Don’t turn Pennsylvania into Texas
Introducing his first budget last week, Gov. Tom Corbett proposed gutting state funding for education while sparing natural gas drillers from the type of production tax imposed by all other major gas-producing states. Corbett argued that a gas industry unencumbered by a production tax would turn Pennsylvania into “the Texas of the natural gas boom.”
Well, there already is a “Texas of the natural gas boom.”
It’s called Texas.
And despite a longstanding, but loophole-ridden, 7.5 percent production tax on the nation’s most productive gas wells, Texas, like most states, is faced with a huge budget deficit.
In fact, a recent report by the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that Texas’ projected budget gap for fiscal year 2012 is the largest in the nation when measured against its current budget, at 31.5 percent.
Unlike his fellow Republican budget-cutters in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where projected budget shortfalls stand at 16.4 and 12.8 percent respectively, Texas Gov. Rick Perry can’t blame greedy state employee unions or out-of-control social spending for his money woes.
State employees in Texas have long been barred from collective bargaining and the state is notoriously stingy when it comes to spending on schools and social programs.
A 2009 study by the National Education Association found Texas ranked near the bottom for per-capita spending for public welfare programs and per-student expenditures in public schools. Nearly one-quarter of Texans lack health coverage, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, compared to about 10 percent in Pennsylvania and 15 percent nationwide.
That still hasn’t helped Texas escape the downturn in tax revenues ravaging all states, due largely to a weakened economy that seems to just now be on the road to recovery.
In fact the very refusal by uber-conservatives like Perry – who has proposed that his state opt out of the Social Security system and maybe the Union itself – to even consider reasonable and fair tax increases over the years is what has driven Texas closer to the brink than any other state.
That’s the road Tom Corbett is proposing we follow in his proposed budget.
He would rather take money and services away from public-school students, the poor and elderly than impose a fair tax on the gas industry, which, by the way, contributed nearly $1 million to his campaign.
Corbett’s proposed budget is unfair, unconscionable and unethical.
And it is likely to land us in the same mess as Texas.
http://citizensvoice.com/news/don-t-turn-pennsylvania-into-texas-1.1117896#axzz1GJB7bAaK
March 13, 2011
Bromide: A concern in drilling wastewater
The high waters of the Allegheny River flow along the 10th Street Bypass last week. Public water suppliers in Pittsburgh and elsewhere in the region are concerned about higher levels of bromide in rivers and streams as natural gas drilling increases.
Ballooning bromide concentrations in the region’s rivers, occurring as Marcellus Shale wastewater discharges increase, is a much bigger worry than the risk of high radiation levels, public water suppliers say.
Unlike radiation, which so far has shown up at scary levels only in Marcellus Shale hydraulic fracturing wastewater sampling done at wellheads, the spike in salty bromides in Western Pennsylvania’s rivers and creeks has already put some public water suppliers into violation of federal safe drinking water standards.
Others, like the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, haven’t exceeded those limits but have been pushed up against them. Some have had to change the way they treat water.
Bromide is a salty substance commonly found in seawater. It was once used in sedatives and headache remedies like Bromo-Seltzer until it was withdrawn because of concerns about toxicity. When it shows up at elevated levels in freshwater, it is due to human activities. The problem isn’t so much the bromide in the river but what happens when that river water is treated to become drinking water.
Bromide facilitates formation of brominated trihalomethanes, also known as THMs, when it is exposed to disinfectant processes in water treatment plants. THMs are volatile organic liquid compounds.
Studies show a link between ingestion of and exposure to THMs and several types of cancer and birth defects.
Marcellus Shale wastewater- current discharges
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11072/1131660-113.stm
March 13, 2011
By Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Don Hopey: dhopey@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1983
EOH Research Seminar: “Polycythemia Vera”
Research S
eminar Series of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health
“Lessons learned from studying a cluster of Polycythemia Vera in Northeast Pennsylvania”
Paul I. Roda, MD, FACP
Geisinger/Hazleton Cancer Center
Location: New College Building, 8th Floor, Hem/Onc Conference Room, 245 N. 15th Street (Joint presentation with Drexel University College of Medicine)
Date: Tuesday, April 5
Noon — 1 PM
http://publichealth.drexel.edu/Home/Home/693/vobId__3363/
Aircraft to help re-vegetate portion of Palmerton Zinc Superfund Site
(PHILADELPHIA – March 11, 2011) – The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency in cooperation with the National Park Service, will oversee use of an aircraft to plant grass and other vegetation on a 500-acre section of the Palmerton Zinc Superfund site in Pennsylvania along the Appalachian Trail at the top of Blue Mountain.
This project is part of an ongoing action to repair environmental damage that was caused by emissions from zinc smelting operations in the Borough of Palmerton. Due to the steep and remote location, a modified crop dusting aircraft will be used to distribute a specific mixture of seed, lime and fertilizer on the property owned by the National Park Service and Pennsylvania State Game Land. Weather-permitting, work is scheduled to begin the week of March 14 and should take five to six weeks to complete.
“The re-vegetation of Blue Mountain marks another step forward in a lengthy clean-up process and helps restore a beautiful portion of Appalachian Trail with native grasses, plants and shrubs so that it blends in naturally with the Pennsylvania countryside,” said EPA’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin.
“This step has been a long time coming and we are delighted to have this remediation work getting underway,” said Pamela Underhill, Park Manager for the Appalachian National Scenic Trail.
During the planting, the public will see aircraft originating from the nearby Slatington, Pa. airport flying low over the top of Blue Mountain. This aerial reseeding technique was previously used to restore other sections of the mountain west and east of the Lehigh River. The mixture of seed used during this restoration is designed to foster the growth of warm season grasses, shrubs and trees native to the area.
The restoration work is being paid for by CBS Inc., formerly Viacom International, the party potentially responsible for the contamination. More information on the Palmerton site can be found on EPA’s website at: http://www.epa.gov/reg3hwmd/super/sites/PAD002395887/index.htm .
Contacts: Roy Seneca (EPA) seneca.roy@epa.gov 215-814-5567
David Reus David_Reus@nps.gov (National Park Service) 304-535-4001
Hearing on Dallas Twp. natural gas metering station moved to April
The date and location have changed for Dallas Township’s zoning hearing on a natural gas metering station on Hildebrandt Road one-third of a mile from Dallas schools.
Chief Gathering LLC was supposed to present plans to the zoning hearing board Monday in the township building. Instead, the hearing will be held at 7 p.m. April 4 in the Dallas Middle School auditorium, Dallas Township zoning officer Leonard Kozick said.
Chief already had a hearing Feb. 9 on its original plan to build a natural gas compressor station at 49 Hildebrandt Road. That hearing also had to be moved to the middle school due to the hundreds of opponents who attended. Many residents and parents were concerned about the potential for safety hazards including explosions, as well as possible pollution.
The hearing was continued but not resumed because, within two weeks, the company promised to relocate the compressor station to another site in Dallas Township. On Feb. 24, Chief submitted a revised application for two metering station buildings, two gas flow control buildings, a 100-foot communications tower and an 8,000-gallon underground odorant tank.
Chief has not disclosed which other locations are under consideration for the compressor station, which takes liquids out of natural gas and pressurizes it before it goes into a transmission pipeline to market.
Chief waived the rule obligating the zoning board to make a decision within 45 days of the original hearing, Kozick said. He said March 23 would have been the due date.
Metering stations measure the quantity and quality of gas entering the transmission lines – in this case, the Transco interstate pipeline, which runs through Dallas Township. Williams, which owns the Transco, also plans to tap into the pipeline on a property behind the one Chief chose for its own metering station.
Although Williams hasn’t submitted plans, Kozick said he did get a registered letter Wednesday from the company asking for a preliminary opinion on whether a metering station would be an appropriate special exception use in an agricultural area. The township’s zoning ordinance does not specifically allow metering stations.
Williams would have to schedule its own zoning hearing, since Kozick said he can’t answer the question.
“That’s up to the zoning board. It’s not up to me,” he said.
Williams spokeswoman Helen Humphreys anticipates an application will be sent to Dallas Township in the coming weeks.
“We want to be sure that what we submit conforms with all the regulations and ordinances that are applicable,” she said. “That’s very important.”
Published: March 11, 2011
By Elizabeth Skrapits (Staff Writer)
eskrapits@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2072
http://citizensvoice.com/news/hearing-on-dallas-twp-natural-gas-metering-station-moved-to-april-1.1117229#axzz1GJB7bAaK
Pa.’s attempts to track gas drilling waste flawed
Liquid that comes out of the wells — first in a gush, and then gradually for the years and decades it is in operation — is ultra-salty and contaminated with substances like barium, strontium, radium, and other things that can be damaging to the environment.
The natural gas industry’s claim that it is making great strides in reducing how much polluted wastewater it discharges to Pennsylvania rivers is proving difficult to assess because of inconsistent reporting by energy companies — and at least one big data entry error in the state’s system for tracking the contaminated fluids.
Last month, Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection released data that appeared to show that drillers had found a way to recycle nearly 6.9 million barrels of the toxic brine produced by natural gas wells — fluid that in past years would have been sent to wastewater plants for partial treatment, and then discharged into rivers that also serve as drinking water supplies.
But those figures were revealed Thursday to have been wildly inflated, due to a mistake by Seneca Resources Corp., a subsidiary of Houston-based National Fuel Gas Co. The company said a worker gave some data to the state in the wrong unit of measure, meaning that about 125,000 barrels of recycled wastewater was misreported as more than 5.2 million barrels.
The error left the false impression that, as an industry, gas companies had created about 10.6 million barrels of wastewater in the last six months of 2010, and then recycled at least 65 percent of that total.
“They did put in gallons where they should have put in barrels,” Seneca spokeswoman Nancy Taylor explained after the error was reported Thursday by the Philadelphia Inquirer. There are 42 gallons in every barrel. Taylor said the company was working to correct its information.
So how much waste did the industry actually recycle? It may be impossible to say with certainty.
Not counting Seneca’s bad numbers — and assuming that the rest of the state’s data is accurate — drillers reported that they generated about 5.4 million barrels of wastewater in the second half of 2010. Of that, DEP lists about 2.8 million barrels going to treatment plants that discharge into rivers and streams, about 460,000 barrels being sent to underground disposal wells, and about 2 million barrels being recycled or treated at plants with no river discharge.
That would suggest a recycling rate of around 38 percent, a number that stands in stark contrast to the 90 percent recycling rate claimed by some industry representatives. But Kathryn Klaber, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry group, stood by the 90 percent figure this week after it was questioned by The Associated Press, The New York Times and other news organizations.
“I am definitely holding to the 90 percent,” she said, adding that her figure was based on internal industry data. “It is definitely high and going higher.”
As for the wastewater management reports filed annually with the state and reported to the public, she and other people in the industry said they aren’t fully representative of the industry’s practices.
At least one company, Range Resources of Fort Worth, Texas, said it hadn’t been reporting much of its recycled wastewater at all, because it believed the DEP’s tracking system only covered water that the company sent out for treatment or disposal, not fluids it reused on the spot.
Another company that had boasted of a near 100 percent recycling rate, Cabot Oil & Gas, also Houston-based, told The AP that the figure only included fluids that gush from a well once it is opened for production by a process known as hydraulic fracturing. Company spokesman George Stark said it didn’t include different types of wastewater unrelated to fracturing, like groundwater or rainwater contaminated during the drilling process by chemically tainted drilling muds.
DEP officials did not immediately respond to inquiries about the problems with the state’s data.
The AP reported in January that previous attempts by the state to track where wastewater was going were also flawed. Some companies reported that wells had generated wastewater, but failed to say where it went. The state was unable to account for the disposal method for nearly 1.3 million barrels of wastewater, or about a fifth of the total reported in the 12 month period that ended June 30. At least some went to a facility that had not received permission from regulators.
Among large gas-producing states, Pennsylvania is the only one that allows substantial amounts of wastewater produced by gas drilling to be discharged into rivers. Other states don’t allow the practice because of environmental concerns. The preferred disposal method in most other places is to inject the well water into rock formations far underground, where it can’t contaminate surface water.
Liquid that comes out of the wells — first in a gush, and then gradually for the years and decades it is in operation — is ultra-salty and contaminated with substances like barium, strontium, radium, and other things that can be damaging to the environment.
Pennsylvania’s strategy for protecting the health of its rivers is based partly on knowing which waterways are getting the waste, and how much they are receiving.
Regulators monitor which rivers are being used as discharge points for treated well wastewater, and use reports filed by Seneca and other companies to help decide which waterways should be watched for signs that the rivers aren’t assimilating the waste stream. Even if Seneca’s data error had gone unnoticed — unlikely given the size of the blunder — it probably would not have had an effect on that effort, because it involved waste not sent to treatment plants for river disposal.
MARCH 10, 2011
http://online.wsj.com/article/AP846de77b9e4c41dbb94ddb76dca74dd6.html
Scientists: Delaware River faces threats
PHILADELPHIA — Threats ranging from global warming to natural gas drilling could threaten the water quality in the Delaware River, scientists and environmental advocates said Thursday.
The state of the river got in-depth attention Thursday at a forum held by the federal Environmental Protection Agency with meetings at six locations in all four states along the river.
Many of the presentations focused on the dangers of climate change, which could cause the salt line to shift upriver and threaten drinking water supplies in Philadelphia or bring additional water-borne diseases to the region.
Delaware River Basin Commission executive director Carol Collier called drilling for natural gas “the huge gorilla” among things that could harm the river. The concern is that chemicals used to extract gas from deep underground in a process called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” could contaminate the drinking water supply.
A massive underground rock formation known as the Marcellus Shale, which stretches from Tennessee to New York and contains natural gas, is under about one-third of the land in the Delaware basin. It’s also under all the headwaters of the most pristine parts of the river. There, the commission, which monitors water quality in area around the river, is trying to maintain current water quality.
Collier’s agency is considering rules on how to regulate drilling in areas near the Delaware. Collier said Thursday that September is the earliest commissioners would vote on proposed regulations.
Drilling companies say their process is safe. They and many northeast Pennsylvania landowners also say the proposed regulations would be stifling for business in an area that could use a boost.
Environmental groups worry the regulations would be too permissive.
The public can comment on the proposed regulations until April 15.
Environmentalists have been pushing the DRBC to wait until there’s a full EPA study on the impacts of fracking in the region before issuing rules.
Collier said that decision will be made by her commission, which includes the governors of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware and a federal representative. But, she said, the final EPA report isn’t expected to be released for another three years.
MARCH 10, 2011
http://online.wsj.com/article/AP2383bce525c34f6a88282883079545d8.html
Devastating appropriation cut advanced for Penn State
Penn State Ag Sciences Newswire – 3.8.2011
Penn State and other Pennsylvania public universities are slated for the most dramatic appropriation cut in the history of American higher education, based on the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s budget proposal released today (March 8) by Gov. Tom Corbett.
The budget cuts Penn State’s appropriation by 52.4 percent, a devastating reduction of $182 million. This includes a 50 percent cut in Penn State’s educational appropriation, a 50 percent cut in its Agricultural Research and Cooperative Extension appropriations, the loss of all federal stimulus dollars, a reduction for the Pennsylvania College of Technology, and the total elimination of medical assistance funding for the Penn State Hershey Medical Center.
The proposed appropriation represents the most severe funding cut in Penn State’s 157-year history and suggests a redefinition of Penn State’s role as Pennsylvanias land-grant institution.
“A funding gap this large is going to fundamentally change the way we operate, from the number of students we can educate, to the tuition we must charge, to the programs we offer and the services we can provide, to the number of employees and the research we undertake,” said President Graham Spanier.
According to university officials, a cut of this magnitude jeopardizes the University’s mission of providing access and opportunity to students at 24 campuses. It would undermine support of the Commonwealth’s agricultural industry and force a complete redefinition of the state’s Cooperative Extension Service and the agricultural research upon which it depends. It would affect the University’s ability to sustain dozens of programs that support economic development in the Commonwealth.
The University currently receives less than 8 percent of its annual operating budget from the state, a figure that has eroded significantly over the last two decades. Under the governor’s proposal, that figure will fall to 4 percent.
This budget proposal comes on the heels of a decade of stagnant state appropriations that in some years also were reduced again through mid-year rescissions.
Cuts in higher education budgets are being proposed in many states, but never has a single institution’s budget been slated for a reduction of more than 50 percent in a given year. The University would have a matter of only a few weeks to manage such a catastrophic cut.
“A reduction of this magnitude would necessitate massive budget cuts, layoffs and tuition increases, with a devastating effect on many students, employees and their families,” said Al Horvath, senior vice president for Finance and Business. “While we have for many months been planning for a potential state funding cut, we could not have envisioned one so damaging to the future of the University and the Commonwealth.”
University officials report that no one in state government reached out to them with any advance notice of such a possibility, nor was there any prior discussion about the potential impact of such a cut.
Penn State has mobilized a team of University leaders to look at operational cuts. “We must consider the welfare of our students and the quality of their education, not to mention our long-term funding stability,” said Steve Garban, chairman of Penn State’s Board of Trustees. “As we work to handle a potential funding cut, we’ll be guided by our goals of quality and access, and we’ll seek to avoid having our students and their families shoulder this entire burden through increased tuition — although tuition will rise.”
“We are eager to explore with elected officials whether they support this proposal and whether they see this as the first step toward the complete elimination of public higher education in Pennsylvania,” said John Surma, CEO of US Steel, who serves as vice chair of Penn State’s Board of Trustees and chair of its Budget Subcommittee.
Administrators plan to deal with the cuts as equitably as possible, but significant downsizing in academic and administrative units will be under consideration. Scaling back plans for critical facility needs, such as major maintenance and capital improvements, will be undertaken; changes to the University’s health care programs will be revisited to create additional savings; salary increases for employees will likely again be frozen; and more across-the-board budget reductions for academic and administrative units will have to be instituted.
“We are committed to finding every possible way to reduce expenses and maintain quality,â added Spanier. “We face difficult choices and this will be an extremely challenging year — one that quite possibly will change the face of higher education in the Commonwealth.”
The governor’s budget proposal is the first step in the appropriation process. Penn State will continue to press its case for support with the General Assembly and the governor over the next several weeks.
“I want to thank Penn Staters for their continued support and for all of their efforts that allow Penn State to be the most student-centered research university in the nation,” added Spanier. “I deeply appreciate the commitment we feel from our 96,000 students, our 47,000 faculty and staff, and our 514,000 alumni. I vow to challenge the level of this reduction aggressively and welcome the support that is already pouring in.”
Expert to discuss health impacts of natural gas compressors
Dr. Conrad D. Volz of the University of Pittsburgh Center for Healthy Environments and Communities will talk about “Public Health Impacts of Natural Gas Compressor Stations” at 7:30 p.m. Monday in Insalaco Hall, Rooms 216-217, Misericordia University, 301 Lake St., Dallas.
Volz, an assistant professor of environmental and occupational health at the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh, is focused on researching how industrial and municipal contaminants move through air, water and soil and can affect humans.
Samantha Malone, a University of Pittsburgh Center for Healthy Environments and Communities Communications specialist and the founder and webmaster of FracTracker.org, an online mapping system, will also give a presentation.
The program is the second installment of the Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition’s “Educational Series for an Informed Citizenry.” It is free and open to the public. For information, visit GDACoalition.org.
Published: March 5, 2011
http://citizensvoice.com/news/expert-to-discuss-health-impacts-of-compressors-1.1114261#axzz1FY5MNqYe
Electronic recycling event slated April 25, 26 in Carbon County
The Carbon County Department of Solid Waste has announced that it will hold its spring 2011 electronic recycling event on April 25 and 26 at the Lower Towamensing Township building.
The event will take place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., on April 25, and noon to 6 p.m. on April 26.
During the two-day event, Carbon officials and Advanced Green Solutions, will accept electronics at no charge to Carbon County residents. Acceptable materials include: VCRs, DVD players, radios, stereo equipment, computer towers, printers, scanners, keyboards, laptops, hard drives, mainframe and telecom equipment, application (OEM) equipment, circuit boards of any kind, fax machines, typewriters, and telephones. Computer monitors will be accepted by Advanced Green Solutions with a $7 charge; TVs and air conditioners will be accepted with a $20 charge.
There will also be collection boxes for old cell phones and printer ink jet cartridges. Household appliances will not be accepted.
For more information, contact the Department of Solid Waste at (610) 852-5111.
http://www.tnonline.com/node/179254
Reported on Saturday, March 5, 2011