PA House Committee Amends the Private Water Well Construction Standards Bill
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/BillInfo.cfm?syear=2013&sind=0&body=H&type=B&bn=343
If you are in Pennsylvania, you can contribute to the Citizen Groundwater Database and help track change for FREE and if you would like to learn about our Natural Gas Related Information, please visit us at http://www.private-well-owner.org.
Volunteer
We seek new people at all skill levels for a variety of programs. One thing that everyone can do is attend meetings to share ideas on improving CCGG, enabling us to better understand and address the concerns of well owners.
Everything we do began with an idea.
We realize your time is precious and the world is hectic. CCGG’s volunteers do only what they’re comfortable with. It can be a little or a lot.
For more information, please go to CCGG’s About Page or contact us.
Carbon County Groundwater Guardians is a 501(c)(3) IRS approved nonprofit, volunteer organization and your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Private Well Owner Assistance Well Water Testing Trying to Make a Difference
Carbonwaters.org- Website Dedicated to Information and Free Resources for Private Well Owners, Evaluation of Water and Wastewater Treatment Systems, Private Well Water Testingand Education/Outreach Programs – We Need Your Help to Spread the Word!
The main reason is that most private wells and small water systems are not regulated by the EPA or the DEP in a given state and in Pennsylvania about 50% of private wells produce water that does not meet a primary health standard, i.e., Could Make the Well Owner Sick. Therefore, it is up to the individual private well owner to ensure that the water is safe.
In Pennsylvania, we have found that typically at least 10 % of private well have one or more of these problems:
a. Low pH / corrosive water
b. Elevated Iron and/or Manganese
c. Elevated Bacteria (Actually it is 40 % to 50% for this parameter)
Less than 5 % of private wells have problems with methane gas, barium, alpha/beta, and other contaminants that would suggest a saline water source. In the middle, we have found about 5 to 10% may have problems with copper, lead, arsenic, and plasticizers.
Note- There are over 1 million private wells in Pennsylvania. Assume 3 citizens per household and 50 % of households having contaminated water, this means that 1.5 million citizens of the Commonwealth are Drinking Water that could make the SICK – This is a Health Crisis. It is time to ACT.
We know this information because of the hundreds of private well owners that have released their information to the Citizen Groundwater Database and we have assisted private well owners with low cost water testing options and education programs.
To Act, we recommend the following:
1. Get Educated and Informed.
2. Get Your Water Tested
3. Work as a Community to Develop Local and State Solutions
If you are in Pennsylvania, you can contribute to the Citizen Groundwater Database and help track change for FREE and if you would like to learn about our Natural Gas Related Information, please visit us at http://www.private-well-owner.org.
Volunteer
We seek new people at all skill levels for a variety of programs. One thing that everyone can do is attend meetings to share ideas on improving CCGG, enabling us to better understand and address the concerns of well owners.
Everything we do began with an idea.
We realize your time is precious and the world is hectic. CCGG’s volunteers do only what they’re comfortable with. It can be a little or a lot.
For more information, please go to CCGG’s About Page or contact us.
Carbon County Groundwater Guardians is a 501(c)(3) IRS approved nonprofit, volunteer organization and your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.
HB 343 ESTABLISH STATEWIDE PRIVATE WATER WELL CONSTRUCTION STANDARDS (former HB 1855)
The bill authorizes the Environmental Quality Board to establish water well construction standards through the adoption of rules and regulations of the DEP that are generally consistent with the National Groundwater Association construction standards.
Specifically, the legislation would establish construction standards, including the decommissioning of abandoned wells, to be followed by water well drillers and owners. Nothing in this legislation requires the metering of homeowner wells.
p. Ron Miller (R-York) serves as Majority Chair of the Committee and Rep. Greg Vitali (D-Delaware) serves as Minority Chair.
Website Provided for Educational Purpose.
Carbon County Groundwater Guardians is a 501(c)(3) IRS approved nonprofit, volunteer organization and your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.
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Private Well Owner Outreach Program
Launch of National Mapping Project Designed to Show Possible Impacts of Oil and Gas Drilling on Well Water
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
US Map of Suspected Well Water Impacts
Contacts: Brook Lenker, Executive Director, FracTracker Alliance, (717) 303-0403; and Samantha Malone, Manager of Science and Communications, FracTracker Alliance, (412) 802-0273
May 1, 2013 – The US Map of Suspected Well Water Impacts is a project that will attempt to piece together recent complaints of well water quality impacts that people believe are attributed to unconventional gas and oil operations. Research has demonstrated potential risks to ground and drinking water posed by faulty well casings, surface spills, and hydraulic fracturing. From across the country, in areas where gas and oil development is occurring, accounts of possible well water contamination have been reported but not been collected all in one place – yet. The FracTracker Alliance and cooperating organizations are providing that opportunity.
Inspired by other “crowd-sourced” data and mapping projects, this project aims to collect ongoing stories, narratives, and data from individual homeowners living on well water near drilling operations and map the general location of these reports online. The first version of the dynamic map (shown below) is available at www.fractracker.org/usmap.
Once received, submissions will be reviewed to the extent possible by cooperating researchers and organizations. Not all reported cases of water contamination, however, have been or will be able to be substantiated. According to Brook Lenker, Executive Director of FracTracker Alliance:
The reports we are collecting are not necessarily indisputable evidence that drilling has contaminated drinking water sources. Some accounts are irrefutable. Others remain unsubstantiated, but that doesn’t mean the well owner isn’t experiencing serious problems. Even where proof may be elusive, perception of risk can tell us much about an issue and the level of concern by the community. This information will likely help to identify pre-existing problems or conditions that were not previously well known. Such outreach is needed to permit citizens, local agencies, and others to work together to address pre-existing concerns, improve local regulations or standards, conduct proper baseline testing and monitoring, and make informed decisions.
As unconventional natural gas and oil extraction expands internationally, an Internet-based project like the US Map of Suspected Well Water Impacts can help to share on a global scale how people in the U.S. view – and may be impacted by – unconventional drilling. If everyone contributed their stories, the public’s understanding of gas and oil extraction’s impacts on well water could expand dramatically.
Anyone wishing to submit their story should visit www.fractracker.org/usmap or call (202) 639-6426. A complete list of current project partners is available on the website.
Website Provided for Educational Purpose.
Carbon County Groundwater Guardians is a 501(c)(3) IRS approved nonprofit, volunteer organization and your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Join the PA Water Forum on Facebook
Private Well Owner Outreach Program
Getting the Waters Tested Our Educational Series (WV)
New Line of Courses on the Topic of Hydraulic Fracturing
Location Change for May 1 Hearing Washington County Compressor Station
The new location – VFW Barto Post 6553 at 65 Run St. in Slovan, Washington County.
Immediately following the open house which starts at 6:30 pm- the hearing will start. The anticipated start time is at 7:30 p.m., members of the public may present up to five minutes of formal testimony for the public record. The testimony will be recorded by a court reporter and transcribed into a written document, and DEP will create a written response to all relevant testimony.
Those who wish to present oral testimony should contact DEP Community Relations Coordinator John Poister at 412-442-4203 or register that evening prior to the hearing. Only those who register can give testimony at the public hearing.
For anyone unable to attend the public hearing, written comment should be submitted by the close of business on May 11 to Alan Binder, PA DEP Bureau of Air Quality, Southwest Regional Office, 400 Waterfront Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15222.
Website Provided for Educational Purpose.
Carbon County Groundwater Guardians is a 501(c)(3) IRS approved nonprofit, volunteer organization and your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Join the PA Water Forum on Facebook
Private Well Owner Outreach Program
PPL battles homeowners over drilling royalty checks on forgotten land
“The families of several property owners have used the forgotten rail bed for generations. But an heir to the old Northern Electric trolley line was eventually found: PPL Electric Corp.
PPL officials didn’t even know the company owned the old rail line that once carried passengers from Scranton to Tiffany Corners, just west of Montrose. Cabot Oil & Gas Inc. untangled the mystery of the rail right-of-way last year as it sought to sign mineral leases with landowners. A savvy title searcher had a hunch that the missing link in the ownership chain may have been misfiled in Wyoming County. It was.
PPL’s ownership of the former Northern Electric is clear, but whether it can convince a court to affirm that ownership over competing claims is not as clear.
News broke when mineral rights owners looked over changes to one of the most important financial documents they will ever receive: The Pooling and Unitization Declaration which spells out the number of acres they and others own and the share of royalties they will receive. Those who thought they owned a piece of the former Northern Electric land have seen their piece of the land and royalty pie shrink.”
The rest of the story
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Carbon County Groundwater Guardians is a 501(c)(3) IRS approved nonprofit, volunteer organization and your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.
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Private Well Owner Outreach Program
Environmental Protection Agency Dramatically Lowered Methane Loss During Drilling
“PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency has dramatically lowered its estimate of how much of a potent heat-trapping gas leaks during natural gas production, in a shift with major implications for a debate that has divided environmentalists: Does the recent boom in fracking help or hurt the fight against climate change?
Oil and gas drilling companies had pushed for the change, but there have been differing scientific estimates of the amount of methane that leaks from wells, pipelines and other facilities during production and delivery. Methane is the main component of natural gas.
The new EPA data is “kind of an earthquake” in the debate over drilling, said Michael Shellenberger, the president of the Breakthrough Institute, an environmental group based in Oakland, Calif. “This is great news for anybody concerned about the climate and strong proof that existing technologies can be deployed to reduce methane leaks.”
For the whole story
For Methane Issues in Pennsylvania
For Fact Based Dimock
DCNR Agrees to Discuss Drilling in the Loyalsock State Forest
On Friday, DCNR announced it’s planning to hold a public meeting. It will also have its own experts participating in a web-based information session next week about plans to drill in the forest.
“DCNR has heard from numerous individuals and organizations on this issue through letters, phone calls and in a meeting this month with local stakeholders,” DCNR Secretary Richard Allan said through a release. “This webinar gives us an additional opportunity to exchange information and respond to questions about potential gas development in the Loyalsock, where the state does not own the subsurface gas rights.”
The key issues
1. The state does not own the mineral rights to 25,000 acres of state land. We only have surface rights.
2. Anadarko Petroleum owns about 50 percent of those rights.
3. Based on court decisions, DCNR has no say over what happens on 7,000 acres. Reportedly this area is the most ecologically sensitive (not sure what that means specifically).
“When we don’t own the mineral rights,” says Novak, “we do always attempt to talk with companies because it helps us protect a resource and it also helps them, by providing some certainty related to their development plans.”
For more information an a schedule of the Webinar and Public Meeting (no time set).
Harrisburg – Department of Conservation and Natural Resources officials will participate in a free, web-based seminar offered by Penn State Extension on Marcellus Shale issues in the Loyalsock State Forest, Lycoming County, on Thursday, April 25.
The session eventually will be archived and available on the Penn State Extension natural-gas website at http://extension.psu.edu/naturalgas.
Other resources
1. DCNR- Oil and Gas in PA
2.Do I have any say as to what oil and gas operators do on my land if I’m only a surface property owner?
Yes. Even if you do not own the oil and gas rights to your property, you should retain legal counsel and work with the operator to ensure that your property (including private water supplies, if applicable) is not adversely damaged by access to and drilling at the well site. For more information, consult “Landowners and Oil and Gas Leases in Pennsylvania” fact sheet or visit one of the online oil and gas leasing forums.
Additional Resource(s):
http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/office_of_oil_and_gas_management/20291
http://www.naturalgasforums.com/index.php
Source – Article by Susan Phillips (4/19/2013)
Website Provided for Educational Purpose.
Volunteer
We seek new people at all skill levels for a variety of programs. One thing that everyone can do is attend meetings to share ideas on improving CCGG, enabling us to better understand and address the concerns of well owners.
Everything we do began with an idea.
We realize your time is precious and the world is hectic. CCGG’s volunteers do only what they’re comfortable with. It can be a little or a lot.
For more information, please go to CCGG’s About Page or contact us.
Carbon County Groundwater Guardians is a 501(c)(3) IRS approved nonprofit, volunteer organization and your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.