CITIZENS VOICE--As the state General Assembly considers legislation to curb local control of natural gas drilling, an experiment in local oversight of an exploratory Marcellus Shale well in Benton Township has been an "unequivocal" success, a supervisor said.
An independent engineer hired by Benton is monitoring the drilling and construction of a well by Southwestern Energy Production Co. that will evaluate the gas-bearing potential of the shale more than a mile below a field off Route 407.
The idea, supervisor Larry Seymour said, is "monitoring as opposed to controlling" the operation. "The issue really is getting the desired outcomes and avoiding unanticipated negative consequences."
Read the remainder of the article...
Showing posts with label state oversight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label state oversight. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
NYT responds to yesterday's DEP press release contradicting story
Journalist Ian Urbina authored a response to DEP's press release (see previous blog post) which appears in today's New York Times. In its press release, the DEP stated that their own testing in various sites proved that the water was potable and that any levels of radium/radioactivity were all below safe levels. Here is an excerpt illustrating yet another example of ineptitude when it comes to state oversight:
"The Times found that samples taken by the state in the Monongahela River — a source of drinking water for parts of Pittsburgh — came from a point upstream from the two sewage treatment plants on that river. The state has said those plants are still accepting significant quantities of drilling waste.
Because that sampling site is upstream, the discharges from those two plants are not captured by the state’s monitoring plans.
Asked on Monday if the state planned to correct the problem, Katy Gresh, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, said it was still considering where to take samples in the future and whether to require testing at drinking-water intake plants."
To read the original article in its entirety, click HERE.
"The Times found that samples taken by the state in the Monongahela River — a source of drinking water for parts of Pittsburgh — came from a point upstream from the two sewage treatment plants on that river. The state has said those plants are still accepting significant quantities of drilling waste.
Because that sampling site is upstream, the discharges from those two plants are not captured by the state’s monitoring plans.
Asked on Monday if the state planned to correct the problem, Katy Gresh, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, said it was still considering where to take samples in the future and whether to require testing at drinking-water intake plants."
To read the original article in its entirety, click HERE.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
New PA drilling rules to be implemented by January 2011.
Pennsylvania rules panel OKs new gas-drilling safeguards
"HARRISBURG, Pa. — Crews rushing to drill deep, high-pressure wells into the vast Marcellus Shale reservoir beneath Pennsylvania will soon have tougher safety standards to obey as regulators work to modernize the state’s environmental protection laws.
The Independent Regulatory Review Commission, the gatekeeper of Pennsylvania state regulations, unanimously approved a set of proposed standards at its Thursday meeting. The rules are expected to be published and final no later than January.
“Today’s action is another major step in making sure that Pennsylvania updates its regulations and grows its oversight with the Marcellus industry,” Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger said after the vote.
Hanger’s agency wrote the proposal, the latest of several sets of new regulations designed to protect waterways and drinking water supplies from natural gas migrating underground, well-site chemical spills and the massive volumes of toxic sludge that comes out of newly drilled wells.
[This AP story appeared Nov 18; click HERE to read the remainder of the story in full...including photos].
"HARRISBURG, Pa. — Crews rushing to drill deep, high-pressure wells into the vast Marcellus Shale reservoir beneath Pennsylvania will soon have tougher safety standards to obey as regulators work to modernize the state’s environmental protection laws.
The Independent Regulatory Review Commission, the gatekeeper of Pennsylvania state regulations, unanimously approved a set of proposed standards at its Thursday meeting. The rules are expected to be published and final no later than January.
“Today’s action is another major step in making sure that Pennsylvania updates its regulations and grows its oversight with the Marcellus industry,” Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger said after the vote.
Hanger’s agency wrote the proposal, the latest of several sets of new regulations designed to protect waterways and drinking water supplies from natural gas migrating underground, well-site chemical spills and the massive volumes of toxic sludge that comes out of newly drilled wells.
[This AP story appeared Nov 18; click HERE to read the remainder of the story in full...including photos].
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Gas Boom Mints Instant Millionaires
[The following article appeared via CNN Money by way of Yahoo News]:
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
by Steve Hargreaves, senior writer
TOWANDA, Pa. — In the hills of northwest Pennsylvania, the boom in natural gas production turned mechanic Chris Sutton into a millionaire practically overnight.
Sutton recently leased his 154 acres of land on the Marcellus Shale to Talisman Energy for a $900,000 up front check, plus a 20% cut of the revenue of the natural gas extracted from his land.
A half hour away it's a very different story. Truman Burnett's retirement home is ruined: His pond is contaminated by a drilling accident on land owned by a neighbor and his well water is undrinkable.
Burnett doesn't blame the neighbor for the mishap, but the fortunes of Burnett and Sutton illustrate just how dramatically the shale gas phenomenon is dividing Pennsylvania.
Some are getting very rich, while others see nothing but problems.
Nearly everyone appreciates the economic benefits derived from the development of the cleaner, domestic energy source in the Marcellus, which stretches under Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York and Ohio.
But as shale gas production takes off in the Northeast and in other shale formations across the country, people should pay attention to Pennsylvania.
Here, debate about the speed of development, the influx of out-of-state workers, the safety of the drinking water, and the changing character of the area is dividing this state's rural communities.
**A Boom in Bloom**
Towanda, a town of some 3,000 people about 60 miles northwest of Scranton, is in the midst of a full-on energy boom.
Hotel rooms are impossible to get — one hotel was booked through December. Rents on two-bedroom apartments have gone from $400 to $1,500 a month. The downtown is jammed with traffic, much of it tractor trailers loaded down with drilling materials and equipment. One resident counted over 100 passing his house in an hour.
"We're being invaded," Jim Stuart, a longtime Towanda resident, said from the counter of a downtown diner. "And I don't deal well with things being shoved down my throat."
The invaders, mostly workers from Texas and Oklahoma, are here for the vast deposits of natural gas.
It's been long known that gas exists in this part of Pennsylvania, but extracting it was too costly. But a few years ago, shale gas became economical. The reason: Higher gas prices and advances in drilling and hydraulic fracturing.
Known as fracking, hydraulic fracturing is a process that involves breaking the shale with vast amounts of pressurized water, sand and chemicals. It's being described as one of the biggest developments in energy in a long time.
It was pioneered in Texas, then Louisiana and Arkansas. Now it's in Pennsylvania.
"It's been the opportunity of a lifetime," said Jodi Edger, who runs a construction and excavating company that builds the well pads and services the rigs. "If it wasn't for the oil and gas industry, there wouldn't be a whole lot up here."
Edger has doubled the size of his staff in the last year or so, going from 50 employees to over 100.
Laborers get $14 an hour, and backhoe and bulldozer operators earn $18 or more. Everyone has full benefits and gets overtime, which adds up fast. He says his people are putting in 60 and 80 hour weeks.
"You hear the doom and gloom about what's happening with the economy on the national news, and then you see what's happening up here," he said. "I can't even find a truck driver."
On the other side of town, Joe Snell sells welding gas and equipment to contractors working the rigs.
Snell said his sales exploded from about $10,000 a month last fall to over $50,000 a month now.
Lunching with three of his customers at a local diner, it was all jokes.
"Working up here, we found out the difference between northerners and southerners," said one of the welders. "Down there we're rednecks, up here they're hillbillies." Everyone laughed.
For Brianna Morales, proprietor of the BriMarie Inn a half hour north of Towanda in the town of Sayre, the influx of workers has meant more business and the opportunity to meet new people.
"It's neat to learn some of the south's traditions, and the food they like," she said.
**Hot Tempers**
But the mood isn't always so light.
A few months back, there was a 15-person brawl outside a Towanda bar, supposedly over a girl. Such incidents are getting more common, said Mike Holt, owner of the Red Rose diner, who witnessed the rumble.
"These guys come up here, with their southern accents, all 'yes m'am, no m'am,' flashing lots of money, and the women are impressed," said Holt. "The local men feel intimidated."
At a bar in Sayre, one roughneck from Louisiana was seen carrying on with the local women, drinking, and pulling out a wad of bills.
After he left, one patron was overheard talking about the greed in town, and the damage this drilling may be causing the environment.
**The Water**
The traffic may be the most visible and most complained about thing in this region. But it's likely temporary — after the wells are drilled it'll be gone.
To read the remainder of the original article, please click HERE.
TOWANDA, Pa. — In the hills of northwest Pennsylvania, the boom in natural gas production turned mechanic Chris Sutton into a millionaire practically overnight.
Sutton recently leased his 154 acres of land on the Marcellus Shale to Talisman Energy for a $900,000 up front check, plus a 20% cut of the revenue of the natural gas extracted from his land.
A half hour away it's a very different story. Truman Burnett's retirement home is ruined: His pond is contaminated by a drilling accident on land owned by a neighbor and his well water is undrinkable.
Burnett doesn't blame the neighbor for the mishap, but the fortunes of Burnett and Sutton illustrate just how dramatically the shale gas phenomenon is dividing Pennsylvania.
Some are getting very rich, while others see nothing but problems.
Nearly everyone appreciates the economic benefits derived from the development of the cleaner, domestic energy source in the Marcellus, which stretches under Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York and Ohio.
But as shale gas production takes off in the Northeast and in other shale formations across the country, people should pay attention to Pennsylvania.
Here, debate about the speed of development, the influx of out-of-state workers, the safety of the drinking water, and the changing character of the area is dividing this state's rural communities.
**A Boom in Bloom**
Towanda, a town of some 3,000 people about 60 miles northwest of Scranton, is in the midst of a full-on energy boom.
Hotel rooms are impossible to get — one hotel was booked through December. Rents on two-bedroom apartments have gone from $400 to $1,500 a month. The downtown is jammed with traffic, much of it tractor trailers loaded down with drilling materials and equipment. One resident counted over 100 passing his house in an hour.
"We're being invaded," Jim Stuart, a longtime Towanda resident, said from the counter of a downtown diner. "And I don't deal well with things being shoved down my throat."
The invaders, mostly workers from Texas and Oklahoma, are here for the vast deposits of natural gas.
It's been long known that gas exists in this part of Pennsylvania, but extracting it was too costly. But a few years ago, shale gas became economical. The reason: Higher gas prices and advances in drilling and hydraulic fracturing.
Known as fracking, hydraulic fracturing is a process that involves breaking the shale with vast amounts of pressurized water, sand and chemicals. It's being described as one of the biggest developments in energy in a long time.
It was pioneered in Texas, then Louisiana and Arkansas. Now it's in Pennsylvania.
"It's been the opportunity of a lifetime," said Jodi Edger, who runs a construction and excavating company that builds the well pads and services the rigs. "If it wasn't for the oil and gas industry, there wouldn't be a whole lot up here."
Edger has doubled the size of his staff in the last year or so, going from 50 employees to over 100.
Laborers get $14 an hour, and backhoe and bulldozer operators earn $18 or more. Everyone has full benefits and gets overtime, which adds up fast. He says his people are putting in 60 and 80 hour weeks.
"You hear the doom and gloom about what's happening with the economy on the national news, and then you see what's happening up here," he said. "I can't even find a truck driver."
On the other side of town, Joe Snell sells welding gas and equipment to contractors working the rigs.
Snell said his sales exploded from about $10,000 a month last fall to over $50,000 a month now.
Lunching with three of his customers at a local diner, it was all jokes.
"Working up here, we found out the difference between northerners and southerners," said one of the welders. "Down there we're rednecks, up here they're hillbillies." Everyone laughed.
For Brianna Morales, proprietor of the BriMarie Inn a half hour north of Towanda in the town of Sayre, the influx of workers has meant more business and the opportunity to meet new people.
"It's neat to learn some of the south's traditions, and the food they like," she said.
**Hot Tempers**
But the mood isn't always so light.
A few months back, there was a 15-person brawl outside a Towanda bar, supposedly over a girl. Such incidents are getting more common, said Mike Holt, owner of the Red Rose diner, who witnessed the rumble.
"These guys come up here, with their southern accents, all 'yes m'am, no m'am,' flashing lots of money, and the women are impressed," said Holt. "The local men feel intimidated."
At a bar in Sayre, one roughneck from Louisiana was seen carrying on with the local women, drinking, and pulling out a wad of bills.
After he left, one patron was overheard talking about the greed in town, and the damage this drilling may be causing the environment.
**The Water**
The traffic may be the most visible and most complained about thing in this region. But it's likely temporary — after the wells are drilled it'll be gone.
To read the remainder of the original article, please click HERE.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Weeklong radio series on all aspects of Marcellus drilling
This week, WHYY, a public broadcast network serving southeastern PA, southern NJ and all of Delaware, is running a series of discussions on all aspects of natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale. According to their WEBSITE, the show airs weekday mornings and evenings from 10-12. If you aren't located in their broadcast area, fear not! You can listen live on your computer via streaming audio by clicking HERE. (Note that you may be prompted to install or update your computer's version of media software in order to listen). If you have Sirius-XM radio, the show will air on the Sirius-XM channel NPR Now 134 and NPR Talk Sirius 135. You may also download podcasts of the shows after they've aired via their WEBSITE. The site includes selected show summaries, selected transcripts, photographs, links for further research.
Topics for discussion are as follows:
Topics for discussion are as follows:
The Shale Game Part 1: County vs. County
Monday, September 27, 2010
Susan Phillips and Kerry Grens take you to two counties in northeastern Pennsylvania that have reacted to gas drilling in drastically different ways.
The Shale Game Part 2: Water
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Natural gas has been trapped deep below the surface of Pennsylvania for eons. But only in the past two years has the industry begun in earnest to tap the rich gas reserves of the Marcellus Shale — a layer of rock thousands of feet down that runs from New York to West Virginia. Gas companies sunk nine hundred wells into the Pennsylvania Marcellus this year. With this new area in play, residents have a lot of questions. The most frequently asked: what will be the impact on their water. In part two of our series The Shale Game, WHYY's health and science reporter Kerry Grens searches for the answer.
The Shale Game Part 3: Jobs
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Pennsylvania's natural gas rush has environmentalists and residents worried about contaminated drinking water wells, increased truck traffic, exploding well heads and potentially toxic spills. But the counterpoint all along has been jobs, jobs, jobs.
The Shale Game Part 4: Social services
Thursday, September 30, 2010
The Shale Game Part 5: Regulatory issues
Friday, October 1, 2010
Thanks to MH for passing along the info!
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Perhaps our DEP could take some notes?
The Colorado EPA--despite push back from oil and gas reps--is interested in pursuing studies on the effect of fracking on groundwater. As things stand now, private citizens are the only ones monitoring Pennsylvania water supplies, lakes, streams, rivers, etc. If Colorado follows through and leads the way, perhaps Pennsylvania's DEP would consider doing the same. The following story appeared in Colorado's Daily Sentinel this past Saturday.
EPA considers expanding fracturing study to air quality
By Dennis Webb
Recently retired Environmental Protection Agency environmental engineer Weston Wilson is best known for criticizing his employer’s 2004 finding that hydraulic fracturing poses little or no risk to domestic groundwater.
Now, the Denver EPA whistleblower is encouraged by the agency’s interest in studying the natural gas development procedure’s potential impacts on air quality as well.
“I’m proud of EPA now,” not just for undertaking the study, but indicating it may expand the study’s reach beyond water, Wilson said.
His position puts him at odds with the oil and gas industry. At a Denver EPA meeting this summer, several industry representatives argued the study should be limited, as directed by a congressional committee, to the relationship between fracturing and groundwater. “And certainly not air quality,” as Kathleen Sgamma of the Western Energy Alliance put it.
But one of a number of Garfield County residents who say their health has been affected by drilling says he supports the idea of the EPA considering whether fracturing creates airborne health concerns as well.
“I think they should look at all aspects that affect public health,” Ron Galterio said.
He and several other Battlement Mesa residents say they’ve suffered ill effects from fumes from recent nearby fracturing operations by Antero Resources.
Josh Joswick of the San Juan Citizens Alliance told the EPA during its Denver meeting, “I don’t think you can study water without studying air.”
Hydraulic fracturing involves pumping water, sand and chemicals into wells under high pressure to crack open formations and facilitate flow of gas and oil. The process has been key to developing gas in western Colorado’s Piceance Basin, where gas is mostly locked in sandstone formations until fracturing occurs.
“Simply put, without hydraulic fracturing, western Colorado’s natural gas activity would virtually cease to exist,” Doug Flanders, director of policy for the Colorado Oil & Gas Association, told the EPA at its Denver meeting.
But the process has raised fears that, in addition to drinking water aquifers, it could contaminate air when fracturing fluids and gas are brought to the surface.
Wilson, who obtained whistleblower protective status when he sent a report to Congress questioning his agency’s 2004 findings on fracturing, said part of the argument for looking into air-quality effects of fracturing arises from a health study conducted for Garfield County.
He said that study showed “mixed results” about what dangers gas development might present, but one disturbing finding involves benzene. The study said airborne benzene could exceed acceptable non-cancer health-risk levels within 250 meters downwind of well-flowback operations that don’t include gas recovery. It recommended use of “green” well completions to reduce this risk.
The report said neurotoxicity, depressed bone-marrow function, an impaired immune system and blood disorders are among the non-cancer risks of benzene, which also is a carcinogen.
“If that is an effect of oil and gas drilling, of fracking, it’s systemic, it’s endemic,” Wilson said. “It’s evaporating from the reserve pits and the condensate tanks. It’s not as if the current state of the art protects the public health from those volatile organics.”
Benzene is one of several volatile organic compounds associated with gas development. It can be contained both in fracturing fluid and the gas itself. Fracturing fluids also can contain numerous other toxic substances, which aren’t required to be disclosed to the public.
Some Battlement Mesa residents, including Galterio, recently complained of nausea, dizziness, coughing, burning eyes and other ill effects of fracturing by Antero just outside their community. They say the situation adds to their fears about what will happen if Antero proceeds with plans to drill 200 wells within Battlement Mesa.
Over the years, other Garfield County residents living near gas development have complained of similar symptoms from fracturing and other operations.
Marc Smith, executive director of the Western Energy Alliance (formerly the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States), said air quality is an important topic, and it’s not that the industry objects to studying it at some point as it pertains to fracturing.
“It’s always within the jurisdiction of EPA to look at human health and environmental issues, and by no means are we saying that the EPA doesn’t have a right to do that. What we do believe is that their interest in that area should not delay the timely completion of the study on hydraulic fracturing,” he said.
The EPA is still finalizing its study plans, but Smith said it appears to be vastly broadening the study scope. That would make it take longer to complete, and industry is anxious to see the agency issue findings that address the question of fracturing and groundwater.
“Industry believes it will provide the peace of mind to communities to have the EPA confirm what other reports have indicated, which is that state regulatory programs provide a high level of protection for groundwater,” he said.
Timely completion of the study is important because there are already federal legislative proposals “to address a problem that we don’t know even exists, and the sooner there is closure, the sooner good policy can be formulated,” Smith said.
The EPA also is going through a separate process to consider updating its air-pollution rules involving the oil and gas industry. Smith said that might be an appropriate process for considering fracturing and air quality, although he doesn’t know the best way the agency should be delegating its staff and resources.
Wilson said he can’t judge whether fracturing poses a serious threat to air quality.
“I don’t know. That’s sort of the Catch-22 of this industry, so little is known,” he said.
But he said people complaining of ailments deserve to at least have their concerns investigated.
Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission staff have cited Antero with an alleged violation in the Battlement Mesa case. Galterio said the company says it is using a closed system rather than open pits, and is containing flowback and produced water in tanks, but that didn’t prevent the problem with fumes.
Jon Black, Antero’s local operations manager, said the company is using equipment that exceeds the state’s green completion requirements.
He said the company plans to incorporate additional “best management practices” during the next round of fracking and flowback. It also is using equipment to measure odors, a weather station and other means of applying science to what otherwise can be a subjective matter, he said.
“It’s one of those ambiguous issues, and the reason I say that is everybody’s got a different level of sensitivity and perception to odor,” he said.
But Galterio said that with people becoming ill, residents took issue with Antero’s contention during a recent meeting that the fumes were mere nuisance odors because they didn’t exceed air-quality standards.
“We told them that the odors were much more than a nuisance to some people,” he said.
EPA considers expanding fracturing study to air quality
By Dennis Webb
Recently retired Environmental Protection Agency environmental engineer Weston Wilson is best known for criticizing his employer’s 2004 finding that hydraulic fracturing poses little or no risk to domestic groundwater.
Now, the Denver EPA whistleblower is encouraged by the agency’s interest in studying the natural gas development procedure’s potential impacts on air quality as well.
“I’m proud of EPA now,” not just for undertaking the study, but indicating it may expand the study’s reach beyond water, Wilson said.
His position puts him at odds with the oil and gas industry. At a Denver EPA meeting this summer, several industry representatives argued the study should be limited, as directed by a congressional committee, to the relationship between fracturing and groundwater. “And certainly not air quality,” as Kathleen Sgamma of the Western Energy Alliance put it.
But one of a number of Garfield County residents who say their health has been affected by drilling says he supports the idea of the EPA considering whether fracturing creates airborne health concerns as well.
“I think they should look at all aspects that affect public health,” Ron Galterio said.
He and several other Battlement Mesa residents say they’ve suffered ill effects from fumes from recent nearby fracturing operations by Antero Resources.
Josh Joswick of the San Juan Citizens Alliance told the EPA during its Denver meeting, “I don’t think you can study water without studying air.”
Hydraulic fracturing involves pumping water, sand and chemicals into wells under high pressure to crack open formations and facilitate flow of gas and oil. The process has been key to developing gas in western Colorado’s Piceance Basin, where gas is mostly locked in sandstone formations until fracturing occurs.
“Simply put, without hydraulic fracturing, western Colorado’s natural gas activity would virtually cease to exist,” Doug Flanders, director of policy for the Colorado Oil & Gas Association, told the EPA at its Denver meeting.
But the process has raised fears that, in addition to drinking water aquifers, it could contaminate air when fracturing fluids and gas are brought to the surface.
Wilson, who obtained whistleblower protective status when he sent a report to Congress questioning his agency’s 2004 findings on fracturing, said part of the argument for looking into air-quality effects of fracturing arises from a health study conducted for Garfield County.
He said that study showed “mixed results” about what dangers gas development might present, but one disturbing finding involves benzene. The study said airborne benzene could exceed acceptable non-cancer health-risk levels within 250 meters downwind of well-flowback operations that don’t include gas recovery. It recommended use of “green” well completions to reduce this risk.
The report said neurotoxicity, depressed bone-marrow function, an impaired immune system and blood disorders are among the non-cancer risks of benzene, which also is a carcinogen.
“If that is an effect of oil and gas drilling, of fracking, it’s systemic, it’s endemic,” Wilson said. “It’s evaporating from the reserve pits and the condensate tanks. It’s not as if the current state of the art protects the public health from those volatile organics.”
Benzene is one of several volatile organic compounds associated with gas development. It can be contained both in fracturing fluid and the gas itself. Fracturing fluids also can contain numerous other toxic substances, which aren’t required to be disclosed to the public.
Some Battlement Mesa residents, including Galterio, recently complained of nausea, dizziness, coughing, burning eyes and other ill effects of fracturing by Antero just outside their community. They say the situation adds to their fears about what will happen if Antero proceeds with plans to drill 200 wells within Battlement Mesa.
Over the years, other Garfield County residents living near gas development have complained of similar symptoms from fracturing and other operations.
Marc Smith, executive director of the Western Energy Alliance (formerly the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States), said air quality is an important topic, and it’s not that the industry objects to studying it at some point as it pertains to fracturing.
“It’s always within the jurisdiction of EPA to look at human health and environmental issues, and by no means are we saying that the EPA doesn’t have a right to do that. What we do believe is that their interest in that area should not delay the timely completion of the study on hydraulic fracturing,” he said.
The EPA is still finalizing its study plans, but Smith said it appears to be vastly broadening the study scope. That would make it take longer to complete, and industry is anxious to see the agency issue findings that address the question of fracturing and groundwater.
“Industry believes it will provide the peace of mind to communities to have the EPA confirm what other reports have indicated, which is that state regulatory programs provide a high level of protection for groundwater,” he said.
Timely completion of the study is important because there are already federal legislative proposals “to address a problem that we don’t know even exists, and the sooner there is closure, the sooner good policy can be formulated,” Smith said.
The EPA also is going through a separate process to consider updating its air-pollution rules involving the oil and gas industry. Smith said that might be an appropriate process for considering fracturing and air quality, although he doesn’t know the best way the agency should be delegating its staff and resources.
Wilson said he can’t judge whether fracturing poses a serious threat to air quality.
“I don’t know. That’s sort of the Catch-22 of this industry, so little is known,” he said.
But he said people complaining of ailments deserve to at least have their concerns investigated.
Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission staff have cited Antero with an alleged violation in the Battlement Mesa case. Galterio said the company says it is using a closed system rather than open pits, and is containing flowback and produced water in tanks, but that didn’t prevent the problem with fumes.
Jon Black, Antero’s local operations manager, said the company is using equipment that exceeds the state’s green completion requirements.
He said the company plans to incorporate additional “best management practices” during the next round of fracking and flowback. It also is using equipment to measure odors, a weather station and other means of applying science to what otherwise can be a subjective matter, he said.
“It’s one of those ambiguous issues, and the reason I say that is everybody’s got a different level of sensitivity and perception to odor,” he said.
But Galterio said that with people becoming ill, residents took issue with Antero’s contention during a recent meeting that the fumes were mere nuisance odors because they didn’t exceed air-quality standards.
“We told them that the odors were much more than a nuisance to some people,” he said.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Exactly how is Marcellus drilling impacting PA residents?
If you missed this article by Hannah Abelbeck, please take the time to read it now. Ms. Abelbeck does a fantastic and thorough job of investigating the myriad of ways drilling is impacting our land, water supply, health, and our local economies--many of which are heavily dependent on tourism dollars.
Marcellus drilling transforms the state
By Hannah Abelbeck
As the scale and pace of Marcellus gas well drilling picks up, people in rural Pennsylvania are learning how to fight traffic jams, research deed histories, encounter the FBI, self-monitor streams and light their tap water on fire.
Innovations in drilling technology have fueled the rush to extract natural gas from the Marcellus shale, a geological formation that underlies 70 percent of Pennsylvania and portions of Centre County.
The gas rush is on, and money is fueling all of it. Companies and lending institutions willing to invest the big money needed up front want a fast return, resulting in quicker and more intense drilling in rural areas desperate to save their sluggish economies. Residents are signing leases, desperate to supplement sagging incomes. Workers, hungry for jobs, hope to sign up for long, dangerous work days, if they can get them. And the industry promotes the benefits and downplays the costs of massive speculation, while opposing regulations that might shrink profit margins.
Meanwhile, the environment, health, and financial well-being of Pennsylvania residents is at risk like never before.
“I don’t think anybody realizes how big and ridiculous this whole situation is,” said Dave Bailey when describing what he and his neighbors have experienced in the last two years. All of his neighbors on Hedgehog Lane, a rural street in Bradford Township, McKean County had their private water wells contaminated when one company drilled and fractured 26 non-Marcellus wells near their homes two years ago.
“I’m not opposed to domestic drilling,” said neighbor Lorrie Trumbull. “What we don’t like is shoddy workmanship.” The layer of concrete that is supposed to seal the well bore from sources of underground drinking water was not properly installed on several wells, say the neighbors.
Marcellus wells are scattered over two-thirds of Pennsylvania. The 29 wells in Centre County are concentrated in a band north and west of State College.
Two neighbors had well water with so much methane they could light it on fire. One of them was Bailey. When the water in his pipes contained 89 percent free gas, he and his family had to move into a hotel for three months to avoid an explosion. Running his washing machine still sets off his gas detectors sometimes, he said. Although he was told it was safe to shower, the two or three times they tried, members of his family had rashes and burns.
Getting the problem fixed has been an ongoing headache. After the Pa. Department of Environmental Protection found the Schreiner Oil and Gas Co. responsible, the company vented Bailey’s well so that it wouldn’t explode. It didn’t solve the methane problem, so they drilled him a new well into the same water source. Then they had Culligan install a filtration system in his house, which did not remove the methane. In February DEP finally ordered the company to provide a permanent solution.
Bailey said the company plans to install a whole house osmosis system that uses lots of energy, takes up half his basement, and includes no maintenance plan. From the beginning, Bailey said, the residents have requested they be connected to the municipal water system.
Water isn’t the only problem. Schreiner’s drilling partner, Aiello Brothers Oil and Gas, built a gas processing plant, a so-called “stripper plant” right behind their houses. Trumbull said her house has filled with gas fumes several times. Bailey said he once went through two weeks of constant gas alarms.
What really bothers the neighbors is that Aiello’s New Century Pipeline Group built the plant dangerously close to their houses without a permit and in violation of zoning ordinances. The Bradford Township Zoning Hearing Board unanimously voted to deny the company’s last appeal and ordered it to remove the stripping plant altogether in February. The company is appealing the decision to the McKean County Court of Supreme Pleas and continues to operate. Click HERE to read the remainder of the article & view accompanying photographs.
Marcellus drilling transforms the state
By Hannah Abelbeck
As the scale and pace of Marcellus gas well drilling picks up, people in rural Pennsylvania are learning how to fight traffic jams, research deed histories, encounter the FBI, self-monitor streams and light their tap water on fire.
Innovations in drilling technology have fueled the rush to extract natural gas from the Marcellus shale, a geological formation that underlies 70 percent of Pennsylvania and portions of Centre County.
The gas rush is on, and money is fueling all of it. Companies and lending institutions willing to invest the big money needed up front want a fast return, resulting in quicker and more intense drilling in rural areas desperate to save their sluggish economies. Residents are signing leases, desperate to supplement sagging incomes. Workers, hungry for jobs, hope to sign up for long, dangerous work days, if they can get them. And the industry promotes the benefits and downplays the costs of massive speculation, while opposing regulations that might shrink profit margins.
Meanwhile, the environment, health, and financial well-being of Pennsylvania residents is at risk like never before.
“I don’t think anybody realizes how big and ridiculous this whole situation is,” said Dave Bailey when describing what he and his neighbors have experienced in the last two years. All of his neighbors on Hedgehog Lane, a rural street in Bradford Township, McKean County had their private water wells contaminated when one company drilled and fractured 26 non-Marcellus wells near their homes two years ago.
“I’m not opposed to domestic drilling,” said neighbor Lorrie Trumbull. “What we don’t like is shoddy workmanship.” The layer of concrete that is supposed to seal the well bore from sources of underground drinking water was not properly installed on several wells, say the neighbors.
Marcellus wells are scattered over two-thirds of Pennsylvania. The 29 wells in Centre County are concentrated in a band north and west of State College.
Two neighbors had well water with so much methane they could light it on fire. One of them was Bailey. When the water in his pipes contained 89 percent free gas, he and his family had to move into a hotel for three months to avoid an explosion. Running his washing machine still sets off his gas detectors sometimes, he said. Although he was told it was safe to shower, the two or three times they tried, members of his family had rashes and burns.
Getting the problem fixed has been an ongoing headache. After the Pa. Department of Environmental Protection found the Schreiner Oil and Gas Co. responsible, the company vented Bailey’s well so that it wouldn’t explode. It didn’t solve the methane problem, so they drilled him a new well into the same water source. Then they had Culligan install a filtration system in his house, which did not remove the methane. In February DEP finally ordered the company to provide a permanent solution.
Bailey said the company plans to install a whole house osmosis system that uses lots of energy, takes up half his basement, and includes no maintenance plan. From the beginning, Bailey said, the residents have requested they be connected to the municipal water system.
Water isn’t the only problem. Schreiner’s drilling partner, Aiello Brothers Oil and Gas, built a gas processing plant, a so-called “stripper plant” right behind their houses. Trumbull said her house has filled with gas fumes several times. Bailey said he once went through two weeks of constant gas alarms.
What really bothers the neighbors is that Aiello’s New Century Pipeline Group built the plant dangerously close to their houses without a permit and in violation of zoning ordinances. The Bradford Township Zoning Hearing Board unanimously voted to deny the company’s last appeal and ordered it to remove the stripping plant altogether in February. The company is appealing the decision to the McKean County Court of Supreme Pleas and continues to operate. Click HERE to read the remainder of the article & view accompanying photographs.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
"Gas Pains"--Audubon Magazine features the Marcellus Mess in PA
[Excerpt]: "It’s not just native ecosystems that are being violated, it’s Pennsylvania’s constitution, which states: “The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania’s public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.” What most alarms and outrages fish and wildlife advocates is that the state’s equally alarmed and outraged professional resource managers have been sidelined by big-money politics."
Read the article in its entirety HERE.
Read the article in its entirety HERE.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Congress Launches Investigation into Drilling Practices
Can I get a "woot-woot?!" If you would like to send kudos, share information or your thoughts with the House Committee on Energy & Commerce, click HERE to email them.
CONGRESS LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION INTO DRILLING PRACTICES
By S Shankman & A. Lustgarten for ProPublica.org
2.19.2010
"Two of the largest companies involved in natural gas drilling have acknowledged pumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of diesel-based fluids into the ground in the process of hydraulic fracturing, raising further concerns that existing state and federal regulations don't adequately protect drinking water from drilling. Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., who released the information in a statement Thursday, announced that the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which he chairs, is launching an investigation into potential environmental impacts from hydraulic fracturing." To read the rest of this article in its entirety, click HERE.
CONGRESS LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION INTO DRILLING PRACTICES
By S Shankman & A. Lustgarten for ProPublica.org
2.19.2010
"Two of the largest companies involved in natural gas drilling have acknowledged pumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of diesel-based fluids into the ground in the process of hydraulic fracturing, raising further concerns that existing state and federal regulations don't adequately protect drinking water from drilling. Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., who released the information in a statement Thursday, announced that the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which he chairs, is launching an investigation into potential environmental impacts from hydraulic fracturing." To read the rest of this article in its entirety, click HERE.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
EPA Official: State regulators doing fine on hydrofracturing
Seriously?
Another shocker detailed below: the EPA is *not* currently investigating any possible links between fracking & water contamination. Why not? How many wells have to be contaminated immediately following fracking operations before they launch a formal investigation? At least they're asking for money in next year's budget to study the environmental effects of fracking; Unfortunately, measures should have been put in place *before* the drilling started.
By Ian Talley
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--State regulators are doing a good job overseeing a key natural gas production technique called hydrofracking and there is no evidence the process causes water contamination, a senior federal environment official said Monday.
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--State regulators are doing a good job overseeing a key natural gas production technique called hydrofracking and there is no evidence the process causes water contamination, a senior federal environment official said Monday.
Environmentalists and some lawmakers are pressing to give the Environmental Protection Agency federal oversight of the process, concerned that the drilling technique is contaminating water supplies.
State regulators and the natural gas industry have been fighting against federal regulation, saying it could prevent or delay development of trillions of cubic feet of new resources.
The process, which injects water, sand and a small amount of chemicals into natural gas reservoirs under high pressure, has opened new deposits to development, dramatically expanding estimates for domestic production.
"I have no information that states aren’t doing a good job already," Steve Heare, director of EPA’s Drinking Water Protection Division said on the sidelines of a state regulators conference here. He also said despite claims by environmental organizations, he hadn’t seen any documented cases that the hydro-fracking process was contaminating water supplies.
In its 2011 budget, the EPA is seeking to spend $4 million to study the environmental impacts of the process.
Bill Kappel, a U.S. Geological Survey official, said contamination of water supplies is more likely to happen as companies process the waste water from hydrofracking. In some instances, municipal water systems that treat the water have reported higher levels of heavy metals and radioactivity. "Treatment of the [waste] water hasn’t caught up with the hydro-fracking technology," Kappel said.
But both re-injection of that waste water and water treatment at the surface is already regulated by the federal government under the Safe Drinking Water and Clean Water Acts.
Although legislation in the House and Senate to bring greater federal oversight of the hydro-fracking process has gained momentum, Heare said even if such proposals are approved, it wouldn’t likely have a dramatic affect on regulation. States would still have the right under the Safe Drinking Water Act to use their own regulatory standards. The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners has pushed to maintain state primacy in oversight of oil and gas activities.
Contrary to some press reports, Heare also noted that the EPA wasn’t conducting any current investigations linking hydrofracking to water contaminations.
Companies such as Range Resources Corp. (RRC), EOG Resources Inc. (EOG), Devon Energy Corp. (DVN), Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) and Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) say the process is multiplying their reserves. For example, the Marcellus deposit that lies under Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio and New York is estimated to hold more than 500 trillion cubic feet, compared to total conventional natural-gas resource estimates in the U.S. of around 378 trillion cubic feet, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
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