The Oil & Gas Threat Map for West Virginia

The Threat Map for West Virginia is here:

http://oilandgasthreatmap.com/threat-map/west-virginia/

Learn How To use the maps.

Are there standards that control methane emitted from existing oil and gas facilities (the facilities on the Threat Map)?

• In West Virginia, no.
• At the federal level, no. But the Environmental Protection Agency is conducting an Information Collection Request that could lead to standards.

Are there standards that control methane emitted from new or modified oil and gas facilities emitting this pollution?

• In West Virginia, no.
• At the federal level, yes. On June 3rd, 2016, the Environmental Protect Agency published standards that limit pollution from new and modified facilities.

What can I do to better protect my community?

Share the Oil & Gas Threat Map on Facebook and Twitter

The best way to make change is to make more people aware that there’s a problem that needs fixing.

Call President Obama at 202-456-1111!

Tell him that:

• People living with oil and gas pollution now need help ASAP; and
• He needs to direct the Environmental Protection Agency to create new standards to cut methane and associated toxic air pollution from the 1.2 million existing oil and gas facilities around the United States.

For more information about efforts to protect the public, visit: methanefacts.org

Communities SHARE THEIR STORY and Take Action!

See also: http://oilandgasthreatmap.com/threat-map/west-virginia/

• >  >  >  >  >  >  >  >

<<< Threat Maps for the Various States >>>

Threat Maps for the Various States of the United States

• 1,193,118 ACTIVE OIL & GAS WELLS, COMPRESSORS AND PROCESSORS
• 12.4 MILLION PEOPLE LIVE IN THE THREAT RADIUS
• 238 COUNTIES EXCEED EPA’S CANCER RISK LEVEL OF CONCERN
• 11,543 SCHOOLS ARE IN THE THREAT RADIUS
• 639 MEDICAL FACILITIES ARE IN THE THREAT RADIUS
• 184,578 SQ. MILES ARE COVERED BY THE THREAT RADIUS

The Oil & Gas Threat Maps shows us that oil and gas air pollution isn’t someone else’s problem, it’s everyone’s problem.

Williams' Transco Pipeline Plans

Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline Price Tag Is $2.1 Billion

Williams Energy pipeline will service 7 million homes from NYC to Georgia

From an Article by Casey Junkins, Wheeling Intelligencer, April 14, 2015

Wheeling, WV – Williams Energy plans to service 7 million homes from New York City to Georgia with about 1.7 billion cubic feet of Marcellus Shale natural gas daily via its $2.1 billion Atlantic Sunrise pipeline project.

If the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) grants approval, the Atlantic Sunrise will join several other pipeline projects designed to ship the natural gas drawn from West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio to metropolitan markets.

“Atlantic Sunrise is a vital piece of North American energy infrastructure needed to transport low-cost, abundant supplies of natural gas from the Marcellus producing region in Pennsylvania to hungry markets along the Atlantic Seaboard,” Rory Miller, senior vice president of Williams Energy Atlantic-Gulf operating area, said. “Shippers have signed long-term commitments for the expansion’s entire capacity, which represents enough natural gas to serve approximately 7 million homes.”

The natural gas companies working in the Marcellus formation are now producing about 14.6 billion cubic feet daily, compared to just 1.3 Bcf per day in 2010. These yields could continue increasing once new pipeline projects are placed into service, the agency believes.

Williams officials hope to place the Atlantic Sunrise into service before the end of 2017 to keep up with demand for infrastructure. The new project will be an expansion and extension of Williams’ Transco pipeline system, which runs some 10,200 miles from south Texas to New York City, providing natural gas to numerous metropolitan areas along the way.

A Penn State University report indicates the Atlantic Sunrise pipeline’s design and construction would support about 8,000 temporary jobs, as well as 29 full-time jobs once the operation is running.

“Penn State’s report clearly shows how vital this project and others like it are for Pennsylvania’s economy,” Pennsylvania Chamber of Business & Industry President Gene Barr said. “We need to take advantage of all of our natural resources, and the best way to do that is through more gas infrastructure. The Atlantic Sunrise expansion to the Transco pipeline is projected to support thousands of jobs during construction and thousands more in the drilling and supply chain industries.”

The Atlantic Sunrise joins the following transportation systems developing to move Marcellus and Utica shale natural gas to large markets: the $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline designed to ship gas to North Carolina; the Leach XPress that will send gas toward Huntington, W.Va.; the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which will ship gas southward from Wetzel County; and the Texas Eastern Transmission’s Gulf Markets Expansion project, operated by Spectra Energy, which will carry gas from the Upper Ohio Valley to Gulf Coast states.

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WV-DEP: 132 Barrels of NGL Spilled Into Marshall County Creek — Williams to be sanctioned for pollution by NGL condensate

From an Article by Casey Junkins, Wheeling Intelligencer, April 14, 2014

Glen Dale, WV – West Virginia regulators will cite Williams Energy for “conditions not allowable in state waters” after the company’s pipeline rupture allowed 132 barrels of Marcellus Shale condensate to spill into Little Grave Creek last week.

The 4-inch condensate conduit broke late Thursday, less than three hours before a 12-inch natural gas pipeline – also operated by Williams – failed in the Bane Lane area of Marshall County along U.S. 250.

“Other violations may be issued depending on the evolution and discovery of site conditions,” West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman Kelley J. Gillenwater said of the 4-inch pipeline rupture. “The condensate has impacted approximately 6 miles of Little Grave Creek in Marshall County.”

Gillenwater said a visible sheen remains along Little Grave Creek, along with a slight odor. This stream ultimately leads to the Ohio River, but she said no drinking water intakes have been impacted. Gillenwater said an environmental remediation company hired by Williams has placed containment booms in the creek to prevent the material from proliferating.

“Williams has and will continue to take water samples of Little Grave Creek starting at the mouth of the Ohio River, and sampling all public accesses of the stream to the right of way,” Gillenwater said. “An unnamed tributary is also believed to have been impacted and this stream is also being sampled.”

Friday, Williams spokeswoman Helen Humphreys said company officials believe “heavy rains in the area, which may have destabilized soils, were a contributing factor” in the two pipeline failures late Thursday. Monday, Humphreys said both pipelines remain shutdown as company and state inspectors determine the full cause of the ruptures before initiating repairs.

Williams transports natural gas and liquids for Chevron, Southwestern Energy, Gastar Exploration, Trans Energy, and several other producers in northern West Virginia. The firm operates a massive pipeline and processing infrastructure network in Marshall County. It runs the Oak Grove processing plant, the Fort Beeler processing plant and the Moundsville fractionator, all of which are connected by pipelines.

Humphreys said the 12-inch line that broke near Bane Lane Thursday collects natural gas from producing wells throughout the area for shipment to the nearby Fort Beeler plant. She said officials knew they had a problem because of a noticeable pressure drop.

“Company personnel have taken soil samples in the area of the rupture and are developing a recovery plan,” she said of remediation efforts related to this failure.

On April 5, 2014, a 12-inch Williams pipeline ruptured near the Oak Grove plant. After the investigation, Gillenwater said this “explosion created a 10-foot crater, and the resulting fire scorched trees over an approximately 2-acre area.”Unlike last year’s event, Humphreys said neither Thursday rupture created a fire.

See also:  www.MAREproject.org

Texas City Pipeline Fire 1/14/15

America’s Disastrous History of Pipeline Accidents Shows Why the Keystone XL Vote Matters

From an Article by Noah Greenwald, Center for Biological Diversity, Huffington Post, January 18, 2015

It’d be easy to discount the Senate vote over the Keystone XL pipeline as mere political theater but that’d be a mistake. Build Keystone XL and you build on a long and disastrous history of pipelines in America.

A new analysis of federal records reveals that in just the past year and four months, there have been 372 oil and gas pipeline leaks, spills and other incidents, leading to 20 deaths, 117 injuries and more than $256 million in damages.

The new data adds to a June 1, 2013 independent analysis of federal records revealing that since 1986, oil and gas pipeline incidents have resulted in 532 deaths, more than 2,400 injuries and more than $7.5 billion in damages.

Check out this new time-lapse video that includes every “significant pipeline” incident in the continental United States — along with their human and financial costs — from 1986 to October 1, 2014. On average one significant pipeline incident occurs in the country every 30 hours, according to the data.

So what would happen if Keystone XL is built? The U.S. State Department estimates Keystone XL could spill up to 100 times during its lifetime.

One difference between Keystone XL and the vast majority of other pipelines that have spilled is that it will be carrying tar sands oil, which has proven very difficult, if not impossible, to clean up. A 2010 spill of tar sands oil in the Kalamazoo River in Michigan, for example, has yet to be cleaned up despite four years of effort. Another tar sands spill in 2013 fouled an entire neighborhood in Arkansas. Federal regulators have acknowledged that Keystone XL, too, will spill.

TransCanada’s existing Keystone I tar sands pipeline has reportedly leaked at least 14 times since it went into operation in June 2010, including one spill of 24,000 gallons. The State Department’s environmental reviews have pointed out that spills from Keystone XL are likely. The pipeline will cross a number of important rivers, including the Yellowstone and Platte, as well as thousands of smaller rivers and streams.

Yes, politicians are looking to score political points in their vote on Keystone XL. But in the rest of the world, this is no game and if Keystone XL moves forward, the losers will be streams, rivers, wildlife, water, our climate, and, ultimately, all of us who depend on them.  << See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net >>

Brooke County WV Ethane Pipeline Explosion

Soil Contamination & Water Pollution

Research is Reported Behind NY State-wide Fracking Ban

The  ”final supplemental environmental impact statement” (SEIS) incorporating public comments will be published in 2015

From the Article by Nicholas St. Fleur, The Atlantic Monthly, December 18, 2014

The battle over untapped natural gas in New York State appears to have reached its end. Following an extensive public health review of hydraulic fracturing, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a complete ban on the oil and natural gas harvesting practice in the state on Wednesday.

The 184-page report, conducted by the New York State Department of Health, cites potential environmental impacts and health hazards as reasons for the ban. The research incorporates findings from multiple studies conducted across the country and highlights the following seven concerns:

• Respiratory health: The report cites the dangers of methane emissions from natural gas drilling in Texas and Pennsylvania, which have been linked to asthma and other breathing issues. Another study found that 39 percent of residents in southern Pennsylvania who lived within one kilometer of a fracking site developed upper-respiratory problems compared with 18 percent of those who lived more than two kilometers away.
• Drinking water: Shallow methane-migration underground could seep into drinking water, one study found, contaminating wells. Another found brine from deep shale formations in groundwater aquifers. The report also refers to a study of fracking communities in the Appalachian Plateau where they found methane in 82 percent of drinking water samples, and that concentrations of the chemical were six times higher in homes close to natural gas wells. Ethane was 23 times higher in homes close to fracking sites as well.
• Seismic activity: The report cites studies from Ohio and Oklahoma that explain how fracking can trigger earthquakes. Another found that fracking near Preese Hall in the United Kingdom resulted in a 2.3 magnitude earthquake as well as 1.5 magnitude earthquake.
• Climate change: Excess methane can be released into the atmosphere, which contributes to global warming. One study predicts that fracking in New York State would contribute between 7 percent and 28 percent of the volatile organic compound emissions, and between 6 percent and 18 percent of nitrogen oxide emissions in the region by 2020.
• Soil contamination: One analysis of a natural gas site found elevated levels of radioactive waste in the soil, potentially the result of surface spills.
• The community: The report refers to problems such as noise and odor pollution, citing a case in Pennsylvania where gas harvesting was linked to huge increases in automobile accidents and heavy truck crashes.
• Health complaints: Residents near active fracking sites reported having symptoms such as nausea, abdominal pain, nosebleeds, and headaches according to studies. A study in rural Colorado which examined 124,842 births between 1996 and 2009 found that those who lived closest to natural gas development sites had a 30 percent increase in congenital heart conditions. The group of births closest to development sites also had a 100-percent increased chance of developing neural tube defects.

In 2008, New York State suspended its fracking activities pending further research into the health, environmental, and economic effects. Since the moratorium six years ago, many different scientific groups have conducted hydraulic fracturing research, as the state’s report reflects.

“I asked myself, ‘would I let my family live in a community with fracking? The answer is no.”

Howard Zucker, the acting state health commissioner who helped spearhead the report, addressed the ban with Gov. Cuomo in Albany. “I cannot support high-volume hydraulic fracturing in the great state of New York,” said Zucker, according to The Wall Street Journal. He added, “I asked myself, ‘would I let my family live in a community with fracking? The answer is no,” The Los Angeles Times reported.

But Cuomo and Zucker’s critics were quick to blast the ban, which they say will cost the state millions in jobs and energy. Dean Skelos, the Republican co-leader of the New York State Senate, said the move was shaped by politics, not science. “The decision implies that at least 30 other states, Senator Schumer and the Obama Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency are wrong about the health impacts and do not care about the well-being of millions of American citizens,” he said in a statement. Others have lashed against Zucker’s comments about not letting his family live in a fracking community despite not having children.

Zucker also voiced concern over how little is known about the long-term effects of injecting water and chemicals into the Marcellus shale, the disputed natural gas reserve that has been the subject of debate in New York and elsewhere. The new report, he said, highlights gaps in the current scientific understanding of fracking’s impact on groundwater resources, air quality, radon exposure, noise exposure, traffic, psychosocial stress, and injuries.

“The bottom line is we lack the comprehensive longitudinal studies, and these are either not yet complete or are yet to be initiated,” Zucker said according to The Syracuse Post-Standard. “We don’t have the evidence to prove or disprove the health effects. But the cumulative concerns of what I’ve read gives me reason to pause.”

See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net