A Lesson In How Crackers are Made
With EID programs currently up and running in both Pennsylvania and Ohio -- and having great, collaborative relationships with our friends in West Virginia as well -- it's fair to say that EID is more than a little bit conflicted when it comes to our institutional position on where Shell should build its new $2-billion ethane-fed cracker facility among the several sites currently under review throughout the three-state region.
With EID programs currently up and running in both Pennsylvania and Ohio — and having great, collaborative relationships with our friends in West Virginia as well — it’s fair to say that EID is more than a little bit conflicted when it comes to our institutional position on where Shell should build its new $2-billion ethane-fed cracker facility among the several sites currently under review throughout the three-state region.
But as you might expect, the senior U.S. senator from Pennsylvania isn’t quite so torn. In a letter sent this week to Mark Quartermain, president of Shell Energy North America, U.S. Sen. Robert Casey (D-Pa.) lays out a pretty compelling case for why Shell should set-up shop in Pennsylvania, citing the state’s skilled workforce, extensive rail transportation network, and the “great potential that Marcellus Shale resources” has to offer. Not to be outdone, federal lawmakers from Ohio and West Virginia (and governors too) have weighed in as well, each hopeful that their workforce, infrastructure and shale-related geology will help put their state over the top – and snag 10,000 new jobs in the process.
As Sen. Casey alludes to his letter, the reason Shell’s in the position today to make such an enormous investment in the region is directly related to the remarkable volumes of natural gas (and especially, natural gas liquids) currently being produced from shale. What the senator doesn’t mention in his letter, though, is the fact that he’s currently the co-author and chief sponsor of legislation in the Senate that has the potential to shut down shale development all across the country, starting in his home state of Pennsylvania.
At least that’s the position of Gasland director Josh Fox, who has called for a nationwide ban on the technologies needed to harvest energy from shale, and for good measure, a global ban on all fossil fuels. Over on his website, Fox directs visitors to call their elected representatives and “let them know you support the FRAC Act.” Why that bill? Because “we can’t stop fracking without you.” Does that sound like a disclosure bill to you?
All of which sets up an interesting question: Had Sen. Casey actually passed his legislation when it was first introduced a couple years back, would Shell have decided to invest $2 billion in a facility whose entire business case is premised on continued access to affordable energy resources from the Marcellus and Utica shales? We can’t say for sure. What we do, though, is that one of the provisions included in the $41-billion merger between Exxon and XTO in December 2009 was a clause suggesting the deal could be called off if Congress were to pass a bill making “hydraulic fracturing or similar processes… illegal or commercially impracticable.” Sounds a little bit like Sen. Casey’s bill, doesn’t it?
Separate and apart from the legislation, the senator also appears to have a habit of “shooting first” and asking questions later when it comes to assigning blame in rare occasions when things go wrong. In March 2011, Sen. Casey wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Energy asking the agency to investigate “yet another gas-migration-related explosion” in McKean Co., Pa. – telling Secretary Chu that, to him, “it appears” the incident was caused by “extensive new deep drilling activities.” Less than a month later, PA DEP released the findings of its investigation, showing the source of methane migration to be shallow, abandoned wells drilled in the area more than 125 years ago. Not shale. And not new.
All that aside, though, Sen. Casey deserves credit for standing up for his state and fighting for thousands of family-supporting jobs at an otherwise very difficult time for our country and our economy. The good news for everyone is that, wherever the cracker is located, most experts believe that the entire region will benefit tremendously from the multi-billion dollar shot-in-the-arm that this facility portends. According to Keith Burdette, West Virginia’s commerce secretary, “the sites [are] just so closely grouped together that the impact across state lines will be significant.”
Of course, all things being equal, Mr. Burdette wants that sucker in West Virginia. Ohio governor John Kasich wants it in Ohio. And Sen. Casey? Well, he wants that cracker in Pennsylvania. As for us? We’d settle for a box of wheat thins. That, and maybe before anyone sends out any more letters – perhaps a moment of reflection on what’s made this entire conversation possible?
*Update II* Fracturing Technology Lowering Energy Prices – Even In Areas It’s Not Used
Try as some folks might, it’s just getting tougher and tougher to avoid/ignore/deny the reality of responsible shale development qua massive creator of jobs, revenue and American opportunity. Just this week, the Associated Press highlighted the significant employment gains being made right now in the Buckeye State — where natural gas development is re-invigorating the U.S. steel industry and pumping literally billions of dollars back into communities that could sure use the lift right now.
Of course, you could also look west to North Dakota, where the state is enjoying a nation leading 3.5% unemployment rate thanks to the development of the Bakken. And as those development activities have continued across the country, another benefit is making itself known to the American consumer: significant cost savings in the form of lower energy bills.
In a recent article in the Buffalo News, Gary Marchiori, President of Energy Mark, a local energy services firm in upstate New York, summed this up quite succinctly stating:
Whether they realize it or not, consumers in the Buffalo Niagara region are benefiting from natural gas production in the Marcellus Shale every time they turn their furnace on.
Here, he’s talking about how the responsible development of the Marcellus Shale – and other tight reservoirs in the east – has had the effect of driving down natural gas prices across the entire country, reducing the cost of heating homes, cooking your food and manufacturing just about anything in the world that matters.
In New York, this trend is borne out in estimates for heating costs this year put forward by the National Fuel Company. The company declared that the typical residential household will have winter heating costs of approximately $719 which is a $350 decrease from prices paid just two years ago.
Sounds nice right? Just to make sure, we thought we’d give Mr. Marchiori a call ourselves, having never spoken to the man previous to seeing him quoted in the newspaper. And guess what? Turns out Gary’s a great guy who knows a great deal about energy markets in western New York, and beyond. According to Gary:
Due to excess surplus from shale, you should have [natural gas] stored and retained throughout the year, keeping prices low well through next year. Adding to this stability is presence of major natural gas producers, whose additional exploration and production can be expected to lead to a more predictable supply, thus removing significant market volatility and also helping to keep prices low for the consumer.”
Of course, these benefits are not limited to New York. In fact, the UGI corporation, one of the largest utilities on the east coast providing natural gas to approximately 56,000 customers, also announced that it would be lowering its natural gas prices resulting in cost savings on average of 13.5% to residential customers. While a rate decrease of this magnitude may not seem significant, with this decrease natural gas costs for UGI customers will be about 27% less than they were just three short years ago. This good news may just end up meaning an extra present or two below the Christmas tree this year in many homes thanks to cost savings brought about by shale development.
According to Vicki O. Ebner, Senior Vice President, Customer & Government Relations at UGI, this all attributable to the safe and responsible development of our nation’s shale resources:
The increase of supplies of natural gas from Marcellus Shale has helped create continued downward price pressure on natural gas. We are pleased to pass this cost savings on to our customers as we approach the winter heating season, especially in the midst of extreme price volatility for other energy sources. Now more than ever, natural gas is an affordable, efficient and reliable American fuel, and the energy source of choice for homes and businesses.
All of this comes on top of news released earlier this year from the Energy Information Administration (EIA). EIA stated earlier this year that throughout the northeast, wholesale natural gas prices were down between 2% and 15% over the summer, reflecting both lower regional demands and growing natural gas production from the Marcellus Shale.
Benefits like these can’t be trivialized easily by those opposing natural gas development as it means the chance to breathe a bit easier for our nation’s neediest families. After all with announcements earlier this year indicating that 16 million U.S. children are living below the poverty level this year (highest level since 1962) we are pretty sure that many families appreciate cost savings wherever they can be found. Thanks to natural gas development one place to look is your monthly utility bill.
Update 1- December 1, 2011
Today, the Scranton Times Tribune also featured the cost-savings brought about in northeast Pennsylvania thanks to Marcellus development. The paper adds to this already great story, stating:
- Those who heat their homes with natural gas will get a big break this heating season as rates plunge to their lowest level in more than a decade thanks largely to Marcellus Shale development
- “The state’s Marcellus Shale production, still considered by many to be in it’s infancy, “can in 13 days meet UGI customers needs for an entire year” and “the shale gas has pulled down wholesale natural gas prices nationwide“
- One energy analyst interviewed for the article stated, “a few months ago I would have said prices couldn’t go much lower, but here we are with still lower prices”
Update II- December 2, 2011
The hits just keep on coming. Today, the Des Moines Register confirmed that shale gas is significantly bringing down consumer prices of natural in the Hawkeye State and across the continental United States. The article, titled “Natural Gas Story Warm and Fuzzy” highlighted the benefits shale development is bringing to folks in Iowa, among many other places. Specifically informing Iowans that while they may be preparing for their first sub-freezing temperatures of the year staying warm may be just a bit less costly as:
the price of natural gas, the prime heating fuel in the state, is running at a five-year low thanks to expanded domestic production.
Iowa joins Pennsylvania, New York, Rhode Island (and just about all of New England for that matter) and countless other states enjoying reduced utility bills this winter thanks to the safe and responsible development of our natural gas resources. As our nation continues to struggle with stubbornly high unemployment rates for many Americans struggling to make ends meet it is likely comforting to know that staying warm will cost less and that continued production should keep this the case for some time.
The Griswolds Go to Pittsburgh
Sprawling piece on natural gas development in SWPA lands in NYT Sunday Mag; EID sorts through the data that NYT’s Griswold leaves behind
If it’s true that the definition of a good compromise is one in which both sides leave unhappy, it might seem that the 5,700-word piece on Marcellus development in Washington Co., Pa. filed this past weekend in the Sunday magazine of The New York Times comes close to being one heck of a deal.
Writing about the piece on the environmental website Grist – no friend to shale – Sarah Laskow concludes that “anyone who already understands the issue should probably skip it, to avoid getting ticked off.” For what it’s worth, we happen to agree — albeit for different reasons.
On the positive side of the ledger, NYT contributor Eliza Griswold includes about a half-dozen stories from real folks in the Amwell Twp. community whose lives have been made materially better owing to the local development of enormous reserves of clean-burning natural gas from shale. Folks who now can keep their farms, send their kids to college, maybe even retire somewhere someday. Folks who care deeply about the quality and nature of their local environment, and who, despite the hype, have seen no evidence heretofore that Marcellus activity is deleterious to it.
Those are the parts that Grist doesn’t like, preferring instead the ones in which Griswold attempts to paint a picture of natural gas development as scourge to air, water, and land; hoof, hound and equine. But a closer look at the air and water testing data compiled by state regulators and third-party technicians – every bit of it publicly available; very little of it mentioned in this piece — reveals a reality in tiny Amwell Twp. very much at odds with the narrative put forth by the Times.
Below, we take a closer look at some of the claims made in the piece, and see how they stack-up when juxtaposed with the science.
Wrong on the basics
NYT: “’Fracking,’ as it is known, is a process of natural-gas drilling that involves pumping vast quantities of water, sand and chemicals thousands of feet into the earth to crack the deep shale deposits and free bubbles of gas from the ancient, porous rock.”
- “Hydraulic fracturing,” as it’s more accurately known, is not a “natural-gas drilling” process. It’s a post-drilling well stimulation technology that has been deployed more than 1.2 million times over nearly 65 years of commercial use. NYT/E&E News: “The method of drilling is not called ‘hydraulic fracturing.’ … Fracturing has been used by drillers for around 60 years.” (Groundtruthing Gasland, NYT/E&E News, Feb. 24, 2011)
- According to EPA, fracturing technology is used not only in the context of oil and natural gas development, but also to aid in the recovery of geothermal energy and as a means of enhancing the clean-up of Superfund sites. (“A Citizen’s Guide to Fracturing,” EPA fact sheet, May 2001)
NYT: “This summer, Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York moved to lift the state’s yearlong moratorium on fracking against vocal opposition from environmentalists and many local residents. Following a series of hearings this month, New York will decide whether to allow fracking early next year.”
- Contrary to what’s been reported, fracturing technology is neither banned in New York State nor under temporary moratorium. For evidence of that, click here to view a permit issued by New York’s Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) on Oct. 25, 2010. The permit approves the use of hydraulic fracturing – in the Marcellus Shale, no less – in Otsego Co., New York.
- In 2008, DEC announced that it would delay new permits for development projects requiring more than 80,000 gallons of water as part of the fracturing process until the agency’s updated Marcellus regulations were in place. Those regulations were released in draft form this past September, with the final document anticipated in early 2012.
- According to the state’s DEC, fracturing technology has been deployed safely in New York “since at least the 1950s.” All told, more than 75,000 oil, natural gas and salt wells have been drilled in New York over the past 150 years. According to DEC, more than 14,000 remain active today, almost all of them having been fractured.
Wrong on Amwell Township
NYT: “Beth Voyles, 54, a horse trainer and dog breeder … signed the lease with Haney in 2008. She told Haney that her 11 /2-year-old boxer, Cummins, had just died. Voyles thought that he was poisoned. She saw the dog drinking repeatedly from a puddle of road runoff, and she thought that the water the gas company used to wet down the roads probably had antifreeze in it.”
- To her credit, Griswold does include a comment from Range further down in the piece stating that the company does not use glycols as part of its development processes. Unfortunately, she fails to mention DEP’s extensive testing of Ms. Voyles’ water, as well as the agency’s findings that her water is not contaminated.
- DEP letter to Voyles (last month): “Finally, you raised concerns that your water supply might be contaminated by glycols. There is no credible evidence of the contamination of your water supply by ethylene, di-ethylene, or tri-ethylene glycol. … [N]either the sample analyses performed by Summit Environmental Technologies Inc. … nor Test America’s analyses … showed any evidence of glycol in your water supply.” (DEP letter to Ms. Voyles, Oct. 19, 2011)
- More from that letter: “We have concluded our investigation and have determined that there is no evidence to substantiate the complaint. … In summary, DEP has determined that Range has not contaminated your water supply.” (Ibid)
- Voyles’ own veterinarian disputes her statement about her animals: “On November 10, 2010, you voluntarily supplied Range Resources with lab results from both your dog and horse veterinarians. Upon review of these results, Range contacted the canine and equine veterinarians. … [I]t was stated by the veterinarian that the test results were inconclusive for anti-freeze [ethylene glycol] poising. … The veterinarian indicated that the horse had toxicity of the liver, which he felt was not related to [ethylene glycol] poising.” (Range letter to Voyles, Jan. 14, 2011)
- Tests for metals also come up clean: “[F]ollowing conversations with the veterinarians, Range ordered additional testing of your water supplies, including testing for heavy metals such as arsenic, mercury and lead. … Upon review of the information provided [by independent, state-certified Microbac Laboratories], the test results … indicate that both of your water supplies meet all of the EPA minimum primary drinking water standards for all parameters tested.” (Range letter to Voyles, Jan. 14, 2011)
- DEP also tests water of Ms. Voyles’ neighbor, and reaches same conclusions: “The methane gas in your water well was clearly identified through isotopic analysis to be drift gas, not natural gas that would be coming from a gas well. … The three hydrocarbons detected at low levels are common reagents in laboratories, are used as solvents and cleaning agents and can be found in groundwater throughout Pennsylvania where there has been residential or industrial development.” (DEP letter to Mr. Loren Kiskadden, Sept. 9, 2011)
NYT: “Voyles … called the Department of Environmental Protection to register yet another complaint about the stench. The D.E.P. sent out a water specialist, John Carson. … Voyles claims that Carson refused to take her complaint.”
- Pennsylvania DEP lays out very different story in another letter to Voyles: “[O]ver a period of three months, on 24 separate occasions, the Department visited your property and detected no malodors.” (DEP letter to Ms. Voyles, Sept. 22, 2011)
- More context from DEP: “Additionally, last summer, the Department conducted a short-term study of ambient air concentrations of target pollutants near certain Marcellus Shale gas drilling operations in southwestern Pennsylvania [including your property] … Results of the ambient air sampling did not identify concentrations of any compound that would likely trigger air-related health issues associated with Marcellus Shale drilling activities.” (Ibid)
NYT: “In Amwell Township, your opinion of fracking tends to correspond with how much money you’re making and with how close you live to the gas wells, chemical ponds, pipelines and compressor stations springing up in the area.”
- The economic benefits of natural gas development extend well beyond a few households in Amwell Township. According to company data, more than $25 million has been returned to landowners in Amwell since 2009 in the form of lease, royalty and bonus payments. With just short of 1,500 households in the township, that translates into more than $16,700 per home.
- It’s worth noting here the writer’s use of the term “chemical pond” to describe temporary impoundments comprised almost entirely of freshwater. Keep that one tucked away; we’ll get back to it in just a bit.
Wrong on disclosure
NYT: “Popular concerns about natural-gas drilling have centered on what chemicals companies are putting into the earth, not least because this list is a proprietary secret.”
- This assertion is directly rebutted by Pennsylvania DEP: “Drilling companies must disclose the names of all chemicals to be stored and used at a drilling site … These plans contain copies of material safety data sheets for all chemicals … This information is on file with DEP and is available to landowners, local governments and emergency responders.” (PA DEP Marcellus FAQ, accessed Nov. 21, 2011)
- Straight from Pa. code: “Within 30 calendar days of cessation of drilling or altering a well, the well operator shall submit a well record to the Department that includes the following information. … A descriptive list of the chemical additives in the stimulation fluid, including any acid, biocide, breaker, brine, corrosion inhibitor, crosslinker, demulsifier, friction reducer, gel, iron control, oxygen scavenger, pH adjusting agent, proppant, scale inhibitor and surfactant.” (25 Pa. code chapter 78.122, accessed Nov. 21, 2011)
- On the federal level, operators are bound by requirements of the Community Right-to-Know Act (passed in 1986), which mandate that detailed product information sheets be drawn up, updated, and made immediately available to first-response and emergency personnel in case of an accident on-site. (OSHA Standards, accessed Nov. 21, 2011)
- More recently, an effort led by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) culminated in the creation of a searchable, nationwide database with specific well-by-well information on the additives used in the fracturing process. Just six months after it was launched in April, GWPC announced in October that information on more than 5,200 wells is now posted on FracFocus.org. (E&E News, Oct. 21, 2011)
- Ironically, the company highlighted in the piece, Range Resources, was among the first major shale operators in the country to actively disclose online the specific materials used in the completion process. (“Natural-Gas Driller to Disclose Chemical Use,” Wall Street Journal, July 14, 2010)
NYT: “In 2005, Vice President Dick Cheney spearheaded an amendment to the energy bill, which critics call the Halliburton Loophole. This legislation exempts hydraulic fracturing from the Safe Drinking Water Act and protects companies like Halliburton, of which Cheney was once the C.E.O., from disclosing what chemicals are going into the ground.”
- This charge is categorically false. Hydraulic fracturing has never in its nearly 65-year history been regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act. It has, however, been aggressively regulated by the states, which have compiled an impressive record of enforcement and oversight over the past six decades – a record that EPA has acknowledged as being sound as recently as … last night on the Rachel Maddow Show.
- EPA administrator Lisa Jackson on Maddow: “States are stepping up and doing a good job. So I always say: It doesn’t have to be EPA that regulates the 10,000 wells that might go in. (Jackson interview with Rachel Maddow, 9:01, aired Nov. 21, 2011) Jackson, this past weekend: “[Y]ou can’t start to talk about a federal role [in regulating fracturing] without acknowledging the very strong state role.” (Jackson interview on EnergyNOW!, aired Nov. 20, 2011)
- Incidentally, SDWA isn’t even a disclosure bill; the word “disclosure” only appears twice in the entire 77,000-word text, and only in sections unrelated to underground injection (search the legislation here for yourself).
- Language adopted in 2005 simply reaffirmed the fact that states have always taken the lead in regulating the fracturing process. And incidentally, the 2005 energy bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support — with 74 “yea” votes in the U.S. Senate, including ones from the top Democrat on the Energy Committee; current Interior secretary Ken Salazar, then a senator from Colorado; and then-Sen. Barack Obama. In the U.S. House, 75 Democrats supported the final bill, including the top Democratic members on both the Energy & Commerce and Resources Committees.
- Fmr. Clinton EPA administrator Carol Browner explains: “EPA does not regulate – and does not believe it is legally required to regulate – the hydraulic fracturing of methane gas production wells under its UIC program [under the Safe Drinking Water Act].” (Browner letter to David Ludder, Esq., May 5, 1995). How could it be a “loophole” if even EPA itself admits it never regulated the process in the first place?
Wrong on the numbers
NYT: “There are more than 4,000 Marcellus wells in Pennsylvania, with projections ranging from 2,500 new wells a year to a total of more than 100,000 over the next few decades.”
- According to DEP, a total of 4,257 Marcellus wells have been developed in Pennsylvania since 2005, an average of 608 new wells per year. Only 1,446 Marcellus wells were drilled in 2010 (DEP’s end-of-year report for 2010 is available here), and the number for 2011 is currently more than 300 short of 2,000 – far below the projections reported in this piece. Not even the most optimistic Marcellus production scenarios for the state even come close to 100,000 future wells.
- For perspective, Pennsylvania was already home to more than 46,000 active natural gas wells before the first Marcellus well was ever spud back in 2005, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Using the latest available data, Marcellus wells account for barely eight percent of all active natural gas wells in Pennsylvania – and only 1.1 percent of all total wells drilled. According to DEP, more than 350,000 oil and natural gas wells have been drilled in the state since 1859 (DEP fact sheet, accessed Nov. 21, 2011)
- Thanks in large part to advances in horizontal drilling technology — which allows producers today to access significantly greater volumes of natural gas from significantly fewer wells — the total number of wells drilled in Pennsylvania over the past six years has dropped 29 percent, even as the volume of natural gas being produced on a daily basis has increased roughly 12-fold. (DEP well reports, 2010)
NYT: “According to a recent study by Pennsylvania State University, the industry has created 23,000 jobs, including employment for roustabouts, construction workers, helicopter pilots, sign makers, Laundromat workers, electricians, caterers, chambermaids, office workers, water haulers and land surveyors.”
- According to a report from the Pennsylvania Dept. of Labor released earlier this month, total employment for industries related to Marcellus development is 214,000 – ten times the number cited by NYT (Pa. Dept. of Labor and Industry, Nov. 4, 2011). According to that same report, more than 48,000 new Marcellus hires were made in just the past year.
- According to a report issued in July 2011 by researchers from Penn State, actual employment in 2010 tied to Marcellus activities translated into nearly 140,000 jobs. That same report estimates that, by 2020, shale development could support more than 256,000 jobs in Pennsylvania. (PSU Marcellus report, July 20, 2011)
NYT: “Currently, companies operating in Pennsylvania pay no tax to extract gas.”
- According to an analysis conducted by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Revenue this past May, “companies engaged in and related to natural gas drilling activities in Pennsylvania have paid more than $1.1 billion in state taxes since 2006.” (Dept. of Revenue release, May 2, 2011)
- And much more to come, say Penn State researchers: “Our estimates suggest that in 2020 the Marcellus industry in Pennsylvania could be creating more than $20 billion in value added, generating $2 billion in state and local tax revenues, and supporting more than 250,000 jobs.” (“Penn State report even more bullish on Marcellus Shale,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 20, 2011)
NYT: “Banks have expressed reluctance to back home mortgages within up to three miles of a well. Whole towns could become brown fields, and home values would drop precipitously.”
- These are very serious (and specific) charges, and ones for which the writer provides not a single shred of evidence, data or even a stray anecdote.
- Here’s an informed view on lending and leasing, offered by long-time, Pa.-based mortgage lender and real estate attorney: “My experience is that gas lease bonus payment enabled a lot of our customers to resolve mortgage issues and pay off many of them. … Lenders see the value in the additional collateral and recognize the potential future income opportunities a gas lease offers both landowner and lender.” (John F. Spall, director of The Dime Bank, Honesdale, Pa.; Oct. 25, 2011)
- EID’s Marcellus team runs the numbers on charges of diminished property values, comparing counties in Pa. with shale activity to those without it: “[F]armland values in Bradford County averaged $6,984 per acre for properties of 10 acres or more. Fourteen sales in Susquehanna County (1,182 acres) averaged $4,993 per acre. Sullivan and Wyoming County properties averaged $5,579 and $7,215 per acre, respectively. … Now, compare this to similarly rural Wayne County, which is still waiting on the DRBC to allow gas exploration, where the average was $2,921 per acre; or Pike County, where it was $3,168 per acre, despite both counties being much closer the New York City, that factor having traditionally driven property values in those areas. … Lackawanna County, despite being a much more urban area, likewise only produced an average value of $3,889 per acre.”
Wrong on water management
NYT: “Disposing of the chemical water has meant trucking it to another state or paying local treatment facilities to process it. The facilities, which are not equipped to remove salts, have often sent the frack water back into local rivers.”
- The disposition of wastewater associated with the natural gas development process is and has always been regulated by EPA under the Clean Water Act; surface discharges of treated water require a permit under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (also known as an NPDES permit); and treated water must meet stringent safety standards under federal law.
- Fmr. DEP secretary John Hanger: “The water that’s coming out of the tap in Pennsylvania is meeting the safe water drinking standards when it comes to total dissolved solids. Every single drop that is coming out of the tap in Pennsylvania today meets the safe drinking water standard.” (KDKA, Jan. 4, 2011) According to current DEP secretary Michael Krancer, the notion that wastewater is being discharged into the state’s waterways untreated, as implied by NYT, is “a total fiction.” (Associated Press, Nov. 16, 2011)
- Most troubling here, the writer fails to include even a passing mention of wastewater recycling, which is how the vast majority of water is currently being managed in Pennsylvania today: “State environmental regulators say that nearly 70 percent of the wastewater produced by Marcellus Shale wells is being reused or recycled. The Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry group, puts the number higher, saying that on average 90 percent of the water that returns to the surface is recycled.” (Scranton Times-Tribune, Feb. 27, 2011)
- And advances in technology continues to push those recycling percentages even higher: “Range Resources is evidence to how fast this transition can happen. It first used a mixture of fracturing flowback in the Marcellus Shale water and fresh water in August 2009. [By] 2010, it said it reused 96 percent of its produced water in Pennsylvania.” (Stephen Rassenfoss, Journal of Petroleum Technology, July 2011)
NYT: “Thanks to the money [Ray] received from allowing Range Resources to drill, build a compressor station and dig a chemical pond on his land, he has been able to reroof two barns, buy a new hay baler and construct an addition to his house for his 94-year-old mother.”
- Although Griswold graciously takes time here to cite the myriad ways in which the royalties and rents from natural gas development are improving the lives of Amwell resident Ray Day and his family, her insistence on referring to temporary water impoundments as “chemical ponds” here (flashback to a previous section) is again noteworthy – and curious.
- All told, Griswold uses the term “chemical pond” or “chemical impoundment” seven separate times in her story, perhaps unaware that many of these units actually hold freshwater. Even where flowback is temporarily stored near the development site, this water is treated at the wellhead; salt is by far the most prominent non-water component of these units.
- Interestingly, “chemical pond” appears to be a term used particularly frequently by John Smith, a plaintiff’s attorney who collaborated with Griswold on this piece and currently represents the people in Amwell Twp. suing DEP. Mr. Smith is also active in an ongoing campaign to spur passage of local ordinances in the region seeking to subvert the state’s oil and gas law by zoning responsible development off the map. In an article this past September in the Youngstown (Ohio) Vindicator, Mr. Smith again uses the term “chemical ponds,” telling an audience at a community center that the units are completely unregulated.
- But that’s not true at all. Pa. code on impoundments: “[T]he operator may not use a pit for the control, handling or storage of brine and other fluids produced during operation, service or plugging of a well unless the pit is authorized by a permit under The Clean Streams Law (Pa. code, chapter 78, section 78.57, accessed Nov. 21, 2011)
Wrong on “The Mon”
NYT: “In 2008 … [f]or several months, the Monongahela River, which provides most people in the Pittsburgh area with drinking water, no longer met state and federal standards. Following a request from the State of Pennsylvania, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers found it would require five times the amount of water in their reservoirs to dilute the river. It took five months to clean it up.”
- Independent study released in 2009 debunks notion that natural gas producers adversely affected the Mon River: “Analysis of samples taken over the October through December time period [2009] indicate that the percent of chlorides in [total dissolved solids] did not change significantly after the exploration and production companies had stopped or significantly reduced disposal of flow back and produced water at the municipal treatment plants.” (“Evaluation of High TDS Concentrations in the Monongahela River, Tetra Tech NUS, Inc., Jan. 2009)
- More from Tetra Tech study: “[T]he results of this study clearly indicate that discharges from natural gas exploration and production operations contributed only minimally to the total TDS concentrations and mass loadings in the Monongahela River during the time period the study was conducted. The main chemical component detected in the TDS concentrations and mass loadings was sulfate, which mostly likely is the result of mine drainage.” (Ibid)
- Still more: “TDS and sulfate concentrations in the Monongahela River were near the maximum allowable levels upon entering Pennsylvania from West Virginia in October and November 2008; therefore, there was little to no assimilative capacity for TDS or sulfates in the river during that time period.” (Ibid)
NPR: Shale Development a Huge Boon to U.S. Manufacturing
Today, National Public Radio’s Morning Edition highlighted the remarkable impact that responsible shale development is having on American manufacturing, filing a short piece focusing on Marcellus development in Pennsylvania. The program highlighted how hydraulic fracturing is stimulating significant job growth for the manufacturing sector due to affordable and stable supplies of clean-burning natural gas — which is helping to create thousands of jobs during these challenging economic times. Here are several key excerpts from the story:
Energy production is stimulating growth along the supply chain. You can’t drill without steel; you can’t weld without workers. Whether an oil and gas producing state or not, domestic energy production is creating jobs in a wide array of manufacturing sectors.
- “A natural gas drilling boom in Pennsylvania is helping the economies of Rust Belt cities long accustomed to bad news. Drilling requires steel — lots of it — and that has manufacturers expanding and hiring new workers.” Gas Drilling Boom Brings New Life To Steel Industry”
- Around the region, you can find many stories of businesses doing well because of the drilling boom — especially in Pennsylvania. … Doug Matthews is the senior vice president of tubular operations at U.S. Steel — his division makes the pipes and tubes the gas drilling industry uses. U.S. Steel is based in Pittsburgh and is still a big driver for the local economy. When it does well, so do its contractors, like Chapman Corp. in Washington, Pa.
- Crews there are building a large new fabrication shop, as many engineering and construction firms are laying people off. “The $6 million investment that we’re putting into our new fabrication facility shows our confidence that the Marcellus Shale play is here to stay,” says Rich Tomsic, vice president for sales and marketing. That almost certainly will lead to more jobs in the region. It already has at a time much of the rest of the country is suffering.
- Pennsylvania’s Department of Labor and Industry collects specific data on how many people have been hired because of the natural-gas drilling boom. Hiring for “core-related industries” has spiked from 5,501 in 2008 to 11,913 this year. “This is almost 117 percent growth,” says Sue Mukherjee, director of the agency’s Center for Workforce Information and Analysis.
And the American people are catching on! A poll released today by the American Consumer Institute Center for Citizen Research (ACI) noted that 80% of Americans support increased energy development to create jobs. Natural gas is no exception.
- “These results show strong consumer support for expanding domestic energy production as a means to accomplish several important policy goals – achieving lower energy costs, reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign energy sources and creating jobs,” ACI Release, 10/13/11.
With the American economy currently on the ropes, natural gas development continues to be a light at the end of the tunnel (or well hole) for thousands of Americans trying to provide for themselves and their families. American innovation created hydraulic fracturing; American determination has enabled it to prosper and will continue to provide for our growing, energy-consuming nation.
- “Responsibly developing this vital, God-given shale gas resource would put thousands of Marylanders back to work, improve people’s living standards, generate billions of dollars in government revenues, help to balance county and state budgets and produce more American energy for all Americans.” Baltimore Sun Op-Ed, 10/12/11.
Before increasing our reliance on foreign fuels and “our so-called friends in the Middle East” (CBS-21’s RJ Harris, 10/10/11), let’s look to the great domestic energy potential—right beneath our feet.
High Flies the Falcon: HF Helping to Create Jobs from Pennsylvania to Poland
What does Pennsylvania and Poland have in common other than a love for polka, a taste for haluski, and a propensity for Babushkas? Well, the responsible development of clean-burning natural gas from shale formations – enabled by hydraulic fracturing – is helping to create jobs. Thousands of them.
In fact, Dow Jones reports this today under the headline “Polish Shale Sector Needs Hands”:
If Poland is to develop its reserves of shale gas, the material that has created an energy bonanza in the U.S., one of its biggest obstacles is likely to be securing a qualified labor force, industry participants say. “There are about 1,000 shale jobs in Poland right now, but there will be 50,000 to 100,000 in the next 10 years,” says Jakub Kostecki, chief executive of New Gas Contracting, a Warsaw-based recruiting firm.
Poland has recoverable shale-gas resources of 5.3 trillion cubic meters, equal to more than 300 years of the country’s annual natural-gas consumption, the US Department of Energy says in a report.
Business is picking up, but Geofizyka Torun is facing increasing competition as rival companies set up shop in Poland, bringing their own equipment to do seismic testing and hiring young professionals, says Sylwia Kowalska, a human-resources director at the company. But Geofizyka Torun offers to pay for its employees’ lodgings and provides them with English classes, she says. “We’re seeing employees who left coming back,” Ms. Kowalska says. “They miss Poland.” She estimates that in May the company hired at least 70% more people than a year ago.
Responsible American natural gas production in Pennsylvania continues to be an economic catalyst for small businesses and those looking for work. This from today’s Sunbury (PA) Daily Item:
Dennis Hain believes in learning a trade, then being able to find a job in that trade. As director of SUN Area Technical Institute, he sees the school’s pilot program with Pennsylvania College of Technology as fitting the bill by preparing students to work in the natural gas industry. … “I can tell you I’ve never received as many phone calls from businesses asking for students. We don’t have enough to fill the positions.”
If working for a natural gas company is an ethical issue for some, for others it’s a means to a good paycheck and benefits that they wouldn’t have otherwise without leaving the state. “A high school diploma and a real good work ethic are about what you need to get hired in an entry-level job up there,” said Tracy Brundage, assistant vice president of workforce and economic development at Penn College. She noted that a good driving record and clean background also are important.
Take it a step further with more education, and a student can make a solid career with a salary two or three times what he or she would make in another industry, plus good benefits.
And in a weekend editorial, the Altoona (PA) Mirror underscores the important fact that “the Marcellus industry has pumped needed dollars into rural areas of our state.” This all, of course, helps explain why Gallup’s Chief Economist Dennis Jacobe recently said “One thing the U.S. could do to stimulate job growth going forward would be to place more emphasis on expanding the nation’s energy and commodity sectors.”
Just The Facts: University of Pitt. Prof. Sets the Record Straight on Hydraulic Fracturing
Just The Facts: University of Pitt. Prof. Sets the Record Straight on Hydraulic Fracturing
Positive benefits created by fracture stimulation technology continue to pour in from coast to coast
In an interview with KDKA radio’s Mike Pintet, Professor Radisav Vidic of the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, sets the record straight on hydraulic fracturing – the 60 year-old energy stimulation technology that has been safely used to produced domestic oil and gas over 1.1 million times. Dr. Vidic, who holds a Ph.D. in environmental engineering, underscores hydraulic fracturing’s tight regulations and long and clear record of environmental safety.
On Hydraulic Fracturing’s Clear, Long Record of Protecting Groundwater: “There hasn’t been any proven case”
- “There hasn’t been any proven case that shows that the hydraulic fracturing itself causes contamination to groundwater. First of all, the well casing — the way it’s designed to be used — there’s multiple barriers there through the aquifer so there’s really no communication between the material that’s injected into the well and a groundwater aquifer. … This water is injected at a 8,000 feet depth so the chances of this water coming up all the way to the surface is very small simply.”
On Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Disclosure: “Go on the DEP’s website”
- “You can go on the DEP website, and there is a list chemicals that are being used in hydro fracturing operation. This list contains a total of I think about 78 chemicals. But you have to understand not all of them are used on every well, every time. This is a list of all the chemicals that are ever being used in the hydrofracturing operation. A subset of those chemicals are used on each well depending on which company is doing it and what is their technology, and approach to hydro fracturing the well. The industry is required to disclose this information, and the DEP has a list of all the chemicals that are being used for hydro fracturing operations.”
On GasLand Claims About Flaming Faucets: “It’s not caused by drilling”
- “It’s not caused by the drilling, it’s caused by the methane that’s coming from some place.”
What are others saying about domestic oil and natural gas production enabled by hydraulic fracturing? We’re glad you asked.
- Without fracture stimulation, ND’s economic boon wouldn’t be happening: “Hydraulic fracturing — or frac’ing — also is used for natural gas, and it’s controversial. The fluid is mostly water, but it also contains about one-half percent chemicals. Despite industry assurances, environmental groups worry frac’ing is polluting groundwater, and they want more regulation. Some even want an outright ban. But without this technology, the boom in North Dakota wouldn’t be happening.” (NRP, 8/18/10)
- Hydraulic fracturing helping to create hundreds of jobs in rural Pa.: “New York State lawmakers made a grand show of Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale gas drilling procedures last week. They held our state up as an example of what not to do in a recession and inferred the state is selling its environment out so that it can generate the economy the gas drilling brings. To our friends to the north we would say that sword holds a double edge. … This past week the Sun-Gazette reported on the rapid growth of the cement mixing Halliburton plant off Route 405 in Clinton Township, where ground was broken a year ago. By year’s end there will be about 100 jobs, and there are projections that the plant will eventually employ 400 people. Plants with 400 jobs especially new ones aren’t plentiful in our region. (Williamsport Sun-Gazette Editorial, 8/15/10)
- Shale drilling could become an economic gusher for Michigan: “The $1.2 billion-a-year oil and gas industry is a modest player in Michigan’s economy, but the situation could change because the shale-rich Great Lakes State could be sitting atop the next in-demand natural resource, experts said. Advances in technology and $3-a-gallon gasoline have made deep-seated shale oil more accessible and desirable, they said. … The industry’s fortunes took a turn for the better when the state sold $178 million in leasing fees in a single auction in May. That equaled the total amount of money the state has collected in leasing fees since the 1920s, a telltale sign that interest in shale drilling is heating up. (Detroit News, 8/18/10)
- Roustabouts wanted as companies rush to drill for gas: “Workers looking for jobs in the region’s booming natural gas industry may try their hand as a “roustabouts” — general laborers who work physically grueling 12-hour shifts for 14 consecutive days in all kinds of weather to build and remove drilling pads and assist production. “It’s demanding labor, working long stretches without days off. You have to be ready to do quality work and do it a long time. Once they start production, they don’t stop,” said Richard Guenther, an employee relations specialist with Chesapeake Energy Corp. in Mt. Morris, Greene County. Pay can range from $10 to $20 an hour, plus overtime. (Tribune-Review, 8/18/10)
- 1 million wells have been fractured without a single case of documented harm to groundwater: “Water is mixed with sand and some chemicals and then pumped at high pressure into the well bore to shatter the Bakken shale formation, which can be as hard as a driveway. The “fracking” creates fissures that free up trapped oil and natural gas to flow up to the well bore. … Increasingly refined hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling techniques have doubled Montana’s oil-and-gas production, Richmond said. In the United States, approximately 35,000 wells are “fracked” each year and 1 million wells have been developed without documented harm to groundwater, he said. … Oil in the Bakken lies well below groundwater supplies. (Billings Gazette, 8/14/10)
- Marcellus Shale’s economic impact is growing: “Marcellus Shale drilling is still in its infancy in West Virginia, but the industry is already contributing millions of dollars to the state’s economy. It may be awhile before the gas industry’s economic impact rivals that of coal in West Virginia. Mike Shaver, clad in a hard hat and muddy boots, surveys a gas drilling rig on a site in Upshur County. As a crew drills towards the Marcellus Shale, a pipe pumps water and dirt out of the hole in the earth and into a huge pit of muddy, rock-filled water. Shaver looks at the water, trying to determine how much farther the drill has to go before reaching shale gas. (Huntington Herald Dispatch, 8/14/10)
- Fracturing enabling a “transformative opportunity”, says. fmr. Gov. Ridge: “Former Gov. Tom Ridge this afternoon called Marcellus Shale gas production a “transformative opportunity” for Pennsylvania during an appearance Downtown in his new role as a strategic adviser to an industry group. Still dressed in the jeans and checkered shirt that he wore to inspect production operations in Washington County earlier in the day, Mr. Ridge hailed the industry’s economic potential but also stressed the need to manage environmental concerns. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 8/17/10)
Dem. Pa. House Policy Chief Sinks to New Low in Debate Over American Energy Production
According to his website, Pennsylvania state Representative Mike Sturla’s (D-96) — as the House’s Democratic Policy Chairman — “is instrumental in crafting the caucus’ policy agenda.” This is a very unsettling notion, considering the coarse rhetoric he offered yesterday about the region’s natural gas industry. Mr. Sturla’s commitment to new, massive taxes on responsible, clean-burning, job-creating American natural gas development cannot be questioned.
And while reasonable minds may disagree about natural gas tax policy and the associated economic impacts that such proposals may carry, Mr. Sturla – a key legislative leader in Pennsylvania – stooped to a new low yesterday about Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry, which has helped put more than 140,000 folks to work at a time when our national economy remains anemic.
As reported by the Harrisburg, Pa.-based news outlet Capitolwire (“Walker says forestland royalties key to solving state’s economic problems”) today, Mr. Sturla – in several emails to reporter Pete DeCoursey – lodges a host of unsubstantiated claims about the natural gas industry, including that its responsible for spreading “venereal disease.”
This direct quote – via email – from Mr. Sturla, as reported by Capitolwire:
“Also, aside from building roads so their trucks can get to drill sites and doing a little stream work to mitigate damage from their road building, exactly what are all those things the drillers are doing for the local communities? Patronizing the bars at night? Driving up the cost of rental housing? Spreading sexually transmitted disease amongst the womenfolk? Causing school districts to ask local governments to ban truck traffic on local roads during school bus pick up and drop off times so kids don’t get killed? Upgrading emergency preparedness equipment to handle a well blow out? Running compressor stations that have decibel levels equal to a jet engine?…Really community oriented stuff…”
Disparaging usage of ‘womenfolk’ aside (it’s 2011 by the way, good representative), Mr. Sturla’s comments are downright arrogant, inflammatory and, above all else, patently false.
While there’s not – and will likely never be any Marcellus Shale development in Mr. Sturla’s district – he should be aware of the impact that our industry is in fact having throughout communities across the region. As much it may pain Mr. Sturla, he – and others interested – should take a good, hard look at a series of recent news reports about the “really community oriented stuff” that our industry is responsible for:
- “Natural-gas supply is a sparkplug for state”: Raymond J. Bologna has a 1,300-foot-high coal pile and tried for more than 20 years to build a power plant to burn it. The economy’s collapse killed his last good chance to make it happen, but he hopes that natural gas — the new economic sparkplug — can revive his project. Bologna wants to build two power plants at his site in Robinson, Washington County, one fueled by the waste coal piled there and another fueled by gas from the region’s deep shale formations. “We’re here to create jobs and create value,” Bologna said, promising an annual payroll of $6 million to $7 million and nearly 70 employees. “It looks like the Marcellus shale is going to get us there.” … Industries such as steel and glass should benefit from having a cheap fuel source nearby. (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 8/14/11)
- “Gas drilling industry reaching out to communities via county fairs”: Oil and gas sponsorships account for about one-third of the Greene County Fair’s total budget this year, said Debbie Stephenson, the fair’s secretary/treasurer. That extra money has come in handy as state funding drops. In 2005, state funding for fairs was $4.6 million. Last year, it was $1.2 million. … The first Marcellus wells were drilled in 2004, and about two years later, energy firms started county fair outreach, said Eric Cowden, community outreach manager for the Marcellus Shale Coalition lobbying group. “As traditional [as] summer fairs are for Pennsylvania, it has become that kind of tradition for these energy companies,” he said. “It’s part of their makeup now.” … Outreach at such community-oriented gatherings is a way to combat some of the industry’s negative press, said Rod Winters, director of land at the Energy Corporation of America and the purchaser Thursday night of an 8-month-old lamb named Magnum. … Magnum’s owner, 10-year-old Hayden Demniak, easily came up with a list of the ways that energy firms have helped his elementary school in Cumberland Township: an improved walking track, a new nature trail, science demonstrations and the sponsorship of a healthy eating program. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 8/14/11)
- “Report: Pittsburgh, Surrounding Region at Center of New Energy Economy”: Shale gas could offset imported oil and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs for region. Pittsburgh and a surrounding region that includes West Virginia and parts of Ohio may be at the epicenter of the nation’s new energy economy. The region’s proximity to shale gas reserves, coupled with its access to a assets such in education, research and investment, point to significant economic opportunities, according to the report “Regional Pittsburgh: The New Energy Economy,” issued in June by the Center for Industrial Research Applications at West Virginia University. “Regional Pittsburgh” finds itself in a unique position, one that has not been available for more than a century, report authors James E. Smith and Emily Pertl assert. … The use of natural gas will allow the region to reinvest its energy expenditures back into the region, rebuilding its manufacturing base and employing and re-employing a large segment of its current and future labor force, Smith and Pertl wrote. (WOWK-TV, 8/16/11)
Note to Mr. Sturla: Facts and science must serve as the foundation for our dialogue — not hyperbole, bald-faced lies and scare tactics.
NYT Doubles-Down on a Really Bad Bet
*** Cross-posted on MasterResource.org and EIDMarcellus.org
When New York Magazine reported earlier this month that the national editor of The New York Times had sent an internal memo laying out a “surprisingly detailed” defense of reporter Ian Urbina’s latest front-page attack on natural gas, the hope was that the memo would spur an equally detailed response by Arthur Brisbane, the Times’ public editor. That hope was realized when Mr. Brisbane’s 1,100-word piecewas posted on the paper’s website over the weekend, a column in which Brisbane takes square aim at theTimes for going “out on a limb” and “lack[ing] an in-depth dissenting view in the text.”
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Investment from state shows gas is our future
Congressman Tom Reed (N.Y.-29)
A recent article in this newspaper said that New York has invested more than $1 billion from its pension fund into natural gas companies. I applaud state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli for recognizing the importance of this valuable natural resource and for investing in America’s energy future as well as the American economy.
New York’s decision speaks volumes about the stability and economic importance of our natural gas resources. It illustrates that natural gas development is seen as a predictable and enduring investment.
More so, this is an investment in the United States. This decision reinforces my belief that natural gas will be important to our economy and for reducing our dependency on foreign energy for years to come.
As a whole, the natural gas industry employs nearly 3 million people in all 50 states. In states that allow development of the Marcellus Shale, the economic effects are already being realized. A Penn State University study determined that 48,000 jobs have been created as a result of Marcellus development. By 2020, it is estimated that the Marcellus-related industry could create 175,000 jobs.
Additionally, in times of fiscal crisis, development of Marcellus Shale is generating badly needed revenue for state and local governments. The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue (DOR) announced on May 2 that companies engaged in and related to natural gas drilling activities in Pennsylvania, primarily in the Marcellus Shale, have paid more than $1.1 billion in state taxes since 2006. According to the DOR, those taxes came on top of the billions of dollars of infrastructure investments, royalty payments and permit fees paid by the industry.
Beyond the economic benefits of extracting natural gas are the national security considerations. One of the biggest threats to our nation is our continued dependence on fossil fuels from other countries. In order to stop being victim to instability across the world, we must develop our own energy solutions that will reduce our dependence on foreign energy.
Hydraulic fracturing in New York can be done in a safe and responsible way. It is time that our leaders move forward with natural gas development and do so in a transparent manner.
The honest public dialogue on natural gas exploration must continue, with a focus on the areas of well siting and completion, chemical use, wastewater treatment and air quality. We must stress the need for adequate safety standards and the importance of accountability. New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation has a long, effective record of monitoring the energy industry. It will ensure that exploration and extraction is done safely with appropriate oversight.
We must bring all stakeholders together to have an honest conversation that will move development forward and allow New York to realize the benefits for our state and our nation. I was pleased to learn of DiNapoli’s investment in natural gas. It is an investment in all of us.
Reed, of Corning, represents New York’s 29th congressional district.
NOTE: This op-ed originally appeared in the Elmira Star-Gazette. Click HERE to learn more about Congressman Reed.
