From Penn Future: Update on Gas Well Spill, Waste Water Disposal

From Penn Future:

The spill and its aftermath

Chesapeake Energy shut down all hydraulic fracturing operations in Pennsylvania in the aftermath of a massive spill of 30,000 gallons of frack water in Bradford County. The incident polluted a tributary of Towanda Creek. PennFuture has called on DEP to shut down all Chesapeake operations, not just fracking, until the company can prove it can operate safely.

The Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP) pilot policy that prevents inspectors from citing drillers for violations of environmental laws until approved by Secretary Krancer is more than unwise. It is dangerous and must end immediately.

DEP asks drillers to stop dumping waste at sewage treatment plants

DEP Secretary Michael Krancer this week asked Marcellus Shale drillers to stop delivering gas well waste water to 15 sewage treatment plants. This action came in response to new reports showing that bromides that pass through plants without treatment can interact with drinking water treatment chemicals and form new substances that cause cancer. Last year DEP enacted strict limits on the disposal of toxic and salt-laden wastewater into our waterways, but the 15 plants were exempt from the new regulation.

The drilling industry's reaction to the request has been positive so far. Secretary Krancer should order the drillers to comply if any companies do not promptly honor the request.

Pennsylvania Taxes the Little People, Gives Big Oil a Free Pass

In Pennsylvania, if you are a gas drilling corporation, you get a free pass on taxes (no severence tax for them). But if you are a small non-profit service, fraternal or arts organization, a hunting or angling club, a veterans organization, a museum, zoo or aquarium, you will be taxed.
Here is an excerpt from today's issue of Session Daze from PennFuture:

Survival of the fittest
The proposed budget agreement between Governor Rendell and the leaders of the Senate Republican, Senate Democratic and House Democratic caucuses does not include a severance tax. Senate Republican opposition to the tax ultimately prevailed in the negotiations--if the agreement holds. In this Darwinian outcome, the well-heeled, huge multinational drilling firms, which spent more than $1 million lobbying state government between January and June, get a free pass on a tax they pay in every other major gas producing state. So, to cobble together enough revenue to balance the budget absent a severance tax, budget negotiators decided to tax small non-profit service, fraternal and arts organizations. These groups didn't spend a dime lobbying to avoid new taxes because they had no idea that they looked to budget-makers like easy-to-pick-off prey.

Exxon-Mobil strikes gold, firefighters get the shaft
Since multinational drilling companies get a pass on taxes, volunteer organizations- vital to public and personal safety in our communities- and other local groups have to pick up the tab. Volunteer firefighter and ambulance companies in Pennsylvania often struggle mightily to raise funds to operate, train and buy new equipment. Small games of chance are a significant source of funds for many companies. But now the proposed 20 percent tax on small games of chance could cripple the ability of many of these volunteer companies to raise funds. The same goes for hunting and angling clubs and fraternal and veterans' organizations.

Conoco-Phillips strikes gold, the arts get the shaft
While multinational drilling companies get a pass on the severance tax, non-profit community arts and cultural organizations across Pennsylvania woke up last Saturday to discover that they were being hit with a sales tax on their tickets. Many of these organizations have been struggling in the recession. The proposed tax also applies to museums, zoos and aquariums.

Read this issue of PennFuture's Session Daze here.

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!
MAKE BIG OIL AND GAS PAY ITS FAIR SHARE!

The New Snake Oil Salesmen: Natural Gas Lobbyists

PennFuture has published an article about natural gas lobbyists who have spent more than one million dollars lobbying the PA legislature so far this year.

The natural gas lobbyists - who have spent more than $1 million lobbying the Pennsylvania legislature so far this year to avoid a severance tax on Marcellus Shale gas drilling - have a lot in common with the snake oil sales reps of old. They are making spectacular claims about the benefits of gas drilling even as they poor-mouth about economic fragility of their industry. A look at the facts makes it clear that virtually none of the lobbyists' claims are true. Our message to state legislators - Buyer beware.

The gas industry is taking the approach that they are in a delicate position right now, being as they are in their infancy. A comment in the Philadelphia Inquirer reads:

If the natural gas industry is an infant, it was born with a silver spoon in its mouth.

The annual bonuses that the CEOs are getting really belies this argument. Cheasapeake Energy's CEO Aubrey K. McClendon got a compensation package last year of $112.5 million. Range Resources' CEO received $5 million. Atlas America's PA subsidiary paid Richard Weber nearly $2.5 million.

Claim: PA consumers will be hit with higher costs for natural gas. PennFuture says NO.
Claim: We (gas companies) already pay too much in taxes. PennFuture says NOT EXACTLY.
Claim: We're (gas companies) bringing jobs to PA. PennFuture says NO.

However, the drillers may successfully dodge the severance tax which is required in most gas producing states, and will also make "sweetheart" deals with the state to buy leases in PA state forests and parks. They will buy low now and make a killing later.

PennFuture says,

We weren't born yesterday. All of us should let the legislature and the governor (Rendell) know that this is a very bad deal all around.

Read PennFuture Facts Vol.11, No.19, here.

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!
NO MORE HUGE BONUSES FOR GAS CEOS!

Wrong Thinking Every Which Way: Ye Gods!

Where does one start with an article like this from PennFuture? Entitled "A Machete Instead of a Scalpel," the article describes what will happen to many good programs which stimulate the economy and enrich the lives of the people who live in or visit the state of Pennsylvania. The PA State Senate decided to slash funding from tourism funding to state forest rangers and the black fly spraying program. Here is a sampling of the cuts:

Closing at least 35 state parks and 1,000 miles of state forest roads
$1.7 million from the black fly spraying program
$1.9 million from the West Nile virus program
*$50 million from the DEP budget (affecting flood protection, repair of sewer and water systems, clean up of air pollution)

Absent from the plan is a severance tax on natural gas drilling which would bring revenue to the state- something that most other states have.

But wait!

The state wants gas drilling revenues. However, gas wells will pollute the water, soil, and air. It will make Pennsylvania a dangerous place to live or visit. It will pollute the rivers and streams and aquifers, making clean drinking water less available. The animals will suffer from all aspects of the gas industry, including noise pollution, bright lights, toxic water, habitat destruction, deforestation, to name a few. The roads will be torn up by the huge trucks needed for fracking. The trucks will make driving on country roads much more hazardous. State parks will be closed or be forced to run on skeleton staff. Roads in the parks will be closed (except the roads needed for gas companies). Being outdoors will be less pleasant with black flies and West Nile virus to worry about, not to mention bad air to breathe. Just when we need more money for the DEP, a huge cut will necessarily adversely affect its work. We need more watch dogs everywhere to observe the goings on of the gas companies and make them accountable. I guess this means less public protection and more leeway for gas companies to operate with little overseeing.

For PennFuture to say that it cares about tourism and quality of life for its citizens and still support rampant gas drilling all over the state is disingenuous at best. When will we realize that we really can't have it both ways? Severance tax or not, we are headed for trouble. There won't be anything left to protect after all the wells are drilled and the pipelines laid. It's really not about the budget. It is about hydrofracking gas wells. Read the article here.

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!