NYT FrackiLeaks: TriFracta?

  

“We simply can’t keep up,” said one inspector with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection who was not authorized to speak to reporters. “There’s just too much of the waste.”

While the existence of the toxic wastes has been reported, thousands of internal documents obtained by The New York Times from the Environmental Protection Agency, state regulators and drillers show that the dangers to the environment and health are greater than previously understood.

First, just as a reminder...remember this post?: Frackileaks. The major news organization that contacted me was from NYC. If a video of the Susquehanna bubbling methane shows up in the next few days, I'll at least understand why there was such a delay in this major expose' breaking. If not...so be it.

If you read nothing else today, read the New York Times article that is going viral on the Internet. Read every page, every caption and every quote. If you want to see what YOUR Government has been keeping from you...definitely take the time to read the entire article and the multiple links within it. If you don't become enraged, then you haven't read enough. This is 10x better than GASLAND winning the Oscar tonight, which if it does, would make this series of recent revelations - dare I say - a TriFracta?

The folks in Washington, Harrisburg, Canonsburg, TX, LA, OK, CO and parts elsewhere ( including the guys from Alexandria that keep visiting this blog ) cannot ignore this. This NYT expose' will cost the natural gas industry BILLION$ without another follow-up article being written. BILLION$. Let's watch for the Marcellus Shale Coalition's spin in the days ahead.

And if we re-elect the folks in Harrisburg and Washington who have allowed this to happen, then we deserve our fate.

Let's get rid of them all.

NOW.

Oh, and about the radioactive waters...

Earth Day 2010 - Harrisburg, PA

       

Special Request: Delusional Douggie

      
I've had a special request this morning to post these two videos together.

Please watch them both, starting with this one:





"Everything is really going well", according to Bradford County Commissioner Doug McLinko.

As you watch the next video...hold that thought.





Mr. McLinko is completely out of touch with reality and the people he was elected to serve. I wonder...do any of his family members work for the natural gas companies in Bradford County?

    

Unfinished Business

    

I promised to follow-up on two recent posts, so I'll wrap things up today.    

The ripple-effect of the Conestoga Massacres in December 1763 went on for years. Actually, I guess it's more like centuries. I've covered most of what I knew about this event in December's posts, as I do every year. I only recently discovered I was barely scratching the surface.

A few weeks back, I was perusing the "local" book offerings at the Wilkes-King's bookstore in Wilkes-Barre, PA when I spotted the title above. For anyone who is interested in learning more about the turbulent times that led up to the massacre of the last of the Susquehannocks, I'd highly recommend you buy this book, as it is the best I've read so far about this event. The names of folks involved before, during and after the murders read like a who's who of PA history: Elder and Stewart, Shippen and Rittenhouse, Franklin and Penn, Conyngham and Hershey...and much to my surprise, the Royal Scottish Highlanders.

For an eye-opening glimpse of an ugly event in PA's history: ISBN 978-1-60949-061-4.

Speaking of ugly, the other item needing closure is Scarnati's Super Bowl Scandal.

My wife and I attended Super Bowl XXX in Scottsdale, Arizona in January 1996.

My employer paid for everything, as I was awarded the trip after being chosen as 1995's "Outstanding Contributor" to the success of a large multi-state bank once known as United Jersey Bank ( First Valley Bank in PA ).  Considering my competition was the 5,000+ other employees at UJB/FVB, I regard that award and recognition as one of my proudest accomplishments ( to date ) in my business career. Beginning in 1993, I built PA's residential mortgage division from scratch; hiring 45+ people to staff three regional offices in Radnor, Allentown and Wilkes-Barre. In the areas of customer service, operational proficiency and profitability, simply put; we excelled. A lot of folks worked very hard to make that happen, and if I could have taken them all along with me to SB XXX, I would have. 

PA Senator Joe Scarnati did nothing of merit to earn his free ride to Super Bowl XLV, and he was rightfully exposed for it. Of course, he did nothing wrong...

This "leader" can't carry my BlackBerry when it comes to ethics, commitment and producing results. He's nothing more than a shill for the natural gas and oil industry, and he should RESIGN. And for pointing out all of Senator Scarnati's shortfalls, I apologize.

There, I feel much better.

Happy Saturday morning...and have a good weekend.

         

Bradford County Home Loses 85% of Value

  

Folks, as you know from this post a few days ago, I was on Paradise Road in Bradford County this past weekend. Chesapeake's closest natural gas well is just a few hundred yards away from the home in the video below.   

This home has lost 85% of its value.

Caution: This video may cause fits of blind rage. 

If it doesn't, check to see if you have a pulse.  

Of course, Chesapeake contends: "We are not responsible."

What do you think? What are you going to do?

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.
- Thomas Jefferson
         

Corbett Opens State Forests to More Drilling

     

As anticipated, the wholesale rape of PA's natural resources by Team Tom-Tom continues.

Read about it here.

  

Paradise Lost

 

I spent Sunday in the eye of the Marcellus Maelstrom in northeastern PA. For all you media-types, I'd highly recommend you do the same. I put over 330 miles on my car, and have over 200 new pics and quite a bit of video footage. For now, I'll post just the pictures taken on Paradise Road, Terry Township, Bradford County, PA and a few other locations. More in the days and weeks ahead.

All below are on Paradise Road unless otherwise noted.

The road is unpaved.

The house next door. Both wells have been rendered useless, thanks to the Welles family, the SRBC, and Chesapeake Appalachia.

The closest drilling site ~1/4 mile down the road.

That's it for Paradise (Lost) Road. Here are a few more:

Truck traffic was noticably heavier than my last visit on a Sunday. I stopped counting at 100 water tankers.

New drillpads are visible from Rte. 6. There were two homes within a few hundred yards of this one.

A closer look.

Wonder what all this truck traffic is doing to the roads?

Even the train traffic has increased significantly since my last visit.

The mighty, ancient Susquehanna River @ Wysox, PA

My friends, we are teetering on the brink of an environmental tragedy and travesty that will haunt us for far more than seven generations. IMHO, far too many people are sitting this one out.

My expedited saw-sharpening hiatus is almost over. Thanks to everyone who took the time to meet with me yesterday.

Stay tuned.

     

Chesapeake, Chief & Cabot Dump on Dunmore

  
Through a Right to Know request, the Sunday Times has discovered that several companies are dumping their natural gas drilling waste in a Dunmore PA landfill owned by businessman Louis DeNaples. Read more about it here. Good job, Times-Tribune!

Reminder: In a previous post, in reviewing PA Senate Bill 447, I discovered that Senators Gene Yaw and Mary Jo White want to exempt certain drilling-related transactions from the Right to Know Law.

My friends, why would they want to do that? What might they be hiding?


P.S. In the end, all of this may be for naught. According to this guy...we've all only got about three months left!

Enjoy your last February 20th!

    

Clueless in La-Lazerne County PA

  
If I hadn't read about a similar tour of a natural gas compressor station being given recently while the facility was mysteriously not operating for some inane reason, I would have probably let this one pass. But I did, so I won't.

Read the details about Chief's recent dog & pony show here.

For the record, I believe the compressor station was intentionally idle so those on the tour would not be exposed to the incredible noise and the, ummmmm, pungent aromas wafting within and downwind from this industrial complex.

I truly hope those on the tour DEMAND a return inspection while the compressor station is running at full throttle. And I'd further recommend checking out what the Mayor of Dish, TX has to say about being located next to a compressor station. 

And you've gotta check out this video of another natural gas compressor station in western PA. Sore throats. Nose bleeds? Nahhh, no connection whatsoever.....

Have a good weekend, folks.
 

Hiatus: Time to Sharpen the Saw

  

As most folks know, blogging is done on our own time & dime. Unlike the sleazebags in Harrisburg, our junkets are fueled by our passions and our pocketbooks. No free rides here: just getting up extra early or shortchanging something else to peck away at the keyboard. And in many ways, that does take its toll.

I recognize it's time to sharpen the saw...recharge my batteries a little. Actually, a lot.

Over the next few weeks, that's what I'll be doing. Until then, any posts will be short and sweet.

Something big is brewing, and I want to be ready.

I'll be back.

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All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.  - Thomas Jefferson

  

Williams Energy: Savage on Bats

    
Hey, if nothing else, Mr. Ryan Savage is honest. Could he be the first in that industry?

Anyway, read what he has to say about local bats:

“A very specific size and type of tree have been identified as those which bats like to nest in,” Savage said, “and we want to cull those trees before the bat population returns to the region in April so we’re not dealing with an environmental issue.”

And for all you river advocates out there:

Savage said the pipeline will go underneath the Tunkhannock Creek near Shadowbrook Resort along U.S. Rt. 6 and under the Susquehanna River near the village of Osterhout.

Check out the rest of the story here. And while you're at it, check out the Rocket Courier's excellent coverage of a meeting last week about a proposed frackwater treatment plant on the north branch of the Susquehanna River. When it comes to coverage of the whole Marcellus Madness gripping Bradford and surrounding counties, the folks at the Rocket are simply blowing their local competition away. Kudos!

Back to the bats. In the end, companies like Williams, Chesapeake, Range Resources and Cabot only care about one thing: profits. Period. I can't make it any simpler than that. Having worked for some of the largest financial services firms in the world over the last 30+ years, including Citibank, Bank of America and Prudential, I understand that mentality down to the DNA level.  Been there, done that.

However, the people that work in "BIG OIL" and related industries not only appear to have a ruthlessness anomaly permanently chiseled into their genetic blueprints, they also have shown a propensity for lying and/or manipulating data to serve their purposes while intentionally ignoring information that doesn't.

To hear someone from "BIG OIL" like Ryan Savage come right out and say - more or less - that any "environmental issues", be it trees or bats in this case, will simply be eliminated is refreshing. Very disturbing, but refreshing. Wanna bet a cup of coffee or two that Mr. Savage gets a phone call today from someone in OK?

A little clarification is definitely required here. Will the trees be culled and removed...or protected? The basic definition of the word could cause one to interpret Mr. Savage's comments either way.

Which is it?

Hmmm. I wonder what will happen when bloggers become too much of an "issue"?

Who's watching who?

        

Super Bowl XXX: True Confessions

                 
I admit it. It is truly unfair of me to jump on the bandwagon with all the folks criticizing PA Senator Joe Scarnati for taking an all expenses paid trip to Super Bowl XLV on the dime of a natural gas company.

After all, in 1996, I went on an all expenses paid trip to Super Bowl XXX. Even took my wife along as part of the deal. On top of that...I left my three children - ages 5, 7 and 9 behind!

What a terrible father I am!

I'll tell the rest of the story in the next day or two and issue...right here for all to see...a public apology to the good Senator Scarnati.

  

Lest We Forget...

      Three years ago, on Valentine's Day, we shut down the pet-project/dream/nightmare of damming the Susquehanna River in the Wyoming Valley. Championed by a now-retired 12-term U.S. Congressman, "people who knew people" thought it was a done deal, i.e. the proposed inflatable dam had too much political backing to be stopped.

Guess what? We didn't listen, and the debatable inflatable dam has been buried for three years and counting.

Today, the task before us is daunting, but not impossible. I truly believe that. Folks, it's time to start barking at the moon. 

Be back in a few...I have to get a note from my Mom.

+ + +

P.S. - Senate Bill 447 is worse than I thought. Ponder this gem from this piece of crap legislation:

§ 3492. Trade secrets.

(a) Right to privacy. Confidential proprietary information or trade secrets submitted by parties during proceedings under this chapter may not be disclosed by the commission or any other parties privy to such information or secrets. The information may be submitted under seal for review by the administrative law judge only and shall be exempt from the act of February 14, 2008 (P.L.6, No.3), known as the Right-to-Know Law.

 
Hey...who needs to know what's going on in Harrisburg?
  
       

SB Bill 447 - Republican Rape of PA: Round 2

              
This bill, introduced by Senator Gene Yaw (R) on 2/11/2011,  is 25 pages long, so it'll take a while to study this latest piece of garbage legislation proposed by another shill of the natural gas industry.

This language on page 3 should give you an early indication of what is being proposed here:

(1) To promote the development of unconventional oil and gas resources of this Commonwealth in accordance with the best principles and practices of oil and gas conservation while reasonably protecting the correlative rights of the person affected.

(2) To provide for the protection of the environment.

Reasonably protecting the correlative rights of the person affected? Provide for the protection of the environment? Check out the rest here.
 
Before I forget; it's so nice to see that Senators Yaw and Mary Jo White (R) decided to recruit a token Democrat ( Wayne D. Fontana ) to introduce this legislation. Now it's escalated to a bi-partisan rape of Pennsylvania's natural resources and property owner's rights. Very smart move on your part. Very smart...
 
Based upon my initial scan of the 25 pages, this looks like a combination of forced-pooling and eminent domain - which supports the natural gas industry - wrapped up in a thinly-veiled assault on a property-owner's rights if they do not want their land to be subject to natural gas drilling (hydrofracturing).
 
So here we are, less than a month into Team Tom-Tom's reign, and we have another piece of pro-industry legislation being crammed down our gullets...or elsewhere.
 
Happy Valentine's Day, Pennsylvania.
 
 

    

Geologist Warns...

  

This headline caught my attention as I was doing my pre-sunrise Marcellus sweep this morning:

Geologist warns of fracking water

This headline was brought to my attention by one of my co-workers:

In the article above, potential 2012 presidential candidate Newt Gingrich calls for abolishing the EPA.

Hey...who needs clean water, clean air, and clean land? 

The answer: We ALL do.

Anyone following events in Egypt? Rest assured, our elected leaders are. Think it can't happen here?

In the weeks and months ahead, as Team Tom-Tom's true agenda is revealed for all to see, it is inevitable that the huddled and clueless majority will finally wake-up.

To borrow a closing line from another blog:

Tick tock...   

  

Fracking Waste Coming to Bloomsburg (?)

     
If a proposed frackwater treatment plant is built near Wyalusing, PA, the sludge extracted from the drilling wastewater will be trucked to the White Pines Landfill near Bloomsburg, PA. What I did notice about this landfill is that it's a newly-constructed site that appears to target industries that produce some pretty nasty stuff, including the natural gas folks.

BTW...is it me, or does Mascaro's elephant look like it's taking a dump?

How appropriate.

Anyway, you can read more about the proposed frackwater treatment plant in Bradford County here. Imagine that...22 people spoke at the hearing, and all 22 people were opposed to the plant. Go figure.

On a closing and far more positive note, I received an unexpected package in the mail yesterday from one of my paddling friends, Steve Pidcock. I have several of Steve's pics & posters in my home, but the underwater shot of emerging water lillies is one of my favorites...and the laser-etched SRS444 logo on cedar is right behind it. Way too cool.

Check out Steve's website here.

Thanks, Bro.

To all who visit, even the FBI guys...enjoy your weekend.

 

Shale Gas Insight - September 2011

Well folks, you'll have no excuses whatsoever on this one.

None.

Seven months from now, the "Who's Who" of the natural gas industry and their ilk will be descending upon the city of Brotherly Love. If we who oppose the Marcellus Shale Madness gripping this country cannot fill the Streets of Philadelphia outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center with more than 150 people, which from most accounts was the headcount at Team Tom-Tom's inauguration, we might as well just bend over and kiss our commonwealth's natural assets good-bye.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda just doesn't cut it anymore. We must come together - as one - and be heard, seen, and felt on both days. On the streets of the city that held the first Constitutional Convention in 1787, on the streets of the city that ratified our Constitution in September of that same year, perhaps we can send a message in 2011 that We, the People have had enough.

I've already scheduled the dates as vacation time. I will be there.

Where will you be?

     

Chesapeake Energy: Popcorn, anyone?

     
I took a few minutes last week to write to the PA DEP and request a status of their investigation into what caused the bubbling in the Susquehanna River near Sugar Run ( Bradford County, PA ) that began on ~9/2/2010. Here is the sum total of their response:

Here is the Notice of Violation sent to Chesapeake.  No sample results have been released since the case is still under investigation.

Still under investigation...160 days later? Umm, errr...what's taking so long? Seriously, what more do you need to issue your findings?

Let me guess...

Several years ago, in response to some less than favorable publicity about the Susquehanna, a spokesperson for our commonwealth described the Susquehanna as the "crown jewel" of PA's natural wonders and tourism industry. Right now, as this river advocate sees it, our "crown jewel" is being sodomized by the natural gas industry while our elected "leaders" sit idly by, eat popcorn, and try to convince themselves and anyone who will listen that they're doing everything they can to protect our natural resources.

Unfortunately and in reality, they are not.

  

Marcellus Message: From the Flag to the Cross

       

I took a day away from posting, thanks to PA's former Governor and current Marcellus Shale Coalition spokesperson, Tom Ridge. I needed that time to cool down and ensure I didn't post anything I would regret.

On Monday, I was doing my normal online scan of Marcellus-related articles when I found this quote attributed to Mr. Ridge:

"The Lord gave us these resources," he said.

You can read the rest of the article here.

Here's one of the comments left in response:

"The Lord gave us these resources," Are you serious? He actually said this? This guy is worse than I thought. And yet another positive article for the industry. Come on Sun, what about the companies wanting to ship this stuff overseas. How is this going to break our independence?

Amazing. A year ago, it was the patriotism theme. Everywhere you went, in every industry-sponsored video and PowerPoint presentation, flags were flying and Marcellus Shale was being touted as "the answer to America's goal of energy independence" and "If you are against drilling, you are for foreign oil." Now, since that doesn't seem to be working, they're pulling "the Lord" into their strategy. I also heard that "faith" was brought up by one of the MSC's other puppets in a recent presentation, but I haven't had a chance to view the video so I'll refrain from using names and making comments until I do.

For the record, we put our three children through Catholic grade schools, Catholic high schools, and two of them graduated from The Catholic University of America. For giggles, I once calculated what the non-public education ( tuition only ) of our children cost us through graduation from high school, and it was well north of $125K. Adding CUA's tuition for eight years, and it boggles my mind that the money tree in our back yard has been so darn productive. P.S. - with a few exceptions due to travel and other conflicts...Mass every weekend for Mom & Dad.

So, when Tom Ridge - the highly-compensated advisor to the Marcellus Shale Coalition - seeks to justify what the natural gas industry is doing, and plans to do, to my home state by bringing "the Lord" into the debate, I will simply offer that he and his cohorts have made an egregious and perhaps fatal mistake. I wonder...who, exactly, is the "us" in Mr. Ridge's statement?
  
I already knew these folks were devoid of ethics or morals, but just when you think the natural gas industry couldn't slither any lower - they do. 

I can't wait to see what they dream dredge up next.

Twenty:One Ratio my Keister

   
The comments and e-mails have been coming in fast and furious lately. In response to my Republican Rape post, I received an e-mail from a fellow watershed advocate ( Thanks, Michael! ) with a link to a gas industry newsletter  (Independent Oil & Gas Association of Pennsylvania) from 2005 that contained the following comments:

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals dealt producers a setback in our efforts to overturn EPA’s
interpretation of the Stormwater discharge rules under the Clean Water Act (CWA).

And this:

We have reported repeatedly over the last several years the importance of resolving the NPDES Stormwater issue. The impact on Pennsylvania’s oil and gas industry will be devastating if we cannot resolve EPA’s “power grab by interpretation”. Nationally, a DOE study projects the prevention of development of as much as 3.9 billion barrels of oil and 45 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. There is little wonder why IOGA has expended so much time, effort, and money to overturn EPA’s interpretation of the Clean Water Act Oil and Gas Exemption.

IOGA will continue to work with the other state cooperating associations and IPAA to seek resolution to this issue. In addition to the litigation, efforts continue to work with EPA to develop a stormwater management approach that protects the environment while reducing the negative impact on oil and gas development. We will also continue to work towards Congressional clarification of the 1987 provisions of the Clean Water Act.

So if you were wondering why PA Senators Mary Jo White and Lisa M. Baker sponsored SB 305...now you know. Considering the number of visits I've had from Harrisburg lately, I'm sure at some point they might even try to eliminate the requirement to post pending legislation online...

Is it recall time yet?

In other news, check out Another Monkey's post about the elimination of funding for the USGS stream gauges on the Susquehanna. Pure and simple, this is plain old stupid. The Susquehanna is one of the most flood prone watersheds in the country. The USGS gauges provide an excellent early warning system to monitor stream flow and predict river crests.  In reading some of the quotes in DB's post, I will offer that I think the 20:1 benefit/cost ratio is way too light. Seriously - according to the articles I've read, it costs $2.4 million to maintain the gauges in the Susquehanna watershed. At 20:1, that means that we'd only save $48M in potential losses and/or insurance payouts if we had funding to maintain the gauges?  In 1972, Hurricane Agnes cost $1.7 Billion. In 1999, Hurricane Ivan caused $6 Billion in damages on the East Coast. The June 2006 flood was estimated to have caused $100 million in damages to Susquehanna County alone!

In today's $, I think the benefit/cost ratio of the USGS stream gauges is more in the range of 200:1, at minimum. The funding should be approved, post haste. If anyone wants some suggestions on other programs hatched in Washington to cut...send me the proposed legislation and I'll make some recommendations. I'm sure there are quite a few pet projects ( f/k/a earmarks) buried in there.

In closing today's post, I'll share a few pics from a family gathering yesterday in northeastern PA. My father-in-law is turning 83 in a few days, and as 4 out of 5 of his children could get together...the party was on.

Sto lat, Benedict D.!

Above: Glazed Donut on Steroids

Below: Zero Calorie - Zero Carb Sour Cream Apple Pound Cake  

Below: The Birthday Boy

Who needs a flash with those smiles?

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. 

    

Sto lat, Aleksander!

       

As a kayaker, I am truly humbled by Aleksander Doba and his accomplishment of paddling across the Atlantic from Africa to South America...at the ripe "old" of age of 64.

My daughter sent me a link to this article with the following comment: "Don't get any ideas."

I started training yesterday.

Aleksander Doba

Here's one of his favorite quotes:

‘It is better to live one day as a tiger, than 100 days as a sheep’

I like this guy.

Read more about him here.   

 

            

Isostatic Disequilibrium and Fracking

     

Say what?

Before I move forward, here's a quick overview on this topic.

Folks, I don't have a lot of time this morning, as I'm being interviewed @ 5 a.m. by a reporter from the UK who has been visiting this blog for the better part of the last six months. BTW, before I forget it, I'm up to getting regular pageviews from 34 countries on a rolling 30 day average. Outside the US, Saudi Arabia, Canada and the UK top the list right now.

As I've offered many times in many different ways, the geology of the northeast contains some very highly folded and fractured bedrock. In other words, it ain't Texas. In addition to the plate tectonic thing and the collision of Africa and North America a few hundred million years ago, we also have the aftermath of a more recent event, the last Ice Age & post-glacial rebound, throwing a whole 'nother factor into the complexity of the earth under our feet.

Trust me, the oil & gas industry geoscientist-types know damn well this is an issue, but of course, they need their jobs like everyone else so they keep their mouths shut and their fingers crossed.

You don't need a science degree or a whole lotta smarts to get this. Think about it for a moment. As covered in a prior post, there is no such thing as 100% impermeable or unfractured bedrock. Throw glacial rebound into the mix, and then start fracking thousands of square miles of bedrock a mile or two underground...well, I think you get the potential picture. And if you don't...trust me - eventually and unfortunately we all will.

For anyone interested, here's an online quiz that may be of interest.

Maybe.

Time flies when you're having fun, and it's 4:44 a.m. and I've got to sign-off now. If you get nothing else from this post, I hope you'll remember that the next time you think you felt the earth move...you probably did.

Have a good weekend.

     

If Penn State says it...

         
 ...and it has anything to do with the environmental impacts of Marcellus Shale drilling, disregard every syllable.

Here's the latest from another PSU Professor as they attempt to discredit GASLAND:

But Michael Arthur, a Penn State professor of geosciences, countered that most of the evidence taken from the film were from shallow coalbed methane systems in Wyoming and Colorado, where there is potential for groundwater contamination from fracking.

“That potential does not exist in Pennsylvania,” Arthur said.

Really? Does NOT exist?

Anyway, read The Daily Collegian Online's article here, including comments attributed to Dr. Terry Engelder.

As I've offered previously on this blog, I highly recommend that the administration of Penn State University muzzle these folks from making any statements related to the exploitation of the Marcellus Shale. There is no question in this blogger's mind these guys are intimately and inappropriately connected to the natural gas drilling industry and their various coalitions at many levels.

None.

To that end, with the written permission of the program's host, I recorded a presentation by Dr. Engelder in early 2010. If I can figure out how to upload the entire video to my Vimeo site, I'll post it over the weekend. If  you have any malingering questions after viewing it as to who any of the speakers actually works for, they should all be finally put to rest.

 

Senate of PA: Get Back to Work!

        
For the follow-up visitors I get today, and for the record, I've been registered as a Republican for the past ~23 years, although I rarely have voted that way for the last ~15 years. I'm seriously considering switching to the Green or Libertarian party...but as I get invited to Republican events from time to time, I just might stay where I am in case I get p-o'd enough to attend one of their fundraisers and share some thoughts face-to-face with some of these "leaders". Maybe I can even get one of them to cry. That would definitely not be pretty.

BTW - if you didn't get a chance to check out Another Monkey's post on HB 305, take a few minutes to check it out here. HJ - you are one of the few NEPA bloggers that clearly grasps the magnitude of the threat. Thanks for adding your voice to the growing and organizing din.

Anyway, as expected, the oil & gas folks have ramped up their efforts to discredit GASLAND and its nomination for an Oscar. Check it out here and in the New York Times here. You should also check out the gas industry's 8 page letter to the Academy here. Seriously...eight pages? There is nothing I enjoy more - save paddling on the Susquehanna before the sun comes up - than watching people who think they are brighter and better than everyone else shoot themselves in the foot and then wonder what the hell just happened as they bleed on the floor.

Now that I think about it, "dumb as a brick" might be giving them too much credit.

Susquehanna @ Wysox, PA - August 2004

Leading up to the event itself on Sunday, February 27th, the next few weeks should offer some great theater, folks. I'm actually already looking beyond the Super Bowl.

Looks like we've had one ugly ice storm overnight. Today should be fun.

P.S. - To all the public servants from Harrisburg that stopped by yesterday; you are wasting the taxpayer's money by spending time on the Internet - and definitely not on your lunch hour - reading my blog. Get back to work and do something productive with my tax dollars.

The Republican Rape of PA Begins

  

PA Senate Bill 305...sponsored by none other than PA's own environmental Antichrist, Senator Mary Jo White (R), along with disciples Senator Lisa M. Baker (R) and eight others (R).

Here's a link to the entire bill, and here's the pertinent text:

+  + +

Section 1. The act of June 22, 1937 (P.L.1987, No.394), known as The Clean Streams Law, is amended by adding a section to read:

Section 504. Permits relating to National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System. Except as otherwise provided under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (62 Stat. 1155, 33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq.) or Federal regulation, the department shall not require, consistent with section 402(l)(2) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (62 Stat. 1155, 33 U.S.C. § 1342(l)(2)), a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit for a storm water discharge associated with construction activity for oil and gas construction activity, unless the oil and gas construction activity contributes to a violation of water quality standards.

Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.

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In a nutshell, SB Bill 305 intends to amend The Clean Streams Law to eliminate the need to obtain a NPDES permit for oil & gas drilling related construction activity. They can spin it any way they want, but that's the bottom line. Here's a brief overview of why NPDES permits are important:

As authorized by the Clean Water Act, the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program controls water pollution by regulating point sources that discharge pollutants into waters of the United States. Point sources are discrete conveyances such as pipes or man-made ditches. Individual homes that are connected to a municipal system, use a septic system, or do not have a surface discharge do not need an NPDES permit; however, industrial, municipal, and other facilities must obtain permits if their discharges go directly to surface waters. In most cases, the NPDES permit program is administered by authorized states. Since its introduction in 1972, the NPDES permit program is responsible for significant improvements to our Nation's water quality.

I have no doubt whatsoever that brick-by-brick-by-brick, the so-called "leadership" of our commonwealth will try to dismantle any and all legislation designed to protect the quality of our lands and waters if those laws stand in the way of the natural gas industry that bought and paid for our new Governor. 

Tom Corbett was inaugurated on January 18th. Senate Bill 305 was introduced nine days later.

Folks, mark my words on this day...this is only the beginning of what they have been planning.

In case you were wondering...

Et tu, Senator Baker?

  

    

Only the beginning...