Methane is 25 to 40 times more damaging than carbon dioxide as a GHG

From an Article by Reid Frazier, StateImpact Pennsylvania, August 13, 2020

EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler came through Pittsburgh Thursday to announce a rollback of an Obama-era regulation on climate-warming methane emissions from the oil and gas sector.

Big oil companies favored the rules, which curb powerful greenhouse gas pollution. And, some states have their own controls on methane. Natural gas is most often between 80 to 90% methane, CH4.

The rule requires oil and gas companies to monitor and fix leaks of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and applies to new wells, pipelines and other infrastructure. In making the announcement, Wheeler said it was redundant with rules that make companies fix leaks of smog forming volatile organic compounds.

“In reality, these emissions are already captured by other means,” Wheeler said, to a room of masked reporters, local Republican elected officials, and Trump administration officers at the not-for-profit Energy Innovation Center.

“Industry already has more than enough incentive to capture methane without reporting requirements and other obligations,” Wheeler said. “Methane is the key constituent of natural gas and a valuable commodity. So companies are motivated to keep it in the pipeline system.”

The rollback removes transmission and storage facilities from methane monitoring requirements, and rescinds emission limits for methane from the production and processing of oil and gas. It also reduces monitoring of leaks at compressor stations, which process oil and gas, from quarterly to twice a year, and exempts lower-producing wells from some monitoring requirements.

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas — 25 times “better” at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide over the course of a century, and even stronger on shorter time scales. It’s responsible for around 17 percent of global warming to date, according to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The rollback is opposed by environmental groups, but also by large oil and gas companies, who argue it undercuts the climate benefits of natural gas use.

Shell US president Gretchen Watkins said in a statement the company has “consistently urged the Trump Administration to directly regulate methane emissions” from oil and gas operations. “The negative impacts of leaks and fugitive emissions have been widely acknowledged for years, so it’s frustrating and disappointing to see the Administration go in a different direction,” Watkins said.

But, according to Wheeler, the rollback would save money for smaller companies, which he credited with creating a drilling boom around the country. “The big multinational corporations are in a much better position than some of the small or medium-sized (companies)” to comply with the Obama-era methane rules, he said.

Wheeler said the rollback would save the oil and gas industry between $17 and $19 million a year. “These are important savings, especially to small and mid-sized oil and gas operators,” Wheeler said. “It’s important, vitally important to remember that it was the small exploration companies, not the multinational corporations, that made the breakthroughs here in the Marcellus Shale.”

Environmental groups in Pennsylvania say the rollback increases the stakes for Governor Tom Wolf’s attempts to regulate methane leaks in the commonwealth. “As the federal government is stepping back, it becomes even more important for states to step up,” said Matthew Garrington, senior manager of state campaigns for the Environmental Defense Fund.

Pennsylvania already has methane rules for wells that went into service after 2018. The Wolf administration is crafting rules that would apply to tens of thousands of existing wells in the state. Those rules would apply mainly to deeper Marcellus shale wells. Garrington said they should also apply to shallow conventional wells, which the EDF estimates account for around half of Pennsylvania’s methane emissions.

Other states, like Ohio and Colorado, also have their own methane rules, but Garrington said there are plenty that do not. “If we’re going to address climate change, we need a strong federal floor when it comes to requirements to reduce emissions across the oil and gas supply chain,” Garrington said.

Several environmental groups announced they will sue the Trump administration to prevent the rule from taking effect.

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SEE ALSO: The science and impact of climate change, KSAT Explains, San Antonio, August 14, 2020

Episode 9 of “KSAT Explains” covers what the future climate of Texas will look like, why you should care and what made the issue so polarizing.

ACP found challenges and issues in WV, VA & NC

Letter to Editor, Charleston Gazette-Mail, July 23, 2020

In his July 11 op-ed about the decision of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to scrap plans for construction, Doug Reynolds failed to mention the root cause of the pipeline’s demise. The ACP routinely violated laws and regulations to rush through completion. As reporting in the Gazette-Mail revealed, ACP, with complicity from the State of West Virginia, repeatedly filed shoddy permits that did not meet the letter of the law.

Atlantic Coast Pipeline was allowed to jump through regulatory hoops without proper analysis — permits were waived and permit requirements were changed to make it easier for ACP to move forward. Even then, ACP repeatedly failed to follow its permit requirements, resulting in polluted streams and numerous water-quality violations.

More often than not, these violations were documented by trained volunteers — West Virginians who, whatever their opinions of natural gas development, wanted nothing more than for ACP to do right by laws meant to protect our state’s water.

There was a time, not long ago, when natural gas companies and people concerned about the environment coexisted in West Virginia. At the scale of gas development before the fracking boom, they found ways to work together. International geopolitics, along with the Stone Age mentality of legislators to replace one boom-and-bust economy with another, changed that.

Mr. Reynolds quotes his father in defending the ACP, so I’ll quote mine, who was fond of citing our nation’s founders: “We are a nation of laws, not men.” As a proud union construction worker, he also believed the need to earn a dollar should never take precedent over the rights of private property owners nor the right to clean water. ACP and West Virginia’s legislators and administration showed little regard for either.

I am not anti-natural gas. I am, though, pro-property rights and a fervent believer that our state’s future rests in clean water and a readiness to demonstrate to potential new businesses that West Virginia is committed to a diversified economy where laws matter.

David Lillard, Shepherdstown, WV

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See also: CSI Results Show ACP Violations

Summary by Ellen Bouton, ABRA, January 27, 2019

The Pipeline Compliance Surveillance Initiative (CSI) Surveillance Report for January 24, 2019, includes analysis of the November and December 2018 flight photos by CSI Aerial Image Reviewers. After the analysis, 22 separate complaints concerning regulatory non-compliance were submitted by the West Virginia Rivers Coalition to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.

Complaints concerned:

>> Failure to install, or delayed installation of, erosion and sediment control measures. (5 incidents)
>>> Deviation from approved erosion and sediment control and construction plans. (1 incident)
>>> Missing, failed, damaged, or improperly installed or maintained silt fences, filter socks, or other perimeter control devices. (13 incidents)
>>> Missing, failed, damaged, or improperly constructed right-of-way diversions (water bars or slope breakers) and outlet structures. (2 incidents)
>>>Sediment discharge into streams and wetlands. (1 incident)

Following a December 10, 2018 inspection conducted in response to some of these complaints, WVDEP issued a Notice of Violation to Dominion Energy Transportation, Inc. for noncompliance with permit terms and conditions and failure to comply with the project’s approved Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan.

Methane and other hydrocarbons are potent greenhouse gases

From an Article by Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, May 13, 2020

Natural gas drillers in Pennsylvania leaked more than 1.1 million tons of methane into the air in 2017, 16 times the amount they reported to the state, according to an Environmental Defense Fund review.

The review released Wednesday morning found that fugitive emissions of methane from approximately 8,000 unconventional shale gas wells totaled 543,000 tons for 2017, not the 70,150 tons reported to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Methane emissions from almost 73,000 older, vertical, or “conventional” gas wells totaled another 599,200 tons. The PA-DEP doesn’t collect fugitive emissions data on conventional well sites.

“The fact that natural gas operators are emitting well over a million tons of methane pollution each year into the air Pennsylvanians breathe is unacceptable,” Dan Grossman, senior director of state advocacy at EDF, said in the organization’s news release. “The staggering scale of the methane problem in Pennsylvania makes Gov. Wolf’s proposal to reduce emissions from existing oil and gas operations all the more critical.”

The new EDF review builds on a July 2018 study in the peer-reviewed journal Science that found fugitive emissions of methane from wells across the U.S. in 2015 were 60% higher than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency inventory estimate.

The new review, which uses 2017 data and emissions modeling developed for the 2018 Science study by EDF and more than 140 research and industry experts, found Pennsylvania methane emissions in 2017 were double the 2015 estimate.

“Tapping into the latest scientific research and best available data has allowed us to more accurately discern the state’s oil and gas methane emissions in a way that best reflects conditions on the ground,” Hillary Hull, EDF senior manager for research and analytics, said in the release.

The new analysis, which also projects methane emissions in the state through 2030, said those emissions will climb to 13 million tons under existing regulations, would drop to approximately 6.5 million tons if regulations were stronger and would increase to 19 million tons if they are weakened.

Gas drilling companies are required to report their fugitive emissions to the PA-DEP so the department can assess the impact of those pollutants on public health based air quality standards.

Allen Robinson, who heads the Carnegie Mellon University mechanical engineering department and helped develop the modeling used in the 2018 Science study, said the department is getting an incomplete picture of the problems posed by fugitive methane emissions.

“Methane is a serious climate issue and also a wasted resource, wasted product issue,” Mr. Robinson said. “And I don’t know why PA-DEP doesn’t measure methane emissions from conventional wells. From a climate perspective it just doesn’t make any sense.”

The EDF said methane, the primary component of natural gas, is a greenhouse gas over 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in the near-term warming of the planet, which can contribute to extreme weather events, longer and hotter summers, and increased risk of Lyme disease and West Nile virus. High airborne concentrations of methane can be explosive and can cause a host of health impacts including headaches and dizziness, nausea and vomiting, loss of coordination and trouble breathing.

The EDF review also found that oil and gas operations emitted more than 63,000 tons of volatile organic compounds, which can form ozone, the primary component of unhealthy smog. VOC exposure can cause heart disease and exacerbate respiratory diseases, such as asthma and emphysema.

The Centers for Disease Control has also found that individuals living with those conditions are more at risk for severe illness from other infections, such as COVID-19, the EDF said in its release.

David Spigelmyer, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a drilling industry advocacy organization, issued an email statement that notes “credible federal, state and independent third party organization data shows overall emissions, including methane, continue to dramatically drop as natural gas production soars. . .”

“Since methane is the very product produced and sold, operators have every incentive, especially in this historic low price environment, to capture and market natural gas,” Mr. Spigelmyer stated. “Through new technologies and best practices — such as robust leak detection and repair programs and vapor recovery systems — operators continue to make significant progress to ensure natural gas reaches market,”

The PA-DEP has been working on a new methane emissions reduction rule, and Lauren Fraley, a PA-DEP spokeswoman, said it is set to be published later this month followed by a 60-day public comment period.

“The EDF data highlights the need to reduce methane, and the Wolf administration/DEP recognizes the need to act quickly to reduce methane pollution from wells and other natural gas infrastructure,” Ms. Fraley said.

The regulation, as currently written, will reduce methane emissions by more than 75,000 tons per year, she said in an email response to questions.

“Gov. Tom Wolf and the DEP are to be commended for advancing a methane rule that addresses emissions from the state’s tens of thousands of existing oil and gas wells,” Mr. Grossman said. “It’s essential that the state adopt a strong final rule that protects public health and delivers on the governor’s promise to tackle climate change.”

But the Trump administration announced last fall it would move in the opposite direction and seek to roll back the federal methane rule.

”It is not a priority in this administration to apply methods to reduce methane emissions,” said Mr. Robinson. ”It’s really a matter of having the political will to put structural methods in place. If we wanted to, we could have an impact on the emissions totals.”

Drilling & fracking near Vista Parkway, Erie, CO

From an Article by Bruce Finley, Denver Post, October 17, 2019

Colorado officials declared they will toughen their oversight of oil and gas drilling and fracking sites following the release Thursday of a multiyear scientific study that found industry operations may expose residents to unhealthy levels of benzene and other chemicals. But industry officials say, “There are no long-term health impacts related to oil and gas development.”

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment study concluded that people living within 2,000 feet of fracking sites could face an elevated risk of short-term health impacts — such as nosebleeds, headaches, breathing trouble and dizziness — in worst-case scenarios.

While benzene has been linked to cancer, state officials said the study, based on measuring of emissions and computer modeling, did not find a basis for predicting long-term health harm.

State regulators said they will immediately begin reviewing more strictly all industry applications to drill new wells within 2,000 feet of homes and start measuring air emissions around industry sites.

“Before this,” the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission was not involved in testing air pollution near homes, agency director Jeff Robbins said. “We’re going to do that now. We will use COGCC money.”

Additionally, Colorado House Majority Leader Steve Fenberg, D-Boulder, on Thursday called for a comprehensive epidemiological human health study to collect data from across the state to evaluate how oil and gas development affects human health.

After the study’s release, Colorado Petroleum Council director Lynn Granger issued a statement saying protecting the health and safety of workers, communities where companies operate and the environment are top priorities for the industry. Granger claimed the study was “all based on modeling.”

“As an industry, we rely on data, facts and science and look forward to working with CDPHE and the COGCC on actual air monitoring in the future, which is what should be used when developing policy and regulations,” Granger said.

Colorado Oil and Gas Association president Dan Haley said at a news conference that companies are concerned the study will lead to delays in permitting new operations.

“There are no long-term health impacts related to oil and gas development,” Haley said. “Policy needs to be based on real data, not modeling.”

Officials with oil and gas commission could not immediately determine how many wells are located within 2,000 feet of buildings in the state. State data shows that, since 2009, companies have drilled 1,689 wells within 500 to 1,000 feet of buildings; 534 wells within 350 to 500 feet; 317 wells within 150 to 350 feet; and 16 wells within 150 feet.

Push to cut emissions due to health effects

This 380-page study commissioned by the state health department buttresses efforts under Gov. Jared Polis to impose tighter controls on air pollution from the oil and gas industry. The findings jibe with complaints made to the health department since 2015 by 750 residents living near oil and gas facilities, state toxicologist Kristy Richardson said. About 60% of those complaints included reports of short-term health effects including headaches, trouble breathing and dizziness.

The study is expected to help inform state policy for the industry because 2,000 feet is four times farther than the minimum 500-foot buffer zones required under current state “setback” rules.

“This study is the first of its kind because it used actual emissions data to model potential exposure and health risks,” said CDPHE environmental programs director John Putnam. “While we pursue further research, we won’t delay enacting stricter emissions standards for chemicals that cause human effects, ozone pollution and climate change. This study reinforces what we already know: We need to minimize emissions from oil and gas sources.”

Community groups welcomed the study and the tilt toward stricter scrutiny — and called for a pause in new drilling activity near people.

“Dozens of children living in close proximity to oil and gas have already documented off-the-charts levels of benzene in their blood,” said Colorado Rising spokeswoman Anne Lee Foster. “Considering this and the corroborative data of the study, the state must pause oil and gas permitting and ensure that public health and safety is protected — as new legislation mandates.”

At the oil and gas commission, Robbins said he will use his discretionary authority as director to give 39 pending industry applications to drill new wells within 2,000 feet of homes closer scrutiny and that he will contact companies that recently received permits for new drilling to encourage reasonable efforts to minimize air emissions.

Building on the 2017 study of health impacts

The study builds on Colorado’s 2017 health impacts assessment that was based on a review of 27 studies of people living near oil and gas operations — an assessment that found limited and inconsistent evidence of harmful health effects. State health officials made the study available to the public via state websites.

Colorado health officials under former Gov. John Hickenlooper repeatedly assured residents at the time that Colorado’s approach to oil and gas operations near people was adequately protective.

The 2017 assessment also recommended “continued evaluation of health risk using more comprehensive exposure data,” including the direct measurements of pollutants conducted by Colorado State University researchers at oil and gas sites.

A study report summarizes human health risk assessments based on that measuring of chemical emissions, which were conducted at 20 to 30 industry sites in western Colorado and along the northern Front Range.

CSU scientists collected data on 47 chemicals called volatile organic compounds, including benzene. For most of the chemicals, exposures were deemed safe. However, at the 500-foot distance, the highest estimated acute exposures for some of the chemicals — including benzene, toluene and ethyltoluenes — exceeded recommended levels by up to 10 times during oil and gas fracking operations, especially during what industry officials call “flowback activities” at smaller well pads, according to the study.

The scientists determined exposures also hit unhealthy levels at distances of 2,000 feet from some oil and gas facilities.

Study authors indicated they took a “highly conservative” approach in assessing health harm risks from oil and gas industry operations near homes, allowing for worst-case wind conditions and people who are often outside.

For people who are not regularly outside over more than a year, the risks of “chronic” health harm were found to be less severe for all the chemicals measured at the 500-foot distance — with the exception of those called trimethylbenzenes, which are released during the fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, that companies use to increase extraction of fossil fuels. The levels of harmful chemicals were found to be higher at smaller well pads.

Study authors did not address the health risks for people living near large multi-well pads. And they did not recommend a safe buffer zone distance that would be protective of public health.

Colorado residents who have complained for years about health effects said the study’s findings legitimate their concerns.

“Scores of impacted Coloradans have long documented their experiences and health impacts of living with oil and gas with the state, and have been ignored,” said Sara Loflin, director of the League of Oil and Gas Impacted Coloradans. “It is time that any proposed oil and gas development within 2,000 feet of a home or occupied building be put on hold and delayed or denied by the COGCC.”

Chemical Storage Tanks -- Elk River

EQB upholds WV-DEP chemical tank designations

From an Article by Ken Ward, Charleston Gazette, April 26, 2016

The state Environmental Quality Board has upheld decisions by state regulators about which chemical storage tanks would be covered by new safety standards passed to try to prevent a repeat of the January 2014 Freedom Industries spill that contaminated drinking water for thousands of people in Charleston and surrounding communities.

In a 10-page order, board members said that the state Department of Environmental Protection had legal authority to make the designations.

Lawyers for the Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia and three related companies, C.I. McKown and Son Inc.; Pocono Energy Corp.; and Tempest Energy Corp., had appealed the WV-DEP designations and a formula the agency used to make them.

At issue in the case were decisions the WV-DEP made about which tanks are within two different zones within certain distances and stream-flow times from sites where public drinking water intakes are located. Under the law, originally passed in 2014 and then rolled back significantly last year, the WV-DEP designations — of “zones of critical concern” or “zones of peripheral concern” near intakes — determine what level of regulation applies to different tanks.

Natural gas lobbyists had tried to have their industry exempted entirely from the chemical tank legislation, but lawmakers declined to adopt that proposal.

Among other things, the gas industry appeal argued that the WV-DEP wrongly did not make its zone designations through a separate rulemaking that would have been subject to public review and comment, and that in making tank decisions, agency officials used “arbitrary and capricious” assumptions.

Board members said that the Legislature had required the WV-DEP to use the rulemaking process for certain parts of its implementation of the chemical tank law, such as setting fees and spelling out inspection procedures, but did not require that for other matters — such as the formula for determining tank designations.

“The Legislature did not state that a rule was required for making the mathematical model,” the board ruling said. “The board refrains from reading more into the statute than is expressly provided.”

Board members also said that the WV-DEP’s model “was essentially an invention required by law” and put together by the agency “with limited funds” in a six-month period, requiring “innovation, assumptions, and acceptance of limitations.”

“This is especially understandable given no alternative has ever been presented,” the board said.

The board did rule that the WV-DEP had wrongly implemented a 1,320-foot buffer zone for the Ohio River, adopted from the Ohio River Valley Sanitation Commission, rather than using the 1,000-foot buffer mandated by the Legislature.

Board members, ruling after a hearing in January, also ruled that it was right to allow two citizen groups, the West Virginia Citizen Action Group and the West Virginia Rivers Coalition, to intervene in the case.

See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

To: United State Senate, Washington, DC 20510

Dear US Senators:                                                                              Date:  September 5, 2015

As persons of faith, we have a moral obligation to future generations to leave them a planet that is not polluted or damaged by climate change.  We support America’s transition away from fossil energy sources to clean (green) energy and a brighter future.

Our organization is a broad response to greenhouse gases, global warming, and climate change. We will do our part to protect the Earth’s climate for future generations. Can we count on you to do your part? Specifically, we must act now if we are to have any hope of preserving the Earth’s environmental quality for future generations.

Please do your part by supporting the EPA’s Clean Power Plan and Carbon Pollution Standards for new and existing power plants. Visit our web-site here.

Sincerely, Interfaith Power & Light

P.S.  We have just viewed the highly acclaimed film by Robert Kenner entitled “Merchants of Doubt.” This film shines a light on the propaganda generated to mislead the American people with regard to future legislation.

Inspired by the acclaimed book by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway, “Merchants of Doubt” takes us on an illuminating ride into the heart of conjuring American spin.  Filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the curtain on silver-tongued pundits-for-hire who present themselves in the media as scientific authorities – yet have the contrary aim of spreading confusion about well-studied public threats ranging from toxic chemicals to pharmaceuticals to climate change.

A. O. Smith (New York Times) said this film is “informative and infuriating.”

To learn more about “Merchants of Doubt” and to take action, go to:  www.takepart.com/doubt

Editorial Opinion: “Accurately Map Pipelines” Please in PA (& WV)

From the Editorial Board of the Scranton Times-Tribune, August 6, 2015

Pennsylvanians need look no further than the legacy of coal mining to understand the hazards of inaccurately mapping underground infrastructure. Official mine maps often do not reflect the actual extent of underground voids, and sometimes misidentify the location of some mine chambers.

Over the decades, the inaccurate information has caused an array of problems, from buildings being constructed over unmarked voids to problems with utility lines.

Now, the Wolf administration estimates that the natural gas industry will construct about 30,000 miles of natural gas pipelines over the next 20 years to gather gas from wells and carry it to main pipelines and then to market.

StateImpact Pennsylvania, which covers the economics and environmental aspects of the gas industry, has detailed that mapping of existing pipelines is inexact and often inaccurate. It noted that a heavy equipment operator was badly injured July 15 in Armstrong county while clearing a right-of-way for a new pipeline. His bulldozer struck an existing unmarked, unmapped pipeline, which exploded. His company had received a go-ahead from a state clearinghouse that keeps track of underground infrastructure.

As the gas industry took off in Pennsylvania, the state Legislature gave the Public Utility Commission the authority to regulate gas pipelines. But there are different categories based on size and population density in the areas that they traverse. Some lines are lightly regulated or not regulated.

The general locations of most pipes are known because companies must acquire rights-of-way from property owners. But in many cases the exact locations of the pipes within those rights-of-way are not known.

The Legislature should expand the PUC’s authority over all classifications of pipelines. And it should require companies to provide exact data for every pipeline so that contractors will be able to avoid them and first responders will know exactly what they are dealing with in emergencies.

NOTE: This above request goes out to the State of West Virginia as well. See also the August 18 protest rally in Pt. Marion, PA, at 12:30 pm and 6:30 pm over interstate pipelines: “Hands Across Our Land”

Bill Hughes of Wetzel County at Jackson's Mill Assembly Hall

Report on Energy Education Forum at WVU Jackson’s Mill Assembly Hall

By John W. Cobb, Retired from Marketing & Public Relations, November 12, 2014

A group of citizens in northcentral West Virginia organized a Public Meeting at Jackson’s Mill concerning the effects of coming energy exploitation in the area. It was held Tuesday, November 11, with a crowd of about 230, not counting the presenters and helpers.

The topics included truck traffic, water use and contamination, waste removal from the drilling site and what happens to it, tree removal, burning and site preparation, water buffaloes and supply when water is contaminated or lost by drilling. Loss of peace and quiet, being cut off from work and necessary support by closed roads, light and noise and odors were also discussed. The final presentations by Julie Archer of the Surface Owners Rights Organization and Diane Pitcock of the Host Farms program explained the function of these organizations and how to get information from them and become members.

All the information came from people who have been directly affected by shale drilling, primarily in Wetzel and Doddridge Counties.  The sole support came from donations from the organizing committee. Michael Barrack who resides in Harrison County presided. The helpers were Diana Gooding of Gilmer, April Keating of Upshur, as well as Myra Bonhage-Hale, Barbara Volk, Tom Berlin, Tom Bond and John Cobb of Lewis County.

The presentations made extensive use of pictures taken in the counties represented, actually hundreds of them. Pipelines, flaring, stream degradation, broken roads, wrecked trucks (a common occurrence) were seen in them. The size of the drill pads and the access roads and the fracking ponds, and the closeness to houses of these constructions could be seen from aerial photographs.

Around the walls were tables with pictures and information, each explained by someone familiar with the topic for the table. Handouts with information of various topics were present on tables near the entrance.

There were industry people in attendance, too. “Corky” DeMarco, Director of the WV Oil & Natural Gas Association (WVONGA) brought along a Charleston lawyer and another observer, and there was a CNX photographer who videotaped everything. The committee hopes these industry people were able to see fracking a little more as those who live in the midst of it do.

Several in the audience were already aware of the problems connected with extreme energy extraction which they will be living in the midst of in a few years. Far more were unacquainted with what is in store for the northcentral West Virginia counties.

There was an (unfortunate) shortage of elected officials, who need to be thinking about what they should be doing to protect the larger number of their electorate who will be directly suffering once the onslaught of the increased Marcellus drilling and two large interstate pipelines move in and across northcentral and eastern West Virginia.

Sadly, one elected official who was contacted afterward replied, “They told us when the bill came out that this was the best we could expect to get for our constituents. So I voted for it.”

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Forum held on impact of fracking in region — Oil and gas boom’s effects on air, water and roads discussed

From the Article by Jeremiah Shelor, Clarksburg Exponent-Telegram, November 12, 2014

Forum organizer April Keating said she wanted residents to have an opportunity to learn about issues related to the oil and gas industry. “This meeting is an attempt to give the public the other side of the story,” Keating said. “We have all heard of the economic benefits of gas drilling, but there are long-term consequences to what we are doing.”

Bill Hughes, head of Wetzel County’s Solid Waste Authority, gave an overview on a number of potential problems that oil and gas development can create for residents. Hughes said Wetzel County, where he resides, has seen a lot of oil and gas activity for a number of years, offering a good idea of some of the potential challenges it can create. “I’m just surrounded by lots and lots of wells. Most of the issues that could show up — Wetzel has probably seen them,” Hughes said.

Hughes discussed issues related to industrial traffic on rural roads, air emissions and radiation from drilling waste, among other potential effects of oil and gas development. “I don’t think we can simplify that natural gas is bad and coal is good, or coal is bad and natural gas is good. We all consume energy,” Hughes said. “The balance is the issue — to try to have the right regulations in place to protect air and water and land.” The long-term impacts of oil and gas development should be of particular concern for the state, he said. “There are six or seven drillers in Wetzel County,” Hughes said. “My grandchildren all live there, and we need to look at this in terms of the next 40 or 50 years. What do we want to leave for our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren?”

Jody Mohr, a Doddridge County resident and a member of the Doddridge County Watershed Association, also spoke. Mohr — showing a number of pictures of West Virginia residences relying on portable water tanks for extended periods of time due to issues that have developed with their wells — discussed the significant water consumption of hydraulic fracturing. She also gave specific accounts of water quality issues that had resulted from drilling and development.

Mohr said the oil and gas development in her county has created uncertainty and has had a noticeable effect on her quality of life, saying it has negatively affected her “sense of home.” “And I mean that sense of home that we all have. That enjoyment, that peace,” Mohr said.

Julie Archer of the West Virginia Surface Owners Rights Organization also spoke about potential issues that property owners should keep in mind when negotiating deals with oil and gas companies. Archer said these issues continue to be of importance, particularly with two major interstate pipelines potentially crossing through the area.

See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

How to Regulate WV Storage Tanks?

WV-DEP Requests Public Input on Storage Tank Rules

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From: WV-DEP, April 25, 2014 @ 4:14 PM
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The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WV-DEP) is seeking public input on what should be included in the rules related to how above ground storage tanks are regulated.

As a requirement of the newly passed WV Senate Bill 373 legislation, which is known to some as “The Water Resources Protection Act,” and to others simply as “The Tank Bill,” the agency must draft rules for a new Aboveground Storage Tank Regulatory Program in time for lawmakers to consider them during the 2015 legislative session. In order to meet that deadline, the WV-DEP will file its proposed regulations as an emergency rule this fall.

Normally, public comment is taken after rules have been drafted. However, because this program is new to the department, and because of the many interests at stake, WV-DEP Secretary Randy Huffman decided to approach the rule-making process for the tank program a little differently.

“We would appreciate input from industry groups, experts, any member of the public with an idea about what needs to be addressed in the rules,” said Huffman. “We will consider that input as we draft the regulations.”

Ideas can be submitted to the agency via email or through the mail by May 15. The email address is:  WVDEPTankRules@wv.gov

Letters can be mailed to:

West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection
Tank Rules, 601 57th Street, SW
Charleston, WV 25304

Once the first draft of the regulations is ready, which is expected to occur in mid-July, additional comments from stakeholders will be considered in revising the regulations before they are filed with the Secretary of State’s office. At that time, the rules will be put out for public notice, which includes a process by which the public can submit written comments or speak out at a public hearing.

“We want this process to be as open and inclusive as possible,” Huffman said. “If you have an idea, please feel free to submit it. Your suggestions will help us achieve our goal of making these rules as thorough and as effective in safeguarding public health and the environment as possible.”Again, the deadline to submit ideas for the first draft of the rules is May 15. The WV-DEP asks that contact information be included in the letters or emails so that someone from the agency can call or write back with follow-up questions if necessary.

Storage Tanks on Elk River

WV needs changes in state regulations after chemical leak

From an Article by Whitney Burdette, Charleston Daily Mail, January 21, 2014

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Virginia Rivers Coalition and Downstream Strategies have co-authored a report outlining specific recommendations they think the Legislature should take in light of the recent chemical leak.

Angie Rosser, executive director of West Virginia Rivers Coalition, said in a news release this report is the only one of its kind to emerge after the January 9th chemical leak that contaminated the water supply for 300,000 residents and West Virginia American Water Co. customers.

“We speak for those who expect more of our government, more in its approach and much more in its attitude toward protecting our water supplies and our health,” Rosser said. “We bring the voices of all West Virginians whose water is threatened by contamination. They demand meaningful change and accountability at every level of government.”

The 84-page report focuses on issues, information gaps and policy remedies as they relate to environmental laws most relevant to the chemical spill, including the Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act and Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act.

Evan Hansen, president of Downstream Strategies, said the report presents “comprehensive reforms to protect our water supplies.”  “We show how state and local governments could have significantly reduced the risk of this spill occurring and more effectively responded to it,” Hansen said.

Downstream Strategies is a Morgantown-based consulting firm specializing in environmental science policy and research and water system research. The firm announced last week it is available to conduct independent testing of a consumer’s water supply.

The report makes several recommendations, including:

  Officials “change their tone and expectations to hold the Department of Environmental Protection accountable for fully and consistently enforcing its permits and all environmental laws,”

  The Legislature should require the Bureau for Public Health and other entities to write protection plans and fund those plans,

  The Legislature should provide state-specific protective standards for chemicals used in large quantities in the state, and

  Support local emergency planning committees and local governments in planning efforts to manage and minimize risk.

P.S. The full 84 page report is entitled “The Freedom Industries Spill: Lessons Learned and Needed Reforms“