"Never let a serious crisis go to waste."
Corollary: "Never let the truth get in the way when attempting to exploit a serious crisis."
This stunning picture though is not one of a flooded drilling rig in Pennsylvania. No this is what was found in Pakistan, but for Penn Environment this bit of information is irrelevant as it looks a lot like Pennsylvania and will thus serve as a compelling enough reason to further attempt to prohibit drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale.
Kevin Cahill, chair of the State Assembly's Energy Committee, says the state should update maps to show which Shale areas are susceptible to extreme flooding. The state wants to prohibit fracking in those areas, known as 100-year floodplains, because of the potential to spread pollution and cause other damage. | A spokesperson for the State Department of Environmental Conservation told North Country Public Radio that a taskforce will examine the floodplains issue. She also said that the DEC wouldn't delay its review of the environmental statement released last week.
Well, I don't want to be the only one wasting a good crisis. Turns out, in spite of the massive flooding to the Susquehanna river that runs through the heart of Marcellus country there, is little to no evidence that theaggressive drilling that is taking place in Pennsylvania caused any contamination at all.
The state Department of Environmental Protection said there were no reports of drilling related pollution incidents.
“Almost every operator in northern Pennsylvania uses a closed loop system; we simply don’t have many flowback pits up there,” said Chris Tucker, of Energy In Depth a Washington-based industry group.
“No evidence — zero — exists anywhere indicating that any serious environmental issues relating to Marcellus development came about as a result of this flood,” said Tucker. “Talking to operators, none of them have reported any problems at all.”
Kathryn Klaber, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, also an industry group, said, “Marcellus Shale producers continuously monitor operations and prepare accordingly for all contingencies, including severe weather.
“We are not aware of any adverse environmental impacts stemming from the recent flood as it pertains to Marcellus operations,” said Klaber, “and many producers have curtailed their operations in recent days to ensure problems do not arise.”
Klaber said, “Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry is focused on helping to rebuild our communities, through cleanup assistance efforts and charitable donations.”
Noting that well pads and industrial storage sites in the Marcellus Shale region had been inundated, a number of activists raised the possibility of fracking chemicals being a component in the Susquehanna’s toxic cocktail.
Not so, said Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Kevin Sunday: “We have not had any reports of incidents at Marcellus Shale sites as a result of flooding.”
That’s backed up in part by some of the environmentalists themselves.
Members of the Pennsylvania Forest Coalition looked for evidence of any frackwater ponds breached or overflowing or other environmental damage from the flooding, but found very little, coalition coordinator Dick Martin said.
So it appears the industry did a great job in protecting the environment during catastrophic flooding.
Now one week later it would seem that the gas industry deserves a high grade for operating in a manner that prevented any significant pollution. The same cannot be said for sewer operations in many parts of the state that were overwhelmed and sent large volumes of contaminated raw sewage into rivers and streams.
Don Gilliland writes an article in today's Patriot-News (http://www.pennlive.com/) that reviews information from industry, industry opponents, and regulators and reports that no major pollution incident has been attributed to gas drilling.
During the rains, the biggest concern were pits to store water used by some companies in the gas drilling industry, but many in the gas industry do not use pits anymore. Instead mostly tanks or so-called closed loop systems that keep water in closed containment systems at all times are used.
Moreover the regulations governing open pits require the design of the pits to be able to withstand at least 24 inches of rain falling directly into the pit and to prevent any run-off from flowing into it.
The rains and floods were a huge stress that would have exposed substantial problems in the gas industry's operations if it was not well prepared. The absence of incident reports indicates that a high grade has been earned.
Now one week later it would seem that the gas industry deserves a high grade for operating in a manner that prevented any significant pollution. The same cannot be said for sewer operations in many parts of the state that were overwhelmed and sent large volumes of contaminated raw sewage into rivers and streams.
ReplyDeleteIs that telling us that evil capitol entities are more environmentally friendly than the .GOV who runs most muni water systems?
KurtP, this seems like a fair assessment and not a surprising one.
ReplyDeleteLet's see, government controlled crap spills are acceptable but business controlled non-spills have to be investigated and regulated....sounds like perfect liberal logic to me.
ReplyDeleteAgain, another cost of misplaced fear...
ReplyDelete