Posted 11/20/11 - The DRBC has Cancelled the 11/21/11 Meeting because NYS and Delaware have indicated that they would vote "No" at this time!!! This is Great News, but it should now be clear that increasing vigilance will be needed if the EcoSystem that we rely on for our very lives is going to be protected from Industrial Contamination..
http://www.delawareriverkeeper.org/act-now/urgent-details.aspx?Id=93
Posted October 9, 2011
Posted September 13, 2011
Please look at the tab called "DRBC Protest! 10/21/11"
For over 3 years, we have all been fighting to protect the Delaware River Watershed from pollution from toxic gas drilling; 69,800 people filed comments with the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) during the comment period on their draft natural gas development regulations, breaking all past records of public interest. Law suits have been filed to attempt to stop the DRBC from movingahead with these inadequate regulations without the needed environmental studies to base those rules on. Delaware Riverkeeper Network is a plaintiffwith others; we’re working for an injunction. The New York Attorney General’s office filed to force the Army Corps, the federal representative to the DRBC, to follow federal environmental law.But now the DRBC has scheduled a special meeting from 1:00 to 3:00 pm on October 21, 2011 at the War Memorial in Trenton, NJ to “consider adoption of the regulations”, which would lift the current moratorium on gas drilling in the Watershed and allow drilling and fracking to start.
Please Join Us & Bring along your Neighbors and Friends! We NEED you! CALL to ACTION October 21 DRBC will meet 1 p.m. to 3 p.m…Patriots Theater at the War Memorial - 1 Memorial Drive Trenton, N.J.
Posted August 31,2011
Plan to Testify With Your Thoughts on Gas Drilling to a New PA Citizens Commission A new commission is launching that will give the citizens of Pennsylvania an opportunity to tell their side of the story about drilling in the Marcellus Shale. Earlier this year, Governor Tom Corbett’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission, heavy with industry representatives, produced a report and recommendations on shale drilling. The Citizens Commission is intended to delve deeper into a variety of issues, including water and air quality, social impacts of gas drilling, the drilling tax, and impacts outside Marcellus communities. The Commission will hold five hearings across Pennsylvania in August and September. Each hearing will be held from 6-9 p.m., with the first hour reserved for expert testimony and the remaining two for public input. If you have testimony to give, please attend one of the hearings or send in your thoughts. The hearing schedule is: Southwestern Pennsylvania Southeastern Pennsylvania Northeastern Pennsylvania Sept. 14, 2011, 6-9 pm: Wysox Volunteer Fire Company, P.O. Box 2, Lake Rd., Wysox, Pa. Central Pennsylvania Citizens can sign up to participate at these hearings at the Commission’s web site: http://citizensmarcellusshale.com or by calling Stephanie Frank at 717-255-7181
Aug. 31, 2011, 6-9 pm: South Fayette Middle School, 3640 Old Oakdale Rd., McDonald, Pa
Sept. 6, 2011, 6-9 pm: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1901 Vine St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Sept. 13, 2011, 6-9 pm: Lycoming College, Academic Center on Mulberry Street, Room D001, Lower Level, Williamsport, Pa.
Week of Sept. 18, 2011, Harrisburg, Pa. (Details TBA)
Posted August 24, 2011
Concert for Water / Carnegie Hall - November 1st, 2011The Concert for Water in the Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall is a celebration of Lifes most precious resource: Water. New York has the "Best Tasting" water in the world andit is now under attack by a massive campaign to frack for gas. Tickets go on sale beginning September 1st. Please look for announcements in the coming weeks with details about the celebrities, and performers who will grace to the worlds greatest stage, Carnegie Hall: http://www.citizensforwater.org/CarnegieHallConcert.html
Tar Sands Action/ Josh Fox from JFOX on Vimeo.
Posted August 22,2011 See the tab called September 13,2011
In order to make our voices heard, we're joining with our coalition partners and generating thousands of calls into the White House on the National Day of Action to Ban Fracking — Tuesday, September 13th.
http://action.foodandwaterwatch.org/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_page_KEY=6184
POSTED August 19,2011
Rally to Stop Dirty Gas Drilling — Protect Air, Water, Earth and Human Health
When: Wednesday, September 7, Noon – 2 PM (March follows until 3 PM)
Where: Center City Philadelphia, Arch St., between Broad and 13th Streets; In front of the Pennsylvania Convention Center
Appearing: Josh Fox, Director of the Oscar-nominated “Gasland;” Doug Shields, Pittsburgh City Council President; Al Appleton, internationally respected water systems expert; impacted families from “shale country”;organizers fighting for the life of the Delaware River watershed, the commonwealth, the Marcellus Shale region, and the nation. Additionally lifting our spirits in such serious times will be Rev. Rhetta Morgan, West Philly comic geniusBeth Nixon, and underground rock & hip-hop from The Band Called Fuse. More special guests will be posted here as they’re confirmed.
Why: Maximizing the sheer numbers attending this rally on September 7th will show a broad-based popular movement that will not tolerate contamination of our air, water, and earth by dirty drilling, or the corruption of our politicians by industry money. We will demand that not one more family be poisoned by fracking and shale gas extraction.
This demonstration is in response to the Marcellus Shale Coalition’s major conference in Philadelphia on Sept. 7th and 8th. CEOs from major fracking companies will be plotting to expand their poisonous operations in PA, NY, OH, MD, WV, VA, and NJ. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett and former governors Tom Ridge and Ed Rendell will be speaking in support of the industry. Dubbed “Shale Gas Insight,” this is not only a key trade show for the industry, but also a brazen expression of its political muscle.
Posted July 19,2011
From: O'Hara, Kate <Katharine.O'Hara@drbc.state.nj.us>
Subject: Large Number of Comments on DRBC's Draft Natural Gas Development Regulations Now Viewable on DRBC Website
To:
Date: Monday, July 11, 2011, 4:18 PM
Good Afternoon,
This email is intended for those who have asked to be a part of the Delaware River Basin Commission’s (DRBC) natural gas information email notification list. If you would like to be removed from this list, please let us know.
DRBC received written comments on the draft Natural Gas Development Regulations through approximately 44,500 form letters (identical or nearly identical letters submitted by two or more commenters); petitions or sign-on letters (comments under which two or more individuals signed their names) bearing a combined total of approximately 19,500 signatures; and approximately 4,800 unique oral or written submissions. Some 80 of the latter included single or multiple attachments. Oral comment consisted of approximately 18 hours of testimony on the draft regulations during six hearing sessions, for which professional transcripts were created.
All of the written and oral submissions received by the Commission on the draft regulations constitute public records and are available for review.
A large number of records, including the hearing transcripts, sample form letters, petitions and multi-party sign-on letters, and comments submitted by elected officials, public agencies, businesses and private organizations, can now be viewed on-line at http://www.nj.gov/drbc/NGC/index.htm. Unless stated otherwise (as in the case of form letters and petitions, for which each substantive component appears in these on-line files only once), all submissions that fall within the named categories are included.
DRBC staff has created an Access database which includes the following:
With the exception of the materials submitted as attachments, all of these items were either entered into the Planning, Environment, and Public Comment System (“PEPC”) by the commenter or scanned into PEPC by a DRBC contractor, and thus appear in the database as PEPC records rather than as Adobe pdf files.
The Access database cannot be posted on-line due to limitations on server space. However, the entire database has been loaded onto a dedicated PC placed in the library in DRBC’s West Trenton, N.J. office building. Anyone who wishes to inspect or download items from the database may schedule an appointment by emailing publicrecords@drbc.state.nj.us.
Thank you.
_________________
Katharine O'Hara
Communications Assistant
Delaware River Basin Commission
P.O. Box 7360, West Trenton, N.J. 08628-0360
Phone: (609) 883-9500 ext. 205
Fax: (609) 883-9522
The Delaware River is Pennsylvania’s 2011 River of the Year!
Posted May 23rd, 2011
N E W S R E L E A S E
DELAWARE RIVER BASIN COMMISSION
P.O. Box 7360, 25 State Police Drive
West Trenton, NJ 08628
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Clarke Rupert - (609) 883-9500 x260
Kate O’Hara - (609) 883-9500 x205
DRBC SCHEDULES ANOTHER PUBLIC HEARING ON XTO ENERGY’S PROPOSED WATER WITHDRAWAL
WEST TRENTON, N.J. (May 18) – Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) Executive Director Carol R. Collier today announced that a second hearing will be held on Wednesday, June 1, 2011 to give the public another opportunity to provide feedback on XTO Energy’s proposed water withdrawal draft docket. Written comments on this proposal must be received on or before June 1.
The public hearing will take place at the Deposit High School Auditorium, 171 Second Street, Deposit, N.Y. from 4:45 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. An informational meeting, which will open with a brief overview presentation on the draft docket by commission staff to be followed with an informal question and answer period, will be held at 3:45 p.m. for the hour preceding the hearing.
Registration for those who wish to testify at the hearing will begin at 3:30 p.m. when the doors open. There will be no inside access to the school building prior to 3:30 p.m. Registration will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Because a large number of individuals are expected to register to speak, commenters will be limited to two minutes each. It is estimated that approximately 120 speakers can be heard within the allotted time period. Oral testimony may be supplemented with written comments submitted at the hearing or provided to the commission on or before June 1. Oral and written comments will receive the same consideration by the commissioners prior to any action on the proposal.
Government representatives who wish to comment in their official capacities may present their two-minute oral testimony at the beginning of the hearing, provided that they register in advance by phoning Paula Schmitt at (609) 883-9500 x224 before 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 31.
During the public hearing held at the commission’s May 11, 2011 business meeting, 39 persons testified on the draft XTO docket. Many of these commenters requested that another hearing be held in the vicinity of the proposed water withdrawal and that the written comment period be extended. The commissioners granted both requests, announcing that the comment period on the draft docket will remain open until the close of a second public hearing to be held in the vicinity of Broome County, N.Y. To date, the DRBC has received more than 8,700 comments on the draft docket.
XTO Energy is requesting to withdraw up to 250,000 gallons per day of surface water from Oquaga Creek in the Town of Sanford in Broome County to support the company’s planned natural gas exploration and production activities within the Delaware River Basin in Broome and Delaware counties in N.Y. Oquaga Creek drains to the West Branch Delaware River.
The draft docket prepared by DRBC staff in response to XTO Energy’s application stipulates that even if the docket is issued, the company cannot withdraw any water at the site unless and until it receives separate approvals from DRBC and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) for those natural gas wells intended to receive the water.
Written comments on the proposed draft docket must include “XTO Energy” in the subject line. Written comments may be submitted by hand at the June 1 hearing; by e-mail to Paula.Schmitt@drbc.state.nj.us; by U.S. Mail to Commission Secretary, DRBC, P.O. Box 7360, West Trenton, NJ 08628-0360; or by private delivery service or hand delivery to Commission Secretary, DRBC, 25 State Police Drive, West Trenton, NJ 08628-0360. Please include the name, address, and affiliation (if any) of the commenter. All written comments must be received on or before June 1, 2011. The draft XTO Energy water withdrawal docket can be viewed on the commission’s web site at www.drbc.net.
The DRBC is a federal/interstate government agency responsible for managing the water resources within the 13,539 square-mile Delaware River Basin without regard to political boundaries. The five commission members are the Governors of the basin states (Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania) and the Commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ North Atlantic Division, who represents the federal government. 2011 marks the commission’s 50th anniversary.
Posted March 23, 2011
Dr Conrad Volz, Directory of the University of Pittsburg Center for Healthy Environments and Communities March 15, 2011. Speaking at Miseracordia University.
This is a 38 minute Video that summarizes one portion of the wastewater problem.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWwjWFcCIgY
We need the EPA to function and we need 100 more men like Dr Volz to monitor the results..
Posted March 9,2011
This is a great way to get your personal opinion placed into the Permanent Public Record.
Please spend some time and compose a letter that will help effect a change in the public policy of the Delaware Watershed.
Summary
The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC or Commission) is proposing a new Article 7 of its Water Quality Regulations to protect the water resources of the Delaware River Basin during the construction and operation of natural gas development projects. This Article applies to all natural gas development projects involving siting, construction, or use of production, exploratory, or other wells in the basin regardless of the target geologic formation, and to water withdrawals, well pad and related activities, and wastewater disposal activities comprising part of, associated with, or serving such projects. The provisions of this Article rely on the state oil and gas regulatory programs of Pennsylvania and New York where separate administration by the Commission would result in unnecessary duplication. This Article supersedes the Executive Director Determinations issued on May 19, 2009, June 14, 2010, and July 23, 2010.
This Article implements the statutory authority that Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and the federal government granted to the Commission in the Delaware River Basin Compact and supplements the Commission’s Comprehensive Plan with respect to natural gas development projects within the basin.
Instructions for Submitting Written Comments
There will be a 120-day comment period, with written comments accepted through the close of business (5 p.m.) April 15, 2011, by the following two methods:
1. Electronic submission using a web-based form (preferred method). The National Park Service (NPS) has authorized DRBC to utilize its Planning, Environment, and Public Comment (PEPC) online submission system for accepting comments electronically**. Please click here to go to the PEPC web page to comment on this proposed regulation.
2. Paper submission mailed or delivered to: Commission Secretary, DRBC, P.O. Box 7360, 25 State Police Drive, West Trenton, NJ 08628. Please be sure to include the name, address, and affiliation (if any) of the commenter. Paper submissions will also be accepted at the three public hearings.
Posted 2/28/2011
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The Public DRBC Hearings were held last week.
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The public was allocated 120 seconds for each person to make a verbal statement about how we feel about the "Regulation" of a reckless, irresponsible and destructive industry that is not satisfied with being permitted to drill in most of Pennsylvania (and most of the the other States in the Union.)
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Please read the the Final report from the:
"National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling" if you need the reasons why the Oil and Gas Industry are considered "reckless, irresponsible and destructive"....
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The issue this week was the discussion about how the Delaware Watershed should be dissected and digested by the Oil and Gas industry with the legal blessing from the States of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and the Federal Government.
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To be completely be clear about this.
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There should be a total prohibition of all Natural Gas drilling in the Delaware Watershed.
Prohibition is the only way that the people and the Ecosystem of the Delaware Watershed can be adequately protected.
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It is Wrong for the commission to discuss the new Arbitrary amounts of Industrial Waste that will be legally allowed to be be dumped into our Water supply.
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This is exactly what is being calmly discussed with this set of Proposed regulations.
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This is Nothing less than the intentional Contamination of our Water Supply.
The water is for the most part, clean and it is drinkable at this time
It is not as clean as it could be (or as clean as it should be).
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There are Superfund sites that are leaking into the Water table already.
There are many other documented sources of contamination as well..
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The water in the Delaware Watershed should not be intentionally contaminated AT ALL.
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What is surreal about this entire situation is:
The concept of not allowing any intentional contamination of our Water supply seems to be viewed by the commission as an extreme position.
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This webpage (and many other webpages just like it), will post literally tens of thousands of words that will clearly document that drilling in the Delaware Watershed is at best a very bad idea and at worst a criminal act against the present and future inhabitants of this land..
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Most of these words will not be read by the people that are making the final decisions about this natural Gas drilling... They don't seem to have the time to be careful or responsible.
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It is not clear WHY they don't have time.
That is a question that they need to answer.
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(The Natural Gas is not going anywhere. It will store just fine right where it is, for as long as necessary. It is clear that the Oil and Gas companies are in a hurry and the DRBC is reacting to their pressure.)
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For the rest of us, I am sorry to say, that there will be plenty to read.
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Here is the Basic Rational for a Total Ban on Drilling in the Entire Delaware Watershed:
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The Delaware Watershed provides unfiltered water to over 15 million people.
The Delaware Watershed is a Federally Protected Watershed because it NEEDS to be protected.
The Water supply (and the Ecosystem that supports it) is too valuable to Risk and it cannot be replaced if it is contaminated.
The Water is infinitely more valuable than the Natural Gas.
Our Water Supply is like the fabled "Goose that laid the golden egg".
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There are plenty of other places to drill with less risk.
A ban on all drilling in the Delaware Watershed is a reasonable, a logical and a LEGAL request.
The DRBC has the authority to recommend that drilling not be permitted at this time and that is what they should do.
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In the future, if the rest of the Pennsylvania (and the rest of the country) is satisfied with the results of the Gas drilling that is occurring in 2010 -2020, and if the process has proven to be reliable and safe...and if there is still an overwhelming NEED...
Then this topic should be discussed and considered. But the discussion about regulating this industrial assault in the Delaware Watershed should not move forward at this time.
The only thing that should be discussed at this time is how to ban it completely. (In the DWS).
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There will be additional postings (on this topic) on this webpage in the next 10 days..
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Posted 1/12/2011
This is a MUST READ... Please read this, Understand that these observations are not open to debate or discussion, opinion or spin by the Marketing Departments of the Oil and Gas Industry, the Media, or the Elected Representatives that have Loyalty to the Status Quo.
This is the Final report from the:
"National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling"
It has been thoroughly and professionally researched and it is clearly and officially stating the indisputable facts.
The next step is for the Elected officials and the Public at large to force a change in behavior immediately so that the Water Supply and the Eco System of the Earth are not additionally damaged. Additional links are posted under the webspace "BP Horizon Final Report" (The last webtab on this website..)
https://s3.amazonaws.com/pdf_final/OSC_Deep_Water_Summary_Recommendations_FINAL.pdf
"As a result of our investigation, we conclude:
• The explosive loss of the Macondo well could have been prevented.
• The immediate causes of the Macondo well blowout can be traced to a series of identifiable mistakes made by BP, Halliburton, and Transocean that reveal such systematic failures in risk management that they place in doubt the safety culture of the entire industry.
• Deepwater energy exploration and production, particularly at the frontiers of experience, involve risks for which neither industry nor government has been adequately prepared, but for which they can and must be prepared in the future.
• To assure human safety and environmental protection, regulatory oversight of leasing, energy exploration, and production require reforms even beyond those significant reforms already initiated since the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Fundamental reform will be needed in both the structure of those in charge of regulatory oversight and their internal decision making process to ensure their political autonomy, technical expertise, and their full consideration of environmental protection concerns.
• Because regulatory oversight alone will not be sufficient to ensure adequate safety, the oil and gas industry will need to take its own, unilateral steps to increase dramatically safety throughout the industry, including self-policing mechanisms that supplement governmental enforcement.
• The technology, laws and regulations, and practices for containing, responding to, and cleaning up spills lag behind the real risks associated with deepwater drilling into large, high-pressure reservoirs of oil and gas located far offshore and thousands of feet below the ocean’s surface. Government must close the existing gap and industry must support rather than resist that effort.
• Scientific understanding of environmental conditions in sensitive environments in deep Gulf waters, along the region’s coastal habitats, and in areas proposed for more drilling, such as the Arctic, is inadequate. The same is true of the human and natural impacts of oil spills."
Please distribute this information.
There is no longer a need to debate that the Oil and Gas industry need Fundamental Regulatory and also Voluntary Changes. It is logical and Reasonable to deduce that a Drilling moratorium should be enacted immediately until the Risk Analysis can be performed and an acceptable Risk Response Plan be created and approved.
Authorizing the creation of a comprehensive Risk Management Plan is ALWAYS the responsibility of the Upper Management of the Company that initiated the Project. It is 100% the responsibility of the Upper Management because it requires adequate funding and it is the Upper Management of any Company that creates and directs the culture of the company, the work environment and in the end, the results.
The Upper Management of BP caused this spill and History will document that it is the Upper Management of BP that will bear the responsibility for it.. All future contamination is also Morally (if not yet legally) their responsibility. It's just that Our laws have not yet caught up to Our Reality..
The reckless drilling and contamination that is occurring in the Marcellus shale also must be reacted to in the same manner.
If you have doubt that this is entirely true, please feel free to read the risk Management portion of the "Project Management Body of Knowledge PMBOK" that is available at the following website. http://www.pmi.org/PMBOK-Guide-and-Standards.aspx
Safety is a commodity that can be engineered and purchased IF it is considered a requirement of the project.
It is clear that Safety and the Prevention of Environmental contamination are not considered important enough to proactively purchased by these Oil and Gas companies.
That is what needs to change.
PA Sierra Club Chair Dennis Winters, hero Supervisor Nancy Janyszeski to open January 14 GasLand video-discussion in Warrington
GasLand, the Sundance Award winning documentary on Marcellus gas extraction by Josh Fox, will be shown at the BuxMont Unitarian Universalist Fellowship on Friday, January 14th at 7 PM. Located at at 2040 Street Road in Warrington , PA , (just East of Rt. 611) the event is sponsored by their Green Sanctuary Committee. Admission is by donation and the Fellowship is handicap accessible. For information call 215.343.0406.
The event will feature a keynote address by Dennis Winters, Chair of the Pennsylvania Sierra Club and Sierra Club Conservation Chair at the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission. With him will be Nancy Janyszeski, Chair of the Nockamixon Township Board of Supervisors. The township recently won a half-decade David and Goliath battle with Arbor Resources which wanted to drill the Township. Winning earned Janyszeski hero status among environmentalists and safe drinking water activists.
Learn about the issues through the eyes of the people at ground zero where gas extraction is taking place. With no severance tax on the industry taxpayers are on the hook for the high costs of remediation.
Natural Gas Extraction is one of the three top issues for the Unitarian Universalist Pennsylvania Legislative Advocacy Network for 2011. The Green Sanctuary Program at BuxMont Unitarian is pleased to sponsor and present this first public outreach event for 2011.
Background:
The largest domestic natural gas drilling boom in history has swept across the United States into Pennsylvania and the Delaware River Basin . There seems to be a "Saudia Arabia of natural gas" just beneath us.
But is fracking safe? When filmmaker Josh Fox was asked to lease his land for drilling, he embarked on a cross-country odyssey uncovering a trail of secrets, lies and contamination. In a recently drilled Pennsylvania town residents light their drinking water on fire, one of the many revelations uncovered by Fox.
Recent headlines reveal that toxic frack water waste has long been dumped into the Neshaminy Creek which overlays drinking water wells in Bucks County and runs beside BuxMont UUF where people fish. Where else have our local streams been fouled?
Revered by activists and conservationists, reviled by the gas industry, bureaucrats, and politicians, this extraordinary film puts a human face on an issue that has already split families, communities, activists, and regions.
Responsible Drilling Alliance Launches Campaign to
Halt Further Leasing of PA State Forest Lands for Gas Drilling
Williamsport, PA, December 29, 2010
Responsible Drilling Alliance (RDA), a non-profit citizens’ group headquartered in Williamsport, is demanding a moratorium on further leasing of Pennsylvania’s state forests for gas drilling and has sponsored a web site and on-line petition for the campaign at SOSinPA.org.
According to environmental scientist, Kevin Heatley, “The industrialization of our landscape for short term gain will impoverish our communities for generations. Given the intended distribution of well pads, pipelines, and access roads, there is no way to mitigate against the ecological footprint of this industry.”
Incoming Governor Tom Corbett, whose campaign received over $800,000 in donations from natural gas companies, has announced his intention to lift the current administration’s moratorium and resume leasing of State Forest lands.
RDA President Ralph Kisberg states, “Time is needed to carefully evaluate the experiences with current leases instead of robbing future generations of the ability to make an informed decision.”
For further information:
Responsible Drilling Alliance, HYPERLINK "http://www.responsibledrillingalliance.org" www.responsibledrillingalliance.org
On-line petition, HYPERLINK "http://www.SOSinPA.org" www.SOSinPA.org
Date: December 12, 2010 11:26:52 PM EST
Subject: Gas Drilling, Press Release: DRBC CANCELS HEARING AS "INDUSTRY WALKS" ... AFRAID OF THE FACTS
PRESS RELEASE: For immediate release
Dec 12, 2010
DRBC CANCELS WATERSHED HEARING:
When Gas Industry Walks Away from Hearing Process.
In a stunning development at the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) meeting held on Wednesday, December 8, the gas industry withdrew from a hearing scheduled for January 18, 2011 without defending its position. The hearing, scheduled both to defend the DRBC's appropriateness to regulate all "exploratory" gas wells and to challenge the inappropriateness of the DRBC's allowing of 15 possible gas wells to be drilled in the Delaware River Basin (DRB) without any oversight, will now be cancelled unless, within 10 days, the operator of one of the original grandfathered wells sites informs DRBC that he will continue to defend his right to drill without DRBC review and approval. The industry withdrew its multiple challenges to assertions of the inherent dangers posed by drilling gas wells in the DRB.
When asked why she thought that the drillers - Hess and Newfield corporations and the pro-drilling lessor group, NWPOA - would suddenly withdraw all their challenges, the Director of Damascus Citizens for Sustainability (DCS), Barbara Arrindell said, "This is a stunning development. Obviously, they are very frightened by the information Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, Delaware RiverKeeper Network (DRN) and the DRBC itself had developed and clearly laid out in our reports. Until these reports were prepared no one had looked at or compiled any careful analysis of the dangers of the initial aspects of the drilling process. These reports - eight [8] from DCS/DRN - http://www.damascuscitizens.org/ - and 5 from DRBC - http://www.propublica.org/documents/item/drbc-report - together represent a start toward a complete analysis of the dangers to the environment and human health of modern gas drilling even before hydraulic fracturing. Why would the drillers withdraw from this hearing? It could only be that they could not answer our facts that now remain unchallenged."
Following the Commission’s actions to cancel the hearings, DCS’s lawyer, Jeff Zimmerman, commented, “It’s too bad we most likely won’t have an opportunity to challenge the opinions that would have been presented by the industries’ usual experts. We were looking forward to ripping apart their reports on cross examination.”
Judging by their submitted list of consultants and industry sponsored "tobacco" scientists (J. Daniel Arthur, Brian Bohm, David B. Cornue, All Consulting, Paul White, Brickhouse Environmental, James Kooser, James Pinta, Jr., James A. Shodi, Ivan G. Wong, URS Corporation), these same consultants to industry have repeatedly asserted no harm could come from any aspect of gas drilling "so far under the ground." Why were they not willing to defend their position? In their reports, DCS/DRN and the DRBC presented only a small portion of verified facts and revealed large unknown areas of potential harm connected to gas well drilling even in the absence of hydraulic fracturing.
Arrindell also added,"The drillers realized, in light of the facts presented by our expert witnesses, that their position is indefensible. The only way the industry could avoid being exposed and publicly humiliated if the hearing were to proceed was by terminating their drilling activity before all of the scheduled wells had been drilled. It can therefore be justly concluded that we were able to stop the ‘exploratory’ drilling."
Now that the DRBC has decided to promulgate its draft regulations before a cumulative impact study could shed more light on how the environment will be harmed by all the processes of gas drilling, DCS will consider all its options to force both a look at and notice of these dangers. A cumulative impact study must be undertaken and inform all aspects of regulations or drilling must not take place anywhere in the DRB. These are inherently contaminating processes, as the New York representative to the DRBC, Mark Klotz, acknowledged in a prepared statement to the Commission when he objected to the release of draft regulations without a cumulative impact study to inform those regulations.
DCS will have further statements after consulting with its partners and after a thorough reading of the proposed regulations and review of the events of Wednesday, December 8 in West Trenton at DRBC Meeting.
Contact:
Pat Carullo
570-685-8774570-352-6792 [CELL, 9AM-9PM]COFOUNDER
EXECUTIVE ORDER |
NO. 41: REQUIRING FURTHER ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW |
WHEREAS, the 2009 New York State Energy Plan supports the development of in-State energy resources, including natural gas, to achieve the Plan's multiple public policy objectives; and
WHEREAS, low-volume hydraulic fracturing, or conventional fracking, has been used successfully and safely in New York State for many years to extract natural gas consistent with the Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) for Oil, Gas and Solution Mining Regulatory Program promulgated by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (Department) in 1992; and
WHEREAS, new technologies have emerged, and are being deployed in other states, to extract natural gas more efficiently through a process known as high-volume hydraulic fracturing combined with horizontal drilling; and
WHEREAS, there is a need for further study of this new technology prior to deployment in New York State; and
WHEREAS, in 2008, I directed the Commissioner of Environmental Conservation to initiate a formal public process to update the 1992 GEIS to ensure that any new technologies deployed in New York State are first thoroughly analyzed and regulated to ensure that all environmental and public health impacts are mitigated or avoided; and
WHEREAS, the Department issued a draft scope for an updated GEIS on October 6, 2008, held public meetings in the Marcellus shale region, received more than 3,000 written comments, and issued a final scope for the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) on February 6, 2009. The Department released the Draft SGEIS for public review and comment on September 30, 2009, held four public hearings in the region and New York City, and received more than 13,000 written comments during a public comment period that closed December 31, 2009; and
WHEREAS, tens of thousands of citizens, landowners, local governments, large and small businesses, non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders have expressed their heartfelt support for or opposition to the new technology, but most agree that an objective, science-based analysis is the best approach to setting new policy.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, David A. Paterson, Governor of the State of New York, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the State of New York, do hereby order as follows:
G I V E N under my hand and the Privy Seal of the State in the City of Albany this thirteenth day of December in the year two thousand ten.
BY THE GOVERNOR Secretary to the Governor * Greetings, In fact, the Executive Order does not impose any moratorium on horizontal hydrofracking. "The governor’s order said no drilling permits could be issued until completion of the final standards 'subsequent to the conclusion of the public comment period,' meaning July 1 at the earliest. Mr. Iwanowicz said drilling could theoretically begin in 2011, 'but a lot of it depends on how the issues are addressed by this draft.'" See: http://www.toxicstargeting.com/news/2010-12-14/new-round-comments-drilling or http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/14/nyregion/14frack.html?ref=nyregion You can read the Executive Order at: http://www.state.ny.us/governor/executive_orders/exeorders/EO41.html
Editors Note: For more information, Please go to the "http://www.toxicstargeting.com/" website.
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The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. - Pennsylvania Constitution, Section 1, Article 27 |
Action Item #1: The Marcellus drilling boom has imposed heavy costs on our state's
environment. This includes the polluting of our air and drinking water
supplies, pipelines defaceing our forests and natural areas, heavy rigs
damaging our roads, and the taking of billions of gallons of water from
our streams and rivers.
"Dear Governor Paterson:
We, the undersigned, strongly support safeguarding the environment,
public health and natural resources of the Catskills, Finger Lakes and
Southern Tier regions that overlay the Marcellus Shale formation,
potentially the largest natural gas reservoir in America. That is why
we write to request you to withdraw the draft Supplemental Generic
Environmental Impact Statement released on 9/30/09 by your Department of
Environmental Conservation (DEC)." ETC,,