• Pa. families asking EPA chief to send water (AP)

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    January 14, 2012 /  hey there

    PHILADELPHIA ? Residents from a small northeastern Pennsylvania town at the center of the political fight over natural gas drilling are taking their complaints directly to the head of the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

    About 50 protesters are picketing outside an unrelated forum in Philadelphia that EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is scheduled to attend. They want answers about the agency’s reversal of a decision to provide water to residents of Dimock (DIH’-muhk), Susquehanna County, who claim natural gas drilling has contaminated their wells.

    A handful of Dimock residents joined environmental advocates in chanting and waving signs outside the building Jackson is visiting.

    Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. stopped delivering water to Dimock residents in November after state environmental officials found the company had satisfied the terms of a 2010 consent agreement. The company has denied causing the contamination.

    THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

    Residents of a small northeastern Pennsylvania town at the center of the political battle over natural gas drilling are planning to confront the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

    A group of residents-turned-activists from Dimock say they intend to seek out Lisa Jackson, who’s scheduled to attend an unrelated forum Friday in Philadelphia, about her agency’s reversal last week, when it promised to deliver them water then reneged a day later.

    A state investigation found that 18 wells in the village were contaminated after natural gas drilling began there in 2008.

    About a dozen residents have sued Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., claiming the energy company caused the contamination when it extracted natural gas using a process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a method that has spurred a boom in natural gas drilling in several states while raising concerns about the toll on the environment and public health.

    Cabot denies contaminating the wells, saying most wells in the region were laced with methane long before the arrival of drilling. Nevertheless, the company trucked in fresh water for the residents to use for bathing and washing clothes and dishes. The deliveries stopped Nov. 30 after state regulators determined that Cabot had fulfilled its obligations to the residents under a 2010 consent agreement. The residents say their aquifer is still contaminated.

    The federal government has wavered about its role, initially saying the water posed no health risk, then that it merited more study, then in the space of 24 hours last week promising to deliver water and reneging.

    Pennsylvania’s environmental chief, who works for a pro-drilling governor, has criticized his federal counterparts, saying the EPA has only a “rudimentary” understanding of the contamination.

    Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/environment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120113/ap_on_re_us/us_gas_drilling_dimock

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  • Turning Trash to Energy: A Look at the Numbers (ContributorNetwork)

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    January 7, 2012 /  hey there

    The Vacaville, Calif., publication The Reporter posted an article about a new project that will take the gas from decomposing trash at the Potrero Hills Landfill in Suisun City and turn it into energy. It is one of several new landfill gas-to-energy projects currently taking place around the nation. Here is a look at some of these projects by the numbers:

    * 9.6: Megawatts of renewable power would be produced from the $20 million Potrero Hills project. That is enough to power 6,000 homes.

    * 1 billion: Dollars have been committed by DTE Biomass to support projects in energy nationwide. Potrero Hills is teaming with DTE Biomass to build the onsite power generation plant, which would connect the landfill gas energy to the Pacific Gas and Electric Grid.

    * 3.2: Megawatts can be produced at a landfill gas to energy facility of this size, also supported by DTE, started production in early December in St. Clair County, Mich. According to a DTE news release, 75 construction jobs were created for the facility, which will produce enough electricity to power 3,000 homes.

    * 14: Megawatts can be produced at a landfill gas-to-energy facility that was recently purchased by Hoosier Energy at the Livingston Landfill in Pontiac, Ill., according to the Pontiac Daily Leader.

    * 4.8: Megawatts can be produced at a new landfill gas-to-energy generating station in Erie, Colo., that was dedicated in November. The power from the plant will be purchased by United Power, according to the Tri-State G&T November newsletter, Powering the West.

    * 526: Landfills have 563 operating gas-to-energy projects in the U.S. as of October, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. 76 of those projects were in California, 39 in Pennsylvania, and 36 in Michigan.

    Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/energy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111220/sc_ac/10707593_turning_trash_to_energy_a_look_at_the_numbers

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  • Could EPA’s Wyoming Fracking Report Be the Next ‘Gasland’? (ContributorNetwork)

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    December 12, 2011 /  hey there

    According to a December 9 Associated Press article, the Environmental Protection Agency’s draft report, released this week, that states that it may have detected groundwater pollution resulting from hydraulic fracturing “isn’t settled science yet.” The debate over fracking is likely to continue, the report states.

    While environmentalists continue to fight new regulations that would allow the use of fracking in oil and gas development in a number of states, the EPA’s new draft report of water pollution in the community of Pavillion will undoubtedly fuel those fights. It isn’t the first time such claims about fracking have fueled the environmental fire.

    In 2010, HBO released a documentary called “Gasland,” in which filmmaker Josh Fox traveled the country to examine fracking and its effects on the environment. In the movie, he shows a number of nightmare scenarios, including flammable tap water allegedly caused by fracking in Colorado.

    However, after the movie’s release, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) took issue with Fox’s documentary and released a report outlining its findings about the three Weld County Wells portrayed in the movie that had allegedly been contaminated by oil and gas development. While one well was found to have been contaminated in part to oil and gas development and the owner of that well reached a settlement with the company, it was found that the other wells were contaminated due to biogenic gas from coal beds where the wells were dug, not from oil and gas activity.

    Further, according to industry group, Energy In Depth, Fox asserted in the movie that oil and gas industries are exempted through a 2005 Bush Administration energy bill from environmental regulations including the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act. However, the industry is regulated under each of those laws and the 2005 energy bill was supported by three-quarters of the senate, including then-Sen. Barack Obama. Meanwhile, the film won awards, was nominated for an Oscar. It has been and continues to be screened by environmental organizations and academic institutions nationwide.

    And now, the EPA has issued its report and Wyoming Governor Matt Mead, in a December 8 press release, has called the report’s findings “scientifically questionable.”

    “We believe that the draft study could have a critical impact on the energy industry and on the country so it is imperative that we not make conclusions based on only four data points,” Governor Mead said. “Those familiar with the scientific method recognize that it would not be appropriate to make a judgment without verifying all of the testing that has been done.”

    Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/environment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111209/bs_ac/10642399_could_epas_wyoming_fracking_report_be_the_next_gasland

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