January 2, 2012
I 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.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Dimock Water, EPA Fracking, Switzer
Posted in Environment, fresh water pollution, hydraulic fracturing, PA DEP, Politics | 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. Read the rest of this entry »
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.
Read the rest of this entry »
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 »
December 20, 2011
From 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. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: fresh water resources, Penn Virginia Resource Partners, SB1100, wastewater treatment plants
Posted in Environment, epa, hydraulic fracturing, Pennsylvania Watersheds, Politics | 1 Comment »
December 20, 2011
Lately, I’ve become obsessed with simplifying daily life. Simplicity, it seems, may be the only way to collectively solve the world’s energy crisis. I’m all in with this steadily growing, common-sense movement. I’m ready to conserve, tread more lightly, and live with less stuff in better balance. It’s not about rainbows and unicorns, though I do secretly wonder if it’s possible to “go off the grid” in suburban Philadelphia. Rather, it’s an urgent awakening to the dire need for a fundamental change in the patterns of human consumption. I can only speak for myself, but I‘m actively seeking more realistic solutions. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Conservation, Michael Mortvedt, Simple Living, Voluntary Simplicty
Posted in Energy, Environment, fresh water pollution, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
November 30, 2011
The more I learn about the shale gas boom, the more I respect the pioneer spirit of Pennsylvanians, and the more disgusted I am by the frontier mentality of the gas drilling industry. We’re a commonwealth, after all, and I equate wealth with a healthy society and a flourishing ecology. I often think of Ben Franklin’s famous quote: “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”When it comes to the cumulative environmental impacts of pollution from Fracking, I’m afriad we all live downstream. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Fractivism, HB1950, Maude Barlow, SB1100
Posted in Environment, fresh water pollution, Politics | 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…. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Michael Krancer, Quotes on Fracking
Posted in Environment, hydraulic fracturing, PA DEP, Pennsylvania Watersheds, 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 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. Read the rest of this entry »
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. Read the rest of this entry »
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. Read the rest of this entry »
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 »
November 10, 2011
Josh 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. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Delaware River Basin Commission, DRBC, Gas Drliing Regulations, Gasland, Josh Fox
Posted in anti-fracking movement, hydraulic fracturing, Pennsylvania Watersheds, Politics | 2 Comments »
November 7, 2011
UPDATE: 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. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Corbett Impact Fee, Gene DiGirolama, HB 1863, Marcellus Drilling Tax, SB1100, Scarnati, Tom Murt
Posted in hydraulic fracturing, Politics | Leave a Comment »
November 4, 2011
“EPA Announces Final Study Plan to Assess Hydraulic Fracturing/Congressionally directed study will evaluate potential impacts on drinking water“
Press Release Date: 11/03/2011
Contact Information: Cathy Milbourn milbourn.cathy@epa.gov 202-564-7849 202-564-4355
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced its final research plan on hydraulic fracturing. At the request of Congress, EPA is working to better understand potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources. Natural gas plays a key role in our nation’s clean energy future and the Obama Administration is committed to ensuring that we continue to leverage this vital resource responsibly. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: EPA, Hydraulic Fracturing US Study, Marcellus Shale
Posted in Energy, Environment, epa, fresh water pollution | 1 Comment »
November 3, 2011
“It’s here. We’re not going to run out of it. It’s clean, and it’s renewable,” said PA DEP Secretary Michael Krancer of Marcellus shale gas to a meeting of 100 Rotary Club members in Erie last week. Seriously? The PA DEP secretary called natural gas a ‘renewable‘ resource? How far will gas industry spin extend? Shale gas is not a renewable resource, by any stretch. Will this administration stop at nothing to exploit this fossil fuel as rapidly as possible? Their heedlessness is galling, especially considering public outcry, but you can read all about it in this nifty bit of coverage by Jim Martin in The Erie Times-News, DEP Secretary, in Erie, calls Marcellus Shale ‘a blessing under our feet’
Thanks for covering the meeting, Jim!
Tags: Krancer, shameless shale gas promotion
Posted in Environment, PA DEP, Stop Fracking PA! | Leave a Comment »
November 3, 2011
Fight for Our River – Re-designate The Delaware!
It’s time for public officials to hear from the public. Legislation is flying through Harrisburg, and lawmakers need to be aware that a growing number of constituencies are concerned about the toxic threat posed by industrial gas drilling. Urge them – today – to value clean water over dirty fossil fuels, to protect our existing high water quality, and to ensure ongoing protections in the face of an unprecedented Shale Gas Boom.
DEP Secretary Michael Krancer has said he’s the boss who wants to hear whatever you think he doesn’t want to hear. He is a public official, after all, and perhaps the most pivotal figure aside from the governor when it comes to establishing the policies and enforcing the new regulations that may, or may not, protect my family’s drinking water. So I take this as an open invitation. You should, too. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: delaware river, Michael Krancer, PA DEP, PACleanWaterCampaign
Posted in PA DEP, Pennsylvania Watersheds, Stop Fracking PA! | Leave a Comment »
November 1, 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’s Part II: Corporate funding of Marcellus Shale studies at universities raises alarms by Reid R. Frazier and Olivia Garber.
~
On October 26, 2011, the Pennsylvania State Senate passed SB 367, by a vote of 47-2, which will allow the State System of Higher Education to lease the mineral rights of campus land for shale gas drilling. PA State Senators Jim Ferlo [D-38th District] and Mike Folmer [R-18th District] cast the dissenting votes. [Source: PASenate.com] State universities located above the Marcellus Shale are Bloomsburg, CALU, Clarion, Edinboro, Indiana, Lock Haven, Mansfield and Slippery Rock. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Anti-Fracking Movement, Fracking Oppoisition, Lotorto, Occupy Well Street
Posted in Politics | 1 Comment »
October 31, 2011
VOTE FOR FRACTIVIST-FRIENDLY LEADERSHIP
A recent post on Protest Shale Gas Drilling informed me about a new Facebook page, Marcellus at the Polls. The new page is a compilation of candidate information, a consummately useful 2011 environmental voter’s guide to PA, NY, OH, and WV – the Marcellus Shale states. Click on “docs” at the top of the page to learn more about Fractivist friendly candidates in your neck of the woods. You’ll find a wealth of links, current comments and topical information. Then, be sure to exercise your franchise at the polls on Tuesday, November 8, 2011. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Anti-Shale Gas Movement, Forouzan, Pennsylvania State Elections
Posted in fresh water pollution, Pennsylvania Watersheds, Stop Fracking PA! | 1 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] Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Blackpool earthquakes, Caudrilla, China, Poland, Shell
Posted in Energy, Environment, hydraulic fracturing, shale gas pollution | 1 Comment »
October 24, 2011
I’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, Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: MarcellusProtest2011, Penn State, Peter Buckland, PSU, Stephanie Hallowich
Posted in anti-fracking movement, hydraulic fracturing, Pennsylvania Watersheds, Stop Fracking PA! | 2 Comments »
Keep Tap Water Safe 