FBI Begins Corruption Investigation of Another Energy Transfer Pipeline Project
14 November 2019
Popular
Private homes surround a 20 inch gas liquids pipeline which is part of the Mariner East II project on Oct. 5, 2017 in Marchwood, Penn. Robert Nickelsberg / Getty Images
The FBI is looking into how the state of Pennsylvania granted permits for a controversial natural gas pipeline as part of a corruption investigation, the AP reports.
<p>Sources tell the AP that the FBI is questioning current and former state employees about Governor Tom Wolf's administration's role in approving the Mariner East project, also owned by Dakota Access's owner <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/energy-transfer-partners" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Energy Transfer Partners</a>. The bureau is looking to find out whether the state forced permits for construction through the environmental agency, and whether Wolf or his administration benefited from granting the permits. </p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="e97cd" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="UM0RAZ1576661143"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1194360259877339137" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">“The FBI has begun a corruption investigation into how Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration came to issue permits for con… https://t.co/Mqb2Nu5mfr</div> — Carrie (@Carrie)<a href="https://twitter.com/UnlessPA/statuses/1194360259877339137">1573592650.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p>
<p>The project has been plagued with delays, lawsuits and environmental fines and has faced serious local opposition since its start in 2017.</p><p><em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, and sign up for daily </em><a href="http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>.</em></p>
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A soybean field lies in front of a natural gas drilling rig Sept. 8, 2012 in Fairfield Township, Pennsylvania. Robert Nickelsberg / Getty Images
By Peter Hart
Pennsylvania is home to more than 10,000 fracking wells, which forces communities to live with air pollution, water contamination and an array of health problems linked to drilling.
<p>The frackers want to drill more wells, and the state's Democratic governor is not going to do anything to slow it down. But local communities are finding ways to fight back—and win.</p><p>The latest good news comes from Oakmont Borough, a small suburb of Pittsburgh along the Allegheny River. Residents there have waged a years-long battle against the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fracking">fracking</a> industry, which has been making a determined push into Allegheny County.</p><p><strong>Fracking is a Desperate Industry Looking for New Profits</strong></p><p>Here's why these companies are so eager to drill more wells: The fracking industry has problems turning a profit. The only way out for these financially stretched corporations is to double down—and that means moving to areas of the state that aren't as heavily fracked as some parts of western Pennsylvania. </p><p>Residents in Allegheny County have seen the havoc that fracking has created elsewhere, and they are determined to fight to keep it away from their schools and homes. Their tool of choice has been municipal zoning codes.</p><p><strong>Putting Fracking Under Local Control</strong></p><p>Every city or municipality creates a set of rules about what you can build, and where you can build it. Unfortunately, drilling companies often take advantage of the fact that many towns have not developed zoning ordinances that regulate fracking, or have outdated ordinances that do not address the issues facing their municipalities today. But if residents and local leaders get organized, they can put serious limits on the fracking industry before a well is approved. </p><p>That's what Food & Water Watch's Municipal Ordinance Project (MOP) is set up to do. We know that <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/news/fracking-allegheny-county-who-calls-shots" target="_blank">local officials in Allegheny County</a> are the ones who should make the decisions about how to protect their own communities, and that safety and environmental concerns are front and center.</p><p><strong>Oakmont Stands Up to Surveyors</strong></p><p>Here's how it worked in Oakmont. In June 2017, a fracking company called Huntley & Huntley notified the borough that they were about to start 'seismic testing,' a process that involves setting off explosive charges in deep holes to measure the seismic waves, which can help indicate where gas may be trapped.</p><p>Oakmont residents didn't like the sound of that, and we worked together to pass an ordinance to regulate this intrusive process. Soon after, Huntley & Huntley reversed course, and announced that they weren't going to conduct the surveys as planned.</p><p>But they weren't going away—and resident groups like Citizens to Protect Oakmont were ready to go bigger. They started meeting that summer to craft an updated zoning ordinance that would offer some protection from drilling. By December, they offered a list of suggestions, including a 2,000-foot setback from residential property lines and the removal of fracking from the Light Industrial district of the borough.</p><p>The Borough Council, however, considered a weaker set of rules, which could have opened up residential areas to fracking. Local residents weren't having it; they were a force to be reckoned with at Council meetings, and in the end their tireless advocacy paid off: In February, the Council voted in support of the new ordinance.</p><p><strong>What This Victory Means—Here and Elsewhere</strong></p><p>This win is a testament to what is possible when neighbors come together to fight to protect their community. The fracking industry is desperate to find new places to drilling. If we want to stop them, we have get organized before the fracking starts."</p><p>Local leader Ed Grystar said it best: "The vote to approve Oakmont's Oil and Gas zoning ordinance is an example of the power of ordinary citizens organizing to protect the health and safety of their town. From the beginning in May 2017, we worked to change the narrative of what's acceptable by educating and mobilizing our neighbors."Residents in other parts of Pennsylvania are ready to follow Oakmont's lead. </p>
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Invasive Tick Spreads to Ninth State, CDC Warns of 'New and Emerging Disease Threat'
30 November 2018
Health + Wellness
The Asian longhorned tick has been found in nine states. CDC
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has warned of a "multistate infestation" with the Asian longhorned tick—the first new tick species to enter the U.S. in 50 years.
New Jersey was the first state to report the Haemaphysalis longicornis on a sheep in August 2017. Since then, it has been found in Arkansas, Connecticut, Maryland, North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, according to Friday's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
<p>
"The presence of H. longicornis in the United States represents a new and emerging disease threat," the report said.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODk0MDczMS9vcmlnaW4uZ2lmIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNzczMTgxMn0.VdaMclBlBZ9O4N6aFOr-MhO0zCvFzLsygyuOIgZZXWM/img.gif?width=980" id="bca2a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5443d60b6c91674d510bb1e8301cc95a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">The ticks were reported from 45 counties in nine states from August 2017 to September 2018.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">CDC</small>
</p><p>
As
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/asian-long-horned-tick-spreads-2593977156.html" target="_self">EcoWatch previously mentioned</a>, in Asia the species carries a disease that kills 15 percent of those infected, but no human diseases have been linked to the species in the U.S. since it was first found in New Jersey.
</p><p>
The CDC is currently working with public health, agricultural and academic experts to understand the possible threat posed by the insect.
</p><p>
"The full public health and agricultural impact of this tick discovery and spread is unknown," said Ben Beard, Ph.D., deputy director of CDC's Division of Vector-Borne Diseases in a
<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2018/p1129-tick-spreading-widely.html" target="_blank">press release</a>. "In other parts of the world, the Asian longhorned tick can transmit many types of pathogens common in the United States. We are concerned that this tick, which can cause massive infestations on animals, on people, and in the environment, is spreading in the United States."
</p><p>
<span></span><a href="https://www.livescience.com/64198-longhorned-tick-spreading-us.html" target="_blank">LiveScience</a> further reported:<br>
</p><blockquote>
<span></span>"In other parts of the world, longhorned ticks are known to spread diseases, including the bacterial infections <a href="https://www.livescience.com/14763-babesiosis-tick-disease-rising.html" target="_blank">babesiosis</a>, ehrlichiosis, theileriosis and rickettsiosis, as well as certain viral diseases. In China and Japan, the longhorned tick transmits a disease called severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS), which can be deadly."
</blockquote><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="3f186" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9UDOVH1576662467"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1068525061718437888" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The Asian longhorned tick is new to the United States and has the potential to spread germs. People should take ste… https://t.co/P34DHHTsTa</div> — Dr. Robert R. Redfield (@Dr. Robert R. Redfield)<a href="https://twitter.com/CDCDirector/statuses/1068525061718437888">1543591201.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>
Unlike most tick species, a single female Asian longhorned tick can reproduce offspring without mating and lay up to 2,000 eggs at a time.
</p><p>
This means hundreds to thousands of ticks can be found on a single animal, person or in the environment, the CDC said.
</p><p>
Earlier this month, the CDC
<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/data-summary/index.html" target="_blank">reported</a> that in 2017, state and local health departments reported a record number of tickborne illnesses like Lyme disease.
</p><p>
"Tick-borne diseases like Lyme hit an all-time high this year, just as a new tick capable of spreading disease rears its ugly head," Connecticut U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal
<a href="https://twitter.com/SenBlumenthal/status/1068537694064713728" target="_blank">tweeted</a> Friday in reaction to the report. "It's clear, urgent federal action is needed to fight the debilitating & growing public health threat of tick-borne diseases."
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="d3f4c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="KL71J51576662467"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1068537694064713728" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Tick-borne diseases like Lyme hit an all-time high this year, just as a new tick capable of spreading disease rears… https://t.co/U536hH5A5d</div> — Richard Blumenthal (@Richard Blumenthal)<a href="https://twitter.com/SenBlumenthal/statuses/1068537694064713728">1543594213.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>
You can protect yourself from tick-borne diseases by using
<a href="https://www.epa.gov/insect-repellents" target="_blank">insect repellents</a>, wearing protective gear and clothing, checking your body and clothing for ticks after returning from potentially tick-infested areas and showering soon after being outdoors, the CDC advises.
</p><p>
The CDC also advised livestock producers and pet owners to work with their veterinarians to maintain regular tick prevention and report any unknown tick species to their local department of agriculture.
</p><p>
<span></span>Here's the agency's advice on what you should do if you think you have found an Asian longhorned tick:
</p><ul class="ee-ul">
<li><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/removing_a_tick.html" target="_blank">Remove</a> any tick from people and animals as quickly as possible.</li>
<li>Save the ticks in rubbing alcohol in a jar or a ziplock bag, then:
<ul class="ee-ul">
<li>Contact your <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/stltpublichealth/healthdirectories/healthdepartments.html" target="_blank">health department</a> about steps you can take to <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/avoid/on_people.html" target="_blank">prevent tick bites</a> and tickborne diseases.</li>
<li>Contact a veterinarian for information about how to <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/avoid/on_pets.html" target="_blank">protect pets</a> from ticks and tick bites.</li>
<li>Contact your state agriculture department or local agricultural extension office about ticks on livestock or for tick identification.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODk0MDc2NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NTQwMzM0OX0.PXR_-0X_EF3N79iKtuA5bXNhANmG2ivT4oBnX8vR51Y/img.jpg?width=980" id="0cdca" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="425c36faf207283b605c06b4925cdb28" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">Longhorned tick. Nymph and adult female, underside</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">CDC</small>
</p>
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Why Plans to Turn America’s Rust Belt Into a New Plastics Belt Are Bad News for the Climate
29 October 2018
Climate
Smoke billows from one of many petrochemical plants in Louisiana's "Cancer Alley" on Oct. 12, 2013. Giles Clarke / Getty Images
By Sharon Kelly
The petrochemical industry anticipates spending a total of over $200 billion on factories, pipelines, and other infrastructure in the U.S. that will rely on shale gas, the American Chemistry Council announced in September. Construction is already underway at many sites.
This building spree would dramatically expand the Gulf Coast's petrochemical corridor (known locally as "Cancer Alley")—and establish a new plastics and petrochemical belt across states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
<p>If those projects are completed, analysts predict the <span style="background-color: initial;">U.S.</span> would flip from one of the world's highest-cost producers of <a href="http://www.plasticsindustry.org/sites/plastics.dev/files/PLASTICS%20Size%20&%20Impact%20-%20Summary.pdf" target="_blank">plastics</a> and <a href="https://www.americanchemistry.com/Policy/Energy/Shale-Gas/Infographic-Shale-Gas-and-New-US-Chemical-Industry-Investment.pdf" target="_blank">chemicals</a> to one of the cheapest, using raw materials and energy from fracked gas wells in states like Texas, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.</p><p>Those petrochemical plans could have profound consequences for a planet already showing signs of dangerous warming and a cascade of other impacts from <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change">climate change</a>.</p><p>The gathering wave of construction comes as the Trump administration works to deregulate American industry and roll back pollution controls, putting the U.S. at odds with the rest of the world's efforts to slow climate change.</p><p>Trump <a href="http://climateanalytics.org/briefings/ratification-tracker.html" target="_blank">announced</a> in June 2017 that the U.S. had halted all implementation of the 2015 <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement">Paris agreement</a> and intends to fully withdraw. America is now the world's only state refusing <a href="http://climateanalytics.org/briefings/ratification-tracker.html" target="_blank">participation</a> in the global agreement to curb climate change (after Syria, the final holdout, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/11/syria-is-joining-the-paris-agreement-now-what/545261/" target="_blank">signed</a> in November 2017).</p><p>This petrochemical industry expansion—much of it funded by foreign investors—makes America's refusal to participate in the Paris agreement all the more significant, because much of this new U.S. infrastructure would be built outside of the greenhouse gas agreement affecting the rest of the globe.</p><p>If American policy makers approve this wave of new plastics and petrochemical plants with little regard to curbing climate change and reducing <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels">fossil fuel </a>use, environmentalists warn, they'll be greenlighting hundreds of billions of dollars of investment into projects at risk of becoming stranded assets.</p><p><strong>From Rust Belt to Plastics Belt</strong></p><p>Some of the largest and most expensive petrochemical projects in the U.S. are planned in the Rust Belt states of Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York, a region that has suffered for decades from the collapse of the domestic steel industry but that has <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/07/01/state-regulators-struggle-keep-industry-pushes-multi-billion-dollar-fracked-petrochemical-projects" target="_blank">relatively little experience</a> with the kind of petrochemical complexes that are now primarily found on the Gulf Coast.</p><p>In November 2017, the China Energy Investment Corp., signed a Memorandum of Understanding with West Virginia that would result in the construction of $83.7 billion in plastics and petrochemicals projects over the next 20 years in that state alone—a huge slice of the $202.4 billion U.S. total. Those plans have <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/06/25/west-virginia-petrochemical-hub-china-trade-war-corruption-thrasher" target="_blank">run into snags</a> due to trade disputes between the U.S. and China and a corruption probe, though <a href="http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/115573-chinese-companies-said-still-honoring-us-agreements-despite-trade-war" target="_blank">Chinese officials said</a> in late August that investment was moving forward.</p><p>The petrochemical industry's interest is spurred by the fact that the region's Marcellus and Utica shales contain significant supplies of so-called "wet gas." This wet gas often is treated as a footnote in discussions of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fracking/">fracking</a>, which tend to focus on the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/methane">methane</a> gas, called "dry gas" by industry—and not the ethane, propane, butane and other hydrocarbons that also come from those same wells.</p><p>Those "wet" fossil fuels and chemical feedstocks are commonly referred to as "natural gas liquids," or NGLs, because they are delivered to customers condensed into a liquid form—like the liquid butane trapped in a Bic lighter, which expands into a stream of flammable gas when you flick that lighter on.</p><p>Ethane can represent a surprising amount of the fossil fuel from a fracked shale well, particularly in the Marcellus. For every 6,000 cubic feet of methane (the energy equivalent of the industry's standard 42 gallon barrel of oil), Marcellus wet gas wells can produce up to roughly 35 gallons of ethane, based on data <a href="https://www.aogr.com/magazine/cover-story/infrastructure-projects-connect-marcellus-shale-to-ethane-ngl-markets" target="_blank">reported by the American Oil and Gas Reporter</a> in 2011.</p><p>And U.S. ethane production is projected to grow dramatically. By 2022, the region will produce roughly 800,000 barrels of ethane per day, up from 470,000 barrels a day in 2017, <a href="https://marcellusdrilling.com/2017/10/poor-prospects-for-moving-marcellusutica-ethane-to-gulf-coast/" target="_blank">according to energy consultant RBN Energy</a>.</p><p>That supply glut is driving down ethane prices in the Rust Belt.</p><p>"The lowest price ethane on the planet is here in this region," Brian Anderson, director of the West Virginia University Energy Institute, told the NEP Northeast U.S. Petrochemical Construction conference in Pittsburgh in June.</p><p><strong>Chemicals and the Climate</strong></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODc3ODY0NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyOTY3NjAwNH0.y5mLvv-mjYCjyZUluo_T0pjHSVLuzF12N37OVqZLQg4/img.jpg?width=980" id="ac72e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1867c0cf009fc3d02dfb8043dd294287" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">Image projected onto Houston petrochemical plant during the Houston Toxic Tour, 2017.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit..."><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/backbone_campaign/" target="_blank">Backbone Campaign</a>, CC BY 2.0</small></p><p>The petrochemical and plastics industries are <a href="http://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/pft/2017/9/29/fueling-plastics-new-research-details-fossil-fuel-role-in-plastics-proliferation" target="_blank">notoriously polluting</a>, not only when it comes to toxic <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/air-pollution">air pollution</a> and plastic waste, but also because of the industry's significant greenhouse gas footprint—affecting not only the U.S., but the entire world.<br></p><p>"The chemical and petrochemical sector is by far the largest industrial energy user, accounting for roughly 10 percent of total worldwide final energy demand and 7 percent of global [greenhouse gas] emissions," the International Energy Agency reported in 2013. Since then the numbers have <a href="https://6fefcbb86e61af1b2fc4-c70d8ead6ced550b4d987d7c03fcdd1d.ssl.cf3.rackcdn.com/cms/reports/documents/000/002/683/original/CDP_Chemicals_2017.pdf?1507139412" target="_blank">crept up</a>, with the IEA finding petrochemicals responsible for an additional percentage point of the world's total energy consumption in <a href="https://6fefcbb86e61af1b2fc4-c70d8ead6ced550b4d987d7c03fcdd1d.ssl.cf3.rackcdn.com/cms/reports/documents/000/002/683/original/CDP_Chemicals_2017.pdf?1507139412" target="_blank">2017</a>.</p><p>Carbon emissions from petrochemical and plastics manufacturing are expected to grow 20 percent by 2030 (in other words, in just over a decade), the IEA concluded in a <a href="https://webstore.iea.org/download/direct/2310?fileName=The_Future_of_Petrochemicals.pdf" target="_blank">report</a> released Oct. 5. A few days later, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/07/climate/ipcc-climate-report-2040.html" target="_blank">warned</a> that by 2030, the world needs to have reduced its greenhouse gas pollution 45 percent from 2010 levels, in order to achieve the goal of limiting global warming to a less-catastrophic 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).</p><p>The petrochemicals industry has so far drawn relatively little attention from oil and gas analysts and policy makers. "Petrochemicals are one of the key blind spots in the global energy debate, especially given the influence they will exert on future energy trends," Dr. Fatih Birol, the IEA's executive director, <a href="https://www.iea.org/newsroom/news/2018/october/petrochemicals-set-to-be-the-largest-driver-of-world-oil-demand-latest-iea-analy.html" target="_blank">said in a statement</a> this month.</p><p>"In fact," he added, "our analysis shows they will have a greater influence on the future of oil demand than cars, trucks and aviation."</p><p>The new investments, which will rely on decades of continued fracking in the U.S, offer the oil and gas industry a serious hedge against competition from <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/">renewable energy</a>, even in the event that climate policies push fossil fuel energy to the margins.</p><p>"Unlike refining, and ultimately unlike oil, which will see a moment when the growth will stop, we actually don't anticipate that with petrochemicals," Andrew Brown, upstream director for Royal Dutch Shell, <a href="https://www.expressnews.com/business/eagle-ford-energy/article/As-gasoline-demand-wanes-oil-industry-looks-to-12741377.php" target="_blank">told the San Antonio Express News in March</a>.</p><p>The planned infrastructure could also help bail out the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/finances-fracking-shale-industry-drills-more-debt-profit" target="_blank">heavily indebted</a> shale drilling industry financially by consuming vast amounts of fossil fuels, both for power and as a raw material.</p><p>The American Chemistry Council has <a href="https://www.americanchemistry.com/Media/PressReleasesTranscripts/ACC-news-releases/US-Chemical-Industry-Investment-Linked-to-Shale-Gas-Reaches-200-Billion.html" target="_blank">linked</a> 333 chemical industry projects, all announced since 2010, to shale gas—that is, gas that is produced using fracking. Forty-one percent of those projects are still in the planning phase as of September, according to the council, and 68 percent of the projects are linked to foreign investment.</p><p>State regulators in Texas and Louisiana have already issued permits that would allow a group of 74 petrochemical and liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects along the Gulf Coast to add 134 million tons of greenhouse gases a year to the atmosphere, an <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/09/27/texas-louisiana-new-petrochemical-oil-gas-projects-climate-change-29-coal-power" target="_blank">Environmental Integrity Project analysis found</a> in September. The group said that was equal to the pollution from running 29 new <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal">coal</a> power plants around the clock.</p><p>The expansion of plastics manufacturing in America also has environmentalists worried over a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/19/plastic-pollution-risks-near-permanent-contamination-of-natural-environment" target="_blank">plastics pollution crisis</a>. "We could be locking in decades of expanded plastics production at precisely the time the world is realizing we should use far less of it," Carroll Muffett, president of the <span style="background-color: initial;">U.S.</span> Center for International Environmental Law, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/dec/26/180bn-investment-in-plastic-factories-feeds-global-packaging-binge" target="_blank">told The Guardian in December 2017</a>.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODc3ODY1Mi9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMTM5MzAxNn0.X8YtlBG8jx4JT4CQUQSo4px5hCaTCKckHBZMG-Du0w4/img.png?width=980" id="59935" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5d5f32decba6bf0c974c749636e944a2" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">This story is part of <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/fracking-plastics" target="_blank">Fracking for Plastics</a>, a DeSmog investigation into the proposed petrochemical build-out in the Rust Belt and the major players involved.</small></p><p><strong>Petrochemical Paradox</strong><br></p><p>The petrochemical industry transforms ethane and other raw material into a huge range of products, including not only plastic, but also vinyl, fertilizers, Styrofoam, beauty products, chemicals and pesticides.</p><p>The petrochemicals industry itself straddles an uncomfortable fence when it comes to renewable energy and climate change. A significant portion of its revenue comes from "clean" technology sectors, as it provides materials used to make batteries and electric cars.</p><p><a href="https://www.greenbiz.com/article/despite-innovation-chemicals-sector-slow-paris-goals" target="_blank">One report</a> last year concluded that roughly 20 percent of the industry's revenue comes from products designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, the American Chemistry Council cited the industry's role supplying "materials and technologies that improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions," as it <a href="https://cen.acs.org/articles/95/i23/Scientific-groups-disappointed-Trump-move-on-climate.html" target="_blank">opposed Trump's decision</a> to drop out of the Paris agreement.</p><p>But petrochemical manufacturers are also heavily reliant on fossil fuels. They need them to power and supply a dreamed-of "manufacturing renaissance," as the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/exxon">ExxonMobil</a>-funded <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/competitive-enterprise-institute" target="_blank">Competitive Enterprise Institute</a> explained as it <a href="https://cei.org/blog/5-advantages-stepping-away-paris-climate-treaty" target="_blank">pushed</a> for Trump to abandon the Paris agreement.</p><p>Plans to use American shale gas would also link petrochemicals to the expansion of fracking, which carries its own environmental concerns. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's landmark study on fracking and drinking water <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/12/13/fracking-can-harm-drinking-water-in-some-circumstances-epa-says/?utm_term=.3c06d4173d93" target="_blank">concluded</a> in 2016 that fracking has led to water contamination and poses continued risks to American water supplies.</p><p>In addition, though conversations about climate change usually focus on carbon emissions, the gas industry has <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/nasa-study-fracking-global-warming-0fa0c5b5f5c7/" target="_blank">such a bad methane leak problem</a> that using natural gas <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/methane-leaks-erase-climate-benefit-of-fracked-gas-countless-studies-find-8b060b2b395d/" target="_blank">can be even worse</a> for the climate than burning coal.</p><p><strong>Pittsburgh and Paris</strong></p><p>Climate implications make a petrochemical build-out risky, not only from an environmental perspective, but also from a fiscal perspective, Mark Dixon, co-founder of<a href="https://nopetropa.wordpress.com/" target="_blank"> NoPetroPA</a>, which opposes fracking-based petrochemicals projects, told DeSmog.</p><p>One plant, Shell's $6 billion ethane "cracker" plant currently under construction in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, has permits to pump 2.25 million tons of CO2 equivalent per year into the air near Pittsburgh, roughly equal to the annual carbon pollution from 430,000 cars.</p><p>Industry advocates say the region can produce enough ethane to support up to <a href="https://marcellusdrilling.com/2018/03/m-u-could-support-8-crackers-why-dont-companies-build-more/" target="_blank">seven more ethane cracker plants</a> like Shell's.</p><p><span></span><span style="background-color: initial;">"</span>We're trying to drop our emissions 50 percent by 2030," Dixon said, referring to Pittsburgh's <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/01/pittsburgh-fires-back-trump-paris-agreement" target="_blank">highly touted plans</a> to comply with international climate targets despite the federal government's withdrawal from the Paris agreement. "The Shell cracker alone will decimate that."</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODc3ODY1Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwODE1MTI5NH0.cvpiWX_zV38QrMc4T5pnQ6FcQ0JRIU4amYFQBrx3J-4/img.jpg?width=980" id="d701a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9f8bb4a7e0fcc01464402dcd3f28e71d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">A kayaker protests against Shell's cracker project outside the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in June 2018.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit..."><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/9602574@N02/" target="_blank">Mark Dixon</a>, CC BY 2.0</small></p><p><strong>Stranding Assets</strong><br></p><p>International negotiators <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-accord/good-progress-at-bangkok-climate-talks-on-draft-paris-accord-rules-u-n-official-idUSKCN1LP0DN" target="_blank">met in Bangkok</a> in September to hash out details on how the Paris agreement will be implemented. The U.S., which participated in talks despite the Trump administration's intention to withdraw from the accord, faced <a href="https://www.firstpost.com/world/developing-countries-accuse-us-allies-of-stalling-progress-on-paris-accord-as-emergency-un-climate-talks-wrap-up-5150381.html" target="_blank">criticism</a> over working to <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/climate-negotiations-struggling-to-make-real-progress-ahead-of-poland-talks_us_5b96d740e4b0162f47300fa4" target="_blank">delay clarity</a> over the agreement's financing (nonetheless, a top UN negotiator <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-accord/good-progress-at-bangkok-climate-talks-on-draft-paris-accord-rules-u-n-official-idUSKCN1LP0DN" target="_blank">praised</a> "good progress" from the talks).</p><p>While the Paris agreement is not directly binding, globally there has been <a href="https://phys.org/news/2018-06-tariffs-paris-climate-commitments.html" target="_blank">discussion</a> of using trade agreements and tariffs to pressure countries that fail to keep up with their carbon-cutting commitments.</p><p>In February, the European Union (EU) <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/eu-trade-deal-paris-climate-change-accord-agreement-cecilia-malmstr-m-a8206806.html" target="_blank">declared</a> that it will not sign new trade agreements with any country that refuses to get on board with the Paris agreement.</p><p>"One of our main demands is that any country who signs a trade agreement with EU should implement the Paris agreement on the ground," France's foreign affairs minister <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/davekeating/2018/02/08/eu-tells-trump-no-paris-climate-deal-no-free-trade/#363586e437c7" target="_blank">Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne told the French Parliament</a>. "No Paris agreement, no trade agreement."</p><p>"They're already shooting across the bow, saying look, you've got to implement the Paris climate agreement," Dixon told DeSmog. "We could very well spend 10 years building an infrastructure to support fracking all over the region, crackers, ethane, plastics, everything, then have Europe say, 'sorry, you can't do that. You have to shut it down.'"</p><p>In other words, whether or not the U.S. puts its signature on the climate pact's dotted line, the pressure from trading partners to reduce greenhouse gas pollution—and the underlying concerns about the rapidly warming climate—could remain the same.</p><p>That said, while the U.S. is the only country to reject Paris on paper, it is far from the only country on track to miss its targets aimed at warding off catastrophic climate change. Only Morocco and The Gambia are projected to hit "Paris Agreement Compatible" targets, according to the <a href="https://climateactiontracker.org/countries/" target="_blank">Climate Action Tracker</a> (whose rating tracker includes many major polluters but not all countries worldwide).</p><p>The EU itself currently earns a rating of "insufficient" from the group (China is ranked "highly insufficient," while the U.S. and four other nations earned the worst "critically insufficient" grade).</p><p><strong>Closing Windows</strong></p><p>The next several years will determine the future of petrochemical production for decades to come, crucial years when it comes to the fate of the climate, if industry gets its timing right—particularly in the Rust Belt.</p><p>"The window to make this all work is not forever," Charles Schliebs of Stone Pier Capital Advisors told the NEP Northeast U.S. Petrochemical Construction conference in June. "It's maybe two to five years."</p><p>That means key decisions may be made while <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/donald-trump" target="_blank">Donald Trump</a> remains in office—though state and local regulators will also face important calls over permits and construction planning.</p><p>For some living near the center of the planned petrochemical expansion, the problem is readily apparent.</p><p>"We're not going to be able to double down on fossil fuels," Dixon said, "and comply with the Paris climate agreement."</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="acc2a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="FKE34F1576663323"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="992156876497448960" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The Link Between Fossil Fuels, Single-Use Plastics and Climate Change https://t.co/dNvbx9e4r9 @PlasticPollutes @GreenNewsDaily</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/992156876497448960">1525383607.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p><em>Follow the DeSmog investigative series, <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/fracking-plastics" target="_blank">Fracking for Plastics</a>, and get your questions answered with the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/10/21/field-guide-petrochemical-and-plastics-industry" target="_blank">Field Guide to the Petrochemical and Plastics Industry</a>.</em><br></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/10/28/petrochemical-industry-america-rust-belt-plastics-fracking-climate" target="_blank">DeSmogBlog</a>.</em></p>
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Don’t Frack So Close to Me: Colorado to Vote on Drilling Distances From Homes and Schools
29 September 2018
Fracking
In Colorado, fracking often occurs right next to where people live. Tara O'Conner Shelley / CC BY-NC-SA
By Tara Opsal and Stephanie Malin
Coloradans will vote on a ballot initiative in November that requires new oil and gas projects to be set back at least 2,500 feet from occupied buildings. If approved, the measure—known as both Initiative 97 and Proposition 112—would mark a major change from their state's current limits: 500 feet from homes and 1,000 feet from schools.
As sociologists who have researched oil and gas drilling in the communities that host it for the past seven years, we think this measure would provide local governments and Coloradans more say over where drilling occurs and enhance the rights of those who live near these sites.
<p><strong>Fracking Boom</strong></p><p>Domestic <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-has-the-us-fracking-boom-affected-air-pollution-in-shale-areas-66190" target="_blank">oil and gas production has soared</a> over the past decade, leading the U.S. to become the <a href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=36292" target="_blank">top global producer</a> of those <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels">fossil fuels</a>.</p><p>Technological innovations, especially the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/uog/process-unconventional-natural-gas-production" target="_blank">hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling</a>, commonly called <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fracking/">fracking</a>, have fueled this growth. So has <a href="https://www.bakerinstitute.org/research/us-energy-dominance-markets-trump-policy-2017/" target="_blank">federal deregulation</a>.</p><p>Partly because fracking and related industrial processes often occurs close to homes, schools and other occupied buildings, the <a href="https://coloradopolitics.com/oil-gas-ballot-measure/" target="_blank">debate over Proposition 112</a> is contentious.</p><p>Opponents, especially <a href="https://www.protectcolorado.com/" target="_blank">those funded by industry groups</a>, argue that stricter rules will mean less state tax revenue, job losses and <a href="https://www.oilandgasinvestor.com/colorado-initiative-ban-drilling-costing-producers-billions-1715751" target="_blank">weakened private property rights</a>. Proponents express concerns about <a href="https://source.colostate.edu/garfield-county-air-quality-study-results-presented-to-public/" target="_blank">air pollution</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/10/fracking-earthquakes-oklahoma-colorado-gas-companies" target="_blank">earthquakes</a>, <a href="https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2016/12/13/epa-fracking-can-impact-drinking-water/" target="_blank">water well contamination</a> and <a href="http://www.cpr.org/news/story/a-year-after-the-deadly-firestone-home-explosion-emotions-are-mixed" target="_blank">explosions</a> to explain why they want the public to have more sway.</p><p>But many state governments have tried to stymie the attempts of communities to gain this power. For example, Colorado's <a href="http://www.cpr.org/news/story/colorado-supreme-court-rules-against-cities-fracking-limits" target="_blank">Supreme Court ruled in 2016</a> that local communities have no right to regulate where drilling occurs.</p><p>And industry-funded groups and the <a href="https://durangoherald.com/articles/241355" target="_blank">Colorado Farm Bureau</a>, which represents farmers, ranchers and other agricultural interests, are countering this electoral effort to restrict drilling with their own measure. Known as <a href="https://www.cpr.org/news/story/oil-and-gas-funded-just-compensation-amendment-makes-2018-ballot" target="_blank">Amendment 74</a>, it would force any city or county government that limits drilling to compensate property owners if new setback rules were to lower property values or reduce revenue from fracking leases.</p><p><strong>Regulations and Leasing</strong></p><p>Members of the public and local governments have <a href="https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2016/09/28/pa-supreme-court-rules-with-environmentalists-over-remaining-issues-in-act-13/" target="_blank">successfully challenged</a> limits on local control over fracking in court before. For example, Pennsylvania's Supreme Court affirmed the power of communities to regulate the oil and gas industry locally when it ruled in 2016 that parts of a law known as <a href="https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/tag/act-13/" target="_blank">Act 13 were unconstitutional</a>.</p><p>In that instance, the court ruled against a provision that barred doctors from sharing information about possible toxic exposure if they were given access to industry information about the chemicals used in fracking. It also blocked the enforcement of a measure that allowed the use of eminent domain to site natural gas storage facilities.</p><p>But as far as we can tell, Colorado's ballot initiative marks the first time voters can potentially control the set-back distances of oil and gas facilities from <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/rivers">rivers</a>, homes, schools and other buildings in their communities.</p><p><strong>Negotiating Terms</strong></p><p>Regulating oil and gas leases on private land is hard partly because they are privately negotiated contracts between companies and landowners. To learn more about what happens during these negotiations, we interviewed more than 100 Coloradans and Pennsylvanians about their experiences negotiating these drilling leases.</p><p>In our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soy094" target="_blank">recently published study</a>, we found that these people feel inconvenienced at best. Most told us they felt exploited and mistreated due to the leasing experience despite having made money off of leasing their land or <a href="https://geology.com/articles/mineral-rights.shtml" target="_blank">mineral rights</a>.</p><p>Some <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08941920.2014.945056?journalCode=usnr20" target="_blank">scholars who look at how drilling affects local communities</a> argue that this process empowers private property owners because they play a direct role in deciding the terms of these negotiations. And some of these folks can even <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=7wXZE1uuJ8o" target="_blank">get rich</a> from fracking lease earnings.</p><p>Certainly, landowners—including some of the people we interviewed—have <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/03/15/592890524/millions-own-gas-and-oil-under-their-land-heres-why-only-some-strike-it-rich" target="_blank">earned income</a> from these contracts, though the amounts can vary from a few dollars to thousands of dollars per acre. But the overwhelming majority of the Pennsylvanians and Coloradans who met with us in their kitchen tables, backyards and farms described feeling disempowered when they signed fracking leases.</p><p>"I knew zip about gas production," explained a man who operates a small-scale dairy farm in northeastern Pennsylvania and we are calling "Anderson" to honor our promise of confidentiality. "We had no time, we either made a decision to do it or not do it."</p><p>During private negotiations, landmen—the company representatives who try to convince people to sell or lease their land and mineral rights—discouraged neighbors from teaming up to get a better deal or even talking with one another about the terms they're considering, interviewees told us.</p><p>In some situations, when residents negotiated for better-than-average lease terms, landmen made them sign nondisclosure agreements that legally forbade sharing information.</p><p><strong>Same Land, Different Owners</strong></p><p>Occasionally in Pennsylvania and almost always in Colorado, these fracked <a href="https://www.blm.gov/programs/energy-and-minerals/mining-and-minerals/split-estate" target="_blank">properties belong</a> to two or more parties. One owns the surface and someone else possesses the rights to whatever minerals lie beneath it.</p><p>And, in Colorado, surface landowners are legally required to provide mineral owners <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2016/03/05/mineral-owners-assert-property-rights-in-colorados-oil-and-gas-fight/" target="_blank">access to their resources</a>.</p><p>Many people we interviewed owned land but not the rights to the minerals below it. With <a href="https://cogcc.state.co.us/documents/about/Help/Surface%20Owners%20Brochure.pdf" target="_blank">limited power</a> to stave off drilling in their backyards or on their farms, the surface rights owners we interviewed said they felt like "sitting ducks" and "unprotected." They told us that they saw attempting to keep an oil and gas company off their land as "futile."</p><p>"John," a farmer who lives south of Denver, tried to fight the placement of a <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines">pipeline</a> that split his farm into two less usable pieces. When he tried to fight the pipeline placement, he told us, he overheard industry representatives speculating that they simply needed to outspend his opposition.</p><p><strong>Mineral Rights</strong></p><p>When the people we interviewed owned the mineral rights tied to their property but did not want to lease them, an energy company could pursue them through a state statute allowing a practice known as "<a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/forced-pooling-when-landowners-cant-say-no-to-drilling" target="_blank">forced pooling</a>" in both Pennsylvania and Colorado.</p><p>It makes leasing mineral rights mandatory, leaving landowners with no way to say no when a company wants to frack their property.</p><p>We also heard about the personal costs participants experienced after they signed leases. Ranchers explained they lost productive pastureland. Other residents believed they became ill because of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/air-pollution">air pollution</a>. And many farmers described lasting damage to idyllic homesteads.</p><p>Even when these factors violated their leases or laws governing oil and gas practices, nearly all lease signers we interviewed told us they had a hard time getting oil and gas operators with whom they'd signed leases to <a href="https://www.academia.edu/15605003/Energy_Crime_Harm_and_Problematic_State_Response_in_Colorado_A_Case_of_the_Fox_Guarding_the_Hen_House" target="_blank">address any violations</a> of those contracts.</p><p>To "Connor," a homesteader in southern Colorado, the negotiation process felt "like having a second job." At times," he told us, "it was absolutely overwhelming. I think we did absolutely everything we could as private citizens to try and mitigate the impacts and in the end, it was futile."</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="7cd5b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6MTSQE1576661977"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="857744933872185349" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">3,000 Wells Shut Down in Colorado After Fatal House Explosion https://t.co/1itEkcKDEX @EcoWatch</div> — DeSmogBlog (@DeSmogBlog)<a href="https://twitter.com/DeSmogBlog/statuses/857744933872185349">1493337303.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-frack-so-close-to-me-colorado-voters-will-weigh-in-on-drilling-distances-from-homes-and-schools-102544" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em><br></p><script async="async" data-counter="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102544/count?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" id="theconversation_tracker_hook" src="https://theconversation.com/javascripts/lib/content_tracker_hook.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
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A map of transmission pipelines in Allegheny County. National Pipeline Mapping System / U.S. Department of Transportation
Only 11 percent of the natural gas pipelines in Pennsylvania are disclosed through publicly-available maps, Pittsburgh NPR station WESA reported this week.
<p>Pipeline companies are only required to disclose transmission lines, which make up a small fraction of the commonwealth's more than 89,000 pipelines. WESA's report comes a week after a pipeline explosion in Beaver County, Pennsylvania that destroyed a home and forced dozens to evacuate.</p><p><strong>For a deeper dive:</strong></p><p><a href="http://www.wesa.fm/post/only-11-percent-pennsylvanias-natural-gas-pipelines-are-mapped-public#stream/0" target="_blank">WESA</a>, <a href="https://www.ydr.com/story/news/2018/09/18/only-11-percent-pa-s-gas-pipelines-mapped-public/1345866002/" target="_blank">York Daily Record</a>, <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/news/2018/09/17/report-only-11-percent-of-pennsylvanias-natural.html" target="_blank">Pittsburgh Business Times</a></p><p><a href="https://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=d9b5dd63e7&e=992ed4d5cc" target="_blank"></a><em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, and sign up for daily </em><a href="http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>.</em></p>
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Scott Pruitt at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. Gage Skidmore / CC BY-SA 2.0
By Sharon Kelly
Back in 2008, residents of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and surrounding areas received a notice in the mail advising them to drink bottled water instead of tap water—a move that U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) internal memos at the time described as "one of the largest failures in U.S. history to supply clean drinking water to the public."
<p>The culprit: <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wastewater">wastewater</a> from oil and gas drilling and coal mines. This included <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fracking/">fracking</a> wastewater that state officials had allowed to be dumped at local sewer plants—facilities incapable of removing the complex mix of chemicals, corrosive salts and radioactive materials from that kind of industrial waste before they piped the "treated" water back into Pennsylvania's rivers.</p><p>The levels of corrosive salt in some of the oil and gas wastewater was so high that at <a href="https://www.wateronline.com/doc/pa-dep-fines-jersey-shore-75000-for-sewage-0001" target="_blank">some sewage plants</a>, it was suspected of killing off the "good bacteria" that removes fecal coliform and other dangerous bacteria from raw sewage.</p><p>State and federal regulators responded with a mix of <a href="https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2016/06/14/epa-bans-disposal-of-fracking-waste-water-at-public-treatment-plants/" target="_blank">voluntary requests</a> and, eventually, rules designed to stop drillers from bringing their wastewater to ill-equipped <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/water">water</a> treatment plants.</p><p>Eight years after the Pittsburgh incident, in 2016, the EPA finished writing <a href="https://www.epa.gov/eg/oil-and-gas-extraction-effluent-guidelines" target="_blank">the rules</a> that would stop that kind of failure from reoccurring, specifically forbidding sewage treatment plans from accepting untreated wastewater from fracked wells.</p><p>A few months earlier, the EPA had announced its long-awaited <a href="https://www.epa.gov/hfstudy" target="_blank">national study</a> of the risks that fracking-related pollution posed to American drinking water supplies. That study specifically examined the impacts of using sewage plants and commercial wastewater plants to handle fracking waste. It made special note of the dangers of toxic <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/chemicals">chemicals</a> called trihalomethanes that were created during the treatment process, as well as the likelihood that "radium, metals, and organic compounds can also be discharged."</p><p><strong>Changing the Rules Again?</strong></p><p>Now, the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> administration's EPA is <a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-seeks-input-study-management-wastewater-oil-and-gas-extraction" target="_blank">announcing</a> that it wants to study the industry's wastewater all over again. The Trump-era study will examine oil and gas wastewater, asking, in the administration's words, "whether any potential federal regulations that may allow for broader discharge of treated produced water to surface waters are supported."</p><p>In other words, Trump's EPA is questioning whether the rules should be changed, allowing wastewater from oil and gas wells, including fracked wells, to make its way into America's rivers, streams, lakes and reservoirs after some treatment.</p><p>The problem is that treating oil and gas waste from fracked wells remains particularly tricky because the industry is still <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/fracking-chemicals-secret-2511076831.html" target="_self">allowed</a> to keep secret information about which chemicals drillers use when injecting fluids to crack open shale formations to release oil and gas.</p><p>This situation means even the EPA doesn't know what exactly to test for if inspectors want to find out whether that treated wastewater is safe to re-enter American water supplies.</p><p>The EPA has long struggled with internal conflict between the agency's scientific experts and its political appointees, but that battle has taken on an entirely different dimension under its current leadership.</p><p>The problem is so severe that George W. Bush's EPA chief Christine Todd Whitman penned a <a href="http://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/385134-christine-todd-whitman-scott-pruitt-is-unfit-to-run-the-epa" target="_blank">column</a> calling Administrator <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/scott-pruitt">Scott Pruitt</a> "unfit to run the EPA," adding that his proposals are "a surefire way to kill science at the agency."</p><p>Pruitt is also <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/2018/04/25/1ee2c348-48b1-11e8-827e-190efaf1f1ee_story.html?utm_term=.e5559e6a7b09" target="_blank">under multiple investigations</a> for misconduct so glaring that The New York Times editorial board <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/17/opinion/scott-pruitt-ridiculous.html" target="_blank">described</a> him as "not just an industry lap dog but also … [a] small-time grifter." His personal grasp on <a href="https://www.popsci.com/epa-transparency-public-health-data" target="_blank">basic science</a> has been <a href="https://www.postandcourier.com/opinion/commentary/pruitt-doesn-t-seem-to-understand-good-science/article_e09ff9d4-547c-11e8-9118-13cd7085aa72.html" target="_blank">frequently</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/04/25/scientists-denounce-pruitts-effort-to-block-secret-science-at-epa/?utm_term=.64f3e61bbe2f" target="_blank">questioned</a>—perhaps in part because recently released internal EPA emails show that he has <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060081469" target="_blank">sought briefings</a> from industry-funded science deniers while rejecting meetings with premier scientific organizations like the American Association for the Advancement of Science.</p><p>The EPA's May 2 announcement seems to have largely flown under the radar, generating virtually no press coverage outside of the industry trade press. Its timing could play into that. The announcement came just one day after two high-level EPA aides <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/2-top-pruitt-aides-leave-epa-amid-ethics-investigations-n870486" target="_blank">left the agency</a> under ethics investigation.</p><p>In addition, most of the national press has been focused on Pruitt's ever-growing list of ethics and personal spending <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/07/climate/epa-pruitt-emails-secrecy.html" target="_blank">scandals</a>: the first-class flights, bullet-proof desk and high-security motorcades to fancy restaurants, his sight-seeing trips and other apparent abuses of taxpayer funds.</p><p>While the press spotlight shines on those issues, Trump's EPA is moving to <a href="https://www.epa.gov/eg/oil-and-gas-extraction-effluent-guidelines" target="_blank">shake the foundations</a> of protections for American drinking water supplies from contamination by oil and gas waste, opening the doors for the industry to sell its wastewater as a product instead of paying for its disposal.</p><p>"Currently, the majority of this wastewater is managed by disposing of it using a practice known as underground injection, where that water can no longer be accessed or used," Trump's EPA wrote in a release announcing the new study.</p><p>"Some states and stakeholders are asking whether it makes sense to continue to waste this water, particularly in water scarce areas of the country, and what steps would be necessary to treat and renew it for other purposes."</p><p><strong>Not Just Fracking: Radioactivity and Brine</strong></p>
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<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNzY1NDkyMC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNzQ4MTg4NH0.3MjmNj7754lOsRrxRrs3qTzpgZFIVh-qZBkDOmqAwUg/img.jpg?width=980" id="d08ef" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2baf87b99d2877e019f1ee76594656b2" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">Treated oil and gas wastewater flows into a western Pennsylvania stream.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Avner Vengosh, Duke University</small></p>
<p>The levels of pollution found in oil and gas wastewater can vary, depending on which heavy metals and radioactive materials are found in the ground where the well is drilled, whether the waste comes from a conventional oil and gas well or a fracked well where drillers mix large amounts of chemicals into the water, and how long after drilling and fracking the water rises up from the ground.<br></p><p>There's no set definition for many of the labels that the industry uses to describe that wastewater, to differentiate between "produced water" or "brine," for example.</p><p>When the EPA wrote its 2016 rules, officially known as the Oil and Gas Extraction Effluent Guidelines, the agency believed that no wastewater, whether from fracked wells or conventional, was still being trucked or piped to sewage treatment plants, but it turned out that some conventional oil and gas drillers in Pennsylvania had in fact kept on trucking. They objected and the EPA gave them until August 29, 2019 to stop their dumping.</p><p>An industry group has now filed a lawsuit, still pending, seeking to block the 2016 rules from applying to conventional oil and gas drillers.</p><p>Though public awareness of the hazards of fracking waste has grown over the past decade, oil and gas wastewater that has nothing to do with fracking can be heavily polluted as well. Conventional oil and gas wastewater, which the industry often calls brine, carries high levels of corrosive salts, and it has in some cases been linked to pollution problems similar to those associated with fracking.</p><p>For example, researchers have continued to <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2015/08/20/radioactivity-found-pennsylvania-creek-sparking-concerns-about-illegal-fracking-wastewater-dumping-nearby-abandoned" target="_blank">find</a> radioactive pollution in Pennsylvania's streambeds, just downstream from commercial treatment plants that accepted brine from conventional wells. (Unlike sewage treatment plants, commercial water treatment plants are designed to handle some industrial wastes.)</p><p>Radium levels up to 650 times higher than those upstream from the commercial treatment plants were found downstream of discharge pipes, according to a peer-reviewed <a href="https://nicholas.duke.edu/about/news/radioactivity-oil-and-gas-wastewater-persists-pennsylvania-stream-sediments" target="_blank">study</a> by Duke University published in January.</p><p>The sediments that the team, led by Avner Vengosh, professor of geochemistry and water quality at Duke, found in Pennsylvania's streambeds carried levels of radium as high as 25,000 Becquerels per kilogram (Bq/kg)—about eight times the threshold at which radioactive oilfield waste like sludge is <a href="http://gekengineering.com/Downloads/Free_Downloads/NORM-NaturallyOccurringRadioactiveMaterialsinProducedAWMA22June2016-FinalVersion.pdf" target="_blank">considered</a> "contaminated."</p><p>Radium mostly emits alpha radiation, which can be blocked by people's skin, and the health risks associated with radium stem primarily from drinking contaminated water or eating fish that lived in those polluted waters. Radium has a half-life of 1,600 years, meaning it persists in the environment for an unusually long time, and researchers were able to establish that the pollution occurred during the last three years.</p><p>"Despite the fact that conventional oil and gas wastewater is treated to reduce its radium content, we still found high levels of radioactive build-up in the stream sediments we sampled," Vengosh <a href="https://nicholas.duke.edu/about/news/radioactivity-oil-and-gas-wastewater-persists-pennsylvania-stream-sediments" target="_blank">said</a>. "Radium is attached to these sediments, and over time even a small amount of radium being discharged into a stream accumulates to generate high radioactivity in the stream sediments."</p><p><strong>Recycling, Trump-Style</strong></p><p>Trump's EPA wants to explore whether it makes sense to use more oil and gas wastewater instead of requiring it to be disposed. The main disposal method currently used in most states involves trapping that wastewater deep underground using injection wells, a practice that has led to earthquakes in Oklahoma, Texas and other states.</p><p>It's a significant problem given that the sheer volume of wastewater coming from the oil and gas industry is enormous, with one 2015 <a href="http://blogs.edf.org/energyexchange/2015/11/11/recycling-wastewater-from-oil-and-gas-wells-poses-challenges-2/" target="_blank">estimate</a> putting it at over 800 billion gallons a year.</p><p>"In New Mexico's arid environment, conserving our resources by recycling produced water for more beneficial uses presents a significant economic development and water supply opportunity," New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department cabinet secretary Ken McQueen said in an EPA statement.</p><p>The industry has struggled to find effective treatment methods to recycle the volume of wastewater it generates, which is sometimes calls "produced water." That produced wastewater can be five to eight times <a href="https://phys.org/news/2014-07-saltwater-fracking-ocean.html" target="_blank">saltier</a> than ocean water, and those salts aren't simply the familiar table salt but are instead corrosive salts that lace the water from oil and gas wells.</p><p>Recycling wastewater not only <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/02/us/02gas.html" target="_blank">raises concerns</a> about spills, transportation and other logistical headaches, it also begs the question of what to do with the waste left over from the wastewater recycling process itself. That process can concentrate toxic and radioactive materials into highly contaminated sludges. And re-using the water for more drilling can also raise the levels of pollutants in that water which will ultimately have to be disposed somehow.</p><p>Trump's EPA is forging ahead with plans to re-open the question of what rules the industry will have to play by as it seeks to offload its waste.</p><p>"In the coming months, <span style="background-color: initial;">EPA</span> plans to reach out to stakeholders—including states, industry, and nongovernmental organizations—to facilitate conversations," the agency's announcement states. "Following this study, <span style="background-color: initial;">EPA</span> will determine if future agency actions are appropriate to further address oil and gas extraction wastewater."</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="53079" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="39BRJI1576662831"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="939630928518725632" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Lawsuit Launched Against Trump EPA for Approving Fracking Waste Dumping Into Gulf of Mexico https://t.co/DZ6HFBxlLM… https://t.co/57CFf0qS9a</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/939630928518725632">1512860445.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/05/11/trump-epa-undo-fracking-oil-gas-wastewater-protections" target="_blank">DeSmogBlog</a>.</em><br></p>
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Pennsylvania Lawmaker Advancing Pro-Fracking Legislation Profits from Leasing his Land to Drillers
10 May 2018
Energy
Tim Evanson / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
By Itai Vardi
A Pennsylvania state senator, who is responsible for a slew of legislation favoring the oil and gas industry, leases his own land to fracking companies, recent disclosure documents show. Last year, veteran lawmaker Gene Yaw of Lycoming County profited from royalties he received from several different drillers.
<p>Yaw, who chairs the key senate environmental resources and energy committee, has been serving in the state legislature since 2008. In recent years he's positioned himself <a href="https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2013/05/01/senate-panel-approves-bills-to-expand-natural-gas-services/" target="_blank">as a champion</a> of the oil and gas industry by advancing various pro-industry measures. The counties in the district he represents, located squarely on top of the Marcellus Shale, have <a href="http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/drilling/counties/" target="_blank">thousands of active oil and gas wells</a>.</p>
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<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNzY0NjI5OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5NTk5Njg2N30.mu_hiJAXpyg0CGTHv-U0-fmrP-k-fiUsN24IvF3A9zM/img.jpg?width=980" id="9025a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c017624d110c271381df9b13e785f2ca" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption..."><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Yaw#/media/File:Eugene_Yaw.jpg" target="_blank">Pennsylvania state Senator Gene Yaw</a>.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Pennsylvania Senate Republican Caucus / <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/" target="_blank">CC BY 3.0</a></small></p>
<p>In late 2016, Yaw co-sponsored a bill to <a href="http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=S&SPick=20170&cosponId=21486" target="_blank">bolster the rights</a> of property owners leasing their land to oil and gas developers. Soon after, he introduced the "Pennsylvania Natural Gas Expansion and Development Initiative," a bill that aims at <a href="http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=S&SPick=20170&cosponId=21487" target="_blank">dramatically expanding</a> the production and transportation of natural gas in the state.</p><p>"We have an abundant natural resource beneath us," Yaw wrote in support of the bill, "which can be used to help consumers lower their energy heating costs." Earlier, Yaw half-jokingly told an audience at a midstream oil and gas conference that he's <a href="https://marcellusdrilling.com/2016/10/pa-sen-gene-yaw-speaks-out-on-marcellus-pipelines-taxes-more/" target="_blank">contemplating</a> a bill to ban transporting gas into New York, given the state's own ban against hydraulic fracturing (fracking).</p><p>At the same time, Yaw benefits personally from Pennsylvania's fracking boom. According to <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/2017_EUGENE_YAW_financial-disclosure.pdf" target="_blank">his most recent financial disclosure</a>, last year he received income from five different drilling companies: Anadarko, Statoil, Alta Marcellus Development, Mitsui E&P, and Chesapeake.</p>
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<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNzY0NjM3My9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwODA3Nzg1M30.fsF1Zhd0Nkvk4XDXyuZ997iaOvcb2lKy4T4Fuvm4VRo/img.png?width=980" id="8328a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a4a0977745eafc9d3b9466a12edd2236" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">From Pennsylvania state Senator Gene Yaw's financial disclosure for 2017, showing income from drilling leases.</small></p>
<p>In 2013, a local reporter <a href="http://wnep.com/2013/03/26/lawmaker-denies-conflict-of-interest/" target="_blank">asked</a> Yaw about land he leases in Lycoming County to Anadarko. The senator denied the lease poses a conflict of interest, noting that he leased the land before his election to the legislature. Yet as the most recent disclosure indicates, the number of oil and gas companies Yaw profits from has increased since he became a lawmaker.<br></p><p>According to Nick Troutman, a spokesperson for Yaw, the senator signed one lease about 12 to 15 years ago, before he entered the senate. The lessee, Anadarko, sold partial interests to other drillers, "transactions which are solely within the discretion of the lessee." Asked how much money Yaw made last year from the royalties, Troutman replied: "The amount of royalties, if any, is private and not subject to disclosure."</p><p>Nevertheless, Yaw benefits from the industry in another way. Outside of his political role, he is also an <a href="http://mcclaw.com/attorneys/" target="_blank">attorney</a> at the Williamsport, Pennsylvania-based law firm McCormick, which, according to its <a href="http://mcclaw.com/practice-areas/" target="_blank">website</a>, engages in "gas company representation."</p><p>Yaw's spokesperson Troutman said questions about potential conflicts of interest are misplaced. "It takes 129 people to decide any legislative issues in Pennsylvania," he said, "So even if Sen. Yaw sponsors a bill, 128 others need to agree. Moreover, he is a citizen of the state. Every vote he makes potentially affects him, some on a daily basis, such as the increase in speed limits."</p><p>According to Troutman, "you'd have to bring lawmakers in from Maryland or New York if you want to get rid of potential conflicts because legislation affects everyone in the state and/or large groups of Pennsylvanians, some of whom may be lawmakers.</p><p>But for Jeff Hauser, executive director of the Revolving Door Project at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, an argument that every politician is essentially conflicted sounds unconvincing.</p><p>"It's an actual scandal when a legislator has a seemingly substantial, yet not fully disclosed, personal interest in fracking," Hauser said. "We not only need better disclosure rules, but we should compel office holders to recuse themselves from policy-making when they have a substantial conflict of interest."</p><p>As Hauser put it, "American representative democracy only works if policy outcomes are the result of the hashing out of competing notions of the public interest rather than individuals fighting to advance their bottom line."</p><p> <em>Reposted with permission from our media associate </em><em><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/05/09/pennsylvania-senator-gene-yaw-pro-fracking-legislation-profits-leasing-drillers" target="_blank">DeSmogBlog</a>.</em></p>
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FERC Approves PennEast Pipeline: Opponents Look to Clean Water Act to Stop 'Dangerous and Unneeded' Project
22 January 2018
Energy
A controversial natural gas pipeline project with a proposed route through New Jersey can move forward, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ruled Friday.
Owners of the proposed $1.2 billion PennEast Pipeline, which would carry shale gas from Pennsylvania through New Jersey, said they are planning to begin construction this year following the certificate of public convenience granted by FERC on Friday.
<p> Opponents of the project say the pipeline still needs to clear several hurdles at the state level, and point to New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, who campaigned on an environment and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/">clean energy</a> agenda and <a href="https://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=b226659d77&e=bc036cc506" target="_blank">spoke out against PennEast</a> on the campaign trail. Activists along the nearly 120-mile route vowed to continue fighting against the pipeline, and protests are planned in New Jersey Monday in response to the decision.</p><p>"FERC is basically working for the pipeline companies rather than for the people they are supposed to represent," Jeff Tittel, <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/new-jersey" target="_blank">New Jersey Sierra Club</a> director, said in a statement. "It's shameful that FERC can approve a pipeline without even applications for state or federal permits. FERC is the 'Federal Expedited Rubberstamp Commission.'<br></p><p><span></span>"Now the fight begins," he added. "We will organize to stop this pipeline that people vigorously approve. PennEast has a long way to go and many permits to get. We also have a new Governor who opposes the project. We won't stop until we stop this dangerous and unneeded pipeline."</p><p>As reported by <a href="http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/18/01/21/ferc-ok-of-penneast-doesn-t-make-pipeline-a-sure-thing/" target="_blank">NJ Spotlight</a>:</p><p>"'Now, the real environmental review begins—the ones that FERC did not do,' said Tom Gilbert, campaign director of <a href="https://rethinkenergynj.org/" target="_blank">ReThink Energy NJ</a> and the <a href="http://www.njconservation.org/" target="_blank">New Jersey Conservation Foundation</a>. He particularly cited the state's authority in issuing a 401 permit under the Clean Water Act.</p><p>'We don't see any way this pipeline can be built and meet those standards,' said Gilbert, noting the route of the project crosses 38 C-1 streams, the most pristine in the state. 'If they enforce regulations, this project won't pass muster.'"</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="bca42" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="HI4M991576664051"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="953751321760403457" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Rover Pipeline Spills Another 150,000 Gallons of Drilling Fluid Into Ohio Wetlands https://t.co/xX9n9S9OIW… https://t.co/SN2OD4dvui</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/953751321760403457">1516227009.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p><span></span><strong>For a deeper dive:</strong></p><p><span></span><a href="http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/18/01/21/ferc-ok-of-penneast-doesn-t-make-pipeline-a-sure-thing/" target="_blank">NJ Spotlight</a>, <a href="http://www.trentonian.com/article/TT/20180120/NEWS/180129987" target="_blank">Trentonian</a>, <a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/penneast-shale-gas-pipeline-marcellus-20180120.html" target="_blank">Philadelphia Inquirer</a>, <a href="http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-nws-penneast-approved-20180120-story.html" target="_blank">Allentown Morning Call</a>, <a href="http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/news/index.ssf/2018/01/penneast_pipeline_gains_federa.html" target="_blank">Lehigh Valley Live</a>, <a href="http://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/2018/01/21/citizens-protest-penneast-pipeline-monday/1051839001/" target="_blank">MyCentralJersey</a>, <a href="http://mercerme.com/penneast-approved-by-ferc/" target="_blank">MercerMe</a>, <a href="https://lockportpress.com/penneast-shale-gas-pipeline-will-get-key-u-s-allow-opponents-vow-to-combat-on/" target="_blank">Lockport Press</a>, <a href="http://www.poconorecord.com/news/20180121/ferc-approves-penneast-pipeline" target="_blank">Pocono Record</a>. Commentary: <a href="http://www.dailyrecord.com/story/opinion/editorials/2018/01/21/penneast-ferc-pipeline-approval/109682788/" target="_blank">Morris County Daily Record editorial</a></p><p> <em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, and sign up for daily </em><a href="http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>.</em></p>
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Fracking Waste Lawsuit Highlights Dangerous Trend of Corporations Targeting Community Rights Defenders
18 January 2018
Fracking
Marcellus Shale rig and gas well operation on Ridge Road in Jackson Township operated by Rex Energy. WCN 24/7 / Flickr
By Simon Davis-Cohen
In early January, a federal judge ordered the nonprofit law firm Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) to pay $52,000 to an oil and gas exploration company for defending a rural Pennsylvania township's ban on underground injections of fracking waste.
This sanction comes at the request of Pennsylvania General Energy Company (PGE) and the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association, but is part of a growing trend to prevent municipalities across the nation from pushing back against state and federal attempts to overrule them.
<p>Starting in 2012, PGE proposed an injection well which, according to Grant Township's Board of Supervisors, "would receive 30,000 barrels [1.26 million gallons] of frack wastewater per month for 10 years." The board of supervisors for this small community near Pittsburgh warned that the injection well "threatens to subject every resident of Grant Township to a slow poisoning, and threatens thousands more who depend on Grant Township's watershed for clean <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water">water</a>."</p><p>The community's law, they added, bans the injection well "as a violation of our basic civil rights." PGE operates multiple gas-extraction wells in the township.</p><p><strong>Rights of Nature, Local Governance</strong></p><p>CELDF, which has defended Grant's efforts to prevent waste injection wells for over three years, has worked with some 200 municipalities in the U.S. to defend local laws challenging similar corporate projects. The group aims to drive state constitutional change to bolster the rights of local residents and ecosystems against what it calls regressive state preemption and corporate personhood.</p><p>Grant Township, for example, <a href="http://celdf.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/grant-township-community-rights-home-rule-charter.pdf" target="_blank">is elevating</a> a "right of self-government," rights "to clean air, water, and soil" and "ecosystem rights" above corporations' "rights" to inject waste from oil and gas extraction in the township.</p><p>These types of local laws often face substantial legal pushback from private corporations and states which claim authority over issues such as fossil fuel production. Along with the sanctions against CELDF, PGE is suing Grant Township itself, population 741, for damages that would likely be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Among its claims: The injection well ban violates the corporation's rights as a "person" under the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments; the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment; and the Contract Clause and Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.</p><p>Grant Township is the fourth local government CELDF has defended in federal court.</p><p><strong>'Frivolous' Legal Arguments</strong></p><p>At the heart of the court's decision awarding PGE sanctions against the legal nonprofit (the company originally asked for $500,000) is an argument that the sanctions are justified because CELDF's legal arguments are contrary to "settled" law and therefore "frivolous." This reasoning asserts that corporate personhood and Pennsylvania's authority over municipalities on issues affecting drinking water and fossil fuel development is settled, and therefore CELDF's defense of Grant's claim to the contrary is "clearly unreasonable."<br></p><p>Grant Township, the court wrote, "seeks to disavow constitutional rights afforded corporations so as to prevent PGE from the lawful exercise of its right to pursue gas extraction related activities within its borders." On top of all this, Grant's law recognized legal rights for a local ecosystem. CELDF's attempt to represent that ecosystem in court, the judge ruled, violates the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a set of rules that govern how legal proceedings take place in U.S. district courts.</p><p><strong>Local Governments Sanctioned Across U.S.</strong></p><p>CELDF is not alone in facing sanctions for challenging so-called settled law on similar issues. Defend Local Solutions is a campaign led by Tallahassee's Mayor Andrew Gillum which is aimed at expanding the powers of municipalities in Florida. The campaign said <a href="http://defendlocal.com/resource/the-threat-of-super-preemption/" target="_blank">at least seven</a> states have "super preemption" bills on the books that sanction local officials who dare challenge specific state preemption bills that rescind powers from municipalities.<br></p><p>In Florida, for example, <a href="https://www.citylab.com/equity/2017/01/a-florida-mayor-fights-the-gun-lobby/512345/" target="_blank">Gillum personally faced the threat of sanctions</a> after he refused to repeal a local law that banned fire arms in public parks (even though the ordinance wasn't being enforced).</p><p>New bills, such as Texas's highly controversial "show me your papers" and sanctuary city preemption bill (SB4), also include punitive language for municipalities pushing back against state and federal authority.</p><p>Texas's bill would fine local officials and employees $25,000 per day or even remove them from office if they defy the law, according to the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. Parts of this section of the law, however, are hung up in court. However, the court ruled that local officials can be sanctioned if they outright ban police from asking for people's immigration papers, and other sections of the bill are in effect, including a section that threatens punishment for local jail officers. The concept of economic retribution for noncompliance is spreading.</p><p>Georgia's 2017 bill, HB37, removes funding from any private college that "prohibits or restricts officials or employees … from communicating or cooperating with federal officials or law enforcement officers with regard to reporting [immigration] status information." And in 2016 Arizona <a href="http://yalejreg.com/nc/state-preemption-arizona-vs-local-control/" target="_blank">passed a bill</a> which withholds state funds from localities that enact policy that challenges the state's claimed supremacy.</p><p>In CELDF's sanction case, the court acknowledges that sanctions can have the effect of "chilling novel legal or factual arguments."</p><p>Thomas Linzey, CELDF's director and one of the two attorneys being personally sanctioned, said "that's exactly the point. For years, the oil and gas corporations believed that they could stop the community rights movement by suing municipalities to overturn their local laws; but having failed to do so, they're now coming after the lawyers who are helping those communities to stop drilling. In many ways, the industry's filing for sanctions against us is just proof of how strong the community rights movement is becoming."</p><p>In court records, CELDF pointed to <em>Brown v. Board of Education</em> (which overturned "separate but equal" schools for Black and White students, 1954), courts striking down bans on gay marriage, and other novel legal arguments as evidence that sanctions against lawyers who challenge "settled" law could set a dangerous precedent.</p><p>"We understand that the real problem isn't the injection well, but the system of law that keeps trying to shut us down," the Grant Township Board of Supervisors said in a statement. "We're not going anywhere."</p><p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/01/17/community-environmental-legal-defense-fund-pennsylvania-grant-township-fracking-waste-ban" target="_blank">DeSmogBlog</a>.</em></p>
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Study: Babies With Low Birth Weights More Likely Near Pennsylvania Fracking Sites
14 December 2017
Fracking
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By Steve Horn
A new study published in the journal Science Advances has concluded that babies born within two miles of sites of fracking for natural gas in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale basin are more likely to have low birth weights.
Researchers from Princeton, the University of Chicago and UCLA analyzed a decade of Pennsylvania birth data from 2004 to 2013—reviewing 1.1 million birth certificates—and concluded that those babies born to mothers living in close proximity to fracking sites are more likely to weigh under 5.5 pounds at birth. Specifically, the study concluded that babies born within a kilometer (just over half a mile) of fracking sites are 25 percent more at risk of low birth weights, which comes with other health effects.
<p style="">"While we know pollution from hydraulic fracturing impacts our health, we do not yet know where that pollution is coming from—from the air or water, from chemicals onsite, or an increase in traffic," said UCLA researcher Katherine Meckel in a <a href="https://www.princeton.edu/news/2017/12/13/hydraulic-fracturing-negatively-impacts-infant-health" target="_blank">press release</a>. </p><p style="">Why a study of the prenatal population, say, as opposed to other members of society? Because, as the researchers explain, it offers a localized and controlled set of data, both of which are key to establishing data correlations and trends.</p><p style="">"First, there is increasing evidence that the fetus is vulnerable to a range of maternal pollution exposures. Second, because the fetus is in utero for at most 9 months, it is possible to pinpoint the timing of potential exposure," wrote the researchers. "This is not the case with other possible health effects, such as cancer, that develop over long periods of time. Moreover, birth data are available with precise information on mothers' residential locations, permitting researchers to examine the effects of proximity to fracturing sites on the health of newborns."</p><p style="">The major caveat of the study is that beyond distances of roughly two miles, health impacts of this sort become negligible. That led the researchers to conclude that health impacts of fracking for babies in utero are largely a local affair.</p><p style="">"As local and state policymakers decide whether to allow hydraulic fracturing in their communities, it is crucial that they carefully examine the costs and benefits, including the potential impacts from pollution," said study co-author Michael Greenstone, an economics professor and director of the <a href="http://www.energyandpolicy.org/" target="_blank">Energy Policy Institute</a> at the University of Chicago, in a <a href="https://www.princeton.edu/news/2017/12/13/hydraulic-fracturing-negatively-impacts-infant-health" target="_blank">press release</a>. "This study provides the strongest large-scale evidence of a link between the pollution that stems from hydraulic fracturing activities and our health, specifically the health of babies."</p><p style="">The study points to <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w11998.pdf" target="_blank">other</a> <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w11796.pdf" target="_blank">research</a> which has concluded that low birth weight can lead to, at worst, infant mortality, but also attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), asthma, lower test scores, lower schooling attainment and lower earnings, among other things.</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image" style="">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNjg5ODQ0My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MDE4MDAxN30.I-XOm2nb-QUzbtsgsSYoTUNIAPmIm3UB_bVR2IvFrd0/img.jpg?width=980" id="a0e14" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c5e7df30ebc27770ad2d252293defa41" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">Locations of births and fractured wells in Pennsylvania.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Currie, Greenstone, Meckel, Sci. Adv. 2017; 3: e1603021</small></p>
<p style="">What the study does not do, however, is pinpoint what aspect of the drilling procedure is actually causing these health impacts. Lead author Janet Currie, a professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University, told InsideClimate News that a necessary follow-up study would include <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/13122017/frack" target="_blank">air monitoring</a> at fracking sites.<br></p><p style="">The study comes years after a battle over setbacks in Denton, Texas, a city in which citizens pushed the city council to place fracking wells at least 1,200 feet, or less than a quarter mile away, from homes. After the council refused to do so and passed a compromise ordinance instead, the city's citizens voted successfully to ban the process in the 2014 midterm elections. The ban was quickly <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2014/11/06/bush-family-inner-circle-office-denton-texas-fracking-ban-lawsuits" target="_blank">challenged in court</a> by the oil and gas industry and the Texas General Land Office and then <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2015/05/18/abbott-signs-denton-fracking-bill/" target="_blank">reversed by the Texas Legislature</a>.</p><p style="">The oil and gas industry, particularly industry front group <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/5976" target="_blank">Energy in Depth</a>, has pointed to the push for drilling <a href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/commentary/article/Setbacks-really-an-attempt-to-ban-drilling-6207480.php" target="_blank">setbacks as a "de facto ban" of fracking</a>. But Currie told InsideClimate News that fracking setbacks may be a key public health policy measure pursued in the years ahead.</p><p style=""><a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/" target="_blank">Food and Water Watch</a>, a proponent of a fracking ban, did in fact point to the study's findings to argue for a fracking ban. </p><p style="">"This study adds to the existing scientific literature that tells us there are serious public health consequences linked to fracking," <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/community/wenonah_hauter/">Wenonah Hauter</a>, Food and Water Watch's executive director, <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/news/new-study-should-move-governor-wolf-act-fracking" target="_blank">said in a statement</a>. "Political leaders who wish to protect the health and safety of residents must make a commitment to end fracking immediately."</p><p style=""> <em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/12/13/study-low-birth-weights-fracking-pennsylvania" target="_blank">DeSmogBlog</a>.</em></p>
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