Open Letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
TO: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE, Washington, DC, 20426
RE: Limit Interstate Pipelines for Natural Gas & NGL from Fracked Horizontal Gas Wells
We assert to you a responsibility to apply the following principles to your consideration of the PIPELINES and COMPRESSOR STATIONS now being planned in the United States:
>> Natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGL) are hydrocarbons and fossil fuels, as such they are greenhouse gases in the atmosphere of the EARTH; and, when they are consumed will ultimately become carbon dioxide which is a greenhouse gas already above 400 ppm in the atmosphere, an unsafe level which promotes Global Warming and other problems.
>> The President of the US has mandated that greenhouse gases are to be controlled and limited to reduce Global Warming and Climate Change, which has already reached extremes as demonstrated by global temperature measures and weather conditions.
>> The US EPA seeks to control and limit greenhouse gases from all sources, particularly the fossil fuels that are the major contributors of methane and carbon dioxide.
>> The US Department of the Interior seeks to limit damages to our public lands, and this example should carryover to State properties of Schools, Parks, Forests, and others.
>> The US Forest Service has expressed substantial concerns for certain damages to our National Parks, National Forests, and other forested lands due to pipeline construction, compressor stations, and extensive land and forest damages including fires and explosions that are not uncommon.
>> The right of “eminent domain” which grants permission to private companies for the taking of personal property has been grossly abused by FERC; therefore, only in the most urgent and essential cases should such authority be granted, the instances should be very few and the land taken should be a very small amount and of marginal value.
>> The “Halliburton loopholes” should be set aside as not appropriate in the regulation of the environmental damages of fracking and pipelines to water supplies, air quality and other protections where the public health is at risk.
These considerations should apply to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline across WV, VA, and NC; to the Mountain Valley Pipeline across WV and VA, to the Nexus Pipeline across Ohio, Michigan and Canada; to the ET Rover Pipeline across WV, OH, Michigan and Canada; to the Sunoco Mariner East 2 Pipeline across Ohio, WV and PA, and to the many other large diameter and long distance pipelines that are being developed.
This should also apply to the thousands of miles of smaller and shorter pipelines within the individual States, as we are particularly concerned about Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and Virginia where extensive pipeline develop is underway. Access road construction and pipeline/compressor station installation and operation are destructive of the land, result in subsidence, sedimentation, fragmentation and other damages.
Air pollution results from gas well development and from vents, leaks, flares, fires and explosions. The fracking silica sand and diesel trucks and other equipment have been shown to create dangerous health conditions due to ultra-fine particulates and other pollutants.
Duane G. Nichols, Board Member, Mon Valley Clean Air Coalition
cc: President Obama, Governors of PA, OH, VA and WV
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
See also the regional protest activities: ”Hands Across Our Land“
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http://www.bloomberg.com/
EPA to Propose Methane Emission Cuts for Oil and Gas Industry
From Brian Wingfield, Bloomberg Business News, August 18, 2015
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will announce on Tuesday proposed regulations to curb emissions from the nation’s oil and natural gas industry, according to the American Petroleum Institute’s regulatory chief.
EPA will issue three proposed rules affecting methane emissions from sources including new hydraulically fractured wells, Howard Feldman, senior director of regulatory and scientific affairs at the Washington-based API, said by phone. EPA spokeswoman Liz Purchia declined to comment. Feldman said he was briefed by people outside of the EPA with direct knowledge of the plan and announcement, which were first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
President Barack Obama’s administration is pursuing a broad regulatory effort to curb greenhouse-gas emissions from sources including power plants, refineries and automobiles. The agency announced in January that it would propose rules to cut emissions of methane, the primary component of natural gas, by as much as 45 percent by 2025.
Methane accounted for about 9 percent of U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions in 2012, according to the EPA. Environmental groups have called for federal action to reduce methane seepage from oil and gas pipes, pumps and storage tanks. The industry has sought voluntary measures, saying methane emissions are already in decline.
See also: http://www.FrackCheckWV.net
To: Mr. Duane Nichols; Re: Submitting Comments to FERC
We are unable to respond to your comment through email. If you would like to file public comments for a specific project, please visit http://www.ferc.gov, and click on eComment under “ Documents and Filing.” To locate the docket numbers associated with the pipeline projects, enter keywords of the project name under “general search.” For example, the docket numbers for Atlantic Coast is PF15-6 and for Mountain Valley is PF15-3.
You may also write to us c/o: Kimberly Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20426. Be sure to put the docket number at the top of your letter and sign it. For technical support regarding our online system, please call 1-866-208-3676.
If you would like to receive a brochure describing the regulatory process and companies’ responsivities involving pipeline projects, please kindly provide a mailing address to customer@ferc.gov.
Best wishes, Jerry Chiang, FERC Office of External Affairs, Customer@ferc.gov