12-19-13
The following is a direct quote from PA Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald Castille in his opinion overturning major parts of Act 13.
"By any responsible account, the exploitation of the Marcellus Shale Formation will produce a detrimental effect on the environment, on the people, their children, and the future generations, and potentially on the public purse, perhaps rivaling the environmental effects of coal extraction."
PA Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald Castille
The following is a direct quote from PA Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald Castille in his opinion overturning major parts of Act 13.
"By any responsible account, the exploitation of the Marcellus Shale Formation will produce a detrimental effect on the environment, on the people, their children, and the future generations, and potentially on the public purse, perhaps rivaling the environmental effects of coal extraction."
PA Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald Castille
The Impact of Act 13 (HB 1950) on Pennsylvania’s People and Communities
Although most mainstream media attention has focused on the revenue from ‘impact fees’, the law’s other provisions will more profoundly influence fracking’s impact.
Loss of Local Control
Lack of Full Disclosure of Chemicals and Medical Silence
Weak Setbacks
Industrialized Communities: Placement of Compressor Stations, Gas Processing Plants and Pipelines
Loss of Local Control
- Act 13 does unprecedented harm to the ability of local governments to protect their citizens and communities, undermining traditional and court-upheld zoning powers to manage where and when drilling will occur.
- It allows the state to prevent localities from attempting to regulate natural gas drilling. Section 3302
- It also strikes down any locality's previously adopted ordinance to regulate or ban natural gas drilling. Section 3303
- Local governments will now be powerless to keep large Marcellus wells and wastewater impoundments more than 300 feet from homes, schools, churches, hospitals, and businesses.
- The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC), which has little expertise in zoning matters, will be given the authority to invalidate any local ordinance that conflicts with oil and gas operations.
- It takes away the legal right for any municipality to challenge a permit decision by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) that the local government believes is not in the best interest of its community.
- Finally, this law forces all localities to allow natural gas operations in all zoning districts, including residential areas. Section 3304
Lack of Full Disclosure of Chemicals and Medical Silence
- The industry can still claim multiple harmful fracking fluids as a “trade secret” and not disclose what the chemicals are or how much is pumped into the ground. Section 3222(b.2)
- A provision does allow health providers access to these “trade secrets” to treat a patient, but prevents the healthcare worker from ever sharing knowledge of the harmful fracking fluids. The physician may not reveal industry’s ‘secret’ information in order to treat another suffering patient, or to raise public health concerns, or to counsel asymptomatic patients about their own ongoing exposures. Section 3222.1(b)(11)
- Impact fees are only on wells, not pipelines, compressor stations, processing plants, etc. — tying the amount of those fees to the market price of natural gas. Each county must take its own legislative action before the defined ‘impact fees’ would be levied upon operations in that county; counties may use ‘impact fee’ revenue only for designated ‘purposes associated with natural gas production and must report on those expenditures to the Public Utility Commission (PUC).
- A municipality found to have passed an ordinance that violates the terms of Act 13 will be ineligible to receive money from the impact fee until the ordinance is rescinded.
- Part of the ‘impact fees’ will be used to fund state-level initiatives, including infrastructure improvements and hazardous site cleanup, but also programs to encourage conversion of vehicles to natural gas and to subsidize new projects such as refineries and chemical plants using gas.
- The impact fee is optional for counties. Drilling companies could easily pressure the counties not to adopt the fee. It would take the quick approval of municipalities totaling a majority of a county’s population to override a county that does not adopt the fee
Weak Setbacks
- A driller can put a fracking well pad just 300 feet from a house. That’s a football field away. Section 3304(b)(5.1)
- Drillers can also frack a well only 300 feet from streams, wetlands, and other bodies of water. Section 3215(b)
- An oil and gas impoundment (“frack pond”) can be placed in any residential district, just 300 feet from a house. Section 3304(b)(6)
Industrialized Communities: Placement of Compressor Stations, Gas Processing Plants and Pipelines
- The industry must place loud compressor stations near pipelines to pump the gas across the country.
- A compressor station can now be placed just 200 feet from a property line, and 750 feet from a house — and can operate at 60 decibels 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Section 3304(b)(7)
- Compression stations can be located anywhere, even in residential districts. Section 3304(b)(7)
- Municipalities must authorize gas processing plants for use in agricultural districts. Section 3304(b)(8)
- The bill allows pipeline construction in all areas, including residential zones.
- This law requires drillers only to replace, not clean up, private and public water supplies they contaminate. So if the gas drillers pollute a water supply, they only need to bring in the water buffalo or other replacement water, not clean up the mess.
- It makes it impossible for either DEP or citizens to track the generation, transportation, treatment, and disposal of frack water and other wastewater.
- The bill is silent on the growing problem of air pollution from Marcellus Shale drilling operations except for requiring gas companies to report their air pollution emissions to DEP.
- Write, call and visit your state representatives to express your feelings about Act 13, including the lass of local control and the lack of protection for your water, air and property rights.
- Encourage your municipal leaders to contact state representatives and their loss of power to protect their community and to plan for its future development.
- Talk with friends and neighbors to encourage them to contact their representatives and local leaders.