Southern Tier (NY) Guinea Pig

Governor Cuomo, do not frack New York State! No experimentation on human beings!

New York DEC Region 7 Demonstration June 14 in Syracuse

It is not okay to turn any part of New York or any New Yorkers into sacrificial guinea pigs. The science is clear that nothing short of a statewide ban will protect all New Yorkers.

Do not frack New York!  Fracking poorer counties is unethical just because the citizens need money and think that gas drilling will make them rich.  Start small in the Southern Tier?  Then what?  With a foot in the door, go big later?  Is that the plan?  Let drilling spread gradually?  No.  We must not allow New York to be fracked.



Hancock, NY, Compressor Station: How Loud Would It Be?

A creative edit of Steve Sullivan, spokesmen for Millennium Pipeline Company, with Anthony DePalma (Delaware Lake Assocation) and graphics illustrating what 15,000 horsepower is like... Will it sound like a refrigerator?

Chip Northrup Speaks On Gas Industry Impacts (Vestal, NY)

Taped 6-6-12. Chip talks about the Gas Industry Impacts. Former Atlantic Richfield planning manager and oil and gas investor for thirty years. Fracking Aquifers and Well Failures and why the DEC can't protect you from this threat to Vestal's drinking water. Taped at Calvary United Methodist Church, Vestal, NY..

Thank you, Vera Scroggins, for taping this talk!  New Yorkers, listen up!  (I'm one of you!)

Sandra Steingraber Speaks In Vestal, NY

Published on Jun 7, 2012 by veraduerga

Taped 6-6-12. At Calvary United Methodist Church, Vestal, NY.. Living Downstream from Fracking and the impacts from all the toxins from the gas extraction process on our environment and health.

Untested Science: Fracking Natural Gas Controversy

Published on Apr 13, 2012 by 16x9onglobal A new frontier of natural gas production is making controversial headlines. Hydraulic Fracturing or "fracking" is becoming more common in Canada. But experts say "fracking" can cause contaminated ground water, earthquakes and pollute our land with toxic chemicals.

Unearthed: The Fracking Facade

Published on May 4, 2012 by uneartheddocumentary Un•earthed: Setting the track record straight - A video exposing a flawed claim often abused in the sales pitch for promoting shale gas development across the world: "With a history of 60 years, after nearly a million wells drilled, there are no documented cases that hydraulic fracturing ('fracking') has lead to the contamination of groundwater." Brought to you by the team behind the upcoming South African feature documentary, Un•earthed, that is investigating natural gas development and the controversial method of extraction known as "fracking" from a global perspective. Should South Africa and other countries drill down?

https://www.un-earthed.com https://www.facebook.com/uneartheddocumentary

Gas Drilling: Moratoria, Bans, Resolutions

Arnold Fracking Fluid Processing Plant in Bradford County, PA

Want to know who is against gas drilling in New York, Pennsylvania, and other states, and Canada, Austria, Bulgaria, France, Ireland, Romania, South Africa, and Switzerland? Click /uploads/8/0/2/5/8025484/6-3-12hoff_bansmoratoriastatementsrevision.doc
Thanks to Joe Hoff, Chairman of Keuka Citizens Against Hydrofracking!  A lot of work has gone into this document.  Data current as of June 3rd, 2012.  Fifteen pages long.  It will surprise you!

PA Streambed Moving: A Strange Sight

Don writes, "Folks, there should be solid rock in the streambed under my feet. It's anything but solid." He describes the creek bed: "I found sediment several feet deep that shakes like pudding."

More on this story HERE.

WHY ARE THESE ROCKS "FLOATING"?

Happy Birthday, Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson Biography

Biologist, Writer, Ecologist, 1907-1964

“The ‘control of nature’ is a phrase conceived in arrogance, born of the Neanderthal age of biology and the convenience of man.”

Rachel Carson was born in Springdale, Pennsylvania, and spent her childhood on a farm. She studied English and Zoology at Pennsylvania College for Women (now Chatham College) and received her M.S. degree in Marine Biology from Johns Hopkins University. She taught Zoology at the University of Maryland before going to work for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service where, in 1949, she became chief editor of publications. In 1952 she purchased land on the Sheepscot River in West Southport, Maine.

If the courage of a single human voice can be measured by the ferocity of the attempts to silence it, the writer of The Silent Spring (1962) stands as a truthteller of exceptional courage and insight. Her carefully researched exposure of the environmental damage caused by widespread use of pesticides was vigorously attacked by chemical corporations. In 1992 a panel of distinguished Americans voted The Silent Spring the most influential book of the past fifty years. Today Rachel Carson is revered as the founder of the environmental movement in America.
Her earlier books include Under the Sea Wind, The Sea Around Us and The Edge of the Sea. In 1954 she wrote: “The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.”

After the publication of The Silent Spring Rachel Carson wrote to a friend: “The beauty of the living world I was trying to save has always been uppermost in my mind—that, and anger at the senseless, brutish things that were being done. I have felt bound by a solemn obligation to do what I could---if I didn’t at least try I could never be happy again in nature.”

Leroy Blowout (PA): Just Another "Unintended Return"?

Just so we're all clear: THIS IS NOT A SURFACE SPILL! This crap erupted from beneath the surface. The spray pattern on vegetation surrounding ground zero for this eruption spreads out at LEAST 25 feet or more in all directions. More to follow. Thank you, Don Williams, for this video report. This is a nightmare. Related news: LINK DEP issues statement...

Riverdale Community Being Thrown Out of Their Homes

Published on May 21, 2012 by GADCLuzerneCounty http://www.gdacoalition.org Residents of the Riverdale Mobile Home Park in Piatt Township, Pa. are facing evictions on June 1 to make way for an enormous water withdrawal facility. If Aqua gets its way, the company will be allowed to remove 3 million gallons per day from the Susquehanna and kick out longtime residents who have nowhere else to go. The water will then be transported via pipeline to fracking sites all over Lycoming County, Pa., where it will be mixed with poisonous chemicals and injected into the earth.

Mitchell Gas Well Site In PA: Flaring

Taken from the road, Bailey Rd., Franklin Twp., Susquehanna County, Pa., on 5-16-12.

Mitchell home is just below the site. WPX Energy is the gas company involved.

Video taken by Vera Scroggins.  Vera writes:

"See what it's like to live next to flaring of two wells; fortunately, it's the owners of this site that live next to it and have to experience this and see how they like it and whether they want all their neighbors to experience it, like they do. Their neighbors up to 3 miles away or more are hearing this throughout the whole day for days. [24/7]

Thanks, for disturbing our peace and country life and turning it into a gas field."

Vera

More here and here.

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.

The Politics of the Pipeline

An interesting piece on how politics is being brought to bear on the Keystone XL pipeline project.  Will it be attached to unrelated bills in Congress by Senate Republicans, or will some of these obstinate lawmakers hold off in order to gain an edge during the campaign? Is the destruction of our environment and aquifers something we should use as a campaign strategy?   

Charles Pierce in Esquire.
Here's the link.

Snake Creek Bubbling With Methane In Susquehanna County, PA

Went to Snake Creek today, 5-18-12, and taped these bubbles streaming up and put a barbecue lighter to them which ignited the bubbles---watch -- this is in Franklin Forks near the swimming hole rope hanging from a large tree-- about 35 feet from the tree along the bank. Next to Snake Creek Marina , off route 29 , Franklin Forks, Susquehanna County, Pa. I've written and called the DEP and other regulatory agencies to investigate this. This is also near the 4 homes that recently since March were publicly equipped with methane venting stacks for high methane in their water wells. This is down the road from a gas drilling pad with four gas wells.

Vera
Anti-fracking Warrior
Susquehanna County, PA

Albany, NY, Anti-Fracking Rally May 15th

Published on May 16, 2012 by veraduerga
Taped 5-15-12. Great Speakers and Music. Fourteen PA. people came and Mark Ruffalo there. Speakers are Onondaga Nation Turtle Clan Mother, Sandra Steingraber- Biologist, Sen. Avella and his SB 4220 for a ban, Julia Walsh, Food and Water Watch, Wes Gillingham of Catskill Mountainkeeper, Ben and Elaine Perkus, Mark Ruffalo, Victoria Switzer of Dimock, Pa., Craig and Julie Sautner of Dimock, Pa., The Mohawk Ahkwesasne Women Singers.

Gas Drilling: Deadliest Danger Isn't At the Rig, But On the Road

Truck traffic in Bradford County, PA

"After working 17 hours straight at a natural gas well in Ohio, Timothy Roth and three other crew members climbed into their company truck around 10 o’clock one night last July and began their four-hour drive back to their drilling service company’s shop in West Virginia.

When they were just 10 minutes from home, the driver fell asleep at the wheel. The truck veered off the highway and slammed into a sign that sheared off part of the vehicle’s side, killing Mr. Roth.

About two months before the fatal crash, Mr. Roth nearly died in a similar accident when another co-worker with the same company fell asleep at the wheel after a long shift and ran the company’s truck into a pole. In 2009, Mr. Roth’s employer was penalized in New York, Pennsylvania and Utah for violations like “requiring or permitting” its oil field truckers to drive after working for 14 hours, the legal limit.

Over the past decade, more than 300 oil and gas workers like Mr. Roth were killed in highway crashes, the largest cause of fatalities in the industry. Many of these deaths were due in part to oil field exemptions from highway safety rules that allow truckers to work longer hours than drivers in most other industries, according to safety and health experts.

Many oil field truckers say that while these exemptions help them earn more money, they are routinely used to pressure workers into driving after shifts that are 20 hours or longer."

Read the entire New York Times article here: Link

Luzerne County Mud Blowout: Pipeline Installation Accident

This drilling mud blowout is .2 miles behind Kunkle Motors of Route 309 in Dallas Township Pennsylvania.

Drilling blowout in Back Mountain

Published: May 8, 2012
The state Department of Environmental Protection is investigating a blowout at a natural gas pipeline installation near Leonards Creek in the Kunkle section of Dallas Township.

Chief Gathering LLC, which was recently bought out by PVR Partners, is laying a natural gas pipeline from wells in Susquehanna County to connect to the Transco interstate pipeline in Dallas.

The blowout occurred last week as contractors were boring beneath wetlands and some of the mud they were using blew out into the creek,  according to state Department of Environmental Protection Spokeswoman Colleen Connolly. She did not know how much mud got into the creek.

The mud is being sucked up with hay bales and a vacuum pump. Connolly said the mud will be tested to see what, if any, chemicals it contains. "It doesn't look like anything dangerous at this point, but we'll take a look and see," she said.
http://citizensvoice.com/news/drilling-blowout-in-back-mountain-1.1312313#axzz1uLCTYBWI

Hot Off the Press: The No Frack Almanac Spring Issue!

Hot off the press from Susquehanna County, PA, and environs! Don't miss the Spring 2012 issue just out! Click here for great journalism.

Three Questions About Fracking

Five Stories and a Trailer Park:  Gerri Kane, Carol French, Carolyn Knapp, Bill Pabst, and Matthew and Tammy Manning have experienced problems related to gas drilling.  Read more...

The Fracker Family Closet

Betrayal: Article by Sandra Steingraber

Ten Ways Frackwater Can Get Into Everyone's Water

And much more........................http://nofrackalmanac.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/nfa-issue-3-to-press2.pdf

Amazing Fact: Under current SEC rules, gas companies can sweeten their balance sheets by claiming reserves that have never been independently proven to exist!

Ode To the Angered Angler

Here is the link to the original.


Up in the north where the Susquehanna grows
And the pipelines follow south where it flows
And the deer herd dwindles -- especially the does
Is the land of the angered angler.
Deep in the endless mountains, they say
If you look close enough, still to this day
You can still see the footprints, the forked laurel branch
Left by the angler, who could not, would not stay.
Where was the angler -- where could he be?
And why was he angry? Why did he flee?
From up in the north where the Susquehanna flows?
The old fracker still lives here.
Ask him. He knows.
You won't see the fracker.
He's not very big.
He hides in the crown block on top of his rig.
He lurks in that crown block, as high as a crow
And warms his brown socks while dodging the snow
Using the gas that he pilfered from way down below.
Go ask him, I tell you, go ask him today.
He'll tell you, he will, if you're willing to pay.
Why the angler was angered and went far away.
It all started way back, such a long, long time back …
Way back in the day when the river was clean
And the bass had no lesions, their eyesight still keen
And the trees were all dense, the critters content
That's the day he arrived and set up his tent.
In that pristine wilderness, he started to dig
Using equipment bigger than big
And plowed through the trees,
Knocked them all flat
He could have cared less for such habitat.
Suddenly, with the sound of a cast
And a zinging brown fly that flew right on past,
The angler was there with barbed hooks galore
He walked to the rig, he knocked on the door.
And he demanded the fracker drill there no more.
"I," said the angler, "speak for the fish
Which you seem to pollute as much as you wish
The bass are all splotchy, the snakes have no home
You ran them all over with trucks caked with chrome
And the deer have less room to graze and to roam."
"You fool," said the fracker, "stop griping -- stop grumping."
And on he continued with digging and dumping.
The river glazed over, the creeks slowly died
The bass couldn't breed, their organs all fried.
The squirrels and the chipmunks, the deer and the snails
The eagles, the salamanders and a few cottontails
They all fled the land, looking for food.
While the fracker drilled there, all greedy and rude.
As the angler got angry, the fracker cashed in
Until all the gas, and his wallet, got thin.
And then, only then, did he see his mistake
As he walked past a poisoned and decaying snake
And faced the angler, who was red in the face.
"Look what I've done to this wonderful place!
I've turned it into a home of great waste!"
The angler, he left -- he just disappeared
Leaving the fracker alone, stroking his beard
When he realized something both ironic and weird:
Everyone, he thought, loved the fracked gas
They used it for heating, for cooking their bass
They shelled out their money, they made him mad rich
And he drilled them more gas, all without hitch
And they all were blind to the one glaring glitch.
Everyone, that is, but that guy with the hooks
The one who gave him such not-so-nice looks
The angler was the one who tried taking a stand
Who stood for the fish, who stood for the land.
If only there were more who together would band …
The sportsmen, the anglers, the hunters, the trappers
The campers, the farmers, the trail-bound horsebackers
All of them united, all with one voice.
Do you, faithful reader, plan to make the right choice?
Then join in the cause, save the Valley's outdoorsBefore our natural treasures are heard from no more!

 by John Zaktansky

Unplugged Well In Allegheny National Forest: Wildlife Watering Hole?

Published on May 6, 2012 by SaveOurStreamsPA

The Allegheny National Forest is plagued with abandoned,wells that have been left behind, unplugged by oil and gas operators. Not only are many of these wells spewing methane into the atmosphere, but fluids are being released from these wells and are being consumed by game and wildlife.

A deer drinks contaminated water from unplugged well

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.

A Poem for the Marcellus

Steingraber's latest book: A must read!

From Sandra Steingraber, a new poem for the Marcellus Shale:

Click here.

A very powerful poem.  Take a moment to read it.

Sandra Steingraber of Ithaca, NY, shares her poetic language and combines it with her vast knowledge of shale science.  It is a stunning combination.

Pipeline Sabotage In Bradford County, PA

Police have yet to figure out who is responsible for causing $50,000 in damage to a natural gas pipeline in Bradford County. Troopers say sometime between March 23 and April 12, someone, or a group of people, put a log inside of a natural gas pipeline on Ridge Road, in Orwell Township. Gas pipelines are buried everywhere, and the miles of pipelines increase by the day. They are buried in rural areas, remote ares, places where families live, yet not densely populated. There is no regulation in Class One areas for pipelines. These are areas where homes are not close together, spread out. People angry about the destruction of the land and the danger of pipelines can easily damage or sabotage a pipeline. This is a given and will be true for as long as we have fossil fuels travelling to main gas arteries.

My Body of Water: Don't Frack NY

Don't frack New York State water!

Compressor Stations In Our Backyards?

A leader in the fight against the anti-health, anti-environment, anti-people, greed-filled gas industry speaks at a DEP Public Meeting at Elk Lake School in Susquehanna County.  She and others testified about our concerns. Four more Gas Compressors are coming to Susquehanna County in the north along the Laser Gathering Line. Tons of emissions are allowed for each and constant noise emissions. Taped 4-26-12.

We cannot allow Big Gas to pollute our residential areas.  Gas drilling is unhealthy for children and other living things.

Thank you, Vera, for your work to save Pennsylvania and all areas being destroyed by Big Gas.

Ponzi Gas Frackers

James "Chip" Northrup

Chip Northrup, who lives in Cooperstown, NY, and worked in the gas industry in Texas for decades, presents a power point about the scam that the gas industry is.

http://my.brainshark.com/Ponzi-Gas-Frackers-8298212

Mr. Northrup encourages NY State residents to get busy, support home rule, and get road use and land use ordinances in place ASAP.

Mother Earth: Earth Day 2012

At your command all things came to be: the vast expanse of interstellar space, galaxies, suns, the planets in their courses, and this fragile earth, our island home.

From The Book of Common Prayer of The Episcopal Church

MOTHER EARTH, THIS DAY'S FOR YOU!

PLEASE FORGIVE US FOR OUR SHORTCOMINGS.

Compressor Station: Be the First On Your Block To Have One Next Door

The Teel Compressor Station on Button Road in Dimock, PA. Vera's video from yesterday. The noise is unacceptable.

Natural Gas: The Rest of the Story (Dr. Theo Colborn)

Water trucks idling in Asylum Township, Bradford County, PA

Natural Gas: The Rest of the Story from Hutman Media on Vimeo.

Theo Colborn of the Endocrine Exchange (Colorado-based) speaks to the issue of air pollution and gas drilling. This is the often overlooked aspect of the drilling industry, but one which causes illness and death just the same. Dr. Colborn emphasizes that fracking has become the big worry, but it only part of the story.

U. S. Has a Natural Gas Problem: Too Much Of It

Morning Edition (NPR) ran a piece about a "new" problem now facing the US: too much natural gas production. One of the problems is that "during the shale gas explosion of the past few years, production companies spent big bucks leasing mineral rights in vast shale gas areas from PA to TX." Drilling continues in some shale areas because many of the 3-year leases will expire soon if the producers don't drill. Drillers drill just to hold the lease. This means the glut is exacerbated. Another reason that production continues: About one third of natural gas wells bring up natural gas liquids that could be propane or butane which are valuable.
Read more here...

Listen here:

Does Fracking Cause Earthquakes?

Gas Wells Are Not Our Friends (GWANOF) reader, Laurie, sent this link in today:

http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/04/does-fracking-cause-earthquakes

Good question. Recent articles have pointed to the probable answer: Yes. This issue is still under study.  But since we have more natural gas than we know what to do with at the moment, why not stop operations and get the answers BEFORE continuing natural gas drilling while crossing our fingers and hoping for the best?  In my view, we haven't had the greatest of luck with that method, given the number and variety of accidents which occur on a regular basis at well pads, compressor stations, and pipelines.  If public health and a sustainable planet mean anything to us, we must put moratoria on gas drilling operations EVERYWHERE.

See also: http://dearsusquehanna.blogspot.com/2012/04/earthquakes-directly-linked-to-oil-and.html

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?

Another Spill In PA

More drilling mud spills into a creek in PA.  It will happen over and over again.

Read more here....

Fossil-fuel subsidies are the real job killers

786

That's how many lobbyists are in Washington, DC, defending billions in subsidies for the oil and gas industry.

Turns out Big Oil is actually a job killer.  Last year Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee investigated Big Oil's jobs claim.  They found that the industry has gone on a firing spree in recent years.  Thousands of jobs have been eliminated, while oil executives paid themselves millions.  It was also found that 40% of U.S. oil-industry jobs consist of minimum-wage work at gas stations. 

 Denying climate change and obstructing climate action is one part of the problem.  Natural disasters are having a devastating effect on American jobs.

So Big Oil is killing jobs and undermining our economy.

Read more here....

Natural Gas Industry: Home Invasion

Fracking Undermines NY Farming

Bryn Roshong is a farmer from Gardiner, NY.  She faces a real dilemma- can she safely grow food for her neighbors on land covered with gas wells?  She is not willing to farm fracked land.  Where can she go?  What will happen to her plans for the future as a farmer?  Will the beautiful NY landscape provide her and us with nutritious food in the future?  Or will we allow our soil to be virtually murdered by toxic chemicals?  As Bryn points out,  there is no way to restore contaminated soil and water.  Ruined land cannot be used for growing anything ever again.  At least not in our lifetimes.

Read more here....

Shale Country Kindness: Life In the Gas Patch

When an invasive, greedy, and oblivious-to-human-pain industry rides roughshod over people everywhere,  friends and neighbors from near and far get together to help.  That is what is happening in Butler County, PA.  We generally assume that life in America includes such things as getting a drink of water from the kitchen faucet, taking a shower at home, and not having to buy clean water to drink and cook with.  But not everyone enjoys those things anymore.  Iris Bloom's article gives us a glimpse of what is going on in a place called The Woodlands, Connoquenessing Township, in Butler County, PA:

Read more here...

This is what happened to the McIntyre family.

Marcellus Outreach Butler  An organization seeking to help people in Butler County whose health and safety is affected by slick water, high-volume hydrofracking.

Butler County featured in the news today in the Kuwait Times!  The whole world is watching!

News From PA: Certain Natural Gas Pipeline Records Not Public

Iris Marie Bloom of Protecting Our Waters has uncovered a disturbing fact: The PA Commonwealth Court has ruled that Public Utility Commission (PUC) records concerning the safety of natural gas pipelines are not public records.  PA's Right to Know laws are considered among the weakest in the nation.

If the public is forced to live near pipelines, which are hidden underground and which are known to leak and explode,  why is information regarding pipelines hidden from the public?  This seems unnecessary at best, and criminal at worst. 

Ms. Bloom applauds Dick Martin, Coordinator of the Pennsylvania Forest Coalition, for his willingness to take on the PUC and PA's Right to Know laws.  I add my admiration and appreciation to Mr. Martin for his work on the people's behalf.

Read more here and here...

Public safety is a public issue.

We have a right to know.

Williams Partners Disregard PA DEP Request At Compressor Station

A compressor station in Susquehanna County, PA, was the site of a huge explosion March 29. Gas seeped into the building and ignited, blowing off part of the roof and damaging two of its seven compressor engines. Despite the DEP's advice NOT to run the station, Williams restarted operations the next day, March 30. It was a "procedural misunderstanding," according to a company spokesperson said. However, a DEP representative said there was no lack of clarity and the DEP is disappointed that its advice was not followed. No enforcement order is being considered, and there may or may not be a fine for either the explosion or the disregarding the DEP shutdown request.

This is totally unacceptable. Is there no way to enforce safe procedures? Gas companies are not scared of regulations or fines. The fines are puny and ineffective. And PA does not have enough inspectors to do the job they need to do to protect people and the environment. Compliance is optional. A company can always argue some fine point of any agreement and get off the hot seat. Even the state Public Utility Commission, which has inspectors on site, is apparently not sure it has jurisdiction over the Lathrop station. In most rural areas (places with 10 or fewer homes within a 220-yard radius of a facility), it does not have jurisdiction. The PUC is still trying to determine if it has oversight authority for the Lathrop station.

So while the gas company Williams, the PA DEP, and the PA DUC all weigh in on this situation, the public remains in possible danger.

Natural Gas Exxposed

Natural Gas Exxposed tells the stories of Americans whose lives have been devastated by gas drilling.

All across the country, gas companies are poisoning water, tearing apart communities and destroying the American dream for thousands of families who can't protect their children from what comes out of the tap.

Please join us in rejecting this dangerous bridge to nowhere and working to build a renewable energy economy.

Earthquakes Directly Linked to Oil and Gas Drilling

In 2011 the US Geological Survey (USGS) linked 50 Oklahoma earthquakes to fracking, and a British fracking operation recently fessed up to causing earthquakes in England.  An earthquake linked to fracking in Ohio was so strong that its effects were felt in Toronto.

Now a new report from the USGS to be presented next month at the annual meeting of the Seismological Society of America in San Diego directly links an "unprecedented" increase in frequency and magnitude of earthquakes to drilling for oil and gas.

Read more here...

Dependence On Foreign Food?

Carolyn Knapp and Carol French, who spoke at OU’s Morton Hall (Oneonta University), both signed leases with energy companies to have their land in Bradford County, Pa., drilled for gas using the horizontal hydraulic fracturing method to extract the resource from underground shale beds. Both suggested that signing was a bad decision for them, and warned locals of things they need to think about before leasing. French said she has gotten out of her lease; Knapp has not. The women are co-founders of the Pennsylvania Landowner Group for Awareness and Solutions in Bradford County.

Knapp said that when she signed a lease in 2006, she bought into the claims that drilling would create an economic boom and foster U.S. energy independence. “I really believed that was going to be good for the country,” she recalled. Since then, however, Knapp said, she’s experienced multiple negative impacts, including water contamination and damage to her herd of dairy cattle. After the drilling started, she alleged, in March 2011 her tap water turned ivory-white and “jello-like.” Her adult daughter who had been drinking the water in the home, she said, ended up in the hospital with conditions including an enlarged spleen and liver, which she believes were caused by chemicals contaminating the water. The women also recounted “traffic, traffic, and more traffic” stemming from oil-and-gas operations in their area, which they said has badly hurt some local small businesses; huge decreases in property values; and a plethora of billboards, advertising everything from lawyers to drill bits to leasing offers. “It’s like, ‘Got milk?’” she joked. “Got land?” As a farmer, Knapp warned farmers in the audience that they should be very concerned about potential impacts to their crops and animals. Knapp noted that one of the touted benefits of fracking is that it will eliminate America’s dependence on imported oil. But, she asked – earning the  biggest applause of the afternoon – “Are you willing to be dependent on foreign food? Think about it.”

Are you willing to be dependent on foreign oil food? Think about it.

Read more here...

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?

Gas Company Investigating Contaminated Water Well in PA

Uploaded by veraduerga on Mar 23, 2012

Taped 3-22-12. WPX evaluating the well structure and think this is the problem why it is erupting. Faulty well structure. I ask them to focus on isotopic testing of the water and see where this methane is coming from! Gets a bit heated....

More details here and here and here.

After watching this exchange between Vera and the gas company reps, I have to think that, although they are trying to appear calm and respectful, they don't really know what to do.  They want to give the appearance of doing all they can to be "good neighbors,"  even though they imply that this is not a problem THEY created, but rather a problem with the well.  Even so, they say they are offering to pay for repairs.  Of course, we know that other people who live nearby are also having well water problems.  So are all these wells going bad at the same time?

It appears that this gas company is grasping at straws, and the homeowner is getting a little (or a lot) of run-around. 

Trailer Court Sold; Residents Evicted (Jersey Shore, PA)

Young families and elderly residents alike are being evicted. They were given a few weeks to get out. They all need help.

Uploaded by GADCLuzerneCounty on Mar 22, 2012


A video by Scott Cannon http://gdacoalition.com
Riverdale Mobile Home Village, Jersey Shore, PA
Residents of an area mobile home park have been given a bit more time to move to make way for a proposed water withdrawal facility in Piatt Township.

Bryn Mawr-based Aqua PVR LLC has decided it will give most residents of Riverdale Mobile Home Village until June 1 to move, according to Donna P. Alston, director of communication for Aqua America, Aqua PVR's parent company.

The company plans to build a pump station on the site it recently purchased, withdraw up to 3 million gallons of water per day from the West Branch of the Susquehanna River and pipe the water to natural gas drilling sites north of the township.

It originally wanted all 37 units in the park moved out by May 1 so work could begin on the project.

The company offered a financial incentive for park residents.

Originally, residents who moved by April 1 would be given $2,500. Those who moved by May 1 would receive $1,500.

Some residents of the park protested that the former deadline did not give them enough time to move.

Others said they could not afford to move or could not find a mobile home park that would take their mobile homes, many of which are older models and do not meet park or local code standards.

"We revisited the site plan for the project and figured out a way to displace fewer people initially than before," Alston said, adding, "The park will eventually need to be (completely) vacated to accommodate the project."

Alston said when work on the project begins in May, only two to four lots at the park will be impacted. One of those lots already is vacant, she said.

The financial incentive offer to residents also has been revised, Alston said.

Now, residents will receive $2,500 as long as they are out of the park by June 1, Alston said.

"We're trying to minimize the disruption and provide some assistance where we can," she said. "For some, it may not be enough. Along with the additional time, hopefully, it will make a difference for everybody."

Park resident Marshall Flanigan said the new offer will help some, but not all, residents at the park.

"It's not a 100-percent cure-all, but it helps the bleeding," he said.

Water Well Bubbling With Methane (PA)

Uploaded by veraduerga on Mar 23, 2012


taped 3-22-12. Looking inside the Manning Water Water and see the bubbling methane-laced water. Would you drink this? This is 73 inches down. I zoomed into it with camcorder. What else is coming up with the methane? This is Franklin Twp., Susquehanna County, Pa. Several gas wells surround this house and area.

Is the water in Dimock (PA) safe to drink?

Uploaded by WaterDefense on Mar 21, 2012

Please donate to the Water for Dimock fund: http://j.mp/GzJRnL

On March 15th 2012 families affected by fracking in Dimock got test results back from the EPA proving their water was contaminated. The EPA simultaneously put out a statement saying the water didn't pose a health threat. Why did the EPA contradict it's own findings?

Please call EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson at 202-564-4700 and demand long-term water replacement for Dimock.

For more information on the situation in Dimock see the recent Propublica article by Abraham Lustgarten: http://j.mp/GGwyYw

The song "Motherland" is courtesy of Natalie Merchant

Call Lisa Jackson

202-564-4700

Wyoming Compressor Station Explodes

The Falcon natural gas compressor station south of Pinedale burns and then explodes into a column of flame midday Dec. 6. Nobody was directly injured in the fire and explosion, which was triggered by venting natural gas at the station, which is part of a system to collect natural gas from the Jonah and Pinedale Anticline fields. The fire was allowed to burn out, under the watchful eyes of area firefighters.

Doris Has To Move: Tales of the Marcellus Shale (PA)

Doris Fravel

Doris Fravel is 82 years old.  She has lived in the Riverdale Mobile Home Village in Jersey Shore, PA, for 38 years. Recently she got the news that the trailer park had been sold and would be made into a water withdrawal site to serve the gas industry.  Doris' lease was terminated as soon as the Susquehanna River Basin Commission approved the permit for Aqua America to steal withdraw up to 3 million gallons of water per day from the site. Doris said, "I could sit down and cry my eyes out."  She has until May 1st to vacate her home. 

Doris is only one person deeply affected by this eviction.  There are many others, including families with children, who are part of this community.  Is this really necessary?  Can we blame the land owner for wanting to sell the trailer park?  The residents speak well of him and say he is good landlord. 

Read the whole story here.

Marcellus Shale Reality Tour: Part Five

Uploaded by GADCLuzerneCounty on Mar 15, 2012


A video by Scott Cannon http://gdacoalition.org

State regulators are investigating the cause of high methane levels in three Susquehanna County water wells after residents reported gray or black sludgy water, and one home's well began to erupt water through its cap.

The Department of Environmental Protection has not yet determined if natural sources, nearby natural gas drilling operations or some other cause has mobilized methane and metals into drinking water supplies. Inspectors were in the township hamlet of Franklin Forks on Wednesday to take a second round of samples from water wells.

DEP officials originally indicated to residents in January that the likely source of the gas was a natural methane seep documented for over a century in nearby Salt Springs State Park.

But the chemical markers of the Salt Springs methane have been well characterized by scientists and the department is just now in the process of determining the signature of the gas found in the water wells to compare to the seep.

Analyzing the stable carbon isotopes - a form of chemical fingerprinting of the gas - "could prove fruitful" in this case because Salt Springs is so well documented, DEP spokeswoman Colleen Connolly said.

The department also is considering the potential impact of nearby Marcellus Shale drilling on the water supplies.

"Everything is still part of the investigation," she said. "We're not ruling anything out."

DEP cited WPX Energy for defective casing or cement in two of the natural gas wells closest to Franklin Forks last year. The nested strings of steel casing and cement are meant to protect aquifers from gas and other fluids in the wells, but flaws in the barriers have caused methane to migrate into water supplies throughout the region, most notably in Bradford County and Dimock Twp. 15 miles south.

DEP inspectors also found gas bubbling from between the casing strings on three more WPX wells on the same two well pads - the DePue and Hollenbeck - although those wells were not cited for violations. Bubbling is often viewed by state regulators as an indication of a leak or defect in a well's construction.

WPX is an exploration and production company recently spun off from Williams Companies.

DEP is evaluating the WPX wells as part of its investigation, but it has not named any responsible party and has not ordered any company to replace or restore the water supplies, Ms. Connolly said.

Water Well In PA Exploding With Methane

Uploaded by veraduerga on Mar 11, 2012

Water Well on route 29 in Franklin Forks, Franklin Twp.,Susquehanna County, Pa., exploding with very high methane 38 mg/liter after gas drilling and fracking the past 6 months. Gas wells are one mile east and west of this property. The family and neighboring homes can not drink their water. Methane is in the house, and adults and children are living in the homes. DEP investigating. Methane and high metals found so far. Taped on 3-9-12 by Lauren Petracca.

More here....

"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.

Rolling Stone Responds to Chesapeake Energy on "The Fracking Bubble"

If you have read the MUST READ article in the current issue of Rolling Stone,  you will be interested in this:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/rolling-stone-responds-to-chesapeake-energy-on-the-fracking-bubble-20120306#ixzz1oPRNlpBl

Specific points addressed by Chesapeake:

• The "reality" of 100 years of shale gas
• The credibility of Arthur Berman
• Chesapeake's convoluted off-book accounting practices
• The economic benefits of cheap natural gas
• The credibility of Gasland
• Fugitive methane emissions
• The cerdibility of Deborah Rogers
• Bias in the Duke study
• Methane levels in the Vargson well
• Consequences of Chesapeake's well blow-out in Bradford County
• Fracking fluid disclosure

North Branch Land Trust (PA): Will It Be Fracked?

This is a video shot by Scott Cannon for the Bowman's Creek Watershed Association.  The video has a section on the North Branch Land Trust, the focus of this post.

Friends, this is very sad news.  The North Branch Land Trust has opened the door to natural gas drilling beneath its Wyoming County, PA, property which it had pledged to conserve.  The aim of the NBLT now seems to have changed to consider allowing subsurface drilling while prohibiting any surface drilling activity.  Douglas Ayers, one of the trust's founders, believes that leasing pristine land for subsurface drilling is unethical and fears it may lead to potential destruction of the environment and could pollute not only the water at the Howland Preserve, but the land around it.

In 2010, the Chesapeake Energy Corp. offered the trust $4000 an acre plus 20% royalties to lease The Howland Preserve, part of the NBLT.  (Ernest Howland died in 2003, willing his 667-acre property on the Vosberg Neck to the NBLT.) The board turned down the offer in June of 2010.  The very next month the board changed its policy to read: "Due to the current status of state and federal laws and regulations governing the industry and the current conditions in the industry in general, NBLT will not consider any form of lease agreement for the extraction of fossil fuels, minerals, or any other subsuface resource under any NBLT owned properties at this time."  A few weeks ago, the trust's board changed the policy to exclude that clause.  Mr. Ayers said,

I think it's extremely immoral for anyone, a private citizen, even someone who's going to lose their property, to allow gas drilling if there is a chance they will damage their neighbor's property. I would rather lose my property than hurt other people.

He also said it's naive

to think you can punch a hole a mile underground, pour in one of the most toxic substances known to mankind, and not think it's going to come back up.

Ayers said the gas companies are using the idea of drilling in the Vosberg Neck as leverage to get the land trust to sign a lease. The Susquehanna River flows through this area.

The North Branch Land Trust now has agreements to protect 10,831 acres in Bradford, Columbia, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Wayne, and Wyoming Counties. The question is: Will the trust really protect the land or not? When people give their precious land to the trust, isn't is reasonable for them to assume that the trust will be true to their mission and protect it forever, period?

There has been a lot of conflict on the board the past few years.  The issues continue.  For example, the trust just turned down $75,000 from UGI to run a pipeline throught the trust's land.  The trust said no. This will be an on-going process as the gas industry inhabits more and more land in PA.  This is an industrial revolution.  The trust's executive director, Paul Lumia, put it this way:

It's a crapshoot. It really is.

Our Dear Susquehanna: Please Protect Her

One of the longest rivers in America, the Susquehanna River provides over half of the freshwater to the Chesapeake Bay and drinking water to millions of people. Communities and businesses depend on the river for drinking water, commerce, hydropower generation, and recreational boating. Now this resource is at risk of contamination. Take action here.

Music: Fanfare For the Common Man by Aaron Copeland

This YouTube video was featured on the blog Susquehanna River Sentinel. 

The Susquehanna River was America's most endangered river in 2011.

Imagine Life With No Water....In America!

Thom Hartmann talks about the critical issue of our American infrastructure. With this dire situation, how much more damage can we sustain? What will the natural gas industry do to our already crumbling infrastructure?

How Does Barium Get Into an Aquifer During Gas Drilling Operations?

Dr. Anthony Ingraffea answered this question:

Barium occurs naturally in marcellus shale, and is also used in a drilling compound, as barium sulfate.

From either source, it can contaminate an aquifer (underground), while underground, or it can spill on the surface from either source and leach down into the aquifer.

For example, during drilling, the drilling mud containing barium sulfate, is in direct contact with the aquifer, while drilling through it.
If there is a cement failure, flowback fluid containing barium can migrate into the aquifer.

Or, frac fluid containing barium from the formation can migrate upwards through faults, abandoned wells, or the overlying formation.

My comment is this:  Did you ever think about it this way?  As the hole is drilled in the ground on the well pad, the drilling mud is in direct contact with the aquifer.  I think this flies  in the face of industry people who say they are drilling so deep that they never affect the aquifer.  They are drilling right through the aquifer.  What are they talking about?  Before the cement is put in around the well bore,  the aquifer has already been penetrated and disturbed. 

The Big Fracking Bubble: The Scam Behind the Gas Boom

"It's not only toxic- it's driven by a right-wing billionaire who profits more from flipping land than drilling for gas." That man is Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon. He dominates America's supply of natural gas the same way the Tea Party-financing Koch brothers control the nation's pipelines and refineries.....

Read more. This article appears in the March 15th issue of Rolling Stone.

Social and Ethnographic Impact of Gas Drilling

Simona Perry, PhD, addresses the EPIC NO FRACK EVENT held at Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY, on June 25, 2011. She worked with people in Bradford County, PA, collecting their stories in regard to natural gas drilling(Mellon Foundation Project). She covers social, psychological, and political effects of gas drilling in Bradford County. Twenty-five minutes well spent if you have the chance.

PA Farmer Blockades His Road To Stop Drilling Vehicles

From Protecting Our Waters:
“I just witnessed a farmer, Mike Bennett of Bennett Farms and Greenhouse up above Big Run, take some unilateral action to blockade the drilling trucks on the Big Run-Prescottville Road that runs through his vegetable farm,” reported farmer Stephen Cleghorn of Jefferson County, PA on February 17th. “People are getting pretty fed up with how these drillers operate,” he commented.

Read more here...

Josh Fox: Case Dismissed!

To Preserve Our Rights, We Must Stand Up For Them.
by Josh Fox

This morning, the charge of "unlawful entry" brought against me was dismissed without condition. The US Attorney dropped the case, finding it baseless and without merit. Although this is a personal victory and I am very grateful and relieved at the US Attorney's decision, it serves as a painful reminder that we do not have rights unless we exercise them.........

Read Josh's response here.

My Dear Susquehanna: French Azilum, PA

I know this landscape very well.  It is French Azilum in Bradford County.  If you look carefully, you can see the effects of the gas drilling industry. Well pads, water impoundments, frac water treatment facility.  They are all there in this snapshot.  And this is all just getting started.  What a sad story...one of the most precious places on earth for me is being invaded, yes, raped, by people who want the money.  My family summer home is being contaminated slowly but surely.  That's the Susquehanna River winding through this picture.  It is the most polluted river on the east coast already.

A family song we have been singing for decades goes like this:

Old Frenchtown, how we love the dear old name!

There's no other place can ever be to us the same.

Through this world we may wander up and down,

But always, we'll be coming back again to old Frenchtown.

Camp Hutchinson, French Azilum, PA
My sacred spot





Hydrofracking Exposed: Photojournalists Visit Dimock, PA

Carter Road, Dimock, PA

Two college students from RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology), photojournalists Ellie and Lauren visited Dimock, PA, and Silver Lake, PA, on February 10-11, 2012, to learn for themselves about the effects of hydrofracking on this area.  They have done a superb job of capturing the essence of what Gasland is all about.  Their concern for this beautiful area of Pennsylvania and their dedication to opposing hydrofracking everywhere is inspiring.

Day One, Part One
Day One, Part Two: Carter Road
Day Two: Silver Lake

New Photos: Leroy, NY, Toxic Spill Site

PA Businessman Convicted of Illegal Wastewater Dumping For Years

Bridge over Ten Mile Creek, Greene County, PA

Words fail.  This man, Robert Shipman, 50, of Holbrook, Greene County, PA, illegally dumped millions of gallons of waste across Western Pennsylvania counties for more than six years.  Millions of gallons of toxic waste for more than six years.  This man instructed his employees to mix various wastes together into a "cocktail," and then dump the mixture illegally.  Drivers were told to leave their water valves open at gas wells to allow production water toflow onto the ground and into nearby waterways.  This activity typically happened after dark or during heavy rains.  Drivers were also told to park their vehicles in the garage at Shipman's business and dump the water into a floor drain, which led to a nearby stream.  One of the streams affected was Ten Mile Creek in Greene County.

Read the article here.

There is no way to describe the heinous actions of this man.  I think evil is the best word I can think of.  And he will perhaps spend 30- 60 days in jail which is a standard range sentence.  Furthermore, Shipman stole more than a quarter of a million dollars from clients through overbilling and illegal dumping.  He will have to pay a $100,000 fine and court costs and be required to make a $25,000 donation to an environmental group.  None of these punishments is adequate.  Not even close.

DEP Halts Fracking Job After Gas Well Failure in PA

Two weeks ago a natural gas well being fracked by Carrizo Oil and Gas went out-of-control, causing a spill of waste fluids on a well pad in Forest Lake Township, Susquehanna County, according to a newspaper report by Laura Legere:

http://thedailyreview.com/news/dep-halts-fracking-at-site-after-gas-well-failure-dep-halts-carrizo-fracking-at-susquehanna-county-site-after-gas-well-failure-1.1270279

Two valves failed at the Baker 4H well the afternoon of January 30th.  Here is the DEP violation report:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/48182083/drilling/nov.pdf

There were three violations in these areas: Oil and Gas Act, Solid Waste Management Act, and the Clean Streams Law.  There was an "unpermitted discharge of residual waste onto the ground."  The residual waste is another phrase for frac fluid.  There are big fines for each of these violations.  However, no fines have been levied yet, and most likely will never be imposed.

Natural gas drilling cannot not be done safely.  There will always be spills, leaks, and explosions- always.  The ground is always contaminated- always.  The air is always contaminated- always.  The degree of contamination varies, but there are always chemicals getting into the air, soil, and water.

Leroy, NY, Gas Spill in July Near School Where Illness Occurred

From CNN Health Page: LINK

This report says that there was an accidental spill at one of the gas well pads near the Leroy school last July just a few weeks before the first student became ill.  Nothing conclusive yet, but these reports must be followed up.

What Does the Gas Industry Do To Our Roads: Amazing Video from PA

Silver Creek Rd., Franklin Twp., Susquehanna County; The worst road conditions before or since gas drilling in our area. It's a paved road running east and west and for about four miles and the road's edge is breaking down, chunks of road lifting up, as if an earthquake has happened.

Vera, who took this video, has demonstrated the severity of the road damage in PA. She also shows how dangerous it is to be a local resident and try to drive on this old country road. You take your life in your hands. The huge trucks keep going by her in both directions constantly. This is a great video that gives us a sense of what life is like in Gasland. Not too good if you ask me. It looks very stressful at best. And people have been killed on roads similar to this one.

Orange Bag Drops From the Sky: Seismic Testing

A 700-pound bag of electronic equipment dropped on to a woman's deck recently.  I would say this could have done a lot of damage to the house or to her and her granddaughter.  I guess accidents do happen.  However, this one could have been avoided with a little more brain work in my opinion.  Read more....

The woman is a gas drilling proponent.

More on the LeRoy, NY, Mysterious Illness Case

Read a post about the LeRoy, NY, case of an illness cluster involving high school students.

LINK  Excellent photos.

Meet "Tricky."

Denton, Texas, Goes For Fracking Moratorium

Go, Denton!

Josh Fox Arrested In the People's House

"Josh Fox, whose HBO documentary "Gasland" raised questions about the safety of the natural gas drilling technique known as horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, was handcuffed and led away on Wednesday as he tried to film a House Science Committee hearing on the topic...".* The Young Turks host breaks it down.

Academy Award Nominated Josh Fox Is Arrested At a Public Hearing at the U.S. Capital

Shame, shame on Andy Harris, Republican representative from Maryland. He had Josh Fox arrested rather than allowing him to film the hearing on hydrofracking and the EPA study on water contamination in Pavilion, Wyoming. Transparency? A thing of the past to Rep. Harris.

In a stunning break with First Amendment policy, House Republicans directed Capitol Hill police to detain a highly regarded documentary crew that was attempting to film a Wednesday hearing on a controversial natural gas procurement practice. Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.), the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, can be heard at the end of the clip asking Republican Chairman Andy Harris (R-Md.) to halt the arrest and permit the man to film the public hearing.

IS DEMOCRACY DEAD?