From tampered valves to hacked databases, is Pennsylvania failing the character test?
Fracking has both friends and foes in PA, and lately it’s been getting kinda ugly out there. (more…)
Archive for the ‘hydraulic fracturing’ Category
Pro- or Anti-Fracking, Sabotage Takes Fight Too Far
January 17, 2012You’re Fired! How Corbett Is Sacrificing State Parks & Game Lands to Gas Drilling
January 16, 2012Blue Monday
Pennsylvania has leased a full one-third of its 2.1 million-acre forest system for oil and gas drilling – that’s 700,000 acres – and more than 130,000 acres are for Fracking.
Nevertheless, Don Hopey reported in today’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Governor Corbett has pink-slipped the Executive Director of the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Citizens Advisory Council, Kurt Leitholf, “having determined that determined this position was no longer needed.” (more…)
Bulgaria Leads EU Anti-Fracking Movement: Thousands Protest on Saturday
January 15, 2012As Chevron Corporation moves in to frack the EU nation of Bulgaria, several thousands flooded the streets and squares of major cities, brandishing loaves of bread, beating drums and blowing whistles. The protest, which was organized by the grassroots environmental group, Fracking Free Bulgaria, was meant to be a wake up call to citizens: “No to shale gas, Yes to nature!” was the cry. Protestors were also calling on lawmakers to model France’s moratorium and “Ban Fracking Now!”
Spectacular.
A few days prior to the protests, I received this information from the group:
“The title of the nationwide protest is “Bulgarians, rise up and defend your land!” and aims to make a wake-up call to all of the Bulgarians that are still not aware of the rising environmental catastrophy. (more…)
“One Chance” To Get Gas Right Says PA DEP Chief
January 12, 2012On Tuesday evening, January 10, 2012 the PA Department of Environmental Protection Secretary, Michael Krancer, once again put the onus on gas companies to protect our land, air and water. The secretary was speaking at Villanova University, at a presentation organized by PA Association of Environmental Professionals and The Pennsylvania Environmental Council, and facilitated by Burack Environmental Law.
To the strident observer, it’s stunning how much faith Secretary Krancer places in the corporate good intentions of shale gas drillers. It’s as if he’s incognizant of the industry’s shoddy track record in Pennsylvania, and how they wracked up a whopping 1.8 average violations per inspection in 2011. (more…)
Fracking’s Invisible Spew Seen Clearly With Infrared
January 6, 2012The Bay Daily is published by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which is deeply concerned with the immediate and cumulative environmental impacts of gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale. The Susquehanna River is the primary watershed for this already beleaguered, though no less beloved, bay. A recent Bay article by Tom Pelton, Video Investigation of Gas Drilling Sites Reveals Invisible Air Pollution, drew a lot of national attention because it is chock full of infrared footage of compressor stations and drilling sites, clearly showing what we can’t see with the naked eye but nevertheless inhale.
Throughout Pennsylvania, drillers are venting potent yet invisible toxins – Volatile Organic Chemicals like formaldehyde, benzene and toluene – into the very air we breathe. The infrared photos prominently display plumes of carcinogens billowing upwards into our skies. These chemicals are also condensing on our land, frosting our windshields, and finding their way into our crops and streams. (more…)
PA’s Largest Environmental Groups Oppose Scarnati’s Shale Bill
January 5, 2012Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati, R-25, Jefferson County, said Tuesday he hopes final passage of impact fee legislation can be achieved before Mr. Corbett’s budget address early next month, reports Robert Swift, Harrisburg Bureau Chief for The Times-Tribune in Senate GOP Leader Sees Crunch Time on Shale. Also according to Swift, Scarnati said, “If it isn’t done, it’s going to be an issue for 2012.” Let’s hope! This landmark piece of legislation should be the issue for 2012. (more…)
Aerial Fracking Photos: Say Goodbye to Rural PA
January 4, 2012John Trallo works for Clean Water Action. He’s a Philly guy, originally, and an accomplished musician. He now hails from Sonestown, PA where he enjoys everything from Thoreau to Elvis Costello. A teacher, tavern philosopher and self-described loose cannon, Trallo has long been opposed to Fracking. He’s been actively engaged in raising public awareness about the need to protect Pennsylvania from the numerous planned and existing shale gas pipelines, gathering lines and compressor stations. Thanks to mutual acquaintance, we became Facebook friends (he has over 600 of them). Mr. Trallo doesn’t post a lot, but when he does, it’s well worth the click. For example, this photo essay Natural Gas Industry in Central PA, In and Around the Pine Creek Valley by Bill Crowell was recently added to his wall with the single, pithy comment, “This says it all.”
Warning: This 3:42 minute montage may cause a chronic lump in your throat and/or cause you to take immediate action.
EPA Says Dimock Water Requires More Testing, PA DEP Says Drink Up!
January 2, 2012I love it when the EPA asserts itself. Inevitably, state officials accuse them of “overstepping” their “bailiwick,” but I take comfort knowing the feds’ attention is on the shale gas industry, scrutinizing their activities in our state, ensuring that the PA DEP is getting the job done right. Pro-gas conservatives have called the EPA “a jobs killer.” I say, let them hire more scientists! My fondest wish would be for the PA DEP and the EPA to do more than simply play nice in the sandbox, I’d like to see them work together in serious and concerted tandem. That would represent a truly functioning Republic, to my mind, though it seems less likely everyday. Luckily, we don’t have to pick a winner – yet.
Laura Legere, Staff Writer for The Times-Tribune has been covering Marcellus Shale drilling from the start. In her last article of what must have been a crazy-busy year, she reports on the EPA’s final salvo of 2011. (more…)
Legality of Susquehanna River Basin Commission Hearing Challenged
December 22, 2011FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Thursday, December 21, 2011):
“CONSERVATION ORGANIZATIONS CALL INTO QUESTION THE LEGALITY OF ACTIONS TAKE DURING SRBC MEETING”
Today, a consortium of seven conservation and environmental groups have sent a letter to the Susquehanna River Basin Commission, asking the Commissioners to reconvene to complete its meeting held on December 15. Last week, the Commission hastily adjourned its meeting in Wilkes-Barre, after a group of citizens challenged its authority, shouted at the Commissioners and disrupted the meeting. (more…)
Distilling The Facts: How Shale Gas Drilling Endangers Pennsylvania’s Water Supply
December 20, 2011From wellpad construction to 25,000 miles of high-pressure pipelines slapped down to gather gas and ship it to China, hydraulic fracturing isn’t merely a threat to local box turtles, it’s murder on our watersheds. A simple assessment of the facts makes it difficult to imagine that any legislature can truly “get gas right” if they allow fracking in a watershed. And if they get it wrong, the adverse ecological and human health consequences could last, literally, for ages. Future generations will have no one to blame but us. (more…)
PA DEP Secretary Krancer’s Top 10 Comments About Fracking
November 30, 2011Since his appointment to PA’s top environmental cop last fall, DEP Secretary Michael Krancer has had a number of public zingers on the topic of shale gas development. Lately, Krancer seems to be on a tear, as if he’s embarked on a shale gas promotion tour with both barrels loaded. Too bad he isn’t on a Fracking Reality Tour, but if he’s interested, I’m sure one can be arranged. Taking things totally out of context? Absolutely. But the #1 comment speaks for itself.
# 10…. (more…)
EPA Chief Lisa P. Jackson’s Candid Views on Fracking
November 23, 2011In case you missed it, EPA Head Lisa P. Jackson was the featured Interview on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show on November 21, 2011. She states her candid views on Fracking and the EPA’s role in regulating “the 10,000 wells.” She states how most Americans are unaware that the Clean Air and Safe Drinking Water Laws are no longer protecting them. She also decries the conservative agenda to scapegoat the EPA for the country’s economic woes, and stresses the need for more science to inform extreme energy extraction practices.
Don’t Let Pennsylvania Become a Fact-Free Zone – Support the EPA!
DRBC Cancels Controversial Nov 21 Vote on Gas Drilling Regulations
November 18, 2011In what is being hailed as a BIG WIN FOR THE DELAWARE RIVER WATERSHED, The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) has cancelled, or postponed, its scheduled November 21st meeting in which the commission was to vote on opening the Delaware River Watershed to industrial shale gas drilling. THE MORATORIUM STANDS! It’s a victory for the nearly 74,000 people who petitioned the DRBC not to frack in the river basin. The watershed protection coalition’s news release is bounding across the internet this morning. (more…)
73,910 Signatures and Counting…
November 15, 2011At a press conference Monday, November 14, outside the offices of The US Army Corps of Engineers in Center City Philadelphia, a group of the Delaware River’s biggest proponents announced that among them they have a record-breaking 73,910 signatures on letters and petitions to the voting members of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) urging them NOT to open the basin to industrial shale gas drilling at their upcoming meeting on November 21, 2011. (more…)
Occupy DRBC! Filmmaker Josh Fox Urges Peaceful Protest on November 21
November 10, 2011Josh Fox, whose Oscar-nominated documentary Gasland inspired a global movement, is calling all water activists to stand up to and say NO! to Fracking in the Delaware River Basin on Monday, November 21, 2011 in Trenton, NJ. The rally begins at 8am at The Patriots Theater, 1 Memorial Drive, Trenton, NJ, where the next Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) meeting is to be held. If the commission votes to enact its new draft regulations for industrial gas drilling, the Delaware River Watershed, source of drinking water for 15.6 million people, will be immediately be open to 300 new frack wells, with many more to follow 18 months later. Fox has his detractors, even in the mainstream media, but a Gasland sequel is reportedly in the works with HBO, and there’s buzz over a possible trilogy. I’m a card-carrying fan. This Vimeo clip features Fox’s most recent call-to-action. (more…)
PA Republicans Murt & DiGirolamo Oppose Corbett’s Paltry Impact Fee, Propose 4.9% Gas Tax
November 7, 2011UPDATE: November 13, 2011: Supporters of DiGirolamo’s amendment to the widely debated HB1950 are set to begin running a Radio Ad tomorrow.
Drilling Tax vs. Impact Fee
Reps. Gene DiGirolamo (R-18th District, Bucks) and Tom Murt (R-152nd District, Montgomery/Philadelphia) are a great example of democracy at work. Last week, as Pennsylvania Senate pro tempore, Joe Scarnati (R-25th District) deleted much of the impact fee language from his bill, SB1100, these two Republicans saw their star on the rise. DiGirolamo, who is known to advocate for seniors, and Murt, whose Child Labor Bill passed the House earlier this year, are proposing HB 1863 – a healthy, widely distributed tax on Marcellus Shale drilling. Make no mistake, the gentlemen from Southeastern PA are breaking with Republican party leadership on this issue as they valiantly attempt to fill the common sense void in Harrisburg. (more…)
Global Guide to Fracking
October 27, 2011As Pennsylvania becomes central to an international tight gas boom, the world is watching…
Unless you’re living under a rock, you’ve certainly heard about hydraulic fracturing to extract natural gas from shale. The Marcellus and Utica shales, largely located in Pennsylvania, may very well be the second largest shale gas reserves in the world.
According to the US Energy Information Administration, China has the most “technically recoverable” unconventional gas, with 36.1 trillion cubic metres. Argentina comes in third with an estimated 21.9 trillion. South Africa, Australia, Canada and Poland all have serious shale gas deposits, too. [Source: The Economist, August 6, 2011] (more…)
Is Central PA Ready for a Rachel Carson Autumn?
October 24, 2011I’ve never been to Happy Valley though I think a lot about Penn State. Since posting about fracking on state college campuses last month, I keep wondering where is The Left? Aren’t college campuses supposed to be hotbeds of liberal thinking? I know some schools are more conservative than others, but in public institutions such as state universities, shouldn’t there at least be a viable progressive contingent?
I’m happy to say, I’ve finally stumbled upon the nerve center of progressive discourse at State College, in the form of Sustainability Now Radio – a well-established website and weekly radio show, Fridays from 4 to 5 pm on TheLion.fm/listen 90.7fm WKPS. It’s worth a listen, and their blog is definitely worth a read. That’s where I first viewed this seriously harrowing video of a western PA mom, (more…)
Delaware Riverkeeper Won’t Support “Politically Palatable” Citizens Commission Report
October 21, 2011The following is a press release from The Delaware Riverkeeper Network:
Delaware Riverkeeper Resigns From Citizens Marcellus Shale Commission
For Immediate Release, Contact: Maya K. van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper, 215 369 1188 ext 102
October 20, 2011, Bristol, PA – Days before the Citizens Marcellus Shale Commission is scheduled to release its final report and recommendations, Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper, resigned from her post as a Commissioner for the group. (more…)
Save The Delaware, Seriously
October 5, 2011UPDATE: The DRBC announced today that it will postpone the October 21 meeting date to vote on the new gas regulations. The meeting is now scheduled for November 21, 2011.
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ORIGINAL POST: The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) will vote on October 21, 2011 whether to open the “Special Protection Waters” of The Upper Delaware to industrial shale gas drilling. If new DRBC regulations are passed, the current moratorium on hydraulic fracturing will come to an end, and fracking will begin in earnest in the Delaware River watershed region. (more…)
Keep Tap Water Safe 