Air Quality

Air Quality | Broome County | Health Impacts | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo’s Anti-Drilling Snit Fit
October 10, 2013October 10, 2013

New York Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo is a Democrat from the Binghamton, NY area, a member of the Assembly Committee on Environmental Conservation and a member of the governor’s High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing Advisory Panel–appointed to the panel by Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Joe Martens. Her opinion on fracking matters—she carries influence in Albany. She’s also anti-drilling, as MDN pointed out in March (see NY Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo: Fracking Friend or Foe?). She coyly attempts to straddle the fence with her language, but her actions speak so loudly we no longer hear her political double-speak.

Once again Lupardo proves her anti-drilling creds. She has just sent (yet another) letter to DEC Commissioner Martens (full copy embedded below). This time Lupardo wants to let Martens know she’s miffed that he won’t assemble the fracking advisory panel per her previous request earlier this year, and to let him know she thinks the never-ending health review of fracking regulations by State Health Dept. Commissioner Nirav Shah should be put on immediate hold. To which we say, really? The health review is already on hold! More on Lupardo’s anti-drilling snit fit to Martens…
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Air Quality | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

More on “Pro-Drilling” Conversion of Gasland II Star from Dimock
October 10, 2013October 10, 2013

A few days ago we told you that one of Josh Fox’s stars in Gasland II, Victoria Switzer, has changed sides and now wants to work with the drilling industry to ensure the air is clean in Susquehanna County, PA (see Gasland II Starlet Leaves Anti-Drilling Behind, Adopts “Realism”). This is a huge problem for the anti-drilling movement, a movement that is typically shrill and frankly, unthinking. We now have at least a few people who, while they don’t like natural gas drilling going on around them, are willing to have a cogent, what they call “respectful” dialog about it. They also recognize shall drilling is here to stay–they are realists. Finally, some people on the other side of the issue we can talk to!

A bit more about the new tone and the new group which Switzer and other former anti-drillers have formed–a group called Breathe Easy Susquehanna County…
Read More “More on “Pro-Drilling” Conversion of Gasland II Star from Dimock”
Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Regulation | Statewide PA

Should PA Compressor Plants Miles Away be Considered “Adjacent”?
October 9, 2013October 9, 2013

A few weeks ago at the Shale Insight 2013 event in Philadelphia, MDN heard a panel discussion that tackled a thorny, and on-going, issue in Pennsylvania. The issue is complex, but if we can condense it to a brief statement, it would be this: Should processing and compressor plants that are connected by pipelines but not directly next to each other be considered a “single source” when it comes to the pollution they emit? The argument comes down to the concept of adjacency–what does the word “adjacent” mean in the federal Clean Air Act? Does it mean “directly next to each other,” or “in the same general vicinity” (up to X miles away)?

If the plants scattered in a general area–say 20-30 miles around–are considered a single source or “adjacent”, it means collectively they would be considered a “major source” of pollution and therefore subject to very strict federal guidelines under the Clean Air Act. If they are not adjacent and not a single source, they are regulated by the state and the state has less onerous rules when it comes to air pollution emissions. It may sound like a small difference, but being regulated by the EPA or the state of Pennsylvania is a huge (and expensive) difference. The real question is, are residents who live in areas with an abundance of compressor stations and processing plants being exposed to dangerously high levels of air pollution?…
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Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

New EPA Carbon Regulations Killing Coal & Our Country
September 24, 2013September 23, 2013

Once again the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proven it’s a rogue, out-of-control agency that needs to be reigned in–now. The EPA has just issued new emissions standards for power plants that will result in massive closures of coal-fired power plants (any volunteers for rolling brownouts?). What’s the big boogeyman they so desperately need to control? Carbon dioxide–the stuff you exhale with each breath. The flatulence that comes from the back-ends of every living mammal. The excuse the rogue EPA is using to “regulate” something that’s not a pollutant? The man-made global warming fairy tale–even though recent scientific evidence proves global warming isn’t happening and hasn’t been for the past 15 years! See Warming whoops: Scientists debate the falling rate of rising temperatures.

Enough is enough. Hopefully the Republicans in Congress will have the spine to stop this lunacy before it progresses any further…
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Air Quality | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research

Forbes Article Exposes Cornell Prof Howarth and His “Research”
September 20, 2013September 20, 2013

Earlier this week MDN told you about the newly released Environmental Defense Fund research study that found (surprise!) not nearly as much methane leaks out of shale wells as scaremongers like Cornell professors Robert Howarth and Tony Ingraffea want you to believe (see New Study Final Nail in Coffin of Inflated Fugitive Methane Claims). It won’t surprise you that Prof. Howarth is indignant that his research has been called into question (yet again).

An article on the Forbes website by George Mason University’s Jon Entine does a masterful job of investigating anti-frackers like Howarth and Ingraffea and what really motivates them. Hint: Follow the (Park Foundation) money…
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Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research

New Study Final Nail in Coffin of Inflated Fugitive Methane Claims
September 17, 2013September 17, 2013

In 2011 Cornell professors Robert Howarth and Anthony (Tony) Ingraffea published a study that claimed drilling for natural gas is actually worse than burning coal because extracting natural gas leads to high levels of “fugitive methane” escaping into the atmosphere and contributing to global warming (see New Cornell University Study Says Shale Gas Extraction Worse for Global Warming Than Coal). It was a “you can’t really be serious” moment, calling into question the academic rigor (or lack thereof) at Cornell. The problem with Howarth and Ingraffea’s work is that it was all theoretical–no actual data measurements on which they based their claims.

A peer-reviewed study by MIT was later published using actual data that roundly refuted the work of Howarth and Ingraffea (see New MIT Study on Fugitive Methane Discredits Cornell Study). Now, a second peer-reviewed study has just been published by in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. Titled “Measurements of methane emissions at natural gas production sites in the United States” (full copy embedded below), the study uses data from 190 actual well sites and calculates that less than half of one percent (0.42% on average) of natural gas escapes from well sites during extraction (“fugitive methane”). This is much less than Howarth and Ingraffea “estimated” with their theoretical study. This new study puts the final nail in the coffin of efforts to discredit natural gas drilling as worse than coal based on wildly inflated fugitive methane numbers…
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Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Research | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Did WVDEP Ignore It’s Own Research on Shale Well Air Pollution?
August 26, 2013August 26, 2013

The West Virginia Natural Gas Horizontal Well Control Act, passed and signed into law in December 2011, directed the WV Dept. of Environment Protection (WVDEP) to conduct three studies. The third and final study on air quality was released in June (see WVDEP Releases Study on Air Quality Impacts of Shale Drilling). The WVDEP said based on the data they received, no new regulations are required to control air pollution near drilling operations. However, a West Virginia University professor that oversaw the raw report given to the WVDEP disagrees with their assessment.

Dr. Michael McCawley, chairman of the Department of Occupational & Environmental Health Sciences in the School of Public Health at WVU, said he thinks a 625-foot “setback” is not far enough (in some cases) and that air emissions from Marcellus and Utica shale drilling need more regulation…
Read More “Did WVDEP Ignore It’s Own Research on Shale Well Air Pollution?”
Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Which Option are PA Drillers Choosing for New Air Emission Regs?
August 13, 2013August 13, 2013

Last week MDN told you that tough new air emission standards would begin this week for drillers in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale (see Tough New Air Standards for PA Marcellus Drillers Start Next Week). The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is giving drillers two options: either get an air quality plan pre-approved by the DEP for every well drilled (adding lots of time to drilling a well), or comply with the DEP’s stricter version of new federal standards issued in April 2012–that is, become certified that every well you drill lives up to a certain standard.

Which option are drillers choosing–a plan for every well or the tweaked federal standard? According to the industry organization Marcellus Shale Coalition, looks like most drillers are going with…
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Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Tough New Air Standards for PA Marcellus Drillers Start Next Week
August 9, 2013August 9, 2013

Starting next week, Marcellus Shale drillers in PA will face strict new rules on air emissions at drill sites. The new rules (i.e. “technical guidance”) won’t officially be released until Saturday, August 10 when published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. The rules will limit noxious emissions, including nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants. The rules also include an almost-total ban on flaring of wells–only short-term or emergency flaring allowed.

Drillers will be given one of two choices for compliance under the new rules: either get an air quality plan pre-approved by the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) for each well drilled–adding a lot of time to the drilling process, or comply with new DEP standards that are even more strict than federal standards issued in April 2012–in essence have your drilling operation certified as complying with super-strict DEP standards. Which option will drillers chose? The Marcellus Shale Coalition says drillers are mulling it over now…
Read More “Tough New Air Standards for PA Marcellus Drillers Start Next Week”
Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WVDEP Releases Study on Air Quality Impacts of Shale Drilling
July 3, 2013July 3, 2013

The West Virginia Natural Gas Horizontal Well Control Act, passed and signed into law in December 2011, directed the WV Dept. of Environment Protection (WVDEP) to conduct three studies. The third and final study was recently released, titled “Air Quality Impacts Occurring from Horizontal Well Drilling and Related Activities” (full copy embedded below).

According to the cover letter from the WVDEP, based on the findings in the study, no new regulations are required to control air pollution around drilling sites…
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Air Quality | Energy Companies | Halcon Resources | Industrialization | Industrywide Issues | Noise | Ohio | Regulation | Trumbull County | Utica Shale | Wildlife

Trumbull County, OH Residents Upset with Nearby Utica Well Noise
June 28, 2013June 28, 2013

A Utica Shale well being drilled by Halcon Resources in Trumbull County–the Kibler 1H well–is causing problems for nearby residents of the Westwood Lake mobile home park. The chief complaint is the loud noise from the well due to flaring (burning off initial waste coming from the newly drilled borehole). Residents are also concerned about possible air pollution, and they’ve asked the Trumbull County Commissioners board to investigate and enact new zoning ordinances…
Read More “Trumbull County, OH Residents Upset with Nearby Utica Well Noise”
Air Quality | Alternative Energy | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

BHO Sacrifices Liberty and Freedom in the Name of Climate Change
June 27, 2013June 27, 2013

On Tuesday, President Barack Hussein Obama delivered a speech at Georgetown University (full copy embedded below) in which he said, essentially, that he doesn’t have the patience for this messy thing called democracy and freedom and the will of the people when it comes to so-called Climate Change. Therefore he, BHO, in order to save the planet from itself, will charge forward with draconian measures that he’s sure will be unpopular, but according to him, necessary.
Read More “BHO Sacrifices Liberty and Freedom in the Name of Climate Change”
Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Regulation

13 States Send Letter to EPA, Draws a Fracking Line in the Sand
June 11, 2013June 11, 2013

We’re not quite sure how this one slipped by our radar, but a month ago the attorneys general from 13 brave states–1/4 of all states–sent a letter (copy embedded below) to the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) drawing a line in the sand and saying, “Don’t step over that line” when it comes to regulating fracking. To which we say, “Horray!” Finally, someone with backbone to push back against a rogue, out-of-control EPA desirous of regulating anything and everything–in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

New York, of course, was not one of the 13 signatories. However, West Virginia (with a Democrat governor), was. Ohio signed it too. Sadly, even though Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett is pro-drilling, the new Democrat attorney general in PA, Kathleen Kane, is anti-drilling and she refused to participate in signing the letter–even though her state is reaping huge rewards from shale drilling and stands to lose big-time under an activist EPA.

Here’s what prompted the letter…
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Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

Drillers in PA Have Tax Advantage on New EPA Pollution Regs
May 30, 2013May 30, 2013

In the coming months and years, Marcellus (and Utica) drillers will spend more money–a lot more money–to comply with new air pollution regulations coming from the federal Environment Protection Agency (see EPA’s Draconian Air Pollution Rules Go into Effect, Sort of). Drillers will have to buy new equipment to comply. However, drillers in PA’s Marcellus Shale may be able reduce some of the high cost burden by not paying sales and use tax on pollution-control devices. Tax attorneys from Reed Smith explain:
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Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

EPA Says Oops, Methane Leaks Much Less than We Thought
April 29, 2013April 29, 2013

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has “dramatically lowered” its estimate of just how much methane leaks into the atmosphere during the drilling/extracting process. The EPA considers methane a potent so-called greenhouse gas with the power to elevate the earth’s temperature.

The EPA data is “kind of an earthquake” in the drilling debate according to the Breakthrough Institute. Of course the unreasonable anti-drilling nutters like 350.org refuse to believe it, calling natural gas the energy equivalent of a “fad diet”…

Read More “EPA Says Oops, Methane Leaks Much Less than We Thought”
Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

New Federal Effort to Regulate Shale Drilling via NETL & NIOSH
April 26, 2013April 26, 2013

The feds are once again sniffing around shale gas drilling done in the individual states with an eye toward regulating it. This latest effort does not come from the EPA, which is on its own mission to regulate shale drilling via the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, nor does it come from the Dept. of Interior with onerous new rules for fracking on federal lands. This effort comes from the Dept. of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The two agencies have signed a “memorandum of understanding” (MOU) to “identify and monitor the potential impact of shale gas production on air quality and [mythical] greenhouse gas emissions.”

Sprinkle in important sounding phrases like “science-based,” “core competencies,” and “human health,” pull in an alphabet soup of other agencies like DOI and EPA, and voilà: A brand new way is born to regulate oil and gas drilling by the feds…

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