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By arimoore, on September 3rd, 2009%
Although the Safe Drinking Water Act regulates most forms of underground injection in order to protect drinking water sources, in 2005 Congress passed the “Halliburton Loophole,” which exempts hydraulic fracturing from the law’s reach (the exemption was given that name because Halliburton is one of the companies that provide hydraulic fracturing services). Since the exemption was enacted, hydraulic fracturing operations have been linked to contaminated drinking water in communities around the country.
Legislation to repeal the exemption has recently been introduced in both the House and Senate. Among other things, the legislation would require public disclosure of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing fluids.
Even if you did this in the last session, please do it again now: Send a message urging your senators and representative to co-sponsor legislation to repeal the Halliburton Loophole (H.R. 2766/S. 1215).
Take action now!
By shirari, on June 19th, 2009%
Action recommendations from Don Barber, Chair Tompkins County Council of Governments, Supervisor Town of Caroline:
June 15, 2009 7 PM
Broome Community College
Natural Gas Drilling and Local Government Responsibility to Protect the Health, Safety, and Well Being of its Citizens
In general local governments need to find ways to insert themselves into a process that the State has written us out of.
Potential action steps:
- Develop overweight vehicle permits and driveway permits to protect your roads and create direct contact/negotiations with the drilling firm.
- Identify and legislate critical environmental areas (CEA) within your municipality. DEC must then perform site specific SEQR review for permit applications which affect these CEA’s
- Contact every State Legislator, Governor Paterson and his Deputy Secretary for the Environment, and the DEC Commissioner that we need:
- Notification of permit applications and permits issued;
- Emergency Services need contact info, hazardous material info, gas fire training;
- Fuel production tax or Severance tax to create proper revenues to local governments – tax revenue to support DEC oversight program
- Contact State Legislators requesting that ECL Section 23-0303 be amended so that local governments become involved agencies for SEQR review. And to support S8748 Natural Gas Drilling Prohibition Near Watershed
- Contact your Congressperson and US Senator to support HR 2766 Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act of 2009.
Signed,
Don Barber
Chair Tompkins County Council of Governments, Supervisor Town of Caroline, 607-539-3395, supervisor@townofcaroline.org
Please Contact:
Pete Grannis, DEC Commissioner
625 Broadway, 14th floor
Albany, NY 12233
petegrannis@gw.dec.state.ny.us
(518)402-8540
Judith Enck, Deputy Sec. for the Environment
State Capital Executive Chambers
Room 245
Albany, NY 12224
judith.enck@chamber.state.ny.us
(518) 473-5442
Governor David A. Paterson
State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224
http://161.11.121.121/govemail
518-474-8390
There was a special TCCOG meeting held at the Ithaca Town Hall on March 30th by Municipal and Environmental Attorney Kimberlea Rea. The white paper for her talk is available by following the gas drilling link on the TCCOG website:
http://www.tompkins-co.org/legislature/TCCOG/
A video of the meeting can be found at http://tompco.net/tccog/gas.html
By shirari, on June 16th, 2009%
If you haven’t yet had the chance to contact your representative / senator in Washington to urge them to add protection of private drinking water wells to fracking legislation, here’s a quick way to do so:
http://action.earthjustice.org/campaign/hydrofracturing_0609
The prepared message is easy to modify and personalize. NOTE: Changing the subject line of your e-mail is HIGHLY recommended, so that it will be clear your message is distinct from others generated through this action alert.
By shirari, on June 16th, 2009%
Tell the NYS Assembly to Vote “NO” on Vested Rights:
Don’t let the State Assembly pass a law that would put developers’ rights ahead of those of ordinary New Yorkers.
With just one week left in this year’s Legislative Session, the New York State Assembly is considering a bill that would undercut the ability of cities, towns and villages to stop or even limit environmentally damaging development.
Bad idea, right? Tell your Assembly member to protect New York communities by voting “NO” on vested rights.
Get more info and take action!
By shirari, on June 15th, 2009%
*** UPDATE: SCROLL DOWN FOR SHORT LETTER OPTION ***
Autumn Stoscheck wrote a letter to her Van Etten Town Board members and Chemung County Legislator, asking if they’re going to attend the Regional Legislative Conference on Natural Gas Development at Morrisville State College on June 20th. She and other citizens have been sending letters and giving in-person invitations, and following up with phone calls to ask public officials if they’re going to attend, and if not, why not.
She writes, “These public officials need to be put on notice. Energy development impacts are not speculative. They are studied and known. If elected officials continue to sit on their hands when information and resources are available to them (such as this conference) they must be held publicly accountable. I urge you to let your officials know this as well… PLEASE TALK TO YOUR TOWN!”
Below is Autumn’s letter – feel free to copy it, edit, and change it as you see fit. For added impact, follow Autumn’s excellent example and send your letter to several papers as well.
[Your name and address]
[Today's date]
[Name and address of public official]
Dear [Name of public official],
By now I am sure you are aware that Van Etten sits a top the largest known natural gas reserve in the United States and that when the NYSDEC issues its revised SGEIS some time this year, it intends to begin issuing some 2,000 drilling permits per year, and that multi-national energy corporations such as Fortuna, Epsilon and Chesapeake intend to apply for permits to drill in this town.
I am writing to urge you to attend the Regional Legislative Conference on Natural Gas Development at Morrisville State College on June 20th. NYSAC, ATOSNY, NYCOM, as well as Madison and Chenango Counties sponsor the conference.
Many experts agree that drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale and other unconventional gas bearing layers, will constitute the largest land use change in New York State since the virgin forests were clear cut for agriculture. The preparation required for this magnitude of change will require a level of planning such as the current board has not experienced.
To put this into perspective, Marcellus Shale wells can be drilled on a forty-acre spacing. That means up to 1,500 wells could be drilled in Van Etten alone. In Pennsylvania, the DEP estimates that one horizontal Marcellus well requires 1,000 truck trips during drilling and fracking. That’s a lot of road use.
While gas drilling has economic benefits such as an increase in property tax and royalty payments to some landowners, studies show that the costs of energy development are often greater than the benefits. Energy development impacts range from damage to infrastructure such as roads and bridges, increased use of services such as police, fire and EMT, increased attendance in public schools by non-taxpayers, loss of property values, and water contamination to name a few. These impacts are not speculation: Communities in energy extraction states have been dealing with them for decades and many studies have been done. I urge you to read Energy and the West: Informing Choices About Energy Development a study done by Headwaters Economics which can be downloaded for free at www.headwaterseconomics.org
Just over the boarder in Bradford County, PA communities are already dealing with the impacts of Marcellus Shale development. One thing is clear: the level of preparedness is a determining factor in which towns win and which towns lose in energy development. At a time when the energy industry is making record breaking profits, and ordinary Americans are struggling to pay the bills, Van Etten can not afford to lose. On its own, failing to bond our roads could cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. As an elected representative, it is your responsibility to be educated, informed and take action to protect the citizens of Van Etten.
Thank you for making this a priority.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
c.c.
[List names of papers and other media outlets here, if you are sending copies to the media]
This is a shorter-form letter you can send, if you prefer.
Subject: Morrisville State College to Host Regional Legislative Conference on Natural Gas Development June 20
Hello, Town Representative,
Please see the attached information about an upcoming summit on gas drilling at Morrisville State College on Saturday, June 20th from 9am to noon.
I would like to ask that you attend this informative summit in which town board members and municipal leaders in this state will engage in a serious discussion about the very real impacts of gas drilling in our region. The gas drilling here in the Ithaca region may well be a few months away. The host of this summit has first hand experience with dealing with the gas companies and this is just the kind of information we need at this time.
Pre-registration is preferred, but not required, by contacting Town of Lebanon Supervisor Jim Goldstein at Lebanon@citlink.net or 315-837-4152.
Sincerely,
Your Constituent,
Your Town
By shirari, on June 11th, 2009%
New legislation would end Bush-era exemption for oil and gas industry, protect drinking water from drilling toxics: Local governments express support for ending loophole:
Today Senators Casey (D-PA) and Schumer (D-NY), and Representatives DeGette (D-CO), Polis (D-CO) and Hinchey (D-NY) introduced bills in the Senate and House to close the so-called “Halliburton Loophole” in the Safe Drinking Water Act that exempts hydraulic fracturing, and to require the public disclosure of hydraulic fracturing chemicals. The Halliburton loophole authorizes oil and gas drillers, exclusively, to inject known hazardous materials — unchecked — directly into or adjacent to underground drinking water supplies. It passed as part of the Bush Administration’s Energy Policy Act of 2005.
Read more…
Earlier related news: Industry Defends Federal Loophole for Drilling Before Packed Congressional Hearing
By shirari, on June 2nd, 2009%
*** 6.8.09 UPDATE – URGENT ACTION ALERT ***
Now is the time to let Congress know that they must repeal the oil and gas industry’s expemtions from the Safe Drinking Water Act, and that they must include protections for private drinking wells. Call or fax your congressperson soon (there may be a vote as early as Tuesday 6/9/09). Industry is pressuring Congress now – so must we!!
* HOUSE COMMITTEE ON ENERGY & COMMERCE-NY MEMBERS:
Eliot L. Engel
Tel:(202)225-2464 Fax: (202)225-5513
Anthony D. Weiner
Tel:(202)225-6616
Committee Chair: Henry A. Waxman
Tel: (202)225-3976 Fax: (202)225-4099
*CONGRESSMEN:
Maurice Hinchey (22nd District) – Hinchey is a co-sponsor, but tell him to INCLUDE protection for private water wells too
Tel: (202)225-6335 Fax: (202)226-0774
Michael Arcuri (24th District)
Tel: (202)225-3665 Fax: (202)756-2472
Eric Massa (29th District)
Tel: (202)225-3161 Fax: (202)226-6599
–
The following letter was written by Susan Multer to send to friends across the country, many of whom know nothing about gas drilling. She welcomes our using it or revising it to send to our friends as well.
Dear Friends,
Very soon a bill will be introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives that is critical to our health. It will repeal the exemption given to the oil and gas industry in 2005 from the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 (see below). Although the bill doesn’t have a number yet, the industry is already lobbying hard against it, saying any further regulation will cost jobs and make us more dependent on foreign oil. They fail to note that without this regulation our health is at stake.
The bill will be referred to the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce, members of which are listed below. If your state has one or more Representatives on that committee, your help is first needed to get the bill moved favorably out of committee and onto the floor of the House for a vote. Please fax a short letter to each committee member from your state as well as to your own Congressman/woman, urging co-sponsorship of the bill and pushing for its passage.
Those of you whose state has no one serving on the committee can go ahead and write your Representative now, asking for co-sponsorship of the pending bill to repeal the exemption. Letters sent by US mail take too long because they have to be checked for anthrax; emails may not get recorded or counted, plus they look like they are organization-generated. So please send a fax or make a phone call. A fact sheet from four major environmental organizations working on this issue is attached.
Please understand that unlike traditional vertical drilling, the high-pressure, horizontal hydraulic fracturing (aka hydrofracking) of shale, sandstone or coal beds requires, per well, hundreds of heavy trucks to carry millions of gallons of fresh water (never to be returned to its source) across county and town roads to a 3- to 5-acre well pad. Then chemicals (some toxic, including endocrine disruptors) are added to the fresh water and forced under very high pressure down the well to break up the formation to free the gas.
After the fracking is finished, much of the toxic waste stays underground where it can travel. Much comes up in even more toxic form because heavy metals and radon are picked up in the process. This “produced water” has often been pumped into open, plastic-lined evaporation pits which pollute the air 24/7 and pollute the soil and water when the plastic leaks or the pond floods. An alternative is to transport (with the risk of leaks and spills) the toxic waste to a dry well and inject it back into the ground for storage (and possible leaks). Traditional water treatment facilities cannot handle this industrial waste because the energy companies won’t reveal its contents. (The chemicals we know about are from samples taken after above-ground accidents out west).
Since the gas released from these formations is not under much pressure, diesel pumps may be run at the surface day and night, sounding like an idling semi-truck. Since hydrofracking can be repeated several times, the life of the well may be more than twenty years. While risk of air and water pollution increases, quality of life and resale value of property decrease, sometimes down to zero. Just ask a realtor in an area where leases have been signed.
If hydrofracking were as safe as the industry claims it is, there would be no need for an exemption, and repeal of it would not be of concern. What we are not being told is that there have been unacceptable levels of hydrogen sulfide in Alabama, ground-level ozone in the open spaces of Colorado, cattle dropping dead in Louisiana, industrialization of the landscape in Wyoming, a house blown off its foundation in Ohio, contamination of water wells in Pennsylvania and cases of fires in faucets, fish kills, goats and mares being unable to reproduce, people losing their hearing and some developing brain lesions. What links these tragedies together is that all have occurred on properties near hydraulic fracturing.
You can learn more from www.ogap.org, www.endocrinedisruption.org, and www.propublica.org/feature/natural-gas-politics-526. You can see interviews with people negatively affected at www.damascuscitizens.org. But you don’t have to in order to speak up on this subject. The bottom line is simply this: to not regulate the oil and gas industry the way all others are regulated with respect to the Safe Drinking Water Act is unconscionable. For the health and safety of everyone, please take action to repeal the exemption now.
ENERGY POLICY ACT OF 2005
Public Law 109-58
109th Congress
Title III — Oil and Gas
Subtitle C — Production
SEC. 322. HYDRAULIC FRACTURING.
Paragraph (1) of section 1421(d) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300h(d)) is amended to read as follows:
“(1) Underground injection.–The term ‘underground injection’–
“(A) means the subsurface emplacement of fluids by well injection; and
“(B) excludes–
“(i) the underground injection of natural gas for purposes of storage; and
“(ii) the underground injection of fluids or propping agents (other than diesel fuels) pursuant to hydraulic fracturing operations related to oil, gas, or geothermal production activities.
US House Committee on Energy and Commerce
AR Mike Ross
AZ John B. Shadegg
CA Lois Capps
Anna G. Eshoo
Jane Harman
Mary Bono Mack
Doris O. Matsui
Jerry McNerney
George Radanovich
Henry A. Waxman, Chair
CO Diana DeGette
CT Christopher S. Murphy
FL Kathy Castor
Cliff Stearns
GA John Barrow
Nathan Deal
Phil Gingrey
IA Bruce L. Braley
IL Bobby L. Rush
Jan Shakowsky
John Shimkus
IN Steve Buyer
Baron P. Hill
KY Ed Whitfield
LA Charlie Melancon
Steve Scalise
MA Edward J. Markey
MD John P. Sarbanes
MI John D. Dingell, Chair Emeritus
Mike Rogers
Bart Stupak
Fred Upton
MO Roy Blunt
NC G. K. Butterfield
Sue Wilkins Myrick
NE Lee Terry
NJ Frank Pallone, Jr.
NY Eliot L. Engel
Anthony D. Weiner
OH Zachary T. Space
Betty Sutton
OK John Sullivan
OR Greg Walden
PA Mike Doyle
Tim Murphy
Joseph R. Pitts
TN Marsha Blackburn
Bart Gordon
TX Joe Barton, Ranking Member
Michael C. Burgess
Charles Gonzalez
Gene Green
Ralph M. Hall
UT Jim Matheson
VA Rick Boucher
VI Donna M. Christensen
VT Peter Welch
WA Jay Inslee
WI Tammy Baldwin
Safe Drinking Water Act PDF
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About Us Shaleshock is an information hub connecting people to regional groups and projects working to stop exploitative drilling in the Marcellus Shale.(more)
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