Frack Check WV » Halliburton loophole

Vote for What’s Right for the People and the Earth!

S. Tom Bond — Sat, 24 Jun 2017 15:47:11 +0000

Large gas pipelines create sediment at stream crossings, etc.

The Halliburton Loophole Started an Attack on the Environment

Letter to FrackCheckWV and Tom Bond from George Neall, June 22, 2017

What has been taking place in WV, PA and other states since 2004/2005 is a carefully choreographed action plan devised by the oil and gas industry. The first step was getting the “Halliburton loophole” written into the energy bill in 2005. This opened the floodgates to the fracking industry so they could assault Marcellus shale areas and reap methane from previously uneconomic shale formations.

At the same time, the O&G industry was working behind the scenes to get the complex government bureaucracy working for them. They knew that once they got thousands of fracked gas wells producing, they would need infrastructure to transport that gas to markets along the east coast. Natural gas markets could be expanded by switching from “dirty coal” electrical generating plants to “clean gas” plants. Plans were also made to liquefy the natural gas so it could be exported.

All of this should have served as warning to environmental organizations, but they apparently failed to realize the significance of what was to follow. Few, if any, in the environmental community were doing strategic planning and thinking so they could effectively oppose such future assaults before they occurred.

To aide in this, the O&G industry made sure that PHMSA’s budget was increased (at a time when other government agency budgets were being slashed) so more pipeline inspectors could be hired and trained. The O&G industry also worked with the states to make it easier for them to survey and steal land for pipelines using eminent domain.

Though opposition to the pipelines has been strong, I believe few, if any, protests will prevent those pipelines from being built, especially considering the actions of the Trump administration and recent court rulings, which clearly favor corporations. “It’s difficult to win a game when the rules are stacked against you.” Once the pipelines are built, that will provide justification for further drilling of fracked wells in deeper shale formations.

Of course, the price of natural gas will rise because of exports and the increased production costs, but that’s OK because consumers will pay these costs and the O&G industry will make their profits. Low and middle income rural people will bear the brunt of the environmental and social damage that results from this.

The O&G industry is working in concert with coal companies, pipeline contractors, mining companies and the Trump administration. Their goal is to divide and conquer and it seems to be working. We have thousands of hard-working environmental and social justice organizations working independently and uncoordinated. Many are duplicating the efforts of other groups. The O&G industry is playing on the egos of leaders of these organizations and the organizations don’t seem to understand that unification, a united front, is needed to effectively oppose what is being done to people and the environment.

The O&G industry recognizes the importance of water, probably more so than the average urbanite who takes clean water for granted, and is taking steps to maximize their profits by investing in water (link). The Haliburton loophole makes it legal for them to pollute aquifers. But that’s OK to them because it opens up another huge market that everyone needs even more than oil and gas……..clean water.

Fracking (like other environmental and social justice issues) needs to become an election issue! It’s not a Democratic party issue or a Republican party issue. It’s a “what’s right” issue. Not “what’s right for the rich”. Not “whats right for corporations,” But “what’s right for people and the earth.”

Submitted by George Neall, Mathias, Hardy County, WV

Keystone XL Pipeline Act (Senate Bill S.1), Adopted 62 – 36, But …

Duane Nichols — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 13:00:11 +0000

Pipeline Spills Cause Long Lasting Impacts

Gillibrand Amendment (#48) would have closed the Halliburton Loophole

Amendment 48 was supported by Clean Water Action – Earthjustice – Earthworks – Environmental Integrity Project — League of Conservation Voters – Natural Resources Defense Council — Sierra Club – Western Organization of Resource Councils

Amendment 48 would allow EPA to regulate fracking (hydraulic fracturing) under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Fracking (aka hydraulic fracturing) involves the injection of fluids, often containing toxic and/or carcinogenic chemicals, into oil or gas wells at very high pressure. These pressurized fluids are used to crack open the underground formation to allow oil or gas to flow more freely and increase production.

Fracking is occurring in approximately 35 states. According to The Wall Street Journal, more than 15 million Americans live within a mile of a well that has been drilled since 2000. Fracking is linked to contamination of drinking water in communities around the country, and state rules vary widely. Regardless of which state they live in, all Americans deserve to have their water protected by the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).

Yet, in 2005, Congress exempted hydraulic fracturing from the SDWA to benefit Halliburton and other fracking companies. It’s time to reverse this hand-out to special interests.

Closing the Halliburton Loophole would not ban fracking, mandate a new process, or require disclosure of proprietary trade secrets or confidential business information.

Closing the Halliburton Loophole would allow EPA to provide a minimum federal standard to protect drinking water, prohibit drinking water contamination, and ensure better scientific understanding of the threats of fracking. Fracking is linked to drinking water contamination around the country, but every state has different standards with varied strength, effectiveness and enforcement.

For example, between 2008 and early 2014, Pennsylvania state regulators found 248 incidents where oil and gas companies damaged private water supplies. But according to state records, hundreds of other water complaints have undetermined causes or the causes have not yet been determined.

According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, approximately half of the total U.S. population and 95% of our rural population obtain drinking water from underground water sources. Federal regulation is essential to ensure that there is a consistent federal standard to prohibit endangerment of drinking water sources.

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Senator Kristen Gillibrand (D – NY) offered Amendment 48 (remove the Halliburton loophole). Defeated 35 to 63.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Senator Tom Udall (D – NM) offered Amendment 77 (renewable electricity standards). Defeated 45 to 53.

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Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D – ND) offered Amendment 133 (renewable energy tax credits). Defeated 47 to 51.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Senator Ed Markey (D – MA) offered Amendment 178 (oil spill liability trust fund). Defeated 44 to 54.

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Senator Lisa Murkowski (R – AK) sponsored Senate Bill S.1, Keystone XL Pipeline Act. Adopted 62 to 36, as amended, at the end of the day on January 29, 2015.

A Veto is Action Against Climate Change!

Side-stepping ‘Halliburton Loophole: EPA Fines Exxon’s XTO for Fracking Related Stream Damages

Duane Nichols — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 19:42:21 +0000

US Army Corps Regulates Section 404

Exxon gas subsidiary hit with $2.3 million fine for construction-related damage to West Virginia waterways

From an Article by Lauren McCauley, Common Dreams, December 23, 2014

Side-stepping a shifty exemption for fracking pollution known as the “Halliburton loophole,” the Environmental Protection Agency is fining the world’s largest natural gas company for dirtying West Virginia’s waterways.

The EPA, the Justice Department, and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) on Monday charged XTO Energy, a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil, $2.3 million for violating the Clean Water Act for fracking-related activities in West Virginia. The company will also have to pay an additional $3 million to restore eight sites damaged by the unauthorized discharge of fill material into streams and wetlands.

And while a $2.3 million fine is “a very small drop in a very large bucket” for XTO Energy, as Clean Technica reporter Tina Casey points out, this charge is noteworthy because the EPA managed to skirt a loophole that largely exempts oil and gas drilling by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, from the Safe Drinking Water Act or Clean Water Act.

“The EPA has been carefully pussyfooting around the fracking issue for years because its hands are tied by an enormous pollution loophole engineered during the Bush Administration by then-Vice President Dick Cheney, who left his post as CEO of the drilling industry services company Halliburton to run for office in 2000,” Casey writes.

To avoid that loophole, Casey explains, “Instead of making straight for the drilling operation itself, EPA went after XTO/ExxonMobil for ordinary construction-related damage.”

The EPA statement charges, “the company impacted streams and discharged sand, dirt, rocks and other fill material into streams and wetlands without a federal permit in order to construct well pads, road crossings, freshwater pits, and other facilities related to natural gas extraction.”

According to the EPA, the fracking-related activities were in violation of Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, which prohibits the filling or damming of wetlands, rivers, streams, and other waters of the United States without a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

This is the second time the EPA has levied roundabout charges against fracking polluters. Last year, Chesapeake Energy was fined $6.5 million on identical grounds.

Op-Ed Commentary: Pattern of Complaints Arises near Fracking

Duane Nichols — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 11:05:02 +0000

: Halliburton regulations “loopholes”

Pattern of complaints arises near fracking, by S. Thomas Bond

Charleston Gazette, Op-Ed, July 24, 2012: One of the most remarkable features of today’s news is the disparity between the shale gas drilling industry claims and the claims of people and organizations where they drill.

Drillers say no harm is done and great economic benefits result. Certainly, a vast building project is involved, the investment is in the billions, with money coming from all over the world. A map showing the shale areas of the United States where natural gas is believed to be recoverable is impressive. Politicians in some big shale states are ecstatic about what they have been told.

At the same time, newspapers and TV stations carry numerous accounts of complaints of injury by people who live in those areas when shale drilling takes place. No matter where it is done, it is the same constellation of damages. Most prominently these include destruction of aquifers, contamination of surface waters, and air pollution resulting in health claims.

There also are reports of road damage, sick and dead livestock, soil contamination. Property devaluation figures into these complaints too. The countryside where drilling occurs is abuzz with such stories.

The drilling industry has numerous public relations organizations to counter these claims. They will provide speakers for your meetings, articles to be published wherever possible, and “experts” on demand. Every company has one or more spokesmen primed to answer any question or negate any assertion.

Opposition to shale drilling has produced some 200 Internet sites in the United States and more in a dozen other countries, Canada foremost among them. The diversity of these sites is remarkable. Some want to preserve clean water, some emphasize clean air, some want to exercise political pressure by meetings, some focus on the compounds used in fracking, some on property damage, and a few are displays of aggrieved individuals. My personal favorite of the last category is Harry Boyd’s once-certified organic farm for ginseng in Ohio. Shale drilling has reduced it to an open toxic dump.

So, head to head, why is this? No one is calling anyone a liar — yet. A few days ago, a Wyoming state official took things to a new (low) level when he said, “I really believe greed is driving a lot of this … they’re just looking to get compensated.” Subsequently he offered an apology.

The Oil and Gas Journal has gone so far as to say, “It’s the allegation that drilling and completing wells in gas-bearing shales threaten subsurface supplies of drinking water. If not discredited, repeated falsehoods will coalesce into a political force able to stop the most promising development in generations for U.S. energy supply.”

On the other hand, there is a movement among investors with over a trillion dollars invested to have the industry use more responsible drilling methods.

Are the claims “falsehoods”? Numerous claims have been taken to court. When it looks like the company will lose, such as in the Hallowich case in Pennsylvania, the company settles, paying extra to have the claimants agree to refrain from discussing the terms or amount of the settlement. Some suits are lost.

The industry is stressed. The investment is more than most of us could understand. They picked up a raw technology, never passing through the “scaled up” stage. It went straight from a single proof of concept to full-scale application without the kind or research that should have been done to check for environmental problems. This would have involved testing water and air before drilling, during drilling and after to see what happened.

Since each well has a unique geological setting, this should have been done numerous times. What goes down the well in hydraulic fracturing is known to the petroleum engineers in charge, but to this day what comes back up in the way of drill cuttings and flowback is not public knowledge, and perhaps is not known to the petroleum engineers. The high temperatures and pressures below change solubility of many compounds.

The public health industry is vitally interested. Just as the “Halliburton loophole(s)” helps the industry avoid responsibility for clean air, water and creation of contaminated brownfields, new legislation in Pennsylvania and Ohio seeks to hamstring physicians in their relations with their patients and in interaction with other doctors. The shale drilling industry may just be its own worst enemy.

S. Thomas Bond, of Jane Lew in Lewis County WV, is a retired teacher and an inorganic chemist. He is a member of the Guardians of the West Fork and the Monongahela Area Watersheds Compact.