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Transpacific Partnership Trade Agreement fueling LNG Exports

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Overview

The President is pressing for passage of a new trade deal called the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement (TPP). Leaked sections of the secret deal demonstrate it is light on environmental preservation and heavy on corporate protection. 

The TPP would give foreign corporations the right to sue our government for millions of dollars if they believe a U.S. environmental law (State, Federal or local) has diminished its ability to make profits – one corporation is already taking action under similar provisions in NAFTA against Canada for a ban on fracking passed in Quebec. 

If passed as planned, the TPP will also give special status to new countries who will then benefit from automatic approval LNG export plans – those countries include Japan, Vietman, Brunei, Malaysia, and New Zealand, with China expected to be added to the list soon. That means environmental and economic reviews of the impacts of the new LNG construction, operation and export would be by-passed. 

More LNG exports means more pressure for shale gas development and fracking; more legal challenges against environmental protection laws means less protection against gas drilling and fracking. 

And to top it off, the President wants Congress to pass a piece of legislation called the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities Act of 2014 — “Fast Track” for short, that will give the President super powers to be able to continue to negotiate his deal in secret, to sign the deal on behalf of the United States, to draft and put forth before Congress the legislation that would change or modify any existing U.S. laws necessary to bring the country into compliance with the TPP, and to relegate our Congress to a mere “yay” or “nay” vote, no hearings, no amendments, and very little conversation at all. The Constitution of the United States carefully shares authority for international dealmaking between the President and the Congress – President Obama wants to change all that.

To learn more review the white paper provided below.
Also below is a copy of a recent letter sent to a variety of congressional representatives from around the region by 54 organizations.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc2UUeMqQ48&feature=youtu.be

  

 

 

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LNG Facilities & Exports

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Overview

Currently there are at least 15 applications for liquefied-natural-gas (LNG) export facilities in the U.S. pending before the federal government. These applications, along with already approved exports, would have the capacity to move over 40 percent of the U.S. annual production of natural gas to foreign countries. The gas companies want the exports overseas because they can sell the gas for more than 4 times the price as they can capture here in the U.S and at present there is a glut of gas in this country and so unless the industry sells it overseas they won’t get their immediate cash sale reward. 

Expert reports and data demonstrate that while LNG exports generate generous profits for the gas drillers and export companies, all other sectors of our country’s economy are in decline. In other words, LNG exports only benefit the gas industry. Similarly, LNG exports, while creating some jobs in the gas industry, many temporary, creates a net job loss effect for the country. In fact, LNG exports could result in the net loss of as many as 270,000 jobs per year in our country. 

The Environmental Cost 

It is almost daily that new research emerges showing the harms of shale gas for our communities, our country and our earth. Among the most recent scientific findings is that as much as 9% of the methane — one of the most potent greenhouse gases known to man — produced while drilling for gas is lost to the atmosphere. That 9% coupled with all the methane emitted during the transport of gas through pipelines, storage and use of the gas means that shale gas is a more potent contributor to climate change than any other fossil fuel – 105 times more potent than carbon dioxide if you look over a 20 year period when it is the most crucial that we reduce damaging emissions. 

The unparalleled level of harm to drinking water, air quality, food supplies, and people’s health that result from ongoing and increasing levels of drilling and fracking for shale gas bring high price tags for the United States economy and taxpayers. Not only do our communities lose out on life’s basic needs – air, water, food and health – but we as taxpayers have to pay the upfront and long-term financial burden of these harms, including the necessary clean up and health care costs. 

The deforestation, land compaction, wetlands destruction, and increased earthquake potential inflicted by shale gas development means increased flooding and flood ravaged homes and communities; it means increased erosion of public and private lands; it means the fear and harm of an earthquake where it happens; it means lost fishing, hunting, boating, birding and all the jobs they generate. And of course someone has to pay for all this harm – that someone is the public in the form of emergency services, taxes, hazard mitigation, and more national debt. 

Transforming our country into one dependent on shale gas instead of oil and coal brings with it a hefty price tag – by some estimates it will cost as much as $700 billion. Recent estimates from the United States Geological Survey of the volume of undiscovered Marcellus Shale gas that may be recoverable is an average 84 trillion cubic feet. At the current U.S. consumption rate of 24 trillion cubic feet per year , chasing after this gas, and incurring all of the harm shale drilling and fracking brings, will only give an additional 3 ½ years of supply. Other estimates that include gas which is proved, probable and recoverable calculate all U.S. natural gas as supporting only 11 to 21 years of energy at this consumption rate. The timeline for infrastructure replacement gets further shortened as LNG exports increase. 

Isn’t it just smarter to pay this bill once? And put in place the infrastructure needed for sustainable energy sources like solar, wind, geothermal and so on?

May 1, 2013 Update:

May 1, 2013 Representative Kowalko asked for a hearing on HB 54, a bill that would have prevented construction of LNG facilities in Delaware’s coastal zone.  At the end of the hearing the bill was tabled.  It is unknown when it may be revived for consideration.  A copy of Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper’s testimony, is provided below.  

  

 

 

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DRBC Moratorium & Authority Challenged – WLMG v. DRBC & Delaware Riverkeeper Network

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Overview

On May 17, 2016 a case was filed in US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania challenging the DRBC’s authority over drilling and fracking actitivies and challenging its defacto moratorium that currently prevents such activities anywhere within the Delaware River watershed.

The case was filed by the Wayne Land and Mineral Group. The action was filed  against the Delaware River Basin Commission.  The Delaware Riverkeeper Network successfully intervened in the case.

March 23, 2017 the case was dismissed with an important legal determination that the DRBC does in fact have jurisdication over drilling and fracking activities in the watershed.   

 

 

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Act 13

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Overview

Act 13 amended the Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Act, preempting municipal zoning of oil and gas development. It also established an impact fee on natural gas. 

The  Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Maya van Rossum in her capacity as the Delaware Riverkeeper, Dr. Mehernosh Khan, and seven municipalities filed suit on March 29, 2012 challenging the law on the grounds it violates the Pennsylvania and United States Constitutions and endangers public health, natural resources, communities and the environment. The municipalities participating are: Township of Robinson, Washington County; Township of Nockamixon, Bucks County; Township of South Fayette, Allegheny County; Peters Township, Washington County; Township of Cecil, Washington County; Mount Pleasant Township, Washington County; and the Borough of Yardley, Bucks County. 

The named Appellants are the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (“PUC”); Office of the Attorney General of Pennsylvania; and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”).

Oral argument was held before the PA supreme court on October 17, 2012.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court Decision

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued its decision on December 19, 2013. In that decision the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that Act 13 violates the Pennsylvania Constitution on the grounds that it violates the Environmental Rights Amendment. In doing so, the Court held that the right to pure water, clean air and a healthy environment are fundamental rights that must be given high-priority consideration and protection by every level of Pennsylvania’s government. The Court’s decision also struck down the shale gas industry’s effort to force every municipality in the state to allow gas drilling and related industrial operations in every zoning district. The Court’s decision upheld the ability of local governments to protect their local communities and natural resources through zoning. Chief Justice Castille authored the historic majority opinion. Justices Todd, McCaffrey and Baer joined in the result. 

Justices Castille, Todd, and McCaffrey held that provisions of the law violate Article I, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution – the Environmental Rights Amendment. Justice Castille stated that “we agree with the citizens that, as an exercise of the police power, Sections 3215(b)(4) and (d), 3303, and 3304 are incompatible with the Commonwealth’s duty as trustee of Pennsylvania’s public natural resources.” In discussing Section 3304’s uniform zoning provisions, Justices Castille, Todd, and McCaffrey agreed that the provisions “sanctioned a direct and harmful degradation of the environmental quality of life in these communities and zoning districts.” They also concluded that the Act forced some citizens to bear “heavier environmental and habitability burdens than others,” in violation of Section 27’s mandate that public trust resources be managed for the benefit of all the people. 

Justice Baer concurred in finding Act 13 unconstitutional, agreeing with the Commonwealth Court’s reasoning. Justice Baer stated that the provisions “force municipalities to enact zoning ordinances, which violate the substantive due process rights of their citizenries.” He further noted “Pennsylvania’s extreme diversity” in municipality size and topography and that zoning ordinances must “give consideration to the character of the municipality,” among other factors, which Act 13 did not.

 

 

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Shale Gas Extraction – Drilling/Fracking

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Overview

There is a moratorium on natural gas drilling/fracking and water withdrawals in the Delaware River Watershed, enacted by the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) in May 2010, by unanimous vote of the Commission’s voting members – representatives of the Governors of Pennsylvania. New York, New Jersey and Delaware and President Obama’s representative, the Army Corps of Engineers. When natural gas regulations were proposed by the DRBC with a close of public comment in April 2011, the public became engaged in a big way. Breaking all previous records for public input, 69,000 comments were submitted to the DRBC, most calling for the proposed rules to be scrapped because they were too weak and narrow and advocating for a comprehensive environmental impact analysis of what gas development would do to the Watershed and the 17 million people and almost 13,000 square miles of ecosystem that rely on the health and abundance of the Delaware River Watershed for water supply and habitat. In November 2011 the moratorium was almost lifted and the rules almost adopted but public pressure and the announcement of Gov. Markell of Delaware and the head of New York’s Dept. of Environmental Conservation that they would not vote to approve the rules, caused the meeting to be cancelled and the rules to be sent back to the drawing board because there was not an assured majority to approve the lifting of the moratorium. As the DRBC continues to consider allowing drilling and fracking, the watershed health hangs precariously in the balance. Delaware Riverkeeper Network and many groups representing hundreds of thousands of members have called for a permanent ban on gas development in the Watershed since the dangerous practices involved are not compatible with maintaining and sustaining the water resources and ecosystems of the Delaware River Watershed.

The Impacts 

The environmental impacts of natural gas drilling include water quantity (on average 11 million gallons of water is used to frack each well), water quality (hydrofracking chemicals, radioactive and highly toxic wastewater, drilling muds and cuttings, waste solids and residuals that results from the well development process), stormwater runoff (nonpoint source pollution, erosion, stream degradation), habitat and ecosystem destruction and disruption, air quality (pollution from methane and other gases, VOCs and other volatile materials, silica, particulates, etc.) noise and light pollution, and community/cultural, scenic and quality of life impacts. These impacts result in direct harm to public health, especially for those where drilling and its activities are occurring.  A large body of evidence is being published today of the harms to human health and the environment. Inadequate regulation of the industry at every level allows these impacts to occur, burdening communities and the environment but no matter how fracking and shale gas development is regulated, the damages are unavoidable – fracking simply cannot be made safe or sustainable.

The practices required to extract natural gas are intrinsically polluting, allowing our aquifers and the environment to be permanently degraded, in violation of our environmental rights. The only way to avoid these negative impacts is to convert our energy systems away from these dirty fossil fuels and towards clean, sustainable, and renewable energy sources and energy efficiency policies.

As shale gas drilling and development inches closer to encroaching on the Delaware River Watershed, public concerns are growing for the safety of water supplies, air quality, the natural environment and communities that will be affected. The 17 million people who rely on the Delaware River for water, including New York City, Philadelphia and millions of residents of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware will all be directly effected if the water resources of the high quality upstream River is degraded. The practices that are used by the gas industry to extract and develop shale gas involve dangerous techniques such as hydraulic fracturing that inject chemicals–most of them hazardous, toxic and/or carcinogenic–and millions of gallons of water into each gas well.

The polluted flowback or “produced water” that erupts back up is contaminated with additional pollutants from the deep geology, such as radioactive materials, and is stored on the well site until it is trucked away to a wastewater plant or injected into the deep wells (even though there are not enough facilities to handle the wastewater and earthquakes caused by the injections in Ohio and other states where many injection wells are located have caused the shut down of several, this highly toxic waste continues to be produced every day throughout the Marcellus and Utica shales). Well sites have huge well pads, usually over 5 acres, containing 6, 10, even 15 or more gas wells each; miles of roads and gas pipelines and compressor stations are begin built; and  forests, farms, and rural communities are being transformed into urban, industrial conditions.

Wells can even be drilled in floodplains in both NY and PA. Communities across Pennsylvania where gas drilling is charging ahead are experiencing pollution incidents, accidents, gas well blowouts, spills, leaks, and illegal dumping of toxic wastewater and produced water, water well contamination, stream degradation and ruined farms and towns.

Join

DRN invites you to join with the growing number of people who want to take action to defend our region from the degradation of shale gas drilling. We cannot sacrifice our water and environment to gas companies. Check out the supporting information below – there are links to multiple studies and reports that delve into all things fracking. Information is power and an informed public is our best defense. People and communities are organizing and fighting back and there are many ways to get involved.

The Delaware Riverkeeper Network published (September 2015) a guidebook, “Defending the Environmental Rights of Pennsylvania Communities from Shale Gas Development”, to provide support and guidance to elected officials, government entities, and residents working at the municipal level to protect the environment and community resources from shale gas development.

The need for a permanent ban on all natural gas development, including drilling and fracking, in the Delaware River Watershed

In the Delaware River Watershed in 2017, DRBC has prohibited natural gas extraction projects in the Basin since 2010 while they study its potential impacts on water resources, a de-facto moratorium that does not allow permits to be issued until natural gas regulations are adopted. The DRBC almost adopted regulations in 2011 but its voting members, the Commissioners, cancelled the meeting where the vote would have occurred amid overwhelming public opposition and that stand-off has endured to this day.  However, in early 2017, the DRBC staff raised alarm bells with signals that the DRBC may be moving to adopt regulations and lift the current moratorium. 

The Delaware River Basin Commission’s moratorium was put in place 7 years ago by the Commission based on the determination that natural gas projects, individually or cumulatively, could have a substantial impact on the River’s water resources. 

As the federal-interstate agency formed in 1961 to manage the water resources of the Watershed, the Commission members – the Governors of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware and the Army Corps of Engineers for the federal government – represent the public’s interests.  Chief among the Commission’s responsibilities is protecting the water supply of 17 million people, including New York City and Philadelphia. 

As background, the Wild and Scenic Delaware River is classified by DRBC as Special Protection Waters (SPW) due to exceptionally high water quality and outstanding natural resources with special regulations that protect those resources and maintain the River’s exceptional water quality.  The entire drainage area that flows to the nontidal Delaware River, which extends from Hancock NY to Trenton NJ, is designated as SPW, and is the longest stretch of anti-degradation waters in the nation. The Commission’s mandated protection of these resources makes it impossible to allow drilling and fracking in the nontidal river protected by DRBC’s Special Protection Waters designation. 

When the commission enacted the moratorium three main concerns were cited – the diminishment of surface and groundwater, the release of pollution, and the impacts of frack waste disposal.[1]  In the intervening years, a substantial body of knowledge has developed containing significant evidence that shale gas development has myriad adverse effects on our air, water, and land, public health, property interests, and agriculture, effecting present and future generations.[2]

Water 

Water use for oil and gas well development and for stimulation and extraction of gas from wells is very large, particularly for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) – the predominant method used today to extract gas – which requires high volumes of water. On average, 11 million gallons of water is used to frack a shale well, a depletive use because the water is not returned to the source, most of it completely removed from the hydrologic cycle when it is injected into deep formations. Of particular concern in the Delaware River Watershed where the shale underlies the upper basins’ streams, is that the required water can remove up to 70 percent of the water in small streams, permanently depleting crucial flows, disrupting natural flow regimes and increasing damaging runoff[3], essentially turning some of our highest quality streams into ditches.  Removal of fresh water flows also allows for the concentration of contaminants when aquifers are overdrawn, reducing base flow of streams, in turn affecting water quality and habitats. 

Pollution

In terms of pollution potential, fracking uses toxic chemicals and hazardous materials are produced by the formations that are fractured.  1,076 chemicals are known to be used in fracking fluids, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),[4] many of them carcinogenic, including some linked to childhood leukemia.[5]

Based on all the information that has become available about the impacts of drilling, fracking and natural gas development in the last seven years since the moratorium was enacted, the time to enact a permanent ban is now.  In 2016, groups involved in keeping the Delaware River Watershed frack-free began an effort to achieve a complete ban at the DRBC.

In the a statistical analysis of the body of scientific literature by the Concerned Health Professionals of New York and Physicians for Social Responsibility, 685 peer reviewed papers were reviewed and the overwhelming majority of studies found evidence of or potential adverse impacts from gas drilling and/or fracking on water, air, and human health. In the most recent Fifth edition of the Compendium, the evidence of the indelible damage that is occurring as a result of shale gas development and fracking is examined in over 1,200 peer-reviewed research articles. [6]

Studies reveal significant evidence that shale gas development has an adverse effect on drinking water quality, public health, property interests, agriculture and on our air, water, and land.[7]

The negative impacts of shale gas development are documented by PA Department of Environmental Protection’s accounting of 308 private water well contamination cases that were determined by the agency to have been caused by oil and gas operations through March 2018. [8]  The EPA’s newly released hydraulic fracturing study provides scientific evidence that hydraulic fracturing activities can impact drinking water resources and includes water impacts from shale gas in the Pennsylvania community of Dimock.[9]

 

Waste Production

In terms of waste production, reuse and disposal, both wastewater and solid wastes pose challenges that have not yet been resolved by government agencies or the industry.  Currently, no set of federal regulations for waste produced during fracking exists except for a prohibition by EPA for the treatment of gas and oil wastewater at sewage treatment facilities.  This only addresses part of the management issues and leaves some critical loopholes in place that pose environmental threats.  Because of a 1988 oil and gas industry waste exemption from the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), oil and gas waste is not regulated as hazardous, even though it contains hazardous constituents.  In fact, the shale gas industry has received unprecedented exemptions from our nation’s most important environmental and public health laws, making adequate regulation virtually impossible.[10]

Fracking produces waste that contains many of the toxics that are injected and also deep geology pollutants that are disturbed and ejected to the surface, exposing the environment and those who live in it to the increased risk of disease and adverse health effects.  The radioactive isotopes that are brought to the surface can contain dangerous levels of radioactivity, requiring special monitoring and handling.  Measurements by New York Department of Environmental Conservation show radium in drill cuttings from gas wells over 200 times background concentrations.[11]  Duke University scientists[12] found Ra-226 concentrations in stream sediments at the point of discharge of a fracking wastewater facility were 200 times greater than upstream and background sediments and above radioactive waste disposal threshold regulations. 

After six years of exhaustive study, the State of New York prohibited fracking based on environmental and public health analysis. The NY Department of Health concluded that the overall weight of the evidence demonstrated the likelihood of the occurrence of adverse health outcomes and environmental impacts from fracking could not prevented, leading to the Governor’s decision to ban high volume high fracturing in the state. The State of Maryland permanently banned fracking after 2 years of study, based on the potential for adverse public health and environmental impacts.

The Commission has not conducted a comprehensive assessment of the cumulative and long-term impacts of shale gas development that illustrates that natural gas development could safely occur within the Delaware River Basin without degradation of the Watershed’s water resources and the essential values of Special Protection Waters. In fact, the evidence supports that shale gas cannot be extracted or developed safely with current technology.

A vitally important cumulative impact is the climate effects of shale development in the Watershed.  Natural gas is primarily methane, a greenhouse gas 86 times more efficient at trapping heat than carbon over a 20 year time frame[13] and its effects persist for hundreds of years.[14] The well documented vented and fugitive losses from natural gas systems contribute to atmospheric warming; current technology and practices have not controlled these releases. EPA once thought the releases of methane from the development of natural gas were negligible – we know better today as the data has developed.  EPA says 27% more methane is being leaked than previous estimates and many scientists say it’s much greater than that because of the way the gases are measured, especially when looking at the entire life cycle of fracked gas.

The emissions are so great that it is projected that their release from the build out of Marcellus shale will prevent the achievement of global warming goals in Pennsylvania, accelerating climate change.[15] In fact, nationwide the greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas production, transport and use cancel out any benefit natural gas provides despite natural gas releasing less carbon than coal or oil when it is burned.  Climate change impacts on the basin’s water resources include changes in precipitation and runoff that increase flooding and drought, impairment of habitats and water quality (including salt water intrusion to Delaware Estuary water supplies) and sea level rise.[16]

Regardless of the evidence that natural gas development is not and cannot be made safe and that degradation of the environment and public health from shale gas drilling and fracking cannot be avoided, it became evident by January of 2017 seems that DRBC staff was maybe moving ahead with drilling regulations and the lifting of the moratorium. An article in Pennsylvania Digest reported that Pennsylvania DEP staff is was working with DRBC staff to develop drilling and fracking regulations. [17] While DRBC has reported over the years that they continue to consider regulations and research the issue, there had not been public news accounts of this previously.

A Lawsuit Brought

A lawsuit brought by the industry-backed Wayne Land Management Group is attacking the jurisdiction of DRBC over gas development, raising concerns about its outcome. The new Trump Administration is rolling back environmental protections, pushing dirty fossil fuel development including domestic shale gas, and defunding and declawing agencies that protect natural resources, public lands and parks, scenic and recreational rivers. The federal agency vote on the DRBC, the Army Corps of Engineers, represents President Trump so there is mounting concern over how the new federal Administration will influence the DRBC policies and decisions, particularly gas drilling and fracking.

Organizations came together in 2017, based on mounting concerns, to develop and execute a campaign to completely ban fracking once and for all in the Delaware River Watershed. 183 organizations representing many hundreds of thousands of members and the four states whose waters flow to the Delaware River submitted a letter to the Delaware River Basin Commission voting members calling for a permanent ban on fracking in the Watershed on March 15, 2017. The groups insisted that the mountains of scientific evidence, the data about water contamination from fracking, and the fracking ban in New York State and Maryland provide more than enough reason for the Commissioners to enact a ban instead. Hundreds of people have demonstrated and made public comment about the dangers and destructive impacts of gas drilling and fracking and about the public’s health and the watershed’s precious resources that must be protected from these impacts at the DRBC’s public meetings since February 2017.

Each day from July 24 through 28, organizations presented petitions calling for a permanent ban on fracking in the Delaware River Watershed signed by over 65,000 people. At press conferences held for each Governor in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware and the Army Corps of Engineers, the voting members of the DRBC were presented with the petitions. Click here to download the petition.

At the DRBC’s public meeting Sept. 13, the DRBC Commissioners abruptly introduced and approved a resolution that could lead to a ban on fracking but is problematic in many ways. First, it directs staff to publish regulations that seek comment on “…prohibitions related to the production of natural gas utilizing horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing within the Basin”, which is not necessarily an absolute ban on all aspects throughout the watershed, and does not cover drilling that does not use fracking. Secondly, the staff was directed to develop regulations that could allow the “…storage, treatment, disposal and/or discharge of wastewater within the Basin associated with horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing for the production of natural gas where permitted” and that could allow the “…inter-basin transfer of water and wastewater for purposes of natural gas development where permitted.” The public at the meeting strongly pushed for the DRBC not to vote on the resolution as drafted and to reconsider a complete and permanent ban on all aspects of drilling and fracking and all related activities throughout the Basin. PA, NY and DE voted yes for the resolution, NJ abstained and the federal government voted no. The draft regulations were issued Nov. 30, 2017. The approved resolution is here.

Read the letter the Delaware Riverkeeper Network sent to the three Governors that voted for the Sept 13, 2017 resolution regarding fracking to understand, in full, our concerns.

The Coalition

The coalition of organizations that make up the campaign to Ban Fracking in the Delaware River Watershed have vowed to fight for a COMPLETE ban on fracking throughout the Delaware River Watershed, including a ban on frack wastewater processing and discharges and a ban on water exports to fuel fracking elsewhere.  Nothing less is acceptable; it makes no sense to ban fracking but allow its toxic pollution and water depletion to ruin the Watershed.

The Coalition to Ban Fracking in the Delaware River Watershed submitted a letter with DRBC for a more open and just process for commenting on the draft regulations and proposed ban. The comment period was set to close February 28, far too short, and one a few hearings, all in Pennsylvania, were set. The groups demanded more public input opportunities and changes to the difficult process that DRBC set for how to submit comments – the agency wouldn’t even allow written comments to be submitted by email, fax or regular U.S. Postal Service mail. See the letter here. Groups also attended the DRBC’s December public meeting to deliver the message that fair and accessible public input into this all-important rulemaking was essential and must be provided to protect the watershed and to provide a just process.

As a result, the public comment period was extended to march 30, 2018 and 3 more public hearing opportunities were provided – but they were still all in Pennsylvania and one was only on the telephone.

Throughout the public comment period, the Coalition to Ban Fracking in the Delaware River Watershed worked to ensure as much input from the public as possible, given the constraints of the difficult to navigate comment process and the time of year.  Delaware Riverkeeper Network produced and hosted several webinars on the draft regulations and shared information from experts and reports to help people prepare for the Public Hearings so they could confidently testify verbally and to write informed comments through the written comment process.  From the beginning of February through to the close of public comment on March 30, the Coalition to Ban Fracking in the Delaware River Watershed provided different suggested comments and background information on various aspects of the draft natural gas regulations and proposed frack ban through easy-to-use on-line platforms that submit your comments directly to DRBC – Watershed Wednesdays and 8 Weeks to a Ban (see Supporting information below). The goal was to encourage lots of public input to explain why a COMPLETE ban on fracking and its activities in the Delaware River Watershed is required.

National environmental organizations, anti-fracking groups, community organizations, and residents together submitted at least 40,000 comments to the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) in support of a full ban on fracking and all drilling-related activities, including wastewater treatment and water withdrawals by March 30. Counting late submissions, over 60,000 comments were submitted. The Coalition also submitted a letter signed by 126 groups, representing millions of members of the organizations represented, making the same demand.

Unfortunately, DRBC issued a press release stating it received less than 9,000 comments. The discrepancy is due to the fact that the DRBC counted thousands of individual comments submitted by members of organizations as a single comment, severely diminishing the widespread support across the region, and the country, for a full ban and denigrating the value of those who took the time to comment. See the press release on this issue here.

Municipalities throughout the Delaware River watershed have been adopting resolutions In support of s COMPLETE frack ban over the last several months.  Many of those resolutions, now numbering about 20, were submitted to DRBC during the public comment period and some were submitted prior and after the formal comment period.  Townships, boroughs, cities and counties continue to consider resolutions and many are moving draft resolutions through their process with a goal of influencing the final decision of the DRBC Commissioners.

DRBC has announced that they expect to vote on the draft regulations and proposed ban by the end of 2018.  Organizations continue to attend DRBC meetings, submit information and relevant documents to DRBC regarding fracking and its activities and publicly address the pressing issues of frack wastewater pollution, water depletion by fracking, and the devastating impacts of drilling and fracking.

Representatives of organizations that comprise the DRBC Full Frack Ban Coalition Organizing Committee attend every DRBC public meeting to share information that is emerging regarding fracking’s impacts since the close of the public comment period on the draft gas regulations. These include studies such as an in-depth analysis of the EPA’s frack wastewater report and the expert report DRN commissioned here.. Another seminal report analyzed for the DRBC was “Keystone Secrets: Records Show Widespread Use of Secret Fracking Chemicals Is a Looming Risk for Delaware River Basin, Pennsylvania Communities”, by the Partnership for Policy Integrity (PFPI) that exposed the use of secret yet toxic chemicals in fracking by companies operating in Pennsylvania (see report here). A press conference and in-person testimony brought public and DRBC attention to this issue that is falling between the cracks in PA. Also presented and discussed have been the updated editions of The Compendium of Scientific, Medical, and Media Findings Demonstrating Risks and Harms of Fracking (“the Compendium”) of scientific articles about the health and environmental effects of fracking and its operations on the health of communities that is published by the Concerned Health Professionals of New York. Read the report here.

The coalition presented additional health studies to DRBC based on two reports commissioned by DRN on the effects of fracking on Pennsylvania’s economy and public health. The commissioned reports are entitled “Categorical Review of Health Reports on Unconventional Oil and Gas Development; Impacts in Pennsylvania”, authored by Fractracker Alliance (linked here) and “The Economic Costs of Fracking in Pennsylvania”, authored by ECONorthwest (linked here). Read the Talking Points based on these landmark reports here. See a news report on the public meeting here.

Organizations have also pointed out that recent decisions from the Trump Administration made it more urgent than ever that Governors Murphy (NJ), Cuomo (NY), Wolf (PA) and Carney (DE) act right away to pass a complete ban on fracking and all of its associated activities throughout the Delaware River Basin. The coalition reasoned that supporting action to curtail fracking based on the climate impacts of methane as a greenhouse gas was a pressing need. Citing United Nation’s climate experts who have been giving dire warnings about how we need to urgently act to move away from fossil fuel extraction and burning, including fracked gas, to avoid catastrophic climate change, (see the report here), and the U.S. National Climate Assessment Report warning that the impacts of climate change are already being felt in communities across the country and will worsen as more frequent and intense extreme weather and climate-related events occur, (see report here), the groups’ representatives called for action to stop greenhouse emissions from shale gas development by the enactment of a full fracking ban. The coalition stated that President Trump continues to deny that humans cause climate change. In addition to ignoring climate impacts, despite releasing an EPA report that showed the toxic dangers of fracking wastewater to our waterways, (see report here), the Trump Administration’s EPA may undo the prohibition on the acceptance of frack wastewater at the nation’s municipal sewage facilities and ease current water quality protections, paving the way for frack wastewater to be dumped in surface water, including the Delaware River Watershed (see details here). These actions by the current administration undermine the science behind the EPA’s frack wastewater report and work against stopping the pollution caused by this toxic waste and its mishandling and they allow runaway climate impacts from methane emissions to continue unabated.

Group Actions

Group actions during the summer of 2018 included banners being unfurled at popular river recreation areas to raise awareness. For instance, demonstrators met on the Barryville Bridge that connects Shohola Township, Pennsylvania and Barryville, New York to hang a banner that proclaimed, “Defend the Delaware; Ban Fracking and Frack Waste” as people paddled and floated by on the river. New York Governor Cuomo and Pennsylvania Governor Wolf were called to unite to completely ban frack drilling, ban the processing and discharge of wastewater produced by fracking, and ban water withdrawals for fracking. At another event, kayakers and canoeists unfurled the same banner while paddling on the river at Bordentown Beach in NJ. See the news report here.

In December 2018, 9 months after the DRBC closed the public comment period on the draft gas regulations, the coalition of groups calling for a complete ban on fracking, the import of frack wastewater for discharge and water withdrawals for fracking outside of the basin, pushed the issue of the need for the DRBC to vote for the full ban. Representatives of organizations and members of the public submitted 104,805 signed petitions to the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) at their public Business Meeting. The petitions, collected by 15 organizations representing members in all four states that are part of the Delaware River Watershed, asks the Governors of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware to vote for a complete and permanent ban on fracking and its activities. Copies of the petitions were hand delivered with a public rally or press conference to each of the Governors at their state capitols and to the Army Corps of Engineers. The petitions call for a ban on fracking throughout the Delaware River Basin, a ban on frack wastewater storage, processing and discharges in the Basin, and a ban on water exports from the Delaware River Watershed to fuel fracking elsewhere. Read the petition here.

In March of 2019, there was a remarkable turn of events that showed our advocacy was working. NJ Governor Phil Murphy announced at a public event that he would vote for a COMPLETE ban at the DRBC, banning fracking, frack waste, and the withdrawal of water from the river for fracking. He asked the other DRBC Governors to work with him for a full ban “to ensure that the Commission’s final rules provide a complete ban on all fracking activities”. Both PA Governor Tom Wolf and DE Governor John Carney stated that day that they would also vote for a full ban. See the letter sent by our Coalition Organizing Committee sent to the Commissioners here. The groups signing the letter: Catskill Mountainkeeper, Clean Water Action, Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Delaware Sierra Club, Environment New Jersey, Food &Water Watch, Natural Resources Defense Council, and New Jersey Sierra Club. Unfortunately, NY Governor Andrew Cuomo was not at the event and has not spoken publicly about his commitment to a COMPLETE ban since the 2019 declaration.

Advancing the campaign for a full and permanent fracking ban throughout the Delaware River Watershed into 2020, the issue of the climate impacts has been more thoroughly explored with the DRBC through testimony during the public comment session that the Commissioners’ hold at each public Business Meeting. In March of 2020, organizations and the public presented the most up to date climate science regarding methane as a greenhouse gas and studies that have been done in the last two years on the effects of climate change in the Delaware River Basin and the states that flow to the river.  Read the Talking Points on climate here. Read the extensive Reference List presented to the Commissioners here. DRN also submitted comment on the DRBC’s Water Resources Plan 2020-2022 during the public hearing on the resolution for the adoption of the plan in February. Read the comment here. The Coalition also combined the issues of the need for a full fracking ban with opposition to the PennEast gas pipeline project that DRN has been fighting for several years by connecting the two issues of fracking and infrastructure for fracking in June 2020. See the Talking Points here.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro convened and then in June 2020 published Pennsylvania’s 43rd Statewide Investigating Grand Jury Report #1 on the unconventional oil and gas industry. The report documents the unprecedented damage to the environment and human health that the “fracking boom” brought to communities where fracking occurred throughout the last decade in the Commonwealth. The DRBC Full Frack Ban Organizing Committee made a video over the summer regarding the findings. The speakers at the video forum examine the Grand Jury Report and explain how its documentation confirms what the Coalition representatives and other members of the public have submitted to the DRBC in support of a full fracking ban. The issues in the video were verbally presented to the DRBC during the public comment session of the September public Business Meeting. The speakers were: Catskill Mountainkeeper, Wes Gillingham; Clean Water Action, Eric Benson; Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, Barbara Arrindell; Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Tracy Carluccio; Environment New Jersey, Doug O’Malley; Food & Water Action, Eric Weltman; New Jersey Sierra Club, Jeff Tittel, Director; Wilmington Delaware scientist, Coralie Pryde. See the video of the forum, which was submitted to each Governor here. Read the letter transmitting the forum video here.

In November 2020, the groups that collaboratively work as the Delaware River Frack Ban Action Coalition sent a letter to the Commissioners urging a vote for a full frack ban as soon as possible. We continue to communicate with the state administrations to encourage the governors to introduce a resolution adopting the complete fracking ban. 

The Delaware River Frack Ban Coalition Organizing Committee that is advocating for a complete ban on fracking in the Delaware River Watershed, including a ban on frack wastewater discharges and withdrawals of water for fracking, submitted a White Paper in January 2021 to the new Biden Administration stating why a full ban on fracking is required in the Delaware River Watershed. The Coalition is working for a policy to be enacted by the Administration that a full and permanent ban on fracking in the Watershed is essential to protect the river and the drinking water for 17 million people and for the full ban to be finally voted into the DRBC’s water management regulations. Read the White Paper here.

In January 2021, a Complaint was filed by State Senators Gene Yaw and Lisa Baker, the Pennsylvania Senate Republican Caucus and Damascus Township in Wayne County to overturn the current de facto moratorium on gas drilling, fracking, and related operations in the Delaware River Watershed. Read the press release from Delaware Riverkeeper Network regarding the Motion to intervene as a defendant that DRN filed in February 2021. DRN submitted the request with the court in opposition to the lawsuit filed by the Pennsylvania Senate Republican Caucus and in defense of the DRBC’s jurisdiction over gas drilling and fracking and its power to enact a moratorium.  The DRBC will be filing a response and the court will decide if and when the case will proceed. Read the press release from the Delaware River Frack Ban Coalition decrying the lawsuit and describing it as an attack by fracking shills carrying out a thinly veiled industry grab.

On February 17, 2021, DRBC sent out a public notice about a special business meeting for 10:30 am, Thursday, February 25 to decide on the proposed natural gas regulations – which includes the provision to permanently ban fracking throughout the Watershed in all 4 states. The last minute announcement for a special meeting gave just one week’s notice saying they “will consider final action on DRBC’s Proposed Amendments to the Administrative Manual and Special Regulations Regarding Hydraulic Fracturing Activities”. It was also announced there would be no public comment opportunity. See the announcement and link to how to join the meeting here: https://www.nj.gov/drbc/meetings/meeting_feb252021.html

Whether or not they are going to adopt a COMPLETE ban on fracking that also includes a ban on the import and discharge of wastewater produced by fracking and a ban on water withdrawals for fracking outside of the basin, is unknown but it is reasonable to expect a vote for a FULL ban due to the policy statements discussed above where NJ Governor Murphy called for a full ban on fracking and its operations and PA Governor Wolf and DE Governor Carney pledged support for that vote. And it is the only way to provide the protection needed and nothing else is tolerable. People will be joining the DRBC meeting virtually on Feb. 25 to witness the vote by the Governors and the federal representative from President Biden in a “virtual march” and presence.

WHAT HAPPENED FERUARY 25 AT THE DRBC Special Meeting:

The DRBC voted to permanently ban fracking throughout the Delaware River Watershed, affecting four states, after 12 years of raging debate and public discourse. The Delaware River Frack Ban Coalition and many members of the public – reported by DRBC to be at 400 during the meeting – joined the virtual DRBC meeting. The Governors of the four states – New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware – and a federal representative for President Biden from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – voted to enact the regulations that were pending since the public comment period closed in March 2018. All four states voted to approve the ban; the Army Corps representative abstained.

See the resolution adopting the regulations that ban fracking here: https://www.nj.gov/drbc/library/documents/Res2021-01_HVHF.pdf

Action was also taken in a second resolution towards the proposal of regulations covering the import of frack wastewater and the export of water for fracking. These regulations could lead to the adoption of a ban on the import of wastewater produced by fracking for its processing and discharge here and the export of water from the basin for use in fracking outside of the watershed. See that resolution here: https://www.nj.gov/drbc/library/documents/ResForMinutes022521_regs-transfers.pdf

The ban resolution prohibits the use of high volume hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” to extract gas wherever it is located within the basin (which includes parts of PA, NY, and NJ). The DRBC decision was based on fracking‘s water quality and water quantity impacts and was cheered as an essential first step in stopping the devastating impacts of fracking in the Watershed. The next step, captured in a second resolution, will commence a rulemaking process. Draft regulations are required to be issued by September 30, 2021, to cover the import of wastewater produced by fracking and the export Delaware River water outside of the basin for fracking, DRN and over 100,000 people who have expressed themselves to the DRBC over the last 3 years consider this next step as absolutely critical to truly protect the entire Watershed.

No public comment opportunity and a virtual meeting meant that the public was not able to show their support for the ban by demonstrating at the DRBC meeting, which has been done countless times over the last years, dating back to the institution of the de facto moratorium on drilling and fracking in the Watershed in 2010. Instead, over 400 people joined the meeting remotely, and more watched through YouTube, and expressed themselves through social media and emails to the Commissioners over the days since the meeting was announced eight days ago. A virtual Watershed Frack Ban Happy Hour was hosted by DRN Friday Feb. 26 at 6:00 pm to celebrate the ban, share milestone memories from the last decade and gather forces for the next essential steps to ban frack waste import and water export in the coming months.

On March 10, 2021, Delaware Riverkeeper Network filed a motion to dismiss the complaint filed by State Senator Yaw, Baker, PA GOP and Damascus Township, arguing that the federal court lacked jurisdiction because plaintiffs’ claims were mooted by the DRBC’s resolution banning fracking in the Basin, and that if the claims were not mooted, then plaintiffs lacked standing to sue.

On March 12, Pennsylvania Democratic Senators filed to intervene in the lawsuit brought by the PA Senate GOP Caucus to overturn the fracking ban in the Delaware River Watershed https://www.senatorstevesantarsiero.com/democratic-senators-intervene-in-fracking-lawsuit-against-drbc/. See the legal filings here, and here.

References:

[1] http://www.nj.gov/drbc/programs/natural/

[2] PSE Healthy Energy Library, https://www.zotero.org/groups/pse_study_citation_database/items; See Compendium, http://concernedhealthny.org/compendium/; Delaware  Riverkeeper Network, “Unsafe and Unsustainable,” http://www.delawareriverkeeper.org/Documents/DRN_Report_Unsafe+Unsustainable_fr.pdf 

[3] Hansen, L., Habicht, S., and Faeth, P., CNA, “Potential Environmental Impacts of Full-development of the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania”, September 2016, p. 35.

[4] Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 2015. Assessment of the Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing for Oil and Gas on Drinking Water Resources – External Review Draft. June 2015. Available at: www.epa.gov/hfstudy; Hein 2012, p. 2.

[5] Deziel, N. et al, Yale School of Public Health, Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental and Epidemiology, January 2016.

[6] Concerned Health Professionals of New York and Physicians for Social Responsibility, “Compendium of Scientific, Medical, And Media Findings Demonstrating Risks And Harms Of Fracking (Unconventional Gas And Oil Extraction)”, Fourth Edition, November 17, 2016.

[7] Delaware  Riverkeeper Network, “Unsafe and Unsustainable,” http://www.delawareriverkeeper.org/Documents/DRN_Report_Unsafe+Unsustainable_fr.pdf

[8]http://files.dep.state.pa.us/OilGas/BOGM/BOGMPortalFiles/OilGasReports/Determination_Letters/Regional_Determination_Letters.pdf accessed by DRN 12.27.2016

[9] https://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/hfstudy/recordisplay.cfm?deid=332990

[10] Oil and Gas operations are exempt from portions of major federal environmental laws including: Clean Air Act; Clean Water Act; Safe Drinking Water Act; Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (the Superfund Law); and Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act. Amy Mall, et. al., Natural Resources Defense Council, Drilling Down, October 2001, p.iv.

[11] NYSDEC, Division of Environmental Remediation, August 2012, re. Allied Landfill, Niagara County.

[12] Warner, NR, et al, “Impacts of Shale Gas Wastewater Disposal on Water Quality in Western Pennsylvania,” Enviro Science and Technology, Oct 2, 2013, pp. 11849.

[13] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 2013. Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

[14]  http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/01/03/1612066114.full

[15] PSE Healthy Energy, “Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions Associated with Projected Future Marcellus Development”, 2017.

[16] https://www.epa.gov/climate-impacts/climate-impacts-water-resources

[17] http://www.paenvironmentdigest.com/newsletter/default.asp?NewsletterArticleID=38363&SubjectID=

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PPL Power Plant

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Overview

Coal fly ash blew out from a storage basin at Pennsylvania Power and Light’s (PPL) Martin’s Creek power plant in 2005, burying at least nine miles of the bottom of the Delaware River and the Oughoughton Creek with toxic sludge.  It took months to vacuum up the slurry and much of the ash was uncontrollably spread downstream, affecting drinking water intakes, fish and wildlife, and smothering the life out of river bottom critters. This catastrophic pollution event may still be negatively impacting the Delaware River and the life that depends on it.

 

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Transcontinental’s Northeast Supply Link

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Overview

County in the Delaware River Watershed Where Planned — Monroe County (Ross Township) 

The Transcontinental [Transco] Northeast Supply Link Project is an expansion of Transco’s existing pipeline system that will enable Transco to provide natural gas transportation supply interconnections on Transco’s Leidy Line in Pennsylvania to Transco’s Market Pool in New Jersey and delivery points in New York City.  The Project will involve the construction and operation of approximately 13 miles of new 42-inch pipeline looping facilities on Transco’s existing mainline; pressure uprating of approximately 27 miles of existing 24-inch, 26-inch, and 36-inch pipeline; a new 25,000 horsepower compressor station; addition of 16,000 horsepower at an existing compressor station; compressor unit modifications at an existing compressor station; and construction or modification of associated underground and aboveground facilities. As part of this project and in the Delaware Watershed, nearly four miles of 42 inch pipe is being proposed to cut through sensitive habitats and woodlands in Monroe County, crossing eight water bodies including 6 streams of the Aquashicola Creek Watershed (a designated High Quality stream) and 2 streams of the Buckwha Creek Watershed and residential areas.  Much of the area proposed for the pipeline expansion is in steep slopes and hillsides that include Chestnut Ridge that rises to 1,265 feet. 

Size and Scope 

The size and scope of the construction activity and stream crossings associated with this project will have a deleterious effect on the water resources of the Delaware River Basin.  There are significant concerns related to the cumulative impact that continuous water body crossing pipeline construction activity has on the health and vitality of the Delaware River Basin.  In addition to the NEUP, there are at least two other major pipeline upgrade projects (including Texas Eastern’s Philadelphia Lateral, and TGP’s Northeast Upgrade Project) that are either currently or soon-to-be under construction within the Delaware River Basin.  These construction projects will facilitate the further development of new wells, access roads, gathering lines, compressor stations, and other supporting infrastructure, which will further degrade the local environment.

There have also been numerous regulatory compliance failures associated with this type of construction activity.  In a recent pipeline upgrade project conducted by Tennessee Gas and Pipeline (TGP), called the 300-Line Upgrade Project, multiple violations were reported by the Conservation Districts in Pike, Wayne, and Susquehanna counties.  In Pike County alone numerous Notices of Violations were have been reported, including: 17 instances of dirt and sediment being discharged into water bodies, 7 violations for worksite conditions, and 21 instances of failure to properly institute Best Management Practices for erosion and sediment control.  This high frequency of violations demonstrates that there are systemic and continued failures in TGP’s compliance with regulatory controls, which suggests improper oversight, and or, inadequate enforcement.  In Wayne County, out of 16 inspections conducted by the County Conservation District during the 300 Line Extension Project, 15 violations were found.  This startling 93% failure rate provides further evidence of systemic compliance failures.

Furthermore, at the federal level, during the 300 Line Extension Project, in 28 out of 38 “Environmental Compliance Monitoring Program Weekly Summary Report[s]” that were provided on Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s [FERC] website there was at least one recorded incident where construction activity did not come into “compliance with Project specifications, mitigation measures, and applicable FERC-approved Project plans.”  Additionally, there were also at least 10 separate instances where an inspector in their “Environmental Compliance Monitoring Program Weekly Summary Report” indicated that a noncompliance report would be filed at a later date, but where the inspector failed to file a noncompliance report with FERC (and no reason was provided for the failure to issue that report in the following week’s report).  These 10 separate instances indicate that either FERC has maintained incomplete records for the project, or that there were multiple failures to follow-up on potentially enforceable noncompliance matters by FERC sanctioned environmental inspectors.  It is clear that the regulatory system, at both the state and federal level, is not adequately protecting the resources of the watershed.

The Delaware River Basin Commission has the authority to regulate pipeline construction activity if it involves a “significant disturbance of ground cover” affecting water resources. However, up to this point the DRBC has failed to exercise its authority in this arena.  In light of the regulatory compliance failures overseen by both the FERC and PADEP, the DRBC should exercise their statutory mandate to regulate pipeline construction activities in order to effectively preserve the natural integrity of the watershed.

DRN is committed to restoring natural balance in the Delaware River and watershed where it has been lost, and ensuring preservation where it still exists.  As such, we are actively engaged at the local, state, and federal government levels to ensure that full weight of legal environmental protection laws are brought to bear on all pipeline projects under consideration. 

 

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Transcontinental Regional Energy Access Expansion (REAE Project)

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Overview

Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC (“Transco”) proposes to construct a new natural gas pipeline called the Regional Energy Access Expansion (REAE). The project consists of 22.3 miles of 30-inch-diameter pipeline in Luzerne County, PA; 13.8 miles of 42-inch-diameter pipeline in Monroe County, PA; a gas-fired turbine driven compressor station in Gloucester County, NJ; and several other modifications to existing pipeline and compressor stations.

Transco REAE would impact 114 Exceptional Value (EV) wetlands and cross 77 waterbodies supporting cold water fisheries, 39 High Quality (HQ) streams, 2 Exceptional Value (EV) streams, 17 Class A Wild Trout Streams, and 57 waterbodies with naturally reproducing trout. Transco also inappropriately proposes to use an existing EV wetland as a mitigation site. Many of the streams that would be crossed by the project are cold water trout streams that are very sensitive to degradation. This project would also impact approximately 297 acres of forested woodlands. Clearing the forest around these streams exposes them to direct sunlight, raising the water temperature and jeopardizing their suitability as trout waters. Cutting forests and riparian buffers also creates habitat fragmentation. Transco fails to factor in not just the impacts of the fragmentation of the forest for these particular pipeline segments, but also by other cuts in the same region, either by Transco on its other pipeline pieces or by other pipeline/linear projects both within and outside the watershed. The project is also proposed to be constructed within the habitat of several threatened and endangered plant and animal species including white-fringed orchid, Indiana bat, northern long-eared bat, timber rattlesnake, and bog turtle. Transco also completely ignores impacts to vernal pools, which are not mentioned once in FERC’s Final Environmental Impact Statement.

Furthermore, Transco REAE would be an extreme detriment to regional climate change goals because it will consist of 47.8% of New Jersey’s GHG budget in 2050. Nothing is stopping FERC from certificating a second project that would consist of 65% of New Jersey’s 2050 GHG budget, thus, FERC would be virtually guaranteeing that New Jersey would not meet its emissions reductions goals, which is a large-scale issue that affects Pennsylvania as well. FERC also concluded that the REAE Project effects would be reduced to less-than-significant levels. This is despite the fact that FERC admitted that certain project components may be predominately borne by environmental justice communities and that climate change impacts would result in annual operation and downstream emissions of 16.62 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. These levels would exceed FERC’s presumptive significance threshold based on 100 percent utilization.

 

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Transco Pipeline – Brandywine Creek Crossing

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Overview

Transcontinental Gas and Pipeline Company (“Transco”) is replacing an existing 30-inch gas pipeline in Chester County, PA with a 42-inch pipeline.  The project as proposed would cross and affect the East Branch of the Brandywine Creek (WWF-MF) and Ludwig’s Run (WWF-MF) at two locations by utilizing an open cut method. Also, an unnamed tributary to East Branch of the Brandywine Creek (WWF-MF) would be affected by a temporary construction crossing and another unnamed tributary to East Branch of Brandywine Creek (HQ-TSF, MF) would be crossed by the pump diversion during the use of a coffer dam.

Transco is pursuing from the Pennsylvania DEP a Chapter 105 Stream Encroachment Permit (joint 404 permit), an Erosion and Sediment Control Permit, and a NPDES Permit for Stormwater Discharge from construction activity. These permits would authorize the replacement of the existing 30-inch gas pipeline with a 42-inch pipeline, between Stations 2269 and 2295, along a 7-mile stretch of one of Transco’s major pipelines.   As proposed, the scope of this construction activity and stream crossings associated with this project will have a deleterious effect on the water resources of the Brandywine Creek and tributary streams, and the Delaware River Basin. 

Transco is currently refusing to implement horizontal direct drilling to mitigate the detrimental environmental impacts on the waterbodies, even though Transco itself recognizes that such a method is a viable option and in the past PADEP demanded that Transco use this less damaging approach. Transco’s only arguments against using such a method are cost and time. The “open cut” stream crossing method that Transco plans on utilizing is associated with significant sedimentation problems, as the construction activity commences in the stream as it is flowing. 

Also, much of the right of way in which the construction will take place is atop extremely steep slopes, up to 35-40% gradient, which makes the area particularly vulnerable to sediment and erosion problems from rain events. 

Transco has a history of regulatory compliance failures. For example, in a previous project on the same exact stretch of pipeline where work is proposed now, Transco’s BMPs –authorized by PADEP – failed, resulting in significant sediment discharges into water bodies. As a result, PADEP issued at least one Notice of Violation for Transco’s erosion control failures. 

The Delaware Riverkeeper Network is currently working to secure strong review of this proposal and the most protective stream crossing strategy for the Creek and communities, which as of now looks to be the horizontal direct drilling that will go under the creek and not through it, and will also avoid disturbance to the riparian buffer area of the creek for several hundred feet.

 

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Texas Eastern Team 2014 Pipeline Project

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Overview

Appalachia to Market Expansion 2014 (TEAM 2014)

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Docket Number – CP13-84

The public can subscribe to receive information about this pipeline project as it is filed at the FERC website:  http://www.ferc.gov/esubscribenow.com.htm.    

FERC Contact for TEAM 2014:  Eric Howard at 202-502-6263, or at eric.howard@ferc.gov.

Texas Eastern Filed a Pre-Certification on February 27, 2013. Delaware Riverkeeper Network filed as an intervenor on 3/19/2013.  Click below to see this document.

****Environmental Assessment comments due October 16, 2013 to FERC.  You can submit comments on the FERC website under Docket CP13-84.  To see DRN’s comments to FERC, see the link below (FERCEA CommentsTEAM2014.DRNComments.pdf). 

***Army Corps announced a public comment period from Oct 10 to Nov 10, 2014 for the TEAM 2014 project related to waterbodies and wetlands impacts in Pennsylvania to be cut by this pipeline project.  See the announcement below to contact Army Corps.

Project Details: 

According to reports available from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC):
“TEAM 2014 involves constructing approximately 33.4 miles of 36-inch-diameter natural gas transmission pipeline comprised of seven separate pipeline loops and associated pipeline facilities in Pennsylvania; horsepower upgrades at four existing compressor stations in Pennsylvania; and modifications to numerous existing facilities to allow bi-directional flow/transmission of natural gas. A 100-foot ROW with additional work spaces along the pipeline path are being proposed. The bi-directional flow modifications would occur at 18 existing compressor stations, 17 existing pig launcher and receiver sites, and two existing meter and regulating facilities in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi.”

In the Delaware Watershed alone, the 5.6 mile Bernville Loop would pass through parts of Berks County.  According to Spectra Energy’s Resource Reports, the pipeline would cut across 3 wetlands, of which at least one wetland could be habitat for the federally listed threatened bog turtle.  The proposed pipeline would cut across seven waterbodies including a 230 wide pipeline crossing of the Schuylkill River (WWF) which serves as drinking water for Philadelphia.  Unnamed tributaries to the Schuylkill River (WWF,MF) and Laurel Run (CWF,MF) would also be crossed by the pipeline.  The eastern small footed bat, a Pennsylvania threatened species (Myotis leibii),  is resident to this area of the Bernville Loop. Access roads to the pipeline are proposed on Irish Mountain where there are very steep slopes (TAR 2.5, 2.7, 3.2).  Two water wells and one septic field are noted within 200 feet of construction.  Detailed topos of the proposed pipeline path are available at the FERC website.

FERC originally anticipated issuing the Environmental Assessment (EA) for the project in August, 2013. On August 16, FERC revised this date of the release of the Environmental Assessment to Sept 16, 2013 with  a 90-day federal authorization action/decision deadline of December 15, 2013. You can download the EA that was issued on Sept 16th at the FERC website here: http://elibrary.ferc.gov/idmws/file_list.asp?accession_num=20130916-3025

To follow the process and documents for this pipeline project with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission:  
Sign up at www.FERC.gov
Sign yourself up with an account and password and then ask for an eSubscription
You will want to search for and then sign up to follow Docket No. CP13-84

Spectra Energy/Texas Eastern Reports List the Following Loops and Compressors as Part of the Entire TEAM 2014 Project

 Bernville Loop – The addition of approximately 5.6 miles of 36-inch diameter natural gas pipeline generally within or adjacent to the existing Texas Eastern pipeline easements in Bern, Ontelaunee, Muhlenberg, Ruscombmanor, and Alsace Townships, Berks County, Pennsylvania (This loop is in the Delaware River Watershed)
    The addition of  6.6 miles of 36-inch diameter natural gas pipeline generally within or adjacent to the existing Texas Eastern pipeline easements in German, Menallen, and North Union Townships, Fayette County, Pennsylvania east of the Monongahela River
    The addition of  2.7 miles of 36-inch diameter natural gas pipeline generally within or adjacent to the existing Texas Eastern pipeline easements in Jackson Township, Perry County, Pennsylvania
    The addition of 5.3 miles of 36-inch diameter natural gas pipeline generally within or adjacent to the existing Texas Eastern pipeline easements in Southwest Madison, Northeast Madison, and Tyrone Townships, Perry County, Pennsylvania
    The addition of  7.0 miles of 36-inch diameter natural gas pipeline generally within or adjacent to the existing Texas Eastern pipeline easements in Middle Paxton and West Hanover Townships, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania
    The addition of  2.5 miles of 36-inch diameter natural gas pipeline generally within or adjacent to the existing Texas Eastern pipeline easements in North Annville and East Hanover Townships, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania
    The addition of  3.8 miles of 36-inch diameter natural gas pipeline generally within or adjacent to the existing Texas Eastern pipeline easements in Swatara, North Lebanon, Bethel, and Jackson Townships, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania

Horsepower additions and New Compressor Stations Proposed

 Increase of approximately 6,160 horsepower (HP) of existing compressor units at the existing Uniontown Compressor Station and associated work in Fayette County, PA.
    Addition of one new 25,000 HP gas compressor unit and one new 32,000 HP electric gas compressor unit at the existing Delmont Compressor Station and associated work in Westmoreland County, PA. In addition, one 18,500 HP gas turbine unit & six 1,100 HP gas reciprocating units will be abandoned in place, retiring 25,100 HP.
    Addition of one new 17,000 HP gas compressor at the existing Armagh Compressor Station and associated work in Indiana County, PA
    Addition of one new 25,000 HP gas compressor at the existing Entriken Compressor Station and associated work in Huntingdon County, PA
    Modifications to facilities within compressor stations at 34 existing locations along the Texas Eastern system in multiple states including OH, TN, AL, and MS.

To see some of the draft filed documents and environmental description of the project filed on FERC Record  for Team 2014/Docket CP13-84:
http://elibrary.ferc.gov/idmws/file_list.asp?document_id=14093510

Some of the shorter resource reports also made available below.

 

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