Keep Tap Water Safe

After weighing direct input from emergency responders and gas companies operating in the Shale, the Senate Veterans Affairs & Emergency Preparedness Committee unanimously approved a bill requiring “natural gas drilling companies to post emergency information at drilling sites and file response plans with local authorities.” It’s the second laudable step taken by Harrisburg in the last few weeks. The first being the DEP’s imposing the largest fine ever (more…)

If you live in and around Philadelphia, there ain’t much good a local Impact Fee collected in a county “up there” will do for you. Revenue from shale gas drilling fees are intended for local use, to mitigate fracking’s most immediate impacts, yet a state-wide tax would be distributed across the state, into things like Education, roads and bridges. In terms of how the state raises revenue, Corbett has said he doesn’t care where the money comes from as long as it’s in the PA State House’s version of his $27.3 billion budget, which is due on his desk June 30th. (more…)

Lisa Jackson is a soft spoken yet firm woman. Born in Philadelphia, raised near New Orleans, she attended Tulane University on a grant from Shell Oil Company and graduated summa cum laude. She earned her Master of Science degree from Princeton University. A chemical engineer, Jackson spent 16 years with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, serving as Commissioner and leading a regulatory staff or 2,990 people. She was known for mobilizing large enforcement sweeps in Camden and Paterson. Jackson was named Chief of Staff to former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, but was tapped days later by Obama to become Administrator of the EPA , and she resigned on December 15, 2008. The buzz on her career in New Jersey is that Jackson earned high marks from those who work on energy and policy, but not so much from those who work on toxic clean up at the local level.

Here is an Excerpt from Administrator Jackson’s Testimony Before the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on May 24, 2011:

Thanks to advances in drilling technology, including hydraulic fracturing – or “fracking” – America’s potential natural gas resource is nearly 50 percent larger than we believed it was just a few years ago. The price we pay for natural gas is not set on a global market the way the price of oil is, and burning natural gas creates less air pollution than burning other fossil fuels. So increasing America’s natural gas production is a good thing.

Fracking involves injecting chemicals underground at high pressure, and various substances come back to the surface with the gas. It is not surprising, then, that Congress has directed EPA to study the relationship between fracking and drinking water. We are doing that, with input from technical experts, the public, and industry.  

In the meantime, EPA will step in to protect local residents if a driller jeopardizes clean water and the state government does not act. President Obama has made clear that we need to extract natural gas without polluting our water supplies.  

Read the entire Press Release: EPA.gov
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