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Posted--1/26/10
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Local Media Coverage: Albany Rally (1.25.10)
Source: Press and Sun Bulletin: Stakeholders in gas-drilling debate air opinions in Albany
Source: WBNG: Rally For Gas Drilling (Video)
Source: WBNG: Rally Against Gas Drilling (Video)
Source: WBNG: Albany Lawmakers Speak About Gas Drilling(Video)
Posted--1/26/10
Wednesday, January 19, 2010
Source: Penn State Ag Sciences
Water testing near gas-drilling sites first of five water-quality webinars
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Water quality and water conservation will be the focus of five Web-based seminars produced by Penn State Cooperative Extension this spring. Topics will include water testing, septic systems, managing ponds and lakes, and safe drinking water.
The first webinar will cover strategies to monitor water wells, springs and streams that are near gas-drilling sites. That presentation will air Wednesday, Jan. 27, at noon and again at 7 p.m.
"We're starting to get a lot of questions about how people should monitor or test water wells or streams when there is drilling nearby," said Bryan Swistock, senior extension associate in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. "This webinar will cover what they should do in terms of testing, what tests to run, who does it, how often and how much it will it cost."
Swistock said there are many different testing options, depending on the water use. He said the simplest way to monitor water quality is to test for total dissolved solids. "If there is a spill or leak from a drilling site, the dissolved solids would indicate that," he said. "But if you want to test drinking water, you'll need a more thorough test than that."
Swistock stressed that testing performed by the homeowner may have limited value if a case were to develop into a lawsuit. He suggested that in instances when legal action may occur, homeowners should hire a third-party lab or tester to collect the sample. Such precautions ensure that the water samples retain a "chain of custody" and that they are collected in the proper manner by a professional, he said.
The water-testing webinar is part of an overall series targeting the most common water questions and concerns people have about water resources on their own property, whether those are water wells, septic systems or ponds. The series will discuss water-resource types, what kinds of threats exist to water supplies, and how property owners can manage them.
Participants must pre-register for the webinars, but only one registration is required for the entire series. To register, visit http://water.cas.psu.edu/webinars.htm. Once participants have pre-registered, they may visit this Web site on the day of the presentation and simply click on the link with the title of that day's webinar.
Penn State Cooperative Extension Water Webinars are held the last Wednesday of each month from January until May and will air at noon and 7 p.m. on each date. Dates, topics and presenters for the 2010 series include:
- -- Jan. 27, Water Testing and Monitoring Strategies Near Gas Drilling Activity, Bryan Swistock, Penn State water resources extension specialist.
- -- Feb. 24, Saving Money and Your Septic System through Water Conservation, Tom McCarty, Penn State Cooperative Extension, Cumberland County.
- -- March 31, Managing Your Pond or Lake, Susan Boser, Penn State Cooperative Extension, Beaver County.
- -- April 28, Safe Drinking Water Clinic, Peter Wulfhorst, Penn State Cooperative Extension, Pike County.
- -- May 26, Managing Your On-Lot Septic System, Dana Rizzo, Penn State Cooperative Extension, Westmoreland County.
For more information, contact Bryan Swistock at (814) 863-0194, or by e-mail at brs@psu.edu.
Posted--1/20/10
Wednesday, January 19, 2010
Source: Energy
In Depth
NOTICE: Several articles from this posting have been move to the archive.
Paterson proposes tax on Marcellus gas extraction, soda in state budget
“Gov. David A. Paterson today proposed a severance
tax on some natural-gas producers. A 3 percent tax would be imposed
on natural-gas producers in the Marcellus and Utica Shale formation
in the Southern Tier and central New York using a horizontal well.
The state doesn’t expect any revenue in the 2010-11 fiscal year, but
estimates $1 million in the following fiscal year.”
Ithaca
(NY) Journal
Hydrofracking to be taxed under Paterson's plan
“Gov. David Paterson proposed a 3 percent
tax on natural gas exploration companies that use high-volume
hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, to capture gas in the
Marcellus or Utica Shale formations. The state Department of
Environmental Conservation is reviewing proposed regulations on
hydrofracking, a technique that environmentalists say could pollute
drinking water and damage Upstate New York.”
Syracuse
(NY) Post-Standard
Read More in the archives.
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Posted--1/20/10
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Source: Energy
In Depth
Markey’s Hearing
Aide
As Congress examines
critical role that shale gas can play in securing America’s energy future, U.S.
Energy Secretary renders his scientific judgment on key technology needed to
produce it.
Tomorrow morning, the
chairman of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on energy and environment
will preside over a congressional
hearing slated to examine, among other issues, the current dimensions and
future trajectory of the American energy revolution known as shale gas
exploration.
The event is not
expected to include testimony from U.S. Energy secretary Steven Chu. But if Mr.
Chu’s recent
comments on the safety and necessity of hydraulic fracturing are any
indication, the 1997 Nobel prize-winner in the category of physics has plenty to
add to a debate that would certainly benefit from some genuine scientific
perspective.
Now, it’s true: Chu’s
professional expertise isn’t often considered to reside in the sphere of
upstream oil and natural gas production. But the man is considered an expert in
the magneto-optical trapping of
subatomic particles; it was Chu, after all, who came up with the idea of adding
a spatially varying magnetic quadrupole to the red detuned optical field to
perfect the process of laser cooling (why didn’t we think of
that?!). So when the Energy secretary has something to say about the safety of
modern-day shale gas technology, as he did late last
week, he’ll find in us a captive audience:
|
U.S. Energy
Secretary Steven Chu said on Friday that fracking could be done in a way
to remove oil or gas that would not harm the environment and suggested Congress should not outlaw the
practice.
"If it can be
extracted in an environmentally safe way, then why would you want to ban
it?" Chu told reporters. "I think it can be done
responsibly." |
We believe it can be
done safely as well, incidentally – and not just because we’ve been deploying
fracturing technology for more than 60
years now, and more than 1.1 million separate times, without engendering a
single, credible case of drinking water contamination. For us, the better
guidepost is science – science that not only confirms that which has not
happened in the past, but a field of study that considers the geo-physical
realities at play in ensuring it does not, and indeed cannot, happen in the
future.
So for that, we look
to geology – specifically, the physical barriers
that exist between the underground strata containing potable supplies of
drinking water (generally found between 100-350 feet below the surface) and the
formations below (often miles below) that hold trillions of cubic feet of
diffuse, tightly packed, job-creating
shale gas resources. How do we know those confining strata will do their job and
ensure the water at 200 feet is appropriately separated from the shale at 8,500
feet? Because they’ve been doing that job for a million years now -- preventing
the salty water that’s already down there naturally from
penetrating our aquifers and ruining our drinking water.
But the science
doesn’t end there; it’s expanded upon by operators and engineers on the surface,
gilding
the lily even further by cementing millions of pounds (and thousands of
feet) of steel casing into the well – thus eliminating any and all pathways of
exposure between what’s taking place inside the wellbore, and what’s naturally
occurring outside it. That’s why fracturing is safe – not just because of
the technology used to safeguard our water; not just because of the
natural, geological barriers that exist below ground; not just because of
the thorough
regulatory oversight executed by the states; but thanks to a confluence of
all these important components; each and every time, in each and every state in
which the technology is deployed.
So, the question is:
Will any of this come up in the subcommittee hearing tomorrow? Tough to say for
sure. What we do know, however, is that Chairman Markey understands the critical
role that the responsible development of America’s shale gas can play in
achieving several specific economic and environmental goals near and dear to his
heart. We include his latest comments on shale gas below – but trust us: the
audio file does his statement a whole lot more justice.
|
Ninety percent
of all new electrical capacity in America since 1990 has been natural gas,
and it’s going to continue on that way as a baseload ... But natural gas
is going to do very well in the future, and the discoveries from the
Marcellus Shale all the way through Barnett, that is all the way from
New York down to Texas, are going to be big source of new
electrical generation. |
He’s right – the
future of natural gas is as bright as it is boundless. But its potential will
only be realized if Congress heeds the advice of Secretary Chu, the scientist,
and doesn’t indulge itself in the unscientific justifications peddled by
exponents of the FRAC
Act.
###
NEWS ARCHIVE
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