PA Marcellus News Digest 4/2/12

PA Marcellus News Digest

April 2, 2012

Articles

Environmentalists Demand Marcellus Drillers Disclose What’s in This Chili
PoliticsPA
April 1
A coalition of environmental advocates from across the state joined together yesterday to demand that Marcellus Shale gas drillers reveal the formula for their secret chili.
The enviro groups claim a number of Pennsylvania residents – and representatives from the group themselves – were exposed to the chili during a Marcellus trade show in Pittsburgh.
“Is it dill? Some kind of exotic cilantro?” asked Sierra Club Director Jeff Schmidt, licking his fingers. “I just have to know!”
Link: http://www.politicspa.com/environmentalists-demand-marcellus-drillers-disclose-whats-in-this-chili/33512/

Environmentalists, state lawmakers to host gas drilling forums
Philly Burbs
Amanda Cregan
April 2
Environmentalists and state lawmakers will host gas drilling forums this month.
Just days after the Gallows Run Watershed Association announced it will host an educational forum for the community in Nockamixon, state Sen. Bob Mensch, Sen. Chuck McIlhinney, Rep. Marguerite Quinn, and Rep. Paul Clymer announced they too will host an educational forum for the Upper Bucks community.
Link: http://www.phillyburbs.com/my_town/palisades/environmentalists-state-lawmakers-to-host-gas-drilling-forums/article_7c6afd43-8bf4-59cf-919d-0e1e4ffa346d.html

Enviro group looks beyond impact fee law
Times-Tribune
Robert Swift
April 2
HARRISBURG - As county officials face a looming April 16 deadline to levy a Marcellus Shale drilling fee on 2012 production, an environmental group is urging state officials to address a host of drilling issues that are not covered by the new state impact fee law.
Link: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/gas-drilling/enviro-group-looks-beyond-impact-fee-law-1.1293749#axzz1quNdNYF4

Maybe lawsuit will shed light on gas drilling legislation
Philly Burbs
April 1
About the only thing that seems clear about Pennsylvania’s gas drilling law is that Republicans were for it and Democrats were against it. That, and the fact that supporters view the law as a benefit for the state and opponents believe it’s a disaster.
Link: http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/courier_times_news/opinion/editorials/maybe-lawsuit-will-shed-light-on-gas-drilling-legislation/article_0187835c-7d96-5f21-af15-8ad9f6d82fbd.html#user-comment-area

New study fuels hydraulic fracking debate
PRI (Public Radio International)
March 27
(audio available)
Researchers from the Colorado School of Public Health have spent three years monitoring fracking wells in the state. They recently discovered many are emitting potentially toxic substances into the air
Link: http://www.pri.org/stories/science/environment/new-study-fuels-hydraulic-fracking-debate9140.html

How many canaries must die?
Daily Item
Editorial
March 27
People who know the Susquehanna River best are worried. That alone may be reason enough for the rest of us to give pause. If not, the photos in Sunday's edition of The Daily Item will do the trick.
Link: http://dailyitem.com/0110_editorials/x1361426882/How-many-canaries-must-die

Towns sue Pa. over Marcellus Shale law
Patriot-News
AP
March 29
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A group including seven municipalities Thursday sued the state of Pennsylvania over its new law regulating the rapid growth of natural gas exploration, saying among other things that it unconstitutionally takes away the power to control property from towns and landowners for the benefit of the oil and gas industry.
Link: http://www.pennlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf/story/towns-sue-pa-over-marcellus-shale-law/14e873810d314ce4ae211d07c7fcf1ef

Pittsburgh suburbs part of drilling lawsuit
Tribune-Review
Timothy Puko
March 30
Municipalities can't plan for growth, can't protect their natural resources and can't set limits on where oil and gas drilling can happen because laws that the state passed in February took away those powers, according to the first challenge of the state's new oil and gas laws.
Link: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_788949.html

Explosion rocks natural gas compressor station
Times-Tribune
Laura Legere
March 30
SPRINGVILLE TWP. - An explosion at a natural gas compressor station in Susquehanna County on Thursday morning blew a hole in the roof of the complex holding the engines, shaking homes as far as a half-mile away and drawing emergency responders from nearby counties.
Link: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/explosion-rocks-natural-gas-compressor-station-1.1292502#axzz1qunbc8Rs

Pa. Compressor Station Blast Blows Hole Through Roof
Firehouse
Times-Tribune
Laura Legere
SPRINGVILLE TWP., Pa. -- An explosion at a natural gas compressor station in Susquehanna County on Thursday morning blew a hole in the roof of the complex holding the engines, shaking homes as far as a half-mile away and drawing emergency responders from nearby counties.
Link: http://www.firehouse.com/news/10685722/pa-compressor-station-blast-blows-hole-through-roof

Explosion at Susquehanna County gas compressor station
Times Leader
AP
Michael Rubinkam
An explosion at a natural gas compressor station in Susquehanna County sent black smoke into the air Thursday, alarming residents but causing no injuries.
The state Department of Environmental Protection said there was a small natural gas leak from the Lathrop compressor station in Springville Township, Susquehanna County, about 30 miles northwest of Scranton, but that air-quality testing showed no problems in the surrounding area.
Link: http://www.timesleader.com/stories/Explosion-at-Susquehanna-County-gas-compressor-station,130704

Cabot, Williams Detail Damage To Pennsylvania Gas Compressor
Wall Street Journal
Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. (COG) and Williams Partners LP (WPZ) said they are investigating damage at a Pennsylvania natural-gas compressor after a flash fire hit the structure.
Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120329-722008.html

As More Drillers Recycle Their Fracking Fluid, A Williamsport-Area Facility Expands
NPR State Impact
Scott Detrow
March 29
[...] Recycling is becoming an increasingly popular way of dealing with hydraulic fracturing fluid waste. Pennsylvania drillers reused 6.1 million barrels of fluid from July to December. That’s a 369 percent increase over the amount of fluid recycled during the last six months of 2010.
Link: http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2012/03/29/williamsport-area-frack-fluid-recycling-facility-will-expand/

Secrecy in the pipeline
Times-Tribune
Editorial
March 30
In what should be an explosive decision, the state Commonwealth Court has ruled that Public Utility Commission records relative to the safety of natural gas pipelines are not public records.
Link: http://thetimes-tribune.com/opinion/secrecy-in-the-pipeline-1.1292654#axzz1quNdNYF4

Marcellus drilling watchdog group strengthens its ranks
Tribune-Review
Jewels Phraner, Ligonier Echo
March 31
A Mountain Watershed Association community organizer has added about 15 people to her army of citizen watchdogs who will monitor Marcellus shale natural gas drilling operations.
Link: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/westmoreland/s_789188.html

Allegheny Front: Cracker's emissions could affect air quality
Post-Gazette
Amy Friedenberger
March 30
Now that Shell announced it intentions to build its ethane cracker in Pennsylvania, Allegheny Front’s Reid Frazier looked into what kind of air pollution this cracker could generate and add to the region’s already poor air quality.
Link: http://shale.sites.post-gazette.com/index.php/news/archives/24434-allegheny-front-crackers-emissions-could-affect-air-quality

Health impact studies taking hold, with challenges
Patriot-News
AP
March 31
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — While New York regulators have spent four years mulling the environmental impacts of shale gas development, the potential human health impacts have been given short shrift, according to health advocates.
Link: http://www.pennlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf/story/health-impact-studies-taking-hold-with-challenges/81cd59c87cf9403ea4392c7377dbcac8

Mike Argento: Did Pa. legislators even read the Marcellus shale bill?
York Daily Record
Mike Argento
Opinion
March 30
Our state legislatures are often called "laboratories of democracy" by those who wish to shrink the federal government so that it can drown in a bathtub and hand over to the states the power to govern the unruly masses and, generally, revert the nation back to the idyllic'50s.
The 1650s.
Link: http://www.ydr.com/opinion/ci_20290600/mike-argento-did-pa-legislators-even-read-marcellus

Pennsylvania water tainted by hydraulic fracturing
MSNBC
Photo Blog
European Pressphoto Agency (EPA) reports:The gas rush in Pennsylvania, created by the controversial drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking—which requires injecting huge amounts of water, sand, and chemicals at high pressure thousands of feet beneath the Earth's surface to extract reserves of natural gas, has brought an economic boom to the state, generating 23,000 jobs, and billions of dollars in state and local tax revenues.
Link: http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/29/10920940-pennsylvania-water-tainted-by-hydraulic-fracturing

Lawsuit challenges state oil and gas zoning scheme

E&E News
Gayathri Vaidyanathan
April 2
(full text below)
Seven Pennsylvania municipalities filed a lawsuit Thursday against the state of Pennsylvania, challenging a recently passed law that creates a one-size-fits-all zoning scheme for oil and gas development.

The municipalities, together with Delaware Riverkeeper, also challenge a provision in the act that requires doctors to sign confidentiality agreements with industry to learn the identity of proprietary chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing.

The issue of local- versus state-level control over hydraulic fracturing, the technique used to extract natural gas from shale, has cropped up in other states, including New York, where two judges recently upheld municipalities' rights to regulate gas drilling within town limits.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has previously held that municipalities can regulate the oil and gas industry under the state's Oil and Gas Act. The Pennsylvania Legislature subsequently passed Act 13 to amend the act, granting the state pre-emptive power over counties and townships to set regulations and fee structures for the oil and gas industry.

Act 13 supersedes any local zoning restrictions districts may have enacted to regulate oil and gas activity.

The plaintiffs allege that Act 13 violates the Municipalities Planning Code, granted by both federal and state laws, which allows local governments to plan land use.

The suit alleges that municipalities are required under the state constitution to protect natural resources, which they cannot do without zoning authority.

It also alleges that the act gives the oil and gas industry special rights to be exempt from local laws that other businesses have to follow.

"By crafting a single set of statewide zoning rules applicable to oil and gas drilling throughout the Commonwealth, the Pennsylvania General Assembly provided much sought-after predictability for the oil and gas development industry," states the petition.

"However, it did so at the expense of the predictability offered to Petitioners and the citizens of Pennsylvania whose health, safety and welfare, community development objectives, zoning districts and concerns regarding property values were pushed aside to elevate the interests of out-of-state oil and gas companies and the owners of hydrocarbons underlying each property, who are often not surface owners," it states.

The suit alleges the state did not take into account emissions from natural gas condensate tanks, compressor stations, flaring, impoundments and other factors when evaluating the effects of drilling at the local level.

Eric Shirk, deputy director of communications at Gov. Thomas Corbett's (R) office, said they had not yet seen the lawsuit but said that "we worked closely with local government associations, including the PA State Association of Township Supervisors, and we are confident the law will withstand judicial scrutiny."

As an example of Act 13's effects, Maya van Rossum, a plaintiff with the Delaware Riverkeeper, said that Nockamixon Township's zoning restrictions on drilling in the vicinity of Rapp Creek on the Delaware River watershed had been invalidated by Act 13.

Although a separate regional moratorium enacted by the Delaware River Basin Commission still protects the creek from drilling, an additional layer of protection by zoning at the local level had been removed by Act 13, she said. And most counties are not in the Delaware watershed and do not benefit from the DRBC moratorium, she said.

Health issues

The petition also contains a suit by physician Mehernosh Khan alleging that Act 13 impedes the ability of physicians to do their job.

A number of chemicals, some of which may be deemed by industry to be "proprietary" or a "trade secret," are used in hydraulic fracturing.

According to the act, operators are required to disclose the identity of chemicals to a physician only if there is a medical emergency. And doctors are not allowed to disclose the identity of such chemicals if that chemical is proprietary. The natural gas operator may ask the doctor to sign a confidentiality agreement to that effect.

"That is not the way the medical world works," said John Smith, attorney for the plaintiff. "They all talk to each other. In fact, just sending the medical records to another doctor, arguably you would have to redact the information about the exposure, and how are you going to send them to a specialist and get correct treatment?"

According to Pennsylvania law, physicians are required to keep complete medical records and also to report certain diseases, states the petition.

Rules to implement this part of the act will be developed by the state Environmental Quality Board, and the Pennsylvania Medical Society has requested clarifications about the act's extent.

"Will the physician be able to disclose the information to the patient, and will the physician be permitted to alert state officials if a problem is found to exist?" said Marilyn Heine, president of the society.

If the act is interpreted strictly, doctors could be stopped from sharing critical diagnostic information among each other. Almost all chemicals could be defined as proprietary by industry if they want, said Smith.

"For a doctor with many patients in the neighborhood who realizes that these levels of contaminants are causing problems, he can't even warn his patients, 'Hey, you might want to be afraid because the neighbor just came in and his kid was exposed to X, Y, Z in the same backyard that your kid was playing in,'" said Smith.

And the definition of what constitutes a medical emergency would be left up to the natural gas operator, he said.

"If you have someone who comes in every day for six months with a headache, is that an emergency? [The doctor] may not even be able to get the information in the first sense," Smith said.