Environment, Uncategorized

Fracking USA: A Post about the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, Governor Tom Corbett, C. Alan Walker, the Marcellus Shale, Polluted Drinking Water, and the Movie Gasland

Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger

Republican governors in Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, New Jersey, and Florida have been getting a lot of media and press attention lately because of their proposals for drastic budget cuts, big tax breaks for corporations, or for their attacks on public sector workers and their unions. One newly elected Republic governor who has remained pretty much under the radar is Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania. A few weeks ago, a story about Corbett at ProPublica caught my attention. I thought it was a story worth investigating.

Last December, Governor Corbett announced his very first political appointee—a man named C. Alan Walker. Walker, an energy executive, was chosen to head the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. What’s particularly interesting about this appointment is that Corbett also gave Walker supreme authority over environmental permitting in the state of Pennsylvania.

One might ask why Corbett gave Walker such far-reaching authority. Could it be because Pennsylvania is home to a large portion of a vast underground rock formation known as the Marcellus Shale? Do you know what can be extracted from the Marcellus Shale? Natural gas. Do you know how natural gas is extracted from the shale? Through a process known as hydraulic fracturing—or “fracking.”

The Marcellus Shale

Now, as Corbett stakes much of the state’s economy on Marcellus Shale gas drilling, a paragraph tucked into the 1,184-page budget gives Walker unprecedented authority to “expedite any permit or action pending in any agency where the creation of jobs may be impacted.” That includes, presumably, coal, oil, gas and trucking. (ProPublica) 

FYI: Hydraulic fracturing is a process used in nine out of ten natural gas wells in the United States, where millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals are pumped underground to break apart the rock and release the gas. Scientists are worried that the chemicals used in fracturing may pose a threat either underground or when waste fluids are handled and sometimes spilled on the surface. (ProPublica) 

And, according to an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, that paragraph could enable Walker “to fast-track drilling permits if environmental regulators are balking.” The Inquirer article goes on to explain why Walker may be unsuited for his position as head of the Department of Community and Economic Development: “In 2002, he told the state he couldn’t afford to clean up polluted water flowing from 15 inactive mines that were operated by his companies. After the state won a court injunction, Walker agreed to a cleanup plan.” 

The authors of the ProPublica article say it remains unclear how Governor Corbett can bestow such authority on the Department of Community and Economic Development. They question how Pennsylvania would address any legal conflicts that might arise if Walker pushed for approval of permits that might conflict with the Clean Water Act or other federal laws.

A more recent ProPublica article reports that oil and gas inspectors who police the Marcellus Shale development in the state won’t be allowed to issue violations to drilling companies that they regulate any longer unless they get prior approval from top officials. Evidently, this has raised concerns that environmental inspectors in Pennsylvania won’t be able to act independently in the future—and that regulations could possibly be overridden by the governor.

Should people in Pennsylvania be concerned by what could happen in their state because of these recent developments? Well, the EPA is doing an investigation into whether fracking can have a detrimental effect on reservoirs—and some landowners have alleged that fracking is the cause of their polluted and flammable tap water and poisoned animals.

I’m posting some videos that will provide you with more information about what’s going on with hydraulic fracturing in Pennsylvania and other parts of this country. But first—I’d like to make note of a few things:

  • C. Alan Walker has donated $184,000 to Tom Corbett’s campaign efforts since 2004.
  • Business and industry representatives outnumber environmental advocates by more than 3 to 1 on Governor Corbett’s new 30-member Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission.
  • The Pennsylvania Office of Homeland Security has been tracking anti-gas drilling groups and their meetings — including a public screening of the film “Gasland,” a documentary about the environmental hazards of natural gas drilling. The office includes information about the groups in its weekly bulletins that are sent out to law enforcement agencies—and to companies that are drilling for gas in the Marcellus Shale.
  • Last November, the New York State Assembly voted to place a temporary moratorium on fracking in that state.

FRACKING 101

NEED TO KNOW | Actor Mark Ruffalo speaks out against fracking | PBS

Gov’t PA Homeland Security Monitors Fracking Victims

GASLAND Trailer 2010

Recommended Reading:

For those who care to learn more about drilling for natural gas in Pennsylvania, here’s a link to

Documents: Natural Gas’s Toxic Waste, which was published by the New York Times in February.

Quoting from NYT: Over the past nine months, The Times reviewed more than 30,000 pages of documents obtained through open records requests of state and federal agencies and by visiting various regional offices that oversee drilling in Pennsylvania. Some of the documents were leaked by state or federal officials. Here, the most significant documents are made available with annotations from The Times.

and

Pa. allows dumping of tainted waters from gas boom—an Associated Press article written by David B. Caruso. It was posted at the Marcellus Shale Protest website.

Sources

126 thoughts on “Fracking USA: A Post about the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, Governor Tom Corbett, C. Alan Walker, the Marcellus Shale, Polluted Drinking Water, and the Movie Gasland”

  2. “Fracking” Shale Gas Emissions Far Worse Than Coal For Climate – Cornell Study
    by bdemelle
    Daily Kos, 4/11/2011
    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/11/965915/-Fracking-Shale-Gas-Emissions-Far-Worse-Than-Coal-For-ClimateCornell-Study

    Excerpt:
    The Hill reported this morning on a groundbreaking report from Cornell University researchers confirming that shale gas recovered through high volume hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” will produce even more greenhouse gases than the burning of coal in the next two decades – a critical window in which society must reduce emissions to combat climate change. While natural gas is often viewed as a “cleaner alternative” to conventional fossil fuels – and is often promoted as a “bridge fuel” by environmentalists and politicians alike – the new Cornell report explodes this myth.

    Gas is not just a “bridge to nowhere,” it turns out to be a highway to hell. The Cornell study makes clear that the widely-held perception that gas is the “cleaner” darling of the fossil fuel trio is a myth. With total methane emssions factored in, shale gas turns out to have the greatest climate impact of all the fossil fuels.

    Contrary to popular belief, gas is just as polluting as coal in the long term – and far worse in the near term due to the higher warming impact from methane when it is first released to the atmosphere during the controversial fracking stage. This news is certain to rattle policymakers in Washington who have promoted gas as a solution to our energy crisis. The Cornell paper is a game changer, and its release this week should command the attention of everyone concerned about our energy future.

    The peer-reviewed paper, authored by Cornell experts Robert Howarth, Anthony Ingraffea and Renee Santoro, is expected to be published later this week in the journal Climatic Change.

    **********

    Leaked draft of the study:

    Methane and the Greenhouse-Gas Footprint of Natural Gas
    from Shale Formations
    Robert W. Howarth1*, Renee Santoro1, and Anthony Ingraffea2

    http://thehill.com/images/stories/blogs/energy/howarth.pdf

  5. anyone who wants to learn about hydro fracking should watch this. dr. ingraffea explains it well but at close to 2 hrs it’s a long watch.

  6. Blouise & Buckeye,

    Ohio Lawmakers To Introduce Bill To Recall GOP Gov. John Kasich
    Think Progress, 4/11/2011
    By Tanya Somander
    http://thinkprogress.org/2011/04/11/ohio-recall-john-kasich/

    Excerpt:
    Last month, Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s (R) approval ratings plummeted to 30 percent after just two months in office. Kasich has repeatedly balked at transparency, reneged on his own promises to vulnerable constituents, insulted law enforcement and minorities, and muscled through a highly unpopular anti-union bill that dramatically restricts 350,000 workers’ rights.

    In response to Kasich’s disastrous reign, Democratic state Reps. Mike Foley and Bob Hagan will introduce legislation this week to make Ohio the 20th state to allow voters to remove and replace state officials, including the governor and legislators. The legislation requires a petition signed by 15 percent of the votes cast for that office in the last election. In Kasich’s case, they would need more than 577,870 signatures. While acknowledging that the bill is unlikely to pass in a GOP-led legislature, Hagan said Ohioans deserved a chance to recall a governor who is “hurting the people in this state”:

    State Rep. Robert Hagan, a Youngstown Democrat, cited what he called “an attack on working people, an attack on organized labor, an attack on the ability to collectively bargain” as reasons he’s co-sponsoring the measure. He said it also had to a lot to do with Gov. John Kasich.

    “He’s dividing the state,” Hagan said. “He’s hurting the people in this state and we think that this legislation that will be offered will go to the heart of those constituents and voters who have grown disenchanted with this governor.[…]

    Hagan said he did not expect the legislation to pass. But, he added, “I think that they would be foolish not to have some hearings and have this discussion. I think it would be even more foolish for them to stand in the way.” […]

    “People wanted to know why if they can do it in Wisconsin, why can’t they do it in Ohio — why can’t we do it in Ohio,” Foley said. “They wanted that same right here in Ohio.”

  9. Thanks Elaine. I knew you would do a good job.

    As to what the populace can do? Not much. I commented on dailykos:

    [In Pennsylvania—a central target for natural gas drilling and the controversial drilling practice known as horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”—local communities DON’T have the legal authority to keep unwanted drilling from happening.

    As fracking’s impacts on water safety make headlines and public resistance to drilling grows, some towns have tried to use land use zoning to keep drilling companies out—but they CAN’T use zoning laws to stop an activity the state has declared legal. (At best, they can zone where the corporations site their drill pads. But since drilling is not vertical but horizontal, there’s no way to contain its impact on a community’s water and environment.)

    Taking local control one small community in western Pennsylvania wanted more say over what happens within its borders. Licking Township, population 500, chose to defy state law with its own local ordinance, banning corporations from dumping fracking wastewater within its borders. Licking sits atop the Marcellus Shale, a geological formation that contains large and mostly untapped natural gas reserves.

    On Oct. 12, 2010, the Licking Township Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to ban corporations from dumping fracking wastewater within the township.

    Following in the footsteps of tiny Licking Township in taking action against fracking when the state of Pennsylvania won’t, Pittsburgh has banned corporations drilling for natural gas within the city limits. …. the ordinance prohibiting fracking received unanimous support in the city council and was prompted in part by corporations taking out leases to drill under area parks and cemeteries.

    Drafted with the help of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, which also helped draft the bill in Licking Township, goes beyond just banning natural gas drilling, it takes some very important steps towards reigning in the legal rights of corporations more broadly.

    Provisions in the ordinance ELIMINATE CORPORATE “PERSONHOOD” rights within the city for corporations seeking to drill, and remove the ability of corporations to wield the Commerce and Contracts Clauses of the U.S. Constitution to override community decision-making.

    In addition, with adoption of the ordinance, Pittsburgh became the first city in the U.S. to recognize legally binding rights of nature. By recognizing the rights of nature, Pittsburgh is effectively protecting ecosystems and natural communities within the city from efforts by corporations to drill there–and by other levels of government to authorize that drilling. Residents of Pittsburgh are empowered by the ordinance to enforce those rights on behalf of threatened ecosystems.]

    Sound like a plan?

  11. Scientific American, March, 2011, pp. 46-53, “The Enemy Within.”

    Before the problem of oil shale hydraulic fracturing becomes a serious threat, antibiotic-resistant disease vectors may reduce the human population enough that readily available energy supplies will be more than adequate?

    How much natural gas will be needed if, once again, worldwidehuman population is reduced to less that a thousand people?

    Where we live, in southern Door County, Wisconsin, karst geology of the Niagara dolostone was long ago “hydraulically fractured.” If there ever was significant natural gas here, it long ago escaped into the atmosphere through the fractured bedrock.

    Sometimes the solution to a problem exists well before it is recognized. The extensive use of antibiotics in industrialized agriculture may well have already implemented the solution to the supposed energy problem.

    What problem?

    That Scientific American article ends with the following, a remarkably optimistic statement in terms of the Gaia Hypothesis:

    [beign quote]
    “It is a ratity for a physician in the developed world to have a patient die of a n overwhelming infection for which there are no therapeutic options,” … “We had no effective treatment to offer.” Unless bacterial evolution slows down or drug development accelarates, such cases may soon become far too commonplace.
    [end quote]

    What if actual justice is of a vastly larger context than people can imagine?

    What if life itself turns out to be vastly more meaningful than one particular, particularly stupid, species?

    Did Schwartzkopf really get it right? “Sayonara, baby?”

    Zero population, no national debt.

  12. Considering how uptight the average Vineyard goer is, how can you tell if they have gas there, pete? Is there a high pitched whistling noise or what?

  13. pete,

    Those 6,000 people most likely have little political clout.

    Regarding Martha’s Vineyard: You got that right! Too many wealthy inhabitants…and rich vacationers.

  14. Eliane M

    it’s very telling that there are only 6000 people in that county. i doubt they’d be doing any hydro fracture drilling on martha’s vinyard even if there were gas there.

  17. Elaine,

    I am being most sincere when I tell you that you are providing a huge service to those of us on this blog who are giving it everything we’ve got to try and stop these 2010ers from destroying this nation.

    Their greed is so far out of control … we soldier on.

  19. a lot of places are finding out that it’s not smart to put their septic tanks so close to the well.

    figuratively speaking of course.

  20. Elaine,
    How can fracking be a problem because the Constitution doesn’t say that the companies can’t frack?? 🙂

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