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Ken Weir, spokesman for Communities United for Rights and Environment, speaks to about 40 protesters gathered Thursday 11/4/2010 outside of Clairton Municipal Water Authority's front entrance to oppose the dumping of untreated wastewater from Marcellus shale drilling into the Monongahela River.
Photo Credit: James Knox | Tribune Review |
MEDIA ADVISORY
Marcellus Communities United for Rights and Environment (CURE) Delivers Memo to PA Gov. Corbett: BAN FRACKING
Harrisburg Pa. - Marcellus Communities United for Rights and Environment (CURE) will deliver a memo to Governor Tom Corbett outlining the impossibility of proper emergency and risk management procedures and recommending a ban on deep shale hydraulic fracturing in Pennsylvania following a noon rally in the Capitol rotunda.
The report, authored by Alex Lotorto, includes an exhaustive list of recommendations for Governor Corbett to consider regarding response to “fracking” chemical fires, mass evacuation plans within a one-mile radius of shale gas wells, contamination of aquifers, on-site explosions, large traffic accidents on rural roads, chemical train car derailments, chemical manufacturing disasters, large spills in drinking water supplies, recall of contaminated agricultural products, sportsmen alerts, and many other potential hazards.
The memo also includes a sample dossier of documented accidents, injuries, illnesses, and deaths that have resulted from deep shale gas drilling using hydraulic fracturing.
Lotorto said, "I believe that only a portion of this risk analysis should be necessary for a sane, rational human being to support an end to the practice of horizontal, slick water, high-volume, hydraulic fracturing for shale gas, a new process only developed in the last decade. From school buses getting hit by frack trucks to the mile wide evacuation that occurred one year ago today near Moundsville, West Virginia after an Atlas Energy well blew up injuring seven workers. This has to stop. It must be banned completely. There is no way this can be deemed safe, with or without a moratorium."
An excerpt:
The New York Times reported that an industry-funded study of blowout preventer tests found that equipment failed 62 times out of every 90,000 tests.
If this is true, as a conservative estimate, and the number of wells predicted in Pennsylvania will be 60,000 wells, hydraulically fractured an average of 10 stages each, that would result in 600,000 instances of high pressure stress that could cause a blowout from the well head and require the use of a blowout preventer. Using the 62/90,000 ratio, there is a significant chance that dozens more blowouts will occur, endangering the lives of workers, surrounding residents, and habitat.
A final version will be published on 6/8/2011 at noon. Advanced copies can be faxed upon request.
Marcellus Communities United for Rights and Environment was founded in Pittsburgh, November 2010 as part of a larger effort to pass a ban on hydraulic fracturing in Pittsburgh city limits. An action was organized to picket the dumping of Marcellus shale wastewater at the Clairton Municipal Authority on 11/4/10.
If the viewer below is not working, follow this link: https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1Z1UHMr4l3wvmGtYlR6BiwZF7RAlr9JEu4mD7D2H0zmc
ATTACHED DOSSIER
May 17, 2011|By Andrew Maykuth, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection on Tuesday fined Chesapeake Energy Corp. $1.1 million for violations related to natural gas drilling activities, the largest penalty ever against a Marcellus Shale operator.
Under a consent order, Chesapeake will pay $900,000 for contaminating private water supplies in Bradford County. Under a second agreement, Chesapeake will pay $188,000 for a Feb. 23 tank fire at its drilling site in Avella, Washington County.
Chesapeake is the largest operator working in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale, a gas-rich formation that has triggered a bonanza of drilling activity in the last three years.
June 8, 2010 By KEF O. HOWARD Staff Writer
LIMESTONE - The fire is contained to the drilling site, but it may be several days before the cause of a Marshall County gas explosion is determined. Flames continued to light the sky late Monday at a natural gas drilling site on Beam's Lane, about 3.5 miles east of Moundsville off U.S. 250 where seven workers were injured Monday. A section of U.S. 250 had to be shut down after the explosion sent fire about 75 feet into the air.
EOG Well in Pennsylvania Had ‘Blowout,’ State Says
By David Wethe June 07, 2010, 12:35 PM EDT
June 4 (Bloomberg) -- A Pennsylvania natural-gas well operated by EOG Resources Inc. had a “blowout” last night, sending natural gas and drilling fluids onto the ground and 75 feet (23 meters) into the air, the state’s Department of Environmental Protection said.
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March 31, 2010 near West Middletown, Pa
Hopewell Township - Washington CountyShortly after 8:00am on a Wednesday morning in March 2010, a frac pit fire erupted at an Atlas Energy Resources Marcellus gas well location, shooting flames 300 to 400 feet into the air. A witness compared the sound of the ignition to throwing a match on a pile of wood saturated with gasoline
Friday, February 25, 2011 By David Templeton and Sean D. Hamill, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A day after a flash fire sent flames skyrocketing into the evening sky over a Marcellus Shale drill site in Washington County, investigators still are unsure what caused it to erupt.
Three workers, all working at a Chesapeake Energy Corp. drill site off Meadowcroft Road, just west of the village of Avella, suffered injuries not believed to be life-threatening.
Tuesday, March 01, 2011 By Jonathan D. Silver, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
One of three tanks at a MarkWest Liberty Midstream Resources LLC compressor station near Marcellus Shale wellheads in Mount Pleasant, Washington County, caught fire around 5:15 a.m. today because of a malfunctioning heater, causing the hatch of a second tank to blow off, according to preliminary information from the state Department of Environmental Protection.
LEETSDALE, Pa. -- Cleanup has begun at an at the Leetsdale Industrial Park, where a vapor cloud was released while a worker was mixing a powdered chemical on Thursday.
Weatherford Artificial Lift Systems Inc. was evacuated when an explosion occurred while a worker was blending 1,500 pounds of ammonium persulfate in a machine. ... Weatherford is a Swiss-based corporation that makes products used by gas and oil drillers.
Pittsburgh City Paper - 6/11
By Lauren Daley, Michael Macagnone
You can no longer see the 15-story drill rig that once stuck out from the rolling hills of Trax Farms. For the moment, Chesapeake Appalachia is between stages of drilling in the Marcellus Shale below the 300-acre family farm in Finleyville, Washington County. But in the next few months will come hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," in which millions of gallons of water and chemicals are pumped underground, shattering rock and freeing the natural gas inside. |
July 2, 2010
WELLSBORO - Twenty-eight cows have been quarantined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture after officials say the animals may have consumed wastewater that leaked from a holding pond for a natural gas well on the property.
DEP IDs Spill Substance
WNEP Scranton Wilkes-Barre
3:45 p.m. EDT, June 6, 2011
DEP now knows what spilled on a road in Lycoming County over the weekend, forcing PennDOT to close the road. The substance has been identified as friction reducer which is used in natural gas exploration.
Friday, March 18, 2011
By Jonathan D. Silver, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
State prosecutors charged a Greene County man Thursday with illegally dumping millions of gallons of Marcellus Shale wastewater, sewer sludge and greasy restaurant slop in holes, mine shafts and waterways in a six-county region from 2003 to 2009.
"He was pouring the stuff in any hole he could find," said Nils Frederiksen, spokesman for the attorney general's office.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
By Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
DALLAS - An Ohio County School bus carrying three students home from school was forced to take evasive action when a large truck from Badger Corporation of Pittsburgh went left of center on Dallas Pike Road shortly after 3 p.m. Tuesday.
9:25 AM CDT on Saturday, September 18, 2010
By Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe / Staff Writer
Ballooning bromide concentrations in the region's rivers, occurring as Marcellus Shale wastewater discharges increase, is a much bigger worry than the risk of high radiation levels, public water suppliers say.
Because of high levels of dissolved solids and bromide in rivers and streams used for public drinking water sources, the state Department of Environmental Protection has asked all Marcellus Shale operations to voluntarily stop disposal of drilling wastewater at 15 municipal sewage treatment plants.
By John Colson
Post Independent Staff
Posted: 11/17/2010
A woman who grew gravely ill after living near gas drilling activities in the Rifle area has died in Grand Junction, to where she and her husband moved to get away from the rigs.
Elizabeth "Chris" Mobaldi, 63, died on Nov. 14, at 4:40 a.m., after a lengthy battle with a rare and persistent tumor of the pituitary gland, according to her husband, Steve.
BY BILL O'DRISCOLL
May 26, 2011 - Pittsburgh City Paper
Rural Sublette County, Wyo., is home to about 9,000 people, fewer than two per square mile. But as recently as three months ago, the smog in Sublette was worse than in Los Angeles on its worst day last year. One day in March, the ozone level was 124 parts per billion, or some 66 percent above what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers healthy. According to the Associated Press, residents complained of shortness of breath, bloody noses and watery eyes. A day-care center canceled outdoor recess.
SNOW SHOE TOWNSHIP — Donna Cramer drives a school bus for Bald Eagle Area School District on state Route 144 in Moshannon last week. Cramer says the increased truck traffic from the natural gas drilling industry on already treacherous roads has led to close calls for her and her passengers. The bus is equipped with a video camera to capture incidents on the roadway.
Lately, she’s had more company on the road — and more near misses.
About one month into the school year, she said two trucks speeding downhill came close to hitting her bus, braking so hard they left groove marks on the pavement.
May 4, 2011
Compiled by Staff , The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register
DALLAS - An Ohio County School bus carrying three students home from school was forced to take evasive action when a large truck from Badger Corporation of Pittsburgh went left of center on Dallas Pike Road shortly after 3 p.m. Tuesday.
None of the students or drivers were injured in the accident, officials said. Saturday, September 18, 2010
By Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe / Staff Writer
DECATUR — One year to the day after a company set up its drilling rigs on their land in eastern Wise County, Tim and Christine Ruggiero confirmed the depth of their loss.
Originally on the 2010 tax rolls for $257,330, their home and 10-acre horse property are now worth $75,240.
Houses for shale
Pike County Courier
By Linda Fields
NORTHEAST Pa — Property owners may make money from leasing to Marcellus Shale gas drillers, and they may also find their property can’t be financed for a new mortgage.
If gas is extracted and sold, the royalties can be lucrative; but what they may not know is that as long as a lease is intact, they may not be able to mortgage their property.
By Laura Legere (Staff Writer)
Published: February 9, 2011
A scheduled release of pressurized gas from a pipeline in Dimock Twp. on Monday startled residents unprepared for the roar that erupted for more than an hour.
Cabot Oil and Gas Corp. spokesman George Stark said property owners along the pipeline right of way were told in advance of the controlled release, which he said was necessary to perform scheduled work on a pipeline that services the company's natural gas wells in the township.
By Andrew Strieber - CareerCast.com
From bad to worse: thanks to upheaval in the oil industry, Roustabout ranks as the Worst Job of 2011 – its second straight year in last place.
Twelve-hour shifts, exposure to the elements in hostile environments, low pay, high risk of injury and isolation from loved ones for weeks at a time are just some of the factors that combine to make Roustabout the worst job of 2011.
DIMOCK, Pa. -- An accident at a natural gas rig in Dimock has claimed the life of a worker from a Colorado company.
Gregory Walker, 41, a worker with Caliber Casing Oil Field Service, was taken to a hospital in Montrose after getting hit on the head with a pipe Monday morning while working at a site in the natural gas field about 20 miles south of Binghamton. He was flown by helicopter to Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre, where he died Monday afternoon.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
One man was killed and another injured in an explosion Thursday morning at West Penn Energy Services Co. in Plumcreek.
Authorities identified the victims as Gregory Bish, 26, of Ford City, who was killed, and Jeffrey Riggle, who was transported to a local hospital. Both men were employees of West Penn Energy Services.
State police in Kittanning said the explosion occurred at 8:35 a.m. and is being investigated by police and representatives of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Mr. Bish and
Mr. Riggle were attempting to unfreeze a pipe fitting at the rear of a water truck. Using a propane torch both Mr. Bish and the co-worker were applying heat to the pipe fitting when an explosion occured. Bish was struck with a plate as it tore away from the tank, causing Bish to become airborne over a 7-foot fence for a distance of 62 feet.
Gas firm to pay $4.1M in contamination dispute
When the battle over a planned water pipeline to run between a pair of Susquehanna County, Pa., communities took an unexpected turn, no one was more surprised than Jean Carter and Julie Sautner.
The Dimock Township residents -- whose water wells were ruined by nearby natural gas drilling operations, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection -- hopped on a conference call Wednesday evening with DEP Secretary John Hanger. They were expecting to hear an update on the project before Hanger is likely relieved of his position by year's end.
hydraulic fracturing
DUKE UNIVERSITY PEER REVIEWED STUDY
Directional drilling and hydraulic-fracturing technologies are dramatically
increasing natural-gas extraction. In aquifers overlying
the Marcellus and Utica shale formations of northeastern Pennsylvania
and upstate New York, we document systematic evidence for
methane contamination of drinking water associated with shalegas
extraction.
their legislators to discuss budget issues. Members of public sector unions came out to lobby for their slice of the pie. But by far, the biggest spectacle came when citizens and activist organizations started up just before noon.
