Commission suspends water withdrawals on low river levels
The Susquehanna River Basin Commission on Monday expanded the list of suspended water withdrawals from 37 to 64, affecting natural gas exploration companies, golf courses and other businesses with permits to take water from rivers or streams.
Low river and stream levels in the watershed triggered the suspensions.
Under SRBC regulations, when streams drop to predetermined protected low-flow levels, operators who are required to meet the agency’s passby requirement must stop taking water until streams recover, which typically happens after a return to normal rainfall.
The suspension is not a ban on water withdrawals, said commission spokeswoman Susan Obleski. Water-related activities will continue, even among some companies on the suspension list. Obleski said often a company will have several withdrawal permits for different locations on a stream or river. This is particularly common among natural gas companies. Also, withdrawals of less than 100,000 gallons per day that are not associated with natural gas development are not subject to commission regulation.
A total of 33 companies in 14 counties are affected by the suspension, including Lackawanna, Luzerne, Susquehanna and Wyoming counties.
According to the National Weather Service, rainfall from June 1 to July 15 was 2.5 inches below normal.
citizensvoice.com/news/business/commission-suspends-water-withdrawals-on-low-river-levels-1.1344369
By David Falchek (Staff Writer)
dfalchek@timesshamrock.com
Published: July 17, 2012
The Need to Work as a Community
The Need to Work as a Community
by Mr. Brian Oram, Professional Geologist
The Water Research Center and B.F. Environmental Consultants Inc.
I am not an insider in the natural gas development process, but I am a citizen and professional geologist from Pennsylvania. I grew-up in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in the middle of the largest Anthracite Coal Fields in the World and became exposed to environmental issues while playing and living on abandon coal mine lands and near acid impacted streams. After attending Wilkes University and Pennsylvania State University, I worked as an environmental consultant and then ran a research laboratory at Wilkes University. After 23 years of running and conducting research, I decided to concentrate on my private consulting practice and other public education programs through B.F. Environmental Consultants Inc. and the Water Research Center. For the record, I have no master service agreements with any natural gas company and the views posted here are mine.
The phrase “Working as a Community” comes out of my talk titled “Getting the Waters Tested- The Marcellus Shale Factor”. The development of the Marcellus and Utica Shale has brought to the surface a little known fact that up to 50 % of private well owners are drinking water that would not meet one or more drinking water standards and the existing private wells are improperly placed and poorly constructed. These pre-existing problems include corrosive and aggressive water, iron, manganese, bacteria, arsenic, salt, saline water, barium, strontium, some organic compounds, radon, and yes Methane Gas. This fact, in combination, with inadequate baseline testing has resulted in a significant amount of confusion, misinformation, and un-needed delays to meet the needs of a private well owner. We need to start working together to move forward as a community. To start working as a community, I am recommending the following path:
1. Join the Pennsylvania Forum for Private Well Owners (It is not about shale or energy-it is about groundwater quality)- Part of the solution – must include fixing private wells.
http://www.facebook.com/groups/244338025659838/
2. If you have baseline testing data, submit the data to the Citizens Groundwater and Surfacewater Database or if you do not know what the data means you can ask for help –Assistance is Free.
http://www.water-research.net/privatewellPA.htm
3. Participate in the Private Well Owner and Watershed Survey for Pennsylvania- (Another Free Program)
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NMG6RQ3
4. Host a local Community Workshop and Education Session for Private Well Owners and for Royalty Owners and Watershed Groups it may be worth helping to Develop a Local Watershed Monitoring Program.
http://www.bfenvironmental.com/natural-gas-exploration.php
5. Get the facts – A well by well review of the data from Dimock, PA – A NO Spin Zone – Fact based Reviews Only.
Dimock
This is a positive step in the Right Direction. It is time to start working together. It is time to get educated, informed, and start working together. Free information can be found on any of our portals and all of work is funded by us. For a free booklet on drinking water quality for private well owners – visit our webportal and download a free copy of the 2009 booklet. We are anticipating a new booklet will be available in a few months.
Thanks for your time,
Brian Oram, PG
Citizen of Pennsylvania
bfenviro@ptd.net
Pennsylvania Landowners Settle Groundwater Contamination Suit Against Chesapeake Energy Corp.
Allen Stewart, P.C. attorneys celebrate $1.6 Million settlement for landowners harmed by oil and gas drilling.
DALLAS, Jun 25, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Attorneys with Allen Stewart, P.C. announced today that a group of Pennsylvania landowners represented by the Dallas-based law firm have settled their claims against oil and gas giant Chesapeake Energy Corporation for $1.6 million. The settlement was reached immediately after attorneys with Allen Stewart, P.C., who acted as lead trial counsel, presented the plaintiffs’ case to the arbitration panel and before Chesapeake Energy called any witnesses–a testament to the strength of the plaintiffs’ claims. The landowners were also represented by attorneys with Pennsylvania-based law firms O’Malley & Langan, P.C.; Goldberg, Persky & White, P.C.; and Florida based The Romano Law Firm.
The plaintiffs are three families who live on Paradise Road in the small town of Wyalusing in northern Pennsylvania. Gas extraction and drilling activities by Oklahoma-based Chesapeake Energy and affiliated companies contaminated the property and groundwater of these Bradford County residents with excess methane levels that required one family to evacuate their home for 2 weeks.
Before Chesapeake Energy began drilling in 2009, the plaintiffs’ water showed no signs of pollution. By the summer of 2010, however, the plaintiffs experienced sudden changes in their ground water quality. At the same time, Chesapeake Energy’s wells located near the plaintiffs’ properties were leaking gas because the wells had been poorly cemented. Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection investigated and determined that Chesapeake Energy’s gas wells were responsible for the methane in the plaintiffs’ water.
“These landowners signed oil and gas leases under assurances that gas drilling would never be close enough to affect their properties. These assurances proved false and Chesapeake’s inadequate design and maintenance of the gas wells allowed methane to pollute the plaintiffs’ underground water supply,” said Allen Stewart, who represents the landowners.
Allen Stewart, P.C. has been a leading force in obtaining justice for landowners harmed by poorly designed and maintained gas extraction wells. Landowners who know or suspect that their own water supply or property has been contaminated are encouraged to contact the attorneys at Allen Stewart, P.C. to learn more about their legal rights.
press release
June 25, 2012, 10:43 a.m. EDT
SOURCE: Allen Stewart, P.C.
www.marketwatch.com/story/pennsylvania-landowners-settle-groundwater-contamination-suit-against-chesapeake-energy-corp-2012-06-25
Royalty tax withholding proposal
Royalty tax withholding proposal gets low marks from gas leaseholders’ group
A state proposal to have gas drillers automatically withhold state taxes from lease and royalty payments is drawing criticism from landowners who say they already struggle to ensure they are receiving proper payment for their gas rights.
The state chapter of the National Association of Royalty Owners, which represents oil and gas leaseholders, said it was surprised by the provision included in an omnibus tax bill, Senate Bill 1541, introduced on May 31 and likely to pass with the budget sometime in the next week.
The Department of Revenue expects the measure to make collecting the 3.07 percent income tax on lease and royalty payments faster and more efficient, especially among out-of-state mineral rights owners. The tax rate will not change, but the state estimates automatic withholding will boost tax revenue from royalty payments by $5.3 million next year and by about $2 million in subsequent years.
The state collected $46.2 million in taxes from gas leases and royalties in 2010, the most recent year for which data is available.
The royalty owners’ group argues that royalty check records provided by drilling companies already often lack itemized details that would allow leaseholders to verify how much they are owed from each well and how much has been deducted for costs. The group has been pushing the state to require standardized documentation and protections.
“There are few checks and balances to make sure royalty owners are being paid accurately, timely or properly,” said Trevor Walczak, the vice president of NARO Pennsylvania. Given the current lack of transparent documentation, the withholding proposal is unpopular with the organization’s members, he said.
“We’re willing to pay our share, but we would like to know that we’re paying just our share,” state NARO President Jackie Root said.
Revenue Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Brassell said the state’s plan is meant to simplify tax collection for both landowners and the state.
“The department’s interest is ensuring that all the taxes owed the Commonwealth are reported and paid,” she said.
citizensvoice.com/news/royalty-tax-withholding-proposal-gets-low-marks-from-gas-leaseholders-group-1.1334434
By Laura Legere (Staff Writer)
llegere@timesshamrock.com
Published: June 25, 2012
Local companies drill into natural gas industry
Natural gas extraction helps enable a Scranton ammunition plant to aim for different business objectives.
General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems makes swivel elbow and drill-pipe connecting joints used at the region’s Marcellus Shale gas wells.
“They definitely are making up a meaningful part of our business at this point,” said Jeff Brunozzi, vice president of operations at General Dynamics, formerly Chamberlain Manufacturing Corp.
Sales of manufactured gas-development materials help companies in the area diversify and tap into the lucrative energy-development market.
“Drilling is here to stay, there is money to be made and the opportunity is definitely there,” said Teri Ooms, director of the Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development, a regional research and analysis agency. “It’s creating jobs and putting money back into the area.”
General Dynamics, which manufactures parts and casings for military projectiles, relied on Pentagon orders for 95 percent of its production in 2009, Brunozzi said. Today, he said, defense work makes up about 70 percent of the work at the plant, which employs 300 people.
“It’s a big deal to have a diversified business and not rely on a sole customer in the U.S. government,” Brunozzi said. “It helps stabilize employment levels.”
Employment has increased at Finch Technology in West Pittston because of gas-related business, managing partner Cliff Fay said.
Machinists and welders at Finch Technology make equipment to process soil and other materials coming out of wellheads, machinery to treat hydraulic fracturing wastewater and parts for staircases and augurs at drilling sites, Fay said.
The company has increased employment to 13 from four a year ago and gas-related work makes up 25 percent of Finch’s business, Fay said. The company also manufactures parts for industrial kilns and steam locomotives.
“We are trying to grow across a broad front and diversify,” Fay said. “We want to provide good, long-term jobs.”
Linde Corp., a Honesdale-based utility and heavy-construction contractor, has grown into a major industrial support player in the region’s gas industry.
Linde had no involvement in gas development in 2007, company spokesman Kevin Lynn said.
“Last year, 90 percent of our revenue was from Marcellus,” he said. “It has completely redefined our business.”
Linde and its partners produce two products used at gas wells. From its base of operations at the Carbondale rail yard, Linde and another company manufacture and ship “liquid mud,” a clay-based compound that helps seal gas wells and remove cuttings. Linde and another partner at the site produce and ship wooden mats used widely in the gas industry to stabilize wet ground at drilling sites for movement of heavy machinery.
Linde, which also lays pipe at gas wells and transports water to drilling sites, employs about a dozen people at its Carbondale operations. The company has experienced 25 percent average annual revenue growth over the last three years, Lynn said.
“If we can help other companies, some of that goodwill will trickle down to us,” Lynn said.
The trickle from gas development runs across many sectors, including transportation, engineering and business services, Ooms said.
“There’s multiple levels of impact,” Ooms said. “It’s huge.”
General Dynamics found an impact several years ago, even though it has been forging elbow joints since about 2003 and connector joints for more than a decade, Brunozzi said.
The elbow joints, which weigh from 30 pounds to 100 pounds, regulate the flow of high-pressure fracking fluids into wellheads, Brunozzi said. The tool joints form threaded couplings between 30-foot sections of oil- and gas-drilling pipes. Both products are sold to manufacturers of drilling materials.
General Dynamics located a buyer for the elbow joints about two years ago, Brunozzi said, and sales have grown steadily.
“We needed to go find the entry point and the entry point is in Texas to get to Northeastern Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale,” he said.
citizensvoice.com/news/local-companies-drill-into-natural-gas-industry-1.1334363
By James Haggerty (Staff Writer)
jhaggerty@timesshamrock.com
Published: June 25, 2012
Hazleton Oil accused of dumping hazardous materials
Hazleton Oil and Environmental Inc. is alleged to have dumped contaminated soil, stored hazardous waste and discharged antifreeze into sewer drains at their Banks Township location without a state permit, according to an affidavit of probable cause for a warrant authorizing searches at three properties.
Numerous other allegations are listed in paperwork that authorized agents from the state Attorney General’s Office to execute search warrants Tuesday at the firm’s locations at 300 Tamaqua St. (state Route 309) in Banks Township, 14 Fairview St. in Barnesville and 620 Quarry Road in Harleysville, Montgomery County.
The attorney general’s office initiated the criminal investigation based on information from DEP, the court papers state.
Agents seized 85 boxes of materials over the past four days including work orders, price lists, invoices, environmental records, hazardous materials files, recycled oil receipts, transfer files, state Department of Environmental Protection documents, halogen testing analyses, permits, customer files, annual operation reports and truck driver records, according to the court documents.
Also seized were maps, test kits, vials, sample bottles, computers, laptops, digital drives, hard drives, storage tapes, floppy disks and CDs, electronic storage assistants, zip disks and forensic examiner drives. They include devices that can store information dating to 2001, according to the warrant and affidavit.
The special agents from the Attorney General’s Office, Bureau of Criminal Investigations, Environmental Crimes Section, filed the seized items with courts in Carbon, Schuylkill and Montgomery counties to build a case alleging violations of the Solid Waste Management Act and unlawful conduct, the court documents state.
Several former employees were interviewed by investigators, the documents state, while an eyewitness account of a special agent also revealed a number of alleged violations that took place in 2010 and 2011.
They include mixing oil samples with recycled oil, altering analytical reports by switching off-spec waste oil with on-spec waste oil, and mixing hazardous waste oil with less-contaminated waste oil and selling the blended oil as reprocessed waste oil, the court papers state.
Other alleged practices by Hazleton Oil and Environmental include mixing antifreeze and oil in the same compartment, dumping antifreeze down the drain and pumping untested waste oil into storage tanks at the Banks Township facility. Also, the company is alleged to have misrepresented oil to customers and billed customers for oil they did not receive.
In addition, the documents allege that oil with high levels of halogen and PCBs leaked out of a truck on-site.
The court papers also allege that the firm stored hazardous waste oil for periods longer than allowed, and mixed waste oil with reprocessed oil then sold it as reprocessed oil.
Also, quarterly waste water samples were altered by company officials at its tank farm in Barnesville, authorities allege.
Agents searched and seized evidence from the warehouse, storage building, storage tanks and lots in Banks Township. They looked at different forms of solid waste; samples of soil, water and other liquids, and soil samples of allegedly contaminated media, court papers state. The agents also looked at vehicles that transported oil, waste antifreeze, emulsions, and at several bottles and vials of samples on-site.
The court papers say Hazleton Oil and Environmental is in the business of hauling waste oil as well as media contaminated by waste oil. The company also reprocesses “off-spec” waste oil and sells it as fuel. Its business operations extend into several mid-Atlantic states including Pennsylvania.
On April 21, 2003, Broadus Bordeaux Enterprises, LLP, registered with the state corporation bureau listing its principal place of business as the Harleysville address and the company president as Sloane R. Six.
The court documents state that on Dec. 28, 2009, Broadus’ status as a limited liability partnership was terminated for failure to file an annual registration with the state corporation bureau for five consecutive years. However, by Feb. 28, 2011, the company was reinstated as an LLP after coming back in compliance with registration requirements.
The corporate address was changed to 300 Tamaqua St., Hazleton. Six was identified as CEO, Scott Clemens as vice president and Danny Clemens as operations manager on the corporate website.
A statement issued by the company earlier this week said it was cooperating with investigators and would comment further once it learns more about the focus of the investigation.
citizensvoice.com/news/hazleton-oil-accused-of-dumping-hazardous-materials-1.1333717
By Tom Ragan (Staff Writer)
Published: June 23, 2012
tragan@standardspeaker.com
Area oil firm under investigation
standardspeaker.com/news/area-oil-firm-under-investigation-1.1332769
An investigation is under way at an oil recycling firm south of Hazleton where vehicles of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection were parked and an excavating machine was at work Wednesday afternoon.
At Hazleton Oil and Environmental on state Route 309 in Banks Township, workers congregated inside a fence around a tank farm where they set up two blue canopies as protection from the sun. Some workers donned hard hats, and at least one man wore a protective suit of shiny yellow.
The company issued a statement saying it was cooperating with investigators.
“Working with government inspectors and agents is not uncommon in the highly regulated business of used oil recycling,” the statement said.
Hazleton Oil will comment further after learning more about the focus of the investigation, the statement said.
DEP spokeswoman Colleen Connelly said in an email that search warrants were served at the company on Tuesday.
The search is part of an investigation by the Environmental Crimes Section of the Office of the Pennsylvania Attorney General, which is the lead agency, Nils Hagen-Frederiksen, spokesman for the office, said in an email.
Last year, a DEP inspector visited the company to investigate a complaint that petroleum contaminated with waste was dumped outside fences.
The inspector found “an old pile of fill material with scrap metal and land clearing and grubbing waste mixed in,” but saw no illegal solid waste disposal nor smelled any petroleum, according to the inspection report of June 10, 2011, that is on file in the department’s regional offices in Wilkes-Barre.
In March 2011, the company received a notice saying that an storage tank hadn’t been inspected or an inspection report hadn’t been sent to the DEP.
Hazleton Oil and Environmental paid a civil penalty of $750 in for discharging stormwater after a permit expired, according to a consent decree of Oct. 1, 2010.
On July 20, 2005, a fire broke out inside a garage at Hazleton Oil and Environmental when a pilot light on a propane heater ignited vapors from floor cleaners and degreasers.
The fire spread to a roll-off container for debris contaminated with oil, to empty boxes and to boxes holding computers, a DEP inspector wrote a week later. Firefighters contained 6,000 gallons of water used to extinguish the fire inside the garage to prevent the possible spread of contamination.
After the fire, the company submitted a list of actions planned to prevent other fires and revised its fire prevention plan.
In February 2005, the DEP found total halogens in oil retained at the company exceeded permitted limits in one of 10 samples taken. In response, the company said a driver who failed to test contents of two drums before hauling them was fired. Also, the company stopped using a device referred to as a sniffer to test for halogens because the sniffer gave a false reading.
In 2004, the company also paid a civil penalty of $5,500 for accepting hazardous waste from a supplier in Harrisburg in violation of its permit.
The violation happened in May 2003 under previous owners.
Sloan R. Six and her husband, Scott Clemens, purchased the company in August 2003. The company started in 1961 as Hazleton Oil Salvage.
A remedial investigation conducted after the sale on behalf of the previous owner, Umbriac Enterprises, said benzene and other components of gasoline released from a gas station and bulk storage facility at the site in the 1980s entered soil and shallow groundwater. State law exempted Six and Clemens from responsibility for environmental damage that occurred before they purchased the property, the remedial investigation by Patriot Environmental Management of Douglassville, Berks County, said.
Hazleton Oil and Environmental has a mailing address of 300 Tamaqua St., Hazleton, and state records point out that the site is on the border of Carbon and Schuylkill counties.
The company recycles used oil, used anti-freeze, oily water, non-hazardous liquid sludge, oil filters and soil contaminated with petroleum, according to the annual report for 2010 that it submitted to the DEP.
Previously, the company helped the Hazleton Area School District and Hazleton General Hospital manage recycling programs. Hazleton Oil and Environmental also raised money and awareness about preventing breast cancer through public events and by painting one of its tanker trucks pink.
By KENT JACKSON (Staff Writer)
Published: June 21, 2012
kjackson@standardspeaker.com
Weather story so far this year: Drought averted
live.psu.edu/story/60086#nw69
June 15, 2012
In the eastern half of Pennsylvania, last month was one of the top 20 wettest Mays on record.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The final chapters of the weather story for 2012, of course, have yet to be written, but halfway through the year the plot will surely focus on the dramatic swing in precipitation trends, according to a hydrologist in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.
After the extremely warm and dry winter Pennsylvania experienced — one of the mildest since records began being kept — very dry conditions prevailed, and there was no snow in the mountains to melt and replenish streams and groundwater. That led to drought worries, noted Bryan Swistock, extension water resources specialist.
“Most people were probably not aware of it, but by the end of April, there were definitely real concerns about a drought,” he said.”To be that dry, at that time of year when it is usually wet — it looked like a bad situation. We were set up for a pretty severe drought if things had not changed.”
But change they did, in a major way.
It started raining frequently in May, and it has not stopped. In fact, in the eastern half of Pennsylvania, it was one of the top 20 wettest Mays on record, Swistock pointed out. Except for northwestern counties, which remain slightly below average levels of precipitation, most areas of the state are now at or above average for precipitation.
“The change in weather patterns has been dramatic,” he said. “And the long-term weather predictions that I have seen indicate the wet weather will continue.”
Some climatologists attribute the abrupt change in weather patterns to the transformation of ocean currents in the South Pacific that affect weather — from a La Niña phenomenon to an El Niño.
“Everything that I’ve been reading from the climatologists suggests that there will be more of the wet weather we have been seeing in Pennsylvania,” Swistock said. “And under this El Niño scenario, they predict we are likely to get more tropical storms. If the remnants from even one hurricane or tropical storm track directly over the state this summer or fall, that could have a huge impact.”
Penn State weather expert Paul Knight, senior lecturer in meteorology, Weather World host and Pennsylvania state climatologist, is dubious about the connection between Pennsylvania’s spring and summer weather and Pacific Ocean currents. But he agrees that the wet weather trend should continue for awhile.
“El Niño effects are much stronger in the wintertime — the summer season is really a muted message at best,” he said. “I don’t think that there is any clear message that Pennsylvania is more likely to see more tropical cyclones in an El Niño year versus an average year.
“Now will there be more storms in an El Niño? The answer is yes, El Niño years normally produce a few more storms. However, El Niño and La Niña are never potent in May, June and July.”
The dominant story of Pennsylvania’s weather so far in 2012 is that it’s been so mild, Knight explained. The first half of the year has been exceptionally warm — 4 or 5 degrees above normal.
“That March warm spell was really unprecedented,” Knight said. “The other thing is that January, February, March and April all averaged well below normal precipitation. And just about the time we were getting uncomfortably dry — and we were well on our way toward a drought — the rains came just in the nick of time.
“Drought averted.”
Air quality concerns raised as gas compressor stations multiply
The number of natural gas compressor stations planned for Northeastern Pennsylvania is multiplying as companies lay more pipelines to carry Marcellus Shale gas to customers.
The state has issued or is considering 29 air quality permits for separate stations in the northeast region, all of them in Susquehanna, Wyoming and Luzerne counties, according to a tally by the Department of Environmental Protection. Nearly two dozen of the permits are for stations planned within a 15-mile radius of the Susquehanna County seat in Montrose.
DEP has issued 383 of the permits statewide since October 2005, according to the agency’s tally. Not all of the permitted stations have been built and some may never materialize.
The permits cover facilities related to gas production, including compressor stations and dehydration units that strip liquid from the gas and speed it up for transport through interstate pipelines.
Each station emits a mix of pollutants – volatile organic compounds (VOCs), nitrogen oxides (NOx), formaldehyde and greenhouse gasses – in varying amounts that are limited by the type of permit governing the site.
Residents concerned about the proliferating stations’ impact on air quality have brought basic questions to public hearings in the region that are sometimes held as the state considers issuing permits: How many compressor stations will be built here? What is the combined impact of all these new pollution sources? When, if ever, can the state say stop?
The state considers the cumulative effect of the compressors using an existing network of monitoring stations that measure the ambient air quality, mostly in urban areas, Mark Wejkszner, DEP’s regional air quality program manager, told an audience at a hearing this spring in Susquehanna County. The closest monitors are in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, about 30 miles away.
Pollution levels above federal air quality standards measured at those stations would determine if the state issues fewer or stricter permits, he said, but “right now, we’re in compliance with all of them with a lot of leeway.”
Environmental groups have criticized the state in lawsuits, letters to federal regulators and in public comments on proposed permits and regulations arguing that DEP is not doing all it can under the law to limit the amount of pollution the oil and gas facilities are allowed to emit.
They say that the state’s current air quality monitoring network is inadequate to measure the impacts of gas drilling and infrastructure in rural areas far from the established monitors clustered in population centers and point out that it is too late now – years into the development of the gas-rich shale – to measure what the air was like before the wells, pipelines and compressors were built.
“DEP does not have a comprehensive monitoring program to monitor contaminants in the air throughout the shale play regions of the state,” PennFuture president George Jugovic Jr. said. “We’re not monitoring for VOCs in these rural areas. We’re not monitoring for toxics. Having already begun this development, baseline is not really a question anymore. Now the question is can we get monitoring to ensure there are no local or regional impacts as we move forward.”
Jugovic was the director of DEP’s southwest regional office prior to joining PennFuture last year. He testified at a state House Democratic Policy Committee hearing in February that his former regional office alone has permitted over 13,000 tons per year of NOx emissions from compressor stations. If each station emitted the maximum allowed by its permit, it would add up to about 10 percent of the NOx emissions from all sources of air pollution statewide.
Nitrogen oxides, which are commonly released in car exhaust and cigarette smoke and by burning fossil fuels, can contribute to respiratory problems and lung damage on their own as well as when they are combined with sunlight and volatile organic compounds to form smog.
Environmental groups also say the state is not using a tool frequently enough that would limit emissions by considering connected wells, pipelines and compressors owned by the same company and built near one another as one pollution source governed by one, stricter permit – a process called aggregation.
None of the oil and gas air pollution sources permitted in Northeastern Pennsylvania have been aggregated, a DEP spokeswoman said, but all of them have been evaluated to see if the aggregation rules apply.
“It’s like a cumulative impact assessment,” Jugovic said. “If you look at each pollution source individually, it never looks like a significant impact on the air or the water. But whenever you look at it more holistically, you start seeing a bigger potential impact, which may lead you to regulate it differently.”
Read more
Study projects growth in shale-related employment
An IHS Global Insight study released Wednesday projects that shale gas-supported employment in Pennsylvania will grow 14 percent each year between 2010 and 2015, more than in any other unconventional gas producing state.
The study, which was funded by America’s Natural Gas Alliance, examines the economic impact of shale, coal bed methane and other unconventional gas development on a state-by-state basis, including states with few or no gas wells that benefit from the growing industry’s demand for supplies.
It estimates unconventional gas extraction nationwide will support nearly 1.5 million jobs in 2015, while drilling in Pennsylvania will support 111,000 jobs that year.
The study details the industry’s “dramatic impact on employment and economic growth” but offers a more modest projection of shale drilling’s impact on Pennsylvania jobs than similar studies commissioned by the industry.
A 2011 study funded by the Marcellus Shale Coalition and conducted by researchers affiliated with Penn State University found that the shale industry will support 216,000 jobs in 2015.
citizensvoice.com/news/drilling/study-projects-growth-in-shale-related-employment-1.1330142
Laura Legere
Published: June 15, 2012