Horizontal Drilling Rules Open for Public Comment & Hearing July 31st

July 26, 2012

WV-DEP Office Building Horizontal Drilling Rules Open for Public Comment  & Hearing July 31st The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection is currently accepting comments on its Proposed Rules Governing Horizontal Well Development (§35CSR8). Written comments may be submitted to: DEP Public Information Office, 601 57th St., S.E., Charleston, WV, 25304.  Comments may also be [...]

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PA DEP initiates air quality study following reports of poor responsiveness to complaints

July 26, 2012

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) announced the launch of a one-year ambient air monitoring project beginning on July 23, 2012 to study pollutants near permanent Marcellus gas facilities such as compressor stations and gas processing installations.  Canister samples will be tested for methane, ozone, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide and particulate [...]

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Ninety (90) Artists Recall Dunkard Creek’s Bounty

July 25, 2012

Dunkard Creek Mussels The Pittsburgh Post Gazette published an article on the Dunkard fish kill on July 17th, summarized below:   The stench of death is always a signal that something has gone terribly wrong, and it became overpowering as artist Ann Payne approached Dunkard Creek in 2009. An art exhibition, brimming with wonder but [...]

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Air Pollution From Chesapeake Drilling / Fracking in Ohio County, WV

July 24, 2012

Ohio County, WV This story about Ohio County in West Virginia was published by Casey Junkins on July 23rd in the Wheeling Intelligencer and has appeared in other papers: Sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and formaldehyde are some of the chemicals Chesapeake Energy is likely to pump into the air in Ohio County from its numerous [...]

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Open Letter to the CEO of ExxonMobil: Can you manage the risks of fracking?

July 23, 2012

Rex W. Tillerson, CEO ExxonMobil Corporation 5959 Las Colinas Boulevard Irving, Texas 75039-2298 Dear Mr. Tillerson, You have attracted a lot of attention with a statement, quoted in an article by Jonathan Fahey, “The industry’s biggest challenge, he said, is ‘taking an illiterate public and try to help them understand why we can manage these [...]

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Chevron Reactivates Marshall County Operations, Other Locations are Idle

July 22, 2012

Chevron is international Casey Junkins writing for the Wheeling Intelligencer on July 22, 2012, wrote the following interesting account about the activities of Chevron in the northern Panhandle of West Virginia: Energy giant Chevron continues to shore up its Marshall County drilling and fracking operations after temporarily halting production earlier this year.  “To date, some [...]

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GUEST COMMENTARY: Authority on Marcellus shale not telling all

July 21, 2012

NOTE:  The following guest editorial was published well over a year ago, but is still relevant. Publication: The Morgantown Dominion Post;  Date: March 13, 2011;  Section: Opinion; Page Number: 2-D; GUEST COMMENTARY:  Authority on Marcellus shale not telling all BY S. THOMAS BOND Authority is part of the problem with Marcellus shale drilling. The industry [...]

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The WV Sierra Club Wants New (Stronger) Gas Drilling/Fracking Rules

July 20, 2012

WV Sierra Club Activities Sierra Club: Tell the WV DEP, I want stronger new gas drilling rules. The Department of Environmental Protection Needs To Hear From You About New Marcellus Gas Drilling Rules Last December, the West Virginia Legislature passed a bill to regulate horizontal drilling and fracking for Marcellus gas. But the real protections [...]

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Natural Gas Utilities Seek Rate Increases Despite Record Low Well-Head Prices

July 19, 2012

Dan Heyman of the West Virginia Public News Service wrote the article below, as published on July 13, 2012: Gas Utilities Seek Hikes Despite Dropping Nat Gas Prices CHARLESTON, W. Va. – Despite record low prices for natural gas, West Virginia utilities are asking the state’s Public Service Commission (PSC) to confirm sharp rate hikes. [...]

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“Regulatory Capture” Occurs When Regulatory Agencies Assist, Not Regulate, Industrial Activities

July 18, 2012

New Words from the Japanese Nuclear Disaster Enter the Shale Drilling Vocabulary The commission set up by Japan’s parliament to study the Fukushima accident came up with a term for the cozy relationship between Japan’s Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NRA) and the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). The subduction of the NRA to the TEPCO allowed [...]

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