EPA Escalates Debate Over Gas Fracturing on Water Quality Concern
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-09/epa-asks-nine-companies-to-disclose-chemicals-for-gas-extraction.html
EPA Escalates Debate Over Gas Fracturing on Water Quality Concern
Federal regulators asked companies including Halliburton Co. to disclose chemicals used to dislodge underground natural gas after residents in two states where the practice is widespread were warned not to drink well water.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asked nine oil service companies to identify chemicals they employ in hydraulic fracturing for a study on potential threats to drinking water, the agency said yesterday in a statement. In fracturing, millions of gallons of chemically treated water are forced into underground wells to break up rock and allow gas to flow.
The EPA action is likely to heighten the debate over drilling for gas locked in shale formations, which is accelerating along with concern over possible health and environmental risks. Such production may produce 50 percent of the U.S. gas supply by 2035, up from 20 percent today, according to IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates.
“EPA is taking seriously its charge to examine the risks associated with hydraulic fracturing,” Kate Sinding, senior attorney with the New York-based Natural Resources Defense Council, said in an interview. “As EPA goes forward with its studies, we may well see recommendations about what the states can and should be doing better, as well as plans for more federal oversight.”
Wyoming, Pennsylvania
On Aug. 31, the EPA told residents of Pavillion, Wyoming, not to drink water after benzene, methane and metals were found in groundwater. Pennsylvania regulators issued a similar warning to residents near Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s gas wells after reports on Sept. 2 of water bubbles in the Susquehanna River. States have taken the lead in overseeing the boom in hydraulic fracturing after the EPA’s oversight role was limited by a 2005 energy bill. Congress is debating legislation to give the EPA explicit authority over the process.
Since 2008, 1,785 wells have been drilled in Pennsylvania’s portion of the Marcellus Shale, a gas-rich rock formation from New York to West Virginia. New York regulators have placed a moratorium on new gas drilling and the state senate voted in August to prohibit new permits until May 15.
The EPA will hold public hearings on the issue in Binghamton, New York, next week.
“The companies have different views on whether or not they should be providing this information,” Kevin Book, managing director at ClearView Energy Partners LLC, a Washington-based policy analysis firm, said in an interview. “The EPA is nudging in everywhere they see what looks like state accommodation.”
Halliburton Statement
Houston-based Halliburton said it would comply with the request.
“Halliburton supports and continues to comply with state, local and federal requirements promoting the forthright disclosure of the chemical additives that typically comprise less than one-half of one-percent of our hydraulic fracturing solutions,” Teresa Wong, a Halliburton spokeswoman, said yesterday in an e-mailed statement.
EPA’s request for companies to volunteer the information also went to Schlumberger Ltd.; BJ Services Co., which was acquired this year by Baker Hughes Inc.; Complete Production Services Inc.; Key Energy Services Inc.; Patterson-UTI Energy Inc.; RPC Inc.; Superior Well Services Inc. and Weatherford International Ltd., according to the agency’s statement.
“We are pro-actively evaluating all of our wells in the area and we are prepared to take all necessary steps to remedy the situation,” Chesapeake spokesman Brian Grove said in an e- mail. “Based on comprehensive field testing, the issue does not pose a threat to public safety or the environment.”
‘Misinformation’ Campaign
Gas drilling is safe and will benefit residents and produce tax revenue, the Hamburg, New York-based Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York, an industry group whose directors include representatives from Halliburton and Talisman Energy Inc., said in a statement. Critics of fracturing in New York have waged a “a calculated campaign of misinformation and ignorance,” said IOGA executive director Brad Gill.
“Our position is generally we have no qualm with disclosing what it is we’re adding to the water we’re pumping,” Joe Winkler, chief executive officer for Houston-based Complete Production Services, said in an interview.
Since 2009, the EPA has been investigating complaints of tainted groundwater in Pavillion, Wyoming, in Fremont County, about 100 miles (161 kilometers) west of Caspar. While the latest round of tests detected petroleum hydrocarbons, including benzene and methane, in wells and in groundwater, the agency said it could not pinpoint the source of the contamination.
More Tests
Further tests are planned. The EPA is working with Calgary- based EnCana Corp., the primary gas operator in the area, according to a statement.
Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake was issued a notice of violation and is working with Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection to determine the source of gas detected in the Susquehanna River and at six private water wells this month. The Chesapeake wells haven’t been fractured with water and chemicals and aren’t producing gas.
“This scientifically rigorous study will help us understand the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water, a concern that has been raised by Congress and the American people,” EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said in a statement.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jim Efstathiou Jr. in New York at jefstathiou@bloomberg.net.
EPA Gets an Earful at Coal Ash Disposal Hearings
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/sep2010/2010-09-09-092.html
EPA Gets an Earful at Coal Ash Disposal Hearings
DALLAS, Texas, September 9, 2010 (ENS) – Concerned about the health and environmental dangers of coal ash dumps, hundreds of residents from four states packed a U.S. EPA hearing in Dallas Wednesday, urging the agency to adopt the stronger of two plans to regulate the waste from coal-fired power plants.
The agency’s proposed regulation is the first national effort to ensure the safe disposal and management of ash from coal-fired power plants, which generate some 136 million tons of coal ash every year.
Texas burns more coal than any other state and also produces more coal ash. Power companies can bury it in landfills or store it in impoundment ponds, or they sell it as a component of building materials, roads or pavement.
“EPA must protect the public health by regulating this waste.” said Travis Brown of the Neighbors for Neighbors group in Texas. “Because coal ash is being dumped into unlined mining pits in our community, we are concerned that the groundwater we depend on may become contaminated.”
“Without federal oversight,” he said, “the state of Texas will continue to put profits before people and allow companies to escape cleaning up their own messes.”
“Doctors and scientists are just beginning to learn how the hazardous substances found in coal ash detrimentally affect human health,” said Dr. J.P. Bell, an emergency room physician from Fort Smith, Arkansas.
Coal ash is composed primarily of oxides of silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium, magnesium, titanium, sodium, potassium, arsenic, mercury, and sulfur plus small quantities of the radioactive elements uranium and thorium.
“I learned that radioactive coal ash dumps are like sleeper cells, causing chaos down the road,” said Dr. Bell. “The health of citizens not affected until they become patients 20 years later.”
“In my personal experiences with citizens in Arkansas and Oklahoma battling against these huge waste pits, I have seen the negative consequences firsthand. Common sense dictates that the EPA should protect citizens when industry and the states refuse to.”
Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said, “It’s been an inspiring day, seeing so many people from the region taking action to protect their air, their water, their health.”
The public hearing is one of seven the EPA is holding across the nation through the end of September on its plan to regulate coal ash. EPA will hold one additional public hearing in Knoxville, Tennessee during the week of October 25, 2010, the exact date to be announced.
The need for national management criteria and regulation was highlighted by the December 2008 spill of coal ash from a surface impoundment at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston Fossil Plant in Roane County, Tennessee. TVA, a public utility owned and operated by the federal government, local, state and federal agencies continue to work on recovery and cleanup of the millions of tons of ash that buried a valley and spilled into the Clinch and Emory rivers.
EPA has proposed two main coal ash management approaches. The stronger one treats coal ash as a hazardous waste. It would phase out surface impoundments and move all coal ash to landfills. Each state would have to individually adopt this version of the rule, which would be enforced by state and federal governments.
Protective controls, such as liners and ground water monitoring, would be required at new landfills to protect groundwater and human health, under the stronger proposal. Existing landfills would have no liner requirements, but groundwater monitoring would be required.
The weaker proposal would continue to allow coal ash to be disposed in surface impoundments, but with stricter safety criteria. New impoundments would have to be built with liners.
Existing surface impoundments would also be required to install liners and companies would be provided with incentives to close these impoundments and transition to safer landfills which store coal ash in dry form. Existing impoundments would have to remove solids and retrofit with a liner or close the dump within five years of the rule’s effective date.
This weaker proposal would apply across the country six months after final rule takes effect, but there would be no state or federal enforcement. Citizens or states would have to enforce this version of the rule through the courts.
The coal industry prefers the weaker proposal, which treats the ash as as a non-hazardous product.
Thomas Adams, executive director of the American Coal Ash Association, told the EPA hearing in Denver last week that by labeling it as a toxic, the EPA would jeopardize a successful recycling industry for coal ash products such as bricks and concrete that uses nearly half the coal ash produced.
In advance of the public hearings, the Environmental Integrity Project, Earthjustice and Sierra Club issued an extensive report on the nationwide scope of the coal ash disposal problem.
The report, “In Harm’s Way” pinpoints 39 previously unreported sites in 21 states where coal waste has contaminated groundwater or surface water with toxic metals and other pollutants.
Their analysis is based on monitoring data and other information available in state agency files and builds on a report released in February of 2010, which documented similar damage at 31 coal combustion waste dumpsites in 14 states.
When added to the 67 damage cases that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has already acknowledged, the total number of sites polluted by coal ash or scrubber sludge comes to at least 137 damaged sites in 34 states.
“At every one of the 35 sites with ground water monitoring wells, on-site test results show that concentrations of heavy metals like arsenic or lead exceed federal health-based standards for drinking water,” the report states.
“For years nobody, including the Environmental Protection Agency, has had a full picture of how much of this toxic waste is out there, where it is, or if it is safely contained. It has been dumped with no federal oversight, and utterly inadequate state policies,” said Dr. Neil Carman, Clean Air Program director with the Lonestar Chapter of Sierra Club. “Now that we’re aware, we are finding contamination everywhere we look.”
Site tracks shale industry campaign spending
http://citizensvoice.com/news/site-tracks-shale-industry-campaign-spending-1.1021359
Site tracks shale industry campaign spending
BY ROBERT SWIFT (HARRISBURG BUREAU CHIEF)
Published: September 20, 2010
HARRISBURG – The natural gas industry contributed more than $3 million to statewide and legislative candidates from 2001 through March and spent more than $5 million on lobbying since 2007 when a new public disclosure law took effect, according to a new campaign spending tracking website.
Common Cause PA and Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania recently launched the website www.marcellusmoney.org to provide a window on industry spending as up to date as possible under the infrequent state campaign finance reporting deadlines. The website is searchable by company, political candidate and contribution amount.
It debuts with intense debate over Marcellus Shale tax and regulatory issues dominating Harrisburg during an election year.
Search our online databases on natural gas drilling
The site identifies 25 natural gas companies as top campaign contributors during the past decade, including several active in Northeast Pennsylvania, a hot spot for drilling and exploration in the Marcellus Shale geological formation. They include Chesapeake ($75,000), Chief Oil & Gas ($16,800), Anadarko ($8,600), Williams Production ($2,750) and Cabot Oil & Gas ($1,500).
Indiana, Pa.-based SW Jack Drilling tops the list with $950,000 in contributions, one-third of the total. But there’s an important caveat. The firm’s chairwoman is Christine L. Toretti, the National Republican committeewoman and frequent contributor to GOP candidates.
According to the website, the top 10 recipients of driller campaign cash during the past decade include: Attorney General and GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett ($372,000), Lt. Gov./Senate GOP leader Joseph Scarnati ($117,000), Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell ($84,000), Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dan Onorato ($74,000), Rep. David Reed, R-Indiana ($57,000), Democratic Auditor General and gubernatorial candidate Jack Wagner ($50,000), Sen. Don White, R-Indiana ($48,000).
Also: Senate Appropriations Chairman Jake Corman, R-Bellefonte ($33,800), Former House Democratic leader Bill DeWeese, D-Waynesburg ($29,400) and House Minority Whip Mike Turzai, R-Pittsburgh ($26,000).
Northeastern region lawmakers receiving contributions include House Speaker Keith McCall, D-Summit Hill ($12,000), Senate Minority Leader Robert Mellow, D-Peckville ($7,000), Rep. Matt Baker, R-Wellsboro ($6,200), Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Lower Saucon Township ($5,300), Sen. David Argall, R-Tamaqua ($3,900), Rep. Tina Pickett, R-Towanda ($2,500), Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman Township ($1,500), Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Williamsport ($1,500), Sen. John Gordner, R-Berwick ($1,300), House Majority Leader Todd Eachus, D-Butler Township ($1,250), Rep. Ed Staback, D-Archbald ($500), Rep. John Yudichak, D-Nanticoke ($250) and Rep. Karen Boback, R-Harveys Lake ($250).
“This is such a good issue to demonstrate the power of money in elections in Pennsylvania,” said Common Cause director Barry Kauffman, citing the impact of the drilling boom on water quality, local roads and the use of chemicals in fracking fluids. “These are all pretty important issues for people in two-thirds of the state.”
Industry spokesmen point to another side of the coin regarding efforts to influence policy on Marcellus Shale issues.
Two Harrisburg-based nonprofit organizations that advocate for a state severance tax on natural gas production have funding issues of their own, they add. The environmental group PennFuture receives taxpayer-funded grants to promote alternate-energy development, while the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, which issues studies on the tax structure, has major labor leaders on its board.
The natural gas industry doesn’t receive tax dollars and is transparent about who contributes to its advocacy efforts, said Travis Windle, spokesman for the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry trade group.
Alex Kaplan, the Marcellus website creator, built the database using campaign reports filed with the Department of State. The department’s campaign finance website allows for searches of individual candidates and PACs, but not anything more in-depth.
“It’s impossible to get a sweeping view of an industry on that (state) website,” said Kaplan. He said such analysis is important since Pennsylvania is one of the few states that doesn’t limit the amount of campaign contributions.
rswift@timesshamrock.com
PV update at meeting slated Wed.
http://standardspeaker.com/news/pv-update-at-meeting-slated-wed-1.1019510
Published: September 19, 2010
PV update at meeting slated Wed.
The Tri-County Polycythemia Vera Community Advisory Committee will hold a public meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the auditorium of Tamaqua Area High School, 500 Penn St.
The meeting will provide information on a number of ongoing health-oriented studies aimed at determining the extent of polycythemia vera and related myelo-proliferative diseases and its possible link to environmental conditions in the area.
Dr. Vince Seaman of the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry will give a summary of the research and a number of the research leaders will be present to answer questions on each specific study.
Drexel University investigators will attempt to determine factors that may contribute to the polycythemia vera cluster in the Tamaqua-Hazleton area by examining environmental and occupational histories of patients with the rare form of cancer and comparing them with those free of the disease.
A team from the University of Pittsburgh team is comparing polycythemia vera rates in the area to those in four counties in western Pennsylvania coal country to look for similarities and differences.
Tamaqua Mayor Chris Morrison will chair the meeting and explain the role of the advisory committee. He said it is important to get as much information as possible.
“We have a serious health threat in our area and one that may affect future generations,” Morrison said.
Hydraulic Fracturing Reports
For a better sense of what is going on with hydraulic fracturing, read these two reports.
Dimock Municipal Water
http://www.newschannel34.com/news/local/story/Dimock-Municipal-Water/nQ3hhSe3YkOkC1NQvgqwgw.cspx
Dimock Municipal Water
Last Update: 9/17/2010 10:15 pm
Pennsylvania’s top environmental regulator is proposing that residents in Dimock, PA who have had their drinking water wells contaminated by nearby hydro-fracking, be connected to municipal water supplies six miles away.
John Hanger says the best and only solution is to connect residents to the water system in Montrose at a cost of more than $10 million. The state DEP determined that the residential wells were contaminated with methane as a result of nearby natural gas drilling by Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas. Cabot has been supplying the homes with bottled water and the residents have launched a lawsuit against the company. Hanger says that if Cabot balks at paying the tab, the state will pay for the work itself, then go after Cabot for the money.
Researchers Concerned About Chemical In The Monongahela River
http://kdka.com/local/chemical.monongahela.river.2.1919015.html
Sep 17, 2010 8:02 pm US/Eastern
Researchers Concerned About Chemical In Mon River
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―The Monongahela River is the source for 13 different water companies.
The drinking water comes out of taps in homes and businesses in the better part of southwestern Pennsylvania.
Now researchers at Carnegie Mellon University are raising concerns about the level of bromide in the Mon River – something they detected in July and August.
“Bromide itself is not a concern,” says Dr. Jeanne VanBriesen, director of CMU’s Water Quality In Urban Environmental Systems Center. “We’re concerned that when the bromide gets into the drinking water plants there’s a reaction that takes place.”
And that reaction comes when the river water is disinfected with chlorine and forms byproducts. The byproducts are always present in our water at different levels, but continuous high levels are linked to health problems, says Dr. VanBriesen.
“Particularly cancer and reproductive outcomes,” she said.
There is not a lot that water companies can do. The bromide contamination has to be stopped at its source. They must find out how it’s getting into the river.
“We initially started researching it because the Marcellus Shale produced-water does have a significant amount of bromide,” Dr. VanBriesen said.
But the bromide levels only spiked this summer and a lot of other industries are capable to producing bromide.
“It’s crucial for people to understand that we’re concerned about this, but the water is safe to drink,” Dr. VanBriesen said.
It’s the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s job to monitor contaminants in the rivers.
“Going back and using our data to look at all the dozens of facilities along the Mon that discharge into the river,” is what the watchdog department is doing says spokesperson Katy Gresh.
DEP detectives will be looking at three categories of potential bromide polluters.
“Deep mining, oil and gas as you mentioned and other heavy industry like power plants and steel plants,” Gresh said.
Finding a source may take six months to a year to sample bromide levels, but for now the DEP agrees that our water meets all federal standards.
The increased bromide levels have nothing to do with the musty taste and smell that some water company customers were experiencing last month due to stressed algae in the rivers.
U.S. Offshore Wind Potential Four Times Total Power Generated
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/sep2010/2010-09-14-091.html
U.S. Offshore Wind Potential Four Times Total Power Generated
GOLDEN, Colorado, September 14, 2010 (ENS) – The potential of offshore wind power in the United States to generate electricity is at least four times as great as the nation’s total electric generating capacity from all sources in 2008, finds a new assessment by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
In their technical report, Marc Schwartz, Donna Heimiller, Steve Haymes, and Walt Musial state, “Offshore wind resources have the potential to be a significant domestic renewable energy source for coastal electricity loads.”
Issued Friday, the NREL report presents the first draft of a national validated offshore wind resource database needed to understand the magnitude of the U.S. wind resource and to plan the distribution and development of future offshore wind power facilities. No offshore wind farms currently exist in the United States.
Wind availability and distribution is characterized by level of annual average wind speed, water depth, distance from shore, and state administrative areas.
The estimate does not describe actual planned offshore wind development, and the report does not consider that some offshore areas may be excluded from energy development on the basis of environmental, human use, or technical considerations.
The “Assessment of Offshore Wind Energy Resources for the United States” shows that 4,150 gigawatts of potential maximum wind turbine capacity from offshore wind resources are available in the United States.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in 2008 the nation’s total electric generating capacity from all sources was 1,010 gigawatts.
The NREL report’s estimate is based on the latest high-resolution maps predicting annual average wind speeds, and shows the gross energy potential of offshore wind resources.
The potential electric generating capacity was calculated from the total offshore area within 50 nautical miles of shore, in areas where average annual wind speeds are at least 16 miles per hour at a height of 295 feet.
The research team assumed that five megawatts of wind turbines could be placed in every square kilometer of water that met these wind characteristics.
Detailed resource maps and tables for the offshore wind resources of 26 coastal states’ bordering the oceans and the Great Lakes break down the wind energy potential by wind speed, water depth, and distance from shore.
The offshore transformer station at the Lillgrund wind farm in the Oresund Sound between Malmo and Copenhagen converts the electricity produced by 48 turbines for use by 60,000 households supplied by the Swedish national grid. (Photo courtesy Siemens)
In May 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy released a report detailing a deployment scenario by which the United States could achieve 20 percent of its electric energy supply from wind energy.
Under this scenario, offshore wind was an essential contributor, providing 54 gigawatts of installed electric capacity to the grid.
“When President Obama took office in January 2009, his message clearly reinforced this challenge in a broader context of energy independence, environmental stewardship, and a strengthened economy based on clean renewable energy sources,” the authors state.
But many technical and economic challenges remain to be overcome to achieve the deployment levels described in the 20 percent wind report, the authors acknowledge.
“Many coastal areas in the United States have large electricity demand but have limited access to a high-quality land-based wind resource, and these areas are typically limited in their access to interstate grid transmission,” they say.
The new database will be periodically revised to reflect better wind resource estimates and to include updated information from other datasets. It is intended to serve as the foundation for future modifications that may include specific exclusion areas for the calculation of the nation’s offshore wind resource potential.
Offshore wind projects totaling more than 5,000 megawatts have been proposed and are in the planning or development stages in the United States and interest in offshore wind power development is growing among governments and also in the private sector.
On July 14, the American Wind Energy Association, AWEA, the national wind industry association, announced the formation of the Offshore Wind Development Coalition, called OffshoreWindDC. The new coalition will focus on advocacy and education efforts to promote offshore wind energy.
Founding members and contributors to the Offshore Wind Development Coalition include the corporations Apex Wind, Cape Wind, Deepwater Wind, Fishermen’s Energy, NRG Bluewater Wind, OffshoreMW, and Seawind Renewable.
Jim Lanard, president of OffshoreWindDC, said, “We are delighted to join with AWEA to advocate for policies that will support the development of this well-established technology. Our joint efforts will lead to job creation, significant economic development opportunities and environmental and energy security for our country.”
“The creation of this coalition demonstrates the growing interest in offshore wind energy in the U.S.,” said AWEA CEO Denise Bode. “Offshore wind provides a great opportunity to increase the use of renewable energy, thanks to the strong and steady winds that blow off our shores and proximity to electricity demand centers, particularly along the Eastern Seaboard and in the Great Lakes.”
The new coalition will join AWEA in working to secure long-term tax policy for offshore wind and shorten the permitting timeline for projects.
The effort will involve AWEA, offshore wind developers, and other stakeholders in states such as Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Michigan, Illinois and Ohio.
Bode said, “Offshore wind energy is proven in Europe, and will soon be hard at work here in America, powering our economy, protecting our environment, and creating jobs.”
In June, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and the governors of 10 East Coast states signed a Memorandum of Understanding that formally establishes an Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy Consortium to promote the efficient, orderly, and responsible development of wind resources on the Outer Continental Shelf.
On April 21, the federal government approved Cape Wind, a 130-turbine wind power project in Nantucket Sound off the Massachusetts coast that is the nation’s first approved offshore wind development.
A public-private partnership in New York State is developing a 350-megawatt offshore wind project. The Long Island – New York City Offshore Wind Project would be located about 13 nautical miles off the Rockaway Peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens.
The New York Power Authority now is reviewing five proposals from wind developers to build offshore wind turbines in lakes Ontario or Erie. Lawmakers in some lakeside counties have expressed opposition.
In addition, NRG Bluewater Wind has proposed wind power projects off the coasts of Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey; and Deepwater Wind is involved with projects off the coasts of Rhode Island and New Jersey.
On August 19, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed into law the most comprehensive legislation yet passed by a state to support the development of offshore wind energy. The Offshore Wind Economic Development Act directs the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to develop and establish an offshore wind renewable energy certificate program that requires a percentage of electricity sold in the state to be from offshore wind energy.
There have been some setbacks. On August 20, Duke Energy announced the cancellation of plans to develop a three-turbine offshore wind demonstration project in a lagoon in North Carolina’s Pamlico Sound. Duke blamed high costs and greater than expected environmental impacts.
Nevertheless, the U.S. Department of Energy estimates that of the 300,000 MW of wind power that could generate 20 percent of U.S. electricity in 20 years, 50,000 MW would likely be offshore.
Penn State will hold workshop on drilling water tests
http://citizensvoice.com/news/penn-state-will-hold-workshop-on-drilling-water-tests-1.1017737
Published: September 18, 2010
Penn State will hold workshop on drilling water tests
Penn State Cooperative Extension will hold an informational workshop on how to interpret pre- and post-gas drilling water test reports starting at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 27 in the Lake-Lehman Junior-Senior high school on Old Route 115 in Lehman Township.
Participants will learn how to understand the reports, as well as what drinking water standards are, how to treat pre-existing water quality problems, and the importance of chain-of-custody. Penn State Extension educators Peter Wulfhorst and Bryan Swistock will be the presenters.
The program is sponsored by the Penn State Master Well Owner Network, with funding and support from Penn State Cooperative Extension, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the Pennsylvania Groundwater Association.
For information or to register to attend, call (570) 825-1701, 602-0600 or 888-825-1701.
Cancer-cluster research data will be explained Polycythemia vera public meeting set for Tamaqua on Sept. 22
http://www.tnonline.com/node/135107
Reported on Saturday, September 18, 2010
Cancer-cluster research data will be explained Polycythemia vera public meeting set for Tamaqua on Sept. 22
By JOE PLASKO jplasko@tnonline.com
The Tri-County Polycythemia Vera Community Advisory Committee (Tri-County PV CAC) will hold a public meeting at 7 p.m. on Sept. 22 at the Tamaqua Area School District Auditorium on Stadium Hill, 500 Penn Street.
The scope of the meeting is to provide the public with information on a number of ongoing health-oriented studies aimed at determining the extent of polycythemia vera and related myeloproliferative diseases (MPDs) and their possible link to environmental conditions in the area.
Polycythemia vera is a rare blood cancer in which the body produced too many red blood cells. A cluster of polycythyemia vera has been detected in the tri-county area of Schuylkill, Carbon and Luzerne, concentrated around Ben Titus Road in Still Creek.
Research has discovered a genetic mutation, known commonly as JAK2, that has been identified in polycythemia vera patients.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Dr. Vince Seaman of the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) will give an overall summary of the research and a number of the research leaders will be present to answer questions on their specific studies.
Drexel University investigators will attempt to determine factors that may contribute to the PV cluster in the Tamaqua-Hazelton area by examining environmental and occupational histories (and other factors) of patients with PV and MPD related disease and comparing them with those free of these diseases.
The University of Pittsburgh team is conducting a study that will compare PV rates in the Tamaqua-Hazelton area to those in four western Pa. counties to look for similarities and differences in the two coal-producing areas that can provide clues to the causes of the disease.
Tamaqua Mayor Christian Morrison will chair the meeting and explain the role of the CAC community organization.
“Several of these teams will soon be conducting interviews in our area, so it is critical that we get as much information as possible,” said Morrison in a news release. “We have a serious health threat in our area and one that may affect future generations. We need to find out why we have a cancer cluster and eliminate the cause. In the meantime, we need to take good care of the patients and their families.”