Policy Brief on Gas Development in NY and PA

February 9, 2011

http://devsoc.cals.cornell.edu/cals/devsoc/outreach/cardi/publications/upload/Policy_Brief_Jan11-draft08.pdf

Research & Policy Brief Series. ISSUE NUMBER 39/JANUARY 2011

Natural Gas Development:

Views of New York and Pennsylvania Residents in the Marcellus Shale Region

By

Richard Stedman, Cornell University, Fern Willits, Kathryn Brasier, Matthew Filteau, and Diane McLaughlin, The Pennsylvania State University, andJeffrey Jacquet

, Cornell University.

 

 

How much do residents feel they know about the potential impacts?

Department of Development Sociology

Cornell University

 

 

Filed under public opinion Tagged with , , , , , ,

Shell to explore for gas in the Karoo, why Johan Rupert has some concerns.

February 6, 2011

Shell to explore for gas in the Karoo, why Johan Rupert has some concerns.

– DOWNLOAD THIS INTERVIEW

ALEC HOGG: It’s Wednesday February 2 2011 and in this special podcast we speak with the chairman of Richemont, Johan Rupert, not about Richemont’s issues but more about what is going on in the Karoo. Johan, your family, in fact, has deep roots into the Karoo, looking through your father’s biography by Ebbe Dommisse, your great, great grandfather came to South Africa in 1858 to a town called Graaff-Reinet and on Friday, Graaff-Reinet was the scene of a discussion or a public meeting that you said some stuff that has been shaking up the oil industry.

JOHANN RUPERT: Good afternoon Alec, good afternoon, listeners. It’s really the whole question of drilling for gas through the Greater Karoo, over 90 000 square kilometers and the method in which the oil companies wish to operate. We’re not against looking for gas, we are not against the methodology if used in the right area, with the right safeguards. So, for instance, if you go into the desert and it’s shallow, there can be containment. What worries us is the unseemly haste with which this whole process is going forward. We don’t think the legal framework was designed for this fracking method and we are very, very scared about the irreversibility of the ecological damage, should it occur.

Filed under Save the Planet, Water Tagged with , , , ,

Clean Air Under Siege – NYTimes.com

February 6, 2011

Clean Air Under Siege – NYTimes. Feb. 6, 2011.

 

Shortly after he entered the Senate in 2007, John Barrasso told his Wyoming constituents that the country’s biggest need was an energy policy to deal with carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.

That was then. In lockstep with other Senate Republicans, he helped kill last year’s energy and climate bill. Now he has introduced a bill that would bar the Environmental Protection Agency and any other part of the federal government from regulating carbon pollution.

Congress’s failure to enact a climate bill means that the E.P.A.’s authority to regulate these gases — an authority conferred by a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2007 — is, for now, the only tool available to the federal government to combat global warming.

The modest regulations the agency has already proposed, plus stronger ones it will issue later this year, should lead to the retirement of many of the nation’s older, dirtier coal-fired power plants and a dramatic reduction in carbon emissions.

Mr. Barrasso’s bill is not an isolated challenge. Senator James Inhofe, the Oklahoma Republican who called global warming the “greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people,” has unveiled a somewhat narrower bill to undercut the E.P.A.’s authority to regulate carbon dioxide. Fred Upton, the Michigan Republican and new chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, simultaneously introduced a companion bill.

There are a half-dozen other such measures in circulation, at least one of which would weaken the agency’s long-held powers to regulate conventional ground-level pollutants like soot and mercury.

One or another of these bills has a real shot in the Republican-controlled House. Their chances are slimmer in the Senate, where the bigger danger is a proposal by Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, that would block any new regulations on power plants and other industrial sources for two years.

That is just obstruction by another name. It would delay modernization and ensure that more carbon is dumped into the atmosphere. History shows that regulatory delays have a way of becoming permanent.

It is tempting to blame the entire energy industry for these attacks on the E.P.A.’s authority. The oil companies are pushing hard against any new rules. The utilities are split. Some companies like General Electric — whose chief executive, Jeffrey Immelt, is now advising President Obama — signed on to the energy bill that passed the House last year, when it was still under Democratic control.

Mr. Inhofe, an outlier before the midterm elections, has a lot more company now. Even among lawmakers who accept the facts of global warming, he is getting considerable mileage with baseless charges that the E.P.A. is running amok.

The agency does have a heavy regulatory agenda. It will issue proposals not only on greenhouse gases but also ozone, sulfur dioxide, and mercury, which poisons lakes and fish. These regulations are fully consistent with the Clean Air Act. Some of them should have been completed during the Bush years; all are essential to protect the environment. The agency’s administrator, Lisa Jackson, has moved cautiously, making clear that she will target only the largest polluters and not, as the Republicans claim, mom-and-pop businesses.

In his State of the Union address, President Obama promised to protect “common-sense safeguards” to the nation’s environment. The rules under siege in Congress will help clean the air, reduce toxic pollution in fish and slow emissions of greenhouse gases. It is hard to imagine anything more sensible than that.

Filed under EPA, Save the Planet Tagged with , , , , , ,

The story behind a deadly typhoid epidemic in Ithaca: (a historical precedent)

February 1, 2011

The story behind a deadly typhoid epidemic in Ithaca | syracuse.com.

The story behind a deadly typhoid epidemic in Ithaca

Published: Sunday, January 30, 2011, 6:54 AM     Updated: Sunday, January 30, 2011, 11:26 AM
Hart Seely / The Post-Standard By Hart Seely / The Post-Standard
Building the Dam (2)_2.JPGGlobe Pequot PressWorkmen pour concrete to build the Six Mile Creek Dam in the summer of 1903. Poor sanitation caused a typhoid epidemic in Ithaca.

In 1903, Americans watched in horror as a typhoid epidemic — born from the greed and stupidity of some prominent Central New York businessmen — raged though Ithaca, striking down hundreds and killing at least 82 people, including 29 Cornell University students. Almost 1 in 10 residents became ill. Award-winning journalist David DeKok has written “The Epidemic,” (Globe Pequot Press, $22.95) a book about an otherwise forgotten public health catastrophe. He spoke with Hart Seely.

How did it start?

A businessman by the name of William T. Morris acquired Ithaca Water Works from the Treman family in Ithaca. Morris, a close friend of Ebenezer Treman, was able to afford the company because Cornell University loaned $100,000, an enormous amount at that time. He paid too much, more than Wall Street valued the deal, so he decided to build a dam to increase the amount of water he could sell. … Strict warnings on sanitation were not enforced by Morris or his people. One or more of the workers were carriers, a concept not really understood at that time, and through bad sanitation, the typhoid spread into the water supply and the town.

You write that at one point, a third of Cornell’s student population was fleeing the city.

IMG_1706.JPGDavid DeKok

It was a terribly scary thing. By the time it was over, one in 10 people in Ithaca was ill. That’s a huge percentage — one of the worst typhoid epidemics, in percentage, in American history. Students were getting on trains and going home. For some, they thought they were getting away from death, but it ended up finding them anyway. A number of them died in their parents’ homes.

OK, let’s talk about the main villain, William T. Morris.

He was from Penn Yan. His father, Daniel Morris, had been a two-term U.S. Congressman during and after the Civil War, a Republican. In fact, he was among the congressmen who passed the 13th Amendment, outlawing slavery. … Daniel Morris sent young Will to Cornell, and he became a lawyer. He came back to Penn Yan and set up a law practice. He did not seem to have a high ethical standard. There’s an incident where he and some of his partners took retainer money from a client and bought new linoleum for their office. … The law firm broke up, and Morris got interested in the utility business. He acquired the Penn Yan Gas Light Company, then started acquiring small-town utilities in New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Eventually, he set his sights on Ithaca.

What was Morris like?

Very narcissistic. Everything was about him. And very clueless. It was not necessarily conscious criminal behavior. He was more reckless.

The story includes many prominent figures. For example Frank Gannett (founder of the Gannett newspaper chain).

William T. Morris-5_2.JPGWilliam T. Morris

He was the city editor on the Ithaca Daily News. It was his first real newspaper job — actually, I believe he was a stringer for your paper in summers during college — working for Duncan Campbell Lee, the (Ithaca) publisher, one of the heroes… Gannett ran a crew of hard-working reporters, out all the time, getting long lists of patients’ names, people who had come down with typhoid. … They reported every little thing that was going on.

The industrialist, Andrew Carnegie.

He was on the Cornell Board of Trustees. He didn’t actually come to meetings often, but Jacob Gould Schurman, the president of Cornell, was more than happy to have him, because he was one of the wealthiest men in the world. He became a hero, at least to some, when he agreed to pay medical and/or funeral expenses of students.

Some references to the name “Vonnegut.”

Obviously, Kurt Vonnegut came much later, but three great uncles from Indianapolis were students at Cornell during the epidemic.

How do Cornell officials come off?

Sage co-eds 1903_3.JPGGlobe Pequot PressSix Cornell coeds pose on the balustrade in front of Sage College around 1903.

They had a real problem. They did not handle this particularly well. Schurman, the president, was a prominent intellectual, a very smart guy, but he had to deal with a board of trustees primarily made up of people from the local community. … It was not Schurman who came up with the idea to help Morris buy the water company. It was the Tremans and the Van Cleefs, so conflicts of interest were immense — but overlooked. In the early stages of the epidemic, there was a reluctance to do anything that would offend William Morris, a good friend of the Cornell board.

So they let it spiral out of control?

They did, for a while. There was severe criticism of the university, locally and in newspapers around the state, about the quality of medical care that was being given.

You say the story has a modern legacy.

William Morris got rid of his holdings in 1909, in part because he never really recovered from the costs of the epidemic, and he didn’t want to have the Public Service Commission telling him how to run his business. The company in 1921 was acquired by two fellows, John Mange and Howard Hopson. … It collapsed, went into bankruptcy and emerged in 1946 as the General Public Utilities Corporation, which ran the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant (site of the 1979 accident).

What lessons should we learn?

Certainly, the need to regulate businesses that affect the public interest. In 1903, there was no regulation of water companies, and little litigation if anything happened to you. … I also think the story is a good lesson about what happens when an infectious disease epidemic strikes a town. … With things like SARS or H1N1 flu, something could happen again.

Giveaway
We have a copy of “The Epidemic” to give away. To be eligible, send your name, address and phone number on a postcard or in a letter to CNY, “Epidemic” giveaway, P.O. Box 4915, Syracuse, NY 13221. It must be postmarked by Tuesday. One entry per person, please.

About typhoid

Typhoid fever is a life-threatening disease of the intestinal system caused by the typhoid bacillus, Salmonella typhosa.

It is spread by infected people who handle food or fluids without washing their hands or when sewage carrying the bacteria contaminates water, milk and other foods.

the-epidemic.JPG

Typhoid was famously spread around the same time as the Ithaca epidemic by “Typhoid Mary,” a cook named Mary Mallon who was quarantined for life against her will after personally causing at least a dozen outbreaks.

Symptoms show up one to two weeks after infection and include sore throat, fever, headache, nausea and loss of appetite and, in severe cases, delirium and death. The bacteria can invade the bloodstream and cause meningitis. The fever generally lasts three to four weeks.

Today, only about 400 cases are reported annually in the US, 70 percent acquired through international travel.

— Source: World of Health, 2007

Filed under Water Tagged with , , ,

Radon in Drinking Water | Radon | US EPA

December 25, 2010

Radon in Drinking Water | Radon | US EPA.

Public Health Standards for Radon in Drinking Water

EPA’s proposal for public health standards for radon in drinking water provided two options to States and community water systems for reducing radon health risks in both drinking water and indoor air quality, a unique multimedia framework authorized in the 1996 Amendments to the Safewater Drinking Water Act (SDWA).  Information about the proposed rule and information relating to the status of the rule can be found at http://water.epa.gov

National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Report on Radon in Drinking Water “Risk Assessment of Radon in Drinking Water.”

A report released September 15, 1998, by the National Academy of Sciences is the most comprehensive accumulation of scientific data on the public health risks of radon in drinking water.  The report was required by the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).  The NAS report (BEIR VI) issued earlier this year confirmed that radon is a serious public health threat.  This report goes on to refine the risks of radon in drinking water and confirms that there are drinking water related cancer deaths, primarily due to lung cancer.  The report, in general, confirms earlier EPA scientific conclusions and analyses for drinking water, and presents no major changes to EPA’s 1994 risk assessment.

Safe Drinking Water Hotline

Call toll free and speak with an Information Specialist Monday through Friday, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm eastern time at 1-800-426-4791. Local calls or International calls at (703) 412-3330. The Hotline is closed on Federal holidays, except Veteran’s Day. The Hotline is open on Veteran’s Day but closed the day after Thanksgiving.

The Safe Drinking Water Hotline telecommunications system provides only recorded messages in English and Spanish 24-hours a day, seven days a week at 1-800-426-4791. Local calls at (703) 412-3330. International calls at (703) 412-3330. Bilingual service is available. An introductory telephone message tells Spanish callers to leave a detailed message. Bilingual Information Specialists will return these calls. Write to The Safe Drinking Water Hotline, 4606M, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20460.

About the Safewater Hotline and Services Available.

Filed under Water Tagged with , , , ,

Risk Assessment of Radon in Drinking Water

December 25, 2010

Risk Assessment of Radon in Drinking Water.

Filed under Water Tagged with , ,

Gastem: Marcellus Shale Fracs in New York State Successful

December 23, 2010

The Industry Wins

Gastem: Marcellus Shale Fracs in New York State Successful.  Press Release 12/21/10

The Earth and Humans Lose:

Comment from Chip Northrup on Community Impact

—- Forwarded Message —-
From: “mjsoll@localnet.com” <mjsoll@localnet.com>
To: sustainableotsego@lists.riseup.net
Sent: Sun, September 12, 2010 6:25:33 AM
Subject: [sustainableotsego] Julie’s speech to the Otsego County Board of Representatives, July 21, 2010 and how close the gas well is to the NYC watershed and the Susquehanna River

For those who are interested, this is my prepared speech to the Otsego
County Board of Representatives, July 21, 2010. Due to the meetings
time constraints, it is not exactly word for word as I said it.

Julie Solloway, Maryland, NY. My house is about one mile from the Ross1
natural gas well.

We used to have GOLD on Crumhorn Mountain. We called it WATER. It
tasted great and was abundant.

Numerous times before the permit was given, and before drilling began,
we said there was no way they could drill on the Ross property on
Crumhorn Mountain, Maryland, NY, and not contaminate the water,
forever- especially our farm.

Water IS more valuable than gas.

I know of 8 water wells, including ours, that have been adversely
affected since the drilling of the Ross1 natural gas well began.  And,
there is concern about a ninth one.

This is the first natural gas well drilled with this technique, in New
York State. Water wells were showing adverse affects shortly after the
drilling began, which was about 2 ½ months BEFORE they fracked.

We can not drink our water anymore. People, pets and animals have been,
and are, sick since shortly after the drilling began. My family is only
using the water to flush the toilet and that is causing health
symptoms. Often times there is a chemical smell in the bathroom.

Having been forced to experience the new technique of natural gas
drilling first hand, I give you some of my experiences:

Within a month of the drilling starting, I was violently ill after
drinking our water. (Some of the symptoms were blurry vision, severe
stomach cramps and collapsing.) This is a water well that we had never
had a problem with, or been sick from, since it was drilled. After
this, I only used the water to wash my hands or shower. My clothes were
also washed in it.

Later, I also had a severe reaction after taking a shower. My nose and
the roof of my mouth burned so badly, that at first, I didn?t even
realize my tongue was swollen.

On the day of the shower incident, I waited three hours, before taking
a shower at another house to try to wash the contaminants off me.
During this time, the County Health Department contacted the State
Health Department and others, trying to find a doctor for me to go to
who could help me. They could not come up with any. Both the County and
State Health Departments told us no local doctor or emergency room
would know what to test me for, or treat me for, concerning chemical
exposure, in regard to a natural gas well.

Because of the severe reaction after taking a shower, the State Health
Department made the gas company test our water. My mother and I had
reactions after the gas company ran our tap water full blast 30-45
minutes before they took water to test. When questioned as to why they
ran the water like that, they admitted it didn?t have to be run at all
because it was a self-cleaning artesian well.- (Their words.) At that
time, we asked the gas company if they would be testing for all the
chemicals, substances, etc., they used and/or could encounter while
drilling the natural gas well. They said No!- they were only doing a
baseline.  Now they are claiming they have tested for all the chemicals
all along.

Some of the symptoms we, and others affected, have had, or continue to
have, are: headaches, sore throats, weird body aches and pains, rashes,
abnormal hair loss, blurry vision, collapsing, severe stomach pains,
bloody noses, intense ear pressure, varying degrees of dizziness,
burning in the nose and throat, and exhaustion from the 24 hour 7 day a
week activity that went on for months.

Noise was a huge problem.
A lot of people were scared by the violent, thunder-like noises.
There was a lot of noise from the tremendous truck and vehicle traffic.
The intense noise from the drilling site was so bad that you couldn?t
sleep, and if you did manage to fall asleep, you were awakened by the
noise and couldn?t get back to sleep.

Among the many noises, was a noise like a very low flying plane
hovering over-top of us. This was a different aggravating noise than
the almost constant droning noise that you also couldn?t get away from.

Explosions occurred anytime day or night. These ranged from muffled to
so loud we thought a huge jet was going to hit the house. They also
shook the house.

The air pollution, including the stink, was so bad at times it burned
noses and throats. The horses didn?t want to go out of the barn.
Sometimes you would go outside to do something, and the obnoxious
stench was so bad you had to go back in the house. Going back in the
house didn?t necessarily mean you got completely away from the awful
smells.

There were a lot of unidentified and unfamiliar offensive odors. Smells
that were, and/or are still being experienced, include a wide degree of
varying sulfur smells, along with smells something like: rotten egg,
swamp, matchhead, egg sandwich, nail polish, formaldehyde, and
hydrochloric acid, among others. There can be, has been, and for those
still doing laundry at home, continues to be, an awful smell while
doing laundry. People stink after taking a shower.

There was tremendous truck and vehicle traffic, day and night. They
often deviated from their agreed upon designated route for heavy
vehicles.  Local residents experienced tailgating, interrupted flow of
traffic, being forced off the road, and were often woken up by the
traffic.

Other negative impacts, noticed since the drilling began, include, but
aren?t limited to, dead animals, peculiar looking and odd growing
plants, shockwaves, and strange looking water, such as discolored,
and/or odd things throughout it from surface to bottom.

We were unable to do very much of our haying last year because of the
gas drilling. The little we did, we all had symptoms shortly afterwards.

Symptoms were also experienced after repairing, for an hour, the fence
that is only about 15 feet from Potato Creek.

The horses didn?t want to, and many times refused to, drink the water
from Potato Creek, even when it was brought to them in a bucket.

Since shortly after the drilling began, I have been dealing with sick
dogs, sick horses and sick people, including me.

I thought allowing the drilling of the Ross1 natural gas well would be
devastating. I didn?t realize how bad it would be, the magnitude of the
affects, or how quickly water contamination would occur.

I used to say, the more you learn about natural gas drilling, the worse
it gets. NOW I SAY, THE MORE YOU EXPERIENCE NATURAL GAS DRILLING, THE
WORSE IT GETS.

The State Health Department has given us, and others affected,
ridiculous excuses of causes of health symptoms such as: it must be
your shampoo, it must be the sink traps, it must be dust. At another
household, the State Health Department claimed they had used too much
water. This was last year when we had all that rain. The State Health
Department and the gas company both insist there isn?t any reason why
we can?t drink the water.

Several people, including a New York State Health Department worker,
said it is very likely that the chemical or substance I am reacting to,
will not show up in a water test; i.e. there is not enough of it to
show up in a water test, but there is enough of it to cause me to have
a reaction to it. I will never be able to use our water again.

Would you let your kids and grandchildren drink my water? I won?t.

I hope no one in this room has to go through what we are going through.

We don?t call our WATER gold anymore. We call it POISON.

Thank you.

This is relevant to a lot of New York State and beyond. It concerns
people besides those in Otsego County.
Note: The Ross1 natural gas well is approximately 11.5 miles from the
Catskill/Delaware (NYC) Watershed. The closest adversely affected water
well we KNOW about, is approximately 9.5 miles from this watershed. The
Ross1 is also about 1.8 miles from the Susquehanna River. On the other
side, it is about 1.4 miles to the Schenevus Creek, an A rated trout
stream that empties into the Susquehanna River. A small, unnamed creek
which originates at the pond/wetland bordering the Ross1 wellpad, and
Potato Creek flow into Schenevus Creek.
Also note, the proposed Ross2 site is at least 3 miles closer to this
NYC watershed, than the Ross1. It will probably be within 8.5 miles of
the watershed. The proposed Ross2 is very close to Schenevus Creek and
a propane pipeline. This pipeline blew up in the hamlet of North
Blenheim, March 13, 1990, killing two people and demolishing ten homes.
(1-6) On January 25, 2004, an explosion caused by a leak in a valve, in
this same pipeline, blew up a house and caused an evacuation in
Harpersfield, NY. (3, 4, 6, 7) On August 27, 2010, a leak in this same
pipeline caused an evacuation near Gilboa. NY. (5) In July 2010, the
gas company was taking baseline water tests in preparation for drilling
the Ross2. As far as we know no permit has been granted or applied for
to the DEC.

Work Cited Links

1.
http://thedailystar.com/columns/x1399741864/Propane-blast-changes-hamlet-forever

2.  http://old.thedailystar.com/news/stories/2003/05/08/expl.html

3.  http://old.thedailystar.com/news/stories/2004/01/26/fire.html

4.  http://old.thedailystar.com/news/stories/2004/01/29/fire.html

5.
http://thedailystar.com/localnews/x654500482/Propane-leak-displaces-five-families

6.  http://old.thedailystar.com/news/stories/2004/01/27/fire.html

7  http://old.thedailystar.com/news/stories/2005/02/09/family1.html

Filed under Spills-Accidents-Suits, Water Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , ,

New York State Medical Societies Call for Moratorium

December 10, 2010 1 Comment

It’s now official: the Medical Society of the State of New York has gone on record supporting a moratorium on gas drilling using high volume hydraulic fracturing.

Numerous county medical societies began supporting a moratorium. Most were content with waiting for the EPA to issue its findings before proceeding further even though it was unclear how wide a scope the study would cover or even if they would produce valid, reliable information to begin with. The thought was to wait, let the EPA prove itself and then reevaluate when the time came. Few thought the medical profession would be willing to leave a moratorium so open ended. Yet that is what was eventually passed at the state level: a call for a true moratorium until “valid information” is available. Given the fact that the process is only now coming under scrutiny of not only the state and federal government (where it should have been done in the first place), but academia, and now the medical community we might now begin to hope that the issue will get the attention and study it deserves. We might dare hope that the precautionary principle lives.
 
Here is the wording of the resolution passed by MSSNY:

RESOLVED, That the Medical Society of the State of New York supports a moratorium on natural gas extraction using high volume hydraulic fracturing in New York State until valid information is available to evaluate the process for its potential effects on human health and the environment.
 
 
Counties that passed their own calls for a moratorium are (might be incomplete):
Broome County Medical Society
Herkimer County Medical Society
Cayuga County Medical Society
Chemung County Medical Society
Chenango County Medical Society
Madison County Medical Society
Oneida County Medical Society
Onondaga County Medical Society
Oswego County Medical Society
Otsego County Medical Society
Tompkins County Medical Society
……literally all the southern tier
Delaware and Tioga Counties do not have separate Societies but fall under what is called the sixth District which also declared support for a moratorium.
 
Chris
Chris W. Burger
110 Walters Road
Whitney Point, NY 13862
(607) 692-3442
cwburger@frontiernet.net

See   for more information regarding medical professionals
=======================================

The model Resolution used with some variations:
 
Whereas, as physicians we believe in the principle of Primum, non, nocere, First, do no harm; and
 
Whereas, as physicians of [     ] County, we care first and foremost about the health of our community and believe that when an activity raises potential harm to human health, precautionary measures should be taken until cause and effect relationships are fully established scientifically, and
 
Whereas, the exploitation of natural gas in the Marcellus Shale Gas Field involves high-pressure injection of billions of gallons of water and millions of gallons of water-soluble chemicals into the shale formations to allow the release of natural gas, and
 
Whereas, backflow from this process contains heavy metals, radioactive materials and volatile organic compounds, and the effects of this process on human health have not been subject to rigorous medical research, and
 
Whereas, the review reported by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in the draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement contains no high quality medical data, now therefore be it
 
RESOLVED, that the [     ] County Medical Society supports a moratorium to natural gas extraction using high volume hydraulic fracturing in New York State until completion of the recently announced Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study to evaluate its effects on human health and the environment, and be it further
 
RESOLVED, that this resolution be sent to the appropriate state elected representatives, local media and other interested parties.
 

Filed under events Tagged with , , ,

Onondaga Medical Society Cites Health Dangers of Fracking

November 27, 2010

Commentary: Insufficient evidence hydrofracking safe, says Dr. David Duggan, president of Onondaga County Medical Society

Published: Friday, November 26, 2010, 5:00 AM
 By David B. Duggan, M.D.

The Onondaga County Medical Society wishes to express its strongly held opinion that there is insufficient scientific evidence available to assure that the process of hydrofracking to enhance natural gas production is safe.

Because of the potential for significant health problems arising from exposure to unknown chemicals in drinking water and through agricultural uses of contaminated water, we believe that proposals for hydrofracking in Upstate New York should be made contingent upon the provision of sufficient scientific evidence to ensure that the public’s health is protected. Among the scientific issues that should be addressed are the following:

6 Comments

1) The additives to the water used to force natural gas from bedrock shale should be described in detail, including the components and concentrations of the additives.

2) Detailed studies should be performed to determine where the water will migrate after injection. This is especially of concern in those areas of the Marcellus shale that are at or near the surface, and where contaminated ground water remains a real concern.

3) The timeframes for the waters injected and their solubilized contaminants to spread throughout the region may be measured in several years, as geologic processes often evolve slowly, but this should not preclude the development of well-performed studies to measure these effects before widespread hydrofracking is approved.

Anecdotal reports of well contamination and the new phenomenon of natural gas seepage through wells and into personal water supplies should be investigated thoroughly by an independent third party with sufficient equipment and training to render an informed opinion as to the relationship of the gas escape and hydrofracking. The biological effects of each of the additives proposed for hydrofracking should be made public, and if insufficient investigations have been performed, they should proceed before these additives are used.

The implications of a contaminated ground water supply are substantial. We do not wish to recreate water-linked disasters such as Onondaga Lake’s contamination or the contamination that occurred in association with the WR Grace Company in Woburn, Ma., which was linked to multiple cases of childhood leukemia in the 1970s.

The assurances offered by the drilling companies, and statements that such things cannot happen because of the geologic formations present are not reassuring, as the companies’ incentives are to produce gas and profit, and assumed impermeability of underlying strata is a hypothesis rather than a demonstrated fact.

The potential for migration of contaminated hydrofracking water delivered under pressure is quite real, and the permeability characteristics of underlying strata have been based on limited sampling. I believe that only through an extensive sampling process with test wells could any realistic data be developed.

David Duggan, M.D., is president of the Onondaga County Medical Society.

Filed under events Tagged with , , , ,

Pa. farmer: Natural gas drilling ‘a nightmare’ Nov. 16, 2010

November 17, 2010

Pa. farmer: Natural gas drilling ‘a nightmare’

By Derrick Ek
Posted Nov 16, 2010 @ 11:44 PM
Elmira, N.Y. —

Ron Gulla, a farmer from Hickory, Pa., says he had no idea what he was getting into when he leased his land for gas drilling.

“When I saw what was happening on my property, I couldn’t believe it,” Gulla said. “They totally misinformed us and misrepresented the lease.”

Over the past few years, he saw his farm – in a rural area just south of Pittsburgh – become a large industrial site over which he had no control, and had his water supply tainted by high levels of toxic chemicals, he said.

Gulla – who also sells construction and forestry equipment and once spent six years working in the oil and gas industry – tried to take out a mortgage loan to finance a lawsuit against the well operator, Range Resources, but was told by the bank that his land was basically worthless because of the drilling activity there.

Gulla told gutwrenching stories of other farmers in Washington County whose property was virtually ruined by drilling. Many of their calves have been born with strange deformities, he said. Cows and horses – even dogs – have been sickened or killed from drinking the water from streams and ponds near the well pads. Folks living near compressor stations have had serious health issues from air pollution, he added.

The farmers affected in his area have received nothing in compensation, he said.

“It’s been a nightmare for a lot of people,” Gulla said. “You’re going to hear some people say this is the best thing that’s happened to them, that it’s the best thing since sliced bread. And they’re making money, granted, but at what price, and what risk?”

Gulla was one of a half-dozen speakers to tell cautionary tales about the gas rush under way in Pennsylvania – and on the horizon in New York – at a public forum Tuesday night in a crowded parish hall at Trinity Episcopal Church in downtown Elmira.

The event was organized by area environmental groups People for a Healthy Environment, Coalition to Protect New York, Committee to Preserve the Finger Lakes, and Pax Christi Upstate New York. It was clearly not a balanced panel on the issue, although recent chamber of commerce forums touting the economic benefits of gas exploration haven’t been either: those have mostly featured speakers from the gas industry and pro-drilling elected officials.

Not all of Tuesday’s speakers spoke directly against drilling.

One of them, Lou Allstadt, is a retired Mobil Oil Corp. executive vice president and a past director of the U.S. Oil and Gas Association. A Cooperstown resident, he has extensively reviewed the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s proposed permitting guidelines – now being finalized – for high volume, horizontal hydraulic fracturing, and believes they are insufficient.

In his remarks, Allstadt gave a list of suggestions on how gas drilling might proceed safely in New York, some of which are being developed but are not yet widely implemented, he said.

Among them:

Developing a “green” fracking fluid, and ending government exemptions that allow the industry to use the fracking fluid it currently does. In the meantime, identifying markers should be added to fracking fluid, so if there is a case of suspected water contamination, it can be traced to the source, he said.

Using a closed loop system for drilling wastewater, rather than storing it in open, lined ponds where toxins can evaporate into the atmosphere. “It’s a bad system, and it doesn’t have to be that way,” said Allstadt, who also called for greater recycling of fracking fluid at well sites.

Allstadt also called for seismic testing prior to each time a well is fracked, to identify underground cracks and fissures that could lead to toxins migrating to aquifers, he said.

Better standards are needed for the casings that line well bores near the surface and protect aquifers, he claimed.

There should also be greater setback distances for well pads from drinking water sources and residential areas. Also, the state should give local governments a say in regulating drilling locations, Allstadt said.

Saying human error contributes to most drilling accidents, he called for more stringent training for drilling crews, which often have a high turnover, he said. He also called for making gas companies post multi-million dollar “performance bonds” to fund cleanups should any incidents occur.

Allstadt also said the DEC needs to greatly increase its mineral resources staffing levels, saying it would be “impossible” to properly monitor a shale drilling boom with its current staffing levels. He also called for the state to form a separate agency to issue permits and collect revenues, so the DEC can focus solely on protecting the environment.

Organizer Susan Multer of People for a Healthy Environment said she counted approximately 240 people at Tuesday’s forum.

Filed under agriculture, Spills-Accidents-Suits Tagged with , , , , , , ,

← Older posts

Newer posts →