Don’t Frack the Delaware

Don’t Frack the Delaware and Risk Our Water and Health

By Betty Tatham, Guest Opinion, Intelligencer, Nov. 16, 2011, and Bucks County Courier Times, Nov. 17, 2011

The Delaware River Basin Commission was created 50 years ago by Congress “to protect the water quality, quantity and scenic beauty of the Delaware River Basin.”  That protection is now in jeopardy, if 3 of the 5 Commissioners: Governor Christy, Governor Corbett, Governor Cuomo, Governor Markell and Col. Larsen, who represents President Obama and the federal government, vote to approve the just published Revised Natural Gas Regulations on November 21.  The public meeting will be held at the War Memorial Theater in Trenton between 10:00 a.m. and noon and it will be followed by a question and answer period.  The regulations are available on the Commission’s website. [Please sign and circulate this petition and fact sheet, to be delivered to the Commission by the Delaware Riverkeeper prior to the November 21 meeting.]

Please "like" Save Plumstead on Facebook

  Support Save Plumstead with a "like" at Facebook.com/SavePlumstead.

Drought watch lifted

9/2/11 Drought watch lifted for 40 PA counties, including Bucks.

8/5/11 DEP Declares Drought Watches and Warnings: Bucks County is among 40 counties under a drought watch.

From PlumsteadTownship.org:
"8/30/11 - Drought Watch Continues...Even with the recent heavy rainfall in our area we are advised by the PaDEP that the entire portion of southeastern Pennsylvania still remains under a 'drought watch.' Residents are being asked to voluntarily reduce their consumption by 5%."

"8/4/11 - As of Thursday, August 4, the water restrictions on Cabin Run and Landis Greene developments are modified to now allow for hand watering of gardens and flower beds. Lawn watering, car washing and all other non-essential uses remain prohibited. Voluntary water restrictions will remain in place for all of the other Township public water systems."

"7/19/11 - Plumstead Township is placing mandatory drought restrictions on water usage for all residents in the Cabin Run and Landis Greene developments. The restrictions prohibit the use of all non-essential water use including lawn and garden watering, car washing and the filling of pools until further notice. A drought watch is in place for all other public water systems in the Township. We are asking for the voluntary reduction in the use of water in those systems."

Cawley's job numbers called "misleading"

"Cawley touts job creation at gas drilling sites," "Research group calls Cawley's statements 'misleading,'" Bucks County Herald, July 14, 2011, C1.

"Game Changer" on This American Life

Episode 440, originally aired July 8, 2011.
"A professor in Pennsylvania makes a calculation, to discover that his state is sitting atop a massive reserve of natural gas—enough to revolutionize how America gets its energy. But another professor in Pennsylvania does a different calculation and reaches a troubling conclusion: that getting natural gas out of the ground poses a risk to public health. Two men, two calculations, and two very different consequences."

Joint letter to PA General Assembly opposing stripping of municipal drilling authority

Signed by 30 organizations detailing the reasons why they oppose SB 1100.
PETITION: Do Not Let Corporate Gas Drillers Trump Local Rights of Pennsylvanians - Say No to SB 1100.

Delaware Riverkeeper's petition to the DRBC

Download the Delaware Riverkeeper's petition to the Delaware River Basin Commission, then press Ctrl+P to print.

"Commission needs to keep moratorium"

Madeline Rawley's letter to the editor of the Intelligencer, June 12, 2011:

As your Tuesday editorial on natural gas fracking rightly said, "if something goes wrong, the result can be catastrophic."

Our elected officials in the Delaware River Basin, influenced by a perhaps illusory promise of economic development and a new source of energy, may soon decide to lift the moratorium they have placed on fracking here, and risk a catastrophe, just as the Japanese government officials did when they responded to a Tokyo energy company and placed nuclear energy plants on an earthquake fault that had a tsunami danger as well. The result was a short-term gain for very long term pain.

The Delaware River Basin Commission, created to protect the waters of the Delaware River, which runs past Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware, hearing about the environmental, drinking water and public health problems that natural gas fracking can cause, wisely put a moratorium on drilling. Now, however, the commission, composed of the four governors of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware, and the general who heads the Army Corps of Engineers, says they will vote soon on whether to lift the moratorium and permit the drilling to begin.

Unbelievably, the commission is planning to vote before a research study, being conducted by the federal government's Environmental Protection Agency about the effects of fracking on drinking water, is completed, thus risking the drinking water of more than 15 million people, among whom are the residents of Philadelphia, New York City, four Bucks County towns and a portion of Doylestown Township. Other Pennsylvania rivers, like the Susquehanna and the Monongahela, have already been affected by the toxic chemicals, salt and radioactivity that result from breaking Marcellus shale to release the gas. The EPA will not be issuing its preliminary report until next year, with the final report due in 2012.

Why is the Delaware River Basin Commission considering lifting the moratorium before the EPA study is released? Shouldn't they learn before permitting drilling whether it is safe to do so? Why the rush? Why is the commission already considering an invalid application from a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil to draw water from a trout creek in upstate New York? Is it because Exxon Mobil, knowing that millions and millions of gallons of water are needed to drill wells if the moratorium is lifted, believes the moratorium will be lifted soon?

Please google "Delaware River Basin Commission" for contact information. Tell the DRBC to keep the moratorium in place until the EPA study says gas drilling will not destroy our clean Delaware River water, our most basic need.

Madeline Rawley
Doylestown Township

PennEnvironment's 2011 Lobby Day, June 7

Details at https://secure3.convio.net/engage/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1965

PennEnvironment petition: "Protect our rivers from gas drilling"

At https://secure3.convio.net/engage/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1971

"Why we need to study first and drill when it's safe"

Elizabeth Tatham, Intelligencer Soapbox guest opinion, April 8, 2011:

Letters will be accepted by the Delaware River Basin Commission until April 15 at 5 p.m., and emails can be sent to Stephanie@delawareriverkeeper.org before April 14 at noon, to be printed and delivered to the DRBC office. Unless there are enough of them to convince the governors of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware and President Obama's representative to wait two years for the EPA study to show how gas drilling can be done safely in the Delaware Basin, drilling can begin this fall.

From Nockamixon and Buckingham in Bucks County to the Delaware River's headwaters in New York state, gas drilling will seriously impact the people and environment in this basin. The proposed regulations will unfortunately not protect our water because they allow practices that have been harmful to drinking water in western and northeastern Pennsylvania and other states.

Gasland at County Theater Feb. 15 & 17, 5:30 p.m.

The documentary Gasland will be screened at the County Theater this Tuesday and Thursday, February 15 and 17 at 5:30 p.m.

Submit your comments to the DRBC by April 15!

DRBC Extends Comment Period on Draft Natural Gas Development Regulations

West Trenton, N.J. (March 2) – The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) today announced that the period for submitting written comments on the proposed natural gas development rulemaking will be extended an additional 30 days through the close of business (5 p.m.) April 15, 2011. The comment period was to have ended March 16. . . .

Written comments will be accepted by two methods only:
1. Electronic submission using a web-based form available on the DRBC web site (preferred method); or
2. Paper submission mailed or delivered to: Commission Secretary, DRBC, P.O. Box 7360, 25 State Police Drive, West Trenton, NJ 08628-0360. Please include the name, address, and affiliation (if any) of the commenter.

The Delaware Riverkeeper offers a sample letter on their action page. A volunteer with Damascus Citizens for Sustainability offers a personal letter of her own as a sample and adds, "Urgent! Please write your own letter or print, sign and send this one. Thanks for helping save our drinking water! New York City saved theirs with 10,000 letters; we can do it too."

DRBC Commissioners

25 State Police Drive

P.O. Box 7360

West Trenton, NJ 08628-0360

Dear DRBC Commissioners:

As a citizen of PA who lives in the Delaware River Basin, I strongly urge you to heed the advice of the Philadelphia Inquirer editorial “Is our water safe?” published March 20, 2011, which states, “Growing doubts about the safety of high-pressure drilling for natural gas should persuade the Delaware River Commission to extend its drilling ban.” The gas has been in the Marcellus Shale for millions of years and it can wait several more years for the EPA Study that is underway to show us how hydraulic fracturing for gas can be done safely and if it can be done without risking our water and health.

These are my recommendations regarding the regulations you have proposed:
1. Don’t allow any toxic chemicals from gas drilling to be discharged into our streams and rivers through sewer plants or in any other way. Our drinking water and health must be our top priority and the DRBC is responsible for protecting us.
2. Don’t allow uncovered “impoundments” or holding ponds to be used to store toxic wastewater and don’t allow importing of toxic wastewater from gas drilling outside the Delaware Basin. The wind can carry methane gas with carcinogenic and/or radioactive materials more than 100 miles and we can’t risk asthma in children or other health problems.
3. Don’t allow deep injection wells to be used to dispose of toxic wastewater because they have been linked with induced earthquakes in four other states and there is also the risk of aquifer contamination.
4. Don’t allow toxic and sometimes radioactive drill cuttings to be disposed of in landfills since they can leach into the ground and pollute aquifers.

In summary, please wait for the EPA study to provide guidance and direction before finalizing regulations!

Sincerely,

_____________________________________     

                               Signature                                                                                

_____________________________________

                          Name printed

_____________________________________                            

                               Address                                                               

_________________________________________________

                    City, State and Zip Code

"Pa. official defends rules on gas drilling waste"

By David B. Caruso, Associated Press, January 5, 2011:

Pennsylvania's top environmental enforcement official said Tuesday that he is confident that wastewater discharged into rivers and streams by the booming natural gas industry hasn't degraded the state's drinking water.

At least 3.6 million barrels of the ultra-salty, chemically tainted wastewater produced by gas drilling operations were discharged into state waterways in the 12-month period that ended June 30, according to records reviewed by The Associated Press. Drinking water for hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians is drawn from those rivers and streams.

Those discharges have troubled some environmentalists. Most of the big drilling companies digging thousands of new wells in Pennsylvania have committed to curtailing or ending the practice.

John Hanger, the outgoing secretary of Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection, said he believes the new regulations are adequate to protect water supplies. . . . [continued]

"Authority: Discharge met its regulations"

By Rich Pietras, Intelligencer, January 5, 2011:

The Hatfield Municipal Sewer Authority said it did nothing wrong in accepting treated wastewater from Marcellus Shale drilling operations.

Wastewater used for Marcellus Shale gas drilling was treated by the Hatfield Municipal Sewer Authority over a one-year period starting in April 2009, but the water was treated twice and met authority regulations for discharge into the Neshaminy Creek, the authority's director said Tuesday.

The authority stopped handling the water, however, because of regulations restricting trucking wastewater from one watershed into another.

"Pa. allows dumping of tainted water from gas boom"

By David B. Caruso, Associated Press, January 3, 2011:

The natural gas boom gripping parts of the U.S. has a nasty byproduct: wastewater so salty, and so polluted with metals like barium and strontium, that most states require drillers to get rid of the stuff by injecting it down shafts thousands of feet deep.

Not in Pennsylvania, one of the states at the center of the gas rush.

There, the liquid that gushes from gas wells is only partially treated for substances that could be environmentally harmful, then dumped into rivers and streams from which communities get their drinking water. . . . [continued]