Drilling Strains 911 Resposes at Tioga Court House

Being that I now live in south central PA, I listen to the WITF radio station on my way to work and back. They have been doing bits and pieces here and there about the Marcellus drilling and this month they have introduced a program called “State Impact Pennsylvania”.  So far this program seems to relate to just the gas drilling issues in PA. The first program started yesterday and the below link will take you to their page where you can read or listen to the program. Since I am from Tioga County, PA and lived in Wellsboro for years, this story was of immediate interest to me, especially having two friends that both work in the 911 center and knowing how tough this has been for them.

http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/

I feel that most of the interest and concern that have been generated of late from the NY Times and Philadelphia Inquire is coming a bit too late, based on the amount of accidents and spills that have already occurred in this region. But…better late than never.

PA DEP Fines Pennsylvania General Energy Co. LLC $28,960 for Illegal Surfactant Discharge

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA

Dept. of Environmental Protection

Commonwealth News Bureau

Room 308, Main Capitol Building

Harrisburg PA., 17120

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

02/2/2011

CONTACT:

Daniel T. Spadoni, Department of Environmental Protection North-central Regional Office

570-327-3659

DEP Fines Pennsylvania General Energy Co. LLC $28,960 for Illegal Surfactant Discharge to Pine Creek in Lycoming County

Incident Occurred at a Marcellus Natural Gas Well Pad in Cummings Township

WILLIAMSPORT — The Department of Environmental Protection today announced that it has fined Pennsylvania General Energy Co. LLC (PGE) of Warren $28,960 for the illegal discharge of Airfoam HD, a surfactant, into Pine Creek in Lycoming County last March.

Surfactants are used by natural gas drillers to create a foam that will lift water and drill cuttings to the surface. Airfoam HD is approved by DEP for use by the industry.

“PGE responded immediately to this incident and fully cooperated with the department,” said DEP North-central Regional Director Nels Taber.

During the weekend of March 13 and 14, 2010, there was significant rainfall and snow melt that caused residual Airfoam in a Marcellus well bore to migrate to a spring on the hillside creating a white, foamy substance. The spring was not used as a source of drinking water.

A DEP investigation on March 15 verified that the material was flowing from the spring, down the hillside, under Pa. Route 44 via a storm drain, and into Pine Creek. At the time, the spring was flowing at an estimated 180 gallons per minute.

PGE began diverting foam from the storm drain in the road berm and later placed an absorbent boom across the spring run on the hillside, which prevented further discharges to Pine Creek.

No constituents of Airfoam HD were detected in Pine Creek.

The discharge was a violation of the Clean Streams Law, Solid Waste Management Act, and DEP’s oil and gas regulations.

The fine was deposited into the fund that supports DEP’s oil and gas permitting and enforcement programs.

For more information, call 570-327-3659 or visit http://www.depweb.state.pa.us.

What has Matt Baker done to protect Pennsylvania from the negative impacts of the current underregulated gas rush?

Below is a letter written to the Wellsboro Gazette. Voting day is coming up quickly and here is an opportunity for those of us who are unhappy with the decisions Matt Baker has been making in regards to the gas rush. The fact that Matt Baker has not had, and will not otherwise, have anyone running against him again means he can be extremely wishy-washy on this subject as well as others. At this point he doesn’t have to take any position and can play all sides in his favor without actually having to be educated about the subjects economic, environmental or health issues that are arising. AND, if he has made an effort to educate himself about them on his own (not from the oil and gas industry spokespersons) then he is truly more interested in selling out to a huge industry that is already bloated with money and getting fatter off our resources.  Please read the letter if you are curious or are concerned that you are not being fairly represented by your local representative.

For those who haven't seen my letter in the Wellsboro Gazette.

I would really like to get the Democratic nomination by write
in since otherwise I need to collect nearly 500 signatures to get
on the ballot in November.

 http://www.tiogapublishing.com/articles/2010/04/29/opinion/letters/doc4bd8a0836c297146754097.txt

Why me?

Published: Wednesday, April 28, 2010 4:15 PM CDT
To the editor;

Why am I, a registered Green, asking Democrats to write me
in as their candidate for state representative on May 18?
In a nutshell, to keep Matt Baker from once again running as
a Democrat as well as a Republican. But if you want an issue,
how about the upcoming devastation of much of the state?

What has Matt Baker done to protect Pennsylvania from the
negative impacts of the current underregulated gas rush?
Despite ample evidence of problems from places like Texas,
Colorado and Wyoming, as well as Dimock, Hickory, Bradford,
Waterville and Fall Brook right here in Pennsylvania, Mr Baker
continues peddling industry’s pipe dreams that we’re all going
to be millionaires and that there is nothing to worry about.
He and every other elected official from County Commissioner to
President have not just let us down but sold us out to a
rapacious industry. Who should decide whether Tioga County
is turned into an industrial sacrifice zone, gas industry
executives or the people who live here?

I am not so naive as to expect to derail Mr. Baker’s well
oiled political machine, but I do believe that if enough
voters, both Republican and Democrat, made the effort to write
me in, he might be reminded that he is supposed to represent the
people rather than rich and powerful corporations.

John Kesich

Millerton

WENY TV Coverage for “Faces of Frackland”

WENY TV called me yesterday around 6pm and asked if they could interview me about the “Face of Frackland” Blog. They showed up about an hour later (which didn’t give me much time to collect my thoughts) but I was happy that they gave us a spot on the 11 o’clock news and That Cindy Kalbach from Gaines got a chance to meet with them as well. It is nice to see that the new blog is getting attention and I have to give about 98% of that credit to Hannah because she has been doing all the posting since I am so busy! Thanks for all the hard work Hannah and thanks for traveling with me to visit these folks as well.

Here is a link to the TV spot. I had to take the clip off of their Facebook page because their home site is not working???

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Horseheads-NY/WENY-TV-News/337822014639

Natural Gases in Ground Water near Tioga Junction, Tioga County, North-Central Pennsylvania

The following is the opening statements from journeyoftheforsaken.com

Note: The following is excerpted from an excellent and relatively revealing study of the Tioga Junction area, conducted by the USGS. I found this report particularly helpful because it helps explain the uncertainty associated with isotopic analysis – particularly in alluvial mixing zones.

Currently, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and some area oil and gas operators in our region rely upon a thermogenic signature detection method that fails to account for obvious environmental factors and relies too greatly upon flawed assumptions ultimately yielding bias and therefore inaccurate results suggesting that a sudden appearance of methane gas in stream beds and alluvial areas is purely biogenic in nature.

This report reveals key factors which, when properly considered, demonstrate certain mechanisms which would facilitate a mixed and more complicated hydrogeologic dynamic and therefore truer assessment of groundwater/surface water contamination.

I’ve noted some of these key revelations in bold blue font.

Read the report here:

http://www.journeyoftheforsaken.com/tiogajunctionpa.htm

PennDOT Closing Elk Run Road to Gas Well Traffic

PennDOT is advising motorists in Tioga County that State Route 3001
(Elk Run Road) in Gaines Township is being temporarily closed to gas
well traffic due to severe deterioration.

The road is open to local traffic only until repairs are made.

Responsible parties are being contacted to facilitate repairs to restore
the roadway to a safe and passable condition for the traveling public.

This road carries a year-round, 10-ton weight restriction.

Gas and Taxes

Pennsylvania and New York are the only two oil and gas producing states which don’t levy a severance
tax. In Texas (the Barnett Shale) they don’t have a state income tax thanks to their severance tax and in
Alaska not only do they not have a state income tax but every resident gets an annual check.
Pennsylvanians may not be able to secure the same benefits as Texas or Alaska but why wouldn’t we
want to get something out of this?
Having a Severance tax in place is of the utmost importance. Without one we are left to deal with these
questions. Should the highly profitable gas industry or Pennsylvania’s tax payers foot the bill for proper
monitoring and inspections? What about the damage to our roads, contaminated well water and
pollution to our beautiful streams and forests? Who should reap the most benefit from Pennsylvania’s
natural gas – outside speculators or its citizens? Is there a reasonable alternative to a severance tax for
achieving any of this? The gas industry pays as little as it can for our gas, shouldn’t we be
taxing their profits at the highest rate we can? Isn’t the Marcellus Shale, and more importantly the land
and people above it, worth just as much as the Barnett Shale?

Most of us are aware that Pennsylvania has not enacted a Severance tax yet. If your not familiar with this issue or have not looked into it for a while then this should help get you updated on it

The Pennsylvania Legislature is debating whether the state should levy a severance tax on the extraction of natural gas to help reimburse state and local governments for environmental, infrastructure, and societal costs imposed by the industry. Until recently, Pennsylvania has had a modest natural gas extraction industry…. One of the central claims of critics regarding the proposed tax is that it is unneeded as drillers here “face the highest corporate tax rate in the nation.” A closer look at the evidence shows that this is not the case for most companies. In fact, the drillers of more than 70% of the wells in the Marcellus Shale will pay the state’s 3.07% Personal Income Tax (PIT) rather than the 9.99% Corporate Net Income Tax (CNIT).i The following table lists all companies with permits to operate wells in the Marcellus Shale and highlights the firms that are paying the lower PIT rate. ….

To read the rest of this report and view the table, click here:

http://pennbpc.org/sites/pennbpc.org/files/Over 70 Percent of Marcellus Shale Wells Pay PIT.pdf

SRBC’S REAL-TIME WATER QUALITY DATA AVAILABLE ONLINE

Water Managers and Public Can Track if Streams Are Impacted by Pollution

HARRISBURG, Pa. – The Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) today announced that real-time data from six initial remote water quality monitoring stations are now available on SRBC’s web site at www.srbc.net/programs/remotenetwork.htm.  A user-friendly map, graphs and charts are key features for viewing and understanding the data.

SRBC is deploying water quality monitoring stations in regions where natural gas drilling in the Marcellus shale is most active, as well as other locations where no drilling activities are planned so SRBC can collect control-data.

SRBC’s remote water quality monitoring network continuously measures and reports water quality conditions of smaller rivers and streams in northern tier Pennsylvania and southern tier New York to track existing water quality conditions and any changes in them on an ongoing, real-time basis.

“The Commission is committed to applying good science to monitor water quality conditions in the Susquehanna basin,” said SRBC Executive Director Paul Swartz.  “The use of advanced technology through these monitoring stations is making it possible for us to generate the data needed to determine whether or not water quality impacts are occurring from various activities, including natural gas drilling.”

Five of the initial monitoring stations are located in Pennsylvania on Meshoppen Creek near Kaiserville in Wyoming County, Sugar Creek near Troy and Tomjack Creek near Burlington in Bradford County, Hammond Creek near Millerton in Tioga County and Trout Run near Shawville in Clearfield County.  The sixth station is located on Choconut Creek near Vestal Center in Broome County, New York.

Each monitoring station is equipped with water quality sensors and a transmitter to continuously report water temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity (water clarity), water depth and conductance (ability to conduct electricity).  Elevated levels of conductance in water can be a leading indicator of impacts from natural gas activities if they occur.

SRBC receives the data collected by the network then makes it available to other resource agencies and the public through its web site.  The monitoring network will provide early warnings to help environmental protection officials respond more rapidly and better pinpoint causes if water quality conditions change.  It will also help local public water suppliers, local watershed groups and communities stay informed.

SRBC will continue installing additional stations in Pennsylvania and New York and making data available on the web site.  Thirty (30) total stations are planned by summer 2010.  More stations will follow this fall as a result of additional funding commitments SRBC has received.

The Harrisburg-based SRBC (www.srbc.net) was established under an interstate compact signed on December 24, 1970 by the federal government and New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland to manage the water resources of the 27,510-square-mile Susquehanna River Basin.  The Susquehanna River starts in Cooperstown, N.Y., and flows 444 miles to Havre de Grace, Md., where the river meets the Chesapeake Bay.

Waterdog Update

Here’s an update on the Waterdog training coming up this month. Don’t forget to call Erika and let her know you are coming to the training. Contact me if you need her number.

Hello Waterdogs,

I wanted to let everyone know that I have finally confirmed the location for the Advanced Waterdog Training!!  It is Saturday, February 27, from 9-12 at the Ives Run Recreation area at the Tioga Hammond Lakes.  It will be held in the Visitor’s Center/Ranger Station.

This training is for current waterdogs only – but I only have some of the emails!!  I will be mailing out other fliers for those that I don’t have emails – so if you could please send this on to someone that you know is already a waterdog I would really appreciate it.  Also I have cards for everyone – I have redone the cards if you have already received one – they are more wallet friendly!!  So please let me know one way or the other if you are coming to the training – if you are not planning to attend the training I will mail your Id card to you.

Thank you,

Erica Tomlinson

Watershed Specialist

Tioga County Conservation District

DEP – Notice of new rulemaking for gas well construction

The following is an extract of a DEP release from January. You may already have seen this, but might not have considered officially commenting to DEP on their rulemaking. I urge you and any organization you represent to do so. Gas industry representatives may attempt to weaken or delete some – or all – of these regulations. Public input will help to support DEP’s efforts to put these regulations in place.

In order to protect Pennsylvania’s residents and environment from the impact of increased natural gas exploration across the state, Governor Edward G. Rendell announced today that the commonwealth is strengthening its enforcement capabilities…. … DEP’s work to amend Pennsylvania’s oil and gas regulations will strengthen well construction standards and define a drilling company’s responsibility for responding to gas migration issues, such as when gas escapes a well or rock formation and seeps into homes or water wells. Specifically, he said the new regulations will:

• Require the casings of Marcellus Shale and other high-pressure wells to be tested and constructed with specific, oilfield-grade cement;
• Clarify the drilling industry’s responsibility to restore or replace water supplies affected by drilling;
• Establish procedures for operators to identify and correct gas migration problems without waiting for direction from DEP;
• Require drilling operators to notify DEP and local emergency responders immediately of gas migration problems;
• Require well operators to inspect every existing well quarterly to ensure each well is structurally sound, and report the results of those inspections to DEP annually; and
• Require well operators to notify DEP immediately if problems such as over-pressurized wells and defective casings are found during inspections.

“These new draft regulations, which were developed through open meetings with experts in the industry, are designed to give Pennsylvanians peace of mind by bringing our state’s requirements up to par with other major gas producing states or, as in the case of the well casing requirements, to a level that is even more rigorous,” said Governor Rendell.

The new regulations will be offered for public comment on Jan. 29 before going through DEP’s formal rulemaking process.

In commenting to DEP about these new regulations, consider whether it is appropriate for  the industry to police itself when there have been so many documented instances of failure to do so in Pennsylvania and other gas-producing states.

Specifically, the regulations noted above that say the following are situations where a regulatory agency may be a more appropriate entity to oversee this aspect of drilling in order to protect the public and the environment.

– “Require well operators to inspect every existing well quarterly to ensure each well is structurally sound, and report the results of those inspections to DEP annually.”

– “Require well operators to notify DEP immediately if problems such as over-pressurized wells and defective casings are found during inspections.”

Consider the following with regard to the regulation that says: “Clarify the drilling industry’s responsibility to restore or replace water supplies affected by drilling.”

If a home’s water supply is damaged in quality and/or quantity by gas drilling – whether the supply comes from a private or public source – it should be replaced in toto. It’s unacceptable to replace only drinking water but not water that is needed for other household purposes, such as washing, or for irrigation. A property’s value can be significantly diminished by lack or water or water that is polluted. It appears that the regulation on this matter would insure appropriate replacement. Public input would underscore the importance of this regulation.

Consider whether the mechanism to determine whether a water supply has been adversely affected by drilling is fair to the property owner.

In order to comment on these regulations, here’s what DEP says.

Interested persons are invited to submit comments, suggestions or

objections regarding the proposed amendments to the Bureau of Oil and Gas, P. O. Box

8765, Harrisburg, PA 17105-8765 (express mail: Rachel Carson State Office Building,

5th Floor, 400 Market Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101-2301).

Comments submitted by facsimile will not be accepted.

Comments, suggestions or objections must be received by the Department by March 2, 2010.

Electronic Comments: Comments may be submitted electronically to the Department at

ra-epoilandgas@state.pa.us and must also be received by the Department by March 2,

2010.

A subject heading of the proposal and a return name and address must be included

in each transmission. If the sender does not receive an acknowledgement of electronic

comments within 2 working days, the comments should be retransmitted to ensure

receipt.

To read the original announcement, click here:

http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/newsroom/14287?id=3115&typeid=1

To read the details of the rulemaking, deadline for public comments and where to send them, click here:

http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/deputate/minres/oilgas/Oil%20&%20Gas%20Documents/CHAPTER%2078%20Revisions%20January%2027%202010.pdf