Ernst v. EnCana Corporation

Don’t frack near Erie schools

admin — Mon, 14 May 2012 00:16:16 +0000

Don’t frack near Erie schools by Angie Nordstrum, May 13, 2012, Daily Camera
We have one wish for Mother’s Day. One wish. We are mothers, neighbors, cancer survivors, nurses, pharmacists, business owners, teachers, nutritionists, consultants and advocates living in Erie. We are mothers who don’t care about receiving flowers, breakfast in bed or a night on the town this Mother’s Day. We are mothers who place the ultimate value on the health and well-being of our children. Encana Corp. is scheduled to begin an extensive drilling operation on May 26 less than 600 yards from Red Hawk Elementary, Erie Elementary, Erie Middle School and Exploring Minds Childcare Center, which would pose serious dangers to these and other schools nearby. The only wish we have is that Encana Corporation not drill the well pad next to our children’s schools. We are heavily invested in our community and our schools. We have spent years building relationships in our community and making Erie a wonderful place to raise a family. We are thrilled to have the LEED certified, sustainably built Red Hawk Elementary in our community. On behalf of the Mothers of Erie Rising, we respectfully request that Encana Corporation halt all drilling operations at the Canyon Creek well pad. Please do not set up your drill rigs, hay bales and 24-hour lighting operations next to our children’s schools and playgrounds. Please do not transport your toxic fracking chemicals, millions of gallons of water, lethal flow-back water and sand in front of our schools and by our homes. Please do not make thousands of diesel truck trips on the streets where our children ride their bikes. Please do not violate our homeowners’ quiet neighborhoods with your 24/7 drilling operations and the legacy of potential dangers that will be left behind after the rig is gone. Our wish is that our children attend schools where they are not at risk of toxic chemical exposure, subterranean radioactive substances and toxic metals. Our wish is that our children get to harvest tomatoes and lettuce from their organic school garden; fresh produce that has not been contaminated by chemical-laden air particles. Our wish is for our children play tetherball on the playground without having difficulty breathing. Our wish is that our children will not suffer from fracking chemical related nosebleeds. Our wish is that our children will grow up cancer free. … We realize this “play” is worth billions of dollars to your company. Please realize that a price cannot be placed on our children’s health and future. We ask that you not compromise the safety of our community and it’s most precious inhabitants; it’s children.

Gas drilling’s passive regulator

admin — Sun, 13 May 2012 18:25:23 +0000

Gas drilling’s passive regulator by CNNMoney [not available in Canada]
The PA regulator does not notify landowners/mineral owners of violations on their own properties…including cementing problems, leaks, etc. It’s up to landowners to hunt down potentially deadly violations by industry.

EPA releases last Dimock water tests

admin — Sun, 13 May 2012 02:18:20 +0000

EPA releases last Dimock water tests by Laura Legere, May 12, 2012, Times Shamrock
On Friday and with each of three earlier rounds of sample releases, the agency said the results gave it no cause for either “immediate” or “further” action. In statements accompanying the first 31 results, it said the sampled water did not pose a health concern. … Twenty of the wells had methane above the state’s reporting threshold and five of those were at or above the EPA’s “trigger level” or the point when dissolved methane begins to escape into the atmosphere. The agency has said it has not done any detailed review to determine the cause of any contaminants. … Ronald Bishop, Ph.D., a chemistry lecturer at the State University of New York College at Oneonta, said detections of methane, oil and grease and 2-methoxyethanol, as well as elevated levels of sodium, arsenic, barium, lithium and manganese, “suggest that many of these homeowners’ water wells are significantly contaminated with a variety of pollutants in concentrations which are of concern to public health professionals.”

State regulators consider revisions to oil, gas rules

admin — Sun, 13 May 2012 02:17:59 +0000

State regulators consider revisions to oil, gas rules by Staci Matlock, May 12, 2012, The New Mexican
“Oil and gas drilling and production are very destructive to the land. There’s no way around that when you consider the roads, pipelines, pits and well pads needed. This land just doesn’t recover easily from that.” Drilling oil and gas wells also requires chemicals to break open rock deep underground and release the hydrocarbons. Waste fluids and mud from drilling and production can be toxic. Stored in unlined pits, the fluids can seep down through soil into shallow aquifers. Open pits can overflow, contaminating soil and waterways nearby. The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service notes open waste pits endanger birds, bats, deer and other wildlife. In 2002, Schreiber and two other ranchers shut off access to oil and gas companies temporarily to highlight their concerns. By 2005, Oil Conservation Division staff had tallied more than 800 cases of oil and gas waste contaminating groundwater around the state. … “I’m not saying industry isn’t doing their job. I’m saying it is a big, heavy, brutal industry. When you live with it, it changes your mind.”

A Mother’s Day Letter to the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama

admin — Sun, 13 May 2012 00:01:37 +0000

A Mother’s Day Letter to the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama by Angela Monti Fox, mother of Gasland filmmaker, Josh Fox, May 12, 2012, The Mothers Project
Scientists are just beginning to address questions about the impact of drilling and fracking on children’s health. We support and encourage this ongoing inquiry. But we also believe that—until the answers are in, and in the face of fundamental uncertainties—benefit of the doubt belongs to our children, not to the things that threaten them. We are guided by these truths, which we hold to be self-evident:
We know that water is life.
We know that methane is explosive.
We know that groundwater, once contaminated, cannot be cleaned up.
We know that we cannot shop for clean air.
We know that drilling and fracking operations require hundreds of truck trips per well and that many of these trucks haul poisonous chemicals.
We know that accidents happen.
We know that toxic injuries in pregnancy and early childhood have lifelong consequences.
We know that you shouldn’t break something that you can’t fix.

Analysis: Insurers find it tough to price fracking risk

admin — Sat, 12 May 2012 04:05:06 +0000

Analysis: Insurers find it tough to price fracking risk by Braden Reddall and Ben Berkowitz, May 11, 2012, Reuters
Underwriters now face a politically charged problem in the perceived threats to water supplies of hydraulic fracturing. Amid litigation and federal probes, insurance companies are left scratching their heads over how to price the risk of the oil and gas production technique now better known as fracking. The lawsuits and tests so far provide little help. One much-cited case involved Cabot Oil & Gas Co, which settled in late 2010 for $4.1 million with residents of the small Pennsylvania town of Dimock over methane found in their water. … Insurance broker Willis Group said the market was getting tighter for what is known as “environmental impairment liability” – the coverage that would most directly relate to pollution claims from accidents – and so the cost is going up. “Indeed, some insurers have started to exclude fracking activities from their policies,” Willis said in an energy market review last month, which found that those who do cover it often restrict it for firms in the Marcellus shale, where Dimock is. Willis said policies for blowouts – called Operator’s Extra Expense – exclude pollution from an underground blowout, which it saw as unlikely to change given the risks tied to fracking. … But he expects the ultimate EPA findings on drinking water will sharpen up the debate. ” That whole study is obviously a game changer as far as how the insurance industry will view these risks going forward.” …. “There are many suits being filed and many more everyday, but many haven’t gone to judgment and you haven’t gotten to expert causation issues.” For example, if a trucker hauling fracking wastewater had an accident that led to a spill, a commercial general liability policy would have a pollution exclusion denying coverage; except in some states, the spill would be considered property damage and not environmental, so the exclusions would not apply. Scholz said the lack of clear legal precedents meant lawyers had to draw analogies from other energy-related cases. “Some have settled, some have been dismissed,”

Fears grow over politicization of Polish shale gas sector

admin — Sat, 12 May 2012 02:22:03 +0000

Fears grow over politicization of Polish shale gas sector by Adam Easton, Edited by Valarie Jackson, May 11, 2012, Platts
Firstly, the main opposition party, the nationalist and populist Law and Justice, proposed introducing a minimum 40% royalty fee on future production and new legislation outlawing “undesired investors” from acquiring companies engaged in shale gas activities. … “One political party was saying to the government, ‘you’re giving away everything to foreigners.’ … In Poland, each vertical exploration well costs around $10 million and each horizontal well $15 million, up to three times the cost in the US. In January, it was reported that months of talks about a partnership between PKN and Canada’s Encana, which would see PKN gain access to Encana’s North American acreage in return for investment in its Polish shale gas concessions, were halted because of an alleged decision by Warsaw to prioritize domestic tie-ups. … In the beginning, foreign companies were made to feel extremely welcome — now there’s a lot of talk about foreign companies coming to exploit us,” the official said. … Mostly foreign operators have drilled 23 exploration wells since 2010 and are contracted to drill 49 new wells this year. None has yet proved economic, but operators are optimistic that it is only a matter of time. Although exploration costs are high, a huge incentive is the fact that gas prices are up to seven times higher in Poland than in the US. … Grabowski said a total government take of around 50% would be fair, without giving details. But that figure has already caused jitters among operators — head offices have been calling Warsaw asking whether such a tax rate is economical for them.

Judge tosses suit claiming health harm by Antero

admin — Sat, 12 May 2012 02:10:21 +0000

Judge tosses suit claiming health harm by Antero by Dennis Webb, May 11, 2012, Grand Junction Daily Sentinel
A judge has tossed out a lawsuit in which a family had accused Antero Resources of harming their health through its oil and gas operations on Silt Mesa. Denver District Court Judge Ann Frick found that lawyers for Bill and Beth Strudley had failed to provide enough evidence of chemical exposure or a causal link to the operations to warrant going through discovery and further court proceedings. “Though the evidence shows existence of certain gases and compounds in both the air and water of Plaintiffs’ Silt home, there is neither sufficient data nor expert analysis stating with any level of probability that a causal connection does in fact exist between Plaintiffs’ injuries and Plaintiffs’ exposure to Defendants’ drilling activities,” Frick wrote in this week’s ruling. The lawsuit also had named Frontier Drilling LLC and Calfrac Well Services as defendants. … Strudley attorney Corey Zurbuch called the judge’s ruling “extremely disappointing.” “We found it surprising. We’re looking at our options for appeal,” he said. … In support of her ruling, Frick pointed to a Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission determination that the Strudleys’ well water wasn’t affected by oil and gas operations. She also cited the defendants’ testimony that the oil and gas operations were conducted according to commission and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment rules designed to protect health and the environment.

Fracking near Pawhuska raises concerns

admin — Sat, 12 May 2012 02:05:39 +0000

Fracking near Pawhuska raises concerns by Sara Goldenberg, May 10, 2012, kjrh.com
Two new oil rigs under construction near Pawhuska have some residents raising concerns. Encana Natural Gas held an open house for residents Thursday night to address them. … They’ll use hydraulic fracking to extract oil from hundreds of feet below the ground. “No, we don’t want this. It’s enough. Let’s look at other things to bring money and jobs to our people,” said resident Sheryl Hill. The oil well sites are just a few miles away from Lake Pawhuska. In fact, the lake will play a key role in drilling. Encana is paying the city to pump more than two million gallons of water from the lake. It will be sent through a pipeline to the oil well sites for drilling.

EPA: Well Water in Pa. Gas Drilling Town Is Safe

admin — Sat, 12 May 2012 02:05:01 +0000

EPA: Well Water in Pa. Gas Drilling Town Is Safe by Michael Rubinkam, May 11, 2012, Associated Press
“The fact remains, EPA’s own tests have already vindicated the long-standing allegations of water contamination and clearly shows that the water of the affected residents is unfit for human consumption,” … State environmental regulators previously determined that Cabot contaminated the aquifer underneath homes along Carter Road in Dimock with explosive levels of methane gas, although they later determined the company had met its obligations under a consent agreement and allowed Cabot to stop delivering bulk and bottled water last fall. … Amid the squabble over test results, the Dimock plaintiffs, who sued Cabot in 2009, appear to have quietly entered into settlement talks with the company. One of their lawyers, Tate Kunkle, mentioned “progressing settlement negotiations” in a court filing late last month.

Regulatory Agency Capture in Action, EPA to Fracking Victims: Drop Dead

admin — Sat, 12 May 2012 01:53:30 +0000

Regulatory Agency Capture in Action, EPA to Fracking Victims: Drop Dead by Lisa Barr, May 11, 2012, Counter Punch
Both Sautners had many reasons to cuss that day, including: The condescending demeanor and words of the EPA and PA officials (watch the ENTIRE video); Statements that officials would not drink the Sautners’ (newly deemed) ‘safe’ water because they may have done something to their own water (Watch Trish Taylor in the video at 25:26); Claims the Sautners have a history of ‘bacteria’ problems with their well (not true, and even if it were true–many people in the Marcellus region opt out of treating ‘iron bacteria’ choliform colonies with yearly chlorine ‘shock’ treatments or year-round ultra-violet lights; The PA ‘Sort of a Toxicologist’ claims (twice 30:36 and 30:47) that Craig had somehow fixed a door so that the industry-captured-regulators could not leave the Sautner’s house (as if anyone would such duplicitous guests to STAY?); Claims that Methane in their home well is not a health hazard (though it ‘may’ be a fire hazard). … But, the Sautners are fine, for now. You wonder how they bear up under all this pressure. All this bullshit. The township of Dimock refused to sign a ‘mutual aid’ agreement to let the City of Binghamton bring them clean water. Just to be mean. (I have that on videotape as well.) There is a court case ongoing regarding the removal of a state-ordered water supply to their home. … This is what I call a fracked society. No one seems to know how to behave. Least of all the EPA. They are still refusing to give the Sautners what they requested after hearing all the double-speak about ‘new protocols’ for lab testing, ya dada ya dada: the original sample results before the ‘detect’ levels were raised. Simple data.

Shale gas extraction a big fracking problem

admin — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:57:56 +0000

Shale gas extraction a big fracking problem by Vanvouver Courier, May 11, 2012
It’s not looking good for hydraulic fracturing on the PR front. … A recent report in the journal Ground Water concludes that benzene and other toxic chemicals injected into the ground during fracking operations could migrate toward the aquifer level much faster than previously predicted. … So what does that have to do with us in B.C.? Plenty. The northeast corner of our province is home to immense hydraulic fracturing operations, notes Ben Parfitt, a resource policy analyst with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. At a public meeting two weeks ago at the Vancouver Public Library, Parfitt and other speakers painted a sobering scenario for B.C.’s wilderness, energy independence, and corporate accountability. B.C.’s shale gas production is comparable to Alberta’s tar sands project. Both require immense amounts of water and energy in their operations; hence their tag as “unconventional” fossil fuel extraction. In a November 2011 report for the CCPA, “Fracking Up Our Water, Hydro Power and Climate,” Parfitt notes a recent B.C. Hydro assessment that the projected power needs of the province’s shale gas sector would require to three times the power produced at the proposed Site C dam on the Peace River. “Currently, much of the gas produced in B.C. moves by pipeline to Alberta, where the biggest industrial user of natural gas is the tar sands industry. We are literally exporting the world’s most energy-intensive natural gas to help produce some of our planet’s most energy-intensive oil,” writes Parfitt.

Tell Encana’s President: Keep Your Fracking Away From Our Schools!

admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 05:13:26 +0000

Tell Encana’s President: Keep Your Fracking Away From Our Schools! Food and Water Watch
Mothers in the community of Erie, Colorado, are working desperately to stop a giant oil and gas company from fracking next to their kids’ elementary school. They’ve asked Encana, a giant oil and gas company, to abandon this one well and protect their children, but the company refuses.

SNC Lavalin Board of Directors

admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 04:07:44 +0000

SNC Lavalin Board of Directors SNC Lavalin
Gwyn Morgan, C.M. Chairman of the Board, Company Director
Gwyn Morgan CM Chairman and Chairman of Governance Committee

SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. Bloomberg Businessweek
Mr. Gwyn Morgan, CM founded EnCana Corporation and served as its President and Chief Executive Officer from April 2002 to December 31, 2005

SNC-Lavalin hit with $1.65 billion class-action lawsuit

admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 03:06:01 +0000

SNC-Lavalin hit with $1.65 billion class-action lawsuit by The Canadian Press, May 9, 2012.
The statement, which names SNC executives Pierre Duhaime, Gilles Laramee, Riadh Ben Aissa, Stephane Roy, Gwynn Morgan, Ian Bourne and Michael Novak, did not disclose how much the suit is seeking. Duhaime, Roy and Ben Aissa have lost their jobs with SNC-Lavalin. Ben Aissa, SNC’s former head of construction, is in a Swiss jail on suspicion of corrupting a public official, fraud and money laundering tied to his dealings in North Africa. The suit cites similar allegations to the one filed by Rochon Genova, including that SNC misrepresented the adequacy of its internal controls and net income during the 2010 fiscal year. It claims those alleged misrepresentations inflated SNC’s share price. The claims arises from alleged payments made by SNC-Lavalin to members, associates, and agents of the Gadhafi regime to secure contracts for infrastructure projects in Libya. … The RCMP executed search warrants at SNC-Lavalin’s headquarters at the request of Swiss police.

Petro Plutocracy

admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 02:19:18 +0000

Petro Plutocracy by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., May 9, 2012, ecowatch.org
From its inception, hydrofracking has been an outlaw enterprise. The industry was born in a provision drafted in secret by oilman Dick Cheney’s clandestine energy task force specifically exempting it from the Safe Drinking Water Act, a shale fracking method devised and patented by Cheney’s former company Halliburton. … Regulatory capture has given the industry’s worst actors de facto immunity from their criminal behavior. … These species of habitual lawbreakers require the protection of crooked politicians and captive agencies to insulate criminal companies from the consequences of their illegal behavior. … On Thursday, AP’s investigators forced the U.S. EPA to admit that it had withheld—for nearly a month—a devastating study showing groundwater contamination linked to fracking from oil and gas wells in Pavillion, Wyoming. At the command of Wyoming’s republican Governor Matt Mead—an indentured servant to the fracking industry—the EPA delayed issuing the report. Mead then ordered state officials to “take a hard line” on the industry’s behalf. A team of tobacco scientists and biostitutes at Wyoming’s Department of Environmental Quality next dutifully used the delay to gin up critical questions meant to debunk EPA’s science to help soften the blow from the federal study that sent shock waves through the oil and gas industry.

Groundwater fouled by fracking

admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 00:14:04 +0000

Groundwater fouled by fracking by Tim Wall, May 9, 2012, Discovery News
Clean-burning natural gas may not be all it is fracked-up to be. Groundwater in the eastern United States could be contaminated by the natural gas extraction process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, after a decade or less, far less time than the thousands of years proponents of the mining technique claim. … In a controversial computer simulation, however, hydrologist Tom Myers suggested that the rock is more permeable than earlier studies predicted and that, once fractured, the rock allows the toxic fracking liquid to percolate upwards. Groundwater above natural gas deposits in other areas could be even more susceptible to pollution from fracking. “One would have to say that the possible travel times for a similar thing in Arkansas or Northeast Texas is probably faster than what I’ve come up with,” Myers told ProPublica. … Fracking has already been associated with earthquakes. A US Geological Survey study watched the number of quakes increase from a historical baseline of 20 tremors a year to 50 in 2009, 87 in 2011 and a 134 last year. The USGS study suggested that dumping fracking wastewater underground was lubricating seismic faults.

RCMP spied on B.C. natives protesting pipeline plan, documents show

admin — Wed, 09 May 2012 22:46:34 +0000

RCMP spied on B.C. natives protesting pipeline plan, documents show by Mark Blinch, Martin Lukas and Tim Groves May 9, 2012, Reuters and The Toronto Star
“We’ve always been peaceful, but this is how they try to paint us as the enemy,” said Thomas, a grandmother and mother of four concerned that an oil spill could destroy the lands she hunts and fishes on with many of her community members. “The federal government seems to be using all its arms to push through this project against the will of anyone who opposes it, but we won’t be deterred. It is not a crime to defend our land and waters from a tarsands pipeline and to make the future safe for our grandkids.” According to the documents, the RCMP unit gathered intelligence from unspecified “industry reports,” newspapers and websites, and Facebook and Flickr photo accounts. They also appear to have monitored private meetings, including one between First Nations and environmental organizations held in Fraser Lake, B.C., at the end of November, which Thomas says was not announced publicly. … As previously reported in the Star, a national RCMP surveillance program monitoring First Nations that ran between 2007 and 2010 shared similar intelligence reports about First Nations with the private sector, including energy companies. According to newly released documents, since the closure of that national program the surveillance has continued under different RCMP branches. … The RCMP also kept tabs on conflicts over logging, mining, and fracking, and monitored ongoing and potential court cases involving First Nations.

U of C must obey Charter when disciplining students, rules court, Case relates to students who criticized instructor on Facebook in 2007

admin — Wed, 09 May 2012 21:58:57 +0000

U of C must obey Charter when disciplining students, rules court, Case relates to students who criticized instructor on Facebook in 2007 by Daryl Slade, May 9, 2012, Calgary Herald
The province’s top court has dismissed the University of Calgary’s appeal for autonomy in disciplining students for non-academic conduct. Alberta Court of Appeal, in its written decision released on Wednesday, concluded the Charter of Rights and Freedoms should apply in such situations. It upheld a judicial review by a Court of Queen’s Bench ruling that found the school infringed upon the freedom of expression of twin brothers Keith and Steven Pridgen, 22, when it sanctioned them for criticizing their professor on Facebook. “The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms applies to the disciplinary proceedings undertaken by the university,” Justice Marina Paperny wrote in the unanimous decision. “The decision of the Review Committee failed to take into account the Pridgens’ right to freedom of expression under the Charter. The decision breached the Pridgens’ freedom of expression and cannot be saved by the Charter. Moreover, the Review Committees’ decision was unreasonable from an administrative law perspective. The decision of the chambers judge to quash the Review Committee’s decision is upheld and the appeal of the university is dismissed.” Justices Bruce McDonald and Brian O’Ferrall agreed. … “Given the prolonged and protracted history of this unfortunate matter, I decline to exercise our jurisdiction to refer these matters back to the Board, which after all had wrongly declined to hear the respondents’ (Pridgens’) appeals in the initial instance,”

The Hulk gets angry at hydraulic fracturing

admin — Wed, 09 May 2012 01:50:34 +0000

The Hulk gets angry at hydraulic fracturing by Russell McLendon, May 8, 2012, MNN
“You had these Americans who obviously had a problem, and everybody turned their backs on them.”

Silencing Communities: How the Fracking Industry Keeps Its Secrets

admin — Wed, 09 May 2012 00:16:50 +0000

Silencing Communities: How the Fracking Industry Keeps Its Secrets by Mike Ludwig, May 8, 2012, Truthout
“As communities struggle to contend with these impacts and risks in their daily lives, citizens are forced or sometimes unknowingly sign a nondisclosure agreements, [and] they have lost their freedom to speak and share their knowledge and experience with their neighbors,” Perry said. “As a result, whole communities have been silenced and repressed.” … Dr. Jerome Paulson, a physician and director of Mid-Atlantic Center for Children’s Health and the Environment, said that the fracking industry has told the public that the drilling procedure is safe, so there is no reason to hide information on health impacts from public view. Nondisclosure agreements with private landowners and disclosure exemptions, Paulson said, are preventing doctors from doing their jobs and protecting the public. “How do we provide appropriate treatment recommendations to who are ill?” Paulson asked during a press conference last week. “For the population of individuals who are healthy, how do we provide prevention recommendations when we don’t have the information?” … “We’re involved in this case because the gas companies insistence on confidentiality is the tip of the iceberg, for one example of a pattern of secrecy and in other contexts,” said Gerhart, who hopes that the effort to unseal the records will be a step toward greater industry transparency. “… We need real data and access to the real people that are affected by fracking.”

Canadian Scientist and Internationally Known Speaker Coming to Region May 21-24

admin — Tue, 08 May 2012 23:08:31 +0000

Canadian Scientist and Internationally Known Speaker Coming to Region May 21-24 by News Channel 34, May 8, 2012
She is visiting New York to help residents understand the dire consequences of fracking from the “ruthlessly cruel” industry before it begins in the state.

Memramcook calls for shale gas moratorium, Mayor hopes village will set example for other municipalities

admin — Tue, 08 May 2012 20:02:02 +0000

Memramcook calls for shale gas moratorium, Mayor hopes village will set example for other municipalities by CBC News, May 8, 2012
The Village of Memramcook is the latest group to take a stand against shale gas development in the province. Village council unanimously passed a motion Monday night, calling on the New Brunswick government to bring in a moratorium on all exploration and drilling until the concerns of residents are addressed. Mayor Donald O. LeBlanc said council took about a year to consider the issue, collecting and reviewing information. … LeBlanc said the crowd in council chambers applauded when the motion was passed. He estimates about three-quarters of Memramcook residents are opposed to shale gas development. … “Government’s responsibility on every level is to protect its citizens and its environment from harm. And I feel that that got done last night and I think we have to celebrate those moments,”

Canadian scientist against fracking headed to Southern Tier

admin — Tue, 08 May 2012 18:42:05 +0000

Canadian scientist against fracking headed to Southern Tier by Star Gazette, May 8, 2012
Ernst, an environmental consultant to the oil and gas industry, will present “The Truth and Consequences of Fracking” on four nights, May 21-24, in Elmira, Owego, Ithaca and LaFayette. All of the following events start at 7 p.m.:
» May 21, Elmira Heights Theater, 210 E. 14 St., Elmira Heights, sponsored by People for a Healthy Environment Inc.
» May 22, Hubbard Auditorium, Tioga County Office Building, 76 Main St., Owego, sponsored by Residents Against Fracking Tioga, and Coalition to Protect New York.
» May 23, First Unitarian Society of Ithaca, 306 N. Aurora St., Ithaca, sponsored by Shaleshock, Dryden Resource Awareness Coalition, and the Social Justice Committee of First Unitarian Society.
» May 24, LaFayette High School, 3122 Route 11 N., LaFayette, sponsored by Gas Drilling Awareness of Cortland County, ShaleshockCNY, Syracuse Peace Council, and Skaneateles Citizens Hydrofracking Committee.

Vermont Passes First Statewide Fracking Ban

admin — Tue, 08 May 2012 17:52:51 +0000

Vermont Passes First Statewide Fracking Ban by ENews Park Forest, May 8, 2012
On May 4, the Vermont House of Representatives voted 103-36 to give final passage to legislation that will make Vermont the first state in the nation to ban the practice of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas. … “The Vermont Legislature deserves tremendous praise for having the courage to stand up to all of the lobbying, the full page ads, and the legal threats of the oil and gas industry,” said Paul Burns, executive director of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group. “This is a shot that will be heard, if not around the world then at least around the country.” … Hydraulic fracking operations use biocides because microbes, which are present beneath the surface of the earth, can interfere with the flow of gas in the pipelines. … Living organisms also interfere with the flow of gas through pipelines. To prevent this biofouling, gas companies send powerful biocides into the shale, killing everything that inhabits it. The use of biocides, among other factors, makes fracking a highly toxic form of energy extraction. … “Vermonters were able to see through the smokescreen put out by the gas industry,” said VPIRG organizer Leah Marsters. “They understand the threat that fracking poses to public health, as well as our air, land and water,” she added.

Fracking: A dehydrated UK, watered only by capitalism, When the UK’s water infrastructure is already in severe drought, why is fracking even being considered?

admin — Tue, 08 May 2012 05:21:23 +0000

Fracking: A dehydrated UK, watered only by capitalism, When the UK’s water infrastructure is already in severe drought, why is fracking even being considered? by Siobhan Courtney, May 7, 2012, Aljazeera
Fracking: environmental and human destruction at its very worst. Groundwater contamination, billions of gallons of fresh water squandered, small earthquakes, toxic air emissions, reports of radiation, and not even tap water going up in flames are enough to halt the decimation of our precious countryside, in an attempt to extract copious volumes of natural gas from the unearthed, sedimentary shale rocks below. Desperate destroyers, shielded within a self-regulating industry, think of nothing but profit as they hydraulically fracture rocks with a lethal cocktail of chemicals, sand and billions and billions of gallons of fresh water. Fracking is the latest devastating testament to how destructive capitalism has suffocated and engulfed our precious planet. … If yet another reason was needed why fracking should not even be contemplated in the UK, the Environment Agency has declared that East Anglia, the South East, parts of Yorkshire, the Midlands and the South West are officially in drought. We have been banned from using hosepipes, and the impact on farming, the environment and water supplies is nothing short of a dire emergency, yet companies will willingly sell the sacred water to power fracking in the UK. This, of course, would have never been allowed to happen if water stayed as it was intended to be – a public utility. Thatcherism changed all that, however, and our water was placed into the grubby, profit-grabbing claws of private companies. The hypocritical private companies now stand over the British public, instructing them to be mindful and responsible with personal water consumption. Golden nuggets of advice are bombarded upon us: “Take a shower instead of a bath”; “Don’t forget to turn off the tap when brushing your teeth”; and “If you try and use a hosepipe to water your plants or vegetables, a £1,000 ($1,600) fine awaits”. … Cuadrilla refused to answer my question of how much they paid United Utilities for the 2 million gallons of water (four Olympic sized swimming pools) they used for just one fracking test. A spokesperson said: “We don’t answer questions about costs for individual items deployed in operations.” … The billions of gallons of fresh water that will be flippantly flushed into the ground is the very water that passes our lips, falls on our faces and waters our living organisms. Twisted and turned into polluted, toxic fracking fluid. It will never – and can never – be returned to the freshwater it originally started out as. It is destroyed and decimated forever.

Nein Danke, German Government to Oppose Fracking

admin — Tue, 08 May 2012 03:08:39 +0000

Nein Danke, German Government to Oppose Fracking by Der Spiegel, May 7, 2012
Germany has put the brakes on plans to use hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, to extract natural gas in places where it is difficult to access, such as shale or coal beds. Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen and Economy Minister Philipp Rösler have agreed to oppose the controversial process for the time being, SPIEGEL has learned. Sources in the German government said that the ministers were “very skeptical” about fracking, which injects chemicals as well as sand and water into the ground to release natural gas. “There are many open questions which we will first have to carefully examine,”

LISTEN: New report says Alberta’s FOIP laws worst in country

admin — Mon, 07 May 2012 22:43:04 +0000

LISTEN: New report says Alberta’s FOIP laws worst in country by CBC News, May 7, 2012
Alberta’s freedom of information laws rank last in the country when it comes to transparency.

Canadian activist touring N.Y. against fracking

admin — Mon, 07 May 2012 04:25:51 +0000

Canadian activist touring N.Y. against fracking by The Ithaca Journal, May 6, 2012
A Canadian scientist fighting a gas company over contaminated well water in her home province is touring the Southern Tier and central New York with a message against the large-scale hydraulic fracturing technique proposed for the state. … “We are fortunate that Jessica Ernst is taking the time from her difficult and painful situation to share her cautionary story with us,” said Maura Stephens, a member of two of the sponsoring grassroots groups. “Even as a person who works in the industry, she had her water poisoned. And she’s been treated abominably by the corporation that poisoned it and the regulatory agencies that are supposed to protect people from such assault.”

Reports back fears of fracking contamination, Industry official scoffs at scientist’s credibility

admin — Sat, 05 May 2012 20:16:56 +0000

Reports back fears of fracking contamination, Industry official scoffs at scientist’s credibility by John Colson, May 5, 2012, Post Independent
The study, published in the April-May edition of the journal “Ground Water” concludes that scientists have incorrectly theorized that rock layers between the deep gas-bearing zones and the shallower aquifer zones are essentially “impermeable” and protect against migration of chemicals from one zone to the other. … “Industry has paid millions of dollars in legal settlements to Americans across the country, silencing them with nondisclosure agreements so that companies can continue to publicly deny responsibility for problems,”

HYDRAULIC FRACKING: Our Country Is Being Fracked by the Merger of Government and Big Business

admin — Sat, 05 May 2012 19:07:45 +0000

HYDRAULIC FRACKING: Our Country Is Being Fracked by the Merger of Government and Big Business by Washington’s Blog, May 5, 2012, Global Research
The Government Is Using Its Police Powers to Protect Fracking
Fracking is polluting water all over the country. … The director of the Emmy-award winning documentary on fracking – Gasland – was arrested for attempting to film a Congressional hearing on fracking. Actor Mark Ruffalo was put on a terror watch list after he organized showings of Gasland. The Washington Post reported in March that the FBI is investigating anti-fracking activists as potential terrorists. The state of Pennsylvania hired an Israeli-American company with extensive military and intelligence ties to put out “terror” alerts. The company – ITRR –describes itself as: The preeminent Israeli/American security firm providing training, intelligence and education to clients across the globe. ITRR explains: The Institute of Terrorism Research and Response’s research and analysis center, known as the Targeted Actionable Monitoring Center (TAM-C), is located in Israel. The Targeted Actionable Monitoring Center is staffed with former law enforcement, military, and intelligence professionals experienced in the production and utilization of intelligence products. ITRR considered opponents of fracking to be potential terrorists. Fracking companies are also using military psychological operations techniques to discredit opponents…. One of the best definitions of fascism – the one used by Mussolini himself – is the “merger of state and corporate power“. We’re pretty much there …

Colorado to Join Studies of Air Quality Around Oil and Gas Fields

admin — Sat, 05 May 2012 18:26:29 +0000

Colorado to Join Studies of Air Quality Around Oil and Gas Fields by Mark Jaffe, May 5, 2012, The Denver Post
What the round-the-clock sampling has detected is a brew of airborne chemicals, including traces of hazardous pollutants such as benzene, according to researchers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The likely source: oil and gas development in the region. … Fracking pumps fluid into a well under pressure to fracture rock, releasing oil and gas. The water, with gas and oil, flows back into pits or tanks. During this process, McKenzie found high concentrations of benzene, ethylbenzene and toluene. Benzene and ethylbenzene are carcinogens, and toluene can impair the nervous system, according to the EPA. The levels of some chemicals at rural Battlement Mesa were higher than at EPA air-toxic monitoring sites in Elizabeth, N.J., and Tulsa, Okla., McKenzie’s study found. The first major oil-field air-pollution incident in the West occurred in Pinedale, Wyo., in 2005. Levels of ozone in the air reached 140 parts per billion — nearly double the federal health standard. Ozone — created when volatile organic chemicals interact with sunlight and heat — is a corrosive gas that can cause an increase in respiratory and heart ailments. The oil and gas fields around Pinedale emitted nearly 16,100 tons of volatile organic chemicals in 2010, according to data from the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality. Included in those emissions were about 3,200 tons of chemicals considered by the EPA to be hazardous to human health.

Vermont first state in nation to ban fracking for oil and gas

admin — Fri, 04 May 2012 18:20:31 +0000

Vermont first state in nation to ban fracking for oil and gas by Carl Etnier, May 4, 2012, vtdigger.org
With a 103-36 vote in the House of Representatives, Vermont on Friday became the first state to ban hydraulic fracturing to extract oil or natural gas. … The House debate was short. … For Paul Burns, executive director of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, being first in the nation was a point of pride. “I’m very proud that Vermont will become the first state to ban fracking for natural gas,” he said. “I think it’s a great thing for the protection of Vermont’s critical natural resources, our air, land, water, and to protect public health. And it also sends a very strong message to folks in many other states who are taking on the gas and oil industry.” Burns said that by Friday afternoon, hours after the bill had passed, others in the country were looking to learn from Vermont. “I’ve already gotten a couple of calls from folks in New York who are very excited to see that we’ve taken this step today. They’re going to be trying to follow in our footsteps, and we think that would be very smart.” … “Fracking has caused enormous problems with underground water contamination and aboveground waste disposal – entire streams have been destroyed,”

Pavillion Area Concerned Citizens (PACC) statement on The AP Exclusive: Wyo. got EPA to delay frack finding

admin — Fri, 04 May 2012 18:04:14 +0000

Pavillion Area Concerned Citizens (PACC) statement on The AP Exclusive: Wyo. got EPA to delay frack finding Press Release May 4, 2012
The AP Exclusive: Wyo. got EPA to delay frack finding is yet another perfect example of how the State of Wyoming has covered up industry’s horrendous practices. Impacted citizens are viewed as collateral damage while the oil and gas industry rakes in billions of dollars. No one affected by the Pavillion gas field contamination is shocked by the AP article because we’ve been living with the state’s lack of action for over 10 years. If the state had recognized the problems and taken steps to protect Wyoming citizens when the contamination started, the EPA would not be conducting an investigation now. By its own account, Governor Mead’s administration has gone on a well planned campaign to discredit the EPA investigation. PACC Chair John Fenton explains that “since Governor Mead took office, PACC has reached out to him and his agency administrators in an honest effort to work on a solution to the very serious problems in EnCana’s Pavillion gas field.” … “It appears the state’s priority was to protect industry rather than address the contamination and protect the impacted residents. They conducted a planned media campaign to undermine the EPA’s scientific study. These deceptive and underhanded tactics employed by the Mead administration are representative of the influence the oil and gas industry has over the state government and its administrative agencies.”

Landowner Can Sue Shell Over Fracking Hazards

admin — Fri, 04 May 2012 03:37:54 +0000

Landowner Can Sue Shell Over Fracking Hazards by Reuben Kramer, May 3, 2012, Courthouse News Service
Shell Energy cannot dismiss claims that the controversial fracking technique to extract natural gas is an “ultra hazardous activity,” a federal judge ruled. The claim stems from a lawsuit Edward Kamuck filed against Shell Energy Holdings GP in August 2011. Kamuck says the energy giant’s fracking operation on land neighboring his 93-acre tract in rural Pennsylvania constitutes “an abnormally dangerous and ultra hazardous activity,” and that Shell should be subjected to strict liability for “the contamination and pollution caused by … releases, spills, sprays, emissions, discharges and flowback of hazardous chemicals and combustible gases.” Calling himself a “totally disabled” Vietnam war veteran, Kamuck says Shell’s operation contaminated his land and water supply.

Study Rebuts Industry Stance That Frack Fluids Can’t Taint Water

admin — Fri, 04 May 2012 02:41:35 +0000

Study Rebuts Industry Stance That Frack Fluids Can’t Taint Water by Bloomberg News, May 3, 2012

Frack Fluids Can Endanger Water: Study

admin — Fri, 04 May 2012 02:24:25 +0000

Frack Fluids Can Endanger Water: Study by Jim Efstathiou Jr., May 03, 2012, Bloomberg News
Chemically treated drilling fluid can migrate through thousands of feet of rock and endanger water supplies, said a hydrologist whose research calls into question the safety of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas. The fluids can migrate faster that previously thought, Tom Myers, a Reno, Nevada, researcher, said yesterday. His study, published in the online journal Ground Water on April 17, says fluids can reach shallow drinking-water aquifers in as little as three years. “If contaminants reach natural fractures under pressure, the upward flow has the potential to be enhanced greatly,” Myers, an independent consultant who has worked for conservation groups and governments, said. “It can flow upward if there’s a pathway and unless it’s completely impermeable, there’s always a pathway. It’s just a question of how long it takes.” … The Myers study bolsters the group’s claim that fracking isn’t safe for New York state, home to unfiltered aquifers that provide water to New York City and Syracuse. “We know less about what’s underground than we know what’s at the bottom of the deepest oceans,” Adams said in an interview. “That blanket statement that there’s this impermeable wall that will keep these chemicals down there is false and it changes everything.” … Engelder said Myers used an “unrealistically high” number for permeability of rock above the shale layer that contains gas. That produced results that greatly exaggerated the time it could take for fluid to migrate from the fracking zone. Myers also assumed that pressures created by fracking will drive fluids away from the gas-bearing rock when in fact they will do the opposite, Engelder said. “In my view the issue is settled, which is that it can’t happen on a time scale that is important to mankind,” Engelder said in an interview.

AP Exclusive: Wyoming got EPA to delay frack finding

admin — Fri, 04 May 2012 01:07:31 +0000

AP Exclusive: Wyo. got EPA to delay frack finding by Mead Gruver, May 3, 2012, Associated Press
Wyoming’s governor persuaded the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to postpone an announcement linking hydraulic fracturing to groundwater contamination, giving state officials – whom the EPA had privately briefed on the study – time to attempt to debunk the finding before it rocked the oil and gas industry more than a month later, an investigation by The Associated Press has found. During the delay, state officials raised dozens of questions about the finding that the controversial procedure that has become essential to unlocking oil and gas deposits in Wyoming and beyond may have tainted groundwater near the gas patch community of Pavillion. Gov. Matt Mead contacted EPA Director Lisa Jackson and persuaded her to hold off any announcement, according to state emails and an interview with the governor. The more than 11,000 emails made available to AP in response to a state records request show that Wyoming officials took advantage of the postponement to “take a hard line” and coordinate an “all-out press” against the EPA in the weeks leading up to the announcement Dec. 8. Meanwhile, the chief state regulator of oil and gas development fretted over how the finding would affect state revenue. … “Contaminants present at high concentrations in the deep monitoring wells are likely a result of hydraulic fracturing,” read a “Key Findings” slide in an EPA PowerPoint shown at the meeting. Each slide was marked “Confidential-Do Not Disclose.” … Pavillion residents didn’t hear about the finding before the public announcement, said John Fenton, chairman of Pavillion Area Concerned Citizens. Fenton said he was unhappy that regulators hadn’t kept local residents fully apprised of the latest developments concerning their water supply. Yet he held EPA in higher regard than the state officials he said ignored Pavillion for years, prompting residents to request the EPA investigation. “Those of us living out here, we don’t trust the state,” he said.

Fracking Is Flopping Overseas

admin — Thu, 03 May 2012 20:39:37 +0000

Fracking Is Flopping Overseas by Matthew Brown, May 03, 2012, Bloomberg Businessweek
“China will not have a shale gas revolution on the scale seen in the United States, and it is highly unlikely that China will achieve its target” by 2020, Fan Gao, a research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, wrote in a report in March. Hurdles include a population density five times that of the U.S., water availability of about one-fifth…. As China’s population becomes more aware of health and safety issues, environmental issues could also be a “showstopper,” she said.

Analysis Confirms That Hydraulic Fracturing Caused Drinking Water Contamination In Wyoming

admin — Wed, 02 May 2012 20:03:26 +0000

Analysis Confirms That Hydraulic Fracturing Caused Drinking Water Contamination In Wyoming by Jessica Goad, Public Lands Team, May 1, 2012
A recent study from the Environmental Protection Agency showing that chemicals from hydraulic fracturing had contaminated groundwater has just been validated by an independent hydrology expert. The impact of natural gas drilling — particularly hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” — on drinking water and groundwater has been heavily debated. It has also been one of the most serious PR issues for the oil and gas industry. In December 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency found official evidence that poisonous chemicals from fracking had contaminated water near drill rigs in Pavillion, Wyoming. That study has now been backed up by an independent expert. In a report released today, commissioned by several environmental groups, Dr. Tom Myers writes that: After consideration of the evidence presented in the EPA report and in URS (2009 and 2010), it is clear that hydraulic fracturing (fracking [Kramer 2011]) has caused pollution of the Wind River formation and aquifer. … The EPA’s conclusion is sound. Myers then details the Pavillion area’s unique geology and water pathways, as well as the shoddy construction of the wells that likely contributed to water contamination. … However, the lack of public data makes it difficult to gather evidence of drinking water contamination. As New York Times reporter Ian Urbina noted in an investigation last August, researchers often are: …unable to investigate many suspected cases because their details were sealed from the public when energy companies settled lawsuits with landowners.

Australia’s Agriculture and Energy Sectors Clash Over Water

admin — Wed, 02 May 2012 05:03:17 +0000

Australia’s Agriculture and Energy Sectors Clash Over Water by Nadya Ivanova, May 1, 2012, Circle of Blue
Australia has no comprehensive studies of the cumulative effects of the coal seam gas industry on the environment. Just as in North America, where runaway development of deep oil and gas shales has outpaced responses by federal and state regulators, Australia’s oversight community is struggling to keep pace. … “I just feel we have no choice. Our water is a finite resource. Once it’s damaged, that’s it,” said Lisa Norman, a Liverpool Plains farmer…. “Coal and gas resources come and go, they come up with new sources of energy — but our water: we all need water to survive.” … “It is wartime. There is no question agriculture is fighting for its life,” … “People out there were a lot more desperate for money, and they’ve just come out of drought…They are getting pathetic money, but they accepted it.”

Newspapers’ effort to open shale lawsuit supported by others

admin — Wed, 02 May 2012 04:40:35 +0000

Newspapers’ effort to open shale lawsuit supported by others by Don Hopey, May 1, 2012, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“The sealed court records in this case are part of a widespread pattern of industry secrecy,” Mr. Gerhart said. “In the face of a nationwide gas drilling boom and the troubling reports of related health impacts, we cannot afford to let this pattern continue.” The 39-page brief contains references to 27 other court cases in seven states involving confidential settlements or limited disclosure or nondisclosure of court proceedings alleging health or environmental problems caused by unconventional shale gas development involving hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.”

Australia: Inquiry calls for freeze on CSG [CBM] production

admin — Wed, 02 May 2012 01:38:39 +0000

Australia: Inquiry calls for freeze on CSG [CBM] production by Sean Nicholls, May 1, 2012, The Land
The NSW government should cease issuing production licences for coal seam gas production until a ”comprehensive framework” for regulating the industry is developed, a parliamentary inquiry is set to recommend. The inquiry’s report, due to be released today, is also understood to recommend a moratorium on the controversial extraction method of fracking be continued until the national regulator finishes testing the chemicals involved. The Herald has learnt it also advises the five-year ”royalty holiday” granted to coal seam gas miners be scrapped and a strict limit be placed on ”fugitive emissions” from gas mining sites. … The cross-party committee that carried out the inquiry attracted more than 900 submissions after it was announced last year and travelled the state taking evidence from communities affected by coal seam gas exploration and mining. … The Resources and Energy Minister, Chris Hartcher, last year announced a moratorium on fracking – or hydraulic fracturing – in response to concerns it could pollute the water table. The recommendation for a continuation of the moratorium until all chemicals used in the process are tested by the National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme is understood to be related to concerns that only two chemicals have been examined to date.

New Study Predicts Frack Fluids Can Migrate to Aquifers Within Years

admin — Tue, 01 May 2012 21:24:24 +0000

New Study Predicts Frack Fluids Can Migrate to Aquifers Within Years by Abrahm Lustgarten, May 1, 2012, ProPublica
Scientists have theorized that impermeable layers of rock would keep the fluid, which contains benzene and other dangerous chemicals, safely locked nearly a mile below water supplies. This view of the earth’s underground geology is a cornerstone of the industry’s argument that fracking poses minimal threats to the environment. But the study, using computer modeling, concluded that natural faults and fractures in the Marcellus, exacerbated by the effects of fracking itself, could allow chemicals to reach the surface in as little as “just a few years.” “Simply put, [the rock layers] are not impermeable,” said the study’s author, Tom Myers, an independent hydrogeologist whose clients include [2] the federal government and environmental groups. “The Marcellus shale is being fracked into a very high permeability,” he said. “Fluids could move from most any injection process.” … The models predict that fracking will dramatically speed up the movement of chemicals injected into the ground. Fluids traveled distances within 100 years that would take tens of thousands of years under natural conditions. And when the models factored in the Marcellus’ natural faults and fractures, fluids could move 10 times as fast as that. Where man-made fractures intersect with natural faults, or break out of the Marcellus layer into the stone layer above it, the study found, “contaminants could reach the surface areas in tens of years, or less.” The study also concluded that the force that fracking exerts does not immediately let up when the process ends. It can take nearly a year to ease. As a result, chemicals left underground are still being pushed away from the drill site long after drilling is finished. It can take five or six years before the natural balance of pressure in the underground system is fully restored, the study found. Myers’ research focused exclusively on the Marcellus, but he said his findings may have broader relevance. Many regions where oil and gas is being drilled have more permeable underground environments than the one he analyzed, he said.

Review blames fracking for water contamination in Pavillion

admin — Tue, 01 May 2012 20:05:33 +0000

Review blames fracking for water contamination in Pavillion by Irina Zhorov, May 1, 2012, Wyoming Public Media
One of the criticisms of the E-P-A study was that it was poorly conducted science, and therefore, put forth unreliable conclusions. But the hydrologic consultant who did the review, Tom Myers, says the E-P-A did good work. “The EPA did a good job utilizing the data that they had available to them and utilizing the information that they had. I mean, they should keep studying, it and become firmer with the results, but one cannot say it is not sound science, because I certainly think it is.” Myers cited the area’s unique geology, inappropriate well designs, and inadequate well construction as causes for the contamination. He concluded, in words stronger than the EPA’s, that there could be no other source for the contamination in Pavillion’s wells other than fracking.

Residents Fed Up with Bad Water Flee Shale Drilling Areas

admin — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:19:15 +0000

Residents Fed Up with Bad Water Flee Shale Drilling Areas by Susan Phillips, April 30, 2012, StateImpactPA
Sowatsky’s mother Kim McEvoy says once gas drilling began, her water turned gray and cloudy. Now, her well is running dry. Gas drilling has turned some quiet rural areas of Pennsylvania into growing industrial zones. Residents complain of increased truck traffic, bad air, and contaminated well water. Some of those residents have turned to activism. Others have filed lawsuits. But a growing number of Pennsylvania residents living near Marcellus Shale sites are also packing up their bags and moving. Boxes full of books are piling up in Kim McEvoy’s dining room in the house where she lives with her three-year-old daughter Skylar and her fiance, Peter Sowatsky. … Skylar Sowatsky is eager to show a visitor around the house. “This is my new toy, and I got this toy train in the toy aisle,” says Skylar. “I’m three old.” Along with the boxes, water jugs are also plentiful, and dominate the kitchen. Skylar explains the water jugs and the moving boxes this way: “Because we have black water.” … “It’s terrible,” says McEvoy. “It is what you focus on every day. When you wake up in the morning, where am I getting a shower. Oh I have to do laundry. Where we’re getting the water, how much water do you need. And that’s it. That’s all you worry about all the time — water, water, water. There’s no opening your tap, and you got water, to brush your teeth. That does not exist here.” … “So yeah, I have to leave because, it gets old really fast, hauling water,” says McEvoy. … Now, McEvoy is looking to sell her one-story, three-bedroom house, but it’s listed for less than what she owes on it. McEvoy’s realtor Steve Warrene doesn’t have much hope. “If it had public water today, I could probably sell it for $120,000,” said War¬rene. “Right now with no water, we got it listed at $87,900. It’s not gonna sell because other houses in the area without water are selling for between $15,000 and $30,000.”

TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM Review of DRAFT: Investigation of Ground Water Contamination near Pavillion Wyoming Prepared by the Environmental Protection Agency

admin — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:49:19 +0000

TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM Review of DRAFT: Investigation of Ground Water Contamination near Pavillion Wyoming Prepared by the Environmental Protection Agency by Tom Myers, April 30, 2012
The EPA found in the monitoring wells significant concentrations of isopropanol, diethylene glycol, triethylene glycol, and tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) (in MW02). TBA was not directly used as a fracking fluid, but “is a known breakdown product of methyl tert-butyl ether and tert-butyl hydroperoxide”. … EPA detected benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX), trimethylbenzenes, and naphthalene at MW02 (EPA, p 35). They detected gasoline and diesel range organics at both monitoring wells (Id.). These are not found in drilling additives, but the MSDSs showed a long list of additives in the fracking fluid that could be the source of the contamination just cited (EPA p 35, 36). For example, a BTEX mixture had been used in the fracking fluid as a breaker and a diesel oil mixture was used in guar polymer slurry (Id.). EPA rejects alternative explanations that claim that substances, used on the well or pump, caused these contaminant detections. Specifically, the agency points out that the contact time for water with the well or pump during purging and sampling would be so low that contamination would be unlikely, especially after purging. … The fracking that occurs in the Pavillion gas field directly injects fracking fluid into an underground source of drinking water. Fracking occurs as little as 150 m below the bottom of the deeper water wells. … Many shallow water wells have gas concentrations that exceed expected background levels. EPA also uses several lines of reasoning to conclude that gas has migrated to domestic wells from the fracked zones, in addition to or instead of it occurring naturally in those wells. Isotopic composition of gas samples from shallow wells, deeper monitoring wells and produced gas are all similar in that all have a thermogenic origin.

Anti-fracking group adds claims to surveillance suit

admin — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:41:17 +0000

Anti-fracking group adds claims to surveillance suit by Saranac Hale Spencer, April 30, 2012, The Legal Intelligencer
Opponents of hydraulic fracturing in Luzerne County can add defamation and conspiracy claims to their suit against the private surveillance company the government allegedly hired to watch them, a federal judge has ruled. The Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition filed suit in 2010 claiming the state’s former director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency’s Office of Homeland Security and the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response violated the First and 14th amendments when they watched the group. … But this month, U.S. District Judge William W. Caldwell of the Middle District of Pennsylvania granted the group’s request to add state law claims for defamation and conspiracy. “These claims, like the claims in the complaint, involve allegations that [Michael] Perelman and [the Institute for Terrorism Research and Response] published false statements to a third party. Both the complaint and the proposed amendments arise out of the same conduct,” Judge Caldwell said, holding that the claims are not time-barred. … Mr. Perelman is the president of the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response, which bills itself as “an American and Israeli nonprofit corporation created to help organizations succeed and prosper in a world threatened by terrorism,” according to its website.

State investigating possible stray gas case near area of past problems in Dimock

admin — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 22:49:45 +0000

State investigating possible stray gas case near area of past problems in Dimock by Laura Legere, April 28, 2012, The Times-Tribune
State environmental regulators are investigating a possible case of methane migrating into water supplies just north of the 9-square-mile box in Dimock Twp. where the state halted a gas driller’s operations because of methane contamination in 2010. … Regulators began investigating the elevated methane levels in August 2010 after a resident reported a water quality complaint to the state. … The defects cited by the department “could have been a means of allowing methane to migrate into the fresh groundwater, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the water supply has been impacted,” she said.

Landmark Fracking Lawsuit starts with Twist in Alberta

admin — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 18:00:35 +0000

Landmark Fracking Lawsuit starts with Twist in Alberta by Andrew Nikiforuk, April 27, 2012, GlobalResearch.ca