Last summer Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection revealed that in 245 cases it had “determined that a private water supply was impacted by oil and gas activities.” Not too long after that, a joint study from the British Geological Survey and Durham University reported water contamination associated with 6% of Pennsylvania’s gas wells . There have been at least 122 complaints about water contamination in West Virginia. There is, as yet, no fracking in the neighboring state of Maryland, which also sit on the Marcellus Shale. The citizens of this region raised concerns about the impact development would have on “public health, the environment and quality of life.” Governor Martin O’Malley (D) responded with a interim moratorium. Maryland’s Departments of Environment and Natural Resources have been studying fracking operations in Pennsylvania and West Virginia for over three years. They have just released a report on (p 2 of attached) how fracking “can be accomplished without unacceptable risks of adverse impacts to public health, safety, the environment, and natural resources.” These are the strongest Fracking rules in America.
Continue reading The Strongest Fracking Rules in AmericaTag Archives: LNG
America Can Nearly Quadruple Its Renewable Electricity By 2030
A recent Union of Concerned Scientists (USC) study found that America can nearly quadruple its renewable electricity in the next 15 years, reaching 23% by 2030. This comes in response to the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal that America set a modest goal of 12% renewable energy by 2030. Rachel Cleetus, Senior Climate Economist of UCS, referred to the EPA’s goal as just a fraction above “business as usual.” The UCS found raising this target, to +23% of the nation’s electricity from non-hydro renewable sources by 2030, would cost the average household only about 18 cents per month. Cleetus described this as a realistic and affordable goal: “Looking at the way renewable energy is ramping up and costs are falling dramatically, there is a real opportunity to go farther.”
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Fracking’s threat to Water Quality
Dr Allan Hoffman recently compared the fracking boom to the market for illegal drugs. Regardless of the problems, there is simply too much money to be made. He expects the boom to continue for several decades. Together with Professor EM Gustav Olsson, of Lund University, and Andreas Lindström, of Stockholm International Water Institute, Hoffman has just written a report entitled, “Shale Gas and Hydraulic Fracturing: Framing the Water Issue.” As the title suggests, the focus is fracking’s threat to water quality.
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Frack BC’s Agricultural Land Reserve
By Roy L Hales
The Clark government introduced legislation dividing the province’s Agriculture Land Reserve in half. In the South, “decisions will continue to be made on the basis of the original principle of preserving agricultural land.” They want freedom to reconsider how parcels the Northern section will be used. A news release entitled “Food for Thought” explained this by saying 85% of agricultural revenues came from a mere 10% of the land. It looks like the BC Government wants to frack BC’s Agricultural Land Reserve in the north.
Opposition MLA Vicki Huntington had stronger words, “Without consultation, this government has introduced legislation to remove 90 per cent of BC’s farmland from the ALC’s (Agricultural Land Commission) independent mandate to protect farmland and farming.”
BC Gets Set to Cash in on a Trillion Dollar Fracking Opportunity, or Not?
By Roy L Hales
BC took another step towards Premier Christy Clark’s goal of developing a $1 trillion dollar LNG industry yesterday.
Chevron/Apache awarded a contract for the engineering, procurement and construction of a Natural gas plant at Bish Cove near Kitimat.