Sunday, April 16, 2023

Inside Climate News: Gov. Shapiro Provides Fresh Support To Key Changes Recommended In 2020 Grand Jury Report To Tighten Regulation Of The Natural Gas Drilling Industry To Better Protect Public Health, Environment

On April 26 Inside Climate News published a comprehensive article by Stacey Burling on issues surrounding the disposal of 2.6 billion gallons of conventional and shale gas drilling wastewater generated in Pennsylvania annually that included a statement from Gov. Shapiro’s office supporting “key recommendations” in a 2020 Grand Jury Report that concluded DEP’s oil and gas regulatory program failed to protect public health and the environment.

Inside Climate News quoted Manuel Bonder, a spokesman for Gov. Josh Shapiro, as saying, Gov. Shapiro “supports implementing the report’s key recommendations” and believes “we must reject the false choice between protecting jobs and protecting our planet.”

The article also said DEP Acting Secretary Richard Negrin “has established an internal team to review the grand jury report and ‘determine the best policies to protect Pennsylvanians’ constitutional rights to clean air and pure water,’ the Governor’s Office said. 

“It is considering a new criminal referral policy to improve “collaboration and efficiency” between the DEP and the attorney general’s office,” the article said.

The Grand Jury Report was released by then Attorney General Shapiro in June 2020 after what he said then was a two-year investigation uncovered systematic failure by government agencies in overseeing the fracking industry and fulfilling their responsibility to protect Pennsylvanians from the inherent risks of industry operations.   Read more here.

The announcement in 2020  said in addition to exposing failures on the part of Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Health, the Grand Jury made eight recommendations to create a more comprehensive legal framework that would better protect Pennsylvanians from the realities of industry operations.

The recommendations included--

-- Expanding No-Drill Zones: Expanding no-drill zones in Pennsylvania from the required 500 feet to 2,500 feet;

-- Chemical Disclosure: Requiring fracking companies to publicly disclose all chemicals used in drilling and hydraulic fracturing before they are used on-site;

-- Gathering Pipelines: Requiring the regulation of gathering lines, used to transport unconventional gas hundreds of miles;

-- Assess Air Quality: Adding up all sources of air pollution in a given area to accurately assess air quality;

-- Safe Transport Of Waste: Requiring safer transport of the contaminated waste created from fracking sites;

-- Comprehensive Health Response: Conducting a comprehensive health response to the effects of living near unconventional drilling sites;

-- Limit Revolving Door: Limiting the ability of Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection employees to be employed in the private sector immediately after leaving the Department;

-- Direct Criminal Jurisdiction: Allowing the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General original criminal jurisdiction over unconventional oil and gas companies.

Click Here for a copy of the Grand Jury ReportRead more here.

“Our government has a duty to set, and enforce, ground rules that protect public health and safety. We are the referees, we are here to prevent big corporations and the powerful industries from harming our communities or running over the rights of citizens,” said Attorney General Shapiro. “When it comes to fracking, Pennsylvania failed. Now it’s time to face the facts, and do what we can to protect the people of this commonwealth by encouraging the Department of Environmental Protection to partner with us and by passing the Grand Jurors’ common-sense reforms.”

More On Article

The Inside Climate News article is a comprehensive report on what happens to the 2.6 billion gallons of drilling wastewater generated every year in Pennsylvania--  where it does for disposal or recycling, waste injection well development, problems with the conventional and shale gas wastewater reporting system, road dumping of conventional drilling wastewater and much more.

Click Here to read the entire article.

NewsClip:

-- Inside Climate News - Stacey Burling: Awash In Toxic Wastewater From Conventional, Shale Gas Drilling For Natural Gas, Pennsylvania Faces A Disposal Reckoning  

Related Articles - Grand Jury Report:

-- AG Shapiro: Grand Jury Finds Pennsylvania Failed To Protect Citizens During Natural Gas Fracking Boom  [PaEN]

-- House Bill Would Expand Safety Zones Around Oil/Gas Wells, Infrastructure To Reduce Adverse Health, Environmental Impacts As Recommended By AG Shapiro’s Grand Jury Report  [PaEN]

Impacts On Families - Oil & Gas Facilities

-- Natural Gas Pipeline Pigging Facility Malfunction Dec. 27 Released 1.1 Million Cubic Feet Of Natural Gas; Same Facility Plagued Community With Blowdowns 3 Times A Day, 7 Days A Week For Nearly 10 Years Until Criminal Charges Brought Against CNX [PaEN] 

-- Observer-Reporter: Ongoing Water Donation Drive Helping Dozens Of Greene County Families Who Haven’t Had Clean Drinking Water Since June Following Alleged ‘Frack-Out’ At Natural Gas Well Site  [PaEN]

-- Oil & Gas Industry Impacts: Navy Veterans Patrick & Helen Robinson Relate Their 7-Year Struggle Dealing With Impacts Of Mariner East Pipeline Construction In Indiana County, And They Continue   [PaEN]

-- Oil & Gas Industry Impacts: Cambria County Family Sues Sunoco After 3 Years Of Dealing With Damage To Home, Well, Septic System, Property From Mariner East Pipeline Construction    [PaEN]

-- Washington County Family Lawsuit Alleges Shale Gas Company Violated The Terms Of Their Lease By Endangering Their Health, Contaminating Their Water Supply And Not Protecting Their Land    [PaEN]

-- FracTracker Alliance Announces 7 Winners Of 2022 Community Sentinel Award For Environmental Stewardship; Including PA’s Laurie Barr  [PaEN]

Health Issues - Oil & Gas Facilities

-- Environmental Health Project: PA’s Natural Gas Boom - What Went Wrong? Why Does It Matter? What Can We Do Better To Protect Public Health?  [PaEN]

-- Environmental Health Project: Setback Distances And The Regulations We Need To Protect Public Health From Oil & Gas Facilities  [PaEN]

-- Senate Hearing: Body Of Evidence Is 'Large, Growing,’ ‘Consistent’ And 'Compelling' That Shale Gas Development Is Having A Negative Impact On Public Health; PA Must Act  [PaEN]

-- Presentations Now Available From Shale Gas & Public Health Conference In Nov. Hosted By PA League Of Women Voters & University Of Pittsburgh Graduate School Of Public Health   [PaEN]

-- Shale Gas & Public Health Conference: Living Near Oil & Gas Facilities Means Higher Health Risks, The Closer You Live, The Higher The Risk - By Nicole Deziel PhD MHS, Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health   [PaEN]

-- Shale Gas & Public Health Conference: Economically, Socially Deprived Areas In PA Have A Much Greater Chance Of Having Oil & Gas Waste Disposed In Their Communities - By Joan Casey, PhD, Assistant Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, Columbia Mailman School of Public Health  [PaEN]

-- Shale Gas & Public Health Conference: We've Got Enough Compelling Evidence To Enact Health Protective Policies For Families Now - By Edward C. Ketyer, M.D., President, Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania   [PaEN]

-- Shale Gas & Public Health Conference: When It Started, It Was Kind Of Nice, But What Happened Afterwards Really Kind Of Devastated Our Community - By Rev. Wesley Silva, former Council President Marianna Borough, Washington County   [PaEN]

-- Physicians For Social Responsibility Release 8th Compendium of Scientific, Medical, Media Findings On Risks, Harms Of Fracking And Oil & Gas Infrastructure   [PaEN]

-- Yale School Of Public Health Study Found PA Children 2 To 3 Times More Likely To Be Diagnosed With Leukemia If They Live Near Unconventional Shale Gas Facilities  [PaEN]

-- Washington County Community Meeting Updates Residents On PA Health & Environment Studies, Discusses Health Impacts Of Shale Gas Development  [PaEN]

-- Pitt School Of Public Health, PA Dept Of Health Abruptly Pull Out Of Oct. 5 Public Meeting They Helped Convene On Studies Looking At Links Between Natural Gas Development And Childhood Cancer Rates  [PaEN]

-- University Of Pittsburgh School Of Public Health Recruiting Families In Southwest PA For Study Of Childhood Cancer, One Of 3 Studies Of Potential Health Impacts Linked To Shale Natural Gas Development   [PaEN]

-- Guest Essay: PA's Low-Producing Conventional Oil & Gas Wells Are Leaking Too Much Methane, The Industry Needs To Take Care Of Its Own Trash   [PaEN]

--  Concerned Health Professionals Of PA Ask Health Professionals To Sign Letter Urging Gov.-Elect Shapiro To Protect Public Health, Environment From Impacts Of Oil & Gas Industry  [PaEN]

-- Study: Industry Data Shows Hazardous Air Pollutants Are ‘Ubiquitous’ In The Natural Gas Transmission System; More Justification For Robust Leak Prevention Programs   [PaEN]

-- Earthworks, FracTracker Alliance Release New Online Oil & Gas Threat Map; Find Natural Gas Facilities, Wells Near You [PaEN]

-- American Lung Association Report Details Health And Environmental Impacts Of Fuel-Burning Appliances At Home  [PaEN]

Impacts On Communities - Oil & Gas Facilities

-- Inside Climate News: Q/A With Eliza Griswold Pulitzer Winning Author Of Deep Dive Into Fracking In PA, How Extractive Industries ‘Gut’ Communities  [PaEN]

-- Conventional Oil & Natural Gas Drilling: An Industrial Machine Moving Across The PA Countryside Leaving Behind Big Liabilities & Spreading Pollution Everywhere It Goes [PaEN]

-- FracTracker Alliance Releases 4th Watershed Oil & Gas Drilling Impact Analysis In Susquehanna River Basin - Towanda & Schrader Creek Watersheds    [PaEN]

-- FracTracker Alliance: Lycoming Creek Watershed Oil & Gas Drilling Impact Analysis In Lycoming County    [PaEN]

-- PJM’s Preliminary Review Of Christmas Storm Electric Generation Failures Shows Natural Gas Units Failed To Provide Power At Over Triple The Rate Of Other Generation  [PaEN]

-- PUC Alerts Consumers Utility Natural Gas Costs Will Be Going Up By As Much As 128%, Electric Costs Will Be Going Up By As Much As 34%; Both Driven By Cost Of Natural Gas On World Markets  [PaEN]

-- PA PUC: Cost Of Natural Gas Provided By Major Utilities In PA Increased As Much As 154% Over Last Year  [PaEN]

-- Ohio River Valley Institute: 6% Population Loss, 3.3% Job Loss In PA's 'Natural Gas' Counties Show Misplaced Faith In Economic Benefits Of Oil & Gas [PaEN]

PA Environment Digest Oil & Gas Facility Impact Articles:

-- Articles On Oil & Gas Facility Impacts

PA Oil & Gas Public Notice Dashboards This Week:

-- Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - April 8 to 14; Shale Gas Drillers Create New Brownfields, 8 Wells Found With Defective Casing/Cementing  [PaEN]  

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment - April 15  [PaEN] 

-- DEP Posts 68 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In April 15 PA Bulletin  [PaEN]   

PA Oil & Gas Compliance Reports

-- Feature: 60 Years Of Fracking, 20 Years Of Shale Gas: Pennsylvania’s Oil & Gas Industrial Infrastructure Is Hiding In Plain Sight [PaEN]

-- Conventional Oil & Gas Well Owners Failed To File Annual Production/Waste Generation Reports For 61,655 Wells; Attorney General Continues Investigation Of Road Dumping Wastewater  [PaEN]

-- DEP Issued 754 Notices Of Violation For Defective Oil & Gas Well Casing, Cementing, The Fundamental Protection Needed To Prevent Gas Migration, Groundwater & Air Contamination, Explosions  [PaEN]

-- DEP Report Finds: Conventional Oil & Gas Drillers Routinely Abandon Wells; Fail To Report How Millions Of Gallons Of Waste Is Disposed; And Non-Compliance Is An ‘Acceptable Norm’  [PaEN]

-- DEP 2021 Oil & Gas Program Annual Report Shows Conventional Oil & Gas Operators Received A Record 610 Notices Of Violation For Abandoning Wells Without Plugging Them  [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industry Has Record Year: Cost, Criminal Convictions Up; $3.1 Million In Penalties Collected; Record Number Of Violations Issued; Major Compliance Issues Uncovered; Evidence Of Health Impacts Mounts  [PaEN] 

Related Articles Last Week:

-- House Bill Would Expand Safety Zones Around Oil/Gas Wells, Infrastructure To Reduce Adverse Health, Environmental Impacts As Recommended By AG Shapiro’s Grand Jury Report  [PaEN]

-- Ohio Research Confirms Health, Environmental Hazards In Conventional Oil & Gas Drilling Wastewater Dumped On Roads, Just Like In PA  [PaEN]

-- New University Of Chicago Medical Study Connects Natural Gas Development In PA To Real, Serious Human Health Outcomes And Should Be A Call To Action For Policy Makers - By Alison Caldwell, PhD,  University of Chicago News  [PaEN] 

-- Local Officials, Residents, Advocacy Groups Call On DEP To Conduct A Robust Public Participation Process For Oil & Gas Waste Injection Well Applications  [PaEN]

-- DEP Inspection Finds Two Repsol Oil & Gas Shale Gas Wells Venting Natural Gas To Atmosphere, Defective Well Casing/Cementing In Susquehanna County; Violations Continue From May 2017  [PaEN]

-- Moms Clean Air Force: Strong Proposed EPA Petrochemical Plant Rules Are One Step Closer To Reality; Shell Petrochemical Plant Covered By Separate Proposed Rule  [PaEN]

-- Homer City Coal-Fired Power Plant To Close In Indiana County; Low Price Of Natural Gas, High Price Of Coal, Regulatory Burdens, RGGI Cited As Causes; Solar Projects Waiting To Fill Gap  [PaEN]

-- PA Council Of Professional Geologists Hosts April 20 Webinar Presentation By Manager Of PA State Seismic Network - Basement Structure Of Appalachian Basin In PA  [PaEN]

-- PJM This Week Sends Penalty Assessments Of Up To $2 Billion To Electric Generators That Failed To Perform During December’s Winter Storm Elliot; Natural Gas Power Plants Had 63% Of Outages  [PaEN]

Related Articles This Week:

-- Natural Gas Pipeline Pigging Facility Malfunction Dec. 27 Released 1.1 Million Cubic Feet Of Natural Gas; Same Facility Plagued Community With Blowdowns 3 Times A Day, 7 Days A Week For Nearly 10 Years Until Criminal Charges Brought Against CNX [PaEN] 

-- DEP/Equitrans Settlement: DEP, Preempted By Federal Law, Withdraws Order, Closes NOVs Against Equitrans For Cambria County Natural Gas Storage Leak Releasing 1 Billion Cubic Feet Of Natural Gas  [PaEN] 

-- How Chesapeake Appalachia Created Another New Shale Gas Brownfield In Bradford County; Timberline Energy Plugs Its Abandoned Conventional Gas Wells In Venango County  [PaEN] 

-- Independent Regulatory Review Commission Meets April 20 On Final Emergency Regs Setting VOC/Methane Emission Limits On Conventional Oil/Gas Operations  [PaEN]

-- The Express: Bechtel Corp Announced It Will Discontinue Development Of The 1,000 MW Natural Gas-Fired Renovo Energy Center In Clinton County  [PaEN]  

-- DEP Issues Three More Air Quality Violations To Shell Petrochemical Plant In Beaver County Related To Emergency Flaring, Exceeding 12-Month Air Pollution Limits  [PaEN]

-- Beaver County Times: Strong Hydrocarbon Odors, Pollution Leave Residents Uneasy After Releases At Shell Petrochemical Plant In Beaver County  

-- KDKA: Shell Says It’s Working To Eliminate What’s Causing A Putrid Smell From Beaver County Petrochemical Plant  

-- WTAE: Residents Voice Concerns About Strong Odor Near Shell Petrochemical Plant In Beaver County

-- Post-Gazette: DEP Investigating Stink At Shell Petrochemical Plant In Beaver County

-- StateImpactPA - Reid Frazier: DEP Investigating Odor Event From Shell Petrochemical Plant In Beaver County

-- Chesapeake Bay Journal: Proposed Encina Pyrolysis Chemical Plant To Break Down Plastic Waste Into Benzene, Toluene, Xylenes Proposed For Susquehanna River Shoreline In Northumberland County - By Ad Crable, Chesapeake Bay Journal  [PaEN]

-- Ohio River Valley Institute Hosts April 19 Webinar On Policy Action In Response To The Norfolk Southern Train Derailment & Beyond  [PaEN]

-- City & State PA: PA Energy Summit May 11 In Pittsburgh, Featuring Keynote Speaker Acting DEP Secretary Negrin  [PaEN] 

[Posted: April 16, 2023]  PA Environment Digest

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