Environment Memo

New York’s senate passed a 9 month moratorium on drilling in the Marcellus shale, and the house is not far behind. The gas industry is hoisted on its own petard, because removal of federal controls has made it such that individual states are more likely to act on their own. I’d sure like to see [...]

I’ve been advocating adding tracers to fracking fluids, and not just for research. Tracers can allow following water movement from individual wells, for example, so that liability can be assigned in the event of ground or surface water contamination, even decades after a well is closed. EPA’s science advisory board is on the right track, [...]

Pennsylvania has had quite a few violations of the regulations by Marcellus shale drillers.  And it should be kept in mind that these are only the reported violations. How many went unreported, we will never know. Eventually, there will be a lot of watchers, so the Marcellus shale gas drillers should really embrace the regulation, [...]

Of course the gas industry says federal regulation of hydrofracking is unnecessary. And their lobbyists claim  they’ve never caused a problem as proof (but will they swear to that under oath?), and despite clear evidence to the contrary. There two basic reasons for having federal regulation (or, rather, re-regulation because federal regulation was suspended in [...]

Big bucks can be made by getting gas out of the Marcellus and other shales. So, why should the drillers be exempt from stormwater regulations, as is currently the case? Here’s a report on efforts to remove this exemption, and efforts by Congressman Arcuri in this regard, pointing out how A farmer has to get [...]

Here’s a link to EPA’s web site on their expert review of hydraulic fracturing, which says that Congress requested they conduct analyses to assess the potential risks to drinking water posed by hydraulic fracturing of formations including coalbeds and shale for extraction of natural gas. Hydraulic fracturing (or hydrofracking) generates vertical and horizontal fractures in [...]

Representative Henry A. Waxman is gathering information on hydraulic fracturing fluids, from those who use them. Here’s hoping he can include investigating adding tracers to these fluids, as I’ve noted before. Fracking fluids could be modified very inexpensively to allow tracking water contamination back to the source.  Any fracking concern worth its salt should welcome [...]

Means for tracking sequestered CO2, using tracer gases, are under development. Tracking fluids beneath the subsurface is not nearly so difficult as tracking injected gases, so I’m back to my earlier suggestion: require that hydrofracking fluids have tracers. I’d think the gas companies and manufacturers of fracking fluids would be all for this approach, as [...]

More reports of accidents while drilling in the Marcellus shale bring up numerous issues dovetailing with the BP Gulf oil leak, including companies having to Take full responsibility for accidents, Put money in escrow to compensate for damages, Drill the equivalent of relief wells to help prevent or minimize blow-outs, Be fully transparent about their [...]

Many are rightly concerned about environmental effects of gas production by hydraulic fracturing, and look for EPA to do an effective evaluation of the process in its work through its Science Advisory Board. Having stood at the Love Canal disaster site, after studying environmental engineering in an upstate New York area slated for drilling, and [...]

We got into the mess we are in with hazardous wastes (e.g. Love Canal) because people were not paying attention. Do the gas producers really think people are going to let them put up barriers to paying attention at this stage of the game? Now, as reported in the NY Times, BP and others are [...]

Fracking with diesel fuel is in the news. As I’ve pointed out previously, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 specifically states that fracking with diesel fuel is NOT exempted from the Underground Injection Control provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act. The issue of fracking with diesel fuel brings up the question: just why did [...]

People in Wyoming are wanting to know what is being pumped into their subsurface. As I’ve pointed out before, what is pumped out and later discharged to surface waters under a National Pollution Discharge Elimination Permit might be available. Hydrofracking chemicals are pumped back out and sometimes are discharged under NPDES permits, so this discharge [...]

The aforementioned editorial in the Philadelphia Inquirer on hydrofracking mentions that An EPA study in 2004 deemed the process safe … But this is not true. One reason why the  EPA concluded the practice could be done safely was that individual states would be monitoring the process using the Underground Injection Control provisions of the [...]

The Philadelphia Inquirer has an editorial on the “Risks of Hydrofracking.” They point out some important factors, including the fact that drillers are not being forthcoming about what they are injecting into the subsurface. But this information may be easier to get than people often allow. As I’ve noted previously, if these compounds are discharged [...]

There’s a big announcement today that EPA will spend $1.9 million studying hydrofracking. The EPA Science Advisory Board is to hold a public meeting April 7 – 8 to discuss how they will conduct the study. (Does this mean they will accept input?) My hope is that the SAB will not limit itself to itself. [...]

Texas oil barons won’t give up easily. They would love to become gas barons now. In spite of their pleas, we need to recognize that the sooner we end the carbon economy, the better. And Texas is doing very well with wind, despite claims to the contrary. Over the weekend, the Houston Chronicle ran an [...]

Huffington Post has an article about a forum/panel discussion at SUNY New Paltz, on hydrofracking. While the event appears to have been a useful exercise for some, I think it would be useful to have more technically trained people on such panels. Then people could be made aware of important issues behind the scenes, such [...]

This article in the Pocono Record has it about right regarding Marcellus shale drilling: Few will benefit directly, while many will have to live with the impact on the environment. Although the article does a fair job of covering a public meeting about gas drilling, it has some glaring misconceptions: one without attribution, as well [...]

Wind-power as an alternative to gas is a no-brainer. Wind generates tax money as readily as gas-power, there’s no paying for drilling rights, and those pesky environmental problems with hydrofracking in the Marcellus shale, and elsewhere,  just don’t exist. Unfortunately, wind-power generators are under attack from gas-power firms, because wind-power generators can’t guarantee what they [...]

Unfortunately, the Sierra Club leadership appears to have a paucity of understanding of the issues surrounding Marcellus shale hydrofracking activities. The national Sierra Club has come out full-bore in  favor of hydrofracking because the resulting natural gas is cleaner and emits fewer greenhouse gases than coal. The local upstate New York Sierra Club people, however, [...]

Gasland, a new documentary, recently won the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Move over, Michael Moore. The discuss the movie here on the Sundance website:

Reuters reports on a group of shareholders who ask companies to increase transparency about the effect of their drilling on the environment and encourage companies to switch to less-toxic hydraulic fracturing fluids … “There is real business risk here,” said Larisa Ruoff, an official with the $100 million Green Century Funds. “Companies and regulators must [...]

T. Boone Pickens’ new plan is to move big-time on natural gas to power trucks and buses and such, and help us get away from foreign oil. I’ll say one thing for Pickens, he knows how to get his ideas out there. Here are link to the Pickens Plan website (with a petition) and video:

It was disappointing to read the NY Times editorial on January 1 on drilling in the Marcellus shale. Their take is that the state should ban gas drilling in the New York City watershed, in agreement with a study (discussed here) put out by the City’s Department of Environmental Protection. That’s fine, as far as [...]