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FrackTrack
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Over the weekend, I received an email from some anti-fracking activists alerting me to two incidents of spilled fracking materials which, although different, share at least a few things in common: they invovled discharge of unknown amounts of unknown concentrations of toxic materials; they went entirely unobserved by the companies responsible; and they appear to have resulted from distubringly inept practices.
Dateline Lycoming, Co., PA: About two weeks ago, a DEP inspector visited a hydraulic fracturing well pad maintained by XTO Energy to find a valve on a wastewater tank open and spewing watsewater, some 13,000 gallons of it (according to the company), straight into the ground. The inspector was able to close the valve himself/herself.
According to the Department of Environmental Protection, a local tributary was impacted as well as a freshwater spring.
The company has yet to explain why the valve was open.
Dateline Hughesville, PA: In early October, local police were alerted to reports of a truck carrying fracking fluids — not wastewater, apparently, but raw chemicals — that was leaking.
In an article in the Williamsport Sun-Gazette — the only paper in Pennsylvania to cover the incident, as far as we can tell — local police chief Jason Gill said the spill might extend "35 or 40 miles."
As to what, exactly, had been spilled, no one seemed to know. "It's not hazardous at al," assured police chief Gill, "until it mixes with water."
According to Gill, the "freak accident" resulted when a strap holding in place several 100-gallon containers of chemicals broke lose and punctured one of the containers.
Sounds like a pretty strong container, doesn't it?
"Trucks spilling frak fluid for 40 miles" The fluid is safe until it mixes with water? It doesn't rain in Pennsylvania? One of the frak chemicals, Xylene was outlawed by industry years ago because of worker cancers. These people in the frak industry are sick as is our government for allowing this degradation and they wil be responsible for adult & childhood cancers with much suffering. Aside from frak chems, studies are showing radio active RADDON & URANIUM will be released by this method. Leave the gas there till a safe method of extracting is available. How about clean energy methods instead!
[...] Fracktrack: Two leaks of the non-Wiki variety – Philadelphia Citypaper Over the weekend, I received an email from some anti-fracking activists alerting me to two incidents of spilled fracking materials which, although different, share at least a few things in common: they invovled discharge of unknown amounts of unknown … Dec 11, 2010 2:27am [...]
[...] Fracktrack: Two leaks of the non-Wiki variety – Philadelphia Citypaper Over the weekend, I received an email from some anti-fracking activists alerting me to two incidents of spilled fracking materials which, although different, share at least a few things in common: they invovled discharge of unknown amounts of unknown … Dec 14, 2010 2:31am [...]
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The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and Pennsylvania State Police announced yesterday that a crackdown on trucks hauling wastewater from Marcellus Shale drilling operations yielded the following results: of 1,175 trucks inspected, 1,057 were found to be violating state laws.
To put it another way: 89.96% of all Marcellus Shale wastewater trucks were breaking the law and, until yesterday, getting away with it.
It gets better:
207 trucks had violations severe enough that they were removed from service.
52 drivers were removed from service.
The most common problems, says yesterday's press release, were "unsecured loads and inoperable vehicle lights and lamps"â not exactly comforting, considering that these trucks "loads" are highly-toxic (and possibly radioactive) water.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Philly City Paper, Philly News Now. Philly News Now said: State crackdown finds nine out of ten Marcellus Shale wastewater trucks in violation: The Pennsylvania Departme... http://bit.ly/arcewb [...]
Guess they were doing a "Hell of a Job" before the "crackdown" One can assume similar diligence for all state oversight of the energy sector .. especially now with a paid goon as Governor.
this is why i think these gosh darn wells have no busyness hear go to washington or somthing
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| Isaiah Thompson |
Fracktrack is CP's ongoing coverage of the natural gas industry in Pennsylvania. For updates, bookmark this link or join our Google Group to receive email notifications.
At a press conference in Penn Treaty Park yesterday, Governor Rendell signed an executive order placing a moratorium on leasing more state forest land for natural gas drilling.
This author did readers the disservice of calling the event "a huge victory for environmental groups." That is simply not the case.
In fact, Rendell's order marks a largely-symbolic act, delivered too late to make much of a difference and only after the governor himself authorized several leases of state forest for drilling, over repeated warnings from his own forestry officials to the potential impact to Pennsylvania's award-winning forests of doing so.
(In fact, after being warned against leasing a proposed 40,000 acres of forest in 2009, Rendell doubled the request to the state's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, asking for 80,000 acres instead).
Rendell's power to enforce this executive order ends the moment he ceases to be an executive â I think we've got about 80 days.
Efforts to impose a meaningful moratorium on further forest leasing have to happen in the state legislature, where a small core of environmentally-minded legislators â among them Democratic House representatives Greg Vitali (above, far left) and Dave Levdansky â have fought a so-far losing battle to protect the sensitive forest land that hasn't been leased.
The key part of this equation is a decades-old provision in state law known as the Oil and gas Lease Fund, masterminded by longtime forest steward Maurice Goddard who is legendary for reviving Pennsylvania's forests during his tenure from coal and gas industry-devastated wastelands to some of the most expansive forests east of the Mississippi.
The law said this: if you lease forest land for oil & gas exploration, you put the profits of the lease back into the forests. The law not only allowed forest stewards to balance competing interests in the forests, but â most importantly â prevented the governor and legislature from using the state's forests as one big, green slush fund for their own budgets.
That precedent held for more than fifty years until, under Rendell's leadership, it was broken: last year, the state legislature raided the Oil & Gas Lease Fund for the state budget â largely in order to plug the hole left by Rendell himself when he backed down on imposing the tax on gas production that now, as a lame duck governor, he finds himself begging from a legislature with its eyes on the next executive.
What's more, an obscure provision in the FY09-10 fiscal code imposed a cap on the amount of money the DCNR may take in from gas royalties â effectively stealing for the state money that was suppoed to be earmarked for conservation, recreation, and new projects.
As DCNR's budget gets slashed year after year, the agency, rather than using the proceeds of gas drilling in its own forests for the restoration or expansion of forestland elsewhere, is increasingly forced to use that money just to fund its basic operations.
In a few words: the DCNR is increasingly becoming dependent on hand-outs from the legislature, whose members increasingly demand forest land for drilling as a condition for those hand-outs. If nothing changes, those charged with protecting our forests will increasingly be forced to sell them off.
Without new laws in place this â more than any moratorium â will be Rendell's lasting environmental legacy.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Philly City Paper and IsaiahThompson, Philly News Now. Philly News Now said: Why Rendell's âmoratoriumâ on forest drilling means very, very little.: Isaiah Fracktrack is CP's ongong covera... http://bit.ly/cig81O [...]
[...] toward securing a legacy, right? Not really. Philadelphia City Paper’s Isaiah Thompson breaks it down for us. VN:F [1.9.6_1107]please wait...Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)VN:F [1.9.6_1107]Rating: 0 [...]
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According to several sources, Governor Rendell is preparing to sign an executive order imposing a moratorium on further leasing of state forest land for Marcellus Shale gas drilling at a rally at Penn Treaty Park in Philadelphia tomorrow afternoon.
The Governor's press office would not comment but told CP to expect a press advisory about the event within the hour.
This announcement marks a huge victory for environmental groups and so-called Green Dog legislators, and an about-face by the governor, who — as CP reported in an online series entitled "The Marcellus Memos" and feature story, "Drill Baby Drill," — pointedly ignored the advice of former Department of Conservation and Natural Resources secretary Michael DiBerardinis, who warned that further leasing of state forest:
"will damage our State Forest landscape. It would scar the economic, scenic, ecological, and recreational values of the forest â especially the most wild and remote areas of our state in the Pennsylvania Wilds. Your years of work and investments in rural economic revitalization through outdoor experiences in the Pennsylvania Wilds could be erased."
(Rendell did, however, heed the advice of senior aide K. Scott Roy to hold off on imposing a tax on natural gas extraction; Roy promptly quit to work for the gas industry.)
Current DCNR Secretary John Quigley has since voiced similar warnings. Recently, DCNR published a study of the impact of current and further leasing on state forest land, emphasizing that any further leasing would cut into protected and sensitive forest land:
Using an example from Northern Pa., the report shows how this piece of state forest looks after you subtract land already leased, and land which cannot be leased without posting serious threats to the sustainability of the forest:
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[...] 'Fracking' Mobilizes Uranium in Marcellus Shale, UB Research Finds - UB NewsCenter and Breaking: Rendell supposedly to sign moratorium on leasing more state forest for gas drilling tomorr... 'Fracking' Mobilizes Uranium in Marcellus Shale, UB Research Finds Findings raise new concern: [...]
[...] author did readers the disservice of calling the event "a huge victory for environmental groups." That is simply not the [...]
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An email obtained by City Paper suggests collaboration between the state Department of Homeland Security and gas drilling interests.
The email, authored by Pennsylvania Homeland Security chief James Powers, was written in apparent error: addressed to a participant in anti-drilling forums, the letter indicates that Powers mistakenly mistook its recipient for someone associated with pro-drilling interests.
In the email (full text below), Powers warns against distributing information gathered by the Pa. DHS on anti-drilling activities, saying that: "We want to continue providing this support to the Marcellus Shale Formation natural gas stakeholders while not feeding those groups fomenting dissent against those same companies."
The "support" he speaks of consists at least partly of confidential updates on anti-drilling activists and activities. A report yesterday evening by nonprofit investigative journalism outfit Pro Publica broke the news that the Pennsylvania Dept. of Homeland Security included in its regular newsletter, the Pennsylvania Intelligence Bulletin, descriptions of various activities and gatherings of activists opposed to gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale.
Included in a list entitled "Dates of interest" are a series of local meetings about gas drilling issues — a drilling ordinance in Cranberry County, a hearing in Damascus, Pa. on zoning regulations — as well as the recent screening in Philadelphia of the "controversial Gasland movie," a documentary by filmmaker Josh Fox on the dangers of hydraulic fracturing, the process used to extract natural gas from the Marcellus Shale.
City Paper emailed Mr. Powers to confirm authenticity of the email and was contacted instead by Governor Rendell's chief spokesman Gary Tuma, who acknowledged that the email was authentic and said that the Pa. Dept. of Homeland Security was sharing such information with certain local interests â including gas drilling companies — because of "recent acts of vandalism" against drilling operations.
"There have been five acts of vandalism against Marcellus Shale drilling facilities," in the last two weeks, he said, "including two of which involved firearms ... shotguns fired at equipment."
A third incident involved theft, he said after being asked for details, and the other two were "minor incidents."
Tuma added that "There have been peaceful protests related to MS drilling by people who oppose drilling and the increased amount of drilling — certainly no one is trying to restrict the rights of peaceful protest conducted within the parameters of the first amendment."
Asked whether there have been any protests that were not peaceful, Mr. Tuma acknowledged, "There have not been any that I'm aware of."
The full text of the email appears below:
For Your Information & Situational Awareness
Just a short note of clarification regarding the intent of the PIB. The information provided to you via the PIB is not for dissemination in the public domain. As indicated in the caveats on the first page, the PIB is solely meant for owners/operators & security personnel associated with our critical infrastructure & key resources.
Although an internet forum is certainly a great way to spread the word and receive input from forum participants, it's still in the public domain and thus be accessed by both pro and anti-natural gas drilling folks.
Please assist us in keeping the information provided in the PIB to those having a valid need-to-know; it should only be disseminated via closed communications systems.
Thanks for your support. We want to continue providing this support to the Marcellus Shale Formation natural gas stakeholders while not feeding those groups fomenting dissent against those same companies.
Jim
James F. Powers, Jr. | Director
Office of Homeland Security
2605 Interstate Drive | Suite 380
Harrisburg, PA 17110-9382
717-651-2715 | Cell: 717-307-5335
[...] anti-terrorism laws to keep people from learning what pollutants are in their own community. See this, this, this and [...]
[...] anti-terrorism laws to keep people from learning what pollutants are in their own community. See this, this, this and [...]
[...] anti-terrorism laws to keep people from learning what pollutants are in their own community. See this, this, this and [...]
[...] anti-terrorism laws to keep people from learning what pollutants are in their own community. See this, this, this and [...]
[...] anti-terrorism laws to keep people from learning what pollutants are in their own community. See this, this, this and [...]
[...] anti-terrorism laws to keep people from learning what pollutants are in their own community. See this, this, this and [...]
[...] Philadelphia Citypaper (blog) [...]
[...] Philadelphia Citypaper (blog) [...]
[...] Philadelphia Citypaper (blog) [...]
Mr. Thompson, Thank you for keeping such a close eye on the disaster in the making called Marcellus Shale, Over the last few weeks we've become aware that PA's Homeland Security is sending out regular advisories to statewide law enforcement, re "extremists" attending drilling events. Now this.
[...] Philadelphia Citypaper (blog) [...]
I never met a Jim, or a Bill worth a f***.
[...] here: Breaking: In private email, Pa.'s Homeland Security cheif pledges … By admin | category: Uncategorized | tags: addresses, correct, ewsletters-or-mass, [...]
[...] link: Breaking: In private email, Pa.'s Homeland Security chief pledges … between-the-state, department, homeland-security, paper, state, [...]
[...] Breaking: In private email, Pa.’s Homeland Security chief pledges “support” to gas... [...]
[...] Breaking: In private email, Pa.’s Homeland Security chief pledges “support” to gas... [...]
[...] Czytaj wiÄcej: Breaking: In private email, Pa.'s Homeland Security chief pledges … [...]
[...] laws, and even citizens’ ability to know what is going on in their community. See this and [...]
[...] anti-terrorism laws to keep people from learning what pollutants are in their own community. See this, this, this and [...]
[...] anti-terrorism laws to keep people from learning what pollutants are in their own community. See this, this, this and [...]
[...] anti-terrorism laws to keep people from learning what pollutants are in their own community. See this, this, this and [...]
[...] that his administration was tracking anti-gas drilling activists — a story broken, in part, by our very own Isaiah Thompson. From the Inky: "Let me make this as clear as I can make it," the governor said at news conference [...]
[...] Here’s a link to some back-story from Philadelphia’s City Paper where PA Homeland Security Director James Powers seems to have blurred the line between “situational awareness” and “situational ethics.” http://citypaper.net/blogs/clog/2010/09/09/in-private-email-pa-s-homeland-security-cheif-pledges-sup... [...]
[...] reports prepared for the state by the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response (ITRR) â which covertly monitored the activities of anti-drilling activists (along with other such terroristic evens as a gay rights parade) â [...]
[...] morning, following a press conference in which Governor Rendell acknowledged and apologized for a state-contracted agency's spying on anti-drilling activists (among others), a Pittsburgh City Councilman, Doug Shields, demanded a probe into the company, the [...]
[...] anti-terrorism laws to keep people from learning what pollutants are in their own community. See this, this, this and [...]
[...] anti-terrorism laws to keep people from learning what pollutants are in their own community. See this, this, this and [...]
[...] [...]
[...] anti-terrorism laws to keep people from learning what pollutants are in their own community. See this, this, this and [...]
[...] There was a time when people tasked with preventing terrorism might have concerned themselves with whether a group of protesters includes anyone who is violent, not whether it includes anyone who believes some funny things. But it's pretty clear that the institute has a broader idea of its mission than its name might suggest. It's also clear that there are people in the state government who wanted exactly what they were getting. [...]
[...] groups that planned to protest the 2009 Group of 20 economic conference in the city”. And see this and [...]
[...] groups that planned to protest the 2009 Group of 20 economic conference in the city”. And see this and [...]
[...] groups that planned to protest the 2009 Group of 20 economic conference in the city”. And see this and [...]
PA Homeland Security paid a company $125,000 to spy on and report to natural gas industry interests the names of protesters and groups that lawfully protested gas exploration; then Homeland Security distributed those names to law enforcement nationally. So what did the natural gas industry intend to do with the names of the lawful protesters? What did national law enforcement intend for the lawful protesters whose names were distributed by PA Homeland Security that labeled the protesters a threat to the national infra structure, in effect terrorists? Despite this spying exposed, will those collected protesters' names be used by federal government to prevent them from getting a federal job or a government clearance? The Nazis Government used this tactic to intimidate and suppress political opposition. Will U.S. Government use the spied protester names to injure them financially, e.g. prevent protesters receiving credit or loans at banks the Government controls since the financial crisis? The Government used all of the above tactics when it ran COINTELPRO 1964 THROUGH the 1980's to crush political dissent. Homeland Security (sanctioned spying) on Americans' because they exercise constitutionally protected activities is foreseeable to intimidate, coerce and terrify Citizens from speaking out. U.S. and foreign private security companies now work so closely with U.S. law enforcement agencies in America under federal quasi-government contracts sharing information on U.S. Citizens; assist in tracking individuals and to share with U.S. Government assets they cause to be forfeited from Americans, private security companies appear to have merged with U.S. police agencies. U.S. Government too easily can use its relationship with private security companies to spy on and damage any American deemed a threat. In retrospect, Hitler created the Gestapo a secret âPrivate police organization that worked closely with German police to spy on, arrest and eliminate anyone that disagreed with the Nazi Government and to seize huge amounts of property from German Citizens. Currently Homeland Security works for a democracy; however if U.S. Government radically changes, e.g., becomes fascist, Homeland Security could spy on all Americans. The German police before Hitler worked for a democracy; under Hitler German police worked for a fascist government; following World WAR II the German police worked for the East German Stasi, a brutal police force under the USSR.
[...] stakeholders while not feeding those groups fomenting dissent against those same companies." http://citypaper.net/blogs/clog/2010...nting-dissent/ Reply With Quote + Reply to [...]
[...] Breaking: In private email, Pa.'s Homeland Security chief pledges âsupportâ to gas drillers, warns against groups âfomenting dissent.â http://citypaper.net/blogs/clog/2010/09/09/in-private-email-pa-s-homeland-security-cheif-pledges-sup... [...]
[...] reports prepared for the state by the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response (ITRR) — which covertly monitored the activities of anti-drilling activists (along with such terroristic events as a gay rights parade) — [...]
[...] In an email sent to what he believed was a pro-drilling advocate a few weeks ago, Powers revealed why: “We want to continue providing this support to the Marcellus Shale Formation natural gas stakeholders while not feeding those groups fomenting dissent against those same companies,” he said. Powers’s email is the rare, albeit unintentional, acknowledgment that he is nothing more than an apparatchik of the corporate state, a corrupt system where government power is wielded for the security of private industry first and foremost. [...]
[...] In an email sent to what he believed was a pro-drilling advocate a few weeks ago, Powers revealed why: “We want to continue providing this support to the Marcellus Shale Formation natural gas stakeholders while not feeding those groups fomenting dissent against those same companies,” he said. Powers’s email is the rare, albeit unintentional, acknowledgment that he is nothing more than an apparatchik of the corporate state, a corrupt system where government power is wielded for the security of private industry first and foremost. [...]
[...] In an email sent to what he believed was a pro-drilling advocate a few weeks ago, Powers revealed why: “We want to continue providing this support to the Marcellus Shale Formation natural gas stakeholders while not feeding those groups fomenting dissent against those same companies,” he said. Powers’s email is the rare, albeit unintentional, acknowledgment that he is nothing more than an apparatchik of the corporate state, a corrupt system where government power is wielded for the security of private industry first and foremost. [...]
[...] Breaking: In private email, Pa.'s Homeland Security chief pledges âsupportâ to gas drillers, warns against groups âfomenting dissent.â http://citypaper.net/blogs/clog/2010/09/09/in-private-email-pa-s-homeland-security-cheif-pledges-sup... [...]
[...] and for what purpose? The state has declined so far to disclose a list of the recipients. But in an email that Powers inadvertently sent to an anti-drilling group, he all but admits that the intelligence [...]
[...] and for what purpose? The state has declined so far to disclose a list of the recipients. But in an email that Powers inadvertently sent to an anti-drilling group, he all but admits that the intelligence [...]
[...] and for what purpose? The state has declined so far to disclose a list of the recipients. But in an email that Powers inadvertently sent to an anti-drilling group, he all but admits that the intelligence [...]
[...] James F. Powers, Pennsylvania's director of homeland security, was miffed. Somehow an intelligence bulletin discussing the activities of natural gas drilling opponents turned up on an online forum in early September, so Powers emailed the woman who posted it. The bulletin, he wrote her, was meant only for state and local law enforcement and for critical infrastructure owners, including businesses wrapped up in the state's enormously profitable natural gas drilling industry. But since the bulletin was posted on an unsecured forum, anyone could access it. This was not good, Powers explained, because the bulletin could fall into the wrong hands. âWe want to continue providing this support to the Marcellus Shale Formation natural gas stakeholders while not feeding those groups fomenting dissent against those same companies,â Powers wrote. [...]
[...] and for what purpose? The state has declined so far to disclose a list of the recipients. But in an email that Powers inadvertently sent to an anti-drilling group, he all but admits that the intelligence [...]
[...] bill would also narrow the citizenry's ability to obtain records about government contractors — you know, like the kind the state recently contracted with the spy on [...]
[...] and for what purpose? The state has declined so far to disclose a list of the recipients. But in an email that Powers inadvertently sent to an anti-drilling group, he all but admits that the intelligence [...]
[...] and for what purpose? The state has declined so far to disclose a list of the recipients. But in an email that Powers inadvertently sent to an anti-drilling group, he all but admits that the intelligence [...]
[...] In an email sent to what he believed was a pro-drilling advocate a few weeks ago, Powers revealed why: “We want to continue providing this support to the Marcellus Shale Formation natural gas stakeholders while not feeding those groups fomenting dissent against those same companies,” he said. Powers’s email is the rare, albeit unintentional, acknowledgment that he is nothing more than an apparatchik of the corporate state, a corrupt system where government power is wielded for the security of private industry first and foremost. [...]
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CP's breaking news and analysis of the natural gas industry in Pennsylvania. Click here to join the "Frack Track" Google group and receive email updates.
This isn't quite breaking news â it's been covered by a few papers in western Pa. and I mentioned it briefly in a recent "Man Overboard" column â but it's gotten surprisingly little play in the media, considering the severity of the claims being made.
The Allegheny Defense Project, a grassroots group dedicated to preserving the environment, ecology, and wilderness of the Allegheny mountains, has charged the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection with illegally permitting water withdrawals.
Here's the breakdown: Hydraulic fracturing, the process used to extract natural gas from the Marcellus Shale formation underlying much of Pa., requires water â lots and lots of water. In eastern and central Pennsylvania (the Delaware and Susquehanna river basins, respectively), that water can be drawn from Pa streams and rivers only with the permission of that watershed's river basin commission.
But in the part of western Pa. which lies in the Ohio River Basin, there is no basin commission to permit water withdrawals. Instead, argues the ADP, those rivers and streams are governed by riparian rights: governed, in other words, by the property owners themselves.
The group charges that DEP has been illegally giving drilling companies permission to withdraw water â charges which they outlined in a letter to DEP Secretary John Hanger (download the full letter here).
According to Board Director Bill Belitskus, the DEP â more than a month later â has yet to respond.
From the Allegheny Defense Project press release:
âThe fact is, the DEP has absolutely no authority to permit water withdrawals in Pennsylvania,â said Cathy Pedler, ADP's forest watch coordinator. âOutside of the Delaware and Susquehanna River watersheds, water withdrawals are governed by riparian rights common law, which means only those who live adjacent to the water can make reasonable use of the water on their land. A gas company cannot take water that flows through property it does not own.â
Nevertheless, documents obtained by ADP reveal that the DEP is unlawfully authorizing water withdrawals from western Pennsylvania streams and rivers. On March 31, 2010 the DEP approved a Water Management Plan for Hanley & Bird, Inc. The Water Management Plan allows Hanley & Bird to withdraw 1.44 million gallons of water a day from the Redbank Creek in Jefferson County for five years.
[...] DEP is illegally permitting gas company water withdrawals, says watchdog group :: The Clog :: Blog A... [...]
[...] DEP is illegally permitting gas company water withdrawals, says watchdog group :: The Clog :: Blog A... [...]
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What to say? The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has said it all:
A Monroeville drilling company could tap natural gas beneath 15 cemeteries in Allegheny and Washington counties under a lease signed by the Catholic Cemeteries Association of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, the association's director said Tuesday.
The association leased nearly 1,060 acres of cemetery land in 2008 to Huntley & Huntley Inc., including the 200-acre Calvary Cemetery in Hazelwood, which City Councilman Doug Shields called "ground zero" in the debate over whether natural gas drilling should be permitted in Pittsburgh
In case you missed that last phrase: "the debate over whether natural gas drilling should be permitted in Pittsburgh," â it is, in fact a debate and a distinct possibility: Pittsburgh, unlike Philadelphia, is located on top of the Marcellus Shale and the drilling industry is moving in quickly to begin drilling within city limits.
[...] Catholic cemetaries lease lots for gas drilling :: The Clog :: Blog Archive :: Staff Blog :: Philade... [...]
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Communications Secretary Neil Weaver quietly left his post on Friday, according to an "Out of Office" email CP received Monday morning.
Mr. Weaver joined the Department in 2007 and became press secretary in 2008. Recently, he was handling a great deal of Marcellus Shale-related information for the press â in which capacity I exchanged several emails and phone calls with him (He was, just to put it out there, quite cordial, responsive, and helpful).
It's not unusual that as the Rendell administration winds down, we're seeing higher-ups leave their posts for positions in the private sector. But it's not a bad idea to keep an eye on where they're winding up â especially given the recent spate of officials leaving the Rendell administration to work in natural gasâ after that administration was exceedingly friendly to and well-financed by that industry.
So where did Mr. Weaver go? We don't know. Do you?
DEP spokesman and acting Press Secretary Tom Rathbun said only that:
"Neil has gone to work for a private firm that is not involved in the Oil & Gas industry," and that "It is a public relations position and not related to lobbying."
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CP's ongoing coverage of the natural gas industry in Pennsylvania. Email us for regular updates, or use this handy link to the Clog's "fracktrack" category.
While a state House bill, sponsored by state Rep. Greg Vitali (D-Delaware), that would ban further leasing of state forest for Marcellus Shale gas drilling lingers in the state Senate, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) has quietly supplied supporters of the bill and, for that matter, opponents and those undecided with new data showing the impact of current drilling, and the potential impact of any more drilling on state forest land.
"There are proposals, that the governor is supporting, to have a moratorium on additional leasing of state forest land. What we wanted to do is make accessible to the public the thinking about the future of leasing of state forest in [that] context," DCNR Secretary John Quigley told me over the phone today.
Quigley says the idea is to show "that there are limits to the amount of leasing that can be sustained and that we're probably there."
They've posted a small mountain of highly-technical documents much more than I can sift through on my own. So, readers: help yourself and please report back anything you find that seems worth reporting either by email, or by posting a comment below.
That said, the feature presentation a 46-page .pdf slide show gets the main point across: Using a map of the state's forests, the presentation shows a step-by-step layering of drilling sites and potential drilling sites along with factors that DCNR says should render land ineligible for drilling like sensitive and wild areas and areas identified as "priority" forest patches.
In other words, take this patch of forest in northern PA
Now take out everything already leased and which cannot sustainably be leased, and you get this:
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by IsaiahThompson, IsaiahThompson and IsaiahThompson, Philly News Now. Philly News Now said: Forests Dept. posts new data and a warning: any more drilling will damage state wilderness: CPs ongoing coverage... http://bit.ly/91yEP9 [...]
It is my understanding that most of the land acquired last century for State Forest was cut over once or twice, that the original legislation barred acquisition of agriculturally useful land, and that forest of high value for recreation or ecology has been dedicate as State Parks, e.g. Ricketts Glen and Hickory Run. Many Philadelphia area residents think that the State Forests are a pristine, untouched Yosemite in PA (there is a California, PA). So, wouldn't it be appropriate to: 1. include on the maps the old and current logging roads. The DCNR Regs on drilling state that drilling equipment traffic is of the same impact as logging trucks 2. The forest themselves are examples of the resilience of "Penn's Woods". Left to itself a few years, the land will re-forest. It has! We certainly can hasten it though. 3. Rep Vitali is the leading advocate for solar photovoltaic power (PV), which requires considerable area to produce a significant amount when the sun shines, and, of course, needs to be accompanied by a fossil or nuclear fueled powerplant to meet the demand when the sun doesn't shine, or shine brightly enough. Isn't it correct that the projected btu/kw yield from one Marcellus Shale gas well "harvest" from a "footprint" of 700 acres is equal (in daylight) to about 700 acres of PV panels. Of course, the acres of solar panels would represent 100% replacement of photosynthesis with photovolataics. However with the pad-based directional drilling method, all but 10- 20 of a 700 acres module is used for pads, roads, etc. The rest stays forest.
[...] week the Philadelphia City Paper (http://citypaper.net/blogs/clog/2010/07/21/forests-dept-posts-new-data-and-a-warning-any-more-drilli...) highlighted a mountain of data on the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ [...]
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The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has just released its report on the explosion of a Marcellus Shale drilling well in Clearfield County. You can view it here.
I haven't had time to look it over yet, so stay tuned: but your input, readers, is always welcome and needed. Email tips, suggestions, etc.
In other news: opinion being divided over whether to keep "FrackTrack" or find another name, we're delaying action until next week.
[...] DEP releases report οח Clearfield Co. well explosion :: Tһе Clog … [...]
The Discovery Well really is your best option for a name. Unless you want to call it Frackle Rock. Which I advise against.
[...] DEP releases report on Clearfield Co. well explosion :: The Clog :: Blog Archive :: Staff Blog :: Ph... [...]
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