Demand Disclosure of Chemicals and Number of Well Pads in Floodplains
Harrisburg, PA—As tropical storm Lee continues to dump massive amounts of rain throughout Pennsylvania, concerns are growing over natural gas drilling pits overflowing and spilling their toxic contents into flooded creeks, streams and rivers. There are no currently safeguards in place by the State of Pennsylvania to prevent natural gas drilling and the placing of open pits containing toxic fracking fluids in flood plains. The groups call on the DEP to immediately disclose to the public and emergency response professionals how many wells are located within the floodplain, how many may have potentially leaked into our waterways, and what types of chemicals residents and emergency responders may have come in contact with.
Pennsylvania Environmental groups released the following statements in reaction to the heavy rainfall and potential for contaminated flood regions:
“Given the significant flooding over the past several days, there is much concern over how many well pads, open pits and chemical storage tank fields have been inundated with toxic chemicals washing into our waterways and flooded communities,” states Jeff Schmidt, Director with the Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter. “It is imperative that the PA DEP not allow natural gas wells and infrastructure to be located in floodplains.”
"The human devastation experienced by flooding is largely the result of bad decision making - building in the wrong place and the wrong way,” said Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper. “Because we have once again put the priorities of industry above the health, safety and protection of people, which includes protecting the environment that feeds and sustains them. We have created a catastrophic situation - and the damage we see here will far surpass what we are able to see with our eyes, the chemical slurry of the drillers will spread its poison, becoming an insidious and unseen threat that will cause sickness and harm for years to come."
"We can only assume that the runoff from gas well sites during this terrible flooding is a toxic flood,” said Tracy Carluccio, Deputy Director of DRN. “PA should shut down all drilling now and must immediately revise its regulations to prohibit any gas well development within the floodplains adjacent riparian areas, for the sake of public health and safety."
B. Arrindell, Director of Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, said, "We have verified that there is a spreading oil slick in the Wyalusing area along the flooding Susquehanna River. This is indicative of not just oils, but also all the chemicals being used and released materials brought to the surface by the drilling that are now being spread everywhere the flood waters travel. This has profound ongoing health implications for everyone living, working, farming or visiting the area. Pennsylvanians are being denied their constitutional right to a clean environment"
"While the industry mouths rhetoric about 'safe and responsible' drilling, they do the absolute opposite in fact, storing hundreds of millions of gallons of toxic flowback fluid in open frack pits, now flowing into floodwaters," said Iris Marie Bloom, director of Protecting Our Waters. "Fracking fluid chemicals, and even worse, the radioactive materials, arsenic and other deadly contaminants brought up from the deep shale, should never come into contact with air, water or earth. But here they are flowing with flood waters irreversibly into our ecosystem. This is a public health disaster in the making. Not one more fracking permit should be issued. All open frack pits must be permanently abolished and life-cycle cumulative impact studies done."
Nature Abounds President Melinda Hughes-Wert commented on the situation, “Prior to the epic flooding, we already knew that toxic water from the wells was seeping into our waterways through inefficient containment ponds placed in mountainous topography. Now with the epic flooding, we have even more toxic chemicals in our ground and surface waters. This is truly a significant problem for the commonwealth and it should be addressed by our officials with urgency. Anything less, is an insult to the intelligence of the citizens of Pennsylvania.”
"The devastating flooding occurring in Pennsylvania is just another chilling reminder that we are all downstream of poorly regulated, poorly understood, and inherently dangerous natural gas drilling operations. Natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania needs to stop," said Karen Feridun, Founder of Berks Gas Truth.
HARRISBURG, PA (August 30, 2011) — A new commission launching this week will give the citizens of Pennsylvania an opportunity to tell their side of the story about drilling in the Marcellus Shale.
Former state Representatives Carole Rubley and Dan Surra will co-chair the Citizens Marcellus Shale Commission, which will hold hearings across Pennsylvania to gather citizen perspectives on the Marcellus Shale and produce a final report for policymakers. The first of five hearings will take place Wednesday in Southwestern Pennsylvania (see full schedule of hearings below).
“Marcellus Shale development will have a huge impact on our Commonwealth and it is critical that we get it right,” Surra said. “This commission will give citizens an opportunity to add their voice and bring some necessary balance to this critical debate.”
“The Commission will give the people of Pennsylvania an opportunity to weigh in on this important issue,” said Rubley. “Their input should inform state policies to ensure gas drilling is conducted in a responsible manner.”
The Citizens Commission was formed by eight leading civic and environmental organizations to give Pennsylvanians living with drilling in their backyard a place to speak out and recommend action.
Earlier this year, Governor Tom Corbett’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission, heavy with industry representatives, produced a report and recommendations on shale drilling. The Citizens Commission is intended to supplement that work and delve deeper into a variety of issues, including water and air quality, social impacts of gas drilling, the drilling tax, and impacts outside Marcellus communities.
“The Governor’s commission told part of the story,” said Thomas Au, of the Sierra Club, Pennsylvania Chapter. “The citizens of Pennsylvania have a different story to tell.”
The Commission will hold five hearings across Pennsylvania in August and September. Each hearing will be held from 6-9 p.m., with the first hour reserved for expert testimony and the remaining two for public input.
In early October, the Commission will produce a report documenting the opinions and concerns of citizens to be delivered to Governor Corbett and the Pennsylvania General Assembly.
The hearing schedule is:
Southwestern Pennsylvania
Aug. 31, 2011, 6-9 pm: South Fayette Middle School, 3640 Old Oakdale Rd., McDonald, Pa
Southeastern Pennsylvania
Sept. 6, 2011, 6-9 pm: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1901 Vine St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Northeastern Pennsylvania
Sept. 13, 2011, 6-9 pm: Lycoming College, Academic Center on Mulberry Street, Room D001, Lower Level, Williamsport, Pa.
Sept. 14, 2011, 6-9 pm: Wysox Volunteer Fire Company, P.O. Box 2, Lake Rd., Wysox, Pa.
Central Pennsylvania
Week of Sept. 18, 2011, Harrisburg, Pa. (Details TBA)
Citizens can sign up to participate at these hearings at the Commission’s web site: http://citizensmarcellusshale.com or by calling Stephanie Frank at 717-255-7181
Follow on Twitter: @CitiznMarcellus
Follow on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Citizens-Marcellus-Shale-Commission/167473073330059
SPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS: Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, Clean Water Action, Keystone Progress, League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania, Penn Environment, Sierra Club, Pennsylvania Chapter, and the CLEAR Coalition.
The Citizens Marcellus Shale Commission was formed by eight civic and environmental organizations in Pennsylvania to assess the impacts, both positive and negative, of natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale and to identify the steps needed to ensure drilling occurs in a responsible manner. Learn more: http://citizensmarcellusshale.com.
HARRISBURG, PA (June 22, 2011) — Keystone Research Center Executive Director Stephen Herzenberg issued the following statement in response to statements from the Marcellus Shale Coalition and the Republican Party of Pennsylvania attacking a Keystone policy brief on job creation in Marcellus Shale-related industries:
“In a statement yesterday, Kathryn Klaber, the president and executive director of the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC), did not contest the simple factual point of the Keystone Research Center’s policy brief on job creation in Marcellus Shale-related industries. Our policy brief cites a state Department of Labor and Industry report showing that Marcellus-related industries have created less than 10,000 jobs in recent years, not the 48,000 jobs claimed in recent press reports.
“The exaggerated claims of Marcellus-related job creation stem from a confusion between 'new hires,' and 'job growth.' Job growth, by definition, equals new hires minus separations (i.e., quits, firings, and retirements). Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry spokesman Christopher Manlove echoed the basic point of our policy brief in a comment to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: 'The difference, he said, is that new jobs are jobs that didn't exist previously, whereas new hires are jobs that became available due to employees resigning, retiring or being fired.'
"Rather than contesting the main point of our policy brief, most of Klaber’s statement combines information that was also presented in our brief (on regional employment changes in Marcellus-related industries) and other information on Marcellus industries that do not relate to the industry’s impact on Pennsylvania employment.
"On the employment issue, the MSC statement also refers to 'the ancillary employment impacts cascading through businesses across the Commonwealth.' No source or data are presented to support the claim of these 'ancillary employment impacts.' As the June edition of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry's Marcellus Shale Fast Facts and our brief point out, employment in Marcellus Ancillary industries declined by 3,618 between the fourth quarter of 2007 and the fourth quarter of 2010.
"Republican Party of Pennsylvania Executive Director Mike Barley put out a statement today that repeats the MSC statement with a new introduction. In it, Barley repeats the claim that 'the Marcellus industry has created 48,000 jobs.' As we have explained above and as the Department of Labor and Industry makes clear in its Marcellus Shale Fast Facts, this is not accurate.
"Former Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, 'Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but they are not entitled to their own facts.' While perspectives will differ on the appropriate policy response to the facts on the impact of Marcellus drilling on Pennsylvania, we think it is unfortunate that the Shale Coalition and Mr. Barley can’t acknowledge that jobs and new hires are not the same, and present their interpretation of the facts in a civil way. Rather than name calling, civil discourse, using facts and logic, can help Pennsylvania maximize the economic benefits and minimize the environmental damage and risks of Marcellus drilling.”
The Keystone Research Center is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization that promotes a more prosperous and equitable Pennsylvania economy. Learn more: www.keystoneresearch.org.
In a new policy brief, the Keystone Research Center sets the record straight on the Marcellus jobs claims. Keystone experts have also analyzed Pennsylvania's May jobs report and the compromise legislation adopted by the state Legislature last week that preserves extended federal unemployment benefits for 135,000 Pennsylvanians through the end of the year. Read on to learn more.
Drilling Deeper into Marcellus Job Claims
Recent news reports and statements have touted 48,000 "new hires" in Marcellus Shale industries, but that number only tells half the story, according to Keystone's new policy brief. “New hires” track additions to employment but not separations due to resignations, firings or replacements.
Between the fourth quarter of 2007 and the fourth quarter of 2010, according to the latest report from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry’s Center for Workforce Information and Analysis (CWIA), all Marcellus Shale-related industries added 5,669 jobs. Six industries in what CWIA defines as the “Marcellus Core” industries added 9,288 jobs during this period. Over the same three years, 30 industries in a group CWIA calls “Marcellus Ancillary” actually lost 3,619 jobs.
Overall, Marcellus job growth is small — accounting for less than one in 10 of the 111,400 new jobs created since February 2010, when employment bottomed out after the recession, the report finds. Even if Marcellus Shale-related industries had created no jobs in 2010, the state still would have ranked third in overall job growth among the 50 states.
To sustain Pennsylvania’s strong economic performance, policymakers should adopt a drilling tax or fee that helps finance job-creating investments in education and the economy, as well as providing resources to protect the environment and address infrastructure needs, the report recommends.
Pennsylvania should also develop a Marcellus Shale economic development policy that includes training and placement of more Pennsylvania workers in high-paying Marcellus jobs; investing in industries that supply equipment, parts and services to the industry; enabling Pennsylvania manufacturers to benefit from low-cost natural gas; and setting aside revenue to seed a fund that will develop post-Marcellus Shale industries.
Pennsylvania is the only state that does not tax drilling. Not only do the Marcellus Shale "frackers" pay no drilling tax, no other drilling is taxed either.
Whether you oppose all drilling in the Marcellus Shale, support drilling with restrictions or hold another view, Pennsylvanians agree that drillers must pay their fair share in taxes.
Scarnati Agrees to Return Super Bowl Money After 1,000 Write to Him Demanding Action
(HARRISBURG, PA)—Less than 24 hours after the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Senator Joe Scarnati took a junket on the tab of Consol Energy, more than one thousand citizens forced his hand by demanding he return the money.
Scarnati’s office received more than one thousand emails telling him that his acceptance of the Super Bowl trip calls his judgment into question.
Consol Energy is one of the largest drillers using the controversial “hydraulic fracturing” method of extracting natural gas from the Marcellus Shale region. Pennsylvania is the largest natural gas producing state that does not tax extraction. Scarnati opposes taxing Consol and other drillers.
Scarnati’s trip didn’t break any laws, but it raises questions about whether Scarnati is in the pocket of the natural gas industry. Raising even more questions about his ability to represent taxpayers, Scarnati has also taken $142,000 in campaign contributions from energy interests, including another $15,000 from Consol.
Keystone Progress organized the email campaign demanding Scarnati return the Super Bowl money. Keystone Progress is now asking Scarnati to return the $15,000 in Consol money to eliminate the appearance of a conflict of interest. The sign up sheet for the campaign can be viewed at:
http://keystoneprogress. Harrisburg – MarcellusMoney.org, a project of Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania (CVPA) and Common Cause PA, tracks campaign contributions from natural gas industry PACs and executives to candidates for Pennsylvania state office.
Today, MarcellusMoney.org released the gas contribution figures for gubernatorial candidates Dan Onorato and Tom Corbett from campaign finance reporting cycle 5. Cycle 5 included the 34 days between September 14 and October 18, 2010.
In cycle 5, Republican candidate Tom Corbett received at least $139,000 from the natural gas drilling industry. His cycle 5 average of $4,088.24 per day is up from $3448.45 per day in cycle 4. Corbett has received a grand total of at least $856,220 in reported contributions from the gas drilling industry in the last decade.
In cycle 5, Democratic candidate Dan Onorato received at least $5,000 from the natural gas industry. His cycle 5 average of $147.06 per day is down from $463.91 per day in cycle 4. Onorato has received a grand total of at least $124,300 in the last decade.
“In the last weeks before the election, drilling industry CEOs went all out for Tom Corbett because he thinks that ordinary Pennsylvanians should pay to clean up the messes that their drills leave behind,” Josh McNeil of Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania said. “Supporting Corbett might make sense if you’re a drilling company CEO, but not if you’re an ordinary Pennsylvanian.”
Earlier this month, the Pennsylvania Senate failed to vote on a severance tax on Marcellus Shale drillers. The legislature is unlikely to deal with Marcellus Shale drilling in any way before it’s next session. It will therefore be up to one of these two candidates to shape drilling’s impacts on Pennsylvania.
Dan Onorato supports a severance tax to pay for environmental protections and to help communities deal with the impacts of gas drilling. Tom Corbett does not.
It is estimated that the severance tax recently passed out of the House of Representatives would raise approximately $316 million in 2011-12 and as much as $570 million by 2014-15 for environmental protections, conservation programs and local communities. In the absence of a severance tax, regular taxpayers will end up paying for all of those costs.
Contributions to Tom Corbett, should he win the election, could earn drilling companies a 66,572% return on their investment in his campaign.
Note: The contribution data to Onorato and Corbett for cycles 4 and 5 is not yet available on MarcellusMoney.org. It will be posted in the next 48 hours.
Harrisburg – In the last week, gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett has launched two campaign ads that focus on Marcellus Shale drilling and the severance tax. The first, a radio ad, refers to the severance tax as “a huge extra tax on drillers” that will: “make it more difficult for companies to compete, kill jobs, and increase utility bills.” The second, a TV spot, calls a severance tax “a massive Pennsylvania energy tax that will kill jobs and drive up utility bills.” These statements paint a dire and inaccurate picture of the economic impacts of a severance tax. PennEnvironment, Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania, Clean Water Action and the Sierra Club ask Mr. Corbett to pull these ads off the air.
“These ads are pure and simple fear mongering without any facts,” said Myron Arnowitt, PA State Director, Clean Water Action. “The reality is that communities have had their drinking water contaminated by gas drilling. It’s only fair to ask these multinational oil and gas companies to pay to clean up the damage.”“A massive/huge extra tax”: Pennsylvania is the only major gas producing state that does not require gas drillers to pay for our natural resources. Montana charges an effective rate of 7.5% on gas drillers. New Mexico: 7.3%. Oklahoma: 6.7% The proposals for a PA severance tax fall into this same range. Pennsylvania is also the only state in which property taxes cannot be collected on drilling rights, lowering the Commonwealth’s overall tax rate for drillers. It’s not a huge tax, it’s a tax that’s in line with established practice throughout the country and one that drillers expect to pay. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that a drilling executive from Dallas told Rep. Karen Beyer (R., Lehigh) that the industry is willing to pay a production tax. Beyer called Pennsylvania's lack of an extraction tax "an outrage."
“Drilling poses serious risks to Pennsylvanians and our environment. A severance tax will compensate communities and fund projects that repair environmental damage,” state Dennis Winters, Chair of Sierra Club’s Pennsylvania Chapter. “It is time the drillers pay their fair share in Pennsylvania. The public deserves to be told that the severance tax is a tax on producers and not consumers. Mr Corbett seems to be running the same ads as the American Petroleum institute, the industry’s mouthpiece.”“Drive up utility bills”: Gas is bought and sold on a worldwide market and the production price of any single gas source has a negligible effect on the market rate. Currently, most Pennsylvanians get their gas from out of state, from states that already impose a severance tax. Gas that is produced in Pennsylvania goes into the same gas market as the gas from everywhere else, meaning that an increased production cost in Pennsylvania due to a severance tax will have little bearing on the price paid by consumers.
“Mr. Corbett’s advertisement feels a bit like an Alice in Wonderland scenario where everything is topsy-turvy,” stated David Masur of PennEnvironment. “The environmental community by and large has vocally supported the passage of the natural gas severance tax so for Mr. Corbett to attempt to claim the environmental high ground on this issue by opposing the extraction fee is a bit ridiculous.”“Kills jobs”: The argument that a severance tax will kill jobs is based on the idea that a tax will slow the production of gas in Pennsylvania and thus delay the creation of drilling jobs. This argument supposes that increased taxation will lead to less drilling. The massive amount of drilling currently occurring in Texas, Colorado, and the other states, each of which currently maintains a severance tax, belies this argument. Pennsylvania’s location, next to the major gas markets of the American northeast, means that Pennsylvania drillers will always have an advantage over other states due to decreased transportation costs.
“If you want to lead Pennsylvania, misleading its citizens is a bad place to start,” said Josh McNeil of Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania. “Mr. Corbett needs to take down these deceitful ads.”Neither the Sierra Club nor Clean Water Action have made an endorsement in the Pennsylvania Governor’s race. Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania and PennEnvironment have endorsed Dan Onorato.
Harrisburg – MarcellusMoney.org, a project of Common Cause PA and Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania, tracks the more than $3 million that the natural gas industry has spent on campaign contributions and $5 million spent on lobbying efforts in the Commonwealth.
Yesterday, by a vote of 104 to 94, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted in favor of SB 1155, a bill to establish a tax on drilling companies that extract gas from Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale. Though a victory for environmental protection, yesterday’s vote reveals just how insidious natural gas money has become.
The 104 who voted for the bill have taken an average of $824 from the natural gas industry, while the 94 legislators who voted against the bill took an average of $2,900 from the gas industry, or 3.5 times as much as those in favor of a severance tax. The vote split largely along party lines, with Democrats generally in favor, Republicans generally against. The vote count and accompanying data can be downloaded here: http://bit.ly/an3N18
The ten Democrats who voted against the bill, Representatives Barbin, Casorio, Deweese, Harhai, Kotik, Markosek, Pallone, Petrarca, Sainato, and White, accepted a total of $64,700 from the gas industry, an average of $6,470 each. Of these Democrats, only Rep. Barbin took no contributions from the natural gas industry.
The twelve Republicans who voted in favor of the bill, Representatives Beyer, DiGirolamo, Harper, Hennessey, Killion, Micozzie, Milne, Murt, O’Brien, O’Neill, Quinn, and Ross, accepted a total of only $1,500, an average of $125 each. Only three of these representatives (DiGirolamo, O'Brien, and O'Neill) received any contributions from the natural gas industry.
“Some gas drillers may not want to pay their fair share, but a Marcellus Shale drilling tax is good for the Commonwealth, good for local communities, and good for the environment,” said Josh McNeil of Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania. “When legislators take thousands of dollars from the gas industry and vote to let that industry take our resources for free, we have to wonder whose interests they’re really serving.”
"This correlation between the natural gas industry's campaign contributions to our elected officials and the way in which they vote on a bill that directly affects that industry's profits speaks volumes about the current state of our elections and campaigns," said Alex Kaplan of Common Cause Pennsylvania. "In Pennsylvania, out of state gas companies are allowed to give unlimited campaign contributions to elected officials charged with protecting our environment and crafting policy to benefit our state. In Pennsylvania, wealthy special interests have the ability to speak louder than everyday citizens."
SB 1150 would tax gas drillers 39 cents per thousand cubic feet of gas extracted, competitive with similar taxes in other gas producing states. The tax is expected to raise $120 million next year, $326 million the next. These funds will be used to plug gaps in Pennsylvania’s state budget, to help local communities deal with impacts of increased drilling, and to fund the regulatory and environmental clean-up efforts required to protect Pennsylvania’s health and safety.
The passage of a tax on drilling was part of a June deal between Governor Ed Rendell and legislative leaders to pass a gas tax by October 1. The funds from a tax are needed to fill $70 million of an estimated $280 million budget deficit.
Now that the bill has passed the House, it is up to the Senate to approve the amended bill.
Natural gas companies have contributed $359,827 to members of the House of Representatives, an average of $1755.25 per member. Current State Senators have accepted more than $407,440, an average of $8148.80 per Senator.
To find contributions to individual candidates, visit www.MarcellusMoney.org.
NOTE: Because data from the most recent campaign filing has not yet been released by the Pennsylvania Department of State, the numbers above reflect donations made before June 7, 2010. Early indications are that the gas industry has donated heavily to PA candidates in the last three months. MarcellusMoney.org will make public the data of the following reporting cycle (early June through early September) as soon as it is available.
Nursing home caregivers from across the state converged on Harrisburg today to ask their Senators, "Whose side are you on? Gas companies, or our state's seniors?"
The members of SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania are urging the Senate to close corporate tax loopholes and enact a severance tax on Marcellus Shale natural gas extraction, before drastic cuts to the nursing home care in this year's state budget. Pennsylvania spends close to $2 Billion in Medicaid funds to provide nursing home care to the elderly.
"If you cut the Medicaid dollars coming to our nursing home, then veterans and other seniors will be left without the care they need. It’s time to make big oil companies who make money in our state pay their fair share,” said Michelle Stewart, a certified nursing assistant who works in a Montgomery County nursing home.
About 200 caregivers and other union members marched through the streets around the Capitol carrying giant, green dollar signs and a huge black cloth representing the oil and gas spills that could threaten our environment and economy. They also tried to deliver an invoice for unpaid taxes to the Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Association and the Associated Petroleum Industries of Pennsylvania, but there was no answer at their offices.
“I’ve flown over some of these wells with my boyfriend and I’ve seen the amount of water used to break the rock and release the gas. I’ve read about the chemicals mixed with the water and I wonder where it will end up,” said Kathy Shaner, a certified nursing assistant from Washington County, PA. “The residents I care for are not getting rich from all the gas in their county, but they could benefit if these big corporations paid their fair share.”
On May 28, Royal Dutch Shell agreed to acquire Marshall, PA-based East Resources Inc. for $4.7 billion. And last December, Exxon Mobil Corp. announced a $41 billion acquisition of XTO Energy Inc., including its extensive Marcellus Shale holdings.
"Unless Pennsylvania begins collecting revenue from big corporations that profit in Pennsylvania, we’re on the road to a $1.1 billion budget deficit over the next 2 years,” said Kevin Hefty, Vice President of SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania. “Senators, when we ask whose side you are on, the choice is clear: be on the side of our local communities, working families, and seniors who need long term care.”
Last week, the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center (www.pennbpc.org) launched an online ticker showing the tax dollars lost by not enacting a severance tax on drilling in the Marcellus Shale. At the time of the rally, the ticker showed Pennsylvania had missed out on $55,756,000 that could have been used to help fill in the revenue gap in the budget.
The rally today is part of a larger campaign by SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania and other labor unions to ensure that a state budget that doesn't cut essential services is passed before the June 30th deadline.
For more information, visit www.closetheloopholes.org.
An explosion at a natural gas well in northwest Pennsylvania resulted in a spill of at least a million gallons of oil and chemicals mixed with water. According to the AP report, there was a shower of gas and chemical-laden water shooting 75 feet into the air. The leak continued for at least 16 hours. The accident was so severe that the area was evacuated and the Federal Aviation Administration prohibited flights in the area.
When I heard of the accident on Friday afternoon, I immediately left the meeting I was attending in Washington, DC and headed for the site with my trusty Flip Camera in hand.
So where are the photos and video showing the extent of the pollution?
They don’t exist, because EOG Resources, the owner of the wells, won’t allow anyone on the site, especially with a camera. When I tried to shoot some video, they not only wouldn’t let me on the site, they told me I might be shot for being on their property and then sent thugs to chase me and threaten me.
I arrived around 7:30 PM and drove around the area trying to find the site. I asked a number of locals if they knew the site of the explosion. No one knew what I was talking about, so it wasn’t until about 9:00 that I finally stumbled upon the site. It’s about 5 ½ miles from the entrance to S.B. Elliott State Park in Clearfield County.
As I approached the site a man got out of a pickup truck and told me I would have to leave. I told him I just wanted to get some video of the cleanup. He said he couldn’t allow me on the grounds and I didn’t leave right away I would be arrested for trespassing.
In the morning I tried again and got the same answer from another man in a pickup truck.
I could see through the forest that there was work going on in the distance, but my little flip Camera couldn’t get anything but trees. I decided that maybe a hike through the woods was in order, so I drove a few miles to a point on the other side of the spill site. I chose an entrance point that was not marked as private property and hiked toward the site.
Along the way I saw still and flowing water with oily residue. Some of it may be from the spill, but most of it was uphill from the accident site. That means the water in this area is likely contaminated from the numerous gas wells being drilled.
I found a road on a ridge that appeared to head close to the accident site and walked about a half mile on that road when I was stopped by two men in a Gator. They asked me what I was doing out there and I said I was just taking a hike. They told me that I was on property owned by the Punxsutawney Hunt Club and the members didn’t appreciate trespassers. They told me, in a veiled threat, that I should leave now and as long as I was heading out I would probably not get shot.
I’m not one to back down easily, but I wasn’t ready to take a bullet for a grainy video of the spill site. I wished them a good day and turned back to my car, a couple of miles and bridgeless brook away. As I crossed the brook barefoot I noticed another pickup truck parking on the opposite hill, blocking the path. When I approached the truck two men got out. The older man got in front of me and said “Show me some ID.”
I asked him who he was and he grabbed my arm and told me I was on private property. I shook his hand off and continued walking. Without looking back, I told him there was nothing posted that indicated the land I was on was private property. He yelled to me, “We know where your car is. We called the police. You’ll be arrested when you get back to your car.” He then added, “We know you’re taking water samples.”
The truth is, I had filled up some drinking water bottles with samples of water from various sites along my hike. I’m not sure what use they will be, but I thought it was important to at least get something that could be independently tested.
When I got a few hundred yards from my car I could hear the last two men who confronted me. As I approached my car the older man took out an old disposable film camera and took my picture. I tried to get my Flip Camera to take some video of them, but the battery was dead and I only got a few seconds.
They tried to get me to stay and wait for the police to come, but I wasn’t about to test the fairness of the local criminal justice system. I told them to back off or be charged with assault, and susprisingly they complied.
As a parting shot the younger one said,” Don’t come back.” I replied, childishly, “I’ll do what I want.” He said, “If you come back you won’t leave.”
I got in my car and started to leave the way I came in. They passed me and I drove a safe distance behind them. Then I realized that I may be driving into a trap. When they turned a corner toward the spill site, I stopped and turned around. I drove a few miles in the wrong direction, but eventually found a connection to Route 153. And then home.
I have some video that I’ll be posting later today and tomorrow. It’s not very expository, but it’s all I could get. I’ll also be trying to find an independent lab that can identify the chemicals and oily residue in the water samples I took. I’ll post the results of those tests as I get them.
In the meantime, it’s important for the public to know what’s really going on at the spill site.
There has been very little news coverage of this major accident and part of the reason is the lack of access to the site. It’s hard to report when you have no information. It’s harder when the perpetrators are in full control of what little information has been released. “Nothing to see here,” EOG Resources assures us. “It was only a million gallons and we took care of it.”
If that’s the truth, it’s a huge accident that threatens local waterways that flow into the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay. But what if it’s worse than that? We don’t know because there are no independent eyes and ears on the site. Haven’t we learned yet that we should never rely on the word of the people who caused the problem?
I’m calling on Governor Ed Rendell and Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger to use their offices to grant access to the spill site to the media, environmental organizations and the local population. It’s probably too late to see anything damning, but it will at least give us a picture of where the accident occurred so we can begin to ask the right questions and make sure any investigations are accurate and complete.
