The Toronto Star, 2-22-13: “Strip away ‘possible’ and ‘speculative’ reserves, add in surging demand and costs, and a century’s worth of resources plunges to 11 years’ worth of supply.” More…
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Opposition to gas/oil infrastructure spreading to new communities
From No Tennessee Pipeline blogspot:
Milford, PA, February 25 2013 – This past Saturday, February 23, 2013, 100 residents and friends marched against the Tennessee Pipeline across the Milford Bridge, from Milford, PA to Montague, NJ over the Delaware River.
The march, Milford’s first, was organized by the Stop the Tennessee Pipeline! campaign to show opposition to the Tennessee Gas Pipeline that will transport shale gas for export and proposed natural gas power plants along the coast. Completion of the pipeline upgrade will almost ensure a full Marcellus Shale development scenario using the controversial method of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”. Currently, tree clearing is rapidly underway after permission was given by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on February 14. The march started at the former Yale Forestry School in Milford where residents boast it is the “Home of the American Conservation Movement”. Marchers then walked across the Milford Bridge to Montague, NJ, near 86 year old George Feighner’s home. The right of way adjacent to Feighner’s home on his 60-acre property was recently cleared of trees using FERC-granted eminent domain for placement of the Tennessee Gas Pipeline. Feigner has been quoted as saying he “cries for his trees.” More…
336,000 gallons of toxic radioactive frack waste released into creek in WV
Dallas, WV 2-23-13: The National Response Center reports that 336,000 gallons of toxic, radioactive frack waste were released into a tributary of Wheeling Creek because a valve was left open. Alert issued on Skytruth.org 2-22-13. Why can I not find any media coverage on this story as of Feb. 25?!
Update, 2-26: NBC Columbus has now covered the story, responding to tip from us. Note: WV DEP apparently took Noble Energy’s word for the amount spilled. NBC therefore gives a much lower figure than NRC report stated but still an outrageous 97,000 gallons of toxic, radioactive frack waste. No charges have yet been brought against the company.
Update 2-26: WV media, apparently alerted by NBC, Columbus, has also now finally picked up the story.
What If? A Fracking Truck Accident We Hope Never Happens
Athens County, Ohio, February 20, 2013 By Sandra Sleight-Brennan, award winning radio producer and independent journalist based in Southern Ohio.
As citizens in 21st century America, we assume that our national and state laws protect us and our children. They do, in many cases, but NOT went it comes to health and safety regulations concerning the fracking of natural gas. In Ohio, there are so many holes in the oil and gas regulations that the loopholes are big enough to drive a bus through.
I wondered what would happen if a truck full of liquid waste (brine) from a horizontally hydrofracked well hit a school bus on one of our rural roads – say Rt 144 in Athens County where a permit for the Atha Injection well is pending. So I started asking questions. More…
Appalachia Resist! and Earth First! shut down frack waste facility for a day. Please donate to legal fund.
Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013, over one hundred protestors from environmental groups around the country convened at the Green Hunter frack waste storage site on the Ohio River in New Matamoras, Ohio. Frack waste from Pennsylvania and other states is stored in three large recently painted bright blue tanks, each with a useless low earthen dike, until it is shipped by truck to Ohio injection wells. A pending plan to expand the facility and bring the waste by barge has made it a focus by those concerned by the rapidly expanding importation of toxic, radioactive frack waste being dumped in Ohio communities. Each barge can carry up to a half million gallons of liquid industrial chemical waste.
Activists wearing dust masks and hazmat-style suits served donuts to the workers and shut down the site for the day. Nate Ebert sat for five hours atop a pole fastened to a truck that had arrived to unload waste. He and nine others were arrested and have been released on bail. Donations to the legal fund are encouraged. Please donate and see press release and up-to-date coverage and photos at AppalachiaResist.wordpress.com.
Also covered by Logan Daily, Ecowatch, Common Dreams, Democracy Now!, Columbus Dispatch and WNBC News. Note typo correction to original AR! release: The barges will bring frack waste up and down the Ohio.
And letter of appreciation in Marietta Times, 3-1-13
Latest on Lupo: indicted; history of violations, including intentional dumping of large quantities of waste, with his operations continuing “unabated with no convictions and small fines.”
Latest: NBC4i.com, Columbus TV, March 1, 2013: Rep. Bob Hagan and Buckeye Forest Council’s Teresa Mills ask why the state allowed Lupo to continue his operations for decades as violations mounted into the hundreds.
2-28-13: Lupo and company indicted. Ohio Attorney General Mike Dewine comments on inadequacy of Ohio law: “This case is a reminder that we should look at making state law equal to federal law when it comes to protecting the waters of Ohio.”
Vindy.com, Feb. 17, 2013: THE HEADLINES ARE DECADES OLD, but they all share one person in common: Ben W. Lupo. Today’s front pages are oddly reminiscent of headlines years ago: “Area brine dumping tied to sodium in Beaver River.” “Ohio EPA probes brine dumping.” “Area firms face pollution suits.”…
…‘We’ve observed three, 8,000-gallon semi-tractor tankers dumping at one time,’ Steve Irwin told The Vindicator at the time.” More…
THIS IS WHAT ODNR “REGULATION” LOOKS LIKE.
See earlier ACFAN posts for background on story.
Ohio officials have no information on frack waste “recycling”–who is doing it, where the waste goes, or what’s in it
“Ohio environmental and Natural Resources officials say they don’t know how many recyclers there are, how much of this waste is produced, what’s in it or even where it goes….’The waste should be regulated,’ said Teresa Mills, fracking coordinator for the Buckeye Forest Council. ‘These facilities should be regulated.’” more…Columbus Dispatch, 2-16-13
Like Ginsburg well, Lupo’s well violations show consistently ineffective, non-deterrent responses by ODNR
The history of violations by Lupo’s companies now being revealed includes mechanical failures, leaks, spills, and a total lack of consequences imposed by ODNR. Wells ordered to be shut down never were; clean-up of spills took months. ODNR is implicated in the poisoning of our state’s rivers and drinking water supplies and must be held accountable. See coverage at wkbn.com.
Lupo may have ordered more than 200,000 (yes, two hundred thousand) gallons be dumped over recent months. Mike Dewine said that it was important for federal charges to be brought because Ohio law would make these crimes misdemeanors. Dewine is calling for stiffer penalties. Business Daily, 2-15-13
New Matamoras man pleads guilty to frack waste dumping
Marietta Times, 2-14-13: “A New Matamoras man has pleaded guilty to a violation of the Clean Water Act by allowing oil and gas well wastewater to flow into a tributary of the Little Muskingum River three years ago….
…The reservoir contained about 800,000 gallons of wastewater at the time, most of which entered Rockcamp Run.
Analysis of wastewater from the reservoir showed significant concentrations of barium and sodium.
Ingesting drinking water containing higher levels of barium than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency drinking water guidelines of 20 milligrams per liter can cause gastrointestinal disturbances and muscle weakness with short-term exposure and kidney damage over a longer period of time.” more
Coloradoan reports on 30-hour gusher of toxic frack fluid from Ft. Collins well
Check out the article: Data points to environmental, health impact of Fort Collins-area fracking accident 20 people required to wrest control of well…more
Note that this coverage, in contrast to most mainstream media and much local Athens coverage, does not just give the industry “viewpoint” without comment. It rebuts it immediately. A much needed model of objective reporting!