Pittsburgh Councilman Introduces “Toxic Trespass” Legislation
Pittsburgh City Councilman Doug Shields has been a tireless anti-drilling crusader (see previous MDN stories here). Fortunately, he leaves office at the end of December—he didn’t run for re-election. But before he goes, he wants to take one parting shot at the drilling industry.
Yesterday, Mr. Shields introduced “toxic trespass” legislation, which is designed to try and stop drilling in other locations by inferring they may release chemicals into the environment that will find their way to Pittsburgh via rivers and streams and therefore Pittsburgh will sue them out of existence if they get even a whiff of something they don’t like. Nice way to go out Doug…
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This week will be important for the effort to get shale gas drilling moving in New York State. The state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is conducting a series of four public hearings nominally to accept comments on the most recent changes to the draft drilling regulations, also known as the SGEIS (Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement). MDN says “nominally” because each of the four events will be used by both those for and against drilling to try and show their side has the most support.
The Shale Gas Subcommittee of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB) is a panel of seven experts appointed by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu earlier this year with the task of creating a list of industry “best practices” for shale gas drillers. The SEAB produced an initial 90-day report in August with a list of 20 recommendations (
As MDN reported yesterday, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) is set to vote on new drilling rules to allow limited drilling in the DRBC jurisdiction on Nov. 21 (
The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) yesterday released a final version of new shale gas drilling regulations (copy embedded below). A vote will be taken on Nov. 21st to adopt the new regulations. So far, no Marcellus Shale gas wells have been drilled in the areas covered by the jurisdiction of the DRBC which includes large portions of Pennsylvania and New York, in addition to Delaware and New Jersey. Of those states, only PA has allowed gas drilling to date. The DRBC is a quasi-governmental body charged with protecting the environmental “health” of the Delaware River and its tributaries.
The Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York (IOGA NY), after studying the new draft drilling rules issued by the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) wrote a letter to DEC Commissioner Joe Martens and Gov. Andrew Cuomo on September 2 stating that the new rules, as written, are not acceptable if the state wants there to be any shale gas drilling. A copy of the 15-page letter with attachments (31 pages total) was obtained by Gannett News and can be downloaded below.
Yesterday, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finally released its plan with specifics for how it will conduct research into the question of whether or not hydraulic fracturing contaminates, or otherwise negatively impacts, drinking water supplies. A copy of the 190-page plan is embedded below.