Susquehanna and Bradford selected for federal fracking study
http://thedailyreview.com/news/susquehanna-and-bradford-selected-for-federal-fracking-study-1.1166184
By Laura Legere (Times-Shamrock Writer)
Published: June 24, 2011
A landmark federal study of oil and gas drilling’s potential impact on drinking water will use Susquehanna and Bradford counties as a case study, the Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday.
The two counties at the center of Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling in Northeast Pennsylvania will be one among five case study regions where oil or gas wells have been hydraulically fractured and drinking water contamination has been reported. The others are in Washington County, Pa., North Dakota, Texas and Colorado.
The EPA is conducting a multiyear investigation of the possible link between groundwater contamination and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the process of injecting a mixture of water, sand and chemicals into underground rock formations to crack the rock and release the oil or gas trapped there.
Along with the five case studies in regions where impacts have been reported, the agency will use Washington County, Pa. and a Louisiana parish above the Haynesville Shale as prospective case studies where the agency will seek to measure any impact from fracking as it happens. In those cases, the EPA will monitor the hydraulic fracturing process throughout the life cycle of a well – from the moment water is withdrawn from rivers through the mixing of chemicals and the fracturing of wells to the disposal of the wastewater that returns to the surface.
The agency plans to release initial research results by the end of 2012. The EPA will begin field work in some of the case study regions this summer, the agency stated in a press release.
“We’ve met with community members, state experts and industry and environmental leaders to choose these case studies,” Paul Anastas, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Research and Development, said. “This is about using the best possible science to do what the American people expect the EPA to do: ensure that the health of their communities and families is protected.”
Case studies were selected from more than 40 nominated sites based on criteria including the proximity of water supplies to drilling activities, concerns about health and environmental impacts, as well as geographic and geologic diversity.
Bradford and Susquehanna counties were selected so the agency can investigate contamination in groundwater and drinking water wells, suspected surface water contamination from a fracturing fluid spill and methane contamination in water wells, EPA officials said.
U.S. Senator Bob Casey, who recommended Pennsylvania sites for the study and has introduced several fracking-related bills in Congress, said the research will “help provide the science needed to assure that natural gas drilling is conducted in a safe and responsible manner.”
Contact the writer: llegere@timesshamrock.com
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.
EPA acknowledges Barletta’s concerns about cancer in Pittston
http://citizensvoice.com/news/epa-acknowledges-barletta-s-concerns-about-pittston-1.1153049#axzz1NN3RonoJ
By Andrew Staub (Staff Writer)
Published: May 27, 2011
A day after U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta penned a terse letter urging further investigation into a rash of cancer cases in Pittston, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency acknowledged it received the congressman’s request and said it will review the letter and consider an appropriate response.
As for any other comment, that will likely be reserved for another day, EPA spokesman Roy Seneca said Thursday, two days after dozens of Pittston residents gathered at a city middle school to discuss the cause of numerous cases of cancer on Mill and Carroll streets.
At that meeting, the EPA and the state Department of Health discounted the residents’ theory that the nearby Butler Mine Tunnel, once an illegal dumping ground for millions of gallons of oil waste and other chemicals, contributed to the rash of cancer.
On Wednesday, though, Barletta urged the EPA to further investigate whether any hazardous substance has contaminated the ground, air or water around the streets in question. He wrote that he was “deeply concerned that EPA seems to be ignoring the residents of the Carroll/Mill neighborhood, and the people of Pittston in general.”
“If there is a cancer cluster in this area, what is the cause of it? If the Butler Mine Tunnel is not the cause, is there an environmental cause? And if there is an environmental cause, can it be remediated?” Barletta wrote. “These are all very serious questions, and the EPA is the federal agency that should provide the answers.”
As of Thursday, the EPA kept its response to Barletta’s letter succinct and offered no timetable for further action.
“I really don’t have anything to say to that,” Seneca said of Barletta’s accusation the EPA is ignoring Pittston. “We received a letter, and we’re reviewing it. We’ll be responding appropriately.”
Barletta, R-Hazleton, wrote his letter to EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, latching onto the frustration many residents expressed at Tuesday’s open house at Martin L. Mattei Middle School. They asked the EPA and the state Department of Health to focus their investigation of the cancer cases on Mill and Carroll streets, where some residents say between 60 to 80 people have cancer.
Dr. Stephen Ostroff, director of the state’s bureau of epidemiology, said analyzing the number of cancer diagnoses of such a small area would not provide adequate data to conclude a cancer cluster exists.
Mitch Cron, the EPA’s remedial project manager for the Butler Mine Tunnel Superfund Site, repeatedly told residents that they are not exposed to contaminants from the mine tunnel and that the water running through it is “generally very clean.”
When Cron told residents no further testing would be done in the affected area, one man walked out of the meeting and concluded the EPA had “wasted all of our time.”
astaub@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2052
Barletta asks EPA for further investigation of ‘cancer cluster’ in Pittston neighborhood
http://citizensvoice.com/news/barletta-asks-epa-for-further-investigation-of-cancer-cluster-1.1152465#axzz1NN3RonoJ
By Andrew Staub (Staff Writer)
Published: May 26, 2011
In a sharply worded letter sent to the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta requested further investigation into a Pittston neighborhood where residents say dozens of people have been diagnosed with or died of cancer.
Barletta, R-Hazleton, wants additional testing for hazardous materials in the soil, air and water around Mill and Carroll streets, located near the mouth of the Butler Mine Tunnel. Residents have wondered if the rash of cancer stems from the mine drainage tunnel, once illegally filled with millions of gallons of oil waste and chemicals.
“The residents of the Carroll/Mill neighborhood of Pittston, Pennsylvania, are scared,” Barletta wrote to EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “They are concerned that they and their children are exposed to something in the environment that is causing an unusual rise in cancer rates.”
Barletta’s request came a day after EPA officials told dozens of residents gathered at Martin L. Mattei Middle School in Pittston that the agency would not consider additional testing around Mill and Carroll streets. One man, disgusted by the response, stormed from the room and said, “You wasted all of our time.”
Mitch Cron, the EPA’s remedial project manager for the Butler Mine Tunnel Superfund Site, repeatedly told residents that they are not exposed to contaminants from the mine tunnel and that the water running through it is “generally very clean.”
Residents didn’t buy his explanation, nor a state Department of Health official’s conclusion that the dozens of cases of cancer do not qualify as a cancer cluster.
Residents complained that the Department of Health based its conclusion upon too wide a swath of residents. Dr. Stephen Ostroff, director of the state’s bureau of epidemiology, bolstered his argument with data culled from the entire 18640 area code, while residents argued the investigation should focus just on Mill and Carroll streets in Pittston.
Chris Meninchini, whose father Chuck lives on Carroll Street and has been diagnosed with lymphoma and colon cancer, suggested someone from EPA canvas the affected neighborhood.
“Someone from your department has to get up and do the job and go door to door,” he told Cron.
Focusing on a specific neighborhood would not provide enough data for an adequate conclusion, Ostroff said, equating it to judging a baseball player’s ability by his batting average only a few games into the season.
Barletta and state Sen. John Yudichak have both said that if the cause of the cancer is not the Butler Mine Tunnel, alternate causes must be investigated. The EPA’s refusal to conduct more testing in the neighborhood in question specifically irked Barletta.
“Frankly, this is unacceptable,” he wrote in his letter. “The EPA’s own website indicates that one of the agency’s primary reasons for existence is to ensure that ‘all Americans are protected from significant risks to human health and the environment where they live, learn and work.'”
Barletta’s office released the letter late Wednesday afternoon. EPA officials could not be reached for comment.
astaub@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2052
No common ground found on cancer ‘cluster’
http://citizensvoice.com/news/no-common-ground-found-on-cancer-cluster-1.1152060#axzz1NN3RonoJ
By Andrew Staub (Staff Writer)
Published: May 25, 2011
PITTSTON – To prove the existence of a cancer cluster near the Butler Mine Tunnel, residents arrived at a city school on Tuesday armed with anecdotal evidence – exhibits like a bald head hidden under a ball cap, scars from medical treatments and stories of friends and family who succumbed to cancer.
To discount the existence of a cancer cluster near the Butler Mine Tunnel, scientists from the state Department of Health and officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency arrived to the school with empirical evidence – 17 year’s worth of data, literature and detailed presentations.
The two sides, meeting in the Martin L. Mattei Middle School’s cafeteria, never quite reached a common ground. Instead, residents lobbed questions – and frustrated grumbles – toward officials from the EPA and Department of Health when told the 60 or more cases of cancer that have accumulated on Mill and Carroll streets do not qualify as a cancer cluster.
Such an assertion, residents said, is hard to believe considering the Butler Mine Tunnel looms beneath portions of the city. The tunnel, designed as a drainage outlet for a maze of abandoned mines, served as an illegal dumping ground for oil waste in the late 1970s and twice spewed its sludge into the Susquehanna River.
“Who shot Kennedy?” said Chuck Meninchini, a Carroll Street resident diagnosed with lymphoma in February.
While allusions to a cover-up at worst and a lack of answers at best filtered through the room, the EPA’s remedial project manager for the Butler Mine Tunnel Superfund Site, Mitch Cron, tried to assure residents the mine tunnel posed no present danger to them.
“The public is not exposed to contamination from the Butler Mine Tunnel Superfund Site,” Cron said, uttering a line he would repeat several times throughout the night.
The EPA has found oil and grease residue near a borehole at the Hi-Way Auto Services Station, the business that allowed the waste to be dumped into the ground from 1977-79, Cron said. And though one hazardous chemical was detected in amounts above drinking water standards, Cron said that the mine water is not used for drinking and that the water running through the tunnel now is “generally very clean.”
Dr. Stephen Ostroff, director of the state’s bureau of epidemiology, presented data that showed Pittston’s cancer rate outpaces the state average by 11 percent, with an excess of lung, colon and thyroid cancer diagnoses from 1992 to 2008.
Still, Ostroff couldn’t confirm the presence of a cancer cluster, defined by the EPA as an “occurrence of a greater than expected number of cases of a particular disease within a group of people, a geographic area or a period of time.”
City residents suffered from a wide range of cancers, while cancer clusters generally involve a large number of one type of cancer or a rare cancer, Ostroff said. The types of cancers found in excess in Pittston, Ostroff said, usually are not caused by exposure to chemicals.
“That’s the bottom line,” he said.
Most residents disagreed with Ostroff.
Some questioned why the Department of Health examined the entire 18640 zip code instead of limiting its examination of Pittston to just Mill and Carroll streets, where most residents say they’ve noticed inflated numbers of cancers. A small sample size, Ostroff said, would not provide sufficient data.
Others discounted the data from the state cancer registry, and one resident even suggested to “delete” it. Another man walked out when Cron said the EPA had no plans to test soil samples from homes on Mill and Carroll streets.
Edward Appel lives on Mill Street and came to the school with his wife, Helen. She sat in a wheelchair beside Edward, who described his wife’s past battle with breast cancer, then brain tumors. He believes the mine tunnel must be connected to Helen’s trip through “hell.”
“It’s easy to say nothing’s happening – by the people that don’t have the cancer,” Edward Appel said.
Another Mill Street resident, George Boone, collected some of the pamphlets at the open house. A heavy white bandage wrapped around his left arm told the story of the kidney dialysis he endures three times a week, while his shirt hid the scar left when surgeons removed his right kidney about 11 years ago at the outset of his battle with kidney cancer.
Boone’s friend, Phyllis Hadley, said cancer claimed in-laws and her husband. Then she rattled off surnames of several city families who have lost someone to cancer.
“You know what,” Hadley said, “if you stopped to think ⦠” “⦠You’ll count forever,” Boone said, finishing her thought.
The anecdotal evidence hasn’t changed the mind of the EPA or the Department of Health, both of which stood by past research and observations.
Area elected officials such as state Sen. John Yudichak and U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, though, left residents with a vow to continue the search for clarity about Pittston’s high rate of cancer. Barletta would like to see additional testing to find out if there’s a root cause, said his spokesman, Shawn Kelly.
“Even if it’s not the Butler Mine Tunnel, we want to make sure it’s not something,” Kelly said. “The people here deserve answers.”
astaub@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2052
Cancer cases raise worry in Pittston neighborhood
http://citizensvoice.com/news/cancer-cases-raise-worry-in-pittston-neighborhood-1.1149970#axzz1MzQ9BcoU
By Andrew Staub (Staff Writer)
Published: May 21, 2011
It seems everybody who lives near Chuck Meninchini is sick.
The radius of disease circles Mill Street and Carroll Street in Pittston, Meninchini’s hometown.
In a one-block radius on the streets five people have brain cancer, Meninchini said. And there’s more. Fifteen people in the area, Meninchini said, suffer from esophageal cancer.
“How rare is that?” he said.
All told, more than 80 families include somebody who is battling cancer, Meninchini said. He’s one of them, diagnosed with lymphoma in February.
Meninchini believes there’s a connection. Namely, the Butler Mine Tunnel. It was built before the 1930s to provide mine drainage for the maze of underground coal mines that run under the small city, but eventually became an illegal dumping ground for millions of gallons of oil waste collected by a nearby service station.
The Butler Mine Tunnel runs near Meninchini’s homes on 200 Carroll St., eventually discharging into the Susquehanna River. Meninchini believes whole-heartedly the sludge that has built up below caused his cancer and the diseases of those around him.
“You’re talking two streets. It doesn’t make sense to me,” Meninchini said. “If something wasn’t going on, prove me different. Show me where it’s coming from.”
Meninchini’s doctor, he said, told him exposure to benzene caused his cancer.
According to records from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the Pittston Mine Tunnel spewed an oily discharge into the Susquehanna River on July 30, 1979. Contaminants from the oil slick stretched from shoreline to shoreline, the records indicate, and drifted 60 miles downstream to Danville.
Responding to the emergency, the EPA installed booms on the river and collected 160,000 gallons of oil waste. The booms also collected 13,000 pounds of dichlorobenzene, a chemical used to make herbicides, insecticides, medicine and dyes, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry.
The particular type of dichlorobenzene found in the river has not been tested to see if it can cause cancer, according to the agency. Another type of the chemical, though, “could play a role in the development of cancer in humans, but we do not definitely know this,” the agency concluded in its public health statement about dichlorobenzene.
In 1985, after heavy rains associated with Hurricane Gloria, the Butler Mine Tunnel spewed another 100,000 gallons of oily waste into the river and prompted another boom cleanup.
While the EPA has not connected the rash of cancer to the Butler Mine Tunnel, Meninchini wonders if chemicals eventually worked their way into the soil and into the vegetables people ate, he said. He wonders if he was exposed to any chemicals while working as a plumber in the city.
Answers – which Meninchini said have been tough to extract from government officials – might come next week.
State and federal officials have scheduled an open house for Tuesday to discuss the Butler Mine Tunnel. Representatives from the EPA, the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, among others, will attend the event at the Martin L. Mattei Middle School on New Street in Pittston.
The open house runs from 4 to 6 p.m. with a presentation and follow-up session afterwards. Postcards detailing the event were mailed to about 1,500 homes in the vicinity of the tunnel, and Meninchini expects plenty of residents to show up. A woman from Connecticut, he said, even called him about it.
Until then, Meninchini continues to fight his cancer. The lymphoma, which originally riddled his stomach, pancreas, liver and spleen, has been beaten back in some places, but Meninchini said he was recently diagnosed with colon cancer and faces surgery.
Meninchini can’t work anymore, and he’s blown through his savings and cashed in his 401(k) to fund the thousands of dollars of medical expenses not covered by insurance.
Meninchini doesn’t want to get rich by publicizing the cancer outbreak – he just wants people’s health expenses financed, he said.
This week, friends and family have organized a “night-at-the-races” fundraiser to offset some of Meninchini’s health care costs – it runs from 2 to 7 p.m. Sunday at the Italian Citizens Club in Pittston and includes food, drink and a wager.
An EPA official who oversees the Butler Mine Tunnel did not return a phone call seeking comment.
astaub@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2052
EPA directs six drillers to disclose waste plans
http://citizensvoice.com/news/drilling/epa-directs-six-drillers-to-disclose-waste-plans-1.1146014#axzz1M8vMLijF
By Laura Legere (Staff Writer)
Published: May 13, 2011
Federal environmental regulators have directed six of the most active natural gas drillers in Pennsylvania to disclose how and where they plan to treat or dispose of their wastewater once they comply with a state request to stop taking it to sewer plants next week.
In April, state environmental regulators gave Marcellus Shale drillers until May 19 to voluntarily stop bringing the salty, chemical-laden waste fluids to 15 treatment plants that cannot remove all of the contaminants before discharging it into state waterways.
On Thursday, Environmental Protection Agency mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin told the drillers – Atlas Resources, Talisman Energy USA, Range Resources, Cabot Oil and Gas, Shell and Chesapeake Energy – to submit detailed information on both current and anticipated wastewater handling practices by May 25 and again each quarter until June 30, 2012.
Some of those operators had already stopped taking some or all of the fluids to plants that discharge into state waterways by the end of 2010 as they increasingly recycled or reused the waste, according to state records. Other operators continued to rely heavily on surface discharges.
The EPA directive was the latest in a series of efforts by federal environmental regulators to exercise greater authority over gas drillers whose operations are traditionally regulated by the states. The action comes among growing public concern over the thoroughness of state oversight and the potential environmental and public health impacts of Marcellus Shale drilling in the commonwealth.
In a statement, Garvin emphasized that state and federal environmental agencies are working together to regulate the industry, even as he sent Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Krancer a letter encouraging the state to increase its monitoring of the potential impacts of the toxic wastewater.
“We want to make sure that the drillers are handling their wastewater in an environmentally responsible manner,” Garvin said.
Garvin urged Krancer to require drillers to submit modified fluid disposal plans after the May 19 deadline to ensure their new wastewater practices are legally enforceable.
He also asked the DEP to alert federal regulators when wastewater facilities begin taking the fluids so EPA can reassess their permits; to apply drinking water standards at wastewater discharge sites rather than downstream at public water supply intakes; to conduct additional in-stream monitoring; and to consider developing or strengthening water quality standards for common constituents of Marcellus Shale wastewater, including chlorides, bromides and radionuclides.
A state coalition of gas drillers expressed frustration over the directive and emphasized that the industry is “aggressively and tightly regulated” by the commonwealth.
“EPA overstepping its regulatory authority and duplicating efforts underway at the state level ⦠does not represent common sense policy,” Marcellus Shale Coalition President Kathryn Klaber said.
legere@timesshamrock.com
EPA Seeks More Information from Gas Drilling to Ensure Safety of Wastewater Disposal
PHILADELPHIA (May 12, 2011) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today directed six natural gas drillers to disclose how and where the companies dispose of or recycle drilling process water in the region. EPA continues to work with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) to ensure that natural gas production takes place safely and responsibly. These actions are among the ongoing steps EPA is taking to ensure drilling operations are protective of public health and the environment. Natural gas is a key part of our nation’s energy future and EPA will continue to work with federal, state and local partners to ensure that public health and the environment are protected.
“We want to make sure that the drillers are handling their wastewater in an environmentally responsible manner,” said EPA mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin. “EPA is continuing to work with PADEP officials who are on the frontlines of permitting and regulating natural gas drilling activities in Pennsylvania.”
EPA’s action follows a request by PADEP asking drillers to voluntarily stop taking wastewater to Pennsylvania wastewater treatment plants by May 19. EPA wants to know where drillers are now going to dispose of their wastewater and will work with PADEP to ensure EPA has access to this information. The companies must report back to EPA by May 25 with information on the disposal or recycling of their drilling process water.
The companies receiving the information requests are: Atlas Resources L.L.C; Talisman Energy USA; Range Resources – Appalachia, L.L.C.; Cabot Gas and Oil Corporation; SWEPI, LP; and, Chesapeake Energy Corporation. These six companies account for more than 50 percent of the natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania.
EPA has also requested that PADEP:
· Notify EPA when facilities are accepting hydraulic fracturing wastewater so EPA can assess if a pretreatment program or additional permit limits are needed;
· Apply water quality standards for the protection of drinking water at the point of wastewater discharge, rather than at the point of first downstream drinking water intake;
· Consider more “representative” sampling where drinking water facilities are downstream of treatment plants accepting Marcellus Shale gas wastewater; and
· Be aware that EPA has sent a letter to PADEP’s southwest regional office clarifying that Federal Underground Injection Control permits are required for any placement of hydraulic fracturing wastes in injection wells or bore holes.
EPA requested these actions in a letter to PADEP Secretary Michael Krancer dated May11. The letter also asked the state agency take action to ensure that any new practices for disposing of drilling wastewater are legally enforceable.
In another action related to the energy extraction industry, EPA has issued a proposed order to the Tunnelton Liquids Company to stop the underground injection of waste treatment into an abandoned mine in Saltsburg, Indiana County, Pa. EPA issued the order under the Safe Drinking Water Act, which requires company to cease its unauthorized discharge waste, including wastewater related to oil and gas production.
David Sternberg, (215) 814-5548 Sternberg.david@epa.gov
For more information visit http://www.epa.gov/region03/marcellus_shale/
EPA to Hold Public Hearing on Mercury Pollution from Power Plants
Media Contact: Bonnie Smith, 215-814-5543, smith.bonnie@epa.gov
May 3, 2011
EPA to Hold Public Hearing on National Standard for Mercury Pollution from Power Plants
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing standards to limit mercury, acid gases and other toxic pollution from power plants.
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will hold a public hearing in Philadelphia on May 24, 2011 on the proposed mercury and air toxics standards. The new power plant mercury and air toxics standards would require many power plants to install widely available, proven pollution control technologies to cut harmful emissions of mercury, arsenic, chromium, nickel and acid gases, while preventing as many as 17,000 premature deaths and 11,000 heart attacks a year.
- WHAT: Public hearing on proposed mercury and air toxics standards
- WHEN: Tuesday, May 24, 2011. The hearing will begin at 9 a.m. and continue until 8 p.m. EDT
- WHERE: Philadelphia: Westin Philadelphia, 99 S. 17th Street at Liberty Place, Philadelphia, PA. 19103
- REGISTRATION: The public may register to speak at a specific time at a hearing by contacting Pamela Garrett at 919-541-7966 or garrett.pamela@epa.gov or registering in person on the day of a hearing. EPA also will accept written comments on the proposed standards until July 5, 2011. EPA will finalize the rule by November 2011.
- Preregistration deadline 5 p.m., May 19
- ADDITION INFORMATION: Reducing Toxic Air Emissions From Power Plants: For more information on the hearings and instructions for submitting written comments see: http://www.epa.gov/airquality/powerplanttoxics/
- Proposed Rule (PDF) (946pp, 1.9 MB) [ http://www.epa.gov/airquality/powerplanttoxics/pdfs/proposal.pdf ] Note: Pages 214 and 518 of the signed proposed rule contain references to proprietary technology. EPA included these references merely to illustrate that the technologies under discussion are commercially available. EPA and the U.S. government do not endorse any of the listed products.
- Fact Sheet Summarizing the Proposed Rule (PDF) (5pp, 36k) [ http://www.epa.gov/airquality/powerplanttoxics/pdfs/proposalfactsheet.pdf ]
- Overview Presentation (PDF) (18pp, 797k) [ http://www.epa.gov/airquality/powerplanttoxics/pdfs/presentation.pdf ]
- Overview Fact Sheet (PDF) (5pp, 48k) [ http://www.epa.gov/airquality/powerplanttoxics/pdfs/overviewfactsheet.pdf ]
- Regulatory Impact Analysis [ http://www.epa.gov/ttn/ecas/ria.html ]
- Integrated Planning Model (IPM) Analysis [ http://www.epa.gov/airmarkets/progsregs/epa-ipm/toxics.html ]
Environmental Protection Agency steps into probe of fracking spill
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/04/environmental_protection_agenc.html
Published: Tuesday, April 26, 2011, 12:00 AM
By DONALD GILLILAND, The Patriot-News
The federal Environmental Protection Agency has thrown an elbow against Pennsylvania regulators in the job to regulate natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale.
The EPA announced Monday afternoon that it is investigating last week’s spill of drilling fluids at a Chesapeake Energy site in Bradford County.
Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection remains the lead investigating agency, but the EPA has asked Chesapeake officials for lists of fracking chemicals used, if any radioactive compounds were in the spill, and what affects there were to drinking-water sources.
“We want a complete accounting of operations at the site to determine our next steps in this incident and to help prevent future releases of this kind,” said EPA Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin.
EPA’s action marks “a significant change in approach,” former DEP Secretary John Hanger said Monday.
“The EPA is asserting jurisdiction in a manner that it did not during my time as secretary or prior to this incident,” said Hanger. “It means that the gas-drilling industry in Pennsylvania will be regulated in practice by both DEP and EPA, at least in some cases and respects.”
An EPA spokesman said such information requests are “a common fact-finding tool which we use when necessary,” but they are apparently a first for the agency in regard to the Marcellus Shale.
Much of what EPA would do duplicates what DEP is already doing, and consistency in regulation — be it strict or otherwise — is what the business needs, those in the industry said Monday night. Having two monitors could foster confusion.
“Each and every one of EPA’s questions will be answered by DEP, as required under new state regulations,” said one. “This action is clearly more about politics and grabbing headlines.”
The New York Times recently reported an internal battle within the EPA over whether the agency should intercede in Pennsylvania to clamp down on drilling in the Marcellus Shale.
That coverage was less than flattering for the agency, which some see as hamstrung by powerful industry lobbying.
Nevertheless, the EPA fared better than Pennsylvania regulators, whom The New York Times story portrayed as bumbling and beholden to drilling interests.
The timing of the EPA’s move — last week’s spill involved no injuries, no damage and minimal environmental impact — had some in the industry questioning it.
There might also be personal politics involved. EPA administrator Lisa P. Jackson recently said she had attempted to call Gov. Tom Corbett about regulation of Marcellus Shale, but Corbett never called her back.
Corbett’s news secretary, Kevin Harley, denied that the office received such a call.
Some environmentalists believe Pennsylvania has been too permissive and have been calling for the EPA to step in.
DEP did not address EPA’s entry into the matter directly.
“DEP has been on-site around the clock since the beginning of this incident, and as the regulatory agency, we continue to lead the way, “ DEP spokeswoman Katy Gresh said late Monday.
“DEP issued Chesapeake a comprehensive notice of violation Friday morning, telling the operator to respond to important questions that we have,” she said.
Those questions are similar to those asked by the EPA.
Chesapeake Energy has said an equipment failure caused the drilling brine — also known as fracking fluid — to gush out of the well and overwhelm containment systems. Some of the fluids reached a tributary of the Susquehanna River, but by the following afternoon that was stopped. The well was brought under control Thursday.
David Sternberg, the media officer for EPA’s Region 3 in Philadelphia said: “The information requested includes data on the cause and environmental consequences of this accident. EPA will evaluate this information promptly, in consultation with DEP, and take whatever action is needed to protect public health and the environment.
A Chesapeake spokesman said, “We intend to comply with the EPA’s request for information and have already communicated with the agency about how best to prioritize its requests in relation to the overall and ongoing response efforts.”
Chesapeake voluntarily suspended operations in the Marcellus Shale last week as it investigates the spill.