United States | Texas | Town of DISH

The Collins family

A struggle with toxics in the Barnett Shale

By Megan Collins

A house in the country

I had always hoped for a nice, quiet, country setting where we could raise our children. Little did I know it would be the cause of unexplained illnesses and heartache.

In 2004, my husband Mike and I found this quiet little cul de sac in the small town of Clarke, Texas now known as DISH. At the time there were only two homes built, so we met with the builder and picked what we thought was the perfect lot. Just beyond the back fence there stood a single natural gas compressor station.

Mike and I never really gave it any thought. We just assumed the trees would block any unsightly compressors. We never thought about any emissions. After our home was built in 2005 it seemed just perfect, we couldn’t be happier. After a few months, though, it seemed that every time we turned around they were building another compressor station to move the natural gas locked beneath us in the Barnett Shale.

The noise became a nuisance. And the smell of natural gas was always in the air. The gas companies sent out notices that they wanted to be “good neighbors.” They said they would work on the noise levels. They told us not to worry about any natural gas smells.

Little did we know, they would be the worst neighbors ever.

The worst neighbors ever

I started noticing issues with what I thought were allergies: watery eyes, itchy throat, and sneezing were a daily problem. Then in late 2006 I noticed that I was having trouble with my balance, sometimes staggering around and unable to stand with my feet together. My “allergy” and sinus issues were also increasing, so I just thought it was an equilibrium problem.

I began seeing an ear, nose and throat specialist. After months and months of tests, medications, and a sinus surgery, he recommended seeing a neurologist for my balance. I thought he had lost his mind, I surly did not have any neurological issues, and I was only 30 years old. Then out of nowhere I woke up one night sweating, nauseated, with a headache. I got out of bed to go into the restroom and blacked out.

After seeing several neurologists, I never received a clear diagnosis. We kept trying to figure out what in the world was going on. Then it seemed that my legs were always hurting, sore like I had been working out. It progressively got worse and the next thing I knew my whole body felt this way. I would wake up some nights and my neck would be in a spasm off to the right side, it was terribly painful. My neurologist diagnosed me with dystonia and ataxia, but where did this come from and why, he could not tell me.

I started multiple medications and physical therapy, which I still do twice a week. I honestly felt like I was going crazy. In June I woke up with blurry vision, went to work and experienced the worst headache. I couldn’t stand and I couldn’t speak even though I knew what I wanted to say. I was taken to the ER and admitted to the hospital. Again, I never had a clear diagnosis. The doctors suggested that it could be migraine or even a stroke.

One day last spring, out of the blue, I told my husband that I wanted to sell the house and move back to Fort Worth. I think the overwhelming medical problems just made me want to be closer to friends and family. So we put the house up for sale and about a month and a half later it sold. All I can say is we were so very lucky that the house sold when it did.

Poisoned by a neurotoxin?

In September, my boss gave me an article from the Fort Worth Star Telegram about Ambient Air Monitoring results. The article said that our Mayor of DISH hired an environmental consultant and they found a toxic soup of carcinogens and neurotoxins that were being emitted from the compressors. I had Mike contact the Mayor while I began researching the chemicals found. I was shocked when I discovered that Carbon Disulfide was a known neurotoxin.

It has been almost six months since we moved away. I am noticing that my balance is coming back. I am now able to stand with my feet together and walk in a straight-line heel to toe. I have not been able to do those tasks in over 2 and a half years. I recently had an appointment with a movement disorder neurologist scheduled, and she was amazed. It seems that all of the ataxia symptoms are gone, just not the dystonia.

Health is more important than gas

I am hoping to raise awareness about the dangerous health effects of these toxins. These gas companies need to clean up their acts. The health of citizens is much more important than natural gas being extracted from the Barnett Shale.
Filed under: Uncategorized ]]> http://wellwatch.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/marcellusgasinfo-a-struggle-with-toxics-in-the-barnett-shale/feed/ 0 wellwatch CollinsFamily_320 http://wellwatch.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/marcellusgasinfo-event-12-07-11-pace-law-school-cle-on-impacts-of-horizontal-hydraulic-fracturing-on-homeownership-property-appraisal-community-life-and-tax-practices/ http://wellwatch.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/marcellusgasinfo-event-12-07-11-pace-law-school-cle-on-impacts-of-horizontal-hydraulic-fracturing-on-homeownership-property-appraisal-community-life-and-tax-practices/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:55:40 +0000 wellwatch http://wellwatch.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/marcellusgasinfo-event-12-07-11-pace-law-school-cle-on-impacts-of-horizontal-hydraulic-fracturing-on-homeownership-property-appraisal-community-life-and-tax-practices/ Continue reading →]]> See also “Homeowners and Gas Drilling Leases: Boon or Bust”- http://tinyurl.com/bv8b7pj

Directions- http://g.co/maps/q42yb

Event flyer with details and registration form:

http://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cce.cornell.edu%2FEnergyClimateChange%2FNaturalGasDev%2FDocuments%2FPDFs%2Fpacelawevent.pdf

or

http://tinyurl.com/d4fr5d3

Subject: Wednesday, December 7 from 1:00-4:00 PM–Pace Law School CLE on Impacts of Horizontal Hydraulic Fracturing on Homeownership, Property Appraisal, Community Life and Tax Practices

HOW WILL HYDRAULIC FRACTURING IMPACT PROPERTY OWNERSHIP, PROPERTY APPRAISAL, COMMUNITY LIFE AND TAX PRACTICES IN NEW YORK?
UPDATE ON DEC REVIEW; STEP INSIDE GAS LEASES; EXPLORE CURRENT CASES, STATUTES & IMPACTS ON HOMEOWNERSHIP & COMMUNITY LIFE.
LAWYERS AND GENERAL PUBLIC WELCOME – FEE WAIVED FOR MEMBERS OF GOVERNMENT- REGISTRATION FORM BELOW.

Preserved farms not protected from drilling

By Jennifer Reeger, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, November 27, 2011

Terry Matty
Guy Wathen | Tribune-Review

click to enlarge
Acres of wells

Terry Matty never signed a lease with a company to drill Marcellus shale gas wells on his South Huntingdon Township farm.

Nonetheless, two vertical gas wells have been drilled on the 166 acres he owns with his brother and sister-in-law. Gas rights on the land where they board horses and grow crops were leased by a former owner decades ago.

Two horizontal wells are planned for the property, which the family protected several years ago for agricultural use through the state’s Farmland Preservation Program.

There has been no drilling on a bordering farm Matty owns, which is not protected.

“Would I have preferred them to be on the other farm? Yes. But it just happens to be where they set it,” said Matty, 61.

Officials concerned with preserving Pennsylvania farmland worry about the amount of land needed for Marcellus shale drilling and the industry’s long-term impact.

Under state law, farmers who have been paid through the preservation program to keep their land operating as a farm retain the gas and mineral rights.

“We need land to grow the food and energy to cook it. It’s a Catch-22 kind of thing. The two have to work together somehow.” said Betty Reefer, executive director of the Westmoreland County Agricultural Land Preservation Board.

‘Preserve the farmer’

Pennsylvania’s Farmland Preservation Program, which began in 1989 and protects more than 450,000 acres from development, allows for oil and gas development. There are no plans to change that because of Marcellus shale drilling, said Mike Rader, executive director of the state Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee.

Rader said the impact on preserved farmland is limited, but the impact on farmers can be tremendous, providing much-needed finances so they can continue to farm.

“Marcellus shale provides opportunities for the farmer and for agriculture,” Rader said. “What’s the sense in preserving farmland if we can’t preserve the farmer?”

The amount of royalties vary. Tom Murphy, co-director of the Penn State Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research, said a well extracting from an 80-acre parcel, over its 30- to 50-year estimated lifetime, could generate $1.5 million to $2.25 million for its owner.

Caroline Sinchar, administrator for Washington County’s farm preservation board, said deep-well drilling has helped sustain farming for many in that community.

But board members are concerned about the size and scope of compressor stations, which extract gas from a property.

“That land will never be reclaimed as the station is permanent,” Sinchar said.

Sinchar said the concern is that compressor stations will be used to extract gas from surrounding lands, not just the protected farm, but county boards don’t have the funds to question that.

Reefer said Marcellus drilling can leave a bigger footprint than the shallow gas wells that existed when farmland preservation legislation was initially passed.

“Our best bet is to monitor it and to help ensure that the steps are being followed in the best way possible to protect the soil and the water quality on the land and see the restoration of it done in a way that puts the land back to being able to be farmed, to the best of their ability,” Reefer said.

Crop production impact

Matty said that though he had no legal rights concerning drilling on his land, Atlas, the company that subleased his gas rights, has worked with him. While its crews were drilling the two vertical wells, the company took up nearly 12 acres of crop land. Now, the two wells together use less than an acre.

But the horizontal wells, which will extract gas from his and neighboring properties, will take about 25 acres during drilling, which is expected to last more than a year and impact pasture and crop lands. He’s unsure how much land will be used permanently.

Matty and his family are getting royalties, though not enough for him to quit his day job at Westinghouse in Cranberry.

“We’ve done more fencing and stuff like that for the horses, and we put some more buildings up for hay. … We probably wouldn’t have done some of that if we didn’t have the additional money coming in,” he said.

There is a trade-off, Matty said. His experience has shown that the first year of trying to grow crops in soil that was moved during the drilling process is not good. Even the second year did not yield high-quality crops, he said.

“Anytime you move dirt and put it back, you’re going to have some issues to getting it worked out,” he said.

Reefer is concerned that the Marcellus shale might make some areas of the state off-limits to federal funds for farmland preservation.

A Westmoreland farm recently was denied preservation funding through the Department of Agriculture’s Farm and Ranchlands Protection Program because the farm, which has no Marcellus gas wells, is in a Marcellus region, Reefer said.

However, Hathaway Jones, a management analyst with the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service for Pennsylvania, said properties are considered on a case-by-case basis, and the land was denied because of confusion over surface rights.

“The decision not to accept one Westmoreland County parcel is not a blanket decision for Westmoreland County or for the Marcellus shale region as a whole in Pennsylvania,” Jones said.

Landowner concerns

In Armstrong, Indiana and other counties, farmland preservation officials said they expect an impact from the Marcellus industry.

Jim Resh, administrator for Indiana County’s program, said his concern is how soil will be affected at drilling sites.

“Can you put them back and get the same type of conditions you had prior to that?” Resh said. “It could very well benefit farmers as far as their royalties, but still a viable farm should be viable on what it produces as far as agricultural products.”

Some landowners have similar concerns.

“I’d say there are some landowners that are now less willing to convey away their gas rights than there were before,” said Shaun Fenlon, vice president for land conservation for the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. “It’s just hard for me to generalize. We’re working throughout Western Pennsylvania, and there are parts … where gas extraction is not as much of an issue as others.”

In land acquisitions, the conservancy tries to acquire both the surface and the gas and mineral rights, Fenlon said.

“If a landowner just absolutely insists on maintaining the gas rights, then one of the first questions we have to ask is whether or not it’s still worth our efforts to protect the property. And if it is, then we try to negotiate to have as little surface disturbance as possible,” he said.

In many cases, the conservancy can reach an agreement that limits surface disturbance. Because gas can be extracted from one property through horizontal drilling on another, that’s sometimes an option, Fenlon said.

“It’s kind of a case-by-case basis, and our general goal is to get as much protection as possible,” Fenlon said. “There are going to be situations where we just can’t comfortably protect a property when we think the gas rights are too much of a problem.”

On property where the conservancy controls mineral rights, Fenlon said, the group has decided against Marcellus drilling.

“We just want to make sure the science is telling us that it’s safe, and we’re not 100 percent confident in that right now,” he said.

Officials from the Westmoreland Land Trust and the Allegheny Land Trust said Marcellus shale drilling hasn’t really affected their work, but they are monitoring it.

“We are observing what other organizations are doing in terms of adopting policy papers and position papers, so we are following the industry. But we’ve not experienced anything significant in terms of the pace of work that we’re doing either way,” said Roy Kraynyk, executive director of the Allegheny Land Trust. “When we are talking to landowners now, mineral rights do come up more than they ever did.”
Filed under: Uncategorized ]]> http://wellwatch.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/marcellusgasinfo-preserved-farms-not-protected-from-drilling/feed/ 0 wellwatch gasrights-b.jpg gasrights2-b.jpg http://wellwatch.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/marcellusgasinfo-frack-hell-is-imminent/ http://wellwatch.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/marcellusgasinfo-frack-hell-is-imminent/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:55:33 +0000 wellwatch http://wellwatch.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/marcellusgasinfo-frack-hell-is-imminent/ Continue reading →]]> “…As an environmental scientist, Ernst did environmental impact assessments and environmental protection plans for oil and gas companies like EnCana, the company that, along with the ERCB (Energy Resources Conservation Board) and the Alberta government, she has filed legal action against…”

“…The well on her property near Rosebud was poisoned by methane gas and other toxins and she must now haul water from outside sources…”

http://www.lethbridgeherald.com/front-page-news/frack-hell-is-imminent-112511.html

‘Frack hell is imminent’

Friday, 25 November 2011 02:01 Zentner, Caroline

Herald photo by Ian Martens Environmental scientist Jessica Ernst speaks on hydraulic fracturing during a special session of the Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs Thursday night at the University of Lethbridge.

Caroline Zentner
lethbridge herald

In Alberta’s oil- and gas-driven economy, Jessica Ernst has experienced painful lessons for speaking out about the consequences of hydraulic fracturing.

As an environmental scientist, Ernst did environmental impact assessments and environmental protection plans for oil and gas companies like EnCana, the company that, along with the ERCB (Energy Resources Conservation Board) and the Alberta government, she has filed legal action against.

She continues do contract work although her business has suffered since she started speaking out against fracking, the process that requires large amounts of water and chemicals be injected into the ground to force the release of oil and gas. The well on her property near Rosebud was poisoned by methane gas and other toxins and she must now haul water from outside sources.

“Speaking out has cost me the business pretty well. I still have it and maybe that’ll change but I also recognized that when I resigned from EnCana in 2004, because I was doing consultation work for EnCana at the time up north, when community members came to me and reported that EnCana was lying to them,” Ernst said in an interview before her presentation at a special session of the Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs Thursday evening. “I have learned that in Alberta you are to toe the line whether you’re an oil patch consultant or a citizen.”

Ernst said “frack life” started for her in 2003 with compressor noise. Compressors are used to help suck the gas out of the ground or to increase the pressure to get it down the pipeline. About 15 water wells in the area have been contaminated.

“When we began questioning what was happening they actually even told us there was still no coalbed methane around us and that they would never fracture anywhere near our drinking water supply, they would always be far below it and in fact far below the impermeable layers to protect gas from migrating into water,” she said. “We were told the problems in America would never happen to us.”

Ernst isn’t surprised more and more people are opposed to oil and gas development in their neighbourhoods.

“Yes, everybody has the right to be very afraid and very suspicious,” she said. “I have learned painfully that I trust no politician in this province, I trust no regulator staff at the ERCB and I trust nobody at Alberta Environment. And I certainly do not trust the companies. I think they know they are contaminating the water. And I think they knew before they even started that they were going to and that’s why they fractured as many communities as possible in secret. I don’t believe Rosebud’s the only place where they fractured drinking water aquifers in Alberta.”

Ernst also said Alberta continues to make things easier for oil and gas companies through deregulating. Other jurisdictions, including Quebec and France, either have moratoriums or bans in place.

“In my presentation I say frack hell is imminent,” she said. “The other thing they’re doing is they’re dumping their undisclosed waste on our agricultural lands. They did it down in Suffield on the grasslands.”

Ernst said she used to believe oil and gas development could be done right with proper regulation and oversight. But her research has convinced her hydraulic fracturing is risky even if it’s done right. Typically, the companies will divide people in the community by offering bribes, she said. But communities that refuse to be divided are strong and that can expand into entire regions standing together.

“We all think we have no power,” Ernst said. “But what I learned in this frack war is I never knew how powerful I was.”
Filed under: Uncategorized ]]> http://wellwatch.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/marcellusgasinfo-frack-hell-is-imminent/feed/ 0 wellwatch ErnstSACPA.jpg http://wellwatch.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/marcellusgasinfo-epa-partially-grants-petition-to-initiate-reporting-rule-for-fracking-chemicals/ http://wellwatch.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/marcellusgasinfo-epa-partially-grants-petition-to-initiate-reporting-rule-for-fracking-chemicals/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:55:20 +0000 wellwatch http://wellwatch.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/marcellusgasinfo-epa-partially-grants-petition-to-initiate-reporting-rule-for-fracking-chemicals/ Continue reading →]]> “…Request for Toxicity Testing Denied…”

“…That request was denied because the petition does not satisfy the requirements of TSCA to demonstrate the need for additional testing, EPA said…”

http://www.bna.com/epa-partially-grants-n12884904525/

EPA Partially Grants Petition to Initiate Reporting Rule for Fracking Chemicals

Friday, November 25, 2011

from Environment Reporter

The Environmental Protection Agency announced Nov. 23 it will solicit public input on the design and scope of possible reporting requirements for chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, partially granting a petition by 120 public and environmental health organizations.

EPA said it is partially granting the petitioners’ request under Section 8(a) and 8(d) of the Toxic Substances Control Act and will initiate a public dialogue on the issue.

The rule requested under Sections 8(a) and 8(d) would establish reporting requirements for companies that manufacture and process chemicals used in exploration and processing of natural gas, and would require them to submit to EPA lists and copies of all existing health and safety studies conducted or initiated by or for them, known to them, or “reasonably” ascertainable to them.

Request for Toxicity Testing Denied.

The agency’s action responds to a petition submitted Aug. 4 by a coalition of environmental and public health groups, including Earthjustice, the Sierra Club, and American Rivers.

The groups in particular asked the agency to require public disclosure of the identify of the chemicals and their risks to human health and the environment.

EPA said its Nov. 23 partial granting of the petition follows a Nov. 2 interim response that told the petitioners it was not granting their request to require toxicity testing of all exploration and production chemicals and identification of all chemical substances and mixtures.

That request was denied because the petition does not satisfy the requirements of TSCA to demonstrate the need for additional testing, EPA said.

By Pat Ware
Filed under: Uncategorized ]]> http://wellwatch.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/marcellusgasinfo-epa-partially-grants-petition-to-initiate-reporting-rule-for-fracking-chemicals/feed/ 0 wellwatch http://wellwatch.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/marcellusgasinfo-mortgages-and-drilling/ http://wellwatch.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/marcellusgasinfo-mortgages-and-drilling/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:55:00 +0000 wellwatch http://wellwatch.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/marcellusgasinfo-mortgages-and-drilling/ Continue reading →]]> I’ve posted a condensed version of my print article on mortgages and drilling – taken from interviews with attorney Elisabeth Radow and other sources.
Included are links to her thoughtful paper in this month’s NY State Bar Assoc. Journal at http://marcelluseffect.blogspot.com/2011/11/gas-leases-conflict-with-mortgage-rules.html

http://www.ecoshock.info/2011/11/fracking-gas-climate-crash.html

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Fracking Gas = Climate Crash

For years, governments, industry, and TV ads told us natural gas is the safe bridge fuel while we move away from dirty coal and oil.

Cornell University scientist Robert Howarth wondered “Is that true?”. When Howarth found no science to back up big claims for the gas industry, he and a team from Cornell went to work.

The results are startling. In the short-term, escaped methane from gas fracking threaten to tip us into catastrophic climate change. The total impact of the shale gas industry may be worse than coal. In the United States, where thousands and thousands of new gas wells are drilled, almost half of all greenhouse gas emissions may come from methane. The “natural” gas industry is the largest single source of methane emissions.

The frackers vent loads of gases for the first two weeks after drilling, before connecting pipes. They could collect (and sell) this “waste” methane (read “climate killer”) but don’t bother. Natural gas storage facilities also vent methane as part of their designed operation. Old leaking gas delivery systems complete the job.

Methane is rising in the atmosphere. New science from Dr. Drew Shindell shows in the first 20 years, methane is 105 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than CO2.

Even at 100 years, Shindell finds methane is combining with other air pollution to generate an impact 33 times more powerful than CO2. Not 21, as determined in the 1990′s by the IPCC. That old figure is still being used by industry and governments. Expect a change as Shindell becomes the new lead author of this section in the upcoming IPCC.

You must hear Dr. Robert Howarth explain the importance of new science on methane. he is the expert, I am not.

The industry insists we only calculate methane over a 100 year period. But the latest report from the International Energy Agency (generally a conservative source) says our climate future will be determined in the next 5 years. More new science suspects the burst of methane helped tip us into a mass extinction 250 million years ago.

The 20 year time frame for methane could be the jolt that tips other systems into positive feedback loops. Like igniting the peat in the Arctic. Or warming shallow seas enough to release frozen methane clathrates from the bottom (which started to happen last year). If either of those go, we are toast.

Robert Howarth has taken a lot of abuse for even daring to assemble a comprehensive look at the total greenhouse gas impact of the gas fracking industry, whether it is coal bed gas or shale gas. And we haven’t even discussed the fact fracking is now known to cause earthquakes, uses incredible amounts of fresh water, and risks polluting whole watersheds with a single leak of the mass toxic chemicals pumped underground.

The United Kingdom may be next. With gas production from the North Sea fields down by 25 percent, there is a public relations push to get lots of gas fracking in the UK. This may be the next big environmental battle there.

Fracking mania has hit Canada and Australia as well. Everyone needs to know what the latest science says.

Program includes 27 minute speech by Professor Robert Howarth of Cornell at ASPO USA 2011, November 2nd in Washington D.C. Recorded by Carl Etnier of Equal Time Radio, Vermont. My thanks to ASOP USA for this fine presentation.

Then a follow-up interview this week with Robert Howarth, to fill in his hurried climax of the speech – that methane emissions, when calculated over 20 years, using the new higher rate discovered by Drew Shindell – could add up to at least 44% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the United States! We discuss this, and the importance of a 2006 paper by Dr. James Hansen of NASA, on the importance of controlling methane emissions.

I covered that in 2006 here for blog entry, or download the audio here.

In 2006, I also put out a “Methane Primer” which is still helpful. Blog for that primer is here, and the audio for download here.

But now I’ll have to revisit that piece, since like the IPCC, I was told methane was only 21 times more powerful than CO2. The science moves so fast, it is already outdated just 5 years later.

Essentially, if we cannot control methane, we still lose the climate known over millenia, even if we could limit carbon dioxide emissions. Methane alone can tip us.

The natural gas industry, Howarth says, is the single largest source of methane in the U.S. Shale gas fracking makes that much, much worse.

RIPPING OFF THE CARBON MARKETS AND CONSUMERS

We add an interview promised last week, with Samuel Labudde, about the billion dollar scam ripping off carbon credits.

Companies in China are threatening to release powerful greenhouse gases, unless these fake credits are continued. Ratepayers in Europe are being blackmailed.

LaBudde, a noted wildlife biologist, is also covering the climate beat for the Environmental Investigation Agency for the American branch of the organization.

To honor the craziness of gas fracking in Australia, the theme music this week is “My Water’s on Fire Tonight” written and performed by David Holmes, Andrew Bean, Niel Bekker. Australian compilation album: “Whole Lotta Frackin’ Going On“

The lyrics in “My Water’s On Fire Tonight” is a product of Studio 20 NYU (bit.ly/hzGRYP) in collaboration with ProPublica.org (bit.ly/5tJN). The song is based on ProPublica’s investigation on hydraulic fractured gas drilling (read the full investigation here: bit.ly/15sib6).

Recording credit: Robert Howarth speech at ASPO recorded by Carl Etnier of Equal Time Radio, Vermont. Speech courtesy of ASPO USA.

Labels: ASPO, climate, climate change, emissions, energy, environment, gas, global warming, impact, methane, science, shale, speech
Filed under: Uncategorized ]]> http://wellwatch.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/marcellusgasinfo-fracking-gas-climate-crash-robert-howarth-on-shale-gas-methane-emissions/feed/ 0 wellwatch http://wellwatch.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/marcellusgasinfo-occupying-the-delaware-fractivists-call-for-responsive-governance/ http://wellwatch.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/marcellusgasinfo-occupying-the-delaware-fractivists-call-for-responsive-governance/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:54:34 +0000 wellwatch http://wellwatch.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/marcellusgasinfo-occupying-the-delaware-fractivists-call-for-responsive-governance/ Continue reading →]]> See also “Connect the Dots – 11/19/11: “…On Connect the Dots, Alison Rose Levy speaks with Joe Levine, the co-founder of Damascus Citizens for Sustainable Energy and NYH20 about the myths about fracking and actions the public can take in the Northeast region to protect the water supply and sustainable agriculture. For more information, please go to www.DamascusCitizens.org …” “- http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/connect-the-dots/2011/11/18/connect-the-dots-111911.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alison-rose-levy/occupying-the-delaware-fr_b_1108463.html

Occupying the Delaware: Fractivists Call for Responsive Governance

Posted: 11/23/11 05:57 AM ET

According to a recent Forbes magazine article, Aubrey McClendon, the CEO of Chesapeake Gas, and the chief proponent for fracking, consumes $20,000 bottles of wine. Like many CEO’s, he travels by corporate jet. Yet in an employee memo, McClendon felt himself bested by the citizens calling for water and health protection. He warned his employees that “Our opponents are extremely well-funded.”

But on Monday when hundreds of people from all parts of the Mid-Atlantic region converged on Trenton, N.J. for a rally to protect the Delaware River from fracking, McClendon’s “well-funded” opponents traveled by bus, carrying their signs and their bag lunches with them. And yet in a time of economic crisis, this dedicated citizenry is making itself heard over the better funded corporate P.R. and advertising campaigns.

With a surprise setback to fracking occurring late last week, the rally on the steps of the War Memorial, and the walk to the State legislature was one part cautious victory celebration, one part rededication rally.

“You won this round. You brought us back from the brink of total devastation. But there’s still more work to do,” Josh Fox, director of the Oscar-nominated film, Gasland, told the gathering, which was originally scheduled for attendance at a meeting of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC.) Slated to ratify fracking regulations agreed to in private sessions, the five person commission representing four states (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware) and the President (represented by the Army Corps of Engineers) had issued guidelines to permit fracking in the Delaware River Basin, which supplies water to millions of people. The DRBC public meeting was to have formally ratified those guidelines, launching the fracking of the Delaware. But the session was cancelled at the last minute.

According to Maya K. van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper, of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network that lead the coalition of grass roots groups organizing the event, the DRBC decision-making process “offered no real opportunity for public feedback. The decisions were all made behind closed doors,” despite the pro-forma vote at public sessions.

But the public had its say nevertheless. Through over twenty-thousand phone calls to the President and the four governors, “well-informed, well-educated, well-versed citizens voiced their concerns and educated their elected officials,” says van Rossum. On Thursday night, moved by the public outcry, Delaware’s Governor Markell announced his decision to vote no, joining New York’s Governor Cuomo. With PA Governor Corbett and Governor Christie likely to approve, if the vote came down to a Democrat vs. Republican standoff, the President’s representative would have been in position to cast the deciding vote. “They wanted more of a consensus,” the Delaware Riverkeeper said.

With the cancellation, there’s no outright ban, but fracking in the Delaware is now stalled for an indeterminate amount of time. “As more about this practice comes to light, what politicians had treated as a political issue now becomes better recognized as a public health threat, making them more reluctant to allow fracking’s risks,” van Rossum predicts.

At the rally podium, Fox placed a call to PA Governor Corbett. The phone rang and rang, without any answer. “No one’s home in the Governor’s mansion,” Fox quipped, a reference to Pennsylvania’s lack of taxation or oversight of fracking, with little recourse for citizens who claim harm.

Actor Mark Ruffalo told the crowd that the political temptation to trade life basics, like water, air, land, and food for amounts to a “spiritual crisis” for the U.S. He characterized Dimock, PA, as the “Ground Zero” for fracking devastation.

The water supply of Dimock (located in the Northeastern portion of the state) was visibly contaminated after fracking, and has been without water for three years. Craig Sauter of Dimock told the rally that in their drilling leases, residents were guaranteed restoration of water in the event of contamination. But the PA State Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) failed to follow through on an agreement to compel Cabot Energy to build a water pipeline to the town. Instead, Cabot has trucked water buffaloes to Dimock residents but recently announced that they’ll stop in a few weeks. Last week, a capitol district policewoman phoned Sautner to say that if he persists in calling the governor and the DEP, he will be arrested for harassment.

“We’ll call for you, we’ll call for you!” chanted the rally participants, echoing the “human mike” used in OccupyWallStreet.

A pair of teachers leading a group of New Jersey school children on a tour of the State Capitol passed the fractivists on their walk to the legislature. The teachers asked what was going on. As I told them that people had gathered to protect the Delaware River, (and why) I noticed the still, intent faces of the ten year olds. They had pressed forward and were taking in every word. I felt a pang of sadness that children had to feel concern for the safety of their world.

But as the crowd surged along on the walk, they began the OWS chant, “This is what democracy looks like.”

Oh well, I thought, they came for a civics lesson, and they got one.

For health + environmental coverage, radio and activism, sign up in the box for for my ezine at www.healthjournalistblog.comhttp://www.healthjournalistblog.com Coming up on Connect the Dots radio, an interview with Sandra Steingrabber, author of Raising Elijah.

For more about fracking, please go to: www.waterdefense.org www.damascuscitizens.org www.frackaction.org www.unitedforaction.org

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Filed under: Uncategorized ]]> http://wellwatch.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/marcellusgasinfo-occupying-the-delaware-fractivists-call-for-responsive-governance/feed/ 0 wellwatch http://wellwatch.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/marcellusgasinfo-exploiting-shale-gas-jars-with-uk-climate-goals-study/ http://wellwatch.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/marcellusgasinfo-exploiting-shale-gas-jars-with-uk-climate-goals-study/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:54:21 +0000 wellwatch http://wellwatch.wordpress.com/?p=2913 Continue reading →]]> Exploiting shale gas jars with UK climate goals – study

By Oleg Vukmanovic | Reuters – 11 hrs ago
http://news.yahoo.com/exploiting-shale-gas-jars-uk-climate-goals-study-000425576.html

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain must choose between meeting its climate change targets or exploiting vast untapped shale gas resources in the north of England since the two goals are incompatible, a new study has found.

The carbon cost of developing just 20 percent of shale reserves identified under Lancashire would blow about 15 percent of the UK government’s greenhouse gas emissions budget through to 2050, a new study from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in Manchester shows.

Britain would almost certainly have to renege on its legally binding climate change commitments if it gives the go-ahead to extensive shale gas production in the UK, the report says.

Large-scale extraction of shale gas cannot be reconciled with the climate change commitments enshrined in the Copenhagen Accord of 2009, it said.

The report, commissioned by the Co-operative Group, also says the UK’s regulatory system is not currently fit for adequately controlling the environmental risks, including groundwater contamination, that would occur if full scale extraction involving to up to 3,000 wells were to proceed.

“It is shocking how little scrutiny and thoughtful consideration has been demonstrated by the UK government and its environmental agencies when it comes to shale gas,” Paul Monaghan, head of social goals at the Co-operative said.

“Not least because, evidence is now emerging which indicates that gas derived from shale may have a significantly greater carbon footprint than previously thought, seriously questioning whether it can play any role in the transition to a low carbon economy,” Monaghan said.

New drilling techniques have helped transform U.S. energy markets with the advent of cheap shale gas production methods led by technological advances.

UK firm Cuadrilla Resources hopes to emulate the U.S. example by unlocking unconventional reserves of gas it has identified in Lanchashire.

Shale gas is extracted by pumping vast quantities of water and chemicals at high pressure deep underground, grinding shale rocks until trapped gas is released.

Environmentalists on both sides of the Atlantic have lobbied politicians to ban the system, called fracking on concerns it leads to pollution of ground water and leakage of gas into the atmosphere, adding to the carbon cost of shale drilling.

The Lichfield-based company has said its site near Blackpool had 200 trillion cubic feet of gas in place, enough to cover UK demand for years.

However, experts questioned the size of the find, and a financing conducted by a key shareholder in Cuadrilla suggested gas reserves were below the company’s estimate.

(Editing by James Jukwey)

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/us/new-data-not-so-sunny-on-us-natural-gas-supply.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2

News Analysis

New Report by Agency Lowers Estimates of Natural Gas in U.S.

By IAN URBINA

The difficulty and uncertainty in predicting natural gas resources was underscored last week when the Energy Information Administration released a report containing sharply lower estimates.

The agency estimated that there are 482 trillion cubic feet of shale gas in the United States, down from the 2011 estimate of 827 trillion cubic feet — a drop of more than 40 percent. The report also said the Marcellus region, a rock formation under parts of New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, contained 141 trillion cubic feet of gas. That represents a 66 percent drop from the 410 trillion cubic feet estimate offered in the agency’s last report.

The Energy Information Administration said the sharp downward revisions to its estimates were informed by more data. “Drilling in the Marcellus accelerated rapidly in 2010 and 2011, so that there is far more information available today than a year ago,” its report said. Jonathan Cogan, a spokesman for the agency, added that Pennsylvania had made far more data available than in previous years.

Under the agency’s new estimates, the Marcellus shale, which was previously thought to hold enough gas to meet the entire nation’s demand for 17 years at current consumption rates, contains instead a six-year supply. The report comes just five months after the United States Geological Survey released its own estimate of 84 trillion cubic feet for the Marcellus shale.

The estimates are important because they underpin policy decisions on energy subsidies and exports. Market analysts look to these estimates in making investment decisions. Historically, they have varied widely based on assumptions about the future of technology, coming regulations on drilling and the long-term price of gas.

Previously inaccessible, shale gas has been unlocked in recent years by advances in a drilling technology known as hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking. These advances have prompted a drilling frenzy in states like Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Texas, which has helped create tens of thousands of jobs, lowered energy prices for consumers and offered the promise of lessening American dependence on foreign energy.

Despite the lower estimates, the agency’s report noted that shale gas would continue to have a growing impact on the broader energy market. The share of natural gas produced by drilling in shale formations is projected to more than double, from 23 percent in 2010 to 49 percent in 2035, the report said. The United States will also become a net exporter of liquefied natural gas by 2016, while natural gas prices are expected to remain low for more than a decade, according to the report.

Energy companies are also likely to be undaunted by the new lower estimates because they are confident that whatever the total amount of available gas, technology will improve over time so that they can access the gas more efficiently and profitably. This assumption depends on the price of gas rising soon from the rock-bottom levels where it has lingered since late 2008.

In his State of the Union address last week, President Obama said the United States had a nearly 100-year supply of natural gas.

That prediction includes gas from shale wells, offshore wells and Alaska’s North Slope. But many energy experts question these types of projections because they include substantial amounts of natural gas that many scientists and engineers say may never be tapped.

Drilling proponents, including investors and many politicians, tend to embrace optimistic projections, even though estimating resources is an inexact science.

Some of the earliest and most optimistic estimates of gas resources have come from academia. In 2009, Terry Engelder, a geosciences professor at Pennsylvania State University, helped accelerate the rush to drill for natural gas in Pennsylvania and surrounding states by projecting that more than 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas could be produced from the Marcellus.

(Page 2 of 2)

This estimate is more than three times as high as the estimate for the Marcellus region from Energy Information Administration, and it is higher than what federal energy officials now say can be found in the entire country.

Mr. Engelder said last week that he stood by his estimates, citing assumptions that he believed remained reasonable, and he questioned whether federal officials were being too conservative.

“I don’t know what E.I.A. did other than cave into peer pressure from the U.S.G.S.,” he said, referring to the United States Geological Survey, which released its new estimates in August.

Energy companies, which use different formulas for calculating their numbers, tend to present even higher estimates.

For example, more than three dozen companies have leased land in the Marcellus region, and each company provides its own estimates to investors for how much gas it believes can be found under the acreage they possess. The combined resource estimates of just two of those companies, Range Resources and Chesapeake Energy, whose acreage holdings represent a small fraction of the Marcellus shale, is roughly equal to the amount federal energy officials now say can be found in the entire region.

Many experts note that it is hard to predict how difficult or easy it will be to extract gas in different parts of the country because the geology varies drastically.

Since the hydrofracking boom is fairly recent, there is also a shortage of data to indicate how much gas wells will produce over the long term.

In private discussions, some federal energy officials have raised questions about the way oil and gas companies may be inflating estimates of the amount of recoverable gas.

“The variability of shale gas well performance is crucial to any assessment of the resource potential of a shale play,” Philip Budzik, an Energy Information Administration research analyst, wrote in an e-mail to an industry analyst last April.

The e-mail was released this month in response to open-records requests, and it echoes comments made previously in other publicly released e-mails.

“Companies highlight their highly productive and profitable wells,” Mr. Budzik wrote, “while ignoring their ‘dogs,’ thereby giving the public the impression that every well is a ‘gold mine.’ ” The information administration declined to comment about the e-mail.

Last summer, the New York attorney general and the Securities and Exchange Commission sent subpoenas to several companies to see whether they were accurately portraying the amount of recoverable gas to investors. The offices declined to comment about the subpoenas.

A version of this news analysis appeared in print on January 29, 2012, on page A16 of the New York edition with the headline: New Report by Agency Lowers Estimates Of Natural Gas in U.S..

Obama’s State of the Union may set natural-gas production goal

Published January 24, 2012

AP

Jan. 13, 2012: President Obama speaks about government reform at the White House in Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama will use his State of the Union speech Tuesday to call for an increase in domestic energy production and may set a production target for natural gas, according to people familiar with the White House’s plans.

Obama is expected to tout the economic and energy security benefits of increased US oil and gas production, a message that is unlikely to sit well with some of the president’s environmental supporters but could blunt industry and Republican criticism of his policies.

The president’s speech is expected to call for increased oil and gas production, both offshore and onshore, and he will highlight a drop in US oil imports, although some of that decrease stems from reduced demand amid a weak economy.

One idea being discussed within the White House is to include a natural-gas production goal. Such a move, if included in the final version of the speech, could help convey the message that the administration does not intend to slow production through regulations.

“This is sending a signal that the administration is in favor of gas production, which will be interpreted as a signal that they will not get in the way of gas production,” said a person familiar with the White House plans.

Obama is also expected to talk about renewable-energy sources, such as wind and solar, and may call for extending a production tax credit to spur investment in those areas.

The oil and gas industry does not view the administration’s approach to natural gas as hands-off and said it expects additional regulation in the future.

“We hear positive statements about natural gas but the administration now has eight different departments and agencies reviewing, with the intent to regulate, the high-tech practice of hydraulic fracturing,” said Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute. He said production in the US has increased “in spite of the administration.”

The president’s focus on natural gas is part of a broad, but quiet, effort to hasten its production, including a controversial technique known as hydraulic fracturing. The administration, while making gestures toward the environmental concerns associated with so-called fracking, has so far resisted overtures to impose sweeping new federal rules governing air and water quality, or to ban such drilling outright.

Administration officials say the potential to tap the natural gas beneath US soil is too attractive to ignore or hamper with potentially unnecessary rules, given that the practice is regulated by the states and is creating jobs. This summer the White House abandoned an air-quality rule that would have tightened standards for smog-forming ozone, a rule the oil and gas industry said would have limited drilling.

Click here to read more on this story from The Wall Street Journal.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/01/24/obamas-state-union-may-set-natural-gas-production-goal/#ixzz1kNOEgl7F

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