Archive for the ‘Stop Fracking PA!’ Category
March 13, 2012
Dimock… Butler County… and now Franklin Township, PA… Whose water will be polluted next?
UPDATE [March 22,2012]: Marcellus shale driller offers water to Franklin Homes by Laura Legere, in The Times-Tribune, Thursday, March 22, 2012.
UPDATE [March 15, 2012]: DEP announces sampling of Franklin Township water wells DEP tracking-source-of-more-methane-in-wells by abc27.com
[Original Post]: Gas drillers want you to think Pennsylvania’s water supply was rife with shallow methane before they began fracking the Marcellus Play. Obviously methane deposits can migrate, but why would these towns have been settled in the first place if the water table was bad? Listening to residents in these Northern and Western gas drilling locales, you hear recurring themes about a whole new kind of water problem.
“Up until November, I could drink my water.”
“It’s black.”
“It’s really slimy.”
“Up there, a coupla houses, they’re starting to have some issues.”
“It won’t freeze.”
“Now, there are elevated chemicals…” (more…)
Tags:Bill Dubanevich, Franklin Township Methane, Hopey, PA American Water, Tara Howley, Templeton, Vera Duerga, WPX Energy
Posted in fracking, fresh water pollution, PA DEP, Pennsylvania Watersheds, Stop Fracking PA! | Leave a Comment »
March 10, 2012
by Stop Frackin’ PA!
UPDATE [March 15, 2012]:
A sad day for the Susquehanna. Permits for MASSIVE water withdrawals were approved. Read more in Natural Gas Industry Gets Water Permits for Fracking While Science and Public Get Ignored by Earthworks at EcoWatch.org.
LINK: http://ecowatch.org/2012/natural-gas-industry-gets-water-permits-while-science-and-public-get-ignored/
~
ORIGINAL POST:
On Thursday, March 15th at 8am in Harrisburg, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission will convene for a public vote on more than 60 permit applications for large-scale water withdrawals. These hotly contested withdrawals will amount to mega-millions of gallons over a four-year period, for which users are charged a mere $.005/gallon. The vast majority of this fresh water is bound for toxic Industrial Shale Gas Drilling. (more…)
Tags:Alex Lotorto, James T. O’Reilly, No Frackin' PA!, O'Malley, SRBC, Water Withdrawals
Posted in anti-fracking movement, Pennsylvania Watersheds, Politics, Stop Fracking PA! | 2 Comments »
March 8, 2012
Ads Cost Money But The Truth About Shale Gas Drilling Is Free
I laugh a little when I hear Gas Industry folks complain about how well-funded the anti-fracking movement is. To which groups are they referring? I’m a fractivist. I volunteer, and I’m in very good company. The organizations I support are transparent about their funding, too, even if it’s the wrong brand of donor, as was recently the case with Sierra Club. Difficult as it must have been, Sierra came clean about Chesapeake Energy underwriting its Beyond Coal campaign. Now, I suspect, they’re working doubly hard to get beyond Gas.
It’s true, there’s a growing list of major environmental groups who want to ban or limit Unconventional Gas Drilling, (more…)
Posted in anti-fracking movement, Energy, Environment, fresh water pollution, hydraulic fracturing, shale gas pollution, Stop Fracking PA! | 1 Comment »
March 5, 2012
I started this blog a year ago, freaked over Fracking and the hydrological catastrophe coming to Pennsylvania. I was determined to reach one thousand people with the message that industrial shale gas drilling will forever destroy beautiful, economically struggling regions of rural PA. I wanted them to know that the unchecked, under-regulated shale gas industry is already polluting the water we drink and the air we breathe.
Mostly, I wanted people to Take Action to protect the imperiled Delaware and Schuylkill River watersheds. (more…)
Posted in fracking accidents fraccidents, hydraulic fracturing, PA DEP, Pennsylvania Watersheds, Politics, shale gas pollution, Stop Fracking PA! | 2 Comments »
February 28, 2012
Rep. Greg Vitali Seeks to Close Gas Industry Air Pollution Exemptions with House Bill 2113
Here’s an interesting fact: On March 1, 2012, the PA Department of Environmental Protection is required to submit a 2011 Air Emissions Inventory for “unconventional drilling” operations in Pennsylvania to the federal Environmental Protection Agency. They will be reporting on Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) emissions, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), like benzene and toluene, and Particulate Matter from internal combustion engines which contributes to Ozone counts, among other things.
Since it’s not feasible for the DEP to test the air everywhere, reporting data is provided by gas industry operators, who derive their numbers from the specifications manuals of the equipment they use. This is where the drillers’ exemptions come into play. (more…)
Tags:Air Pollution, andrew paterson, HB 2113, Rep Vitali
Posted in hydraulic fracturing, PA DEP, shale gas pollution, Stop Fracking PA! | 1 Comment »
February 13, 2012
When it comes to the pro-gas point-of-view, is there anyone worth listening to?
Last week, former DEP chief, John Hanger, earned props from the gas industry blog, Marcellus Drilling News, in a pithy post entitled, Former PA DEP Head Says Fracking Doesn’t Contaminate Aquifers. MDN, which is edited by Jim Willis in Binghamton, NY, was spotlighting Hanger’s comments in a recent New York Post article about “fracking hysteria.” From the start, that right-wing litterbox liner has been unabashedly anti-Environment in their coverage of issues surrounding Fracking. One can expect greater journalistic integrity from MDN, which simply distilled Hanger’s quotes to support their editorial position, that fracking is safe. My kinda of post, only ass-backwards. (more…)
Tags:Gas Industry Propaganda, Jan Jarett, Jim Willis, John Hanger, Marcellus Impact Fee, PennFuture
Posted in DEP, hydraulic fracturing, PA DEP, Pennsylvania Watersheds, Stop Fracking PA! | Leave a Comment »
February 8, 2012
The Fracking Studies Drillers don’t want you to see…
On February 14, 2012 Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett signed the Marcellus Impact Fee bill (Act 13), which was on his desk before his new state budget address, as requested. Act 13 was his valentine to the Gas Industry. With it, state majority leaders carried Corbett’s methane torch, illuminating the notion that while Harrisburg may not sit atop the Marcellus Shale, it’s central to the nation’s Fact-Free Zone.
“We will restore Science to its rightful place,” stated President Obama in his 2009 inaugural address. A few days later, Stephen Colbert glibly asked Chris Mooney, author of The New York Times bestseller, The Republican War on Science in an interview, “Should we tax and spend our way to knowledge?” Unfortunately, in the ultra-polemic Marcellus, where gas drilling is ramping up at a sickening pace, state research budgets continue to be cut and science has yet to gain much of a foothold.
Good Science vs. “Bad” Studies
Republican lawmakers repeatedly dismiss published, peer-reviewed studies while citing industry-friendly economic figures freely, as if their business acumen somehow compensates for a stunning dearth of facts. Because good science should never be dismissed by bad lawmakers, here’s the shortlist of landmark fracking studies that the Gas Industry would rather you didn’t see: (more…)
Tags:Corbett, Fracking studies, HB1950, Marcellus Impact Fee
Posted in epa, hydraulic fracturing, PA DEP, Politics, Stop Fracking PA! | Leave a Comment »
February 2, 2012
State Senator Erickson Too Sensible for Harrisburg
It’s not everyday you meet a Pennsylvania State Senator. Rarer still do you have an hour-long discussion about Marcellus shale gas with a Republican who, along with eight members of his caucus, opposes key points in Governor Corbett’s Marcellus bill, SB1100. (more…)
Tags:HB1950, impacte fee bill, local zoning rights, PA SB1100, Scarnati, Senator Edwin Erickson
Posted in hydraulic fracturing, Politics, Stop Fracking PA! | Leave a Comment »
January 31, 2012
High Volume Gas Metering Station to be a Stone’s Throw from Northeastern PA Elementary, Middle and High School Campus
Chief Gathering LLC is going to build a gas metering station 1,300 feet from the Dallas Township Schools in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, according to The Dallas Post on December 11, 2011, and much to the dismay of residents opposed to industrial gas activity so close their children’s schools. (more…)
Tags:Dallas Township PA, fracking near schools, Gas Drilling Awareness Coaltion, Liz Martin, local zoning, PA Public Schools, Sarah Hite
Posted in Environment, epa, PA DEP, Politics, Stop Fracking PA! | 2 Comments »
January 22, 2012
“Colossal Failure” of Governor Corbett and The PA Department of Environmental Protection
The EPA began delivering water to four families in Dimock PA on Friday, January 20, while they conduct further testing on 61 more households. The move signals a failure of Tom Corbett and the PA DEP to safeguard the water supply of citizens. Peacegirl posted a video of the Press Conference on Sunday, January 20, 2012 in Dimock, PA. Among the speakers introduced by Julia Walsh of FrackAction were Craig Sautner, who will be receiving EPA water, and Victoria Switzer, who will not.
“Let science speak for itself… Well, I guess it has, hasn’t it?” Sautner said. (more…)
Tags:Anti-Fracking, Cabot Oil & Gas, Dimock PA, EPA Water Delivery, Gasland 2, Press Conference, Sautner, Switzer
Posted in fracking accidents fraccidents, fresh water pollution, PA DEP, Pennsylvania Watersheds, Politics, Stop Fracking PA! | Leave a Comment »
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 16, 2012
Blue 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…)
Tags:Citizens Advisory Council, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Don Hopey, gas drilling, gas leases, Kurt Leitholf, PA Game Lands, PA State Parks
Posted in Environment, hydraulic fracturing, Politics, Stop Fracking PA! | 1 Comment »
January 5, 2012
Senate 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…)
Tags:Marcellus Bill Opposition, Robert Swift, SB100, Scarnati Bill
Posted in Environment, hydraulic fracturing, Politics, Stop Fracking PA! | 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 »
December 22, 2011
FOR 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…)
Tags:American Rivers, lawsuits, Marcellus Shale, Protecting Our Waters, Sierra Club, SRBC, Susquehanna River, Water Withdrawals
Posted in anti-fracking movement, hydraulic fracturing, Pennsylvania Watersheds, Stop Fracking PA! | Leave a Comment »
November 30, 2011
Since 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…)
Tags:Michael Krancer, Quotes on Fracking
Posted in Environment, hydraulic fracturing, PA DEP, Pennsylvania Watersheds, Stop Fracking PA! | 1 Comment »
November 22, 2011
One would think, for all the recent public outcry, that the Delaware is the only river in Pennsylvania. So what if it’s the longest, free-flowing, un-dammed course of fresh water in North America? Who cares that a University of Delaware report concludes that the 330-mile long waterway generates $22 billion for the regional economy? There happens to be another, rather large, really important river in Pennsylvania – The Susquehanna. (more…)
Tags:PA fresh water supply, Schuylkill River Watershed, Susquehanna River
Posted in fresh water pollution, Pennsylvania Watersheds, Stop Fracking PA! | 1 Comment »
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 »
November 15, 2011
At 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…)
Tags:2011, Delaware River Basin, DRBC, Jesse Brown, November 21 Trenton, Obama
Posted in anti-fracking movement, Environment, hydraulic fracturing, Politics, Stop Fracking PA! | 1 Comment »
Keep Tap Water Safe 