Archive for the ‘shale gas pollution’ Category
January 21, 2012
“Fifty Percent of Pennsylvania’s Land Mass (22,835 square miles) will become an heavily industrialized zone over the next fifty years…” *
“Wellbores, even perfectly sealed, will be thousands of times more porous than the rock between the shale and the surface, a multi-generational legacy of pollution could be the result.” *
“Three EPA studies have found that the migration of fracturing fluids into groundwater is unpredictable or has already happened.” *
POW! Bam!! Free Facts Fuel Democracy
Regularly circulating valuable links, articles and information, the venerable people at Protecting Our Waters are ever satisfying the public’s right-to-know about the impacts of industrial shale gas drilling on our fresh water supply. The group demonstrates that no matter how much money the gas industry spends on media and lobbying, they cannot captivate the national conversation. (more…)
Tags:Anti-Fracking, Lucinda Hart-Gonzalez, Protecting Our Waters, Shale Gas Opposition, Stephen Cleghorn
Posted in Environment, fresh water pollution, hydraulic fracturing, Pennsylvania Watersheds, shale gas pollution, Stop Fracking PA! | Leave a Comment »
January 15, 2012
As 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…)
Tags:Anti-Fracking, Fracking Free Bulgaria, Sofia, tight gas europe
Posted in anti-fracking movement, Energy, Environment, hydraulic fracturing, shale gas pollution, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
January 12, 2012
On 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…)
Tags:Clean Air Council, DEP, DRBC, Matt Walker, Michael Krancer, Rebecca Rotor
Posted in Energy, Environment, hydraulic fracturing, shale gas pollution | Leave a Comment »
December 27, 2011
Julie Reppert reported in The Williamsport Sun-Gazette that a collision between two heavy trucks resulted in frack fluid spilling into a stream in Mifflin Township, PA on Monday, December 26, 2011. The story was quickly picked up by local TV news and larger media outlets. No serious injuries were reported, but how to assess the long-term damage downstream? Sadly, Fraccident reports like this one became all too common in 2011. Happily, the year also saw the emergence of several new online news resources providing the best quality news and information about Shale Gas Drilling in Pennsylvania yet. (more…)
Tags:Detrow, Fracking Fliud Spil, Julie Reppert, Marcellus App, NPR, Philips, StateImpact
Posted in Environment, shale gas pollution, Stop Fracking PA! | 1 Comment »
November 23, 2011
In 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!
Tags:Lisa P. Jackson
Posted in Energy, Environment, epa, hydraulic fracturing, shale gas pollution | 3 Comments »
November 18, 2011
In 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…)
Tags:delaware river, DRBC, November 21, Riverkeeper, Shale Gas Regulations
Posted in Energy, hydraulic fracturing, Pennsylvania Watersheds, Politics, shale gas pollution, Stop Fracking PA! | Leave a Comment »
October 27, 2011
As 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…)
Tags:Blackpool earthquakes, Caudrilla, China, Poland, Shell
Posted in Energy, Environment, hydraulic fracturing, shale gas pollution | 1 Comment »
October 18, 2011
None of the top three Republican Presidential contenders give much credence to the science of Global Climate Change. To ignore it the way they do just seems stupid, and this sets the table for my impressions of these motley characters. I cringe watching all the coverage about the Republican Primary. I don’t disagree with everything they say, but when they speak about energy, the environment or the EPA, they all have the same under-informed, unabashedly biased voice.
Republicans for Obama?
Really? Do they exist? Yesterday, at the supermarket, I saw a Prius with a brand new bumper sticker that read: “Republicans for Obama.” According to their website, “Republicans for Obama is a grassroots organization of proud party members who all share one important trait— we are Americans first and Republicans second.” Cool. I’m a registered Democrat and even I’ve been less than supportive of our president lately. His federal advisory commission on shale gas drilling is stacked with industry insiders, and the revolving door between industry and government has never spun faster. But at least Obama believes in Climate Change! (more…)
Tags:EPA, Marcellus Shale Gas, Rick Perry
Posted in Energy, Environment, epa, Politics, shale gas pollution | Leave a Comment »
October 10, 2011
The Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) supply chain is generally more energy and greenhouse gas intensive than the supply chain for pipeline gas because of the extra processing steps. If Pennsylvania becomes a major LNG exporter, we will essentially be exporting the primary benefit of using this cleaner burning fossil fuel while bearing all the nasty environmental hazards and downsides of drilling for, processing and transporting it. (more…)
Tags:Chesapeake, Corbett, Dominion Resources, liquified natural gas export, LNG, Maryland
Posted in Energy, Politics, shale gas pollution, Stop Fracking PA! | Leave a Comment »
September 19, 2011
UPDATE [November 8, 2011] On Sunday, November 6, Bill Schackner reported in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, that the Cal U Student Association had been quietly negotiating a mineral lease deal. Read the details in his article, Drilling on Campus: Marcellus Shale boom puts colleges at crossroads It’s the first of two parts. Here is Part II: Corporate funding of Marcellus Shale studies at universities raises alarms by Reid R. Frazier and Olivia Garber
ORIGINAL POST:
When Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett [R] first spoke of leasing state college and university land to gas drillers, he was addressing a meeting of the Pennsylvania Association of Councils of Trustees at Edinboro University in March, 2011. He was suggesting a way to soften the economic blow of $650 million in proposed cuts to Public Higher Education, cuts which amounted to a stunning 50% off the prior year’s budget. Cuts that were in addition to the universally repellant $550 million already slashed from Basic Education funding. When Corbett made his seemingly casual suggestion, however, he wasn’t grasping at political straws. He was sowing the seeds of new fiscal policy. (more…)
Tags:California, Clarion University, Corbett, fracking Mansfield University, fracking PA state schools, Indian University of Pennsylvania, Lock Haven, Penn State, Penn State Extension, Slippery Rock
Posted in fresh water pollution, Politics, shale gas pollution, Stop Fracking PA!, Unconventional Gas Drilling | Leave a Comment »
September 13, 2011
If you live in Pennsylvania, and you haven’t read it yet, download/buy/borrow The End of Country right now. Done? Author Seamus McGraw is not only well-informed, he’s irreverent and blunt. To wit, his recent post on Facebook: “I’ve long argued that the two most dangerous chemicals that are used far too liberally in the fracking process are testosterone and adrenaline.”
As a man who facilitated the leasing of his mother’s land to Chesapeake Energy (testosterone), he is often perceived to be a part of the problem by angry fractivists (adrenaline). I would suggest that here’s a guy, a self-proclaimed environmentalist and early biofuel user, who understands the very real dangers of fracking, (more…)
Tags:Coal, renewable energy, Seamus McGraw, T. Boon Pickens
Posted in Energy, Environment, shale gas pollution, Stop Fracking PA!, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
September 8, 2011
Wake The Village! Again
This morning, I sat in traffic for nearly three hours. Record flooding, mudslides and downed trees blocked the way of nearly every commuter in the region. It was a nightmare. I was late for the Freedom from Fracking Conference in Center City, and I was ticked. I arrived just in time to catch hydrogeologist Paul Rubin’s workshop, Our Aquifers, Our Drinking Water: Casualties of Gas Development. 
(more…)
Tags:2011, Freedom From Fracking, Paul Rubin, September 7
Posted in anti-fracking movement, Energy, Environment, hydraulic fracturing, Pennsylvania Watersheds, shale gas pollution, Stop Fracking PA! | Leave a Comment »
September 7, 2011
The purpose of the Citizens Marcellus Shale Commission September 6th hearing at the Free Library of Philadelphia was to “delve deeper into a variety of shale gas issues, including water and air quality, social impacts of gas drilling, the drilling tax, and impacts outside Marcellus communities.” A host of invited presenters gave detailed testimony in their area of expertise, then the floor was open to public comment. This was, by far, the more colorful aspect of the evening, (more…)
Tags:Citizens Marcellus Shale Commission, crowley, frost, Paul Rubin, PennFuture, sliberman, tsou, Vitali
Posted in Environment, hydraulic fracturing, Pennsylvania Watersheds, Politics, shale gas pollution | 2 Comments »
August 31, 2011
Pennsylvania’s smallest – and most vulnerable – citizens deserve clean air and methane-free water fountains when they go to school, right? Are we seriously at the point where we’re knowingly exposing school children to toxic air pollution, potential water contamination and massive truck traffic? Apparently, we are. (more…)
Tags:Ben Wieder, Blackhawk School District Fracking, Chesapeake Energy, gas lease, Jerry Wessel
Posted in fresh water pollution, hydraulic fracturing, shale gas pollution, Stop Fracking PA! | Leave a Comment »
August 20, 2011
The kids are home! Camp was great, and once again there’s a wait at Ruby’s Diner. It’s that pleasant interim between peak summer and back-to-school. Last week, on a trip to New England, my husband took us on a tour of the overnight camp where he spent six glorious summers in his youth. It was heartwarming to see him share his memories with our camp-aged son as he endeavored to warm him up to the idea of maybe going there, too. It was all I could do not to go around picking up the wet towels. I could totally see why it’s one of his “happy places.” (more…)
Tags:b'nai b'rith, fracking, Morasha, New Jersey Y, overnight camps, perlman starlight, poconos, Shalom Center
Posted in Environment, fresh water pollution, shale gas pollution, Stop Fracking PA! | Leave a Comment »
August 5, 2011
The once pristine “high value” Laurel Lake Creek north of Allentown in Silver Lake Township, Susquehanna County is now the site of the latest Fraccident in Eastern Pennsylvania, according to Department of Environmental Protection officials. The persistent mud blowout was caused when Laser Northeast Gathering Co., LLP crews were tunneling beneath the “protected” waterway to lay a gas pipeline on Friday, July 29, 2011. Mud continues gushing today, one week later. (more…)
Tags:bentonite, blowout, Kevin R. Marion, Laser Northeast Gathering CO., Laurel Lake Creek, LLP, mud, Salt Springs State Park, Silver Lake Township, Vera Duerga
Posted in fresh water pollution, hydraulic fracturing, PA DEP, shale gas pollution, Stop Fracking PA! | Leave a Comment »
August 1, 2011
Pennsylvania has more fresh water wells in private use than any other state in the US. We also have an abundance of natural, mineral-laced springs. Most of these wells and nearly all of the springs, however, exist undocumented. That means, if you use a well, the Department of Environmental Protection has no record of your water’s baseline composition, and it probably doesn’t even know your well exists.
Many water advocates in the state recognize that this one of the weakest links in the DEP’s plan to regulate, and therefore enforce, the shale gas drilling industry. After all, how can they determine if a homeowner’s water has or has not been polluted when they do not know the quality that existed before gas drilling began, right? If you’re a water well owner, don’t let it come to that. Make sure your water quality is tested and certified, and becomes part of public record. This could be especially important of you are seeking to sell your home in the future, as any potential buyer could be denied financing if your well water quality is in question. (more…)
Tags:DEP, Fracktrack, Pennsylvania Watersheds, well
Posted in hydraulic fracturing, PA DEP, Pennsylvania Watersheds, shale gas pollution, Stop Fracking PA! | 2 Comments »
July 25, 2011
The Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission, led by Lt. Governor Jim Cawley, has filed its long awaited report complete with 96 new suggestions. Many environmental groups agree that while the recommendations are a good start, they do not go far enough. To read the full recommendations, or a shorter summary, click here.
Tags:Cawley, fracking, Marcellus Advisory Commission, Report
Posted in Energy, Environment, hydraulic fracturing, Politics, shale gas pollution, Stop Fracking PA! | Leave a Comment »
July 22, 2011
This week, Anthony Brino at SolveClimate News reported that residents near Beaver Run Reservoir in Westmoreland County are concerned over the risk of toxic pollution from a CNX frack wellpad which sits on a low-lying peninsula in the reservoir. (more…)
Tags:Beaver Run Reservoir, Brino, fracking, Solve Climate News, Westmoreland Water Authority
Posted in Environment, fresh water pollution, hydraulic fracturing, shale gas pollution, Stop Fracking PA! | Leave a Comment »
July 21, 2011
According to a Reuters article by Dave Warner, the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a gas drillers advocacy group, commissioned a Penn State study which was released today. It concluded that Marcellus wells are more productive than anticipated, and that jobs in Pennsylvania are falling from the sky. Immediately, the PA Budget and Policy Center, a liberal-leaning think tank, disputed their findings, stating that the Coalition’s estimated $1 billion in 2010 tax revenue was overstated by at least $781 million, (more…)
Tags:Corbett, Dave Warner, Marcellus Advisory Commission, Marcellus Shale Coalition, PA Budget and Policy Center, Penn State
Posted in shale gas pollution, Stop Fracking PA! | Leave a Comment »
Keep Tap Water Safe 