Aug. 25 webinar to examine effect of Marcellus gas activity on habitat
http://live.psu.edu/story/54504#nw69
Thursday, August 11, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — As the Marcellus natural-gas boom has reverberated around Pennsylvania, residents and scientists alike have expressed concern about the impact extensive drilling and associated infrastructure development is having on wildlife habitat.
Wildlife managers and protectors are worried about forest fragmentation, the advance of invasive plant species and the effect the Marcellus play is having on activities such as hunting, fishing, bird watching and wildlife viewing.
There have been more than 2,350 wells drilled into the deep Marcellus formation under Pennsylvania in the last few years, primarily in the southwest, northeast and northcentral regions.
A Web-based seminar presented by Penn State Extension will offer a look at the latest information on the subject. Titled, “A Research Update on the Effects of Marcellus Shale Drilling on Wildlife Habitat,” the one-hour session will take place at 1 p.m. on Aug. 25.
Margaret Brittingham, professor of wildlife resources in the College of Agricultural Sciences
“The webinar will cover landscape and habitat changes associated with Marcellus Shale exploration and development, and how that may affect Pennsylvania wildlife and wildlife-associated recreation,” said presenter Margaret Brittingham, professor of wildlife resources in the College of Agricultural Sciences.
“I will discuss research we recently have completed on shallow wells and give an overview of our current research project, which is looking at the effects of Marcellus Shale gas exploration and development on wildlife habitat in general and forest songbirds in particular.”
Pennsylvania contains internationally important breeding habitat for a number of neotropical migrant songbirds that — if degraded — would affect world populations, Brittingham noted. And much of the extensive gas development is occurring in the state’s northern tier, where some of the densest forests in North America provide ecologically vital bird habitat.
However, that new research is in its early phase, Brittingham explained. “We currently are collecting baseline data and determining whether there are any detectable changes at this stage of development,” she said.
“I will conclude the webinar by discussing habitat-restoration needs, guidelines and opportunities, both for minimizing potential problems and enhancing habitat quality.”
The webinar is part of a series of online workshops addressing opportunities and challenges related to the state’s Marcellus Shale gas boom. Information about how to register for the session is available on the webinar page of Penn State Extension’s natural-gas website at http://extension.psu.edu/naturalgas/webinars.
A webinar at 1 p.m. on Sept. 15 will focus on current legal issues in shale-gas development.
Previous webinars, publications and information on topics such as air pollution from gas development; the gas boom’s effect on landfills; water use and quality; zoning; gas-leasing considerations for landowners; implications for local communities; and gas pipelines and right-of-way issues also are available on the Penn State Extension natural-gas website (http://extension.psu.edu/naturalgas).
For more information about the webinar, contact John Turack, extension educator in Westmoreland County, at 724-837-1402 or by email at jdt15@psu.edu.
Spread the natural gas drilling wealth
http://citizensvoice.com/news/senators-spread-the-natural-gas-drilling-wealth-1.1187598#axzz1UojFUOX3
By Elizabeth Skrapits (Staff Writer)
Published: August 12, 2011
WILKES-BARRE – With the Susquehanna River as a backdrop, state and local officials made a pitch for environmentally responsible Marcellus Shale development that will create jobs throughout Pennsylvania and a tax on natural gas extraction that will generate revenue for the entire state.
At a press conference at the River Commons on Wednesday, two state senators – Energy Committee Minority Chairman John Yudichak, D-Nanticoke, and Democratic Leader Jay Costa, D-Homestead – stressed the importance of environmental protection and employment opportunities.
Costa’s constituency is in Allegheny County, which has natural gas drilling. Yudichak’s Luzerne County district most likely will not, after exploratory wells came up dry.
But the senators would like to spread the wealth, not only in terms of revenue from a severance tax, but also as far as job creation.
“We’re a commonwealth, and we need to share all of our resources,” Costa said.
The senators believe part of the severance tax revenue should go into a statewide pool of money for environmental grants. Yudichak pointed out how Northeastern Pennsylvania has benefited from similar programs, such as the Growing Greener program.
Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority Director Jim Brozena wants cut state funding restored for programs to help communities damaged in “unforeseen weather events,” like the July 3 flash flooding in Plymouth Township and Plymouth Borough.
Michael Kwashnik, business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 163, brought up the need for safety while on the job.
There is no specific program through the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration to regulate safety at natural gas job sites, Kwashnik said.
He said local IBEW members often work on compressor stations – if a company doesn’t bring in out-of-state or undocumented workers or unlicensed subcontractors.
It’s up to each individual gas company to have its own safety program implemented, Kwashnik said. Many of them have safe work sites and hire skilled, trained professionals, but there are a few “wildcat” companies only looking to make a quick buck, he said.
“Some of them are very safe. Others throw safety to the wind,” he said.
In one case, IBEW members were called in to fix a compressor station near Elmira, N.Y. that blew up two days after it was completed, Kwashnik said. He said it turned out the gas company had hired 22 undocumented workers.
The drilling industry needs millions of gallons of water for hydraulic fracturing, which involves blasting the chemical-treated water thousands of feet underground to break up the shale and release the gas. The Susquehanna River Basin Commission regulates water withdrawals from all sources in the river’s watershed.
Paul Swartz said in his 20 years with the commission, potential effects of natural gas drilling on the river have caused more concern than any other issue.
Swartz said the commission’s position on natural gas drilling is “you can have your cake and eat it too.” But only if proper regulations and laws are in place and agencies like the Susquehanna River Basin Commission have the ability to enforce them, he said.
Swartz said he does not want to see the same type of issues as with coal mining and timbering.
Yudichak also brought up the legacy of environmental degradation left by the coal barons for the taxpayers to clean up.
That’s what Shavertown resident Audrey Simpson, who held a sign stating, “Gas drilling boom-bust economy is not the answer,” fears.
“When the gas companies are done with Pennsylvania, what economy are we going to have left?” she said. “There will be no tourism, no state parks, no state forests. What kind of future is that?”
Jim Straub of Kingston wanted to know whether the state and local municipalities would get royalties for drilling underneath roads. He doesn’t oppose drilling.
“This is not going to stop,” he said. “We’ve just got to make sure we get enough compensation in the meantime.”
Costa said compensation might not come in the form of royalties, but municipalities would receive money for infrastructure with a severance tax or impact fee.
eskrapits@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2072
Air, rail needs emphasized for Marcellus Shale region
http://republicanherald.com/news/air-rail-needs-emphasized-for-marcellus-shale-region-1.1184992
BY ROBERT SWIFT (HARRISBURG BUREAU CHIEF rswift@timesshamrock.com)
Published: August 6, 2011
HARRISBURG – Freight railroad lines and airports in the Marcellus Shale drilling regions would be targeted for improvements under recommendations made by two gubernatorial commissions.
The Governor’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission and Transportation Funding Advisory Commission both addressed the issue in reports released within the past two weeks.
Commission members suggested that improving both types of transportation will help the long-term development of deep gas reserves and reduce highway congestion from truck traffic associated with drilling operations. One recommendation would earmark revenue from an existing state surcharge on tickets issued for speeding and other moving vehicle violations to a new fund to pay for rail, airport and port infrastructure projects statewide.
The various recommendations are now being studied by Gov. Tom Corbett and lawmakers.
The Marcellus commission recommends giving priority to an evaluation of rail freight systems in the Marcellus regions in order to relieve the burden on roads and bridges from transporting sand, water and pipe to serve gas well operations. Another suggestion is for the state to partner with local rail authorities to seek federal rail freight dollars for this effort.
The Marcellus commission also recommends the state Transportation Department’s Aviation Bureau undertake a detailed assessment of air service needs at airports in the region in order to capitalize on economic opportunities from gas drilling.
The transportation commission focused more on finding new revenue sources for the state’s transportation system. The commission’s report noted short-line railroads in the northern tier counties need money to fix and maintain track, bridges and switches in order to support drilling operations. If more drilling materials can be shipped by rail, it will reduce truck traffic, the report states.
Pennsylvania airports get revenue from a tax on jet fuel, but revenue only covers a quarter of the improvements needed, the report states.
To address these needs, the commission recommends creating an “Intermodal Transportation Fund” for rail freight, aviation, passenger rail and ports across the state. Revenue from an existing surcharge on tickets for moving vehicle violations that currently goes to the all-purpose state General Fund could be diverted to the new intermodal fund, the commission said.
If that happens, its report projects $7 million in new revenue for aviation in fiscal 2012-13 going up to $11 million in five years and $9 million for rail freight in fiscal 2012-13 going up to $17 million in five years. The entire fund would have $54 million in 2012-13.
Before this, lawmakers have sought to provide potential funding for rail freight projects in the Marcellus region in a piecemeal fashion by adding authorizations to capital budget bills. The state pays for capital projects through the sale of bonds to investors and the governor decides which projects get the green light. It’s a tough competition and projects can remain on lists for years.
DEP boss: We won’t leave scars
http://standardspeaker.com/news/dep-boss-we-won-t-leave-scars-1.1185041#axzz1UFlEFGtR
By KENT JACKSON (Staff Writer)
Published: August 6, 2011
Speakers at a conference in Hazleton about pollution from abandoned coal mines hope that environmental problems won’t result from Pennsylvania’s latest energy boom – drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale formation.
Michael Krancer, the secretary of Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection, who opened the conference on Friday at Best Western Genetti Inn and Suites, said he will police gas drilling so companies don’t pollute air and water.
“We’re very sensitive to leaving a legacy,” Krancer said, while adding that public sensibilities are different now than a century ago when coal mining left its mark.
“People today won’t tolerate scars on the land” or pollution in the air, he said.
An attorney and former judge on the state Environmental Hearing Board, Krancer said he encourages companies to be good neighbors and said those that cheat on environmental rules ruin the free market and the natural world.
“That is my core belief,” he said.
When asked, however, about taxing gas companies today to remediate the problems created by coal companies of yesteryear, Krancer said that won’t happen.
“Given my boss’ view of taxes,” he said of Gov. Tom Corbett’s stance against taxing gas companies, “it’s a non-starter.”
Krancer further said the gas deposits are personal property and compared a plan to tax them to borrowing the car of the man who raised the question for government use. He did say the legislators show strong support for charging companies fees to offset the impact on communities where drilling occurs.
Krancer approves using water polluted by draining through mines to drill for gas.
“That’s a no-brainer” was his reaction when he first heard of the concept, and he said he hasn’t changed his views. Legal questions, however, have arisen about whether gas companies inherit responsibility for treating water under the doctrine of “You use it, you own it.”
Sandra McSurdy, in one of 15 seminars that followed Krancer’s address, talked about a study of using acid mine drainage in gas drilling that she manages for the U.S. Department of Energy.
The plan might work better in the southwestern part of the state where mine pools overlap gas wells better than they do in the northeast.
Using mine water, she said, reduces the water that drillers will draw from rivers, streams and public drinking supplies. It also could cut down the traffic from trucks carrying water to mines or hauling contaminated water that flowed back from gas wells to Ohio for disposal in deep wells there.
Some gas drillers seeking to avoid legal responsibility for treating mine water refuse to use it.
For drillers that would use mine water, meanwhile, McSurdy described some of the interactions with chemicals in water that flows back from the gas wells.
Sulfate in mine water, for example, is excellent at removing barium and iron, but not strontium, from flowback water, McSurdy said. Adding sodium bicarbonate, meanwhile, helps take out strontium, she said.
Radisav Vidic at the University of Pittsburgh is leading the research and looking at how fast the chemical reactions occur between mine and drilling waters, McSurdy said.
Some samples of the flowback water contain radioactivity from radon below ground, which can be removed by sulfate. The resulting solid would need to be disposed as low-level nuclear waste, McSurdy said.
Mine water also has been used to wash coal, provide a source of steam in coal-burning plants and has been suggested as a water source for the coal-to-diesel plant that Jack Rich of Reading Anthracite wants to build in Schuylkill County, Charles Cravotta III, a hydrogeologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, said.
Cravotta and colleagues did a study that estimated 60 billion to 220 billion gallons might be pooled in mines in the Western Middle Anthracite Fields, which are primarily in the watersheds of the Mahanoy and Shamokin creeks.
Thomas Clark of the Susquehanna River Basin Commission looked at the top 20 sites in the anthracite region, including the Jeddo Tunnel, that send acid mine drainage into the river. Prefacing his remarks by saying he is not an engineer, Clark said 10 treatment plants might be built to handle the flow from 16 of the top sources, plus 20 other discharge points.
In his plan, the Nescopeck Creek, which is fed by the Jeddo Mine Tunnel and accounts for 56 percent of aluminum entering the Susquehanna in the region, would get a separate treatment plant. Other plants would treat water from two or more sites.
Together, the plants would remove 68 percent of iron, 73 percent of manganese, 79 percent of aluminum and 60 percent of acidity flowing into the Susquehanna from the region.
Mine engineer Michael Korb of Hazleton, after reporting on a never-realized plan from the 1950s to send mine drainage from Pennsylvania to Maryland through a 137-mile tunnel, suggested diverting water from mines so it doesn’t become polluted rather than building treatment plants. Treatment plants require constant maintenance and passive plants have been disabled by storms, he said.
Even diversion systems, such as ditches and flumes, require maintenance, said Korb, who pointed out that most of the systems installed in the 1950s in lieu of the giant tunnel stopped being effective after the coal companies went out of business and stopped the upkeep.
kjackson@standardspeaker.com
Environmentalists file to block N.E. Pa. drilling
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/126813168.html
By Sandy Bauers
Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted on Fri, Aug. 5, 2011
In another potential roadblock to natural-gas drilling in the upper Delaware River basin, a consortium of environmental groups filed suit in federal court Thursday seeking to delay the adoption of regulations until environmental impacts are studied.
The groups contend that the Delaware River Basin Commission, which governs water quality and withdrawals, is subject to federal rules requiring environmental reviews of major projects.
The commission “has acknowledged the value of it, and they have simply chosen not to do it,” said Maya van Rossum of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, one of the groups that filed the suit.
The industry called the suit frivolous and obstructive.
Ultimately, the issue centers on whether the commission is a federal agency and therefore covered by the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires the examination of the environmental impacts of major projects before undertaking them, said Kenneth Kristl, director of the Environmental Law Clinic at Widener University.
The commission was formed by a 1961 compact signed by the federal government and the four states with land in the basin – Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Delaware. Members include the states and a federal representative, the Army Corps of Engineers, which was also named in the lawsuit.
Kristl’s clinic, which has represented drilling opponents, contends that the commission is subject to the act. Because the compact was ratified by Congress, he said, “technically, it is a creature of federal law.”
“The flip side of the argument is that it is not a typical federal agency in the sense that it is not controlled by the federal government,” he said.
“That is going to be the interesting legal issue. . . . If they are subject to it, they have not done anything to comply with it.”
The Delaware is a high-stakes area. Most of the upper basin is underlain by the rich Marcellus Shale formation, a potential source of cheap natural gas as well as income for people who own land where drilling is targeted.
But the upper river and many of its tributaries are under special protections because of their high water quality. And the Delaware provides drinking water for 15 million people, including those in Philadelphia and some suburbs.
The commission has put a halt to drilling until regulations are in place. So while more than 3,500 Marcellus wells have been drilled in the rest of Pennsylvania, state records show, none are active in the northeastern area within the basin.
Regulations were proposed in December, and a public comment period ended April 15.Ever since, the battle has become one of timing.
Commission staff had estimated that the soonest the 58,000 submissions received during the comment period could be analyzed and responded to would be by the commission’s September meeting.
Pennsylvania and New Jersey want to proceed.
New Jersey’s representative on the commission, John Plonski, a water resources manager in the Department of Environmental Protection, has threatened to withhold payments to the financially strapped commission if it does not vote on the regulations in September.
But the state attorney general in New York, which is doing its own environmental-impact study, filed a federal lawsuit May 31 that is similar to the one filed Thursday by the environmental groups. New York’s suit named the Army Corps of Engineers and other federal agencies, not the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC).
On Monday, an assistant U.S. attorney wrote to U.S. District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis in Brooklyn, N.Y., where the case was filed, saying she planned to ask that the suit be dismissed because it was the DRBC that proposed the regulations.
The attorney, Sandra L. Levy, who is representing the federal government, contended that New York’s suit was “an effort to make an end run around” the matter.
Thursday’s suit by the environmental groups, also filed in Brooklyn, names both the Army Corps and the DRBC.
As such, it is “better positioned than the first suit,” said Ross H. Pifer, a Pennsylvania State University law professor. “But the plaintiffs here still must clear the critical hurdle of establishing that DRBC is a federal agency.”
Spokesmen for both the commission and the Army Corps said they had not yet reviewed the complaint and could not comment.
Travis Windle, spokesman for the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry group, said “frivolous lawsuits like this . . . fundamentally disregard legal precedent and do nothing to help create jobs, protect the environment, or make America more energy secure.”
He said they obstructed “the responsible development of clean-burning American natural gas.”
The commission itself once sought an environmental review, but it had no money to do one. U.S. Rep. Maurice D. Hinchey (D., N.Y.) and others tried to get a $1 million appropriation in the 2001 federal budget, but they failed.
Contact staff writer Sandy Bauers at 215-854-5147, sbauers@phillynews.com, or @sbauers on Twitter. Visit her blog at philly.com/greenspace.
Coalition seeks EPA action on gas drilling chemical info, testing
http://republicanherald.com/news/coalition-seeks-epa-action-on-gas-drilling-chemical-info-testing-1.1184706
BY DAVID SINGLETON (STAFF WRITER dsingleton@timesshamrock.com)
Published: August 5, 2011
A coalition of groups from Pennsylvania and 22 other states asked federal regulators Thursday to require the natural gas industry to perform testing and disclose information on the safety of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing and other facets of gas exploration and production.
The petition filed by the environmental law firm Earthjustice requests that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency adopt rules that would for the first time require manufacturers and processors to produce the data needed to assess the risks posed by the chemicals.
Deborah Goldberg, an attorney with Earthjustice, said the concern goes beyond the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” to those involved in gas development “from start to finish.”
As natural gas exploration has moved forward at “breakneck speed,” there have been growing reports of contaminated drinking water, polluted air and human illness, she said in a conference call.
“The problem we are facing right now is we do not have the data that we need to evaluate the health and environmental risks that are presented by the chemicals that are used by the industry, either the individual substances or the mixtures of chemicals that are used,” Goldberg said.
The petition asks the EPA to draft rules that would require, among other things, the identification and toxicity testing of all chemicals used in gas production and exploration, and the disclosure of all existing health and safety studies related to the substances.
Goldberg said the petition is not aimed at the disclosure of the chemicals used at individual well sites, which would be a state regulatory function.
Her organization filed the petition on behalf more than 100 environmental, public health and good government groups, including 19 from Pennsylvania.
According to the petition, increased production could translate into the drilling of 60,000 wells in Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania in the next 20 years. The fracking process, in which water, sand and chemicals are injected underground at high pressure to fracture the rock and release the gas, can use more than 10,000 gallons of chemicals per well.
Roberta Winters, a representative of the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania who participated in the conference call, said rather than the gas industry being required to prove its methods are safe, the public has been left to wonder whether their water is safe to drink.
“Today’s petition puts some of that responsibility back where it belongs,” she said.
Richard Denison, senior scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund, said the ultimate goal is to encourage the industry to act responsibly.
“We think having information available for both the government and the public will provide a good incentive to the industry to ensure their practices are safe and that it is trying to use the safest chemicals in these processes,” he said.
The EPA has 90 days to respond to the petition.
New air rules to curb pollution from gas wells
http://standardspeaker.com/news/new-air-rules-to-curb-pollution-from-gas-wells-1.1181579#axzz1TUpEddKL
By Laura Legere (Staff Writer)
Published: July 29, 2011
In an effort to curb smog and airborne chemicals linked to oil and gas production, federal environmental regulators moved Thursday to place new controls on air pollution caused by the drilling, processing and transmission of the fuels.
The proposed rules released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would for the first time require “green completions” at nearly all hydraulically fractured oil and gas wells in the country – a way of capturing and sending to market gas that would otherwise escape into the atmosphere.
The new requirements would also stem pollution from some compressors, valves, dehydrators and processing plants, as well as the storage tanks that hold the hydrocarbon liquids associated with “wet” forms of gas.
The rules aim to curb smog-causing chemicals called volatile organic compounds (VOCs), as well as air toxics, such as benzene, that are known or suspected to cause cancer. Although the rules do not directly target the leakage of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, the proposals to limit the VOCs and air toxics will also reduce the amount of methane escaping into the atmosphere by about 26 percent, the agency said.
The EPA characterized the rules as “extremely cost-effective” and estimated the requirements will save the industry nearly $30 million a year above the $754 million annually it will cost to meet the requirements. The agency said the rules will mandate practices already used voluntarily by some companies and required by some states.
“Reducing these emissions will help cut toxic pollution that can increase cancer risks and smog that can cause asthma attacks and premature death – all while giving these operators additional product to bring to market,” said Gina McCarthy, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation.
Environmental groups who sued the EPA to update its standards by a court-ordered deadline Thursday welcomed the proposals.
Jeremy Nichols, climate and energy program director of New Mexico-based WildEarth Guardians, said the “woefully outdated” current rules allowed the buildup of ground-level ozone in rural, heavily drilled parts of Wyoming so the smog there rivaled that in Los Angeles.
The proposed rules offer benefits to the industry and the environment, he said.
“The solution to clearing the air more often than not means keeping more product in the pipeline,” he said.
Rules mandating green completions may prove difficult at first for operators in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale, where pipeline infrastructure is still catching up to the pace at which new gas wells are drilled.
“Certainly it’s easier to capture methane when a gas field is a little more mature because the pipeline infrastructure is in place that allows you to capture it,” said former Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection secretary John Hanger.
He said the proposed rules “can help maximize the environmental benefits that using more natural gas in our society offers.”
In its response to the proposed rules, the Pennsylvania-based industry group the Marcellus Shale Coalition pointed to three short-term state air monitoring studies near Marcellus wells that did not find any compounds in concentrations “that would likely trigger air-related health issues.”
“This sweeping set of potentially unworkable regulations represents an overreach that could, ironically, undercut the production of American natural gas, an abundant energy resource that is critical to strengthening our nation’s air quality,” coalition president Kathryn Klaber said.
The EPA will have a public comment period on the proposed rules and three public hearings in the Dallas, Texas; Denver, Colo. and Pittsburgh areas, for which details have not yet been announced.
The agency is under a court order to take final action on the rules by Feb. 28, 2012.
llegere@timesshamrock.com
Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission Issues Final Report
http://www.responsibledrillingalliance.org/newsletter/07272011.html
Back in March, Governor Corbett formed the 30-member Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission (MSAC), giving those appointed 120 days to develop recommendations on all aspects of natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. This past Friday, the commission released it recommendations. The full 137-page report is available on the RDA web site: http://www.responsibledrillingalliance.org/newsletter/MSAC_Report_July_2011.pdf
Some of the commission’s recommendations include:
Economic & Workforce Development
- The Commonwealth should identify strategic locations to construct regional business parks.
- The state should create financial incentives for the conversion of mass transit and school bus fleets to natural gas, as well as for the manufacture of engines and other component parts, utilizing available funding sources.
- The Department of Community and Economic Development should work closely with its regional economic development partners and gas producers to grow the number of existing manufacturing firms participating in the shale gas industry.
Permitting and Infrastructure
- Pennsylvania should designate a state agency to create a “one-stop” permitting process.
- State agencies should offer accelerated permit reviews within guaranteed time frames.
- If the air contamination sources are covered by an exemption on the Air Quality Permit Exemption List, a Plan Approval and/or Operating Permit will not be required.
- The Commonwealth should expand its rail freight facilities and capabilities to handle supplies and commodities associated with natural gas development.
Public Health, Safety & Environmental Protection
- Triple well setback distance from streams, ponds, and other bodies of water from 100 to 300 feet.
- Increase setback distance from private water wells from 200 to 500 feet and to 1,000 feet for public water systems.
- Expand operator’s presumed liability for impairing water quality from 1,000 ft to 2,500 feet from a well, and extend the duration of presumed liability from 6 months to 12 months.
Local Impacts and Emergency Response
- Oil and gas well pads and related facilities should be assigned a 9-1-1 address for emergency response purposes, and oil and gas operators should be required to provide GPS coordinates for access roads and well pad sites.
- Recommend enactment or authorization to impose a fee to mitigate to uncompensated
- impacts caused to communities by natural gas development.
Commenting on the Commission’s report, Representative Camille “Bud” George stated, “What we’ve seen over the last several months is an industry-dominated commission offer few meaningful remedies for a process that has already polluted people’s water. It’s unfathomable and unconscionable to put people’s safety at risk as this industrial tide sweeps the Commonwealth.” Rep. George claims it is irresponsible to empower a profit-driven industry to regulate itself when Pennsylvania consumers will be paying for environmental remediation when accidents occur. George cautioned that some commission recommendations may appear to be environmentally friendly, but are actually disguised gifts to the gas industry.
Rep. George has introduced a bill that he believes would help to fill some of the most erroneous gaps in the commissions report. Several of the protection provisions in the ProtectPA bill mirror those made by Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Mike Krancer in his May 27th letter to Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley, who chaired the MSAC.
Known as ProtectPA, the bill calls for:
- Increasing the distance that wells may be placed from public drinking water sources
- Disclosure of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing
- Updated bonding and road-repair requirements
- Extension of a well operator’s presumed liability in cases of well pollution
- “Cradle-to-grave” tracking of Marcellus waste water
- Expanding pre-drilling survey rights for landowners
- Prohibiting open-pit frac water storage in flood plains
- A tax of 30 cents per 1,000 cubic feet of gas severed, with an adjustment mechanism if the price of gas changes.
- Severance tax revenue would go directly to the entities and projects most harmed by gas drilling, including local governments, infrastructure repair, and environmental programs
- No unrestricted revenue directed to the PA General Fund.
Law Suit Filed Due to Air Quality Concerns
One topic that the Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission all but overlooked in their report was air quality. No surprise, as the commission’s recommendation under “Economic and Workforce Development” includes courting some of the most notorious air-polluting industries to locate in Pennsylvania, where they will help to increase demand for natural gas. These include plastics and chemical manufacturing plants.
On Thursday of last week, one day before the final MSAC report was issued, Citizens for Pennsylvania‟s Future (PennFuture) filed a lawsuit against Ultra Resources, Inc., for air pollution at its Marcellus Shale drilling sites. PennFuture also filed a formal request with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for all records of air pollution at drilling sites throughout the Commonwealth.
“Ultra’s drilling operations in Tioga and Potter counties are emitting dangerous and illegal air pollution and operating without the required permits,” said Jan Jarrett, president and CEO of PennFuture. “Unless gas drillers operating in Pennsylvania control the air pollution from their operations, air quality will deteriorate, putting public health at risk…The company is emitting large amounts of nitrogen oxides (NOx) into the air, creating serious health risks for anyone living downwind from the operations. According to the United States EPA, even short-term NOx exposures, ranging from 30 minutes to 24 hours, cause adverse respiratory effects including airway inflammation in healthy people and increased respiratory symptoms in people with asthma. And this air pollution also leads to more fine particle pollution, which can cause heart attacks and other deadly illnesses. But this appears to be business as usual for many drillers,” continued Jarrett.
“A study out of Fort Worth (TX) recently showed that the NOx pollution just from the average compressor engine there is about 60 tons per year. And with drilling going like gangbusters here in Pennsylvania, that same kind of pollution from all the operations would create serious public health problems, and destroy any ability of Pennsylvania to meet air quality standards. We’ve also seen the formerly pristine air in Wyoming now more dangerous than that in Los Angeles, thanks to massive drilling. We need to stop this problem here and now. “ claimed Jarrett.
“We are also asking DEP to open the books on its assessment of air pollution at other drilling operations throughout the Commonwealth,” said Jarrett. “We cannot and will not allow the drillers to operate without meeting our clean air rules.”
Copies of the PennFuture court filing and Right to Know request may be downloaded at www.pennfuture.org.
Fee proposed but tax ruled out on hydraulic fracturing
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/22/natgas-fracking-pennsylvania-idUSN1E76L19Y20110722
Jul 22, 2011 2:38pm EDT
By Edith Honan
- Fee proposed but tax ruled out on hydraulic fracturing
- No specific amount for free recommended
- Commission aims to create road map for regulation
NEW YORK, July 22 (Reuters) – Pennsylvania, home to the nation’s richest natural gas deposit, released recommendations on Friday that included requiring drillers to pay an impact fee but ruled out a new state tax on extracting gas.
The long-awaited report from the governor’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission’s aims to provide a road map for the state legislature to regulate the booming shale gas industry, balancing the need to generate revenue while also promoting more drilling.
The commission recommended charging an impact fee for costs incurred by municipalities as a result of drilling, such as for the upkeep of roads, but declined to propose a specific amount, saying that decision will be left up to the Republican governor and the Republican-controlled state legislature.
But the fees almost certainly would amount to less than $300 million that the previous, Democratic governor had hoped to raise through a wellhead tax that was rejected by Republicans in the legislature.
The commission also recommended doubling penalties for civil violations — which in the more serious instances could involve leaks and spill — from $25,000 to $50,000 and double daily penalties from $1,000 to $2,000.
Pennsylvania sits above the Marcellus shale formation, which could meet U.S. gas demand for decades, and has become the flash point for a U.S. debate on the extraction method hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
Fracking involves blasting shale rock with chemical-laced water and sand to release trapped gas. Some environmental and public health activists say it taints drinking water supplies.
The 30-member commission was created by Governor Tom Corbett, who took office in January with a strong anti-tax stance and described the gas industry as an economic engine for the cash-strapped state.
Corbett, who according to the website Marcellus Money has received $1.6 million in industry campaign contributions, is opposed to a severance or wellhead tax on gas drilling. Pennsylvania is the only gas-producing state without such a tax.
Proponents of those taxes say they would raise needed revenue and help pay for the environmental costs of drilling.
The recommendations include increasing the distance between gas well sites and drinking water systems and training more Pennsylvania residents to work in the industry.
“Today, Pennsylvania is taking an important first step toward creating tens of thousands of jobs and leading the nation toward energy independence and doing so in an environmentally responsible way,” said Lieutenant Governor Jim Cawley, who led the commission.
A study by current and former Pennsylvania State University researchers — released this week funded by the natural gas drilling industry — said the state’s economy will get a $12.8 billion boost from drilling this year, more than double the amount from 2009, while reaping nearly 140,000 jobs.
Pennsylvania, until recently a net importer of natural gas, could surpass Texas as the top exporting state within the next decade, the report said.
A well belonging to one of the state’s largest drillers, Chesapeake Energy (CHK.N) blew out in the town of LeRoy in April, spilling thousands of gallons of toxic drilling fluid and causing anxiety among local residents.
Temple researchers will investigate methane gas from Marcellus Shale drilling
http://www.temple.edu/newsroom/2011_2012/07/stories/Marcellus_Shale_drilling.htm
CONTACT: Preston Moretz <preston.moretz@temple.edu> 215-204-4380
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
A Temple study funded by the William Penn Foundation will explore the origin of methane gas found at higher concentrations in drinking wells in areas surrounding Marcellus Shale drilling sites in Susquehanna County.
A multi-disciplinary team of Temple researchers will investigate the origins of methane gas found in drinking water wells near Marcellus Shale drilling sites in Pennsylvania and how science is influencing the formation of public policy on drilling. The research is being funded through a one-year, $66,000 multi-disciplinary grant from the William Penn Foundation.
“We know there are environmental concerns about the Marcellus Shale and there have been some accidents related to the drilling,” said Michel Boufadel, professor of environmental engineering and director of the Center for Natural Resources Development and Protection (NRDP) in Temple’s College of Engineering. “There has been a lot of hype about this issue and sometimes it is difficult to decipher what is fact-based and what is opinion.”
A recent study by researchers at Duke University showed that drinking wells located near Marcellus Shale drilling sites in Susquehanna County had an average concentration of methane gas that was 17 times greater than wells not near drilling sites. The study also concluded that the methane had originated deep below the earth’s surface.
Boufadel, principal investigator for the Temple project, said that the process used to drill into the shale creates enormous pressure that could be forcing pockets of methane toward the drinking wells. Temple’s research will attempt to determine if the methane gas found in the wells was released from the shale during drilling or whether it was located in pockets closer to the surface.
If the methane is originating in the upper formations, the likely cause is the drilling operation or the well casing construction — issues that could be addressed at a reasonable cost, said Boufadel. However, if the gas is originating in the deep formation, the entire hydrofracking process could be considered hazardous and would need to be stopped or dramatically modified, he said.
Michele Masucci, associate professor and chair of geography and urban studies in the College of Liberal Arts, and Nicholas Davatzes, assistant professor of earth and environmental science in the College of Science and Technology will serve as co-investigators on the research project to be conducted by the NRDP Center.
Boufadel said Masucci, a social scientist, will explore how the science of the Marcellus Shale drilling is reaching policy makers, how they are processing it and using it to formulate public policy on the extraction of gas from the Marcellus Shale.
Davatzes, a structural geologist who has conducted research on energy from deep geo-thermal wells, will play a crucial role in constructing the geology of the impacted region, Boufadel said.
“Environmental research is inherently multi-disciplinary; the challenges are not only technical or technological, but socio-political as well,” said Boufadel. “This project is a template for dealing with important environmental issues, such as the Marcellus Shale, where we have researchers from three colleges — Engineering, Science and Technology and Liberal Arts — coming together to find solutions.”
In addition to the research, the grant requires Temple to organize a symposium on Marcellus Shale which will be held in the fall.