N.J. proposal would outlaw ‘fracking’ process for natural gas drilling near Delaware River

As the Delaware River Basin Commission works to establish a set of rules governing the natural gas drilling that is expected to boom in northeast Pennsylvania in the coming years, environmentalists are concerned that mining companies may find reason to cross the river and set up shop in New Jersey as well.

Critics say wastewater produced by these gas wells contains harmful substances and poses a threat to towns up and down the Delaware River in Pennsylvania and in New Jersey.

Meanwhile, lawmakers on the state and federal levels have started to react by sponsoring legislation that would close regulatory loopholes that would allow the drilling. One bill proposed in New Jersey would outlaw the process known as hydraulic fracturing entirely.

Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” is a drilling technique in which a mix of water, sand, and chemicals is injected into the well bore at high pressure to crack the rock, allowing natural gas to flow more freely.

The process has been used extensively in western Pennsylvania in a previously inaccessible underground rock formation called the Marcellus Shale.

Advances in technology, including fracking, have allowed drilling companies to access the gas-rich formation in ways previously impossible.

Critics, however, say the wastewater generated from fracking poses a serious public health risk. Some of the water has been allowed to be treated at municipal sewage treatment plants that some experts say are not capable of remediating the chemicals found in the fluid.

So far, in the Delaware River Basin, wastewater from only one municipal sewage treatment facility, 30 miles west of Trenton in Hatfield, Pa., has found its way into the Delaware. The treated wastewater was released over a one year period into the Neshaminy Creek, which drains into the Delaware south of Trenton.

When combined with chlorine, a chemical typically used to treat drinking water, some of the compounds found in the waste can form potentially cancerous agents. Recent studies have also found unhealthy levels of radium and uranium.

The radioactive elements, which can be found deep underground, have in some cases been brought to the surface after fracking.

While drilling companies have primarily focused on extracting natural gas from the Marcellus Shale, some environmentalists warn that a second, potentially gas-rich shale formation lies deep beneath a section of northwest New Jersey as well.

Known at the Utica or Martinsburg shale, authorities said it was simply a matter of time before gas companies begin pointing their drill bits at areas around the Kittatinny Mountains, north of the Delaware Water Gap.

According to Terry Engelder, a geosciences professor with Penn State University’s Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research, the Utica formation is close to the surface in Ohio and New Jersey but dips much deeper underground in Pennsylvania. A section of the formation is exposed above ground around Port Jervis, N.Y., he added.

“The Utica formation hits the Kittatinnies up by High Point and comes into Bucks County, so fracking could come a lot closer to home than people realize,” said Jeff Tittel, executive director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.

While drilling into the Utica Shale, which sits between 7,000 and 3,000 feet below the Marcellus, may prove more costly and challenging to access, experts like Conrad Volz, director of the Center for Health, Environments, and Community at the University of Pittsburgh, said it was inevitable that energy companies would set their sights on northern New Jersey.

“‘Might’ is not the question. The question is ‘when,” Volz said. “It’s all a matter of economics. It’s also a matter of capital and operational ability.”

Meanwhile, officials with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection said the state currently has no regulations on natural gas exploration.

“There is no natural gas drilling that’s going on, so it’s really not been an issue,” DEP spokesman Larry Ragonese said.

While Volz and Tittel are concerned drilling may come to New Jersey, Engelder said the potential to find natural gas here is low.

“There are indications that the Utica shale is going to be productive west of the Marcellus, so that’s the bombshell,” he said, “but I believe it’s very unlikely that anyplace in New Jersey the Utica will have a potential for being a gas shale.”

He said the rock in this area has been exposed to too much heat underground.

“The rock has been subjected to too high a temperature and the gas shale becomes burned toast,” he said. “I’m very confident of that.”

Still, Volz said that without concrete knowledge as to whether gas is present in the formation, companies could still attempt to drill exploratory wells in the region.

State and federal lawmakers have been raising the alarm about the potential for gas drilling in the region.

Bills recently introduced in the U.S. House and Senate by New Jersey lawmakers aim to close loopholes for natural gas drillers that have been written into federal environmental regulations.

The Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals (FRAC) Act, sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-New Jersey, and Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pennsylvania, would amend the Safe Drinking Water Act’s definition of “underground injection” to include fluids used for hydraulic fracturing, which would force gas drilling operations to meet Safe Drinking Water Act standards. It would also require public disclosure of the chemicals used in the process.

“There have been too many reports of contamination by fracking operations to let the practice continue without better oversight,” Lautenberg said in a statement earlier this month. “When it comes to our drinking water, safety must be the top priority.”

“People have a right to know if chemicals are being injected into the ground near their homes and potentially ending up in the water supply. This bill will ensure that the (EPA) has the tools to assess the risks of fracking and require appropriate protections so that drinking water in New Jersey and other states is safe,” he said.

In the House, Rep. Rush Holt, D-12th District, was among three congressmen who introduced the Bringing Reductions to Energy’s Airborne Toxic Health Effects (BREATHE) Act this month.

Holt’s office said the legislation aims to close a loophole in the Clean Air Act that exempts oil and gas rigs from certain air quality standards. It also adds hydrogen sulfide, a byproduct of oil and gas drilling, to the act’s list of hazardous pollutants.

“Extracting natural gas should not threaten public health or pollute our water,” Holt said in a statement. “As the ranking Democrat on the Natural Resource Committee’s Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee, I strongly support legislation to close loopholes that shield fracking from basin environmental protection regulations.”

“Our loyalties shouldn’t be with oil and gas companies — our loyalties should be with families affected by fracking,” he said.

On the state level, Sen. Linda Greenstein, D-Plainsboro, was among three legislators to sponsor a bill last year outlawing hydraulic fracturing completely in New Jersey.

Published: March 28, 2011
By Matt Fair/The Times
Contact Matt Fair at mfair@njtimes.com or at (609) 989-5707

http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2011/03/lawmakers_seek_to_ban_fracking.html