Environ-MENTAL Nanny State PING!
Posted on 10/13/2019 7:37:36 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Natural gas developers in Pennsylvania are hoping a recent water quality report by the Susquehanna River Basin Commission could squelch plans for a fracking ban that’s currently being considered by the neighboring Delaware River Basin Commission.
The SRBC’s Remote Water Quality Monitoring Network report, which was released last month, revealed that water quality scores at 14 of the 16 stations in the basin were in the “good” or “excellent” categories
According to a fact sheet from the Susquehanna commission, the monitoring stations are located in areas where active drilling takes place, as well as areas free of development, in order to determine what, if any, impact drilling for natural gas has on the basin’s water quality.
The network “has been designed to help verify whether or not natural gas well activity is causing negative impacts on local water quality conditions,” the SRBC said in its sheet. “The network complements other SRBC efforts in water protection, namely its low flow protection requirements and environmental screening for water withdrawal approvals and aquatic resource surveys at proposed water withdrawal locations.”
River basin commissions are multistate government agencies that include both state-level and federal representatives to set policies regarding water resource management. The SRBC includes New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland, and the Pennsylvania area covered includes such cities as Scranton, Williamsport, Altoona, Harrisburg, York and Lancaster.
The DRBC covers the Pennsylvania region bordering on New Jersey. It also includes representatives from New Jersey, New York and Delaware.
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
Environ-MENTAL Nanny State PING!
Paraphrasing Stalin: “It does not matter what the reports say. What matters is who writes the reports.”
In actuality, studies have repeatedly shown that fracking isn’t the issue causing groundwater contamination, it’s the disposal wells where oily produced water is pumped at high pressure without being filtered first.
Why does it need to be filtered? It is a disposal well. If there is any contamination, then there must be either a poor cement job or a hole in the casing.
Singing (like Dire Straits), “Republican supported jobs for Pennsylvanians and MTV”.
Pa. water regulator cited for alcohol spending, overlapping project
Updated Nov 08, 2018; Posted Nov 08, 2018
Mark Pynes
https://www.pennlive.com/news/2018/11/pa-water-regulator-cited-for-alcohol-spending-overlapping-projects.html
Tale of Two River Basins: SRBC – No “Discernable Impacts” From Fracking; DRBC – Let’s Ban Fracking
BY Nicole Jacobs Jan. 18, 2018
https://www.energyindepth.org/tale-of-two-river-basins-srbc-no-discernable-impacts-from-fracking-drbc-lets-ban-fracking/
***Susquehanna River Basin Commission ***
TRIGGERED! Oh wait, that’s not the Hat Company!
Never mind.
So let me get this straight: Some unelected “commission” gets to tell residents and businesses of a state that they can no longer engage in the recovery of their own natural resources?
Where the hell does it it say THAT in the Constitution?
I didn’t vote for any of these people. Did anyone?
All wells, oil or gas, produce a mix of oil and water. The amount of the water is called “the cut”. The water is crudely separated, but is slick, emulsified and oily.
In PA, the Governor has put a moratorium on using disposal wells, as the oily slop is definitely having adverse effects of groundwater quality. Drillers and operators are paying to haul the produced water to OH and WV for disposal, putting a serious dent in the bottom line.
All wells? Not true. Maybe all Marcellus wells. I would be curious as to which formation they are injecting the water into. I would think that it is in the deeper Knox. If that is the case, then it is impossible to contaminate a shallower, fresh water zone unless the well has a bad cement job or a hole in the casing.
There are some elected officials on these boards, so there is a sort of indirect accountability, but other than that, you’re spot on. Just like the MPO’s, these things might be better off being eliminated.
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