EPA Chief Says Fracking Not Proven to Harm Water
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/epa-chief-says-fracking-not-proven-to-harm-water.html
posted by Jake Richardson May 27, 2011 2:03 pm
A recent article on the news site, The Oklahoman, reported that EPA Chief Lisa Jackson said she did not know of any proven case where hydraulic fracking had affected drinking water. She must have missed the news two weeks ago that a research study conducted by Duke University scientists found methane contamination of drinking water wells in areas where shale drilling is taking place. The peer-reviewed study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
They tested water from 68 drinking water wells in southeastern Pennsylvania and southern New York state. The researchers said, “Our results show evidence for methane contamination of shallow drinking water systems in at least three areas of the region and suggest important environmental risks accompanying shale gas exploration worldwide.” (Source: Huffington Post)
Congressman Maurice Hinchey, D-NY said, “This study provides eye-opening scientific evidence about methane contamination and the risks that irresponsible natural gas drilling poses for drinking water supplies.” (Source: Huffington Post)
Potentially as bad, or even worse, were the results of a Congressional investigation that revealed 32 million gallons of diesel fuel or hydraulic fracturing fluids containing diesel fuel had been injected into wells in 19 states from 2005 to 2009. Diesel fuel contains toxins such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes. Benzene is known to cause cancer.
A news article from the San Antonio Express-News stated that water has been affected by the fracking process, “Surface spills of the fracking fluids have killed livestock and fouled waterways.” Also, a US energy company is facing a lawsuit for allegedly turning a drinking water well into a gas well due to their fracking, “The water well next door to their house began to spew methane. So much so that they ended up putting a flare in the person’s backyard,” said the lead lawyer on the case. (Source: CBC.ca)
Fracking fluids are used during the process of drilling and extracting natural gas. They are exempted from the Safe Drinking Water Act due to the Halliburton loophole. Some of the chemicals used in fracking could be cancer-causing.
Lisa Jackson is an Obama appointee, along with Ken Salazaar, who has disappointed many environmentalists and progressives. You have to wonder if the Chief of the EPA actually is that unaware of such an important research study and how it relates to the fracking controversy, or if she simply was dodging the issue of how dangerous fracking can be, due to the pressure of the oil and gas industry and the current administration. The EPA is currently conducting its own study of fracking, with a report due sometime in 2012.
Learn what You Can Do To Protect Drinking Water
WREN OFFERS TWO FREE WORKSHOPS IN JUNE
Communities undergoing natural gas development have expressed a keen interest in protecting the purity of public water supplies. To help communities, planners, and public water systems learn more about available tools and management options to protect drinking water now and for future generations, WREN and PA DEP are bringing a pair of free workshops to Ridgway, Elk County, on June 21st and June 22nd at the North Central Pennsylvania Regional Planning & Development Commission facilities.
On June 21st , the “Protecting Public Drinking Water: Source Water Protection Solutions” Workshop will cover the basics of source water protection, outline roles and responsibilities, and introduce tools like DEP’s Source Water Protection Technical Assistance Program and PA Rural Water’s assistance program that provide protection plans that focus on prevention, before contamination happens. WREN’s Julie Kollar, and Mark Stephens, P.G. at DEP North Central Region will present. The workshop will run from 1 pm – 4:45 pm and is approved by DEP for 3.5 contact hours for water operators.
On June 22nd, WREN will offer “Source Water Protection through Planning & Leadership,” featuring advanced source water protection training with a “train the trainer” workshop for planners, local governments, water systems, and interested citizens who want to learn more about source water protection strategies. WREN’s Julie Kollar and DEP’s Mark Stephens will be joined by PMPEI-certified planning instructor D. Jeffrey Pierce, Director of Community Planning at Olsen and Associates, LLC who will present “Planning Tools for Municipalities, along with Professor Ross H. Pifer, Director, Agricultural Law and Reference Center, Penn State Law who will present “State Pre-Emption of a Municipality’s Authority to Regulate Oil and Gas Operations.” Mark Szybist, Staff Attorney at PennFuture will wrap up with a session covering “What Municipalities Can Do Now.” The workshop will be conducted from 10 am – 2:15 pm, also at the North Central PA Regional Planning & development Commission in Ridgeway.
To learn more, download a flyer and register online, go to www.sourcewaterpa.org
Shale drillers eye mine drainage for fluid
http://www.waterworld.com/index/display/news_display/1422301945.html
Timothy Puko
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
May 22, 2011
A growing energy industry that comes with its own pollution concerns could help clean up one of the oldest pollution problems in Pennsylvania.
Shale gas drilling uses billions of gallons of water every year to break into rocks one mile underground. Drillers put chemicals such as methanol, benzene and 2-butoxyethanol into that water to help their equipment work and coax gas forth, but that angers environmentalists and landowners who worry about the water spilling or seeping into public drinking water sources.
One solution could be to use water that’s even dirtier.
University of Pittsburgh professor Radisav D. Vidic is studying how drillers could make use of mine drainage water, since thousands of gallons flow untreated into waterways statewide every day. It would keep that toxic drainage out of water supplies and stop drillers from using tanker trucks that burn gasoline and crush roads while hauling water to well sites, Vidic said.
“I was completely blown away by the fact that they were willing to truck water around,” said Vidic, a civil and environmental engineer.
He’s in the middle of a three-year, federally funded research project and is focusing on how to use mine water.
“Not only do you reduce the traffic and opportunities for spilling, but you clean up some of the legacy issues (left by coal),” he said.
Drilling companies are taking notice.
‘Every little bit counts’
Read more
Doctors raise questions about health impacts of drilling
http://citizensvoice.com/news/doctors-raise-questions-about-health-impacts-of-drilling-1.1151308#axzz1NGoFQInA
By Laura Legere (Staff Writer)
Published: May 24, 2011
Area physicians brought their questions about the potential health impacts of natural gas drilling to a symposium on the issue Monday night and learned how much about those impacts has yet to be studied.
The Lackawanna County Medical Society sponsored the forum as an introduction to the gas drilling process and its relative risks to drinking and surface water.
Kim Scandale, executive director of the society, said the hope is to address at future sessions some of the unanswered questions raised by the doctors – everything from where to report symptoms potentially related to the drilling to whether there have been epidemiological studies in other gas-drilling states.
Bryan Swistock, water resources extension specialist for Penn State Cooperative Extension and a presenter at the symposium, emphasized the importance of pre- and post-drilling water tests of residential wells. The tests can document any changes to water supplies that might help doctors understand symptoms, he said.
He also detailed the lack of state standards for drinking water wells, which can lead to poor construction and unsafe health conditions even before gas drilling begins.
Doctors in the audience raised concerns about how to determine if symptoms can be connected to nearby drilling, especially since patients’ complaints tend to be “very nebulous, like numbness and joint pain.”
The Northeast Regional Cancer Institute is in the early stages of planning a study of baseline health conditions in the Northern Tier to help measure any health impacts from drilling if they do occur, the center’s medical director and director of research Samuel Lesko, M.D., said.
“At least it will give us some baseline data that might be useful five years or six months from now,” he said.
llegere@timesshamrock.com
Panelists will discuss Marcellus Shale development at Wilkes forum
http://citizensvoice.com/news/panelists-will-discuss-marcellus-shale-development-at-wilkes-forum-1.1150635#axzz1NGoFQInA
Published: May 23, 2011
Wilkes University will host a forum, “Consensus on Marcellus development: What would it look like, and how do we get there?” at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center for the Performing Arts.
The event, sponsored by the Wilkes University Alumni Association and the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research of Northeastern Pennsylvania, will feature a panel of participants with different perspectives.
Panelists include:
> Kenneth Klemow, Wilkes professor of biology and associate director of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research of Northeastern Pennsylvania.
> Brian Redmond, Wilkes professor of earth science.
> Clayton Bubeck, environmental engineer with Rettew Associates and a 1997 Wilkes graduate.
> Steve Brokenshire, environmental scientist with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and a 1992 Wilkes graduate.
> Nancy Dolan, a community activist with the Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition and a 1996 Wilkes graduate.
> State Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre, a state legislator and a 1967 Wilkes graduate.
> Teri Ooms, executive director of the Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development.
Admission is free and the forum is open to the public. Advance registration is encouraged; pre-register at [ http://community.wilkes.edu/s/344/index.aspx?sid=344&pgid=1115&gid=1&cid=2245&ecid=2245 ]
Study suggests businesses benefiting from Marcellus Shale development
http://live.psu.edu/story/53511#nw69
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Marcellus Shale development is likely to affect local businesses across Pennsylvania, according to Timothy Kelsey, professor of agricultural economics.
University Park, Pa. — A survey of businesses in two Pennsylvania counties where natural-gas drilling is occurring suggests that the Marcellus Shale boom is having a positive net effect on business activity.
Summarized in a fact sheet, “Local Business Impacts of Marcellus Shale Development: The Experience in Bradford and Washington Counties, 2010,” the survey was part of a larger economic impact study being done by the Marcellus Shale Education and Training Center, a partnership between Penn State Extension and the Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport.
Partial funding for the study came from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.
“The Marcellus Shale gas boom clearly has the potential to affect local businesses across Pennsylvania,” said Timothy Kelsey, professor of agricultural economics in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences and a lead author of the publication.
“The survey results provide insights into what occurred in two of Pennsylvania’s most active Marcellus Shale counties during 2010 and what other counties could experience as drilling activity increases,” added Kelsey, who also serves as Penn State Extension state program leader for economic and community development.
Researchers surveyed 1,000 randomly selected businesses in each of the counties. Responses were received from 619 businesses — 360 from Bradford County and 259 from Washington County. “The types of businesses responding generally were consistent with the actual business composition of each county’s economy, making the survey fairly representative of actual conditions,” Kelsey said.
Approximately 22 percent of businesses in Bradford County and 9 percent in Washington County reported changes due to Marcellus Shale development.
Nearly a third of Bradford County businesses and 23 percent of Washington County businesses reported increases in sales due to natural-gas drilling. Three percent of Bradford County respondents and 2 percent of Washington County respondents reported a drop in sales.
In regards to employment trends, about 90 percent of survey respondents said that natural-gas drilling has not changed their number of employees. Most of those reporting a change said that they have more employees due to natural-gas development.
A similar percentage reported that their ability to find and hire qualified employees has not changed, although this varied by county. About 13 percent of Bradford County businesses reported trouble attracting workers, compared to only 2 percent in Washington County. About 9 percent of Bradford County businesses reported greater employee turnover due to Marcellus activity.
Kelsey noted that differences in Marcellus-related sales and employment trends in the two counties likely were due mostly to the relative size of their populations and economies. Bradford County is largely rural with a population of about 60,000, while Washington County is much more urbanized and is home to more than 200,000 residents.
“The results suggest that the size of the host county is an important factor affecting the scope and visibility of impacts on businesses due to natural-gas drilling,” he said. “The relative impacts likely will be greater in smaller counties, but this also means greater risk of a ‘bust’ when drilling activity slows.”
The survey also showed that changes in business activity differed across business types. For instance, 80 percent of hotels and campgrounds in Bradford County reported changes due to gas-drilling activity, and 100 percent reported higher sales.
Higher sales also were reported by half of that county’s financial businesses, 44 percent of retailers, 38 percent of eating and drinking establishments, and 33 percent of wholesale trade and business services firms.
Despite concerns about the possible negative effects of Marcellus gas drilling on tourism, tour operators, souvenir stores, tourist attractions and other tourism-related businesses did not appear to be affected. Twenty-nine percent of such businesses reported increased sales due to natural-gas drilling activity, while 71 percent reported no change. None reported difficulties in finding or retaining employees.
“However, the long-term impact on tourism still is unknown, since additional new well pads, pipelines and access roads have the potential to change communities enough to affect tourism,” Kelsey said.
Kelsey cautioned that the survey offers just a snapshot, taken very early in the long-term development of the Marcellus Shale.
“The impacts on businesses may change over time due to the cumulative effects of drilling,” he said. “It’s also important to note that higher local business sales do not directly affect local tax collections by counties or most municipalities and school districts. This study does not change the need for continuous, long-term monitoring of how natural-gas development is affecting businesses, residents, communities and the environment.”
“Local Business Impacts of Marcellus Shale Development: The Experience in Bradford and Washington Counties, 2010” can be found at http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/freepubs/pdfs/ee0005.pdf online. Alternatively, one free copy of this publication can be obtained by Pennsylvania residents from the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences Publication Distribution Center, The Pennsylvania State University, 112 Agricultural Administration Building, University Park, PA 16802-2602; telephone: 814-865-6713; fax: 814-863-5560; or email, at AgPubsDist@psu.edu.
For out-of-state or bulk orders, contact the Publication Distribution Center.
Susquehanna River Basin Commission faces difficult balancing act
http://www.pennlive.com/editorials/index.ssf/2011/05/susquehanna_river_basin_commis.html
Published: Sunday, May 22, 2011, 4:00 AM
By Patriot-News Op-Ed
While news that a modern-day gold rush is in full bloom this spring in the natural gas-rich Marcellus Shale region would surprise only a hermit, the question remains: Is hydraulic fracturing — a method of extracting natural gas from the shale — turning into yet another rape of the landscape?
Are Pennsylvania’s environmental guardians up to the task or, as some critics claim, are they just a hapless 21st-century band of Keystone Kops?
I believe the Susquehanna River Basin Commission is tackling the issue head-on. Its executive director through nearly half the agency’s 40-year history, Paul O. Swartz, and regulators are protecting our water resources, striking a reasonable balance between environmental needs and the state’s booming natural gas industry.
Just last week the SRBC came out strongly against some findings in a report by American Rivers, a national environmental group. The commission disagrees, for many reasons, with American Rivers’ call for the commission to impose a moratorium on water withdrawals and use approvals for gas drilling. SRBC believes the state’s regulatory improvements, including well casing, impoundments and other safety standards, will adequately protect water quality and their use and enjoyment by the 4 million-plus residents of the river basin.
“Accidents can still happen,” Swartz allows, “but the improvements are intended to make the industry abide by a higher standard.”
Read more
Many worry about water
http://citizensvoice.com/news/many-worry-about-water-1.1150470#axzz1MzQ9BcoU
By Laura Legere (staff writer)
Published: May 22, 2011
An agreement between the Department of Environmental Protection and Chesapeake Energy to address methane seeping into water wells in Bradford County has left some affected residents wondering how and if the deal will help fix their tainted water.
The consent order issued May 16 accompanied a $700,000 fine and $200,000 voluntary payment by Chesapeake for allowing methane trapped in shallow rock formations to leak into drinking water aquifers as it drilled at least six sets of wells into the Marcellus Shale last year.
Sixteen families were identified in the order as having water wells directly impacted by the disturbed methane. Although the order outlines steps the driller must take to monitor and address the contamination, the residents said they have not been told what to expect.
“We don’t know if it is fixable,” said Michael Phillips, one of a cluster of affected residents on Paradise Road in Terry Township. Chesapeake tried unsuccessfully to drill the family a new well and then installed a temporary water-treatment system in a shed in the backyard. Private water tests showed contaminants remained despite the system, he said, so the family is relying on a large plastic water tank, or buffalo, for drinking and cooking.
Read more
Chemical industry looking to expand in Pennsylvania because of Marcellus Shale
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/05/chemical_industry_looking_to_e.html
Published: Friday, May 20, 2011, 1:55 PM Updated: Friday, May 20, 2011, 6:00 PM
By DONALD GILLILAND, The Patriot-News
The chemical industry — newly optimistic because of natural gas development in the Marcellus Shale — is looking at Pennsylvania as a venue for expansion.
Secretary of Community and Economic Development Alan Walker said Friday morning that “Three very large international chemical companies came to us and expressed interest in billion-dollar-plus investments in Pennsylvania.”
“We really have to focus on how we attract them,” he said.
Walker made the comments during the meeting of the Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission.
Walker also said there is “a need for an ammonium nitrate plant in Pennsylvania” because the two main ingredients are natural gas and water, both of which Pennsylvania has in great supply. Ammonium nitrate is an ingredient in agricultural fertilizer, which is used in huge quantities in the state.
Walker said his assistant Ashe Khare is on “a national search” to find a manufacturer to set up shop in the commonwealth.
Walker wasn’t the only state official at the meeting to drop tantalizing bits of news.
Secretary of Conservation and Natural Resources Richard Allan announced that his department was preparing a plan to replace its aging fleet of trucks with a fleet powered by natural gas.
Republican legislators have introduced a series of bills aimed at promoting the conversion of large parts of the transportation sector to natural gas.
Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley said, “We need to look beyond drilling. We must not only extract the gas in Pennsylvania, we must use the gas in Pennsylvania.”
The idea has the backing of environmental groups like PennFuture because heavy diesel truck traffic is one of the biggest contributors to air pollution in the midstate. Natural gas emits far fewer pollutants than diesel and gasoline.
Kathryn Klaber, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry group representing the top 20 drilling companies in the state, said the benefits of converting transportation to natural gas “accrues most to our cities” where vehicular air pollution is worst. In that way, she said, places like Philadelphia — outside the Marcellus region — stand to benefit from its development.
Klaber also addressed the issue of gas migration into private water wells, calling it a serious and perplexing issue.
No other topic has so seriously damaged the industry’s reputation, as evidenced by the movie “Gasland,” which uses gas migration as the starting point for a host of other — largely unfounded — claims of pollution.
State regulators have fined drilling companies for causing gas to migrate into private wells, the most recent and serious fine — more than $1 million — being just last week.
Yet, in the northern tier where most of the gas migration has occurred, there is naturally occurring methane in the water supply. Companies have argued with regulators — at varying degrees of acrimony — over the extent to which their operations have caused or exacerbated the problem.
Klaber said her member companies have begun testing private water wells in the area before drilling, to establish a baseline. The problem is when they discover polluted wells — before any drilling begins — it’s the industry that has to go knock on the door and inform the citizens.
Klaber noted that Pennsylvania does not regulate or set standards for drilling private water wells, many of which are polluted well before the gas industry arrives.
Nicholas DeBenedictis, former Environmental Resources Secretary under Gov. Dick Thornburgh and current CEO of the water supply company Aqua America Inc., said his company and others have done comprehensive testing and found no contamination from drilling.
Dr. Terry Engelder, PennState geologist credited with advancing the exploration of the Marcellus, said the recent study from Duke University lends additional support to the water companies’ results: It found zero evidence that fracking fluids had contaminated the water supply.
Engelder said the reason is very simple: The fracking occurs about a mile below the aquifer and “Water does not flow uphill.”
Fifteen persons appointed to Schuylkill Marcellus Shale Task Force
http://www.tnonline.com/node/197264
Reported on Friday, May 20, 2011
By AL DIETZ tneditor@tnonline.com
A resolution to establish a Marcellus Shale Task Force was approved by the Schuylkill County Commissioners at their work session held Wednesday at the courthouse in Pottsville.
Fifteen professionals were named to serve on the task force. They include: attorney James J. Amato, Shenandoah Heights, a construction defect, product liability and general liability litigant; Bob Carl, Orwigsburg, executive director of the Schuylkill County Chamber of Commerce and former county commissioner; Patrick M. Caulfield, Ashland, executive director of the Schuylkill County Municipal Authority; Lindsey C. Cortese, Pottsville, photographer; Brett Fulk, New Ringgold, director of commercial services with Susquehanna Bank; Robert Gadinski, Ashland, head of Gadinski Environmental Services; Arthur Kaplan, Frackville, emergency response/training consultant; Wayne G. Lehman, Pottsville, Schuylkill Conservation District natural resource specialist; Craig Morgan, Pine Grove, retired conservation district manager; Ryan P. Munley, Pottsville, field director for bridge and highway construction inspection; Peter J. Oswald, Girardville, retired senior evaluation and assignment manager for Natural Resources and Environmental Team; Gary L. Slutter, Friedensburg, waterways conservation officer; Ed Wytovich, Butler Township, founder of 10 watersheds and science teacher; Thomas V. Yashinsky, Orwigsburg, AARO engineering and environmental consultant; and Frank Zukas, Ashland, president of SEDCO (Schuylkill Economic Development Corporation).
Susan Smith, director of the Schuylkill County Planning Commission, will serve as task force facilitator.
The task force was established for the purpose of advising the board of commissioners and assisting in the preparation of Marcellus Shale-related activities which may occur in Schuylkill County. The task force duties will include identifying key issues, research fact and information, generate public awareness regarding Marcellus Shale activities and review and recommend public policy regarding current and future issues and opportunities related to Marcellus Shale activity in the county.
Commissioner Chairwoman Mantura Gallagher announced the individuals who are appointed to the task force shall commence their respective membership immediately.
The task force will now schedule a meeting to select a chairman and vice chairman and shall meet at least four times per year. They are directed by the commissioners to provide a final report to them no later than 12 months from the initial meeting. They all are serving on a voluntary basis.