Friday, November 11, 2022

Guest Essay: Stop Giving Handouts To Natural Gas Industry, Make Them Clean Up Their Own Messes And Protect Public Health

By
Mitchell Hescox, Evangelical Environmental Network; Jacquelyn Omotalade, Environmental Health Project; Melissa Ostroff, MPH, Earthworks

This guest essay first appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on November 11, 2022--


With Gov. Tom Wolf and the legislature having passed a giant tax break to incentivize massive chemical plants that will require more methane-producing gas wells to provide raw material, Pennsylvanians face the urgent need to defend our children from the harmful health impacts of legacy fossil fuel pollution as well as increased pollution to come.

Pennsylvania’s forests, parks, private lands, and playgrounds are littered with an estimated 200,000 to 600,000 abandoned and unplugged oil or gas wells, and the industry keeps walking away from more. 

Only Texas has more of these derelict wells.

 It would be great if we could rely on the industry to clean up its own mess, but too often we can’t. 

According to its Oil and Gas Program Compliance Database, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued 315 Notices of Violation (NOV) just for the first three-quarters of 2022.  [Read more here.]

In only the first nine months of 2022, at the average plugging cost of $68,000 per well plugged, that adds up to around $21.4 million dollars paid not by the companies that abandoned them, but by you, the Pennsylvania taxpayer.

Adding insult to injury, our Republican-led General Assembly held up budget negotiations earlier this year until they got more handouts for the oil and gas industry. 

These included ridiculous limits for well bonding—how much money companies pay up front to ensure the land where they drill is later restored—that were hidden away in the final budget.

Instead of holding industry to a fair and just bond to ensure these operators do the right thing, the friends of the industry in the General Assembly set the maximum bond at $2,500 per well. 

That’s only 3.6% of the average cost of fixing the wells. 

Most egregiously, the legislature prohibited Commonwealth agencies from raising bonds for 10 years and exempted owners from paying bonds for pre-1985 wells (the majority of wells in Pennsylvania and the ones most likely to leak methane).  [Read more here.]

According to data compiled by the Ohio Valley River Institute, abandoned well leaks represent 5-8% of Pennsylvania’s total human-caused methane leaks—between 40,000 and 70,000 metric tons/year or enough to power 40,000 to 70,000 homes each year.

As the rest of us are paying more for everything, thanks to inflation, the immorality of also picking up the check for the messes made by the oil and gas industry is obscene. 

But more than the cost to clean up the oil and gas industry’s messes, what troubles us most is the price our kids and all of us pay for the damages to our health and lives.

Leaking methane is a powerful greenhouse gas 86 times more potent than CO2 in its first twenty years in the atmosphere. 

Methane, from all sources, causes at least one-quarter of the warming we are experiencing today. Warmer temperatures produce more smog, increase asthma, and force earlier springs and later falls, increasing cases of Lyme disease that threaten all Pennsylvanians.

Methane is not only released into the air from unplugged wells but can also dissolve into groundwater and change into foul-smelling hydrogen sulfide gas (rotten egg smell). 

Foul odor is minor, however, compared to the 55 water supplies (as of 2015) across Pennsylvania that have been impacted by other toxics and pollutants associated with abandoned wells, such as barium, chloride, volatile organic compounds, and benzene and arsenic (both known carcinogens) that have poured into our wells, streams, and rivers throughout our Commonwealth.

Unplugged oil and gas wells are an imminent threat to both our wallets and our children’s health. 

As predicted back in July and with thanks to the friends of oil and gas in our General Assembly, it’s only getting worse.

Our kids and all Pennsylvanians deserve more from our legislature than more gas industry handouts.  Pennsylvania’s government must ensure public safety by making industry clean up its existing messes and preventing future ones.

If all of us can overcome our differences and work together for the sake of our kids and grandchildren, shouldn’t the General Assembly do so too?

 

Mitchell Hescox is the president of the Evangelical Environmental Network; Jacquelyn Omotalade, JD, Public Policy Manager, Environmental Health Project; Melissa Ostroff, MPH - Pennsylvania Field Advocate, Earthworks

 

NewsClips - Don’t Subsidize Natural Gas Pollution:

-- Gov. Wolf Signs Massive, 20-Year Taxpayer Subsidies Into Law For Natural Gas, Hydrogen And Petrochemical Industries With No Public Accountability Or Environmental Safeguards   [PaEN]

-- Guest Essay: Our Leaders Need To Stop Negotiating With The Fossil-Fuel Industry Behind Closed Doors And Protect Public Health And Our Children - By Lois Bower-Bjornson, Clean Air Council and Washington County Resident  [PaEN]

-- Republican Herald Editorial: State Lawmakers Should Adopt Rules That Preclude State Taxpayers From Subsidizing Pollution From Oil & Gas Industry  [PaEN]

-- York Dispatch Editorial: Energy Companies Are Reporting Record Profits, PA Lawmakers Don’t Need To Give Them More Tax Breaks  [PaEN]

-- Citizens Voice Editorial: Subsidizing Pollution - Taxpayers Pay $1.7 Billion To Subsidize Shell Ethane Plant In Beaver County

-- TribLive Editorial: State Fines Should Be Higher Than Tax Cuts To Penalize Environmental Leaks [PaEN]

-- Scranton Times/Republican Herald Editorial: Legislators Like Plastics, Expect More  [PaEN]

-- Republican Herald Editorial: Dangerous Course For Oil & Gas Well Emissions, Obstructionists Should Get Out Of The Way  [PaEN]

-- Citizens Voice Editorial: State Insists On Paying Polluters  [PaEN]

-- PennLive Guest Essay: Tax Credit Bill Gifts Natural Gas, Dirty Hydrogen With $4 Billion In Taxpayer Subsidies - By Patrick McDonnell, PennFuture

Related Articles This Week:

-- NEW FEATURE: Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - Nov. 5 To 11  [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment  [PaEN]  

-- What Can We Expect From Gov. Shapiro, Lt. Gov. Davis On Environmental, Energy Issues?  [PaEN]

-- FracTracker Alliance, Clean Air Council, Other Groups Hosting Nov. 14 Webinar On Protected Zones: Setbacks From Oil & Gas Facilities In California, Colorado, PA  [PaEN]

-- Guest Essay: Stop Giving Handouts To Natural Gas Industry, Make Them Clean Up Their Own Messes And Protect Public Health - By Mitchell Hescox, Evangelical Environmental Network; Jacquelyn Omotalade, Environmental Health Project; Melissa Ostroff, MPH, Earthworks  [PaEN]

-- Guest Essay: Our Leaders Need To Stop Negotiating With The Fossil-Fuel Industry Behind Closed Doors And Protect Public Health And Our Children - By Lois Bower-Bjornson, Clean Air Council and Washington County Resident  [PaEN]

-- Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Accepting Comments On Draft EIS For Ohio Valley Connector Natural Gas Pipeline In Greene County Until Nov. 21  [PaEN]

-- Reuters: Williams Urges FERC To Approve Regional Energy Access Natural Gas Pipeline Expansion Affecting 6 Counties In PA  [PaEN]

-- EPA Unveils Proposed Methane Pollution Reduction Standards Covering Oil & Gas Facilities, Including Conventional Oil & Gas Wells  [PaEN]

-- TribLive Letter: EPA Must Protect Our Kids From Oil & Gas Methane Pollution

-- Bob Donnan Blog/WTAE: Washington County Family Files Landmark Lawsuit Over Hazardous Chemicals And Chevron/EQT Shale Gas Drilling 

-- WTAE: Lawsuit By Washington County Homeowner Says Fracking Caused PFAS ‘Forever Chemicals’ To Contaminate His Drinking Water  

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: Washington County Family Sues Chevron, EQT Over Shale Gas Well Pads Near House

-- Observer-Reporter: Range Resources Part Of DEP Investigation Into High Methane Levels In 2 Homes In South Strabane Twp., Washington County  

-- E&E News - Heather Richards: Biden Orphan Well Plan Faces Trouble In PA: ‘All For Naught’ If DEP Can’t Stop New Oil & Gas Well Abandonments

-- Capital & Main - Audrey Carleton: In Fracking’s ‘Ground Zero’ - Dimock, Susquehanna County - PA Residents Feel Left Behind - Part I

-- Public Source: DEP Promises To Monitor Shell Ethane Plant, Look Into All Citizen Complaints 

-- NextPittsburgh: Franklin, Venango County, Poised To Become The Next Great ‘Outdoor Town’  [Except for the dumping and negative environmental impacts of the conventional oil & gas industry]

Related Articles - Major Oil & Gas Criminal/Monetary Penalties Last 2 Years:

-- House Committee Fails To Address $70 Million In Penalties On Natural Gas Pipelines Or Real Concerns Of People Living Near Gas Production & Distribution Facilities

-- AG Shapiro: Energy Transfer/Sunoco Convicted Of Criminal Charges Related To Construction Of Mariner East 2 & Revolution Natural Gas/Liquids Pipelines In PA

-- Sunoco/Mariner East Pipeline To Pay $4 Million In Damages And Restore Lake At Marsh Creek State Park Polluted By A Spill In Chester County

-- Federal Court Approves DEP, EPA, DOJ Settlement With Chesapeake Appalachia For Failure To Identify, Protect Wetlands At 76 Gas Well Drilling Sites, $1.9 Million Penalty

-- PUC Imposes $1 Million Penalty On Energy Transfer Company For 2018 Revolution Pipeline Explosion In Beaver County

-- DEP Collects $497,000, Fish & Boat Commission Collects $25,855 In Penalties For Latest Violations Involving Mariner East 2 Pipeline Construction In Lebanon County

-- DEP: Range Resources Pays $294,000 Penalty For Delaying The Plugging Of 42 Conventional Oil & Gas Wells In 8 Counties

-- DEP: Olympus Energy Natural Gas Driller Fined $175,000 For Water Quality Violations In Allegheny County

-- DEP Collects $147,250 Penalty From Rice Drilling B LLC For Erosion & Sedimentation Violations In Greene County; DEP Found Rice Had Hundreds Of Other Violations, Including Abandoning Wells Without Plugging Them

-- DEP Collects $140,000 Penalty From ETC Northeast Field Services For Pipeline Construction Violations In Beaver County

-- DEP Order Requires Payment Of $125,000 Penalty For Latest Revolution Natural Gas Pipeline Construction Violations In Beaver County

-- DEP Collects $85,000 Penalty For Mariner East 2 Pipeline Construction Violations In Blair, Cumberland, Juniata, Lebanon Counties

-- AP: PUC Judge: Sunoco/Energy Transfer Failed To Protect Delaware County Community During Construction Of Mariner East Pipeline, $51,000 Penalty Proposed

-- AG Shapiro: Southeast Directional Drilling Pleads Guilty To Contaminating Water Supply In Washington County, To Pay $15,000 Fine

Related Articles - Health & Environmental Impacts:

-- DEP Issued NOVs To Conventional Oil & Gas Companies For Abandoning 55 Wells Without Plugging Them During September Alone, A Dramatic Increase In New Well Abandonments  [PaEN]

-- Creating New Brownfields: Oil & Gas Well Drillers Notified DEP They Are Cleaning Up Soil & Water Contaminated With Chemicals Harmful To Human Health, Aquatic Life At 272 Locations In PA [PaEN]

-- Gov. Wolf, Senate, House Republicans Again Fail To Hold Conventional Oil & Gas Drillers Accountable For Protecting The Environment, Taxpayers On Hook For Billions [PaEN]

-- Conventional Oil & Gas Drillers Reported Spreading 977,671 Gallons Of Untreated Drilling Wastewater On PA Roads In 2021  [PaEN]

-- Penn State Study: Potential Pollution Caused By Road Dumping Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater Makes It Unsuitable For A Dust Suppressant, Washes Right Off The Road Into The Ditch  [PaEN]

-- DEP Lists 84 Townships As ‘Waste Facilities’ Where Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater Has Been Disposed Of By Road Spreading; Municipalities Need To Do Their Due Diligence [PaEN]

-- On-Site Conventional Oil & Gas Drilling Waste Disposal Plans Making Hundreds Of Drilling Sites Waste Dumps [PaEN]

-- Conventional Oil & Gas Drillers Dispose Of Drill Cuttings By ‘Dusting’ - Blowing Them On The Ground, And In The Air Around Drill Sites  [PaEN]

-- Senate Hearing: Body Of Evidence Is 'Large, Growing,’ ‘Consistent’ And 'Compelling' That Shale Gas Development Is Having A Negative Impact On Public Health; PA Must Act [PaEN]

-- NO SPECIAL PROTECTION: The Exceptional Value Loyalsock Creek In Lycoming County Is Dammed And Damned - Video Dispatch From The Loyalsock - By Barb Jarmoska, Keep It Wild PA [PaEN]

-- Rare Eastern Hellbender Habitat In Loyalsock Creek, Lycoming County Harmed By Sediment Plumes From Pipeline Crossings, Shale Gas Drilling Water Withdrawal Construction Projects  [PaEN]

-- DEP: PA Fracking Operations Sent Nearly 236,000 Cubic Feet Of Radioactive TENORM Waste To Low-Level Radioactive Waste Facilities For Disposal In 2021 - 811,070 since 2016  [PaEN]

-- Study: Industry Data Shows Hazardous Air Pollutants Are ‘Ubiquitous’ In The Natural Gas Transmission System; More Justification For Robust Leak Prevention Programs  [PaEN]

-- Environmental Health Project: Setback Distances And The Regulations We Need To Protect Public Health From Oil & Gas Facilities [PaEN]

-- Conventional Oil & Natural Gas Drilling: An Industrial Machine Moving Across The PA Countryside Leaving Behind Big Liabilities & Spreading Pollution Everywhere It Goes [PaEN]

-- House Committee Fails To Address $70 Million In Penalties On Natural Gas Pipelines Or Real Concerns Of People Living Near Gas Production & Distribution Facilities [PaEN]

-- DEP: Shell, Pipeline Contractor Assessed $670,000 Penalty For Falcon Ethane Pipeline Construction Violations In Allegheny, Beaver, Washington Counties [PaEN]

-- DEP Collects $147,250 Penalty From Rice Drilling B LLC For Erosion & Sedimentation Violations In Greene County; DEP Found Rice Had Hundreds Of Other Violations, Including Abandoning Wells Without Plugging Them  [PaEN]

-- Republican Chair Of House Environmental Committee Believes Opponents Of Natural Gas Infrastructure Projects ‘Just Need To Be Ignored And Politically Ran Over’ [PaEN]

[Posted: November 11, 2022]  PA Environment Digest

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