The Ohio River must be protected

WV Governor receives petitions, open letter regarding drilling under Ohio River

On November 25, Robin Mahonen with the Wheeling Water Warriors mailed 3,820 signatures on a petition concerning drilling under the Ohio River to WV Governor Tomblin.

Petition: https://www.change.org/p/randy-c-huffman-no-drilling-under-the-ohio-river

Open Letter to: Governor Earl Ray Tomblin, WV State Capitol, 1900 Kanawha Blvd. E., Charleston WV 25305

My name is Robin Mahonen, and I am a social worker, musician and activist, and founder of a grassroots group in Wheeling, WV called the “Wheeling Water Warriors”. I am here today to present you with this petition, signed by 3820, to urge you to reconsider your plans to permit hydraulic fracturing under the Ohio River. This idea is economically short sighted, environmentally unsound, and shows a disregard for the health and wellbeing of the citizens of this state as well as the adjacent states who also drink water from this river.

I brought my family of four young children to West Virginia 23 years ago, in 1991, to enjoy the wild wonderful beauty of this state and to watch them grow up and thrive in a rural setting. I was born in Los Angeles, and raised in NYC, so I understand both the concept and the reality of living with pollution very well. When I met people here for the first time, and told them I had moved to WV from NYC, the most common answer was “Why?” In surprise, I’d answer, “For the natural beauty, the low cost of living, the friendly people, the low crime rate, need I go on?” I was surprised to find so many native West Virginians had such a negative view of the place they were born and raised. I CHOSE to come here and make this state my home, and for many years, I loved it here. I brought both my parents here to live and care for them in the country in their golden years. I expected to live out my days cradled in the arms of the mountains of West Virginia. As a social worker, for many of those years, I had a private mental health practice, was active in my church and other cultural and community activities. I came to know and love many wonderful people who call themselves Mountaineers.

I want to tell you why my husband and I are now leaving this fair state.

I have always been alarmed by mountaintop coal removal, but since the fracking industry has moved in, the entire area has changed. I have seen water levels in our small streams and ponds disappear as the frackers remove our water at will to serve their operations. The air around active frack pads is hazardous to health, and the methane gas released throughout the fracking process is a major contributor of global climate change. Our water has been contaminated by spills. The noise generated at these pads approaches that of a jet engine when the wells are being flared. Workers have died in fiery explosions. The huge trucks run people off our small rural roads. Some of the out of town workers, with no ties to the community, litter our roadsides and take the jobs that were promised to locals, some of them living in RV “man camps”, and others driving the costs of housing beyond what our locals can afford. A promising young college student was killed in our hometown in an unfortunate altercation with some of these same workers.

Personally, I was offered $45,000 by a company for oil and gas rights to my 16 acre property in Triadelphia, WV, and turned it down. For me, it would have been tantamount to selling my soul. I am horrified to think that anyone would consider fracking under the river, the lifeblood of so many, to be a sound idea.

When I first visited WV, I came as a tourist enjoying whitewater rafting, and was awed by the natural beauty I saw here. How many tourists will want to come to WV now, when we can’t guarantee they will find clean water to drink? Who wants to view naked mountaintops, frack pads, and cracker plants? This natural beauty needs to be preserved for future generations, not used as a cash cow. As someone raised in the city, who came here for the natural beauty, I am appalled by the callous disregard for this beautiful land, by people who were born and raised here, including you, Governor Tomblin. We all are stewards of this earth, and we all should be ashamed.

Every single one of my four children decided to leave West Virginia, even though they grew up here. My daughter was a two time record breaking West Virginia State Track Champion, yet left as soon as she graduated. I have no grandchildren yet, but I would not want my children to bring their children to grandma’s house if they had to be exposed to the chemicals and radiation being released into our community. We have friends in the MCHM affected areas who still do not drink their tap water. I have a friend who lives in a house in the shade of a frack pad, and her little girl, age 8, got leukemia. Another friend is surrounded by four fracking pads, and their child was born with developmental disabilities. One child sickened or damaged for fracking is too many. It is our responsibility as adults to insure that our children are growing up in clean, safe environments. West Virginia can now guarantee neither.

As an activist, I know that there are some who will no doubt be happy to see me leave, you perhaps included. But please recognize that there is an ongoing population drain in this state, and I am not the first, nor will I be the last, to make this sad decision for our families own health and wellbeing. I have literally been brought to tears as I bear witness to the various communities devastated by fossil fuel and fracking operations. I will continue to advocate for WV from my new home. Further, my husband and I are keeping our house in WV, with the hopes that things may change. You, Governor Tomblin, are in a unique position to help change this.

What would we like you to do?

Start by protecting our Ohio River. Do not allow drilling under the river, as the potential risks greatly outweigh any short term economic benefit. This river is the drinking water and source of life to well over 3 million Americans, ten times the number of residents impacted by the disastrous MCHM spill into the Elk River just this past winter. We have no right to endanger the water of people downriver.

Support, fund and enforce SB373 to protect our water from further contamination. This bill was passed unanimously last year following the MCHM water crisis, largely due to citizen pressure, and is under attack by the industry. This legislation is a start, and is designed to protect West Virginians and their water.

Invest in solar and other renewable clean energy sources which protect our public health and environment, while generating long term jobs for our locals. This is not just a regional issue, as the continued extraction and use of fossil fuels cause global climate change, impacting everyone on this planet.

Most importantly, recognize that fossil fuel extraction is not a boon to West Virginia, and the long term costs of this extreme industry are not worth the risks to the people of this state. Fossil fuels are, and will inevitably continue to become more and more difficult to extract, and therefore, more expensive. Solar energy has, and will continue to increase in efficiency and decrease in costs. We need to create good jobs in this state, and solar jobs are growing ten times faster than national average employment growth.

Follow the leads of progressive communities who have recognized that fossil fuel extraction is not only a death producing, but also, a dying industry. Solar and other technologies are the future, and fossil fuel extraction needs to become known as a historical technology whose day has come and gone, like the dinosaurs they came from, when we didn’t know any better. As educated and intelligent people, we now know better. Put West Virginia on the cutting edge, rather than bringing up the rear. Take a stand, make a statement, and develop policies which reflect this reality.

_____________________

Signed: Robin Mahonen, Wheeling Water Warriors, rrafael2@aol.com

Prof. Ben Stout of Wheeling

Lawmakers hear from both sides on fracking water recycling plant

From the Article by Casey Junkins, Wheeling Intelligencer, November 20, 2013

Charleston, WV – Ben Stout took his fight against the GreenHunter Water natural gas frack water recycling plant to Charleston on Tuesday, as he testified to the West Virginia Joint Legislative Oversight Commission on State Water Resources.

On the other side of the debate, GreenHunter Vice President of Operations Rick Zickefoose also spoke before the special committee of the state Legislature. He took the place of John Jack, vice president of Business Development for GreenHunter, who had been on the commission’s schedule.

“I want to make sure that legislators are aware of this. This should not be taken lightly. I don’t think that a facility like this belongs near a residential area. Too many people are too close – and the stuff is way too nasty,” Stout, a Wheeling Jesuit University biology professor, said prior to his official testimony. “This stuff is hazardous waste.”

“We were invited to give an overview of what we do,” Zickefoose said of the session. “This was just an informational session for us to show them what is involved.”

However, Stout remains resolute in his opposition. He said arsenic, barium and bromides are some of the potentially hazardous compounds Stout said GreenHunter could be trucking into the site at North 28th Street in the Warwood section of Wheeling.

The company also continues seeking permission from the Coast Guard to place the waste on Ohio River barges that would be loaded in Warwood at a rate of about one per week.

Stout has said he does not believe the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection will oversee the project.

Jack said the DEP will do a “walk-through” inspection of the plant once it is up and running. However, DEP officials recently said GreenHunter does not need a permit from the agency.

“We just need to get some factual information out there. Let the Legislature make their own decision,” Stout said. “Our first-responders don’t know what is in these trucks.”

Officials with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said the brine GreenHunter wants to recycle in Warwood can contain radioactive radium and radon. Even though radium, uranium and radon are considered radioactive, Jack said these elements will be minuscule in volume. He also said the company’s workers will wear radiation detectors while on the job.

“Radium, when concentrations greatly exceed hazardous waste standards, creates a problem,” Stout said.

Jack said approximately 30 trucks, each carrying about 100 barrels of brine water from local fracking operations, should arrive at the site each day once it is up and running.

He and other GreenHunter officials have also said they do not understand why there would be a problem with barging the waste, citing barges that carry coal on the river daily.

U.S. Coast Guard publishes proposed policy on moving frack wastewater by barge

Article by Emily DeMarco, PublicSource, November 1, 2013

The U.S. Coast Guard, which regulates the country’s waterways, will allow shale gas companies to ship fracking wastewater on the nation’s rivers and lakes under a proposed policy published on October 30th. The Coast Guard began studying the issue nearly two years ago at the request of its Pittsburgh office, which had inquiries from companies transporting Marcellus Shale wastewater.

If the policy is approved, companies can ship the wastewater in bulk on barges on the nation’s 12,000 miles of waterways, a much cheaper mode than trucks or rail. The public will have 30 days to comment.

Under the policy, companies would first have to test the wastewater at a state-certified laboratory and provide the data to the Coast Guard for review. The tests would determine levels of radioactivity, pH, bromides and other hazardous materials.

In addition, the barges would also have to be checked for the accumulation of radioactive particles that might affect workers. If the test results meet the limits outlined in the policy, the companies would receive Coast Guard approval to ship the wastewater in bulk. It is unclear whether the barge companies would self-report the test results.

All records outlined in the proposed policy must be held by the barge companies for two years, but would be available to the Coast Guard. Normally, the information also would be available to the public under the Freedom of Information Act.

However, “the identity of proprietary chemicals may be withheld from public release,” the policy states.

Environmental groups, academics and the media have tried to get information about the chemicals used in fracking in the past. However, gas drilling companies have refused to release the specific amounts of chemicals they pump underground to release gas from the shale formation.

Benjamin Stout, a biology professor at Wheeling Jesuit University about 60 miles southwest of Pittsburgh, said the part of the policy about proprietary chemicals is worrisome to him because “it’s the easy out. “All they have to do is say ‘proprietary information’ and they don’t  have to do anything” in terms of releasing information to the public, he said.

(Stout is a board member of FracTracker, a non-profit that disseminates data about the shale gas industry. Both FracTracker and PublicSource are funded, in part, by the Heinz Endowments.)

The gas drilling industry already is exempt from a laundry list of federal regulations, including the Clean Air and Clean Water acts.

The Coast Guard’s letter accompanying the proposed policy specifically asks the public for comment on the disclosure of proprietary information. The full policy can be read on the Coast Guard’s website. All public comments will be posted at htttp://www.regulations.gov.

“We are required to take in consideration those comments before we move to the next step,” said Carlos Diaz, a spokesman for the Coast Guard. “Our role as a regulatory agency is to get it right.”

The question of moving the wastewater by barges has been controversial. Environmentalists said the possibility of a spill that could contaminate Pittsburgh’s rivers with chemicals isn’t worth the risk. But industry officials said barges are the safest, and cheapest, way to move the wastewater.

“Waterways are the least costly way of transporting it,” said James McCarville, executive director of the Port of Pittsburgh Commission, an agency that advocates for waterway transport. “We look forward to being able to get the trucks off the highways as quickly as possible.”

Stout counters that the risks on the water are huge. “If and when there’s a spill, that can’t be cleaned up,” he said. “That means it’s going to be in the drinking-water supply of millions of people.”

One of the companies interested in the policy is GreenHunter Water, which handles wastewater for major oil and gas companies. Jonathan Hoopes, president of GreenHunter, said the company is pleased that the proposed policy has been published.

“Now that we’ve seen the proposed policy letter, it allows us to do the research that we need to do to comply,” he said. “You’ll hear a lot more from a lot larger companies than GreenHunter in the near future about this,” he added.

Officials from the Marcellus Shale Coalition, which represents gas drilling companies, did not return a phone call requesting comment.

There is commercial interest in moving the wastewater from Pennsylvania via inland waterways to be stored, reprocessed or disposed of in Ohio, Texas, and Louisiana, according to the policy. If approved, the Coast Guard’s policy could be momentous for the gas-drilling industry, as the amount and transportation of wastewater is seen as a growing concern for both the industry and its critics.

Each barge could transport approximately 10,000 barrels of wastewater over the nation’s waterways.

Steve Hvozdovich, who is with the advocacy organization Clean Water Action, said his group plans to comment on the policy. “I’m a little disappointed to hear there’s only a 30-day public comment period,” he said. “Thirty days is not sufficient in my mind.”

Ohio County Program on Ohio River

Wheeling Water Warriors: Awareness Rally

This Saturday, 6/15/13, from noon to 4:00 pm in Garden Park in Warwood the Wheeling Water Warriors are having an awareness rally.

There will be free music provided by Joe Zelek, Cabin Fever Strings Band, and Uncle Eddie and Robin.

Dr. Ben Stout, Professor of Biology at Wheeling Jesuit University, will be speaking on the six (6) reasons Greenhunter should not open their proposed facility in Warwood. Lots of information and handouts will be available.

There will be free children’s activities as well. We hope to see you all there!!!!

Erin Bowers, Wheeling Water Warriors

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Opposition to GreenHunter Frack Water Plant Persists

From Article By Ian Hicks, Wheeling Intelligencer, June 4, 2013

As GreenHunter Water officials prepare to present their site plan for a proposed frack wastewater recycling facility in Warwood to the Wheeling Planning Commission, residents who fear for the safety of their drinking water again brought their concerns to City Council.

“You’re sitting in those chairs because the good people of Wheeling elected you to them. … The decisions you make or don’t make will impact many other people than in just Wheeling,” Warwood resident Robin Mahonen told council members during their meeting Tuesday.

Mozart Road resident Erin Bowers also presented council members with copies of a 2011 U.S. Geological Survey study on the presence of radium in fracking wastewater. The study states radium levels are higher in produced water from the Marcellus Shale compared with other shale formations in the Appalachian Basin.

Although drilling waste set off radiation alarms more than 1,000 times at Pennsylvania landfills during 2012, neither the Nuclear Regulatory Commission nor the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection consider radioactive material in that waste to be dangerous.

The company has an easement it believes gives it the right to use an existing pipe that runs beneath the trail to load water onto barges for transport, but city officials contend GreenHunter Water would need a zone change to use the docks, which would require council’s approval.

But barge loading isn’t yet part of GreenHunter’s site plan because the Coast Guard and other federal agencies have yet to decide whether to allow transport of fracking wastewater on inland waterways. Company officials have said they will proceed with the Wheeling facility regardless of that decision and simply move the water by truck if necessary.

Councilwoman Gloria Delbrugge said city officials have been invited to tour GreenHunter Water’s plant in New Matamoras, Ohio, on Thursday morning, and the Wheeling Planning Commission will meet to review the company’s Warwood site plan at 6 p.m. Monday.

Delbrugge, who represents Warwood, has been an outspoken opponent of the planned facility since the company announced its acquisition of the former Seidler’s Oil Service Property on North 28th Street in March.