Why is a regional water quality database needed?
What is the importance of coupling the citizen monitoring efforts?
For me this is the first time that citizens have conducted or obtained water quality data related to groundwater and surfacewater that has been collected in a manner that insures the reliability of the data and provides a comprehensive evaluation of the inorganic, organic, and bacterial quality of the water.
This type of data has never existed at this scale in Pennsylvania. The PADEP has only data for community water supply or regulated systems, but private wells are not regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act. The information that is in the hands of the individual citizen could be compiled into a resource that will benefit the local community, watershed, township, county, and state.
The database is confidential - no name, address, phone, number, or direct locational information is contained with in the database. The raw database does not an approximate location and zip code for the site, but the raw data will never be published.
Please consider supporting this Community Effort. To support this effort, please do the following:
1. Complete an Information Form and submit it along with your data to brian.oram@wilkes.edu or bfenviro@ptd.net.
2. Please send a copy of the data, chain-of-custody sheet, and any documentation related to the sampling.
3. If this is confusing, please consider hosting a community meeting. We would love to attend to speak about this effort and make it easier for citizens to submit their data.
To thank you for your support, we will do the following:
1. Review your data and provide you suggested action items - to help explain and if necessary provide guidance on fixing the problem. This is one and one assistance - not an online computer software tool. This is done for free by Mr. Brian Oram, PG at B.F. Environmental Consultants Inc.
2. Free Booklet from written by Mr. Brian Oram and two other professional geologists.
3. Happy to attend a community meeting to explain regional data.
4. Online list of suggested water quality parameters. This listing is slightly different and not as up-to-date as the recommend parameter list by Mr. Brian Oram.
Thanks for your time
Please support the Citizens Groundwater and Surfacewater Database in PA
Showing posts with label wayne county pA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wayne county pA. Show all posts
Friday, March 25, 2011
Friday, December 10, 2010
Delaware River Basin Commission proposed Marcellus Shale rules- my thoughts
"By Sandy Bauers and Tom Avril
Inquirer Staff Writers
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20101210_Delaware_River_Basin_Commission_posts_proposed_Marcellus_Shale_rules.html?viewAll=y
The Delaware River Basin Commission on Thursday proposed natural gas drilling rules in its four-state watershed that are tougher than those in the rest of Pennsylvania but that promise to do little to stem the intense wrangling over how to regulate the growing industry.
The commission anticipates as many as 10,000 wells could be drilled in the watershed it oversees, primarily in northeastern Pennsylvania and southern New York state, and its action inches those wells closer to reality.
A drilling moratorium that began in May stays in force until the rules become final, after a 90-day comment period, hearings, and likely changes.
The proposal aims to address concerns over the powerful technique called "fracking," which companies have used elsewhere in the state to extract the bountiful gas reserves trapped in a rock formation called the Marcellus Shale. With this proposal, the commissioners waded further into a debate with a raft of environmental and economic issues.
Fracking provides access to a fuel that is cleaner burning than coal, for example, and landowners say the lease payments from drillers enable them to maintain open space. Yet the technique, in which large amounts of water are used to dislodge gas deposits, involves the use of chemicals that can contaminate waterways.
As part of the 83-page rule proposal:
Companies would have incentives to drill away from forested areas and farther back from stream banks.
Contaminated wastewater from fracking would have to be held in tanks rather than open ponds, as is done elsewhere in the state.
Drilling refuse - called "cuttings" - could not be buried onsite, as Pennsylvania allows. It would have to be "beneficially used" or disposed of properly off the site.
Moreover, the commission would require water-quality monitoring plus water and wastewater tracking to keep tabs on the volumes used and where it all goes for treatment and disposal, said Carol R. Collier, the commission's executive director.
The rules also propose a $125,000 fee per well as financial "assurance" for the plugging and restoration of natural gas wells.
Among the more unusual steps, the commission would allow "natural gas development plans" for broad lease areas rather than individual wells. "
Another article
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/12/09/09greenwire-northeast-regulator-eases-proposed-natural-gas-77567.html
Portion of article posted - I am in the process of reviewing:
In general
1. I like the idea of no burial - but this is not a common practice for Marcellus Shale.
2. I like the idea of planning for regional drilling and permitting mulitple sites - allows for evaluating overall concerns.
3. I am not sure if the DRBC is duplicating things that the PADEP or other state agencies would handle.
4. I like the monitoring concept - but we currently do monitoring - Unless they mean establishing long-term monitoring stations.
5. Waste tracking and water tracing is part of the PADEP and SRBC system.
6. I like closed loop storage rather than open ponds- I think the industry has already moved in this direction.
7. The bond or it is a fee- if it is a bond this is minimal and it is not their job or responsiblity. If it is a fee - they better be planning to put some people on the ground and use the money in the local community. Bonding contamination - this is the state and local agency requirement not the role of a river basin commission.
Draft Regulations
http://www.state.nj.us/drbc/naturalgas.htm
Full Text
http://www.state.nj.us/drbc/naturalgas-draftregs.pdf
Inquirer Staff Writers
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20101210_Delaware_River_Basin_Commission_posts_proposed_Marcellus_Shale_rules.html?viewAll=y
The Delaware River Basin Commission on Thursday proposed natural gas drilling rules in its four-state watershed that are tougher than those in the rest of Pennsylvania but that promise to do little to stem the intense wrangling over how to regulate the growing industry.
The commission anticipates as many as 10,000 wells could be drilled in the watershed it oversees, primarily in northeastern Pennsylvania and southern New York state, and its action inches those wells closer to reality.
A drilling moratorium that began in May stays in force until the rules become final, after a 90-day comment period, hearings, and likely changes.
The proposal aims to address concerns over the powerful technique called "fracking," which companies have used elsewhere in the state to extract the bountiful gas reserves trapped in a rock formation called the Marcellus Shale. With this proposal, the commissioners waded further into a debate with a raft of environmental and economic issues.
Fracking provides access to a fuel that is cleaner burning than coal, for example, and landowners say the lease payments from drillers enable them to maintain open space. Yet the technique, in which large amounts of water are used to dislodge gas deposits, involves the use of chemicals that can contaminate waterways.
As part of the 83-page rule proposal:
Companies would have incentives to drill away from forested areas and farther back from stream banks.
Contaminated wastewater from fracking would have to be held in tanks rather than open ponds, as is done elsewhere in the state.
Drilling refuse - called "cuttings" - could not be buried onsite, as Pennsylvania allows. It would have to be "beneficially used" or disposed of properly off the site.
Moreover, the commission would require water-quality monitoring plus water and wastewater tracking to keep tabs on the volumes used and where it all goes for treatment and disposal, said Carol R. Collier, the commission's executive director.
The rules also propose a $125,000 fee per well as financial "assurance" for the plugging and restoration of natural gas wells.
Among the more unusual steps, the commission would allow "natural gas development plans" for broad lease areas rather than individual wells. "
Another article
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/12/09/09greenwire-northeast-regulator-eases-proposed-natural-gas-77567.html
Portion of article posted - I am in the process of reviewing:
In general
1. I like the idea of no burial - but this is not a common practice for Marcellus Shale.
2. I like the idea of planning for regional drilling and permitting mulitple sites - allows for evaluating overall concerns.
3. I am not sure if the DRBC is duplicating things that the PADEP or other state agencies would handle.
4. I like the monitoring concept - but we currently do monitoring - Unless they mean establishing long-term monitoring stations.
5. Waste tracking and water tracing is part of the PADEP and SRBC system.
6. I like closed loop storage rather than open ponds- I think the industry has already moved in this direction.
7. The bond or it is a fee- if it is a bond this is minimal and it is not their job or responsiblity. If it is a fee - they better be planning to put some people on the ground and use the money in the local community. Bonding contamination - this is the state and local agency requirement not the role of a river basin commission.
Draft Regulations
http://www.state.nj.us/drbc/naturalgas.htm
Full Text
http://www.state.nj.us/drbc/naturalgas-draftregs.pdf
Friday, November 5, 2010
Wayne County Natural Gas Perspectives
This is not my work
Article Source : http://www.neagle.com/topstories/x1775209638/Shepstone-Natural-gas-comes-to-the-rescue
"Palmyra (W) Twp., Pa. — Township officials from Wayne County at their recent fall convention, heard an unashamed message about how natural gas drilling can rescue the local economy.
Thomas J. Shepstone addressed the Wayne County Association of Township Officials’ 98th annual convention, held at Lukan’s Farm Resort. Shepstone operates a planning and market research consulting business based in Honesdale.
Shepstone began by painting a dire picture of the Wayne County area economy. He stressed that the boom years are past in the Northeast. “Wayne County and the area is in deep trouble,” he stated. “The economy is dead in the water. There is zero growth other than the federal prison, in the last couple years.”
Income is 30 to 60 percent below other areas in the region. School enrollment is dropping. We have a growing senior population, and we are in need of attracting younger people and families to stay in the area, he said. Construction is minimal. The national economy has resulted in fewer people migrating here from New York City.
“The good news,” Shepstone continued, “is that natural gas can address all this.”
He noted that lease bonuses may have already contributed $200 million to $250 million to the county’s economy. Royalty income in Sullivan County has been as little as $5000/acre, per year. This figure could be doubled for others. With at least 200,000 acres where gas may be profitably drilled in northern Wayne, Shepstone figured that even if a tenth of that was developed, the county economy could see about $200 million a year.
In addition to benefiting lease holders, a parade of real jobs will be supported, from hotels and services to welders and truckers.
A reasonable severance tax levied by the state, he added, should be allocated for townships and the Pa. DEP to directly address impacts of the gas industry. A concern exists that the taxes would support environmental special interest groups that would work against the gas industry.
With the much larger Utica Formation beneath the Marcellus Shale, Shepstone said the potential exists for a “lifetime of opportunity” from Pennsylvania’s gas deposits.
“Don’t be intimidated by special interests,” he told the supervisors, “that want to keep this area their playground” and don’t care about the local jobs that would be generated.
Referring to the “environmental hysteria,” he said he was concerned that the staff of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) favor these special interest groups. The DRBC commissioners, however, want to do it right, he added, but it may be a “torturous” path. DRBC is expected to release their long-awaited gas industry regulations this week.
The impact of the gas industry, Shepstone stated, would be minimal thanks to growing technology. One well can serve 640 acres, or one square mile. A well pad taking only five acres of land, can serve two to five square miles. Horizontal drilling can access gas Without disturbing natural areas that are particularly sensitive.
Water can be recycled at well pads, drawing down on the amount of water needed to be extracted, and thus less water impact and less impact from trucking. The technology, he said, “is racing ahead of environmental issues.”
Despite protests heard, he stated that there are no cases in the US where fracking was shown to spoil water resources. Pennsylvania currently has about 121,000 active wells.
Township officials shouldn’t be intimidated when questioned if they have an interest in gas leasing at stake. “No apology is needed, as long as you disclose where you’re at,” he said.
Asked about the “million gallons” of water needed for fracking or each well, Shepstone reminded that this isn’t really that large a number. Golf courses, he said, can use more than that.
He advised township supervisors who have zoning, to treat gas drilling as a “Principal Permitted Use” which carries certain standards. Townships, he said, are open to law suits, should they try and apply conditions on drilling operations. On the other hand, zoning can direct what areas in the municipality where drilling can occur.
Townships also do well to regulate related activities such as compressor stations and work camps, he added. Negotiate with the gas companies about repairing roads affected by their trucks.
“That’s where the real impact is, not this phony baloney about fracking,” Shepstone declared.
“I’m not neutral,” Shepstone underlined."
Comments
1. Think the actual number for royality income was 5 to 10 K per acre.
2. Hoping the royality owners consider supporting regional economic and environmental issues and help to protect the regional surface and groundwater quality - by installing and improving existing private wells and stormwater infrastructure
Just my thoughts
http://www.bfenvironmental.com/links.php
Article Source : http://www.neagle.com/topstories/x1775209638/Shepstone-Natural-gas-comes-to-the-rescue
"Palmyra (W) Twp., Pa. — Township officials from Wayne County at their recent fall convention, heard an unashamed message about how natural gas drilling can rescue the local economy.
Thomas J. Shepstone addressed the Wayne County Association of Township Officials’ 98th annual convention, held at Lukan’s Farm Resort. Shepstone operates a planning and market research consulting business based in Honesdale.
Shepstone began by painting a dire picture of the Wayne County area economy. He stressed that the boom years are past in the Northeast. “Wayne County and the area is in deep trouble,” he stated. “The economy is dead in the water. There is zero growth other than the federal prison, in the last couple years.”
Income is 30 to 60 percent below other areas in the region. School enrollment is dropping. We have a growing senior population, and we are in need of attracting younger people and families to stay in the area, he said. Construction is minimal. The national economy has resulted in fewer people migrating here from New York City.
“The good news,” Shepstone continued, “is that natural gas can address all this.”
He noted that lease bonuses may have already contributed $200 million to $250 million to the county’s economy. Royalty income in Sullivan County has been as little as $5000/acre, per year. This figure could be doubled for others. With at least 200,000 acres where gas may be profitably drilled in northern Wayne, Shepstone figured that even if a tenth of that was developed, the county economy could see about $200 million a year.
In addition to benefiting lease holders, a parade of real jobs will be supported, from hotels and services to welders and truckers.
A reasonable severance tax levied by the state, he added, should be allocated for townships and the Pa. DEP to directly address impacts of the gas industry. A concern exists that the taxes would support environmental special interest groups that would work against the gas industry.
With the much larger Utica Formation beneath the Marcellus Shale, Shepstone said the potential exists for a “lifetime of opportunity” from Pennsylvania’s gas deposits.
“Don’t be intimidated by special interests,” he told the supervisors, “that want to keep this area their playground” and don’t care about the local jobs that would be generated.
Referring to the “environmental hysteria,” he said he was concerned that the staff of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) favor these special interest groups. The DRBC commissioners, however, want to do it right, he added, but it may be a “torturous” path. DRBC is expected to release their long-awaited gas industry regulations this week.
The impact of the gas industry, Shepstone stated, would be minimal thanks to growing technology. One well can serve 640 acres, or one square mile. A well pad taking only five acres of land, can serve two to five square miles. Horizontal drilling can access gas Without disturbing natural areas that are particularly sensitive.
Water can be recycled at well pads, drawing down on the amount of water needed to be extracted, and thus less water impact and less impact from trucking. The technology, he said, “is racing ahead of environmental issues.”
Despite protests heard, he stated that there are no cases in the US where fracking was shown to spoil water resources. Pennsylvania currently has about 121,000 active wells.
Township officials shouldn’t be intimidated when questioned if they have an interest in gas leasing at stake. “No apology is needed, as long as you disclose where you’re at,” he said.
Asked about the “million gallons” of water needed for fracking or each well, Shepstone reminded that this isn’t really that large a number. Golf courses, he said, can use more than that.
He advised township supervisors who have zoning, to treat gas drilling as a “Principal Permitted Use” which carries certain standards. Townships, he said, are open to law suits, should they try and apply conditions on drilling operations. On the other hand, zoning can direct what areas in the municipality where drilling can occur.
Townships also do well to regulate related activities such as compressor stations and work camps, he added. Negotiate with the gas companies about repairing roads affected by their trucks.
“That’s where the real impact is, not this phony baloney about fracking,” Shepstone declared.
“I’m not neutral,” Shepstone underlined."
Comments
1. Think the actual number for royality income was 5 to 10 K per acre.
2. Hoping the royality owners consider supporting regional economic and environmental issues and help to protect the regional surface and groundwater quality - by installing and improving existing private wells and stormwater infrastructure
Just my thoughts
http://www.bfenvironmental.com/links.php
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