MVCAC October 2011

mvcac@lists.osenergy.org

3 participants
7 discussions

Presentation to Morgantown City Council (10/25/11)
by Duane330＠aol.com 25 Oct '11

25 Oct '11

MON VALLEY CLEAN AIR COALITION, October 25, 2011. The US EPA performed limited air monitoring at the Skyview Elementary School on three separate days. Such monitoring is unlikely to identify emissions from "upsets" or fracking events and other activities that occur commonly during Marcellus well operations.The EPA monitoring is a step in the right direction but it is neither sufficient nor conclusive enough to remove community concerns. MVCAC is an advocate for prohibiting drilling and fracking in the Mon Valley. We also advocate continuous air monitoring and testing if drilling and fracking do occur. We now advocate the following conditions: 1. Skyview Elementary and two other schools are within about 6,000 feet of the well pad. Closer still are thirty or so businesses that are within 200 feet to 3,000 feet from the well pad. Continuous monitoring should be in place for all three schools and for these business locations. 2. We recognize that the air pollution from Marcellus drilling and fracking operations occurs in rather rapid releases, and any human exposures at the well site, at the adjacent businesses, at the schools and at the residences in the Monongahela valley will be nearly impossible to measure without continuous monitors that are located near these sites. 3. Continuous methane (or combustible gas) monitoring is recommended near the well pad because methane is easy to detect, because it will be present in higher concentrations than the other pollutants, and because it serves as an indicator that many other hazardous or toxic substances are present. 4. Given that fracking was not completed on one of the wells at the Morgantown Industrial Park and given that much more work will be involved there before these two Marcellus wells are actually connected to gathering and transmission pipelines, it is recommended that continuous methane monitoring be established as soon as possible, with daily (or continuous) reporting of the data to the public, for the protection of all the residents and workers in the vicinity of the wells as well as in the greater Mon valley. 5. We are concerned about the future, not only of these two wells but of the many more wells that will be coming into our County without adequate protection for the public health and welfare. In summary, continuous emission monitoring is needed at the site, and ambient monitors at upwind and downwind locations are needed to verify that off-site concentrations do not cause health or environmental impacts. Appropriate control technology is available to significantly reduce emissions, and regulations in some states already require these. But until the WV Legislature passes a Marcellus bill with stringent air pollution requirements, until WV-DEP adopts rules to implement that legislation, and until the needed inspectors and enforcement programs are in place to assure compliance, the air in Monongalia County remains at risk, and no one is watching. City Council should retain the current ban and contact the Legislature and the Governor to support Marcellus regulations. Contacts: Duane Nichols and Linda Shuster, Board of Directors, Mon Valley Clean Air Coalition. Phone: 304-599-8040. _www.monvalleycleanair.org_ (http://www.monvalleycleanair.org) <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<....................................>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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<urgent> Air pollution monitoring at two MIP Marcellus wells
by Duane330＠aol.com 24 Oct '11

24 Oct '11

To: Participants and Friends of Mon Valley Clean Air Coalition. MVCAC is an advocate for prohibiting drilling and fracking in the Mon Valley. We have also advocated testing if drilling and fracking do occur. Now that drilling and fracking have occurred and EPA has done tests at the Skyview Elementary School, let me propose a current position for MVCAC. 1. MVCAC approves of the testing thus far and recognizes that the air was not impacted at the Skyview Elementary School on the three dates tested. 2. We recognize that this school is within about 6,000 feet of the well pad. We wonder why testing and protective measures against air pollution have not been performed at any of the thirty or so businesses that are within 200 feet to 3,000 feet from well pad. Has monitoring been offerred to any of these locations? We think not. 3. We recognize that the air pollution from Marcellus drilling and fracking operations occurs in rather rapid episodes, and any human exposures at the well site, at the adjacent businesses, at the schools and at the residences in the Monongahela valley will be nearly impossible to measure without continuous monitors that are located at these listed sites. 4. Continuous methane monitoring is recommended near the well pad because methane is easy to detect, because it will be present in higher concentrations than the other pollutants, and because it serves as an indicator that many other hazardous or toxic substances are present. 5. Given that fracking was not completed on one of the wells at the Morgantown Industrial Park and given that much more work will be involved there before these two Marcellus wells are actually connected to gathering and transmission pipelines, it is highly recommended that continuous methane monitoring be instituted as soon as possible, with daily (or continuous) reporting of the data to the public, for the protection of all the residents and workers in the vicinity of the wells as well as in the greater Mon valley. YOUR COMMENTS ARE SOLICITED ON THE ABOUT POINTS, TO BE PRESENTED TO THE MORGANTOWN CITY COUNCIL TOMORROW, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011. WE CAN ALSO SUBMIT OUR STATEMENT, ONCE FINALIZED TO THE WV-DEP AND TO THE U.S. EPA, THE AGENCY THAT DID THE THREE TESTS (AT THE REQUEST OF THE WV-DEP). Duane Nichols, _duane330(a)aol.com_ (mailto:duane330@aol.com) , 304-216-5535

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Navajo power plant at Four Corners... $3 billion.
by Duane 22 Oct '11

22 Oct '11

Feds extend comment period on Navajo coal-fired power plant By Susan Montoya Bryan Albuquerque, New Mexico (AP) - The federal government has decided to give people another 30 days to review a massive document on the potential impacts of a proposed coal-fired power plant that the nation’s largest Indian reservation is looking to as its economic salvation. The $3 billion Desert Rock Energy Project would be capable of producing enough electricity for up to 1.5 million homes in cities across the Southwest while bringing in tens of millions of dollars each year in tax revenues, lease payments and royalties for the Navajo Nation. The Department of Interior made the decision to extend the comment period Friday, a day after criticism erupted when the agency’s Bureau of Indian Affairs issued a last call for comments on the plant’s draft environmental impact statement. Among the environmentalists and tribal members who had objected to the comment period ending Monday were Rep. John Salazar and his brother Sen. Ken Salazar, both Democrats from Colorado. While the plant would be located on tribal land in northwestern New Mexico, the lawmakers say it’s controversial among residents throughout the Four Corners region – where New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah meet. The Salazars said many residents did not receive a copy of the 1,600-page environmental impact statement until the comment period was half over. “The proposed Desert Rock plant is one that concerns many of my constituents,” John Salazar said in a statement Friday. “The possible impacts of the proposed plant to our air, water and health need to be fully understood. This extension will allow more time for the public to read and comment on this proposal.” Desert Rock, a joint venture between Houston-based Sithe Global Power and the Navajo Nation’s Dine Power Authority, would be the third coal-fired plant in the Four Corners. Opponents are concerned that it would only add to the pollution in the region, impacting both residents’ health and the environment. But Navajo leaders and Sithe have said Desert Rock would be one of the cleanest coal-burning plants in the country and a much-needed source of jobs and revenue for the tribe. George Hardeen, a spokesman for Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr., said the extension of the comment period was a compromise since many people had requested 60 more days during a series of public hearing held by the BIA last month. Hardeen said Desert Rock is important to the Navajo Nation, where unemployment is high and many people live without running water or electricity. “President Shirley still sees this as the keystone to reviving the Navajo economy,” Hardeen said Friday. One of the reasons Navajo leaders support the project is because of its stringent pollution controls, he said. “Many people say we need to keep our CO2 levels as low as possible. Clearly, we hear this message but we continue to need the plant,” he said, referring to the revenues it would bring the tribe over the next 40 to 50 years. “Opponents want no plant. Not lets make the cleanest plant possible, but no plant at all,” he said. “Nothing else would replace that as an economic generator.” Mike Eisenfeld of the San Juan Citizens Alliance, one of the groups that has been fighting Desert Rock, said the Navajos needs to look beyond their coal resources to renewable energy production. He said a study has been commissioned by the plant’s opponents to consider alternatives, and the longer comment period will allow for those findings to be submitted to the BIA. “We’re not only saying no to Desert Rock. But look, there are some alternatives for the Navajo Nation – things that would perhaps allow the Navajo Nation to be a model for what can be done on tribal land and secure themselves a solid economic future,” he said. Hardeen acknowledged the push for wind and solar generated power, but he said the amount of electricity those systems would be able to generate would be far less than Desert Rock, meaning less revenue for the tribe. “The wind doesn’t blow all the time and the sun shines only half of a 24-hour day,” he said. “The power plant will be producing energy and money every day." http://www.bendib.com/

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CORRECTED LINK TO STORY BY ....WBOY, Channel 12.
by Duane 14 Oct '11

14 Oct '11

WOOPS. I SENT OUT A FAULTY WEB SITE ABOUT THE MVCAC MEETING LAST NIGHT. TRY THIS ONE, WITH AN IMBEDDED VIDEO..... http://www.wboy.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=110094 Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535.

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Air Pollution from Marcellus Operations <see video>
by Duane330＠aol.com 14 Oct '11

14 Oct '11

_http://c5.zedo.com//ads2/f/1027008/3840/172/0/305002932/305002932/0/305/914 /zz-V1-EP5.25DuckHunting2-v11X1.html?a=s%3D914%3Bg%3D172%3Bm%3D4095%3Bw%3D25 5%3Bu%3D1gifEgoBADYAAAz1pz0AAAEN%3Bi%3D0%3B;l=;p=;t=1318669130_ (http://c5.zedo.com//ads2/f/1027008/3840/172/0/305002932/305002932/0/305/914… 5DuckHunting2-v11X1.html?a=s=914;g=172;m=4095;w=255;u=1gifEgoBADYAAAz1pz0AAA EN;i=0;;l=;p=;t=1318669130) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Meeting Highlights Fracking Dangers in the Air Posted Thursday, October 13, 2011 ; 11:13 PM Updated Friday, October 14, 2011; 07:24 AM Three local environmental groups sponsored a meeting at the Morgantown Municipal Airport Thursday night to discuss air pollution from Marcellus drilling. By Alex Hines MORGANTOWN -- There's been a lot of discussion of the dangers of Marcellus drilling in the ground, but that's not the only place where there's cause for concern. It may not be as visible, but fracking also has an effect on air quality as well. The West Virginia Sierra Club, Mon Valley Clean Air Coalition, and the Group Against Smog and Pollution hosted a meeting at the Morgantown Municipal Airport Thursday night to discuss those effects. Those at the meeting also discussed some proposed legislation that could help to lower the emissions that fracking causes at the different points in the process. Although not as visible to some as other environmental effects from Marcellus drilling, emissions containing chemicals like methane and ozone do get spread into the atmosphere. Those emissions are not localized at one point, and that adds to the problem. "The concerns are the combined emissions between the production, the processing, the pipelines, the leaks, the flares," said Nicole Goode, a Sierra Club member who came to the meeting to learn more about the air pollution. John Osborne, who gave the presentation Thursday night, said the amounts in all those areas aren't a lot taken alone, but altogether have a much stronger effect. "If you look at the entire process from the time a well is drilled, it's fracked, gas is extracted and processed, there are pieces of equipment that pollute the air at every one of these steps, and when they're considered together, these pollution sources add up," said Osborne. And those pollutants can add up in a big way. Osborne says that in some cases, more ozone-forming pollution was emitted from shale drilling operations than from car and truck traffic in the same area. Copyright 2011 West Virginia Media. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Meeting, Thursday Evening at 7 PM, AIRPORT ANNEX
by Duane 12 Oct '11

12 Oct '11

FrackCheckWV JOE OSBORNE, LEGAL DIRECTOR, GROUP AGAINST SMOG & POLLUTION, TO SPEAK THURSDAY 7 PM AT THE MORGANTOWN AIRPORT ANNEX ON "AIR POLLUTION FROM MARCELLUS OPERATIONS" Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535.

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TWO EVENTS, OCT 13th. and OCT 17th.
by Duane 05 Oct '11

05 Oct '11

***Public Meeting on "Air Pollution from Marcellus Gas Operations" Featured Speaker: Joe Osborne, Legal Director, GASP-Pittsburgh 7:00 PM, Thursday, October 13th Conference Room, Morgantown Airport Annex Sponsors: Mon Valley Clean Air Coalition, Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP), and WV Chapter Sierra Club. Contact: Sally Wilts, sallywilts(a)yahoo.com See also: www.gasp-pgh.org ***WVDEP has scheduled a public meeting to hear comments and answer questions about 2 Coresco coal ash dump permits near Maidsville across the river from Morgantown. It will beMonday, October 17 at 6:00 pm at the Granville Volunteer Fire Department's event hall. The Fire Department is on Rt 100 and the event hall is located across the street and behind some new construction. One permit is a renewal of an existing site of ~140 acres where there is already some evidence that water contamination is occurring. The second is a new permit for ~338 acres. We hope to get a large turn-out so that we can impress upon WVDEP that many people oppose just dumping toxic fly ash into our environment. There is a significant burden of dust generated in these activities. And, the mining and coal contribute to global climate change. We expect the mining and power company will try to pack the room with their employees. For more information: http://www.westvirginia.sierraclub.org/announcements/flyash-northernWV.pdf http://www.environmentalintegrity.org/news_reports/documents/CoalAshMythFac… http://democrats.naturalresources.house.gov/content/files/2011-09-26_LTR_OS… Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535.

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MVCAC October 2011