Hydraulic Fracture: Your Money or Your Life

Ninety-two percent of the 278 known chemicals used to produce natural gas have adverse health effects including endocrine disruption, neurological disorders and cancer. Chemical information is limited because the industry claims formulas are trade secrets. If, like most Americans, you believe your water, air and soil are protected from these chemicals by federal environmental statutes, you are dead wrong. Loopholes in our federal environmental laws allow the oil and gas industry to endanger public health and safety and risk vital natural resources.

Fueled by technological advances, a frenzied expansion in natural gas drilling has exploded into 34 American states. Once the burden of rural areas, it now encroaches into heavily populated cities turning neighborhoods into industrial zones.

They’re calling natural gas a bridge fuel, an alternative fuel, the “clean” energy. Enough PR money burnishes a dirty fossil fuel into an environmentally friendly magic bridge to lead us far from our energy crisis. In truth, the production process that endangers public health and safety, depletes scarce water supplies, and generates colossal amounts of toxic waste cancels out the slightly cleaner burn.

It's a heavy toll to cross this bridge. The question becomes: who pays?

Before crossing this magic bridge, we must guarantee that they “Do it Right.” The Federal Energy Policy Act of 2005 essentially removed all federal oversight and regulation of one part of natural gas production called hydraulic fracturing. It also opened up another loophole for stormwater runoff under the Clean Water Act. Drilling Down, written by Amy Mall (blog), Natural Resources Defense Council, lists these and other industry loopholes:

Decades of dealmaking by the industry, Congress, and regulatory offices have resulted in exemptions for the oil and gas industry from protections in the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, also known as the Superfund law), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act. In addition, the oil and gas industry is not covered by public right-to-know provisions under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, meaning that companies can withhold information needed to make informed decisions about protecting the environment and human health.

Tough regulations won’t be enough for an industry plagued with graft, patronage and deeply rooted corruption. We must guarantee enforcement. Every stage of natural gas production pollutes and at every stage toxic chemicals are used.

As natural gas production rapidly increases across the U.S., its associated pollution has reached the stage where it is contaminating essential life support systems - water, air, and soil - and causing harm to the health of humans, wildlife, domestic animals, and vegetation.

The Endocrine Disruption Exchange

The following concerns the essential element water.

WATER DEPLETION

In the dark of night 4 or 5 years ago, 4th grade science helped crystallize a thought lingering in the fog of my 50 year old brain: Natural gas drilling is permanently altering our hydrological cycle. Using a process called hydraulic fracturing or fracking, 1 to 5 million gallons of potable water, mixed with chemicals and sand are pumped under pressure down the drilling hole to release the gas trapped deep in the earth. During its lifetime, a well may be refracked as many as 18 times. The water that returns—30 to 70%--is called flowback and can contain the drilling chemicals plus hydrocarbons from the formation and naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM).

This toxic witch’s brew requires disposal, usually into an injection/disposal well where it is injected deep into the earth under a “containment” barrier—a permanent withdrawal from our overall water budget.

People laughed at me or dismissed my theory—easily intimidated, I shut up. I read Principles of Hydrogeology by Dr. Paul F. Hudak and contacted him with my question. Below is his reply:

Disposing used water into deep injection wells essentially removes it from the active hydrologic cycle. Conceivably, it could return to the active cycle at some very distant point in the future (speaking in geologic terms, well beyond human time frames.) This presumes no leakage through the well casing or nearby abandoned and unplugged wells, which could facilitate upward migration.

Dr. Paul F. Hudak
Department of Geography
University of North Texas

I believe this practice plays a big role in driving our perpetual drought.

Josh Fox traveled across the country filming his upcoming documentary, Water Under Attack. In the trailer to his documentary, Fox estimates that the recent natural gas drilling expansion has wasted over 40 Trillion gallons of potable water. That figure only considers the initial fracking. Since water usage is largely self reported by the industry, no one knows the true figure. (Please donate to Josh Fox’s monumentally important work!)

The water used to produce natural gas is not sustainable. Water recycling technology is available but only a tiny fraction of drilling water is recycled.

WATER POLLUTION

I think this is a major public health issue that needs to be addressed before we issue any more permits to drill any more wells.
~Dr. Theo Colborn, The Endocrine Disruption Exchange

The oil and gas industry has exemptions from the Clean Water Act which protects our waterways including rivers, streams, lakes and wetlands and the Safe Drinking Water Act which protects public supplies of drinking water. EPA Chief Lisa Jackson admits the current regulations restrict the EPA's ability to protect groundwater and said the issue "was well worth looking into."

Many of the chemicals used to produce natural gas qualify as hazardous materials and carcinogens. There are hundreds of cases of contaminated drinking water, including some linked to hydraulic fracturing. The Halliburton Loophole protects industry from federal requirement to disclose the chemicals used, and without disclosure we can’t get proof. This is the same tactic used by the tobacco industry for decades while they continued to claim no proof that smoking causes cancer.

Erin Brockovich Does Midland, Texas

Over 40 homes near an area where oil field waste was dumped in Midland have water contaminated with high levels of chromium-6, the same substance found in Hinkley, California by Erin Brockovich. Schlumberger, an oil and gas industry hydraulic fracture giant, has a plant next to the affected Midland neighborhood.

In a statement, Schlumberger said they never use chromium, but chromium is regularly found in waste pits that hold frack flowback.

The Brockovich investigators believe they have evidence to back up their claim that Schlumberger is to blame. (VIDEO)

“We want full disclosure.

And once the public hears the story, and they’ll say: well why aren’t we out there monitoring?

We can’t monitor until we know what they’re using. There’s no way to monitor. You can’t.”

~Dr. Theo Colborn, The Endocrine Disruption Exchange

From segment 2 – HEALTH, Water Under Attack (below)

the RAGE OF NATURE segment 02 -- HEALTH from JFOX on Vimeo.

Legislation is pending that will close the Halliburton Loophole, but we need more support for these bills. Please ask your member of Congress or Senator to co-sponsor these bills.

S. 1215 - Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals (FRAC) Act

A bill to amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to repeal a certain exemption for hydraulic fracturing, and for other purposes.

H.R. 2766 - Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act of 2009

To repeal the exemption for hydraulic fracturing in the Safe Drinking Water Act, and for other purposes.

Congressman Hinchey questions panel of experts on Fracking Fluids from JOSHFOX on Vimeo.

Congresswoman Diana DeGette at Gas Drilling Hearings from JOSHFOX on Vimeo.

Video of the 2007 Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing. This is a wake up call.

In the first quarter of 2009, the oil and gas industry spent $44.5 million lobbying against regulation. Last year they spent $129 million. In addition to lobby money, the industry PR machine is at full tilt. They’re trying to claim that hydraulic fracturing regulation should remain at the state level and spinning it as a state’s rights issue.

Here is the truth about state regulation: Currently Alabama is the only state in the US with special provisions to regulate hydraulic fracturing. The other states do not have specific fracturing rules; they rely on general drilling rules - casing, logs, pressure monitoring, waste disposal, etc. - to indirectly cover hydraulic fracturing.

Colorado has a disclosure rule that is not specific to fracturing - it covers all chemicals used down hole - drilling, fracturing, completion, etc. New York and Pennsylvania also require disclosure of fracking chemicals, but no actual regulation.

Legislation being considered by Congress would allow most states to remain the primary regulators of hydraulic fracturing, with flexibility as to their programs, but the legislation provides critical federal oversight - something that was lost when Congress passed the "Halliburton loophole" in 2005.

The American Petroleum Institute released a study claiming that regulating hydraulic fracturing would “devastate the economy.” Regulation certainly hasn’t hurt Alabama. I suspect it’s the liability and accountability that concerns them most because I fail to understand how regulating something that industry claims is perfectly safe would have such a huge economic impact.

Are these our choices then: A strong economy based on hydrocarbon energy or safe water and clean air?

In her commencement address at Duke University, Barbara Kingsolver said:

“We have to find another way. Enough of this shame.”

In the awful moment when someone demands at gunpoint, "Your money or your life," the answer is not supposed to be difficult.

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If you are interested in environmental issues, please join DK GreenRoots, a new environmental advocacy group created by Meteor Blades and Patriot Daily. DK GreenRoots comprises bloggers at Daily Kos and eco-advocates from other sites. We focus on a broad range of issues and are always open to new ones. Over the coming weeks and months, DK Greenroots will initiate a variety of environmental projects, some political and some having nothing directly to do with politics at all. Some projects may involve the creation of eco working groups that can be used for a variety of actions, including implementing political action or drafting proposed legislation. We are in exciting times now because for the first time in decades, significant environmental legislation will be passed by Congress. It is far easier to achieve real change if our proposal is on the table rather than fighting rearguard actions. We alert each other to important eco-stories in the mainstream media and on the Internet, promote bloggers at one site to readers at other sites, connect bloggers of similar interests to each other and discuss crucial eco-issues. Come help us put these projects together. Bring ideas of your own. There is no limit on what we can accomplish together.

Ronnie Earle for TX Governor?

I just discovered a Draft Ronnie Earle movement!

Okay! I'm starting to like this governor's race.

Hydraulic Fracturing: Me thinks thou dost protest too much

Please watch these videos of the Congressional hearings. It's obvious that Big Gas has some dirty secrets they don't want to share with the public.

Congressman Hinchey questions panel of experts on Fracking Fluids from JOSHFOX on Vimeo.

At about 2:35 Congresswoman Diana DeGette starts playing hardball. This is awesome.

Congresswoman Diana DeGette at Gas Drilling Hearings from JOSHFOX on Vimeo.

Hydraulic Fracturing Chemicals Cause Serious Health Problems

the RAGE OF NATURE segment 02 -- HEALTH from JFOX on Vimeo.

Chesapeake Energy Flares Barnett Shale Well in Benbrook, Texas Neighborhood

This picture was taken from Harris Parkway last night. The roar of the flare was quite loud. The closest houses were those on Lomo Alto Dr. The pad is quite large and appears to have at least one other completed well.

I gave a talk to the citizens of this area early this year or late last year. The PR dude from Chesapeake, Kevin Strawser, and his entourage were there. He was asked if he wanted to comment or present anything after I finished. He got up in his slick suit and said, Gosh, he hadn't been prepared for this! But he just didn't think things were as bad as I had said. And that was it.

Now this is what they're getting.

~Jerry Lobdill
Retired Chemist

Flaring releases dangerous chemicals into the air. Flaring has caused serious health problems and acid rain in Nigeria.

From OGAP

Flaring
Flaring is the practice of burning gas that is deemed uneconomical to collect and sell. Flaring is also used to burn gases that would otherwise present a safety problem. It is common to flare natural gas that contains hydrogen sulfide (i.e., sour gas), in order to convert the highly toxic hydrogen sulfide gas into less toxic compounds.

Flares emit a host of air pollutants, depending on the chemical composition of the gas being burned and the efficiency and temperature of the flare. Flaring results in hydrogen sulfide emissions if hydrogen sulfide is present in large enough amounts in the natural gas. There may also be additional by-products formed if some of the chemicals used during the drilling or hydraulic fracturing process are converted to a gaseous form and are burned along with the natural gas.

The Ventura County Air Pollution Control District, in California has estimated that the following air pollutants may be released from natural gas flares: benzene, formaldehyde, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs, including naphthalene), acetaldehyde, acrolein, propylene, toluene, xylenes, ethyl benzene and hexane. Researchers in Canada have measured more than 60 air pollutants downwind of natural gas flares.[1]

It's also very loud. This video is from another Chesapeake well.

Barnett Shale Public Opinion: Tell me how you really feel.

Here in Wise County, Texas we are no longer all that thrilled with the Barnett Shale. Of course, drilling has been happening here for a while longer than in the other shale counties so I'm confident that you'll catch up with us.

Energy experts: Down time good for reflection
According to Theodori’s Public Opinion Research on Urban Gas Drillers survey, those polled randomly in Tarrant County gave the energy field kinder marks than those given in Wise and Johnson counties. For example, Theodori reported, in response to the statement “Natural gas operators are drilling and producing too close to homes and businesses,” 78 percent of Wise County respondents agreed and Johnson County had a 61 percent agreement rate, while only 57 percent of Tarrant County residents polled agreed. Responses to a statement saying the county was better off in the long run because of its energy drilling, similar results were found: only 65 percent of Wise County respondents agreed, Johnson County showed 79 percent of respondents agreed and Tarrant County showed 85 percent of respondents agreed.

“Tarrant County [has a] slightly more favorable perception than Wise County and Johnson County,” Theodori said. “… That’s statistically significant.”

Theodori said the numbers could reflect a newer energy field in Tarrant County versus Johnson and Wise counties or could reflect the difference in Tarrant County’s urban drilling versus Johnson and Wise counties’ rural drilling.

“What I take away is that the public has mixed views of the industry, and I have the empirical data to back that up.”

Barnett Shale Economics: Is the juice worth the squeeze?

If you want to know the truth about Barnett Shale economics and the impact on communities, check out the latest blog post from Calvin Tillman, Mayor of DISH, TX.

As I investigated the source of the decline in my town it all started to become apparent. The property values not tied to minerals have continued to drop. I believe this is mostly due to the massive natural gas compressors, pipelines and metering stations. They have all but made the surface property here worthless; however, that does not account for the minerals which is over half of our taxable values. I then found that on average, each well drilled loses fifty percent of its production after the first year. That is a huge drop in production in only one year. So that tells me that the only way to maintain the same mineral value is to drill fifty percent more wells every year. So if you have ten wells this year, you would need to drill five more next year just to maintain the same production.

Calvin also busts the myth about the mineral owners who are getting filthy rich off their royalties.

You've got to read this very informative post to find out if the juice is worth the squeeze.

Barnett Shale Earthquakes: Keeping Track

There was another one last Friday night--2.2 magnitude.

More than 200 wells have been permitted in the city as part of the Barnett Shale drilling boom in recent years. Geologists have said it’s possible that gas drilling could cause minor quakes, but it can be difficult to prove.

Link

Western Lawmakers Must Support Real Progress on Climate Change Policy

Below is an excerpt from a beautifully written commentary by a single mother who wonders what her daughter's world will be:

Such signs do not portend well for the future, and I wonder if my own daughter—three years old now—will grow up believing Colorado’s mountain snows were always red in the spring. Given her curious nature, I know she will challenge me when I say it wasn’t always so—and I imagine she will also ask why we did nothing, even when the signs of change were so obvious before us.

In her commentary she mentions the latest findings by MIT?

In May, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced that without “rapid and massive action” climate change will be at least twice as severe as predicted six years ago—that means a median probability of surface warming of 5.2 degrees Celsius by 2100. The U.S. Global Research Program also released its first comprehensive report on the issue; key findings show changes are already underway across the United States—and their impacts are expected to increase.

Click on over and read the rest, then spend some time thinking about what's really important in life and whom you should believe.

I can't help but relate this cartoon to the study of Barnett Shale Emissions done by Dr. Al Armendariz, who is a scientist and the ridiculous rebuttal of that study by Ed Ireland who is a shill for Big Gas. Guess who turned out to be right.

Bradford County Commissioner McLinko Should Move to Texas

Man! Does this guy ever get tired of shilling for the shale? He's in the Marcellus Shale area but he would fit right in down here in Texas.

McLinko says gas severance tax, greenhouse bill will hurt Bradford County

TOWANDA — The proposed state severance tax on gas drilling and an energy bill that is scheduled to be voted on today in the U.S. House of Representatives will both hurt Bradford County, Bradford County Commissioner Doug McLinko said.

McLinko said he opposes the severance tax on gas drilling, which he says will place such a large financial burden on gas drilling companies that the smaller companies will stop drilling in the area and the large ones will slow down the pace of their drilling.

SPLASHDOWN printed a reader comment asking how many permanent jobs will be created from all the drilling.

" The public would really like to know, how many permanent, fulltime jobs have been created by this gas endeavor and are being held by local employees??? Seems every time that question is asked it is "unknown".

You can get a pretty good idea about permanent jobs by watching Barnett Shale: An Aerial View. County the number of cars and trucks parked at the well sites, drilling sites, compressor stations and etc. That will give you an accurate idea about permanent jobs.

As for the financial burden on companies: From Greenwire:

The industry spent $44.5 million in the first quarter of 2009 lobbying Congress and other federal agencies to fight taxes on drilling and temper efforts to wean the country off petrofuels.

Previous Bradford County posts

UPDATE: this just in:

Resolution elusive for water issues plaguing some residents of Hedgehog Lane

By JOELLEN CHESNUT
Era Reporter
joellen@bradfordera.com

A resolution for the water issues plaguing some residents of Hedgehog Lane
is still not evident.

Residents continue to face concerns that include noise, smell, and even in
one resident’s case, flammable water due to the gases mixed into the water
running thorough his tap.

LOBBYING: Oil, gas companies on record-setting spending spree

When Big Oil and Big Gas whine about how taxing their pollution or regulating their pollution will break their back, remember this and tell them: "Cry me a river."

From Greenwire:

LOBBYING: Oil, gas companies on record-setting spending spree (Friday, June 19, 2009)

Lobbying by oil and gas companies has been on the rise ever since Democrats regained the majority in Congress in 2006, but the industry is on pace to set new records in spending this year as lawmakers debate comprehensive climate change legislation.

The industry spent $44.5 million in the first quarter of 2009 lobbying Congress and other federal agencies to fight taxes on drilling and temper efforts to wean the country off petrofuels.

Last year's total of $129 million was 73 percent above the previous year, a faster increase than in any other major industry, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.

"They're under attack, they're ramping up their operations, and they've got money to spend," said Tyson Slocum, who runs the energy program at the watchdog group Public Citizen. "They're in much better position than other industries to draw upon financial resources for their lobbying effort."

The drug industry, which spent $66.6 million in the first quarter, was the only group to outspend oil and gas.

ExxonMobil Corp. spent $9.3 million during the quarter, a three-fold increase over last year's first-quarter spending and the most of any oil company. Combined, the three largest U.S. oil firms -- ExxonMobil, Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips -- spent about $22 million during the quarter (John Porretto, AP/Philadelphia Inquirer, June 19). -- PT

Is it too much to ask that they spend a few of those millions to stop endangering public health and safety?

Health Endangering North Texas Smog Requires Action

Al Armendariz: We can't wish our smog away

(Armendariz air study)

Clean-air plan won't keep N. Texas from violating ozone standard. We deserve better.

06:35 AM CDT on Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Dallas-Fort Worth's ozone smog is going to disappear. No more yellow, orange or red alert days. No more concern about children playing soccer at the park during summer and fall afternoons. No more guilt about not carpooling or not riding DART. In 2 ½ years, the lung-damaging, asthma-inducing ozone smog will be as much a part of Dallas' past as the Wright amendment and Cowboys games at the Cotton Bowl.
Also Online

Link: Read Al Armendariz’s full report (pdf)

Why is the ozone problem going away? The state of Texas said so.

On June 15, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality submitted the latest in a long line of Dallas-Fort Worth clean-air plans to the Environmental Protection Agency. The plan was required by the federal Clean Air Act because North Texas does not meet the ozone air-quality standard.

The plan contains emission reductions that are supposed to ensure that our air quality will meet the ozone standard by the end of 2009. For this to happen, our ozone levels have to drop from the current level of 96 parts per billion to 84 ppb. A drop of 12 ppb is substantial – levels of ozone have never dropped this far in a short period of time in any metropolitan area in the history of the Clean Air Act.

The state's latest clean-air plan for the region targets emissions of nitrogen oxides, one of the two air pollutants that transform into ozone with the help of abundant summer sunlight. Over the next 2 ½ years, the plan will lower emissions from cars, trucks, factories and utilities in North Texas by approximately 5 percent.

The EPA is now evaluating the plan and will approve or reject it, based on whether it believes that the state has demonstrated conclusively that D-FW air will meet the ozone standard.

In contrast to the state's conclusions, I think the evidence is clear that the plan will not succeed and that our area will continue to violate the ozone standard well into the future. There are a number of reasons the plan will fail, including:

•EPA analyses indicate that emissions reductions of approximately 20 percent are required to lower ozone concentrations by 3 ppb. Remember, we need a 12 ppb drop to meet the standard.

•Ozone levels in North Texas would have to begin dropping immediately more than 10 times as fast as the state's own long-term data show is actually occurring to reach the standard by the end of 2009.

•The state's short-term data show that ozone levels are actually increasing in Tarrant, Denton and Parker counties.

•The state has submitted numerous failed ozone plans for our area, including in 1976, 1979, 1984, 1987, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2001 and 2003. Each has not only been a state failure but also a failure by the federal government, since the EPA approved each plan.

It is time for the failure to stop. We pay high taxes and deserve better service from our government administrators and scientists. The EPA should not approve the plan submitted by the state and instead require a new one with emission reductions that ensure that our area will meet the ozone standard.

Everyone who breathes should contact Steve Page, EPA director of the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, at page.steve@epa.gov, and Richard Greene, EPA regional administrator, at greene.richard1@epa.gov, and tell them that it is time for the state to submit a real clean-air plan for our area.

EPA Smacks Down Rick Perry and TCEQ

I woke up this morning and looked out the window, across my pasture at a scene straight out of Mordor. The smog in Wise County, Texas where I moved 14 years ago to escape the pollution in Fort Worth is cloying today (I'll have pictures up later). There is no wind today so Wise County Commissioner Kevin Burns can't blame the smog on Fort Worth.

Help is on the way:

EPA echoes activists in challenging Texas' air pollution permits, practices, commission

Jackson told The Dallas Morning News in an interview that Texas' environmental regulation has become a major concern of hers.

This might be one of my favorite parts:

"Governor Perry has proven that stifling government mandates are not the answer to our state's energy and environmental challenges," press secretary Allison Castle said. "Texas has proven it possible to balance sound environmental policies with pro-growth economic efforts that have produced the best business climate in the country."

Barnett Shale Earthquakes: Fracking Quakes on Front Page of NY Times

In Switzerland they're fracking for geothermal and it induced more than 3,500 earthquakes!

Deep in Bedrock, Clean Energy and Quake Fears

All seemed to be going well — until Dec. 8, 2006, when the project set off an earthquake, shaking and damaging buildings and terrifying many in a city that, as every schoolchild here learns, had been devastated exactly 650 years before by a quake that sent two steeples of the Münster Cathedral tumbling into the Rhine.

So they're wanting to do the same thing in San Francisco, California. Of Course they forgot to mention the quakes in Switzerland.

"But in a report on seismic impact that AltaRock was required to file, the company failed to mention that the Basel program was shut down because of the earthquake it caused. AltaRock claimed it was uncertain that the project had caused the quake, even though Swiss government seismologists and officials on the Basel project agreed that it did. Nor did AltaRock mention the thousands of smaller earthquakes induced by the Basel project that continued for months after it shut down."

Injection/Disposal Well Failure Dismissed by Texas Railroad Commission

This Aledo disposal well less than a mile from a subdivision where people get their drinking water from groundwater opened 18 months ago and just received its first inspection due to a complaint.

Does anyone else remember my post about John Tinterra of the Texas Railroad Commission lying at the Barnett Shale Expo?

John Tinterra stood onstage and told a room full of citizens who pay his salary that the Texas Railroad Commission inspects injection wells every month. He also said that they do drive-by inspections each week. I have witnesses!

The quote that played in the background of my mind during Tinterra's presentation comes from the movie Cold Mountain and was delivered by Ruby who was played by Rene Zellweger:

That man is so full of manure we could plant him and grow another one!

Maybe someone remembers this mess of a disposal well that got a faked inspection just before I took these pictures.

Anyway...

This Aledo facility was leaking to the extent that local residents saw wet spots on the ground. There were two spills above ground and the well was leaking below ground. But the company gets a pass because they say they didn't know...

I was speeding once and didn't know it. I still got a ticket.

Is there anyone out there who still believes that the Texas Railroad Commission is anything other than a paid protector of the oil and gas industry?

Marcellus Shale: Oil & Gas Waste Violation at Jersey Shore Borough

Pennsylvania citizens should watch the ditches on the sides of the roads and the creeks because that stuff has to go somewhere!

N E W S R E L E A S E COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA


COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
Dept. of Environmental Protection
Northcentral Regional Office
208 West Third Street, Suite 101
Williamsport, PA 17701

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
6/23/2009

CONTACT:
Daniel T. Spadoni
Phone: (570) 327-3659

DEP SAYS JERSEY SHORE BOROUGH EXCEEDS WASTEWATER PERMIT LIMITS

WILLIAMSPORT – The Department of Environmental Protection today ordered Jersey Shore Borough to immediately stop accepting wastewater from oil and gas drilling for treatment at the borough’s sewage treatment plant.

“DEP approved Jersey Shore borough’s request to accept limited amounts of oil and gas wastewater for disposal in July 2008,” said DEP Northcentral Regional Director Robert Yowell. “That approval was predicated on the borough following the requirements submitted in its gas well wastewater acceptance plan. The borough has not met the conditions of the plan.”

The order requires the borough to immediately stop accepting all oil and gas wastewater delivered to the plant. Further, any oil and gas wastewater currently on site must be removed and disposed at another approved facility or sent to the treatment plant at a significantly reduced rate approved by DEP to ensure it does not adversely affect the treatment system.

Any future acceptance of oil and gas wastewater by Jersey Shore requires a prior approval by DEP of an amended wastewater discharge permit for which the borough must apply.

DEP sent a notice of violation letter to the borough in April for discharge permit violations that could be attributed to the acceptance of the oil and gas wastewater. The letter required the borough to evaluate the wastewater acceptance process.

Last week, DEP staff conducted a follow-up inspection at the plant that revealed many significant problems, including lack of proper pollutant load tracking; lack of proper flow restrictions; and failure to follow proper sample analysis prior to sending the wastewater to the sewage treatment plant.

###

List of Pipeline Explosions

Thank you to reader, Gretchen in Arlington, for compiling this exhaustive list. (Note: this list does not include the recent Carthage incident or the Wise County and Palo Pinto incdents. Gretchen promises more to come.)

Not all of these are pipeline, some were caused by leaks
near houses (supply lines?)
~Gretchen

Pipeline Explosion(1994) Dramatic video, very well done!

Natural Gas Explosion - Houston:

Appomattox,VA Natural Gas Pipeline Explosion VIDEO
Story to go with Appomattox video:

Natural Gas Pipeline Explosion: Supposedly a 36 inch pipe!

Strip Mall explosion in Maryland, Natural Gas
Incredible!! someone must have already been filming (leak?)

Bozeman, Montana, firefighting in the aftermath of Gas Explosion
Glass was blown out up to 3 blocks away

NW Houston Gas Line Explosion

Katy, Texas

Cary Gas Line Fire burns a truck:

Gas explosion kills toddler:

Gas Line Leak/Explosion of home - Rancho Cordova CA 12 24 2008 with 1 Fatal and 5 Injured:

Frodsham Gas Explosion

Moscow Gas Explosion:

More on Moscow explosion 30 yr. old line, poor welding...
We have at least 1/2 million miles of line here, no bad welds???

Prescott, Wisconsin - House explosion Video
The story that goes with this one. Why should a vehicle even be
able to hit an unprotected gas line!

Some might be duplicate, but good overview of Pipeline problems:
Several Pipeline explosions shown in this Eminent Domain story

Story and video
Plum (a 46 year old pipe cracked!! DUH) (even older than Moscow's)

Gas explosions, nothing new 1886 Story

The 1937 New London school explosion, after that scent was added to gas

The industry learns at the public's expense once again" 1944

Natural Gas Explosion Damages Store In Northern Illinois

Floral Park area Queens: (good video) narrated
Story (sounds like the kind of inspections that happen around here)

The mother of all recent natural gas pipeline explosions!
Ghislenghien explosion in Belgium

• 23 (or more killed)
• 132 sustained terrible burns
  
• Threw bodies a hundred feet
• 50 ambulances from several countries....

July 2004 [* toll according to Wikipedia]
Update, trial set for June 15th - quotes as <---24 deaths 132 serious injuries


Another Queens fire earlier! No a video yet
An 80-year-old cast-iron gas main broke !!!!!!
more

A different Queens explosion burns young father badly:

Huge pipeline explosion in Germany, great webpage about it:
It even warped a hundred meters of metal rail lines!
Video in German: oddly understandable...

Saudi Natural Gas pipeline explosion kills 28:

Somerset, Ma House Explosion Video:
even nearby homes may be condemned (7 are uninhabitable)Story

Pipeline explosion near Cabri, Saskatchewan

Propane explosion: Bethel Maine
Excellent presentation to audio, Johnny Cash - Ring of Fire
Story

TPA Round-Up

It's Monday, the day after the first day of summer, and it's time for another Texas Progressive Alliance blog roundup.

President Obama, Bill White, and John Sharp are all in the same sinking DOMA boat. The Texas Cloverleaf comes off of hiatus to tell you why.

CouldBeTrue from South Texas Chisme cheers the impeachment of Judge Kent. 4 articles passed without a single nay. Lets hope the Senate is through with him by August.

BossKitty at TruthHugger finally signed up for Twitter to get updates on the Iran protests. What a day of drama and emotion it brought, Icons and Martyrs – All Day On Twitter Watching Iran. I was really meaning to highlight the regressive influences causing upheaval in personal lives, especially in Texas. Immigration Policies and Gay Rights – Contradictions

Unlike Nevada Republican Senator John Ensign, Neil at Texas Liberal makes a promise he'll keep - He'll never cheat on his wife! Also, Neil sings the Damned's Wait For The Blackout at the Houston Ship Channel.

Off the Kuff takes a look, then a second look, at the bills Governor Perry vetoed.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson knows in order to solve big problems it takes leadership, Who is willing to lead, who has enough LBJ in them?.

Castle Hills Democrats heard candidates Tom Schieffer, John Sharp, Bill White, and Neil Durrance speak at the Dual County Fish Fry in north Texas. The blogger reviews their messages--and reports on feedback from the Dems in the audience.

WhosPlayin investigated the claim by a former mayoral candidate that the city is hiring illegal aliens for its road projects because one of its contractors doesn't yet use the E-Verify program.

Teddy at Left of College Station writes about escorting at Planned Parenthood and how what happens in Kansas doesn’t stay in Kansas. Today on Left of College Station: a report from the T. Don Hutto Residential Detention Facility and the protest on Saturday (including exclusive photographs).

Big Gas wants you to believe that regulating hydraulic fracturing is a state's rights issue. The truth: Only one state in the US regulates hydraulic fracturing. TXsharon busts the Big Gas bubble again on Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

Citizen groups opposed to new coal plants being built in Robertson County and near Victoria were given a chance to intervene last week when two of the 12 newly proposed coal plants in Texas had preliminary hearings for their waste water permits. Check out the video over at Public Citizen's Texas Vox.

Over at TexasKaos, Libby Shaw tells us that Dumb, Self-serving Politicians Make Dumb, Self-serving Decisions. What a surprise that Governor Goodhair takes the starring role in this little drama. Check out the details.

Do you love the Real Housewives on Bravo? Were you a little less than impressed by the NJ version? So was Barfly over at McBlogger.

Bradford County Commissioner McLinko Responds to Criticism

Bradford County Commissioner McLinko Responds to Criticism.

You can read his response here: Maximize all opportunities

Since the Daily Review refuses to print my comments, I'll post my response to McLinko's response below:

Citizens sign leases without being fully informed about the impact of natural gas production on their land and communities. How many knew about the pits, the trucks, the eminent domain for pipelines and the compressor stations just a name a few impacts other then the pristine pictures of one rig sitting in a green pasture that is the typical sales pitch used by industry?

McLinko could have informed citizens about these additional impacts. He did come to Wise County so he has seen for himself that the following is a false statement:

"While a small fraction of land in the drill unit will be utilized during the drilling process, the vast majority of land in the parcel is left untouched and agriculture production is not affected."

Pictures are worth more than words here. If you want to see what McLinko saw, do a Google search using these terms: "Barnett Shale: An Aerial View." About 2:04 minutes into that video you will see the Newark East Field in Wise County. This is what a mature natural gas field looks like. The picture (see below) at 2:08 minutes in shows over 70 red markers indicating well sites. This picture was taken over a portion of my friend's ranch. They do not own the mineral rights but they have about 80 gas wells on their property. Unless a mineral owner knows to restrict the number of wells when they lease, the operator can drill as many wells as allowed by state regulations. In Texas, they can drill one well every 20 acres.

Click to enlarge

Update on Cattle Killed by Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid in Louisiana

Remember those cattle that died when they drank the frack fluid that spilled into their pasture from the Chesapeake Energy drill site in Louisiana? I thought you might like an update on how the investigation is proceeding. Yeah, so would I and so would a whole bunch of people including the writer of this opinion piece in the Shreveport Times.

Seventeen cattle die at a drilling site, and it's nobody's job to determine officially what killed them. No kidding.


State Department of Agriculture only gets involved with diseased cows.

Department of Environmental Quality? Those folks only fret with stuff spilled on the ground or into a stream.

Public health officials focus on people.

The Office of Conservation mainly oversees where wells get drilled and how.

The property owner is paying for an analysis of animal tissue, but that's his to keep all to himself.

How reassured does all this make you feel if you live near a well site?

Caddo Parish Sheriff Steve Prator feels hornswoggled.

There is an open criminal investigation of the April 28 incident, says Prator, and "we cannot get the answers we need — everybody points fingers at everybody else." The agriculture department even reversed field. Press secretary Sam Irwin told The Times in a May 1 report that a state veterinarian had performed a necropsy on one of the cows, but in a June 13 follow up said, "We don't have them ... It was a DEQ investigation."

The incident is the latest in the Haynesville Shale play to reveal gaps in regulation. Along with depletion of aquifers, it's one more loop that needs to be tightened as local governments try to protect people, roads and the environment from exploration activity.

The state, obviously, isn't helping very much. And while we agree with industry representatives and others that exploration companies want to do the right thing, cattle still died. Well sites blow out. Meanwhile, our state lawmakers mostly sat by with little legislation to offer up this session to better protect the public and delineate enforcement lines.

Prator last week planned to talk to the Caddo district attorney about his legal options in ferreting out necropsy results and other analyses related to his criminal case. DEQ only has said that tests of water and soil contained elevated chlorides, a salt, as well as oil and grease.

More important for the long term is pushing the Caddo Parish Commission, hopefully with other parishes paying attention, to ensure sheriff's deputies get prompt notice of accidents at well sites. Control of the scene can help ensure law enforcement stays in the loop. Prator complained at the time of the cattle deaths that his deputies needed to be on a first responder list. That's largely for public safety since parish deputies are often closest to rural accident sites, but partly to ensure a potential crime scene is protected.

If local officials needed a push to renewed oversight efforts of natural gas exploration, this bit of tragicomedy ought to be impetus enough. It's not about overregulating a valued industry, but as Prator puts it, "logical regulation."

Most likely, we will never find out what killed those cattle. A few million in cash handed to the owner as hush money like has happened so often and this story just becomes another one of those "incidents" that can't prove anything so the hydraulic fracturing fluid is hailed again as perfectly safe.

Bradford County Commissioner Gets Reprimand from Citizen

Remember when I posted about the Bradford County Commissioners coming to Wise County on a fact finding mission to see how drilling in the Marcellus Shale might impact their constituents?

Bradford County, PA Commissioners, What Happened to That Fact Finding Mission?


Bradford County, PA Commissioner McKlinko Goes Klunk

Man! McLinko's spin is so lame! Check out this letter to the editor.
Doug McLinko, Gas and the Family Farm. A Bradford County PA Resident Speaks Out
Busted!

Updated: Here is the link to paper. The comments are great! I love how Bradford County citizens aren't easily fooled.

UPDATE
McLinko Responds

Sorry Kids. Governor Perry Will Pass Gas in Your Neighborhood.

WTF?

One of the few bills to make it through this legislative session that would actually help citizens in the Barnett Shale was vetoed by Governor Good Hair ASShat who decided he wants to pass gas in our neighborhoods.

Barnett Shale rights of way bill among 37 vetoed by Perry

In vetoing the Barnett Shale bill sponsored by state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, Perry said he agreed that the measure "would provide a benefit to communities and reduce the impact on private property owners." But, he said, the measure, Senate Bill 686, conflicted with a similar bill he signed into law that permits gas corporations to lay and maintain lines under public rights of way.

Davis’ bill was a top priority for Fort Worth during the legislative session and was aimed at easing disruptions in residential areas as a result of natural gas drilling.

Sorry kids.

Crosstex Energy Flat Busted?

Ut oh! Do they mismanage all their assets this way? If you're near a pipeline or compressor facility, duck and cover!

Crosstex to Sell Mississippi, Alabama and South Texas Assets for $220 Million

Proceeds from the sale will be used to pay down more than $200 million of the Partnership’s outstanding debt

To jog your memory:
Natural gas pipeline explodes near Lake Weatherford

Flames remain into Tuesday morning after an excavation equipment operator laying pipeline for Crosstex Energy Services out of Dallas, accidentally struck an existing propane pipeline owned by ConocoPhillips at approximately 2 p.m. Monday near FM 730 in central Parker County.

Compressor station blows up

By Matt Smith/msmith@trcle.com

A natural gas compressor station exploded near Godley about midnight Saturday resulting in a fire that could be seen from Cleburne, Cleburne Assistant Fire Chief Keith Scarbrough said. People also reported hearing the explosion from miles away, Scarbrough said.

The facility is owned by Crosstex Pipeline and serves as an entry point for an EOG Resources site. The incident occurred near Farm-to-Market Road 4 and County Road 1228. The cause of the explosion remains under investigation, Scarbrough said.

Texas Water Supply Endangered by Drilling Waste

Saint Jo is one of the most beautiful areas of North Texas. Big Oil wants to dump drilling waste on top of the Saint Jo water supply.

Watch the WFAA news report.

Kudos to Saint Jo mayor, Tom Weger, for fighting to protect the interest of citizens!

'"When they're finished, they get to go away," he said. "We don't get to go away"

Big Oil and Dirty Coal Lobbying Against American Jobs

Hydraulic Fracturing and Barnett Shale Earthquakes: Some Fracking History

40 years ago, in an attempt to get gas out of shale in Colorado, they drilled to 8,426 feet and detonated an atomic bomb that produced a 43-kiloton blast (about three Hiroshima bombs). That did frack some gas up:

"It released 455 million cubic feet of natural gas, which was too radioactive to be used."



Thanks to Ed Quillen for that walk down memory lane and for the following nugget, which perfectly depicts the situation here in Texas with industry's paid protectors, the Texas Railroad Commission:

the industry prefers state governments because they're easier to bully by packing hearings and mocking efforts to protect wildlife, along with spreading lies about how regulations, instead of low market prices, have reduced drilling and related employment.

Quillen issues a little more history that relates to the recent Barnett Shale earthquakes:

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Cleburne, Texas, which sits amid much fracking for natural gas, has experienced a "wave of small earthquakes." There is no proof of a connection, but it does bring up anotherColorado memory from the 1960s. Starting in 1962, Denver suffered a spate of earthquakes, including a 5.3 tremor in 1967 that caused more than $1 million in damage.

What caused the quakes? Injecting fluids into a deep well at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal just north of the city — that is, pretty much the same thing as fracking.

So it is an activity that should be monitored closely, no matter whether we're worried about clean water or stable ground.

Hydraulic Fracture: The Truth About State versus Federal Regulation

Industry is spending millions in propaganda to combat the FRAC Act that will allow citizens to know what chemicals are used near their drinking water and allow hydraulic fracturing to be regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

They are inciting the public by using a power grabbing Federal Government versus states' rights spin. This is completely false!

Here is the truth to counter the spin:

Currently Alabama is the only state in the US with special provisions to regulate hydraulic fracturing. The other states do not have specific fracturing rules; they rely on general drilling rules - casing, logs, pressure monitoring, waste disposal, etc. - to indirectly cover hydraulic fracturing.

Colorado has a disclosure rule that is not specific to fracturing - it covers all chemicals used down hole - drilling, fracturing, completion, etc. New York and Pennsylvania also require disclosure of fracking chemicals, but no actual regulation.

Legislation being considered by Congress would allow most states to remain the primary regulators of hydraulic fracturing, with flexibility as to their programs, but the legislation provides critical federal oversight - something that was lost when Congress passed the "Halliburton loophole" in 2005.


The claim that regulation will kill the industry has no basis in fact. From the following slide, you can see that drilling in Alabama had no slowdown after 1997 when they started regulating hydraulic fracturing in response to a court case.



Regulation will result in more jobs, safer water and cleaner air.

TPA Round-up

It's Monday, and that means it's time once again to present the best of the Texas Progressive Alliance blog posts for the week.

TXsharon can't choose one post this week! It's a toss up between the aerial video view of Barnett Shale Industrial Wasteland Texas or the Barnett Shale drilling induced earthquakes or Erin Brockovich does Midland or the governmental warnings about defective pipeline materials on Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

Xanthippas at Three Wise Men blogs about how utterly ridiculous it is for us to pay a tiny South Pacific nation to take Guantanamo Bay detainees because we are a nation of bed-wetting, pearl-clutching morons.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson analyzes what might possibly happen in the upcoming special session, Perry calls a special - what gets done is up to him.

Off the Kuff looks at a Lone Star Project report on State Rep. Dwayne Bohac and his questionable relationship with an employee of the Harris County Tax Assessor's office.

BossKitty at TruthHugger sees a growing pandemic of hate that erupts in violence. See the diagnosis: Scapegoat Lessons: Holocaust Museum ‘Act Of Cowardice’

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme is glad that Judge Kent is going to jail. Too bad his sentence wasn't longer. CBT can hardly wait to see his impeachment hearing in the senate.

This week, McBlogger finds out that the 290E tollway will be built using stimulus dollars. Which means Austinites will pay three different taxes to support this road.

John at Bay Area Houston> wonders about the lack of diversity at the Nancy Pelosi event in Houston.

Citizen Sarah at Texas Vox wonders if the specter of Texas losing its leadership role creating clean energy jobs is scary enough to address in a special session.

George at The Texas Blue thinks that forced arbitration with credit card and cell phone companies is fundamentally unjust, but forced arbitration in a rape case is just disgusting.

Teddy at Left of College Station, reports on whether or not America is actually becoming more “pro-life” and looks deeper into the polls to find that opinions on reproductive rights are much more complicated, and Left of College Station also covers this week in the headlines.

Neil at Texas Liberal writes about Juneteenth. Juneteeth is June 19th and it has a Galveston origin.

Midland's chromium 6 contamination got more linkage from PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.

Over at TexasKaos, liberaltexan asks, what exactly does the latest abortion survey means? He answers not much new, since it does a poor job of asking the question and sorting out the nuances of public opinion. See the rest here: Are More Americans Pro-Life?

Justin at AAA-Fund Blog took some time to remember Tim Russert.