It is absolutely essential to breathe clean air

According to the Environmental Health Project, active frack pads, compressor stations, and processing facilities regularly emit particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and other chemical pollutants that we aren’t able to see. When ingested, these emissions can cause or exacerbate a host of short- and long-term health problems, including headaches, eye and throat irritation, respiratory complications, chest pain, asthma, and various types of cancer.

This Thursday, join the first session of our webinar and Q&A on air pollution and inadequate regulation in the Ohio River Valley. Ohio regulatory agencies’ inadequate monitoring and oversight of fracking-related air pollution in Belmont County endangers our health and livelihoods, especially if an ethane cracker plant is also built in the region. Join our webinar to learn more!

Register here for the webinar and Q&A this Thursday, November 5th, from 6:30pm to 8:00pm EST.

If you can’t make it this Thursday, we’re hosting a second session of Making the Invisible Visible on Thursday, November 19th at 6:30pm Save the date and register here.

The Ohio River Valley is already endangered by the cumulative pollution caused by the fracking industry, including toxic chemicals and radioactive particulate matter. Join us to learn more about how you can protect yourself by participating in a community monitoring program to establish baseline air quality data and advise residents of their exposures and associated health effects.

What you’ll get from this presentation:

>> Information on the potential health risks posed by proximity to shale gas wells and other fracking-related facilities.

>> An understanding of state regulatory agencies’ complicity in allowing petrochemical facilities to emit potentially dangerous levels of chemical pollutants into the air we breathe.

>> Access to free air monitoring equipment, enabling you to evaluate and track the air quality of your home or backyard.

>> The opportunity to discuss air pollution in Belmont County with scientists, air monitoring experts, public health professionals, and community advocates during a 30-minute Q&A session.

This presentation was made possible with the help of the Freshwater Accountability Project, the American Geophysical Union’s Thriving Earth Exchange, Carnegie Mellon University’s CREATE Lab, FracTracker Alliance, Concerned Ohio River Residents, Halt the Harm Network, and the Southwestern Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project.

Thanks for reading! We look forward to seeing you on Thursday,

Ben Hunkler, Organizer, Concerned Ohio River Residents

#. #. #. #. #. #. #. #. #. #. #. #.

See this video: “Hydrofracking and Exposure to Ionizing Radiation,” David O. Carpenter, MD, SouthWest Penna. Environmental Health Project, October 15, 2020

Proposed pipelines for shale gas in central Appalachia

Letter to Editor of Charleston Gazette-Mail by Jim Kotcon and Kevin Campbell, August 4, 2020

Doug Reynolds, majority owner of HD Media LLC, which owns the Charleston Gazette-Mail, questioned in a recent op-ed whether anyone wins from the cancellation of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline natural gas project.

Unfortunately, he and a wide range of West Virginia leaders appear to be taking the wrong lessons from the cancellation. If West Virginia leaders want to promote economic development, they need to recognize what really happened here and what it means for the future.

Developers, politicians and other industry leaders blame “regulatory uncertainty” and litigation by environmentalists for the cancellation. But West Virginians should not be fooled: The developers of the pipeline really have only themselves and their bad management decisions to blame.

Courts tend to defer to regulatory agencies, so the court decisions halting the pipeline only could have happened because those violations were real. These were not the result of “regulatory uncertainty,” they were the result of developers trying to ignore the plain language of the law.

For over five years, we have told developers that climate change is real, that building a pipeline on steep slopes with erodible soils requires very careful, site-specific plans to prevent water pollution and that the need for the pipeline was never really demonstrated. Instead of addressing these very real issues, developers continually tried to bulldoze over our objections. Those bad decisions resulted in dozens of violations, successful legal challenges, wasted money and continuous conflict.

Water quality violations from Atlantic Coast are numerous. We saw it coming, we warned regulatory agencies in hundreds of public comments and complaints, and unfortunately, it happened as we forecast. This was not some big surprise, it was the inevitable and easily predictable result of trying to build on West Virginia’s steep slopes without adequate precautions.

The lack of need for the pipeline may have been the real driver for the cancellation. It was dubious from the beginning, driven more by the greed of developers to capture guaranteed returns from ratepayers than from any realistic assessment of market demand. As prices for exported gas collapsed and plans for new power plants were shelved, the economic justification looked more and more contrived. We suspect that if there were a legitimate market need, Atlantic Coast would not have been canceled, regardless of the environmental concerns.

Most importantly, climate change is real. We need to reduce use of fossil fuels quickly and be entirely out within 30 years. Investing billions of dollars in fossil fuel infrastructure would almost certainly never pay off. The passage in Virginia this spring of the state’s Clean Economy Act made that abundantly clear to developers, even if West Virginia politicians remain chained to the failed fossil fuel millstone of the past. Until we recognize the reality of climate change and adopt the needed policies to address it, economic development struggles will continue.

And if West Virginians want jobs, dollars invested in renewables now produce more jobs than fossil fuels. West Virginia continues to miss real job creation opportunities by trying to save a dying fossil fuel industry. Every surrounding state has more jobs in renewables than West Virginia, primarily due to the renewable energy policies chosen by lawmakers.

Reynolds asked, “Who won?” Well, landowners will get to use their property (we hope), so they won. West Virginia streams will be a little cleaner, so we all win that one. Ratepayers do not have to reward developers with billions of dollars for unnecessary costs, so they win big. Most of all, the greenhouse gases will not pollute the atmosphere for decades to come, so planet Earth wins.

Note: Jim Kotcon and Kevin Campbell are with the Sierra Club Chapter in West Virginia.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

See also: The Atlantic Coast Pipeline was canceled. What happens to all the land acquired for it? – Virginia Mercury, July 29, 2020

Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline in Lancaster County PA

From an Article by Ad Crable, Lancaster OnLine, October 4, 2018

Natural gas will begin flowing through the controversial Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline underneath Lancaster County on Saturday, according to the pipeline builder.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday morning gave Oklahoma-based Williams Partners the green light, saying the company has “adequately stabilized the areas disturbed by construction and that restoration is proceeding satisfactorily.”

Williams had originally asked to put the pipeline in service by Sept. 10, but flooding damage along the rights of way in August delayed that startup date.

Williams said it will begin full service on Saturday, moving natural gas collected from Marcellus Shale wells in northeastern Pennsylvania through the 42-inch pipeline — the industry’s largest — to markets as far south as Alabama. Some of the gas will be exported overseas as well.

The pipeline goes through 37 miles of western Lancaster County.

“This project makes the largest-volume pipeline system in the country even larger, further executing on our strategy to connect premier natural gas supply areas with the best markets in the country,” Alan Armstrong, Williams’ president and chief executive officer said in a press release.

“The project is significant for Pennsylvania and natural gas-consuming markets all along the East Coast, alleviating infrastructure bottlenecks and providing millions of consumers direct access to one of the most abundant, cost-effective natural gas supply sources in the country.”

Gene Barr, president of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry added, “Atlantic Sunrise has been a tremendous economic boom that will no doubt yield benefits, both economic and environmental, for the commonwealth for decades to come.”

But Lancaster County was the focal point for the strongest opposition to the pipeline, with dozens of arrests during protests and work blockages.

Lancaster Against Pipelines co-founder Mark Clatterbuck of Martic Township issued this statement in reaction to the pipeline opening: “From start to finish, Williams has shown nothing but arrogance and contempt toward our community while forcing the ASP through Lancaster County.

“That continued this past Monday, as we watched in horror as pipeliners for Williams tore down a giant cross and prayer labyrinth on land owned by the Adorers of the Blood of Christ. Site supervisors mocked us with their grins as one of the Sisters sat weeping at the outdoor chapel, bulldozers drowning out her quiet sobs.

“The ASP has been a huge wake-up call for Lancaster County. As FERC gives final approval for this dangerous pipeline, grassroots efforts are just beginning to dismantle the system that allows pipelines to keep terrorizing our communities and environment. Local resistance is springing up all over Pennsylvania, which is the industry’s greatest fear.”

The $3 billion project includes 198 miles of new pipeline, almost all in Pennsylvania, two new compressor stations and compressor station modifications in five states.

FERC had authorized construction of the project in February 2017.

Jeff & Kerri Bond speak on fracking issues

From an Article by Julie Grant, StateImpact PA, May 4, 2018

As the shale gas industry has moved west to Ohio, people there are concerned about the impact that new well pads, pipelines, compressor stations and diesel truck traffic are having on the environment and the quality of life in their rural communities. What can they learn from what has happened in southwestern Pennsylvania?

After forty years, Kerri and Jeff Bond are moving from their small farm in Seneca Lake, Ohio. The rural hillsides have changed in recent years. The trees in their yard started to lose foliage and die last year. Their sheep, chickens and cats died, and their dogs developed tumors. The Bonds, themselves, say their family has developed ongoing rashes.

“We’ve never had any of this before, ever,” Kerri Bond says. “And we’ve lived area our whole lives. We wanted to retire here. We can’t. We’ve got to move.”

LISTEN: “Gearing Up for Frack Fight, Ohio Residents Turn to PA Experts”

The Bonds blame the gas development that’s been building up all around them – numerous well pads, and the Crum Compressor Station sits about a quarter mile over the ridge from their farm. The night time sky lights up orange the compressor station is vented. Then, there’s all the diesel trucks creating traffic problems and emitting pollution. “My community has been inundated with drilling and fracking, and waste,” she says.

Many people in the Bond’s community support the fracking industry because of the jobs and money it’s brought. So, she says she’s not popular when she complains about the drilling activity that lights up the hillside next to her house after the sun goes down.

“No one ever knows what’s going on out there,” she says. “It’s constant. My house shakes. It’s like trying to sleep next to a jet engine out there, every night.”

Jeff Bond took a photo after being woken up in the middle of the night by the fracking operation just beyond his farm. The glow in the background is from the Crum Compressor Station which sits about 2500 feet from the Bond family farm.

“TOGETHER WE CAN STAND STRONG”

Bond was one of about forty people who gathered recently at Salt Fork State Park in eastern Ohio for a meeting organized and funded by the Freshwater Accountability Project. It was an opportunity for residents to voice their concerns, and to hear from experts about the environmental, legal, and health issues of fracking.

Environmental activist Teresa Mills says people like Bond aren’t getting assistance from Ohio officials. “The industry has everything locked down,” she says. “So people feel helpless.”

This feeling of helplessness is why Mills helped organize this community meeting.

Rover Gets Limited FERC OK to Start Up Mainline Compressor 3, Segment

From an Article by Jeremiah Shelor, NGI Shale Daily, April 26, 2018

FERC on Wednesday gave Rover Pipeline LLC the green light to ramp up part of its second and final phase, bringing the 3.25 Bcf/d Appalachian natural gas takeaway project a step closer to full service, although the authorization was not expected to increase throughput capacity on the pipe.

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff authorized Rover to begin service on the Mainline Compressor Station 3 and the segment of its Mainline B running between the second and third of Rover’s mainline compressors [CP15-93].

The order partially grants a request submitted April 13, with Rover’s Defiance Compressor Station, Market Segment and Vector Delivery Meter Station still awaiting FERC’s approval. The in-service request for the other facilities is still under evaluation, according to FERC.

In March, FERC staff took issue with delays in the completion of restoration work at Rover’s Mainline 1 and Mainline 2 compressors, warning that future in-service authorizations could be impacted.

Rover’s February request to start up its Burgettstown Lateral to southwestern Pennsylvania has gone more than two months without an affirmative response from the Commission.

“Wednesday’s authorization is not expected to add additional throughput to Rover’s current roughly 2 Bcf/d capacity levels, as the newly authorized section of Mainline B is located in central Ohio, and will be capped at either end by sections of pipe restricted to only one operational mainline,” Genscape Inc. analysts Colette Breshears and Vanessa Witte said in a note to clients.

The 713-mile Rover project is designed to connect additional volumes of Marcellus and Utica shale gas to markets in the Midwest, Gulf Coast and Canada. The project has recently been transporting around 1.6-1.7 Bcf/d east-to-west across Ohio to interconnects with the ANR and Panhandle Eastern pipelines, according to NGI’s Rover Tracker.

In an update to its project website Wednesday, Rover said it has completed 98% of the horizontal direction drills needed for the pipeline, with total project construction now 99% complete.

Prof. Ingraffea: Methane gas is increasing rapidly

From an Article by Sharon Kelly, DeSmog Blog, April 11, 2018

In 2011, a Cornell University research team first made the groundbreaking discovery that leaking methane from the shale gas fracking boom could make burning fracked gas worse for the climate than coal.

In a sobering lecture released this month, a member of that team, Dr. Anthony Ingraffea, Professor of Engineering Emeritus at Cornell University, outlined more precisely the role U.S. fracking is playing in changing the world’s climate.

The most recent climate data suggests that the world is on track to cross the two degrees of warming threshold set in the Paris accord in just 10 to 15 years, says Ingraffea in a 13-minute lecture titled “Shale Gas: The Technological Gamble That Should Not Have Been Taken,” which was posted online on April 4.

That’s if American energy policy follows the track predicted by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which expects 1 million natural gas wells will be producing gas in the U.S. in 2050, up from roughly 100,000 today.

The Difference of a Half Degree

An average global temperature increase of 2° Celsius (3.6° Fahrenheit) will bring catastrophic changes — even as compared against a change of 1.5° C (2.7° F). “Heat waves would last around a third longer, rain storms would be about a third more intense, the increase in sea level would be approximately that much higher and the percentage of tropical coral reefs at risk of severe degradation would be roughly that much greater,” with just that half-degree difference, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory explained in a 2016 post about climate change.

A draft report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was leaked this January, concludes that it’s “extremely unlikely” that the world will keep to a 1.5° change, estimating that the world will cross that threshold in roughly 20 years, somewhat slower than Ingraffea’s presentation concludes.

Earlier models, like an often-cited 2012 paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Science, dramatically underestimated the rise in temperatures, when its projections are compared against more than a half-decade of additional temperature recordings, Ingraffea says. “Every one of these scenarios under-predicted actual global warming,” he points out as he describes the models presented in that landmark 2012 study.

“Whereas the worst-case scenario brought us to 1.5 degrees Centigrade in 2040,” he adds, “we’re almost there today.”

A Different Energy Future, if Not for Fracking? So what happened?

Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, U.S. natural gas production was flat or falling. If that trend had continued along the same track it was following from 2006-2008, then wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources might have had a chance to displace both natural gas and coal as major energy sources in America, according to Ingraffea.

Instead, the shale gas rush, propelled by hydraulic fracturing (fracking), swept across the U.S., with drillers snapping up land to drill for previously inaccessible fossil fuels locked in geologic formations of shale rock from coast to coast.

If the shale gas rush hadn’t disrupted trends around that time, Ingraffea estimates that the wind energy sector alone could have produced roughly triple the amount of energy expected by the end of this coming decade, a difference of roughly 400 gigawatts.

“We can easily see there is a loss of potential — large amounts of wind energy — because of the injection of shale gas into our energy economy,” Ingraffea explains in the lecture.

While the shale gas industry promised benefits like jobs and American energy security, Ingraffea notes, those benefits would have been almost exclusively aimed at just 5 percent of the world’s population, North Americans. But the harms will affect the remaining 95 percent of the world as well.

It’s an alarming message — even though the shale rush has stumbled somewhat as gas prices collapsed and many drillers went bankrupt, the cumulative impact of American fracking appears to have set the entire world on a collision course with climate change’s most extreme effects.

The climate is changing faster and more dramatically than it might have otherwise, and — far from serving as a bridge fuel — fracking huge amounts of natural gas has already played a significant role in pushing the world toward a vastly more difficult future.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Prof. Ingraffea’s lecture, part of the Spring Creek Project’s Bedrock Lectures on Human Rights and Climate Change series, can be viewed below:

“Shale Gas: The Technological Gamble That Should Not Have Been Taken” by Anthony Ingraffea, published on YouTube.

Frack Free North Carolina has Factsheets & Reports

From an Article by John Murawski, News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.), December 7, 2017

RALEIGH, N.C. — The proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline, already more than a year behind schedule, missed another deadline Wednesday when North Carolina regulators said they would not issue an environmental permit by December 15th as had been expected.

The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality sent the pipeline’s developers a request for more information on Monday, saying the request indefinitely suspends the December 15 deadline to issue an air-quality permit for a planned compressor station that will push the natural gas downstream through the underground pipeline. The date to issue a decision on the air-quality permit will now depend on the promptness of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline’s responses and the amount of time it takes state officials to review the materials.

The Department of Environmental Quality, part of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration, had previously submitted four rounds of questions seeking additional information from the Atlantic Coast Pipeline’s developers. The agency is headed by career environmentalist Michael Regan, a former Southeast Regional director of the Environmental Defense Fund and a former official in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

The Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a partnership of Charlotte-based Duke Energy and Richmond, Va.-based Dominion Energy, was slated to begin construction in early 2018. Dominion spokesman Aaron Ruby said the latest hiccup doesn’t affect the project’s schedule.

“The air-quality permit only relates to the compressor station and doesn’t have any impact on our pipeline construction schedule,” Ruby said. “We don’t plan on beginning construction on the compressor station until spring or summer.”

Dozens of organizations have lined up against the project, saying it poses environmental risks and will effectively commit North Carolina to fossil fuels, as opposed to renewable resources, for decades to come. Duke Energy has said it needs the pipeline to import natural gas from the Marcellus Shale and Utica Shale formations in Pennsylvania and West Virginia to operate more than a dozen natural gas-fueled power plants, some already built, others under development and still others projected in the future.

The proposed 600-mile underground pipeline would cross West Virginia and Virginia, traversing eight largely rural counties in North Carolina along the Interstate 95 corridor. The Atlantic Coast Pipeline issued a statement Wednesday saying that environmental regulators in West Virginia waived a water-quality certification for the project, removing one regulatory obstacle to full approval in that state. The Sierra Club denounced the decision as a “dereliction of duty.”

In North Carolina, the project requires numerous permits. It will need an air-quality permit to operate the compressor station in Northampton County; under state law, the permit decision must be issued within 30 days of the public hearing, which took place November 15. Now the state agency says its request for more information stops the clock indefinitely until regulators are satisfied with responses and materials, which will require computer modeling and other advanced analyses.

The project also requires a water-quality permit to let the pipeline cross several hundred creeks, brooks and other waterways. It also requires two storm water permits, as well as two approvals for sediment- and erosion-control plans.

On Wednesday the North Carolina agency said it approved one of the sediment and erosion plans, with modifications.

Forest Service has grave concerns about burying ACP in the mountains

Greenbrier River Watershed Association

Mark Your Calendars & Take Action — April 5 & 6, 2017

Call In Days to Protect Communities from Fracked Gas Pipelines, Compressors and LNG Exports

Right Now, FERC Can’t Approve Any Fracked Gas Pipelines or LNG Export Facilities Because they Don’t have the Legal Quorum Necessary to Cast Binding Votes.

Let’s Keep it That Way

Join the call-in days on April 5 and 6 when we’re asking you to make 6 calls to tell your Senators and the members of the Energy and Natural Resources committee to hold hearings to get to the bottom of FERC’s abuses of power and address them before approving one more appointee to the Commission!

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is a proven rubber stamp for fracked gas pipelines. In 30 years, the FERC Commissioners have only rejected one (1) pipeline project.

Right now, FERC is operating without a Quorum – it only has 2 Commissioners, not the needed 3.* Until a new FERC Commissioner is approved by the Senate, the agency cannot issue the Certificates needed to approve fracked gas pipelines, compressors or LNG exports subject to its jurisdiction.

It’s Time to Call Our Senators and Secure their Commitment to:

• Oppose Any New FERC Commissioners
• To Demand Congressional Hearings into FERC Abuses and Bias
• To identify reforms that will result in an agency dedicated to a just transition to energy that serves the people rather than abuses them.

Demand an investigation and reform of FERC before supporting any Trump nominations.

What will we be saying to senators?

1.FERC is a demonstrably biased agency – it has only denied one pipeline project brought before its commissioners in 30 years

2. Trump’s nominees for FERC Commissioner need to be opposed until Congress has held hearings into FERC’s abuses of power and has identified and put in place needed reforms.

3. Ask Trump’s nominees the tough questions that will expose the bias and abuses that exemplify FERC.

Find more information and all of the resources you need to make your calls, including phone numbers, a sample script, and an optional form to tell us how your calls went here:

http://bit.ly/CallReFERCApril

Details can also be found at our Facebook event page: http://bit.ly/2o2xGkr

>  >  >  >  >  >  >  >  >

Down to the Finish Line: DEIS Comments Due

The April 6 deadline for commenting on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP). Submitting comments for the DEIS is the most important action someone can take to influence the decision of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) regarding the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Even if someone testified at one of the recent FERC comment sessions, they are urged to also file written comments, permitting them to provide more expansive views.

To assist commenters, ABRA has prepared a guidance document:

The Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Atlantic

Coast Pipeline: What is it? What’s in it? What you can do!

Here’s how comments can submitted:

1. File comments electronically (which is encouraged) using the eComment feature on the Commission’s website (www.ferc.gov) under the link to Documents and Filings.

This is an easy method for submitting brief, text-only comments on a project.

2.File comments electronically by using the eFiling feature on the Commission’s website (www.ferc.gov) under the link to Documents and Filings.With eFiling, one can provide comments in a variety of formats by attaching them as a file with your submission.New eFiling users must first create an account by clicking on “eRegister.”

3. File a paper copy of comments by mailing them to the following address:

…………….. Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr., Deputy Secretary

……………….Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

……………….888 First Street NE, Room 1A

……………….Washington, DC  20426
>> Article from Allegheny Blue Ridge Alliance <<

>>> Greenbrier River Watershed Association

>>> 120 W. Washington St. Suite #4

>>> Lewisburg, WV 24901

See also:  www.pipelineupdate.org

Natural gas pipe stacked for quick retrieval

Mountain Valley Pipeline Public Notice on Permit Applications

Public Notice Information, WV-DEP, Compiled from Internet Sources, March 10, 2017

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection – Division of Water and Waste Management will hold public hearings regarding the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline project for State 401 Water Quality Certification, Natural Streams Preservation Act Permit, and for Oil and Gas General Water Pollution Control Permit. Comments can be made by letter or email.

Please note that you can mention that your comments apply to all three permits, rather than sending three separate mailings.

Please send comments before March 19th for the MVP permits listed below to either this email address: DEP.Comments@wv.gov or by regular mail to the address listed below (Attn: Sharon Mullins).

1. WV Natural Streams Preservation Act Permit

2. WV State 401 Water Quality Certification and Oil

3.  WV Gas General Water Pollution Control Permit

The Mountain Valley Pipeline project is comprised of approximately 195 miles of natural gas pipeline along with compressor stations, meter stations, access roads, and interconnects through: Wetzel, Harrison, Doddridge, Lewis, Braxton, Webster, Nicholas, Greenbrier, Fayette, Summers, and Monroe Counties in West Virginia.

>>> The associated Oil & Gas Construction Stormwater General Permit (WVR310667) would be for the discharge of stormwater associated with the disturbance of 4,214 acres of land for the of construction of this project.

>>> The Natural Streams Preservation Act permit (NSP-17-0001) being sought is for a proposed crossing of Greenbrier River in Summers County near Pence Springs.

>>> The State 401 Water Quality Certification (WQC-16-0005) would be for activities that will or may discharge fill into waters of the State. Mountain Valley Pipeline project is proposing to mitigate for the streams and wetlands permanently impacted by this project.

Any interested person may submit written comments on the Oil & Gas Construction Stormwater General Permit, the Natural Streams Preservation Act Permit, and/or the State 401 Water Quality Certification by addressing such to the Director of the Division of Water and Waste Management during the comment period, which ends on March 19, 2017 at 8 PM. Comments or requests should be emailed to dep.comments@wv.gov or by mail addressed to:

Director, Division of Water and Management, DEP
ATTN: Sharon Mullins, Permitting Section
601 57th Street SE
Charleston, WV 25304-2345

Applicant Type Permit ID:
Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC Oil & Gas Construction Stormwater General Permit WVR310667
Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC State 401 Water Quality Certification WQC-16-0005
Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC Natural Streams Preservation Act Permit NSP-17-0001

Additional Information

State 401 Water Quality Certification application (WQC-16-0005) (This is a large PDF file, which may take a moment to download and view)

Natural Streams Preservation Act permit application (NSP-17-0001) (This is a large PDF file, which may take a moment to download and view)

​Oil & Gas Construction Stormwater General Permit (WVR310667)

Instructions for navigating the Oil and Gas Construction Stormwater General Permit webpages

>>> Contact: Laura K. Cooper, Assistant Director – Water Quality Standards

Division of Water and Waste Management, WV Department of Environmental Protection

Office:  304-926-0499 x1110  Mobile: 304-206-8901

Email:   Laura.K.Cooper@wv.gov

Room 2169, 601 57^th St SE; Charleston, WV

Judy Eckert is just one person with water problems

Fracking Is Dangerous To Your Health — Here’s Why

From an Article by Judy Stone, Forbes Magazine, February 23, 2017

Fracking, or drilling for gas by hydraulic fracturing, has been associated with a growing number of health risks. Last week, I began this series looking at some of the hazardous chemicals injected into the wells to make drilling easier and cheaper, and the growing risks to our health by the GOP rushing through the approval of Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

This post looks in greater depth at the health problems linked to fracking. These are not hypothetical concerns—there are now more than 700 studies looking at risks—and more than 80% of the health studies document risks or actual harms.

It’s also important to note that these risks are likely to be seriously underestimated, because the environmental agencies have been downplaying the risks to the public. A new in-depth exposé from investigative journalists at Public Herald looks in-depth at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) misconduct and negligence, as the DEP studiously ignored citizens’ complaints, sometimes not even testing water samples. Earlier studies from ProPublica and others showed similar EPA failures in the western U.S.

<< A variety of health problems are associated with fracking >>

Respiratory problems:

Cough, shortness of breath and wheezing are the most common complaints of residents living near fracked wells. Toxic gases like benzene are released from the rock by fracking. Similarly, a toxic waste brew of water and chemicals is often stored in open pits, releasing volatile organic compounds into the air. These noxious chemicals and particulates are also released by the diesel powered pumps used to inject the water. An epidemiological study of more than 400,000 patients of Pennsylvania’s Geisinger clinic, done with Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, found a significant association between fracking and increases in mild, moderate and severe cases of asthma (odds ratios 4.4 to 1.5). Hopkins’ Dr. Brian Schwartz cautions that residents should be aware of this hazard as “some ‘pristine’ rural areas are converted to heavily trafficked industrial areas.”

Problems during pregnancy: 

Fracking chemicals are harmful to pregnant women and their developing babies. West Virginia researchers found endocrine-disrupting chemicals in surface waters near wastewater disposal sites; these types of chemicals can hurt the developing fetus even when present at very low concentrations.

Another Hopkins/Geisinger study looked at records of almost 11,000 women with newborns who lived near fracking sites and found a 40% increased chance of having a premature baby and a 30% risk of having the pregnancy be classified as “high-risk,” though they controlled for socioeconomic status and other risk factors. Contributing factors likely include air and water pollution, stress from the noise and traffic (1,000 tankers/well on average).

Premature babies accounted for 35% of infant deaths in 2010. In addition to the personal toll on the families, preemies are very expensive for society—prematurity is a major cause of neurologic disabilities in kids, and their cost of care was more the $26 billion in 2005 alone, or $51,600 per preemie. Cost to employers during the infant’s first year of life averaged $46,004—more than tenfold higher than for a full-term delivery.

[Note that if the Affordable Care Act is repealed, women may once again be denied health insurance for pregnancies and a premature baby will likely never be granted health insurance. According to the March of Dimes, Medicaid expansion of health insurance to low-income citizens helped the percentage of babies born as preemies drop to a low level of 11.4% in 2013.]

Noise, stress and sleep deprivation

Other studies have found that the noise from the drilling itself, the gas compressors, other heavy equipment and the truck traffic is high enough to disturb sleep, cause stress and increase high blood pressure. Longer-term exposure to noise pollution contributes to endocrine abnormalities and diabetes, heart disease, stress and depression, and has been linked to learning difficulties in children. Sleep deprivation has pervasive public health consequences, from causing accidents to chronic diseases.

Another epidemiologic study from University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University compared the hospitalization rates between a county with active fracking and a neighboring county without. This study found that fracking well density was significantly associated with higher inpatient hospitalization for cardiac or neurologic problems. There was also an association between skin conditions, cancer and urologic problems and the proximity of homes to active wells.

Spills and accidents

With disturbing frequency, new spills or accidents are reported at the same time as industry tries to reassure that fracking brings safe and clean energy. Tell that to the residents of Dimock, Pa., who have had their drinking water destroyed, or those in many other communities.

A newly released study found 6,648 spills in just four states over the past 10 years. Once again, the EPA had reported a far lower number—457 in eight states over a six-year period. Why the huge difference? Because the EPA chose to only look at the actual fracturing stage, rather than the whole life cycle of the gas and oil production.

The DeSmogBlog notes that just this month, the day after U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gave the owners of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) the final permit it needed to build across Lake Oahe (threatening the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s land and water), a pipeline of a DAPL co-owner exploded near New Orleans, killing one and injuring others. 

Aging pipelines pose special risks as they deteriorate. An ExxonMobil pipeline built in 1947 spilled 134,000 gallons of gas in Arkansas. You can see the location and magnitude of the spills at this handy interactive from the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) Science for Nature and People Partnership (SNAPP). Another disturbing data viz shows the type of spill and whether water was impacted.

But new fracking has additional risks, as the conventional pipes often used are unable to withstand the high pressure of the fracking mixture being injected. In fact, new wells were not safer, and 6% of unconventional (fracked) wells drilled since 2000 showed problems, with even the Pa. DEP (shown by Public Herald to not be thorough in investigating citizens’ complaints, nor entirely forthcoming) confirming more than 100 contaminated drinking water wells.

Conclusion

The oil and gas industry says that these health problems are not proven to be caused by fracking. That is partially true—especially since agencies like the Pa. DEP have actively hidden complaints or even failed to test the water of residents, as Public Herald reported. With the new head of the EPA, Scott Pruitt, determined to dismantle the agency and its protections, we will likely never have definitive proof. Some health problems, such as cancer and some neurologic problems, also take years to develop after an exposure.

Fracking profits go to private industry but the public—families and communities—bear the costs of the many health complications from the drilling.

There is growing evidence of a variety of health problems being associated with fracking. Common sense dictates that drinking and breathing cancer-causing agents will take their toll. The correlation is too strong to ignore, especially when we have other, cleaner energy options. For our safety and that of future generations, we should not allow the new administration to sell off public lands, nor allow drilling on our land, and should ban fracking completely.

Photo Description in Original Article: Judy Eckert holding water contaminated with arsenic drawn from her private well. In 2007 Guardian Exploration drilled and fracked a Marcellus well 450ft from her home, which she believes is part of the cause of her contaminated her water supply. In 2010 DEP found a waste pit buried illegally into her season high water table. To learn more about her case you can donate to receive a copy of Triple Divide — a Public Herald documentary on fracking.