According the an EPA press release, the decision to get involved in Marcellus drilling is to “ensure that natural gas production takes place safely and responsibly.” Garvin said “We want to make sure that the drillers are handling their wastewater in an environmentally responsible manner.”
The EPA had taken the action after the PADEP asked drillers to voluntarily stop taking wastewater to state treatment plants by May 19. EPA officials say they want to know where drillers will now take wastewater. Companies have until May 25 to report the information to the EPA.
In March, the EPA pushed Pennsylvania to step up testing of rivers that receive treated gas-drilling wastewater, which contains salty chlorides, some metals, and radioactive materials. Last month, the EPA dispatched a unit to respond to a well blowout in Bradford County, surprising Michael Krancer, secretary of PADEP, whose teams of inspectors were already there. ”This sense, all of a sudden, that DEP is not competent, not on the job, not doing enough, this seems to be a recent creature,” Krancer said in an interview last month.
The gas industry pushed back. Kathryn Z. Klaber, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry trade group, said Thursday that the industry was already “aggressively and tightly regulated” by the state, and that the EPA’s latest actions were redundant.
Myron Arnowitt, the state director of Clean Water Action, said the EPA should be even more assertive over the state. ”They are signaling to some extent that EPA is not going to come in and do something over DEP, which we think they should,” he said.
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The EPA under this administration has acted characteristically in accordance with the central philosophy of the administration: centralize in Washington as much control over American life as possible.
Several bills have been introduced in Congress to reign in the overbearing (at least) and possibly extra- statutory, activities of the EPA.
In this case, local authorities are working with industry to understand problems associated with wastewater and improve their practices. But here comes the EPA: Hit them with “legally enforceable regulations to the greatest extent possible”, right up front!. Typical.
Let’s look at a bit of history. Fall 2008 – All 17 public water intakes between the West Virginia state line and Pittsburgh were delivering water laced with carcinogenic trihalomethanes to the consumers. This was due to frack wastewater being legally dumped wholesale through sewage plants and illegally dumped by haulers such as Allens. Fall 2009 – Dunkard Creek Disaster. Water withdrawals (and quite likely illegal dumping of wastewater) for shale drilling coupled with Consol pumping water with a TDS of 50,000mg/l, 1 and 1/2 time saltier than ocean water, eradicated practically all fish life and other gilled insects and amphibians from 42 miles of stream. Recently Carmichaels PA had to suspend public water services an issue a boil water alert because they were forced to try to tiptoe the delicate line between delivering water carrying parasitic organisms and water carrying trihalomethanes.
And yet there are people out there who persist in clenching tightly to their belief that our states are adequately regulating industry and protecting citizens. You appear to be one of them, Mr. Blakeslee.
No need to get personal, Ms. Fulton. There is plenty to debate re drilling for gas, per se. What I have called a quasi-religious fervor seems to take hold whenever (shudder) FRACKING is mentioned.
Your example of trihalomethanes vs. parisites in water treatment is a good example of the fact that our groundwater is increasingly contaminated by all sorts of stuff and it will get worse. My contention is that we should devote more resources to treatment of water for human consumption, rather than just advocating “finger in the dike” schemes which purport to eliminate polutants – a hopeless task, if carried to the extreme advocated by some of our our more radical environmentalists.
I grew up swimming in the Cheat River and fishing in its tributaries. It’s a common childhood nostalgia of people from Randolph County, and other rural places in West Virginia. Simply charging me more for my tap water so that it can be properly treated doesn’t protect that quality of life.
Also, I just got my report from MUB– there are trihalomethanes in our Morgantown tap water very near the limit. My Pur filter takes them out of my glasses of water, but I’ll still breathe them in in the shower. MUB doesn’t have the technology to remove the bromides (a product of drilling) from the river water that create this carcinogen, and if the technology existed, would drilling companies pay for the municipal water treatment update? I’m pretty sure the price would fall on consumers.
Hi Nic. The trihalomethane issue is why I purchased a carbon filter for my showerhead (I’m on MUB water). But how many people are unaware of the need for this device? Aren’t we supposed to be able to trust our municipal authorities to deliver clean, healthy water? Not anymore.