SAFETY FIRST
Thursday, November 12th, 2009 | 0 Comments
Without question, protecting the environment, groundwater and those who work tirelessly to extract and help deliver affordable and reliable energy supplies to the American people each day is the top priority of energy producers. Countless layers of regulations, laws and safeguards are in place to ensure that energy production – especially through the use of hydraulic fracturing – protects our nation’s water supplies and the workers responsible for extracting these job-creating resources.
The Washington (PA) Observer-Reporter reports this under the headline “Range posts Marcellus safety drill video”:
Range Resources Corp. said Monday it has posted a video to its Web site, www.rangeresources.com, describing a first-of-its kind, large-scale safety drill in the Marcellus Shale play recently conducted in Lycoming County. The company said in a news release that state Sen. Gene Yaw filmed and produced the video and is sharing it with multiple outlets to benefit first responders across the state. Yaw is a member of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee and represents Lycoming, Bradford, Susquehanna, Union and Sullivan counties, where drilling is occurring in the Marcellus Shale play.”
To view this video on-line, click HERE.
And the American Petroleum Institute (API) continues to set and reinforce strict industry-wide fracking guidelines. In a Fort Worth Business Press article this week, under the headline “API publishes guidelines for safe fracing”, the paper reports:
Less than a month after the state of Pennsylvania fined a gas exploration and production company more than $50,000 for spilling chemicals during drilling, the American Petroleum Institute has published, for the first time, its suggested guidelines on how best to drill and hydraulically fracture wells without damaging the environment, even while the debate about who gets to regulate hydraulic fracturing – state or feds? – continues.
The API published a 36-page document, titled API HF1: Hydraulic Fracturing Operations–Well Construction and Integrity Guideline, intended to offer best-industry practices for the proper drilling and cementing of wells that are being hydraulically fractured while ensuring that shallow groundwater aquifers and the environment are protected throughout the drilling processes and beyond.
“These are general principles or guidelines that will result in a good well,” said Andy Radford, an API senior policy adviser.
Click HERE to view this document on-line.
States and local governments understand well how heavily regulated this industry, especially the environmentally-safe use of hydraulic fracturing. And they’re speaking out loudly and clearly, telling DC politicians that states – not unelected bureaucrats – are the ones best equipped to regulate this critical 60-year-old energy production technology.
Under the headline “Garfield County: No rules on fracing,” The Durango Herald repots this today:
While La Plata County has struggled to define its position on hydraulic fracturing, Garfield County is clear: no federal regulation. Commissioners of the heavy natural gas-producing county this week approved a resolution that opposes legislation in U.S. Congress that would bring the practice under regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency. Fracing entails pumping sand, water and chemicals into rock formations at high pressure to break them open and release gas.
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