Monroe, Pike not prime for gas drilling, says initial testing
http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101004/NEWS/10040313
Monroe, Pike not prime for gas drilling, says initial testing
By Michael Sadowski
Pocono Record Writer
October 04, 2010 12:00 AM
When the Delaware River Basin Commission releases its regulations for companies that intend to drill Marcellus Shale in its watershed, the industry interest in the Poconos could rise.
But it might not be immediate, and it likely won’t be as widespread as it has been in other regions of the state, if preliminary geology is any indication.
David Yoxtheimer, an extension associate at the Penn State Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research, said the region is not yet particularly well-mapped for Marcellus Shale density. However, he said Marcellus Shale deposits in Monroe and Pike counties appear to be further below the surface and not as thick as the deposits in the burgeoning northern tier of the state.
“The drilling time and costs may be greater if they need to drill deeper,” Yoxtheimer said of natural gas companies, making the region a less attractive shale site.
Yoxtheimer said Marcellus Shale deposits are found about 5,000 to 7,000 feet under the surface in the northern tier of the state, like Susquehanna and Bradford counties and parts of Wayne County.
However, in Monroe and Pike counties — part of the DRBC’s authority — it’s found as deep as 8,000 feet under the surface.
Also, the most abundant Marcellus Shale areas of the county in the northern sections have a thickness of about 75 to 100 feet. The deposits in the southern areas of the county are less than 50 feet. In the state’s northern tier, deposits could run as thick as 250 feet.
“Which would put Monroe County on the outer fringe of Marcellus play,” Yoxtheimer said.
According to state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources geology figures, a very small piece of Barrett Township is the only area of the county with deposits that could be as thick as 100 feet.
Portions of Susquehanna, Wayne and Bradford counties have deposits as thick as 250 feet, according to state figures.
“Initially, (drilling) probably won’t be as extensive in Monroe as it will be in northern Pike or Wayne counties,” said state Rep. John Siptroth, D-189. “Monroe County has vast deposits; they’re just down much deeper. Companies are going to go where (they would make the smallest) investment.”
Keith Schmidt, spokesman for Newfield Exploration Co., said his company recently completed its third exploratory well drilling in Wayne County.
He said the company needs to evaluate data at those sites before there is any development elsewhere. “That will take time,” Schmidt said.
Pat Carullo, a founding member of Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, said when shale drilling does come, Monroe County residents will know.
DCS was formed two years ago to protect water quality in the Delaware River, something the group believes will be tampered with if Marcellus Shale drilling is permitted to come to the region.
“They won’t have to look very far,” he said. “They’ll see hundreds and hundreds of new trucks on the road, they’ll see transient workers and camps set up — it will be easy to see.”
Lawmakers discuss Marcellus Shale benefits
http://standardspeaker.com/news/lawmakers-discuss-marcellus-shale-benefits-1.1041896
Lawmakers discuss Marcellus Shale benefits
By JIM DINO (Staff Writer)
Published: October 3, 2010
The Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling project has the potential to ease Pennsylvania’s $3 billion budget deficit next year, but taxes and fees derived from the gas also have to protect the environment, local lawmakers said Friday.
State Reps. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-121; Neal Goodman D-123; Jerry Knowles, R-124; and Tim Seip, D-125, answered questions from members of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Manufacturers and Employers Association on Friday at Top of the 80s in West Hazleton.
Legislators were questioned on four topics: the 2011 budget deficit, taxes, transportation and energy.
Goodman started off by painting a bleak budget picture.
“Next year, we will have a minimum $3 billion budget deficit,” Goodman said. “The $2 billion from the Obama stimulus goes away, and there’s $850 million in medical malpractice in this year’s budget that may not be coming from the federal government. And we are $1 billion short on road and bridge money. It will be like this as long as the economy stays where it is.”
Pashinski said there are only five states in the black. “They are all energy-producing states,” Pashinski said.
And now, with the Marcellus Shale project, Pennsylvania will also become an energy-producing state, Pashinski said.
Pennsylvania must assess a severance tax, a tax on the gas that comes out of the ground, he said.
“Marcellus Shale is one of the richest gas fields in the world,” he said. “There are trillions of cubic yards of gas.”
A severance tax is in the natural gas industrial business model in every state except Pennsylvania, Pashinski said.
The House approved a bill last week setting a significant tax rate at 39 cents per thousand cubic feet, or mcf, of natural gas at the wellhead. Senate Republican leaders have proposed setting a severance tax rate at 1.5 percent during the first five years of a well’s operation before a 5 percent rate kicks in.
Goodman said he expected the tax – once the House and Senate get together on the issue – to end up being between 5 and 7 percent.
But he cautioned a good chunk of the money has to go to ensuring environmental protection, including hiring state Department of Environmental Protection inspectors.
Our area should have learned from what the coal industry did to the local environment, Goodman said.
“This is coal revisited,” Goodman said. “In the early 1700s, coal operators wanted to come in, and said ‘if you don’t let us come in, we’ll go to Kentucky or West Virginia, and come back here later.’
“But look at what happened. I know a place in Girardville where orange water oozes out of the ground.
“We are the Saudi Arabia of gas,” Goodman said. “This project will create 111,000 jobs. We have to be careful.”
Knowles said the tax should be fair.
“There are 23 to 28 shale deposits in the country,” Knowles said. “We don’t want them to abandon this project. These jobs start at $20 to $22 per hour. They are good jobs.”
One problem is, Pennsylvania residents are not trained or experienced enough in the field to get the jobs right now.
“They took an old valve plant in Bradford County and turned it into classrooms,” Knowles said. “We have to work with community colleges to increase the training.”
The taxes and fees from Marcellus Shale will raise an estimated $1 billion a year. While some want to put all of it into the state’s general fund, Seip wants to put half in the general fund, and the other half into transportation – mass transit, roads and bridges.
Seip suggested revamping the state’s sales tax law to tax more goods and services – raising $6 billion to $7 billion – to fund road and bridge repairs, and to replace the property taxes on primary homes.
“The sales tax law has not been revised since 1971,” Seip said.
His so-called Sales-tax Modernization Addressing Real Tax equality plan, or SMART plan, would subject the following items to the state’s 6 percent sales tax: Newspapers and magazines, advertising, catering, investment consulting, scientific research, and admission to theaters, museums and sporting events. High school sports would be exempt.
The legislators said property owners do get gaming funds toward reducing property taxes but often don’t realize it because the rebate comes in the form of a property tax reduction.
The legislators said Pennsylvania benefits much more than other states with gaming.
“New Jersey gets 9 cents on every gambling dollar, while Pennsylvania gets 55 cents,” Pashinski said. “About 34 cents goes into the general fund, 12 cents to save the equine industry, 5 cents toward tourism, the state’s second-largest industry, and 4 cents to local governments.”
Pashinski and Goodman said their constituents receive a $200 rebate on their property taxes every year from gaming.
Goodman said the 12 cents toward the equine industry is money well spent.
“We saved about 40,000 jobs and created another 8,000, (in the gaming industry)” Goodman said. “Dealers are making $35,000 to $40,000 a year.”
jdino@standardspeaker.com
Cabot Oil & Gas Responds to Pennsylvania DEP Announcement
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/cabot-oil-gas-responds-to-pennsylvania-dep-announcement-2010-10-01?reflink=MW_news_stmp
Press Release
Oct. 1, 2010, 1:10 p.m. EDT
Cabot Oil & Gas Responds to Pennsylvania DEP Announcement
PITTSBURGH, Oct 01, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation (Cabot) today issued a statement reaffirming its position that its operations are safe, environmentally responsible and did not cause methane gas to migrate into Northeastern Pennsylvania water supplies. In addition, the company stated that though it does not agree with Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PaDEP) Secretary John Hanger’s assertion that the company is at fault, Cabot is committed to ensuring residents in an area of Pennsylvania deemed by the Secretary to have been “affected” continue to be offered and provided with clean drinking water.
Cabot’s statement is in response to a PaDEP press conference held yesterday in Dimock Township, Pa., during which the PaDEP announced its plans to proceed with a new water line from a neighboring community for the benefit of 18 or fewer homes. The PaDEP estimates the water line would cost about $11.8 million — or about $656,000 per home for which it would be built.
“Though methane was pre-existing in the area’s water prior to Cabot’s drilling, we, just like the PaDEP, want to help solve this problem,” said Dan O. Dinges, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. “Our difference with the PaDEP is that the solution to methane in water has been venting water wells and putting them on water treatment devices, which cleans up the water quickly. We do not know why Secretary Hanger has changed his mind from endorsing separators to wanting this new pipeline that could take years and cost millions. As well, we have just drilled a new water well at one of the households that is making clean water, so we know that this is also a viable solution,” Dinges added.
In the Modified Consent Order dated April 15, 2010, Cabot attempted to satisfy the PaDEP demands by agreeing to plug certain wells and to offer methane separation systems to the litigants as the solution to the water problems, which Cabot strongly believes it did not cause. This was the preferred solution that PaDEP insisted upon and to which Cabot agreed. The order was clear in that the methane separation systems were the final solution; once Cabot made the offer to “affected” residents (which Cabot did), the company was deemed to have met the PaDEP requirement. The systems are now sitting in a Cabot equipment yard.
“Additionally, it was clear at the time that if we did not agree to this solution, an enforcement action was to follow completely shutting down the Company’s Pennsylvania operations; therefore, we were forced to accept this demand,” explained Dinges.
In the following months, the PaDEP told Cabot that it wanted more time in order to convince the litigants that the separation systems were the solution and requested Cabot agree to amend the order to remove the separator language. Cabot complied with this request, trusting the PaDEP’s assurance that separators were still the solution. After the plaintiffs’ lawyer publically stated in July that the plaintiffs’ preferred solution was a public water line from Montrose, this culminated in the PaDEP announcement in August that a new pipeline from Montrose is the solution, with no mention of the separators. Additionally, PaDEP disclosed that Cabot was expected to pay for the pipeline.
“The abrupt change in the PaDEP’s proposals — going from separators to building a multi-million dollar, multi-year pipeline project is an obvious attempt at placating the litigants and that is why we have taken our position,” stated Dinges.
Methane migration is a long standing issue in the area and throughout Pennsylvania and one that has been solved by the separation systems and by simply venting water well spaces. The allegation this morning that the water is unsafe has not been asserted by anyone. The only danger presented by methane is if it escapes into a confined space and that is solved as stated by a PaDEP publication, which instructs one to vent the water well to the atmosphere.
SOURCE: Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation
Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation
George E. Stark, Director, External Affairs
w: 412-249-3909
george.stark@cabotog.com
Public Water Lines to Provide Safe, Permanent Water Supply
http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/newsroom/14287?id=14522&typeid=1
09/30/2010
Public Water Lines to Provide Safe, Permanent Water Supply to Susquehanna County Residents Impacted by Natural Gas Migration
Pennsylvania American Water to Extend Water Main from Montrose and Establish Local Treatment and Distribution System
DIMOCK TOWNSHIP, SUSQUEHANNA CO. —
Residents of Dimock Township, Susquehanna County, will receive public water service from Pennsylvania American Water to replace private wells contaminated with methane gas migrating from poorly constructed natural gas wells.
Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger said the state and the water company will proceed with construction of the water line and will seek to recover the cost of the project from Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., whose wells are responsible for the gas migration problems in the township.
“The residents of Dimock have waited long enough for Cabot to provide a permanent solution to the gas migration issues that have plagued this community’s water supplies,” Hanger said. “Today, we are announcing an agreement with Pennsylvania American Water Company to extend public water lines from Montrose and provide a safe, dependable water supply to residents here.”
Gas migration problems in Dimock first became evident when a private water well exploded on Jan. 1, 2009. A DEP investigation revealed that methane gas from a shallow formation had been disturbed and migrated through poorly constructed wells Cabot built while drilling for the much deeper Marcellus Shale formation.
On April 15, 2010, the department ordered Cabot to plug three operating natural gas wells in the township and take remedial action on a fourth well to address gas migration that had contaminated 14 water supplies. In addition, DEP fined Cabot $240,000 and ordered the company to install permanent treatment systems in 14 homes within 30 days. Cabot Oil & Gas also was prohibited from drilling any new wells in a nine-square-mile area around Dimock until April 2011.
On Sept. 14, DEP determined that three additional water supplies serving four residences had been contaminated by migrating gas migration caused by Cabot’s drilling activities.
“The problems in Dimock were caused by Cabot’s failure to construct their natural gas wells properly, and we are holding them responsible for the damage caused by these wells,” Hanger said. “We intend to proceed with construction of a public water system for the Dimock area and will seek recovery of costs from Cabot Oil & Gas.”
Pennsylvania American Water Company will construct a new, 5.5-mile water main from the company’s Lake Montrose water treatment plant south along Route 29 to Dimock and install approximately seven miles of distribution line to provide water service to at least 18 homes. The solution to the drinking water needs in Dimock will also make this basic resource accessible to other residents along Route 29 not currently served by public water. The water company will also install pressure regulating stations and a new treatment facility to serve the community.
The waterline extension and associated facilities is estimated to cost $11.8 million.
“Pennsylvania American has proven itself to be a reliable source of quality drinking water to more than two million Pennsylvanians,” said Hanger. “I am disappointed that Cabot has chosen not to embrace this opportunity to put these events behind us and allow everyone involved in this difficult matter to move forward.”
For more information, visit www.depweb.state.pa.us.
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
Dept. of Environmental Protection
Commonwealth News Bureau
Room 308, Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg PA., 17120
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
09/30/2010
CONTACT:
John Repetz
717-787-1323
FRAC This!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rebecca-abrahams/frac-this_b_746217.html
FRAC This!
Rebecca Abrahams
Film and Television Producer
Posted: September 30, 2010 09:00 PM
Hydraulic gas drilling, also known as fracture drilling or fracking, promises to scale back the United States’ dependence on foreign sources of energy. But the development of natural gas underneath 50% of New York, 65% of Pennsylvania, about half of Ohio and all of West Virginia has sparked fierce debate among environmentalists and energy companies.
The process involves drilling down into rock formation and exploding it by using very high pressure liquid, mainly water – between two and seven million gallons of water per well mixed with sand and toxic chemicals. The deep pressure explosion results in freeing gas from shale rock to produce hydrocarbons.
At issue – whether the remaining chemicals are leaching into the drinking water of millions of Americans. Gas and oil companies now have their sights set on the Marcellus Shale, an interconnected watershed that delivers water to 16 million people in New York, Philadelphia, southern New Jersey, Ohio and West Virginia. Environmentalists are sounding the alarm that widespread drilling could taint the water supply.
In 2004, an Environmental Protection Agency study found no evidence of water contamination caused by fracking, a procedure used in this country for more than 60 years. But according to EPA employee and whistleblower Weston Wilson, the report was “scientifically unsound.” One of the study’s three main authors, Jeffrey Jollie points out that “it was never intended to be a broad, sweeping study.” It should be further noted that no samples were taken during the study.
Meanwhile, there are growing concerns about pollution, water contamination and health risks associated with hydraulic fracturing. One Dallas-Ft.Worth couple recently abandoned their home after doctors discovered fracking chemicals in their blood stream and lungs. In Dimock, Pennsylvania, a woman’s well water tested positive for ethylene glycol, propylene glycol and toluene after natural gas companies drilled in her area. Other residents were able to light their tap water on fire.
Josh Fox’s documentary “Gasland”, offers a compelling argument against hydraulic fracturing. The film follows Fox on his cross-country quest for answers about hydraulic fracking. Fox declined $100,000 to allow a gas company to drill on his Delaware River Basin property. He says the energy giants are destroying the environment just to make a profit.
“It’s a scam. It’s changing our entire American environmental democratic system to shoot the profits of energy companies. They can dump toxic materials into rivers and streams. They can pollute the air and they don’t have to clean up afterwards.”
Fox is referring to an exemption in the 2005 Energy Policy Act known as the Halliburton Loophole which prevents the EPA from regulating hydraulic gas drilling. The provision was a single page inserted in one of the longest bills ever passed. A bi-partisan majority signed off on the measure, including Senator Obama, with only 25 lawmakers voting against it, including Sens. Biden, Clinton, Kyl, Kennedy, McCain, Schumer and Voinavich to name a few. The reality is, many lawmakers probably never read the near 1400 page measure.
But as Fox points out, “There were people who understood what the exemption was but I think most of it sounds like there was a lot of ignorance about hydraulic fracturing in 2005. It hadn’t been done a lot. It really exploded after the measure was passed.”
Now Congress is considering a measure to regulate fracture drilling in advance of the EPA’s 2012 study on the process. The FRAC Act would require energy companies to fully disclose chemicals used in fracture drilling. Earlier this year, two top oil-field executives voluntarily disclosed to the House Energy Committee that their companies had pumped hundreds of thousands of diesel fluid in their fracturing compound – in violation of a voluntary agreement with the EPA.
Yet industry executives insist fracking poses no environmental health risks. Institute for Energy Research President Thomas J. Pyle, in response to Amy Harder’s National Journal post on the subject states, “The debate about hydraulic fracturing is more about EPA regulation of the process, which… has been successfully regulated by individual states since the inception of the technology in 1949, than disclosure.”
Pyle adds, “More importantly, by giving the EPA regulatory oversight of this process, the environmental movement scores a victory by shutting down the exploration of oil and natural gas as regulations are written. At its core, that’s exactly what the green movement seeks to accomplish.”
New York Environmental Protection Bureau Chief Peter Lehner, in the same article notes, “… fracking for natural gas is acceptable only if safeguards on the entire extraction process are in place. And right now, they are not. The consequences speak for themselves. Numerous investigations show that insufficiently regulated natural gas extraction has been shown to contaminate drinking water and endanger human health.”
Currently energy companies are exempt from the major environmental laws including the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Air Act, allowing them carte blanche to inject toxic materials into the ground near major water sources without being monitored.
Fox says, “The big problem is that the gas companies are so powerful they are actually convincing the federal government to overlook the damage to the water supply for a short term energy fix. They have enough money that they’ve persuaded state and federal governments that it’s not a bad plan, when it’s a horrible plan. When you start contaminating all the water supply it’s a very scary thing.”
Exxon Mobil’s $41-billion merger last December with natural gas company XTO allows for drilling in the Catskill and Delaware watersheds, which supply drinking water to all of New York City. It’s significant to note a clause in the merger states Exxon can back out of the deal if the Safe Drinking Water Act is reinstated.
“So they know exactly what they’re doing,” Fox says. “They know that stuff poses a hazard to the environment and they’ll get out of it. It’s all about their profit margins.”
A great deal of money is at stake and lawmakers may undoubtedly feel the pressure to support fracture drilling which promises to create 2.8 million jobs. In Pennsylvania, hard hit by the economy, the gas and oil companies have secured 550 drilling permits, creating nearly 30,000 jobs and $240 million in state and local tax revenue.
Fox argues the economic boost is a bad deal for Pennsylvania. “I don’t know why you can’t green and revitalize Pennsylvania’s economy by starting more off the grid houses since there are already more off the grid water supplies than anywhere in the country. It’s the perfect atmosphere. Having small windmills and solar panels and that would be supplementing your energy needs. Besides, once you have destroyed the water supplies, it’s so much more expensive to deal with that problem than it is to deal with an alternative energy source.”
As companies continue to drill, accounts of fracking dangers surface as well. In Allentown, Pennsylvania, 13 families have filed lawsuits against Southwestern Energy Company for allegedly leaking toxic fluid into local groundwater, exposing residents to poisonous chemicals and contaminating their water wells.
New York water may also be under threat. The environmental group Riverkeeper, testifying at an EPA hearing on September 16, 2010, detailed more than 100 cases of water contamination due to fracture drilling across the country.
According to Associated Press:
“Riverkeeper documented more than 20 cases of tainted drinking water in Pennsylvania; more than 30 cases of groundwater and drinking water contamination in Colorado and Wyoming; and more than 10 surface water spills of drilling fluid in the Marcellus Shale region. Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection has logged 1,435 violations of the state’s oil and gas laws in the Marcellus Shale in the last two and a half years.”
With those numbers in mind, Fox notes, “To not be monitoring what toxic chemicals an industry is pumping into the ground is insane, especially in large quantities near a water supply.”
House approves severance tax bill
http://citizensvoice.com/news/house-approves-severance-tax-bill-1.1036709
House approves severance tax bill
By Robert Swift
Published: September 30, 2010
HARRISBURG – The Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted Wednesday to levy a significant severance tax on natural gas production and earmark a sizeable portion of revenues for local governments and environmental programs.
The House action sets the stage for closed-door bargaining between House and Senate leaders to find a compromise tax rate during the next two weeks as the legislative session winds down.
The tax measure, approved 104-94, sets the severance tax rate at 39 cents per thousand cubic feet (mcf) of natural gas at the wellhead, a minimum floor price that would be adjusted annually if the price of natural gas increases.
House Majority Todd Eachus, D-Butler Township, said this taxing method should ensure a steady revenue flow of $300 million annually and guard against outside speculation in the natural gas market.
Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati, R-Jefferson County, said the $0.39 per mcf rate is unacceptable and won’t generate the anticipated revenue because investment will be driven away. Senate GOP leaders want a severance tax that sets a 1.5 percent rate during a well’s first five years of production and a 5 percent rate after that.
Therein lies the main divide that is keeping House and Senate leaders from meeting a self-imposed deadline to pass a severance tax bill by Friday. But Eachus and Scarnati said they would negotiate in good faith.
The Senate left Wednesday for a recess until Oct. 12, but discussions are expected to take place anyway next week.
Eachus said the two chambers are now closer to agreement on a distribution of severance tax revenue with a 60 percent share in the House-passed bill going to local governments and the environmental stewardship fund, which funds local projects that address problems ranging from acid mine drainage to farmland and open space preservation.
Eachus and Rep. Neal Goodman, D-Mahanoy City, discussed the need for a severance tax in the context of the lack of a similar tax during the anthracite boom in Northeastern Pennsylvania and the resulting still-unresolved water quality problems in the region.
“This is a life insurance policy for Pennsylvania,” said Goodman in floor debate.
Scarnati said a number of his GOP colleagues are uneasy with the gas industry’s proposal to require the pooling together of land parcels for drilling. Many of them have heard from constituents who have property rights, he said.
rswift@timesshamrock.com
Ground Water Protection Council to Develop and Implement a State-Based System Disclosing Chemicals Used in Hydraulic Fracturing
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100929006359/en/Ground-Water-Protection-Council-Develop-Implement-State-Based
September 29, 2010 12:07 PM Eastern Daylight Time
Ground Water Protection Council to Develop and Implement a State-Based System Disclosing Chemicals Used in Hydraulic Fracturing
GWPC Board Supports Complete Public Disclosure of Chemical Compositions Per Well
PITTSBURGH, PA.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Meeting in the heart of one of the most prolific natural gas shale plays in America, the 20-member board of directors of the Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) unanimously passed a resolution calling for complete disclosure of chemicals used during the hydraulic fracturing process, common in the exploration of shale gas.
In the resolution, the GWPC – a national nonprofit association consisting of state ground water regulatory agencies – joined together to protect ground water by implementing a web-based system to obtain, store and publish information concerning chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing process on a per-well basis.
“We are pleased the energy industry is voluntarily moving towards greater transparency when it comes to disclosing the chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing process. Even though the process consists mostly of water and sand, it is in the best interest of the public to publish the chemical compositions,” commented Joseph Lee, board president from Pennsylvania. “As a board, we are fully behind complete disclosure, and we believe without question the GWPC has the resources, data and expertise to develop and implement a state-based system capable of providing an unprecedented level of accurate and verifiable information. Since the GWPC members are primarily state officials responsible for administering the underground injection control program established under the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act, we believe no one has more knowledge of ground water protection than our members.”
In announcing the passage of the resolution, which is included as an addendum to this press release, Lee pointed to the GWPC’s Risk Based Data Management System (RBDMS) as the technology platform upon which the national chemical registry would be built. The RBDMS is already used by 25 state agencies charged with regulating and overseeing oil and gas activities. This system was developed by the GWPC under the guidance of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
“We know some energy companies have already voluntarily started to make their chemical compositions available on their websites,” Lee said. “Again, while we laud this effort, individual company reporting is not the most desirable long-term solution. We need a centralized, global site where regulators, companies and – most importantly – the public can come for reliable and current information on individual wells. And, while reporting would be voluntary, we have every reason to believe the majority of energy companies will respond favorably and actively participate in the program.”
Lee also noted that the GWPC has been working with the DOE to refine the idea of a state-based chemical disclosure system built on the RBDMS. “We are pleased with the positive reception at the DOE to this idea, and we are looking forward to working with our DOE colleagues on this project,” Lee said.
GWPC officials said they have already started to build the beta test site and expect to roll out the live site in the next six weeks.
RESOLUTION 10-1
REGARDING THE AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION ABOUT THE CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS USED IN THE PRACTICE OF HYDRAULIC FRACTURING
WHEREAS, the practice of hydraulic fracturing typically involves the use of an engineered fluid system that contains chemical additives; and
WHEREAS, it is in the best interest of the public that information concerning the individual chemical constituents used in hydraulic fracturing be made available through the states; and
WHEREAS, the experience and capability exists within the Ground Water Protection Council and its member states to develop electronic systems to gather, store and disseminate information about the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT, the GWPC, in concert with other state representative organizations, intends to develop and implement a system to enhance access to state and other pertinent information concerning chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing.
Passed by the Board
Contacts for the Ground Water Protection Council
Brent Gooden, 405-715-3232
Cabot and DEP clash over Dimock water contamination
http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/cabot-and-dep-clash-over-dimock-water-contamination-1.1035426
Cabot and DEP clash over Dimock water contamination
by laura legere (staff writer)
Published: September 29, 2010
A clash between the state’s environmental regulators and gas driller Cabot Oil and Gas Corp. over the cause and solution for contaminated water wells in Dimock Twp. escalated on Tuesday, with the Cabot CEO accusing the Department of Environmental Protection of waging “a public war against us.”
The late- day salvo – in the form of a press release and 29-page letter from Cabot CEO Dan O. Dinges to DEP Secretary John Hanger – came hours after Mr. Hanger described as “very unfortunate and false” an advertisement by Cabot published Tuesday morning in area newspapers that criticized his department and its plan for replacing the contaminated private water supplies in Dimock.
Mr. Hanger could not be reached on Tuesday night to respond to Cabot’s letter.
In the advertisement published in The Times-Tribune and the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, Cabot challenged a state plan to compel the natural gas driller to replace the contaminated wells with an estimated 7-mile-long, $10.5 million public water line from Montrose, calling the proposal “unreasonable, unprecedented and … unfair.”
An official announcement of the water replacement plan will be made by Mr. Hanger on Thursday along Carter Road in Dimock, where the department found that Cabot contaminated 14 water wells with methane during its Marcellus Shale drilling operations.
Mr. Hanger said Tuesday he would not detail the plan, which he will explain on Thursday, but he said he was “disappointed” in Cabot’s statements in the ad.
“Cabot would do better spending its money on fixing the problems it caused than buying ads,” he said. “Frankly, the families in Dimock and the people of Pennsylvania deserve much better.”
Mr. Hanger found “particularly false” Cabot’s statement that the department has a “concerning” tendency “to communicate through the media instead of with the Company.”
The secretary said he and his senior team have had weekly calls with Mr. Dinges and other company leaders about the water replacement issue since April. When Mr. Dinges was on vacation and unreachable by satellite phone during a crucial period in the discussions, Mr. Hanger and his advisers communicated with a Cabot team “fully about all these matters” in his absence, Mr. Hanger said.
DEP suspended portions of Cabot’s extensive Marcellus Shale operations in Susquehanna County in April after it found that 14 of the company’s gas wells in Dimock were improperly constructed or overpressured and were causing methane to seep into water wells.
The company has paid more than $360,000 in fines and was ordered to fix the affected water supplies, but at least 11 of the 14 families refused Cabot’s proposed solution – methane elimination systems to be installed in each of the homes – saying the systems are inadequate to address the problems.
DEP is also conducting comprehensive testing of the well water in 34 homes in the Dimock area for a wide range of contaminants, including benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene and glycol, after a private testing firm hired by residents detected many of those chemicals in their water, including some at levels above federal drinking water standards.
In its ad on Tuesday, Cabot said it does not believe it caused the contamination and “intends to fight these allegations through its scientific findings.”
It also criticized the logic of DEP’s water replacement plan.
“No private business model would support such an investment (in excess of $10 million) for so few users,” Mr. Dinges wrote in the ad. He said the water line is being planned without any study of the economic viability of the project, its physical impact on the route and how long it will take to install.
In the press release and letter distributed late in the day, Mr. Dinges went further with his criticisms, calling the department’s behavior toward Cabot “arbitrary and unreasonable” and saying that the department has ignored evidence “proving (Cabot) is not responsible for methane gas migration into local water wells … preferring instead to base unprecedented and costly mandates on biased and unscientific opinions and accounts.”
In support of its position, the company said it drilled a new water well for a resident who lives in the 9-square-mile area identified by the department as affected by the methane contamination and did not detect any gas in that water, Cabot spokesman George Stark said.
In its press release, the company also cites local emergency response officials who said they found no evidence that an explosion blasted a concrete slab off a resident’s water well on Jan. 1, 2009 – the incident that first spurred the department’s investigation into methane migration.
Asked what else might have broken and tossed aside the slab, Mr. Stark said, “We don’t have a theory as to how or why. What we do have is, when you have an explosion, there are certain tell-tale signs. And we didn’t see any of those.”
The attorney for Dimock families who have sued Cabot for damaging their water, property and health could not be reached Tuesday evening after Cabot released its letter.
In a statement released earlier in the day, attorney Leslie Lewis said she applauded the “courage and decisiveness” shown by the governor and Mr. Hanger on the water replacement issue and called the state’s plan to provide centrally sourced water to the residents “a considered and necessary one.”
She also criticized Cabot’s advertisement Tuesday, calling it “just another example of Cabot’s cynical attempts to divide the community, pitting neighbor against neighbor on the gas development issue.”
“The issue is whether Cabot has contaminated residents’ well water by their operations,” she said. “The unequivocal finding of the DEP and PA government is ‘yes’.”
Contact the writer: llegere@timesshamrock.com
Pennsylvania’s fracking rules need beefing up: review group
http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/HeadlineNews/NaturalGas/6470590/
Washington (Platts)–24Sep2010/639 pm EDT/2239 GMT
Pennsylvania’s fracking rules need beefing up: review group
Pennsylvania’s hydraulic fracturing regulatory program needs to be beefed
up, the State Review of Oil and Natural Gas Environmental Regulations
(STRONGER) said Thursday.
STRONGER is a non-profit organization that uses industry personnel to
review state oil and gas environmental regulations. The team was observed by
representatives from environmental groups, state regulators, the oil and gas
industry and the US Environmental Protection Agency, STRONGER said.
STRONGER’s review team said the state DEP should encourage more extensive
baseline groundwater quality testing by operators in areas where drilling is
imminent. The state also should consider factors that can affect the test
results, such as the absence of confining rock layers.
The review team said drillers should be required to identify to the DEP
potential conduits for fluid migration, such as active and abandoned wells, in
an area where fracking will be used.
The review team also said operators’ prevention, preparedness and
contingency plans filed with the DEP should identify the procedures that will
be used to inform emergency medical personnel about the chemical composition
of fracking fluids.
In addition to notifying the DEP at least 24 hours before drilling
starts, operators also should give the state advance notice before a well is
fracked, the review said. The DEP also “should have the opportunity to conduct
inspections at critical stages, including during hydraulic fracturing and
flowback,” it added.
The review team recommended the state require liners or secondary
containment around tanks or other facilities storing “pollutional substances.”
Also, rules requiring pit bottom “preparation and liner placement, should
be considered.” The review team recommended that secondary containment
requirements should be established for storage tanks used in fracking.
–Rodney White, rodney_white@platts.com
Similar stories appear in Gas Daily.
See more information at
http://www.platts.com/Products/gasdaily/
Obama Admin Rejects Timeout for Natural Gas Drilling in N.Y., Pa.
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/09/22/22greenwire-obama-admin-rejects-timeout-for-natural-gas-dr-60467.html
Obama Admin Rejects Timeout for Natural Gas Drilling in N.Y., Pa.
By MIKE SORAGHAN of Greenwire
Published: September 22, 2010
The Obama administration has decided against pressing for a temporary halt to Marcellus Shale drilling in Pennsylvania and New York, a key federal official said.
Brig. Gen. Peter “Duke” DeLuca, commander of the North Atlantic Division of the Army Corps of Engineers, last week declined a request from Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) to use the federal government’s vote on the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) to seek a temporary ban on gas production in the Delaware watershed.
Hinchey wants drilling there to wait until the commission completes a “cumulative impact statement,” but DeLuca said that could delay drilling for years.
“The citizens of the basin are counting on the commission to make smart choices that allow for environmental protection to proceed together with economic development,” DeLuca wrote in the Sept. 14 letter (pdf).
The letter was written a day before Lt. Col. Philip Secrist, representing DeLuca and the Obama administration on the commission, voted to continue limited exploratory drilling in the basin. The vote denied a request by environmental groups seeking to block the drilling of test wells that were “grandfathered in” when the commission imposed a de facto moratorium.
Hinchey, a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, is seeking $1 million for the DRBC to study the cumulative effects of drilling in the basin, which provides drinking water to 5 percent of the country’s population (Greenwire, Sept. 13).
Cash for the study has been set aside in the House Interior Appropriations bill, which has not been passed in the Senate. But the spending bill is not likely to be approved before November, because Congress is expected to pass a stopgap “continuing resolution” before leaving Washington to campaign, rather than finish its work on spending bills. And there is no concrete plan for passing the measure after the November election.
Hinchey wrote DeLuca on Sept. 9, saying he was alarmed that the DRBC is preparing to finish regulations — which would allow production to start — this year, before a cumulative impact study could even start. He asked DeLuca to use his seat on the commission to advocate for blocking development until after the study is done.
“It is difficult to understand how the DRBC can consider the release of gas drilling regulations without a comprehensive assessment of the possible impacts in the Delaware River Basin,” Hinchey wrote.
DeLuca said such a study could take years, even if completed promptly.
“The federal family of agencies that I represent on the commission are collectively charged with a requirement to support the economic needs of the region and our nation’s need to secure energy reserves while protecting the environment,” DeLuca wrote.
Hinchey targets, industry defends Army Corps
The Army Corps represents the federal government on the commission, which also includes representatives of the governors of four states, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. The federal-state hybrid was created in 1961 to address regional water conflicts, and oversees water quality and quantity issues in the 13,539-square-mile basin.
At the Sept. 15 meeting, the corps’ Secrist pointedly noted that he was “representing President Obama” on the commission.
Hinchey, however, aimed his criticism at DeLuca and the corps rather than the Democratic administration.
“The response is deeply troubling and raises a lot of questions about how the ACOE [Army Corps of Engineers] views its role as the federal government’s representative to the DRBC,” Hinchey spokesman Mike Morosi said in an e-mailed statement. “The congressman will be following up on this matter shortly.”
Environmentalists say DeLuca is wrong when he asserts that the DRBC must balance environmental concerns with economic development. Jill Wiener, a leader of an upstate New York group called Catskills Citizens for Safe Energy, said the commission’s mandate is to protect water quality.
“They owe their fealty to the river and the people of the basin,” Wiener said, “not the economic health of a few leaseholders and multinational corporations.”
But industry officials say DeLuca was correct to reject Hinchey’s request.
“Just to be clear here, Hinchey was trying to use a federal agency to direct the actions of a regional water board for the purposes of preventing the development of natural gas in a state where he doesn’t even live,” said Chris Tucker, spokesman for Energy in Depth, a group of independent drillers. “Next thing you know, he’ll be ordering the Army Corps to build levees around our well sites in Wyoming.”
DRBC Executive Director Carol Collier stalled the eastward march of gas rigs across Pennsylvania last year when she asserted jurisdiction over Marcellus Shale drilling and said no production permits would be issued until regulations are complete.
That has upset natural gas producers like Hess Corp. and Newfield Exploration Co., along with landowners expecting money for leasing their land to the companies(Land Letter, July 8).
Environmentalists have cheered the moratorium on production but are fighting the DRBC decision to allow exploratory wells.
Is N.J. pressing for drilling?
Gas companies say the gas in the Marcellus Shale formation under Pennsylvania, New York and adjacent states could power the country for years and allow a switch from coal to a cleaner-burning fuel. Many farmers have reaped big windfalls by allowing drilling on and under their land.
But drilling has contaminated creeks and ruined the water wells of homes near well sites. New York and Philadelphia have rallied against drilling, out of concern it could contaminate their water supply
Hundreds of people attended U.S. EPA hearings this summer in Pennsylvania and New York on “hydraulic fracturing,” an essential process for drilling in shale that involves injecting millions of gallons of chemical-laced water thousands of feet underground. Most of those testifying called it a dangerous process that needs federal regulation. The industry says it is an established, safe technology.
Environmentalists have also said that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) is pressuring the DRBC to speed up drilling in Pennsylvania, despite worries about upstream water contamination (Greenwire, Sept. 16).
Christie’s Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin wrote a letter in July urging the DRBC to enact its drilling regulations by the end of September (the DRBC now says a draft proposal won’t be ready until next month, with a goal of finalizing by the end of the year). It also said that the DRBC should cede its authority over natural gas development to Pennsylvania once it develops water quality regulations.
But Martin says he was just trying to get the regulatory process moving.
“New Jersey is not trying to expedite drilling,” Martin said in an interview this week. “What we’re trying to do is avoid duplication.”