Starting at 1:00 PM, Sunday, June 11th

Maryland Bans Fracking, After Votes in House, Senate, and Governor’s Approval

From an Article by Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch.com, March 28, 2017

Maryland is on track to become the third state to ban hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, for oil and natural gas, after the Senate voted 35-10 on Monday for a measure already approved by the House.

The bill is now headed to Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, who is in favor of a statewide fracking ban. Hogan, who once said that fracking is ” an economic gold mine,” stunned many with his complete turnaround at a press conference earlier this month.

“We must take the next step to move from virtually banning fracking to actually banning fracking,” the governor said. “The possible environmental risks of fracking simply outweigh any potential benefits.” Once signed into law, Maryland would be the first state with gas reserves to pass a ban through the legislature.

Don’t Frack Maryland, a coalition of more than 140 business, public interest, community, faith, food and climate groups, has campaigned vigorously for a statewide ban through rallies, marches, petition deliveries and phone calls to legislators.

“Today’s vote is a result of the work of thousands of Marylanders who came out to town halls, hearings and rallies across the state. The grassroots movement to ban fracking overcame the high-powered lobbyists and deep pockets of the oil and gas industry,” said Mitch Jones, Food & Water Watch senior policy advocate. “We worked tirelessly to make sure our legislators and the governor were held accountable to the demands of voters and followed the science. Now we look forward to Governor Hogan signing this bill into law and finally knowing that our water, climate and families will be protected from the dangers of fracking.”

Josh Tulkin, director of the Maryland Sierra Club, also commended the Maryland General Assembly for this “bipartisan victory.”

“Congratulations go to the thousands of people across the state, particularly those in Western Maryland, who stood up for their beliefs, who organized, lobbied and rallied to get this legislation passed,” Tulkin said. “This ban is a major step for Maryland’s path to a clean energy economy.”

Supporters of fracking say it creates jobs and provides energy security. “Denying Maryland consumers, businesses and job-seekers the benefits that come with in-state energy production through hydraulic fracturing shuts the door on an important share of the American energy renaissance and western Maryland’s future economic growth,” Drew Cobbs, executive director of the Maryland Petroleum Council, told the Associated Press after the vote.

But opponents of the drilling process, which involves shooting highly pressurized water and chemicals into underground formations to release oil and gas, cite health and environmental risks such as air and water pollution and earthquakes.

Fracking does not currently take place in Maryland but a moratorium on issuing permits ends in October.

Elisabeth Hoffman of Howard County Climate Action said that alarming research about fracking’s harms has emerged during the state moratorium, adding that “voices from fracked states were sounding the alarms as well.” “We are relieved and overjoyed that the state Senate has said NO to fracking,” she added.

The implications of the Senate’s vote are far reaching, according to Natalie Atherton of Citizen Shale. “Western Maryland is surrounded by fracking just across our state borders. We have learned from and worked with our neighbors whose health has been compromised for years,” Atherton said. “Already Citizen Shale is being approached by communities in other states, hoping to learn how they can ban fracking where they live. This has become a movement of people, and it won’t stop with Maryland.”

Yesterday’s vote was widely applauded by environmental groups especially in light of the Trump administration‘s apparent assault on environmental regulations.

“Despite Trump’s efforts to block climate action and roll back protections for people and the planet, communities in Maryland took matters into their own hands. This is an incredible victory that speaks to the power of grassroots organizing to take on the fossil fuel industry. Fracking is a reckless practice that threatens health and safety while intensifying the climate crisis,” 350.org Fracking Campaign coordinator Linda Capato Jr. said.

Capato is urging a similar movement worldwide.

“Maryland is taking a huge step forward, but communities are continuing to suffer as fracking and extreme extraction expands worldwide. This fight is a great reminder that when communities organize, we win,” she said. “As more people fight back against this dangerous and dirty industry, elected officials everywhere should follow Maryland and other state’s example by banning fracking and putting the health of our communities and climate first.”

See also:  Engage Mountain Maryland

Pipeline Slips & Scars Continue

Loud noise in Doddridge County wakes up residents

Information From Local News Reports, WDTV News 5, November 12, 2016

BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. — Several viewers reached out to WDTV News 5 on Saturday morning after hearing loud, explosive noises near the Stonewall Jackson momentum pipeline in Doddridge County.

After investigating and sending a reporter to the scene where Big Isaac Road and Meat House Fork intersect, Doddridge County 911 officials told 5 News that the noise was simply due to a pressure release valve on the pipeline letting go and building up with additional pressure.

No injuries were reported and there were no damages outside of the noises and regional disturbance.

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Why We Believe the Gas Companies Can Do Much Better

The small community of Big Isaac woke up at 5:30 AM Saturday morning to a huge hissing sound loud as thunder. It has been badly trammeled by the 36 inch Stonewall Gathering line. The quiet rural village at the intersection of Big Isaac and Meathouse Fork had the big transmission line put right through the middle of the community, with attendant disruption and destruction of meadow land vital to use of the adjoining slopes as pasture.

The sound awoke the community and provoked calls to 911, which didn’t respond and no one was able to get through to Equitable Gas (EQT), who owns the line. The residents were afraid of a blow out. Calls were made to activists far enough away to be safe, who were also unable to get a response.

It was established that the sound was coming from a compressor station. That wouldn’t prevent a horrendous fire if the gas ignited, of course. The sound did not slowly die out, as it would if the lines emptied, but about 7:30 AM it suddenly stopped. The big question is “What happened?”

One working hypothesis follows. Since it was the first colds nap of the season, a compressor “froze off.” As gas expands it cools, what is called adiabatic cooling, so compressors are subject to cold as the seasons change. They must be kept in a certain temperature range. A frozen compressor activates a pop-off valve, and with the huge compressors for a 36 inch line a lot of gas would be released, with consequent noise.

Now the people in this community are members of the human race. Several of them have college degrees, although the settlement is located in a rural area. The idea that they should be treated like rubes is outrageous. A call from the company to offer a brief explanation of what was going on when the alarm was raised, just a call to one or two families, either from the company (whose responsibility it was) or even 911 (assuming they contacted EQT and got an explanation from them) would have done a lot to allay fear of a fireball. The over-bearing attitude of gas companies toward the people their activities affect does more to damage to the companies then one can imagine.

S. Tom Bond, Jane Lew, Lewis County, WV

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Important Details on Unscheduled Blowdown of Stonewall Pipeline

I would add that it started with a huge explosion at 5:30, according to residents, “a sound like you never heard before,” followed by a loud hissing that went on for 2.5 hours.

The press person I finally got hold of contacted the company and was told that “nothing” had happened but a gas release, and the gas was apparently shut off around 8:00 a.m. Since the resident was afraid to go out there for fear of being caught on fire, he did not get any video or audio of the explosion or hissing sound.

This is the second time it has happened; the first one was soon after the line was first buried, last October. At that time, 2 or 3 people witnessed a large fire coming from the trench where the new pipe had just been buried. The people there now have to face the MVP being buried in a cross-trench right over or under the Stonewall, a line that was so badly screwed up we aren’t sure if we are going to survive it as it is.

I hope we can get a better system in place for the next time this happens! Know the residents called the WV-DEP and the spill line, but it was hours after the initial explosion. Interested persons went over the get an eye-witness account, but again, it was too late.

Anyone have other information, comments or suggestions?

April Pierson-Keating, Mountain Lakes Preservation Alliance

See also: www.mountainlakespreservation.org

EQT on schedule to drill Utica well in Wetzel County WV

From an Article by Jim Ross, State Journal, May 9, 2015

EQT Corporation still plans to drill at least one gas well in the Utica Shale in Wetzel County, and it may drill four more in its territory before the end of the year despite problems with the first well it is drilling in Pennsylvania.

Steven Schlotterbeck, EQT executive vice president and president of exploration and production, said drillers completed drilling the well with a final lateral length of 3,300 feet. They are currently running reservoir tests and plan to begin fracking in early June, he said. The well had a setback when drillers encountered pressures that were higher than expected and had to bring in a larger rig, he said.

“Despite this timing setback, we continue to be excited and optimistic about the dry gas Utica potential beneath our acreage,” Schlotterbeck said.

This year will be one of testing the Utica wells, and EQT will likely spend next year gathering and evaluating data before deciding whether to shift part of its capital expenditures from Marcellus Shale wells in West Virginia and Pennsylvania to the Utica, he said.

EQT’s first Utica well is using ceramics instead of sand underground, and that has added to the test well’s cost, Schlotterbeck said. “Our reservoir engineering at this point is suggesting that it might be possible to use sand in these wells, so that’ll be something we’re testing, probably not in these first two wells, but in subsequent wells,” he said.

As to the length of the lateral, the original plans were for it to be 3,000 to 4,500 feet. Engineers figured they needed at least 3,000 feet to get the reservoir test they really wanted, but they were willing to go as far as 4,500 feet.

“We had a lot of difficulties on this well, and the costs were pretty high, and when we got to 3,300 feet, there were some indications that more problems could be developing,” Schlotterbeck said.

EQT figures the first Utica test will cost $12 million to $17 million. For the first quarter, EQT reported net income of $173.4 million, down from $192.2 million a year ago. Operating income also was down, to $314.8 million from $356.8 million.

The company sold 145.2 billion cubic feet equivalent in the quarter, which was 37 percent more than the first quarter of 2014 and 6.2 percent higher than the fourth quarter 2014. The average realized sales price was 39 percent lower than last year, which more than offset the impact of the increase in sales volume.

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“Fight the gas companies”

Letter to Editor, Washington PA Observer Reporter, May 9, 2015

Our farm was in a quiet country setting for 18 years. In 2013, EQT Corp. started drilling gas wells all around us. I, like many residents, did not own my mineral rights, so we did not have the money to move away from all the dust, noise and pollution. We complained at the supervisors’ meeting in Washington Township, which is nearby, but we were shunned and ignored.

Our roads were never constructed for such heavy and overloaded trucks, and the repairs have been nothing more than a Band-Aid. We constantly complain about noise from engine brakes from caravans of trucks. The noise is so bad it rattles the windows in our house. Because of this, I now use medication to sleep.

This insanity has to end. But everyone we’ve contacted on the township, county and state levels tells us there is nothing they can do.

If any of these companies try to come into your communities, fight them with everything you have. Once they are there, your quiet, pristine community will be destroyed.

Robert L. Thomas, West Bethlehem Township, Washington County, PA

See also: www.Marcellus-Shale.us