Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group Updates
May 1, 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-
To read former Updates
please visit our blogspot listed above.
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.
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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.
***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.
*** Deer Lakes Vote Tuesday, May 6, 5:00 p.m.
LAST CHANCE! Please contact Allegheny County
Council today & tell them you don't want fracking in/on/under our parks.
On
May 6 Council will vote on the ordinance that will give County Executive
Fitzgerald the go-ahead to seal the deal with Range Resources. Sierra Club has
called on Council to vote NO on the ordinance.
Allegheny
County Council - County Courthouse 4th Floor - Gold Room
436
Grant Street Pittsburgh
Request
to comment online. Deadline Monday, May 5:
http://www.alleghenycounty.us/council/meetings/recomm.asp
***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.
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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
***The Fight For Deer Lakes Park
Allegheny
County Council Meeting ( 4 hours long)
***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 If you haven’t yet seen this, 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.”
***The West Virginia Host Farms Program
The West Virginia Host Farms
Program is a volunteer-based initiative.
The goal of the program is to provide opportunities for the
environmental community to study the impact of Marcellus shale natural gas
drilling in the state. This includes an invitation to academic researchers,
journalists, environmental scientists, public policy and environmental law
professionals, public health advocates, and other advocacy groups concerned
about drilling impacts.
West Virginia landowners living on or near drilled properties and/or
compressor stations opt to participate in the program by becoming volunteer
“host farms” for researchers and journalists. Through a managed database of participant
landowners throughout the state, the WV Host Farms Program serves as a point of
contact between those in the environmental community seeking suitable locations
for study of Marcellus in WV, and those who are landowners able to provide
them.
Who We Are.....
We
are a grass roots effort of concerned landowners in WV who are willing to
provide access to our private properties on or near drill sites. This enables environmental researchers,
journalists, environmental advocacy groups, and others to come to WV to observe
and study the effects that Marcellus drilling and fracking has on the
environment, water quality, public health, and safety in our rural WV
communities. Those interested in visiting
a WV Host Farm will be able to access the private properties of our many
volunteers who live right at "ground zero," of the Marcellus shale
drilling activity in West Virginia.
We do not charge a fee for this
access. We are all volunteers who opt to
participate as "host farms” in order to increase public awareness as well
as research opportunities. We volunteer
because we are committed to providing unfettered access to the environmental
research community, so that they can more easily evaluate the impacts of shale
gas drilling and fracking.
DEP Activity
DEP Response
on Herminie 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 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
Frack News
All articles are excerpted. Please use the links to read
the full article
1.
“The Deal Makers”
from
Bob Donnan
Range Resources Still Spinning
“Range brought in a senior VP to spin most of their
tales in front of Allegheny County Council Committee on Parks. To hear him and
other Range reps speak, you would think they only frac with water and there is
no benzene in Marcellus Shale production. Was I hearing all that right?
They
also said they only use flaring for upsets following fracking; meantime I got a
report yesterday of a HUGE flare across from Ft Cherry Jr/Sr High School at Range’s
Chiarelli unit causing some student nosebleeds.
You may know that Range keeps spinning how
great their drilling has been in Cross Creek County Park. The highlight of the
evening for me was when Sue Means pinned Applegath down on the spill and fish kill
inside the park. ”
2. PUC Uses
Industry Law Firm for Advice On Gas Zoning Ordinances.
“Over the past two years Pennsylvania has
employed a law firm with ties to the oil and gas industry for
advice on zoning rules directed at that very same industry.
The
law firm McNees, Wallace and Nurick is
an associate member of the gas industry trade group, the Marcellus Shale
Coalition. The firm’s attorneys routinely represent energy companies before the
state Public Utility Commission (PUC).
McNees
is currently representing Sunoco
Logistics in a high-profile case before the commission. The company is seeking
permission from the PUC to be considered a “public utility corporation,” which
would exempt its Mariner East pipeline from local zoning codes.
Act
13 gave the PUC the power to withhold natural gas impact fee money from local
governments with unfavorable oil and gas zoning rules. One of the remaining issues in the case is whether or not the PUC still
has the authority to review local zoning rules.
Jordan
Yeager is an attorney who represents local governments challenging Act 13.
“There’s
a real concern the PUC isn’t putting the interests of the citizens first,
they’re putting the interests of the industry first,” he says.
“This contract did not create any conflicts of
interest for the PUC as the McNees attorneys advising the PUC on Act 13 zoning
matters were not the same attorneys who practice before the Commission on
separate utility matters,” Kocher wrote in an email. “The divisions are siloed
within the law firm.”
Harrisburg Law Firm Withdraws High-Profile
Pipeline Case
BY
MARIE CUSICK
“A day after StateImpact
Pennsylvania published a story about a Harrisburg law firm’s close connections
to both the gas industry and the PUC, the
firm stepped down as legal counsel for Sunoco Logistics in a high-profile
pipeline case currently before the PUC.
The law firm of McNees, Wallace
and Nurick is a member of the gas industry trade group, the Marcellus Shale
Coalition. The firm’s attorneys routinely represent energy companies before the
PUC.
McNees has also spent the past two years working as outside counsel to
the PUC– advising it on oil/ gas zoning matters. One political science
professor has called the arrangement an
example of the cozy relationship between government regulators and industry.
One of the new attorneys working on behalf of Sunoco is
former DEP secretary, Michael Krancer. He stepped down as Pennsylvania’s top environmental
regulator a year ago to head Blank Rome’s Energy, Petrochemical, and Natural
Resources practice.”
http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2014/04/30/harrisburg-law-firm-withdraws-from-high-profile-pipeline-case/
3. WVA Landfill
Wastewater Shows Elevated Radioactivity
“Bill Hughes, chair of the
Wetzel County Solid Waste Authority, is quoted as saying tests on water leaching from the Meadowfill landfill
near Bridgeport show “widely varying
levels of radioactivity, sometimes spiking to 40 times the clean drinking water
standard.” The radioactivity occurs naturally in the drill cuttings and brine
that come from Marcellus gas wells, he said, so it is in the waste dumped in
Meadowfill and other landfills.
“We are putting radioactive waste
in a bunch of landfills in large quantities, and we don’t yet know the
long-term danger of doing this,” Hughes said.
The report continues: “Water leaching from Meadowfill averaged
250 picocuries per liter last year.” The clean drinking water standard is 50,
Hughes explained. At times Meadowfill spiked as high as 2,000 picocuries or
dropped below 40. Wetzel — another local landfill taking large amounts of the
waste — also showed radioactivity, Hughes said.
“We haven’t normally been putting radioactive material in a municipal
waste landfill. We’re not set up to process, handle, test, dispose. We don’t know what we’re doing,” Hughes
continued.
Join the club when it comes to fracking. Fracking’s impact on air
pollution, property values and earthquake surges — just to mention several
items — now has radiation as an issue. Is fracking really worth it?
The concerns about radioactive
drill cuttings have prompted West Virginia lawmakers to increase monitoring at
the landfills. But that’s only mildly comforting: Is the state — and the nation
— moving fast enough on the issue? The barn door is open, and the horse is
romping free.”
http://www.triplepundit.com/2014/04/west-virginia-landfill-wastewater-shows-elevated-radioactivity-due-fracking-authorities-report/
4. Williams Co. Gas Plants Keep Exploding
By
John Upton
“Perhaps executives at the Williams energy company
have fiery personalities. Or maybe they just don’t care about safety, or about
their workers or neighbors.
A huge explosion at one of the company’s gas processing plants in
southern Wyoming triggered the
evacuation of all residents of the small nearby town of Opal. The plant,
which is connected to six pipelines that help feed fracked gas to customers
throughout the American West, burned throughout Wednesday night and into
Thursday, when its neighbors were allowed to return to their homes.
As extraordinary as the
(fortunately injury-free) accident sounds, something similar happened just four weeks ago at a Williams’s gas
processing plant near the Washington-Oregon border. That explosion injured
five workers and led to the evacuation of 400 residents.
Less than a year ago, workers were injured when one of the company’s
natural gas facilities blew up in Branchburg, N.J. The company’s pipelines have
also blown up.
Also last year, a leak of 241 barrels of fluid from a Williams’s
natural gas processing plant in Colorado contaminated a creek with carcinogenic
benzene. At least nothing blew up that time.
“Williams is committed to
maintaining the highest standards of safety,” the company claims on its
website. We’d hate to see what lower standards looked like.
5. “Radioactive” Container At Range Resources Impoundment –Mt Pleasant Twp.
By
Amanda Gillooly
“The DEP confirmed that an inspector had been called
to a centralized impoundment in Washington County operated by Range Resources
after residents complained about unusual activity there.
DEP spokesman John Poister said
there was “material that raised some concern” at the Carter impoundment in Mt.
Pleasant Township, and that the department was awaiting the results of soil
tests that Range Resources is conducting.
He said there was an issue with
the weir system at the impoundment, which he said is used to filter solids out
of water used in the fracking process.
Residents
who live near the impoundment became concerned when they saw blue containers at
the impoundment with stamps reading
DOT SP 11406. An Internet search shows that these containers are used to transport
radioactive waste.
Asked if those containers were
actively being used by Range Resources to remove and transport radioactive
waste, Poister said he did not know, but that the company would be required to
have a permit known as a Form U in order to do so.
Radioactive Containers
“Kimberly Staub was worried when
a blue steel container of radioactive sludge as big as a truck roll-off box
showed up near Range Resources' Carter impoundment, just over the hill from her
Mount Pleasant farm in Washington County.
"I'm scared for my family
and my animals," said Ms. Staub, who moved into the 17.5-acre farm in
2009, just months before Range began digging the football field-sized
impoundment 850 feet from her back door.
"We didn't know what the blue box was at first, but then we were
able to read the name 'SunPro' on the side and 'radioactive,' " she said.
"I called the DEP, and they were
never informed. That was frustrating."
She said she was later told by a DEP inspector that there had been a spill of
radioactive water near "weir tanks," which were set up next to
the impoundment to separate solid particles from the water and chemical mixture
used to frack the shale.
John
Poister, a DEP spokesman, said the ground under the weir tanks was checked by
DEP inspectors who found no indication that any radioactive water was spilled
at the site.
Mr. Poister did confirm that radiation just outside the blue steel
container on the Carter impoundment site was measured at 350 microrems per
hour, which he described as "about the equivalent of a dental X-ray."
The radiation measurements
decline to near background levels just feet away from the container, he said,
adding that there is no danger to drilling company workers or residents in the
sparsely settled rural location.
Normal background radiation in the area is between six and eight
microrems.
Mr. Poister said it's "not
uncommon" for wastewater to have picked up natural radiation washed from
the underground shale formation.
"And in this case," Mr.
Poister said, "the problem occurred because when you have sludge you have
concentrated a lot of the solids containing radiation material."
"If the readings are low, it
could still end up in a landfill here. Or, if they are high, the sludge will be
taken out of state to a landfill that specializes in radioactive
disposal."
Don
Hopey: dhopey@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1983.
Read
more: http://www.post-gazette.com/local/washington/2014/05/03/Radioactive-water-near-fracking-pond-Washington-County-residents-worried/stories/201405030088#ixzz30noalAyG
6. Appeals
Filed Against Frack Water Storage Site- Smithfield
Twp.
BY
AMANDA RENKO (STAFF WRITER)Published: May 2, 2014
“Two appeals have been filed with
the state's Environmental Hearing Board against a proposed frack water storage
facility in Smithfield Township to be located on an existing three-acre natural
gas well pad at Lamb's Farm on Ulster Road..
The township filed one appeal and
a group of nine township residents also filed an appeal.
The DEP's Bureau of Waste Management issued a registration approval to
Chesapeake Appalachia LLC for the facility under general permit WMGR123, which
applies to the processing and beneficial use of oil and gas liquid waste,
including contaminated water from well sites and wastes from the drilling,
development and operation of oil and gas wells.
The
proposed facility will consist of 38
storage tanks, which are expected to hold up to 756,000 gallons of frack water.
The residents' appeal notice
alleges that the DEP's issuance of the registration approval "was
arbitrary, unreasonable, contrary to law and the issuance was made without
adequate investigation and disclosure of the facts."
The notice states that Chesapeake did not fully disclose the
facility's intended purpose to the public or hold a public hearing on the
proposed facility.
The residents also state that the
naming of the facility as "Lamb's Storage Facility" is deceptive; that citizens are concerned Chesapeake will
not adhere to environmental protection regulations; that the values of
surrounding properties will decrease ; and that activities at the site may
compromise the health of nearby residents, including those with pre-existing
health conditions.
The appellants also listed
several safety concerns with regard to what tests and assessments have been
performed at the site related to safety; if the liners to be used are
sufficient for the intended use and term of the facility; the effect of
increased truck activity on the site and to and from the facility; how the site
will be maintained, monitored and inspected; and if any safety precautions or
emergency plans are in place in case of an accident.
The township's appeal also lists
several objections to the approval of the site. The appeal alleges that the liners to be used are inadequately designed
to catch spills, inadequate traffic
studies have been performed and the applicant
is using a well pad with an expired permit.
The township's concerns also
include the applicant's avoidance of county planning and public input,
insufficient inspection provisions and safeguards in place and failure to
safeguard wetlands in the immediate area.”
http://thedailyreview.com/news/appeals-filed-against-frack-water-storage-site-1.1678897
7. Living Near
Drilling Site Is Not Pleasant
“The April 27 Forum article “Our Plan for Deer Lakes”
by John Applegath, Range Resources senior vice president, is sugar-coated
propaganda.
I have lived with and continue to
live with the 24/7 disruption of quiet living 800 feet from my home. I had
almost a year and a half of 24-hour noise, flaring and gas fumes, along with
promises that it would be over “in six months,” then “18 months,” then “just a
few more months.” It is never-ending with the trucks and 18-wheelers, and let
me not forget the diesel pickup noise. There are no holidays … these people
think nothing of Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, Easter, Fourth of July,
etc.
Drilling is just the start. Four
years later it still continues and will continue until the wells are depleted.
Roads and improvements are only
those that benefit the truck traffic. These trucks like their half to be in the
center of the road.
Environment? I have aerial
pictures of the site 800 feet from my home. They have buried a sludge/waste
pit on the platform. The 16-to-20-foot screen that was erected (for so-called
noise abatement) seems to me to be nothing but a screen to conceal the activity
that could be seen from the ground.
Range is spending a fortune with
its advertising to spread the propaganda of benefits. It is making a fortune.
Otherwise, why would it have funds for all the propaganda?
The only people who are happy
with Range are those who have mineral rights and wells on their properties. The
rest of us have to bear unpleasantries such as being run off the road, hearing
the noise and putting up with the gas being expelled.
Ask the neighbors who have to
bear the fact of having a well drilled within 500 feet of their homes … you can
thank Gov. Tom Corbett for that gem.
JOSEPH
G. HAMM
Hopewell,
Washington County
http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/letters/2014/05/04/Living-near-a-gas-drilling-site-is-not-pleasant/stories/201405040036
8. Families Sue For
$120 Million Over Compressor Station - Arkansas
“Eight families sued a natural gas company for
personal injuries they attribute to its fracking operations, which emit half a pound of toxic emissions
per minute, 24 hours a day, year round.
A Texas jury recently awarded $3 million
in damages for fracking in what is believed to be the first jury award of its
kind. Gas companies customarily settle such claims confidentially, or fight
them vigorously, often with help from complacent legislatures.
Photo
by Bob Donnan
In
the Arkansas case, Barbara Ramsey et al. sued the DeSoto Gathering Company. The
plaintiffs live adjacent to natural gas compressor and transmission stations
DeSoto operates.
"The entire process of purifying,
compressing and transmitting shale gas through gas transmission pipelines
constitutes an industrial development,
which is incompatible with residential living," the complaint states.
"The compressor units are
injuriously loud and produce harmful levels of noise and toxic emissions. The
noise produced by these compressor units is so loud that persons living next to
those industrial facilities are harmed and injured by the noise, vibration,
odor and pollution. ...
"
They claim the compressors run 24
hours a day, seven days a week, year round, which cause damages, including
"discomfort damages" to the plaintiffs.
"As a result of the constant
operation of the compressor units, the compressor station continuously and constantly emits exhaust gases, methane, hydrogen
sulfide and other flammable, malodorous and noxious gases and chemicals and compounds, directly into the
air. These substances are then allowed to flow freely off of the compressor
station property and into the surrounding air and atmosphere
in such a way as to cause injury and harm to your plaintiffs,"
the complaint states.
"The station emits more than 135 tons per year of pollutants including
carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (S02), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), fine
particulate matter (PM/PM10), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), formaldehyde, benzene,
and other volatile organic compounds (VOC's). This amount equates to more than
31 pounds of pollutants per hour, or a half pound of pollutants every single
minute. All of those pollutants are released into the air and then migrate in
such a way as to cause injury and harm to your Plaintiffs. No efforts are made
to contain the emissions within the confines of the defendant's property."
The plaintiff families say they bought and
lived in their homes for many years before DeSoto built the compression
stations. What's more, they say, "Employees of the Defendant are aware
that compressor stations like Midge 2 have exploded and caught fire, causing
injuries and deaths in the immediate vicinity of the compressor stations.
"The
plaintiffs' homes are within the blast/impact zone of the Midge 2 compressor
station, the area which is likely to be impacted in the event the massive
amounts of explosive natural gas or other flammable hydrocarbons on-site
were to explode or catch fire."
They
seek damages for strict liability, negligence, discomfort damages and personal
injuries. Each plaintiff demands $3 million in compensatory damages and $12 million
in punitive damages.”
http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/04/25/67330.htmkhjj
9. Reminder Of The
DEP Suite Code Deception
From a group member
“The EPA has identified heavy metals that are found in
frack water that are associated with many of the symptoms that are reported by
those living near Marcellus well sites. As part of the Voyles litigation against
Range and the EPA being conducted by Smith Butz, it was discovered that Range
only reported a portion of the analysis to the well owner and that the DEP
reported only a partial set of items in their analysis.
The excluded items were heavy metals that can cause neurological
damage, encephalopathy, neuropathy, cirrhosis of the liver, gastrointestinal hemorrhage,
cardiac depression, nausea, vomiting anemia, abdominal pain, immune deficiency,
diarrhea, and bone marrow suppression among other symptoms or conditions.”
10. The Fracking
Prostitutes of American Colleges
(part 1 of 2)
by
Walter Brasch
“Lackawanna
College, a two-year college in Scranton, Pa., has become a prostitute.
The administration doesn’t think of
themselves or their college as prostitutes. They believe they are doing a
public service. Of course, streetwalkers and call-girls also believe they are
doing a public service.
Lackawanna
College’s price is $2.5 million.
That’s how much Cabot Oil & Gas paid
to the School of Petroleum and Natural Gas,
whose own nine building campus is in New Milford in northeastern Pennsylvania. On the
School’s logo are now the words, “Endowed by Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation.”
That would be the same Cabot Oil &
Gas Corporation that has racked up more than 500 violations since it first used
fracking to extract gas in the Marcellus Shale almost six years ago. That would
be the same company that was found to be responsible for significant
environmental and health damages in Dimock, Pa.
Several major gas and oil
companies and suppliers—including Anadarko, BakerHughes, Chesapeake Energy,
Halliburton, Noble Energy, Southwestern Energy, Williams Midstream, and
others—have also contributed scholarships, equipment, and funding to the
School. The School’s mission includes creating “a campus that is focused and
dedicated to the oil and gas industry.”
Lackawanna College proudly claims its
Cabot-endowed School is “focused on its vision of becoming a
nationally-recognized, first in class program in the field of petroleum and
natural gas technology.” There is no question the School is fulfilling its promise. A
$500,000 outdoor field laboratory simulates a working gas field; all students
are required to complete internships.
Richard Marquardt, the School’s executive
director, has B.S. degrees in petroleum engineering and business management, as
well as a long history of work in the industry. The eight other full-time
faculty also have engineering degrees and significant industry experience.
Fifteen adjunct faculty also have significant industry experience.
An associate’s degree doesn’t mean the students, no matter how prepared
they are to work in the shale gas industry, will be exposed to the issues,
reports, and scientific studies that suggest fracking causes significant
environmental and health problems, major concerns of those who oppose the
process of horizontal fracking. After all, Cabot wasn’t going to invest in a
college program that presented all sides of the issues. Nor is Cabot likely to
invest anything more if the college expands its program to require that
students also take classes in renewable energy, and the health and
environmental effects of fracking.
[Next
week: Other colleges that may have been compromised by accepting corporate
donations.)
[Dr. Brasch is an award-winning journalist and
professor emeritus of mass communications. He is author of 20 books, including
Fracking Pennsylvania, a critically-acclaimed in-depth investigation of the
process and effects of high volume hydraulic horizontal fracturing throughout
the country.]
11. Earthquakes Can
Occur Further From Injection Wells Than
Thought
“ANCHORAGE,
Alaska — Fracking may cause earthquakes much farther from the sites of its
wastewater wells than previously thought, researchers said at the annual
meeting of the Seismological Society of America.
In central Oklahoma, a cluster of four high-volume wastewater
injection wells triggered quakes up to 30 miles (about 50 kilometers) away,
said lead study author Katie Keranen, a geophysicist at Cornell University in
New York. The earthquakes have since spread farther outward, as fluids migrate
farther from the massive injection wells, she said.
"These are some of the
biggest wells in the state," Keranen said. "The pressure is high
enough from the injected fluids to trigger earthquakes." http://www.livescience.com/45322-fracking-wastewater-farther-earthquakes.html
12. Gas Exports Spark Public Outcry:
182,000+ Sign
Petition to Senate
“Some 182,000 petitions have
been delivered to the U.S. Senate to urge it to reject plans to dramatically
expedite exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Escalating tensions between
Ukraine and Russia have prompted some members of Congress to push to export LNG
overseas, but doing so will lead to increased fracking in the U.S., subjecting
American communities to the public health, economic and environmental risks associated
with the practice.
“Fracked gas is not a geopolitical
bargaining chip, nor should American communities be sacrificed to the oil and
gas industry’s quest to increase profits,” said Food & Water Watch
Executive Director Wenonah Hauter. “Pushing to increase exports of gas flies in
the face of industry claims that fracking will make the U.S. more energy
independent, and since most of the gas will go to Asia where it can fetch the
highest price, exports will only increase gas prices for American consumers.”
Earlier this month, Sen. Udall
and Rep. Gardner (R-CO) introduced bills that would expedite exports of LNG.
Sen. Landrieu (D-LA), chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources
Committee, recently came out full-force in favor of exports too. These bills
would deem all exports in the public
interest if the gas were sent to a member nation of the World Trade
Organization, which includes 75 percent of all nations, including China,
India, Japan, Brazil and Russia
The Obama Administration has given initial approval for seven LNG
export facilities, including the Cove Point facility in Calvert County,
Maryland. Earlier this month, an LNG facility near the Columbia River at
Plymouth, WA, exploded, injuring workers and forcing the evacuation of 400
residents and agricultural workers within a two-mile radius.”
13. Shale Gas: How
Often Do Fracked Wells Leak?
Dr. Ingraffea
“When industry says hardly ever,
that's a myth. It's a documented, chronic problem.
One of the boldest claims made by
the shale gas industry goes like this: oil and gas companies have drilled and fractured
a million oil and gas wells with nary a problem.
In
other words fracture fluid or methane leaks are "a rare phenomenon."
But industry data disproves this dubious claim says Cornell University
engineer Anthony Ingraffea, who has studied the non-linear science of rock
fractures for three decades.
Moreover industry studies clearly
show that 5% to 7% per cent of all new oil and gas wells leak. As wells age,
the percentage of leakers can increase to a startling 30 or 50%. But the worst leakers remain
"deviated" or horizontal wells commonly used for hydraulic
fracturing.
In fact leaking wellbores has
been a persistent and chronic problem for decades. Even
a 2003 article in Oil Field Review, a publication of Schlumberger, reported
that, "Since the earliest gas wells, uncontrolled migration of
hydrocarbons to the surface has challenged the oil and gas industry."
Methane, by its very lightness,
wants to go up. Where ever drillers have
not properly sealed and cemented wellbores in deep shale rock, the gas will
escape and move through rock fractures (existing or industry-made ones) into
groundwater, stream beds, water wells and even the basements of houses.
A 2009 study by Alberta scientists Stephan Bachu and Theresa Watson found that so-called "deviated wells"
(the same kind of right angling used for fracturing shale gas and tight oil
formations) typically experienced leakage rates as high as 60 % as they age.
Moreover "high pressure fracturing" increased the potential to create
pathways to other wells, the atmosphere and groundwater.
Theresa Watson, now a member of
Alberta's Energy Resources Conservation Board, also disclosed that an increase in the number of water wells in
heavily fractured oil and gas fields would increase "the likelihood that gas, due
to migration through shallow zones, can accumulate in buildings."
Leaking of toxic fracture fluids is also common because only 25 to 60 %
of diluted chemicals and water used to blast open shale or coal formations are
ever recovered.
In a 2004 report the US EPA factually noted that "if fracturing
fluids have been injected to a point outside of the well's capture zone, they
will not be recovered through production pumping and, if mobile, may be
available to migrate through an aquifer."
The failure rates of shale gas wells in heavily fractured jurisdictions
with transparent regulation has now become a significant issue.
In 2012 Ingraffea and colleagues
read through 16,017 inspection reports filed over the last four years. What
they found was a significant and steady rate of methane leaks at the wellbore
or what is known in industry jargon as "bubbling in the cellar."
In 2010, 111 of 1,609 wells
drilled and fracked failed and leaked. That's a 6.9 per cent rate of failure.
In 2012, 67 out of 1,014 wells leaked -- a seven per cent rate of failure.
"We looked at violations and
not comments," adds Ingraffea. Quite often
inspectors would note that a well was leaking like a sieve but that violation
was pending. As a consequence the seven per cent figure represents a dramatic
underestimate of methane leaks, says Ingraffea.
Moreover, the seven per cent figure only includes leaks
at the wellhead. It does not include leaks that sprouted up in stream beds,
water wells, or ponds often 2,000 feet away from the well site after steady
fracking operations.
In 2009, Cabot Oil and Gas drilled 68 new Marcellus wells in Pennsylvania
that the state's DEP concluded resulted in extensive groundwater contamination
for nearly a dozen families in the town of Dimock. State regulators cited Cabot seven times for "Failure to report
defective, insufficient or improperly cemented casing within 24 hours or submit
plan to correct within 30 days."
But this common problem will only
get worse. Industry has proposed between 150,000 to 200,000 new wells to
develop the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York. Given
current practices that means 10,000 to 20,000 new wells leaking methane into
the atmosphere or groundwater and many more over their lifetimes. "That's
a lot of leaking wells," says Ingraffea.
Evidence is also growing that
toxic fluids used for hydraulic fracturing can also migrate into adjacent water
bodies. A 2012 study in the journal
Ground Water warned that hydraulic fracturing opens more pathways for the movement
of both fluids and methane. And a recent study by the EPA in Pavilion, Wyoming,
found that toxic fluids had contaminated local water supplies.
So
what is it, myth or reality, when industry claims that leaks are rare?
The
scientific truth is irrefutable says Ingraffea: "Fluid migration from
faulty wells is a well-known chronic problem with an expected rate of
occurrence." Inadequate well construction and monitoring remains a
persistent industry problem.
The health implications are also serious. The migration
of methane or fracking fluid has repeatedly contaminated groundwater across
North America or polluted the atmosphere with methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
http://thetyee.ca/News/2013/01/09/Leaky-Fracked-Wells
Verify
facts, debunk rumors
14. Why The Compressor Station Permitting
Process Doesn’t’ Work (Reprint of this important article
on permitting compressor stations.
Barto Compressor Station Exceeds
Pollution Standards
The
Clean Air Council has conducted a study of the Barto Compression
Station in Penn Township, Lycoming
County. The study finds the station is creating pollution concentrations nearly
three times the amount allowed under the federal health-based air quality
standards.
Back
in 2011, Chief Gathering and Williams each had plans to each construct
compressor stations and metering stations approximately 1,500 ft from the Dallas,
PA school campus. There are 5 schools, K-12, on the campus where over
3,000 children attend, plus the few hundred people who work in the
schools. The campus is located in a residential area.
The proposed compressor/metering stations would have been located near people’s
homes.
Parents
and taxpayers of Dallas were understandably concerned, and with the assistance
of GDAC formed a citizens group to stop the construction. During
the hearings, it was agreed town officials, and PA House/Senate legislators for
this district would take a tour of a compressor station. Originally the
tour was to be of the Barto Station. At
the last minute it was changed, and the officials toured a nice clean and quiet
station instead. In fact, the station was shut down for “maintenance” at
the time of the tour.
Chief
Gathering withdrew its proposal for the compressor station, as did Williams and
constructed them in next door Wyoming County. There is one metering
station operated by Williams, in the backyard of residents in the area.
The Barto station started out with 1 building and 3
compressors. This is how the creeping compressors begin.
A natural gas corporation applies for a DEP permit for 3-4
compressors. Because of the size and number of compressors, it usually
falls under what DEP calls a “minor pollutant” and the regulations are less
strict.
Next, the
natural gas corporation applies for a second permit for another 3-4
compressors. Because each permit is viewed as separate, this second
permit also falls under the “minor pollutant” standards. The DEP
does not upgrade to “major pollutant” level even though the number of
compressors at a single location has increased. EACH PERMIT IS VIEWED AND ASSESSED SEPARATELY. From there, a 3rd, 4th etc permits are approved,
with each just falling under the threshold and are approved as minor
pollutants.
The Barto station now has 2 buildings with a total of 14 compressors (7 in each building), 9 of which are operational, and it is
assumed the remaining 5 are back-ups.
Clean
Air Council The Barto Compressor Station in Penn
Township, Lycoming County is creating pollution concentrations nearly three
times the amount allowed under the federal health-based air quality standards.
Recent modeling results show that the compressor station, which pressurizes
natural gas extracted from the Marcellus Shale to achieve the desired flow
along pipelines, is on
its own causing nitrogen dioxide pollution 278 percent over the National
Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). The modeling shows that exceedances can be measured a
mile away from the
station. Emission of oxides of nitrogen must be reduced by up to 76 percent in
order to stay below unhealthful levels.
The
Barto Compressor Station, owned and operated by Chief Gathering, LLC, consists
of nine compressor engines. Oxides of nitrogen are formed by fuel combustion
within the engines. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set a new
1-hour nitrogen dioxide NAAQS in January 2010. The
standard was established at a level determined to protect the public from
adverse health effects associated with short-term exposure to elevated levels
of oxides of nitrogen. Health impacts include increased asthma symptoms,
difficult controlling asthma and increases in respiratory illnesses.
Furthermore, nitrogen dioxide contributes to the formation of ground-level
ozone which can trigger a variety of health problems.
Clean
Air Council has repeatedly requested that the Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection (PA DEP) require modeling for larger compressor
stations to ensure that they do not cause pollution that will exceed the
federal health-based standard in nearby areas. PA DEP, however, responds
that because these sources are classified as “minor sources” of emissions they
are not required to perform modeling and that by virtue of being a minor source
the facility will not impact the NAAQS. However, while modeling is not
required for a minor source, Pennsylvania law gives PA DEP ample authority to
request modeling. This recent modeling study makes clear that these “minor
sources” are having a major impact on local air quality and PA DEP must address
this serious pollution.
The
natural gas industry from drilling to compressor stations, dehydration plants,
and pipelines are impacting all of us. We are all downstream and
downwind.”
http://blog.shaleshockmedia.org/2013/01/31/barto-compressor-station-exceeds-pollution-standards/
15. Beverly Hills Becomes First City
In California to Pass Ban
Beverly Hills became the first city
in California to pass a ban on fracking and related extreme well stimulation techniques with a unanimous
vote. The ordinance not only would make it unlawful to use hydraulic
fracturing, acidizing or any other well stimulation technique from any surface
area in the city—it also prohibits these
activities from any site outside city limits that would drill and extract oil
and gas underneath the city. The ordinance will now return to the Beverly
Hills City Council for its final reading at an upcoming formal meeting where a
second vote will put the law into effect.http://ecowatch.com/2014/04/24/beverly-hills-pass-fracking-ban/
Donations
We are very appreciative of donations, both
large and small, to our group.
With
your help, we have handed out thousands of flyers on the health and
environmental effects of fracking, sponsored numerous public meetings, and
provided information to citizens and officials countywide. If you would like to
support our efforts:
Checks to our group should be
made out to the Thomas Merton
Center/Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group. And in the Reminder line please
write- Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group. The reason for this is that
we are one project of 12 at Thomas Merton. You can send your check to:
Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group, PO Box 1040, Latrobe, PA, 15650. Or you
can give the check or cash to Lou Pochet or Jan Milburn.
To make a
contribution to our group using a credit
card, go to www.thomasmertoncenter.org. Look for the contribute
button, then scroll down the list of organizations to direct money to. We are
listed as the Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group.
Please be sure to write Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group
on the bottom of your check so that WMCG receives the funding, since we are
just one project of many of the Thomas Merton Center. You can also give your
donation to Lou Pochet or Jan Milburn.
Westmoreland Marcellus Citizen’s Group—Mission Statement
WMCG is a project
of the Thomas Merton Society
To
raise the public’s general awareness and understanding of the impacts of
Marcellus drilling on the natural environment, health, and long-term economies
of local communities.
Officers: President-Jan Milburn
Treasurer and Thomas Merton Liason-Lou Pochet
Secretary-Ron Nordstrom
Facebook Coordinator-Elizabeth Nordstrom
Science Advisor-Dr. Cynthia Walter
To receive our
news updates, please email jan at westmcg@gmail.com
To remove your
name from our list please put “remove name from list’ in the subject line
