The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has had a productive year so far! It approved new 2,461 hydraulic fracturing permits since January, 2011. In 2010, the DEP issued 6,581 gas drilling permits, and it is right on track for increasing those numbers in the fall. Enforcement is also on the rise. With 1,512 Inspections overall in 2010, there were 2,754 Total Violations, and 769 Enforcements. This year, between January and May 2011, the DEP already has 977 Inspections under its belt, has issued 1,751 Total Violations (Wow!) and it has enacted 311 Enforcements. SOURCE: dep.state.pa.us (more…)
Archive for the ‘Environment’ Category
PA DEP’s Report Card
July 8, 2011DEP Secretary Krancer Has Wealthy Dad: This Is Not News
July 7, 2011An article by Laura Olson in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette today reports that a few state minority leaders are irked by the somewhat flamboyant timing of Ronald Krancer’s donation to the state GOP – it was on the eve of the confirmation of his son’s appointment to Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection. It’s curious why, all the sudden, this matters. Michael Krancer’s appointment by Gov. Tom Corbett was widely applauded on both sides of the aisle, and his later confirmation was smooth sailing. And it’s odd because while Corbett has made some questionable appointments, this isn’t one of them. (more…)
Fraccidents Happen, Especially in Eastern PA
July 6, 2011In 2010, drillers spent $33.5 million literally drilling the message that fracking is safe into the public’s collective pretty head. Horizontal hydraulic fracturing, however, is not an exact science. The end product, natural gas, is indeed a significantly cleaner burning fossil fuel, as it has fewer carbon emissions than oil or coal, but the process of blasting it out of shale a mile underground remains totally fraught.
The Fraccidents Map is the interactive website you hate to love. I check it like an analyst watches over stocks. I squint at the tiny pictures and contemplate rural landscapes tainted by gas drilling pollution. (more…)
The End of Country by Seamus McGraw: A Great Fracking Read!
July 3, 2011You may already know what fracking is, but The End of Country (Random House) deftly illuminates the way it is done. Set in a small town in the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania, where gas drillers have come a knockin’ along with grand promises and grave pitfalls, author Seamus McGraw recounts how fracking has turned his mother’s quiet rural community, and his family legacy, inside out. 
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Energy Advisory Board Natural Gas Subcommittee Holds Public Meeting #1 in DC Today
June 28, 2011The Energy Advisory Board Natural Gas Subcommittee on Fracking Issues didn’t foresee the flaring passions of Pennsylvanians when they convened a meeting at Jefferson College in Washington, Pa. a few weeks ago. Well, now they know, and they’ve taken the proactive step of scheduling two more, longer meetings at their DC offices. While the Committee is heavy on industry insiders, the meetings are open to the public. The first one is today, and the second will be held on Wednesday, July 13, 2011 at 10am. The Committee is also accepting emails and written comments. Let’s bombard them! Feel free to paste in the letter below. Take a moment to get your two cents in and you’ll be glad you did, promise. Thanks for speaking up!
email: shalegas@hq.doe.gov
or write: (more…)
PA Water Groups: Who’s Who Among Environmental “Stake Holders”
June 16, 2011Diversity among Pennsylvania’s various Environmental “Stake Holders” is both their greatest strength and most unfortunate weakness. Coordinating their objectives might be the biggest hurdle facing the rapidly expanding, totally grass roots, refreshingly bi-partisan movement to protect The Delaware River Watershed from the singularly focused, heavily lobbied shale gas drilling industry.
Water Action Groups have sprung up across the the state, particularly in Eastern PA, as drillers prepare to tap the ready, pure gas available a mile below the Upper Delaware River Watershed in Northeastern PA. In suburban Philadelphia, an understanding of the issue is still coming to light as more local Democratic representatives like Greg Vitali, Daylin Leach and Mike Gerber take up the environmental cause. (more…)
“My Marcellus tale: Would the gas companies steal our stream?”
June 13, 2011SOURCE: Patriot-News Op-Ed by Ann Whitner Pinca, Sunday, June 12, 2011
Clean water was something we took for granted whenever we traveled to Sullivan County. Whether it was swimming in the clear waters at Worlds End State Park, splashing in the Loyalsock Creek among the giant sandstone boulders of the Haystacks or just poking around for frogs in Bear Wallow Pond, water was always a big draw. (more…)
Tracking Frack Wastewater “Cradle to Grave”
June 6, 2011“Tracking Fracking Water Goes High-Tech”
ARTICLE by Bill Toland, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A worker connects a hose to a truck to collect foam from a drill pit used in a Rice Energy Marcellus Shale drilling rig in Lone Pine, Washington County. The foam is created by combining soap, air and water, and is used to flush out drill cuttings to the surface. Once in the drill pit, it breaks down again into soap and water. The water is then taken to a disposal facility for treatment.
Water, as much as natural gas, is the lifeblood of the Marcellus Shale play. Drillers need millions of gallons of water to flush the gas out of its hiding spot, deep below ground. Water is hauled by truck, imported by pipeline, collected on-site by retention impoundments and spirited away to a treatment or disposal facility once the fracking fluid has been spent. Not only do drillers need a lot of water, they also need a very specific amount of water — per week, per day, even per hour.
So how do they track all that water? (more…)
PA DEP Considers Natural Gas a “Homegrown Alternative”
May 28, 2011While natural gas is regarded as an “alternative” to oil and gasoline in the fossil fuels marketplace, it’s not a truly “Alternative Fuel” because it’s not Renewable. It is inaccurate and, some might say, misleading for the DEP to lump natural gas and with genuinely green alternatives when awarding Alternative Fuel Incentives Grants from the state’s Alternative Fuels Incentive Fund. Referring to natural gas as a “homegrown alternative” is disingenuous at best, as it echos verbatim popular Gas Industry jargon. (more…)
PopularMechanics Explains Frack Flowback Eruption to Lug Heads
May 13, 2011The radical, Ultra-Left leaning publication, Popular Mechanics, published an illuminating article about what happened when Chesapeake Energy workers lost containment of a gas well in Bradford County, PA in April, 2011. This is the largest gas drilling accident in Pennsylvania to date, among hundreds of serious drilling accidents and spills which have already occurred. PopularMechanics concluded that the same failed containment technology which precipitated the BP Gulf Disaster in 2010, was also the culprit in the massive, immeasurable spill of toxic water into nearby Towanda creek, a tributary to the Susquehanna in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, and source of drinking water for the Harrisburg area. They report that while the blowout protector in the Atgas 2H in Bradford did not fail, it definitely broke.
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Freaked About Frack Waste on AquaPA’s “Main Division”
May 13, 2011People used to say, “What’s Fracking?” when they saw the bumper sticker on my car. Now they want to know what they can do to keep their tap water, and their family, safe. Water awareness is assuredly growing as water area consumers (a.k.a. humans) begin to question Lower Merion Township’s water source and origin, and its treatment before it issues from our taps. Even those with households on well water are curious to know how PA’s Industrial Gas Boom, and the accompanying toxic wastewater disposal problem, is impacting their water quality. (more…)
Fracking is Bad for Business
April 27, 2011An Open Letter to Mayor Michael Nutter:
April 27, 2011
Hon. Michael A. Nutter
Mayor of Philadelphia
215 City Hall
Philadelphia, PA 19107 686-2181
Dear Mayor Nutter:
We are writing in regards to the potential NEGATIVE ECONOMIC IMPACTS of Natural Gas drilling in the Delaware River Watershed Region on businesses operating “downstream” in Southeastern Pennsylvania. I hope you will join the growing number of concerned citizens who are alarmed by this serious threat to the water supply of over 15.6 million people and numerous regional industries.
The idea that Natural Gas will be a unilateral boon to our state economy is mostly a perception, and it remains largely unchallenged. Loss of tax revenue from businesses and industries who would be adversely affected by water and air pollution amounts to a very large sum. And, certainly, cleaning up after a major industrial gas accident could drain much of our state’s fiscal resources in one fell swoop.
Just like humans do, many types of businesses need a reliable source of fresh, unpolluted water. It’s a vital element in their supply chain. They include: Agriculture, Healthcare, Food & Beverages, Breweries, Recreation: Waterfront Attractions & Outdoor, Restaurants, Scientific Research, Tourism & Hotels, and many more. Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” also uses massive volumes of water (4.5 – 6 million gallons of fresh water per gas well). With global water shortages a reality, Philadelphia residents and business owners are lucky to have the Special Protection Waters of the Delaware River. The Natural Gas Boom in Pennsylvania poses a serious threat to our municipal Fresh Water Security. We simply cannot let the profit motives of a single industry jeopardize the wellbeing and profitability of so many.
Of course, jobs are vital right now, however, history demonstrates how cities with abundant clean fresh water thrive while those with polluted or diminished supplies decline. So do we want jobs in filthy, dangerous natural gas extraction services? Or groovy green ones? Raising the knowledge base will raise the tax base, too. Philadelphia Is the birthplace of American Independence, and we think, if we play our cards right, it has the potential to be the Seat of our National Independence from Fossil Fuel, too.
Please consider supporting the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act (FRAC Act) of 2011 (HR 1084) in the House and the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act of 2011 (S. 587) in the Senate to remove the Safe Drinking Water Act exemption granted in 2005; also, the Bringing Reductions to Energy’s Airborne Toxic Health Effects Act (BREATHE Act, H.R. 1204). Every voice matters at this critical time for our river, and your support would be particularly welcome!
Sincerely,
KeepTapWaterSafe.org
The “Bridge Fuel” Fantasy
April 7, 2011Is Large-Scale Fracking for Natural Gas Inevitable in Pennsylvania?
Yes, it’s already begun. And we’re the only state that allows frack waste water to be dumped in our rivers and streams. New York State has wisely placed a Moratorium on new frack wells until more science is concluded. New Jersey is considering one, too, though they don’t have much gas there. Nevertheless, realistically, there are more than 10,000 lucrative permits poised to be approved in Pennsylvania. The clock is ticking, and many people downstream, in the Philadelphia area, are decidedly alarmed. Strict regulation may be our only salvation, yet these same powerful commercial interests are also working to de-fund the EPA and The PA Department of Environmental Protection. Even President Obama seems pretty keen to frack away at our poor, beautiful state.
One is left to wonder, then, how exactly will Natural Gas serve as a bridge fuel?
If Natural Gas is truly a bridge to renewable alternatives, and a panacea for our ailing economy, then what’s the whole strategy? Better cement jobs? Politically appointed state oversight commissions? Taxation? It seems like a new chapter in the same old ugly fossil fuel story. Nothing that is happening in Harrisburg indicates that being a bridge fuel is the end-goal here. We cannot allow the profit motives of a handful of large corporations to leave us with a legacy of pollution and disease. Over a million residents in PA share my concerns, and that number is growing every day as this critical issue continues to come to the fore. What will it take for leaders in America to realize that there is indeed a link between our health and pollution in our environment?
Wake The Village!
March 30, 2011In 2010, The Delaware River was named “The Most Endangered River in America” by AmericanRivers.org due to the threat of pollution posed by fracking for Natural Gas in the Upper Delaware River Watershed.
Unless we learn more about the dangers of hydraulic fracturing – fracking – and start taking action now, people in the Southeastern Pennsylvania will be at far greater risk of developing serious diseases from chemicals in our tap water. It may already contain more pollutants than we realize, including a variety of carcinogens, endocrine disruptors and other known toxins. Our drinking water supply is in jeopardy, it’s time to wake the village. (more…)
Keep Tap Water Safe 