Archive for the ‘Pennsylvania Watersheds’ Category

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Tracking Frack Water “Cradle to Grave”

May 10, 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. (more…)

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PennEnvironment Report: Gas Development Endangers Vulnerable Populations

May 9, 2011

PennEnvironment is a statewide, citizen-based environmental advocacy organization. They’re been around for over 30 years, and their work has directly resulted in some of Pennsylvania’s best environmental protections. In their own words, they combine “independent research, practical ideas and tough-minded advocacy to overcome the opposition of powerful special interests and win real results for Pennsylvania’s environment.” Sometimes, their student volunteers knock on your door. Last week, PennEnvironment released a report on Gas Drilling in Pennsylvania: “In The Shadow of the Marcellus Boom: How Shale Gas Extraction Puts Vulnerable Pennsylvanians at Risk.”

Among the alarming conclusions: (more…)

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DRBC Tables Permit for Major XTO Water Withdrawal from The Upper Delaware – For Now

May 6, 2011

Update: Encouragingly, the DRBC voted to table the permit until further hearings! Victory – Our Voices Really Do Add Up!! Congratulations to the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Protecting Our Waters, PennEnvironment and all the other groups whose vigilance and hard work hard paid off. More on this important issue to follow.

XTO Energy, Inc., a gas subsidiary of ExxonMobile Corp., would like to pull 250,000 gallons of water PER DAY from the ecologically sensitive cold water flows of the Upper Delaware River Region in Oquaga and Broome Counties, NY for hydraulic fracturing. That’s 100 million gallons A YEAR, for free. The ensuing environmental impact to nature and wildlife in this widely used recreation area would be indelibly damaged.

If the DRBC approves this permit, they will be acting in contradiction to their own mandate. (more…)

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Victory or Red Herring?

May 4, 2011
DEP Rolls Back Approval Process for Shale Violations
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
SOURCE: Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The state Department of Environmental Protection has completely rolled back a controversial, 5-week-old procedural change that required all field enforcement actions involving Marcellus Shale gas drilling operations be pre-approved by political appointees in Harrisburg.

Read more: http://post-gazette.com/pg/11123/1143606-503-0.stm#ixzz1LQ5pXGM9

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Certainly this is good news, since we had a right to the information the PA DEP would have withheld in the first place. We pay for it with our tax dollars. But is it really a victory to have something rightfully restored when it was wrongfully taken in the first place?

Here’s a statistic worth considering: Since January 1, 2011, the PA DEP has approved a whopping 956 permits, with a large majority in the Upper Delaware Watershed Region. Makes one wonder if their primary function is regulating threats to the environment or issuing permits? They don’t really care about NOVs. They’re gonna slap wrists and fines, either way. It’s a RED HERRING. It seems like their first interest is creating a profitable disposal route for recycled (distilled) flowback, and mitigating environmental impacts or protecting the public wellfare from the drilling itself comes second.

Posted in PA DEP, Pennsylvania Watersheds, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Fracking is Bad for Business

April 27, 2011

An 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

Posted in Energy, Environment, fracking accidents fraccidents, fresh water pollution, Pennsylvania Watersheds, Stop Fracking PA!, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

PA DEP Asks Drillers To Pretty Please Stop Dumping Waste Into Waterways

April 23, 2011

For those of us who are pro-water, this is good news indeed. Frack waste is radioactive. But let’s not get carried away. It’s not a law. Heck, it isn’t even a regulation. Is it the first step in the PA DEP’s effort to rigorously regulate? Or it is a red herring put forth to ease public concern while drilling moves forward at an increased pace?

Recycling flowback, even injecting the frack water back into new wells, is hardly an answer to a very serious problem: tons and tons of toxic, carcinogenic chemicals, along with massive volumes of fresh water pulled from our Special Protection Waters aquifers, are being blasted into the bedrock beneath our feet. Along with all the other dangerous compounds brought up, they are spewing forth, bubbling up and floating on the breeze. They are radioactive, and the state can’t handle it. The fact remains, the only way to completely mitigate adverse environmental and health effects is to NOT FRACK.

(more…)

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Recycling Frack Flowback: A Reality Check

April 13, 2011

It takes 4.5 to 6 million gallons of fresh water to hydrofrack a single natural gas well. There are  more than 30,000 permits awaiting approval in Pennsylvania over the next 10 years. In addition to the 6,755 frack wells currently operating, that equals 165 BILLION GALLONS OF FRESH WATER FROM PENNSYLVANIA largely from the Special Protection Waters of the Delaware River Watershed Region, destined to become toxic, often radioactive, frack “flowback.” And, by the way, that’s much more water than we actually have.

Our municipal water treatment facilities, which were designed to handle the bio solids of sewage not the RADIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS contained in frack flowback, cannot handle the current volume of frack waste produced in the state. Philadelphia Water Department Chairperson, Chris Crockett, is worried about his intakes. (more…)

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A Single Sane Voice In The Lamestream Media?

April 4, 2011

To Rachel Maddow, The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC TV:

Dear Rachel:

The waste water produced by hydraulic fracturing, which many on the MSNBC network now refer to with the innocuous industry term “flowback,” is not merely toxic, it’s radioactive. Disposing of the massive volumes of this carcinogenic, endocrine-disrupting “flowback” has become a major industrial dilemma.

In Southeastern Pennsylvania, gas companies have been illegally dumping frack waste water in our rivers and streams.

With 2,755 frack wells in Pennsylvania in 2010, there were 2,486 documented violations including illegal discharges into streams and tributaries, explosions, frack water spills and toxic air pollution. The source of the drinking water for the 15.6 million people living in Philadelphia and the Lower Delaware Region is at serious risk. I’m a resident, a parent and an environmental blogger, and I don’t want to raise my children in a Disease Cluster.

We need viable solutions, and we need them now!

Of course, this issue is not limited to pollution. The average single frack well pulls nearly 4.5 million gallons of water from an aquifer. We might have hundreds of years’ worth of gas trapped in the Marcellus Shale but we’ll run out of fresh water long before we burn through it all. Also, we’re not seeing the landscape merely “change,” we’re seeing it destroyed.

Sincerely,
Liz R.
KeepTapWaterSafe.org
Don’t Frack With The Delaware River Watershed!

Posted in fresh water pollution, Pennsylvania Watersheds | Leave a Comment »

Wake The Village!

March 30, 2011

In 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…)

Posted in Environment, epa, Pennsylvania Watersheds | Leave a Comment »

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