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.”
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
Growing drought threatening well-water levels across state
http://live.psu.edu/story/48713/nw69
Penn State Ag Sciences Newswire – 9.27.2010
Growing drought threatening well-water levels across state
Friday, September 24, 2010
University Park, Pa. — After months of very little rainfall, and with long-term weather forecasts predicting little improvement through fall and early winter, well owners across the state have begun to grow uneasy, according to a groundwater expert in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.
All of Pennsylvania is under a drought watch, and state officials recently declared a drought warning for 24 counties. The driest counties are in the far eastern and far western parts of the state, bordering Ohio and New Jersey. There is also a very dry region in the southwest around Somerset.
“The last serious drought we had that affected groundwater and well levels across Pennsylvania was in 2002, and I have already begun hearing from some of the people who experienced water-quantity problems with their wells then,” said Bryan Swistock, water resources extension specialist in the college’s School of Forest Resources. “Well owners should be conserving their water.”
This drought started in April, which was a dry month around the state, according to Swistock. That was followed by sporadically dry May, June and July. “August and especially September were very dry throughout the state,” he said. “The drought accelerated pretty rapidly.”
Historically, the current dry conditions are not that impressive, Swistock conceded, but he’s concerned by the current trend. “This drought so far is not a record-breaker by any means, but 2010 was in the top one-third or one-fourth of the state’s drier years in the records going back into the 1800s,” he explained.
“The official NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) long-term weather forecast indicates that this drought will be persistent in Pennsylvania through the winter. It may not get worse, but the outlook shows it is not likely to improve.”
The one caveat in the dry weather forecast is the unpredictable nature of tropical moisture that could find its way to Pennsylvania and ease drought conditions.
“If remnants of one or two of the tropical storms that form in the south Atlantic this fall move northward and track over Pennsylvania, they could eliminate the drought,” Swistock said. “There is a lot of tropical moisture around — but none of it has found its way to Pennsylvania yet.”
To recharge water tables and boost well-water levels, rains must fall before the ground freezes — usually in December — because after that, precipitation is not absorbed by the ground and simply runs off, Swistock pointed out. “We are now at our traditional annual low point for streams and groundwater,” he said.
“This is a critical recharge period we are entering — it’s a dangerous time to be in a drought condition.”
What you can do
Water-conservation measures become critical during times of drought. Homeowners relying on private wells can significantly reduce water consumption by changing habits and installing water-saving devices, according to Swistock.
“In emergency situations, changes in water-use habits can provide quick reductions in water use,” he said. “Examples include flushing the toilet less often, taking shorter showers, washing only full loads of dishes or laundry, and collecting water from roof gutters for outside use.”
It is important to note that certain drought declarations also may require water-use reductions or restrictions on water use, Swistock said. For example, a “drought emergency” declaration bans the nonessential use of water, such as car washing and lawn watering. These regulations apply to everyone, including homeowners with private wells.
Swistock advised water-well owners to monitor nearby groundwater levels online. “You might be able to detect potential problems early and implement water-conservation strategies that may prevent your well from going dry,” he said.
For more information on ways to save water around the home, consult the Penn State Cooperative Extension publications, “22 Ways to Save Water in an Emergency,” “Household Water Conservation” and “Managing Your Well During a Drought.” These publications are available at http://extension.psu.edu/water online.
You can learn about groundwater levels in your area through a website provided by the U.S Geologic Survey. Although not specific to your well, information from monitoring wells will allow you to observe the general trend in groundwater levels in your area. For a list of the available monitoring wells by county, go to http://pa.water.usgs.gov/durplots/well_duration.html online.
For more information on management of wells and springs in Pennsylvania, visit http://www.sfr.cas.psu.edu/water or contact your local Cooperative Extension office.
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/
Shortage of rain must be taken seriously
http://www.tnonline.com/node/135919
Reported on Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Drought warning
Shortage of rain must be taken seriously
Last week, the Pa. Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued a drought warning for our newspaper’s entire coverage area – Carbon, Lehigh, Monroe, Northampton, and Schuylkill Counties.
The combination of lower rain than usual with the excessive summer heat has resulted in stream levels being well below normal.
One only has to see the receding shore line at Mauch Chunk Lake Park to understand how critical the water level has become.
The National Weather Service says rainfall is four inches below normal for the past 90 days in the Lehigh Valley. Carbon County has a 4.5 inch deficit for 90 days while in Monroe County, there is a 5.2 inch rainfall shortage for the three-month period.
The DEP is asking people to conserve water. One of the most common sources of waste water is a leak within your residence, such as a toilet. DEP says a leaking toilet can waste up to 200 gallons of water per day. Although many households are strapped for cash right now, fixing such a leak should be a priority since it can also reduce your monthly water bill.
DEP encourages residents to conserve water by taking showers instead of baths.
Also, keep water in the refrigerator to avoid running water from a faucet until it is cold.
Run your dishwasher only when it is full.
Water is a precious resource and we can’t ignore the fact that levels at our storage facilities are being reduced by the lack of rain. Generally, the water lines aren’t fully restored until spring when a good snow pack melts. A dry winter will make things very critical, so it’s best to start conserving now.
This is especially true if you rely on wells rather than city water.
The DEP could do more to help the situation by making its Web site more user friendly with drought advice, suggestions, and information. Very little is stated on the DEP site about the drought conditions.
After all, it is the DEP which issues drought warnings.
We agree that there is a drought. We have to think ahead, though, to assure that if the drought continues, we’ll still have enough water to meet our every day needs.
By Ron Gower
rgower@tnonline.com
Carbon County, PA Water deficit
http://www.tnonline.com/node/136939
Reported on Friday, September 24, 2010
Carbon County, PA Water deficit
Drought raises concern with local officials
By AMY MILLER amiller@tnonline.com
Carbon County has seen the effects of lower than normal rainfalls over the summer.
During the county commissioners’ meeting on Thursday, Commissioner Wayne Nothstein provided an update on the drought warning that was issued by the state Department of Environmental Protection last Thursday. A drought warning is issued when areas see a significant precipitation deficit as a result of little to no rainfall over a 90-day period. In some counties throughout Pennsylvania, deficits are as great as 5.6 inches below normal.
Nothstein said that Beltzville Lake, located near Lehighton, is down 15 feet as a result of dam releases that are needed to keep the salt water levels down in the rivers; as well as evaporation.
On Wednesday, officials at the lake closed the boat launches at Beltzville for the season because levels were so low.
Nothstein also said that Mauch Chunk Lake is experiencing lower than normal levels. Last week, the lake was down a total of 50 inches, but as of yesterday, the lake was showing that it was down 54 inches.
“It looks like the lake is losing a half inch a day,” he said. “I want to remind everyone, especially in the west side of Jim Thorpe, that is where the water supply comes from for Jim Thorpe.”
Nothstein added that the Lehigh River is also operating on less than half of its normal flow.
“As of Wednesday, the river was flowing at 169 cubic feet per second, which equates to 76,000 gallons per minute,” he said. “The average (normal flow of the Lehigh) over a 27-year period is 167,000 gallons a minute.”
Mark Nalesnik, Carbon County Emergency Management Agency coordinator, also noted that he was told the recreation pool at the Francis E. Walter Dam is completely used up.
He and Nothstein urge residents to try to conserve water usage when they can until the county gets a significant rainfall.
“It’s necessary to conserve water at this point,” Nalesnik said.
Four burn bans have also been put into place in municipalities throughout the county as a result of the drier than normal conditions. Those municipalities include Nesquehoning, Bowmanstown, East Penn Township and Jim Thorpe.
To conserve water, DEP suggests fixing any leaks in household plumbing, installing low-flow or aerators nozzles on shower heads and faucets, taking short showers instead of baths, replacing older washers with front loading washers, running the dishwasher and washing machine only when they are full, avoid running water excessively.
For more tips on conserving water, visit www.depweb.state.pa.us, keyword: drought.
In a related matter, Nothstein also announced that there is help for farmers that have been affected by the drought.
He read a portion of a press release from Speaker of the House Keith McCall (D-Carbon), stating that farmers in Carbon County are eligible to apply for low-interest emergency disaster assistance loans from the federal Department of Agriculture to help recover crop losses associated with the summer’s dry weather.
To apply for the loan, farmers need to contact the Carbon County Farm Service Agency in Lehighton at (610) 377-6300 or visit www.fsa.usda.gov.
Farmers have eight months from Sept. 10, to apply for the loans, the press release states.
How long it really takes for a plastic grocery bag to decompose
http://www.emagazine.com/view/?5337
EARTHTALK
Week of 09/19/10
Dear EarthTalk: I’ve heard conflicting reports regarding how long it really takes for a plastic grocery bag to decompose. Can you set the record straight?
— Martha Blount, San Diego, CA
Researchers fear that such ubiquitous bags may never fully decompose; instead they gradually just turn into smaller and smaller pieces of plastic. The most common type of plastic shopping bag is made of polyethylene, a petroleum-derived polymer that microorganisms don’t recognize as food and as such cannot technically “biodegrade.” The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency defines biodegradation as “a process by which microbial organisms transform or alter (through metabolic or enzymatic action) the structure of chemicals introduced into the environment.” In “respirometry” tests, whereby experimenters put solid waste in a container with microbe-rich compost and then add air to promote biodegradation, newspapers and banana peels decompose in days or weeks, while plastic shopping bags are not affected.
Even though polyethylene can’t biodegrade, it does break down when subject to ultraviolet radiation from the sun, a process known as photodegradation. When exposed to sunshine, polyethylene’s polymer chains become brittle and crack, eventually turning what was a plastic bag into microscopic synthetic granules. Scientists aren’t sure whether these granules ever decompose fully, and fear that their buildup in marine and terrestrial environments—and in the stomachs of wildlife—portend a bleak future compromised by plastic particles infiltrating every step in the food chain. A plastic bag might be gone in anywhere from 10 to 100 years (estimates vary) if exposed to the sun, but its environmental legacy may last forever.
The best solution to plastic bag waste is to stop using disposable plastic bags altogether. You could invest a few bucks in reusable canvas totes—most supermarket chains now offer them—or bring your own reusable bags or backpacks with you to the store. If you have to choose between paper and plastic, opt for paper. Paper bags can biodegrade in a matter of weeks, and can also go into compost or yard waste piles or the recycling bin. Of course, plastic bags can be recycled also, but as just explained the process is inefficient. According to the nonprofit Worldwatch Institute, Americans only recycle 0.6 percent of the 100 billion plastic bags they take home from stores every year; the rest end up in landfills or as litter.
Another option which some stores are embracing—especially in places like San Francisco where traditional plastic shopping bags are now banned in chain supermarkets and pharmacies—are so-called compostable plastic bags, which are derived from agricultural waste and formed into a fully biodegradable faux-plastic with a consistency similar to the polyethylene bags we are so used to. BioBag is the leader in this field, but other companies are making inroads into this promising new green-friendly market.
San Francisco’s pioneering effort to get rid of polyethylene bags is a positive step, but environmentalists are pushing for such bans more widely. A California effort to ban plastic bags failed again recently, but will likely eventually succeed. Washington, Florida, New Jersey and North Carolina are watching closely and considering similar laws depending on what happens in the Golden State. Worldwatch reports that taxes on plastic bags in South Africa and Ireland have been effective at reducing their use by upwards of 90 percent; Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the Philippines, Taiwan and the UK are also planning to ban or tax plastic bags to help stem the tide of plastic waste.
Groups rally for Marcellus Shale gas drilling restrictions
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10265/1089281-454.stm
Groups rally for Marcellus Shale gas drilling restrictions
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
By Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau
HARRISBURG — Susquehanna County resident Victoria Switzer came to an anti-Marcellus Shale gas drilling rally here Tuesday, and she was angry.
Since 2003, Ms. Switzer has lived in the small town of Dimock, in the state’s northern tier between Scranton and the New York border. In the summer of 2009 — after deep underground drilling for natural gas began in her area — she said the water that came from her well turned “bubbly, smelly and foamy” and was undrinkable.
Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., which is drilling in dozens of locations in the county, insisted it didn’t cause the problem. But Ms. Switzer said Cabot did start trucking in bottled drinking water last October for her and 22 other families whose wells also were fouled. Ms. Switzer said that in her opinion, there has to be some connection between the underground drilling and the “methane migration” that has ruined so many water wells in the area.
And lately, she added, other chemicals, such as ethyl benzene, xylene and toluene have shown up in her water. She thinks the “fracking” process used to extract natural gas, where chemicals are mixed with large amounts of water and pumped underground to force out the gas, is responsible.
“How did these chemicals get into my water?” she said. “I didn’t have this problem before the drilling started.”
She got a lot of support from the dozens of environmental groups who rallied at the Capitol in support of several Marcellus-related bills — one that would impose a tax on gas extracted from the hundreds of wells around the state, another that would direct state environmental officials to more closely monitor the effect of drilling on streams and underground water, and a third bill that would impose a one-year moratorium on drilling any new wells.
The activists demanded that the Legislature act on the bills before leaving in mid-October to go home and campaign for the Nov. 2 election, but time for action is growing short. So far legislators haven’t been able to agree on specifics for a gas severance tax, which could generate $100 million to be split among state agencies and municipalities that are facing higher costs related to gas drilling.
In a statement Tuesday, Cabot denied that its drilling is causing water problems for Susquehanna County residents. In its fracking process, Cabot said, it hasn’t used any of the chemicals that Ms. Switzer complained about.
Cabot said it has examined water samples taken from the area in 2008, before drilling began. “These sample results confirm the presence of many of the chemicals in water samples taken [from Dimock properties] prior to gas well drilling in the area,” Cabot said. The firm said it “remains committed to safe and secure operations in Susquehanna County.”
The Marcellus Shale Coalition, a group of natural gas producers, also released a statement by Department of Environmental Protection official Scott Perry, who said, “A lot of folks relate the problem in Dimock to a fracking problem. I just want to make sure everyone’s clear on this — that it isn’t. We’ve never seen an impact to fresh groundwater directly from fracking.”
At the rally, the environmentalists released their “platform of state action” with 13 demands, such as a Marcellus Shale gas severance tax and “a moratorium on further drilling on both private and public lands” so regulations can be developed to “fully protect our environment, health and communities.”
The groups also want the Legislature to prohibit what they called “forced pooling.” If pooling is allowed, one landowner who refuses to sign a lease for drilling under his property could be forced to do so just because all the nearby property owners have signed such leases.
The groups also want distance requirements between wells, so they can’t be clustered together.
“There should be reasonable laws and best practices put in place during the drilling into Marcellus Shale,” said Rep. Phyllis Mundy, D-Luzerne, a moratorium proponent. “People are frustrated, confused and flat-out angry about the [drilling] accidents that have occurred and about the lack of [General Assembly] action to protect them.”
The environmental groups at the rally, who chanted “No Free Pass for Oil and Gas,” included Clean Water Action, the Sierra Club, the Gas Accountability Project, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network and Penn Environment.
Also at the rally was Josh Fox, creator of the controversial documentary film “Gasland,” which is critical of the gas drilling industry.
Also Tuesday, another critic of gas companies, Gene Stilp of Harrisburg, brought his 25-foot-high, inflatable pink pig back to the Capitol, where he had used it in 2005 to protest legislative pay raises. This time he hung a banner on it reading “Rendell Fire Powers.”
He was calling for Gov. Ed Rendell to fire James Powers Jr., director of the state Office of Homeland Security, who had distributed “anti-terrorism bulletins” that warned law enforcement agencies against a number of protest groups, including those opposed to gas drilling.
And in yet another action Tuesday, House Republicans unveiled a four-part plan to promote the use of natural gas instead of gasoline. They called on state agencies to “transition” the 16,000 gasoline-powered vehicles in the state fleet to vehicles that run on natural gas. That would “reduce the commonwealth’s reliance on oil and create a tremendous demand for the natural gas available right here in Pennsylvania,” said Rep. Stan Saylor, R-York.
Republicans also called for tax credits for companies that convert their fleets to natural gas and for financial incentives to local governments and mass transit agencies that do the same. Those three changes would cost about $60 million, they estimated.
The GOP also called for building natural gas stations at every other service station along the Pennsylvania Turnpike so it’s easier for drivers to refuel their gas-powered cars.
Bureau Chief Tom Barnes: tbarnes@post-gazette.com or 1-717-787-4254.
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