Delaware is a state I do not know much about. From elementary school and a road trip I remember that its capital is Dover and that Delawareans prize themselves on tasty seafood. My knowledge of Delaware extends beyond that, but I don’t claim to be any sort of expert.
But on Wednesday, I was impressed by “The First State” (Delaware). That is because on Wednesday, at a hearing on a proposed natural gas development in Wayne County, Pennsylvania, the Commissioner from Delaware was the lone member of the interstate Commission – the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) – who voted against the Stone Energy water withdrawal permit.
The DRBC is a regional agency with one elected Commissioner from each of the states within its watershed. It has staff people from Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and a federal representative. DRBC programs address water quality protection, water supply allocation, regulatory review (permitting), water conservation initiatives, watershed planning, and other similar projects.
In this case, the Commission was deciding on the highly contentious Stone Energy permit. If fully approved, the Stone Energy project would be the first permitted, non-test well approved in the Delaware River Basin; a watershed that serves 15 million people, including the Greater Philadelphia area.
Those of us who worry about water contamination from drilling in the Marcellus Shale gas formation, fear that this is a precedent-setting decision. There is a tremendous supply of gas trapped underground within the watershed, but accessing it threatens those who live nearby and downstream. Water contaminated from the undisclosed mix of chemicals (called fracking fluid) used to fracture rock and extract gas, could flow downstream to dozens of small towns; it could further wind its way through the Philadelphia water supply, which I depend on for my drinking water.
To the dismay of the hundreds of gas opponents who organized themselves for Wednesday’s event, the DRBC approved the water withdrawal permit.
What does this mean?
The battle is still on, and the fight is getting uglier.
Wednesday’s hearing and vote on a water withdrawal permit was not the end of the permitting process, but it has generated a tremendous outpouring of opposition. Held in West Trenton, New Jersey, buses from New York City pulled into the parking lot, filled with New Yorkers keen to protect their water supply. More cars came from New Jersey and more than seven carpools from Philadelphia. Most importantly, individuals from the drilling area drove to the hearing to testify. The April public comment period delivered 1700 comments and in the past week just one of several natural gas opposition groups delivered 8000 letters opposing the water withdrawal permit and demanding a full moratorium within the watershed.
The hearing was held in a West Trenton Fire House that held between 600 and 700 people. Another 100-200 people were turned away because of a lack of overflow seating. The fact that many of those people had traveled hours on a Wednesday afternoon to attend this hearing didn’t sway Commissioners or Fire House staff people. The doors closed and those of us stuck outside, under the storm clouds, were not allowed to even get to the bathroom indoors. Sign up sheets circulated for those planning to testify grew long quickly and many who prepared testimony were locked out. The hearing came to a close before the Commissioners had heard testimony from even half of those signed up.
After standing outdoors for several hours, I was able to enter, but had no hope of speaking up.
In one belated attempt to enter my testimony to public record, I am placing it below. It may not be the official public record, and it is not before the vote has taken place, but I am placing it below as a reminder to the DRBC and the greater public that many of us prepared testimony and were silenced. Shut out despite a vested interest. I estimate that as many as a hundred of us who attended Wednesday’s hearing had prepared testimony and were not able to be heard.
My testimony:
My name is Amy Wilson. I am testifying because I believe that any and all drilling in the Delaware River Basin threatens to contaminate my drinking water and the drinking water of up to 15 million others.
The careful review of any permit application and a yes vote should be an indication, an assertion even, that what follows is a safe, transparent, sustainable process. It should be an indication that the permit meets all standards and that the Delaware River Basin Commission has faith that the activity will not endanger the community or the ecological integrity of that environment.
And yet, there is no reason to believe that permitted fracking in the Delaware River watershed has any of the above attributes. Fracking in 32 states has resulted in near continuous catastrophes and the Philadelphia City Council unanimously passed a resolution urging the DRBC to enact a moratorium on all fracking in the watershed until an Environmental Impact Statement is complete.
We need a moratorium. Not new regulations, not new so-called exploratory wells. We need a Cumulative Impact Statement; an Environmental Impact Statement; a Health Study; full funding for DEP Programs, including the enforcement program; and full disclosure of all fracking chemicals. Even the EPA has not completed a broad scope fracking study.
A yes vote on the Stone Energy water withdrawal permit invites an outlaw industry with very little regulation and still, an offensively bad track record, to begin fracking in our watershed before impact statements are completed, or even begun. These studies are standard procedure for other industries.
But with the gas industry’s record, I understand why it is evading further study and more stringent regulations. Since June 2008, eight different gas companies paid approximately two million to settle charges of illegal water withdrawals in Pennsylvania streams. As reported by the New York Times, Stone Energy Corporation itself has been cited for “loss of well control” or a blowout, furthermore several of the blown out wells have still not been remediated. Maybe more alarming to watershed residents, Stone Energy has already violated DRBC drilling rules by drilling without a permit and has already been fined 70,000 for its Pennsylvania operations.
I don’t trust Stone Energy and more than that, there is public record that Stone Energy has recklessly operated oil and gas wells. These accidents are not aberrations; they occur industry-wide, nation-wide, day in and day out.
Regulations have produced violations, but they have not provided adequate incentives to drill safely. Proof? In the last seven months DEP inspections at Marcellus Shale sites have found more than 500 violations. In 2009, the DEP found more than 600 violations at drilling sites.
There are too many to detail. In September 2009, there was the now infamous contamination of wells in Dimock, PA. The spill rendered drinking water unusable and has resulted in a civil case against Cabot. More recently, on June 3rd Clearfield County experienced a blowout that resulted in natural gas and wastewater escaping from the well uncontrolled for 16 hours. Then, just days later on June 8th, a methane blast at a West Virginia natural gas well drilling site killed 7 people. These 600 plus Pennsylvania violations were uncovered by a woefully understaffed enforcement program. When a staff of 76, documents more than 600 violations within a year, within a state, anyone knows that the industry is so unscrupulous is it indifferent to any regulations and safety standards. It can no longer be permitted at all.
Permitting water withdrawal paves the way for more well explosions, more leaking pipelines, more open fracking pits, more wastewater trucking infractions, and exposure to toxic chemical compounds, heavy metals, and endocrine disruptors – including, but not limited to, fracking ingredients such as benzene, toluene, kerosene, and formaldehyde.
A yes vote on the Stone Energy water withdrawal permit is the first step on a perilous slope that leads towards expansive gas development and the uncontrolled gas disasters that we’ve seen in every other state with gas operations. We need you, the DRBC, to issue a moratorium on all gas drilling, not approve permits in our watershed.
Stone Energy would seem to be the BP of fracking and gas extraction. And I fear that, as with BP, it will require a disaster affecting 15 million people who depend on this water before anybody pays any attention. At that time DRBC will publicly say something like “Why, how could we possibly have known this would happen?” Goodness, how indeed.