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.

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.

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]

"Natural gas drilling issue heating up for new year"

By Amanda Cregan, Intelligencer, December 22, 2010:

At the beginning of 2010, we knew gas drilling was an issue in Nockamixon. Today, we know it's an issue for all of us.

"Pa. activist unsure why surveilled by state"

By Bernard Harris, Scranton Times-Tribune/Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era, November 17, 2010:

Lancaster, Pa. (AP) -- Until recently, Virginia Cody's community activism extended to being president of the arts council in Wyoming County.

That was before she found her rural north-central Pennsylvania home surrounded by land leased to natural gas drilling companies. That was when she began asking questions and trying to get information.

That led to her and her husband writing letters to the editor of the local paper, posting those letters and other information on an Internet blog and posting comments on Facebook.

Handing out brochures at a picnic was the most direct action she took, she told a group of about 30 people at a public meeting Tuesday evening in Lancaster city's Southern Market Center.

"We merely spoke our minds," she said.

Yet, on Aug. 31, a whistle-blower leaked a confidential bulletin from the Pennsylvania Office of Homeland Security that listed her and her activities as subversive and under surveillance.

"Officials credit resolve in forcing gas firm out"

By Amanda Cregan, Intelligencer, October 22, 2010:

But some people in Nockamixon are not happy they may lose royalties after Arbor Resources withdrew its state permit to drill in the township.

David may have toppled Goliath, but the gas drilling beast might still get back up in Nockamixon.

Arbor Resources withdrew its state-issued permit to drill for natural gas in the Upper Bucks community this week, and township officials are celebrating their victory in a hard-fought battle.

"Driller cancels permit"

By Amanda Cregan, Intelligencer, October 21, 2010:

Michigan-based Arbor Resources has withdrawn its state permit to drill for natural gas in Nockamixon.

A gas driller has given up the fight in Nockamixon.

Arbor Resources has withdrawn its state permit to drill in Nockamixon, seemingly ending its battle to begin exploratory drilling for natural gas in the Upper Bucks community.

Gas Drilling and Your Rights

 Drilling for Natural Gas in the Marcellus Shale and in Bucks County:

Your Community Rights as a Tax Payer in Pennsylvania

Saturday, October 23, 2010, 1:00–3:00 p.m.

James Michener Free Library

401 West Mill Street, Quakertown, PA 18951

In response to high interest from landowners, lease-owners, their neighbors, and the people who live downstream of proposed gas drilling, the Bucks Transition Group is offering a free public forum for helpful information about the rights and protections for the people of Pennsylvania. 

Drilling for natural gas is happening in the Marcellus Shale formation. Leases have also been signed in Nockamixon Township, Bucks County, PA.

Speakers:

1.   Paul Schmidt will address legal avenues for affected communities and potential lawsuit claims related to injury to individuals and property. Schmidt co-chairs the Zarwin Baum Environmental Practice Group in Philadelphia and provides environmental legal services to a wide range of clients.

2.   Shireen Parsons will discuss Pennsylvania citizens’ constitutional rights and possibilities of redress.  Parsons is a community organizer for the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund in PA. CELDF is a nonprofit, community-interest law firm. 

3.   Nancy Janyszeski, Supervisor for Nockamixon Township, where over 300 property owners have signed leases.

Speakers will also discuss local rights to clean air, water, and soil and will address your questions and comments.  Please join us.

Contact:  Henry D'Silva

                  The Bucks Transitions Group

                  267-679-0617 – henrydsilva@comcast.net

"Residents get lesson in 'fracking' dangers"

By Annie Tasker, Intelligencer, August 29, 2010:

Dozens of locals gathered in Quakertown Saturday for a discussion on hydraulic fracturing for natural gas, a practice that's boomed in recent years and prompted studies on its possible impact on the Delaware River and the 15 million people who rely on it for drinking water.

"Learning the ins and outs of gas drilling"

By Amanda Cregan, Intelligencer, August 27, 2010:

Bucks attorneys gathered Thursday to learn more about lease agreements with companies that are drilling for natural gas.

Town Hall meeting on hydraulic fracturing for natural gas

A Town Hall Meeting Presenting Information and a Discussion on Hydraulic Fracturing for Natural Gas
Focus on Nockamixon Township, Bucks County
Saturday, August 28, 2010, at 1:00 PM
The James Michener Free Library
401 West Mill Street, Quakertown, PA 18951-1248

"Hundreds say ban gas drilling"

By Amanda Cregan, Intelligencer, July 15, 2010: "Passions ran high at a meeting of the Delaware River Basin Commission, which is in the process of writing regulations governing drilling in the river basin. . . . ."

"Company hopes to find gas in Upper Bucks"

By Amanda Cregan, Intelligencer, May 23, 2010:

New permits have given a gas drilling company a way in. Nockamixon officials and environmentalists are taking more legal steps to keep them out.

"Gasland" at County Theater June 2

Special screening of Gasland, a documentary film by Josh Fox
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
6:00 p.m. Reception
7:00 p.m. Screening
Panel discussion following the film
County Theater, Doylestown

Delaware Riverkeeper Network invites you to attend a special screening of Gasland, a documentary film by Josh Fox. The showing in Doylestown on June 2 will be the kick-off of a 20-stop tour of Gasland across Pennsylvania and New York in a run-up to the June 21st HBO premiere of Gasland, winner of this year’s Sundance Special Jury Prize. Josh Fox will appear at the screening and you can meet him at the reception beforehand; a lively panel discussion will follow the film. For more info: delawareriverkeeper.org. Watch the trailer at youtube. RSVP on Facebook (optional).

"Gas drilling debate rages in Del. River watershed"

By Michael Rubinkam, Associated Press, April 18, 2010:

Pleasant Mount, Pa. — A few hundred yards from Louis Matoushek's farmhouse is a well that could soon produce not only natural gas, but a drilling boom in the wild and scenic Delaware River watershed.