Repaving Sellers Road near Middlebourne in Tyler County, WV

From an Article by David Beard, Morgantown Dominion Post, December 13, 2019

MORGANTOWN — It’s early November and a mini-parade of heavy equipment is churning up Sellers Road in Tyler County. The nearly 6.25-mile stretch running along Middle Island Creek near Middlebourne was widened and received a rebuilt base, new pavement, culverts and improved drainage, costing $7 million. “Basically we’re building a whole new road,” said Shawn Bennett, road and special projects construction manager for Antero.

After the New Year, the road will host a full-size parade of oil and gas traffic to serve two Antero well pads: Roma Lou and Eldon.

The visit was the conclusion of a day viewing Antero road projects in Doddridge and Tyler counties. Asked if he had a message for West Virginia residents, Bennett said, “If they would go around and look at any place that we’ve been, and have a little patience, we will always leave it better than what we found it.”

Anyone who has driven West Virginia’s shale country has seen the beat-up roads. And, anyone who’s spent a day at the Capitol has heard complaints about the wear and tear.

Among our first stories on the fracking industry were visits in 2011 to Brock Ridge and Proctor Creek roads in the hills of Wetzel County. Proctor Creek was potholed and rutted while kidney-jarring Brock Ridge had no asphalt left (we’ll mention them again later).

But a hallway conversation with leaders of the Independent Oil and Gas Association–West Virginia during the 2019 legislative session led to this story: a new tour of shale roads to see what gas companies are doing these days to try to keep roads in shape.

Riding along with Bennett that November day was Anne Blankenship, executive director of the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association, and two staffers with Charles Ryan Associates, which represents IOGA and WVONGA and helped set up the tour and field written questions.

Bennett also drove us along the Oxford Road Upgrade, between Sunnyside and Taylor Drain roads in Doddridge County. This was a five-mile, $3.2 million combined effort between Antero and EQT. With Antero taking on 55% of the cost, EQT the rest.

This is a busy area – 18 sites for Antero alone, and this particular stretch had numerous road base failures, Bennett said. The Antero/EQT contractor milled off 3 inches of the failing road and put down 7 new inches of asphalt. “It made for a nice project out here.”

The state agreed to take care of culverts and ditching, but on the day of the ride was running behind and had completed only half the ditching, he said. The poor draining also explain why the repair job was showing some signs of edge collapse at a few points along the way.

To determine what needs to be done to a stretch of road, Bennett said, Antero takes into account the number of well pads and the expected amount of traffic in the area. It does advance work, maintains it during the project, and completes any after-project repairs. Antero is responsible for the road until it’s released from its state Division of Highways bond.

Here’s what Antero has spent each year in upgrades, snow plowing, maintenance and flagging since 2015: 2015, $22,395,974; 2016, $21,389,936; 2017, $32,548,633; 2018, $30,794,236; 2019, $39,926,604.

Antero will generally present a proposal to the DOH for it to sign off on the engineering plans, he said. The state doesn’t always need to give its OK. But “we generally like to keep them as informed as we can and make sure that thy’re OK with what we plan to do.”

For any project, routine maintenance falls to the DOH, who will do ditching during the bond period, unless the state agrees otherwise, as with the Oxford project.

Often, several companies may be operating the same area, all contributing to road wear, Bennett said. “That’s probably the biggest challenge we run into, is figuring out who’s responsible for what. There’s so many operators active on any given road.”

Some are mom and pops. “Usually the Anteros and the EQTs are the ones that end up footing the bill for the most part. It’s just hard to pinpoint.”

A frequent complaint voiced back in 2011, and after, could be summed up as “bad-neighbor policy.” Producers didn’t pay attention to local school and work schedules and jammed them at crucial times, hogged the roads and forced residents into ditches or onto shoulders, and more.

While Antero doesn’t have formal community meetings, Bennett said, it takes school bus and commuting schedules into account. Residents in tri-county area – Doddridge-Ritchie-Tyler – have the Antero number and can call with complaints and concerns. “Our public relations department has helped out tremendously with public relations and with our relationship with the state.”

Antero employees have GPS trackers in the vehicles and Antero encourages its contractors to do the same, to keep drivers accountable for their driving.

One homeowner on the driving route had giant anti-EQT signs posted in the yard. Because of publication deadline, EQT was unable to meet for an interview but supplied a brief statement:

“Because EQT values all of the communities where we operate, we know how important it is to manage any potential impacts to the roads in these areas. Our approach is to work with counties and municipalities in advance to proactively upgrade roads and ensure that they are suitable.

“In many cases, the roads we upgrade are improved compared to their condition before we started work. We don’t have many ongoing projects in West Virginia at the moment, but we will continue this proactive approach with any new operations. Our acreage and the communities where we operate in West Virginia are very important to EQT.”

Photo from last Winter! The legal resistance & monitoring continue ...

https://www.wvgazettemail.com/opinion/gazette_opinion/editorial/gazette-editorial-who-are-the-real-rogues/article_e535fd93-26f6-583b-8988-02d6aa589d3f.html

ONLINE RESOURCES: UPDATE | Dominion Pipeline Monitoring Coalition

http://pipelineupdate.org/2018/05/28/online-resource-an-update/

CSI VOLUNTEER OPTIONS | Dominion Pipeline Monitoring Coalition

http://pipelineupdate.org/csi-volunteer/

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Court filing asks judge to deny Mountain Valley’s request for injunction against tree-sitters, Roanoke Times, January 17, 2019

https://www.roanoke.com/business/news/court-filing-asks-judge-to-deny-mountain-valley-s-request/article_957c3f1f-28e5-5f33-98bf-e57bb531f9bb.html/

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

MOUNTAIN VALLEY WATCH is a collaborative effort between individual volunteers, nonprofits, and private interests to monitor and document construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline to assure compliance with environmental regulations. As part of the program, citizen monitors perform both on-the-ground and aerial inspections, the results of which are reviewed by experts who then use the generated reports to hold both the company and regulators accountable to the laws and environmental protections intended to preserve water and land resources.

For more information on how to get involved, visit newrivergeographics.com and powhr.org/mvwatch/.

To donate to the Mountain Valley Watch, please visit Virginia Organizing’s donation page. Make sure to designate your donation to POWHR and write a dedication to the Mountain Valley Watch. Donations made through Virginia Organizing are tax deductible!
Mountain Valley Watch urges landowners and volunteers to report the start of any and all construction activity on the pipeline route including additional temporary work spaces, access roads and trenching.

Report commencement of construction at: 833-MVWATCH or 833-689-2824

Please describe the nature of the work and the type of equipment being used and any possible violations such as missing erosion controls, refueling near waterways, driving through wetlands or operating outside of assigned right of way. Time stamped photos with location data can be sent to Jason@newrivergeographics.com. Please do not use the Facebook page for incident reporting as we do not monitor that page for messages throughout the day. Feel free to reply directly with questions.

Construction contractors may be attempting to shield themselves from public scrutiny. Reporting new construction activity will help us respond effectively and keep contractor activity in public view. Thank you!

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WVDEP Webpage to Helping Citizens Learn About Pipeline Projects

Detailed maps, transcripts, permit information available on single webpage

The page is available here. http://bit.ly/2Ee7Myj

Marcellus shale drilling is vertical then horizontal for thousands of feet

From Staff Report, Parkersburg News & Sentinel, January 16, 2019

PARKERSBURG — The West Virginia Supreme Court Tuesday heard arguments in an appeal of a lower court decision by residents who claimed Marcellus shale drilling has denied them the enjoyment of their property.

Deborah G. Andrews, Rodney and Katherine Ashcraft, Gregg D. McWilliams, Mary Mikowski and Robert and Loretta Siders filed a complaint in October 2013 alleging nuisances such as noise and odors against Antero Resources Corp. and Hall Drilling.

The claim was transferred from Ohio County Circuit Court to the West Virginia Mass Litigation Panel in November 2014, which eventually ruled in favor of the defendants in October 2016.

At issue is horizontal well drilling and hydro-fracturing in the Marcellus Shale, which has caused the industrialization of rural West Virginia and noise, truck traffic, odors, dust contamination, light pollution and vibrations, among other things, the petitioners brief to the Supreme Court said.

Antero and Hall said the Mass Litigation Panel did not abuse its discretion by holding that petitioners failed to show they are entitled to relief and that the panel applied the correct legal standards concerning mineral owners’ and surface owners’ rights under West Virginia law.

“From what began as a toxic contamination case, petitioners now only claim annoyance, discomfort and inconvenience caused by noise, traffic on public roads, odors, dust, lights, and vibrations (collectively, ‘conditions’) allegedly resulting from horizontal drilling activities located in the vicinity of petitioners’ surface estates,” the Antero brief said.

Two friends of the court briefs were filed in support of Antero and Hall from the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association and from the Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia, and the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, the West Virginia Business and Industry Council, the West Virginia Coal Association, the Contractors Association of West Virginia, West Virginia Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors, the West Virginia Manufacturers Association and the West Virginia Poultry Association.

“The issues petitioners seek to appeal would significantly impact the well-settled theories of property law and the sustainability of the Marcellus shale industry in West Virginia,” the chamber brief said. “Because such issues necessarily implicate West Virginia’s economic viability overall, including direct and indirect impacts on other industries … all have significant interests in the issues raised by the petitioners in this appeal.”

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Supreme Court to rule on natural gas drilling nuisance question

From an Article by Jeff Jenkins, WV Metro News, January 16, 2019

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state Supreme Court will make a much-anticipated decision in the coming months on the issue of natural gas drilling and whether the process is a public nuisance.

The Court heard an hour of oral arguments Tuesday on an appeal by a group of Harrison County property owners that claim horizontal drilling by Antero Resources is a nuisance. The plaintiffs lost in the lower court. The state’s Mass Litigation Panel found summary judgment in favor of Antero.

Plaintiff’s attorney Anthony Majestro argued Tuesday normal life has been disrupted. “These trucks are going by 100-a-day, 24-hours-a day. They are parked in front of my clients’ houses. Their engines are running, the big 18 wheelers, the hisses and noises, fumes coming off. That’s one of the primary causes of the nuisance,” Majestro said.

Monongalia County Circuit Judge Russell Clawges, appointed as a temporary justice for the case, asked Antero attorney W. Henry Lawrence if the panel’s ruling basically gives the drilling company a green light no matter what.

“Does not the panel’s order basically give your clients carte blanche to do whatever they want to, whenever they want to, however they want to, no matter what affect it may have on these plaintiffs?

“No,” Lawrence said. “The panel looked at the evidence presented to them and said the plaintiffs have not offered expert testimony that indicates that these activities are unreasonable or unnecessary in development of these minerals.”

Majestro said because it’s horizontal drilling, there’s no guarantee property owners are being properly compensated for what they have to endure. “Most of this drilling that’s being done and this nuisance that’s being created is being conducted to get gas that is not under my client’s property,” Majestro said.

The plaintiffs want their nuisance claims to go before a jury.

Lawrence said the panel looked through hundreds of pages of discovery in the case before making its decision. He said there were initial claims of contamination, physical damage and personal injury. He said the plaintiffs eventually withdraw their negligence claim. There were originally 22 plaintiffs and now there are seven. “None of these plaintiffs had well pads on their properties. There were several plaintiffs in the initial case (that did),” Lawrence said.

Majestro said the case should go before a jury and let it decide if drilling activities can cause a nuisance. He said there’s no doubt his clients have been negatively impacted. “There’s testimony the clients can’t sleep. There’s testimony they can’t sit on their front porch and talk. In addition, we have odors, fumes from these trucks that are burning diesel while they are parked around my client’s house and driving by,” Majestro said.

Lawrence said the wells in question are about 10 years old and represent some of Antero’s first wells in Harrison County. The lawsuits were originally filed in late 2013.

Two members of the Supreme Court, Justice Tim Armstead and Justice John Hutchison disqualified themselves from hearing the case. They were replaced by Clawges and Cabell County Circuit Judge Greg Howard.

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Reasons why farmers and land owners hate fracking

Essay by S. Tom Bond, Resident Farmer, Lewis County, WV

Placement of wells, access roads and pipelines destroys the surface value of the land. Well pads and roads are rocked to a depth that will support heavy trucks in any weather, often 18 inches. Drainage is changed, with new gullies formed, and silt produced and discharged into streams. “Reclamation” never restores a fully productive surface.

Pipelines from wells to connectors go up and down steep grades, many of them over 45 degrees. They are kept cleared for the length of the project with consequent loss of timber. They are a source of erosion, timber is lost, and timber along the right-of-way grows in to cover the vacated area, the so-called “edge effect.” This spoils the timber along the right of way. Value of half-grown timber is lost. When the project is “completed,” 70 years at the best are required to produce a merchantable crop.

These rights-of-way are attractive to trespassers, and interrupt habitat and animal migration patterns. There will be a gate on the property line or more access roads to get company line walkers from one farm to another,

Building sites are foreclosed. If the landowner wants to cross the pipeline with farm equipment, that is usually no problem. If he wants to sell timber or has other reasons heavy equipment must cross the pipeline, special precautions must be taken to prevent damage to the pipeline. If these precautions are not written into the contract, such activity is precluded. Smart landowners seek advice on this, but those who do not will not be able to use their land to its fullest potential.

Big diameter pipelines for transmission are a particular horror. They often go straight up and down hills, cutting very deep. Here in West Virginia, in many places that means cutting through solid stone. One can see both bulldozers and backhoes with special cutting blades that rotate using tungsten carbide cutting edges. And what is the back filling material? The same broken stones, since it the grade is too steep to move in material that will pack. The result is a subsurface stream along the pipeline, rock scratched protective coating on the outside of the big pipes, and plenty of oxygen and water to the steel underneath the coating to cause rusting.

Diversion ditches are intended to remove surface water over the pipes. There should be tight packing around the pipes below to prevent underground flow under the breakers. Another problem with breakers is exemplified by is a place a few miles from where a large-diameter pipeline where the line goes straight up a mountainside for half a mile, and all the diversion ditches on both sides go out the same distance. This dumps the water from the right-of-way into the same course, so that it simply builds up as it goes down the hillside, and will become massive gullies after heavy rainfall. In another, a culvert through a fill goes under the pipeline. It is a wooded watershed, so sticks will wash down and block the culvert, causing it to flow over the fill and wash down to the pipe, exposing it.

All of this is minutia for the planners, executives and politicians, but it is minutia on a grand scale. It is devastating to landowners who are denied production and lose the capital they had in the land. To add insult to injury, landowners must continue to pay the same, or even higher property taxes, if it is mistakenly determined by the assessor that there has been value-added to the land. The opposite is true, recognized by banks that often won’t loan on land within so many feet of an explosive hazard or frack site (industrial hazard), and insurance can raise the rates landowners pay, considering them to be in a commercial zone.

Apparently, the assumption by thw fracking business and its hangers-on is that the landowner loses nothing in the exchange, which is absolutely not true. The gas drilling company may pay a few dollars nominal compensation, but this is only a pittance compared to the costs to landowners, which are many, still downplayed by industry, and misunderstood by the general public.

Appalachia, and West Virginia in particular, is a source of water for much of the country, and our well water has historically been good up until recently, misplaced septic systems and water well drillers who stop too soon, not withstanding. With the takeover of the fracking industry, many who had good wells for decades have now lost their water completely or had it contaminated due to fracking. The new thing is to pipe city water to these locations, to somehow ameliorate the destruction of a vital resource, on which lives and property values depend. So one must pay a water bill, instead of a few more cents on their electric bill.

Air pollution is also a problem near fracked wells and pump stations. Methane is odorless, but here in central West Virginia older wells the gas is naturally odorized. That odor is familiar to anyone who goes out of doors because many older installations leak badly. Pipes, old wells, plugged wells all na befund to leak. It seams reasonable this will happen in time to newer installations, too.

The people who initiate and control destruction of these resources apparently have no understanding of the food situation, either:
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1. More than 50% of U.S. agricultural market value and 93% of U.S. farms – both conventional and organic – operate within shale basins and active shale plays;
2. Some 3,000 acres of productive farmland are lost each day;
3. In 2017, the U. S. used 46 million acres to grow wheat, and 40.3 was in lawns, about the area of Florida.

It is impossible to have organic farming where shale drilling has occurred. With the world population increasing so rapidly, we must address these problems immediately.

Unfortunately, most rural people are undereducated and inarticulate on these issues. They lack the ability to influence others, to understand well or explain the losses they must endure due to fracking. And most of them are involved in their own corner of the world, too busy making a living to see the big picture. Moreover, West Virginia has been in the grip of extraction for over 150 years. Most people believe there is no way to change things and so they do not write or call their senators. Many don’t talk to their neighbors about fracking, or even vote.

The Farm Bureau does a lot to help farmers with their small, close-up problems. However, the leadership consists of men with larger farms who come in dead tired at night and fall asleep watching Fox News. Many of them are attracted by the idea of giving up what they think will be a small part of their resources for a very large chunk of easy money now, not realizing or caring for the long-term consequences of making such a deal.

Rural people are engaged in a vital industry little understood by the public and by businessmen in other industries. Many rural people have little understanding of these problems themselves, simply following tradition. There is no inorganic food, all is by production of plants and animals, and this production cannot be easily increased by throwing more inorganic input and capital into the pot, the development pattern characteristic of many businesses.

With the population bomb going off, food production should be a major worry for planners and government. The normal business cycle, 5 to 7 years, passes by very quickly in the world where a new generation comes along every 20 to 25 years

Japanese stilt grass proliferating in Marcellus region

From an Article by Jon Hurdle, State Impact Pennsylvania, NPR, July 24, 2017

Natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania has spurred an increase in invasive species of plants colonizing lands near well pads, according to a new study by Penn State University, which was recently published in the Journal of Environmental Management. The research was funded by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
The study says seeds of species like phragmites and Japanese stilt grass are being brought on to well pads on the tires and undersides of the thousands of trucks that visit the sites, and in the gravel delivered to build pads and roads.

As a result, the invasive species have made “significant inroads” into the ecology of well sites, and are damaging native species in ways that could hurt both the natural environment and local economies that depend on the timber grown there, the study says.

Japanese stiltgrass grows next to a well-pad road in north-central Pennsylvania. A new Penn State study says natural gas development has led to an increase in invasive plant species near gas wells. PHOTO: Japanese stiltgrass grows next to a well-pad road in north-central Pennsylvania. A new Penn State study says natural gas development has led to an increase in invasive plant species near gas wells.
“Studies have shown that when invasive plants such as Japanese stilt grass move into an area, it changes the plant community, and native plants tend to decline,” said researcher David Mortensen. “Soon, we will see a ripple effect in the forest ecosystem that will affect organisms that depend on the native plants.

“Ultimately, economic factors such as timber harvests may be affected, and wildlife and bird communities likely will change,” Mortensen said in a statement.

Starting in 2013, researchers studied invasive plant species on 127 Marcellus Shale well sites at locations in the Allegheny National Forest, as well as seven state forests. They found 61 percent of well pads had at least one non-native plant specials and 19 percent of those had three or more invasive species such as reed canary grass, spotted knapweed and creeping thistle.

The longer a drill pad had been in operation, and the more wells drilled on a pad, the more likely it was that invasive species would be present, the study found. It also found that the number of invasives was directly related to the density of the roads in the area.

Lead researcher Katy Barlow said that because the study did not begin until about five years after the shale boom began around 2008, it did not have a formal baseline of whether invasives were previously present. But she said researchers knew about the native species that were present in the areas before the gas companies moved in, and found that they are now under pressure from the new arrivals.

“We do know that on most of those sites, what was there was a native forest community,” she said, in an interview. “What we’re seeing on the well pad edges, we’re almost certain those are new plants to the area.”

Since some 1,200 truck trips are needed to deliver fracking fluid and sand to complete each unconventional well, the potential to transport invasive seeds, spores and roots for invasive plants is “significant,” she said.

To reduce the pressure from invasives, operators would have to ensure that truck tires and undersides were clean before coming on site, and that gravel or other material coming in was not contaminated with the seeds or roots, Barlow said.

“I think there needs to be greater care in looking at the plant communities around the construction material sources,” she said.

That could be achieved with regulations by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, or by landowners who could make demands about what materials are brought on to a well pad, but most landowners are unaware that they have that right, Barlow said.

DCNR spokesman Terry Brady said the agency has a “robust program” in place to curb the spread of invasive plants around natural gas sites. He said the department’s biologists and foresters are trained in identifying and eradicating 12 plants deemed to pose the greatest threat to forests and wetlands in north-central Pennsylvania.

As of December 2016, 71 populations of those species had been found on state forest lands. Of those, 19 have been eradicated, and another 11 had no new plants after a year of treatment. The remaining 41 are being treated by state officials or natural gas operators, Brady said.

“Our foresters and biologists are working diligently to prevent, control and monitor invasive plant species across all state forest lands, and across multiple state forest uses including timber harvesting and recreation, not just gas development,” Brady said.

With thousands more gas wells expected to be drilled in Pennsylvania in coming decades, there’s likely to be a corresponding increase in the arrival of invasive species unless operators, regulators or landowners find a way of controlling the problem, Barlow said.

In a sign of how the presence of invasive species increases with the number of wells, Barlow noted that pads with more than one well were found by researchers to have 1.5 times the number of invasive species than those with just one well.

The increasing presence of invasive species may be accelerated by deer which eat native plant species rather than the outside species, thus creating further space for the new arrivals to dominate the ecology, the project found.

Fly Over Mountains in Virginia

Natural Gas Pipeline —  A Bird’s Eye View, Part 2

From an Article by Robbie Harris, WVTF News, National Public Radio, June 14, 2017

Decision day is getting closer for the Mountain Valley Pipeline. If approved, it would carry natural gas from Pennsylvania, through Virginia and beyond. In part one of our report, Robbie Harris told you about about a call for regulators to look at the big picture when considering new pipeline projects. Today we get a bird’s eye view of part of the proposed route, where the pipeline would cross the Appalachian Trail, also known as “The ‘A’ ‘T.’

Andrew Downs: “The A. T. is right below us now. All this land was preserved for the Appalachian Trail.”

Andrew Downs has hiked this part of the Appalachian Trail many times, but it’s the first time he’s seeing it from the air.

“We should be just about over the pipeline route right now as we bank left. / Pilot, Jack Lynch/ Yeah, right of the wing tip…”

Pilot, Jack Lynch is flying this Columbia 350, 4 seater just below the clouds and just above the mountains.

“Oh yeah look at that! There’s some hikers down there. See that little flash of red. They’re drying their clothes.”

We’re over Giles County Virginia where the AT winds through what many consider the to be one of the most beautiful stretches of the 2,200 mile footpath. From up here we see forested mountain ridges that look like an ocean of green wave.

“You feel like you’re at the ends of the earth all most there’s that sense of adventure and wonder that comes with being immersed in nature and we still have that available to us here. That’s something not to be taken for granted.”

Downs is this area’s Regional Director of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. He’s concerned about the pipeline’s proposed route because he believes it would impact areas that define the character of southwestern Virginia wilderness.

“Kelly Nob, which is the large mountain in front of us is 2 miles away from the pipeline corridor, one of the most iconic views in central Virginia and one of the places with likely significant visual impact. (From the right of way for the Mountain Valley Pipeline.)”

This is not the first time a power line or pipeline would cross the trail. But this is the first time this organization is officially opposing the proposed route of one. In the past it has worked directly with energy companies to site them in ways that protect the land they cross.

“We want to support a good idea and there are good ideas on energy infrastructure out there. We don’t want to spend our time opposing energy infrastructure that our country might benefit from.”

There are some 500 miles of Appalachian Trail in Virginia. The Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) would parallel it for about 15. Downs says, because of the scale of this project, and the geography of this area, evidence of the pipeline’s footprint could be visible for a hundred miles.

“That’s the thing, people say it’s going to be buried but there’s still the corridor of cleared land. When you look at these lands defined by unbroken tracks, it really sticks out like a sore thumb.”

Downs says, the entire U.S trail system is watching to see what happens here.

“The A.T. is like the grandfather of the national trail system so when you undermine that protection on national forests, for the A.T. you set a precedent that can negatively affect every national scenic trail in the country.”

There has been disagreement between the Conservancy and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission over what the actual impact of the pipeline might be on the trail. After FERC issued a draft Environmental Impact Statement last year, the conservancy flagged what is said were numerous errors and called it woefully inaccurate. It commissioned visual impact simulations of its town and filed additional comments and photos in an effort to have those errors corrected. There’s no way to know if those concerns have been addressed, that is, until the Final version of the Environmental Impact Study is released next week, as planned.

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Dominion Energy Pushes Employees to Protect ACP Pipeline in VA Democratic
Governor Primary Election

The mega size energy company in Virginia is Dominion Resources, now named Dominion Energy.   The employees and others are being biased into voting for candidates much more favorable to their projects, including the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP).  See the article here.

Rogersville shale exploration for oil & gas

Be careful, Cabell and Wayne counties, about shale development in SW WV

Letter to the Editor by Bill Hughes, Huntington Herald-Dispatch, April 7, 2017

The fracturing operations of the Marcellus shale gas exploration and production in West Virginia began 10 years ago in Wetzel County, in the Northwestern part of West Virginia. It remains a major center of natural gas activity.

Since I live in the center of Wetzel County, I was interested in reading the recent article in The Herald-Dispatch about the success story on Cenergy manufacturing company located in Milton. It is definitely good to know that there is an expanding, well managed business, providing professional design and manufacturing to the shale gas industry. Cenergy provides good jobs and is benefiting from the shale gas operations taking place to the north in the active gas field. Unfortunately, the unemployment rate here stays well above the West Virginia average. Here, we live in what is called the sacrifice zone. That means your gain is our pain.

Any time there is a new target of drilling opportunities like the Rogersville shale in the Cabell and Wayne counties area, the same industry sales and marketing pitch is broadcast. A leasing frenzy starts. Wetzel residents heard all the landsmen’s partially true promises of the natural gas industry when Chesapeake Energy first appeared here to claim rights to dominate our rural communities. And like most advertising and public relations strategies, there is always a sliver of truth to the tale.

We should always think twice when an industry needs to spend millions of dollars to tell you it will be marvelous to have their industrial operation in your residential or farming neighborhood. Landsmen have the script memorized. The general themes go like this. Shale gas drilling and fracking is: a dependable, proven technology; fundamentally safe; delivers cheap, clean fuel; and will create jobs and be an economic boon for West Virginia.

Before Cabell residents swallow these statements whole, we might wish to dissect them. Is this a proven process? Well, when Chesapeake invaded Wetzel, we were definitely a shale gas guinea pig in the state. The process we experienced was not 50 years old. It was still very much experimental. The process is improving now. It has gotten better in some respects. But keep in mind that any time the fracturing equipment fleet shows up with canisters of Cesium 137 on them, this is definitely not your grandfather’s well drilling.

These newer well bores need high-volume, high-pressure slick water fluids for fracturing their very long laterals. Your grandfathers’ wells were safe and simply vertical only. And the low level radioactive drill waste products now should have some special disposal requirements.

These “advertised as safe” wells have had their problems with gas releases due to well blowouts, explosions, fires and accidents. But unlike local chemical plants contained within walls and roofs, these accidents happen in our communities.

What about the clean fuel claim? Yes, it is true that natural gas, when finally burned, is cleaner that coal when it is burned. Unfortunately, that is a very narrow slice in the overall cradle-to-grave environmental impact and is hardly the only metric to use. It is a very narrow window to look through.

Also, to categorize shale gas as a safe fuel requires us to ignore the diesel fumes from over 30,000 horsepower of fracturing pump engines and the subsequent combustion fumes from the well pad gas processing equipment. And for the cheap fuel label to be true, we must ignore the major externalized costs to public health, water quality and exposure to silica dust. We must also ignore the daily community inconvenience to the traveling public and the public costs to repair infrastructure damage caused by oversized vehicles. And these funds might have to come from an already stretched thin general state budget. After 10 years of drilling, we are still a poor state. So much for the economic boon from shale gas.

Some free advice from the sacrifice zone in Wetzel to prospective targets in Wayne and Cabell: Do your homework. Residents living there above the Rogersville shale must become better informed; review the 10 years of drilling history here. Discount the self-serving sales pitch of the natural gas industry. Consider the future you wish to leave to you grandchildren. And try to resist the flash of cash since there is no hurry to sign any lease. The Rogersville shale is not going anywhere soon. It can wait until you are better informed.

Bill Hughes, a resident of Wetzel County, WV, has been monitoring the Marcellus shale development from the beginning.

See also:  Marcellus-Shale.US

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

Loyalsock State Forest

PA DCNR Plans to Buy More Land to Protect Forests Against NatGas Development

From an Article by Jamison Cocklin, NGI Shale Daily, September 9, 2016

The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) has finalized its latest State Forest Resource Management Plan (SFRMP), releasing with it an oil and gas development position statement that reaffirms no new leases will be sold for state-owned land.

DCNR’s Bureau of Forestry manages 2.2 million acres of state forest system, representing about 13% of the state’s forested land. About 1.5 million acres of the state-owned forest system lies within the prospective limits of the Marcellus Shale.

The statement supports an executive order issued by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf in January 2015 that banned oil and gas leases in state-owned parks and forests. DCNR said in its new position statement that in order to better conserve the resources that it oversees, the agency will “not permit additional oil and natural gas leases on state forest and park lands where DCNR controls the subsurface rights.” The agency highlighted a number of initiatives that it would undertake to better manage oil and gas development.

Among them, DCNR said it would purchase and exchange real estate interests to acquire subsurface oil, gas and mineral rights to limit development on adjoining properties. The agency also said it would require subsurface owners to provide “definitive proof” of subsurface ownership and said it would continue to “closely” manage and monitor oil and gas development and its effects on leased lands and lands where DCNR does not own the subsurface mineral rights. The agency said it will cooperate with natural gas operators on state forest lands, as well.

DCNR spokeswoman Christina Novak said opportunities for purchasing or exchanging subsurface rights are explored on a case-by-case basis that is “subject to finding willing sellers and funding availability.” She said DCNR has added more than 40,000 acres to the state forest system over the last two years through a “variety of subsurface ownership situations.”

The Bureau of Forestry has released the SFRMP since 1955. It serves as a blueprint for how the lands will be managed and communicates the agency’s goals to the public. The last time it was revised was in 2007. For the latest plan, DCNR received more than 4,000 comments and hosted 12 public meetings over two years. 

“Management of our state forest system is an ever-changing undertaking, as there are constantly new challenges and best practices. Society continues to place increasing needs on state forest land such as recreational use and resource extraction and the forest also is under environmental stressors including climate change and invasive plants and insects,” said DCNR Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn in a statement. “The careful and deliberate approach to management outlined in the plan will help protect and sustain the forest’s ecological, social and economic benefits now and for the future.” 

Development and gas storage leases issued by DCNR in state forests total 343,915 acres. The agency has also identified another 330,000 acres that, through private leases where the state does not own subsurface rights, are exposed to development. Since 2008, DCNR has issued three shale-gas specific leases totaling 138,866 acres. The last time a shale lease was sold was in 2010.

The state began leasing land for oil and gas development in 1947 and the bonus payments from unconventional leases have generated more revenue than the cumulative total received by the program since it started. Shale bonus and royalty payments have brought in about $862 million.

“We’re disappointed, but not surprised in the agency’s actions. It shouldn’t be lost on anyone that safe, tightly-regulated non-surface taxpayer-owned energy development is an enormous source of revenue for the commonwealth, generating nearly $1 billion since 2008,” said Marcellus Shale Coalition spokeswoman Erica Clayton Wright. “Rather than pursue policies that restrict responsible natural gas development and jeopardize good-paying jobs, Pennsylvania elected officials should be encouraging greater production, infrastructure development and use of our abundant, clean-burning natural gas resources.”

Shale gas development began on state forest lands in 2009. Thus far, DCNR has approved 236 well pads and 1,026 shale wells since 2008. 

See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

Wayne National Forest borders WV on Ohio River

BLM limits comment period for Wayne National Forest leasing for oil and gas to May 31 deadline

(Wayne National Forest borders Wetzel, Tyler & Pleasants Counties of WV on the Ohio River)

From an Article by Terry Smith, Akron News Record, May 25, 2016

The federal government apparently plans to stick with a May 31 closing date for the comment period on a draft Environmental Assessment for leasing subsurface acreage in the Wayne National Forest’s Marietta Unit for oil and gas drilling.

Environmental groups opposing the plan had requested an extension of the comment period along with a public hearing.

In a public notice emailed on Tuesday, the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) urged “interested members of the public to review and comment on the EA” by the end of the comment period on May 31.

The draft EA includes a finding of no significant environmental impact on leasing federal oil and gas resources on about 40,000 subsurface acres. Some 18,000 of those acres are being considered for leasing.

Four groups who oppose drilling on the national forest held a press conference at the U.S. Forest Service’s Wayne National Forest Headquarters southeast of Nelsonville on May 18, restating their opposition and requesting an extension of the comment period.

At the same time, groups representing owners of land adjoining the federal land in the National Forest’s Marietta Unit have been lobbying the BLM to move forward on the leasing plan. In many cases, these private landowners can’t lease their own property for drilling until the adjoining federal land has been opened for leasing.

The EA’s preliminary “finding of no significant impact” does not become official until after the draft EA issued by the BLM becomes final. After the comment period is over, pertinent federal officials will have to review public input before finalizing the EA and the related finding of no significant impact.

The EA in question only involves designated acreage on the Wayne’s Marietta Unit for which more than 50 oil-and-gas industry “expressions of interest” have been submitted, but not the Athens or Ironton units of the national forest.

In the yet-to-be-signed finding of no significant impact, BLM District Manager Dean Gettinger, states, “Based upon a review of the EA and supporting documents, I have determined that the proposed action (leasing of 18,494 acres in the Wayne’s Marietta Unit) is not a major federal action, and will not significantly affect the quality of the human environment, individually or cumulatively, with other actions in the general area.”

In general, the BLM noted in the EA that the preliminary act of leasing the national forest acreage doesn’t authorize “surface-disturbing activities.” Rather, the draft EA, if approved following the comment period, will “provide the lessee(s) exclusive rights to explore and develop oil and gas reserves on the lease.” In order to proceed with drilling, according to the BLM documents, the oil/gas company would have to apply for a drilling permit in line with federal requirements.

In their press conference/demonstration May 18 at the Wayne National Forest Headquarters near Nelsonville, representatives of four grassroots environmental groups, in addition to requesting an extension of the BLM’s comment period for the leasing program for oil and gas drilling on the forest’s Marietta Unit, asked for a public hearing on the draft EA.

The groups included the Athens County Fracking Action Network (ACFAN), which organized the event, the Buckeye Forest Council, Ohio Sierra Club and Torch Can Do.

In the news release announcing the event, Heather Cantino of ACFAN stated, “The BLM as a federal agency is charged with involving the public in such an important decision as opening our Forest to fracking (deep-shale horizontal hydraulic fracturing). Fracking was not in the 2006 Wayne National Forest Plan so must be fully evaluated with full public input, according to federal law. I’ve spent eight hours trying to decipher the BLM’s so-called Environmental Assessment (EA) and so far find it to be gobbledygook.”

She added, “It will take me many more hours to figure out if there’s any science in this document. So far I can’t find any.”

A public hearing is necessary, she argued in the release, so federal officials can explain the confusing information in the EA. “We need a public hearing so that the public can share its extensive knowledge of the issues and our various attempts at understanding these confusing and consequential documents – with one another, with our community, and with federal officials,” she said. “We must then have time to write meaningful comments.”

Environmental Groups insist that allowing leasing, and then fracking, on the Wayne National Forest poses a significant risk to natural resources and public health, both from the drilling itself and associated fracking-waste injection wells.

At the May 18 press conference, ACFAN member Roxanne Groff – also a Bern Township (Athens County) trustee – reiterated why the groups are demanding a public hearing and comment period extension.

“We must all insist on an extension of the public comment period and a public hearing, which the BLM is allowed to grant as their responsibility to all citizens for the most robust public involvement, and which is required by federal law for major federal actions that may significantly affect the forest and human environment.

“To say that fracking our (national) forest will not have significant impacts is preposterous,” she declared.”

Comments on the draft environmental assessment can be emailed to blm_es_comments@blm.gov; faxed to 414-297-4409, attn: Kurt Wadzinski; or mailed to BLM Northeastern States District, Attn: Kurt Wadzinski, Planning & Environmental Coordinator, 626 E. Wisconsin Ave., Suite 200, Milwaukee, WI 53202-4617.