Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group Updates May 8, 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- this Tuesday, May 13. 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.
built
on evidence from 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.
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.
*******************************************************************************************
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
***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.”
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
DEP
***PA Permit Violation Issued to
Chevron Appalachia Llc in South Huntingdon Twp, Westmoreland County
Environmental Health & Safety violation issued on
2014-04-24 to Chevron Appalachia Llc in South Huntingdon Twp, Westmoreland
county. 78.54 - Failure to properly control or dispose of industrial or
residual waste to prevent pollution of the waters of the Commonwealth.
Frack News
All articles are excerpted. Please use links for the full
article.
1. Drilling In
Parks
Comment by Debbie
“We believe
Murrysville's change in direction was due to (1) Jon Kamin's EXCELLENT
presentation during the education session (2) John Smith's suggestion that we
ask council whether they were doing their Due Diligence in protecting
Murrysville residents.
Thank you again to Jon and John!!
It is too bad Deer Lakes Park didn't have a similar positive
outcome. However, some of the
differences are: (1) ALL of Murrysville council heard Jon Kamin's
presentation vs. only three Allegheny County Council members heard the
presentation by Jon Kamin and John Smith.
(2) Murrysville Council was not
being bullied by Rich Fitzgerald.”
***Murrysville Council:
To drill or not to drill
Jonathan Kamin Speaks
May
8, 2014 9:28 AM
By
Tim Means
“The first of a series of education
sessions on gas and oil drilling sponsored by Murrysville council was held last
week.
The speakers, attorney Jonathon
Kamin, of Goldberg Kamin & Garvin; Susan LeGros, executive director of the
Center for Sustainable Shale Development; and Martin Knuth, vice president of
Civil and Environmental Consultants of Pittsburgh provided insight and answered
questions about gas drilling in the state and in Murrysville.
Mr. Kamin was an attorney in a
lawsuit challenging the state’s gas drilling law, Act 13. According to Mr.
Kamin, the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court decision to overturn portions of
the law limiting local authorities' regulation of drilling created the
opportunity for local governments to set the rules for their own communities.
When ACT 13 passed in 2012, Mr.
Kamin said, "a number of my clients were concerned that all of their
rights were taken away. ... We got an injunction and after fourteen months of
litigation, in December, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declared Act 13
unconstitutional. ... There is an obligation on state and local government to
ensure that your resources are protected.” Mr. Kamin said, citing the opinion
of Chief Justice Ronald Castille.
Mr. Kamin said the commonwealth and local governments are trustees of
the state’s environment resources. He urged local governments to determine what
is right for their communities. “The obligations you have are very serious and
will affect what your municipality is now and for future generations. Best
practices are not what industry tells you is best,” he said.
When asked about banning drilling
altogether, Mr. Kamin said it is not defensible to ban drilling outright. He
suggested a moratorium providing a period of time to study may be more
realistic.
In regard to drilling under
Murrysville Community Park, Mr. Kamin said “There
is no doubt that drilling is an industrial process. The heart of zoning is
compatibility. The question you have to ask is ‘Would I put an industrial use
in a park? I don’t mean to be flip, but I wouldn’t go sending kids to play in a
park where there is drilling’ “
According to Susan LeGros, the
key to sustainable, socially responsible drilling is to find common ground that
industry and those affected by the operations can agree upon. She said the
Center for Sustainable Shale Development is attempting to define best practices
and certify that operators are following them. She identified air and climate
standards and surface and ground water standards that drillers would be held to
if they want certification by the organization.
Ms. LeGros rattled off some of
the criteria: “Zero discharge of waste water, 90 percent recycling of waste
water, double-lined impoundment ponds, disclosure of well fluids. Our focus is
to audit drilling practices, to verify proper procedures and certify that
standards are met.” The Center, focused on drilling in the Appalachian region,
counts Shell, Chevron, Consol and EQT among its industry members. The Center’s
standards are voluntary, she said, but certification could be withdrawn if an
industry member does not comply.
In response to questions about
traffic, noise, air and light pollution, Mr. Knuth talked about measures taken
at a well pad to minimize the impact.
“For
noise abatement we can restrict hours of operations and erect noise barriers
around some of the equipment. To reduce light pollution we will use more
direct, focused types of lighting,” he said.” Vehicle traffic will be what it
needs to be to get the project done. There are often road bonding and road
repair requirements and we will try to travel off-hours and at night,” he said.
Mark Emerson of School Road asked
about the health consequences of Marcellus drilling. “When folks started to
mine for coal, I don’t think they knew of black lung and acid mine runoff. What
do we know?” he asked.
“I have zero confidence in the work the [state Department of
Environmental Protection} has done [on fracking] to date,” Mr. Kamin responded.
”And I have a good knowledge as to what they have done. We’re now only starting
to discover problems with testing. I don’t think we know. Anyone who tells you
differently is not being honest.”
Tim
Means, freelance writer: suburbanliving-post-gazette.com.
http://www.post-gazette.com/local/east/2014/05/08/SGASDRILL0508.print
Allegheny
County Council wavers on Deer Lakes drilling pact
***Murrysville
Council Votes No On Drilling Under Park
Congratulations Murrysville!!! Nice Work.
By
Daveen Rae Kurutz
Published:
Wednesday, May 7, 2014, 11:00 p.m.
“Council on Wednesday voted down
a measure that would have solicited bids for the Marcellus shale gas rights
under Murrysville Community Park. Council also instructed Chief Administrator
Jim Morrison to tell Huntley & Huntley that council is not interested in
their lease offer.
“Even if you wanted (to lease the
gas rights), you don't want that lease,” Councilman Dave Perry said.
Huntley & Huntley had
submitted a lease offer to the municipality earlier this year, prompting
officials to consider soliciting bids for the gas rights to the 262-acre park
along Wiestertown Road.
About 15 residents in attendance
at Wednesday's meeting applauded council when President Joan Kearns asserted
that the municipality would not be soliciting any bids for the park's gas
rights and would instead focus on updating the municipal drilling ordinance.
But
that doesn't mean those rights won't be leased eventually.
“The decisions of this council
can always be reversed by a future council,” Kearns said. “Nothing is cast in
concrete except the sidewalks out front and this building, hopefully.”
Several residents spoke against
allowing fracking in the municipality. A task force has begun reviewing the
municipal drilling ordinance, which permits surface drilling in a designated
district. However, subsurface drilling can take place anywhere in the
municipality if the well pad is built within the designated area.”
http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourmurrysville/yourmurrysvillemore/6077898-74/story#ixzz31C8IB4V6
***Deer
Lakes Park
Sue Mean’s Strives
For Fairness (Before the Deer Lakes Park Vote)
“Allegheny County Councilwoman
Sue Means said she was “disappointed” by the speaker lineup for the parks
committee’s discussion of the Deer Lakes Park proposal. So the Bethel Park Republican held her own
meeting in the Downtown Allegheny County Courthouse.
She called on speakers including
Susan Packard LeGros, executive director of the Center for Sustainable Shale
Development; John Stolz, director of the Center for Environmental Research at
Duquesne University; and John Smith and Jonathan Kamin, attorneys who
represented the municipalities who challenged Pennsylvania’s Act 13 law.
It was a panel of speakers far less friendly to natural gas development
than council members have heard from at the three parks committee meetings held
in the past three weeks.
Those meetings, which covered environmental and safety factors, legal
questions and economic factors, included speakers representing parties ranging
from Range Resources and Huntley & Huntley to the Pennsylvania Department
of Environmental Resources and county officials.
The final meeting of the parks
committee Wednesday night ended with a vote recommending an amended Deer Lakes
drilling ordinance to the full council.
Ms.
Means said the purpose of her meeting Thursday was “just to gather information
so we can make a more informed decision.”
More than 30 members of the
public attended, many of them wearing the green scarves that have come to mark
the members of the Protect Our Parks group.
Council members Tom Baker,
R-Ross, Barbara Daly Danko, D-Regent Square, Bill Robinson, D-Hill District,
and Ed Kress, R-Shaler, were present for part of the meeting.
Only Ms. Means and Jan Rea,
R-McCandless, stayed for the whole session, which lasted more than three hours.
At Thursday’s meeting, Mr. Smith said his reading of
the lease left him concerned that it did not provide enough protection for the
water in the lakes in the park.
Mr. Stolz said council members
should think about not just contamination from fracking fluids, but from
“pre-existing legacy issues” that fracking could disturb.
The main question council members need to ask is what their obligations
are as stewards of the park, Mr. Kamin said. They should also ask whether they
have done their “due diligence” in reviewing the proposal.
Nicholas Futules, D-Oakmont and
chair of the parks committee, said Wednesday he believed his committee had
covered the appropriate topics according to the state’s oil and gas law.
Council President John DeFazio,
asked Wednesday night whether council had done its due diligence, said yes.
“My opinion is, we did more
than due diligence,” he said. (Yeah,
right!)”
Read
more: http://www.post-gazette.com/powersource/latest-oil-and-gas/2014/05/01/Another-meeting-held-before-Deer-Lakes-vote-1/stories/201405010388#ixzz30a8cu3QI
***Allegheny
County Council Approves Drilling in Deer Lakes Park
But not to worry- Fitzgerald is
protecting the community
Thank
you to all those who worked so hard to protect the health of our parks and
children.
“The Allegheny County
Council early Wednesday approved a proposal to under Deer Lakes Park, clearing
the way for drilling to possibly start this year.
Council voted 9-5 at the end of a
seven-hour meeting to allow Range Resources and Huntley & Huntley to
extract gas buried below the 1,180-acre park in West Deer and Frazer.
Council members Barbara Daly
Danko, D-Regent Square; Heather Heidelbaugh, R-Mt. Lebanon; Sue Means, R-Bethel
Park; Jan Rea, R-McCandless, and Bill Robinson, D-Hill District, voted against
the proposal. Councilwoman Amanda Green-Hawkins, D-Stanton Heights, abstained.
“This is a short-term gain. To hell with our grandchildren,” Danko said
before the vote.
Following the vote, members of
the public chanted “shame” and yelled at council members. Council Vice
President Nick Futules, D-Oakmont, yelled obscenities back at one member of the
audience.
“This battle is only a beginning. We are considering court action
following this blatant disregard of the wishes of the county residents,”
Protect Our Parks, a coalition organized against the proposal, said in a
statement after the vote.
The vote came after more than
four hours of public comment on the proposal. Members of Protect Our Parks unrolled a scroll of more than 7,000
signatures - wrapping around the council chambers twice - from county
residents opposed to the drilling.
“I think you're not just voting on a specific lease but on a precedent,”
said Jules Lobel, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh Law School. “You
are setting a precedent that you can use the parks for industrial purposes.”
The companies hope to start
drilling this year and plan to tap more
of the park from additional well pads in the future, officials said.
“There are horror stories of
families that can't sell their land or can't let their children out to play,”
said Russell Fedorka of Elizabeth. “Why can't we protect at least our parks? If
you vote to protect the park, you can tell your children that you stood up for
the beauty of Deer Lakes Park.”
County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said in a statement that “the
county's participation in this lease allows us to further protect our community with additional environmental enhancements
while also bringing revenues to our parks. Allegheny County taxpayers benefit
by having revenue that doesn't come from our property taxes to invest in our
parks and our county.”
Read
more: http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/6060789-74/park-council-members#ixzz310rA3eOa
***Deer Lakes
Approved
By
Kaitlynn Riely and Richard Webner / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Mr. Fitzgerald called the
decision a “victory” for taxpayers, for people who use the parks and for the
residents of Frazer and West Deer Gwen Chute, a member of Protect Our Parks,
said the organization would consider legal action to stop the drilling.
“We, the members of Protect Our
Parks, are outraged that the County Council has ignored the wishes of the
majority of county residents and voted to allow Range Resources to frack under
Deer Lakes Park,” the organization said in a statement.
As for legal challenges, Mr.
Fitzgerald said the county is often sued on contentious issues, but that he
believed the ordinance would withstand challenges.
"I'm not naive to the fact
that we need energy," Ms. Danko said. "I do think ... that the parks
are different."
She said she could not support
the ordinance.
"We did not do what we
needed to do," Ms. Danko said.
For Mr. Finnerty, the vote came
at the end of what has been a long focus by the county.
"It's been an exhaustive
thing," he said before the vote. "I've read that lease so any
times."
Prior to the vote, council rejected an amendment put forward by Ms.
Heidelbaugh to add additional language to the ordinance, such as further
groundwater and roadway protections.
County solicitor Andrew Szefi said the proposed
amendment would require re-negotiation of the lease, disrupting the deal
between Range and the county.
“If you
vote to protect the parks, you can tell your children that you stood up to
protect the beauty of Deer Lakes Park,” said Russell Fedorka of Elizabeth.
Some voicing opposition said they
support fracking, just not in parks.
You
can drill wherever you want where it’s appropriate — industrial areas,” said
George Jucha of Moon.
Members of Protect Our Parks, several in their signature green scarves,
stood around the room holding up a long scroll of what Joni Rabinowitz said was
a list of more than 7,000 people against drilling in county parks.
“Our job is to protect them, not
industrialize them,” said Ed Chute of Mt. Lebanon.
Others criticized the council’s
process leading up to the vote.
“I cannot believe that you have done your
due diligence,” said Dana Dolney of Polish Hill, a comment that Mr. Ellenbogen
objected to by briefly leaving the room.
Read
more:
http://www.post-gazette.com/local/north/2014/05/06/County-council-hears-both-sides-of-Deer-Lakes-Park-drilling-controversy/stories/201405060229#ixzz310ov3RR0
2. Cross Creek
Park Woes-Recalling the Fish Kill
May
4, 2014
“Allegheny County officials
should consider a likely scenario if they choose to approve a gas lease to
frack under Deer Lakes Park.
Consider this headline from June
5, 2009: “Waste from Marcellus Shale
Drilling in Cross Creek Park Kills Fish.” I fished there on May 30, 2009, and
witnessed the fish floating on top of the water (the June 5 article
reported the waste-water discharge was May 26). Needless to say, it wasn’t a
good day for fishing.
Months later the state Department
of Environmental Protection fined the driller $23,500, but it’s hard to track
where that money ends up. I know it doesn’t end up paying for a new stocking of
fish, or for the cost of my fishing license, or for my buddy’s boat launch
permit. I haven’t been back to Cross Creek Lake to fish since the
contamination. I doubt the habitat has improved considering the driller now has
amassed three reported violations at the site.
How many more leaks and errors go
unreported? Cross Creek Park is not an acceptable prototype for Allegheny
County to follow in our parks.
CHRISTOPHER
SEYMOUR
Baldwin
Borough
3. Serving the
Public Or The Gas Industry?
“Part of the reason there’s
so much corrosive cynicism about and mistrust of government is the perception
that public servants aren’t really working for the public.
Oh, there’s all kinds of rhetoric
about the public interest, but, sometimes, the real interest seems to be in
appeasing donors, the powerful, the well-heeled and the well-connected.
Anyone trying to shake off their disenchantment would
have been severely tested last week when StateImpact Pennsylvania, which
reports on energy and environmental issues on NPR radio outlets throughout the
commonwealth, revealed a Harrisburg law
firm has been advising the Public Utilities Commission on zoning issues related
to the oil and gas industry at the same time it has been representing energy
companies before the PUC.
The firm, McNees, Wallace and Nurick, had been due to represent Sunoco
Logistics before the PUC in a battle over whether the company can be considered
a public utility and sidestep local zoning rules in its efforts to refurbish a
pipeline that stretches across the state. However, after the StateImpact
Pennsylvania story, the law firm withdrew its services.
But, even with McNees, Wallace
and Nurick out of that particular picture, it’s not as if Sunoco Logistics will
be deprived of someone with first-rank Harrisburg credentials on their team – among the attorneys now arguing on Sunoco’s
behalf will be Michael Krancer, who had been at the helm of the Department of
Environmental Protection until the private sector beckoned last year.
Chris Borick, a political science
professor at Muhlenberg College, summed up the arrangement pretty well: “This
is pretty bizarre. No matter what the legal boundaries say, from a public
perception point, it just seems too cozy between the industry and the
regulators.” A spokeswoman denied there was any conflict of interest in the PUC
having a law firm advise it that has such deep ties to the industry because
they used different lawyers for each function.
Whether it’s pocketing
elephantine campaign donations from the industry, assembling Act 13 with
lobbyists at hand or swatting aside an extraction tax, too often Gov. Tom
Corbett and many of his allies in the state House and Senate have seemed too
beholden to the oil and gas industry, rather than the voters who put them in
office. By tethering itself to a law firm deeply invested in the industry, the
PUC has, unfortunately, done nothing to reshape that impression. “
http://www.observer-reporter.com/article/20140505/OPINION01/140509714#.U2n5g3a9Zww
4. Fracking Near
Schools in RA Zoned Areas-
Excellent letter from Att. Yeager explains why it is erroneous
“From CURTIN & HEEFNER, ATTORNEYS AT LAW
2005 S. EASTON ROAD • SUITE 100
• DOYLESTOWN, PA 18901
JORDAN B. YEAGER (Emphasis is
jan’s)
illY@curtinheefner.com
To:
Mike Hnath, Esquire
Solicitor,
Middlesex Township
128
W. Cunningham Street
Butler,
PA 16001
May
1, 2014
Re: Middlesex Township
Proposed
Unconventional Gas Development on the Geyer Tract
We are writing to address your stated position that Middlesex Township
can allow unconventional gas development activity at the Geyer property in the Township's
R-AG zoning district. Your position is
untenable and exposes the Township to a significant risk of litigation.
Township
officials- including the Chair of the Board of Supervisors- have made it clear
that they are predisposed toward allowing gas development activity to proceed
at the Geyer tract and throughout the Township, regardless of the facts. It has also become clear that the Township is
seeking legal "cover" to do so.
No such cover exists.
First,
Township officials told residents that the Township does not have the ability
to apply its zoning ordinance to unconventional gas development activity. We provided
the Township an extensive memorandum debunking this assertion. Indeed, as we explained in that memorandum, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has made it
undeniably clear that municipalities have the authority to apply their zoning
ordinances to the gas industry. Robinson Twp. v. Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, 83 A.3d 901 (Pa. 2013).
The Court went further and reminded local elected officials that they
have a constitutional duty to apply their zoning in a rational way and to
protect the community's clean air, clean water and high quality soils for
future generations.
With
the Township's first legal position
debunked, the Township is confronted with the reality that its zoning
ordinance- which it has the authority and responsibility to enforce- does not
allow gas development in the R-AG District, where the Geyer tract is
located. In the face of this reality,
the Township has shifted positions and
is now advancing the erroneous position that unconventional gas development is
permitted in the R-AG district (and all other agricultural districts) as an
accessory use to farming. As this
letter will explain, this most recent legal theory is not supported by the
plain language of the Township's ordinance, case law, or the Municipalities
Planning Code ("MPC").
As further explained below, the Township's current position directly conflicts with the
Ordinance's definitions of "accessory use" and
"agriculture;" is inconsistent with the Ordinance's statement of
community development objectives, the comprehensive plan, and the purpose
of the R-AG District; and ignores the fact that the Ordinance expressly permits
gas development activity as a principal use in other districts, which precludes
it from being an accessory use in the R-AG District.
(This
is an excerpt from the 11 page letter!)
II. Conclusion
As set
forth above, the Township's assertion
that unconventional shale gas development is an accessory use to farming in the
R-AG District is directly inconsistent with the Zoning Ordinance, case law, the
MPC, and the Pennsylvania Constitution.
The Township is placing itself at
substantial risk of challenge from citizens negatively impacted by the proposed
Geyer well site development. Please
share this correspondence with the Board of Supervisors and Township Manager so
that they can be guided in carrying out their constitutional and statutory
obligations.”
5. Babst- Calland Law
Firm-Profit Over People
(Do these attorneys not have
lungs, children, homes they value?
Compressors can be highly polluting, yet Babst Calland issued the alert that PA might require “reasonably
available control technology”. The
firm, which represents the gas industry, is concerned that the industry might have to pay
for pollution controls.)
“New PA Regs Limiting
NOx/VOC Likely Affect Compressor Stations
The Babst Calland law firm has put out an alert that proposed new rules recently
issued by the Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board to require “reasonably
available control technology” (RACT) will affect “hundreds of facilities”
that produce nitrogen oxides (NOx) or volatile organic compounds (VOCs), requiring them to spend money and install
new equipment. There are nine source categories covered by the new rule,
and although none of those categories say “compressor stations,” one of them is
“turbines” which may cover compressor stations. At any rate, pipeline
compressor stations are a major source of NOx and VOCs and will almost
certainly be affected by the coming changes.”
6. Residents
Forced to Evacuate After Shale Well Leak in Ohio
“In Ohio, hundreds of
gallons of drilling fluid have spilled into a creek from a shale well being
prepared for fracking. Officials say the leak was discovered on Sunday.
About 1,600 gallons of the fluid, known as "mud," gushed out before
the spill was contained on Wednesday. Nearby residents were evacuated amid
fears of a natural gas explosion. The company, PDC Energy, said it still plans
to move forward with fracking the wells.”
Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!
7. Gas and Oil
Operations are Death Sentence for Soil
“According to the Soil Science Society,
“soil supports and nourishes the plants that we eat” and that livestock eat;
soil “filters and purifies much of the water we drink;” “soils teem with microorganisms that have
given us many life-saving medications;” and “protecting soil from erosion helps
reduce the amount of air-borne dust we breathe.”
According to a Denver Post story,
At least 716,982 gallons (45 percent) of the petroleum chemicals spilled during
the past decade have stayed in the ground after initial cleanup—contaminating
soil, sometimes spreading into groundwater.
Oil and gas drilling
produces up to 500 tons of dirt from every new well, some of it soaked with
hydrocarbons and laced with potentially toxic minerals and salts.
Heavy trucks crush soil,
“suffocating the delicate subsurface ecosystems that traditionally made
Colorado’s Front Range suitable for farming.”
These
impacts from the tens of thousands of wells in Colorado alone led a Colorado
soil scientist to state that oil and gas operations are ”like a death sentence
for soil.”
The Post points out that no federal or state agency has ever
assessed the impact of the oil and gas boom on soil and on human health.”
By
Amy Mall, Natural Resources Defense Council
8. Suspect Cancer
Cluster in Flower Mound, Texas
“Cathrine Benefiel was
diagnosed with brain cancer last year. The diagnosis stunned her family. Her
mom Mindy said they have no history of cancer.
"Just no history of
it," she said. "It turned our world upside-down."
News 8 profiled a number of families in Flower Mound
several years ago that were equally confused and concerned when their children
were diagnosed with cancer.
Some of those families — and now
the Benefiels — suspect heavy fracking operations in Flower Mound may be a
contributing factor. The process can produce cancer-causing compounds like
benzene. No firm link has been established in Flower Mound.
But the Texas Department of State Health Services
recently announced it was going to again analyze whether cancer rates among
children were higher in Flower Mound.
In 2010, the state conducted an
initial study and ultimately determined there weren't more cases of leukemia,
non-Hodgkin's lymphoma or brain cancer than in other parts of Texas.
But a new analysis of those findings by a University of Texas research team
found there actually was a strong indication of more cancer cases in the area.”
E-mail
tunger@wfaa.comhttp://www.wfaa.com/news/local/denton/Cancer-patient-suspects-cancer-cluster-in-Flower-Mound-255565661.html
9. Radon and Methane Greater Than Expected
Drilling in Coal Areas
http://thetyee.ca/News/2014/05/06/Shale-Gas-Methane-Leaks/
“According
to a spate of recent scientific studies from the United States and Australia,
the shale gas industry has generated another formidable challenge: methane and radon leakage three times
greater than expected.
In some cases the volume of seeping
methane, a greenhouse gas that traps heat 25 times more effectively than carbon
dioxide, is so high it challenges the notion that shale gas can be a bridge to
a cleaner energy future, as promoted by the government of British Columbia and
other shale gas jurisdictions.
Revkin
also asked Louis Derry, a Cornell University geologist, to comment on the
study's implications in regards to coal.
….It also found a big difference
between measured methane emission rates versus "official" estimates.
Stanford University researcher Adam Brandt and 12 other scientists reported
that a small number of high-emitting sources such as leaky pipelines, faulty
wellbores, polluting gas plants, and venting storage tanks might account for
the high rates of methane.
Last
month, another U.S. study reported that an airplane survey over a two-day
period found large plumes of methane above shale gas well pads over
southwestern Pennsylvania two to three times order of magnitude greater than
expected during drilling operations.
The scientists suggested that just a few
shale gas wells may be super methane leakers and account for the large spikes
of methane in the atmosphere.
"It was possible that a small
number of wells contribute heavily to methane leakage in a producing field -- a
largely fixable problem," Derry said.
But
"the real message of this study may
be that gas fluxes from coal operations have been underestimated, and that they
are mostly responsible for the hotspots," he said.
He added that drilling in a coal-rich area
may "require special precautions to prevent transient leaks" in
addition to pre and post-air monitoring.
Australia's approach to leakage
Australian
studies have also found significant problems with methane and radon leakage
from fields producing coal-bed methane. In
2012, Isaac Santos and Damien Maher at Southern Cross University measured
concentrations of methane in the atmosphere above fractured coal-bed methane
fields with a spectrometer mounted on a vehicle.
Like
subsequent U.S. studies, they found methane emissions in producing fields were
three-and-a-half times more than expected.
The
scientists offered two explanations for the findings: leaky industry
infrastructure or seepage through soils.
Australian
scientists are now trying to figure out whether drilling activities such as
fracking are activating large methane escapes by releasing methane and other
gases such as radon into groundwater, creeks, soils and the atmosphere.
Coal is a major source of methane,
so it's not surprising that levels are higher over coal fields, noted David
Hughes.
"But
saying these levels are related to later [coal-bed methane] or shale
development or initial mining or natural outcrops of coal again needs the data
before, during and after," added the geologist and consultant.
A 2013 follow-up study measured radon gas
concentrations at monitoring stations The
scientists found radon levels in the atmosphere three times higher than average
in areas with a high density of coal seam wells.
"It
has been known for years that radon anomalies can be observed during
earthquakes," explained Santos in a press release. "As the soil structure expands or contracts
and cracks before and during an earthquake, it creates conduits for the release
of soil radon into groundwater and the atmosphere."
"We
hypothesize that an analogous process is happening when the soil structure is
altered during coal seam gas mining through processes such as drilling,
hydraulic fracturing and alteration of the water table."
Damien
Maher, one of the study's co-authors, said the findings suggested the radon
leaks are not only coming from wellbores but through new man-made pathways that
industry had not accounted for.
"Fixing
the infrastructure is relatively easy. Fixing up the changes in the soil
structure is much more difficult," said Maher.
Karlis Muehlenbachs, a
University of Alberta expert on tracing stray gases from oil and gas fields,
doubts that oil and gas regulators have the gumption or the resources to do
baseline atmospheric monitoring, let alone fix the continent's leaky natural
gas production system.
"There is no will to fix
anything," Muehlenbachs said.
For years Muehlenbachs has proposed that governments mandate
baseline monitoring, through isotopic fingerprinting, of methane, ethane and
propane from producing wells, abandoned wells, natural seeps and water wells in
order to protect groundwater prior to drilling and fracking.
No regulator has yet implemented his
protocol.”
http://thetyee.ca/News/2014/05/06/Shale-Gas-Methane-Leaks/
10. Letter to the
Editor
Bob
Schmetzer
“The question is not whether you are for or against
fracking. The question is are we safe and is Industry really using best
practices. Money buys a lot of influence that can hide the reality of this
situation. The health impact of gas fracking has been left in the dark. The
state said they would fund a health registry to collect data around drilling
sites. Without important data , the issue can not be resolved nor the public be
protected, said Dr. Ralph Schmeltz, endocrinologist and former president of the
Pa Medical Society.
Governor Corbett appointed the
commission, but the Republican Legislature/ Senate failed to fund it in Act 13.
This leaves the public without answers. The gas industry maintains that
fracking is safe, while nationwide , residents near drilling sites have
experienced health problems and psychological impacts. Ground water for
drinking, air emissions, waste water disposal, harm to gas field workers, and
the public, all demand the truth according to public health experts. Also, the
journal [ Environmental Science & Technology ] states. " there are
substantial public concerns and major uncertainties to address."
We as Pennsylvanian's need this
resolved. If the Harrisburg leadership will NOT protect the health, safety, and
welfare by funding an impartial study, then new faces need to represent
us.......
Bob Schmetzer “
11. Mystery of
Wastewater Tankers
Bob Donnan
“Wastewater tankers were gathering at a point on
Chartiers Creek to withdraw free water. Someone had even installed concrete
jersey barriers along the top edge of the creek bank and placed a port-a-john
there, obvious health and safety enhancements to further enable and encourage
water withdrawals there.
I had told our county commissioners at least a year
ago that this was not a DEP authorized water withdrawal point, that it was located further
downstream. The site was so heavily used
that truck drivers just left their hoses in place on the bank of the creek.
Then, several months ago, a
security trailer was placed in a parking lot across from the huge MarkWest Gas
Plant. Around the same time the security trailer appeared, people began
noticing that wastewater tankers were no longer gathering there to withdraw
water.
Passing by that site last
Saturday, and with curiosity getting the better of me, I stopped at that
security trailer to inquire. The security guard, a blonde lady in her 40’s, was
very guarded about giving me any information.
I asked, “Why is this security here?”
She said, “We are protecting something.”
Now it was turning into a guessing game.
“What
are you protecting, the creek?” She
said, “Yes.”
Beyond
that I was unable to learn much more, like who is paying for that security
checkpoint?... the taxpayers of Washington County? Exactly why is it there, were trucks dumping
into the creek? If anyone learns more
about this, please pass it along.”
12. It’s the Pits
From Bob Donnan
“How
many pits does Range have in Washington County, Pa?
Even though I have
photographed most of them, I never took time to count all of them, but someone
told me yesterday there are 29.
Wow! And instead of trying to
count the ones with problems, it would be much simpler to count the ones
without problems, or should we say, the ones with problems we don’t know about…
yet.
The whole ‘Pits –burg South
story’ more or less began back when Stephanie Hallowich brought attention to
contaminants their well water tests. Their well was very close to the Stewart
Impoundment.
The Stewart impoundment dam went from
holding fresh water to flowback, and holes developed in the plastic liner. Results from water tests
on the Hallowich well water began showing bizarre chemicals like acetone and
acrylonitrile, as well as toluene, ethyl benzene, tetra-chlorethylene and
styrene.”
(Stephanie
Hallowich’s family became ill and the family eventually was bought out by the
industry so they could move. Jan)
13. The Fracking Prostitutes
of American Colleges
(part 2 of 3)
[Part
1: Lackawanna College, a two-year college in Scranton, Pa., accepted a $2.5
million endowment from Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. to strengthen that college’s
programs and ties to the oil and gas industry.]
by
Walter Brasch
“ Two of the reasons Pennsylvania
has no severance tax and one of the lowest taxes upon shale gas drilling are
because of an overtly corporate-friendly legislature and a research report from
Penn State, a private state-related university that receives about $300 million
a year in public funds.
Opponents of the tax cited a Penn State study that claimed a 30
percent decline in drilling if the fees were assessed, while also touting the
economic benefits of drilling in the Marcellus Shale. What wasn’t widely known
is that the lead author of the study, Dr. Timothy Considine, “had a history of
producing industry-friendly research on economic and energy issues,”
according to reporting by Jim Efsathioi Jr. of Bloomberg News. The Penn State study was sponsored by a
$100,000 grant from the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an oil and gas lobbying
group that represents more than 300 energy companies. Dr. William Easterling,
dean of Penn State’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, said the study may
have “crossed the line between policy analysis and policy advocacy.”
The Marcellus
Center for Outreach and Research (MCOR), a part of Penn State, announced that with funding provided by General Electric
and ExxonMobil, it would offer a “Shale Gas Regulators Training Program.”
The Center had previously said it wasn’t taking funding from private industry.
However, the Center’s objectivity may have already been influenced by two
people. Gov. Tom Corbett, who accepted
more than $2 million in campaign funds from oil and gas company personnel, sits
on the university’s board of trustees; billionaire Terrence (Terry) Pegula, owner of the Buffalo Sabres hockey team, was CEO of East Resources, which he had
sold to Royal Dutch Shell for $4.7 billion in July 2010. Pegula and his wife
had also contributed about $380,000 to Corbett’s political campaign. On the day Pegula donated $88 million to
Penn State to fund a world-class ice hockey arena and support the men’s and
women’s intercollegiate ice hockey team, he said, “[T]his contribution could be just the tip of the iceberg, the first of
many such gifts, if the development of the Marcellus Shale is allowed to
proceed.” At the groundbreaking in April 2012, Pegula announced he
increased the donation to $102 million.
The
Shale Technology and Education Center (ShaleTEC) program at the Pennsylvania
College of Technology, a branch of Penn State, was established “to serve as
the central resource for workforce development and education needs of the
community and the oil and natural gas industry,” according to its website. With an
initial $15,000 grant from the Marcellus Shale Coalition, the Community College
of Philadelphia (CCP) planned to establish certificate and academic programs
for workers either already employed by or intending to enter jobs that provide
services to Marcellus Shale companies. John Braxton, assistant professor of
biology and an ecologist, said CCP “must not be used as a PR puppet for shale
gas fracking companies,” accurately noting that the fracking industry “got a
free publicity ride” by the administration’s hasty decisions.
Within two weeks of CCP’s announcement, the
faculty union (AFT Local 2026), which represents the college’s 1,050 faculty
and 200 staff, condemned the decision to establish the Center “without the
consideration or approval of the faculty, and with total disregard for established
College procedures for instituting new academic curricula.” In a unanimous
vote by the Representative Council, the faculty declared, “the natural gas
drilling . . . industry and peripheral and related industries present
unacceptable dangers and risks to public health, worker safety, the natural
environment, and quality of life.” Curtis left CCP in Summer 2013; the proposed
program was never developed, and remains unfunded.
In April 2011,
Gov. Corbett had suggested that the 14 universities of the State System of
Higher Education (SSHE) could allow natural gas drilling on the campuses that
sit on top of the Marcellus Shale. In a secret negotiation revealed by the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Student Association of California University
signed over mineral rights on 67 acres. The lease includes a confidentiality
clause.
The Marcellus Institute at Mansfield
University is “an academic/shale gas partnership,” designed to educate the
people about the issues of natural gas production. The university holds summer
classes for teachers and week-long camps for high school students to allow them
to “Learn about the development of shale gas resources in our region and the
career and educational opportunities available to you after high school!”
The university’s
associate in applied sciences (A.A.S.) degree in natural gas production and
services, begun in Fall semester 2012, was fast-tracked, submitted and approved
in less than six months rather than the 12–18 months normally required for
approval. The union that represents the
state system’s 6,000 faculty passed a resolution in September 2013 opposing
drilling on campuses, stating that the campuses “are not appropriate locations
for [fracking] given the environmental and health hazards of the fracking
process.”
[Next
week: Compromising academic integrity at other American universities.]
[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.]
Fracking Pennsylvania
Kindle and Print Editions
"Fracking Pennsylvania is
packed with information
every Pennsylvanian
—and everyone living in
any area being drilled or
likely to be drilled
by the gas industry—
needs to know about the
environmental,
public health and safety,
and economic risks
this dangerous practice poses.”
—Karen Feridun,
founder, Berks Gas Truth
"As an anti-fracking activist,
one of the most important things
I’ve learned in this work
is how necessary it is for us
to be connected and know
about each other’s work,
experiences and information.
Walter Brasch has made a
valuable contribution
to that effort.
If I were teaching a course
on environmental ethics,
Brasch’s books would
be on the reading list."
—The Rev. Leah D. Schade,
EcoWatch.org
14. "Chris"
Mobaldi of Split Estate Film Died November 4
“A woman who grew gravely ill after living near gas drilling activities
in the Rifle area has died in Grand Junction, to where she and her husband
moved to get away from the rigs. Elizabeth "Chris" Mobaldi, 63, died after
a lengthy battle with a rare and persistent tumor of the pituitary gland. She recently underwent her third surgery
related to the tumor; complications of that surgery led to her death.
"Industry representatives have long
argued that there is no conclusive evidence that proximity to gas wells has
adverse effects on the environment or on human health. From 1993 to 2004, the
Mobaldis had lived near Rifle, south of the Colorado River, According to testimony by Mobaldi before the U.S. House
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in Washington, D.C., the couple
suffered symptoms such as headaches, burning eyes and skin, which they believed
were related to the drilling rigs as close as 300 feet from their home. The
first of Chris' three pituitary tumors
appeared in 2001, roughly four years after gas rigs went up near their home,
Steve Mobaldi said. At the time, he
said, the rigs were operated by Barrett Resources, which later was sold to the
Williams Cos.
The couple moved to Grand
Junction in 2004. Chris Mobaldi, aside
from her other symptoms, developed rashes, blisters and a rare malady known as
"foreign accent syndrome," a speech abnormality that is quite rare.
A physician who treated Chris
Mobaldi, Dr. Kendall Gerdes of Colorado
Springs, said, "When I first met her ... I thought it must be some kind of
Eastern European thing.” Asked if he agrees with Steve Mobaldi's assertion that
the symptoms are in some way related to exposure to gas drilling activities,
Gerdes said simply, "I do." But, he continued, this conclusion is
based on his understanding of the couple and their story, and that
"there's not a lot of testing you can do that will prove or disprove that.
I think that [Mobaldi's exposure to drilling chemicals] was causative. I am
simply looking at time, cause and effect relationships." He said tests
indicated that Chris Mobaldi was "vulnerable" to toxic influences
"because she did not detoxify as rapidly as other people," meaning
that chemicals accumulate more readily in her fatty tissues. The fact that
others have reported similar symptoms they believe are caused by proximity to
gas rigs, has prompted some doctors, including Gerdes, to call for greater
investigation of the health effects of gas drilling.
Recently, the Garfield County
government supported a Health Impact Assessment to establish a base-line of data
for residents of the Battlement Mesa residential neighborhood, where the Antero
Resources gas company is planning to drill up to 200 wells within the
community's boundaries." It is an ongoing problem, and one that deserves a
lot of attention," said Gerdes,
specifically mentioning requests by Antero for permission to drill one well for
every 10 acres of land, rather than the current density of one well per 160
acres, in residential sections of the county. Industry officials have stressed
that 10-acre spacing, as it is known, already is in place in many parts of
Garfield County. They note that the term refers to below ground bores and does
not signify a drilling rig on every 10-acre parcel of ground.jcolson@postindependent.com
15. Concerned Health
Professionals of NY
Regarding Air Pollution and Fracking
Study: Fracking the Eagle Ford Shale
February
18, 2014 Statements/Resolutions
“In response to the release of the eight-month
investigation ‘Fracking the Eagle Ford
Shale’ by InsideClimate News, The Center for Public Integrity and The
Weather Channel that found very dangerous air pollution and widespread health
impacts, Concerned Health Professionals of New York released the following
statement from Sandra Steingraber, PhD and Distinguished Scholar in Residence
at Ithaca College, and Kathy Nolan, MD, MSL.
“The extensive investigation into air pollution from drilling and
fracking operations in the Eagle Ford Shale of southern Texas has documented–in
otherwise rural communities–alarming levels of highly toxic air
pollutants. These include benzene, a
proven cause of leukemia, and poisonous hydrogen sulfide gas, which, at acute
levels, can be lethal and, at chronic levels, is linked to both brain damage and risk of miscarriage in pregnant
women.
“These results are consistent
with existing and emerging research from Colorado, West Virginia, and
Pennsylvania. All together, these
studies create a startling picture of the harms that fracking can bring to
human communities. As health
professionals, we possess not only a duty to inquire but an obligation to take
action to prevent further harm.”
December
17, 2013 Statements/Resolutions
Endocrine Disruptors
Of the 700-plus chemicals that
can be used in drilling and fracking operations, more than 100 are known or
suspected endocrine disruptors.
Unique among toxic agents, endocrine-disrupting
chemicals (EDCs) interfere with hormonal signals, are biologically active at
exceedingly low concentrations, and, when exposures occur in early life, can
alter pathways of development.
In a two-part study published on
December 16 in the journal Endocrinology, a team of researchers led by Susan
Nagel at the University of Missouri reported a variety of potent
endocrine-disrupting properties in twelve chemicals commonly used in drilling
and fracking operations. The team also documented potent endocrine-disrupting
activity in ground and surface water supplies collected from heavily drilled
areas in Garfield County, Colorado where fracking chemicals are known to have
spilled. The levels of chemicals in these samples were sufficient to interfere
with the response of human cells to male sex hormones, as well as estrogen.
Five samples taken from the Colorado River itself showed estrogenic activity.
The catchment basin for this drilling-dense area, the Colorado provides water
to 30 million people.
These results, which are based on
validated cell cultures, demonstrate that public health concerns about fracking
are well-founded and extend to our hormone systems. The stakes could not be
higher. Exposure to EDCs has been
variously linked to breast cancer, infertility, birth defects, and learning
disabilities. Scientists have identified no safe threshold of exposure for
EDCs, especially for pregnant women, infants, and children.”
Contact:
Sandra Steingraber, PhD
ssteingraber@ithaca.edu
607-351-0719http://concernedhealthny.org/category/documentation/statements-resolutions/
16. Utilities
Quietly Dumped ALEC
“After
writing letters to nine utility companies that have supported the anti-science,
environmental attack campaign waged by a secretive lobbying group called the
American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Greenpeace has directly confirmed
at least six large U.S. utility companies have ceased supporting the secretive
lobbying group in recent years:
Last year, ALEC experienced a $1.3 million
budget shortfall from an exodus of its corporate members in recent years.
Some of the nation’s largest
utilities have quietly distanced themselves from the secretive, climate-denying
lobbying group. None of these five utilities made any commitment whatsoever to
maintain disassociation from ALEC. Instead, they all defended their self-stated
commitments to climate and clean energy policies, which Greenpeace’s letters
referenced and juxtaposed against ALEC’s
ongoing work to deny climate change science and undermine climate change
solutions like renewable energy policies that create jobs and stimulate local
economies.
Independent of ALEC, some of
these companies continue to resist commonsense clean energy incentives, such as
net metering for distributed solar generation. The democratization of
electricity production poses a serious threat to monopolistic utility
companies, and rather than working to innovate during this massive shift in the
energy economy, many utilities are digging in their heels. In the long run,
that will not likely turn out to be a wise choice; even King Coal’s top lobbyists admits that the industry is outdated,
comparing coal’s latest pollution control technology to the irrelevant “bag
phone” technology of yesteryear.
Perhaps ALEC’s
clear intent to impose taxes and fees on people and small businesses installing
solar panels on their rooftops wooed APS back into its dirty ranks, since APS coordinated with
other Koch-funded front groups to run ads promoting fees for solar net
metering. APS executives have refused to communicate with Greenpeace.”
Greenpeace
17. The Mothers
Project Vs. Independent Women’s Forum
Two Very Different Motives
“The Mothers Project,
founded and headed by Angela Monti Fox, is based in New York City and global in
scope. Fox is the mother of Josh Fox, the filmmaker. Fracking is a major focus of The Mothers
Project.
This week, the anti-environmental, arch-conservative entity named The Independent
Women’s Forum is staging a panel discussion in Manhattan to try to counter the
mothers’ movement. It is titled From Helicopter to Hazmat: How the Culture
of Alarmism is Turning Parenting into a Dangerous Job.
The group, which gets its funding from right-wing
foundations and other conservative interests including the Koch Brothers, got its start in 1992 as
Women for Judge Thomas defending the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the U.S.
Supreme Court. It fights feminist
groups, promotes access to guns and has taken to denying global warming.
Also involved in the event today is the American Council on Science and Health, financed by polluting
industries and long described as an industry front group. Its specialty has
been issuing reports denying health damage caused by environmental
pollutants, notably pesticides and other toxic chemicals.”
18. Trucking Impact: Deadly Side Effect
To Fracking Boom
“Booming production of oil and natural gas
has exacted a little-known price on some of the nation's roads, contributing to
a spike in traffic fatalities in states where many streets and highways are
choked with large trucks and heavy drilling equipment.
An AP analysis of traffic deaths
and U.S. census data in six drilling states shows that in some places,
fatalities have more than quadrupled since 2004 - a period when most American
roads have become much safer even as the population has grown.
"We are just so swamped," said
Sheriff Dwayne Villanueva of Karnes County, Texas, where authorities have been
overwhelmed by the surge in serious accidents.
"I don't see it slowing down anytime
soon," Villanueva said.
Deadly
crashes are "recognized as one of the key risk areas of the
business," said Marvin Odum, who runs Royal Dutch Shell's exploration
operations in the Americas.
The
number of traffic fatalities in some regions has climbed far faster than the
population or the number of miles driven.
In
North Dakota drilling counties, the population has soared 43 percent over the
last decade, while traffic fatalities increased 350 percent, to 63 last year
from 14 ten years ago. Roads in those counties were nearly twice as deadly per
mile driven than the rest of the state. In one Texas drilling district, drivers
were 2.5 times more likely to die in a fatal crash per mile driven compared
with the statewide average.
This boom is different from those of the past
because fracking requires 2,300 to 4,000
truck trips per well to deliver the fracking fluids. Older drilling techniques
needed one-third to one-half as many trips.
Another
factor is the speed of development. Drilling activity often ramps up too fast
for communities to build better roads, install more traffic signals or hire
extra police officers to help direct the flow of cars and trucks. Drillers will
sink 20,000 new wells of this type in the U.S. this year.
Last
year, a truck carrying drilling water in Clarksburg, W.Va., overturned onto a
car carrying a mother and her two boys. Both children, 7-year-old Nicholas
Mazzei-Saum and 8-year-old Alexander, were killed.
"We buried them in the same casket,"
recalled their father, William Saum. He said his wife, Lucretia Mazzei, has been hospitalized four times over
the last year for depression.
Traffic fatalities in West Virginia's most heavily drilled
counties, including where the Mazzei-Saum boys were killed, rose 42 % last
year, to 47, from 33 in 2012. Traffic deaths in the rest of the state
declined 8 percent.
Traffic fatalities in
Pennsylvania drilling counties rose 4 % over that time frame, while in the rest
of the state they fell 19 percent. New Mexico's
traffic fatalities fell 29 percent, except in drilling counties, where they
only fell 5 percent.
In
21 Texas counties where drilling has recently expanded, deaths per 100,000
people are up an average of 18 percent. Across the rest of Texas, they are down
by 20 percent.
For
Villanueva, that means his county now has accidents serious enough to require
air transport of victims three or four times each week, compared with only a
few times a month before drilling operations took off.
In
two Texas drilling regions, 259 people were killed last year, compared with 148
a decade ago. An average of 100 more people were killed in vehicle accidents in
each of the last two years compared with before the boom.
When
oil and gas are found, changes come fast. Drillers scramble to acquire leases
and get the oil and gas flowing as soon as possible. Local service companies
quickly marshal trucks and drivers to earn as much new business as they can
while the boom lasts.
Counties
and regions going through drilling booms simply cannot keep up. A weigh station
stands on U.S. Route 2 in Williston, North Dakota, the heart of drilling
country, but traffic on the highway gets backed up if the station stays open
for 15 minutes, said Alan Dybing, a research fellow at North Dakota State
University's transportation institute. So it soon has to close, letting streams
of unchecked trucks pass through.
Some
experts say regulatory loopholes make things even worse. Federal rules limit the amount of time most truckers can stay on the
road, but the rules are less stringent for drivers in the oil and gas industry.
"These
exemptions make Swiss cheese out of safety regulations," said Jackie
Gillan, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.
Vehicle crashes are the single biggest cause of
fatalities to oil and gas workers, according to a study by the National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.”
Donations
We are very appreciative of donations, both
large and small, to our group.
With
your help, we have handed out thousands of flyers on the health and
environmental effects of fracking, sponsored numerous public meetings, and
provided information to citizens and officials countywide. If you would like to
support our efforts:
Checks to our group should be
made out to the Thomas Merton
Center/Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group. And in the Reminder line please
write- Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group. The reason for this is that
we are one project of 12 at Thomas Merton. You can send your check to:
Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group, PO Box 1040, Latrobe, PA, 15650. Or you
can give the check or cash to Lou Pochet or Jan Milburn.
To make a
contribution to our group using a credit
card, go to www.thomasmertoncenter.org. Look for the contribute
button, then scroll down the list of organizations to direct money to. We are
listed as the Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group.
Please be sure to write Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group
on the bottom of your check so that WMCG receives the funding, since we are
just one project of many of the Thomas Merton Center. You can also give your
donation to Lou Pochet or Jan Milburn.
Westmoreland Marcellus Citizen’s Group—Mission Statement
WMCG is a project
of the Thomas Merton Society
To
raise the public’s general awareness and understanding of the impacts of
Marcellus drilling on the natural environment, health, and long-term economies
of local communities.
Officers: President-Jan Milburn
Treasurer and Thomas Merton Liason-Lou Pochet
Secretary-Ron Nordstrom
Facebook Coordinator-Elizabeth Nordstrom
Science Advisor-Dr. Cynthia Walter
To receive our
news updates, please email jan at westmcg@gmail.com
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