tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29933213733007947432024-03-13T15:55:30.415-04:00The Marcellus EffectSue Heavenrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00550259613381458435noreply@blogger.comBlogger445125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993321373300794743.post-35443023008490375082016-09-09T11:05:00.001-04:002016-09-09T11:05:42.197-04:00EPA orders more injection wells closed following OK earthquake<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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On Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency ordered Oklahoma
drillers to shut another 17 fracking waste injection wells. This follows the US
Geological Survey’s upgrading last weekend’s earthquake to 5.8 magnitude – a record
for the state – from the previous estimate of 5.6 magnitude. More <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-07/oklahoma-wastewater-well-closures-increase-as-quake-upgraded">here</a>.</div>
Sue Heavenrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00550259613381458435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993321373300794743.post-49303179034894527792016-09-03T18:03:00.001-04:002016-09-03T18:14:40.061-04:005.6 Magnitude Earthquake in OK prompts shut-down of Injection Wells<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SCX19OCprw0/Voa9iH41XPI/AAAAAAAAGOQ/ZkWpRX2XIhggkTIUSVVWDWWryI3woj1mACPcB/s1600/earthquake_damage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SCX19OCprw0/Voa9iH41XPI/AAAAAAAAGOQ/ZkWpRX2XIhggkTIUSVVWDWWryI3woj1mACPcB/s320/earthquake_damage.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Back in January, Oklahoma got the dubious distinction of having set a <a href="http://marcelluseffect.blogspot.com/2016/01/oklahoma-sets-new-earthquake-record.html">record for number of earthquakes in 2015</a>: 857. That’s more than all the remaining states
(excluding Alaska) combined. This morning people were shaken out of their beds by a 5.6 temblor, prompting state regulators to <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/09/03/56-magnitude-quake-rocks-oklahoma/89824558/">shut down 37 fracking waste injection wells</a>.<br />
<br />
Before 2009, Oklahoma got only a couple quakes a year. By the end of 2013 they were tallying 109, and measured<a href="http://marcelluseffect.blogspot.com/2014/07/quakes-frack-waste.html"> 230 quakes in the first six months of 2014</a>.<br />
<br />
"Some parts of Oklahoma now match Northern California for the nation’s
most shake-prone," writes Doug Stanglin of <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/09/03/56-magnitude-quake-rocks-oklahoma/89824558/"><i>USA Today</i></a>, "and one Oklahoma region has a one-in-eight chance of a
damaging quake in 2016, with other parts closer to one in 20."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/strong-oklahoma-earthquake-felt-nebraska-texas-n642386">NBC News reports</a> that this morning's quake was centered in north-central
Oklahoma near Pawnee, on the fringe of an area where regulators had stepped in to
limit wastewater disposal.<br />
<br />
Oklahoma isn't the only frack-quake prone area. <a href="http://marcelluseffect.blogspot.com/2012/03/those-fracking-earthquakes.html">Ohio</a> has experienced them, too.Sue Heavenrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00550259613381458435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993321373300794743.post-67680984228065723232016-04-26T16:59:00.000-04:002016-04-26T16:59:30.204-04:00Pipe Dreams<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4KLOuFv14Ys/TSdnzi6f4xI/AAAAAAAAAcc/mmhaaUuZUScnX6nw47j_L2XAHtPDxpnpwCKgB/s1600/pipeline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="313" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4KLOuFv14Ys/TSdnzi6f4xI/AAAAAAAAAcc/mmhaaUuZUScnX6nw47j_L2XAHtPDxpnpwCKgB/s320/pipeline.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On Friday, April 22 officials from the New York State
Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced the denial of the
Clean Water Act Section 401 Water Quality Certification for the proposed
Constitution Pipeline. Their reason: these certificates fail to meet New York
State's water quality standards. You can read the full decision, outlined in a
letter by John Ferguson, Chief Permit Administrator here <a href="http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/administration_pdf/constitutionwc42016.pdf">(pdf)</a>.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Constitution pipeline, a partnership between Williams
Partners, Cabot Oil and Gas, Piedmont Natural Gas and WGL Holdings, was
approved by FERC in December 2014. The proposed pipeline would transport gas
from Susquehanna County, PA to Schoharie County, NY along a 124-mile route. In
NY, Constitution proposed nearly 99 miles of new right-of-way for the 30-inch
diameter pipeline, rather than co-locating within existing rights-of-way. </div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_tMQeNpAfRQ/Vx_VH8nGOTI/AAAAAAAAGcI/PMdU_sg1hSYcpThz0AZ4_Cz4EHE8qjVfgCLcB/s1600/gas%2Binfrastructure%2B4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_tMQeNpAfRQ/Vx_VH8nGOTI/AAAAAAAAGcI/PMdU_sg1hSYcpThz0AZ4_Cz4EHE8qjVfgCLcB/s320/gas%2Binfrastructure%2B4.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stream bank clearing for pipelines harms trout habitat</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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</div>
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DEC told the media that the agency had requested “significant
mitigation measures” to limit impact on the 251 streams along the route. Many
of those streams are unique and sensitive ecological areas, including trout
spawning streams, old-growth forest, and undisturbed springs, which provide
vital habitat and are key to the local ecosystems.</div>
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In addition, DEC requested that Constitution provide a “comprehensive
and site-specific analysis of depth for pipeline burial to mitigate the
project's environmental impact”. According to DEC’s announcement last week,
Constitution failed to do this, providing only limited analysis for 21 of the
250 streams. The problem, notes DEC, is that pipes not buried deep enough can
become exposed, and any action to correct problems could further affect streams
and water quality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On Monday, April 25 Constitution Pipeline Company accused
DEC of making “flagrant misstatements” and “inaccurate allegations” in defense
of its permit denial. In a statement to the press, the pipeline company said
DEC’s decision “appears to be driven more by New York State politics than by
environmental science”</div>
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<br /></div>
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The company claims that they worked closely with DEC staff
for more than three years to make sure that water quality concerns would be
adequately addressed. “Completely contrary to NYSDEC’s assertion, we provided
detailed drawings and profiles for every stream crossing in New York, including
showing depth of pipe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, all
stream crossings were fully vetted with the NYSDEC throughout the review
process.” You can read their <a href="http://constitutionpipeline.com/constitution-pipeline-committed-to-building-federally-approved-pipeline-delivering-energy-savings-and-environmental-benefits-to-northeast-u-s/">entire statement here</a>.</div>
Sue Heavenrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00550259613381458435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993321373300794743.post-64670149028416052672016-04-18T11:27:00.000-04:002016-04-18T11:27:25.859-04:00Public Forum on FERC this coming Thursday<div>
If you've been paying attention to news on various pipeline projects in the region, then you've heard about cutting sugar maples for a pipeline that may or may not ever happen, and the eminent domain fights happening in PA and other states. Or you've heard about the Keystone pipeline leaking, and others blowing up.</div>
<div>
<b> </b></div>
<div>
What does this have to do with FERC? The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has a role to play in deciding who has rights to put in pipelines and where - and therefore, who really has a "right" to the land in question. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Learn more about FERC and land rights at a forum later this week in Elmira: </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<b>“Are You Being FERCed?,”</b>
sponsored by People for Healthy Environment, Food and Water Watch, We
Are Seneca Lake and the Finger Lakes Sierra Club, is a public forum set
for <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1667685787" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">April 21</span></span> to discuss land rights and the role of <u>the <a href="http://www.ferc.gov/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b>Federal Energy Regulatory Commission</b></a></u> in deciding who has rights to the land.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
The forum will be held at <b><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1667685788" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">6 p.m.</span></span> Trinity Episcopal Church, 304 N. Main Street, Elmira.</b></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Topics for discussion will include riparian rights, eminent domain, the expansion of gas industry infrastructure, and FERC. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
A discussion will follow with panelists <b>Rachel Treichler, Yvonne Taylor, Joseph Campbell, and Keith Schue. </b>Refreshments will be served.</div>
Sue Heavenrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00550259613381458435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993321373300794743.post-65829282176920412262016-01-01T13:01:00.003-05:002016-01-01T13:26:54.130-05:00Oklahoma Sets New Earthquake Record<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SCX19OCprw0/Voa9iH41XPI/AAAAAAAAGOM/5dn4hsPVbr0/s1600/earthquake_damage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SCX19OCprw0/Voa9iH41XPI/AAAAAAAAGOM/5dn4hsPVbr0/s320/earthquake_damage.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Last year Oklahoma recorded 857 quakes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s more than all the remaining states
(excluding Alaska) combined. </div>
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The previous year (2014) Oklahoma had a record-setting year logging
in 585 quakes, after the 2013 record-setting year with 106 quakes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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To end the year, a series of 2.9 or greater earthquakes shook
the Edmond area, the northeast part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area.
Those quakes have at least <a href="http://kfor.com/2015/12/30/oklahoma-state-rep-on-oil-companies-and-earthquakes-no-one-is-taking-this-issue-seriously/">one state legislator up in arms</a>. “This has been
going on for five years,” says State Rep. Richard Morrissette (D. 92). “At what
point are we, the policy makers, going to address this issue and take it seriously?
We need to shut these wells down.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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Morrissette claims the state’s Corporation Commission<a href="http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/DeliverDocument.asp?CiteID=80586"> has the authority to act</a>, but is doing nothing. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>"This is a preventable disaster that our
policy makers at 23 and Lincoln and the Corporation Commission refuse to
address, because they're afraid politically to act," he told local news
reporters.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Or it could be that the <a href="http://kfor.com/2015/12/21/oklahoma-vs-sandridge-energy-state-plans-legal-action-after-company-refused-to-shut-down-6-wells/">energy companies are refusing to comply</a> with the Commission’s directives. On December 2, the state sent out
letters to six energy companies ordering them to reduce waste water disposal or
shut their wells down all together. One company, Sandridge Energy, has refused
to close the six problem wells.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GI7dmCpLHn4/VobEY-KTU2I/AAAAAAAAGOc/XWWo2kO3bps/s1600/GEICO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GI7dmCpLHn4/VobEY-KTU2I/AAAAAAAAGOc/XWWo2kO3bps/s400/GEICO.jpg" width="308" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">letter to policy holder re: earthquakes</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Residents left with cracked foundations and other damage
wonder who’s going to pay. Some insurance companies have already said <a href="http://www.fox23.com/news/news/local/insurance-companies-refuse-coverage-man-made-earth/npkPx/">they will not offer coverage for man-made earthquakes</a>, such as those caused by injection
or fracking. Others will, but require their clients to buy endorsements to
their homeowner’s policies.</div>
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<br /></div>
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You can read more about fracking-related earthquakes <a href="http://marcelluseffect.blogspot.com/2014/07/quakes-frack-waste.html">here</a> and <a href="http://www.livescience.com/49326-fracking-caused-ohio-earthquakes.html">here.</a></div>
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Sue Heavenrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00550259613381458435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993321373300794743.post-10651372400964470112015-12-20T14:26:00.000-05:002015-12-20T14:36:07.728-05:00Fracking Lowers Home Values by $30 K says Duke Study<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Gup9zUySTeI/SuO85cZ0BmI/AAAAAAAAABo/jRR0MHC83N4/s1600/for%2Bsale%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Gup9zUySTeI/SuO85cZ0BmI/AAAAAAAAABo/jRR0MHC83N4/s200/for%2Bsale%2B1.jpg" width="153" /></a></div>
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A study <a href="http://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/aer.20140079">published just this month </a>in the <i>American Economic
Review</i> shows that fracking can cause steep drops in home values in some
neighborhoods. The study examined home sales in 36 Pennsylvania counties
between 1995 and 2012. The analysis controlled for potentially confounding
variables such as effects of the Great Recession and the benefits homeowners
may receive in the form of lease payments.</div>
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Researchers found that home prices dropped by an average of
$30,1676 when shale drilling occurred within a distance of 1.5 kilometers
(almost one mile). That’s for homes that depend on groundwater. Homes that had
water piped from a municipal source actually gained an average of $4,800. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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But, write the authors of the study, “it is important to
keep in mind that our estimates do not fully capture the total costs associated
with groundwater contamination risk. Owners of groundwater-dependent homes may
purchase expensive water filters to clean their drinking water when faced with a
shale gas well nearby [and] whole home filters can cost thousands of dollars.”</div>
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The paper is among the first to quantify the impact of
fracking on property values in a wide geographic area, Christopher Timmins told
the press. He’s one of the co-authors of the study and specialized in environmental
economics at Duke University.</div>
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“Our results show clearly that housing markets are
responding to homeowners’ concerns about groundwater contamination from shale
gas development,” Timmins said. “We may not know for many years whether these
concerns are valid or not. However, they are creating a real cost to property
owners today.”</div>
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One thing the authors found is that the distance between a
shale well and a home matters greatly for home prices. Among homes that rely on
well water, a shale well located within one kilometer (0.6 mile) was associated
with a 13.9 percent average decrease in home values. But if the nearest shale
gas drilling site was at least two kilometers away (1.2 miles), property values
remained constant. </div>
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It was in neighborhoods with a piped water supply where they
found that home values rose slightly – perhaps due to royalty payments. Even
so, home values rose only when shale wells were out of view.</div>
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<br /></div>
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What does this mean for homeowners? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Right now <a href="http://councilforasecureamerica.org/energy-boom-puts-wells-in-americas-backyards/">more than 15 million Americans live within a mile </a>of the hundreds of thousands of fracked gas and oil wells that have been drilled since 2000.
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A 2013 survey conducted by business researchers at the
University of Denver showed a strong majority would<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-fracking-homeowners-analysis-idUSBRE9BB0GS20131212"> not buy a home near a drilling site</a>. The study, published in the Journal of Real Estate Literature,
also showed that people bidding on homes near fracking locations reduced their
offers by up to 25 percent</div>
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<br /></div>
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Homeowners near drilling sites often have to move because of
industrial activity. One homeowner found the fumes, lights, and noise
unbearable. Forced to move, they were only able to sell their Cleveland
suburban home for half its appraised value.</div>
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And a Texas family found their 10-acre ranchette <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/incoming/20100918-Drilling-can-dig-into-land-value-9345.ece">plunge in value</a> from $257,000 to $75,000—a decrease of more than 70 percent – just one
year after the first drilling rig went up on the property.</div>
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With all of this evidence that no one wants to live near a fracking well, why on earth would <a href="http://marcelluseffect.blogspot.com/2015/11/can-you-hear-people-speak.html">towns embrace fracking</a>? </div>
<br />
<br />Sue Heavenrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00550259613381458435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993321373300794743.post-20777636565869318212015-11-16T21:46:00.001-05:002015-11-16T21:48:17.154-05:00Can You Hear the People Speak?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BgWYRqXwo00/VkqGwFEXfdI/AAAAAAAAGEQ/HBbxI7sTeIk/s1600/town%2Blogo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BgWYRqXwo00/VkqGwFEXfdI/AAAAAAAAGEQ/HBbxI7sTeIk/s320/town%2Blogo.jpg" width="274" /></a></div>
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The people of Candor value their small town atmosphere. On a
sunny day you can walk around the Village in less than an hour – including
pauses to enjoy the views of the river, listen to birds, or stop by the farmer’s
market to buy locally grown produce and locally crafted wares. It’s the sort of
town where “<a href="http://candorny.us/planning/comprehensive_plan.shtml">children are cherished</a> and raised to be good citizens, where
businesses are responsible to their neighborhoods, where government is
responsive to its citizenry and where neighbors strive to maintain the civility
that a rural life requires.”</div>
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It is the sort of town that seeks to balance a “logical and
efficient use” of natural resources with the desire to protect open space,
historical sites, agricultural soils, and the aquifer which supplies everyone
with fresh water.</div>
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At least it was until last week. On November 10 the town
board voted to radically change wording of the proposed update to the Town Comprehensive
Plan, the document that will guide development for the next decade or so. Prior
to the board meeting, town supervisor Bob Riggs called the chairman of the
planning board Art Cacciola into his office and insisted that language in the
comprehensive plan be changed to specifically include development of oil and
gas resources and, in particular, express support for the technology of
fracking.</div>
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Cacciola explained that the plan needs to be generic and not
that specific, as no one knows what technology will be available in the future.
He also explained that the plan did not specifically name any natural resources,
as advised by the Executive Director of the NY Planning Federation.
Furthermore, Cacciola said, “the Executive Director said we <i>should not include
anything in the plan which is currently illegal, such as fracking</i>.”</div>
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Apparently the town supervisor is as immune to common sense
and sound advice as he is to comments from the public. That evening, after
inserting his own language into the Comprehensive Plan, Riggs asked the town board to approve
the newer, <i>frackier</i> version supporting gas extraction. [He also told Cacciola
that he’d no longer be chairman of the planning board and asked for his
resignation. Cacciola declined and intends to serve out his term.]</div>
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Later in the evening Riggs used the new, fracked-up version
of the Comprehensive Plan to justify approval of a <a href="http://marcelluseffect.blogspot.com/2015/10/gas-fracking-resolution-provides.html">resolution supporting the industrialized drilling and LPG fracking</a> of a well in the town of Barton. </div>
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Just as happened at the October town board meeting, a
majority of the people who showed up to comment were against the gas-fracking
resolution. “It was clear that the public comments were just for show,” said
one person (who asked not to be identified). “They knew they were going to vote
for the resolution.” </div>
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“My biggest concern,” said the Candor resident, “is the vast
amount of <a href="http://marcelluseffect.blogspot.com/2015/10/health-professionals-release-compendium.html">scientific evidence</a> that this activity (industrialized gas drilling
and fracking) is dangerous to human health and the environment. Our town board
is not seriously considering that evidence. I feel that we’re being railroaded
by people who have made up their minds and are not willing to look at new
research.”</div>
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And herein lies the problem. Many of those who spoke against
the fracking resolution are the same age as the children of the town board
members. They are the young people who are buying homes and farms in town, who
are coming back to raise families of their own. They want a safe, healthy place
for their children to grow up, like the town they knew. And no one is listening
to them.</div>
Sue Heavenrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00550259613381458435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993321373300794743.post-11530992759733533872015-10-25T09:21:00.001-04:002015-10-25T09:21:21.892-04:00Abandoned Wells are NOT a sign of "Responsible Gas Drilling"One of the arguments from the pro-drilling faction in my town and surrounding region is that "gas drillers are good neighbors". If you are on the receiving end of lease money, it may seem that way - even if you have to put up with the inconvenience of a wellpad on your best pasture or some contamination in your water supply. They're certainly good neighbors if you're a truck driver or run a gravel mining operation. And I know some hard-working people have earned good money working for them.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TEL1tBsBE_k/VizK4Icim7I/AAAAAAAAF-w/hwE3R64xWRw/s1600/abandoned%2Bwell%2BPA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TEL1tBsBE_k/VizK4Icim7I/AAAAAAAAF-w/hwE3R64xWRw/s320/abandoned%2Bwell%2BPA.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An abandoned, unplugged well<a href="https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2012/10/10/perilous-pathways-behind-the-staggering-number-of-abandoned-wells-in-pennsylvania/"> in PA</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
But when the going gets tough, some of these drilling companies cut and run - leaving thousands of abandoned wells that need to be plugged. And who picks up the bill? We do. The taxpayers. We pay the cost of plugging wells long after the drillers have pocketed their profits.<br />
<br />
So what's the problem with these wells? If they are not properly plugged, they<a href="http://marcelluseffect.blogspot.com/2015/10/new-study-shows-methane-from-fracking.html"> provide pathways for methane to travel into the atmosphere</a>, adding greenhouse gases to an already growing climate catastrophe. They also provide pathways for chemicals and methane to flow from a current well into<a href="http://marcelluseffect.blogspot.com/2012/10/abandoned-gas-wells-problem-for-current.html"> groundwater or drinking water </a>wells.<br />
<br />
This is the problem:<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RrBWmib6FVA/VizNrFQcsqI/AAAAAAAAF-8/o3c23EUS57Q/s1600/abandoned-well%2BNPR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RrBWmib6FVA/VizNrFQcsqI/AAAAAAAAF-8/o3c23EUS57Q/s640/abandoned-well%2BNPR.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">graphic from <a href="http://www.npr.org/2012/11/13/164139865/across-pa-abandoned-wells-litter-the-land">NPR article</a></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
There are thousands of abandoned and unplugged wells, and drillers - <b><i>and state regulators</i></b> - don't know where they are. Back in 2012, the PA Department of Environmental Protection estimated there were<a href="https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2012/10/10/perilous-pathways-behind-the-staggering-number-of-abandoned-wells-in-pennsylvania/"> about 200,000 abandoned wells </a>- and that was before companies started drilling in the Marcellus.<br />
<br />
This isn't just a Marcellus Shale problem; <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-faces-growing-backlog-of-abandoned-oil-and-gas-wells-1.3150012">Alberta faces a growing number of abandoned wells</a>. When the price of oil or gas declines, the companies just walk away - leaving the government to clean up after them. Alberta does have an "orphaned well" fund that helps cover the cost but - especially with deeper wells - remediating a site can cost up to $1 million and take 10 years. Responsible drillers don't do that to their neighbors.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.npr.org/2015/10/19/449976530/with-abandoned-gas-wells-states-are-left-with-the-cleanup-bill">Wyoming is facing the same problem</a>, now that the gas boom is going bust. They've got more than 4,000 methane-bed gas wells to locate and plug - because the companies who drilled the wells up and left. Granted, coalbed-methane wells are shallow, and only cost around $10,000 apiece to plug - but that adds up to $30 million - and, say regulators, the newer wells are deeper and cost tens of thousands more to plug. Once again, corporations pocket the profit and leave the public with the cleaning tab. Responsible drillers don't do that to their neighbors.<br />
<br />
Despite evidence that drilling contributes to impacts to public health, including <a href="http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/1306722/?utm_source=rss">low birth weights</a>, <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151008110550.htm"> premature births</a>, and <a href="https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2015/07/15/study-shows-increased-hospitalizations-in-pennsylvania-shale-gas-region/">increased hospitalizations</a> of people living near drilling sites; decreased <a href="http://marcelluseffect.blogspot.com/2015/09/air-pollution-from-fracking-affects.html"> air quality</a> (even if you live hundreds of miles away from the actual drilling site), <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/341/6142/1225942.short">potential human-induced seismic activity</a>, and decreased <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/108/20/8172.short">water quality</a>, the Candor town board is convinced that "everyone" in town wants to be fracked. They fully intend to pass a <a href="http://candortownboard.blogspot.com/2015/08/proposed-resolution-of-support-for-town.html">resolution supporting gas-fracking </a>at their November 10 board meeting.<br />
<br />
The proposed well isn't in our town, one board member pointedly told someone during a previous meeting, so why are we all upset? (Maybe because air and water contamination don't respect town boundaries?) On the other hand, the proposed well isn't in our town, so why is our town board so headstrong adamant about passing this resolution? Could it have something to do with the<a href="http://marcelluseffect.blogspot.com/2015/09/fracking-with-propane-doesnt-solve.html"> old-boy network</a>? Or the fact that <a href="http://www.wbng.com/home/Pennsylvania-politicians-greenlight-plan-to-study-NY-secession--336122641.html">our town supervisor traveled to Harrisburg, PA a couple days ago to meet with Pennsylvania lawmakers about how our town can secede from NY</a>?<br />
<br />
Sue Heavenrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00550259613381458435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993321373300794743.post-53024787492627839682015-10-21T00:30:00.000-04:002015-10-21T00:30:02.376-04:00New Study shows Methane from Fracking Sites can flow to Abandoned Wells<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p_8npTVTFZM/VianbisokMI/AAAAAAAAF-M/_2Yq8tdWuz8/s1600/USGS%2Bfrack%2Bsite%2BPA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p_8npTVTFZM/VianbisokMI/AAAAAAAAF-M/_2Yq8tdWuz8/s400/USGS%2Bfrack%2Bsite%2BPA.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">USGS photo/ public domain ~ Fracking site on Marcellus Shale in PA</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Last week the University of Vermont <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151020091401.htm">released a new study</a>
showing that methane from active fracking sites can escape through faults that
connect to preexisting, abandoned oils and gas wells. The study, to be
published in Water Resources Research on October 20, showed that methane
release measured at abandoned wells near fracking sites can be significant but
did not investigate how the process occurs.</div>
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In August, the EPA <a href="http://www3.epa.gov/airquality/oilandgas/actions.html">proposed measures that would cut methane and VOC emissions</a> from the oil and natural gas industry and clarify permitting
requirements. These regulations would help combat climate change, reduce air
pollution that harms public health, and clarify Clean Air Act permitting
requirements for the oil and natural gas industry, says EPA. </div>
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Since then, the industry has been hotly debating the proposed
regulations on limiting release of methane during fracking operations. That
debate, says James Montague, an environmental engineering doctoral student at
the University of Vermont who co-wrote the paper, “needs to take into account
the system that fracking operations are frequently part of, which includes a
network of abandoned wells that can effectively pipeline methane to the
surface.”</div>
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The researchers studied an area in New York state underlain
by the Marcellus Shale formation, which had been fracked until a ban went into
effect in the state in the summer of 2015. They used a mathematical model to
predict the likelihood that the hydraulically induced fractures of a randomly
placed new well would connect to an existing wellbore, putting that probability
between .03 percent and 3 percent.</div>
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Since then, industry-sponsored information published vastly
increased assumptions about the area impacted by a set of six to eight fracking
wells known as a well pad - to two square miles -- increasing the probabilities
cited in the paper by a factor of 10 or more.</div>
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Not all abandoned wells provide a pathway to surface for
methane. But given the large number of abandoned wells, even a small percentage
can potentially pose an environmental risk. You can read their abstract <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014WR016771/full">here</a>.</div>
Sue Heavenrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00550259613381458435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993321373300794743.post-1508281319902649732015-10-18T16:16:00.000-04:002015-10-18T16:37:41.870-04:00Health Professionals Release Compendium of Studies on Risks of Fracking<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2Rw9E7RStrA/ViPyhl5orhI/AAAAAAAAF94/pE5v5HfT4TM/s1600/new-york-compenium_3rd-ed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2Rw9E7RStrA/ViPyhl5orhI/AAAAAAAAF94/pE5v5HfT4TM/s400/new-york-compenium_3rd-ed.jpg" width="360" /></a></div>
Here's a great resource for someone who wants a list of health studies related to unconventional drilling. A few days ago the Concerned Health Professionals of NY and the Physicians for Social Responsibility released their third edition of the <a href="http://www.psr.org/assets/pdfs/fracking-compendium.pdf"><i><b>Compendium of Scientific, Medical, and Media Findings Demonstrating Risks and Harms of Fracking (Unconventional Gas and Oil Extraction)</b></i></a>.<br />
<br />
"The<i><b> Compendium</b></i>," say the authors, "succinctly summarizes key studies and other findings
relevant to the ongoing public debate about unconventional methods of
oil and gas extraction." It will be useful for people who want to "grasp the scope of the information about both public health and safety
concerns and the economic realities of fracking that frame these
concerns." For those who want to delve deeper, there are plenty of references to reviews,
studies, and articles. Readers wanting more can dive into <a href="http://www.psehealthyenergy.org/site/view/1180">this fully searchable citation database</a> of
peer-reviewed journal articles pertaining to shale gas and oil
extraction housed over at <a href="http://www.psehealthyenergy.org/">PSE Healthy Energy</a>.<br />
<br />
The report highlights health risks ranging from air and water pollution as well as risks associate with a newly emerging problem: leakage of methane and other toxic gases from compressors, pipelines, and other infrastructure.<br />
<br />
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In <a href="http://www.psr.org/assets/pdfs/fracking-letter-ny-cuomo.pdf">a letter to NY governor Andrew Cuomo</a> and NY Dept. of Health commissioner Howard A. Zucker, the authors of the study note that more than 100 new peer-reviewed studies on the impacts of
drilling and fracking have been published since New York’s high volume fracking
ban was announced in December 2014.</div>
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They state that the evidence compiled in their report makes clear that
residents of New York (and other places) are at risk from gas infrastructure projects. "As with hydrofracking, the evidence
available to date confirms that New York’s DOH and DEC were right to note the
potential for harmful air impacts, environmental impacts, and other risks from
infrastructure," they write. "Compressor stations and pipelines are both major sources of air pollutants,
including benzene and formaldehyde, that create serious health risks for those
living nearby while offering little or no offsetting economic benefits."</div>
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Compressor stations in particular, are pretty much permanent facilities that pollute the air
24 hours a day with emissions and noise. The health professionals cite particular concerns over a maintenance procedure known as "blowdown", which can last for hours, releasing plumes of gas into the air. These have been associated with short term effects such as nosebleeds, burning
eyes and throat, skin irritation, and headache, and the health professionals are concerned about long-term effects such as asthma, heart disease, neurological effects and cancers.<br />
<br />
The authors of the <i><b>Compendium</b></i> noted, in their comments to the press, that "the pace at which new studies and information are emerging<i> has rapidly
accelerated in the past year and a half</i>: in the first few months of
2014, more studies were published on the health effects of fracking than
in 2011 and 2012 combined." More than 80 percent of the available studies on
the impacts of shale gas development have been published since January
2013, they say. In 2014, 192 peer-reviewed
studies on the impacts of fracking were published, and in the first six
months of 2015, another 103 studies appeared. "Given the rapidly expanding body of evidence related to the harms and
risks of unconventional oil and gas extraction, we plan to continue
revising and updating the <i><b>Compendium </b></i>approximately every six months," say the authors, noting that the studies cited in this third edition are current through July 31 of this year.<br />
<br />
So, who funds this <i><b>Compendium</b></i> project? No one. The group states that the <i><b>Compendium</b></i> is written "utilizing the
benefit of the experience and expertise of numerous health professionals
and scientists who have been involved in this issue for years."<br />
<br />
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<br />Sue Heavenrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00550259613381458435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993321373300794743.post-42414826496161223472015-10-10T09:40:00.001-04:002015-10-12T11:06:10.483-04:00Gas Fracking Resolution Provides Opportunity for Civic Involvement<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5NTSmLulhsM/VhkNFrAt7CI/AAAAAAAAF7U/aDi5XhDqiUY/s1600/candor%2Btown%2Bhall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5NTSmLulhsM/VhkNFrAt7CI/AAAAAAAAF7U/aDi5XhDqiUY/s320/candor%2Btown%2Bhall.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
In a <a href="http://marcelluseffect.blogspot.com/2015/09/fracking-with-propane-doesnt-solve.html">previous blog</a> I mention that my little town, famous for being the "small town in mass society" is hopping on the bandwagon to support gas-fracking. In their August meeting they proposed adoption of a <a href="http://candortownboard.blogspot.com/2015/08/proposed-resolution-of-support-for-town.html">resolution</a> to support a private corporation in another town to drill a well and frack it with highly explosive propane. (You can read all about how they were spoon-fed that resolution by a representative of the party the resolution benefits - all on that earlier blog).<br />
<br />
I am not the only one who thinks this move to adopt a pro-fracking resolution smacks of politicking. Others do, too - and on Tuesday October 13, they plan to submit a letter to the town board telling why they are not only fed up with this political nonsense, but also enumerating the ways that fracking with gas will NOT solve the issues of health, safety, contamination, etc that the "pro-gas-frac" contingent wants us to believe. <span style="color: red;"><i>(note: update 10/12 re: Van Etten does NOT pass this resolution. see below)</i></span><br />
<br />
After years of scientific study, the <a href="http://marcelluseffect.blogspot.com/2015/05/final-sgeis-released.html">DEC determined that high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing is not healthy</a> to children and other living things. They back that up with a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/12/18/nyregion/new-york-state-fracking-report.html">report released by the NY State Dept. of Health</a>.<br />
<br />
"LPG/ propane gel fracturing warrants the same extensive review before our community condones the use of technology," say the citizens. Propane/LPG fracking isn't the "safe and proven technology" that our town board would like it to be. The People would prefer that our town board remain neutral until DEC has a chance to study the matter, and then comment at the appropriate time, and within their given expertise.<br />
<br />
Furthermore, <a href="http://marcelluseffect.blogspot.com/2012/06/small-towns-embrace-pro-drilling.html">our town already has a "pro-drilling" resolution</a> on tap. And this particular resolution isn't so much about pro-drilling as it is about supporting a group in another town to do something that may or may not be allowed.<br />
<br />
Politicking.<br />
<br />
While the surface talk is all about how gas-fracking is "green" or "more environmentally friendly", remember that the decision to ban HVHF was not just based on the use of mass quantities of water, but also on:<br />
<ul>
<li> impacts to public health, including <a href="http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/1306722/?utm_source=rss">low birth weights</a>, <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151008110550.htm"> premature births</a>, and <a href="https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2015/07/15/study-shows-increased-hospitalizations-in-pennsylvania-shale-gas-region/">increased hospitalizations</a> of people living near drilling sites;</li>
<li>decreased <a href="http://marcelluseffect.blogspot.com/2015/09/air-pollution-from-fracking-affects.html"> air quality</a> even if you live hundreds of miles away,</li>
<li> <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/341/6142/1225942.short">potential human-induced seismic activity</a>,</li>
<li>and decreased <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/108/20/8172.short">water quality</a>.</li>
</ul>
IF you live in Candor, and you would like to sign on to the letter that asks the town board to NOT pass the resolution, you may contact<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> beccarodomskybish[at]gmail[dot]com.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><b><span style="color: red;">UPDATE:</span> </b>It sounds like one local community is passing on the resolution. Last Thursday the Van Etten town board voted to <b>NOT</b> approve this same resolution. A Van Etten resident who attended that meeting gives her town board credit, saying that they "asked to hear from residents before they voted," and that they decided to <b>NOT</b> pass the resolution "citing unwillingness to stir up the divisiveness of the 2012 election."</span><br />
<br /><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><a href="http://gmail.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"></span></a></span>Sue Heavenrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00550259613381458435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993321373300794743.post-30154529721790149892015-09-29T11:51:00.000-04:002015-09-29T11:51:41.841-04:00Fracking with Propane Doesn't Solve those Fracking Problems<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0tUO546ASkw/VgqeIQdNElI/AAAAAAAAF2o/aOQgMiqn67w/s1600/gasfrac-in-alberta%2Blow%2Brez.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="262" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0tUO546ASkw/VgqeIQdNElI/AAAAAAAAF2o/aOQgMiqn67w/s400/gasfrac-in-alberta%2Blow%2Brez.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.ernstversusencana.ca/gelledpropane-gel-gasfrac-crew-caltrex-hydraulic-fracturing-fluid-contaminated-groundwater-near-grande-prairie-ercb">Photo of a gas-frack operation (from Jessica Ernst's blog about gas-fracking)</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
My little town, famous for being the "small town in mass society" is hopping on the bandwagon to support gas-fracking.<br />
<br />
No. Let me clarify: the town board has proposed a <a href="http://candortownboard.blogspot.com/2015/08/proposed-resolution-of-support-for-town.html">resolution</a> to support a private corporation in another town to drill a well and frack it with highly explosive propane.<br />
<br />
The idea is that fracking with gelled propane will solve all the problems that plague hydrofracking:<br />
<ul>
<li>using millions of gallons of water</li>
<li>pouring toxic chemicals into the ground</li>
<li>methane and other chemicals "communicating" with abandoned wells or drinking water wells</li>
<li>surface spills of frack-related wastes coming back up from well</li>
<li>all those water trucks on the road</li>
<li>PLUS- you can use the propane when it comes back out with the gas.</li>
</ul>
Sounds ideal. But here's the problem: fracking with propane isn't any cleaner or less polluting than fracking with water. And it won't produce a lot of local jobs. According to Dr. Ron Bishop, a professor at SUNY Oneonta, using propane to frack wells "wouldn't deal with some real technical challenges." In order to suspend the sand or other proppants used to hold open the fractures, liquid propane needs to be thickened - so foaming agents will need to be added. Fracking crews will also need to add corrosion inhibitors and biocides, too.<br />
<br />
Then there are some new problems, such as controlling a pressurized liquid that quickly turns to gas, and the use of a fracking agent that itself is a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. And gas-fracking does nothing to solve the toxicity of deep brines that flow out of the gas well bores - the brines that, in Marcellus shale, bring up radioactive elements in addition to salts. So there's still the issue of waste disposal.<br />
<br />
Dr. Tony Ingraffea, engineering professor at Cornell, has his own list of problems with gas-fracking. In addition to using large quantities of chemicals, gas-fracking requires compressors at the drill site to re-condense returned propane for reuse. The process is so fraught with danger that the gas-fracking process is now "nearly robotic" because of risks to personnel on the well pad, he says. Then there's transportation. Instead of trucking water to frack jobs, trucks will be transporting hazardous material.<br />
<br />
Once downhole, pressurized propane can still migrate back to the surface (and to water wells) via faults and abandoned wells. So can any chemicals used with the propane, and methane released from the shale. <a href="http://www.ernstversusencana.ca/gelledpropane-gel-gasfrac-crew-caltrex-hydraulic-fracturing-fluid-contaminated-groundwater-near-grande-prairie-ercb">That means that drinking water supplies are still at risk.</a><br />
<br />
An added danger of propane is that it is heavier than air, and can pool in low spots near the well pad in large amounts, causing an explosion hazard - not to mention an air quality hazard to neighbors. Add to that, the only substantive information about the gas-fracking process comes from the company (GasFrac) - there has been no independent empirical analysis of the complete process.<br />
<br />
The bottom line, says Ingraffea, is that "no science is available to evaluate either the environmental impacts of LPG fracking or the safety thereof." Supporting gas-fracking, he says, is nothing more than grasping at straws for a solution to problems the industry claims don't even exist.<br />
<br />
So, why is my town board so gung-ho to support gas-fracking? We don't even have a horse in this race... but read on for some insight into how small town politics works.<br />
<br />
<b>The backstory:</b><br />
Back in June the DEC <a href="http://marcelluseffect.blogspot.com/2015/06/dec-says-no-fracking.html">finalized their years-long study of hydrofracking </a>and determined that, no, it was not gonna happen. Some landowners, believing that they have untapped mineral wealth beneath their feet, decided that there was more than one way to extract fossil fuels from the ground.<br />
<br />
So in early July, a handful of farmers formed "The Snyder Farm Group" and filed an application with the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) for a permit to fracture shale using gelled propane. <a href="http://www.ithacajournal.com/story/news/local/2015/07/08/fracking-propane-proposed-tioga-county-ny/29863383/">It's not high volume hydraulic fracturing</a>, said their lawyer - so DEC should be able to allow it under the 1992 Generic Environmental Impact Statement (written before gas-fracking was born).<br />
<br />
About a month later, the <a href="http://www.wbng.com/news/local/Tioga-County-Legislature-shows-their-support-for-Propane-Fracking-321479011.html">Tioga County legislature adopted a resolution supporting the Snyder Farm</a> group's efforts to frack with gas. Soon after that this same resolution began showing up on the agenda of Tioga County towns, including Candor. On Aug 11, Snyder Farm Group spokesman Kevin "Cub" Frisbie called Candor town supervisor Bob Riggs and asked the town to support the same resolution (he emailed the resolution later that same day). <a href="http://www.ithaca.com/news/candor/candor-town-board-considers-support-for-gel-fracking/article_1c649762-49af-11e5-9ab9-834e46d6018d.html">That very night, the town board considered the resolution</a>, with Riggs stating (incorrectly),<span class="paragraph-1"> “By current law this is all approved and they’re just asking the surrounding municipalities to endorse that.”</span><br />
<span class="paragraph-1"><br /></span>
<span class="paragraph-1">At the last board meeting (September 8), the town board and the town planning board <a href="http://www.ithaca.com/news/candor/planning-board-no-carte-blanche-for-frackers/article_24c91ec4-5d68-11e5-b8f7-7f8adb13b674.html">got into a heated discussion about language regarding fracking i</a>n the proposed revision of the Comprehensive Plan.</span> “We’re not opposed to fracking, just fracking carte blanche,” said planning board member Art Cacciola after the meeting.<br />
<br />
The next town board meeting will be Tuesday, October 13. It promises to be interesting, as the board intends to vote on the Comprehensive Plan (and maybe change the language to include fracking) - and may, or may not, vote on the resolution written for them by the Snyder Farm Group. Agenda should be posted <a href="http://candortownboard.blogspot.com/">here</a> prior to meeting. <br />
<span class="paragraph-1"><br /></span>
Sue Heavenrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00550259613381458435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993321373300794743.post-31096379353138352222015-09-27T19:18:00.000-04:002015-09-27T19:18:40.620-04:00Air Pollution from Fracking Affects areas where there is No Drilling<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-20M9R0Kq0hQ/UMAHwvUTwWI/AAAAAAAABwc/mjoAcyzoVk8/s1600/choke_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-20M9R0Kq0hQ/UMAHwvUTwWI/AAAAAAAABwc/mjoAcyzoVk8/s320/choke_1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
A new study finds that air pollution from industrialized drilling and hydrofracking can likely travel hundreds of miles, even to states with little or no drilling. <a href="http://acmg.seas.harvard.edu/publications/aqast/articles/vinciguerra_etal_2015.pdf">The study</a>, published in the June issue of the journal, <i><b>Atmospheric Environment</b></i>, shows that emissions associated with hydraulic fracturing and shale gas operations could be polluting air in cities far from the drilling pads.<br />
<br />
Scientists from the University of Maryland looked at levels of ethane in the air of Baltimore and Washington DC. They used hourly measurements of volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) from Photochemical Assessment Monitoring Stations (PAMS) in the Baltimore and DC areas. The PAMS don't collect data on methane but they do measure ethane, which can be used as a tracer for fugitive natural gas production emissions. While composition varies from site to site, ethane makes up a significant portion of gas produced from Marcellus shale.<br />
<br />
Analyzing data collected between 2010 to 2013, the researchers noticed that "daytime ethane concentrations have increased significantly since 2010, growing from around 7 percent of total measured nonmethane organic carbon to around 15 percent in 2013."<br />
<br />
It is important to note that neither Baltimore nor Washington DC have fracking operations in or around their metropolitan areas and, <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/225330-maryland-set-to-allow-fracking">until late last year</a>, the state of Maryland did not allow fracking. So where did this air pollution come from? The trend in increased ethane, say the researchers, appears to be linked with the "rapidly increasing natural gas production in upwind, neighboring states, especially Pennsylvania and West Virginia."<br />
<br />
They compared the Baltimore/DC data with a control site outside of Atlanta, GA, a region without new, widespread gas drilling operations. The PAMS site in Georgia did not show the same trend in increased methane as seen in the northeast.<br />
<br />
The scientists conclude that the increasing amount of ethane in the air indicates that "a substantial fraction of natural gas is escaping uncombusted" and traveling downwind. As shale gas production expands, this trend will continue in downwind regions, they say, noting a disappointing trend in regional air quality. Also, this observable increase in ethane corresponds to a regional increase in methane - a critical greenhouse gas. <br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AxvIde55BUs/VawhpjC-5aI/AAAAAAAAFe0/YmPZUYGuU_w/s1600/Troy%2Bhouse%2Band%2Bwell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="293" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AxvIde55BUs/VawhpjC-5aI/AAAAAAAAFe0/YmPZUYGuU_w/s320/Troy%2Bhouse%2Band%2Bwell.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bradford County, PA</td></tr>
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A <a href="http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/07/panetteri/">new study</a> out of the University of Pennsylvania Perelman
School of Medicine shows that people who live near hydraulically fractured
wells end up in the hospital more than people who don't live near wells.<br />
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Researchers used databases that contained more than 198,000
hospitalizations (including multiple hospitalizations for the same person) for
the years between 2007 - 2011. They looked at the top 25 medical categories
cited, and the patient's proximity to active wells.<br />
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What they found: people living in Bradford and Susquehanna
counties ended up in the hospital more frequently than residents of Wayne
county. Both Bradford and Susquehanna Counties saw a significant increase in
drilling activity over the same five-year period, whereas Wayne County had no
drilling activity due to a ban on drilling in the Delaware River watershed.<br />
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The biggest difference was found in hospitalizations for
heart conditions and neurological illness. Where there was a well density
greater than 0.79 wells/square kilometer, residents experienced a 27% increase
in cardiology visits compared to where there were no wells. Residents living
near wells also experienced higher rates of hospitalization for cancers,
dermatological problems, and a host of other health problems.<br />
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Senior author, Dr. Reynold Panettieri told the press that
this study is one of the most comprehensive ones, to date. But there are still
questions. "At this point, we suspect that residents are exposed to many
toxicants, noise, and social stressors due to hydraulic fracturing," he
said. But he cautioned that more study is needed to determine how specific
toxicants or combinations might increase the hospitalization rates. For
example, cardiac issues could be related to a variety of environmental stressors,
including air pollution resulting from diesel exhaust and fine particulate
matter, like the sand used in fracking.<br />
<br />
While they can't say that fracking causes heart attacks, the authors do say that the increased hospitalizations over such a short time suggest that health care costs of fracking must be considered when looking at economic impacts/benefits of unconventional gas and oil drilling.<br />
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Sue Heavenrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00550259613381458435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993321373300794743.post-59606191806795314722015-06-29T18:16:00.001-04:002015-06-29T18:16:37.451-04:00DEC says NO Fracking<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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It's true. New York is officially banning hydrofracking from the state. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ic8m5AZ0M9o/VWTK8ZnCMxI/AAAAAAAAFTY/ALOgjMj40n0/s1600/Marcellus%2Bwell%2B3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ic8m5AZ0M9o/VWTK8ZnCMxI/AAAAAAAAFTY/ALOgjMj40n0/s320/Marcellus%2Bwell%2B3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This afternoon the NYS Department of Environmental
Conservation released its official Findings Statement concluding the seven-year
environmental impact study on high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing.</div>
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In remarks to the press, DEC Commissioner Joe Martens said,
"After years of exhaustive research and examination of the science and
facts, prohibiting high-volume hydraulic fracturing is the only reasonable
alternative.” Fracking, he said, "poses significant adverse impacts to
land, air, water, natural resources and potential significant public health
impacts that cannot be adequately mitigated."</div>
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Significant adverse impacts to
land, air, water, natural resources and potential significant public health
impacts that cannot be adequately mitigated.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">The finding, says Martens, is "</span>consistent with DEC’s mission to conserve, improve and protect our state’s
natural resources, and to enhance the health, safety and welfare of the people
of the state." </div>
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There are no "feasible
or prudent alternatives" that adequately avoid or minimize adverse environmental
impacts, he notes. Likewise, there are no "feasible
or prudent alternatives" that address risks to public health from fracking.</div>
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DEC based the Findings Statement on the huge amount of research
included in the Final Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement
(FSGEIS) that they released last month. That 2,000-page document included responses to public comments and the state Department of Health’s Public Health Review, which
concluded that, given the uncertainty regarding potential health impacts from high volume hydro-fracking, that technology should not move forward in the state.</div>
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The 44-page Findings Statement details <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">widespread
potential
impacts from fracking including impacts to water and air
resources, ecosystems and wildlife, community character and public
health.You can read it online at the <a href="http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/75370.html">DEC's website</a>. </span><br />
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<br />Sue Heavenrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00550259613381458435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993321373300794743.post-658573440970804602015-06-08T09:05:00.001-04:002015-06-08T09:09:24.873-04:00EPA study does NOT say Fracking is "safe"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LSLon7Dx7pY/UKP7Ryy37RI/AAAAAAAABn8/mUCdzMnUDL4/s1600/Dimock%2Bwater%2Bjug.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LSLon7Dx7pY/UKP7Ryy37RI/AAAAAAAABn8/mUCdzMnUDL4/s320/Dimock%2Bwater%2Bjug.jpg" width="242" /></a></div>
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Five days ago, that would be Thursday, June 4, the EPA released its "Draft Assessment on the Potential Impacts to
Drinking Water Resources from Hydraulic Fracturing Activities". [You can download the complete study - nearly 1,000 pages of it - <a href="http://www2.epa.gov/hfstudy">here</a>.]</div>
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This is what some <a href="http://www.americanpetroleuminstitute.com/news-and-media/news/newsitems/2015/june-2015/api-epa-hydraulic-fracturing-review-confirms-safety">pro-drilling interests</a> picked up from the press release: "Assessment shows hydraulic fracturing activities have not
led to widespread, systemic impacts to drinking water resources and identifies
important vulnerabilities to drinking water resources." They would like to believe that the EPA study shows that fracking is "safe". In fact, "no proven contamination" has been their motto for years.</div>
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Unfortunately, early <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/fracking-has-had-no-widespread-impact-on-drinking-water-epa-finds-1433433850">media</a> reports simply parroted what they saw at the top of the EPA press release without reading the details or delving into the executive summary.</div>
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Dive in a bit deeper and you learn what the EPA study <i>really</i> says: there are cases in which fracking has impacted drinking water resources, but it is not "widespread and systematic" <i>yet</i>. </div>
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The EPA study found that fracking activities have the potential to impact our drinking water in these ways:</div>
<ul>
<li>fracking directly into underground
water resources</li>
<li>withdrawing water in areas affected by droughts or periods of low water
availability</li>
<li>spills</li>
<li>below-ground migration of liquids and gases</li>
<li>inadequate
treatment and discharge of waste fluids</li>
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The EPA study found “specific instances” where fracking-related activities contaminated drinking water, including water wells. They didn't find it everywhere, but they only studied a handful of communities. EPA admits that their study is limited by the lack of pre- and post-drilling water quality data. They say their study is limited by the lack of long-term systematic studies. They also say that certain information on fracking was not made accessible to them.</div>
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If you need a visual image to help you, check out this map that William Huston pulled together from data in Pennsylvania's Marcellus shale region.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gj2_g1UGXzs/VXWRMuQG0cI/AAAAAAAAFc8/DISWnfi4G-4/s1600/gasland%2Bmap%2Bfracked%2Bwells%2BPA%2Blow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gj2_g1UGXzs/VXWRMuQG0cI/AAAAAAAAFc8/DISWnfi4G-4/s400/gasland%2Bmap%2Bfracked%2Bwells%2BPA%2Blow.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Map: (C) 2015 <a href="mailto:WilliamAHuston@gmail.com" target="_blank">WilliamAHuston@gmail.com</a> </b><b>Share: CC-BY-NC -- All other rights reserved.</b></td></tr>
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This map shows 313 cases where families in the north eastern part of the state reported water contamination. Just six counties. The red areas indicate where the most reports came from. </div>
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Three hundred thirteen might not seem "widespread and systematic", but it demonstrates part of the problem with how the EPA study is interpreted. The impacts are localized. But they are systematic, when you compare where the pollution is with where the drilling occurs.</div>
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Further reading:<br />
<ul>
<li> <a href="http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20150604/GZ01/150609630/1419">EPA finds drinking water vulnerable to fracking<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></li>
<li><a href="http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20150607/GZ01/150609432"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">EPA says new study doesn’t show fracking is safe</span></a></li>
<li><a href="http://ecowatch.com/2015/06/05/josh-fox-fracking-contaminates-drinking-water/">Fracking Does Cause ‘Widespread, Systemic’ Contamination of American’s Drinking Water</a></li>
</ul>
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EPA
investigators said that they did find “above and below ground
mechanisms” through which various stages of what they called “fracking
activities” can “have the potential to impact drinking water resources.”<br />
Among
those mechanisms: Fracking directly into underground water resources,
water withdrawals in areas with or in times of low water availability,
spills of various fluids used in or produced by fracking processes,
below-ground migration of liquids and gases, and inadequate treatment
and discharge of wastewater.<br />
EPA said its investigators found
“specific instances” where one or more mechanisms affected drinking
water, including contamination of wells. The agency report said the
number of identified cases “was small compared to the number of
hydraulically fractured wells,” but conceded it wasn’t sure why.<br />
“This
finding could reflect a rarity of effects on drinking water resources,
but may also be due to other limiting factors,” the EPA said. “These
factors include: insufficient pre- and post-fracturing data on the
quality of drinking water resources; the paucity of long-term systematic
studies; the presence of other sources of contamination precluding a
definitive link between hydraulic fracturing activities and an impact;
and the inaccessibility of some information on hydraulic fracturing
activities and potential impacts.”<br />
- See more at: http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20150607/GZ01/150609432#sthash.kYK3RUTA.dpuf</div>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
EPA
investigators said that they did find “above and below ground
mechanisms” through which various stages of what they called “fracking
activities” can “have the potential to impact drinking water resources.”<br />
Among
those mechanisms: Fracking directly into underground water resources,
water withdrawals in areas with or in times of low water availability,
spills of various fluids used in or produced by fracking processes,
below-ground migration of liquids and gases, and inadequate treatment
and discharge of wastewater.<br />
EPA said its investigators found
“specific instances” where one or more mechanisms affected drinking
water, including contamination of wells. The agency report said the
number of identified cases “was small compared to the number of
hydraulically fractured wells,” but conceded it wasn’t sure why.<br />
“This
finding could reflect a rarity of effects on drinking water resources,
but may also be due to other limiting factors,” the EPA said. “These
factors include: insufficient pre- and post-fracturing data on the
quality of drinking water resources; the paucity of long-term systematic
studies; the presence of other sources of contamination precluding a
definitive link between hydraulic fracturing activities and an impact;
and the inaccessibility of some information on hydraulic fracturing
activities and potential impacts.”<br />
- See more at: http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20150607/GZ01/150609432#sthash.kYK3RUTA.dpuf</div>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
EPA
investigators said that they did find “above and below ground
mechanisms” through which various stages of what they called “fracking
activities” can “have the potential to impact drinking water resources.”<br />
Among
those mechanisms: Fracking directly into underground water resources,
water withdrawals in areas with or in times of low water availability,
spills of various fluids used in or produced by fracking processes,
below-ground migration of liquids and gases, and inadequate treatment
and discharge of wastewater.<br />
EPA said its investigators found
“specific instances” where one or more mechanisms affected drinking
water, including contamination of wells. The agency report said the
number of identified cases “was small compared to the number of
hydraulically fractured wells,” but conceded it wasn’t sure why.<br />
“This
finding could reflect a rarity of effects on drinking water resources,
but may also be due to other limiting factors,” the EPA said. “These
factors include: insufficient pre- and post-fracturing data on the
quality of drinking water resources; the paucity of long-term systematic
studies; the presence of other sources of contamination precluding a
definitive link between hydraulic fracturing activities and an impact;
and the inaccessibility of some information on hydraulic fracturing
activities and potential impacts.”<br />
- See more at: http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20150607/GZ01/150609432#sthash.kYK3RUTA.dpuf</div>
Sue Heavenrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00550259613381458435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993321373300794743.post-8172276996843995142015-05-26T15:42:00.001-04:002015-05-26T15:42:26.331-04:00Wading into the final SGEIS<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ic8m5AZ0M9o/VWTK8ZnCMxI/AAAAAAAAFTU/DZKe0-4yFOQ/s1600/Marcellus%2Bwell%2B3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ic8m5AZ0M9o/VWTK8ZnCMxI/AAAAAAAAFTU/DZKe0-4yFOQ/s320/Marcellus%2Bwell%2B3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">active Marcellus well, Bradford County, PA</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho";">Nearly two weeks ago, the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) released their Final
SGEIS. Weighing in at 2,000 pages – about 20 pounds – this report lays the
groundwork for what many believe will be a statewide ban on high volume
hydraulic fracturing.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho";">The SGEIS
(Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement) on high-volume horizontal
hydraulic fracturing supplements the existing environmental impact statement
for oil, gas, and solution mining that was adopted in 1992. The original
scoping document called for an SGEIS to address just a handful of issues that
hydraulic fracturing would present including increased water use for drilling
and the impacts of multiple wells at a single well pad.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho";">Over the
years the document grew as its scope expanded. Now, with the completion of the SGEIS,
there is just one more official step in meeting the State’s Environmental
Quality Review Act (SEQRA): issue a formal “findings statement”. The “findings
statement” is legally binding and cannot be issued any sooner than 10 days
after the release of the Final SGEIS. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho";">What’s
different about the Final SGEIS, besides its heft, is the amount of effort that
DEC put in to gather comments from medical and public health professionals,
environmental organizations, municipalities, industry groups, and other members
of the public; the review of the state Department of Health report; and a review
drilling incidents in Pennsylvania. </span></div>
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<b><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho";">Here’s what you’ll find when you crack open
its covers:</span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho";"><b>In chapter
two</b>, DEC notes that, if allowed, hydro-fracking would <i>impact areas not
previously exposed to oil and gas development</i>. Furthermore, ancillary activities
associated with drilling activities “would likely spread to those areas of the state
where high-volume hydraulic fracturing is prohibited.”</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho";"><b>Chapter
six</b> focuses on environmental impacts. DEC acknowledges uncertainty about the
effectiveness of mitigation; the inability to quantify potential risks and
impacts to environment and public health; and that some significant adverse
impacts simply can’t be avoided. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
list potential impacts on water resources, ecosystems, wildlife, air resources,
local communities, local economies, and transportation. DEC also brings up additional
concerns about radioactive materials that are released during drilling and the
potential for man-made earthquakes. When considering drilling’s impact on greenhouse
gases, DEC cites New York’s long-term policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas
emissions through a reduction – not an increase – in reliance on fossil fuels. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho";"><b>Despite
the weaknesses inherent in mitigating</b> potential harm from intensive
industrialized drilling, DEC outlines seven possible measures. These steps
include prohibiting hydro-fracking in the New York City and Syracuse watersheds,
fracking within a 500-foot buffer area above primary aquifers, and mandatory disclosure
of ingredients in fracking fluids. The DEC specifically points to the lack of
evidence showing that high-volume hydro-fracking can be done “without posing
unreasonable risk to human health.”</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho";">At the end
of the process, DEC Commissioner Joseph Martens must file a findings statement
that describes how the state moves forward. The Final SGEIS provides three
alternatives: no action, a phased-permitting approach, or allowing green and non-chemical
fracking technologies and additives. Many think it’s likely that Martens will choose the “no
action alternative”, especially given Cuomo’s statement in December calling for
a ban. Under the “no action” alternative, DEC would deny applications for hydro-fracking
that uses more than 300,000 gallons of water. High-volume hydraulic fracturing,
which uses 5 – 7 million gallons of water per well, would not be allowed.</span></div>
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Sue Heavenrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00550259613381458435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993321373300794743.post-33681815418121916382015-05-16T08:59:00.001-04:002015-05-16T08:59:27.926-04:00Final SGEIS Released ...... but getting to the NY State Dept. of Environmental Conservation website to read it might be difficult. Apparently traffic is heavy and the site is overwhelmed.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eVQe10NWshM/UPGni_LwygI/AAAAAAAAB8A/PMDRFpNS-wo/s1600/DEC%2Bcomments%2Bstop%2Bthe%2Bfrack%2Battack%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eVQe10NWshM/UPGni_LwygI/AAAAAAAAB8A/PMDRFpNS-wo/s320/DEC%2Bcomments%2Bstop%2Bthe%2Bfrack%2Battack%2B2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The SGEIS review generated over 260,000 comments</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Late on Wednesday, May 13 - at 4:05 pm eastern time - the DEC press office sent out notification that the DEC had issued their final SGEIS. It's huge - so large that the document has been broken into small chunks of "downloadable" size that you can download - IF you can get onto the site. The appendices are full of splendid info, including the <a href="http://www.health.ny.gov/press/reports/docs/high_volume_hydraulic_fracturing.pdf">DOH report</a> issued in December in which the Dept. of Health concluded that High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing "should not proceed in New York."<br />
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Here is Wednesday's press release:</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
DEC ISSUES FINAL SUPPLEMENTAL GENERIC ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
STATEMENT ON HIGH-VOLUME HYDRAULIC FRACTURING</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)
today released the Final Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement
(FSGEIS) for high-volume hydraulic fracturing that identifies and examines
continued major uncertainties about potential significant adverse health and
environmental impacts associated with the activity. After a required 10-day
period, DEC will issue its formal Findings Statement, in accordance with the
State’s Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA).</div>
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“The Final SGEIS is the result of an extensive examination of
high-volume hydraulic fracturing and its potential adverse impacts on critical
resources such as drinking water, community character and wildlife habitat,”
DEC Commissioner Joe Martens said. “We considered materials from numerous
sources, including scientific studies, academic research and public comments,
and evaluated the effectiveness of potential mitigation measures to protect New
York’s valuable natural resources and the health of residents. I will rely on
the FSGEIS when I issue a Findings Statement in accordance with state law.”</div>
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The FSGEIS incorporates the State Health Department Public
Health Review report issued December 17, 2014, which determined there is
significant uncertainty about adverse health outcomes and whether mitigation
measures could adequately protect public health, including impacts to air,
water, soil and community character.</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6m36Nhzkef8/TFmSmccbhwI/AAAAAAAAAQI/i2Lq23W7VAs/s1600/from%2BWes%2BGillingham%2BA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6m36Nhzkef8/TFmSmccbhwI/AAAAAAAAAQI/i2Lq23W7VAs/s320/from%2BWes%2BGillingham%2BA.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
DEC first issued a draft SGEIS for HVHF in September 2009
examining the potential impacts from HVHF, including: contamination of drinking
water supplies, groundwater and surface waters; air pollution; spills;
wastewater and solid waste treatment and disposal; ecological impacts; and
adverse effects on communities. Concurrently, DEC also evaluated whether
mitigation measures would be sufficient to prevent adverse impacts to the
environment and public health.</div>
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A revised draft SGEIS was released in September 2011, which
proposed to: prohibit drilling in the New York City and Syracuse Watersheds,
state-owned lands and primary aquifers; restrict HVHF on certain forest and
grassland areas; and require additional drinking water mitigation measures. The
2011 draft also expanded the earlier review of socio-economic and community
impacts.</div>
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Since the issuance of the 2009 draft SGEIS, and the
subsequent 2011revised draft<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>SGEIS, DEC
has gained a more detailed understanding of the potential impacts associated
with high-volume hydraulic fracturing with horizontal drilling from: (i) the
extensive public comments from medical and public health professionals,
environmental organizations, municipalities, industry groups, and other members
of the public; (ii) its review of reports and studies of proposed operations
prepared by industry groups; (iii) extensive consultations with scientists in
several bureaus within the NYSDOH; (iv) the use of outside consulting firms to
prepare analyses relating to socioeconomic impacts, as well as impacts on
community character, including visual, noise and traffic impacts; and (v) its
review of information and data from the Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection (PADEP) and the Susquehanna River Basin Commission
(SRBC) about events, regulations, enforcement and other matters associated with
ongoing Marcellus Shale development in Pennsylvania.</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LSLon7Dx7pY/UKP7Ryy37RI/AAAAAAAABn8/mUCdzMnUDL4/s1600/Dimock%2Bwater%2Bjug.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LSLon7Dx7pY/UKP7Ryy37RI/AAAAAAAABn8/mUCdzMnUDL4/s320/Dimock%2Bwater%2Bjug.jpg" width="242" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During the review process, DEC hosted numerous public forums
and received more than 260,000 public comments. The FSGEIS includes a lengthy
summary of the public comments and DEC’s Response to Comments. The Response to
Comments, which is over 300 pages long, systematically reviews each type of
impact and the public comments about the impacts and potential mitigation
measures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In it, DEC recognizes
extensive uncertainties about the impacts and how to mitigate them.</div>
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A copy of the FSGEIS can be found at:
<a href="http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/75370.html">http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/75370.html</a>.</div>
Sue Heavenrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00550259613381458435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993321373300794743.post-49302896940978086552015-03-18T12:16:00.000-04:002015-03-19T09:20:57.801-04:00Post Frack-Ban Impacts on New York's Water Resources<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Three months ago, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a ban on
high-volume hydraulic fracturing in the state of New York. So – at least for
now - contamination from active drilling is off the table. But there are other
ways that hydrofracking puts New York’s water resources at risk. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wX-ID_kXrAc/TGh7YCPyxBI/AAAAAAAAARg/y0rOGhrjvP0/s1600/water%2Bmonitoring.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wX-ID_kXrAc/TGh7YCPyxBI/AAAAAAAAARg/y0rOGhrjvP0/s1600/water%2Bmonitoring.jpg" height="163" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Water monitoring in Tioga Co. NY</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Steve Penningroth, director of the Community Science
Institute recently spoke about how shale gas waste disposal and infrastructure
development threaten the state’s water resources despite the federal Clean
Water Act and the state-wide frack ban. State regulations that address wastewater
treatment plants, factories, landfills, and even concentrated animal feeding
operations (CAFOs) allow a certain amount of pollution. That’s because the SPDES
permits (State Pollution Discharge Elimination System) specify the source and
quantities of pollutants that operations can “legally discharge” into streams,
rivers, and lakes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But some chemicals, such as endocrine disruptors and
pharmaceuticals, are allowed to enter the public waste streams unregulated. And
even though some wastes may be hazardous, the Clean Water Act exempts them –
including radioactive drill cuttings from fracked gas wells.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s not just landfills that have to deal with radioactive
waste in drill cuttings from Pennsylvania and other states, says Penningroth.
Wastewater treatment plants that take landfill leachate have to deal with
whatever pollutants end up in the water percolating through the landfills. Add
to that the risks associated with train and truck transport of oil and
liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for spills, fires, and explosions and the
potential for storage fields - including salt caverns – to leak or explode. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s-c7GuCnHek/VQmdLHu_7BI/AAAAAAAAFA0/ylJDguzUW7Q/s1600/Chemung%2BCounty%2Blandfill%2BRachel%2BTreichlor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s-c7GuCnHek/VQmdLHu_7BI/AAAAAAAAFA0/ylJDguzUW7Q/s1600/Chemung%2BCounty%2Blandfill%2BRachel%2BTreichlor.jpg" height="280" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chemung County Landfill and nearby River (google earth)</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Environmental attorney Rachel Treichler has been studying
some of the issues that affect the Southern Tier of NY. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“At this time Pennsylvania gas drilling wastes
are coming into New York landfills,” she said. Citing a <a href="http://www.eany.org/our-work/reports/license-dump-february-2015">report from theEnvironmental Advocates of NY</a>, she noted that already 460,000 tons of solid
fracking waste and 23,000 barrels of liquid waste from Pennsylvania gas wells –
possibly more – have been dumped in a several New York landfills. Three of
those, the Chemung County Landfill in Lowman, the Hakes Landfill in Painted
Post (Steuben County), and the Hyland Landfill in Angelica (Allegany County)
are in the Southern Tier. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Chemung County landfill has taken close to 200,000 tons
of drill cuttings. Drill cuttings bring in money for the landfills, said
Treichler. But they also bring in radioactive isotopes. Treichler is concerned
that some of the waste contains radioactive flowback from the gas wells. “I’ve
watched loads being dumped, and they’re so liquefied that they splash,” she
said. That liquid could contain radon and radium, naturally occurring
radioactive elements found in Marcellus shale wells. And while the landfill has
a radioactivity detector at the entrance, it only detects gamma radiation, not
the more common alpha and beta radiation. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZGxAWHPc4po/VQmdLlk3YfI/AAAAAAAAFA4/HR2gBmXoHAQ/s1600/Chemung%2BCounty%2Blandfil%2Bradiation%2Bdetectors%2BRachel%2BT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZGxAWHPc4po/VQmdLlk3YfI/AAAAAAAAFA4/HR2gBmXoHAQ/s1600/Chemung%2BCounty%2Blandfil%2Bradiation%2Bdetectors%2BRachel%2BT.jpg" height="228" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Radiation Monitors, Chemung landfill (<a href="http://www.alleghenyfront.org/story/leftover-marcellus-rocks-threat-water-supplies-radiation">Matt Richmond</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The landfills take drill cuttings because they’re not
prohibited,” says Treichler, “not because they’re safe.” If drilling waste were
treated the same way as low-level radioactive waste, such as that produced by
hospitals, it would have to be tracked, she says. There is no tracking of
drilling waste. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The problem with radioactive elements in waste is that they
don’t stay put. Water percolating through the landfill leaches heavy metals and
radioactive isotopes. If there are no leaks in the landfill lining, that
leachate is collected and transported to wastewater treatment plants. Or it
might migrate through the soil to end up in a local waterway.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Even if the leachate ends up at the waste treatment plants,
those facilities are ill-equipped to treat hazardous and radioactive waste,
says Treichler. So that radiation is eventually discharged, along with the
treated water, into local rivers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Leachate collected from the Chemung County landfill is sent
to the Chemung County waste water treatment plant in Elmira to be treated, after which it is discharged into the Chemung River which flows into the Susquehanna
and provides drinking water to communities on its way to Chesapeake Bay.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In 2010, Chemung County residents concerned about
radioactive drilling waste challenged the landfill’s permit that would allow
them to accept drill cuttings. The result: two years of required testing of the
leachate. <a href="http://www.garyabraham.com/ChemungLF.html">Gary Abraham, an attorney working with the residents</a>, compiled the
data from four rounds of sampling. In an email to Tompkins Weekly, he explained
that the data show that the leachate is becoming more radioactive, but the
levels are well under the discharge limits. Still, Abraham is concerned about
the radioactive contaminants, particularly radium-226. It is persistent in the
environment and bio-accumulates up the food chain.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Water discharge from treatment plants isn’t the only
concern, Rachel Treichler says. The solid waste left once water has been
treated – sludge - is collected and spread on land. “If there were
radioactivity in the sludge, land-spreading would be the final way for it to
get into our water.” </div>
Sue Heavenrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00550259613381458435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993321373300794743.post-79991000104991113182015-02-09T10:22:00.001-05:002015-02-09T10:22:13.183-05:00DEC Extends Public Comment Period On Proposed Constitution Pipeline Until FEB. 27thThe New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)
today extended the public comment period on the draft permit for the
proposed, federally regulated Constitution Pipeline and an upgrade to
the Iroquois Wright Compressor station in Schoharie County by an
additional 28 days. Public comments on the propose project will now be
accepted until close of business on Friday, February 27.<br />
<br />
The Constitution Pipeline is a proposed interstate natural gas
pipeline that would traverse though Broome, Chenango, Delaware and
Schoharie counties. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) was
responsible for conducting an environmental review of the project and
has the authority to approve the pipeline route. FERC issued a <a href="http://elibrary.ferc.gov/idmws/file_list.asp?accession_num=20141024-4001">final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS)</a> in October, which can be viewed at: http://elibrary.FERC.gov/idmws/file_list.asp?accession_num=20141024-4001.<br />
<br />
DEC maintains the authority to review applications for specific
permits and approvals, including an Air Title V permit for the proposed
compressor station upgrade, as well as a Water Quality Certification, a
Protection of Waters permit, a Water Withdrawal permit and a Freshwater
Wetlands permit for state-protected wetlands and adjacent areas.<br />
<br />
Written comments should be submitted to:<br />
Stephen M. Tomasik<br />
DEC - Division of Environmental Permits<br />
625 Broadway, 4th Floor<br />
Albany, NY 12233-1750<br />
<a href="mailto:constitution@dec.ny.gov">constitution@dec.ny.gov</a><br />
<br />
For more go to <a href="http://www.dec.ny.gov/press/100284.html">http://www.dec.ny.gov/press/100284.html</a>Sue Heavenrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00550259613381458435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993321373300794743.post-25647159755231637382014-12-26T20:19:00.000-05:002014-12-27T23:06:59.116-05:00DEC Seeks Public comments on Constitution Pipeline<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JmCvRQX7mvk/TB7oV6tbqKI/AAAAAAAAAOA/s-VJOE78OrY/s1600/Millennium%2BPipeline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JmCvRQX7mvk/TB7oV6tbqKI/AAAAAAAAAOA/s-VJOE78OrY/s1600/Millennium%2BPipeline.jpg" height="210" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Today the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
announced it is seeking public comments on the Draft State Permit Applications
for proposed construction of the Interstate Constitution Pipeline. <b>Public comments will be accepted through Jan. 30, 2015</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The public is invited to comment on permit applications the
State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) received for the proposed,
federally regulated Constitution Pipeline and an upgrade to the Iroquois Wright
Compressor station in Schoharie County that is part of the project. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The 30-inch Constitution Pipeline is a proposed interstate
natural gas pipeline that would traverse 124 miles though Broome, Chenango, Delaware
and Schoharie counties, transporting 650,000 dekatherms of gas per day – enough to serve approximately 3 million homes. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Just last month, November 15, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>more than 200 people converged on Ithaca
College to discuss how communities can protect their interests in the face of development
from pipelines, compressor stations, and other fracking infrastructure.
Pipelines represent a huge investment in continuing to burn fossil fuels to
power our economy – a $21 billion investment in pipeline development for moving
gas extracted from Marcellus shale alone, said environmental lawyer David
Slottje. Overall, he said, current estimates point to building 15,000 miles of
pipeline each year between now and 2035. Not the sort of investment a company
makes for a “bridge fuel”, he noted.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Federal Energy Regulatory commission (FERC) and NY State
Public Service Commission (PSC) are in charge of big projects, such as
pipelines. The major difference, especially important in the case of pipelines,
is that FERC decisions grant eminent domain whereas PSC doesn’t. Which agency
has oversight also depends on whether a pipeline is crossing state borders or
connecting to an interstate pipeline, and how big it is. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While transmission lines are regulated, “gathering lines”
and those carrying gas at pressures below 125 pounds per square inch (psi), or
that are shorter than 1,000 feet fall into the unregulated category.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Constitution Pipeline is only one of the pipelines
scheduled for this area. There’s also the “Millennium Phase-1 North-South
Upstate Pipeline Connector”, locally referred to as the “I-81 Pipeline”. This
is a 24-inch, high-pressure pipeline slated to run from Johnson City in Broome
County north along I-81 to Syracuse. A pipeline that large needs 75-foot
easements, she said – a large swath across people’s property. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
According to Delaware Riverkeeper, a 100-foot wide
right-of-way translates into twelve acres of disturbed land for every mile of
pipeline. People need to consider the impacts along the entire length of these
pipelines. But instead, some pipeline companies are breaking down their project
to look like shorter pipeline projects so that FERC doesn’t see assessments for
cumulative damage along the entire route.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because the proposed Constitution pipeline and compressor
station upgrade are components of an Interstate Natural Gas Transmission
project, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) was responsible for
conducting an environmental review of the project and has the authority to
approve the pipeline route. FERC issued a final Environmental Impact Statement
(FEIS) in October, but additional federal reviews and approvals for the project
also are necessary. You can read the FEIS at: <a href="http://elibrary.ferc.gov/idmws/file_list.asp?accession_num=20141024-4001">http://elibrary.FERC.gov/idmws/file_list.asp?accession_num=20141024-4001</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
DEC maintains the authority to review applications for
specific permits and approvals. These include an Air Title V permit for the
proposed compressor station upgrade, as well as a Water Quality Certification,
a Protection of Waters permit, a Water Withdrawal permit and a Freshwater
Wetlands permit for state-protected wetlands and adjacent areas for the
pipeline installation.<br />
<br />
<b>DEC Notice of completed Application</b> (second one) at <a href="http://www.dec.ny.gov/enb/20141224_reg0.html#099990018100009">http://www.dec.ny.gov/enb/20141224_reg0.html#099990018100009</a><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.iroquois.com/documents/WIP_-_NYSDEC_Air_Permit_Application_7-26-13.pdf"></a><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Comments will be accepted on the permit applications from
Dec. 24, 2014 to Jan. 30, 2015. Comments can be submitted to:</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Stephen M. Tomasik</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
DEC - Division of Environmental Permits</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
625 Broadway, 4th Floor</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Albany, NY 12233-1750</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
constitution@dec.ny.gov</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In addition, DEC will hold public meetings to allow people
to provide verbal or written comments. The meeting schedule is:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Binghamton -
Monday, Jan. 12, 2015, 6 p.m.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>East Middle School
Auditorium, 167 East Frederick Street</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oneonta - Tuesday,
Jan. 13, 2015, 6 p.m.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>SUNY Oneonta
Lecture Hall IRC #3, 108 Ravine Parkway</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Cobleskill,
Wednesday, Jan. 14. 2015, 6 p.m</b>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>SUNY Cobleskill,
Bouck Hall Theater, State Route 7</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Copies of the FEIS and DEC permit application documents </b>can
be viewed online at: <a href="http://www.constitutionpipeline.com/">http://www.constitutionpipeline.com/</a> Printed copies are available at:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<br />
<ul>
<li>The Broome County Public Library, 185 Court St., Binghamton</li>
<li>The Afton Free Library, 105A Main St., Afton</li>
<li>The Bainbridge Free Library, 13 N Main St., Bainbridge.</li>
<li>The Franklin Free Library, 334 Main St., Franklin</li>
<li>Sidney Memorial Public Library, 8 River St., Sidney</li>
<li>Deposit Free Library, 159 Front St., Deposit</li>
<li>The Community Library, 110 Union St., Cobleskill</li>
<li>Schoharie Free Library, 103 Knower Ave., Schoharie</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Information on the Iroquois Wright Compressor Station</b> can
viewed at:
<a href="http://www.iroquois.com/documents/WIP_-_NYSDEC_Air_Permit_Application_7-26-13.pdf">http://www.iroquois.com/documents/WIP_-_NYSDEC_Air_Permit_Application_7-26-13.pdf . </a>Printed copies are also available at:</div>
<br />
<ul>
<li>Schoharie Free Library, 103 Knower Avenue, Schoharie</li>
<li>Town of Wright Municipal Building, 105-3 Factory Street,
Gallupville</li>
</ul>
Sue Heavenrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00550259613381458435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993321373300794743.post-72540028245276690612014-11-18T19:16:00.000-05:002014-11-18T19:19:43.703-05:00Bird Mortality in Oil & Gas Fields<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9DnJ3C_aJqo/VGveDvbKd9I/AAAAAAAAEjg/m3-G4DhxUoE/s1600/oilBirds%2BFWS.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9DnJ3C_aJqo/VGveDvbKd9I/AAAAAAAAEjg/m3-G4DhxUoE/s1600/oilBirds%2BFWS.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">oiled bird/ US Fish & Wildlife Service</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Pepper Trail may be the only full-time forensic
ornithologist. He works for the National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Lab in
Ashland, Oregon. On November 3 he visited the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to talk about
the sort of work he does.</div>
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Trail documents evidence of crimes against birds. That can
include anything from smuggling endangered species to trade in feathered craft
items. One of the most common kinds of evidence he gets – accounting for a
quarter to a third of all his cases – is oiled birds.</div>
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These birds often come from oil pits and waste pits located
at drilling sites, Trail said. Companies are supposed to make their waste pits inaccessible
to birds, but in most cases the their attempts fall far short of the law. Some
look like wetlands, with oily water spread over reedy areas, while others are
well-defined rectangular ponds. Both attract birds. </div>
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Trail doesn’t visit drilling sites, so he can’t say exactly where
the birds are coming from or whether the driller is fracking for gas or oil.
It’s the job of field investigators to fish dead birds from the oily depths and
send them in. Trail’s job is to clean the feathers – tail feathers are best, he
says – and look for distinguishing characteristics. So he washes them with
solvent, gives them a rinse and then dries them off with a hair-drier.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tIPyfXGgFHk/VGvge1oeMUI/AAAAAAAAEj0/_y3g5uR52lE/s1600/bird%2Bmortality.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tIPyfXGgFHk/VGvge1oeMUI/AAAAAAAAEj0/_y3g5uR52lE/s1600/bird%2Bmortality.jpg" height="266" width="320" /></a></div>
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Waterfowl aren’t the only birds attracted to gas and oil
waste pits. Trail has identified 172 species, including mocking bird, barn owl,
lark buntings and even roadrunners. “The mortality due to gas and oil pits is
in the range of 500,000 to a million every year,” he said. To put that in
perspective, the Exxon-Valdez oil spill killed 250,000 to 300,000 birds. Wind turbines account for about 100,000 bird deaths each year.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“This is some of the
most important work we do,” said Trail. “Not because the fines are high, but
because we can compel the companies to clean up their pits.”</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nrvcur7WlEM/VGvenpbhdiI/AAAAAAAAEjo/xif_ri_-pL4/s1600/flagging%2BFWS.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nrvcur7WlEM/VGvenpbhdiI/AAAAAAAAEjo/xif_ri_-pL4/s1600/flagging%2BFWS.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">flags don't adequately protect birds from waste pits</td></tr>
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The current strategy of surrounding the pit with chain-link
fence or stringing used-car-lot flags across the surface is totally inadequate.
“The best way to protect birds is to pump out the pits and inject the fluids
into storage tanks that are closed,” said Trail, adding that an alternative
would be injecting waste into a geological formation – “if that’s safe.”
Securely netting the pond could work, but too often the netting sags into the
oil.</div>
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You can learn more about minimizing risks to migrating birds at oil and gas sites <a href="http://youtu.be/Az0Uwrq6s2g">here</a>. <i>This was taken from a longer article in the November 10,
2014 issue of <a href="http://www.tompkinsweekly.com/"><b>Tompkins Weekly</b></a></i></div>
Sue Heavenrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00550259613381458435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993321373300794743.post-16685465590250594342014-11-11T22:13:00.000-05:002014-11-11T22:13:03.180-05:00Veterans Defend Seneca Lake Against Environmental Enemies "Foreign or Domestic"<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_-qUYmxtZ0Q/VGLO9E0ynsI/AAAAAAAAEiQ/MhsLwFhLSxw/s1600/635513256158530009-colleen-bolard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_-qUYmxtZ0Q/VGLO9E0ynsI/AAAAAAAAEiQ/MhsLwFhLSxw/s320/635513256158530009-colleen-bolard.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Colleen Boland and Sandra Steingraber arrested @ Seneca Lake</td></tr>
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On October 27, retired Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Collen
Boland zipped up a fleece jacket emblazoned with her name, rank and rows of
decorations, then headed to Crestwood energy’s site on Seneca Lake. There, she
linked arms with others defending Seneca Lake from the proposed gas storage
project. When a tractor trailer approached, Boland and the others refused to
move. Within minutes Sheriff’s deputies showed up and arrested the protesters.</div>
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Boland, who was born and raised in Corning, NY, never
thought of herself as an activist. She never thought of herself as a
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the Air Force, Boland retired. She took off her uniform and moved on to new
things.</div>
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But with industrialized drilling and gas storage encroaching
on the local landscape, Boland reluctantly polished her boots and dusted off
her awards and decorations and prepared to serve in a new way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a press conference last week she reflected
on her years of military service, and the places she was stationed. One thing
they had in common, she said, is water. Children in Schuyler County and Dimock,
Pennsylvania, like children in Malaysia and elsewhere, need access to clean
water. </div>
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Explaining why she wore a “civilianized” version of her Air
Force jacket, Boland explained that she was trying to dispel the notion that “the
only people standing up to protect our water, our air, and our communities are
tree-hugging hippies or out of touch dreamers. Don't get me wrong, I love
trees, but I was never quite cool enough to be a hippie —and I'm certainly not
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Boland is distressed and offended that people who oppose
extreme fossil fuel extraction are being dismissed as “people who don’t belong
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"I am still
serving, still defending. I am defending the natural beauty of the Finger Lakes
region that I love against all enemies foreign and domestic. Crestwood is my
enemy." Boland isn't the only Veteran defending the lake; Dwain Wilder, a former sailor, spent his Veterans Day in jail for his part in the protest.</div>
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Watch the <a href="http://youtu.be/oeh_Hcqs_Hw">video of the press conference</a> and read an <a href="http://www.airforcetimes.com/story/military/crime/2014/11/11/retired-airman-activist-risks-jail-methane-gas-storage-protest/18881177/">interview with Boland</a> in the<b><i> Air Force
Times.</i></b></div>
Sue Heavenrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00550259613381458435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993321373300794743.post-90029248997847093522014-09-05T22:55:00.000-04:002014-09-05T22:55:31.298-04:00The Real Cost of Fracking<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_CFJW_WOoKo/VAp0CaTrYzI/AAAAAAAAESY/WC_vj7inSkk/s1600/Real%2BCost%2Bof%2BFracking.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_CFJW_WOoKo/VAp0CaTrYzI/AAAAAAAAESY/WC_vj7inSkk/s1600/Real%2BCost%2Bof%2BFracking.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho";">Earlier this week I had the pleasure of talking with Michelle Bamberger, a veterinarian and co-writer of the newly-published book, <i><b>The Real Cost of Fracking</b></i> (Beacon Press, Aug 2014). Like many
living in Ithaca, Michelle Bamberger and her co-researcher, Robert Oswald had never heard about
fracking until about five years ago. That’s when they learned that their
property was surrounded by leased land and that their land, even without a
lease, could be drilled under through a process called compulsory integration.</span></div>
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T<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho";">hey were concerned about potential threats to air and water, to local
wineries, tourism, and agriculture. But their involvement with veterinary
medicine made them keenly aware of what was happening to animals and livestock
in drilling areas. Upon hearing stories about cattle and other animals
becoming sick and dying after exposure to drilling fluids, they began documenting health
problems - just as they would do when tracing a new disease. What they learned
was that too often the people living in the homes and on the farms experienced
health symptoms as well.</span>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho";">Bamberger and Oswald
published their findings about impacts of gas drilling on human and animal
health in a peer-reviewed journal a couple of years ago. But, says Bamberger,
“we realized early on that there are a lot of people who would never pick up a
scientific article.” So she and Oswald began writing a book that would reach a
broader audience.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho";"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Real Cost of Fracking: How America’s shale gas boom is threatening out
families, pets, and food</i></b> is
a collection of case studies from Pennsylvania – families and farmers who have
seen their animals and children suffer, watched their homes and land lose
value, seen their retirement dreams shatter and, in one case, have become shale
gas refugees. The book is well-documented, with lots of notes, well-indexed,
well-grounded in science – and at the same time very readable.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho";">In the
beginning, Bamberger and Oswald outline the difficulties faced by scientists
who are trying to study health impacts related to drilling. They discuss
baseline water testing, safe drinking water standards, and challenges of air
testing. Then they delve into individual case studies. In one chapter they
tackle issues of farming and food supply; in another they examine issues of
environmental justice.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho";">“We wanted
to take our scientific writing and turn it into an interesting story,”
Bamberger says. Reading a
chapter leaves you asking: if that were me, what would I do?</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho";">One caveat
the authors put forth at the beginning of the book is that they do not use the
real names of the people whose stories they share. While the names are made
up, the stories are not, “but each of these stories represents
hundreds of similar cases in this country,” Bamberger says.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho";">Collecting
information presented a number of challenges for the researchers – from the
physical difficulties of reaching some of the locations to obtaining
information. One of the obstacles to their research was non-disclosure statements. In many cases where drilling contaminated water wells, the
drilling company would require homeowners to sign a statement pledging that
they would not talk about their water contamination or any settlement issues
before providing drinking water to the home.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho";">The
biggest problem with non-disclosure statements, says Bamberger, is that they inhibit
the ability of health officials and state regulators to obtain important
information about an incident. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho";">Focusing
on the health of pets and livestock may seem an odd way to document human
health impacts, but Bamberger explains that animals are often the “sentinels”
that indicate problems exist. Think: canary in a coal mine. While people head
off to work and school, livestock and pets remain on the farm or in the home all
day long, exposed to contaminants in air and water. Animals also
have higher rates of reproduction and shorter gestation periods than humans, so
problems with birth defects often show up earlier, Bamberger points out.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho";">But
sentinels can’t replace monitoring – and that’s what’s needed in shale gas
country says Bamberger. She points to what happened after the BP spill in the
Gulf of Mexico: the FDA stepped in because of concerns about seafood absorbing
chemicals from the spill. They monitored for oil dispersants and other
chemicals – and continue to monitor seafood. But there’s no monitoring of milk,
meat or vegetables in and around gas wells, even where there have been spills
on pastureland. At almost every meeting she's been to, Bamberger says someone asks whether the food from Pennsylvania farms in gas drilling areas is safe. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho";">As far as
whether New York should allow fracking, Bamberger says there’s a lot of science
that shows we’re not ready. “Scientists are raising red flags,” she says, “but
no one is listening. The government’s not listening. We should get it right
before we go further.” </span></div>
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Sue Heavenrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00550259613381458435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993321373300794743.post-39540644332982508542014-09-01T11:06:00.001-04:002014-09-01T11:06:32.057-04:00243 and counting... contaminated water cases in PA<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EOlBUUOpLT4/U8_YQWrr--I/AAAAAAAAEMc/6WxLsWP3_CY/s1600/PA%2Bwaterimpact-big.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EOlBUUOpLT4/U8_YQWrr--I/AAAAAAAAEMc/6WxLsWP3_CY/s1600/PA%2Bwaterimpact-big.jpg" height="295" width="400" /></a></div>
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Back in <a href="http://marcelluseffect.blogspot.com/2014/07/pa-admits-oil-gas-operations-damaged.html">July</a> the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection (DEP) admitted that oil and gas operations damaged water supplies
209 times since end of 2007.</div>
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Finally – six years into the Marcellus gas boom –<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/AP16a162b66b5946d0837c7395cab7a5f4.html"> DEP has released details of 243 cases </a>in which oil and gas companies were found to have
contaminated private drinking water wells. This past week the agency posted
online links to the documents. Names and identifying information has been
redacted, but <a href="http://files.dep.state.pa.us/OilGas/BOGM/BOGMPortalFiles/OilGasReports/Determination_Letters/Regional_Determination_Letters.pdf">you can read the documents here</a>.</div>
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Some of these cases date back to 2008 but, when you look at
the dates, DEP never got around to responding to them until months - or in some cases - years later. The cases include some where a single drilling operation affected multiple
water wells. </div>
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Problems listed in the documents include: spills (waste
fluids and other pollutants); high levels of methane gas; ethane; heavy metals;
and wells that went dry or were otherwise undrinkable. These documents cover
drilling-related water well problems in 22 counties, but most of the cases come
from Bradford, Susquehanna, Tioga, and Lycoming counties.</div>
Sue Heavenrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00550259613381458435noreply@blogger.com0