Study: Dense drilling impacting watersheds
http://standardspeaker.com/news/study-dense-drilling-impacting-watersheds-1.1050047
Study: Dense drilling impacting watersheds
By Laura Legere (Staff Writer)
Published: October 17, 2010
A preliminary study of Susquehanna County watersheds has found that high-density Marcellus Shale gas drilling might degrade streams regardless of how carefully that drilling is done.
The tentative findings were released by researchers with the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia on Tuesday to demonstrate the need for studies of the long-term and cumulative impacts of deep-gas drilling on watersheds – an area largely devoid of research despite the rapid expansion of Marcellus Shale gas extraction in the state.
The preliminary study conducted this summer by academy researchers and a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania looked at small watersheds in and around Dimock Township, an epicenter of shale drilling in the region.
Scientists compared water quality and the presence of environmentally sensitive insects and salamanders in nine similar watersheds, three of which had no drilling, three some drilling and three a high density of drilling.
The watersheds with high-density drilling – defined as four to eight wells per square kilometer – had significant impacts on all measures compared to those with little or no drilling, the researchers found.
Water conductivity – a measure of the dissolved salts and metals in the stream and a potential indicator of the presence of gas drilling wastewater – was almost twice as high in the streams in high-density areas than those in areas with little or no drilling.
In the high-density sites, the number of both sensitive insects and salamanders were reduced by 25 percent.
The findings were first reported Tuesday by The Philadelphia Inquirer.
“The data suggest, on one hand, that you could have a certain level of drilling and be OK,” said Dr. David Velinsky, vice president of the academy’s Patrick Center for Environmental Research. “But if you get to a watershed where you have tons of these well pads and the associated infrastructure, you’ll see some change in the ecosystem health.”
A spokesman for the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry group, said the organization does not comment “on preliminary, non-peer-reviewed, unreleased ‘studies’ that we have not even had the opportunity to examine.”
The spokesman, Travis Windle, referred to national and state studies that show a trend of high and increasing levels of total dissolved solids in streams “long before Marcellus production commenced just a few years ago.”
Total dissolved solids, or TDS, can come from many sources, including road salt and fertilizer. Velinsky said the researchers accounted for other sources of TDS, in part by comparing similar streams in the same region.
He also said the main purpose of the preliminary data is to demonstrate the need for funding for a more rigorous field experiment of between 30 to 40 watersheds. The researchers have applied to the state’s Growing Greener program to fund such a study.
llegere@timesshamrock.com
Lawmakers must take action now on fracking
http://www.centredaily.com/2010/10/15/2273735/lawmakers-must-take-action-now.html
Lawmakers must take action now on fracking
October 15, 2010 12:36am EDT
Pennsylvania’s legacy: raped by timber, oil and coal industries. The Boomtown Syndrome should make us cautious about empty job and wealth promises. Visit coal country; canoe the Red (from mine acid) Moshannon to see this legacy.
Industry and political leaders encourage another boom-bust cycle with the rush to drill for natural gas. The advent of horizontal drilling and hydrofracking made deep shale drilling possible; Marcellus Shale lies under 65 percent of Pennsylvania.
Dick Cheney, behind closed doors, exempted this industry from America’s environmental laws — the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Community Right to Know Act. The stage was set for the wild-west mentality of gas drilling. That drama has moved east — epicenter, Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania government was not prepared. The Department of Environmental Protection issued permits for 4,000 Marcellus wells: 1,435 violations in 2.5 years, 952 likely to harm the environment. So far in 2010, 969 wells drilled and 852 violations.
DEP is playing catch up; they are not protecting us. This industry’s trucks damage our roads; state police found 40 percent had safety violations. Hydrocarbon emissions foul our air. Gas drilling and frack water pollute our water — ever heard of Dimock, Susquehanna County? Treatment of the industry’s wastewater — flowback, which includes a toxic brew of secret proprietary chemicals, salts and possible low-level radioactivity. This mixture is diluted and dumped into our streams.
This is the “treatment” mentality of the industrial revolution from a century ago — just send it downstream. Drill cuttings, possibly low-level radioactive waste, also present a disposal problem.
An industrial grid will be constructed over rural Pennsylvania and our public lands. It will take one pad every square mile, eight wells per pad, 5 million gallons of frack water containing 25,000 gallons of toxic chemicals per well. Do the math: Pennsylvania will be radically, permanently changed. 250,000 wells to get this gas?
The impacts will, by any measure, be huge. A conservative approach would be to slow down, get an accurate picture and decide how to proceed. We ask legislators to take action:
•No additional permits until state government enacts laws and regulations to make Marcellus gas well drilling safe and environmentally sound.
•Reform the Oil and Gas Act: require mandatory inspections, disclose fracking chemicals, extend the presumption of pollution and protective setback distances, adequate bonds, protect municipal zoning and police powers — bonding requirements of $2,500 per well are ridiculously low.
•No leases on public lands until an analysis is conducted on the impact of existing leasing — one-third of the 2.1 million acres of state forests has already been leased.
•Enact a severance tax comparable to other states and provide funding for communities impacted by gas drilling and for environmental conservation — 96 percent of natural gas is produced in states with a severance tax.
•No “forced pooling.” Forced pooling only undermines landowner rights.
Remember, the Pennsylvania Constitution says: “The people have a right to clean air, pure water and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment.
“Pennsylvania’s public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.”
Gary Thornbloom, of Julian, is chairman of the Sierra Club Moshannon Group. He can be reached at bear knob@verizon.net.
E.P.A. Official Seeks to Block West Virginia Mine
E.P.A. Official Seeks to Block West Virginia Mine
By JOHN M. BRODER
Published: October 15, 2010
WASHINGTON — A top federal regulator has recommended revoking the permit for one of the nation’s largest planned mountaintop removal mining projects, saying it would be devastating to miles of West Virginia streams and the plant and animal life they support.
In a report submitted last month and made public on Friday, Shawn M. Garvin, the Environmental Protection Agency’s regional administrator for the Mid-Atlantic, said that Arch Coal’s proposed Spruce No. 1 Mine in Logan County should be stopped because it “would likely have unacceptable adverse effects on wildlife.”
In 2007, the Bush administration approved the project, which would involve dynamiting the tops off mountains over 2,278 acres to get at the coal beneath while dumping the resulting rubble, known as spoil, into nearby valleys and streams. The Obama administration announced last year that it would review the decision, prompting the mine owner, Arch Coal, based in St. Louis, to sue.
In its review, the E.P.A. found that the project would bury more than seven miles of the Pigeonroost Branch and Oldhouse Branch streams under 110 million cubic yards of spoil, killing everything in them and sending downstream a flood of contaminants, toxic substances and life-choking algae.
Kim Link, a spokeswoman for Arch Coal, said in a statement that the company intended to “vigorously” challenge the recommendation.
“If the E.P.A. proceeds with its unlawful veto of the Spruce permit — as it appears determined to do — West Virginia’s economy and future tax base will suffer a serious blow,” Ms. Link said. She said the company planned to spend $250 million on the project, creating 250 jobs and tens of millions of dollars in tax revenues in a struggling region
“Beyond that, every business in the nation would be put on notice that any lawfully issued permit — Clean Water Act 404 or otherwise — can be revoked at any time according to the whims of the federal government,” she said, referring to the federal law under which the original permit was granted. “Clearly, such a development would have a chilling impact on future investment and job creation.”
The E.P.A. said the construction of waste ponds as well as other discharges from the Spruce No. 1 mining operation would spread pollutants beyond the boundaries of the mine itself, causing further damage to wildlife and the environment.
Arch Coal had proposed to construct new streams to replace the buried rivers, but the E.P.A. said they could not reproduce the numbers and variety of fish and plant life supported by the indigenous streams.
An E.P.A. spokesman said that Mr. Garvin’s recommendation was a step in a long process and that the agency’s Office of Water and the E.P.A. administrator, Lisa P. Jackson, would review his report and thousands of public comments before making the final decision, likely before the end of the year.
The Sierra Club applauded the E.P.A. for “staring down Big Coal and industry lobbyists.”
“This mother of all mountaintop removal coal mines would destroy thousands of acres of land, bury seven miles of streams and end a way of life for too many Appalachian families,” the Sierra Club’s executive director, Michael Brune, said in a statement.
Shale seminars being offered
http://www.timesleader.com/news/Shale_seminars_being_offered_10-14-2010.html
Posted: October 15, 2010
Shale seminars being offered
Times Leader staff
Educational seminars are being offered later this month in Williamsport and Mansfield to provide information to landowners in the Marcellus Shale region interested in leasing mineral rights to natural gas companies.
Three regional companies have teamed up to develop a two-hour presentation on the issues. A financial planner with Legacy Planning Partners, two attorneys with Hamburg, Rubin, Mullin, Maxwell & Lupin, and an environmental compliance technician with Brubacher Excavating will be presenters.
Both seminars will be on Oct. 28; The first, from 8 to 10:30 a.m. at Old Corner Hotel, 328 Court St., Williamsport; the second, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. in the North Manser Dining Room at Mansfield University, 39 College Place, Mansfield.
Registration starts a half hour beforehand Free breakfast and refreshments will be provided.
Animations show extent of Marcellus Shale development
http://live.psu.edu/story/48893#nw69
Penn State Ag Sciences Newswire – 10.11.2010
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Animations show extent of Marcellus Shale development
University Park, Pa. — The pace and extent of Marcellus Shale development across Pennsylvania can be “seen” in animated maps produced by the Penn State Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research.
Based on data from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the animations (http://www.marcellus.psu.edu/resources/maps.php) show both the number of drilling permits issued for the Marcellus Shale target and the number of wells drilled by year from 2007 through August 2010. Although permits were issued prior to 2007, information on those permits did not include latitude and longitude.
“These animations give people a chance to see how the pace of Marcellus development has accelerated,” said Tom Murphy, co-director of the Marcellus Center and extension educator with Penn State Cooperative Extension. “When you look at these animations, you are able to trace where development is occurring and get a sense of the rate at which it is occurring.”
The two animations also allow comparison between the number of permits issued and the actual number of wells drilled.
The animations show that interest in the Marcellus has skyrocketed with just 99 drilling permits issued in 2007 compared to 2,108 in the first eight months of 2010. A similar surge in the numbers of wells drilled is also evident. In 2010, through August 31, 950 wells had been drilled in the Marcellus Shale while in all of 2007, only 43 wells were drilled.
“We expect that the uptick in Marcellus well drilling activity will continue, given the high production rates being seen in the wells and the relatively low cost to develop this gas resource,” said Michael Arthur, co-director of Penn State’s Marcellus Center and professor of geosciences. “Even with the low natural gas commodity pricing, drilling in the Marcellus can still be profitable for efficient companies.”
The DEP updates its permit and well reports weekly at http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/deputate/minres/oilgas/RIG10.htm. A separate spreadsheet identifies Marcellus permits and whether they are for horizontal or vertical wells.
The Marcellus Shale occurs as deep as 9,000 feet below ground surface and covers about 95,000 square miles over six states including Pennsylvania. Its organic carbon-rich, gas-producing layers range from less than five feet thick to more than 250 feet thick. Estimates are that the Marcellus has enough recoverable natural gas to supply the entire U.S. for at least 20 years at the current rate of consumption.
The Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research (www.marcellus.psu.edu) is supported by Penn State Outreach, Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment and the colleges of Agricultural Sciences and Earth and Mineral Sciences.
For more information, contact the Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research, marcellus@psu.edu or (814) 865-1587.
No biosolids dumping
http://www.tnonline.com/node/140749
No biosolids dumping
Reported on Thursday, October 7, 2010
By LIZ PINKEY TN Correspondent tneditor@tnonline.com
LIZ PINKEY/SPECIAL TO THE TIMES NEWS More than 70 residents and local officials packed into the Schuylkill Township building last night to protest a proposed biosolid dumping project.
Overflow Schuylkill Township crowd learns company will not pursue project
By LIZ PINKEY TN Correspondent tneditor@tnonline.com
It was standing room only at last night’s Schuylkill Township meeting. Approximately 65 residents filled the township hall, while another 10 spilled out into the hallway.
The group gathered to voice their opposition to a proposal to dump biosolids in the township. Also on hand to lend their support were state Rep. Jerry Knowles, East Brunswick Township Supervisor Jeff Faust, Tamaqua Mayor Christian Morrison, and Christine Verdier, state Sen. David Argall’s chief of staff.
The issue first came to light at last month’s meeting when representatives from Material Matters, an Elizabethtown-based consulting firm, presented a proposal to use biosolids for mine reclamation in the township.
Although residents came armed with “Stop the Dumping” signs and were clearly prepared to vehemently protest the use of biosolids, the point became moot when the supervisors received a fax from Material Matters just minutes before the start of the meeting, advising them that Material Matters would not be pursuing the project at this time.
A sigh of relief swept the audience, but many are aware that it is only a matter of time before the issue comes up again. Despite invitations to meet with Material Matters personnel and tour another facility where the biosolids have been utilized, Knowles said that he is not satisfied that the material is safe.
“I have a 2 1/2-year-old grandson and I would not want this stuff anywhere near him,” he said. “I don’t pretend to be a chemist, but I’m smart enough to know when something is bad.”
Verdier said that her primary concerns were not as Argall’s chief of staff, but as a resident of the immediate area.
“I’m your neighbor. I not only live here, I am active on the water authority. I walk the ball field often,” she said. “My relationship with the community was priority number one.” Verdier encouraged residents to stand united and behind the supervisors on the issue.
“This does not mean they will be gone forever,” she said of the company’s decision not to pursue the project.
Morrison also applauded the community’s determination to keep the sludge out of their township.
“The best thing you can do is what you’re doing right here,” he said. Faust, who as a supervisor in East Brunswick Township, has done battle with the sludge companies, encouraged the township to adopt an ordinance similar to the one that his township has in place. Faust related the three-year battle that East Brunswick waged against the state’s attorney general.
“We have been lobbying for three years to get legislation initiated to protect ourselves. If they’re not going to ban it, then it must come back to local control,” he said.
Township solicitor Michael Greek said that the township has an ordinance banning the dumping of biosolids in place; however, they are looking to update the ordinance based on the one that East Brunswick, that has withstood legal challenges. Supervisors Linda DeCindio and Charles Hosler agreed that the ordinance will be approved as quickly as possible.
Penn State has Marcellus Shale Web tool
http://www.timesleader.com/news/Penn_State_has_Marcellus_Shale_Web_tool_10-08-2010.html
Posted: October 8, 2010
Updated: Today at 5:00 AM
Penn State has Marcellus Shale Web tool
Times Leader staff
Penn State University’s Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research on Tuesday unveiled a new Internet resource that visually tracks the development of natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale.
Animated maps display data about drilling permits issued by the state Department of Environmental Protection and wells drilled in Pennsylvania from 2007 through August of this year, visually demonstrating the rapid growth of interest in the Marcellus Shale.
There were just 99 drilling permits issued state wide in 2007 compared to 2,108 in August, 2010.
The maps can be found under the resources tab at http://www.marcellus.psu.edu.
Residents question frack wastewater treatment in valley
http://citizensvoice.com/news/residents-question-frack-wastewater-treatment-in-valley-1.1044925
Residents question frack wastewater treatment in valley
By Erin Moody (Staff Writer)
Published: October 7, 2010
HANOVER TWP. – With the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority exploring the possibility of treating natural gas drilling wastewater at its Hanover Township plant, issues that have concerned residents in the Back Mountain are now becoming a concern for residents in the Wyoming Valley.
About 30 people attended an information session Wednesday night at the Hanover Township municipal building regarding drilling and possible treatment facilities.
Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition member Scott Cannon opened the meeting with a showing of his short film, “Frack to the Future: What Luzerne Co. Needs to Know About Gas Drilling.” Fellow member Janine Dymond followed up with a presentation on the natural gas drilling process and information about the size of the water tankers and the contents of the wastewater.
For wells to supply natural gas, they must be hydraulically fractured, which involves blasting millions of gallons of chemically treated water thousands of feet underground to crack the shale rock and release the natural gas.
As to the WVSA treating the wastewater, she listed pros that included the possibility of more jobs, increased revenue to local businesses because of trucks passing through, increased tax or other revenue for the sewer authority and the opportunity to pilot better treatment methods.
The trucks will be carrying 5,000 gallons of water with toxic chemicals through residential areas, roads face damage from those heavy trucks, drilling companies are from out-of state and have “questionable integrity,” solid waste could be radioactive and there are already issues with sewage and storm water drainage, Dymond said.
By her estimations, wells in the Marcellus Shale region could create 4.3 million truckloads of wastewater.
“And even over a five-year period, that’s a lot of heavy trucks,” Dymond said.
John Minora of PA Northeast Aqua Resources attended as a representative from the WVSA and said the authority is looking into the possibility of treating 50,000 to 100,000 gallons a day, or the equivalent of five to 10 trucks.
The water could possibly be cleaned and reused for fracking, and Minora said it would not be dumped into the Susquehanna River. Another option the WVSA is looking into is selling the water it takes in for treatment to drilling companies for use in fracking. Revenue could offset the cost of plant improvements for residents, he said.
“We want to do it in an environmentally responsible way. We’ve always been good neighbors down there,” Minora said.
Awareness coalition raises concerns about gas drilling
http://www.timesleader.com/news/Awareness_coalition_raises_concerns_about_gas_drilling_10-06-2010.html
Posted: October 7, 2010
Updated: Today at 12:30 AM
Awareness coalition raises concerns about gas drilling
Consultant says WVSA is contemplating expansion to process drilling frack water.
By Sherry Long slong@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
HANOVER TWP. – Hanover Township and other parts of the Wyoming Valley have not been affected by the gas drilling centered in the Back Mountain region.
Yet, some might be affected in the future if the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority expands its Hanover Township plant to serve the needs of drilling companies.
Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition members Janine Dymond and Scott Cannon each gave presentations Wednesday night on: gas drilling; the fracking process and the dangers involved with the chemicals used; air and water pollution and heavy truck traffic. The coalition is a nonprofit volunteer member organization that works to educate people about gas drilling.
Cannon told the 40 people in attendance at the township building that if the gas drilling companies tap into vast underground gas pockets in Luzerne County as planned, a frack water treatment center might be constructed in Hanover Township by the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority (WVSA).
Addressing the crowd, John Minora, a consultant for the WVSA, said the authority is considering expanding its facility to treat used water from the drilling sites or possibly selling wastewater to the drilling companies. No decision has been reached, he said.
He said if an addition is built to process frack water, it would process 50,000 to 100,000 gallons daily. He added that public speculation that a million-gallon-a-day plant may be built is not on the drawing board.
“The water has to go somewhere. It can’t sit out there in those pits (at drilling sites),” Minora said, adding anything the WVSA does will be environmentally friendly and also generate revenue in hope of keeping residential rates low.
In a video shown by Cannon, state Rep. Phyllis Mundy, D-Kingston, stated she introduced a bill to put a one-year moratorium on issuance of new gas-drilling permits, but the state did not enact a moratorium.
Citizen Dave Gutkowski said state lawmakers should pass a moratorium.
He said he doesn’t understand why there is a big rush to start drilling for the gas when he said the shale has been around for 300 million years and will supply gas to the country for decades.
“Let it sit there a bit until we know how to do it safely,” Gutkowski said.
Dymond said a moratorium is a step in the right direction. Yet once one is passed, then lawmakers and state agencies need to begin working to establish new guidelines to monitor and regulate these gas drilling companies and protecting residents’ rights, Dymond said.
Sherry Long, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7159.
Scenes from the BP Oil Disaster: A Photo-Video Perspective
Scenes from the BP Oil Disaster: A Photo-Video Perspective
Saturday, October 23 at 5 pm
Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, Kempton
Visitor Center, FREE Lecture. 5-6:30 pm
Wildlife Photographer-Videographer Shawn Carey
See footage and hear first-and accounts from Shawn Carey’s personal investigative trips to 
document the largest oil disaster in U.S. history. Shawn Carey’s frank presentation is focused on sharing with the public exactly what he witnessed through an impressive array of visuals, including photos and video of two of the largest Brown Pelican colonies in Louisiana, the oil-soaked shoreline on many of the small islands in the bay, and the state of the clean-up efforts. Joining Shawn will be Drew Wheelan, the Gulf Coast Conservation Coordinator for American Birding Association, who help lead the wrap-up Q&A.
Part of the annual Hawk Mountain Autumn Lecture Series, this talk is free and open to the public. Please note that seating is limited and interested participants should plan to arrive well in advance. A limited number of reserved seats will be held for those who call the Sanctuary before October 20 and can arrive by 4:30 on the day of the lecture. To reserve a seat or for more information, please call 610-756-6961 or visit www.hawkmountain.org.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: 610-756-6961
www.hawkmountain.org
Seating is Limited—Plan to Arrive Early
Hawk Mountain Sanctuary
1700 Hawk Mountain Road
Kempton, PA 19529
CONTACT: Mary Linkevich
Communication & Grants Manager
linkevich@hawkmountain.org
Hawk Mountain Sanctuary
1700 Hawk Mountain Road, Kempton, PA 19529
610-756-6961 http://www.hawkmountain.org/