Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group Updates
June 19, 2014
* For articles and updates or to just vent, visit us on facebook;
https://www.facebook.com/groups/MarcellusWestmorelandCountyPA/
* To view past updates, reports, general
information, permanent documents, and meeting information
http://westmorelandmarcellus.blogspot.com/
* Our email address: westmcg@gmail.com
* To contact your state
legislator:
For the email address, click on the envelope
under the photo
* For information on PA state gas legislation
and local control: http://pajustpowers.org/aboutthebills.html-
WMCG Thank You
* Thank you to contributors to our Updates:
Debbie Borowiec, Lou Pochet, Ron Gulla, the Pollocks, Marian Szmyd, Bob
Donnan, Elizabeth Donahue, and Bob
Schmetzer.
A little Help Please
Take Action!!
***Tenaska Plant Seeks to Be Sited in South Huntingdon,
Westmoreland County***
Petition !! Please forward to your
lists!
Please share the attached
petition with residents of Westmoreland and all bordering counties. We ask each of you to help us by sharing
the petition with your email lists and any group with which you are affiliated.
As stated in the petition, Westmoreland County cannot meet air standards for
several criteria. Many areas of Westmoreland County are
already listed as EPA non-attainment areas for ozone and particulate matter
2.5, so the county does not have the capacity to handle additional emissions
that will contribute to the burden of ozone in the area as well as health
impacts. According to the American Lung
Association, every county in the Pittsburgh region except for Westmoreland
County had fewer bad air days for ozone and daily particle pollution compared
with the previous report. Westmoreland County was the only county to score a failing grade for particulate matter.
The Tenaska gas plant will add
tons of pollution to already deteriorated air and dispose of wastewater into
the Youghiogheny River. Westmoreland
County already has a higher incidence of disease than other counties in United
States. Pollution won’t stop at the
South Huntingdon Township border; it will travel to the surrounding townships
and counties.
If you know of church groups or other organizations that will help with
the petition please forward it and ask for their help.
*********************************************************************************
Sierra Club Sues Texas Commission on
Proposed Tenaska Plant
SIERRA CLUB VS
TEXAS COMMISSION On ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY,
I. CASE
OVERVIEW
Sierra Club seeks an order reversing Defendant’s
December 29, 2010, final order in Docket No. 2009-1093-AIR.1 The order
authorizes the construction and operation of a new solid fuel-fired power plant
by approving the application of Tenaska Trailblazer Partners, L.L.C. (Tenaska,
Trailblazer, or Applicant) for state and federal air pollution permits.
This new facility is a large
solid fuel-fired electric generating unit, or power plant, to be constructed in
Nolan County, Texas. The Tenaska facility will generate about 900 megawatts
(MW) of electricity and is authorized to emit over 9,207 tons per year of
criteria air pollutants.2
While under the jurisdiction of the State
Office of Administrative Hearings, the proceedings bore SOAH docket number
582-09-6185. 2 There are several “criteria” pollutants: carbon monoxide, lead,
particulate matter with a diameter of less than 10 micrometers, particulate
matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers, nitrogen oxides, ozone,
and sulfur oxides. For each of these air pollutants, National Ambient Air
Quality Standards (NAAQS) have been established by the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) and are adopted through the Commission’s rules. See e.g 30 TEX.
ADMIN. CODE § 101.21 (“The National Primary and Secondary Ambient Air Quality
Standards as promulgated pursuant to section 109 of the Federal Clean Air Act,
as amended, will be enforced throughout all parts of Texas.”) Criteria
pollutants must be evaluated prior to obtaining a PSD permit.
1.
Filed
11 March 14 IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF TRAVIS COUNTY, TEXAS
.3
The facility will also emit an estimated 6.1 million tons per year of the
greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide (CO2).
At the heart of this
lawsuit, Sierra Club alleges the approval of the permit application was made in
violation of:
a. the requirements of the Texas
Administrative Procedures Act (TEX. GOV’T CODE, Chapter 2001) regarding
Defendant’s authority and duties upon adoption of a final order;
b. the requirements for a
preconstruction application and approval by TCEQ, including:
i) Deficient information and legal
bases for the findings related to hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) and the
corresponding maximum achievable control technology (MACT) determination.
ii) Deficient information and legal bases
for the findings related to prevention of significant deterioration (PSD)
review and the corresponding best available control technology (BACT)
determination.
iii) Failure to consider and minimize the
impact of greenhouse gas emissions. II. DISCOVERY
1. This case is an appeal of an
administrative agency’s actions, and therefore based on the administrative
record. Designation of a level of discovery is not applicable. If discovery
becomes necessary, it should be controlled by Level 3. TEX. R. CIV. PROC. §
190.4.
Calendar
*** WMCG Group
Meeting We meet the second Tuesday of every month at 7:30 PM
in Greensburg. Email Jan for directions. All are very welcome to attend.
***Peters Twp. Workshop,
June 25--Peters
Twp is having a workshop on amending its oil and gas ordinance. Their Solicitor is John Smith who will be
explaining zoning issues and the Supreme Court's decision on Act 13 and how it
affects local oil and gas ordinances.
(John
Smith is one of the key attorneys in the lawsuit against Act 13.)
7:30
PM Wed.
June 25, 2014
Peters
Township Municipal Building
610
E. McMurray Rd.
McMurray,
PA 15317
The
workshop is open to the public. However,
Dave Ball would like a count of anyone interested in attending, largely for
seating needs.
Please
RSVP to:
rslabe6041@msn.com, dsborowiec@aol.com
***The Society of
Environmental Journalists Presents (We just received this
information):
The
McCormick Specialized Reporting Institute on Shale Oil and Gas Development
Pittsburgh,
PA;June 22-24, 2014
Carnegie
Mellon University’s Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation
Conference Hotel:
Wyndham
Pittsburgh University Center – 100 Lytton Avenue, Pittsburgh; (412) 682-6200
Sunday,
June 22
5pm-6pm
Reception, Hors d’oeuvres (Rooms 322 and 324 of the Faculty Conference Center,
on the first floor of Posner Center at Carnegie Mellon)
5:45p-6pmWelcome from Carnegie Mellon
University and Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation
(Opening
welcome reception and buffet dinner courtesy of Carnegie Mellon)
6pm-7pmPanel: “Overview of Shale Gas and Oil
Development”
Jared
L. Cohon; Former President, Carnegie Mellon University, Professor of Civil and
Environmental Engineering
Terry
Engelder; Professor of Geoscience, The Pennsylvania State University
Scott
Perry; Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection – Director, Oil and
Gas Division
Stephen
Cleghorn; Pennsylvania farmer opposing Marcellus Shale gas operations
7pm-8pm Buffet Dinner
Monday, June 23
7am-8am Breakfast, CMU’s Information Networking
Institute (INI) Distributed Education Center
(All
panels take place in the INI Distributed Education Center in the Robert
Mehrabian Collaborative Innovation Center, located on Forbes Avenue on the
Carnegie Mellon campus: 4720 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 (412) 268-2000)
8am-9am Panel 1: “ABCs of Hydraulic Fracturing and
Regional Differences”
Scott Blauvelt; Health and Environment
Manager, shale development company JKLM, Inc.
Terry
Engelder; Professor of Geoscience, The Pennsylvania State University
Anthony
Ingraffea; Dwight C. Baum Professor of Engineering at Cornell University
9am-10am Panel 2: “The ABCs of the Health Impact:
What we Know, Don’t Know”
Bernard
D. Goldstein, MD;Faculty Emeritus, University of Pittsburgh Schools of the
Health Sciences; Former Dean, Graduate School of Public Health, University of
Pittsburgh; formerly with the EPA
W.
Michael Griffin; Associate Research Professor, Engineering and Public Policy –
Carnegie Mellon University Tepper School of Business; Executive Director, Green
Design Institute; Executive Director, Center for Climate and Energy Decision
Making
Lisa
McKenzie; Research Associate, Colorado School of Public Health at the
University of Colorado
10am-10:15am
Break
10:15am-10:45amSharon Friedman – Journalism
Practices discussion
10:45am-11:45am Panel 3: “Policy, Transparency, Land
Development, Infrastructure and More”
Ben Grumbles; President, U.S. Water
Alliance; served as EPA’s Assistant Administrator of Water under President
George W. Bush
Louis D’Amico; President and Executive
Director, Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association
Scott Perry; Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection – Dept. Secretary, Oil and Gas Division
Andrew Place; Corporate Director, Energy and
Environmental Policy, EQT Corporation
Deborah Lawrence Rogers; Executive Director,
Energy Policy Forum
11:45am-Noon Relax, chat, pick up box lunch for keynote
address
Noon-1pm Speaker – Sandra Steingraber; Biologist,
author, cancer survivor. An expert on the environmental links to cancer and
human health
1pm-2pm Panel 4: “Environmental Effects of Shale Oil
and Gas Development”
Mark Brownstein; Associate Vice President,
Chief Counsel, U.S. Climate and Energy Program, Environmental Defense Fund
Ben
Grumbles;President, U.S. Water Alliance; served as EPA’s Assistant
Administrator of Water under President George W. Bush
Louis
D’Amico; President and Executive Director, Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas
Association
Anthony
Ingraffea; Dwight C. Baum Professor of Engineering at Cornell University
2pm-3pm Panel 5: “Federal, State and Local Legal
Landscape”
John M. Smith; Pennsylvania-based natural
resources lawyer for Smith, Butz LLC
Jason Hutt; Attorney, Bracewell and Giuliani
John
Dernbach; Professor, Environmental Law – Widener University
Mark Brownstein; Chief Counsel, U.S. Climate
and Energy Program, Environmental Defense Fund
3pm-3:15pm Break
3:15pm-4:30pm
Panel 6: “Journalists Roundtable – The Challenges of Covering Shale
Development”
Valerie Volcovici- Reuters
Bobby Magill;Climate Central
Kevin Begos; Associated Press, Pittsburgh
Reid
Frazier; Allegheny Front
Bob
Downing;Akron Beacon Journal
Tim Puko; Wall Street Journal, Energy
reporter
4:30pm-5:30pm Pitch Slam: Journalists talk to editors
Jennifer Szweda Jordan; Host and Managing
Editor, Allegheny Front
Brian Hyslop; Business Editor, Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette
Jim Parsons; WTAE-TV
5:30pm-6:00pm Campus Tour
6:00pm-7:15pm Reception and tour, Phipps
Conservatory’s “Center for Sustainable Landscapes”
7:30pm-9pm
Dinner – ‘The Porch at Schenley,’ 221 SchenleyDrive (412) 687-6724
Tuesday,
June 24
6am-7am
Breakfast at Wyndham Hotel – bagels, yogurt, fruit
7:10a
Bus departs hotel for Fracking site tour, airport drop-off
Noon
Fellows dropped at Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT)
This Specialized Reporting Institute on Shale
Development was made possible by a grant from:
SRI
agenda chairs: Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Carolyn Whetzel,
Bloomberg BNA
SRI
project manager: Dale Willman, Society of Environmental Journalists
Beth
Parke, Executive Director, Society of Environmental Journalists
PO
Box 2492, Jenkintown, PA USA 19046
215-884-8174 sej@sejorg
http:www.sej.org
*******************************************************************************************
TAKE ACTION !!
***Letters to the editor are important and one of the best ways to share
information with the public. ***
***Health Survey Allegheny County-What Are Your
Concerns-Fracking
From Sierra Club: Our lead item this week is a call for people
to urge the Allegheny County Health Department to include fracking of County
Parks in the list of health concerns that need to be addressed.
The Allegheny County Health
Department is conducting a survey through the end of June 2014 to determine
County residents' concerns about public health matters. This is the same Health
Department that refused to study the health effects of fracking before the
County leased Deer Lakes Park by a 9-5 vote on May 6, 2014 to Range Resources.
In fact, ACHD Director Dr. Karen Hacker stated at a County Council Parks
Committee meeting on April 16, 2014 that as far as she knew, there were no
scientific studies about fracking and public health.
Protect
Our Parks (www.protectparks.org) is a broad coalition of individuals,
grassroots groups, and environmental organizations working to prevent toxic
fracking of the public parks in Allegheny County. Please take a few seconds to
help us send a message to Dr. Karen Hacker about her responsibility to protect
public health by answering her survey.
Here's how to do it:
• Go to www.achd.net/survey.html
• Click on "Take the survey." in the
middle of the page.
• Because the survey doesn't list shale gas
extraction as an option, find the box at the bottom for "Other (please
specify)".
• Write a few words, something to the effect
of "the dangers of leasing County Park land for fracking"
• Sign your name, type in your zip code, and
click "Next" at the bottom of the page. You're done!
It's
a simple as that. Once you've done it, please ask other Allegheny County
residents to help, too.
Thanks for your support, Protect Our Parks
www.protectparks.org
***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
***Petition For Full Disclosure of Frack Chemicals
From Ron Slabe
I
created a petition to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which says:
"We, the undersigned, in conjunction with the public
comment period currently underway, call on the EPA to conduct public hearings
in areas where fracking operations are either occurring or have occurred so
that we may voice our concerns over the lack of full disclosure of the fracking chemicals used in hydraulic
fracturing. (Docket number EPA-HQ-OPPT-2011-1019)"
Will you sign this petition? Click here:
Thanks! Ron Slabe
***Don’t let Gov Corbett Frack 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:
***Cove Point Liquid Gas Facility--Petition
In order to ship natural gas
overseas, you've got to liquefy it. The process is a very dangerous one. LNG
facilities that serve domestic energy needs already exist. An incident at one
of them in Plymouth, Washington in March forced everyone within a two-mile
radius of the facility to evacuate. The risks it poses are not limited to the
area surrounding the facility, however. Fracking
to extract the gas from the shale and then moving it by pipeline to the LNG
facility damage the environment and put health and safety at risk.
The Plymouth facility is located
in a fairly remote area, however. The proposed Cove Point LNG export facility
in Maryland is a different story. There are 360 homes within 4,500 feet of the
facility and there's only one road in and one road out of the area. Oh, and the
facility is adjacent to a public park. The Chesapeake Climate Action Network
prepared a fact sheet on Cove Point with lots more information.
At present, the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC) is considering what the environmental impacts of
the Cove Point LNG facility might be. FERC is notorious for rubber-stamping
projects and downplaying their environmental impacts. Just last week, a U.S.
Circuit Court ruled that FERC acted improperly when it overlooked environmental
impacts by looking at a proposed pipeline one segment at a time, rather than as
a whole. It is a decision that is likely to have reverberations that are felt
within the commission for some time.
The ruling comes at an important
time because FERC is currently in the
process of downplaying the environmental impacts of the proposed Cove Point LNG
export facility. FERC is currently accepting comments on the environmental
review of the Cove Point project. The Department of Environmental Protection
and others called for an extension of the deadline, but FERC rejected their
requests yesterday. The comment period ends on Monday.
That means we only have a few more days to flood FERC with
comments telling them to conduct a full, comprehensive, and credible study
called an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Will you add your name to
my petition and share it with your friends?
Here's
the URL to the petition, just in case the link doesn't work. http://petitions.moveon.org/environmental-action/sign/say-no-to-the-cove-point
Thanks
so much, as always!
Karen
Frack Links
***Link to Shalefield Stories-Personal
stories of those affected by fracking http://www.friendsoftheharmed.com/
***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.
***To sign up for Skytruth 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. From Josh Fox, Producer
of Gasland
A Tribute to Terry Greenwood
June
13, 2014 at 2:04am
“Terry Greenwood was one of the
most compelling people you could ever listen to. There was just something about the way he
spoke, there was a decency and a positivity that shone through every word no
matter how distressing or disturbing the subject matter was. It was as if when he spoke about the things
that troubled him, he was still conferring a lightness to you, a gratitude to
the person listening.
Some people just manage to bestow
a great humanity and great respect onto you while they are talking. Terry was one of those people. When you listened to Terry you felt like a
more generous person somehow, he just made you want to listen, and made you
want to help.
Honesty, decency, generosity,
care, love. These are the words that
spring to mind when you listen to Terry. And his wife Kathy, will crack you up
and then will feed you and feed you until you can barely get up off the
chair. And those damn amazing red white
and blue suspenders! You know you are
the genuine article if you can get away with those.
I've never released this
interview I did with Terry Greenwood in 2009 or 2010 but I am sure you will
hear the tone that I am talking about in his voice. And I hope, it gives you a sense of the man
and how much he loved his farm and his life.
VIDEO:
He had been speaking openly and publicly about how 10 of the 18 calves
that his cows gave birth to died just after birth or were stillborn and how he
was very worried that it had something to do with the fact that fracking fluids
and other substances had leaked into the pond where his cattle drank. I had head his story in the press and heard
him speak about it in person, and I had heard of many stories of animals in
heavily drilled areas from Arkansas to Colorado- of cows and goats who were
failing to breed or who were having stillborn calves and kids. Terry
was deeply troubled at the loss of so many of his calves, but more than that he
was troubled by the fact that he felt his well water and springs had been
contaminated by drilling, spills, leaks and fracking.
The interview speaks for
itself. I am uploading it as a tribute
to Terry and as a testament to everything he stood for. One of my favorite moments in any interview
I've ever conducted is when Terry says
"Money, money money! Our lifestyle
wasn't about that. We worked hard for
what we got, we didn't need it handed to us." It's a declaration of values that we can all
only aspire to. Terry was saying
what so many of us know and what we wish was more prevalent, that there are
some things worth more than money, and one of them is decency.
When I heard, a few months ago
that Terry had been diagnosed with brain cancer, I went to see him. In late March, he was having some trouble
speaking, he was a bit weak, but his eyes were still telling you
everything. He was still fighting, he
was still positive, he was still going to find a way to make you smile. And as usual Kathy fed us amazing food until
we could barely get up and packed the car with Western PA special buffalo
chicken and pretzels n that n that n that.
In the last days, recently, when Terry was in the hospital, we were all
asking what we could do to help. Terry
simply said, "Tell my story."
So what does that mean? Does it mean tell the story of how gas
companies barged onto his land? Does it
mean speak about the water contamination they suffered, the insult added to
injury when PA DEP ignored his complaints, the death of the cattle, his own
death to cancer? Of course, that is part
of the story.
But the bigger part of the story, it seems to me is of the man himself
and of his family. To refuse greed. To speak truth. To act with such impassioned kindness, to
try somehow to have some of that generous twinkle in the eye, to try to smile
when you are talking and to make sure that you are appealing to that inside of
us that is most sincere and honest.
That's telling Terry's story.
This was a man who was truly
brave, truly courageous in walking out into the public eye to tell his own
story. And this was a man who did it
without anger, although his anger would have been justified, who did it without
self pity or depression, although no one would have blamed him for either. This was a man who could never prove all of
what was done to him, but could only prove himself to be a good man, and he
proved it with each sentence and in every gesture and smile. For us to tell it now is to try to be as
brave, kind, straightforward and loving.
So when we tell Terry's story,
try to find some of that mysterious positive charge, that brightness, that
giving spirit that we will all miss so much.
We owe you Terry. We'll miss you brother.
Thank
you.
God
Speed and I damn sure hope there's Harleys out there where you are.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/josh-fox/a-tribure-to-terry-greenwood/10152507220731499
2. Landfill
Expansion For Drill Cuttings, Mud and Frack Fluid
At Bulger Site and Yukon Landfill
By
Anya Litvak / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://powersource.post-gazette.com/powersource/companies-powersource/2014/06/10/Expanding-waste-line/stories/201406030010
“Max Environmental Technologies,
an Upper St. Clair firm that operates two landfills and provides half a dozen
other services to the oil and gas industry, is planning a major expansion at
its Bulger waste disposal site in Washington County.
The new project, which is still
several years from breaking ground, would cost about $20 million to complete
and is being driven by the needs of companies tapping the Marcellus Shale in
southwestern Pennsylvania.
Carl Spadaro, environmental general manager at Max,
said he expects more than 75% of the waste at the proposed landfill would come
in the shape of drill cuttings, drilling mud and fluids.
“We think it’s substantial, and
that [the] need will be sustained certainly for the next 10 to 15 years,” he
said.
The future 21-acre Bulger
landfill is envisioned as a one-stop shop for oil and gas companies, Mr.
Spadaro said. It will accept solid waste and solidify some liquid waste, in
addition to leasing a portion of its land to a flowback water recycling
company, TerrAqua Rsource Management. But the plan never materialized as Max
shifted priorities to nonhazardous waste.
The current effort is a
resurrection of that plan, but with non-hazardous residual waste, mostly from
oil and gas activity.
Max has been targeting shale gas
drilling operations for years and has retooled itself as an oil and gas service
company. It now rents equipment to
drilling operations, cleans their trucks, provides warehouse space and offers
transportation services.
It’s
in the process of expanding its Yukon landfill in Westmoreland County to
accommodate more drilling waste and petitioned the DEP in 2012 to remove a
restriction on accepting radioactive waste.
Drill cuttings from shale wells
bring up radioactive elements that had been trapped underground. Some such
waste loads have tripped radioactivity alarms at landfills.
Mr.
Spadaro said he’s not concerned about radioactivity.
“We’ve been doing a fair amount
of drilling waste disposal activity over past 10 to 12 months. Since we’ve had
that radiation limit change last year, we haven’t had one incident of any truck
with drilling waste triggering a radiation alarm at the Yukon facility,” he
said.
In 2011, Max asked the DEP for
permission to accept some liquid waste from Marcellus Shale operators that it
would then solidify and place in its landfill. The process of getting that
permit took two and a half years. Earlier this year, the company received
approval to do the same at its current Bulger facility.
Max is even looking to mine
limestone and sandstone at its Yukon landfill, which it would sell to drillers
for road and well-pad construction.
Still,
the company’s biggest revenue generator is Max’s landfill business and will
remain so for some time, Mr. Spadaro said.
In 2013, oil and gas operators
trucked more than a million tons of drilling waste produced in Pennsylvania to
landfills across four states. Max’s Bulger facility accepted 22,000 tons of
that waste.
The company’s Yukon
landfill, an 18-acre site, in 2013 took in 75,000 tons.
The other major waste product
coming out of shale wells is millions of gallons of flowback water and
production brine. Last year, TerrAqua’s frack water treatment plant in
Williamsport processed 171,298 barrels of this water, less than a quarter of
the volume pulsing through it in its heyday in 2011, according to DEP records.
Back then, the Lycoming County
plant was bustling with trucks lined up waiting to dump off their waste and lug
treated water back to well sites to be used in more fracking. “There was lots
of water needs and lots of demand,” said Mike Nerbas, vice president of U.S.
operations at Newalta, a Calgary-based company that’s part owner of TerrAqua’s
facility. “They wanted back every drop that they brought.”
But drilling activity, especially
in the northeastern part of the state, tempered as gas prices tumbled below $2
per million cubic feet in 2012 and drilling dry gas wells became less
economical. Now, the Williamsport plant is “well under” capacity, Mr. Nerbas
said.
It functions more like a water
warehouse, he said. Companies may have wastewater to drop off but they may not
be fracking more wells fast enough to need treated water immediately. So
TerrAqua sells their treated water to other producers.
The company’s interest in southwestern Pennsylvania follows oil and gas
operators shifting more resources to this part of the Marcellus Shale, where
much of the gas is rich with valuable liquids. This region is also closer
to activity in the Utica Shale, currently most active in eastern Ohio.
“One of the biggest things we're
looking to accomplish at this site is to manage their logistics as much as
water quality,” Mr. Nerbas said. “Transportation's having such a huge impact
[on] the overall cost to the customer, there's a real value of being close.”
That applies to TerrAqua as well,
which needs to dispose of solids in the flowback water it treats. Being next
door to a landfill will eliminate trucking costs.
Mr. Nerbas estimated the
wastewater treatment facility will cost between $3 million and $5 million to
build and employ five people per shift.
TerrAqua plans to lease land from
Max to build it, but Mr. Nerbas described the arrangement as less a real estate
transaction than a strategic partnership.
“Their sales group and our sales
group will work together,” he said, to bring clients into the facility and
leverage each others’ business.”
3. Rulings: Range
Resources Should Disclose Chemicals
(Range submitted only 7 chemicals for testing saying only 7 out of more
than 100 chemicals posed any threat. Jan)
AMWELL – Range Resources will be held responsible for disclosing a full list of
products and chemicals it used at a gas-drilling site in Amwell Township,
according to a pair of recent rulings.
Both a state
Environmental Hearing Board judge and Washington County President Judge Debbie
O’Dell Seneca ruled last week Range Resources is in the best position to obtain
the list of chemicals, including proprietary substances, from its
manufacturers. A Washington County Court order in November 2013 required Range
Resources’ suppliers – about 40 contractors and subcontractors – to provide
that list. According to O’Dell Seneca, the suppliers could not or would not
comply.
`Range Resources is the defendant in a lawsuit filed
by three Amwell Township families who claimed they suffered health problems
attributed to drilling activity and an impoundment at the company’s Yeager well
site on McAdams Road.
O’Dell Seneca waited to give her
opinion until a related decision was filed by Judge Thomas W. Renwand through
the Environmental Hearing Board.
Renwand wrote in his opinion last week that Range Resources is in
noncompliance with a July 2013 board order to release any and all products used
at the Yeager site. He said Range Resources is “in the best position” to
obtain information from its manufacturers because the company purchased the
products and “exercised control over their usage.”
Renwand said the board believes
Range put a “minimum of effort” into obtaining the list of products.
“A company with the status and size of Range could have exercised much more
influence with its suppliers to obtain information about the chemical
composition of products it uses at its operation,” Renwand wrote in his
opinion.
He said the board finds it
“particularly troubling that neither Range nor the DEP is fully aware of the
chemical composition of products being used during gas drilling and hydraulic
fracturing operations.”
Renwand said Range Resources
provided a list of products in April 2014 that covered “a more limited scope”
than what was ordered by the board last summer. The company hired forensic company R.J. Lee Group to determine the
chemical make-up of products used at the Yeager site through reverse
engineering.
According to the board opinion, R.J. Lee analyzed seven products out of
the more than 100 products that were identified as potentially being used
at the Yeager site.
Those seven products, according to Range in the court opinion, were the only ones that “potentially
contained a hazardous constituent” and also were identified as proprietary by
the manufacturer. According to Range, those products were not used as
hydraulic fracturing additives.
“Ultimately, however, R.J. Lee was able to analyze only one of the
seven products it identified as being potentially hazardous,” Renwand wrote.
“The other six products are either no longer manufactured or have been
relabeled. For two of the products that are no longer available, R.J. Lee
analyzed what it deemed to be a ‘comparable product’ but not the original.”
Range Resources spokesman Matt
Pitzarella said the fact that some chemical products have changed is not unique
to natural gas drilling.
Pitzarella said
the company has released all chemicals it uses in the hydraulic fracturing
process and is reviewing its options to appeal the court’s decision.
Some Marcellus Shale manufacturers have argued that Act
13, the state’s law governing oil and gas drilling, serves as legal protection
for proprietary information or trade secrets. The state Supreme Court in
December ruled that zoning provisions of Act 13 were unconstitutional, but the
validity of key provisions of the law are currently being considered in
Commonwealth Court.
One major provision heading back
to the lower court involves a medical gag rule restricting the information
doctors can relay to patients about the potential health effects of natural gas
drilling.
4. Former State
Health Employees Say They Were Silenced On
Drilling Health Problems
June
19, 2014 | 5:00 AM
“Two retirees from the
Pennsylvania Department of Health say its employees were silenced on the issue
of Marcellus Shale drilling.
One veteran employee says she was
instructed not to return phone calls from residents who expressed health
concerns about natural gas development.
“We were absolutely not allowed
to talk to them,” said Tammi Stuck, who worked as a community health nurse in
Fayette County for nearly 36 years.
Another retired employee,
Marshall P. Deasy III, confirmed that. Deasy, a former program specialist with
the Bureau of Epidemiology, said the department also began requiring field staff
to get permission to attend any meetings outside the department. This happened,
he said, after an agency consultant made comments about drilling at a community
meeting.
In the more
than 20 years he worked for the department, Deasy said, “community health
wasn’t told to be silent on any other topic that I can think of.”
.Amid the record-breaking development, public health advocates have
expressed concern that Pennsylvania has not funded research to examine the
potential health impacts of the shale boom.
Doctors have said that some
people who live near natural gas development sites – including well pads and
compressor stations – have suffered from skin rashes, nausea, nosebleeds and
other ailments. Some residents believe their ill health is linked to drilling,
but doctors say they simply don’t have the data or research – from the state or
other sources – to confirm that.
A state Department of Health
spokesperson denied that employees were told not to return calls. Aimee
Tysarczyk said all complaints related to shale gas drilling are sent to the
Bureau of Epidemiology. Since 2011, she said, the agency has logged 51
complaints, but has found no link between drilling and illness.
Tammi Stuck has been retired for
just over two years. She still remembers a piece of paper she kept in her desk
after her supervisor distributed it to Stuck and other employees of the state
health center in Uniontown in 2011.
It was not unusual, Stuck said,
for department brass to send out written talking points on certain issues, such
as the H1N1 or “swine flu” virus, meant to guide staff in answering questions
from the public.
This was different.
“There was a list of
buzzwords we had gotten,” Stuck said. “There were some obvious ones like
fracking, gas, soil contamination. There were probably 15 to 20 words and short
phrases that were on this list. If anybody from the public called in and that
was part of the conversation, we were not
allowed to talk to them.”
Normally, when fielding calls,
Stuck would discuss the caller’s problem, ask about symptoms, and explain what
services the department or other agencies could offer.
However,
for drilling-related calls, Stuck said she and her fellow employees were told
just to take the caller’s name and number and forward the information to a
supervisor.
“And somebody was supposed
to call them back and address their concerns,” she said, adding that she never
knew whether these callbacks occurred.
Sometimes, Stuck said,
people would call again, angry they had not heard back from anyone from the
department.
Stuck did not usually answer the
phone at the Uniontown office. But on the few occasions when she did pick up
and the caller was making a drilling-related complaint, she never found out
what happened after she passed the information on to her supervisor.
Stuck
said she has spoken to employees working in other state health centers who
received the same list of buzzwords and the same instructions on how to deal
with drilling-related calls.
“People were saying: Where’s the
Department of Health on all this?” Stuck said. “The bottom line was we weren’t
allowed to say anything. It’s not that we weren’t interested.”
Marshall Deasy worked in the
Bureau of Epidemiology in Harrisburg for more than 20 years, retiring last
June. Deasy was a primary investigator of food- and waterborne outbreaks and
his work put him in contact with community health nurses across the state, such
as Tammi Stuck.
He said some nurses told him they
were not allowed to respond to complaints about gas drilling.
In his office in Harrisburg, Deasy
said the subject of gas development was considered “taboo” and was not openly
discussed among fellow employees.
However, he was aware that a
colleague in the Bureau of Epidemiology was maintaining a list of
drilling-related calls. When reached by StateImpact Pennsylvania, that person
declined to comment.
The Department of Health
confirmed that all complaints related to natural gas drilling are sent to the
Bureau of Epidemiology where they are logged in a database.
Spokesperson Aimee Tysarczyk said
that a “buzzwords” list was never circulated and disputed Stuck’s account that
nurses were instructed not to return calls.
“Typically, the protocol is that
when a call comes in, they log the information and they contact the Bureau of
Epidemiology here who follows up directly with that individual,” Tysarczyk
said. “If there’s a physician involved, then they will follow up with the
physician.”
Both Marshall Deasy and Tammi Stuck recall an incident
that had a chilling effect on employees.
In 2011, a consultant for the department was attending
a community meeting in an official capacity. The subject of gas drilling came
up and her comments on the matter got back to officials in Harrisburg.
According to Deasy, the consultant still works for the
department, but she “was made plain that wasn’t going to be repeated, that
nobody’s going to be out discussing shale or drilling from the Department of
Health.”
Not long afterwards, the agency instituted a new
policy: To attend any meetings, on any topic, all nurses, consultants and other
employees of state health centers and district offices would have to get
permission from the office of the director of the Bureau of Community Health in
Harrisburg.
“There was a form that had to be filled out
at least a month ahead of time,” Stuck said.
For instance, to go the meeting
of the local diabetes task force, a community health nurse would be required to
submit a form detailing the topics to be discussed, who would be attending and
the role of the nurse at that meeting.
Stuck said another nurse she knew
was forced to step down from the infection control committee at a local
hospital. She was no longer allowed to attend the meetings.
Tysarczyk, the department spokesperson,
said employees are not required to fill out a form to get permission, but “it’s
not unusual to know where our staff is going to ensure that the appropriate
resources are being allocated and that they’re speaking on behalf of the
department and our priorities from a public health standpoint.”
That
did not stop Marshall Deasy from bending the rules.
Last spring, just a few weeks shy
of his retirement, Deasy invited Dr. Bernard Goldstein, professor emeritus with
the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health, to speak to
more than 100 employees at their Quarterly Epidemiology meeting about his work
on shale drilling and health.
Deasy gave Goldstein one
condition:
“He needed to make sure that we had a title [for the presentation]
that didn’t say ‘shale gas,’” Goldstein said. “If it did, he was concerned that
the Pennsylvania Department of Health political leadership would cancel the
meeting because they didn’t want this kind of topic on their agenda.”
Goldstein agreed. He gave a talk
about lessons learned from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill to
environmental epidemiology.
He also spoke about the need for
the state Department of Health to monitor the impacts of Marcellus Shale
drilling.
“And no one said, “No, no, Dr.
Goldstein, you’re wrong. We’re actually doing it.’”
Goldstein
has criticized Gov. Tom Corbett’s administration for not giving the Department
of Health a bigger role in overseeing the growing shale gas industry.
A spokesman for Gov. Corbett
declined to comment for this story.
Act
13, the 2012 overhaul of the state’s oil and gas law, created an impact fee,
which has generated more than $630 million over the last three years. The money
goes back to local governments and to various state agencies involved in
regulating drilling, including the Department of Environmental Protection.
“Not one penny goes to the
Department of Health,” Goldstein said.
5. Allegheny Co.
Dept of Health Director Touts Economic Benefits
of Fracking
“The new
Director of the Allegheny County Health Dept claims the benefits of fracking
outweigh the risks and also touts the economic benefits of fracking. What? Since when is the person allegedly watching
out for public health supposed to raise the economic benefits over the health
of residents? In case you were hoping that the Health Dept was actually
going to work for AC residents instead of Fitzgerald and his corporate backers,
your hopes are now officially smashed. “
http://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/on-the-record-a-conversation-with-dr-karen-hacker-executive-director-of-the-allegheny-county-health-department/Content?oid=1759255
Mel
Packer
6. Butler Twp.
Residents Voice Concerns About Drilling in Residential
Areas
GG
By Will DeShong,
Eagle
Staff Writer
“BUTLER
TWP — Several residents voiced concerns Monday night at the commissioners
meeting about natural gas well pads in residential zones of the township.
The township commissioners
approved in April an XTO Energy pad on a more than 30-acre property on
Schaffner Road.
The property is less than a half
mile from Preston Park and a little more than a mile from the Butler
Intermediate High School.
Residents voiced concerns about
potential health risks associated with unconventional drilling as well as
decreases in property values.
“It’s just plain stupid,” said Joe McMurry. “I hope at
the very least the commissioners get drilling out of residential zones. It’s
just the right thing to do.”
McMurry argued that natural gas
drilling is an industrial activity and should be left out of residential zones.
“To turn the whole township into a massive industrial zone is
unconstitutional,” he said, adding the township could be open to potential
lawsuits.
It
was a claim township solicitor Lawrence Lutz disagreed with.
“The
township can be sued by anyone for any reason at any time,” he said. “But we
have an ordinance that does regulate drilling in compliance with the law.”
Sam Hoszwa argued the proximity
of the property to homes and Preston Park puts people in danger of health
issues.
He claimed that his family has experienced burning throats and blames
the condition on pads in the township.
He said his home is more than three miles from the
current pads, whereas the closest home to the proposed Schaffner Road pad would
be about 1,200 feet.
He called XTO’s safety record “abysmal,” citing past violations the
state Department of Environmental Protect had against the company.
“People in Butler Township
expect a relatively reasonable amount of protection regarding their families’
health and safety,” he said. “These expectations are shattered by gas wells in
residential areas.”
Hoszwa and numerous other
residents also said property values would decrease with gas wells near homes.
Lutz said the meetings in which
the well pads were approved were open to the public, but no one showed up and
voiced opposition to the plans at that time.
He said it is too late for the
township to reverse its stance on already approved pads.
“I
don’t think (the commissioners) have that ability,” he said. “That would
probably be a big lawsuit.”
Lutz said the township will
continue to listen to arguments from residents on the issue of drilling.
“We always try to maintain a
balance in the township,” he said. “Some people are very favorable to the gas
industry.”
Joe Hasychak, president of the
commissioners, said the board was aware of the controversy around the drilling.
“We’re aware of the issues out
there,” he said. “It’s not news to us.”
Hasychak said he was happy to
hear from the public on the matter, but said a better time would have been at
the meeting when the pad was approved.
The
commissioners took no action on natural gas drilling Monday night.
7. 1000 Show Up At Pipeline Open House
-Millersville
“Actually, 1,100 was just the
number of people who signed in when they entered the gym at Millersville
University’s Student Memorial Center. Many more didn’t bother for the long wait
to sign up.
It
was one of the largest turnouts ever seen by the Oklahoma-based Williams, the
nation’s largest pipeline owner.
“This is very important and
emotions are very high. People feel very passionate about it,” observed Chris
Stockton, one of no less than 75 engineers, land routers and other Williams
representatives brought in from as far away as Oklahoma for what was billed as
an informal open house.
Many, no doubt, were among the
350 landowners who could be affected by the pipeline that would run for 35
miles through the townships of Conestoga, Drumore, Martic, Manor, West
Hempfield, East Donegal and Mount Joy townships.
On largescale aerial maps spread
across 672 feet of tables, they could see where the pipeline might run through
their properties. The pipeline corridor shown was 600 feet wide, wide enough to
allow some tweaking by the time a 50-foot right of way is selected, noted Stockton.
But in addition to those whose very land would be affected, many more
came in anger over a proposed route that would affect large swaths of
forestland and natural areas in the River Hills along the Susquehanna.
“Plus, this is running through the middle of Manor
Township. This is the world’s best farmland. It’s poor stewardship,” fumed John Swanson of
Conestoga. Williams has said it
temporarily removes the topsoil and places it back once the pipeline is in
place but Swanson said “it’s not the same ground it was.”
The current route would come
within 100 yards of his wife’s homestead that has been in the family since the
Civil War.
The pipeline, he said, “is a huge
impact. You can’t build over it. I see this as robbing from everybody here and
lining Williams’ pockets, and believe me, I’m a free market guy.
“It’s
a hare-brained idea and we’ll fight it for all we’re worth.”
The pipeline would gather natural
gas fracked in the Marcellus Shale region of Pennsylvania and transport it via
a shortcut through Lancaster County to Williams’ Transco pipeline. The gas would end up in markets along the
Eastern Seaboard and some of it could end up overseas. None would be used in Lancaster
County.
About halfway through the open
house, supporters of the Lancaster Against Pipeline citizens group staged a
sit-in in the middle of the auditorium.
Speakers were critical
of the open house format and the lack of a chance for citizens as a group to
ask Williams questions about their concerns.
An attempt was made to get a
Williams representative to come over and field questions. None did.
“If you choose not to answer our
concerns, then you don’t care about the communities along this pipeline at
all,” said Kevin Hurst.
Tim Spiese shouted to about 50 people sitting on the wooden gym floor,
“This is about a democracy. We want the meeting to be on our terms.”
The group was
eventually asked by Millersville security to not block the tables and they
filed out, chanting, “Go home Williams!”
At
least one landowner left somewhat relieved. Rick Faulkner of Pequea, his wife
and two daughters came believing the pipeline might go right along their
property line.
But
after examining a map, the corridor was shown farther away than the map
initially sent to them.
Still, Faulkner had mixed
feelings. “I’m sad,” he said. “It is on someone else’s ground now.”
Among those in attendance were
two community coordinators for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the
body that will ultimately rule on the pipeline. They were there to explain the
permitting process and how the public can submit comments on the project.
FERC will hold its own public
hearing later this summer.”
*******
"By
any responsible account, the exploitation of the Marcellus Shale Formation will
produce a detrimental effect on the environment, on the people, their children,
and the future generations, and potentially on the public purse, perhaps
rivaling the environmental effects of coal extraction." PA Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald
Castille, December 19, 2013
8. Do Private Well
Owners Have the Right To Be Notified Of Frack
Contamination
(This
article from April, 2014 relates to the case just argued in the Commonwealth
Court regarding whether private well owners right to be notified. Jan)
“One
of the key questions
that remain about the law, known as Act 13, is
whether it is a “special law” crafted for the oil and gas industry. Act 13 requires the DEP to notify public
water suppliers about pollution incidents, but not private well owners. Attorneys
for the municipalities that challenged the law argue that makes an
“unconstitutional distinction” between public and private drinking water
supplies, according to briefs filed with the Commonwealth Court on
Tuesday. To read the briefs, please see the end of this story.
Among
its 16 attached exhibits, the brief included 12 pages of sworn deposition
testimony by Alan Eichler, DEP oil and gas program manager, who said the
department “didn’t typically issue Notices of Violation,” or assess fines or
issued determination letters when water contamination complaints were privately
settled. And as a result the public has no way to know if, when or where
private water supplies might be contaminated or at risk of contamination.
The
brief used the deposition testimony to illustrate that private water supply
users faced health risks without a legal requirement that DEP notify private
water supply users of contamination affecting their water supplies. More than 3
million Pennsylvania residents rely on private well water for drinking and
everyday use, according U.S. Census Bureau statistics cited in the brief.
Mr.
Eichler was asked, during his deposition Jan. 29 for a water contamination case
involving Range Resources’ Yeager drilling operation in Amwell, if an
individual could find out if his neighbor’s well water had been contaminated if
his neighbor and the shale gas drilling company had settled the complaint.
According
to the deposition transcript from that case, now before the state Environmental
Hearing Board, Mr. Eichler said, “Well … no, when I think about what
information we have on file and what (the plaintiff neighbor) would have access
to it’s not clear to me how he might become aware of a problem at the Yeager
water supply.”
http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2014/04/03/pa-dep-does-not-keep-public-records-of-all-drilling-complaints
9. Commentary by
Bob Donnan
“Beautiful sunny day here in SW
Pennsylvania! However, going out to get
the newspaper moments ago, the first thing I noticed was a stench in the air,
even though sunny weather is better for clean air than cloudy days, but we have
calm winds this morning.
The
smell reminds me of when I grew up in Washington, and we had a couple steel
mills and some other factories. People burned coal to heat their homes. The
small black B-B’s of coal residue were memorable as they blew around the
sidewalks on the walk to school. It smells to me like a coal burning power
plant, yet several have been shuttered.
Post
Gazette newspaper showed yesterday’s air quality just into the moderately
unhealthy range, with today’s forecast for the middle of that moderate range.
Southeasterly winds of 5mph this afternoon will blow in the pollution from
Fayette and Westmoreland Counties, tonight’s light southerly winds will blow in
all the Greene County bad air, and tomorrow night’s southwesterly winds will
bring us the air pollution from the Panhandle of WV and the Ohio Valley under
cloudy skies.
Isn’t
it great how our air quality has improved gotten worse with fracking??
Anyone else smell the air out there this
morning???
How would you describe it???
A
friend suggests these large gas plants do “air dumps” on Saturday nights while
the DEP is curled up in bed snoozing.
Another tells me the air around the Trax Farm drilling site is getting
worse, smelling more “acrid.”
What’s
that funny commercial; “Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go!” Time to move.”
Bob
10. PA State
Mapping Tool
PA
Oil & Gas Mapping-
This
mapping system allows you to measure distances from well pad to you. See the map below with the measured distance
between Connoquenessing School and the nearest well pad.
11. Letter to the
Editor
“What chance do citizens have against drillers’ cash?
June
15, 2014 12:00 AM
I read with great interest your article “Range
Resources’ John Day Waste Impoundment Leak a Bigger Problem” (June 12).
Wastewater that leaked from one Range Resources facility has contaminated
groundwater and more than 650 truckloads of soil. Matt Pitzarella, Range
spokesman, was quoted elsewhere previously saying, “There’s no reason to
believe there is a notable threat to the environment, and [there’s] no threat
to the community.” Mr. Pitzarella is so right. This leak is not a threat, it is
a reality.
The citizens of Pennsylvania have
no choice but to rely upon their elected officials to protect their interests
in their environment. Unfortunately, the elected officials (from the county
executive to the governor) are motivated primarily by the money they need to be
(re-)elected. Companies like Range
Resources have found that money spent on politicians is a tremendous
investment. It pays off many times over in terms of savings that come from
industry-friendly legislation and enforcement. Average citizens are essentially
helpless in the battle for the loyalty of elected politicians.
In the long run, big money will
win as usual. Pennsylvanians should roll over and get ready, because like Range
says, “Drilling is just the beginning.”
ED
BEATTY
Bradford
Woods”
http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/letters/2014/06/15/What-chance-do-citizens-have-against-drillers-cash/stories/201406150074
12. Gas Money for
Corbett and Wolf
“It should come as no surprise
that donations from people associated with the natural gas industry are
beginning to flow into Gov. Tom Corbett's re-election effort. Gas donors were a
major part of Corbett's war chest four years ago.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that this year many gas industry donations are reaching
Corbett through a circuitous route: through the Republican Governors'
Association, which has established a separate political action committee in
Pennsylvania.
According to the Inquirer:
Jon
Thompson, spokesman for the association, said donors don't know which
Republican governors race their money will benefit. However, almost the
entirety of some individual contributions are flowing into Pennsylvania, no
matter what industry the donor is in.
"We
don't tell people their money is going to only reelect Gov. Corbett or another
candidate," Thompson said. But he added: "There's no secret that
we're playing very heavy defense this year [in Pennsylvania]."
Democrat Tom Wolf has been accepting gas cash
as well.
Last week a coalition of anti-fracking groups led by The Food & Water
Watch Fund called on Wolf to return approximately $273,000 he's already
accepted from people associated with the industry.
"Our analysis reveals that
Tom Wolf is setting himself up to be controlled by the fracking industry, just
like Governor Corbett," said Sam Bernhardt, Senior Pennsylvania Organizer
for Food & Water Watch Fund. "To truly be the alternative of Tom
Corbett, Wolf must return the contributions he has received from the fracking
industry, and avoid accepting any future contributions from industry-associated
groups or individuals."
Wolf has thus far ignored the
Democratic Party Platform, which calls for a moratorium on drilling and
fracking in Pennsylvania.”
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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