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.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Catching up; deep thoughts
Dear Friends,
I realize it's been several weeks since my last post. First it was due to a tropical vacation, then the holidays hit, and before I knew it, it was mid-January. My apologies for seeming to drop into a black hole. Lately, however, I've struggled with what to post.
I started this blog a little more than a year ago, when gas drilling operations in my area began to overwhelm the landscape. As I watched what was happening around my beloved hometown, I wrestled to find a way to deal with my feelings of helplessness. To my dismay, many area residents seemed resigned to what was happening. After a few months of gas drilling on my mind (and in my hearing, in my sights....), it occurred to me that I didn't have to feel helpless--there *was* something I could do.
I put to use my skills as a librarian and created this site to be a sort of "one stop shop" for people like me--people who were concerned about what was happening, wanted to educate themselves about natural gas drilling and network with similar-minded folks. My goal was to reach the widest possible audience and to make the information easily accessible. I spent a considerable amount of time researching and identifying authoritative local, state and national resources. When I started this process, I didn't know beans about fracking, the current means by which natural gas is extracted. Now, I know more than I wish I did.
I had also never built a blog or linked it to other social media sites, so I had to educate myself on that too. I created links to other topical blogs and made it easy for visitors to find and contact their legislators or locate the latest information in their newspapers (you don't even have to do the search--click on the link and it's done for you!)
But over the course of the past year as the number of blog/Facebook fans grew, so did the number of drill sites in my area. Don't get me wrong. I'm not against gas drilling. Many people I know are finally out of debt or at the very least, aren't living paycheck to paycheck since they leased their mineral rights or allowed compressor stations to be built on their property. I'm thankful for that. But I'm increasingly frightened at the cost of this new-found wealth.
I'm for responsible gas extraction; unfortunately fracking is not a responsible means by which to extract gas. It's quicker and cheaper. It also negates the entire marketing campaign by which gas companies insist natural gas is a "cleaner, greener" fuel. I can assure anyone who believes that piece of fiction that it's just that: fiction. Anyone who doubts it need only live next to a drill site...or two. Or three.
The cost of this new-found wealth is steep and the repercussions far-reaching. As drilling activity increased, more of our roads were destroyed by the constant stream of heavy equipment and trucks that come with it; state police stings netted hundreds and hundreds of gas truck violations. More leaks, explosions and "accidents" occurred. A resident was murdered by a gas company worker. Jobs were promised; instead hotels were booked solid and new ones built to accomodate workers from out of state. Hunters were warned they could be stopped and questioned if they inadvertently stepped on land under development by gas companies. Even our state parks were not immune to the onslaught of the drills. Then came the recent state elections. Incredibly, PA residents elected a new governor and other legislators who were "gas friendly" and had received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations. Either people voted against their own self interests...or apathy prevented them from voting at all.
Perhaps I was fooling myself into thinking that I could actually make a difference. As I look at what's happening around me, it's hard not to feel that the gas companies have won. And dear readers, I'm having a really hard time coming to terms with that.
I realize it's been several weeks since my last post. First it was due to a tropical vacation, then the holidays hit, and before I knew it, it was mid-January. My apologies for seeming to drop into a black hole. Lately, however, I've struggled with what to post.
I started this blog a little more than a year ago, when gas drilling operations in my area began to overwhelm the landscape. As I watched what was happening around my beloved hometown, I wrestled to find a way to deal with my feelings of helplessness. To my dismay, many area residents seemed resigned to what was happening. After a few months of gas drilling on my mind (and in my hearing, in my sights....), it occurred to me that I didn't have to feel helpless--there *was* something I could do.
I put to use my skills as a librarian and created this site to be a sort of "one stop shop" for people like me--people who were concerned about what was happening, wanted to educate themselves about natural gas drilling and network with similar-minded folks. My goal was to reach the widest possible audience and to make the information easily accessible. I spent a considerable amount of time researching and identifying authoritative local, state and national resources. When I started this process, I didn't know beans about fracking, the current means by which natural gas is extracted. Now, I know more than I wish I did.
I had also never built a blog or linked it to other social media sites, so I had to educate myself on that too. I created links to other topical blogs and made it easy for visitors to find and contact their legislators or locate the latest information in their newspapers (you don't even have to do the search--click on the link and it's done for you!)
But over the course of the past year as the number of blog/Facebook fans grew, so did the number of drill sites in my area. Don't get me wrong. I'm not against gas drilling. Many people I know are finally out of debt or at the very least, aren't living paycheck to paycheck since they leased their mineral rights or allowed compressor stations to be built on their property. I'm thankful for that. But I'm increasingly frightened at the cost of this new-found wealth.
I'm for responsible gas extraction; unfortunately fracking is not a responsible means by which to extract gas. It's quicker and cheaper. It also negates the entire marketing campaign by which gas companies insist natural gas is a "cleaner, greener" fuel. I can assure anyone who believes that piece of fiction that it's just that: fiction. Anyone who doubts it need only live next to a drill site...or two. Or three.
The cost of this new-found wealth is steep and the repercussions far-reaching. As drilling activity increased, more of our roads were destroyed by the constant stream of heavy equipment and trucks that come with it; state police stings netted hundreds and hundreds of gas truck violations. More leaks, explosions and "accidents" occurred. A resident was murdered by a gas company worker. Jobs were promised; instead hotels were booked solid and new ones built to accomodate workers from out of state. Hunters were warned they could be stopped and questioned if they inadvertently stepped on land under development by gas companies. Even our state parks were not immune to the onslaught of the drills. Then came the recent state elections. Incredibly, PA residents elected a new governor and other legislators who were "gas friendly" and had received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations. Either people voted against their own self interests...or apathy prevented them from voting at all.
Perhaps I was fooling myself into thinking that I could actually make a difference. As I look at what's happening around me, it's hard not to feel that the gas companies have won. And dear readers, I'm having a really hard time coming to terms with that.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Submit your question to Dept of Energy Secretary for tomorrow's live chat
Now's the time to make your voice heard! Tomorrow (Tuesday), Steven Chu, Secretary for the Department of Energy, will be taking questions on building a "clean energy economy" during a live video chat. Even if he is unable to answer all of the questions, it will surely make an impact if he receives an avalanche of them on the "cleanliness" of natural gas drilling as an alternative. To submit your question, click HERE for the online submission form.
From the White House: "This week, Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu is answering your questions in a live video chat. Secretary Chu recently delivered a speech calling on the United States to sharply accelerate innovations in clean energy -- citing China and other countries' recent advances in clean technology as a critical "Sputnik Moment" for the U.S. Now, it’s your chance to ask the Secretary your questions on building a clean energy economy."
From the White House: "This week, Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu is answering your questions in a live video chat. Secretary Chu recently delivered a speech calling on the United States to sharply accelerate innovations in clean energy -- citing China and other countries' recent advances in clean technology as a critical "Sputnik Moment" for the U.S. Now, it’s your chance to ask the Secretary your questions on building a clean energy economy."
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.
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