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Energy extraction’s impact on air quality, water supply, and community infrastructure.

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June 17, 2013

Moniz: Department of Energy Will Move ‘Expeditiously’ On LNG Exports

Speaking this morning at the Energy Information Administration conference Washington D.C., newly confirmed Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz says his agency will move “expeditiously” to evaluate applications for more liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facilities. The push to export comes as the industry has seen a boom in shale production. It’s produced a glut of gas that [...]

June 14, 2013

Corbett Defends Impact Fee Over Severance Tax

While making a stop in Philadelphia to tout the benefits of natural gas development to the Delaware Valley, Governor Tom Corbett defended his insistence on imposing an “impact fee” rather than a “severance tax.” His remarks made at the industry sponsored Keystone Energy Forum came just a day after the Public Utility Commission announced the [...]

June 13, 2013

Corbett Forces Out DCNR Secretary Richard Allan [UPDATED]

Governor Tom Corbett says his secretary of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) has resigned at his request, but the reasons for the change were not immediately disclosed. Allan has led the agency since shortly after the first-term Republican governor took office in early 2011. DCNR has come under increasing public scrutiny over plans [...]

June 11, 2013

Chevron CEO: Industry Must Engage With Public Over Fracking Concerns

Bloomberg reports Chevron CEO John Watson says the oil and gas industry needs to meet “high” public expectations related to hydraulic fracturing. Watson was speaking at event in Washington D.C. at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, according to Bloomberg: “Public expectations are very high, and there’s no reason they shouldn’t be high,” Watson said. “There [...]

June 6, 2013

Confidentiality Agreements Prevent Fracking Contamination Claims From Being Made Public

Bloomberg reports on how confidentiality agreements with landowners across the country have helped protect drilling companies from bad publicity and allegations of pollution. The article specifically mentions the Hallowich v. Range Resources case in Washington County. The Hallowich family sued gas drillers after they said drilling activity near their home outside Pittsburgh made their children [...]

June 5, 2013

Touring Wall Street Mogul’s Company, Corbett Denies Politics Influences His Visits

While touring the ACF Industries rail car manufacturing plant today in Milton, Northumberland County, Governor Corbett faced questions about whether campaign contributions and political influence factor into decisions about which companies he comes to visit. He says they don’t. “We don’t go to places just because we may or may not have gotten a campaign [...]

June 3, 2013

Pa. DEP Fines Pipeline Company for Spills in Lycoming County

The Department of Environmental Protection fined PVR Marcellus Gas Gathering $150,000 for polluting High Quality and Exceptional Value streams in the fall of 2011. Following up to a complaint, DEP investigators found pipeline construction activity caused bentonite to spill into Larry’s Creek, which the company failed to report. Subsequent inspections found more violations of the [...]

May 29, 2013

Scientists Create Online Database For Water Concerns Linked to Fracking

Water quality remains one of the biggest concerns related to the expansion of gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale. While the gas industry has been building its own private database of “pre-drill” or baseline information related to water wells throughout the state, scientists have also been working on their own public database. The Shale Network [...]

“Natural Fracking” Fuels Eternal Flames

As researchers debate the overall greenhouse gas impact of shale gas extraction, it turns out that nature has its own way of fracking and releasing methane into the atmosphere. Scientists refer to this as natural seepage that occurs through seismic activity, or earthquakes, which release the pressurized gas and send it up through cracks in [...]

May 28, 2013

Gas Industry Building Database Of Water Test Results, But Won’t Make It Public

More than two years ago the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a gas industry trade group, began building an electronic database to house information about the water quality in thousands of private wells across Pennsylvania. It’s made up of “pre-drill” or baseline data– critical information that helps establish whether drilling operations may have caused water contamination issues. The [...]

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