Thursday, February 14, 2013

PA Marcellus News Digest 2/14/13

PA Marcellus News Digest
February 14, 2013


Releases

DEP Announces Major Permitting Efficiency Improvements Provides New Policy’s First Quarterly Report
DEP Newsroom  THEY ARE CRANKING OUT THE PERMITS FASTER THAN EVER...........
Feb 14
HARRISBURG -- The Department of Environmental Protection today released the results of the first of four quarterly reports detailing progress under the new Permit Review Process and Permit Decision Guarantee policy.
Link: http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/newsroom/14287?id=19853&typeid=1

MSC Statement on PA DEP Air Emissions Data
Wallaby
Feb 12
Although these are a small percentage of total emissions, natural gas producers continue to leverage new technologies aimed at further reducing the industry’s environmental footprint. These environmentally-focused technologies include the implementation of advanced emissions control equipment at compressor stations, vapor recovery units, the deployment of “green completions” technology as well as the use of drilling and completion engines fueled by American natural gas.
Link: http://wallaby.telicon.com/PA/library/2013/2013021246.HTM

1-Year Anniversary of PA Drilling Law Marked by Environmental, Health Risks; Disappointing Economic Figures
Wallaby
Feb 13
(Harrisburg) – On the one-year anniversary of Pennsylvania’s controversial omnibus oil and gas bill, known as Act 13, the citizen-based environmental group PennEnvironment called attention to ongoing threats posed by shale gas drilling in the Commonwealth. At the time of its passage one year ago, Act 13 was vehemently opposed by a by a broad coalition of unusual bedfellows, including environmental and public health organizations, Republican and Democratic local government officials, the faith community and tax policy groups.
Link: http://wallaby.telicon.com/PA/library/2013/2013021355.HTM

Senate Committee Gives Nod to Kasunic’s Mine Water Bill
Wallaby
Feb 13
Harrisburg— The Senate Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy has unanimously approved Sen. Richard A. Kasunic’s legislation that would encourage the use of mine water for Marcellus shale well development and industrial use.
Link: http://wallaby.telicon.com/PA/library/2013/2013021339.HTM

White Criticizes DEP Refusal to Participate in
Upcoming Policy Hearing on Environmental Testing
Wallaby
Feb 13
WASHINGTON– State Rep. Jesse White, D-Washington/Allegheny/Beaver, will host a policy committee hearing on the state Department of Environmental Protection’s response to environmental testing in Marcellus Shale regions from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 19 in the public meeting room of Washington Courthouse Square, 100 West Beau St., Washington, PA 15301.
Link: http://wallaby.telicon.com/PA/library/2013/2013021384.HTM

White introduces bill forcing DEP to disclose environmental test data to landowners, leaseholders
PA House
Jan 24
State Rep. Jesse White introduced legislation this week that would require the state Department of Environmental Protection to disclose the full and complete testing results, including raw data and documentation, of any environmental tests conducted by the department on a landowner’s or leaseholder’s property in Pennsylvania.
Link: http://www.pahouse.com/PR-Display.asp?PR=28634

Articles

Cancelled Meeting About Polluted Wells Ruffles Feathers Of Environmental Groups
CBS Local, Philadelphia
Kim Glovas
Feb 10
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is getting some heat from environmental groups after cancelling a meeting on short notice.
Link: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/02/10/cancelled-meeting-about-polluted-wells-ruffles-feathers-of-environmental-groups/

Natural gas growth means more pipelines in Chesco
Daily Local
Sara Mosqueda-Fernandez
Feb 11
WEST CHESTER - Local officials look to Columbia Gas Transmission’s plans to install another pipeline as an inevitable progression in Chester County due to the growth of the natural gas business in Pennsylvania.
Link: http://www.dailylocal.com/article/20130211/NEWS01/130219975/natural-gas-growth-means-more-pipelines-in-chesco

State DEP moving closer to finalizing oil and gas rules
Times-Tribune
Laura Legere
Feb 11
State environmental regulators are moving closer to a major revision of Pennsylvania's oil and gas rules to address surface impacts caused by the development of pipelines, pits, impoundments and well sites.
Link: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/state-dep-moving-closer-to-finalizing-oil-and-gas-rules-1.1442738

New ‘certification’ group to look closely at shale gas drillers
Pitt Trib
Timothy Puko
Feb 11
Environmental groups and drilling companies are forming a first-of-its kind organization to scrutinize shale gas drillers' practices in Appalachia, but at least one industry supporter won't participate.
Link: http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/3446162-74/industry-environmental-gas#axzz2KcKCWEiV

We should be angry
Times Online
Margaret Barnhart
LTE
Feb 13
Youngstown residents shouldn't be the only angry citizens when it comes to the fracking wastewater dumping.
Link: http://www.timesonline.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/we-should-be-angry/article_93593999-d434-515a-a4b9-0177314f213d.html

Pa. legal bills exceed $550,000 in dispute over shale drilling law
Post-Gazette
Laura Olson
Feb 11
HARRISBURG -- With a state Supreme Court ruling still pending regarding the legality of the Marcellus Shale gas drilling law passed last year, billing documents show that the case already has cost the commonwealth more than $550,000.
Link: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/marcellusshale/pa-legal-bills-exceed-550000-in-dispute-over-shale-drilling-law-674267/

PA JOBS NUMBERS POOR IN SPITE OF MARCELLUS SHALE
Energy Policy Forum
Deborah Rogers
Feb 4
A run for public office is just the sort of theatrical venue that is not only entertaining but also enlightening because all sorts of facts and figures begin to emerge which blatantly contradict prior statements and positions of the candidates. Self interest can be a wonderful segue to the truth.
Link: http://energypolicyforum.org/2013/02/04/pa-jobs-numbers-poor-in-spite-of-marcellus-shale/

DEP Response To PennFuture On Disposing Of Waste At Drilling Sites
(full text below)
On January 31 PennFuture published an article alleging the Department of Environmental Protection was “very likely” allowing Marcellus Shale drilling operators to dispose of any residual waste at oil and gas well sites across Pennsylvania.

In a February 8 letter to PennFuture, DEP Secretary Michael Krancer said the article was wrong in saying “any residual waste” could be disposed of at a drilling site.  He noted DEP prohibits disposing of residual waste at the site.  Only drilling waste generated at the site meeting listed environmental standards may be dispose there according to regulations in Chapter 78 of the PA Code.

In addition, regulations adopted by DEP in 1998 prohibit on-site disposal of drilling cuttings that exceed certain limits for parameters like volatile organic compounds and metals.  There are also setback limits from water supplies or buildings and other requirements for on-site disposal.

Secretary Krancer also noted proposed revisions to Chapter 78 going before the Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board at its February 20 meeting will include additional restrictions on on-site disposal.

“Further, disposing of unconventional drill cuttings on-site is not common industry practice at this time and is likely to become even more rare in the future.  The data shows that.  As our most recent January through June 2012 production data shows, only 10 wells of a total 2,879 that reported production reported they disposed of unconventional drill cuttings were disposed of on-site,” Secretary Krancer said.  “This translates to just 0.17 percent of more than 640,000 tons disposed of during this reporting period.

“The reasons for this are evident.  For one, the sheer volume of drill cuttings creates logistical impediments to on-site disposal.  Second, operators are recycling more and more, and this includes the drilling mud and fluid.”

A copy of the Secretary’s letter is available here: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4Y3VQLxjkxOOWdYNTRkOGs0TTA/edit?usp=sharing

Debate Over Fracking Continues In Pennsylvania
CBS Local, Philadelphia
John Ostapkovich
Feb 2
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Pennsylvania remains at the center of the raging debate over fracking, the hydro-fracturing techniques to get at natural gas locked in shale.
Link: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/02/02/debate-over-fracking-continues-in-pennsylvania/

Fracking With Bad Water
Forbes
James Conca
Feb 4
So, you have a dwindling supply of fresh water for drinking and for wildlife, you have large amounts of contaminated water from old mining operations that we don’t know what to do with and are really expensive to clean-up, and you have the need for large amounts of water for the dramatic increase in fracking operations that don’t need to use fresh or potable water but are presently using both fresh and potable water from these very dwindling supplies.
Link: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2013/02/04/fracking-with-bad-water/

Environmentalists Oppose Shipping Fracking Waste By Barge
NPR
Fred Kight
Feb 4
Link: http://www.npr.org/2013/02/04/171039678/environmentalists-oppose-shipping-fracking-waste-by-barge

Pa. Lawmaker Wants to Spend Impact Fee Money on Fracking Health Study
NPR State Impact
Susan Phillips
Feb 8
Link: http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2013/02/08/pa-lawmaker-wants-to-spend-impact-fee-money-on-fracking-health-study/

Shale gas development threatens dairy industry
Greene County Messenger
Dimiter Kenarov, Calkins Media and Pulitzer Center
Feb 14
When Sheila Russell decided to move back to her ancestral home in Bradford County, Pa., she wanted to start a new life. A seventh-generation Russell, whose family had settled the land in 1796, the last year of George Washington’s presidency, she left her corporate job at a catalog company to do what she loved best: farming.
Link: http://www.heraldstandard.com/gcm/news/local_news/shale-gas-development-threatens-dairy-industry/article_81a96959-6d0a-5c1b-b661-ab0ea6980375.html

Pa. Communities Craft Creative Escape Hatch from Drilling Law
NPR State Impact
Susan Phillips
Feb 13
Link: http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2013/02/13/pa-communities-craft-creative-escape-hatch-from-drilling-law/

DEP not attending hearing on their policies
Observer-Reporter
Christie Campbell
Feb 13
Next week’s House Democratic Policy Committee hearing in Washington on environmental testing will be held without anyone attending from the agency at the focus of the hearing.
Link: http://www.observer-reporter.com/article/20130213/NEWS01/130219712#.UR1Y4R1weSo

My Fracking Valentine
NPR State Impact
Susan Phillips
Feb 14
Link: http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2013/02/14/my-fracking-valentine/

Drilling boom feeds need for flights between Pittsburgh and small airports
Pitt Trib
Joe Napsha
Feb 13
The boom in drilling for Marcellus shale natural gas is fueling a demand for more flights between Pennsylvania's smaller airports and Pittsburgh International Airport, officials said Tuesday.
Link: http://triblive.com/news/westmoreland/3471456-74/pittsburgh-service-airport#axzz2KoPkaC8I

Northern Tier counties top state list of Marcellus air pollution
Times-Tribune
Laura Legere
Feb 14
Bradford and Susquehanna counties led the state in the volume of air pollution released by companies producing and processing gas from the Marcellus Shale in 2011, according to data published this week by the Department of Environmental Protection.
Link: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/northern-tier-counties-top-state-list-of-marcellus-air-pollution-1.1444316

DEP: Future bright for area gas drilling
Sun-Gazette
Savannah Dempsey
Feb 14
As natural gas drilling slows, some have feared that Lycoming County's golden-egg laying goose is about to fly the coop. However, Michael Krancer, secretary of the state Department of Environmental Protection, anticipates that natural gas production will benefit the state for many years to come.
Link: http://www.sungazette.com/page/content.detail/id/589210/DEP--Future-bright-for-area-gas-drilling.html?nav=5011

Chesapeake Bay Program Report On Environmental Effects Of Marcellus Shale
Feb 11
(full text below)
The Chesapeake Bay Program’s Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee has just released "Exploring the Environmental Effects of Shale Gas Development in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed," based on an April 2012 workshop designed to engaged scientists from across the nation to review the state-of-the science regarding shale gas development on the Bay.

Two sets of recommendations are made in the report, one for the Chesapeake Bay Program and a second set for the general scientific, industry and policy-making audiences.

Chesapeake Bay Program

-- Evaluate existing monitoring data to begin to assess the impact that Marcellus Shale drilling, production and transport activities may have on sediment loading to the Bay.

-- Implement monitoring of nitrogen deposition which may be very high locally near gas rigs, compressor stations and processing plants.

-- Add infrastructure associated with Marcellus Shale gas drilling, production and transport into the Bay land cover/land use maps.

-- Investigate if any existing CBWM land uses may be appropriate for uses associated with these Marcellus Shale gas play activities by with a range of parameter values.

-- Investigate if the sediment loss from dirt and gravel roads used for production are effectively simulated in the CBWM.

-- Provide a framework to centralize the data for well pads, land use/cover changes.

-- Investigate any scale-effects (cumulative effects) associated effectively simulate the sediment loading from Marcellus Shale transport activities.

-- Investigate how the Marcellus Shale gas play may affect land projections, and in turn, how those adjusted projections affect to the Bay.

-- Implement real-time monitoring at headwaters where shale gas place or proposed.

Industry, Scientific, and Policy-Making Communities

-- Federal agencies should take the initiative to monitor and development, recognizing that funding and coordinating such challenge.

-- A more local focus for monitoring and research should be taken cannot wait for the lag time to observe a larger Bay-wide impact.

-- More research should be done on metals and other pollutants that TMDL.

-- Data on pad and pipeline locations and installation and

centralized.

-- The industry should implement set back distances for pads from riparian buffers, and implement all mandatory and voluntary BMPs in cumulative impact to the Chesapeake Bay.

-- Does Pennsylvania (PA) regulation for oil and gas activity Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) should encourage that are amended and developed as necessary.

-- States should change the permitting process to be project-based site-based and to require that permits provide potential build-out better potential cumulative effects information.

-- Industry personnel and state regulators signing permits must be implementation/certification training.

-- Better state-to-state sharing of information via an ad-hoc group gathered (data and research results) be synthesized, centralized, public.

A copy of the complete report is available here: http://www.chesapeake.org/pubs/297_Gottschalk2013.pdf

This report has been submitted to CBP Management Board and a response has been requested on its specific recommendations.
at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)