You 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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Archive for the ‘epa’ Category
The End of Country by Seamus McGraw: A Great Fracking Read!
July 3, 2011Energy 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…)
“EPA Identifies Hydraulic Fracturing Case Studies”
June 24, 2011CONTACT:
Cathy Milbourn
Milbourn.cathy@epa.gov
202-420-8648
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 23, 2011, WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today, in keeping with the administration’s focus to ensure that the agency leverages domestic resources safely and responsibly, announced the next steps in its congressionally mandated hydraulic fracturing study. EPA has identified seven case studies to help inform the assessment of potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources.
The sites identified were selected following extensive input from stakeholders, including the public, local and state officials, industry, and environmental organizations. To ensure the agency maintains the current timeline for the study, the EPA will begin field work in some of the selected regions this summer. (more…)
“EPA Releases Searchable Website for Drinking Water Violations”
May 17, 2011FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
EPA hosts webinar to show how to use the public health data
CONTACT: Stacy Kika kika.stacy@epa.gov
May 16, 2011, WASHINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced improvements to the availability and usability of drinking water data in the Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) tool. ECHO now allows the public to search to see whether drinking water in their community met the standards required under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), which is designed to safeguard the nation’s drinking water and protect people’s health. (more…)
EPA Asks State to Improve Gas Well Water Checks”
May 16, 2011Article By Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Monday, May 16, 2011
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has asked Pennsylvania to do a better job sampling, monitoring and regulating Marcellus Shale wastewater discharges near public drinking water sources. The EPA also has reminded the state Department of Environmental Protection that any new methods for disposing of drilling wastewater must comply with federal rules. The federal agency last week directed six of the major Marcellus Shale drilling companies in Pennsylvania to disclose, by May 25, how and where they will dispose of or recycle wastewater now that they can no longer use municipal sewage treatment facilities. (more…)
Four-Out-of-Five Gas Drillers Prefer PA DEP to the EPA
May 14, 2011“The DEP for us in Pennsylvania has much greater capability to provide the level of oversight to protect the public and ensure the industry is following the law,” said Dave Spigelmeyer, Vice President of Government Relations for Chesapeake Oil & Gas. [SOURCE: Andrew Conte, Pittsburg Tribune-Review]
Chesapeake claims to recycle 100% of its flowback from fracking operations in Pennsylvania, except that which it spills of course. The company, which had voluntarily suspended operations as a result of the Bradford County well accident in April, has now resumed its business in the state. Chesapeake’s wastewater recycling claims come in response to last week’s request by the EPA (more…)
EPA Wants Accounting of Frack Wastewater In PA by May 25
May 12, 2011EPA Seeks More Information from Natural Gas Drilling Operations to Ensure Safety of Wastewater Disposal
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: David Sternberg, Sternberg.david@epa.gov
PHILADELPHIA (May 12, 2011) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today directed six natural gas drillers to disclose how and where the companies dispose of or recycle drilling process water in the region. EPA continues to work with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) to ensure that natural gas production takes place safely and responsibly. These actions are among the ongoing steps EPA is taking to ensure drilling operations are protective of public health and the environment. Natural gas is a key part of our nation’s energy future and EPA will continue to work with federal, state and local partners to ensure that public health and the environment are protected.
Obama Forms Panel To Improve Fracking Safety
May 9, 2011WASHINGTON | Thu May 5, 2011 6:24pm EDT
(Reuters) – After a series of high-profile natural gas drilling spills, the Energy Department named a panel to recommend ways to improve the safety of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a technique that has expanded the country’s potential to extract the fuel.
President Barack Obama asked the DOE to form the panel of academic and environmental experts to identify any immediate steps that can be taken to improve the safety and environmental performance of fracking, the DOE said on Thursday.
The panel, which includes John Deutch, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Daniel Yergin, the chairman of IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates, will report those steps within 90 days of beginning their work. (more…)
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 