Friday, November 30, 2012

PA Marcellus News Digest 11/29/12

PA Marcellus News Digest
November 29, 2012

Releases


GE's Gas Engines Powering First LNG-Fueled Drilling Rigs in Giant Unconventional Gas Field
Wallaby Business Wire Nov 27 PITTSBURGH -To reduce the environmental impacts and improve the economic performance of their U.S. unconventional gas production activities, energy developer Seneca Resources Corp. and drilling partner Ensign Drilling have installed two of GE's (NYSE: GE) Jenbacher gas engines to power the first liquefied natural gas (LNG)-fueled drilling rigs of their kind in the Marcellus Shale region of Pennsylvania. Link: http://wallaby.telicon.com/PA/library/2012/2012112781.HTM

52 Organizations Demand Delaware River Basin Commission Review of Pipeline Projects
Wallaby Nov 26 West Trenton, NJ: Fifty-two organizations have signed the Petition to the Delaware River Basin Commission asserting the agency has an obligation to exercise its jurisdiction over the proliferation of pipelines being constructed and proposed within the boundaries of the Delaware River watershed. According to the Petition, pipelines are a significant source of waterway degradation and, according to DRBC's Rules of Practice and Procedure as well as the Delaware River Basin Compact itself, should be subject to DRBC jurisdiction, docketing, and oversight. Link: http://wallaby.telicon.com/PA/library/2012/2012112792.HTM

State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams discusses real impact, benefits of Marcellus Shale Wallaby Nov 27 HARRISBURG – State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams focuses his upcoming Capitol Update on the numerous issues surrounding Marcellus Shale and consumer energy education. Joining him in the dissection of the issues and to offer additional expertise on the 30-minute cable television show is Wayne Gardner, a member of the state Public Utilities Commission. Link: http://wallaby.telicon.com/PA/library/2012/2012112775.HTM

SIERRA CLUB RELEASES NEW REPORT ON NATURAL GAS EXPORTS Report disputes DOE arguments against a full study on LNG and fracking
Washington, D.C. – Today Sierra Club released a new report highlighting the significant risks of exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG), and calling on the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to take a careful look at the dangerous effects of increased fracking on Americans' water, air, land and health.
The report, titled "Look Before the LNG Leap," cautions against the rubber stamp approval of proposed liquefied natural gas export facilities, and refutes the Department of Energy's claim that it cannot predict where new fracking will occur as a result of approved LNG exports. The DOE has been using this argument as its main reason against performing a thorough environmental impact statement to study the full effects of exporting natural gas. The report shows that DOE's own energy models can and do make those predictions.
"The Department of Energy should look at the full picture of what exporting LNG will mean for Americans' health, communities and check books," said Deb Nardone, Sierra Club's Beyond Natural Gas campaign director. "If we blindly move forward with LNG exports, the American people will be left footing the bill while natural gas companies rake in more cash with zero accountability for their toxic pollution."
Shipping natural gas to foreign countries would increase dirty, dangerous fracking in Americans' backyards, drive up energy prices for American families and put Americans' health and our climate at risk – while doing nothing to address our nation's energy challenges. DOE must do the right thing and begin an open, public environmental impact assessment before we blindly transform the energy landscape and communities across the country.
"This new report underscores the urgent need to move beyond all fossil fuels," saidNardone. "An economy based on energy efficiency and clean energy sources like wind and solar is the only safe and responsible way to achieve true energy security while putting Americans to work."

DEP Announces Opening of Natural Gas Vehicle Grant Program Applications Due Feb. 1, 2013
DEP Newsroom Nov 29 HARRISBURG -- The Department of Environmental Protection announced today it will begin accepting applications Dec. 1 for its Natural Gas Vehicle Grant program, which will provide up to $20 million over the next three years to help pay for the incremental purchase and conversion costs of heavy-duty natural gas fleet vehicles. Link: http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/newsroom/14287?id=1 
9765&typeid=1


Articles

As Shell studies plant project, Beaver County officials wait with hope
Pitt Trib Timothy Puko Nov 29 No news is good news for everyone hoping oil giant Shell builds a petrochemical plant in Beaver County. Link: http://triblive.com/business/headlines/3038488-74/shell-officials-plant-stat 
e-company-project-local-site-beaver-build#axzz2De6y3MR0

More of nation's gas coming from Marcellus Shale 
Post-Gazette Erich Schwartzel Nov 28 The Marcellus Shale region now accounts for 26 percent of the country's shale gas production, according to the latest report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Link: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/news/more-of-nations-gas-coming 

Conservationists fight to save one of PA's gem streams
Groups point out that state has authority to protect Rock Run, but fear that it won't. Bay Journal December 2012 Karl Blankenship Brook Lenker aimed the van along a dirt road that wound though a narrow valley filled with hardwood trees that had gone largely undisturbed for decades. Waterfalls poured down the mountainside in places, and hemlocks provided a touch of green along streams as leaves of other trees adopted their autumn orange and yellow hues. Link: http://www.bayjournal.com/article/conservationists_fight_to_save_one_of_pas_ gem_streams

Democrat John Hanger offers himself as the anti-Tom Corbett in announcing his candidacy for governor in 2014
Patriot-News Jan Murphy Nov 28 In announcing his candidacy for the Democratic nomination in the 2014 governor's race, Harrisburg lawyer John Hanger distinguished himself in many ways from Gov. Tom Corbett who he hopes to make a one-term governor. Link: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/11/democrat_john_hanger_offe rs_hi.html#incart_river

Official says Pennsylvania working on energy policy
Observer-Reporter Michael Bradwell Nov 28 Pennsylvania is on the verge of creating an energy policy that one state official believes could become a template for the federal government to use. Link: http://www.observer-reporter.com/article/20121128/NEWS01/121129215/-1/news#. 
ULfcW-TpeSp

Fracking Our Food Supply 
The Nation
Elizabeth Royte Nov 28 In a Brooklyn winery on a sultry July evening, an elegant crowd sips rosé and nibbles trout plucked from the gin-clear streams of upstate New York. The diners are here, with their checkbooks, to support a group called Chefs for the Marcellus, which works to protect the foodshed upon which hundreds of regional farm-to-fork restaurants depend. The foodshed is coincident with the Marcellus Shale, a geologic formation that arcs northeast from West Virginia through Pennsylvania and into New York State. As everyone invited here knows, the region is both agriculturally and energy rich, with vast quantities of natural gas sequestered deep below its fertile fields and forests. Link: http://www.thenation.com/article/171504/fracking-our-food-supply#

DCED's Alan Walker on why coal's not dead, solar's not hot, and all that gas
Pittsburgh Business Times Anya Litvak Nov 28 Alan Walker, Secretary of Pennsylvania's Department of Community and Economic Development, thinks the state's on the verge of its first state energy policy. "And it's going to be a good one," he promised. "It's going to be so good" that the feds may want to copy our homework. Link: http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/blog/energy/2012/11/dceds-alan-walker- 
on-why-coals-not.html?page=all

What They're Saying: Natural Gas Creating "Significant" Environmental Benefits, Sparking "a Manufacturing Renaissance"
Wallaby Nov 27 Pittsburgh, Pa. – The clear, undeniable environmental and economic benefits tied to the safe development of clean-burning American natural gas continue to cascade across our region – as well as throughout local, national and international news outlets. Here's what they're saying about the responsible development of job-creating shale gas, which is Powering an American Renaissance: Link: 

DEP, Tennessee Gas continue talks about fines Gas company has corrected about 90 percent of the violations
Pocono Record Beth Brelje Nov 27 The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection continues discussions with Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. to determine fines owed for hundreds of environmental violations. Link: http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121127/NEWS/2112703 
20/-1/NEWS

Community College Faculty Angry Over New Marcellus Training Center

Bradford City Water Authority Allowed To Withdraw More Water
Bradford Era Nov 27 The Bradford City Water Authority announced during their meeting Tuesday that the state Department of Environmental Protection is allowing them to withdraw more water each day. Link: http://www.bradfordera.com/news/local/article_34dafe7c-3912-11e2-84ce-001a4b 
cf887a.html

In brief: Crews extinguish natural gas fire in Lower Yoder Township
Tribune-Democrat Nov 27 The small flare-up occurred Sunday after a pressure regulator failed at the gas well and escaping gas was ignited by a burner used to warm gas produced by the formation below, T&F Exploration spokesman Dave Mashek said. Link: http://tribune-democrat.com/local/x942836388/In-brief-Crews-extinguish-natur 
al-gas-fire-in-Lower-Yoder-Township

First Dem to announce intent for guv seat has a long road ahead
Inquirer John Baer Nov 28 OK, BIRTHERS, listen up: You now have a Democrat seeking high office who admits to being born in Kenya. Link: http://articles.philly.com/2012-11-28/news/35412773_1_john-hanger-public-edu 
cation-fund-public-schools

D.C.-based governors' associations provide back door for corporate donors
Center for Public Integrity John Dunbar Oct 18 It was no secret in the 2010 race for governor of Pennsylvania that Republican Tom Corbett, the state's attorney general, was the favorite of the burgeoning natural gas industry. Link: http://www.publicintegrity.org/2012/10/18/11503/dc-based-governors-associati 
ons-provide-back-door-corporate-donors

Today I Announce My Candidacy For Governor of Pennsylvania
John Hanger's Facts of The Day Blog Nov 28 I announce today my candidacy for Governor of Pennsylvania and will be doing press conferences in Philadelphia and Harrisburg. Tomorrow, I will be in Pittsburgh for a press conference there. Link: http://johnhanger.blogspot.com/2012/11/today-i-announce-my-candidacy-for.html

Pa.'s former enviro chief to run for governor
E&E News Ellen M. Gilmer Nov 28 (full text below) The state official who led Pennsylvania through the start of the Marcellus Shale boom is launching a bid for governor.
John Hanger, a Democrat who headed the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) from 2008 to 2011, said he will announce today his plans to challenge Republican Gov. Tom Corbett in the 2014 election.
Hanger is known as a champion of both natural gas and renewable energy, having served previously as DEP secretary, head of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and founding president of the environmental group PennFuture.
"[A] major challenge remains maximizing the benefits and minimizing the costs of gas production for Pennsylvania and the country," Hanger wrote on his blog last week. "More can and must be done to do both. And doing so will increase public acceptance of gas drilling across the Commonwealth and the nation."
Several natural gas industry sources said they view Hanger as a fair regulator who during his time at DEP encouraged shale development for its economic benefits but worked to establish a foundation of regulation to lessen drilling's impacts.
"Given his background, the easy road for him on the shale issue would have been to just ignore the science and indulge the activists and hucksters up there who wanted to see all development stopped, period," said Chris Tucker of Energy In Depth, an arm of the Independent Petroleum Association of America.
"But he didn't do that, and probably lost a few friends as a result," Tucker added. "I think what he gained, though, is the respect of others who saw someone who takes science seriously and wasn't afraid to speak up when he thought it was being distorted or abused."
Hanger currently works as an attorney in Harrisburg and as an energy consultant. He regularly comments on national and state energy issues in news interviews and on his blog: http://johnhanger.blogspot.com/
He said he plans to talk more about his vision for natural gas in Pennsylvania after his bid is officially announced during news conferences in Philadelphia and Harrisburg today.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

PA Marcellus News Digest 11/27/12

PA Marcellus News Digest 
November 27, 2012

Articles

Decreased Coal Value Hurts Greene County’s Tax Base
NPR State Impact
Scott Detrow
Nov 27
Link:
http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2012/11/27/decreased-coal-value-hurts-greene-countys-tax-base/

Estate planning follows gas boom
Post-Gazette
Zack Needles
Nov 26
Trusts and estates lawyers in Central and Western Pennsylvania said they've seen an uptick in inquiries from landowners with oil and gas interests who are interested in beginning the process of estate planning.
Link:
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/news/estate-planning-follows-gas-boom-663641/

Agency to make Marcellus housing aid decisions
Times-Tribune
Robert Swift
Nov 27
HARRISBURG - An initial outlay of revenue from gas drilling impact fees to address affordable housing needs in the Marcellus Shale region will be made next month by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency.
Link:
http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/business/agency-to-make-marcellus-housing-aid-decisions-1.1408598

Pennsylvania continues to benefit from Marcellus Shale
Patriot-News
Mike Krancer & Patrick Henderson

Op-Ed
Nov 27
It is now unanimous: America’s potential domestic energy production is off the charts and Pennsylvania is the sweet spot. The International Energy Agency just issued its landmark annual World Energy Outl
ook report, forecasting that the United States will pass Saudi Arabia in energy production and that North America will be at the forefront of a sweeping transformation in oil and gas production that will affect the entire world.
Link:
http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2012/11/marcellus_shale_jobs_benefits.html

We're paying the price for natural gas drillers in Pennsylvania
Patriot-News
Bob Myers
Op-Ed
Nov 27
O
n Oct. 25, Gov. Tom Corbett signed into law Senate Bill 941 (sponsored by Jake Corman, R- Centre County), which increased the maximum fines for public drunkenness and underage drinking from $500 to $1,000.
Link:
http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2012/11/marcellus_shale_enironmental_effects.html

PA Marcellus News Digest 11/26/12

PA Marcellus News Digest
November 26, 2012

Special: Job Posting
The Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments is looking to hire a fracking coordinator who will have an office at the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association, in Harrisburg, PA (partial telecommuting is possible). This coordinator will track state policies in Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Ohio, and West Virginia; identify organizations that are engaged in fracking (community, state, and national); and help to support communication and implementation of strategies in order to create opportunities for nursing engagement and leadership.
Link:
http://www.idealist.org/view/job/XM8hj4T62Tnp/

Articles

Mountain Watershed Association criticizes DEP water testing
Herald Standard
Steve Ferris
Nov 26
The state’s environmental watchdog agency is protecting the natural gas industry instead of citizens, the leader of a local watershed organization said.
Link:
http://www.heraldstandard.com/marcellus_shale/mountain-watershed-association-criticizes-dep-water-testing/article_75bafb4b-440b-5495-bb97-2df100e19191.html

Natural gas drillers target US truck, bus market
Patriot-News
AP
Nov 25
SCRANTON, Pa. — If the trash truck or bus rolling down your street seems a little quieter these days, you're not imagining things. It's probably running on natural gas.
Link:
http://www.pennlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf/story/natural-gas-drillers-target-us-truck-bus/2b15ad0db7f0478bbd14a610c0a2eb32

Marcellus Shale producers making the switch to cleaner rigs
Inquirer
Andrew Maykuth
Nov 25
JACKSONBURG, W.Va. - Almost all the natural gas produced in the Marcellus Shale - billed by its advocates as the clean, domestic fuel of the future - is extracted from the earth using dirty diesel fuel derived from imported oil.
Link:
http://articles.philly.com/2012-11-25/business/35348940_1_natural-gas-rig-natural-gas-marcellus-shale

Natural gas producers turn to 'green completion'
Inquirer
Andrew Maykuth
Nov 25
SYCAMORE, Pa. - The towering flares that turn night into day in the Marcellus Shale gaslands are becoming an increasingly rare sight.
Link:
http://articles.philly.com/2012-11-25/business/35348948_1_natural-gas-shale-gas-completions

Environmentalists challenge West Wyoming gas compressor station
Citizens Voice
Elizabeth Skrapits
Nov 23
Local environmentalists are challenging UGI Energy Services' appeal of the Luzerne County Zoning Hearing Board's denial of a special exception to build a natural gas compressor station in West Wyoming.
Link:
http://citizensvoice.com/news/environmentalists-challenge-west-wyoming-gas-compressor-station-1.1407210

Gas-fired plants planned as coal facilities retired
Analysts say lower prices, demand could keep new sites from being built
Post-Gazette
Don Hopey
Nov 24
Nine new natural gas power plants are planned in Pennsylvania, more than making up for the loss of power generation caused by the retirement of 12 old coal-burning power plants, according to state regulators.
Link:
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/environment/gas-fired-plants-planned-as-coal-facilities-retired-663414/

Ransom Twp. water withdrawal site up for vote
Times-Tribune
Laura Legere
Nov 24
A proposal by local developers to draw water from a decommissioned reservoir in Ransom Twp. to sell to natural gas drilling companies is scheduled for a vote in mid-December.
Link:
http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/ransom-twp-water-withdrawal-site-up-for-vote-1.1407662

Shale money to buy pagers
Pitt Trib
Rich Cholodofsky
Nov 24
New paging equipment for the Westmoreland County emergency dispatch center will be the first purchase made with Marcellus shale impact fees.
Link:
http://triblive.com/news/2995612-74/county-money-pagers-commissioners-economy-fears-government-gun-guns-paging#axzz2DLTqRDz8

Corbett has high hopes for Shell plant to be built in Pa.
Post-Gazette
Laura Olson
Nov 23
HARRISBURG -- With an end-of-the-year deadline looming on its Beaver County land deal, Gov. Tom Corbett says he's confident Royal Dutch Shell remains on track to build its proposed petrochemical plant in Pennsylvania.
Link:
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/state/corbett-has-high-hopes-for-shell-plant-to-be-built-in-pa-663339/

Natural gas dehydration station draws emergency crews
Times Leader
Andrew M. Seder
Nov 23
MONROE TOWNSHIP -- Emergency crews have left a natural gas dehydration station just over the Luzerne County line in Monroe Township, Wyoming, after being dispatched because of a gas release.
Link:
http://www.timesleader.com/stories/Natural-gas-dehydration-station-draws-emergency-crews,232924

Maryland gas drilling panel may require pollution insurance
Times-Tribune
AP
Nov 20
BALTIMORE  — A state panel that is devising rules for hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in western Maryland may require drillers to have pollution insurance.
Link:
http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/maryland-gas-drilling-panel-may-require-pollution-insurance-1.1406112

Saturday, November 24, 2012

PA Marcellus News Digest 11/20/12

PA Marcellus News Digest
November 20, 2012

Special: PIOGA Newsletter November Issue: http://wallaby.telicon.com/PA/library/2012/2012112082.PDF  INCLUDES IS THE DRILLING INDUSTRY'S "SPIN" ON A LOT OF THE ISSUES WE WORK ON  

Release

Marcellus Shale Drilling Viewed as Both Positive and Negative by Pittsburghers
New PittsburghTODAY report shows that Pittsburgh residents view Marcellus Shale drilling as economic opportunity, environmental risk
Rate of residents who support drilling higher in Washington County

Wallaby
Nov 19
PITTSBURGH—While most Pittsburgh citizens see Marcellus Shale drilling as a chance to give the local economy a boost, they also worry about the associated environmental and health risks, according to data released today by PittsburghTODAY and the University of Pittsburgh’s University Center for Social and Urban Research.
Link:
http://wallaby.telicon.com/PA/library/2012/2012111973.HTM

Articles

Drill Rigs Moved Toward Oil and Wet Gas
NPR State Impact
Susan Phillips
Nov 20
Drill rigs in the Utica Shale formation have doubled within the past year, according to a report released Tuesday by the Energy Information Administration.
Link:
http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2012/11/20/drill-rigs-moved-toward-oil-and-wet-gas/

Clean Air Council’s appeal threatens Sunoco refinery jobs
Daily Times
Patrick Henderson
LTE
Nov 19
On Sept. 19, Gov. Tom Corbett stood with federal, state and local officials – Democrats and Republicans – along with representatives of labor and business to celebrate the preservation of hundreds of family-sustaining jobs at the Sunoco refinery in South Philadelphia.
Link:
http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2012/11/19/opinion/doc50a9b8d973aea972285995.txt

DEP, Tennessee Gas discuss fines
Pocono Record
Beth Brelje
Nov 18
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection held an enforcement meeting Tuesday with Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. to determine the amount of fines owed for hundreds of environmental violations.
Link:
http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121118/NEWS/211180331/-1/NEWS

DEP to drillers: Do what you like
Standard Speaker
Opinion
Nov 18
After several experts on gas production complained this year that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's website included inaccurate production data, the agency leapt into action.
Link:
http://standardspeaker.com/opinion/dep-to-drillers-do-what-you-like-1.1403792

Scientist cites risk to water of drilling near Beaver Run
Pitt Trib
Renatta Signorini
Nov 20
Gas drilling near Beaver Run Reservoir poses many risks for the public water supply and could lower property values, according to an ecologist who took part in a panel discussion on Monday in Murrysville.
Link:
http://triblive.com/state/marcellusshale/2965934-74/drilling-authority-forum-beaver-reservoir-run-municipal-murrysville-morrison-cites#axzz2ClIhvHvo

New report reveals mixed opinions of shale industry
Post-Gazette
Pipeline
Nov 20
Pittsburgh residents consider Marcellus Shale drilling both an economic opportunity and an environmental risk, according to a study released by PittsburghTODAY and the University of Pittsburgh’s University Center for Social and Urban Research.
Link:
http://pipeline.post-gazette.com/news/archives/24927-new-report-reveals-mixed-opinions-of-shale-industry

More Ethane Crackers May Pop Up In Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania
NPR State Impact
Scott Detrow
Nov 20
Link:
http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2012/11/20/more-ethane-crackers-may-pop-up-in-ohio-west-virginia-and-pennsylvania/

Enviros vexed by what's missing in water contamination reports
E&E News EnergyWire
Ellen M. Gilmer
Nov 20
(full text below)
Pennsylvania's environmental protection chief is defending his agency's controversial system for testing water wells near Marcellus Shale operations by saying other states work the same way. But regulators in those states say that's not true.

The flap began in the Keystone State, where it recently came to light that the state Department of Environmental Protection routinely withholds water quality data it deems irrelevant to oil and gas contamination. Critics are pressuring regulators to overhaul that practice because they say the untold contaminants could make people sick.

In the two weeks since a state legislator publicized the issue by calling for an investigation, DEP officials have repeatedly defended their process as standard operating procedure that has simply been "misapprehended" by drilling critics.

The contention boils down to this: When the state checks water wells that homeowners suspect might be tainted by drilling operations in the Marcellus Shale, samples are sent to an agency lab that uses a U.S. EPA testing method to screen for dozens of metals. DEP has determined that eight of those are strong indicators of oil and gas contamination, so it instructs the lab to return results on only those eight metals. Those are the results given to homeowners.

Protocol or not, environmentalists don't like it. The unreported metals include, for example, titanium, aluminum, silicon, lithium and molybdenum. DEP has said there's no way those metals, without the presence of the eight target metals, would indicate oil and gas contamination. But Nadia Steinzor, a coordinator for Earthworks' Oil and Gas Accountability Project, said it's not the role of a regulatory agency to decide which metals are of public concern.

"That is a tremendous lack of transparency on the part of a public agency," she said. "It's not really their call to say you're not going to be affected by X metal."

Earthworks signed a letter: http://www.eenews.net/assets/2012/11/16/document_ew_01.pdf with other environmental groups last week urging Gov. Tom Corbett (R) to make changes to DEP's system and immediately release comprehensive results of previous tests.

The metals that are reported by the labs are barium, calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium, manganese, sodium and strontium, which are common contamination markers used by agencies in other states and recommended by the Marcellus Shale Coalition for water quality testing around oil and gas operations.

Do other states filter?

DEP Secretary Michael Krancer said in a letter: http://www.eenews.net/assets/2012/11/16/document_ew_02.pdf defending his agency's practices that the parameters used in Pennsylvania are "substantially similar" to those used in New York, Ohio, Colorado and Wyoming.

But regulators in at least three of those states said they do not withhold any data from homeowners.

In an email, staff from Colorado's Department of Natural Resources said technicians in third-party labs there use the same testing technique -- EPA Method 200.7 -- that Pennsylvania uses to test for metals like calcium, arsenic, boron and more.

But unlike Pennsylvania, the labs and the agency do not filter the data. The environmental staff provides a summary table to concerned residents, along with a copy of the entire lab package. The data are also publicly available online and include metals like aluminum and lithium, which go unreported in Pennsylvania.

Ohio Department of Natural Resources officials said they, too, use Method 200.7 and report all parameters tested by the lab. They screen using an oil and gas analysis suite that includes the eight markers used in Pennsylvania, plus a few other contaminants, including aluminum and bromide -- unreported in Pennsylvania. Residents who file water complaints receive water investigation reports along with copies of the unfiltered lab results.

Officials from New York's Department of Environmental Conservation, which also uses that EPA testing method, said any testing would have to be released "in its entirety to the landowner."

A review of the state's draft environmental impact statement for fracking, which is currently on hold there, shows the state plans to test for contamination with lab parameters that focus on a smaller group of metals, including barium, chloride, iron, manganese and sodium, along with other materials.

Pennsylvania DEP spokesman Kevin Sunday wrote in an email that Krancer's assertion that Pennsylvania's practices are similar to others is based on a "good working relationship" among states.

He clarified that the secretary's statements are not in defense of "filtered" data because the agency maintains it has not filtered anything; rather, it has zeroed in on target metals for further analysis. The results for the whole suite of metals are preliminary, he said, and final results are pursued for those contamination markers only.

Are all results final?

Indeed, hydrogeology researcher David Yoxtheimer says the results of metals testing that go unreported in Pennsylvania are not as readily available as environmentalists think.

Although the lab uses the EPA method that screens for 24 or more metals, technicians have to take an extra step to get final results on the eight markers. The initial analysis produces a chart of peaks and valleys that indicate levels of the various metals. That must be analyzed to identify the levels of target metals, which are then compared with a reference standard to ensure the results are accurate.

In other words, the eight target metals are subject to further analysis -- and cost -- to ensure quality. So the lab may have preliminary results for all the metals but final results for only the eight. Krancer said during a conference last week that he has no intention of releasing data points that have not undergone the quality-control analysis, especially because he said they do not signal oil and gas contamination.

"You're going to use this method and in theory you could report all 24," said Yoxtheimer, who is on staff at Pennsylvania State University's Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research. "But we're really not interested in two-thirds of them because they're not related to drilling impacts, at least commonly."

That shadow of condition, "at least commonly," is enough to keep many environmentalists on edge.

"[T]he reporting procedure reflects an anachronistic approach to water testing that is gravely insufficient in light of the new and specific impacts of high-volume drilling and hydraulic fracturing in deep shale formation," the groups wrote in their letter to the governor last week.

Because industry technology and practices evolve to enhance production, they wrote, additional metals could enter water supplies, and DEP's focus on the eight markers could result in other problematic materials being overlooked. Plus, they say, there is scant research on the effect of exposure to even low doses of multiple contaminants at the same time -- making full disclosure critical for understanding those unknowns.

"In a time in which drilling practices are changing so rapidly, it is something to look at and revisit," Steinzor said. "If nothing else, if we can succeed in getting states that do this to take another look ... that'll be a step in the right direction."

Spats vs. substance

For now, the battle is relegated to an exchange of heated remarks in letters, blog posts and statements made to local newspapers. Rep. Jesse White, the state legislator who sparked the dust-up by calling for an investigation into DEP lab procedures, has been seared by industry representatives who say he's just bitter about a falling-out he had with driller Range Resources Corp.

Range released a series of 2010 emails between White and company officials that illustrate a once-friendly relationship that turned sour when Range hosted a fundraiser for the legislator that came up short on cash. White has dismissed the emails as an attempt by the industry to discredit him as he pushes for increased accountability among Marcellus operators.

Environmentalists who have taken up the cause have sidestepped the spat and instead focused on the lab procedures in question. But Krancer and other state officials have brushed off the groups' requests as a misinformed product of wild accusations from White.

"The letter was just echoing unsubstantiated and outrageous allegations," said Corbett administration spokesman Eric Shirk, adding that although DEP is always reviewing and improving policies, it has no plans to change the lab protocol.

Former DEP Secretary John Hanger offered his take two weeks ago, telling EnergyWire that he believed the agency's policies were not an attempt to shroud any data, but that they should be changed immediately in order to give residents all available information (EnergyWire, Nov. 5). Even if the other metals are unrelated to drilling, he said, residents should know what's there.

PA Marcellus News Digest 11/21/12

PA Marcellus News Digest
November 21, 2012

Release

Marcellus-Related Benefits Expanding Across Philadelphia Region
Wallaby
Nov 20
Pittsburgh, Pa. – The safe, tightly-regulated development of clean-burning domestic natural gas is “firing up an old-fashioned American industrial revival,” strengthening “America's role in the world,” and putting Pennsylvania on a path toward becoming an “American energy superpower,” all while “saving U.S. consumers billions” in more affordable energy costs. These positive benefits continue to take root across Pennsylvania – both in active drilling regions as well as in the greater Philadelphia area, where consumers are realizing huge energy cost savings and manufacturing is coming roaring back.
Link:
http://wallaby.telicon.com/PA/library/2012/2012112077.HTM

Articles

Maryland gas drilling panel may require pollution insurance
Times-Tribune
AP
Nov 20
BALTIMORE — A state panel that is devising rules for hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in western Maryland may require drillers to have pollution insurance.
Link:
http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/maryland-gas-drilling-panel-may-require-pollution-insurance-1.1406112

People have opinions about Marcellus Shale
Washington County residents are more hopeful and worried
Post-Gazette
Nov 21
People around greater Pittsburgh agree Marcellus Shale exploration is both an economic opportunity and to a lesser extent an environmental worry, with those feelings amplified in the natural gas hub of Washington County, survey results say.
Link:
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/marcellusshale/people-have-opinions-about-marcellus-shale-663062/

Gas wells considered in Robinson, Washington County
Post-Gazette
Andrea Iglar
Nov 20
Range Resources-Appalachia LLC of Cecil is applying to drill the Marcellus Shale on two properties in Robinson, Washington County.
Link:
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-west/gas-wells-considered-in-robinson-washington-county-662981/

Critical Facts: Support For Gas Drilling Highest Where It Takes Place and Pittsburgh Region Supports Gas Drilling Nearly 2-1
John Hanger's Facts of The Day
Blog
Nov 21
A critical fact that has been lost in the sea of ink used to report on gas development is that gas drilling enjoys its strongest support, where it is taking place, and engenders the most opposition where it is not being done.
Link:
http://www.johnhanger.blogspot.com/2012/11/critical-facts-support-for-gas-drilling.html

IEA World Energy Outlook Projects Stunning US & Global Solar Numbers
John Hanger's Facts of The Day
Blog
Nov 20
How fast is the sun rising? And is shale gas damaging the solar boom in the US and around the world?  The IEA 2012 World Energy Outlook has data that help to answer these questions.
Link:
http://www.johnhanger.blogspot.com/2012/11/iea-world-energy-outlook-projects.html
Energy Department Grant Will Promote Nat Gas Vehicles in Philadelphia Area
NPR State Impact
Susan Phillips
Nov 20
Link:
http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2012/11/20/energy-department-grant-will-promote-nat-gas-vehicles-in-philadelphia-area/    
A need for accurate natural gas production
Public Opinion
Matthew Major
Nov 21
Here in Pennsylvania, our lawmakers are masters of the apparently unintended legislative consequence.
As usual, the one we're about to discuss has its roots in the state's years-long exercise in allowing the natural gas industry to walk all over us.
Link:
http://www.publicopiniononline.com/opinion/ci_22013088/need-accurate-natural-gas-production

Locally, gas companies largely unaffected by Hurricane Sandy
Daily Review
Johnny Williams
Nov 20
Hurricane Sandy pounded the Northeast in late October, causing widespread power outages, dangerous winds and even heavy amounts of snow along areas in its path. It was described by some as a "Superstorm" that many may not see again in their lifetimes.
Link:
http://thedailyreview.com/news/locally-gas-companies-largely-unaffected-by-hurricane-sandy-1.1405856


In the oil patch, zoning is no stranger to drilling
E&E News
Mike Soraghan
Nov 21
(full text below)
MIDLAND, Texas -- Wes Perry, the CEO of a midsized drilling company in this oil and gas town, says city government has piled on so many regulations, it's pointless to drill a well inside the city limits.

"It doesn't make economic sense," said Perry, standing in the back of KD's Bar-B-Q, a local favorite. "It adds a few hundred thousand dollars for each well. That's 10 or 20 percent more."

But that doesn't mean he dislikes the rules. He wrote them, or at least helped write them, as part of his other job -- mayor of Midland.

"We want to protect the safety of our citizens," Perry explained to a group of journalists visiting Midland last month. "We say we try to force the landowner and the operator to get along."

Across the country, state officials are banding together with the oil and gas industry to head off the kind of local regulation that routinely happens in Texas with little fanfare.

The administration of Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) is suing the city of Longmont, a suburban community north of Denver, to overturn its ban on drilling in residential neighborhoods. In the election earlier this month, residents voted to add a citywide ban on hydraulic fracturing (EnergyWire, Nov. 7).

Earlier this year, Pennsylvania legislators and Gov. Tom Corbett (R) blocked towns from placing zoning restrictions on the oil and gas industry with the law commonly known as "Act 13" (EnergyWire, Oct. 18). Cities and townships are fighting the law in court, but Kathryn Klaber, head of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a Pittsburgh-based industry group, says "lack of uniformity has long been an Achilles' heel" for drilling in Pennsylvania.

But lack of uniformity hasn't pinched development in Texas. The Lone Star State still accounts for the lion's share of drilling in the United States. The rig count in the Permian Basin that surrounds Midland has doubled since the beginning of 2010. Perry says about 10 companies drill within the city limits.

And in Oklahoma, where the fervor for drilling is no less intense, some cities flat-out ban drilling within their city limits. Among them is Tulsa, which once billed itself as the Oil Capital of the World.

Such "home rule" authority has been challenged. In recent years, state legislators sympathetic to industry have tried to restrict Texas cities' authority to place zoning restrictions on drilling, but they haven't been successful.

Midland has imposed a 500-foot setback from buildings and homes. The city requires fencing around reserve pits and can require landscaping around the well.

"It's when you have an oil well getting drilled that it's a problem. It's a disruption people don't want to deal with," Perry said. "Once it's drilled, people have less of a problem with a house next to the well."

Perry knows this well. He was unhappy to find recently that another oilman had acquired rights to oil and gas under his land, which meant a well drilled near his home. He negotiated with his fellow driller and came to what he described -- with a tight grin -- as a mutually satisfactory resolution.

Perry's company, EGL Resources Inc., has done about 400 wells in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico. It also has an oil shale division with a 160-acre research and development lease in western Colorado.

Perry said the effort to put some restrictions on drilling began in 2009 when developers and others grew concerned that drilling and development were on a path to collide in the city.

A group of about 20 people representing various interests got together to start finding workable rules and brought them to the city council. The process took about 18 months.

They never tried to ban drilling in the area, he explained. They recognized that Texas law, as in most states, puts the property rights of the owners of underground oil and gas above the property rights of the "surface" landowner.

"So, if you start with the assumption that 'minerals' trump 'surface,' the question is how you find something compatible," said Perry, who has been mayor since 2008.

They also kept in mind that Midland is first and foremost an oil and gas town.

"For us not to be friendly would have been very hypocritical," Perry said. "People said, 'If Midland can't be fair, then nobody can.'"

And as a city official, he doesn't view oil wells as a bad thing. In contrast to, say, housing, the wells generate tax dollars with relatively little need for expensive services like trash collection.

Perry's view of orderly development is a far cry from Gardendale, an unincorporated area of small homes between Midland and Odessa. An independent driller is looking at drilling up to 300 wells in the community, which is a little more than 11 square miles in size.

"They're talking about a well every 600 feet and a pad every 300 feet," said Shane Leverett, who lives in Gardendale. "Do the math. There's not much room left over for us."

Leverett and some neighbors banded together to form the Gardendale Accountability Project. County governments in Texas don't zone. So they tried to get the area to incorporate last year into a city with zoning power. But residents voted it down, so drilling there is subject only to state rules.

But just because cities can restrict drilling doesn't mean they all do. The neighboring oil and gas town of Odessa, Perry noted, has taken a different path.

"They have very few restrictions," Perry said, "and I've never heard of any problems."