PA Marcellus News Digest 12/20/12

 PA Marcellus News Digest

December 20, 2012

Releases

PUC Provides Further Clarification on Issues Surrounding Impact Fee
Wallaby
Dec 20
HARRISBURG – The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) today further clarified various portions of its implementation of Chapter 23 of Act 13 of 2012, provides for the imposition of an unconventional gas well fee.
Link: http://wallaby.telicon.com/PA/library/2012/2012122076.HTM

State Asked to Supercede Permits for Tennessee Gas Pipeline Project Planned to Start January 2nd
Wallaby
Dec 18
Harrisburg, PA:  In a December 18, 2012 legal filing, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Environmental Hearing Board was asked to issue an Order of Supersedeas that would prevent the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company from proceeding with mobilization and tree clearing, the first steps in construction of its proposed NorthEast Upgrade Project (TGP’s NEUP).  The Delaware Riverkeeper Network and Responsible Drilling Alliance filed the petition, essentially a request for a stay of construction activity, together with their notices of appeal of three DEP permits issued for the project, in order to allow the groups enough time to pursue their legal challenge while maintaining the status quo.
Link: http://wallaby.telicon.com/PA/library/2012/2012121996.HTM

(GAS DRILLING CHAMPION) Senator Yaw Named Chairman of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee
Wallaby
Dec 19
HARRISBURG – State Senator Gene Yaw (R-23) has been appointed to serve as Chairman of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee for the 2013-2014 legislative session.
Link: http://wallaby.telicon.com/PA/library/2012/2012121975.HTM

Articles

Gas facility shut down in Wyoming County
Steve Mocarsky
Times Leader
Dec 20
WYOMING COUNTY – There was an emergency shutdown of a natural gas compressor station in Washington Township, Wyoming County, on Wednesday.
Link: http://www.timesleader.com/stories/Gas-facility-shut-down-in-Wyoming-County,242977?category_id=487&town_id=1&sub_type=stories

Newspapers seeking settlement disclosure to get speedy hearing
Post-Gazette
Don Hopey
Dec 19
A Washington County judge has granted the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's motion for an expedited hearing on whether to unseal an August 2011 settlement agreement between Marcellus Shale gas development companies and members of a family who claimed drilling damaged their health.
Link: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/washington/newspapers-seeking-settlement-disclosure-to-get-speedy-hearing-666983/

Some homes in shale areas to get help
Pitt Trib
Rich Cholodofsky
Dec 20
Westmoreland County will spend $125,000 next year to rehabilitate private homes in communities with Marcellus shale gas wells.
Link: http://triblive.com/news/westmoreland/3164538-74/homes-housing-county#axzz2Fak2wbTg

Pa. ranks just after Texas in shale jobs
Post-Gazette
Erich Schwartzel
Dec 20
Pennsylvania is second only to Texas in the number of workers employed by the unconventional oil and gas industry, according to a new report by IHS Global Insight.
Link: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/news/pa-ranks-just-after-texas-in-shale-jobs-667121/

Risky cargo: The Coast Guard has a key decision on wastewater
Post-Gazette
Dec 20
The question of whether the shale gas industry should be able to ship its wastewater on the nation's rivers and lakes is so controversial that officials might have been tempted not to touch it with a barge pole.
Link: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/editorials/risky-cargo-the-coast-guard-has-a-key-decision-on-wastewater-667037/

Electrical Issue Causes Emergency Shutdown at Wyoming County Gas Compressor Station
NPR State Impact
Marie Cusik
Dec 20
Link: http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2012/12/20/electrical-issue-causes-emergency-shutdown-at-wyoming-county-gas-compressor-station/

Ethics Filing Shows Corbett Took Free Vacation from Businessman with Ties to Gas Industry
NPR State Impact
Marie Cusik
Dec 20
Link: http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2012/12/20/ethics-filing-shows-corbett-took-free-vacation-from-businessman-with-ties-to-gas-industry/

Oil and gas sites a source of ozone pollution, say U.S. EPA petitioners
E&E News, EnergyWire
Gayathri Vaidyanathan
Dec 20
(full text below)
U.S. EPA should step up air quality monitoring for ozone near oil and gas sites to protect public health, a coalition of 30 green groups (including Sierra Club) said in a formal petition: http://blogs.edf.org/energyexchange/files/2012/12/Ozone-Monitoring-and-Oil-and-Natural-Gas-Petition-FINAL-12-19.pdf  filed with the agency yesterday.

The groups also asked the agency to issue guidelines to industry on control technologies that reduce emissions. The petition was filed by the Environmental Defense Fund, the Clean Air Task Force, the Natural Resources Defense Council and others.

Oil and gas sites are known to emit a number of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). They are precursors to ozone, or smog. Research has shown that levels of the air pollutant in parts of rural America are comparable to levels found in cities such as Los Angeles. The sources of the pollution are oil and gas operations.

"Oil and natural gas operations emit VOCs from well completion activities, pneumatic devices and pumps, storage vessels, glycol dehydrators, compressors, and leaking equipment, seals, and valves. Several different analyses have found these emissions to be significant," the petition states.

While the fight is primarily over ozone, which EPA is required to address under the Clean Air Act, methane, which gets co-emitted with VOCs, is also of interest. The control technologies that reduce VOC emissions will also reduce methane.

"We want communities to be sure that they have transparency about ozone and air quality problems that might be related to increasing oil and natural gas development," said Peter Zalzal, staff attorney at EDF.

The petition follows EPA's air rules released in April that targeted the initial stages of hydraulic fracturing, when significant amounts of VOCs, methane and other hydrocarbons are emitted to the atmosphere. EPA required industry to do "green completions" to control these emissions in its New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) (EnergyWire, April 19).

The NSPS were just a first step and do not address all leaks, said Zalzal.

Recent studies have suggested that the entire natural gas operation, from well to burner, is leaky (EnergyWire, Nov. 28). A study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory suggested that the process of "liquids unloading," a method used to clean a producing well, could be an even bigger emitter of methane than well completions (EnergyWire, Nov. 29).

The petition cites a number of regions where the oil and gas industry has been a problematic emitter. Texas' Barnett Shale, for example, has historically been a nonattainment region. Compressor engines on oil and gas sites there significantly increase ozone pollution within 2 kilometers of the site, according to a study (EnergyWire, Sept. 6).

Ozone pollution has also been recorded in parks such as Rocky Mountain National Park, where the cutleaf coneflower faced damage to its foliage. It is unclear, however, whether the ozone in the parks was due to oil and gas.

The green groups would like EPA to put in place ozone monitors in all areas close to oil and gas sites. Currently, the nation's network of ozone monitors is primarily in urban areas where smog results from heavy traffic.

Kathleen Sgamma, vice president of government and public affairs at the Western Energy Alliance, dismissed the petition. She said EPA's NSPS have already addressed the leakage issue.

"It makes you wonder if they [green groups] are looking for attention as the holidays approach," she said. "What they are asking the EPA to do is what the EPA is already doing."