Newsletter - Full Edition - December 2014
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BREAKING NEWS
Cuomo to Ban Fracking in New York State, Citing Health Risks Read the NY Times article here. 
Given what New York officials have concluded, that the public health risks are too great to allow fracking, we need a point-by-point response to the New York assessment from Pennsylvania's Gov-elect Tom Wolf. Science is science, from whatever state in which it is done. Mr. Wolf cannot hide from this one. He needs to talk immediately to the NY Department of Health people.
If the public health risks are too great in New York, then why are they not too great in Pennsylvania? We need to know how Tom Wolf answers this question. -Stephen Cleghorn 
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Something in the Air...
Butler County has rapidly become “ground zero” for legal action against the natural gas extraction industry, taking strength from the PA Supreme Court's ruling last December that declared Act 13 zoning laws unconstitutional. At present, three legal actions are either ongoing or pending in the county. In Franklin Twp., Delaware Riverkeeper Network, acting on behalf of the citizens' group Save Lake Arthur Watershed (SLAW), continues to challenge deficiencies in the PA DEP's permitting of the Cratty Well in the township, operated by XTO Energy. The well sits upon two high-quality watersheds, one of which flows into Moraine State Park's Lake Arthur. Recent developments at this site will be detailed in a separate article in this newsletter. In Middlesex Twp., Mars Parent Group has enlisted the legal aid of DRN and the Clean Air Council in challenging both the permitting of Rex Energy's Geyer shale-gas well near the Mars Area School District campus and the ordinance that permits it. Said ordinance, enacted in August, permits drilling in approximately 92% of the township. All four schools within the Mars Area School District Campus, plus the Mars Home for Youth and the Weatherburn housing development, are within the 1-mile zone of the Geyer well pad that would be evacuated in the event of an accident. The only road in and out of the Weatherburn complex runs hundreds of feet from the well pad; if that road were closed due to a well pad accident, Weatherburn residents would have to evacuate on foot cross country. And in Butler Twp., the citizens' group Section 27 Alliance, named after the section of the state constitution that guarantees citizens' environmental rights, has threatened legal action if and when written approval is issued by the township for construction of the Krendale well pad, owned by Rex Energy and located on residentially zoned property in close proximity to a densely populated neighborhood – over 1500 homes and businesses within a mile of the proposed well pad. Included within that mile radius are the VA Hospital, Lowrie Nursing Home, Benbrook Medical Campus, Moraine Pointe Plaza and Northwest Elementary School. The nearest home is 550 ft. from the well pad. Although Butler Township gave verbal approval of the well in September, citing compliance with the township's ordinance which allows drilling in all zoning districts, as yet neither the township nor the DEP has issued permits for said well pad. While the Franklin Twp. action focuses primarily on water issues, both the Middlesex Twp. action and the Butler Twp. focus on air issues. In Middlesex, the Mars Parent Group contends that toxic air emissions from shale-gas wells create negative health impacts, especially for children, whose developing bodies cannot metabolize toxic substances as well as adults. These statements are validated by research conducted by the American Academy of Pediatrics as well as that of Dr. Jerome A. Paulson, Professor of Pediatrics at George Washington University. As for the proliferation and concentration of such toxins, a recent study carried out by the Institute for Health and the Environment at Albany-State University of New York found airborne toxin and carcinogen readings that far exceeded recommended federal limits near wells and fracking sites in five states, including Pennsylvania. “This is a significant health risk,” said Dr. David Carpenter, lead author of the study. These health risks only increase when wells are placed in close proximity to schools, as is the case in Middlesex Twp., or when they are placed in close proximity to densely populated residential neighborhoods, as is the case with the Krendale well pad in Butler Twp. The health risks also increase when state agencies drop the ball when it comes to monitoring air quality around shale-gas sites for harmful emissions. According to recent court documents, three widely cited state studies of air emissions at Marcellus Shale gas development sites in Pennsylvania omit measurements of key air toxins and calculate the health risks of just two of more than two dozen pollutants. State regulators and the shale gas drilling industry over the past four years have repeatedly used the regional studies to support their positions that air emissions from drilling, fracking wastewater impoundments and compressor stations don’t pose a public health risk. The revelations about the shortcomings of the state Department of Environmental Protection’s short-term air sampling reports are contained insworn depositions by two DEP air program employees who worked on them. The documents are part of a civil case in Washington County Common Pleas court alleging shale-gas air and water pollution. Indeed, there is “something in the air,” literally and metaphorically, in Butler County, as everyday residents take up the banner first raised by the state Supreme Court a year ago, stating that PA residents still have the right to clean air, pure water and a healthy environment, even in the face of widespread shale-gas drilling. |
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SPECIAL UPDATE: Franklin Twp. Legal Action
In August of this year, the Franklin Twp. legal action began in earnest with the Delaware Riverkeeper Network and township residents challenging a permit issued by the PA DEP for the Cratty well in Franklin Twp., operated by XTO Energy. The legal challenge exposed multiple deficiencies in the permit and resulted in XTO withdrawing its application for an Erosion & Sediment permit and the DEP cancelling its permit approval. The well is within one mile of the boundaries of Moraine State Park and sits upon two “high quality” watersheds, one of which drains directly into Lake Arthur. (Download the entire press release on pdf from the Marcellus Outreach Butler homepage.)
On Sept. 15, XTO re-applied to the DEP for an E&S permit. That permit application was denied on Oct. 30 by DEP, which cited 46 deficiencies in the application. A target date for a re-submitted application was set for January 21, 2015. But on Nov. 26, the day before Thanksgiving, at 3:32 p.m., DEP notified the DRN legal team by e-mail that it had suddenly and inexplicably approved the E&S permit for the Cratty well, even though none of the deficiencies in the application had been addressed. The e-mail stated that DEP representatives would be “available to answer questions on Monday, Dec. 1” – five days later... The attorneys tried to call DEP on Friday, Nov. 28, but the office was closed for the long holiday weekend... Meanwhile, on that same Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, XTO's construction crews were out in force at the Cratty site, starting early in the morning and working through dusk. Nearby residents described activity proceeding “at a furious pace” at the site through the Thanksgiving weekend and into the following week. Maya von Rossum of Delaware Riverkeeper Network had this to say about the incident: “We do not know the level of communication between XTO and PADEP in the most recent permit issuance but it sure is suspicious (and likely telling) that while we knew nothing about this suddenly issued permit, XTO was obviously ready to mobilize in response to it over the Thanksgiving holiday. We do know that the permit continues to be deficient and that PADEP continues to fail in its duty of vigilance to protect our environment and the environmental rights of present and future generations. I and my organization, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, will not stand silently aside while this failure to protect the lives and rights of Pennsylvanians is perpetrated by the State, including its Department of Environmental Protection. How that response will manifest itself in this case and others like it is being carefully considered and will be methodically carried out.” The earliest the DRN legal team could appeal this turn of events was Wed., Dec. 3, due to the long holiday weekend and the Environmental Hearing Board's judge's vacation. Said judge turned down their request for a temporary injunction to be placed on the construction of the well pad until a supersedeas (injunction) hearing was held on the case in Pittsburgh on Dec. 17, stating that there were “factual questions” which required a full hearing before an injunction could be issued. And so work on the Cratty well pad continued unabated... until Dec. 11, when, through the diligent efforts of a dedicated SLAW (Save Lake Arthur Watershed) member, photos were taken of XTO building a truck access road on the site in clear violation of the terms of their permit application. These photos were sent to the DRN legal team, who in turn notified DEP immediately. DEP then officially withdrew the E&S permit for the Cratty site and demanded that all activity on the site be halted. This of course is not the end of the story. XTO has already appealed the revocation of the permit and will certainly rewrite and resubmit their permit application once again, and what DEP will do with it (with another long holiday weekend coming up) is anyone's guess. Between now and then was to have been the supersedeas hearing, originally scheduled for Dec. 17-19 in Pittsburgh, which could have halted development of the site indefinitely while DRN's appeal of the permit was ongoing. That hearing has now been cancelled, with no rescheduled date as of this writing. (As of Dec. 16, XTO had dismantled the entire Cratty well pad and returned the site to its original condition, though they are still appealing the revoking of their permit.) Meanwhile, the DRN legal team and SLAW members will continue to appeal the permitting of a well within a high-quality watershed which, in the event of an accident, could seriously damage Lake Arthur and Moraine State Park – a true jewel in Pennsylvania's state park system that is visited by over a million people each year. It should be noted that even this current temporary halt to the construction of this well pad came about, not through the diligence of the state Department of Environmental Protection, but through the constant vigilance of a concerned citizens' group deeply committed to protecting a state treasure. As SLAW member Connie Fleeger said recently: “A spill could reach the lake before anyone knew there was a problem, killing fish, eagles and osprey, among other animals, let alone the danger to humans... Moraine State Park belongs to Pennsylvania residents. It should be protected.” |
FRACKING in the News
Judge Uses Act 13 Ruling to Deny Drilling Project.
Although this legal action occurred back in September, it is immensely relevant to cases in Butler and surrounding counties involving shale-gas drilling in residential areas. In this Lycoming County ruling, Judge Marc Lovecchio stated that the appellants “persuasively argue that the uses permitted in the [residential and agricultural] district do not involve the use of industrial machinery and chemicals, do not entail thousands of round trips of heavy truck traffic, do not cause loud noises at all hours of the day, do not impose threats to human health and safety and do not have negative impacts on the environment." (Note: Google the headline to read the full article in The Legal Intelligencer.)
Judge Uses Act 13 Ruling to Deny Drilling Project.
Although this legal action occurred back in September, it is immensely relevant to cases in Butler and surrounding counties involving shale-gas drilling in residential areas. In this Lycoming County ruling, Judge Marc Lovecchio stated that the appellants “persuasively argue that the uses permitted in the [residential and agricultural] district do not involve the use of industrial machinery and chemicals, do not entail thousands of round trips of heavy truck traffic, do not cause loud noises at all hours of the day, do not impose threats to human health and safety and do not have negative impacts on the environment." (Note: Google the headline to read the full article in The Legal Intelligencer.)
Energy and Environment (E&E) Publishing recently ran a story entitled The Drilling Industry's Explosion Problem...
This excellent article from E&E Publishing explores the “topsy-turvy legal landscape” in the wake of the state Supreme Court ruling on Act 13 zoning. Several regional legal actions, including Middlesex Twp., are featured in the article.
Increased underground pressures from fracking is being blamed for a “near-catastrophic blowout” in West Virginia.
The Statoil well pad fire in Monroe County, Ohio, was covered in our last (Sept. 2014) MOB newsletter. Shortly afterward, FracTracker.org published an in-depth review of the incident.
This report from Nov. 2013 merits repeating as local residents still don't seem to comprehend that shale-gas drilling will ultimately have a negative effect on property values...
In a report published in October, the Post Carbon Institute makes the case that US shale oil and gas reserves will peak and drop off rapidly, long before officially predicted by the US Energy Information Agency.
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Range Resources Corp. will pay the largest state fine levied against a Pennsylvania shale gas driller and close five drilling wastewater impoundments in Washington County because of leaks into soil and groundwater.
MarkWest Energy Partners, which operates natural gas processing plants in Butler County, was issued two fines totaling about $151,000 for flaring violations at its processing plant in Washington County, according to the PA DEP.
A study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters found that switching from coal to natural gas would not significantly lower the greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change.
Delaware Riverkeeper Network's report, Unsafe and Unsustainable: Experts Review the Center for Sustainable Shale Development's Performance Standards for Shale Gas Development.
This past election season saw towns in Colorado and Texas pass municipal fracking bans. This report focuses on the legal fight over such bans in Texas towns.
According to the Washington County Observer-Reporter, the public now faces long delays with Marcellus Shale file review requests.
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Residents living near active natural gas wells in Pennsylvania suffer far more allergies, nose bleeds, skin rashes, and other respiratory and skin conditions than people living further away, a new survey has found.
A Washington Post article claims that natural gas pipeline expansion should alarm homeowners.
The state Department of Environmental Protection might have used incomplete and inaccurate test information to decide whether chemicals leaking from a Marcellus Shale wastewater impoundment and a drill cuttings pit contaminated a water well and springs in Washington County.
The DEP acknowledges that the online Compliance Report, which was supposed to provide clear and accessible information on everything from spills to driller performance, is so error-ridden that it is virtually impossible to get an accurate picture of how drilling is being regulated.
In nearby Indiana County, a community fights for an ecosystem's civil rights.
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In October, the cross-country Great Climate March entered Pennsylvania in Lawrence County and stayed the night at Maggie Henry's farm there. The next day, the Marchers attended a rally in Butler's Diamond Park, which featured speakers from various local and regional concerned citizens' groups (watch the video). The rally was part of the Global Frackdown observances around the world.
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Polish town is 100% powered by renewable energy.
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A retired Air Force senior master sergeant and a former sailor were among 10 protesters arrested recently for blocking the entrance of an energy company that just days before got approval to expand a natural gas storage facility in old salt caverns near Seneca Lake, the largest of New York's pristine Finger Lakes. The pair are among hundreds of so-called Seneca Lake Defenders who fear the environmental impacts of the project.
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