out of it.
In Pennsylvania, the rig count has fallen steadily over the past
few years. It now hovers just above 85, down from a high of 144 in early
2012. But new gas production has gone
drastically in the opposite direction.
During the first quarter of 2014,
the amount of gas ascribed to each rig in the Marcellus was 6,476 thousand
cubic feet, twice as much as during its rig count peak and two and a half times
the average of other shale plays in the U.S.
Part of the credit lies with oil
and gas companies that have found quicker and more efficient ways to drill
wells.
Efficiencies have moved from the big scale — drilling more than one well per pad, for example — to tweaks that
happen underground. The horizontal sections of wells have gotten longer. The
number of sections of wells that get fracked has increased, too, while the
spaces between those sections has shrunk. And the wells themselves are being
drilled closer together.
It now takes, on average, 15 days
from start to finish to put a Marcellus well into production, according to
Diana Oswald, manager of energy analysis with Colorado-based Bentek. Two years
ago, it took twice that long.
Longer horizontal wells are the
trend everywhere, not just in the Marcellus. So is tighter spacing and more
frack stages per well.
Still, there are wrinkles with
the rig-to-production ratio.
The Marcellus, more than some
other shale plays, is constrained by a
lack of pipelines. Wells are being drilled faster than pipes are being built to
carry gas to market. So many wells remain temporarily shut in.
Bill Holland, editor at Gas
Daily, a Platts publication, said it's time for a new way to measure
productivity, perhaps by pinning gas production to how densely a well is
fracked.
"As a generic rule, the
connection between rig count and production has been completely
destroyed," Mr. Holland declared.
14. Quest Realty Sues Over Sunoco Easement
in Penn Twp.
“Nine
months after Sunoco Logistics received an easement in Penn Township through
eminent domain for a pipeline project, the property owner wants a different
Westmoreland County judge to rescind the court order.
In suing Sunoco last week, Quest Realty Partnership is renewing its
challenge of Sunoco's right to be considered a public utility under Pennsylvania's
Business Corporation Law.
Quest
officials also contend that a right-of-way drawing prepared by Sunoco and
recorded with the county doesn't identify precisely where Sunoco's 50-foot
permanent easement is located.
Common
Pleas Court officials assigned the case to Judge Christopher Feliciani, whose
colleague, Richard E. McCormick Jr., granted Sunoco's eminent-domain petition
on Aug. 2.
Sunoco
spokesman Jeffrey Shields said company officials generally do not comment on
pending litigation.
The
disputed easement is on 89 acres that are bordered by Mellon, Ader and Walton
Roads. Quest also owns the William Penn Care Center and William Penn Senior
Suites and Personal Care, which are on nearby properties.
Construction
on the pipeline already is under way in the region.
The 50-mile pipeline, which will transport
ethane and propane as natural-gas liquids, will run from the Houston area in
Washington County to Salem Township.
It
is part of an infrastructure network that will transport ethane and propane
across the state into a small part of Delaware.
“Mariner
East is scheduled to begin shipping propane by (the) second half of this year,
and both ethane and propane by mid-2015,” Shields said in an email.
15. Well Water Contaminants
Highest Near Gas Drilling
(I believe I included
Schug’s study in a prior Update, but it is re-surfacing and circulating elsewhere
so I am re-printing it. Jan)
July
26, 2013
“A new study of 100 private water wells in and near the Barnett Shale
showed elevated levels of potential contaminants such as arsenic and selenium
closest to natural gas extraction sites, according to a team of researchers
that was led by UT Arlington associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry
Kevin Schug.
Brian Fontenot, who earned his
Ph.D. in quantitative biology from UT Arlington, worked with Kevin Schug, UT
Arlington associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and a team of
researchers to analyze samples from 100 private water wells.
The
results of the North Texas well study were published online by the journal Environmental Science &
Technology . The peer-reviewed paper focuses on the presence of metals such
as arsenic, barium, selenium and
strontium in water samples. Many of these heavy metals occur naturally at
low levels in groundwater, but disturbances from natural gas extraction
activities could cause them to occur at elevated levels.
“This
study alone can’t conclusively identify the exact causes of elevated levels of
contaminants in areas near natural gas drilling, but it does provide a powerful
argument for continued research,” said Brian Fontenot, a UT Arlington graduate
with a doctorate in quantitative biology and lead author on the new paper.
He
added: “We expect this to be the first of multiple projects that will
ultimately help the scientific community, the natural gas industry, and most
importantly, the public, understand the effects of natural gas drilling on
water quality.”
Researchers believe the increased
presence of metals could be due to a
variety of factors including: industrial accidents such as faulty gas well
casings; mechanical vibrations from natural gas drilling activity disturbing
particles in neglected water well equipment; or the lowering of water tables
through drought or the removal of water used for the hydraulic fracturing
process. Any of these scenarios could
release dangerous compounds into shallow groundwater.
Researchers gathered samples from private water wells
of varying depth within a 13 county area in or near the Barnett Shale in North
Texas over four months in the summer and fall of 2011. Ninety-one samples were
drawn from what they termed “active
extraction areas,” or areas that had
one or more gas wells within a five kilometer radius. Another nine samples
were taken from sites either inside the Barnett Shale and more than 14
kilometers from a natural gas drilling site, or from sites outside the Barnett
Shale altogether. The locations of those sites were referred to as
“non-active/reference areas” in the study.
Researchers
accepted no outside funding to ensure the integrity of the study. They compared
the samples to historical data on water wells in these counties from the Texas
Water Development Board groundwater database for 1989-1999, prior to the
proliferation of natural gas drilling.
On average, researchers detected the highest levels of these
contaminants within 3 kilometers of natural gas wells, including several
samples that had arsenic and selenium above levels considered safe by the
Environmental Protection Agency. For example, 29 wells that were within the
study’s active natural gas drilling area exceeded the EPA’s Maximum Contaminant
Limit of 10 micrograms per liter for arsenic, a potentially dangerous
situation.
The areas lying outside of
active drilling areas or outside the Barnett Shale did not show the same
elevated levels for most of the metals.
Scientists
note in the paper that they did not find uniformity among the contamination in
the active natural gas drilling areas. In other words, not all gas well sites
were associated with higher levels of the metals in well water.
Some
of the most notable results were on the following heavy metals:
Arsenic
occurs naturally in the region’s water and was detected in 99 of the 100
samples. But, the
concentrations of arsenic were
significantly higher in the active extraction areas compared to non-extraction
areas and historical data. The maximum
concentration from an extraction area sample was 161 micrograms per liter, or
16 times the EPA safety standard set for drinking water. According to the
EPA, people who drink water containing arsenic well in excess of the safety
standard for many years “could experience skin damage or problems with their circulatory
system, and may have an increased risk of getting cancer.”
Selenium
was found in 10 samples near extraction sites, and all of those samples showed selenium levels were higher than the
historical average. Two samples exceeded the standard for selenium set by the
EPA. Circulation problems as well as hair or fingernail loss are some possible
consequences of long-term exposure to high levels of selenium, according to the
EPA.
Strontium was also found in almost all the samples,
with concentrations significantly higher than historical levels in the areas of
active gas extraction. A toxicological profile by the federal government’s Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry recommends no more than 4,000 micrograms of
strontium per liter in drinking water. Seventeen samples from the active
extraction area and one from the non-active areas exceeded that recommended
limit. Exposure to high levels of stable
strontium can result in impaired bone growth in children, according to the
toxic substances agency.
“After
we put the word out about the study, we received numerous calls from landowner
volunteers and their opinions about the natural gas drilling in their
communities varied,” Hildenbrand said. “By participating in the study, they
were able to get valuable data about their water, whether it be for household
or land use.
“Their
participation has been incredibly important to this study and has helped us
bring to light some of the important environmental questions surrounding this
highly contentious issue.”
The
paper also recommends further research on levels of methanol and ethanol in
water wells. Twenty-nine private water
wells in the study contained methanol, with the highest concentrations in the
active extraction areas. Twelve
samples, four of which were from the non-active extraction sites, contained
measurable ethanol. Both ethanol and methanol can occur naturally or as a
result of industrial contamination. Historical data on methanol and ethanol was
not available, researchers said in the paper.
The
paper is called “An evaluation of water quality in private drinking water wells
near natural gas extraction sites in the Barnett Shale formation.” A Just
Accepted version is available here on the journal website.
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