Living In Gasland: New Milford, PA

Published on Mar 28, 2014

Vera Scroggins writes:
This is what a friend of mine in New Milford, Pa., on route 492 , has to hear across from her on a gas well pad with only one gas well in production and Southwestern Energy started with this small, noisy, smelly flare the past two days and why??? are they having problems with pressure and need to relieve it !! This gas pad is on her neighbors property and it's within 400' of the neighbor's home....

Yesterday they did this for about an hour from 9am to 10am, then again around noon. This has been in production for 8 months now so I have no idea why they would be doing this, but they just started again today at about 5pm. Thought I'd share it...

Carol responds:  This noise is unacceptable near residential areas.  The air pollution from flaring is also significant and should not be tolerated near people's homes.

Too Much Natural Gas Is Going Up In Flames

Photo: Lynn Senick

Exclusive: Shale causes rise in waste gas pollution

· By Henning Gloystein and Alessandra Prentice

LONDON | Wed May 2, 2012 1:18pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - The shale energy boom is fuelling a rise in the burning of waste gas after years of decline, a World Bank source told Reuters ahead of the release of new data, giving environmentalists more ammunition against the industry.

Global gas flaring crept up by 4.5 percent in 2011, the first rise since 2008 and equivalent to the annual gas use of Denmark, preliminary data from the World Bank shows.

The increase is mostly due to the rise in shale oil exploration in North Dakota, propelling the United States into the top 10 gas flaring countries along with Russia, Nigeria and Iraq.

The preliminary data - which will be released in detail later in May - shows that global gas flaring crept up to around 140 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2011, up from 134 bcm the previous year.

Flaring is used to eliminate gas at mineral exploration sites, and is released via pressure relief valves to ease the strain on equipment.

"The challenge in North Dakota is that there is a lot of initial exploration and production going on, and often some flaring is necessary at that stage," the source at the World Bank's Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership (GGFR) said.

"We are hopeful that when the full data is released, both policymakers and companies in North Dakota will pay more attention to this issue and take the necessary steps to minimize flaring."

The data will draw further criticism to the industry, which some activists already condemn on environmental grounds.

"Environmental regulations to stop flaring are taking a real kick in the teeth because the financial crisis has put the emphasis on increasing competitiveness, while anything that is seen as diminishing competitiveness is not getting any political traction," Charlie Kronick, senior climate campaigner at Greenpeace, said.

Britain's annual gas consumption is just under 100 bcm, and Norway's yearly production just above that - which makes the 140 bcm flared globally over a third more than Europe's top consumer and producer, respectively.

In current market terms, 140 bcm of gas would be worth over $100 billion in barrels of oil equivalent.

ECONOMIC WASTE

Gas flaring has fallen more than 20 bcm since 2006 - despite a slight increase between 2008/2009 - but the rise in 2011 indicates that companies and countries must continue to scale up their efforts to reduce global flaring, the GGFR said.

Despite massive oil and gas reserves, many top flaring countries suffer from chronic power shortages and stagnating gas export volumes which experts say could be addressed if they used the gas instead of burning it.

"It is key to show producers and governments that there is a win-win solution - in many cases you're saving the gas and putting it to a positive use and sometimes you're building energy infrastructure that can be a catalyst for future economic benefit," Michael Farina of U.S. energy engineering group GE Energy said.

In Iraq, the World Bank says that the gas flared is enough to fuel all of the country's electric power needs, most of which is unmet or generated by heavy fuel and crude oils, while Nigeria also faces substantial losses from flaring.

"Nigeria loses billions of naira to wasted gas while the nation's power projects are crippled as a result of lack of gas supply," Nigerian pressure group Social Action said.

The wasted gas also causes immense environmental damage, both locally and on a global scale.

The World Bank estimates that the flaring of gas adds some 360 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) in annual emissions, almost the same as France puts into the atmosphere each year or the equivalent to the yearly emissions from around 70 million cars.

If this waste were to take place within the European Union's carbon emissions trading scheme, the flaring would cost some 2.5 billion euros ($3.30 billion) at current market value of 7 euros per metric ton of CO2.

Estimating that flaring amounts to around 4.5 percent of global industrial emissions, environmental group Greenpeace says current legislation fails to tackle the issue.

"The problem is that international oil companies are not penalized for flaring gas," Greenpeace's Kronick said.

The damage flaring does to local communities is also immense.

Social groups in Nigeria say that flaring in the Niger Delta, where some 30 million people live, has gone on for 40 years and led to acid rains, causing many illnesses.

"Flaring of gas endangers human health and reduces agricultural productivity," Nigeria's Social Action group said. ($1 = 0.7571 euros)

(Additional reporting by Oleg Vukmanovic, editing by William Hardy)

Read more here at The Marcellus Effect.

Gas Drilling Destroys One of Best Dark Sky Areas East of the Mississppi

Cherry Springs has been recognized by the International Dark Sky Association as a "Gold Tier" Dark Sky Park and designated by PA DCNR as Pennsylvania's First Dark Sky Park. It is the location of the darkest night sky East of the Mississippi. The area's night sky resource is under pressure because of light pollution from recent and planned Marcellus well drilling sites that do gas flarings and use unshielded light fixtures. As of April 2011 over 2000 wells have been drilled in PA with an estimated 100,000 wells planned.

How much more beauty are we willing to give up for fossil fuel extraction?

Do we have a bottom line?

Natural Gas Drilling: Flaring Within Feet of a House

Taped 4-1-12. Flaring at night Holbrook Well. Susquehanna County, Bridgewater Township. Near homes. Can be heard about a mile away. Goes for about a week per well. One well here. Lessens pressure and removes impurities.

Video by Vera.

Toward the end of the video, Vera pans to the right to reveal a house which is very, very close to the flare. How can the inhabitants of this house live through this process?

"Finishing" a gas well in Dimock, PA

(Filmed 6/22/2011)
This is the process of "finshing" a gas well in Dimock, PA as seen with the FLIR GasFindIR Optical Gas Imaging camera. According to the worker there, the valves on the wells are opened up to release pressure before the flaring process. Raw gas, as well as vaporized flack fluid and anything else down in the hole, blows out unregulated. The odor was still in the air 1.5 miles away at the Dimock Post Office. The last of the footage shows the flaring pipes, one starts to release the gasses (and ???) but is not yet lit. Go to balckbart's Picasa site to see still photos of the flaring later that night and the next day.

The wells are flared to release excess natural gas (and whatever else comes with it) before the well is capped.  After the well is capped, the gas company leaves, awaiting the time when the gas can be sold at a price which makes economic sense.  Right now natural gas is sold so cheaply in the US that we are selling it overseas at a good profit instead.

The Glow in the Night Sky: Liberty, PA

Liberty, PA (WBNG Binghamton) An orange glow illuminates the sky in the Northern Tier as what appears to be a contained fire erupts from a Pennsylvania gas well.

After many phones calls and e-mails from viewers wondering why the mountains appear to sparkle from Interstate 81, Action News ventured down to see the blaze and find out what neighbors have to say.

A resident near the well pad said,

"Our fire company has been dispatched to it but there is obviously nothing they can do about it," stated Crook, "I just wonder how long they're going to have it burning for and if there are any pollutants in the air from it. I don't know."

From Earthworksaction.org
Flaring
Flaring is the practice of burning gas that is deemed uneconomical to collect and sell. Flaring is also used to burn gases that would otherwise present a safety problem. It is common to flare natural gas that contains hydrogen sulfide (i.e., sour gas), in order to convert the highly toxic hydrogen sulfide gas into less toxic compounds.

Flares emit a host of air pollutants, depending on the chemical composition of the gas being burned and the efficiency and temperature of the flare. Flaring results in hydrogen sulfide emissions if hydrogen sulfide is present in large enough amounts in the natural gas. There may also be additional by-products formed if some of the chemicals used during the drilling or hydraulic fracturing process are converted to a gaseous form and are burned along with the natural gas.

The Ventura County Air Pollution Control District, in California has estimated that the following air pollutants may be released from natural gas flares: benzene, formaldehyde, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs, including naphthalene), acetaldehyde, acrolein, propylene, toluene, xylenes, ethyl benzene and hexane. Researchers in Canada have measured more than 60 air pollutants downwind of natural gas flares.

Ponder This: Venting and Flaring in Ponder, TX

I couldn't stand listening to this for 87 seconds.  Imagine having to listen to this for an hour or two in the middle of the night.  Some of these facilities are as close as 100 feet from houses.  This video was taken from quite a distance.

Marcellus Shale: Susquehanna County Residents Accept "Growing Pains"

Flaring operations in Susquehanna County
Photo used with permission

Read how some residents of Susquehanna County are able to rationalize about the great benefits of the gas drilling industry while seemingly ignoring the downside of this misguided search for energy. What are they looking at?  Restaurants are thriving. The stone quarry business is going great guns. Heavy equipment rentals are through the roof. School districts are getting money which keeps shortfalls for education at a minimum.  Roads are being improved.  Welding companies and the trucking industry are in full swing.  Rental units are full. A restaurant patron in the Stables Restaurant said of the gas industry:

Plain and simple, it's a plus.  It's going to improve a lot of people's lives.

What are we missing here?  Citizens For Clean Water, a Montrose-based group, syas that drilling in the area continues to wreak havoc on the water supply and atmosphere. Its director, Vera Scroggins, stated:

We have eco-system and habitat destruction from all of the infrastructure, with pipelines and noise from the compressor stations and well sites.

Habitat loss, noise pollution, water contamination,  pipelines, light pollution, wells within 300 feet of homes and within 100 feet of waterways, truck traffic, flaring- what about these issues?  Are they being addressed along with those "good effects"? 

I am constantly amazed at how people will act against their own best interests.  The proper way to approach the gas industry is:  research, science, and then action.  We are doing it in reverse.  Public health and the environment should be taken into account.

Click on this link to read the Rocket-Courier article.  LINK

Flaring in Susquehanna County, PA

King Site; Cabot Gas Site; Dimock, Pa. ; 1 and 1/2 miles from Elk Lake School; very loud-- like jet engines on the runway; can be heard miles away; houses nearby right around this site; goes on for 24 hours for several days; horrible; videotaped on 5-14-11.

The Sights and Sounds of Natrual Gas Drilling: Susquehanna County, PA

Gas Drilling in Beautiful Susquehanna County, PA from VeccVideography on Vimeo.

Air pollution, noise pollution, water pollution, they all come with the territory.  Welcome to an industrial zone, aka a sacrifice zone, because every single gas well site has the potential to becomes superfund site after all is said and done. Remember Love Canal?

http://gasmain.org/
http://un-naturalgas.org/
http://www.endocrinedisruption.com/chemicals.introduction.php

Sign at Love Canal Protest:  We have better things to do than sit around being contaminated.

Flaring: Video Showing the Lighting of a Flare

Flaring lights up a night sky and can go on for days.  People living nearby have trouble sleeping sometimes because of the bright light.

Flaring at a New Well Near Montrose, PA

A resident of Montrose, PA, took this picture and wrote:

"Drove by the Markovitch well tonight and saw this spectacular sight. The sound was like a train or a jet engine. The flames were 30-40 ft. high. Flaring the newly fracked well. This is a Alta well, just north of Montrose, PA."

Especially eerie in the winter night scape.
Picture by Lynn Selnick

Citizen Report Reveals a Gas Well Leak in PA

If ever there was a question about the need for citizen watchdogs, this latest mishap should clear that up. Someone who was paying attention last week called the DEP to report discoloration of water in a tributary to Lycoming Creek in Lycoming County, PA. At first it was thought to be a sediment problem in the creek. The DEP investigated on Friday, July 24th. On Monday, July 27th, the DEP received a report of possible natural gas bubbling from the tributary.

The gas drilling company, East Resources, is now monitoring 18 private wells in the nearby area and is providing water to four homes. They are also monitoring methane levels in the homes.

One resident has been evacuated, and some local roads have been closed by state police. East Resources began flaring the Delciotto #2 well on Monday to reduce pressure from the natural gas, and it will most likely flare two other wells. It is thought by industry representatives that the gas leak was caused by a casing failure. Two teams of consultants from Penn E & R were sent to the area on Thursday to help to monitor the situation. The Departments of Public Safety for Lycoming, Bradford, and Tioga counties are lending their help as well. The gas leak is by no means corrected yet although some progress is being reported.

An enormous amount of effort is being required at this one site of a drilling accident. With hundreds and thousands of wells being drilled, how many more accidents will occur and when will the personnel needed to respond reach full capacity until there will not be enough emergency aid to go around? Will the public be protected against these dangerous events? And who will pay for the response teams? American taxpayers, of course. Don't be too sad about East Resources which spent a lot of money on these wells in McNett and will now have to abandon them. It is fortunate that so far no one has been hurt or killed.

Read the entire article in the Towanda Daily Review here. Another article appears in the Canton Independent- Sentinel here.

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!
The photo above is Old Loggers Path in McNett.