The most significant story of the past week was the NY court of appeals decision upholding 'home rule,' or local zoning laws against fracking, which you'll see in the articles below is expected to set a template for local laws against fracking nationally...what none of the articles mentions and what' I've been trying to get a handle on is how the trade agreements that are now being negotiated would impact such local environmental laws...most articles written about those agreements suggest that mandated energy trade under these agreements will trump any local environmental laws, just as NAFTA allowed an American oil company to sue Quebec 'to recover “lost potential profits" due to their fracking moratorium on drilling under the St Lawrence river bed...to refresh your memory, here's the sierra club statement on the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), which would mandate gas exports to Japan: http://content.
sierraclub.org/press-releases/
2013/03/sierra-club-statement-
japan-joining-trans-pacific-
partnership
it just so happens the TPP is again being negotiated this week in Ottawa...those negotiations were originally scheduled to be held in Vancouver, but when the powers that be got wind of planned protests, they moved the meetings to Ottawa...hence the protest organizers were blindsided and many are still stuck in Vancouver; & there's a fundraiser to get them moved to Ottawa here: https://action.sumofus.
org/a/tpp-ottawa-donate/3/2/?
akid=5995.1474194.mQWY5E&ask=
1&rd=1&sub=fwd&t=4
other widely covered stories this week include two studies indicating massive leakage of methane from gas wells in Pennsylvania, with newly fracked wells leaking even more than old wells with deteriorating casings...to tie those stories to methane's impact on the environment and the recent EPA climate plan, I've included the articles on the related stories on methane that i've encountered this week...also a study published in the journal Science that definitively links earthquakes in Oklahoma to specific injection wells, with 4 of those wells implicated in 20% of the earthquakes in the central US, including some as far as 30 km away from the wells... also, in perusing the US trade data, i noticed that the value of our imports of oilfield drilling equipment rose by $232 million to $976 million in May...i don't know whether this is indicative of plans to increase drilling, or whether a large one time order for drilling equipment just happened to cross the books in May, but it did seem odd...
in Ohio fracking news, ODNR released its annual report on Thursday indicating production from Ohio wells doubled as fracked oil production grew by 470% and fracked gas production grew by 680% in 2013... earlier in the week, an explosion and fire at a fracked gas well resulted in evacuations of 2 dozen families in Monroe country and subsequently a five mile fish kill downstream from the site as firecrews apparently washed spilled fracking fluid into the nearby creek...also in Monroe county, plans were announced to reverse the flow of a 1700 mile long gas pipeline that had been delivering gas from the west to a terminal there, in order to now ship Marcellus shale gas to the west....
also, i wouldn't normally see any articles on candidates but since this Ed FitzGerald, who's running for governor, announced his energy plan this week, news of it crossed one of my feedreaders; so for whatever it's worth, here's the article from the Vindy on that, with a link to other stories.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate offers an energy policy: Democratic gubernatorial nominee Ed FitzGerald wants to reverse course on energy policies adopted by Gov. John Kasich and increase the state’s focus on green-energy innovation. The Cuyahoga County executive outlined a six-point plan Wednesday in Columbus, the latest package of policy proposals he’s offered in his run for governor. FitzGerald wants to undo law changes recently signed by Kasich, a Republican, to temporarily freeze renewable-energy and efficiency mandates for two years, pending consideration by a new state study panel and language included in a mid-biennium budget bill that he said will hurt wind industries. “Our policies are about as different as can be,” FitzGerald said. Kasich is “taking us in a very negative direction with his renewable-energy policy. It’s extremely short-sighted. My plan takes us in the opposite direction.” FitzGerald said he also would like the state to encourage additional research in advanced energy, work to strengthen the coal, oil and natural gas industries in an “environmentally responsible way” and target economic-development efforts in coal-producing areas of the state. His proposal doesn’t provide details related to fracking. When asked by The Vindicator about oil and gas drilling, FitzGerald said he opposes Kasich’s proposed 2.75% fracking tax. The House voted in May to impose a 2.% tax while the Senate hasn’t voted on an amount. Kasich’s office said the House version “falls short of what the governor believes is needed.” see all 20 news articles »
for the most part, these articles are in the same order as they are on my aggregate blog, so the other Ohio articles are buried down in the middle of this batch...
The Giant Methane Monster Lurking: There's something lurking deep under the frozen Arctic Ocean, and if it gets released, it could spell disaster for our planet. That something is methane. Methane is one of the strongest of the natural greenhouse gases, about 80 times more potent than CO2, and while it may not get as much attention as its cousin CO2, it certainly can do as much, if not more, damage to our planet. That's because methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, and there are trillions of tons of it embedded in a kind of ice slurry called methane hydrate or methane clathrate crystals in the Arctic and in the seas around the continental shelves all around the world. If enough of this methane is released quickly enough, it won't just produce the same old global warming. It could produce an extinction of species on a wide scale, an extinction that could even include the human race. If there is a "ticking time bomb" on our planet that could lead to a global warming so rapid and sudden that we would have no way of dealing with it, it's methane. Right now, estimates suggest that there's over 1,000 gigatons - that's a thousand billion tons - of carbon in methane form trapped just under the Arctic ice. And if stays trapped under the ice, we might have a chance. But, thanks to the global warming that's already occurring, Arctic sea ice is melting at unprecedented rates.
Arctic Seafloor Methane Release is Double Earlier Estimates -- Gaius Publius - One of the greenhouse gases (GHGs) that Obama’s EPA Clean Power Plan doesn’t count is methane from leaks, for example, fracking leaks, fuel line leaks, transportation leaks, and so on. Yet methane (CH4) is one of the most powerful greenhouse gases known, though very short-lived (most atmospheric methane disappears in about 12 years, becoming CO2 and water vapor). And one of the cornerstones of the idea that mankind still has a “carbon budget” — that we can still release even more CO2 and other greenhouse gases like methane, though a “limited” amount — is the idea that we can do a good job of modeling climate-changing feedbacks. Which brings us back to methane — in particular, frozen methane. By most accounts, there’s more than 1,000 GtC— a thousand billion (“giga”) tons of carbon — locked into the tundra and the peat bogs, and frozen at the bottom of the ocean in the Arctic region. As noted, methane is a short-lived but powerful GHG. “Greenhouse warming potential” (GWP) is a comparison of the warming effect of a substance relative to CO2 (which is assigned a GWP of 1). Here’s what methane’s GWP looks like over time:The key questions about methane are — how fast is it leaking back into the atmosphere, and will that rate be stable? The answer to the first question is, by many accounts, not fast. In 2007, methane release from the vast, shallow East Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS) — one of several sources of methane — was put at 0.5 MtC per year. That’s half a megaton (a half-million tons) of carbon. Compare that to today’s rate of carbon emissions in CO2 form — 10 GtC per year.There is a small group of researchers who think we could be near a methane tipping point. In that group is the Russian research team of Natalia Shakhova and her husband Igor Semiletov, researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) International Arctic Research Center. Here’s what they found recently: The seafloor off the coast of Northern Siberia is releasing more than twice the amount of methane as previously estimated, according to new research results published in the Nov. 24 [2013] edition of the journal Nature Geoscience.
Why the EPA Power Plant Rules Don’t Include Methane - The Kate sets the record straight on why the EPA’s proposed power plant CO2 emissions go easy on methane. Because power plant rules per se don’t address methane. . . they address power plants. “On June 2nd, EPA released highly publicized proposed new rules to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants. While many touted the rules as a crucial step in addressing the climate change crisis, others criticized them for not being aggressive enough. One particular question that has been raised is why the rules focus only on emissions of carbon dioxide and do not include methane – a much more potent greenhouse gas and one which is emitted in substantial amounts through the oil and gas production and distribution processes? The answer is actually pretty straightforward. Under the Clean Air Act, EPA is authorized to regulate emissions of pollutants from different sectors of the economy. The proposed rules released on June 2nd would regulate emissions from the power plant sector – from which methane is not emitted to any meaningful extent. Simply put, there is no place in these rules to tackle emissions from so-called “upstream” production of oil and gas. There is, however, another vehicle for doing so, which is via EPA’s rules that regulate pollutant emissions from the oil and gas sector (the sector in which those fuels are produced, as opposed to the power plant sector, where they get burned). Although EPA currently regulates emissions from that sector, its rules do not include methane. This past spring, EPA released a series of white papers as the first step in the agency’s process for deciding how to cut the huge amounts of methane pollution coming from the oil and gas sector, a process announced in March by President Obama in his Climate Action Plan (of which the power plant rules are a second major component). We and our partners have submitted substantial on the white papers, urging the Administration to move forward immediately with strong methane-curbing standards for the oil and gas sector.
In Newest Climate Push, EPA Proposes To Limit Methane Pollution From Trash Dumps --As part of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, the Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday announced its intention to make massive trash dumps across the country reduce their emissions of methane — a powerful greenhouse gas that causes at least 25 times more global warming than carbon dioxide. The plan, which the EPA drew up using its authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, includes proposed regulations for new landfills, and a call for suggestions on whether the agency should issue regulations for existing landfills. The EPA said the regulations are needed not only to reduce climate change, but to reduce air pollution that winds up harming public health. Landfills produce air pollution from the sheer volume of solid waste that sits in them. As the waste sits, it begins to break down, releasing what’s commonly known as “landfill gas” — a mixture of a variety of air toxins, including carbon dioxide. Landfill gas is mostly, however, made up of methane — so much that 18 percent of all methane emissions come from landfills. That’s the third-largest source of methane emissions in the country, behind agriculture and natural gas production.
Leaky Methane Makes Natural Gas Bad for Global Warming - Scientific American: Natural gas fields globally may be leaking enough methane, a potent greenhouse gas, to make the fuel as polluting as coal for the climate over the next few decades, according to a pair of studies published last week. An even worse finding for the United States in terms of greenhouse gases is that some of its oil and gas fields are emitting more methane than the industry does, on average, in the rest of the world, the research suggests. "I would have thought that emissions in the U.S. should be relatively low compared to the global average," said Stefan Schwietzke, a researcher at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Earth Systems Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo., and lead author of the studies. "It is an industrialized country, probably using good technology, so why are emissions so high?" The natural gas industry globally was leaking between 2 and 4 percent of the gas produced between 2006 and 2011, the studies found. Leakage above 3% is enough to negate the climate benefits of natural gas over coal, so the findings indicate there is probably room for the industry to lower emissions.
Fracking Study Finds New Gas Wells Leak More - In Pennsylvania's gas drilling boom, newer and unconventional wells leak far more often than older and traditional ones, according to a study of state inspection reports for 41,000 wells. The results suggest that leaks of methane could be a problem for drilling across the nation, said study lead author Cornell University engineering professor Anthony Ingraffea, who heads an environmental activist group that helped pay for the study.The Marcellus shale formation of plentiful but previously hard-to-extract trapped natural gas stretches over Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York. The study was published Monday by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. A team of four scientists analyzed more than 75,000 state inspections of gas wells done in Pennsylvania since 2000. Overall, older wells — those drilled before 2009 — had a leak rate of about 1%. Most were traditional wells, drilling straight down. Unconventional wells — those drilled horizontally and commonly referred to as fracking — didn't come on the scene until 2006 and quickly took over. Newer traditional wells drilled after 2009 had a leak rate of about 2%; the rate for unconventional wells was about 6%, the study found. The leak rate reached as high as nearly 10% horizontally drilled wells for before and after 2009 in the northeastern part of the state, where drilling is hot and heavy.
Four of 10 wells forecast to fail in northeastern Pa. -- About 40% of the oil and gas wells in parts of the Marcellus shale region will probably be leaking methane into the groundwater or into the atmosphere, concludes a Cornell-led research team that examined the records of more than 41,000 such wells in Pennsylvania. In research published today (June 30) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers examined Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection inspection records that show compromised cement and/or casing integrity in more than 6% of the active gas wells drilled in the Marcellus region of Pennsylvania. This study shows up to a 2.7-fold higher risk for unconventional wells – relative to conventional wells – drilled since 2009 in the northeastern region of the Marcellus in Pennsylvania.“These results, particularly in light of numerous contamination complaints and explosions nationally in areas with high concentrations of unconventional oil and gas development and the increased awareness of the role of methane in ... climate change, should be cause for concern,” The researchers examined 75,505 publicly available compliance reports for 41,381 oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania from 2000 to 2012 to determine whether the well casing or the cement used was impaired. The shale gas wells were 6 times more likely to leak, compared with conventional wells.
Four Of 10 Fracked Wells In Pennsylvania Are Projected To Fail, Spewing Methane Into Air And Water --A major new study finds that, as suspected, it is new, unconventional gas wells that are far more likely to leak heat-trapping — and tap-water igniting — methane than older, conventional wells. After examining the publicly available compliance records of more than 41,000 wells in northeastern Pennsylvania, the Cornell-led researchers have dropped this bombshell: About 40% of the oil and gas wells in parts of the Marcellus shale region will probably be leaking methane into the groundwater or into the atmosphere…. This study shows up to a 2.7-fold higher risk for unconventional wells — relative to conventional wells — drilled since 2009. Study after study has found consistently higher methane leakage rates from natural gas production and distribution than reported by either the industry or EPA (which uses industry self-reported data). The key point is that natural gas is mostly methane, (CH4), a super-potent greenhouse gas, which traps 86 times as much heat as CO2 over a 20-year period. So the leaks in the natural gas production and delivery system that have now been observed are enough to gut the entire benefit of switching from coal-fired power to gas for many, many decades. Writing this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers explain: “These results, particularly in light of numerous contamination complaints and explosions nationally in areas with high concentrations of unconventional oil and gas development and the increased awareness of the role of methane in … climate change, should be cause for concern.” This study comes just two weeks after Princeton research found “Methane emissions from abandoned oil and gas [AOG] wells appear to be a significant source of methane emissions to the atmosphere.” That research found up to 970,000 AOG wells in Pennsylvania!
Fracking’s methane problem: Study finds new, unconventional wells leak more than old ones - Fracking in Pennsylvania’s natural gas-rich Marcellus shale has a major methane problem, a new study finds. Analyzing the data from more than 75,000 state inspections going back to 2000, a team of four researchers concluded that gas wells are leaking the chemical, a potent greenhouse gas with a long-term effect on global warming greater even than CO2, at an alarming rate. The research, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was led by Cornell University’s Anthony Ingraffea, a vocal opponent of fracking. The leaks, according to the study, might be due to problems in the wells’ cement casings. Basically, explained Ingraffea, “Something is coming out of it that shouldn’t, in a place that it shouldn’t.” The crux of his findings, via the Associated Press: Overall, older wells — those drilled before 2009 — had a leak rate of about 1%. Most were traditional wells, drilling straight down. Unconventional wells — those drilled horizontally and commonly referred to as fracking — didn’t come on the scene until 2006 and quickly took over. Newer traditional wells drilled after 2009 had a leak rate of about 2%; the rate for unconventional wells was about 6%, the study found. The leak rate reached as high as nearly 10 percent horizontally drilled wells for before and after 2009 in the northeastern part of the state, where drilling is hot and heavy.
Pennsylvania Fracking Company Offers Residents Cash To Buy Protection From Claims Of Harm - For the last eight years, Pennsylvania has been riding the natural gas boom, with companies drilling and fracking thousands of wells across the state. And in a little corner of Washington County, some 20 miles outside of Pittsburgh, EQT Corporation has been busy – drilling close to a dozen new wells on one site. It didn't take long for the residents of Finleyville who lived near the fracking operations to complain – about the noise and air quality, and what they regarded as threats to their health and quality of life. Initially, EQT, one of the largest producers of natural gas in Pennsylvania, tried to allay concerns with promises of noise studies and offers of vouchers so residents could stay in hotels to avoid the noise and fumes. But then, in what experts say was a rare tactic, the company got more aggressive: it offered all of the households along Cardox Road $50,000 in cash if they would agree to release the company from any legal liability, for current operations as well as those to be carried out in the future. It covered potential health problems and property damage, and gave the company blanket protection from any kind of claim over noise, dust, light, smoke, odors, fumes, soot, air pollution or vibrations. An initial version of the proposed standard agreement listed 30 Finleyville residents and required that they all sign the agreements in order to receive the $50,000. When the residents refused, EQT modified the agreement such that the compensation was not contingent on all landowners signing it. The agreement also defined the company's operations as not only including drilling activity but the construction of pipelines, power lines, roads, tanks, ponds, pits, compressor stations, houses and buildings.
How a Fracking Company Tried to Buy Pennsylvania Residents’ Approval For $50,000 - The health risks of living near a fracking site aren’t lost on energy companies who participate in the practice, and neither is the pushback from nearby residents. Still, the earning potential is far too enticing for companies to cave in. That might be why EQT Corp. attempted to buy approval from the residents of Finleyville, a small town near Pittsburgh where the company is increasing its hold by drilling nearly a dozen new wells. According to an investigation by ProPublica, the company offered $50,000 in cash to residents on Cardox Road if they absolved of EQT of legal liability for health issues, property damage and the impacts from noise, dust, light, smoke, odors, fumes, soot, air pollution and vibrations. “I was insulted,” Gary Baumgardner, a resident who was offered the money in January, told the nonprofit news organizaiton. “We’re being pushed out of our home and they want to insult us with this offer.” EQT’s offer is not unlike the nuisance easements offered to residents near airports, landfills and even wind farms. However, Pennsylvania gas lease attorney Doug Clark says such an offer is rare in the oil and gas sector. Clark finds EQT’s conditions to be rare, too. For $50,000, the company also wanted liability protection for things it might do in the future, including constructing pipelines, power lines, roads, tanks, ponds, pits, compressor stations, houses and buildings.
Letter of Dr. Jerome Paulson to PA-DEP on Fracking Impacts on Children - I am writing in regard to decisions that your office will be making about unconventional natural gas extraction (UGE). Some of these decisions may relate specifically to children, such as decisions about setbacks between UGE sites and schools. Other decisions may relate to UGE in a broader sense. As a physician with significant expertise in environmental health*, I want to point out that there is no information in the medical or public health literature to indicate that UGE can be implemented with a minimum of risk to human health. In this very new area of research, there are very few articles in the public or peer-reviewed literature that do indicate that there are health problems and there are a number of other pieces of data that suggest that UGE is fraught with negative health outcomes. Elaine Hill at Cornell University compared pregnancy outcomes from a group of mothers who lived in proximity to active wells to outcomes in mothers who lived near wells currently under permit but not yet developed. The results showed an association between shale gas development and incidence of low birth weight and small for gestational age (25% and 18% increased risk). McKenzie and colleagues looked at the relationship between proximity and density of gas wells to maternal address and birth defects, preterm birth and fetal growth. Two approximately even exposure groups were formed for births in rural Colorado between 1996 and 2009: zero wells within ten miles and one or more wells within ten miles. For women residing with one or more wells within ten miles, women were then categorized into three groups of increasing number of wells within ten miles. Women in the highest exposure group, with greater than 125 wells per mile, had an elevated risk of births with congenital heart disease (CHD) and neural tube defects (NTD). A risk for both CHD and NTD increased with increasing number of wells. The authors cited chemicals such as benzene, solvents and air pollutants as previously established associations between maternal exposure and CHDs and NTDs...
New York Towns Can Ban Fracking, State’s Top Court Rules - (Bloomberg) --New York’s cities and towns can block hydraulic fracturing within their borders, the state’s highest court ruled, dealing a blow to an industry awaiting Governor Andrew Cuomo’s decision on whether to uphold a six-year-old statewide moratorium. The Court of Appeals in Albany today upheld rulings dismissing lawsuits that challenged bans enacted in the upstate towns of Dryden and Middlefield. The ruling may lead the oil and gas industry to abandon fracking in New York as Cuomo considers whether to lift a statewide moratorium instituted in 2008 that he inherited when he took office. Fracking in states from North Dakota to Pennsylvania has helped push U.S. natural gas production to new highs in each of the past seven years, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, while the practice has come under increasing scrutiny from environmental advocates. Parts of New York sit above the Marcellus Shale, a rock formation that the Energy Information Administration estimates may hold enough natural gas to meet U.S. consumption for almost six years.
court ruling: http://www.nycourts.
gov/ctapps/Decisions/2014/
Jun14/130-131opn14-Decision.
pdf
BREAKING: Court Rules That New York Towns Can Ban Fracking And Drilling - New York towns and cities are allowed to pass bans on oil and gas drilling and fracking, the state’s highest court ruled Monday. The New York Court of Appeals upheld the ruling of a lower court that local governments have the authority to decide how land is used, which includes deciding whether or not fracking and drilling should be allowed on that land. The Court of Appeals heard arguments on two cases challenging local bans on fracking in June. The plaintiffs in those lawsuits argued that New York’s oil, gas and mining law takes precedence over local zoning laws, but in rulings both by a lower court and now the Court of Appeals, that claim was overturned. Two New York towns — Middlefield and Dryden — that previously banned fracking were the focus of the lawsuits, but the ruling means that now other municipalities in New York can pass laws that ban fracking and drilling. So far, activists say, 170 towns and cities in New York have passed fracking bans or moratoria. “Today the Court stood with the people of Dryden and the people of New York to protect their right to self determination. It is clear that people, not corporations, have the right to decide how their community develops,” Dryden Deputy Supervisor Jason Leifer said in a statement. In the majority opinion, Associate Judge Victoria Graffeo wrote that the ruling wasn’t about whether or not fracking was good for New York — it was about the balance of power between state and local government.
N.Y. towns can ban fracking, state court rules: -- New York's towns are able to use zoning laws to ban hydraulic fracturing within their borders, the state's top court ruled Monday. In a precedent-setting ruling that could have wide implications on the future of shale-gas drilling in New York and possibly elsewhere, the state Court of Appeals ruled 5-2 in favor of the towns of Dryden and Middlefield. The towns had been embroiled in separate, three-year-long legal disputes over the validity of their local fracking bans. An oil-and-gas company and a Middlefield dairy farm had challenged the bans, arguing that New York law gives full power to the state to regulate the industry. "We are asked in these two appeals whether towns may ban oil and gas production activities, including hydrofracking, within municipal boundaries through the adoption of local zoning laws," Associate Judge Victoria Graffeo wrote in the majority opinion. "We conclude that they may because the supersession clause in the statewide Oil, Gas and Solution Mining Law does not preempt the home rule authority vested in municipalities to regulate land use." The decision Monday affirms the rulings of the lower courts, which had ruled in favor of the towns.
New York top court OKs local gas-drilling bans - — New York’s top court handed a victory to opponents of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas Monday by affirming the right of municipalities to ban the practice within their borders. The state Court of Appeals affirmed a midlevel appeals court ruling from last year that said the state oil and gas law doesn’t trump the authority of local governments to control land use through zoning. The two “fracking” cases from two central New York towns have been closely watched by drillers hoping to tap into the state’s piece of the Marcellus Shale formation and by environmentalists who fear water and air pollution. Both sides are still waiting to see whether a statewide moratorium on fracking in effect since July 2008 will be lifted. The court in a 5-2 decision stressed that it did not consider the merits of fracking, but only the “home rule” authority of municipalities to regulate their land use. The court said the towns of Dryden and Middlefield both acted properly. “The towns both studied the issue and acted within their home rule powers in determining that gas drilling would permanently alter and adversely affect the deliberately-cultivated, small-town character of their communities,” according to the majority ruling by Judge Victoria Graffeo.
Landmark Decision for Local Control – Major Setback for Fracking Supporters - Towns across New York State and as far away as Texas and Colorado may soon feel the aftershocks of a landmark decision June 30 by the highest court in New York that towns have the authority to ban drilling for natural gas. The 5-2 ruling by the state Court of Appeals has emboldened opponents of high-volume hydraulic fracturing, for fracking, and they hope to make the most of it. “Any town that has held off banning fracking for fear of getting sued by the frackers just got a neon green light to proceed with a ban,” said Chip Northrup, an energy investor turned anti-drilling activist from Cooperstown. “While they are at it, they should ban frack waste, since most New York towns are more liable to being dumped on than fracked.” In Texas, the Denton City Council is expected to consider a petition for a local ban on fracking at its next regular meeting, July 15. Denton has 270 gas wells within its city limits, but 2,000 residents have signed the petition to ban more. And Texas law is deferential to local authority over land use. In Colorado, on the other hand, the state’s highest court now says local bans cannot pre-empt gas development. But the state legislature could still step into the long tug of war between local and state authority over drilling rights that has pitted the towns of Lafayette and Fort Collins against the governor and triggered a statewide voter initiative. Meanwhile, more than 100 small and medium-sized communities in western New York have enacted bans or moratoriums on fracking, and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg quietly obtained a special exemption from state regulators on fracking in the city’s watershed. Supporters of drilling had been counting on the court to sweep away the local bans, if not the city’s. They were deeply disappointed.
New York Towns Tell Energy Companies to Keep the Frack Out -- The New York Court of Appeals has ruled that local governments can say no to energy companies that want to establish fracking operations within its land. The ruling upheld those of the state’s lower courts in the towns of Middlefield and Dryden. Middlefield and Dryden had banned fracking operations from taking place within the towns’ incorporated limits. The ruling is the first of its kind as the state of New York allows fracking, but has now ruled to ultimately leave it up to the townships and communities of New York state to determine whether or not energy companies can drill within its borders. These disputes began in 2011 when an energy company that obtained gas and oil leases in Dryden and Middlefield filed legal complaints after the townspeople took initiative and amended their zoning laws to ban fracking. The energy company argued that state oil and gas laws trump the towns’ amendments. However, the energy company, and subsequently any energy company that had might have zeroed in on New York for fracking, received an unexpected slap in the face yesterday. The New York State Court of Appeals ruled, in a 5-2 decision, that local ordinances could restrict the expansion of fracking.
New York ruling on fracking bans might send tremors across US - -- New York state’s highest court ruledMonday that cities and towns have the power to ban fracking, a decision that comes as local governments across the nation are increasingly trying to use zoning laws to stop the contentious spread of drilling.“I hope our victory serves as an inspiration to people in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Florida, North Carolina, California and elsewhere,” said Mary Ann Sumner, the town supervisor of Dryden, N.Y.The towns of Dryden, in Tompkins County, and Middlefield, in Otsego County, changed their zoning laws to ban fracking in recent years after energy companies started acquiring local leases to drill. The companies, Norse Energy and Cooperstown Holstein, filed lawsuits and argued that only the state had the authority to decide whether to prohibit oil and gas activities, not individual cities and towns. The New York State Supreme Court disagreed Monday. It decided in a 5-2 judgment to uphold the opinion of a lower state court that found cities and towns do have the power to ban fracking. "The towns both studied the issue and acted within their home rule powers in determining that gas drilling would permanently alter and adversely affect the deliberately cultivated, small-town character of their communities,” the New York State Supreme Court found.
Fracking Ruling In New York May Curtail Some Drilling In Other States - New York state’s highest court ruled Monday that towns and cities can ban fracking, a decision closely watched by the energy industry as local governments across the U.S. are considering using zoning laws to stop oil and gas drilling. New York has a statewide moratorium on fracking for the state to study its impacts, but the ruling may further discourage oil and gas companies from investing in New York and encourage other states’ local governments to push for fracking bans.“This sends a really strong and clear message to the gas companies who have tried to buy their way into the state that these community concerns have to be addressed,” Katherine Nadeau, policy director for Environmental Advocates of New York, an anti-fracking group, told Bloomberg. “This will empower more communities nationwide.”Another attempt to ban fracking within city limits happened in Ohio, when Beck Energy Corp. began drilling on private properties in Munroe Falls in 2011 with a permit from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. The city filed a lawsuit, joined by another half-dozen communities. Ohio’s legislature gave the state’s natural resources department sole authority in 2004 to regulate permitting, location and spacing oil and gas wells, but that law could be overturned soon. The case has reached Ohio’s Supreme Court, whose decision (to be announced soon at an unspecified date) will determine what authority if any Ohio cities have over oil and gas drilling and whether they can ban fracking.
Read Court of Appeals decision upholding fracking bans -- Environmental groups are ecstatic over the Court of Appeals decision Monday to uphold local fracking bans. The ruling, which upheld a lower court’s determination that the bans were proper, involved two lawsuits challenging the fracking bans approved by the towns of Middlefield and Dryden. Property owners and the drilling industry insisted that state law handed exclusive power to state agencies to oversee drilling and mining. From the conclusion of the decision, which was written by Judge Victoria Graffeo, an appointee of former Gov. George Pataki: At the heart of these cases lies the relationship between the State and its local government subdivisions, and their respective exercise of legislative power. These appeals are not about whether hydrofracking is beneficial or detrimental to the economy, environment or energy needs of New York, and we pass no judgment on its merits. These are major policy questions for the coordinate branches of government to resolve. The discrete issue before us, and the only one we resolve today, is whether the State Legislature eliminated the home rule capacity of municipalities to pass zoning laws that exclude oil, gas and hydrofracking activities in order to preserve the existing character of their communities. There is no dispute that the State Legislature has this right if it chooses to exercise it. But in light of ECL 23-0303′s plain language, its place within the OGSML’s framework and the legislative background, we cannot say that the supersession clause — added long before the current debate over high-volume hydrofracking and horizontal drilling ignited — evinces a clear expression of preemptive intent. The zoning laws of Dryden and Middlefield are therefore valid.
Meme with Wings: Are Western Anti-Fracking Activists Funded by Putin’s Russia? - At a June 19 speaking event at London's Chatham House, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen claimed the Russian government is covertly working to discredit hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) in the west from afar. But Rasmussen left out some key context from his presentation, which he said “is my interpretation” and did not further elaborate on his “disinformation operations” comments. That is, while powerful actors have claimed on multiple occasions that western-based anti-fracking activists are funded by the Kremlin, no one has ever documented such a relationship in the form of a money paper trail. Rasmussen's allegation that western “fracktivists” are or might be funded by the Kremlin is a meme with wings. In a June 2010 email revealed by Wikileaks, private intelligence firm Stratfor (shorthand for Strategic Forecasting, Inc.) speculated that Josh Fox, director of “Gasland” and “Gasland: Part II,” might be funded by the Russian government or the coal industry. According to a January 2010 email, Stratfor's “biggest client” is the American Petroleum Institute. Stratfor published a white paper titled “Shale Gas Activism,” an analysis of anti-fracking opposition groups and leaders, in December 2009. Emails show Stratfor sent the white paper to Stanley Sokul, then-ExxonMobil corporate issues senior advisor and now XTO Energy's manager of public and government affairs. Sokul formerly served as chief of staff and general counsel for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy under President George W. Bush. Further, in the industry-funded documentary film “FrackNation,” climate change denier James Delingpole also stated that anti-fracking activists are likely funded by the Kremlin (beginning at 2:30 in video below).
Oklahoma's earthquake epidemic linked to fracking wastewater disposal - Vox: Oklahoma has unexpectedly become the earthquake capital of the United States — with some 240 small earthquakes magnitude 3.0 or more already this year. That's about twice as many as California has gotten. And in a new study in Science, researchers say they've pinpointed the culprit: the wastewater disposal wells used by the fracking industry. Back in 2008, energy companies began ramping up the use of fracking for oil and gas in Oklahoma. The fracking process typically involves injecting water, chemicals, and sand underground at high pressures to crack open shale rock and unlock the oil and gas inside. Fracking itself doesn't seem to be causing many earthquakes at all. However, after the well is fracked, all that wastewater needs to be pumped back out and disposed of somewhere. Since it's often laced with chemicals and difficult to treat, companies will often pump the wastewater back underground into separate disposal wells. Wastewater injection comes with a catch, however: The process both pushes the crust in the region downward and increases pressure in cracks along the faults. That makes the faults more prone to slippages and earthquakes. And as it happens, Oklahoma has seen a sharp rise in earthquakes since 2009. (Before then, magnitude 3.0 earthquakes were extremely rare.)
Oklahoma earthquake surge tied to energy industry activity: study (Reuters) - A dramatic jump in the number of earthquakes in Oklahoma to a rate never seen there by scientists before, appears to be caused by a small number of wells where wastewater associated with oil and gas production is injected into the ground, a study released on Thursday said. Just a few of these so-called disposal wells, operating at very high volumes, "create substantial anthropogenic seismic hazard," according to findings from Cornell University researchers published in the journal Science. Earthquake activity in Oklahoma has skyrocketed in recent years, and the U.S. Geological Survey recently warned that the state faces increasing risk of more potentially damaging earth-shaking activity. Through the end of June, the number of potentially damaging earthquakes - magnitude 3.0 or larger - was up more than 120 percent compared to all of last year, according to state officials. "There is an awful lot of smoke here," said Matt Skinner, spokesman for the Oklahoma Corporations Commission, which oversees oil and gas activities in the state. "We are examining the study very, very carefully. If this is an issue, this is a risk we will manage properly." And while most earthquakes occur naturally, some scientists openly worry that pressurized injections of wastewater from natural gas and petroleum production deep into wells can trigger earthquakes. Oklahoma has 4,597 such disposal wells. The Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association said because oil and gas activity is so prevalent in the state, seismic activity is likely to occur near industry operations, but that does not prove a correlation.
BBC News - Wastewater from e