ABC: "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency abruptly changed its mind Saturday about delivering fresh water to residents of a northeastern Pennsylvania village where residential wells were found to be tainted by a natural gas drilling operation.
Only 24 hours after promising them water, EPA officials informed residents of Dimock that a tanker truck wouldn't be coming after all. The about-face left residents furious, confused and let down — and, once again, scrambling for water for bathing, washing dishes and flushing toilets.
Agency officials would not explain why they reneged on their promise, or say whether water would be delivered at some point.
'We are actively filling information gaps and determining next steps in Dimock. We have made no decision at this time to provide water,' EPA spokeswoman Betsaida Alcantara said in an email to The Associated Press.
It's not clear how many wells in the rural community of Dimock Township were affected by the drilling. The state has found that at least 18 residential water wells were polluted.
Eleven families who sued Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. expected water from the EPA to arrive either Friday or Saturday. They say they have been without a reliable source of water since Cabot won permission from state environmental regulators to halt deliveries more than a month ago.
Read the remainder of the article...
Showing posts with label water contamination. Show all posts
Showing posts with label water contamination. Show all posts
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Tim Ruggiero: Leaving Gasland
While the following was written by a gentleman living and experiencing fracking in Texas, the parallels with what's going on in Pennsylvania's backyards couldn't be clearer. His essay is incredibly moving. Here is an excerpt:
"Someone asked if I felt we had ‘won or lost’, obviously looking for details. That got me to thinking.
Regardless of where one lives in Gasland, whether it is the urban setting or rural, I’m hard pressed to say that there is no such a thing as ‘winning’, only degrees of losing...
When the drillers first show up, one loses any sense or belief one has about personal property rights. One learns the hard way the definition of ‘split estate’, and that somewhere along the line, someone decided that mineral rights trump all other rights, including any one thought they had according to the U.S. Constitution...."
Read the remainder of the essay...
"Someone asked if I felt we had ‘won or lost’, obviously looking for details. That got me to thinking.
Regardless of where one lives in Gasland, whether it is the urban setting or rural, I’m hard pressed to say that there is no such a thing as ‘winning’, only degrees of losing...
When the drillers first show up, one loses any sense or belief one has about personal property rights. One learns the hard way the definition of ‘split estate’, and that somewhere along the line, someone decided that mineral rights trump all other rights, including any one thought they had according to the U.S. Constitution...."
Read the remainder of the essay...
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
EPA: Dimock water supplies 'merit further investigation'
CITIZENS VOICE--Federal environmental regulators are reopening their review of Dimock Township water supplies after recently released tests of the water wells taken by a natural gas drilling contractor were found to "merit further investigation."
Officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency were in Dimock Thursday and Friday to visit residents whose water supplies were found by state regulators to have been tainted with methane from Cabot Oil and Gas Corp.'s Marcellus Shale drilling operations.
After a preliminary review of results from water tests taken earlier by the state, Cabot and other outside firms, the EPA wrote to the residents on Dec. 2 to say the information they had gathered "does not indicate that the well water presents an immediate health threat to users."
But in an information sheet provided to residents during visits this week, the EPA wrote that it "has recently received additional Cabot data from residents that merit further investigation." The EPA is now "concerned about" potential gaps in water sampling and test results, the number of water supplies potentially affected, if residents that need them have alternate sources of fresh drinking water, and if residents have any more data to share.
Read the remainder of the article...
Officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency were in Dimock Thursday and Friday to visit residents whose water supplies were found by state regulators to have been tainted with methane from Cabot Oil and Gas Corp.'s Marcellus Shale drilling operations.
After a preliminary review of results from water tests taken earlier by the state, Cabot and other outside firms, the EPA wrote to the residents on Dec. 2 to say the information they had gathered "does not indicate that the well water presents an immediate health threat to users."
But in an information sheet provided to residents during visits this week, the EPA wrote that it "has recently received additional Cabot data from residents that merit further investigation." The EPA is now "concerned about" potential gaps in water sampling and test results, the number of water supplies potentially affected, if residents that need them have alternate sources of fresh drinking water, and if residents have any more data to share.
Read the remainder of the article...
Friday, December 30, 2011
Fracking cracks the public consciousness in 2011
PROPUBLICA-- This was the year that "fracking" became a household word.
It wasn't just that environmental concerns about the underground drilling process finally struck a mainstream chord -- after three years of reporting and more than 125 stories. For the first time, independent scientific investigations linked the drilling technique with water pollution, and a variety of federal and state agencies responded to the growing apprehension about water contamination with more studies and more regulation.
The most important development -- and perhaps a crucial turning point -- was in December. In a landmark finding, the Environmental Protection Agency concluded that hydraulic fracturing was the likely culprit in a spate of groundwater contamination that had forced residents to stop using their water in dozens of homes in central Wyoming. The agency had been investigating since 2008.
Read the remainder of the article...
It wasn't just that environmental concerns about the underground drilling process finally struck a mainstream chord -- after three years of reporting and more than 125 stories. For the first time, independent scientific investigations linked the drilling technique with water pollution, and a variety of federal and state agencies responded to the growing apprehension about water contamination with more studies and more regulation.
The most important development -- and perhaps a crucial turning point -- was in December. In a landmark finding, the Environmental Protection Agency concluded that hydraulic fracturing was the likely culprit in a spate of groundwater contamination that had forced residents to stop using their water in dozens of homes in central Wyoming. The agency had been investigating since 2008.
Read the remainder of the article...
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Gas Drilling Vote Cancelled: Delaware Governor to Vote No
Trenton, NJ: The November 21, 2011 vote to be held at the Trenton War Memorial by the Delaware River Basin Commission has been cancelled according to sources. The vote was to seek approval of regulations that would have allowed shale gas drilling in the Delaware River Basin by the beginning of 2012. The last minute cancellation is the second time this vote has been put off. And this time is believed to be in response to an announcement by the Governor of Delaware that he would vote against the regulatory/drilling proposal.
Delaware Riverkeeper Maya van Rossum praised Governor Markell. “Governor Markell has listened to the will of the people, to the science and to the tremendous environmental and community harm being caused by gas drilling where it is happening. The issue of shale gas drilling has finally moved out of the political arena and is now being treated as an issue of genuine public policy concern,” said Delaware Riverkeeper van Rossum.
Read the remainder of the press release in full by clicking HERE.
Delaware Riverkeeper Maya van Rossum praised Governor Markell. “Governor Markell has listened to the will of the people, to the science and to the tremendous environmental and community harm being caused by gas drilling where it is happening. The issue of shale gas drilling has finally moved out of the political arena and is now being treated as an issue of genuine public policy concern,” said Delaware Riverkeeper van Rossum.
Read the remainder of the press release in full by clicking HERE.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Wellsboro family struggles with well contamination
"One morning the salamanders in their pond, where the water was 'pristine' according to tests done prior to drilling, began to die...."
The following article by Cheryl Clarke appeared in the Sun Chronicle on July 2, 2011:
A Charleston Township family's experience with natural gas drilling has become the latest story of contaminated well water associated with nearby drilling, in the ongoing Marcellus Shale saga, according to family member Jeremiah Gee. Gee and his parents, Denise and Jerry, live next door to land that has been leased to Shell Appalachia for drilling, and last winter, a gas drilling site appeared about 100 yards from a pond on their property. It now is known as the "Vandegrift 290" well site.
Gee, a doctorate candidate at Penn State University, said shortly thereafter the family noticed a change in its well water. "We noticed that early on our faucets were sputtering, and the water was milky looking," Gee said. The reason it looked like milk, he said, is "because there were a billion tiny gas bubbles in it, and if you set it on the counter, it clears up." The gas bubbles also can be heard and seen in the Gee's water well, he said. "If you open the casing you can see the gas bubbling in the well," he added. Though there are no other contaminates in the well water-yet "we are not drinking the well water at this time," Gee said. "If you took a match out and dropped it in the well casing right now you would get a boom."
Gee said six natural gas wells have been drilled from the one pad, and "we noticed this after the completion activities began. They call the whole process of completion activities a cycle," he said he was told by Shell officials. "They go to the end of a horizontal hole, perforate it, frack it, plug it and then move back and repeat the process a dozen or more times so," he added. Shell had just started perforating two of the bores when the Gees noticed a difference in their water. "Gas started bubbling in the 'cellars,' a deep culvert put around each well head to prevent gravel from collapsing the hole," Gee said. "It is not supposed to do that; the gas is supposed to be in the casing," he added.
DEP informed
Gee said Shell did not stop operations on the wells until the fact that his family could light their tapwater on fire was brought to the attention of the state Department of Environmental Protection. Shell began taking steps to "mitigate" the problem last week. Gee said the family has spoken to everyone involved with Shell from "the average Joe on up to the operations manager," with less than satisfactory results.
To read the remainder of the article in its entirety, please click HERE.
The following article by Cheryl Clarke appeared in the Sun Chronicle on July 2, 2011:
A Charleston Township family's experience with natural gas drilling has become the latest story of contaminated well water associated with nearby drilling, in the ongoing Marcellus Shale saga, according to family member Jeremiah Gee. Gee and his parents, Denise and Jerry, live next door to land that has been leased to Shell Appalachia for drilling, and last winter, a gas drilling site appeared about 100 yards from a pond on their property. It now is known as the "Vandegrift 290" well site.
Gee, a doctorate candidate at Penn State University, said shortly thereafter the family noticed a change in its well water. "We noticed that early on our faucets were sputtering, and the water was milky looking," Gee said. The reason it looked like milk, he said, is "because there were a billion tiny gas bubbles in it, and if you set it on the counter, it clears up." The gas bubbles also can be heard and seen in the Gee's water well, he said. "If you open the casing you can see the gas bubbling in the well," he added. Though there are no other contaminates in the well water-yet "we are not drinking the well water at this time," Gee said. "If you took a match out and dropped it in the well casing right now you would get a boom."
Gee said six natural gas wells have been drilled from the one pad, and "we noticed this after the completion activities began. They call the whole process of completion activities a cycle," he said he was told by Shell officials. "They go to the end of a horizontal hole, perforate it, frack it, plug it and then move back and repeat the process a dozen or more times so," he added. Shell had just started perforating two of the bores when the Gees noticed a difference in their water. "Gas started bubbling in the 'cellars,' a deep culvert put around each well head to prevent gravel from collapsing the hole," Gee said. "It is not supposed to do that; the gas is supposed to be in the casing," he added.
DEP informed
Gee said Shell did not stop operations on the wells until the fact that his family could light their tapwater on fire was brought to the attention of the state Department of Environmental Protection. Shell began taking steps to "mitigate" the problem last week. Gee said the family has spoken to everyone involved with Shell from "the average Joe on up to the operations manager," with less than satisfactory results.
To read the remainder of the article in its entirety, please click HERE.
Monday, March 28, 2011
DEP shuts down well site in Galeton over violations
The following press release was issued by the DEP on 3/23/11:
DEP Shuts Down Potter County Gas Well Pre-Construction Site Over Violations Impacting Public Water Supply
WILLIAMSPORT -- The Department of Environmental Protection has ordered Chesapeake Energy to cease work on a natural gas drilling well pad for failing to comply with regulations and impacting one of Galeton Borough Water Authority’s water sources.
The well pad was in the site-preparation phase, which occurs before any well construction or drilling activities take place.
In conducting site-preparation activities at the Beech Flats well pad in West Branch Township, Potter County, Chesapeake failed to implement the required erosion and sediment controls. As a result, a significant amount of sediment and silt discharged from the site into a stream that is a tributary to a water source serving Galeton’s system. The Galeton Water Authority has been forced to use another permitted water source to serve its customers.
“In order to protect human health and the environment, we ordered Chesapeake to stop all construction activity,” DEP North-central Regional Director Nels Taber said. “They must begin corrective action on this site immediately.”
By March 29, the company must correct the existing violations at the site and review and revise, as appropriate, its Erosion and Sediment Control Plan to prevent future damage. DEP will not permit Chesapeake to resume construction at the site until all terms of the order are met.
After a routine site inspection March 8 and a March 10 meeting with Chesapeake, DEP issued a notice of violation for several infractions of the Clean Streams Law and Oil and Gas Act. The company did not respond to the notice. During follow-up inspections March 21 and 22, staff discovered the additional violations and impacts that resulted in the March 22 order.
For more information about DEP, visit www.depweb.state.pa.us or contact: Katy Gresh, Department of Environmental Protection Southwest Regional Office.
DEP Shuts Down Potter County Gas Well Pre-Construction Site Over Violations Impacting Public Water Supply
WILLIAMSPORT -- The Department of Environmental Protection has ordered Chesapeake Energy to cease work on a natural gas drilling well pad for failing to comply with regulations and impacting one of Galeton Borough Water Authority’s water sources.
The well pad was in the site-preparation phase, which occurs before any well construction or drilling activities take place.
In conducting site-preparation activities at the Beech Flats well pad in West Branch Township, Potter County, Chesapeake failed to implement the required erosion and sediment controls. As a result, a significant amount of sediment and silt discharged from the site into a stream that is a tributary to a water source serving Galeton’s system. The Galeton Water Authority has been forced to use another permitted water source to serve its customers.
“In order to protect human health and the environment, we ordered Chesapeake to stop all construction activity,” DEP North-central Regional Director Nels Taber said. “They must begin corrective action on this site immediately.”
By March 29, the company must correct the existing violations at the site and review and revise, as appropriate, its Erosion and Sediment Control Plan to prevent future damage. DEP will not permit Chesapeake to resume construction at the site until all terms of the order are met.
After a routine site inspection March 8 and a March 10 meeting with Chesapeake, DEP issued a notice of violation for several infractions of the Clean Streams Law and Oil and Gas Act. The company did not respond to the notice. During follow-up inspections March 21 and 22, staff discovered the additional violations and impacts that resulted in the March 22 order.
For more information about DEP, visit www.depweb.state.pa.us or contact: Katy Gresh, Department of Environmental Protection Southwest Regional Office.
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
Dept. of Environmental Protection
Commonwealth News Bureau
Room 308, Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg PA., 17120
This press release can be viewed in its entirety by clicking HERE.
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.
So who's telling the truth?
Recently the New York Times featured an investigative report on fracking--on their front page. (Click HERE to read). Several previously confidential reports/memos were uncovered showing that fracking wastewater ultimately can NOT be adequately treated before it's released into our waterways. Worse, an accompanying interactive map showed dozens of PA wells tested positive for radium thousands of times higher than acceptable levels.
Well, yesterday, PA's Department of Environmental Protection issued a press release indicating the exact opposite. Three of the wells featured on the NYT interactive map are located in Tioga County; and yet the DEP says they tested water downstream of Tioga County and found the water safe. How is that possible?? To read the original DEP press release, click HERE.
Well, yesterday, PA's Department of Environmental Protection issued a press release indicating the exact opposite. Three of the wells featured on the NYT interactive map are located in Tioga County; and yet the DEP says they tested water downstream of Tioga County and found the water safe. How is that possible?? To read the original DEP press release, click HERE.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Top House Democrat outraged over admissions in today's NYTimes.
The front page story in today's New York Times caught the eye--and the ire--of Massachusetts Representative Ed Markey who promptly fired off a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson demanding immediate action. As referenced in our previous post, the NYTimes investigative report discloses information from internal reports and studies by not only the EPA, but the drilling industry itself. Read all about it--including portions of Markey's letter, by clicking HERE. To read the previous post from this blog--which includes the link to the New York Times article--click HERE.
NYT uncovers confidential gas industry, EPA reports.
The New York Times published a lengthy story online yesterday (appearing on the front page of today's newspaper) detailing just how inadequate the existing regulations are when it comes to fracking for natural gas. Of particular note: the revelation in a gas industry report that "treated" fracking water released back into our streams and rivers still contains amounts of radioactivity that cannot be diluted. Seems like a no-brainer to me but it's the first time I've heard an industry insider admit it. Of course the admission takes place in a confidential report that is only now seeing the light of day. Furthermore, EPA scientists express concern in their own study--also never made public--that water treatment plants are incapable of removing certain contaminants and are in all likelihood violating the law.
Here's an excerpt:
"...While the existence of the toxic wastes has been reported, thousands of internal documents obtained by The New York Times from the Environmental Protection Agency, state regulators and drillers show that the dangers to the environment and health are greater than previously understood.
The documents reveal that the wastewater, which is sometimes hauled to sewage plants not designed to treat it and then discharged into rivers that supply drinking water, contains radioactivity at levels higher than previously known, and far higher than the level that federal regulators say is safe for these treatment plants to handle.
The Times also found never-reported studies by the E.P.A. and a confidential study by the drilling industry that all concluded that radioactivity in drilling waste cannot be fully diluted in rivers and other waterways...."
To read the entire article in full, click HERE.
Here's an excerpt:
"...While the existence of the toxic wastes has been reported, thousands of internal documents obtained by The New York Times from the Environmental Protection Agency, state regulators and drillers show that the dangers to the environment and health are greater than previously understood.
The documents reveal that the wastewater, which is sometimes hauled to sewage plants not designed to treat it and then discharged into rivers that supply drinking water, contains radioactivity at levels higher than previously known, and far higher than the level that federal regulators say is safe for these treatment plants to handle.
The Times also found never-reported studies by the E.P.A. and a confidential study by the drilling industry that all concluded that radioactivity in drilling waste cannot be fully diluted in rivers and other waterways...."
To read the entire article in full, click HERE.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
"A catastrophe waiting to happen"
LinkTV, an independent media orgranization whose mission is to "engage, inform and inspire viewers to become involved in the world," recently posted an in-depth investigation into Marcellus drilling activity--based in large part in Bradford County, PA. The report seems to have its basis in the fact that natural gas drilling is planned for large parts of Europe. It's an excellent piece of investigative journalism--I urge you to take the time to watch!
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Should you have a right to know?
The American Gas Association, Gas Processors Association and Chesapeake Energy Corporation have all filed suit against the EPA that would undermine the public's right-to-know laws. At issue: inventorying and disclosure requirements for all oil and gas discharges into the environment. Click HERE to read the recent press release issued by the Environmental Defense Fund.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
PA fracking blowout spews fluid onto state forest lands
The following article appeared in the Star Gazette on 1.25.2011.
Talisman Energy may face heavy penalties
By G. Jeffrey Aaron
Talisman Energy has resumed its Marcellus drilling operations in Pennsylvania, a week after one of the company's gas wells experienced a blowout that caused an uncontrolled discharge of sand and fracking fluids onto state forest lands in Tioga County.
As a result of the incident, Talisman shut down all of its hydraulic fracturing operations in North America while it conducted an internal investigation into the cause of the Jan. 17 blowout. Those operations have since resumed, with Talisman's Pennsylvania drilling program being the last to be brought back online.
Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has requested Talisman provide answers to nine questions related to the blowout as part of its investigation into the incident. The investigation could result in civil penalties levied against Talisman.
The well where the blowout occurred is on Pennsylvania State Forest lands in Ward Township, about nine miles southeast of Mansfield.
"There is certainly the possibility of a civil penalty that would be determined at a later time," DEP spokesman Daniel Spadoni said. "But we need to have the investigation concluded to our satisfaction before the civil penalties would be addressed."
Talisman, based in Calgary, Alberta has five days from receipt of letter, called a notice of violation, to submit the information requested by the DEP. The letter was dated Monday.
Among other items, the DEP wants Talisman to submit a sampling plan for the site, information on any fluids released during the blowout, an analysis of the incident's cause, changes in all of the company's Marcellus operations as a result of the incident and when those changes will be implemented.
DEP is also asking why it was notified shortly after 1:30 p.m. Jan. 17 when the incident began a little after noon.
"This was a serious incident that could have caused significant environmental harm had it not been brought under control," DEP North-central Regional Director Nels Taber said in a statement. "DEP is conducting a thorough investigation to determine why this incident occurred."
To read the remainder of the article, please click HERE.
Talisman Energy may face heavy penalties
By G. Jeffrey Aaron
Talisman Energy has resumed its Marcellus drilling operations in Pennsylvania, a week after one of the company's gas wells experienced a blowout that caused an uncontrolled discharge of sand and fracking fluids onto state forest lands in Tioga County.
As a result of the incident, Talisman shut down all of its hydraulic fracturing operations in North America while it conducted an internal investigation into the cause of the Jan. 17 blowout. Those operations have since resumed, with Talisman's Pennsylvania drilling program being the last to be brought back online.
Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has requested Talisman provide answers to nine questions related to the blowout as part of its investigation into the incident. The investigation could result in civil penalties levied against Talisman.
The well where the blowout occurred is on Pennsylvania State Forest lands in Ward Township, about nine miles southeast of Mansfield.
"There is certainly the possibility of a civil penalty that would be determined at a later time," DEP spokesman Daniel Spadoni said. "But we need to have the investigation concluded to our satisfaction before the civil penalties would be addressed."
Talisman, based in Calgary, Alberta has five days from receipt of letter, called a notice of violation, to submit the information requested by the DEP. The letter was dated Monday.
Among other items, the DEP wants Talisman to submit a sampling plan for the site, information on any fluids released during the blowout, an analysis of the incident's cause, changes in all of the company's Marcellus operations as a result of the incident and when those changes will be implemented.
DEP is also asking why it was notified shortly after 1:30 p.m. Jan. 17 when the incident began a little after noon.
"This was a serious incident that could have caused significant environmental harm had it not been brought under control," DEP North-central Regional Director Nels Taber said in a statement. "DEP is conducting a thorough investigation to determine why this incident occurred."
To read the remainder of the article, please click HERE.
Gas drilling isn't as "clean" as previously thought
Really? Anyone who lives in an area where they're drilling has known this since Day 1. The industry has spun a marvelous tale of how natural gas is the second coming--describing it as "clean" and even "green." If I see another commercial about it I just may throw my tv out the window! Natural gas might burn cleanER than oil but now there is finally evidence showing that when taking into account the entire lifecycle from extraction through burning, the benefits of natural gas are negligible at best. Click HERE to read the latest chapter in Abraham Lustgarten's provocative series on the natural gas industry for ProPublica: "Climate Benefits of Natural Gas May Be Overstated."
So instead of investing billions of dollars and destroying millions of acres, decimating property values (not to mention any tourism industry that might have existed pre-drilling), ruining wells, and risking the health and well-being of people, wildlife, and pets....WHY aren't those billions of dollars being invested in something that does none of the above: solar power, wind power or something yet to be discovered? Last night's State of the Union address touched upon how the United States needs to out-educate, out-innovate, and out-build; we can't expect to lead the pack again if our focus is on the fossil fuels of last century.
So instead of investing billions of dollars and destroying millions of acres, decimating property values (not to mention any tourism industry that might have existed pre-drilling), ruining wells, and risking the health and well-being of people, wildlife, and pets....WHY aren't those billions of dollars being invested in something that does none of the above: solar power, wind power or something yet to be discovered? Last night's State of the Union address touched upon how the United States needs to out-educate, out-innovate, and out-build; we can't expect to lead the pack again if our focus is on the fossil fuels of last century.
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].
Friday, November 26, 2010
30+ violations this year alone...and XTO keeps on drilling...
[Note: this story was written by Mark Levy for the Philadelphia Inquirer & originally appeared HERE on Nov. 24th.]
Pa. DEP studying leak at gas well
The XTO leak polluted a Lycoming County stream. It was not the company's first leak.
By Marc Levy, Associated Press
HARRISBURG - State officials were investigating a leak of drilling wastewater at a natural-gas well site in north-central Pennsylvania that polluted a stream and a spring, a Department of Environmental Protection spokesman said Tuesday.
A department inspector discovered the leak last week while visiting a producing well owned by XTO Energy Inc. in Lycoming County, where the company is tapping into the vast Marcellus Shale gas reserve.
The inspector noticed an open bottom valve on a 21,000-gallon tank containing fluids left over from the hydraulic fracturing process used to stimulate a newly drilled well. The inspector closed the valve, but tests on two nearby waterways show signs of pollution, the department said.
Investigators still do not know how the valve opened, and have not met with XTO officials yet, department spokesman Dan Spadoni said.
A spokeswoman for XTO's parent company, Houston-based Exxon Mobil Corp., said Tuesday that about 2,400 gallons leaked and that XTO was cleaning it up and taking steps to keep it from happening again. The company initially told state officials that, as a worst-case scenario, about 13,000 gallons could have leaked, but it settled on the lower figure after employees reviewed inventory records, Exxon spokeswoman Rachael Moore said.
Neither Moore nor Spadoni knew how long the fluid had been sitting in the tank.
This was not the first such leak for XTO.
Violation records posted online by the department from a May inspection of a Lycoming County well owned by XTO reported a wastewater spill of about five barrels, or 200 gallons, because of an open valve. Before the latest leak, XTO had racked up 31 violations in 2010, according to department records.
XTO has drilled more than 20 Marcellus Shale wells in Pennsylvania since the beginning of 2009, department records show.
In the hydraulic fracturing process, millions of gallons of water, sand, and chemicals are blasted into the well to break apart the shale and release the gas.
The wastewater that comes back up the well is typically a toxic sludge of dissolved chlorides, sulfates, and metals accumulated in the shale, and must either be treated on site or be trucked away to a special treatment facility.
Pa. DEP studying leak at gas well
The XTO leak polluted a Lycoming County stream. It was not the company's first leak.
By Marc Levy, Associated Press
HARRISBURG - State officials were investigating a leak of drilling wastewater at a natural-gas well site in north-central Pennsylvania that polluted a stream and a spring, a Department of Environmental Protection spokesman said Tuesday.
A department inspector discovered the leak last week while visiting a producing well owned by XTO Energy Inc. in Lycoming County, where the company is tapping into the vast Marcellus Shale gas reserve.
The inspector noticed an open bottom valve on a 21,000-gallon tank containing fluids left over from the hydraulic fracturing process used to stimulate a newly drilled well. The inspector closed the valve, but tests on two nearby waterways show signs of pollution, the department said.
Investigators still do not know how the valve opened, and have not met with XTO officials yet, department spokesman Dan Spadoni said.
A spokeswoman for XTO's parent company, Houston-based Exxon Mobil Corp., said Tuesday that about 2,400 gallons leaked and that XTO was cleaning it up and taking steps to keep it from happening again. The company initially told state officials that, as a worst-case scenario, about 13,000 gallons could have leaked, but it settled on the lower figure after employees reviewed inventory records, Exxon spokeswoman Rachael Moore said.
Neither Moore nor Spadoni knew how long the fluid had been sitting in the tank.
This was not the first such leak for XTO.
Violation records posted online by the department from a May inspection of a Lycoming County well owned by XTO reported a wastewater spill of about five barrels, or 200 gallons, because of an open valve. Before the latest leak, XTO had racked up 31 violations in 2010, according to department records.
XTO has drilled more than 20 Marcellus Shale wells in Pennsylvania since the beginning of 2009, department records show.
In the hydraulic fracturing process, millions of gallons of water, sand, and chemicals are blasted into the well to break apart the shale and release the gas.
The wastewater that comes back up the well is typically a toxic sludge of dissolved chlorides, sulfates, and metals accumulated in the shale, and must either be treated on site or be trucked away to a special treatment facility.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
EPA goes after Halliburton on hydrofracturing
[As posted on Innovation Trail by Zack Seward 11/9/20]
The Wall Street Journal and other news organizations are reporting that the EPA and Halliburton are butting heads over hydrofracking.
On Tuesday the EPA said it had subpoenaed Halliburton after the energy giant refused to disclose the chemicals it uses in the controversial drilling technique.
Hydrofracking relies on injecting a slurry of water, sand and chemicals into underground rock formations. The millions of gallons of slurry are used to force open channels in the earth's crust, thereby allowing oil and natural gas to flow upward.
Of nine major energy companies contacted by the EPA, Halliburton was the only one to refuse the agency's request for its chemical formulas.
Through a company spokesperson, Halliburton told the Wall Street Journal they were disappointed by today's move:
In a written statement, Houston-based Halliburton said the EPA made "unreasonable demands" that would potentially require the company to prepare approximately 50,000 spreadsheets of data. The company said it had been working with the agency "in good faith" and has turned over nearly 5,000 pages of documents as recently as last Friday.
Drilling companies have long sought to protect their chemical formulas, calling them proprietary.
The EPA is studying whether hydrofracking affects drinking water and the public health. As we've been reporting, the study comes as natural gas companies stand poised to expand Marcellus Shale development into New York state.
Today's announcement from the EPA is especially interesting, considering President Obama's recent indication that natural gas would be one of his lead olive branches to newly-empowered Republicans in Congress.
To read the original article, including photos, please click HERE.
The Wall Street Journal and other news organizations are reporting that the EPA and Halliburton are butting heads over hydrofracking.
On Tuesday the EPA said it had subpoenaed Halliburton after the energy giant refused to disclose the chemicals it uses in the controversial drilling technique.
Hydrofracking relies on injecting a slurry of water, sand and chemicals into underground rock formations. The millions of gallons of slurry are used to force open channels in the earth's crust, thereby allowing oil and natural gas to flow upward.
Of nine major energy companies contacted by the EPA, Halliburton was the only one to refuse the agency's request for its chemical formulas.
Through a company spokesperson, Halliburton told the Wall Street Journal they were disappointed by today's move:
In a written statement, Houston-based Halliburton said the EPA made "unreasonable demands" that would potentially require the company to prepare approximately 50,000 spreadsheets of data. The company said it had been working with the agency "in good faith" and has turned over nearly 5,000 pages of documents as recently as last Friday.
Drilling companies have long sought to protect their chemical formulas, calling them proprietary.
The EPA is studying whether hydrofracking affects drinking water and the public health. As we've been reporting, the study comes as natural gas companies stand poised to expand Marcellus Shale development into New York state.
Today's announcement from the EPA is especially interesting, considering President Obama's recent indication that natural gas would be one of his lead olive branches to newly-empowered Republicans in Congress.
To read the original article, including photos, please click HERE.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Some protection for our state parks after all?
Pending the outcome of Tuesday's election (which might possibly bury the issue of such a policy), this could be some very good news for PA's state parks and forests.
[This article appeared on the website for Scranton's Times Tribune].
Policy targets drilling in parks
By Robert Swift (Harrisburg Bureau Chief)
Published October 30, 2010
HARRISBURG - A new policy to minimize the impact of potential natural gas drilling on state park and forest land where the state doesn't own subsurface mineral rights is being established by state environmental officials.
The policy by the departments of Environmental Protection and Conservation and Natural Resources requires applicants for drilling permits to specify all areas of a tract that will be disturbed.
DCNR will then evaluate how drilling on the tract will affect wildlife, water resources, public recreation and environmentally sensitive areas and recommend steps to limit its impact.
Prospective drillers will include DCNR's environmental review when they submit an application for a well-drilling permit to DEP.
A clear review policy is needed because the state doesn't own the mineral rights to 80 percent of state park land and 15 percent of state forest land, said DCNR Secretary John Quigley. In these situations, DCNR lacks the ability to put controls in place that would come with a standard lease agreement. But DEP can compensate for that by attaching conditions to a drilling permit to address environmental issues, officials said.
Sixty state parks are located in the Marcellus Shale formation, the focus of a new type of drilling for deep gas pockets.
DCNR officials are concerned about potential drilling at the popular Ohiopyle State Park in Southwest Pennsylvania, said agency spokeswoman Chris Novak. Some companies are interested in doing seismic tests at Ohiopyle and the state owns the mineral rights to only 4,000 acres of the park's 20,000 acres.
A group of Susquehanna County residents is taking action to protect Salt Springs State Park from the impact of drilling. Several Marcellus Shale wells have been drilled on nearby land outside the park.
The Silver Lake Association petitioned the state Environmental Quality Board in March to grant an "exceptional value" designation for the Silver Creek watershed which includes the state park.
This designation would ban activities that can degrade the watershed's water quality.
To read the remainder of this article, please click HERE.
[This article appeared on the website for Scranton's Times Tribune].
Policy targets drilling in parks
By Robert Swift (Harrisburg Bureau Chief)
Published October 30, 2010
HARRISBURG - A new policy to minimize the impact of potential natural gas drilling on state park and forest land where the state doesn't own subsurface mineral rights is being established by state environmental officials.
The policy by the departments of Environmental Protection and Conservation and Natural Resources requires applicants for drilling permits to specify all areas of a tract that will be disturbed.
DCNR will then evaluate how drilling on the tract will affect wildlife, water resources, public recreation and environmentally sensitive areas and recommend steps to limit its impact.
Prospective drillers will include DCNR's environmental review when they submit an application for a well-drilling permit to DEP.
A clear review policy is needed because the state doesn't own the mineral rights to 80 percent of state park land and 15 percent of state forest land, said DCNR Secretary John Quigley. In these situations, DCNR lacks the ability to put controls in place that would come with a standard lease agreement. But DEP can compensate for that by attaching conditions to a drilling permit to address environmental issues, officials said.
Sixty state parks are located in the Marcellus Shale formation, the focus of a new type of drilling for deep gas pockets.
DCNR officials are concerned about potential drilling at the popular Ohiopyle State Park in Southwest Pennsylvania, said agency spokeswoman Chris Novak. Some companies are interested in doing seismic tests at Ohiopyle and the state owns the mineral rights to only 4,000 acres of the park's 20,000 acres.
A group of Susquehanna County residents is taking action to protect Salt Springs State Park from the impact of drilling. Several Marcellus Shale wells have been drilled on nearby land outside the park.
The Silver Lake Association petitioned the state Environmental Quality Board in March to grant an "exceptional value" designation for the Silver Creek watershed which includes the state park.
This designation would ban activities that can degrade the watershed's water quality.
To read the remainder of this article, please click HERE.
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.
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