Wastewater

The Marcellus Shale Environmental Summit was held this week at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Pittsburgh. Inside were some 120 people listening to speakers talk on the topic of using technology to treat drilling wastewater so that the wastewater doesn’t end up in Pennsylvania’s waterways. Most people would agree that’s a good thing.

Outside the hotel was a small group of 30 anti-drilling protestors. And as we saw a few weeks ago in Harrisburg (Anti-Drilling Protestors Get Nasty at Shale Coalition Building in Harrisburg, PA), these protestors were not content to peaceably and respectfully march and make their statement. They decided they were above the law:

Read More “Anti-Drilling Protestors in PA Break the Law (Again), This Time Disrupting a Meeting”

The Geological Society of America’s annual meeting was in full swing over the weekend with some 1,600 geologists meeting in downtown Pittsburgh. Prominent on the agenda is drilling in the Marcellus Shale.

Read More “Researcher Finds PA Marcellus Gas Drillers Reuse Two-Thirds of Wastewater on Average”

It seems that The New York Times’ contention that Pennsylvania is poisoning waterways with radioactivity from Marcellus Shale wastewater was fiction and not science, as is now proven by test results from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The DEP conducted tests over the past four months at key locations where wastewater is treated and released into area waterways. Here’s what they found with respect to radioactivity:
Read More “New York Times Proven Wrong – Marcellus Shale Wastewater Has Not Increased Radioactivity Levels in PA Waterways”

Even though extensive testing done by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has proven Marcellus Shale wastewater does not increase levels of radioactivity in its waterways (see here), that doesn’t stop the over-reaching federal Environmental Protection Agency from interfering in PA’s business:

Read More “U.S. EPA Tries to Tell PA DEP How to Do It’s Job – PA Pushes Back”

The latest fallout from The New York Times story is about how wastewater from Marcellus Shale drilling operations in Pennsylvania is tracked as it is disposed. Supposedly the Times has found that there is a conspiracy:

Read More “Was the Pennsylvania DEP Bribed to Avoid Better Tracking of Marcellus Drilling Wastewater?”

Former PA Governor Tom Ridge has a new role as spokesman for the Marcellus Shale Coalition. In that role, he met yesterday with local political officials and reporters in Canonsburg, PA, near Pittsburgh. He had some common sense words for those in the audience:

“You cannot eliminate the risk from anything you do,” said Ridge, who was casually dressed in jeans, a blue turtleneck and a blue button-down shirt. “Airplanes crash because pilots make bad judgments, but we don’t stop flying.”(1)

Read More “Former PA Gov. Tom Ridge Says NYT Spreading Disinformation”

It looks like new PA Gov. Tom Corbett’s pick to head the Department of Environmental Protection will soon be confirmed by the State Senate. Michael L. Krancer, 53, of Bryn Mawr in Montgomery County, answered Senators’ questions at his confirmation hearing yesterday. In particular he responded to questions about the recent stories in The New York Times alleging PA has been lax in testing drinking water supplies that The Times claims are now contaminated with high levels of radioactivity from drilling wastewater.

Krancer took the opportunity to set the record straight on a few facts The Times got wrong:

Read More “New PA DEP Secretary Krancer Sets the Record Straight, Corrects NYT Errors”