They are the NGO equivalent of Frackadmics. Of the Frackers’ Accomplices inside the DEC.

Never pass up an opportunity to call them out. . . try it, it’s fun and therapeutic !

Print this post

And these were just the ones that were reported. A small fraction of the total number of leakers, spills, flowback dumps, potholed roads, sludge run offs and – of course – clear-cut forests.

Sunday Times review of DEP drilling records reveals water damage, murky testing methods

First of two parts

State environmental regulators determined that oil and gas development damaged the water supplies for at least 161 Pennsylvania homes, farms, churches and businesses between 2008 and the fall of 2012, according to a cache of nearly 1,000 letters and enforcement orders written by Department of Environmental Protection officials and obtained by The Sunday Times.

The determination letters are sent to water supply owners who ask state inspectors to investigate whether oil and gas drilling activities have polluted or diminished the flow of water to their wells.

View interactive map:

Gas Drilling Complaints Map

One in six investigations across the roughly five-year period – 17 percent of the records – found that oil and gas activity disrupted water supplies either temporarily or seriously enough to require companies to replace the spoiled source – statewide. The problem is worse by the New York border. The percentage of problematic wells is 70% in Bradford County and 65% in Susquehanna County.

Red dots are where the DEP admitted shale gas wells were the culprit, Yellow dots are where the DEP is still trying to dream up an alibi. If a gag order is in effect, as it is in most leases, the DEP is not notified at all. So these reported problems represent a small fraction of the actual number of contaminations.

The letters confirming contamination or water loss from drilling and the orders that require companies to fix the damage provide what is likely the best official count of the industry’s impact on individual water supplies in Pennsylvania because the state does not track the disruptions.

The Sunday Times requested the records in late 2011, and received access to them late last year after a state appeals court ruled that the DEP had to release the documents regardless of whether it was “hard for the agency to find them in its files.”

While the records compiled by the newspaper offer a more complete tally of the number of affected properties than was previously available, the count is not exhaustive.

Read more . . .

http://m.thetimes-tribune.com/news/sunday-times-review-of-dep-drilling-records-reveals-water-damage-murky-testing-methods-1.1491547

Have a big ole’ gulp, courtesy of your neighborhood fracker

Print this post

Open season on designating petitions to run starts the first week of June.  Rachel Treichler has sent out information on how to sign up to run.  http://www.elections.ny.gov/RunningOffice.html

The NYS Board of Elections conducts campaign finance seminars around the state.  The first seminars have been conducted, but the majority are still to come, including three this week.  The schedule is posted at http://www.elections.ny.gov:8080/plsql_browser/EFS_TRAINING_DATES_2013 . Be sure to attend one of these seminars if you are taking contributions for any election campaigns.

Print this post

For instance, if the well bore hits shallow pockets of gas below a porous rock strata – like the karst found in Upstate New York –  then the well bore is more apt to vent that gas to groundwater. And if water wells tap that groundwater, you will have methane. If there are few shallow gas formations, little porous karst to challenge the well’s integrity and few shallow water wells to contaminate, gas venting will be less of a problem.  The (Haynesville area) topography in Arkansas is flat and water wells are deeper – both of which could mitigate water well contamination. Lastly, the Haynesville is a notoriously iffy shale play – so it is not clear how much actual gas production was going on in the area of the study.

Had some nits to pick with the study itself – for instance the fact that the distance between the water wells tested was not mapped as a function of distance to closest shale gas well, and the depth of the water in the well was not mapped, since this would show whether the wells tapped groundwater – which is more likely to be contaminated – than aquifers. And the study over-focused on finding thermogenic gas from the Haynesville and the presence or absence of such shallow gas bearing formations was not addressed, when previous studies have shown that shallow gas deposits are more likely to be vented by aging well bores. Lastly, the stratigraphy of the rock above the Haynesville was not discussed, when the industry knows that venting is often a result by poor zonal isolation in strata above the target formation.

So the USGS / Duke Haynesville study is the exception that proves the rule: Under the right conditions, horizontal shale gas wells are apt to vent methane into groundwater.

I did a Power Point to explain how different conditions produce different results, and how the geology and hydrology in Pennsylvania and New York is uniquely vulnerable to the problems, more so than other areas – such as the Barnett in Texas or the Haynesville in Arkansas or Louisiana.

Drilling and Fracking and the Environment

by Bill Chameides | May 17th, 2013
posted by Erica Rowell (Editor)

A fracking rig in Arkansas. Duke and USGS researchers found no evidence of groundwater contamination from shale gas production in Arkansas. (Timothy Kresse, USGS)

Water contamination depends on the local geology.

Initial Fracking Study Found Contamination

Back in May 2011 my Duke colleagues Avner Vengosh and Rob Jackson and other co-authors published a paper in theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that caused a fracking firestorm or at least a media fracking-firestorm.

The authors found evidence for methane contamination in residential drinking water wells in Pennsylvania and New York overlying the Marcellus shale formation. The contamination correlated strongly with proximity to drilling sites that used the controversial technique of horizontal drilling and hyrdrofracturing (or fracking), and isotopic data linked the contamination to shale gas — a link possibly due to direct communication of the gas from the deep shale but more likely due to faulty well casings that allowed gas to leak from the well into nearby local aquifers.

(The possibility that faulty well casings and/or drilling practices may be a determining factor in causing drinking water contamination would appear to question the wisdom of the administration’s newly released rules for drilling on public lands, which only require testing a single well in an area.)

Water storage pond near fracking operations in Arkansas. (Timothy Kresse, USGS)

Study Questioned by Industry et al. but Confirmed by Other Studies

The May 2011 paper was met with derision and worse from the gas industry.

Despite the fact that the Duke paper reported no evidence of any water contamination from the fracking fluids — a major issue for those who oppose fracking and a finding that the frackers would presumably champion — the industry panned the work as “poor science” and accused the authors of having a political, anti-fossil fuel agenda that colored and biased their results.

To wit: “Once again, what you have here is a paper that draws pretty firm conclusions without much data at all to back any of them up,” Energy In Depth, a coalition of energy producers,said in a statement. The industry group America’s Natural Gas Alliance criticized the study for lacking “key data that would be needed to validate its conclusions.” (Read more here, here andhere.)

Well, despite the barbs from the industry, the Duke team has continued their work, collecting samples around the country where fracking is occurring. And, lo and behold, what do you know, additional data from the Marcellus has largely confirmed the earlier findings reported in the 2011 paper. (See here andhere.)

New Study Finds No Contamination in Formation Studied

This week that same Duke team, in collaboration with scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, published a paper in theJournal of Applied Geochemistry on results of a study similar in design to that used for the 2011 study for the Marcellus shale but in this case looking at drinking water wells in Arkansas near fracking sites overlying the Fayetteville shale formation. The lead author of this new paper was Nathaniel Warner.

Researchers from Duke ans USGS take samples at fracking sites overlying the Fayetteville shale formation. (Timothy Kresse, USGS)

On the basis of 127 samples, the authors concluded that there was “no discernible impairment of groundwater quality in areas associated with natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing in this region.” Lead author Warner says that “[t]hese findings demonstrate that shale gas development, at least in this area, has been done without negatively impacting drinking water resources.”

Water Contamination Depends on Local Geology

Does this mean that the authors are retracting their results from the Marcellus shale? Of course not. Here’s how Avner Vengosh explains the contrasting results:

“The hydrogeology of Arkansas’s Fayetteville Shale basin is very different from Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale … variations in local and regional geology play major roles in determining the possible risk of groundwater impacts from shale gas development.  As such, they must be taken into consideration before drilling begins.”

So this latest paper leads me to wonder: what is the agenda of these guys anyway? Clearly not anti-fossil fuels given the Arkansas results, and no way pro-fossil fuels given the Pennsylvania result. Could it be that their agenda is scientific, and they report what they find regardless of who’s agenda is helped or hindered?

Print this post

JLCNY has now transformed itself from what was a supposedly a Grassroots organization to an Astroturf one, by aligning itself with Americans for Prosperity (AFP).

AFP has chapters in just about every state in the union.

Let’s start connecting the dots with AFP. (Related: JLCNY Is Now Officially A Koch Fracking Front Group)

Per Sourcewatch: Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is a group fronting special interests founded in 2004 by oil billionaire David Koch and Richard Fink (a member of the board of directors of Koch Industries). AFP has been accused of funding astroturf operations but also has been fueling the “Tea Party” efforts.

Charles and David Koch, the billionaire brothers who own Koch Industries, have spent over $67,000,000 from their family foundations on groups who have denied the existence or extent of global climate change, promote fossil fuel use and block policies that promote clean energy development.

AFP’s messages are in sync with those of other groups funded by the Koch Family Foundations and the Kochs’ other special interest groups that work against progressive or Democratic initiatives and protections for workers and the environment. Accordingly, AFP opposes labor unions, health care reform, stimulus spending, and cap-and-trade legislation, which is aimed at making industries pay for the air pollution that they create.

Koch Family Foundations consist of the David H. Koch Foundation, the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, the Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation, and the Knowledge and Progress Fund.

Organizations funded by the Koch’s include the Cato institute, Heritage Foundation, The Washington Legal Foundation, University of Chicago, University of Kansas Endowment Association, Heartland Institute, and the Mackinac Center.   CLICK HERE FOR A COMPLETE LIST.

RELATED: Washington Legal Foundation (WLF): Frackin’ Joe Camel with Law Books

Brian Kennedy Per: NATURAL GAS: BP, others push against federal regulation of fracturing, Brian Kennedy is cited as a spokesman for Energy-In-Depth.

“This language seems to be a restatement and endorsement of policies and procedures the industry has been following for decades, as mandated by federal, state and local laws,” said Brian Kennedy, a spokesman for Energy-In-Depth. “To the extent the language helps clarify the existing framework and highlight its overwhelming success to date, it could be a valuable educational tool moving forward.”

• Senior Managing Director Strategic Communications: FTI Consulting
• Former Senior Managing Director: FD Americas-Public Affairs
• Former Communications Director: former Rep. Richard Pombo R-CA

Rep. Richard Pombo lost his re-election bid in 2006 to Jerry McNerney.
“Environmentalists opposed Pombo for efforts to rewrite species protections and increase oil drilling in Alaska and off-shore while fundraising from industry groups. He also faced questions about ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who pleaded guilty in a congressional influence peddling scandal.”

• Former Aide – House Committee on Natural Resources
• Staff Member – Rep. John Boehner R-OH  :Rep. John Boehner R-OH was Minority Leader in 2008.  He became House Speaker in 2010.  (see also Boehner Maintains Significant Investments In Companies Tied To The Keystone XL Pipeline Project)
• Co-Founder – Institute for Energy Research (IER),  DC office

 RELATED: Energy-in-Depth (EID) “GAS”roots – 3

 Thomas Pyle, is now the President of the American Energy Alliance (AEA) and the Institute for Energy Research (IER).   These are “partner” organizations.

In 2000, Pyle and other Republican staffers were sent to Florida to shut down the recount.   Pyle is in the lower left, wearing the dark shirt.   At that time, Pyle was working for the now former Congressman Tom Delay (R-TX).

Pyle took a spin through the revolving door, and found employment as a lobbyist for the National Petroleum and Refiners Association and for Koch Industries.

In 2008, Pyle founded the American Energy Alliance (AEA) and its partner organization, the Institute for Energy Research (IER).

Per Sourcewatch: AEA states that its aim is to “create a climate that encourages the advancement of free market energy policies” and in particular ensure drilling for oil is allowed in the Artic National Wildlife refuge and in US coastal waters.

On its website it lists the Institute for Energy Research (IER) as a “partner” organization and states that it is the “grassroots arm” of IER.  AEA states that, by “communicating IER’s decades of scholarly research to the grassroots, AEA will empower citizens with facts so that people who believe in freedom can reclaim the moral high ground in the national public policy debates in the energy and environmental arena.

AEA is a 501 (C) 4, which means it is active in lobbying, but it does not disclose its funders.   IER, on the other hand is a 501 (C) 3.  Donations to IER are tax deductible, donations to AEA are not.  For understanding the difference between a 501 (C) 3 and 501 (C) 4, click here.

A number of large organizations do organize themselves as both a types, as this allows flexibility to collect TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS and LOBBY at the same time.

ExxonMobil donated $95,000 to IER in 2007 and $65,000 the year before, but IER has said that ExxonMobil is no longer a funder.

IER has also received donations from the Brown Foundation, which was started by the founders of the construction and energy company Brown & Root; the Searle Freedom Trust, funded by the late conservative philanthropist Daniel Searle; and the Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation, which is run by executives of Koch Industries, a major company in the petroleum refining industry and one of the main funders of Americans for Prosperity. According to NPR, Wayne Gable, who lobbied for Koch Industries along with Pyle, is on the board of both IER and AEA.

IER has been active in questioning global warming, suggesting that Al Gore and others are “climate alarmists,” and acting as a climate skeptic while defending climate deniers.

IER, through its co-founder Robert Bradley, a former Enron Executive, has ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).  Additionally, IER’s Daniel Simmons, Director of Regulatory and State Affairs, previous served as ALEC’s  Director of the Natural Resources Task Force.   Simmons was also a legislative staffer for the Committee on Resources in the U.S. House of Representatives.  He is also listed as an expert for the Heartland Institute, of which the Koch Foundation funds.

A host of groups in the Koch network, including American Tradition Institute (ATI), Americans for Prosperity, and American Legislative Exchange Council, have undermined wind energy before. The Guardian reported on an ATI secret memo that suggested forming “dummy businesses” and a “counter-intelligence branch” against the wind industry.

NOTE: CREATE A GRASS-ROOTS GROUND SWELL FROM WHICH THE CLAMOR FOR CHANGE WILL REACH ELECTED OFFICIALS AND POLICY-MAKERS.

I strongly urge you all to read the entire document.

 Click here for  the TEXT Version, download it and read it.

As I mentioned, AEA and IER are partly funded by the Koch Brothers and their donor network.

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is a group fronting special interests founded in 2004 by oil billionaire David Koch and Richard Fink (a member of the board of directors of Koch Industries). AFP has been accused of funding astroturf operations but also has been fueling the “Tea Party” efforts.

And now we come back to JLCNY.

© 2013 by Dory Hippauf

Print this post

 

Scott Kurkoski, the attorney for the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York and the attorney of record who argued one of the two cases before the court (the Middlefield case), held a press conference on Friday to discuss the decision and to answer the question, “Where do we go from here?” MDN editor Jim Willis went along to the presser. As important as this decision was, you would think a press conference held by one of the lead attorneys in the case would attract a lot of attention. There was exactly one other reporter there–from YNN (Time Warner Cable’s Your News Now). That’s it. Two of us showed up.

There is a good reason for this. It wasn’t news. The actions against Dryden and Middlefield were dead-men-walking after the rulings at trial. Which is why they original Dryden plaintiff, Anschutz, did not even bother to appeal the ruling after their attorneys in Denver read the ruling. The statute and case law was clear: the state regulates how wells are drilled, but a town land use ordinance can prohibit wells entirely. “Regulate” and “prohibit” are not synonyms. That’s why 4 New York trial courts held in favor of Home Rule, as did the 4 appellate judges, for a total of 8 judges. 8 to 0. 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/139084659/Norse-v-Dryden-App-Div-Decision-2-May-2013

None of this was lost on the journalists who had followed the cases from the outset and read the rulings. Everything after those trial court rulings – starting with recruiting the bankrupt Norse Energy as a Rent-a-Plaintiff, was just histrionics on the part of the plaintiffs’ lawyers, one of whom is Chesapeake’s lobbyist. And of course, Kurkoski. Who held The Press Conference For Nobody.

Print this post

Was thinking about The Helen the other day and it dawned on me that her maiden name is Holden – an old New England name, and not that uncommon. Have known other New England Holdens  before (who may or may not be related to Helen). In fact one of them was my (former) partner in the drug smuggling business.

Once upon at time, the ’60′s actually, and, I hasten to add, well beyond the Statute of Limitations, I was a drug smuggler in England. A friend of mine named Holden was my connection in the US.

I would bring hashish (“hash”) up from Morocco to the UK via a Turk that lived in Manchester. We would pack it into tins of Scottish shortbread and ship it to the States. Shortbread on top, bars of hash below.

Worked like a charm until Holden got busted in Boston. When he told me, I got pretty paranoid. Dope can make you paranoid. Also being a smuggler can make you paranoid. Take it from me. Plus I was a wreck – my diet consisted of Newcastle Brown Ale, hash and the shortbread extracted from the tins. So I went to the police in England and gave myself up. After they stopped laughing, they deported me back to my homeland, Texas.

Not long after that I got into doing oil and gas deals and investing in drilling rigs. So I literally went from being a drug smuggler to being a fracker. And no, it wasn’t that much of a transition. . .

Print this post

After you discover that you can light your water on fire, you get a nice “Greetings Citizen” letter from the Pennsylvania DEP (Department of Environmental Prevarications) advising you not to smoke a cigar and take a shower at the same time. Or drink tapwater. Or water your livestock or your garden from your well.  

The Vera got samples of such letters from the DEP, published in Damascus Citizens.

Mark them as Exhibit C 4 in the forthcoming Cuomo Fracking Scandal. 

“Greetings Citizen: 

The Department investigation indicates that gas well drilling has impacted your water supply.”

“Despite the oft-repeated gas industry canard that there are no confirmed cases of fracking contaminating water supplies, the following Determination Letters from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection clearly state that “gas well drilling” has contaminated wells in Bradford County, in municipalities such as Granville, Tuscarora, Terry, Orwell, Wilmot and Monroe Townships, and in Alba Boro.”

Here’s a few such letters obtained by Right to Know requests to the PA DEP filed by the intrepid  Vera Scroggins of “Citizens for Clean Water” located in Susquehanna County, Fracksylvania:

• Orwell Township, November 7, 2011
• Tuscarora Township, March 25, 2011
• Tuscarora Township, March 7, 2011
• Alba Boro, December 6, 2010
• Monroe Township, December 3, 2010
• Wilmot Township, November 10, 2010
• Terry Township 1, October 1, 2010
• Terry Township 2, October 1, 2010
• Granville Township, September 2, 2010
• Alba Boro – 1_3_11 – Bradford Cty.pdf
• Alba Boro – 1_31_11 – Bradford Cty.pdf
• Alba Boro – 12_6_10 – Bradford Cty.pdf
• Asylum Twp- 1_6_12 – Bradford Cty.pdf
• Determination Letters Bradford Cty batch 5_8_13.pdf
• Leroy Twp 1 – 8_13_12 – Bradford Cty.pdf
• Leroy Twp 2 – 8_13_12 – Bradford Cty.pdf
• Leroy Twp 3 – 8_13_12 – Bradford Cty.pdf
• Leroy Twp 4 – 8_13_12 – Bradford Cty.pdf
• Monroe Twp – 12_3_10 – Bradford Cty.pdf
• Orwell Twp – 8_22_11 – Bradford Cty.pdf
• Smithfield Twp – 8_1_11 – Bradford Cty.pdf
• Terry Twp – 10_1_10 – Bradford Cty.pdf
• Terry Twp – 12_7_10 – Bradford Cty.pdf
• Troy Twp – 8_17_11 – Bradford Cty.pdf
• West Burlington Twp 1 – 6_18_12 – Bradford Cty.pdf
• West Burlington Twp 2 – 6_18_12 – Bradford Cty.pdf
• West Burlington Twp 3 – 6_18_12 – Bradford Cty.pdf
• West Burlington Twp 4 – 6_18_12 – Bradford Cty.pdf
• Wilmot Twp 1 – 11_10_10 – Bradford Cty.pdf
• Wilmot Twp 2 – 11_10_10 – Bradford Cty.pdf
• Wilmot Twp 3 – 11_10_10 – Bradford Cty.pdf
• Wilmot Twp 4 – 11_10_10 – Bradford Cty.pdf
• Wilmot Twp 5 – 11_10_10 – Bradford Cty.pdf
• Wilmot Twp – 5_16_11 – Bradford Cty.pdf
• Wilmot Twp- 3_25_13 – Bradford Cty.pdf
• Windham Twp – 5_13_09 – Bradford Cty.pdf
• 

Print this post

So it’s come to this in the Boondocks of the Marcellus ? Unable to actually sign any gas leases, or even find a suitable plaintiff or a plausible case to pursue their fracking publicity stunt against the State of New York, the JLCNY have devolved from being a landowner’s leasing group into being little more than cheerleaders for the Kooky Kochs, the lunatic fringe of Republican Wingnuts. That should really endear them to Governor Cuomo and the Democratic majority in Albany. Smart move JLCNY ! We knew you had it in you.

Here is the JLCNY’s breathless announcement of their new role as stooges for a Koch fracking front:

Print this post

1. Export the gas overseas via new pipelines. Any left over after gassing New Yorkers with radon.

2. Import frackwaste from West Virginia and Fracksylvania and dump it. If the muni treatment plant is closed, any local trout stream will do –  under the premise that the solution to pollution is dilution. Besides, trout can’t vote. Not even Rainbows.

Which means that the Frackers’ Marionettes in Albany (ie. Libous and Skelos) will work overtime to kill the bill. Even though in most states, it’s illegal to dump that fracking waste into municipal treatment plants – or spread it on roads as “de-icer” – no matter where it comes from. No SEQR, no local option, you just can’t do it. Of course Libous’s paymasters won’t confuse the boy by telling him that . . .

http://blog.shaleshockmedia.org/2013/02/20/cuomo-fracking-scandal/

Spreading frackwaste on roads used to be illegal in Fracksylvania – until the frackers should up with some fatter envelopes. The problem is that, at current and projected gas prices, it’s far too costly to thoroughly process billions of gallons of frack flowback – you can only separate the suspended materials from the water – into a toxic, radioactive, carcinogenic sludge – and hope to find a crooked landfill to take it. Which leaves billions of gallons of brine water and all the unknown frack chemicals that are water-soluble – to spread on roads as “de-icer.”

Not a great idea in a hilly area with heavy rainfall. And people. And livestock. And trout.

Bravo Senator Tkaczyk, you would make a great Texas state senator, where your bill would pass unanimously, and Governor Rick Perry would sign it. (Noodle on that for a minute.) Because even Texans have too much sense and self respect to take out-of-state frackwaste from (god-forbid)  Oklahoma and spread it on our roads or dump it in our municipal plants. We Texans may be a bunch of neolithic thugs, but we know what’s in those frackwaste trucks. And we damnsure don’t want it on our city streets or city treatment plants.

We want it in disposal wells, where it can precipitate earthquakes.

Hey Senator, why not go that extra step, “pull a Texas” and just ban spreading frackwaste on a road or dumping it in a muni plant in New York no matter where the frack it originates ? 

http://www.nysenate.gov/press-release/tkaczyk-proposes-ban-hazardous-fracking-waste-being-shipped-new-york-state

Print this post