Environmental Must-Reads – November 15, 2012

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More fracking delay possible

New York State is facing a November 29th deadline to write rules for hydro fracking, the controversial drilling method sought for development of new natural gas wells in the state.

If all of the Department of Environmental Conservation Department’s work is not completed by that date, the rule-making process, possibly including public hearings, would have to start all over again. As Karen DeWitt reports, a delay in a heath study threatens just that. It could take months.

U.S. Energy Insecurity: Why Fracking for Oil and Natural Gas Is a False Solution

In this report, Food & Water Watch exposes the misconceptions, falsehoods and misleading statements behind the claims that modern drilling and fracking for oil and natural gas can deliver U.S. energy security.

Company wants Campbell site to clean, recycle fracking fluid

A company that wants to build a water-remediation plant in the brownfields along the Mahoning River sees itself as a solution, not an addition, to shale-drilling concerns.

Colorado drilling regulators get an earful from residents at meeting

Colorado drilling regulators got an earful Wednesday from critics who want more say in how gas and oil can be drilled in their jurisdictions.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission was meeting to consider expanded rules for the sampling and monitoring of groundwater near new oil and gas wells. The commission also was looking at tougher rules for how close drilling wells can be to roads and schools.

Activist Urges Greenburgh To Support Anti-Fracking Bill

GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Just because Greenburgh land doesn’t cover the Marcellus Shale, it doesn’t mean the area can’t be affected by hydraulic fracking, an activist said Wednesday.

Wastewater from fracking, which is sometimes used to spread on roads for de-icing and dust control, is a health hazard for Westchester County citizens, said Susan Van Dolsen, co-founder of Westchester for Change, a White Plains-based community activist group.

Drilling forum on potential danger to water

More than 40 people attended a forum about the oil and gas industry’s impact on local streams, rivers, reservoirs and groundwaters at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Marietta Wednesday.

Progress slow on fracking health review

Hydrofracking could once again be delayed in New York, unless the state Health Commissioner is able to complete requirements to contract with outside health experts and conduct a health review by November 29.

Corbett asked to revise reporting on Pennsylvania well water

Twenty-five environmental groups have asked Gov. Tom Corbett to immediately revise what they say are the state Department of Environmental Protection’s outdated, inadequate and incomplete laboratory reporting procedures on well water contamination complaints related to Marcellus Shale development.

Hooked on Frack?

By now, due to footage from the northeastern United States of methane-soaked wells catching fire and kitchen faucets spewing chunky brown water, “fracking” has become a bad word nationwide. It’s industry slang for hydraulic fracturing, a practice developed in the 1940s and revolutionized in the 1990s, in which oil companies extract hard-to-reach fuel resources by drilling deep holes, dropping mini bombs, and then pumping in a cocktail of water, sand, and toxic, safe, and unknown chemicals to break up the earth and release the oil. The problem is that the fluid doesn’t just evaporate. Instead, it’s contaminating farms, wells, and aquifers, and has the potential to poison the water supply.

Pennsylvania groups demand disclosure of fracking contaminants; confront PA DEP

Twenty-five organizations sent a letter to Governor Tom Corbett today criticizing the Pennsylvania DEP’s well water testing and notification policies as outdated, lacking transparency and inadequate to protect residents and drinking water from pollution caused by gas drilling. The groups called on the Governor to take immediate action to reform DEP’s procedures and disclose all data collected through DEP water tests, but only partially reported to households where the testing occurred.

Fracking Chemical Disclosure Database Provides New Tool in Fight Against Drilling

Today, SkyTruth released a database created from more than 27,000 industry reports on the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.”

New Report Reveals Dangers of Fracking in Watersheds with Reservoirs

A report commissioned by citizens opposed to hydraulic fracturing has identified grave public health and environmental risks in plans to lease public land for fracking near Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) reservoirs in Ohio. The report, written by Paul Rubin, a high-profile New York Hydrogeologist and president of HydroQuest, warns of toxic water contamination sources which will be created by fracking near and underneath the lakes.

Fracking Industry Aims to Export Natural Gas While Touting False Claims of Energy Security

A new report released today by the national consumer advocacy organization Food & Water Watch takes aim at the oil and gas industry’s claim that fracking and drilling for natural gas and tight oil will deliver U.S. energy security. U.S. Energy Insecurity: Why Fracking for Oil and Natural Gas is a False Solution reveals that as of Oct. 26, the Department of Energy has received 19 proposals to export liquefied natural gas. If approved, these projects would allow the oil and gas industry to sell huge amounts of natural gas overseas—as much as 40 percent of current U.S. consumption.

Fracking Voices—Pennsylvania Residents Warn New Yorkers About the Dangers of Fracking

A new radio campaign and website featuring the voices of Pennsylvania residents whose lives have been impacted by gas drilling launched today by Grassroots Environmental Education, a non-profit organization based in New York. The 60-second radio spots will debut today in Binghamton, Elmira, Endicott, Corning and Ithaca—areas of New York rich in Marcellus Shale and likely to see gas drilling if the controversial practice is approved by Governor Cuomo.

Anti-Fracking Groups Demand Release of PA Well Water Test Results

Twenty-five organizations sent a letter to Governor Tom Corbett today criticizing the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) well water testing and notification policies as outdated, lacking transparency and inadequate to protect residents and drinking water from pollution caused by gas drilling. The groups called on the Governor to take immediate action to reform DEP’s procedures and disclose all data collected through DEP water tests but only partially reported to households where the testing occurred.

Company wants to put monitoring equipment in homes near sinkhole

BATON ROUGE — Permission slips being distributed to residents of the Bayou Corne area of Assumption Parish will allow a company to install equipment to mitigate any dangers that might be posed by underground methane gas connected to a giant sinkhole.

Residents asked to OK monitoring

Bayou Corne-area residents will be given permission forms Thursday allowing Texas Brine Co. contractors to install equipment to mitigate the explosive risk of any methane trapped under the northern Assumption Parish community, company officials said.

Co. seeks OK from Bayou Corne residents to install methane monitoring, venting equipment

BATON ROUGE, La. — Permission slips being distributed to residents of the Bayou Corne area of Assumption Parish will allow a company to install equipment to mitigate any dangers that might be posed by underground methane gas

Steps Ordered to Hold Down Risk at Louisiana Sinkhole

The state has ordered new steps to minimize risk of exposure to natural gas under property where a large sinkhole formed in August in Assumption Parish.

The Louisiana Office of Conservation on Monday issued the new round of directives to Texas Brine Co. LLC, which had operations at an underground salt cavern, where it extracted brine for nearby petrochemical facilities.

New oil sheen prompts another investigation of BP Deepwater Horizon disaster scene

An overflight inspection of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster site 40 miles south of Grand Isle this past weekend found a new, mile-long oil sheen, which has prompted the U.S. Coast Guard to again require BP to inspect the wellhead and debris area on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico with a remotely operated vehicle for the source of the oil. The flight was piloted by Bonny Schumaker, founder of the California-based non-profit On Wings of Care, which has conducted surveillance flights in the Gulf in the two years since the spill.

BP is expected to admit to criminal misconduct in Gulf oil spill, Reuters reports

BP could plead guilty to criminal misconduct as early as Thursday in the 2010 Gulf oil spill created by the Deepwater Horizon disaster, Reuters is reporting. A plea agreement has been reached with the U.S. Department of Justice, according to two sources familiar with discussions, Reuters says in the report..

BP expected to pay billions of dollars to U.S. over 2010 Gulf oil spill

LONDON — British oil company BP said Thursday it is in advanced talks with U.S. agencies about settling criminal and other claims from the Gulf of Mexico well blowout two years ago.

BP to get record US criminal fine over Deepwater disaster

BP is set to receive a record fine of between $3bn and $5bn (£1.9bn-£3.2bn) to settle criminal charges related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, the BBC has learnt.

BP Oil Spill Settlement: Fine For Deepwater Horizon Disaster May Be Largest Criminal Penalty In U.S. History

HOUSTON/WASHINGTON, Nov 14 (Reuters) – BP Plc is expected to pay a record criminal penalty and plead guilty to criminal misconduct in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster through a plea agreement it has reached with the U.S. Department of Justice that may be announced as soon as Thursday, according to sources familiar with discussions.

BP in ‘Advanced Talks’ on Settlement With U.S. Over Gulf Disaster

LONDON — BP, the British oil company, said Thursday it was in advanced talks with the United States about settling all criminal claims stemming from the giant oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico two years ago.

BP says in advance talks over settling federal criminal claims over Gulf oil spill

Oil giant BP said Thursday that it was in “advanced discussions” with U.S. officials over a resolution of all U.S. federal criminal claims over the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig and massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

Local groups score BP dollars

Four local entities will get at least a combined $1 million from $43.7 million in BP oil spill settlement money aimed at promoting Gulf Coast tourism and seafood.

Spill claimants may get second chance

BP and some plaintiffs’ lawyers in the litigation over the 2010 Gulf oil spill are asking a federal judge to give claimants who asked to leave a proposed class-action settlement another chance to participate.

Rebutting industry’s arguments against due dilligence for tar sands pipelines

In response to growing public concerns about the safety of tar sands pipelines and the risks that tar sands spills pose to their communities, industry lobbyists at the American Petroleum Institute (API) and its surrogates have been busy making the argument that industry’s plans to transport millions of barrels of tar sands on the U.S. pipeline network requires no due diligence. The Kalamazoo tar sands spill in Michigan tragically demonstrated the consequences industry’s failure to evaluate the safety risks of the pipeline transport of tar sands diluted bitumen – after more than two years and nearly a billion dollars in cleanup cost, officials at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have found that nearly 40 miles of the Kalamazoo river is still contaminated by submerged tar sands. In the face of a public increasingly concerned by proposals to build tar sands pipelines like Northern Gateway through British Columbia, Keystone XL through the Ogalla aquifer to the Gulf Coast, and the Enbridge’s pipeline through Canada’s eastern provinces and New England, industry lobbyists have been making a number of disingenuous arguments to avoid doing due diligence. But their arguemnts simply do not withstand close scrutiny.

In Texas Pipeline Fight, People Step In as Green Groups Step Aside

Eleanor Fairchild, 78, is among more than 30 activists arrested since August for using nonviolent civil disobedience to protest the Keystone XL in Texas.

Exxon would pay for training, equipment as partial compensation for Yellowstone spill

BILLINGS, Mont. — ExxonMobil is proposing to pay for emergency response training and equipment for future oil spills as part of its settlement over a major crude release into the Yellowstone River.

The Do-It-Yourself Approach to Tracking Gas Drilling

Given that government resources for environmental regulation (and just about everything else) will be constrained for a long time to come, I’ve been enthusiastic about efforts by the public to take a D.I.Y. (do it yourself) role in tracking pollution or resource issues, whether on the ground or online.

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Stuart H. Smith is an attorney based in New Orleans fighting major oil companies and other polluters.
Cooper Law Firm

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