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. rafflaw,

    re: “Don’t worry about repeating links. Old guys like me need to see things a few times before I remember them! 🙂 ”

    LOL (I can relate…)

  4. More Reasons to Question Whether Gas is Cleaner than Coal
    by Abrahm Lustgarten
    ProPublica, April 12, 2011
    http://www.propublica.org/article/more-reasons-to-question-whether-gas-is-cleaner-than-coal

    Excerpt:
    One of the main advantages of natural gas is that it is supposed to be far cleaner than oil or coal. Right now Congress is even considering a T. Boone Pickens-inspired bill aimed at converting the nation’s truck fleet to run on natural gas. If it’s passed, it will be in large part on the assumption that such a move will help the nation reduce climate-changing greenhouse gases.

    But evidence continues to mount that natural gas is not as clean as we like to think.

    In January, a ProPublica investigation found that large amounts of “fugitive” emissions were left out of common comparisons between coal and gas and that if these emissions were counted the advantages of natural gas dwindled. Our report found that the Environmental Protection Agency’s emissions estimates from hydraulic fracturing in shale formations were 9,000 times higher than the agency had previously estimated. We also quoted Robert Howarth, a Cornell University professor, saying that he would soon release research that showed that the emissions from gas were even worse.

    More details of Howarth’s research, which is reportedly scheduled to be published in the journal Climatic Change, were released by The Hill and The New York Times this week. Howarth’s conclusion — that shale gas production is actually far dirtier than coal in terms of greenhouse gas emissions — is attracting national attention.

    Howarth’s findings are based in part on the EPA’s revelation that far more gas escapes into the atmosphere in production fields than was previously known, and on a mathematical tweaking of the intensity of methane gas’ effect on the atmosphere. Howarth, whose figures for total emissions exceed even the EPA’s revised estimates, calculates the impact of methane in the atmosphere over a 20-year period, saying the urgent need to address short-term climate change justifies that calculation. Over 20 years, methane is considered 72 times as powerful as carbon dioxide in its effects on climate change. Using that approach, Howarth concludes that gas may be between 20 and 100 percent dirtier than coal.

  6. A blog reader was kind enough to email me a link to an article that appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette yesterday.

    Coal mogul gets role with Corbett
    Governor wants him to expedite permits for Marcellus Shale drilling
    Monday, April 11, 2011
    By Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica
    http://www.postgazette.com/pg/11101/1138525-454.stm

    Excerpt:
    For years C. Alan Walker, a coal industry mogul and wealthy donor to Pennsylvania’s Republican Party, clashed with environmental officials who tried to regulate his companies. He described them as “vindictive” and “out of control.”

    In 1981, Mr. Walker argued that the state should let someone from industry influence how environmental regulations were enforced.

    Now Mr. Walker himself has been given exactly that role by the state’s new Republican governor, Tom Corbett, who has accepted nearly $184,000 in political donations from Mr. Walker since 2004.

    In January, Mr. Corbett appointed Mr. Walker acting secretary for the state’s Department of Community and Economic Development. In March he gave him authority to expedite and influence permits at any state agency, including the Department of Environmental Protection, which regulates drilling in the Marcellus Shale. Mr. Walker also was appointed to the state’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission, a multi-stakeholder group that will advise the state in developing the Marcellus Shale, a major source of natural gas. The goal, Mr. Corbett has said, is to “make Pennsylvania the Texas of the natural gas boom.”

    A spokesman for Mr. Corbett said that Mr. Walker’s role is not unprecedented and that his influence will be tightly focused on promoting job growth while preserving environmental enforcement.

    Mr. Walker recently assured state legislators that he will not issue permits or override environmental decisions. “I’m merely here as an expediter to make sure that permits get the proper attention,” he said.

    He has also defended the environmental record of his coal companies, which were cited numerous times for polluting streams and drinking water: “As long as I have run those companies, not one gallon of polluted water went into a Commonwealth stream — period,” he told the Patriot News last month.

    However, a review of court documents, state records and of Mr. Walker’s own statements since the late 1970s revealed at least 15 cases in which his businesses polluted the state’s waterways.

    State records show that in the 1980s and 1990s Mr. Walker’s companies were ordered to treat wastewater that was contaminating residential drinking water wells and nearby streams.

    Many of the streams lead into larger waterways, including the Susquehanna River. In Rush Township mines drained into streams, polluting the municipal water supply for the nearby Clearfield County town of Houtzdale, as well as Mountain Branch, a stocked trout stream.

  7. Pingback: Gas drilling in Pennsylvania | ikners.com

  8. Don’t worry about repeating links. Old guys like me need to see things a few times before I remember them! 🙂

  9. Buddha,

    I, too, think repetition can be helpful–especially on threads with hundreds of comments. Sometimes links to pertinent and informative articles get lost.

    I did want to let anon nurse know about the link that I had posted to the draft of that Cornell study.

  10. Buddha is right about that. Last week the same link was posted by three different people. It was on the top 1%.

  11. Ladies,

    Might I suggest that repetition is not a bad thing when spreading pertinent information.

    It corrects for naturally occurring omissions (loss due to noise) and/or acts as reinforcement.

  13. Multiple Marcellus drilling lawsuits expected in Pennsylvania
    By Timothy Puko
    PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
    Saturday, April 9, 2011
    http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_731452.html

    Excerpt:
    It took six months and a lot of research for North Huntingdon officials to draft a set of laws for the Marcellus gas-drilling rush.

    Planners wanted to limit drilling to larger plots, demand escrow payments from drillers to help pay for road damage and craft rules on storm water management at wells. But fearful that deep-pocketed gas companies might fight some of their rules, they had to back down and leave some of them out, said Mike Turley, the township’s assistant manager.

    “We were worried this would get into a lot of litigation,” Turley said.

    They’re right to worry, two local legal experts said.

    The gas in the Marcellus shale formation is bringing untold riches into the area, but it’s likely to bring untold court battles. Costly research and court fights are in store for towns trying to craft laws to manage the drilling, experts said. Court precedent is short, meaning judges will likely settle a lot of questions in zoning laws unless state lawmakers intercede with new laws.

    “I think the future of this litigation in Pennsylvania is going to be pretty significant,” said Gina S. Warren, who teaches energy law and civil procedure at Duquesne University School of Law.

    Conflicts were bubbling this week in Washington County. Officials at Cecil-based Rice Energy filed a legal challenge to overturn new zoning laws in North Bethlehem. Officials from Texas-based Range Resources threatened to leave or sue Mt. Pleasant –the township in which Range discovered the Marcellus — because of restrictions from its supervisors.

  14. Thanks for that, Elaine. Not enough time to keep up these days… Missed it.. My apologies for the redundancy… 🙂

  17. Marcellus shale gas may head overseas
    By Lou Kilzer and Andrew Conte
    TRIBUNE-REVIEW
    Sunday, April 10, 2011
    http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_731595.html

    Excerpt:
    Drilling companies rapidly expanding their U.S. operations in places such as Pennsylvania’s vast Marcellus shale formation repeatedly tout they are providing American jobs and securing the nation’s energy future. Yet, a Tribune-Review examination found foreign companies are buying significant shares of these drilling projects and making plans for facilities to liquify and ship more of that natural gas overseas.

    A leading player in the natural gas grab is China, whose thirst for energy to fuel its industrial explosion is growing rapidly. Others include the governments of South Korea and India, and companies in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Norway, Japan and Australia. “They’re going to come in, extract all this stuff for next-to-nothing, and make global profits off it,” said Pittsburgh Councilman Doug Shields. “This is beads for Manhattan, in a global sense.”

    Much of the salesmanship to promote gas exploration nationwide, and especially in Pennsylvania, pressed the point that the country must become less dependent upon foreign energy sources. It avoided discussion about exporting that gas overseas.

    “The implications are great,” said Paul Cicio, president of Industrial Energy Consumers of America, which represents large U.S. manufacturers. He believes exporting newfound natural gas is a strategic blunder that will cost American manufacturing jobs by hiking the price of gas here. “This is not good for our country,” he said.

  18. Well Ohio Pine Cone,

    You are welcome to stay awhile and hell even engage in verbal combat, oral welfare…many ways that one can be taken…

    Its good to see you… Your presence has been missed… I usually accept gifts less than 600 dollars so it does not trigger any 1099’s… now if I could just get 1000 people to send me 599.00 in US Dollars…I could be set for a while…lol….

  20. Elaine,

    Thanks for the wonderful video … getting sleepy, getting sleepy

    Re: recalling elected officials in Ohio … there are other avenues to getting this law in front of the people and they are being actively pursued by activists who are non-elected officials because, no matter their words, no elected official wants such legislation passed. These democrats are merely talking a good game thinking that will fool activists throughout the state. Wrong!

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