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.

Recent Bradford County spill results in $52/gal fine. Company investigated by US Dept of Justice, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Back in February of this year, an estimated 295 gallons of hydrochloric acid spilled from a tank located at a well site in Asylum Twp, Bradford County.  On Monday, December 7, PA's Department of Environmental Protection issued a press release stating the two companies involved--Chesapeake Appalachia LLC and Schlumberger Technology Corp of Midland TX would each be fined $15,557 (or roughly $50 per gallon spilled).  According to the PRESS RELEASE, clean up involved the following:

• A contractor "removed free-standing acid from the ground with absorbent pads"
• Trenches were excavated to contain the spill
• Contaminated soil was neutralized with "soda ash and hydrated lime"
• Approximately 125 tons of contaminated soil had to be excavated
• Nearly 14,000 gallons of hydrochloric acid and water mixture were removed from the site 
• An additional 11,000 gallons of acid was transfered from the faulty tank to temporary tanks

Schlumberger Technology Corp is one of the country's leaders in the use of hydraulic fracturing (Halliburton is the other).  The company has been the focus of many investigations including:

• that of a team led by Erin Brockovich (remember the movie?) for a spill in Midland, TX.  You can see footage of Brockovich on a CBS appearance HERE
• STC is suspected to be the cause of 16 cattle dropping dead in a field recently in Louisiana after drinking a mysterious fluid in a field next to a drilling rig.  
• recently been investigated by the US Dept of Justice for having violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in their oil & gas business in Nigeria.
• Investigated and fined by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission for having "willfully failed to perform required radiation surveys" in Montana resulting in the exposure of 31 workers to hazardous radioactive material.  Read the full Notice of Violation HERE.