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.

Dimock *finally* gets public water. Cabot continues to deny responsibility.

Kudos to the DEP for not waiting until this fiasco plays out in court before doing the right thing.  While it's no shock that Cabot continues to deny any wrongdoing whatsoever, now the fight begins to make sure they are ultimately held accountable (legally and fiscally) for what happened in Dimock.  PA residents should not have to fund a $12 million dollar project because of Cabot's negligence.

[Note: this article, written by Matt Hughes, appeared Oct 1, 2010 in the Times Leader of Wilkes-Barre.  Click HERE to see the original article which includes photographs.]

Amid drilling fight, Dimock gets public water.  The state, which will fund the project, says Cabot Oil & Gas contaminated wells.

DIMOCK – Residents of Dimock, the Susquehanna County community at the center of a nationwide debate over natural gas drilling, will soon be connected to a public water supply, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger announced Thursday. The state-funded project will connect Pennsylvania American Water’s Lake Montrose treatment plant to 18 homes in Dimock.

For two years, drinking water for 33 Dimock residents has been supplied by Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation, the natural gas drilling company that DEP says contaminated the water wells of some Dimock residents with methane and natural gas.

More than 100 reporters, photographers, filmmakers, spokespersons and residents of the Susquehanna County community packed the tiny Dimock Baptist Church to hear the announcement.

Hanger said DEP will fully fund the project, now slated to cost $11.8 million, though the department still insists that Cabot foot the bill. Hanger said DEP will pursue litigation against Cabot if necessary to recoup the cost of the project, but that the department did not want to wait any longer to provide a permanent source of clean drinking water to Dimock residents.

“We have had people here in Pennsylvania without safe drinking water for nearly two years,” Hanger said. “That is totally unacceptable. It is reprehensible. We have given Cabot every opportunity to resolve this matter.… We’re not going to wait to go through long legal proceedings with Cabot to get this started.”

A new 12-inch transmission main will transport water approximately 5.5 miles from the Pennsylvania American Water’s Lake Montrose plant south along state Route 29 into Dimock. Approximately seven miles of 6-inch distribution mains will connect the main to the homes of 18 families. Other Dimock residents seeking connection to the water supply may also contact Pennsylvania American Water about gaining access, Pennsylvania American Water President Kathy Pape said.

Pape said the project, which will also involve the installation of pressure regulating systems, hydrants and water treatment systems, will take 18 months to complete once ground has been broken. The company is also waiting on a state grant to come through before that happens, however, and Pape said work on the project will most likely not begin for a few months.

On Wednesday, Cabot published full page ads in several newspapers around the Dimock area, and also sent out press releases and 29-page letter defending the company. In those documents, Cabot denies responsibility for water well contamination in Dimock and claims that DEP is waging a public relations war against the company.

“They have even gone so far as to say that they signed these under duress,” Hanger said, later adding, “the last time I checked, (Cabot President Dan O.) Dinges is not a 90-year-old widow sitting in a nursing home who is incompetent to sign a legal document … he is fully capable to sign documents without counsel, but he had counsel.

A Cabot spokesman, George Stark, attended the meeting but was not allowed to speak by Hanger.

“I am not interested in hearing from Cabot at this point,” Hanger said.

Stark spoke outside the church following the meeting, saying Cabot is investigating all its options and would schedule meetings with DEP to discuss the matter. Stark said Cabot would like DEP to consider other, less expensive measures to deal with the problem, such as drilling new water wells, refurbishing and reconditioning existing wells and installing water filtration systems.

“We understand what is being laid on the table today, but we still believe there are other options,” Stark said.

Josh Fox, the filmmaker who put Dimock at the center of the national debate over natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing in his documentary Gasland, also attended the meeting and staged a small demonstration highlighting the precedent he thinks Hanger’s announcement may set.

Fox distributed signs depicting water towers, each labeled with the name of a different Pennsylvania community, including Towanda, Lenox, and Clearville, followed by the phrase “needs municipal water.”

“It looks like this is setting a trend in Pennsylvania, that once this drilling starts, you’re going to have municipal water coming in,” Fox said.

Fox said there have been “significant reports” of water contamination near gas drilling sites in other parts of the state, and asked Hanger whether the state would also connect those areas to a municipal water supply.

Hanger responded that, in a worst case scenario, DEP would need to take similar action, but said that confirmed reports of contamination are rare, and that other companies have been much better than Cabot at resolving the contamination in those cases.

“We have companies that are actually solving problems, as opposed to denying problems,” Hanger said.
--MATT HUGHES mhughes@timesleader.com

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:

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!

CNN in Dimock, PA

"'Fracking' yields fuel, fear in Northeast."

 For the full story, click HERE.

Response to industry & PAC attacks on GASLAND

If you haven't already done so, click HERE and take the time to read the response to the recent attacks on the documentary GASLAND.  With good reason, it's admittedly lengthy:  it's full of meticulously documented facts.  The final 3 pages are a listing of references--*with* web addresses so that the curious or dubious might verify the facts set out in this report.  It will be interesting to see how the industry/PACs respond.

Penn State needs volunteers for research project on the potential effects of fracking on rural water supplies

PSU Research Project: Water Well Near Gas Drilling

Penn State’s School of Forest Resources along with several Penn State Cooperative Extension county offices have received funding from the Center for Rural Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Water Resources Research Center to conduct a research study on the potential impacts of Marcellus gas drilling on rural drinking water supplies.

This web site describes the criteria for selecting participants in this research study. Please read over the following information to determine if you may be eligible and interested in participating in this study.

If you are interested in participating, please fill out the Eligibility Survey below. Since participant numbers are limited, submitting the form does not guarantee participation in the study. Your decision to be involved with this research is voluntary.

• You must be 18 years of age or older to consent to take part in this research study.
• The data collected from this study is for research purposes.
• This research involves testing and data collection from two participant groups described below.
• All participants in both parts of this study will receive results from their water tests in approximately six weeks.
• The results of your water tests may demonstrate that you have a contaminated drinking water supply. If that is the case, you will be notified of the contamination and you will receive recommendations and information from water quality specialists at Penn State.

If you feel that you may be eligible and interested in participating in one of the study groups outlined below, please complete the Eligibility Survey by clicking HERE and submit your application for possible participation in this study.

Click HERE for information on the 2nd Participation Group which begins in Fall 2010.

Comparisons drawn to causes of Clearfield County, Gulf explosions

Gas eruption fallout
Blowout preventer fails after fracking

By Fritz Mayer

CLEARFIELD COUNTY, PA — A geyser of gas and fracking fluid that erupted out of control for 16 hours on June 3 and 4, at times shooting up to 75 feet in the air at a Marcellus Shale drilling operation in Clearfield County, has lead to inevitable comparisons with the continuing hemorrhaging of oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

In both cases, failure of the blowout preventer—a series of valves that allow operators to control pressure at the top of the well—was part of the picture, if not the entire story.

In the case of the Clearfield County incident, which occurred about 90 miles northeast of Pittsburgh in Moshannon State Forest, Neal Weaver, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), wrote in an email, “It is clear that the blowout preventer failed, but our investigation will not be limited to just that issue, but the drilling, fracking and post-fracking operations as a whole.”

The company that owns the well, EOG resources, formerly known as Enron Oil & Gas Company, called the incident a “control issue” and noted that no injuries resulted from it and no houses were damaged. Critics counter that there are no homes within a mile of the well, and that campers in the area had to be evacuated, and emergency management officials declared a no-fly zone over the area.

The DEP called the incident serious. “The event at the well site could have been a catastrophic incident that endangered life and property,” said DEP secretary John Hanger. “This was not a minor accident, but a serious incident that will be fully investigated by this agency with the appropriate and necessary actions taken quickly.”

Governor Ed Rendell ordered work on all EOG wells temporarily halted, and said that the state would not be relying only on its own experts to determine exactly what caused the explosion, but would also engage outside experts to “get to the bottom of what happened.”

The incident will likely be discussed by lawmakers in Harrisburg as they debate the merits of implementing a natural gas severance tax in the state, and consider whether to pass a moratorium on the leasing of public lands for gas drilling.

Senator Bob Casey, who in 2009 introduced the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals (FRAC) Act, which would require drilling companies to disclose the contents of fracking fluid, said this was a situation that could have been much worse.

Casey said, “Natural gas drilling offers Pennsylvania a great economic opportunity; however, incidents like this blowout are a reminder that there are dangers and that precautions must be taken to protect the health and well-being of Pennsylvanians.”

Other explosions

In an unrelated incident, a Marcellus Shale gas well being drilled in Moundsville, WV, some 50 miles south of Pittsburgh, erupted in flames on June 7, and seven workers who suffered burns were sent to a local hospital and reported to be in fair condition.

The drilling company had been drilling through an abandoned coal mine when a gas pocket suddenly ignited, sending flames up to 70 feet into the air.

The fire was expected to remain burning for several days or more as emergency workers attempted to cap the wells. According to various officials, the fire posed no further threat to buildings or individuals.

In a third incident involving natural gas, a pipeline explosion on June 7 in north Texas killed one worker and sent several others to local hospitals.

The blast was reportedly triggered when a crew installing utility poles accidentally struck the gas pipeline, and sent flames shooting 40 feet into the air.

Click here to view original report, River Reporter 6.10.2010

Gov Rendell: no need to ban new gas drilling

Gov. Addresses Concerns for Gas Well Safety

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell says an overall ban on new Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling isn’t necessary. Rendell made the comments in response to the Marcellus Shale gas well blowout Thursday night in Clearfield County.

Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection has launched an investigation into the incident at the Lawrence Township well that shot natural gas 75 feet into the air for 16 hours.  DEP Secretary John Hanger says the investigation will look into the well’s entire history. EOG is barred from drilling or fracking at its more than 70 Pennsylvania wells until the investigation is complete. But the governor says drilling by others can continue....

“Given the degree of monitoring that we have and the checks and balances we have, we can go on and do this,” says Rendell. “Even for EOG, we’re not stopping them from extracting gas. We’re stopping them from any new drilling. They’ve got plenty of wells that are working right now, extracting gas.”

Rendell says current regulations have prevented major disasters for decades of oil and gas drilling, but he says they should be strengthened to minimize the potential for accidents.

He says two sets of bills that would make regulations stricter will soon be voted on by the state’s Independent Regulatory Review Commission. One of those packages would control the disposal of wastewater. The other would try to increase safety in well construction.

Click here to see original article, posted by 90.5DUQ, Pittsburgh's NPR Station on their blog.

PA well explosion shoots gas, drilling fluid 75 ft into the air. DEP not notified until hours later, FAA restricts flights within 3 miles of site.

The authors mention that blowout preventers (like the one that failed in Louisiana)  are typically used in situations like this so that workers can control the pressure inside.  After reading this article, I'm still not clear on whether or not a blowout preventer was used.  So did the contractors forget to install one or if they did...did it, too, fail?  

Marcellus gas well blows out in Pennsylvania; gas, drilling fluid shoot 75 feet into air*
By Marc Levy and Jennifer C. Yates, AP

PENFIELD, Pa. -- An out-of-control natural gas well in a remote area of Pennsylvania shot explosive gas and polluted water as high as 75 feet into the air Friday before crews were able to tame it about 16 hours later.

The gas never caught fire and no injuries were reported, but state officials worried about an explosion before the well could be controlled. The well was brought under control just after noon after it started spewing gas and brine, said Elizabeth Ivers, a spokeswoman for driller EOG Resources Inc.

Houston-based EOG, formerly part of Enron Corp., was drilling into the Marcellus Shale reserve, a hotly pursued gas formation primarily under Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia and Ohio that some geologists believe could become the nation's most productive natural gas field.

There are more than 1,000 Marcellus Shale wells in Pennsylvania alone, some of them within view of homes, farmhouses and public roads.

There were no homes within a mile of the well that blew out.

The accident happened just after the crew finished a process called hydraulic fracturing -- in which millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals are blasted underground to shatter tightly compacted shale and release trapped natural gas. They were clearing out debris from the well when gas shot out of it, said Dan Spadoni, a spokesman for the Department of Environmental Protection.

Workers evacuated the site and contacted county authorities, said John Sobel, a Clearfield County commissioner. The DEP said it wasn't notified until 1:30 a.m. -- more than five hours after the blowout.

The polluted water flowing out of the well and into the woods was stopped by a trench and a pump installed by a contractor, Spadoni said. Companies that specialize in securing out-of-control wells were called in, he said.

The blowout could test the ability of state regulators, who promised an aggressive investigation into the accident.

"The event at the well site could have been a catastrophic incident that endangered life and property," Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger said in a statement. "This was not a minor accident, but a serious incident that will be fully investigated by this agency with the appropriate and necessary actions taken quickly."

If the agency finds that mistakes were made, it will take steps to prevent similar errors from repeating, he said. He said it was too early to tell the extent of any environmental damage.

Details about the accident were still sketchy, but the agency was told that unexpectedly high gas pressure in the new well prevented the crew from containing it, Spadoni said.

Ivers said she could not immediately respond to questions about how the accident happened. Public safety and protection of the environment are of the utmost importance, the company said in a statement.

David Rensink, the incoming president of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, said gas well blowouts are very rare and can be very dangerous to control, since a spark can set off an explosion.

Typically, a blowout preventer -- a series of valves that sit atop a well -- allows workers to control the pressure inside, he said.

Just such a device figured into the massive oil spill off the coast of Louisiana. The oil rig's blowout preventer was supposed to shut off the flow of oil in the event of a catastrophic failure, but it didn't work.

The Pennsylvania well is on the grounds of a hunting club in a heavily forested section of Clearfield County, near Interstate 80 -- about 90 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

On Friday afternoon, a worker blocked a dirt road to the site, while trucks hauling water tanks streamed past him. He said he was not allowed to talk about what had happened.

As a precaution, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a flight restriction Friday morning, saying no planes below 1,000 feet should go within three miles of the site. The restriction was lifted it shortly after the well was capped.

*This article appeared in Pressconnect.com of Greater Binghamton on 6.4.2010

Pine Creek contaminated with mysterious substance

Gas industry treatment behind discharge on hillside

Patrick Donlin 3.17.2010

WATERVILLE - A substance used in the natural gas drilling process is discoloring and distorting the texture of spring water running off a Cummings Township sidehill.  Cheryl Sinclair, a geologist for the state Department of Environmental Protection, was collecting suspicious water samples mid-day Tuesday along Route 44, one mile south of Waterville.  The mysterious substance was seen flowing down the slope, under the road and into Pine Creek, said Daniel T. Spadoni, spokesman for DEP's northcentral region office. Officials from another state agency alerted DEP.  "We were notified (Monday) morning by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources," Spadoni said. "There was a white foamy material discharging from a spring down the hill.  

To read the remainder of the story, please click here:
 Williamsport Sun Gazette.

Upcoming event on impact of gas drilling

Are These the Kind of Neighbors We Want?
Impacts of Gas Drilling Support Facilities

Saturday, March 13, 10 am
Steele Memorial Library Auditorium, 101 E. Church St., Elmira

Despite the promotional talk about the impending gas rush in our region, very little data has been provided to show that hosting thousands of gas wells and their attendant service facilities will be an overall benefit to the residents of the Southern Tier. To examine this issue, Citizens for Healthy Communities, a newly-formed group of citizens building a coalition across the Southern Tier, is hosting a series of educational forums. The first forum will be "Are These the Kind of Neighbors We Want? Impacts of Gas Drilling Support Facilities" on Saturday, March 13th at 10:00 am at Steele Memorial Library Auditorium, 101 E. Church Street in Elmira. 

This event will examine the operations of gas drilling support facilities, including the Schlumberger facility, being proposed for the Holding Point area in Horseheads.  Sue Heavenrich, an environmental journalist with Broader View Weekly, and Helen Slottje, senior attorney with the Community Environmental Defense Council in Ithaca, will be the featured speakers.

Both speakers will address a newly-released study, "Drilling Around the Law", by the Environmental Working Group in Washington, DC. This report states that gas drilling companies are injecting natural gas wells with millions of gallons of fracking fluids laced with petroleum distillates that can contain benzene and other highly toxic chemicals.EWG reports that in a worst case scenario, the petroleum distillates used in a single hydro-fracked well could contaminate more than 100billion gallons of drinking water to unsafe levels.  The Schlumberger facility in Horseheads will be storing petroleum distillates for fracking operations at hundreds of gas wells. "Drilling Around the Law" is online at http://www.ewg.org/drillingaroundthelaw .

Heavenrich will give an overview of the typical operations at a gas drilling servicing facility and the types of chemicals typically stored.  Heavenrich will discuss the impacts that hosting a major facility can have on a community and the surrounding region. She will discuss the plans for the Schlumberger facility and other service facilities proposed for the Holding Point area in Horseheads.

Slottje will highlight legal issues presented by hosting such facilities. She will address regulatory requirements applicable to gas drilling support facilities and will note legal remedies available If toxic spills or other environmental hazards occur.  Slottje will also discuss the economic costs to residents and taxpayers in communities that host large scale industrial development focused on fossil fuel extraction.  Slottje currently represents a group of Chemung County residents who are challenging the Village of Horseheads' decision to not require a full environmental impact review of the proposed Schlumberger facility. 

Following the featured presentations, the audience will discuss the issues presented and steps that can be taken to address community concerns. The forum is free and open to the public. For more information about the forum or about joining CHC, call Beth Miller at607-329-5883 or Rachel Treichler at 607-569-2114.

The mission of Citizens for Healthy Communities is to work cooperatively for healthy local economies through sustainable renewable energy and other green initiatives. CHC is committed to protecting the well-being of the land, water, air and families of this region through education and coalition-building. CHC members live in Steuben, Chemung, Schuyler and Yates counties. Future forums will address the cumulative impact of intensive gas drilling on the land, air, water, health and economies of our communities. 

(Source: shaleshockupdates@yahoogroups.com)

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.

Journalist documenting dangers of hydraulic fracturing wins prestigious George Polk Award for Environmental Reporting

The 2009 George Polk Awards for journalism were announced today and the award for Environmental Reporting will go to Abrahm Lustgarten of ProPublica. Mr. Lustgarten "documented the deadly side effects of hydraulic fracturing, a natural gas-drilling process involving water — laden with carcinogenic contaminants — being shot underground to blast away at gas-bearing rock. His articles turned hydraulic fracturing into a national story and shifted the focus of the coverage from local business issues to safety concerns.

He traveled to five states where hydraulic fracturing is taking place and interviewed affected residents, doctors, scientists and rig workers. Mr. Lustgarten also pored over scientific papers and massive government reports, identifying a pattern of water contamination and raising questions about the science and safety of such drilling. Finding that pollution-reducing measures often are ignored and are not even required by many states, his series shed light on a new topic that could become a major issue as the country strives to develop more efficient ways to produce energy." [Press release]

View an interview on Democracy Now by clicking  HERE.

Read Mr. Lustgarten's extensive reporting @ ProPublica by clicking HERE. 

Congratulations to Mr. Lustgarten for bringing much deserved attention to this issue!

So...there was no explosion...but someone was thrown 30 feet in the air? How does that work?

Chesapeake denies its well exploded

By Ron Hosie

The incident involving a Chesapeake energy natural gas well this morning in Tuscarora Township was not an explosion, a company spokesman said early this afternoon.  Brian Grove, Chesapeake's director of  corporate development in Towanda, in a prepared statement, described what happened as "a brief but forceful uplift of tubing."  He specifically denied that the phenomenon was an explosion.  Three employees of a contract company were transported to a hospital, he said, but none had critical injuries.  "There was no release of any materials that could be harmful to the environment and the situation presents no danger to the public. This is all the information that is available at this time," Grove said in the statement.

According to transmissions over Wyoming County 911 communications at the time of the incident, an explosion  took place at the Mowry well site of Chesapeake Energy on Clapper Hill in Tuscarora Township.  One person was thrown in the air 30 feet, and suffered back pain and injuries to his wrist and another individual sustained back pain, according to preliminary reports.  

Emergency crews were called out, according to the scanner transmission, but there was no visible fire. Laceyville Fire Chief Scott Fisher refused to comment at mid-morning, saying he would need to finish his report first.  Jim Vajda. Bradford County's Emergency Management Agency director was reported on the scene and unavailable for immediate comment.

Source: The Daily Review

1.28.2010