Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group Updates
July 10, 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.
Thank You --Recent Donations
Thank
you to April Jackman and the Shelton family for their donations that support
our work to protect the health and environment of local communities.
A little Help Please --Take Action!!
***Tenaska
Plant Seeks to Be Sited in South Huntingdon, Westmoreland County***
Petition !!
Just Use the Link
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.
*** Free Water Screening-TDS-Latrobe Farm Market
July 15 and 22 , 2:00-4:00. We will have a table at the farm market at
Legion Keener playground to offer free testing and information. TDS is an
indicator of water problems that can be caused by fracking. Visit us at our
table.
***EPA Restricting
Carbon From Existing Power plants---Public Hearing Pittsburgh0-July 31
from Sierra Club
Register now –We need to
have interested people at this hearing. The coal industry will be in full
force!!
As
a move to mitigate global warming, the EPA has proposed new rules for CO2
emissions from existing power plants. Hearings for public comment will be held
in Atlanta, Denver, Pittsburgh, and Washington DC. The Pittsburgh hearing will
be:
8:00
am to 9:00pm, Thursday, July 31, 2014
William
S. Moorhead Federal Building
1000
Liberty Ave,
Pittsburgh
Pa 15222
To testify and request a
time: contact Pamela Garrett at 919-541-7966 or at garrett.pamela@epa.gov.
NOTE:
There will be a lunch break from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. and a dinner break
from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
At the request of the coal industry, the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) plans to hold a hearing in Pittsburgh on July 31st about the new
rule to restrict carbon pollution from existing power plants.
We can expect the coal industry
to flood the hearing, so we will need to show the EPA - and the world -
Pennsylvanian's support a strong carbon pollution rule.
HOW TO GET INVOLVED
Testify: Testify at the
hearing and we will be available to help you with your testimony. To testify
request a time: contact Pamela Garrett
at 919-541-7966 or at garrett.pamela@epa.gov.
Come to the press conference!
LET'S
MAKE THIS THE BIGGEST CLIMATE EVENT WE'VE EVER HAD IN PA!
Supreme Court Supports EPA’s
Right to Regulate Carbon Emissions from Industrial Sources
On
June 23 the U.S. Supreme Court eased the way for President Obama to help
mitigate climate change and create healthier air. Before the Court was the
question whether the EPA has the authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate
carbon dioxide emissions from stationary sources. In general, environmental
groups welcomed the Court’s finding that the EPA has the authority to sought regulate carbon emissions from an
estimated 83 pct of the stationary sources across the nation. Here are some major points:
*EPA’s
authority to regulate CO2 emissions under Clean Air Act was re-affirmed.
*The
Court somewhat chastised the EPA for trying to alter some standards in the
Clean Air Act.
*EPA
has the authority to regulate emissions that cross state borders. This is
important for SW Pennsylvania.
*The
Court dismissed EPA’s authority to regulate emissions on relatively small
sources such as schools, apartment buildings, and shopping centers, which
amount to about 3 pct of the total stationary sources in the country.
*Judge
Scalia made it clear that the Court would not consider any future appeals
regarding the use of the Clean Air Act for regulation of carbon emissions. This
was a needed warning to Governors of coal-producing states such as
Pennsylvania.
*The
Court’s decision was generally accepted by both sides.
***Cove Point
Rally This Sunday July 13
Go with Marcellus Outreach Butler (MOB) TO RALLY TO
STOP FRACKED GAS EXPORTS!
WHEN:
Sunday, July 13th, 12:30pm - 3:30pm
WHERE:
Rally begins west of the U.S. Capitol Reflecting Pool on the National Mall.
Meet at the intersection of 3rd St NW and Madison Drive NW, Washington, DC
20216.
MOB
is organizing transportation to the rally.
Email MOB at mpro113@gmail.com to
sign up to travel with us.
"It is clear that the Cove
Point export facility will drive expansion of fracking for natural gas across
the entire Chesapeake region in Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and in
Maryland, where no drilling has yet occurred. The export valve will open and
the race to frack will explode."
Robin
Broader, Waterkeepers Chesapeake stated the situation as clear as it could be
stated--once the export facilities are operating, it's game over for those of
us living in the shalefields. The industry will stop at nothing to get
every bit of the gas beneath our feet regardless of what or who is in their
way.
More fracking. Worsening climate change. Expanding pipelines.
Unprecedented safety risks. Higher gas prices. The gas industry's rush to
build 20 or more industrial facilities along our nation's coastlines to export
fracked gas overseas would bring all of these impacts upon U.S. communities. It
would move us in exactly the wrong direction when we urgently need to move
forward in tackling the climate crisis.
On Sunday, July 13, thousands of
people will gather in Washington, D.C. to rally and march against fracked gas
exports at Cove Point and beyond.
Go
with MOB. Email us at mpro113@gmail.com
to sign up to travel with us today.
Come join with fellow fracking
fighters, movement leaders like Tim DeChristopher and Sandra Steingraber,
mothers fending off compressor stations, fathers fighting pipelines – and
everyday people demanding solutions to climate change – as we march together by
the thousands. We'll call on President
Obama and FERC to reject a gas export disaster, at Cove Point and beyond, and
instead redouble investments in the wind, solar and energy efficiency
technologies that will support good jobs and a stable climate for all.
Go
with MOB. Email us at mpro113@gmail.com
to sign up to travel with us today.
***FranklinTownship
Supervisors Meeting
Monday,
July 14, 2014, 6:00 PM.
191
Election House Rd.
Prospect,
PA 16052
There
will be a public comment time from 6-7, and at 7pm the Supervisors will decide
whether to approve the zoning changes which will allow natural gas drilling in
all Agricultural- residential zoned areas in the township. Please attend and show your support for
those of us who oppose these changes.
** Peoples’
Climate March-Take the Bus Sept 21
http://alleghenysc.org/?p=18460
And
lots of other happenings at the Special Events page
http://alleghenysc.org/?cat=12&ec3_after=today.
Peter
Wray
*******************************************************************************************
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
***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
“Sunoco has petitioned the 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
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
***Peters Township Zoning Workshop-
A discussion
of Township zoning options for gas drilling after the Act 13 ruling by the Pa
Supreme Court.
Thank you to John Smith and David Ball, and to Bob Donnan for posting the
video.
1:49:00
-- Select the HD setting for viewing
***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.
Special Thanks to Bob Donnan for photos.
1. Did Anyone Try To Contact PA Dept of Health? From Nick Kennedy
“Food
and Water Watch has asked me to reach out to see if we know anyone that tried
to contact the Department of Health regarding fracking related health
issues. Please let me know if you can
think of anyone.”
Nick
Kennedy, Esq.
Community
Advocate
Mountain
Watershed Association
www.mtwatershed.com
724-455-4200
x 6
http://www.post-gazette.com/local/westmoreland/2014/07/05/Families-well-water-disrupted-near-Ligonier/stories/201407050100#ixzz36Z3ZRJNx
2. WMCG Water Screening At Latrobe Farm Market
Our
group will be at the farm market in Latrobe July 15 and 22, 2:00-4:00, to offer
free TDS water testing. Bring your sample in a clean baggie or jar. Total dissolved solids are indicators of
water problems that can be caused by fracking. There have been several cases of
water contamination in the Derry- Ligonier area.
Southwest Health advises that
residents start testing their water when fracking occurs within 3 miles of
their home.
We will have informational
handouts available including a list of certified water labs for those who would
like to do further testing. Look for our table at Legion Keener Playground.
3. Families Cite Well
Water Contamination From Frack Waste
Pit
But DEP Permits Yet Another Well
Who Cares?
Comment
by group member:
Who
cares that the three families' water was contaminated? Just issue the permit for another well!
****************
By
Don Hopey / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Route 711, designated a "Pennsylvania Scenic Byway," wends through the countryside south of Ligonier. The bends in the two-lane road mirror the twists that three families living along it have traveled in trying to replace water supplies contaminated by wastewater from Marcellus Shale gas drilling.
Although the state DEP has known
about WPX Appalachia LLC's leaky
wastewater impoundment next to its Kalp well pad for almost two years and
verified well-water contamination at one of the three nearby homes more than a
year ago, all of the families remain without permanent replacement water
supplies, said Nick Kennedy, an attorney and community advocate for the
Mountain Watershed Association.
"The DEP should be requiring
the company to permanently replace the families' water with an adequate source,
but it's moved slowly and without coordination," Mr. Kennedy said.
"It's scary that there is this lack of oversight by the DEP."
Ralph Brown, who lives on a hill
above the well pad, filed a complaint with the DEP in September 2012 stating
that his 600-foot-deep well was contaminated by fracking wastewater that had leaked from the 3 million gallon
impoundment.
The DEP in June 2013 determined
that his well had been contaminated and a month later ordered the drilling
company to permanently replace his water supply. A year later, he's still
drawing water from a 2,500-gallon water tank that WPX pays $450 to fill each
week.
"The Browns are definitely
frustrated," said Jeffrey Mansell, a Pittsburgh attorney representing Mr.
Brown in a lawsuit against WPX and its subcontractors. The suit alleges the contamination has reduced the value of the Browns'
property and their ability to use and enjoy it, and is seeking damages."
According to DEP regulations, the
department has 45 days from the date it does a water-quality test to make a
contamination determination. If the department orders permanent water supply
replacement, a company has 30 days to submit a replacement plan. After the DEP
approves that plan, the company has 45 days to implement it.
DEP spokesman John Poister said
the department and the company have missed those regulatory deadlines, but he
added that the cases have been complicated by ongoing investigations of the
impoundment leaks and groundwater contamination.
"Those investigations have
not been finalized and because of that, we've had to move a little slower than
we normally do," Mr. Poister said. "Our goal is to put together
documents that can stand up to a challenge.
"Because this is a
water-replacement situation, our orders will be scrutinized closely by the
company and could be challenged. We're sympathetic in cases like these, but
things are not as black and white as they appear on the surface."
The DEP did issue an order to WPX
last week to replace the water for one of the three families, the Latins. It
came almost seven months after the department's own testing lab concluded that
the family's well water was contaminated.
The family has been using bottled
water supplied by the company.
Another family, Ken and Mildred
Geary, who live next door to the Latins, has well-water test results that
identify similar and "parallel" chemical contaminants, Mr. Kennedy
said, but the DEP ruled the results "inconclusive" in April. The department
re-sampled the Gearys' water supply last week and expects to have results from
that test in 30 days.
The Gearys' daughter, Dolly
Coffman, said her parents, both in their 80s, started having water problems a
year ago and filed an official complaint with the DEP in January.
"Their water has a foul,
chemical odor to it and it's been smelly and bad like that for a year, but they
didn't know what to do," said Ms. Coffman, who doesn't live at the house.
"WPX delivers bottled water
as part of its 'Good Neighbor' policy but they still must use the bad well
water to bathe and shower and wash their clothes."
Susan Oliver, a WPX spokeswoman,
said the water contamination complaints at all three homes are still under
investigation.
She said company representatives
will meet with the Gearys soon to review and explain test results.
She cited a "well
construction issue" that interfered with testing Mr. Brown's well and said
the company has begun assessing whether an adjacent well, which she said collapsed
before Mr. Brown moved into his home eight years ago, can serve as a potable
water supply.
"WPX is working
cooperatively and openly with the DEP and the three families to evaluate their
private water supplies and to reach a conclusion that provides each family with
a permanent potable water source once the investigation is completed," Ms.
Oliver wrote in an email.
WPX drilled its first Kalp well
in November 2011 and hydraulically fractured the mile-deep underground shale
formation to release the gas in May 2012.
In January, the DEP approved
a drilling permit for a second well on the Kalp pad.”
Don
Hopey: dhopey@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1983. Madeline R. Conway contributed.
4. Apex Energy Considering Penn Township Drilling Sites
Penn Twp. Plans To Allow Fracking In
All 5 Districts
By
Chris Foreman and Daveen Rae Kurutz
“Apex is considering as many as eight projects in Penn Township,
municipal and company officials said.
Representatives of Apex Energy,
which received state permits this year to drill in three Armstrong County
locations, have met with officials in Penn Township and Murrysville as they
evaluate several potential drilling sites in the region.
Mark Rothenberg, CEO of Apex
Energy, confirmed that one of the targeted locations is “real close” to the Penn Township-Murrysville border. Some residents
in both municipalities are supposed to receive letters requesting water-quality
testing in case properties near them are used for drilling, he said.
Leasing agents working on behalf
of the Pine Township-based company have been talking to people in Penn Township
and Murrysville about obtaining mineral rights.
“We have people leasing and are
constantly looking at projects in Southwestern Pennsylvania,” Rothenberg said.
“We have no bull's-eye on any singular township out there or a single county.”
Though Apex officials didn't
divulge many details about potential sites in Penn Township, they mentioned
interest in as many as eight projects within the next year, said Dallas
Leonard, the township's community-development director. Proposed changes to the township's zoning ordinance that are being
considered would permit oil and natural gas extraction in all five of the
proposed zoning districts, though some conditions would apply.
“There's no question, they're
looking at all the communities around,” Leonard said.
As of Tuesday morning, the
only potential Apex site in Penn Township that is listed on the state DEP's
website is a family farm near the North Huntingdon and Trafford borders. To
date, Apex has requested only an expedited permit for erosion and sediment
control, DEP
records show.
Meanwhile, Murrysville chief administrator Jim
Morrison said Apex applied for an erosion-and-sediment-control permit with the
state for Marcellus shale activity in the municipality. But the property along
Lyons Run Road isn't located within the municipal drilling district, he said.
“We told them that whatever they think they might do
there, it is not a permitted use,” Morrison said. “They said their plans were
preliminary.”
Apex's interest in part of
Murrysville surprised homeowner Jeanne Zombek, who lives about a quarter of a
mile from the Murrysville Swim Club. She said a New York-based agent inquired
about a lease on her property, which she described as being “in the heart of
Murrysville.”
“It's not something we would have
even done if we were interested in drilling,” Zombek said.
As for the water-quality testing
letters, DEP spokesman John Poister said that is something that some drilling
companies do as a good practice. The state agency advises companies to do the
testing but doesn't require it.
“That way, when there is a
question (about water quality), they have a baseline to work off of,” Poister
said.
Chris
Foreman and Daveen Rae Kurutz are staff writers for Trib Total Media. Foreman
can be reached at 412-871-2363 or cforeman@tribweb.com. Kurutz at 412-871-2365
or dkurutz@tribweb.com.
Read
more: http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourpenntrafford/yourpenntraffordmore/6372011-74/township-drilling-apex#ixzz375yXavvq
5. Murrysville Officials Will
Spend A Year Reviewing Drilling
Map
Details
Company
spends $2.4M on land
Murrysville residents aren't the
only people who have reason to consider where surface drilling can occur. So
does a Monroeville-based drilling company.
A search of deeds filed in Westmoreland County showed that Huntley
& Huntley has spent $1.26 million to buy land in the Murrysville drilling
district over the past 18 months. One of its largest Murrysville purchases, the
101.6 acre Caywood property, is adjacent to Murrysville Community Park –
one of two parks included in the district. Municipal officials recently
rejected an offer to lease the gas rights under that park from the driller.
Bow & Arrow, the land
procurement arm of Huntley & Huntley, recently spent $1.2 million to buy 219 acres of land in Penn Township off
Pleasant Valley Road near the Murrysville border. That purchase is next to
Murrysville's drilling district.
Representatives
from Huntley & Huntley were unable to be reached for comment.
****************
Murrysville officials are
reconsidering where surface activity for Marcellus shale drilling can take
place.
Officials will spend the next 12
months reviewing the municipal oil and gas regulations, including an overlay
district that is the only area surface drilling could take place.
“The map – that's one thing that
has come forward a lot,” planner Allen Cohen said. “The map should be examined
with criteria developed during the comprehensive plan process. There are areas with sensitive
environmental features and concerns over private water systems over property.
We're looking at that map to decide how much of the community should be
included.”
In 2010, Murrysville officials
began developing a set of oil and gas regulations. Officials adopted a drilling
district that included more than 8,000 square feet of the municipality.
That district is the only part of
the municipality where surface activity — the construction of well pads and
compressor stations, for instance — can take place. Because the fracking
process enables horizontal as well as vertical drilling, officials said,
underground gas pockets from anywhere in the municipality could be accessed
through surface drilling in the district.
The state Supreme Court's 2013 ruling that overturned large portions of
Act 13, the state's oil and gas law, gives local governments more power to
regulate drilling, Cohen said.
“The decision on Act 13 provided one of the strongest
defenses of comprehensive planning in the history of PA Supreme Court
decisions,” Cohen said. “We need to take advantage of it.”
Several local residents have
urged council to reconsider the map's territory. Resident Alyson Holt suggested looking at the number of wells that could be
accommodated rather than square-footage alone.
“We should designate a maximum total operating number
and maximum operation density for the municipality as well,” said Holt,
expressing worries about drilling in nearby communities. “Let's look at how
many and how close they are to a given location.”
Deciding the map's fate — and
that of the municipal regulations — will take a lot of time and input, Cohen
said.
“It's not going to happen in one
month, or two months – closer to 12 months,” Cohen said. “There's a task force
that had some great minds that should be tapped.”
Daveen
Rae Kurutz is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at
412-856-7400, ext. 8627, ordkurutz@tribweb.com.
6. Will
Conventional Drillers Be Permitted to Ignore
Environmental Regs?
Scarnati Attacks Again
Thank you to Vitali for his efforts to Protect the Environment
July
05, 2014|Paul Carpenter
“With
apologies to Charles Dickens, it was the best of times (for Texas and Oklahoma
gas industry aristocrats), it was the worst of times (for the Pennsylvania
rabble suffering from the exploitation and destruction of their environment).
In a tale of two legislators, we have PA Senate President pro Tem Joe
Scarnati, R-Jefferson, valiantly fighting to protect the first group, and state
Rep. Greg Vitali, D- Delaware, scheming to advance the cause of the second, who
are in the winter of despair.
The latest
chapter in the Frack Revolution involves proposed state legislation to let
non-fracking gas drillers off the hook when it comes to environmental rules,
although supporters of Senate Bill 1378 and the identical House Bill 2350 might
not put it precisely that way.
The first page of Scarnati's bill
states that "conventional" oil and gas drilling "has had a
benign impact … on the environment." That, according to the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette, was "even as [state]
DEP records show traditional oil and gas producers regularly fall short of the
current rules and laws."
(Common Cause Pennsylvania
says Scarnati is second only to Gov. Tom Corbett when it comes to
"political campaign contributions" from the drilling cartel.)
On the other side of the dispute
is Vitali, one of Pennsylvania's leading
champions of environmental causes. (He has a large collection of awards from
environmental groups, including his designation as legislator of the year,
bestowed by the Pennsylvania chapter of the Sierra Club.)
Last year, Vitali introduced a
bill to ban additional drilling leases on state forest land. His bill went
nowhere and, in May, Corbett issued an executive order opening up new areas of
forest land for drilling.
"This executive order will
expand fracking in and around our state forests and parks, putting thousands of
acres of Pennsylvania's forests at risk, including critically important
headwaters and wild landscapes. It is shockingly short-sighted," said
Robert Gardner of the Sierra Club.
Gardner noted that outdoor recreation generates 219,000 state jobs,
countering Corbett's claim that his laissez-faire gas-drilling policies create
jobs.
In
particular, I wanted to ask about one of the last passages in his bill, which seemed
a little ambiguous. "This act shall apply to regulations promulgated on or
after the effective date of this section," it says.
Does that mean regulations
promulgated prior to the date of his measure's enactment might be nullified? If
so, Vitali would be right about the drilling industry getting carte blanche
when it comes to environmental rules, at least for a while.
As it is, DEP gas-drilling
inspectors may not be cracking down on environmental wrongdoing as much as they
once did.
As
reported a couple of years ago, Corbett's DEP hierarchy issued a secret
directive saying no gas-drilling company could be cited for violations unless
the action was cleared by the agency's top political operatives. "Any
waiver from this directive will not be acceptable," said a memo from
Deputy DEP Secretary John Himes, which somehow found its way to the
Philadelphia Inquirer.
I have a feeling that if Corbett
finds out who leaked that memo, he or she will wind up in dire straits,
consoled only by saying, as Dickens would put it: "It is a far, far better
thing that I do, than I have ever done."
paul.carpenter@mcall.com
610-820-6176
http://articles.mcall.com/2014-07-05/news/mc-pc-tale-of-two-legislators-20140705_1_state-forest-land-drilling-tem-joe-scarnati
The
Morning Call Lehigh Valley
7. Cecil Township Requests
Testing Of Worstell Impoundment
Poister Says the
Pit Can Remain Indefinitely
(Comment
By PA Rep. Jesse White: “This ought to be interesting. When both the Cecil
Supervisors and I presented DEP officials with documents obtained during a file
review at the DEP office showing strong evidence of groundwater contamination
at the Worstell Impoundment, they evaded and lied their way through an
explanation. Now in light of the massive contamination at the Jon Day
Impoundment, which is of similar design and construction, it may be harder to
avoid answering the tough questions we've been asking for over a year now.”)
“The Worstell impoundment has
again resurfaced as a topic of discussion in Cecil Township. Range Resources continues to use its
wastewater impoundment on Swihart Road to service additional wells, and some residents want testing to prove the
liner is secure.
Township supervisors Monday unanimously voted to write a letter to the
state DEP requesting soil and groundwater testing at the impoundment, which was
renamed Cecil Township 23 impoundment.
DEP spokesman John Poister said
the impoundment has no outstanding compliance issues. He said the most recent
enforcement action dates to 2011, when a barrel of flowback water leaked from a
pipe, which he said was cleaned up and remedied.
Vice Chairwoman Cindy Fisher said
the township just wants to be safe, especially in light of the news that a leak at Range Resource’s Jon Day impoundment
in Amwell Township contaminated groundwater with chloride. More than 10,000
tons of soil have been removed from the site since April.
A permit was issued to Range
Resources to drill another well on the Engel well pad in Cecil Township, and
Fisher said she worries about the continued use of the impoundment without
prior testing.
“The fact that they’ve
issued yet another drilling permit without ever taking the opportunity to check
Worstell … is kind of baffling to me,” Fisher said.
The Worstell impoundment has been
a contentious issue for more than year, and has been the subject of several
meetings – some behind closed doors – with Range Resources and the DEP.
Some residents and officials challenged the DEP’s assertion that the
impoundment could operate indefinitely. Poister said Range would be
required to restore the impoundment if its use is discontinued for nine months.
“The (impoundment) permit actually is for an
indefinite period of time, and they can add well sites at any time, as long as
they feel it’s feasible,” Poister said. “And we don’t object to that as long as the
impoundment is secure and as long as it meets our standards.”
8. Ethics Commission Probes Allegheny
Councilman Nick Futules
Futules is a Leaser Who Pushed Deer
Lakes Drilling
Andy Sheehan
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Shouts
of “shame, shame, shame” followed Allegheny County Council’s approval in May of
shale gas drilling below its 1,200-acre Deer Lakes Park.
By a 9-5 majority, the lease was
approved despite a petition garnered by environmentalists and an ethics
complaint they filed against Councilman Nick Futules, whom they said has a
business relationship with one of the drilling companies.
“Well that’s a direct conflict of interest, and we filed a complaint
with the state Ethics Board,” said Mel Packer, of the Coalition to Protect
Parks.
In the past two weeks, state
ethics investigators have interviewed the filers of the petitions, other
council members and grilled Futules himself last Friday for several hours.
They asked him about a family-owned gas well in Oakmont drilled
by Huntley and Huntley, which was granted to the Deer Lakes lease along with
Range Resources.
Futules
said he had no conflict of interest since he stood to gain nothing financially
for his yes vote on the lease.
“The fact that I have a gas well
and I know the safety factors and the dangers, I was comfortable with the fact
that I thought it was a good investment for the county to move forward,” said
Futules.
But environmentalist went
further, accusing Futules of moving the
lease bill out of his Parks and Recreation Committee without allowing dissent.
“That’s not an independent
hearing, and Nick Futules is responsible for that,” said Packer.
“I did not steer votes. In fact,
I told all the individual council members that votes would be their own
individual decision and I had no bearing on that whatsoever,” Futules said.
Regardless of how the Ethics
Commission rules, it’s not likely to affect drilling outside of Deer Lakes;
although, controversy about the decision is far from settled.
9. 70-Year-Old Deputy
Sheriff Polices Fracking Waste
“Deputy Sheriff Hector
Zertuche doesn't let big oil and gas get away with illegal dumping.
As the oil and natural gas
industries continue to boom in Texas, someone needs to fight on the side of the
environment — especially when these industries (intentionally or not) cause
big, messy spills.
The unlikely green crusader in
resource-rich Jim Wells county? Seventy-year-old deputy sheriff Hector
Zertuche, who’s patrolling against the illegal dumping of fracking waste,
Inside Climate News reports.
We’ve already mentioned that
fracking, which has caused drilling to spike across the country, is a health
and environmental nightmare. This controversial process uses a highly pressurized
mix of water, chemicals and sand to release gas and oil from rock formations —
but in the process, it also creates millions of barrels of toxic waste a day. Even scarier, there’s really no good way of
getting rid of this sludge: the corrosive and chemically-laden byproduct, if
disposed of “correctly,” can either go into underground wells, treatment plants
or other means. Unfortunately, much too often, the waste water gets spilled
onto the open road.
And that’s where Zertuche comes
in.
As Inside Climate News puts it,
because Texas’ environmental agencies aren’t very effective at policing spills,
it falls on Zertuche’s lone shoulders to make sure these offenders don’t get
away with it.
This year alone, the septuagenarian has reportedly
taken about a dozen violators to court for reasons such as transporting waste
without a permit, illegal dumping on the roads or carrying waste in an unmarked
truck. Drivers are slapped with a $1,000 fine and 10 days in jail per
violation. In 2013, he allegedly cited up to 10 trucks per day for a variety of
violations.
Pretty incredible for someone
who’s well past retirement age. But as he told the publication, it’s all in a
day’s work.
“I want to make a difference for
the people who live here,” Zertuche said. “If I can make this a better place
for people to live, then I have done my job.”
Read
more: http://nationswell.com/deputy-sheriff-hector-zertuche-polices-fracking-waste/#ixzz3720dQSYj
10. British Study Maps
Fracking Methane Risk To Drinking Water
By
Davd Shukman Science editor, BBC News
“A major study into the potential
of fracking to contaminate drinking water with methane has been published. The British
Geological Survey and the Environment Agency have mapped where key aquifers in
England and Wales coincide with locations of shale.
The research reveals this occurs
under nearly half of the area containing the principal natural stores of water.
The risk of methane being
released into drinking water has long been one of the most sensitive questions
over fracking. The study highlights
where the rock layers may be too close to the aquifers for fracking to go
ahead.
It finds that the Bowland
Shale in northern England - the first to be investigated for shale gas
potential - runs below no fewer than six major aquifers.
However,
the study also says that almost all of this geological formation - 92% of it - is at least 800m below the
water-bearing rocks.
Industry officials have always
argued that a separation of that size between a shale layer and an aquifer
should make any contamination virtually impossible.
They
say that wells are sealed with steel and concrete as they pass through
water-bearing rocks and that any fissures created by fracking far below would
be highly unlikely to spread through hundreds of meters of rock.
Environmentalists say that the
processes of drilling and of fracturing rock inherently carry the risk of
polluting a vital resource.
Analysis of the Weald Basin in
southern England shows that the uppermost layer of oil-bearing shale is at
least 650m below a major aquifer.
Dr John Bloomfield, of the
British Geological Survey, said the maps could serve as a guide for regulators
and planners.
"We've identified areas
where aquifers are in relatively close proximity to shale units and any
developments would have to be looked at particularly carefully," he said.
"It's no surprise that the same system of
sedimentation that produces shale also produces limestone which is excellent
for storing water."
Aquifers such as the Oolite, which runs from Yorkshire through the East
Midlands to the south coast of England, are often in direct contact with a
shale layer.
Interactive
maps showing the relative proximity of shale layers and aquifers are available
on the British Geological Survey website.
So far, no definitive distance for separation between shale and
aquifers has been set but a limit of 400m has been suggested because water from
below that depth is rarely considered drinkable.
In
some areas, shale layers rise closer to the surface - and the assumption is
that these would be ruled off-limits.
The Environment Agency says it will not allow developments to go ahead
if they are too close to supplies of drinking water. Meanwhile, the BGS has
carried out a survey of methane in drinking water in all areas of the country
where fracking may happen.
Low
levels of the gas occur either naturally - from bacterial activity - or from
manmade sources such as landfill sites.
Dr Rob Ward, director of
groundwater science at the BGS, said the aim was to provide a baseline
understanding before any fracking starts.
"In the United States, they didn't carry out a baseline survey
before the industry took place and that has resulted in controversy and
uncertainty about the source of methane in drinking water," he said.
"We now have a window of
opportunity to collect data on methane before any industry goes ahead. If we
see increases in methane in groundwater which may be attributed to shale gas,
we'll be able to spot those."
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28130982
11. Fish
Kill After Frack Site Fire-Ohio
“The state is investigating a fish kill in an eastern Ohio creek
near where a fire occurred at a shale-well fracking site on Saturday.
The
Ohio Department of Natural Resources learned yesterday of the fish kill in Possum
Creek in Monroe County, said Jason Fallon, an agency spokesman. Fallon said he
did not have details about the extent of the kill. “I can’t confirm if it’s
related to the gas-well fire,” he said.
Phillip
Keevert, director of the Monroe County Emergency Management Agency, said
Division of Wildlife agents were inspecting the creek yesterday and confirmed
that a kill occurred.
The
Eisenbarth well pad caught fire on
Saturday because of a malfunction in hydraulic tubing, authorities said. Fire
spread to about 20 trucks used for fracking that were lined up on the well pad,
triggering explosions that spewed clouds of black smoke. Statoil North America
operates eight wells on the pad.
At the height of the fire, 20 to
25 families that live within a mile of the site were evacuated. They were
allowed to return home on Saturday evening.
A
number of area residents reported the fish kill yesterday. Jack Shaner, deputy
director of the Ohio Environmental Council, said he has been told that the kill
stretched for a few miles.
Shaner said he suspects that
chemicals used in fracking ran into the creek when firefighters extinguished
the blaze.
“It
sounds like it was not just smoke and not just fire, but a major fish kill,” he
said. “Both the company and state
agencies owe the public a full public accounting of what went wrong and how
they are going to prevent future occurrences.”
Statoil North America officials could not be
reached for comment.
All 17 of the company’s Ohio wells are in Monroe
County, state records show.
12. Lessors
Sue Chesapeake Energy for $5 Billion
By ERIN MCAULEY
HARRISBURG, Pa. (CN) - Chesapeake Energy Corp. and its subsidiary Access
Midstream Partners cheated Pennsylvania landowners of more than $5 billion in
gas and oil royalties through inflated and unreasonable fees, a RICO class
action claims in Federal Court.
Lead plaintiff, the Suessenbach Family Limited
Partnership, seeks damages for racketeering, unjust enrichment, mail fraud,
wire fraud, honest services fraud, conversion and civil conspiracy.
Chesapeake is the nation's second-largest producer of
natural gas.
The complaint states: "Since at least 2010 Chesapeake
engaged in unlawful conduct to improperly extract billions of dollars in
royalties owed to plaintiffs and other lessors by artificially manipulating and
deducting from royalty payments the cost of 'marketing,' 'gathering,' and
'transporting' natural gas. The marketing, gathering and transportation
deductions at issue in this action were both unreasonable and inflated."
The Suessenbachs claim that
"Chesapeake's subsidiaries have paid fees, which are then charged to lessors,
for gas pipeline transport to Access Midstream that are many multiples of
Access Midstream's actual costs."
In
one case, the family claims, the markup was more than 3,000 percent.
"These deductions were inflated,
improper, completely unrelated to the 'cost of services,' did not serve to
enhance the marketability of gas, and instead, merely served to enrich the
co-conspirators who devised the scheme," the complaint states.
It continues: "The benefit to
Access Midstream is clear. Access Midstream's predominant source of revenue is
gathering fees and Chesapeake accounts for approximately 84 percent of Access
Midstream's business."
According
to ProPublica, an independent, nonprofit news source cited in the complaint, a
rival company executive described the gas-gathering agreements this way: "Chesapeake
had found a way to make the landowners pay the principal and interest on what
amounts to a multi-billion loan to the company from Access Midstream."
ProPublica reported in
March this year that "Chesapeake executed an adroit escape, raising nearly
$5 billion ... [b]y gouging many rural landowners out of royalty payments they
were supposed to receive."
From courthouse news
service, June 25 By ERIN MCAULEY
13. Radiation In The Marcellus
“At the Chemung County landfill
in Elmira, New York, piles of drill cuttings from Pennsylvania shale oil wells
are scattered around the yard. The cuttings look like heaps of wet black sand,
wrapped in a black plastic liner — and they're radioactive.
Those radioactive drill cuttings
— the waste pulled to the surface when a new well is drilled — are opening a
new front in the already-contentious battle over fracking.
All rocks have some radiation in
them, explains Matt Richmond, a reporter for WSKG and the Allegheny Front, who
has been following the story. But the
Marcellus Shale in the eastern US, one of the regions where fracking is
booming, is an unusually radioactive underground formation. A recent study found radiation levels three
times higher than in other rock layers.
States in and around the fracking
boom are trying to figure out what to do about all this naturally radioactive
waste from drilling. Pennsylvania is conducting a study of radiation in the
Marcellus Shale. West Virginia passed a law to segregate drill cuttings within
landfills. New York State has a moratorium on fracking, but it accepts
radioactive drilling waste from nearby Pennsylvania — and that has touched off
an intense debate.
Larry Shilling, vice-president of
Casella Waste Systems, which operates the Chemung County landfill, says the
site has never accepted a load of cuttings that exceeded acceptable levels of
radiation. In fact, he wants New York State regulators to allow the company to
accept even more cuttings from Pennsylvania.
But not everyone is convinced
this landfill is taking sufficient precautions. Gary Abraham, an environmental lawyer in Western New
York who is working to block Casella from expanding its landfills, says there’s so much radiation in the
deep shale rocks that it must inevitability be entering landfills.
He points to
radioactivity readings taken by New York State regulators of the salty water
found in the Marcellus Shale. This water, which comes up during and after fracking,
is called brine. “The radioactivity of the brine is as high as 15,000
picocuries per liter,” Abraham says. “The background radiation at the surface
of the earth in New York is about 1 picocurie per liter.”
Larry Shilling, however, argues that while brine can be radioactive, the drill cuttings he accepts at his site
are benign. In fact, he says, testing his site commissioned on the
Marcellus cuttings showed very little radiation. “The highest reading we got
from any of those four samples was 4.3 picocuries per gram, still under the
cleanup standard that EPA set for cleaning up sites,” he says.
Part of the difficulty with this
debate is that the parties are talking past each other: Abraham is looking at the brine associated with the Marcellus Shale and
raising the red flag; Shilling is focused on the rock and giving the green
light.
Avner Vengosh, a geochemist at Duke University, looks at both sides. He
says there’s a risk that, once radium locked deep underground gets into streams
and rivers, it will make its way into fish and eventually into people.
The particular form of radium found in the Marcellus Shale, radium-226, has
a half-life of more than 5,000 years. Once it gets into the environment, it’s
there for good.
“Radium is very similar to calcium,”
Vengosh says. “As a result, it would accumulate in the bone ... which would
lead to bone cancer.” In a stream near one plant that processes fracking
wastewater in Pennsylvania, Vengosh has found radium at 200 times the
background level. Since
contaminants started showing up in streams, Pennsylvania has tightened
restrictions.
Since contaminants started
showing up in streams, Pennsylvania has tightened restrictions on the disposal
of wastewater. But the treatment of solid waste at places like the Chemung
County landfill in New York concerns Vengosh.
“Every contaminant that’s being disposed into landfills — the solids —
are subject to numerous attacks of acids and different chemicals, different
solutions within the landfill,” says Vengosh. “And they’re creating what we
call leachate.”
Leachate is basically
"garbage tea." Anything that’s in the landfill, like radium, can get
into it. What happens to leachate? It
ends up at wastewater treatment plants —
but the Chemung County plant that serves the Casella landfill can't test for
radium.
Casella does its own quarterly radiation test of its
leachate. Results showed low levels of radium-226, but each testing showed a
small increase.
Fracking is still a relatively
new technology and its rapid expansion has outpaced the ability of regulators
and activists to track its effects on the environment. It may be years before
researchers can gather enough data to draw firm conclusions.
And
even then, given the polarized state of the wider environmental debate, we may
never agree on what those conclusions suggest we should do.”
http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-07-09/heres-another-complication-fracking-radioactive-waste
14. Soil Pollution From Frack Fluid
Fracking fluid spills increase risk of contaminated
groundwater
A research group at Cornell
University studied the effects of hydraulic fracturing flowback fluid on soil
and water retention of pollutants and found that a high percentage of
pollutants and heavy metals in the soil leach into groundwater when exposed to
flowback fluid.
A study conducted on flowback fluid, or wastewater, from
hydraulic fracturing shows that the fluid causes
the release of particles in soil that bind to pollutants. When water runs through such soil, the
particles unbind from the soil and are released with the water, contaminating
groundwater with pollutants.
The particles in question are
called colloids. They are microscopic particles that are larger than a molecule
and tend to bind to soil and sand grains because of the colloids' electric
charge.
A laboratory at Cornell
University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences published its findings in
the American Chemical Society's journal,
Environmental Science & Technology.
The study attempts to understand
the prevalence of colloids in groundwater from soils exposed to flowback fluid
via accidental "hydrofracking" spills. They filled tubes with soil
mixed with synthetic colloids that shined red under a bright light microscope.
In one tube, the researchers poured deionized water. In the other tube, they
poured flowback fluid from a drilling site at the Marcellus Shale.
Fewer than 5% of the colloids
were leached out of the soil with the deionized water when it was released. But 32-36% of the colloids were released
with the flowback fluid.
The authors of the paper believe
the cause to be the chemical properties of the flowback fluid, which is used to
extract the natural gas from shale. The
fluid most likely reduces the binding forces between the colloids and the soil.
Any colloids that bind to the soil when the flowback fluid spills into it will
be leached, along with bound pollutants and heavy metals, into the groundwater.
The researchers will obtain more
data to understand how natural colloids in the soil are affected by flowback fluid.
Previous studies found that 10-40% of the fracking fluid used to extract
natural gas flows back to the surface, resulting in colloid contamination such
as what is seen in this study.
Cathelijne Stoof, a postdoctoral
associate at Cornell and the corresponding author of the paper, says,
"Sustainable development of any resource requires facts about its
potential impacts, so legislators can make informed decisions about whether and
where it can and cannot be allowed, and to develop guidelines in case it goes
wrong. In case of spills, you want to know what happens when the fluid moves
through the soil."
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/9203/20140625/fracking-fluid-spills-increase-risk-of-contaminated-groundwater.htm
15. Fear of Fracking
“The trouble, of course, is that
much of Europe, especially the western half, doesn’t want to frack. France (which has considerable reserves)
has banned it, Germany has effectively done the same, and Mr. Cameron’s
enthusiasm has been slowed in the United Kingdom by not-in-my-backyard
environmental protests. As Conservative MP Nick Herbert put it last year,
fracking has sparked a “fear of the unknown.”
An eight-month investigation by
the Center for Public Integrity,
InsideClimate News and the Weather Channel found that in Texas, the top oil-
and gas-producing state, the air-monitoring system in a major fracking region
known as the Eagle Ford Shale “is so flawed that the state knows almost nothing
about the extent of the [air] pollution” in the area.
Fragments of data on fracking do
exist. For example, a new study by British and American academics in the
journal Marine and Petroleum Geology calculates that 6.3 percent of 8,030 inspected gas wells in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus
Shale experienced structural problems between 2005 and 2013. That’s useful
information, but it takes account of only one state and one type of problem
(albeit an important one).
The U.S.EPA expects to complete a
study of how fracking impacts water in 2016, two years behind schedule. It will
include consolidated information on spills of fracking-related fluid, meaning
problems like leaking storage pits and spills from trucks.
This is material we need, but
even the EPA is finding it hard to pull the data together, according to its
latest progress report. For example, in frack-frenzied Texas no database exists
on accidents related to hydraulic fracturing. Oil and gas regulators keep data
on spills such as the recent Galveston barge collision, but they do not tally
chemical spills linked to fracking, according to the EPA report.
Wyoming and Colorado, among
others, do not break out hydraulic fracturing data on accidents either. An
industry website, FracFocus.org, contains some information about fracked wells
(unrelated to accidents), but it is partial — especially as it relates to
chemical disclosures — as well as voluntary and difficult to pull data sets
from.
The influence of
oil and gas money has a long reach into academic institutes, not to mention
state government. “’Frackademia’ has become the preferred term to describe the
new partnerships forming between academia and the fracking industry,” Cary
Nelson, a professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, wrote in
the Times Higher Education last year. (Similarly, the industry challenges
studies in which academics are perceived to have an environmentalist bias.)
When I covered oil and gas in
Texas between 2010 and 2013, one of the hot topics was the amount of water used
in fracking. Fracking can use 4 million to 6 million gallons of water per well,
or more, so at a time when drought was hitting Texas hard, that naturally came
under scrutiny. For journalists, it was frustrating that the major study on the
subject (performed by University of Texas researchers) was funded by an oil and
gas association.
My great hope is to get beyond
the juvenile conversation we’re having now — the echoes of which are heard
worldwide — in which environmentalists holler loosely, “Fracking contaminates
groundwater!” To which the industry — taking the term “fracking” to mean the
specific process of rock-breaking, perhaps the least of the risks — responds,
“No, it doesn’t!”
Read
more: http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2014/04/13/Fear-of-Russia-fear-of-fracking-KATE-GALBRAITH/stories/201404130016#ixzz36SwrPXir
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Checks to our group should be
made out to the Thomas Merton
Center/Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group. And in the Reminder line please
write- Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group. The reason for this is that
we are one project of 12 at Thomas Merton. You can send your check to:
Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group, PO Box 1040, Latrobe, PA, 15650. Or you
can give the check or cash to Lou Pochet or Jan Milburn.
To make a
contribution to our group using a credit
card, go to www.thomasmertoncenter.org. Look for the contribute
button, then scroll down the list of organizations to direct money to. We are
listed as the Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group.
Please be sure to write Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group
on the bottom of your check so that WMCG receives the funding, since we are
just one project of many of the Thomas Merton Center. You can also give your
donation to Lou Pochet or Jan Milburn.
Westmoreland Marcellus Citizen’s Group—Mission Statement
WMCG is a project
of the Thomas Merton Society
To
raise the public’s general awareness and understanding of the impacts of
Marcellus drilling on the natural environment, health, and long-term economies
of local communities.
Officers: President-Jan Milburn
Treasurer and Thomas Merton Liason-Lou Pochet
Secretary-Ron Nordstrom
Facebook Coordinator-Elizabeth Nordstrom
Science Advisor-Dr. Cynthia Walter
To receive our
news updates, please email jan at westmcg@gmail.com
To remove your
name from our list please put “remove name from list’ in the subject line
