Industry Coalition Releases New Drilling Standards

Susan Phillips

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Susan Phillips tells stories about the consequences of political decisions on people's every day lives. She has worked as a reporter for WHYY since 2004. Susan's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election resulted in a story on the front page of the New York Times. In 2010 she traveled to Haiti to cover the earthquake. That same year she produced an award-winning series on Pennsylvania's natural gas rush called "The Shale Game." She received a 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award for her work covering natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. She has also won several Edward R. Murrow awards for her work with StateImpact. In 2013/14 she spent a year at MIT as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow. She has also been a Metcalf Fellow, an MBL Logan Science Journalism Fellow and reported from Marrakech on the 2016 climate talks as an International Reporting Project Fellow. A graduate of Columbia School of Journalism, she earned her Bachelor's degree in International Relations from George Washington University.

May 2, 2012 | 4:14 PM

A group of natural gas drillers says they are committed to abiding by a new set of practices aimed at transparency and sustainability. The Appalachian Shale Responsible Producers Group (ASRPG)is a coalition of 11 major shale drillers, including Cabot Oil and Gas, Chevron and Chesapeake Energy. ASRPG says the new practices are designed environmental and health safety. The standards are based on recommendations from the U.S. Secretary of Energy Advisory Board’s report from November, 2011 and another report issued by the National Petroleum Council. But the ASRPG says the proposals won’t trump current state rules.

“Consistent with these findings, the Recommended Standards and Practices for Exploration and Production of Natural Gas and Oil from Appalachian Shales reflect existing primacy of state regulation in the areas it addresses, which encompass each phase of the life cycle of a well.”

Here are some of the recommendations:

“Towards the aim of being open and transparent about how they operate, operators should:
Engage the local communities to provide information about the nature of the planned operations and to receive input regarding local concerns. o Conduct local engagement meetings to enhance environmental, health and safety planning.
Contact Local Emergency Planning Committees to learn about their needs so as to support the development of local emergency response capacities and capabilities.
Identify and consider alternate transportation routes in order to reduce traffic impact on communities.
Work with local and regional road departments to learn about the condition of roads on preferred routes and to coordinate maintenance and repairs, as necessary.
Identify local reporting and contact needs and requirements.”

For the full set of recommendations, click here.