Living in a Police State?
http://citizensvoice.com/news/state-homeland-security-monitoring-surprises-local-activists-1.1017812
State Homeland Security monitoring surprises local activists
BY ELIZABETH SKRAPITS (STAFF WRITER)
Published: September 18, 2010
The state Office of Homeland Security made all Pennsylvania Intelligence Bulletins public on its website Thursday, and members of a local organization critical of Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling were appalled to find out their group was frequently mentioned by name.
Gov. Ed Rendell said Tuesday he had just learned the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency’s Office of Homeland Security had been receiving intelligence bulletins from the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response, an American and Israeli nonprofit corporation. Rendell apologized to the groups listed in the bulletin and said he is canceling the contract with the Institute.
The Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition is mentioned liberally throughout those for August and September, listing upcoming events and quoting from Web forums.
GDAC co-founder Dr. Thomas Jiunta originally accepted Rendell’s apology, but now says it’s not good enough. He said the group is talking to lawyers about the possibility of a suit.
“To think our government is using our tax money to spy on us is absurd. It makes me mad. I think it’s slanderous,” he said. “That has a lot of people concerned. If they want to take a trip out of the country, are they going to be on a no-fly list?”
A paragraph from the July 30 bulletin is an example of why they’re upset. It states, “The escalating conflict over natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania may define local fault lines and potentially increase area environmentalist activity or eco-terrorism. GDAC communications have cited Northeastern Pennsylvania counties, specifically Wyoming, Lackawanna and Luzerne, as being in real ‘need of our help’ and as facing a ‘drastic situation.'”
“I’m freaked out,” GDAC member Audrey Simpson of Shavertown said when she heard of the bulletins.
“It does freak me out, too. It’s really freaky, the whole thing,” Jiunta agreed.
“I think the ironic thing is, who’s actually harming our infrastructure and our water supplies? It’s the gas companies. They’ve got it all wrong,” he said. “Our organization is about helping people and preserving the health, safety and welfare of the public.”
Some of the information in the bulletins is questionable. The one for Aug. 30 states branches of the Swiss banking giant UBS AG – including one in Plains Township – could be targeted by anti-mountaintop coal removal activists Rainforest Action Network for protests or illegal actions “including trespassing, lock-downs and vandalism.” UBS AG was allegedly involved in financing mountaintop coal removal mining in West Virginia.
However, the Plains branch of UBS AG was sold in September 2009 and is now the Stifel Nicolaus financial services firm, according to the branch’s manager, who did not want to be named.
In an e-mail, Homeland Security Director James F. Powers Jr. said, “When the Plains Branch of UBS AG was sold in September 2009, the assets/liabilities may or may not have been paid at the time of sale.”
Since the stockholders are the only ones privy to the sale details, Powers said, it is unknown whether any outstanding loans that may have funded mountaintop coal removal methods were paid or transferred to the new owner.
He said the bulletins were provided for “situational awareness.”
“(We) rely on the local owner/operator’s knowledge to determine any mitigating actions based on their security system, etc. I don’t think anyone, regardless of their analytical expertise, would say with any certainty, that the site is 100% secure when these groups openly cite their intent,” Powers stated.
“We never know what our adversaries are thinking. But we know, or should know, the weaknesses of our security plans,” he concluded, “And Hope will never be a Security Strategy.”
eskrapits@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2072
Cement flows for permanent plug of BP’s Gulf well
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GULF_OIL_SPILL?SITE=PALEH&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-09-18-07-21-23
Sep 18, 2010
Cement flows for permanent plug of BP’s Gulf well
By HARRY R. WEBER
Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Crews pumped cement into BP’s blown-out oil well thousands of feet below the sea bottom Saturday, working to finally seal the runaway well.
Engineers initially had planned to pump in mud before the cement, but a BP spokesman said that wasn’t necessary because there was no pressure building inside the well.
BP expects the well will be completely sealed – and declared permanently dead – sometime Saturday, five months after the catastrophe began April 20, when an explosion killed 11 workers, sank a drilling rig and led to the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
The cement couldn’t be pumped in until a relief well drill nearly 2.5 miles beneath the floor of the Gulf intersected the blown-out well, which happened Thursday.
The relief well was the 41st successful drilling attempt by John Wright, a contractor who led the team drilling the relief well aboard the Development Driller III vessel. Wright, who has never missed his target, told The Associated Press in August that he was looking forward to finishing the well and celebrating with a cigar and a quiet getaway with his wife.
“I am ready for that cigar now,” Wright said in an e-mail Friday to the AP from aboard the DDIII.
The Gulf well spewed 206 million gallons of oil until the gusher was first stopped in mid-July with a temporary cap. Mud and cement were later pushed down through the top of the well, allowing the cap to be removed. But officials will not declare it dead until it is sealed from the bottom.
BP PLC is a majority owner of the well and was leasing the rig from owner Transocean Ltd.
The oil spill was an environmental and economic nightmare for people along the Gulf Coast that has spawned civil and criminal investigations. It cost gaffe-prone BP chief Tony Hayward his job and brought increased governmental scrutiny of the oil and gas industry, including a costly moratorium on deepwater offshore drilling that is still in place.
With oil still in the water – some of it still washing ashore – people continue to struggle. Fishermen are still fighting the perception their catch is tainted, and tourism also has taken a hit.
Battle lines drawn over drilling in Delaware watershed
http://standardspeaker.com/news/battle-lines-drawn-over-drilling-in-delaware-watershed-1.1017453
Battle lines drawn over drilling in Delaware watershed
BY STEVE MCCONNELL (STAFF WRITER)
Published: September 18, 2010
The battle lines among pro and anti-natural gas drilling groups are being drawn in the Delaware River watershed amid the development of new regulations by an obscure federal-interstate agency that has jurisdiction over the industry and has put the clamps on it.
Both groups have been firing salvos recently hoping to shape gas drilling policy here, a 13,539-square mile area draining into the Delaware River that has been mostly off-limits to gas drilling including a ban on producing gas wells enacted in May.
But environmentalists were dealt a major blow Wednesday to convince the Delaware River Basin Commission to conduct an cumulative impact study of natural gas drilling.
Seventy-seven organizations issued a joint letter to the commission, a five member-board that manages water resources in the four-state area, urging them to vote at their Wednesday meeting in West Trenton, N.J. to undertake the substantial environmental study prior to adopting new natural gas regulations.
That request, however, never came to fruition – giving pro-drillers some relief because it would have extended the drilling moratorium that is in place while the commission develops its regulations, a process that began this year.
Peter Wynne, a spokesman for the Northern Wayne Property Owners Alliance, a landowners group that has secured at least 80,000 acres in Wayne County for gas development, said Thursday it is not sensible to conduct a major environmental study before even knowing if there is a viable Marcellus Shale gas reserve in the watershed.
“The whole think would be an exercise in futility,” said Wynne, whose group signed a land lease agreement late last year with Newfield Exploration Company and Hess Corp.
Tracy Carluccio, deputy director of Delaware Riverkeeper Network, said the commission’s lack of action on the study was a considerable setback, however, since the commission could use it to create effective regulations to protect the watershed.
“We really can’t develop regulations that would prevent pollution” without the study, Carluccio said. “You can’t develop regulations in a vacuum. We know it’s not safe now.”
Carluccio and other environmentalists remain concerned that a massive, industry-scale gas drilling operation could cause irreparable damage to the watershed and the Delaware River, which is part of the U.S. National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, home to the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, and provides drinking water to an estimated 15 million people.
A U.S. House subcommittee has appropriated $1 million for the study, conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey and limited to the watershed. If and when that money will be available is not known.
Commmission spokesman Clarke Rupert said that even if such a study is funded today, “it could still be several years before final results … are known.”
The commission will move ahead with developing and adopting draft regulations regardless of whether the study is or is not done, he added.
Meanwhile, draft regulations – which were expected to be finished this month by commission staff – have been pushed back to mid-October.
Industry opponents had also asked the commission to halt exploratory well drilling – four wells are either in development or have been drilled in Wayne County – until the new regulations are put in place.
The commission denied the request by vote Wednesday.
The matter will, however, go before a retired federal U.S. district court judge in December who will make a recommendation whether the agency should regulate these wells before its gas rules are adopted or be included in the current moratorium.
24 counties on state’s drought warning list
http://www.tnonline.com/node/134746
Reported on Friday, September 17, 2010
24 counties on state’s drought warning list
Pennsylvania environmental officials have put 24 counties including Carbon, Schuylkill, Northampton and Monroe under a drought warning and the rest of the state under a drought watch.
Meager rainfall and high temperatures prompted the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to issue the warnings Thursday. DEP Secretary John Hanger says a hot, dry summer has led to steadily declining ground and surface water levels.
A drought warning asks residents to voluntarily reduce water use by 10-15 percent.
DEP said rainfall deficits over the past 90 days are currently as great as 5.6 inches below normal in Somerset County and 5.5 inches in Bucks County.
Other counties under a drought warning include Philadelphia, Allegheny, Lehigh, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Bucks, Montgomery and Washington.
A drought watch is the lowest of three advisory levels and a drought warning is the second-most severe condition. No counties in the state are under a drought emergency.
DEP is sending letters to all water suppliers statewide, notifying them of the need to monitor their supplies and update their drought contingency plans as necessary. It monitors a statewide network of groundwater wells and stream gauges that provide comprehensive data to the state drought coordinator.
DEP offers the following tips for conserving water around the home:
Ÿ Install low-flow plumbing fixtures and aerators on faucets
Ÿ Check for household leaks a leaking toilet can waste up to 200 gallons of water a day
Ÿ Take short showers instead of baths. Kitchen/laundry areas
Ÿ Replace older appliances with high efficiency, front-loading models that use about 30 percent less water and 40-50 percent less energy
Ÿ Run dishwashers and washing machines only with full loads
Ÿ Keep water in the refrigerator to avoid running water from a faucet until it is cold.
The department also offers water conservation recommendations for commercial and industrial users, such as food processors, hotels and motels, schools and colleges, as well as water audit procedures for large water customers. Water conservation tips and drought information can be found online at www.depweb.state.pa.us, keyword: drought.
Some in Palmerton feel borough was shortchanged
http://www.tnonline.com/node/134788
Reported on Friday, September 17, 2010
Some in Palmerton feel borough was shortchanged
By TERRY AHNER tahner@tnonline.com
TERRY AHNER/TIMES NEWS Dr. Kathleen Patnode, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, gives a presentation on the Palmerton Zinc Pile Superfund Site Natural Resource Damage Assessment to members of the Palmerton Area Chamber of Commerce earlier this week.
Has Palmerton been shortchanged out of a $20 million settlement for damage to the environment?
A number of borough officials and business owners believe so, and let their thoughts be heard at a meeting of the Palmerton Area Chamber of Commerce earlier this week.
Dr. Kathleen Patnode, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Pennsylvania Field Office, explained the nature of the settlement reached last year between the Environmental Protection Agency and CBS Operations, Inc, as well as the decision-making process that determined how the funds are to be used.
Recently, government trustees have decided that more than 95-percent of the natural resource damage assessment funds are expected to be expended on projects well outside the Palmerton area.
Patnode gave a presentation on the Palmerton Zinc Pile Superfund Site Natural Resource Damage Assessment Draft Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment.
As part of her dialogue, Patnode shared the context for the natural resource damaged assessment; summarized the natural resource injury assessment; outlined the restoration opinions analysis; described the preferred restoration alternatives; and reviewed the public process.
Patnode said that under Superfund site law, natural resource damage assessments are conducted by government officials designated to act as “trustees” to bring claims on behalf of the public for the restoration of natural resources injured due to hazardous substances. Those trustees include the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, Department of Environmental Protection, Pennsylvania Game Commission, and Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, she said.
The goal, Patnode said, is to make the public whole for the hazardous substance-related loss of natural resources through restoration, replacement, or acquisition of the equivalent of injured resources.
Patnode stressed that natural resource damages are in addition to remedial actions. and that remedial actions are risk-based to protect human health and the environment from further unacceptable harm, such as to bind metals in soils and plants on the mountain; to stop metals from contaminating groundwater; and to prevent metals from entering the creek.
Natural resource damages for the Palmerton site are the restoration needed to compensate for the level and type of natural resources that would have existed if metals had not contaminated the mountain, groundwater and creek, Patnode said.
She said the keys in the NRDA process are to define the scope, evaluate the injury, use information to reach settlement with potentially responsible parties, and develop a restoration plan.
The settlement for natural resource damages was reached with the responsible parties on Oct. 27, 2009, by judicial consent decree, Patnode said.
That includes the transfer of about 1,300 acres of the “King Manor” property to PGC; the discharge of the $300,000 mortgage on the Lehigh Gap Nature Center; a nonprofit conservation and environmental education organization located in the Lehigh Gap; a cash payment of $9.875 million, that, based on the cost of potential restoration projects, would compensate for remaining losses; as well as full reimbursement of the trustees’ damage assessment costs, she said.
The proposal, Patnode said, calls for the funds to be used for habitat acquisition/easement protection of the Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge; Lehigh River Headwaters and other areas on Kittatinny Ridge and the Lehigh River; a Lower Lehigh River Dam removal feasibility study; a Parryville access site for fishing on the Lehigh River; and restoration and enhancement of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail.
But, many residents in the Palmerton area believe that a greater percentage of the funds should be use on local environmental projects, said Peter Kern, chamber president.
“I think everybody understands the difference between remediation and replacement,” Kern said. “People are concerned there will be little or no money in the local community.”
Terry Costenbader, president of Palmerton Borough Council, was a bit more blunt in his approach.
“Let’s cut to the chase; CBS is paying the penalty here for causing the damage,” Costenbader said. “It sounds to me you people want to spend the money in other areas than where we’re sitting.”
Jim Christman, owner of Christman Realty, told Patnode the criteria “seems odd”, and added that the real damage to the community “has been the stigma as a Superfund Site attached to it.”
Patnode said that while she could empathize, a specific set of rules and regulations must be followed.
“I understand what you’re saying and that there could be many civic products in Palmerton,” Patnode said. “This law only basically allows us to restore natural resources.”
Patnode said appropriate lands could include the Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge and the Upper Lehigh River area.
She said the public comment period was from June 15 to July 15; however, comments submitted after the deadline were accepted. Trustees will review all comments and develop a revised document and response to the comments, Patnode said.
Also, she said additional restoration projects for Trustee evaluation are being accepted. But, Patnode said potential projects won’t be reviewed until the restoration plan is final; projects will be divided by alternative type and evaluated by the subcouncil responsible for that alternative; and the subcouncil recommendations must receive unanimous vote by the entire trustee council.
Patnode said the goal is to get the plan finalized this fall, at which point projects could be reviewed.
Dan Kunkle, director of the Lehigh Gap Nature Center, said the group is merely “following the law.”
“I trust they are going to look at our proposals, and accept or reject them based on the criteria,” Kunkle said. “I think the project is really working.”
Gas Drilling Report Details 100+ Contamination Incidents
http://www.newsinferno.com/archives/24079
Date Published: Friday, September 17th, 2010
Gas Drilling Report Details 100+ Contamination Incidents
An environmental group has compiled a report detailing more than 100 instances of environmental contamination linked to the gas drilling operations around the country. The group, Riverkeeper, is urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to examine these incidents as it studies the gas drilling process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
The report, Fractured Communities, highlights case studies where federal and state regulators identified gas drilling operations, including those that utilize hydraulic fracturing, as the known or suspected cause of groundwater, drinking water, and surface water contamination.”
“Despite industry rhetoric to the contrary, the environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing are real,” Craig Michaels, Watershed Program Director for Riverkeeper and an author of the report, said in a statement. “The case studies highlighted here represent just a sample of problems that regulators, landowners, municipalities, and communities across the country continue to uncover. We trust that EPA will assist state agencies in monitoring and investigating these problems as the agency continues its scientific study of the impacts of hydraulic fracturing.
Specifically, the report documents:
• More than 20 cases of drinking water contamination in Pennsylvania;
• More than 30 cases of groundwater and drinking water contamination in Colorado and Wyoming;
• More than 10 cases of surface water spills of drilling fluid in the Marcellus Shale region;
• More than 30 investigations of stray gas migration from new and abandoned wells in Pennsylvania;
• Dozens of illegal operations and permit violations by gas drilling companies;
• Five explosions that occurred between 2006 and 2010 that contaminated groundwater and/or surface water.
According to Riverkeeper, state regulators have assessed over $3.6 million in penalties against gas companies as a result of these violations.
Riverkeeper’s mission is to protect the ecological integrity of New York State’s Hudson River and its tributaries, and to safeguard the drinking water supply of New York City and the lower Hudson Valley. Gas drillers have been eyeing massive deposits in New York’s Marcellus shale region, which includes the entire Catskills watershed that provides New York City with all of its drinking water. People there are worried that drilling could pollute the watershed. The state’s Department of Environmental Conservation has had gas drilling permit approvals on hold since 2008 while it conducts an environmental review of fracking.
The EPA announced its fracking study in March, following an order from the US Congress. The agency had issued a report on hydraulic fracturing in 2004, but it was criticized as flawed due to heavy industry influence on the panel that reviewed that study. The 2004 study ostensibly found that fracking posed no threat to water quality, but an EPA whistleblower claimed findings that showed benzene and other toxic chemicals in fracking fluid could migrate into ground water had been suppressed in the final report.
It was that report that convinced Congress to exempt fracking from regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act. As a result, regulation of the industry is left up to the states, and drillers are not required to disclose the chemicals they use in their fracking fluids.
Government puts monitoring advocacy groups above protecting drinking water
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/ksinding/government_puts_monitoring_adv.html
Posted September 15, 2010 in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment
Government puts monitoring advocacy groups above protecting drinking water
Another scandal surfaced in the Pennsylvania drilling world today – this time with a twist: in an email he accidentally sent to an anti-drilling advocate, the head of the state’s Office of Homeland Security revealed he has been monitoring groups fighting to protect against health & environmental risks associated with fracking and reporting back to gas companies. You read that right.
To quote State Homeland Security Director James Powers’ email directly: “We want to continue providing this support to the Marcellus Shale formation natural gas stakeholders, while not feeding those groups fomenting dissent against those same companies.”
The irony here is painful. The government won’t protect Americans from health & environmental risks associated with natural gas drilling, but they will protect gas companies from those Americans. It can’t regulate this heavy industrial activity that transforms communities and threatens grave health & environmental risks – but it can let the gas companies know which public meetings concerned citizens plan to attend.
If there is a concern about violence, of course, that would be one thing. The official did indicate the groups are being monitored because there have been “five to 10” incidents of vandalism related to the industry – and that’s not an act we support. But meanwhile, hundreds of residents have reported concerns – that many could themselves interpret as violent – that gas drilling may be tied to home explosions, flammable tap water and health issues. Yet the comapnies are still operating, right in their backyards. Who’s watching them?
This raises so many (more) questions about how gas companies are operating in Pennsylvania and perhaps even around the country. As an advocate for protecting against threats from gas drilling – I can’t help but wonder:
-Whose idea was this in the first place?
-Has any of this information been reported to the federal government?
-Is this really just a ploy to spy on advocacy groups concerned about drilling’s risks?
-What information did the PA Office of Homeland Security give to the government?
-Who exactly are they monitoring and how? Are they tapping our phones? Reading our email?
-Why can’t they figure out a way to protect citizens instead?
-What’s next?
EPA to Hold Public Hearing in Pittsburgh on Proposed Coal Ash Regulations
EPA News Release (Region 3): EPA to Hold Public Hearing in Pittsburgh on Proposed Coal Ash Regulations
Contact: Donna Heron 215-814-5113 / heron.donna@epa.gov
EPA to Hold Public Hearing in Pittsburgh on Proposed Coal Ash Regulations
When: Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2010 – 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Where: Omni Hotel, 530 William Penn Place, Pittsburgh, Pa.
What: This is one of eight public hearings on the agency’s proposal to regulate the disposal and management of coal ash from coal-fired power plants. EPA’s proposal is the first-ever national effort to ensure the safe disposal and management of coal ash from coal-fired power plants.
Each hearing will begin at 10 a.m. and continue until 9 p.m. with a break at noon and 5 p.m. The hearing will continue past 9 p.m. if necessary. Walk-in requests to speak will be accommodated as time permits. Written comments will be accepted at the hearing. The agency will consider the public’s comments in its final decision.
The need for national management criteria and regulation was emphasized by the December 2008 spill of coal ash from a surface impoundment near Kingston, Tenn. The proposal will ensure for the first time that protective controls, such as liners and ground water monitoring, are in place at new landfills to protect groundwater and human health. Existing surface impoundments will also require liners, with strong incentives to close these impoundments and transition to safer landfills which store coal ash in dry form. The proposed regulations will ensure stronger oversight of the structural integrity of impoundments and promote environmentally safe and desirable forms of recycling coal ash, known as beneficial uses.
EPA has proposed two main management approaches, one of which phases out surface impoundments and moves all coal ash to landfills; the other allows coal ash to be disposed in surface impoundments, but with stricter safety criteria.
More information about the proposed regulation: http://www.epa.gov/coalashrule
To view the chart comparing the two approaches: http://www.epa.gov/coalashrule/ccr-table.htm
Lab finds toxic chemicals in Dimock Twp. water
http://citizensvoice.com/news/lab-finds-toxic-chemicals-in-dimock-twp-water-1.1014270
Lab finds toxic chemicals in Dimock Twp. water
BY LAURA LEGERE (STAFF WRITER)
Published: September 16, 2010
Michael J. Mullen / times-shamrock
Victoria Switzer of Dimock Township presents an array of photographs depicting environmental problems caused by gas drilling in the area to Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty in March. Water testing by a private environmental engineering firm has found widespread contamination of drinking water by toxic chemicals in an area of Dimock Township already affected by methane contamination from natural gas drilling.
Reports of the positive test results first came Monday when Dimock resident Victoria Switzer testified at an Environmental Protection Agency hearing on hydraulic fracturing in Binghamton, N.Y., that the firm Farnham and Associates Inc. had confirmed ethylene glycol, propylene glycol and toluene were present in her water.
The firm’s president, Daniel Farnham, said this week that the incidence of contamination is not isolated.
Instead, he has found hydrocarbon solvents – including ethylbenzene, toluene and xylene – in the well water of “almost everybody” on and around Carter Road in Dimock where methane traced to deep rock formations has also been found.
The chemicals he found in the water in Dimock generally have industrial uses, including in antifreeze, gasoline and paint – except propylene glycol, which is also used in food products.
All of the constituents are also frequently used as chemical additives mixed with high volumes of water and sand to fracture gas-bearing rock formations – a crucial but controversial part of natural gas exploration commonly called “fracking.”
Farnham’s findings could cast doubt on the safety of the practice, which state regulators and the gas industry say has never been definitively linked to water contamination during the 60 years it has been used.
Critics say compelling anecdotal evidence, like that from Dimock, indicates otherwise.
Farnham stopped short of attributing the contamination to natural gas activity.
“Do I have enough information to say that this stuff came from fracking? I can’t prove that,” he said. “I don’t think anybody can. But it certainly is interesting.”
Residents in Dimock began raising concerns about their water nearly two years ago, when they began to notice changes in odor, color, taste and texture.
The Department of Environmental Protection determined that Cabot Oil and Gas Corp. allowed methane from a deep rock formation to seep into 14 residential drinking water supplies through faulty or overpressured casing in its Marcellus Shale gas wells.
But the department also determined in March 2009 that hydraulic fracturing activities had not impacted the water wells after it tested for indicators of fracturing impacts, including salts, calcium, barium, iron, manganese, potassium and aluminum.
In April of this year, Switzer and two of her neighbors who live at the bottom of a valley along Burdick Creek noticed that their water ran soapy. A DEP specialist came to test the water three days later, she said, but by that time the foam was gone.
DEP results from its April tests for ethylene glycol and propylene glycol found no trace of the chemicals, DEP spokesman Tom Rathbun said.
But over the spring and summer, with routine testing, Farnham noticed a pattern of troubling spikes: “After a heavy rain, certainly these things seem to crop up as the aquifer is disturbed,” he said.
“What I found was hydrocarbons – ethylbenzene, toluene – in almost everybody who was impacted in the area,” he said. “Oddly enough, if I were to go due east or due west of the affected area, I found nothing.”
In August, Farnham shared the results with Cabot during a meeting concerning a lawsuit many of the affected families have filed against the company. During a second meeting that month with the families in Dimock, Farnham told DEP Secretary John Hanger and Oil and Gas Bureau Director Scott Perry what he had found.
Rathbun, the DEP spokesman, said the agency is currently testing for toluene throughout the affected area and will be able to evaluate Farnham’s findings once its own widespread round of testing is done. “To date, DEP’s lab analyses do not support his findings,” he said.
Cabot Oil and Gas Corp. spokesman George Stark said pre-drill testing performed by Farnham when he was contracted by land agents of the company in May 2008 showed the hydrocarbon solvents and glycols pre-existed in some wells.
Farnham said Wednesday he never tested for the constituents in 2008, let alone detected them.
Farnham’s investigation into the contaminants is ongoing: He has more samples to analyze and more spikes in the test results to research and confirm. But he is certain that his findings so far are correct.
“I double- and triple-checked everything to make sure the evidence is irrefutable,” he said.
llegere@timesshamrock.com
Marcellus job portal now online
http://standardspeaker.com/news/marcellus-job-portal-now-online-1.1013914
Marcellus job portal now online
FROM STAFF REPORTS)
Published: September 16, 2010
The Marcellus Shale Coalition has launched a website intended to connect job seekers with its members – natural gas companies and related businesses.
The “job portal” at [ www.marcelluscoalition.org ] offers descriptions of job opportunities and what the required qualifications are, from equipment operators and well tenders to geophysicists and market research analysts, and have links to the employment pages of companies’ websites.
“The responsible development of the Marcellus Shale’s abundant, clean-burning natural gas resources continues to expand throughout the region, helping to fuel a robust and growing supply chain network – the ‘Marcellus Multiplier’ – across the commonwealth,” Marcellus Shale Coalition Executive Director Kathryn Klaber noted in a prepared statement.
“Our industry is committed to putting Pennsylvanians to work, strengthening our workforce and our economy, and putting our nation on a path toward a cleaner and more secure energy future,” she said.