Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group Updates May 29, 2014
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* To view past updates, reports, general
information, permanent documents, and meeting information
http://westmorelandmarcellus.blogspot.com/
* Our email address: westmcg@gmail.com
* To contact your state
legislator:
For the email address, click on the envelope
under the photo
* For information on PA state gas legislation
and local control: http://pajustpowers.org/aboutthebills.html-
WMCG Thank You
* Thank you to contributors to our Updates:
Debbie Borowiec, Lou Pochet, Ron Gulla, the Pollocks, Marian Szmyd, Bob
Donnan, Elizabeth Donahue, and Bob
Schmetzer.
A little Help Please
Take Action!!
***Tenaska Plant Seeks to Be Sited in South Huntingdon,
Westmoreland County***
Petition !! Please forward to your
lists!
Please share the attached
petition with residents of Westmoreland and all bordering counties. We ask each of you to help us by sharing
the petition with your email lists and any group with which you are affiliated.
As stated in the petition, Westmoreland County cannot meet air standards for
several criteria. Many areas of Westmoreland County are
already listed as EPA non-attainment areas for ozone and particulate matter
2.5, so the county does not have the capacity to handle additional emissions
that will contribute to the burden of ozone in the area as well as health
impacts. According to the American Lung
Association, every county in the Pittsburgh region except for Westmoreland
County had fewer bad air days for ozone and daily particle pollution compared
with the previous report. Westmoreland County was the only county to score a failing grade for particulate matter.
The Tenaska gas plant will add
tons of pollution to already deteriorated air and dispose of wastewater into
the Youghiogheny River. Westmoreland
County already has a higher incidence of disease than other counties in United
States. Pollution won’t stop at the
South Huntingdon Township border; it will travel to the surrounding townships
and counties.
If you know of church groups or other organizations that will help with
the petition please forward it and ask for their help.
*********************************************************************************
Sierra Club Sues Texas Commission on
Proposed Tenaska Plant
SIERRA CLUB VS
TEXAS COMMISSION On ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY,
I. CASE
OVERVIEW
Sierra Club seeks an order reversing Defendant’s
December 29, 2010, final order in Docket No. 2009-1093-AIR.1 The order
authorizes the construction and operation of a new solid fuel-fired power plant
by approving the application of Tenaska Trailblazer Partners, L.L.C. (Tenaska,
Trailblazer, or Applicant) for state and federal air pollution permits.
This new facility is a large
solid fuel-fired electric generating unit, or power plant, to be constructed in
Nolan County, Texas. The Tenaska facility will generate about 900 megawatts
(MW) of electricity and is authorized to emit over 9,207 tons per year of
criteria air pollutants.2
While under the jurisdiction of the State
Office of Administrative Hearings, the proceedings bore SOAH docket number
582-09-6185. 2 There are several “criteria” pollutants: carbon monoxide, lead,
particulate matter with a diameter of less than 10 micrometers, particulate
matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers, nitrogen oxides, ozone,
and sulfur oxides. For each of these air pollutants, National Ambient Air
Quality Standards (NAAQS) have been established by the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) and are adopted through the Commission’s rules. See e.g 30 TEX.
ADMIN. CODE § 101.21 (“The National Primary and Secondary Ambient Air Quality
Standards as promulgated pursuant to section 109 of the Federal Clean Air Act,
as amended, will be enforced throughout all parts of Texas.”) Criteria
pollutants must be evaluated prior to obtaining a PSD permit.
1.
Filed
11 March 14 IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF TRAVIS COUNTY, TEXAS
.3
The facility will also emit an estimated 6.1 million tons per year of the
greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide (CO2).
At the heart of this
lawsuit, Sierra Club alleges the approval of the permit application was made in
violation of:
a. the requirements of the Texas
Administrative Procedures Act (TEX. GOV’T CODE, Chapter 2001) regarding
Defendant’s authority and duties upon adoption of a final order;
b. the requirements for a
preconstruction application and approval by TCEQ, including:
i) Deficient information and legal
bases for the findings related to hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) and the
corresponding maximum achievable control technology (MACT) determination.
ii) Deficient information and legal bases
for the findings related to prevention of significant deterioration (PSD)
review and the corresponding best available control technology (BACT)
determination.
iii) Failure to consider and minimize the
impact of greenhouse gas emissions. II. DISCOVERY
1. This case is an appeal of an
administrative agency’s actions, and therefore based on the administrative
record. Designation of a level of discovery is not applicable. If discovery
becomes necessary, it should be controlled by Level 3. TEX. R. CIV. PROC. §
190.4.
Calendar
*** WMCG Group
Meeting We meet the second Tuesday of every month at 7:30 PM
in Greensburg. Email Jan for directions. All are very welcome to attend.
***Rally and Lobby
to Protest Fracking of Our State Forests and Parks, Harrisburg, June 17
Clean
Water Action and Sierra Club are sponsoring a rally and lobby day at 1 pm on
June 17th in Harrisburg to protest Gov. Corbett’s recent decision to allow
further fracking beneath our state forests and parks. Unlike the recent fight
in Allegheny County, State Democratic legislators are united in their
opposition to this move by the Corbett administration. Rides from Pittsburgh to
Harrisburg are being co-oridinated by Clean Water Action – please contact Tom
Hoffman at 412.523.2255.
*******************************************************************************************
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
***Don’t let Gov Corbnett
Fracking More State Parks and Forests
Gov.
Corbett just lifted the moratorium on leasing our state parks and forests for
fracking. Our legislators could stop him--but only if you act now. Send a
message to your legislators today.
Gov.
Corbett just lifted a three-year moratorium on leasing of state forests and
parks for gas drilling.
He is hoping we’ll all just
forget about the ways fracking has already devastated Pennsylvania. We’re no
fools. We know more drilling means more blowouts, more spills of toxic fracking
wastewater, and more ruined landscapes.
The governor’s order will allow
drilling under our state parks for the first time. The Legislature is the last
line of defense for our state parks and forests--and that’s why I need you to
act immediately.
Tell
your state representative and state senator to fight Gov. Corbett’s effort to
open more of our state parks and forests for fracking.
Already more than 700,000 acres of our state forests
have been leased for gas drilling. That’s more than 40 percent of our existing
state forestlands.
But the drillers want
more--and sadly, Gov. Corbett is happy to hand it to them.
Tell the Legislature to stop this
wrong-headed idea.
It
just makes sense: Our parks are some of the best natural places in our state.
They should not be sold off for private gain and put at risk.
We
cannot stand back and watch as more of our state is opened to drilling.
Click
here to stand up for our state parks and forests today.
Sincerely,
David
Masur
PennEnvironment
Director
***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
***PCN TV Court Hearing- Act 13 –The remaining 4 issues (from
Debbie)
The May
14th Commonwealth Court session from Philadelphia aired Tuesday, May 27. Here is the link. It is now posted on the
site but will only be available for about a month so watch it now.
***Video Beaver
Meeting –“Living in a Fracking Sacrifice Zone “
Panel
with Yuri Gorbi, Bill Hughes, Jill Kriesky
***Dr. Jerome Paulson-
LINKS BETWEEN
UNCONVENTIONAL GAS EXTRACTION AND HUMAN HEALTH
Thank you to Bob Donnan for
taping and getting this video on you tube
Jerome A. Paulson, MD, FAAP, is a Professor in
the Department of Environmental & Occupational Health at The George
Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, and a
Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at The George Washington University
School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
Dr.
Paulson is the chairperson of the executive committee of the Council on
Environmental Health American Academy of Pediatrics, serves for the Children's
Health Protection Advisory Committee for EPA and on the technical advisory
board for the Blacksmith Institute. Dr. Paulson has served as a special
assistant to the director of CDC's National Center on Environmental Health,
again focusing on children, and in 2000 received a Soros Advocacy Fellowship
for Physicians from the Open Society Institute working with the Children's
Environmental Health Network.
At Children's National
Medical Center, Dr. Paulson serves as the Medical Director for National and
Global Affairs of the Child Health Advocacy Institute.
Dr. Paulson is an expert on
the health effects of hydraulic fracturing and has presented and lectured
frequently on the subject.
.***The Sky Is Pink ---
Joe reminds us of this video.
"The
Sky is Pink", a short film by Josh Fox, deals with the issue of
"fairness" as well as the issue of gas migration. The answer from the panelist
"vanishingly small" is patently false. The recent study by Ingraffea supports DEP
and industry findings of about 6 to 7 percent of new wells leak and some fifty
percent leak after 30 years. Ingraffea
also points out that these numbers underestimate the real problem as only
leakage at the wellhead is reported. The
Sky is Pink can be seen:
It
is a good review of both issues and worth a second look if you have seen it
already.
Ingraffea's
work is referenced:
***To sign up for notifications of
activity and violations for your area:
*** List of the Harmed--There are now over 1600
residents of Pennsylvania who have placed their names on the list of the harmed
when they became sick after fracking began in their area. http://pennsylvaniaallianceforcleanwaterandair.wordpress.com/the-list/
Frack News
All articles are excerpted. Please use links for the full
article.
1.OUR
BURGEONING GAS PATCH—
Pictures and Videos
from Bob Donnan
(Is this what we want near our homes and schools? Jan)
By Dob Donnan:
“Burgeon: “To develop rapidly, flourish”
As
I quickly realized five years ago, you really have to get airborne to have any
idea what is going on with the O&G extraction and processing industry in
our tri-state area. Usually you can’t see much from public roads. So let’s take
a fresh aerial look at what things looked like in our area 3 days ago.
Sites of interest take on various
flavors including a drilling pad (Trax Farm where EQT is drilling 11 wells
close to homes), failed Range Resources impoundments (John Day Impoundment),
Range sites already in court (Yeager pit & pad), the cancerous-like
metastasizing MarkWest site near Houston Pa, the rail yard full of frac sand
rail cars, propane & probable ‘Bakken oil bomb’ rail cars (Rook Rail Yard
in Carnegie just a few miles from downtown Pittsburgh), the most recently
completed well pad in Cross Creek County Industrial Park, and the newest
super-sized processing plant on a former mountaintop just southeast of
Moundsville WV (Oak Grove).
We
continue to try new camera technology on flights, having ongoing successes
while suffering intermittent failures (the Nikon GPS device appears to be
kaput, and the latest mounting method used for the GoPro 1080HD camera picks up
too much vibration causing a wave effect in videos). But after 27 flights over
the tri-state, I hope to continue to bring the public a very real look at what
shale gas drilling and extraction is doing to our region’s landscape, air and
water. Photos and videos don’t lie,
showing it like it really is. Today’s reality check begins here:
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
TRAX
FARM (Union Township) – I am getting reports from neighbors about the
excessive noise levels from a recent hissing sound where EQT is in the process
of drilling 11 wells on a former Chesapeake pad. Notice they didn’t completely
surround the site with sound walls, probably a cost-cutting measure:
VIDEO:
(2:00)
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
JOHN
DAY IMPOUNDMENT (Amwell Township) – You may recall the news one month ago
regarding Range’s latest leaky 15 million gallon pit where they now have to
remove a large volume of contaminated soil. When will these toxic pits be
BANNED?? Here’s a look at how that work is proceeding:
VIDEO:
(0:57)
Bumpy
video due to turbulence
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
YEAGER FRAC – This pit and production
area is at the core of a major lawsuit against about 20 subcontractors who
worked on Range Resources’ Yeager site. Even with the lawsuit well underway,
and set to go to trial in January, Range’s credo here is frac you:
VIDEO:
(0:58)
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
MARKWEST
HOUSTON PA – A couple of friends continue to work to get moved away from
this ever-growing blight to our county’s air and landscape, disaffectionately
known as OLE SMOKEY for all the black plumes it has released into our air over
past years. If I see any black clouds above our neighborhood, seven miles away,
this is my first suspect:
On the other side of the ridgeline is their
propane railout,
with
plans to ship 200 rail cars per day:
VIDEO:
(6:11)
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
ROOK RAIL YARD
– This rail
yard usually has more of those black tank rail cars that could be carrying
propane from the MarkWest Houston plant, or that highly explosive Bakken crude
(aka ‘oil bomb trains’) while legislation loiters that would take dangerous
DOT-111 tank cars (half or more of the US fleet) off the tracks or force them
to be retrofitted for better safety in derailments:
VIDEO:
(3:00)
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
CROSS
CREEK COUNTY “INDUSTRIAL?” PARK –
Fresh look at the Pandora’s Box our three county commissioners opened when they
extended the surface drilling lease to include 7 new well pads inside the park
by the year 2020:
OAK GROVE – Imagine removing another
mountaintop in scenic West Virginia (just southeast of Moundsville) to build a
humongous de-ethanization plant to extract ethane from the wet gas to transport
via pipeline out of the area, more than likely to a cracker plant which will
further process the ethane for plastic manufacturing. What really opens your
eyes is that this same company (Williams) has another super-sized plant closer
to Moundsville along the Ohio River, and there are now close to a dozen
super-sized gas processing plants in a fairly close radius around Wheeling WV:
It
took 3 days each to transport those two fractionation
towers
up narrow, twisty country roads to this site:
VIDEO:
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
AND FINALLY: ‘HOLY COMPRESSOR STATIONS
BATMAN!’ – We’ve seen compressor stations built in our county that often begin
with a couple 1,380 HP (horsepower) compressors (for moving gas through
pipelines) and then grow to 5 or 6 compressors, usually remaining under a
20,000 HP threshold. Compare that to this monster compressor station in West
Virginia, not far from that Oak Grove site. I count twelve compressors here
batman, and they sure don’t look like the smaller models:
Remember
the old adage:
“First
come the wells, then the pipelines, then the compressor stations.”
...and
that adage leaves out all the truck traffic.
If
they are drilling wells near you, where will compressor stations be located?”
2. Mark Houston Plant
Lightning Strike
By
Lexi Belculfine / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Lightning hit a gas refinery plant in Washington County Wednesday, and
an ensuing fire caused a leak of product that formed a plume over the plant,
county 911 operations manager Ken Bollinger said.
Residents
in a 2-mile area were evacuated, but were allowed to return to their homes
around 9:40 p.m.
"It appears there may have
been some product leaking into the atmosphere," he said. Neighbors
reported seeing a plume over the refinery.
The
plant will remain shut down until a thorough inspection has been completed, Mr.
McHale said in a statement. Company officials did not immediately identify the
substance or substances that composed the plume observed over the plant.
The county Department of Public
Safety's hazardous materials team is on site monitoring air quality and
"anything in the atmosphere," Mr. Bollinger said. Public safety
director Jeffrey Yates is also on-scene.
The Houston Borough Volunteer Fire
Department started evacuating homes closest to the plant and "moved
outward until they felt the plume had dissipated," he said.
About 50 people gathered at the
Charters fire hall late Wednesday.
Anthony Mankey, who lives about a mile from the
refinery, sat with his wife, Linell, and children, Carolyn, 11, and Jacob, 9. He said he's thought about
moving and has had concerns about the refinery before, having heard
"strange noises and loud bangs," as he did tonight.
"You
could hear the roar from the processing plant," he said.”
Read
more:
http://www.post-gazette.com/local/washington/2014/05/28/Residents-evacuated-after-Washington-County-gas-refinery-leak/stories/201405280210#ixzz3355CeDrG
3. Two More Drilling
Sites Found To Contain Radioactive Frack
Sludge - Washington County
DEP sees no threat
By
Don Hopey / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Range
Resources has confirmed that Marcellus
Shale drilling sludge with radioactivity content too high for normal landfill
disposal is stored at two more of its drilling pads in Washington County.
Waste containing higher
radioactivity levels is being temporarily held by Range at the Malinky pad and
the MCC pad in Smith, near Mount Pleasant. Earlier this month, drilling sludge
from Range Resources' Carter drill pad and impoundment in Mount Pleasant was
also found to have higher radioactivity readings.
State DEP spokesman John Poister
said the stored waste doesn't present a health threat to nearby workers or
residents.
In March, Range trucked the drilling waste to the Arden Landfill in Chartiers,
Washington County, but the landfill rejected the shipment after it set off
alarms at the gate, indicating its higher radioactivity reading, Mr.
Poister said.
The DEP said radioactivity levels of the two red metal boxes on the
Malinky pad were measured at 212 microrems. Range said the radioactivity level
of the MCC pad waste was also at "about 200 microrems an hour."
Matt Pitzarella, Range Resources,
said the radioactivity measurements at
the landfill were done very close to the Malinky containers, but the
radioactivity declined to background levels quickly within a short distance
from the containers. He said the lab characterizations of radioactivity can
take several weeks.
State oil and gas regulations
give Range one year to remove the waste bearing radioactivity from the drill
pad sites where it is being stored in large metal containers properly
identifying their radioactivity content, but Mr. Pitzarella said he expects
disposal of the Malinky waste material this week.
Mr. Poister said the DEP is
encouraging landfills to enforce radioactivity rules. "We've been talking
to landfills and encouraging them to reject loads with radioactivity higher than 150
microrems because we want
more thought given to how we handle this and what goes into landfills. It's
something we feel is necessary given the oil and gas boom."
He
said it's "not uncommon" for wastewater to have picked up natural
radiation washed from the underground shale formation. Normal background
radiation in the area is between six and eight microrems.
He said Range told the DEP
it has not yet determined where the loads of higher radioactivity materials
will be disposed. Range must alert DEP 72 hours before the radioactive loads
are moved, notify the department of the final disposal site and provide
receipts.”
Don
Hopey: dhopey@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1983.
Read
more: http://www.post-gazette.com/business/2014/05/27/Two-more-containers-found-with-Marcellus-Shale-sludge-radioactivity-in-Washington-County/stories/201405270162#ixzz3333OzZmC
4. Corbett Lifts
Moratorium On State Parks
“Governor Corbett issued an
executive order overturning a 2010 state moratorium on new oil and gas leasing
of public park and forest land.
It allows companies to extract gas horizontally from
wells located on adjacent private land or in areas of state forests where
leases already exist.
Former Governor Ed Rendell, a
Democrat, leased about 130,000 acres of state forest land to gas companies,
before he instituted a moratorium on future leasing during his last year in
office.
Corbett expects the new leasing
to raise $75 million immediately, in leasing bonus payments. In the order, he
also directs DCNR to spend future royalty revenue on upgrading park and forest
infrastructure and acquiring land.
However, it’s not clear he has
the legal authority to do that.
Pennsylvania’s
fiscal code was amended in 2009. It states that no royalty money from the Oil
and Gas Lease Fund may be expended unless appropriated by the General Assembly.
And although the governor’s proposal could allow for
more drill rigs, equipment, and truck traffic in public forests, DCNR Secretary
Ellen Ferretti has said the administration does not view that as an additional
surface disturbance.
“I know that’s out there– about
the increased truck traffic, etcetera,” she said at a February budget hearing.
“If a new well bore is permitted, that is not a new or additional surface
disturbance. These are old leases that were already executed.”
The state’s main gas industry
trade group, the Marcellus Shale Coalition praised the plan as a common-sense
approach.”
http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2014/05/23/corbett-lifts-moratorium-on-gas-leasing-of-state-park-and-forest-land/
5. Court
Hearing- Attempt To Halt State Forest Drilling
BY
MARIE CUSICK
“The
state Commonwealth Court heard testimony today on an effort to prevent the
Corbett administration from opening up more public park and forest land to
natural gas drilling.
As part of a larger lawsuit, the Pennsylvania Environmental Defense
Foundation (PEDF) is seeking a preliminary injunction to halt additional
leasing of public land and the transfer of $117 million from the state Oil and
Gas Lease Fund for DCNR’s operating budget.
Governor Corbett issued an executive order
ending a four-year moratorium on oil and gas leasing of park and forest land in
a effort to raise $75 million dollars for this year’s budget.
The administration has called the
order a restrictive approach to expanding drilling. It allows companies to
extract gas horizontally from wells located on adjacent private land or in
areas of state forests where leases already exist.
jj“We
learned very quickly this would be different”
Penn State University forestry
professor James Grace was the first witness to testify on behalf of the PEDF.
Grace chairs the state Department
of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) natural gas advisory committee and
served as its Bureau of Forestry director when the gas boom began during the
Rendell administration.
At the time, Grace says the department only had experience will
shallow, conventional gas extraction and didn’t know how to handle the size and
scale of Marcellus Shale development.
“We learned very quickly this would be different from
what we experienced in the past,” he said.
He
praised the current efforts by DCNR to mitigate adverse impacts from drilling–
in particular its recently published Marcellus monitoring report–but he says he
doesn’t believe the state should engage in new leasing until the impacts of
development are fully understood.
“I’m not opposed drilling for gas
on state forest land,” he said. “It’s a question of scale.”
During cross-examination attorney
Sean Concannon–who represents Governor Corbett–quizzed Grace on several of the
gas leases he signed during his time at DCNR.
Concannon
pointed to the extensive list of restrictions the department routinely places
on gas companies– including the spacing and location of wellpads, plugging
requirements, and land reclamation.
“This lease is intended to be as
comprehensive as possible, correct?” said Concannon.
“I’m
not going to argue the lease protocols aren’t the best they can be,” Grace
replied. “I’m more concerned about the cumulative impacts. There have been
accidents and mistakes.”
“The
forest was being treated as a cash cow”
Former DCNR Secretary John Quigley testified next, and he did not mince
words when it came to his former boss, Governor Ed Rendell.
“The state forest was being
treated as a cash cow,” Quigely said of the leasing that took place under
Rendell. “That was extraordinarily dangerous and presented an existential threat
to the resource.”
He
went on to say he was “shocked and
angered” in 2009 when the legislature amended the state fiscal code to give the
General Assembly control over how royalty money from the state’s Oil and Gas
Lease Fund was spent. It had previously been managed by DCNR.”
# # #
SEE
ALSO:
PATRIOT-NEWS,
DON GILLILAND:
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/05/corbett_state_forest_drilling.html
PATRIOT-NEWS,
EDITORIAL BOARD
http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2014/05/corbett_gas_leasing_state_park.html
POST-GAZETTE: LAURA LEGERE
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/state/2014/05/29/Injunction-sought-to-block-additional-drilling-under-state-parks-and-forests/stories/201405290221
------------------------
You Can Support the Lawsuit --From
the PA Forest coalition -----“Lawsuits are very expensive.
Support
PEDF's legal action vs. the Governor's plan to lease more gas rights under
State Parks & Forests. Please
donate whatever you can and then pass the hat with your organizations.
www.PaForestCoalition.org
Mission:
Good Stewardship of our Public Lands
Support
Our Constitutional Right to Clean Air & Water !
Join
Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation's legal action against Governor
Corbett.
The
PA Forest Coalition will match the first $4,000
donated
- Just mention "PFC Matching"
6. Lawrence County
Forced Pooling Lawsuit
“Carole and Bob Valentine, along
with neighbors Martin and Suzanne Matteo and Steve Emery, filed a lawsuit asking the state Commonwealth Court to stop Hilcorp
Energy Co. from taking Utica Shale gas that is trapped 7,400 feet beneath their
properties. The land accounts for roughly 35 acres of a larger 3,232-acre
area Hilcorp calls the “Pulaski Accumulation.”
By Don Hopey / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette
“The bluebird nesting boxes are
full of hungry chicks, and umbrella-like leaves shade the long red row of
rhubarb on Carole and Bob Valentine's 10 rural acres, hard against the Ohio-Pennsylvania
state line in the northwest corner of Lawrence County.
Neither the bluebirds nor the
rhubarb knows what the Valentines know: This slice of land they all call home
is in the cross hairs of a landmark and
precedent-setting legal battle over whether Hilcorp Energy Co. can use
"forced pooling" to drill and hydraulically fracture the Utica Shale
underneath the Valentines' property and take their gas -- even though the
couple have repeatedly turned down company offers to lease the drilling rights.
"We are right dead center in
the bull's-eye," said Mr. Valentine, a factory worker and former
steelworker, who has lived on his green piece of West Middlesex for more than
30 years. "We told them no, and
they say they're going to take our gas anyway. It's stealing our gas and our
rights, and I think we have to stand up for our rights here."
Earlier this month the Valentines and the owners of
two other properties, Martin and Suzanne Matteo and Steve Emery, filed a
lawsuit saying they don't want to sell the shale gas they own, and asking the
state Commonwealth Court to stop Hilcorp from taking the gas under their
properties.
A court decision that allows
Hilcorp to pool and tap the unleased Utica Shale gas might also open the door for new state legislation that would allow
"forced pooling" for unleased Marcellus Shale properties too. That
would be a major expansion of existing law that raises property-rights
questions and could also prove politically problematic. Gov. Tom Corbett who
has embraced shale gas development, is opposed to "forced pooling,"
having called it "private eminent domain."
Ms. Valentine said she and her husband turned down multiple lease
offers from Hilcorp landmen because they don't like the disruptions, air
pollution, truck traffic, spills and noise drilling has caused in nearby
communities.
"Most of the people around
here sign leases for the money, but that doesn't mean anything to us," she
said. "We like nature and wildlife. And we own the property and pay taxes
on it. If we don't want to sell our mineral rights, we won't. Under the
constitution we have that right."
But the Houston, Texas-based drilling company, citing provisions of the
state's Oil and Gas Conservation Law of 1961 that allow the "involuntary
integration" and extraction of certain unleased oil and gas holdings, has
applied to the state DEP for a permit to drill Utica Shale formation gas from
3,267 acres in northwest Lawrence County and southwest Mercer County.
Hilcorp calls the area, about 55
miles northwest of Pittsburgh, the "Pulaski Accumulation." It
includes 3,232 acres the company has under lease agreement, and approximately
35 acres where the Valentines, Matteos, Emerys and two other property owners
have declined to lease their land.
The Hilcorp permit application is the first in 30 years to invoke the
"forced pooling" provision of the 53-year-old law, according to the
DEP. It's also the first time the law has been used to justify a permit
proposal for an "unconventional" shale gas well development, which
uses directional drilling and "fracking," which injects millions of
gallons of water, chemicals and sand to crack the shale formation and release
the gas it holds.
"The court will make a
decision on the constitutionality of applying the law to the Utica," she
said, "so it makes no sense to proceed with the hearings while the court
is considering a decision that will control the outcome of the
permitting."
Commonwealth Court will ultimately decide if
the little-used Conservation Law's provision allowing use of "forced
pooling" trumps private property rights and prohibitions against using
state eminent domain powers to benefit private corporations.
Omar Abuhejleh, the Pittsburgh attorney representing the three
landowners who brought the lawsuit, said Hilcorp's proposal is unconstitutional
and violates the state's eminent domain code because it would take private
property for Hilcorp's private, for-profit, enterprise. The lawsuit he
filed asks the court to temporarily and permanently enjoin shale gas drillers from
using the Conservation Law to justify drilling into shale holding unleased oil
and gas.
"Hilcorp wants to take their gas. This is a takings case," Mr.
Abuhejleh said. "The issue here is forced pooling and what the
property owners' rights would be if they are integrated into the pool."
But the Hilcorp case may hinge on
the even finer point of whether the pooling arrangement in the 1961 law is
technically applicable to the fracking and collecting of shale gas, said John
C. Dernbach, a law professor and co-director of the Environmental Law Center at
Widener University.
"The shale is not a pool, so
there is a threshold legal question of whether the language in the statute
makes sense for shale gas extraction,"
Mr. Dernbach said. "Fracking under someone's land where you don't hold a
lease, cracking the rock under that land is I think different than the capture
rule, which allows drillers to drain gas and oil from a common reservoir under
adjacent properties.
"But whether technically all
the issues with spacing and pooling set out in the 1961 law make any sense for
hydraulically fracturing the Utica Shale, I can't answer that."
"Hilcorp targeted us, but
its goal long-term is to do this everywhere else, all over the state,"
said Mrs. Matteo, because the Utica Shale formation runs under all but five
counties in Eastern Pennsylvania. "I never wanted to fight fracking, but
it's something that's happening all around me and it has scared the hell out of
me."
Don
Hopey: dhopey@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1983.
7. American Lung Association Now Promotes Gas As Cleaner After Big Donation From
Industry
“The
American Lung Association had
acknowledged that fracking causes massive amounts of cancer-causing air
pollution, and urged stronger regulations, but after receiving hefty donations
from a fracking company, the ALA switched to falsely promoting gas as
"cleaner”. The public, deserve to know the shameful truth about the ALA.
The organization claims to work to reduce lung diseases, yet partners with the
single worst contributor to air pollution (and global climate disruption) - the
fossil fuel industry, which actually causes respiratory and other illnesses. The ALA "supports the increased use of
natural gas" as a "transitional fuel." Yet the officers and
board of the ALA know full well that "natural" shale gas* is now
primarily obtained by the dangerous process of fracking.
cancer
for every 400 persons. Federal regulations allow for cancer risks to be no more
than an additional cancer for every 10,000 persons.
Ralph
Carlisle, the manager of a regional scrap yard called Brady Recycling, says he
doesn’t have to read the white paper to know just how serious a risk the water
poses. Carlisle keeps a Geiger counter
on hand to protect his business from contaminated metals. He says 3 out of 4 water
tanks, pipes, or other metal exposed to
Hill Country drinking water are too radioactive for him to accept.”
8. Utah Anesthesiologist Speaks On Infant Mortality and Pollution
MSNBC
Some notes from the video:
“In this video, Anesthesiologist,
Dr. Moench, President of Utah Physicians for A Healthy Environment, discusses
why Utah will become the epicenter of the global warming crises. Uinta Basin
has 4,300 oil and 6,900 gas producing wells and is out of compliance with
federal air standards. Consequently, Dr
Moench’s organization is suing the EPA.
The
UT Dept of Health will conduct a study of infant death records. (This is in
regard to the observed increased in infant mortality in the area. )He says, “This
is a pollution nightmare. Uintah Basin has the highest levels of pollution in
Utah, which includes the deadly
compounds-benzene and toluene. The concentration of these toxic compounds in
the atmosphere of the basin is higher than what would be produced by 100 million
vehicles. If there is a pollution nightmare, there will be a public health
nightmare.
Infant
mortality increases as air pollution increases. They cannot say for sure each
infant death is due to industry pollution, but they think the evidence suggests
air pollution must have played a role in this. There is also a very high rate
of birth defects in the area. “
Watch the interview on msnbc:
9.
Residents In SE PA Fight Pipeline
http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2014/05/23/gas-boom-starts-to-hit-home-for-residents-of-southeastern-pa/
“The region is beginning to
experience the tradeoffs long familiar to those who live on top of the
Shale—more job opportunities and more disruption.
“It’s
at our door”
Sherry Wolfe lives in Lebanon County and is upset
about plans to build a new natural gas pipeline through the area.
“We all know what’s going on in
the Marcellus Shale,” she says. “But it seems like it’s far away. Now it’s
here. It’s at our door, and it’s frightening.”
The pipeline is part of a
larger $3 billion Atlantic Sunrise expansion by Oklahoma-based pipeline
company, Williams Partners.
Williams already operates the
Transco system, which has over 10,000 miles of pipeline moving gas to other
businesses, like utility companies and power plants. The Atlantic Sunrise
project would increase Transco’s capacity by about 20 percent.
The new pipeline would also
cut through several nature preserves in Lancaster County. When word of that got out,
a local group quickly formed to fight the project.
“A lot of people who live in the
southern end feel the same way I do,” she says. “We live here for a reason. We
like the privacy, we like the beauty, we like the peace and serenity and the
nature that’s around us.”
Williams’ spokesman Chris
Stockton says although this pipeline
expansion project isn’t designed to bring Marcellus gas to Pennsylvanians, it
will serve millions of other people—in cities like Baltimore, Washington D.C.
and as far south as Alabama.
“The
Atlantic Sunrise project] is not designed to serve Pennsylvania,” he says. “But
it could potentially in the future. The gas in the Transco system already
provides about a third of the gas consumed in Pennsylvania.”
10. Radionuclides in Fracking
Wastewater: Managing a Toxic
Environmental Health Perspectives
DOI:10.1289/ehp.122-A50
Valerie Brown
“Perhaps
nowhere is the question of drilling waste more salient than in Pennsylvania,
where gas extraction from the Marcellus Shale using hydraulic fracturing
(fracking) made the state the fastest-growing U.S. producer between 2011 and
2012.3 The Marcellus is known to have high uranium content, says U.S.
Geological Survey research geologist Mark Engle. He says concentrations of radium-226—a decay product of uranium—can exceed
10,000 picocuries per liter (pCi/L) in the concentrated brine trapped in the
shale’s depths.
Fluids trapped in the shale are
remnants of ancient seawater. The salts in shale waters reached extreme
concentrations over millions of years, and their chemical interactions with the
surrounding rock can mobilize radionuclides. Several studies indicate that, generally speaking, the saltier the
water, the more radioactive it is.
Dissolved compounds often
precipitate out of the water, building up as radionuclide-rich “scale” inside pipes. To remove the pipe-clogging
scale, operators might inject chemicals to dissolve it. Scale also may be
removed mechanically using drills, explosives, or jets of fluid, in which case
it joins the solid waste stream.
Wastes are often stored
temporarily in containers or in surface impoundments, also called pits and
ponds. Data on how many such ponds are used in shale gas extraction are sparse,
but according to Kasianowitz, there are
25 centralized impoundments in Pennsylvania. Centralized impoundments can be
the size of a football field and hold at least 10 million gallons of liquid.
Most impoundments are lined with
plastic sheeting. Pennsylvania requires that pit liners for temporary
impoundments and disposal have a minimum thickness of 30 mil and that seams be
sealed to prevent leakage. However, improper liners can tear, and there have
been reports of pit liners tearing and pits overflowing in Pennsylvania and
elsewhere.
A small 2013 study of reserve pits in the Barnett Shale region of Texas
suggested another consideration in assessing pit safety. Investigators
measured radium—the radionuclide generally used as a proxy to judge whether
NORM waste complies with regulatory guidelines for disposal—as well as seven
other radionuclides not routinely tested for. Although individual radionuclides were within existing regulatory
guidelines, total beta radiation in one sample was more than 8 times the
regulatory limit. “Evaluating the
single radionuclide radium as regulatory exposure guidelines indicate, rather
than considering all radionuclides, may indeed underestimate the potential for
radiation exposure to workers, the general public, and the environment,” the
authors wrote.
Ultimately most wastewater is
either treated and reused or sent to Class II injection wells (disposal or
enhanced recovery wells). A small fraction of Pennsylvania’s fracking
wastewater is still being treated and released to surface waters until
treatment facilities’ permits come up for renewal under new, more stringent
treatment standards, Kasianowitz says.
Concerns about NORM in the
Marcellus have recently focused on surface waters in Pennsylvania. That’s
because until 2011, most produced water was sent to commercial or public
wastewater treatment plants before being discharged into rivers and streams,
many of which also serve as drinking water supplies. In April of that year PADEP asked all Marcellus Shale fracking
operations to stop sending their wastewater to treatment plants, according to
Kasianowitz. Although voluntary, this request motivated most producers to
begin directly reusing a major fraction of their produced water or reusing it
after treatment in dedicated commercial treatment plants that are equipped to
handle its contaminants.
A team of Duke University
researchers led by geochemist Avner
Vengosh sought to characterize the effluent being discharged from one such
plant, the Josephine Brine Treatment Facility in southwestern Pennsylvania. The researchers compared radioactivity and
dissolved solids in sediment both up- and downstream of the facility and found
a 90% reduction in radioactivity in the effluent. The radioactive constituents
didn’t just disappear; the authors noted that most had likely been transferred
and accumulated to high levels in the sludge that would go to a landfill.
Stream sediments at the discharge site also had high
levels of radioactivity, keeping it out of the surface water downstream but
posing the risk of bioaccumulation in the local food web. The outflow sediment radiation levels at the discharge site were 200
times those in upstream sediments. The study highlighted “the potential of
radium accumulation in stream and pond sediments in many other sites where
fracking fluids are accidentally released to the environment,” says Vengosh.
The study also demonstrated another potential impact of treated brine
on water quality. Most produced water
contains bromide, which can combine with naturally occurring organic matter
and chlorine disinfectant to form drinking water contaminants called
trihalomethanes. These compounds are associated with liver, kidney, and nervous
system problems. The Duke researchers
reported highly elevated concentrations of bromide over a mile downstream from
the plant—a potential future burden for drinking water treatment facilities
downstream.
Following the 2011 policy change,
Ohio’s Class II injection wells began to receive much of Pennsylvania’s
end-stage wastewater. Pennsylvania’s geology does not lend itself to this
method; the state has only six injection wells available for this purpose,
while Ohio has 177,10 and Texas has 50,000.14
Class II injection wells place
the wastewater below the rock strata containing usable groundwater.
Conventional industry wisdom says this prevents migration of contaminants into
shallower freshwater zones.
But some believe this may be a
flawed assumption. The reason fracking works to force gas out of the rock is
also why some observers think injection
wells could be unstable— the extreme
pressure of injection can take nearly a year to dissipate, according to
hydrologic consultant Tom Myers, who published a modeling study of fracking
fluids’ underground behavior in 2012.
Myers says the lingering higher-than-normal pressure could bring
formation waters, along with fracking chemicals, closer to the surface far
faster than would occur over natural geological time scales of thousands of
years. This is particularly true if there are faults and/or abandoned wells
within the fracking zone.
Another study has demonstrated the possibility that formation water can
migrate into freshwater aquifers through naturally occurring pathways.
Although the pathways were not, themselves, caused by gas drilling, the study
authors suggest such features could make certain areas more vulnerable to
contamination due to fracking.
Asked about the integrity of
deep-injection wells, Vengosh says, “As far as I know nobody’s actually
checking.”
Fracking wastes may also be
disposed of through “beneficial uses,” which can include applying produced water
as a road de-icer or dust suppressant, using drilling cuttings in road
maintenance, and spreading liquids or sludge on fields. Pennsylvania allows fracking brine to be used for road dust and ice
control under a state permit. While the permit sets allowable limits for numerous constituents, radioactivity is not included.
Conventional wisdom about radium’s stability in landfills rests on an
assumption regarding its interaction with barite (barium sulfate), a common
constituent in drilling waste. However, Charles
Swann of the Mississippi Mineral Resources Institute and colleagues found evidence that radium in waste spread on fields may behave differently in soil
than expected. When they mixed scale comprising radium and barite with
typical Mississippi soil samples in the laboratory, radium was gradually
solubilized from the barite, probably as a result of soil microbial activity.
“This result,” the authors wrote, “suggests that the landspreading means of
scale disposal should be reviewed.”
Solids and sludges can also go to landfills. Radioactivity limits
for municipal landfills are set by states, and range from 5 to 50 pCi/g.25
Since Pennsylvania began requiring radiation monitors at municipal landfills in
2001, says Kasianowitz, fracking sludges and solids have rarely set them off.
In 2012 they accounted for only 0.5% of all monitor alarms. They “did not
contain levels of radioactivity that would be acutely harmful to the public,”
according to a 2012 review of Pennsylvania’s fracking practices by the nonprofit
State Review of Oil and Natural Gas Environmental Regulations. Dave Allard,
director of PA DEP’s Bureau of Radiation Protection, points out that because
all soils contain at least some radionuclides, “you’re always going to have
some radium, thorium, and uranium, because these landfills are in soils.”
At the federal level, radioactive oil and gas waste is exempt
from nearly all the regulatory processes the general public might expect would
govern it. Neither the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 nor the Low-Level Radioactive
Waste Policy Act covers NORM. The
Nuclear Regulatory Commission has no authority over radioactive oil and gas
waste. State laws are a patchwork. Workers are covered by some federal
radiation protections, although a 1989 safety bulletin from the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration noted that NORM sources of exposure “may have
been overlooked by Federal and State agencies in the past.”
Fracking in the Marcellus has
advanced so quickly that public understanding and research on its radioactive
consequences have lagged behind, and there are many questions about the extent
and magnitude of the risk to human health. “We
are troubled by people drinking water that [could potentially have] radium-226
in it,” says David Brown, a public health toxicologist with the Southwest
Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project. “When somebody calls us and says ‘is
it safe to drink our water,’ the answer is ‘I don’t know.’”
PADEP is conducting a study to
determine the extent of potential exposures to radioactive fracking wastewater.
The PADEP study will sample drill cuttings, produced waters, muds, wastewater
recycling and treatment sludges, filter screens, extracted natural gas, scale
buildup in well casings and pipelines, and waste transport equipment. PADEP
will also evaluate radioactivity at well pads, wastewater treatment plants,
wastewater recycling facilities, and landfills.
The EPA is studying the issue with a review of the
potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing, including radioactivity, on drinking
water resources. A draft of the EPA study will be released for public comment and peer
review in late 2014, according to Christopher Impellitteri, chief of the Water
Quality Management Branch at the agency’s National Risk Management Research
Laboratory.
The
EPA study includes research designed to assess the potential impacts from
surface spills, well injection, and discharge of treated fracking wastewater on
drinking water sources. One project will model the transport of contaminants,
including radium, from treatment outflows in receiving waters. Field and
laboratory experiments will characterize the fate and transport of contaminants
in wastewater treatment and reuse processes. Groundwater samples are being
tested for radium-226, radium-228, and gross alpha and beta radiation. The
overall study does not include radon.29
Both radon and radium emit alpha particles,
which are most dangerous when inhaled or ingested. When inhaled, radon can
cause lung cancer, and there is some evidence it may cause other cancers such
as leukemia. Consuming radium in drinking water can cause lymphoma, bone
cancer, and leukemias. Radium also emits gamma rays, which raise cancer risk
throughout the body from external exposures. Radium-226 and radium-228 have
half-lives of 1,600 years and 5.75 years, respectively. Radium is known to
bioaccumulate in invertebrates, mollusks, and freshwater fish, where it can
substitute for calcium in bones. Radium eventually decays to radon; radon-222
has a half-life of 3.8 days.
Geochemically, radon and radium
behave differently. Radon is an inert gas, so it doesn’t react with other
elements and usually separates from produced water along with methane at the
wellhead. Although there are few empirical data available, the natural gas
industry has not been concerned about radon reaching its consumers in
significant amounts, in part because of radon’s short half-life and because
much of it is released to the atmosphere at the wellhead.
Vengosh says PADEP has reports of
hundreds of cases of spills and contamination that involved fracking fluids.
Furthermore, he says, “The notion that
the industry can reuse all flowback and produced water is simply not possible,
given the chemistry of the wastewater.”’
…
And even if fracking the Marcellus ceased overnight, the questions and
potential problems about radioactivity would linger. “Once you have a release
of fracking fluid into the environment, you end up with a radioactive legacy,”
says Vengosh.”
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/122-a50/
11. Range Resources
Equipment Failure Causes Leak – Washington County
“The PA DEP is investigating an
“equipment failure” at a Range Resources well pad in Washington County that
caused a gas leak and spurred a precautionary evacuation of about 35 residents.
DEP spokesman John Poister said
Range Resources reported the “equipment failure” at the Herman Pad in Mt.
Pleasant to Washington County 911 at 7:14 a.m. Wednesday. The local volunteer
fire department and Range Resources personnel responded.
No injuries were reported.
Poister
said the failure led to a release of
methane into the air, and indicated that while such a release is a violation,
it is too early to tell if a formal notice of violation would be issued to
Range Resources.
“We do not believe there was a
tremendous amount of methane released,” he said. However, DEP is taking air
quality samples “just to be sure.”
Range Resources spokesman Matt
Pitzarella did not immediately return an email seeking further information.”
http://marcellusmonitor.wordpress.com/2014/05/14/range-resources-equipment-failure-leads-to-gas-leak-precautionary-evacuation-in-washington-county/
12. Santa Cruz First County in California to Ban Fracking
“Santa
Cruz County in California triumphed Tuesday to become the state’s first county
to ban fracking. The county’s board of supervisors voted 5-0 to prohibit
fracking, as well as gas and oil development within its boundaries.
The county’s board of supervisors voted 5-0 to
prohibit fracking, as well as gas and oil development within its boundaries.
“We
congratulate the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors for their historic vote
towards protecting California’s air and water, and for setting a positive example
for other counties and Gov. [Jerry] Brown,” said Adam Scow, California Director
of Food & Water
Watch.
Members
of Food & Water Watch, 350.org, Environment California, Center for Biological Diversity, Californians Against Fracking, Santa Cruz Sierra
Club, Women’s International League for
Peace and Freedom rallied outside with students
from University of California, Santa Cruz and
county supervisor John Leopold after the vote to celebrate the victory. The
Santa Cruz board voted last September to enact a 10-month moratorium on
fracking and all oil and gas drilling. Tuesday’s vote makes that decision
permanent.”
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
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news updates, please email jan at westmcg@gmail.com
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