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.