DEP Fines Atlas Resources for Drilling Wastewater Spill in Washington County
http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/newsroom/14287?id=13595&typeid=1
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
08/17/2010
CONTACT:
Katy Gresh, Department of Environmental Protection Southwest Regional Office
412-442-4203
DEP Fines Atlas Resources for Drilling Wastewater Spill in Washington County
PITTSBURGH — The Department of Environmental Protection has fined Atlas Resources LLC $97,350 for allowing used hydraulic fracturing fluids to overfill a wastewater pit and contaminate a high-quality watershed in Hopewell Township, Washington County.
The violations were discovered on Dec. 5 and 6, 2009, at the Cowden 17 gas well on Old Trail Road off Route 844. Once the unknown quantity of fluid overflowed the impoundment’s banks, it ran over the ground and into a tributary of Dunkle Run.
“It is unacceptable for drilling companies in Pennsylvania to threaten public safety or harm the environment through careless acts, such as this,” DEP Southwest Regional Director George Jugovic Jr. said. “The Marcellus Shale offers significant economic opportunities for Pennsylvania, but these companies must adopt operating standards that prevent these sorts of accidents and they must make protecting our water resources a top priority.”
This spill violated Pennsylvania’s Oil and Gas Act and Solid Waste Management Act, as well as the state’s Clean Streams Law. Atlas corrected the problem once it was discovered, but failed to report it to DEP.
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a process during which liquid is pumped under high pressure down a well and into a rock formation. This causes the formation to crack open and form passages through which natural gas can flow into the borehole.
Properly cased and cemented wells prevent the fluid from entering ground water supplies. Diluted frack fluids are classified as residual waste under Pennsylvania’s Solid Waste Management Act and industrial waste under the state Clean Streams Law.
For more information, visit www.depweb.state.pa.us or call 412-442-4000.
EPA Launches Web Forum on How to Best Protect America’s Drinking Water
http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/rulesregs/sdwa/dwstrategy/index.cfm
EPA Launches Web Forum on How to Best Protect America’s Drinking Water
Washington (Aug. 17) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is launching a web-based discussion forum to gather public input on how the agency can improve protection of drinking water.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is launching a web-based discussion forum to gather public input on how the agency can improve protection of drinking water. The information will be used in implementing EPA’s new drinking water strategy announced by Administrator Lisa P. Jackson in March.
“We look forward to reviewing the ideas and feedback from the public,” said Peter S. Silva, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Water. “This online discussion is for anyone who wants to share their input on protecting drinking water and improving public health.”
EPA seeks input from water professionals, advocates, and anyone interested in drinking water quality issues about best solutions for issues facing our nation’s drinking water—planning, developing scientific tools, controlling water pollution and use of resources.
The discussion forum will feature a series of topics based on the four segments of the drinking water strategy: addressing contaminants as groups rather than one at a time, fostering development of new technologies, using the existing authority of several statues to protect drinking water, and partnering with states to share more complete data.
The forum will be open for discussion for about a month, with each topic area being discussed separately. Addressing contaminants as groups will also be discussed separately at a web-based meeting at the end of July.
To join the discussion: http://blog.epa.gov/dwstrat
More information on the new Drinking Water Strategy: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/sdwa/dwstrategy.html
Marcellus Shale drilling violations
http://www.tnonline.com/node/125724
Marcellus Shale drilling violations
Reported on Wednesday, August 18, 2010
By MICHAEL NEWTON TN Correspondent tneditor@tnonline.com
A report published by the Pennsylvania Land Trust Association has identified a total of 1,435 violations of state oil and gas laws by Marcellus Shale drillers operating in the state. Records of the violations were obtained from the Department of Environmental Protection through a Right To Know Request.
The violations occurred over a two-and-a-half year period, from January 2008 through June 25. Of these, 483 were administrative and safety violations, which most likely did not have a negative environmental impact. In the words of the report, that leaves “952 violations as having or likely to have an impact on the environment.”
The report identifies violators according to two categories, those companies with the most violations in general and those with the most violations per well driller. Only violations seen as having an environmental impact were counted for the lists.
The top three companies with the most violations in general were East Resources Inc. which operates 140 wells and had a total of 138 violations, Chesapeake Appalachia LLC, operating 153 wells with 118 violations, and Chief Oil & Gas LLC with 45 wells and 109 violations.
The top three companies with most violations per well were JW Operating CO with an average of 11 violations per well, Citrus Energy Corp with seven, and Penn Virginia Oil & Gas Corp with four.
The violations were grouped into categories: Improper Erosion & Sediment Plans Developed/Implemented (277), Improper Construction of Waste Water Impoundments (268), Discharge of Industrial Waste (154), Violations of PA Clean Stream Law (100), Faulty Pollution Prevention Practices (65), Permitting Violations (38), Improper Restoration of Extraction Site (17), Blowout Prevention (16) Improper Well-Casing Construction (10), and Improper Waste Management (7).
Shale gas drillers injected diesel fuel into the ground
http://www.examiner.com/energy-in-philadelphia/shale-gas-drillers-injected-diesel-fuel-into-the-ground-1
August 18th, 2010
Shale gas drillers injected diesel fuel into the ground
Tap water catching fire due to natural gas migration from hydraulic fracking operations.
Photo: Source: Gasland
In February of this year, the House Energy and Commerce Committee revealed Halliburton and BJ Services, two oil and gas currently operating in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale formation, had used diesel fuel in hydraulic fracturing operations in at least 15 states in from 2005 to 2007. The gas companies would not reveal to the committee where these injections occurred and may have broken the Safe Water Drinking Act laws.
Hydraulic drilling fracking operations inject millions of gallons of water combined with toxic chemical laden compounds to create intense high pressure to break and keep open underground shale rock formations which allows natural gas to be captured. The process is highly controversial with gas industry front groups stating the process is safe while government officials, residents in drilling areas and environmentalists are all increasingly concerned about the negative effects on drinking water supplies along with air and land damage from these other chemical pollutants which result from shale gas drilling operations.
Benzene and toulene, both toxic substances and known cancer causing agents in low concentrations are found in fracking solution compounds.
The Marcellus Shale formation covers almost two thirds of the state of Pennsylvania including more than 36% of the Delaware River Basin which supplies drinking water to millions in the greater Philadelphia area. There are more than 3700 Pennsylvania shale gas drilling permits currently issued to oil and gas companies, mostly to out of state firms. Shale gas formations are also found in Texas and Colorado along with other parts of the country.
The three oil and gas companies heavily involved in chemical fracking named in the committee’s February disclosure were Halliburton, BJ Services and Schlumberger. These companies are currently drilling in Pennsylvania and members of the gas industry front group, the Marcellus Shale Coalition. The federal committee’s disclosures that these companies injected diesel fuel into the ground as part of their fracking operations appears to directly contradict ongoing gas industry front group claims such chemical solutions are harmless to the environment and drinking water supplies. Halliburton and BJ Services had signed a federal non-dissent decree back in 2003 that would no longer inject diesel fuel into the ground during their drilling operations.
More than 25 major environmental groups have written to the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. House of Representatives requesting the government determine whether these companies violated the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).
“Oil washing up on our shores is not the only threat America currently faces from the oil and gas industry,” said Lynn Senick with Northeast Pennsylvania Gas Action. “Currently, there is not a system in place to make sure that toxic diesel fuel is not polluting our drinking water sources.”
In April of this year, Kenny Watt of Houston, Texas based BJ Services, vice president of the company’s pressure injection services stated, “We have taken an extremely proactive approach in the Marcellus Shale play, with the long-term objective of becoming the largest provider of casing and tubing running services in the region,’. This was the same month, oil giant Baker Hughes of Houston, Texas acquired BJ Services.
The revelations by the federal government that these companies had used diesel fuel as part of their underground fracking solutions comes at same time the gas industry steadfastly refuses to release the details of their fracking solutions claiming they are trade secrets.
Oil and Gas Company Penneco, owned by the Jacobs family of Pittsburgh, is very strongly opposed to any increased regulation of industry operations. The company stated, “We are concerned that bureaucratic machinations have caused the EPA to hypothesize a problem and that the EPA is now seeking to justify a solution to a nonexistent problem.”
To learn more about Penneco, go to: http://www.penneco.com
To learn more about the federal Environmental Protection Agency, go to: http://www.epa.gov/
Disclaimer: The writer holds no stocks or has any financial arrangements with any of the companies named in this article.
Webinars address issues with Marcellus gas in two upcoming offerings
http://live.psu.edu/story/47887/nw69
Monday, August 16, 2010
Three county commissioners — Mark Smith of Bradford County, Pamela Tokar-Ickes of Somerset County and Paul Heimel of Potter County — will be the featured speakers during a free, Web-based seminar titled, “Local Natural Gas Task Force Initiatives,” which will air at 1 p.m. on Aug. 19. Sponsored by Penn State Cooperative Extension, the webinar will provide an overview of how county task forces are responding to the ramp-up of shale-gas exploration in their respective counties.
Information about how to register for the webinar is available at http://extension.psu.edu/naturalgas/webinars. Online participants will have the opportunity to ask the speakers questions during the session.
The “Local Natural Gas Task Force Initiatives” webinar is part of an ongoing series of workshops addressing issues related to the state’s Marcellus shale gas boom. Another one-hour webinar will be held at 1 p.m. on Sept. 16, titled “Natural Gas Experiences of Marcellus Residents: Preliminary Results from the Community Satisfaction Survey”; Presenter: Kathy Brasier, Penn State.
Previous webinars, which covered topics such as water use and quality, zoning, and gas-leasing considerations for landowners and implications for local communities, can be viewed at http://extension.psu.edu/naturalgas/webinars.
For more information, contact Joann Kowalski, extension educator in Susquehanna County, at 570-278-1158 or by e-mail at jmk20@psu.edu.
Wilkes creates water quality database
http://citizensvoice.com/news/wilkes-creates-water-quality-database-1.955949
Wilkes creates water quality database
BY ELIZABETH SKRAPITS (STAFF WRITER)
Published: August 18, 2010
WILKES-BARRE – Due to natural gas companies’ increasing interest in the Marcellus Shale, Wilkes University’s Center for Environmental Quality is establishing Northeastern Pennsylvania’s first water quality database to determine the condition of groundwater and surface water before drilling activity commences.
Property owners in Luzerne and Columbia counties who have had their private wells tested by state-certified laboratories are invited to contribute the data, which will be collected and used to help pinpoint any changes or trends in water quality.
“We’ll take information from any wells from anywhere,” Brian Redmond said.
Geologists Redmond, Sid Halsor and Brian Oram, who have a combined 100 years of groundwater experience in the region, will manage the database. Oram is director of the Center for Environmental Quality and Redmond and Halsor are professors in the Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences department at Wilkes. They held a press conference Thursday to announce the launch of the database.
Previous water quality tests were limited, said Redmond, who held up a copy of an outdated 1984 study by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Now, with the interest in the Marcellus Shale, the big question is what impact, if any, will natural gas drilling have on the groundwater, “especially with all those lovely private wells,” Redmond said.
He said public water suppliers are required to test for a “long, long list of things” and make the results public. But many homeowners don’t test their wells, he said.
The three geologists stressed the importance of having well testing done before any drilling takes place, in order to establish a baseline of what already is or isn’t in the water.
There are many potential sources of contamination, ranging from bacteria to the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing. Methane migration can occur even in areas where there isn’t any natural gas drilling, and Oram said arsenic can be found naturally in groundwater.
Testing can determine where the contaminants come from. For example, if the well water contains a high level of salt, it could be caused by the hydraulic fracturing of a well.
But it could also come from a well so deep it is below sea level, or from road salt, Redmond said. The well should be tested for other things that might indicate the source. An anti-caking agent is usually added to road salt, he said.
To maximize the value of the water test data, a geographic information system will be used for digital maps, Redmond said. If homeowners see elevated levels of things in their well water, they will be able to see if the same parameters are elevated elsewhere – whether it’s isolated or part of a trend, and if it’s a trend, where concentrations are highest, indicating the source, he said.
So far, more than 400 homeowners in Luzerne and Columbia counties, some of whom are in potential drilling areas, have contributed their test results, Halsor said. Oram said the data should be posted on Wilkes’ website by the fall.
Participation is voluntary, and Oram said homeowners’ personal information will be kept confidential; wells will be identified by geographic coordinates and zip codes.
All property owners with wells can contribute their test data, including those who are beyond the distance of natural gas well sites.
“Just because your land is not leased to a gas company doesn’t mean you’re immune to the impact,” Halsor noted.
eskrapits@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2072
Our water supply is at risk
http://www.tnonline.com/node/124578
Reported on Saturday, August 14, 2010
Opinion
Our water supply is at risk
Dear Editor:
The gas drilling that is going on across Pennsylvania is now on a path to destroy not just a small portion of land, but the very way of life that the people of this area have enjoyed for generations.
There are many examples of places where the chemicals that the gas companies use in hydraulic fracturing have poisoned vast quantities of water. There are even instances of entire waterways being killed due to chemicals from this process. How much fishing can you do when there are no living fish?
How much hunting can you do when the deer drink poisoned water and die from it? How much rafting can you do when the water in the river is not safe to touch?
Some of you may say that its acceptable to allow the drillers to use a process that destroys drinking water because they aren’t doing the drilling close to your home. Well, water travels and in our case it travels south from the drilling areas. For example, the town of Lehighton, on occasion, is dependent upon the Lehigh river for a portion of its drinking water. How much drinking water will Lehighton be able to take from the river if the river is full of lethal drilling chemicals such as ethyl glycol (anti-freeze), benzene (a known carcinogen) and sulfuric acid. These are merely three of the hundreds of chemicals that the drilling companies use in the hydraulic fracturing process.
Where will Lehighton turn for drinking water if the Lehigh river is no longer an option when it is needed? How much more will it cost? Once the chemicals get into the water you cannot remove them.
Even if you do not live in Lehighton, the water that you drink is still at risk because water constantly flows. There are documented cases of people being able to light their well water on fire after drilling took place in their area. Do we want that? Is it worth risking our children’s health to allow a few corporations to make even more money on our backs?
We need to demand, not urge, that our elected officials push for a drilling moratorium to ensure that this does not happen to our homes. State Representative Keith McCall (610) 377-6363. State Senator Ray Musto (717)-787-7105. State Senator Dave Argall (717-787-2637). Congressman Paul Kanjorski (202)-225-6511. US Senator Arlen Specter (202)-224-4254. US Senator Robert Casey (866) 802-2833.
Harold James
Summit Hill
Wilkes University to track NEPA well water quality
http://citizensvoice.com/news/wilkes-university-to-track-nepa-well-water-quality-1.946863
Published: August 14, 2010
Wilkes University to track NEPA well water quality
Wilkes University will announce a major initiative to track water quality in residential wells in Northeastern Pennsylvania at a news conference Tuesday. Water quality has become a significant issue in the area with the advent of natural gas drilling related to the Marcellus Shale formation. The project, by the university’s Center for Environmental Quality and its Homeowner Outreach Program, will be the first of its kind to track the quality of water in homeowners’ wells in Luzerne and Columbia counties. Educational outreach programs and materials related to water quality and well testing will be shared at the event.
Marcellus tax eyed to fill state budget shortfall
http://republicanherald.com/news/marcellus-tax-eyed-to-fill-state-budget-shortfall-1.942789
Marcellus tax eyed to fill state budget shortfall
BY ROBERT SWIFT (HARRISBURG BUREAU CHIEF RSWIFT@TIMESSHAMROCK.COM)
Published: August 12, 2010
HARRISBURG – Tapping revenue from a proposed natural gas severance tax is part of Gov. Ed Rendell’s plan to close a remaining gap in the new state budget.
The governor presented revenue-generating options that include $70 million from a severance tax, savings from a nearly 2 percent across-the-board spending cut and ending a 1 percent state vendor discount to legislative leaders for consideration Wednesday.
The meeting came one day after President Obama signed a $26 billion federal fiscal bill to aid cash-strapped states. That influx of federal aid leaves Pennsylvania with a revenue hole now estimated at $280 million in its $28 billion budget.
Rendell’s proposal also includes a $50 million reduction to the basic-education subsidy for school districts, which is one of the few items that received an increase in the new budget. But that would be offset by $387 million in federal aid to preserve teacher jobs to be distributed by the same method as the subsidy. The U.S. Education Department estimates that aid will support nearly 6,000 education jobs in Pennsylvania either by avoiding layoffs, rehires or new hires.
Severance tax revenues can help address state revenue needs, but a severance tax is also needed to deal with the impact of the drilling boom in the Marcellus Shale formation, said Rendell’s chief of staff, Steven Crawford.
“It is the right thing to do, knowing the stress this is bringing to local governments and conservation districts,” he said. “It’s about having the (natural gas) industry paying their fair share.”
House and Senate leaders have officially declared their intent to pass a severance tax by Oct. 1 and have it take effect Jan. 1, 2011, but many details have yet to be hammered out, such as the tax rate and revenue split between statewide and local uses.
The $70 million sum reflects what Rendell projects for a severance tax, said Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-9, Chester. The tax structure is undecided, and GOP senators want a large share of the revenue going to local municipalities and environmental programs, he said.
“Whether it results in $70 million going to the General Fund or not is an open question,” Pileggi said.
Both caucuses plan to review the governor’s proposal in the next few days, but the governor has leeway to decide what cuts he wants to make if an agreement isn’t reached.
A spokesman for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association warned against cutting the basic-education subsidy because of the new federal aid.
“State subsidy dollars can be used in many different ways, including purchasing education equipment and materials, while the federal education jobs money can only be used for compensation and benefits, so the two are not equal in our view,” said PSBA official Tim Allwein.
Sen. Baker Introduces Measures To Protect Drinking Water From Gas Drilling
http://www.paenvironmentdigest.com/newsletter/default.asp?NewsletterArticleID=16419&SubjectID=
Sen. Baker Introduces Measures To Protect Drinking Water From Gas Drilling
Sen. Lisa Baker (R-Luzerne) this week introduced two bills to provide additional protection to drinking water from the impacts from Marcellus Shale natural gas well drilling.
Senate Bill 1451 (Baker-R-Luzerne) would require gas well wastewater treatment facility operators to be certified by the Department of Environmental Protection.
Senate Bill 1452 (Baker-R-Luzerne) would require each oil and gas well permit to be accompanied by information regarding the zone of influence of the well site on groundwater and an analysis of the time a potential release of drilling fluids would reach the nearest waterways; a preparedness, prevention and contingency plan; and a plan for notifying all downstream water users in the event of a spill.
The bill requires the notification of all public drinking water system operators within the water within 10 days of receiving a permit; a requirement that wells not be drilled within 1,000 feet of a building or water well without the consent of the owner; not within 1,000 feet of any stream, spring or body of water; or 1,000 feet of any wetlands or within 3,000 feet of a drinking water reservoir. The permit application must also contain a groundwater monitoring and sampling plan before, during and after drilling.
“As more drilling takes place in our region, it increases the chances of something going wrong. Prevention and protection are preferable to crisis management and emergency response. Individuals and groups are taking a hard look at state laws and regulations, finding restrictions that seem too slight in contrast to the consequences of human error or technological failure, and offering constructive suggestions on steps that should be taken,” Sen. Baker said.
“While there are proposed water protection regulations moving through the process, people understand that law has more force. As drilling proceeds on a larger scale, area residents want answers that show responsibility being assured, rather than risks being assumed,” she emphasized.
“The economic benefits of gas extraction will be realized statewide, while the environmental drawbacks will be experienced locally. We have to be properly prepared and protected. Reasonable environmental protections will not discourage the development of this industry; they will help to make sure that unreasonable costs are not imposed on local communities and homeowners,” Sen. Baker stated.
Sen. Baker said that some of the costs would be borne by the gas companies. Oversight costs could be paid for through a severance tax, which is expected to be debated in the coming weeks. She reiterated her opposition to any severance tax plan that would devote the revenue generated to filling a hole in the state budget, rather than providing for community protection in drilling areas.
“The environmental and economic catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico underscores the crucial nature of taking all reasonable precautions and for being prepared for dealing with extreme situations when things go horribly wrong,” Sen. Baker concluded.