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From December 2010 up until now, the Upper Delaware River had more than 71 inches or precipitation, exceeding a normal year by better than 27 inches of the wet stuff.
Deputy River Master Gary Paulachok calls it the wettest year on record. Beginning with February 2010 the basin received above normal rainfall each month with August and September being off the charts. Back to back hurricane remnants and tropical storms added to the unusually high numbers.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
New York City DEP Commits $7 Million to West of Hudson Flood Mitigation
Money Will Help Advance Region's Effort to Mitigate Future Flood Hazards
Environmental Protection Commissioner Carter Strickland today announced that DEP has committed $7 million to improving flood studies and maps in the West of Hudson watershed through a contract with FEMA in order to limit the damage from similar storms and other flooding events in the future similar to Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee. This is in addition to $2.7 million, which is now available for technical support and engineering services to help flood recovery efforts in local partnerships with Soil and Water Conservation Districts. The surveys for flood studies are underway in Ulster, Sullivan and Schoharie County and are set to begin next week in Delaware County. Updated floodplain maps provide an essential tool for communities working to identify key choke points and to focus funding on the best ways to mitigate future flood threats. This is especially important since flooding in the West of Hudson watershed due to Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee far surpassed the inundation levels and damages of past record floods. Map Steering Committees comprising local leaders will also be able to use these funds to train their municipal floodplain managers.
"The recent storms have been devastating to our neighbors upstate," said Commissioner Strickland. "During and directly after the recent storms, DEP provided assistance from its upstate and in-city crews to help watershed communities clear debris, open and rebuild roads, and clean and rehabilitate sewer lines, with in-kind contributions of manpower, equipment, and materials valued at roughly $1 million. We also have to think about the long-term resiliency of the landscape. That is why these new flood studies will be critical in helping make the communities more resilient to future flood events."
In response to the 2011 storms, DEP has dedicated additional resources to debris removal and stream and floodplain restoration in the watershed. In the towns of Middletown and Hardenburgh, for example, the Delaware County Soil and Water Conservation District's Stream Management Program guided the debris removal work from extensive reaches of the Dry Brook and East Branch Delaware River using its post-flood emergency stream intervention protocol.
Reworking stream channels after floods, if not done correctly, can increase the hazards associated with future floods. The technical assistance provided through the Stream Management Program has helped ensure that stream work performed post-Irene won't leave the region's rivers more susceptible to erosion. Cumulatively this effort includes over 12,000 hours of staff time, 46 bridge inspections, 95 stream channel restoration projects, and over 100 sites where DEP staff collaborated with localities on stream permitting.
Since 2002, the Stream Management Program and its partners have completed comprehensive plans for most West of Hudson rivers, created a network of more than 25 restoration projects, and established local field offices to help landowners and communities solve stream-related problems, including reducing flood hazards, minimizing bank erosion and improving fish habitat. DEP has invested more than $18 million for stream projects focused on flood hazard mitigation, which is part of more than $55 million overall in funding for stream management planning, restoration work, and education and training.
The success of DEP's Stream Management Program depends on mainly three factors:
- State-of-the-art stream science (called fluvial geomorphology);
- Partnerships with local experts and stakeholders from soil and water conservation districts, Cornell Cooperative Extension, planning departments, towns and riparian landowners;
- Funding commitments: DEP has invested over $55 million in stream management in the last 15 years, and helped the Soil and Water Conservation Districts leverage several million federal dollars.
During and after Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee, DEP worked with local communities to assist in the recovery and rebuilding while making sure to protect the watershed, including:
- Ahead of the storm, DEP increased water release rates at its reservoirs to enhance the reservoirs' ability to absorb storm inflow and minimize any potential negative impacts on the surrounding community or to drinking water quality.
- From the start of the storm, DEP Police assisted with search and rescues throughout the watershed.
- In order to ensure that cleanup efforts were implemented as quickly and efficiently as possible, DEP suspended enforcement of certain watershed rules and regulations in its West-of-Hudson watershed provided they are taken in response to Hurricane Irene and are immediately necessary to protect life, health, property, and natural resources and are conducted with easily adopted, common-sense protections.
- DEP deployed equipment and personnel to Prattsville, Windham, Margaretville, Phoenicia, Arkville, Mill Brook, Fleischmanns, Wawarsing, and other communities. Dozens of watershed maintainers, construction laborers, and supervisors used dump trucks, backhoes, excavators, loaders, and chainsaws to remove debris.
- A Vactor truck and crew from the city was deployed to clean manholes in Margaretville as were crews from sewer maintenance, which deployed flusher trucks and rodders to clean the collection system in the village.
- DEP wastewater treatment personnel from the city pitched in at the Tannersville Wastewater Treatment Plant, where a 150-foot section of road was washed away near the plant. They also assisted with repairing a broken sewer pipe which crossed a stream.
- DEP deployed engineers to assist in inspecting bridges throughout the watershed.
- DEP provided $1 million in funding to help West of Hudson businesses recover from flood damage through the Flood Recovery Fund established by the Catskill Watershed Corporation and assisted with funding toward the repair of Schoharie County's emergency siren system for Gilboa Dam.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Delaware Basin Conservation Act Passes Environmental Committee
In an important step, federal legislation to help protect the Delaware River Basin has passed its Senate committee
The Delaware River Basin Conservation Act of 2011 passed the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works last Thursday.
A companion bill in the House of Representatives is under consideration by the House Natural Resources Committee’s subcommittee on fisheries, wildlife, oceans and insular Affairs.
“We have a long way to go, but this is the first time that the legislation made it out of committee,” said Dan Plummer, board chairman of Friends of the Upper Delaware River. “We want to thank the legislators who saw the value in this proposal, in spite of the difficult economic times we are in.”
The Senate co-sponsors of the legislation are Democratic Sens. Tom Carper and Chris Coons of Delaware, Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, and Robert Casey of Pennsylvania.
The House bill is sponsored by U.S. Rep. John Carney, a Delaware Democrat. It has bipartisan co-sponsorship, including U.S. Reps. Robert Andrews and Rush Holt, New Jersey Democrats; Frank LoBiondo and John Runyan, New Jersey Republicans; Charles Dent, Michael Fitzpatrick, Jim Gerlach and Patrick Meehan, Pennsylvania Republicans; Allyson Schwartz, a Pennsylvania Democrat, and Maurice Hinchey, a New York Democrat.
The advancement of the bill was lauded by a number of conservation organizations that support it, including Friends of the Upper Delaware River, Delaware Riverkeeper, Delaware Highlands Conservancy, the American Littoral Society, the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, New Jersey Audubon, American Rivers, the Land Trust Alliance, Ducks Unlimited, Trout Unlimited, the Pinchot Institute and Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future.
“We applaud the bi-partisan leadership and the forward momentum of this much-needed legislation,” said Kelly Mooij, of New Jersey Audubon Society. “The River Basin provides the water, habitat for wildlife and livelihood for many millions in our four states. We congratulate this committee for its recognition of what we in the region have known for quite some time; we must act now to protect this valuable resource for our children and grandchildren.”
“The Delaware River provides the life-blood water to 15 million people in and around its basin,” said John Randolph, editor emeritus of Fly Fisherman magazine. “It has never faced more threatening environmental challenges. This bill is an important step in creating the means of the river's long-term protection and restoration.”
“We applaud this much-needed bill to help protect this incredibly valuable resource," said Glenn Erikson, Ph.D., of Wild Trout Flyrodders and the Federation of Fly Fishers. “The river is the crown jewel of eastern fisheries yet has immense challenges before it, even beyond the threat unregulated hydrofracking poses: invasive species, declining and/or turbid releases from its New York reservoirs, increasing gravel loads scouring the riverbeds, riverbed flattening in key reaches, and many more.”
"In the wake of both man made and natural environmental impacts to the Delaware Watershed, it's great to see bi-partisan support for financial aid to this resource so many depend upon,” said Richard Thomas of New Jersey Trout Unlimited. “We can only hope the support will continue to grow for this legislation which would help protect and restore the watershed for years to come."
The act would implement a voluntary, coordinated approach to sustaining and enhancing the basin’s habitat, water quality and flooding controls to benefit fish, wildlife and people.
It would provide $5 million for each of the next five fiscal years. The federal Interior Secretary would coordinate a program that would involve all four states in the basin, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. The program would include a competitive grants component to provide support for local, on-the-ground projects by non-profits, universities, state and local governments, community organizations and others.
The grants could be used to support such things as wetlands restoration and protection, flood mitigation and waterfront revitalization.
In many ways, the Delaware River Basin has lacked a coordinated federal/state/local oversight effort, even though it is home to more than 8 million people and provides drinking water to 15 million. Other major American watersheds, including the Great Lakes and the Chesapeake Bay, get tens of millions of dollars in federal funding used for such things as conservation coordination.
The Delaware Basin gets relatively little funding, and the lack of coordination leaves it vulnerable to environmental exploitation.
Conservation groups point out that the Delaware River, the longest undammed river east of the Mississippi, is a critical component of the National Wild and Scenic River System in the Northeast. Management of the river and water volume in the Basin is critical to flood control and habitat for fish and wildlife.
Plummer said it is vital for individuals, municipalities and organizations within the Delaware Basin to contact their federal representatives to voice support for the legislation.
He urged those seeking more information, including a list of Basin congressmen, to visit the Northeast-Midwest Institute website at www.nemw.org/delaware.
“This is a great opportunity for us to draw long overdue funding and attention to our vital and precious natural resource,” Plummer said.
The Delaware River Basin Conservation Act of 2011 passed the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works last Thursday.
A companion bill in the House of Representatives is under consideration by the House Natural Resources Committee’s subcommittee on fisheries, wildlife, oceans and insular Affairs.
“We have a long way to go, but this is the first time that the legislation made it out of committee,” said Dan Plummer, board chairman of Friends of the Upper Delaware River. “We want to thank the legislators who saw the value in this proposal, in spite of the difficult economic times we are in.”
The Senate co-sponsors of the legislation are Democratic Sens. Tom Carper and Chris Coons of Delaware, Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, and Robert Casey of Pennsylvania.
The House bill is sponsored by U.S. Rep. John Carney, a Delaware Democrat. It has bipartisan co-sponsorship, including U.S. Reps. Robert Andrews and Rush Holt, New Jersey Democrats; Frank LoBiondo and John Runyan, New Jersey Republicans; Charles Dent, Michael Fitzpatrick, Jim Gerlach and Patrick Meehan, Pennsylvania Republicans; Allyson Schwartz, a Pennsylvania Democrat, and Maurice Hinchey, a New York Democrat.
The advancement of the bill was lauded by a number of conservation organizations that support it, including Friends of the Upper Delaware River, Delaware Riverkeeper, Delaware Highlands Conservancy, the American Littoral Society, the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, New Jersey Audubon, American Rivers, the Land Trust Alliance, Ducks Unlimited, Trout Unlimited, the Pinchot Institute and Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future.
“We applaud the bi-partisan leadership and the forward momentum of this much-needed legislation,” said Kelly Mooij, of New Jersey Audubon Society. “The River Basin provides the water, habitat for wildlife and livelihood for many millions in our four states. We congratulate this committee for its recognition of what we in the region have known for quite some time; we must act now to protect this valuable resource for our children and grandchildren.”
“The Delaware River provides the life-blood water to 15 million people in and around its basin,” said John Randolph, editor emeritus of Fly Fisherman magazine. “It has never faced more threatening environmental challenges. This bill is an important step in creating the means of the river's long-term protection and restoration.”
“We applaud this much-needed bill to help protect this incredibly valuable resource," said Glenn Erikson, Ph.D., of Wild Trout Flyrodders and the Federation of Fly Fishers. “The river is the crown jewel of eastern fisheries yet has immense challenges before it, even beyond the threat unregulated hydrofracking poses: invasive species, declining and/or turbid releases from its New York reservoirs, increasing gravel loads scouring the riverbeds, riverbed flattening in key reaches, and many more.”
"In the wake of both man made and natural environmental impacts to the Delaware Watershed, it's great to see bi-partisan support for financial aid to this resource so many depend upon,” said Richard Thomas of New Jersey Trout Unlimited. “We can only hope the support will continue to grow for this legislation which would help protect and restore the watershed for years to come."
The act would implement a voluntary, coordinated approach to sustaining and enhancing the basin’s habitat, water quality and flooding controls to benefit fish, wildlife and people.
It would provide $5 million for each of the next five fiscal years. The federal Interior Secretary would coordinate a program that would involve all four states in the basin, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. The program would include a competitive grants component to provide support for local, on-the-ground projects by non-profits, universities, state and local governments, community organizations and others.
The grants could be used to support such things as wetlands restoration and protection, flood mitigation and waterfront revitalization.
In many ways, the Delaware River Basin has lacked a coordinated federal/state/local oversight effort, even though it is home to more than 8 million people and provides drinking water to 15 million. Other major American watersheds, including the Great Lakes and the Chesapeake Bay, get tens of millions of dollars in federal funding used for such things as conservation coordination.
The Delaware Basin gets relatively little funding, and the lack of coordination leaves it vulnerable to environmental exploitation.
Conservation groups point out that the Delaware River, the longest undammed river east of the Mississippi, is a critical component of the National Wild and Scenic River System in the Northeast. Management of the river and water volume in the Basin is critical to flood control and habitat for fish and wildlife.
Plummer said it is vital for individuals, municipalities and organizations within the Delaware Basin to contact their federal representatives to voice support for the legislation.
He urged those seeking more information, including a list of Basin congressmen, to visit the Northeast-Midwest Institute website at www.nemw.org/delaware.
“This is a great opportunity for us to draw long overdue funding and attention to our vital and precious natural resource,” Plummer said.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Friday, November 18, 2011
November 21 Special Meeting on Gas Drilling is Cancelled by the Delaware River Basin Commission
WEST TRENTON, N.J. (Nov. 18) – The Delaware River Basin
Commission (DRBC) today announced that the special meeting scheduled for Nov. 21
to consider draft natural gas development regulations has been postponed to
allow additional time for review by the five commission members.
No additional information is available at this
time.
The DRBC is a federal/interstate government agency
responsible for managing the water resources within the 13,539 square-mile
Delaware River Basin. The five commission members are the governors of the basin
states (Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania) and the commander of
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ North Atlantic Division, who represents the
federal government.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Natural Gas Development Regulations
On November 21, 2011, the Delaware River Basin Commission will consider adoption of Article 7 of DRBC’s Water Quality Regulations
to protect the water resources of the Delaware River Basin during the
construction and operation of natural gas development projects.
This meeting is a special meeting rescheduled from October 21, 2011. It will be held from 10 a.m. to 12 noon in the Patriots Theater at the War Memorial, 1 Memorial Drive, in Trenton, N.J. It will not include a hearing to accept comments from the public prior to the anticipated vote.
The purpose of the proposed regulations are to protect the water resources of the Delaware River Basin during the development and operation of natural gas projects. 69,000 comments were received on the draft natural gas development regulations. Six public hearings were held at three locations in February 2011. Written comments were accepted until April 15, 2011, which was an extension from the original March 16 deadline.
The Commission has published the regulations on their website: NATURAL GAS DEVELOPMENT REGULATIONS
They also published a "fact sheet" regarding the regulations on their website: NATURAL GAS DEVELOPMENT REGULATIONS "AT A GLANCE" FACT SHEET
This meeting is a special meeting rescheduled from October 21, 2011. It will be held from 10 a.m. to 12 noon in the Patriots Theater at the War Memorial, 1 Memorial Drive, in Trenton, N.J. It will not include a hearing to accept comments from the public prior to the anticipated vote.
The purpose of the proposed regulations are to protect the water resources of the Delaware River Basin during the development and operation of natural gas projects. 69,000 comments were received on the draft natural gas development regulations. Six public hearings were held at three locations in February 2011. Written comments were accepted until April 15, 2011, which was an extension from the original March 16 deadline.
The Commission has published the regulations on their website: NATURAL GAS DEVELOPMENT REGULATIONS
They also published a "fact sheet" regarding the regulations on their website: NATURAL GAS DEVELOPMENT REGULATIONS "AT A GLANCE" FACT SHEET
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Philadelphia passes resolution to sue Delaware River Basin Commission
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday October 13, 2011
Contact: Iris Marie Bloom, Director, Protecting Our Waters
(215) 840-6489, protectingourwaters@gmail.com
Philadelphia: At noon today, all seventeen members of Philadelphia’s City Council voted in favor of a resolution which joins the City of Philadelphia as a Friend of the Court, together with lawsuits already filed by the Attorney General of the State of New York, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, and other parties, in suing the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC). Philadelphia is joining these lawsuits to require, according to the resolution passed today, “that no drilling of Marcellus Shale take place until a full environmental analysis is completed.”
“Today was a great day for democracy, science and human health in Philadelphia,” said abe [Mr. Alex Allen], Associate Director of Protecting Our Waters, after the vote. ”Our representatives in City Council chose to unanimously look out for the interests of the people while resisting the persistent lobbying of the industry.”
The resolution was sponsored by Councilman Curtis Jones and Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, and co-sponsored by Councilwoman Maria Quinones Sanchez. Physician Walter Tsou, Rabbi Mordechai Liebling, Denise Dennis, whose historic land is impacted by shale gas drilling; and two activists testified in favor. About 30 supporters inside City Hall held up signs affirming, “Protect Our Water,” and “Don’t Drill the Delaware.” Councilman O’Neill, the only councilperson not present for the vote, had cast his “aye” vote before leaving the chambers. Councilman Jones’ office is now following up to ensure that the brief is filed, working with Council’s technical staff of lawyers.
Rabbi Mordechai Liebling, who testified at Council today, was delighted with the vote. ”Shale gas drilling is a public health disaster in the making,” he warned.
Dr. Walter Tsou, President of Physicians for Social Responsibility, past president of the American Public Health Association and former health commissioner of Philadelphia, also testified. ”As a public health physician, I have grave concerns about public health and environmental consequences of hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale region,” he said. “A cursory list of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing includes known carcinogens like diethyl benzene, ethyl benzene, formaldehyde, petroleum distillate (paint remover) and ethylene glycol, otherwise known as antifreeze. Add to that methane [migration into groundwater] and flowback [drilling wastewater] contaminated with radioactive isotopes…. Politicians have explicitly avoided the public health question because if they were really confronted with it, they would stop hydraulic fracturing.”
The resolution, which demands both a Delaware River Basin-specific cumulative impacts study and the EPA national study of the risks high-volume hydraulic fracturing poses to drinking water, includes a clause which appears to lay the groundwork to do just that for the Delaware River Basin, which supplies Philadelphia with 100% of its drinking water (the Schuylkill River is also in the Basin):
“Whereas, If the combined results of both a national EPA study and a Delaware River Basin-specific cumulative impacts study, show the potential for catastrophic risk, potential costs, and the inherent and cumulative risks to water, air, climate, farms, food, economy, fish and wildlife, human health, scenic value, and the tourism base, the City of Philadelphia will determine whether it is advisable to call for the entire Delaware River Basin to be kept off limits to unconventional gas drilling techniques.” The resolution also quotes the Pennsylvania Constitution’s famous clause ensuring that the people of Pennsylvania must enjoy “clean air, pure water,” and more.
Julie Edgar of Gas-Truth, an advocacy group which has sprung up to oppose shale gas drilling, testified in favor. After the vote she said, “Common sense advocates were pleased that the City Council of Philadelphia did the obvious right thing to support voices calling for the precautionary principle, demanding that we wait for cumulative environmental impact studies to be completed.”
Aaron Birk, a resident of West Philadelphia, was exuberant. In his testimony prior to the vote he said, “This is our chance to make history. The City of Philadelphia can stand up to an industry which wants only profit…. If we stand up to the industry, we have everything to gain.” After the vote, he commented, “There’s a lot of excitement here. Denise Dennis was fiercely articulate. (Councilwoman) Jannie Blackwell made several moving comments; she made a prayer for the occupiers, the sick and homeless and struggling people, and spoke in praise of the Occupy movement. She encouraged Council to respond to their constituents who are out in the street with serious concerns.” Today, Birk said, Council did just that, standing up to the fracking industry because, he said, “even if dollars did flow into the city, they’d dry up from public health costs and we’d be left with poisoned water.”
Late in the day on Wednesday, several Councilmembers indicated they’d been hearing a great deal from constituents in favor of passing the resolution to forbid fracking and sue the DRBC. A spokesman for Councilman Green said, “We are receiving a lot of calls in favor, and we are documenting everything.” A spokesman for Councilman Rizzo said, “We’ve gotten a lot of calls about that… I believe he’ll go that way [a yes vote].” Spokespeople in the offices of Councilman Darrell Clarke and Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller said they’d received “a large number of calls in favor.”
BACKGROUND:
The Delaware River Basin Commission has stated that they expect to vote on November 21st on ending the current moratorium and opening the Delaware River Basin to fracking, the controversial technique used in “tight” formations such as deep shale using large volumes of water mixed with “mystery” chemicals, which the industry is not obliged to disclose due to exemptions from federal law. The chemicals turn fresh water into “slickwater,” the industry term for water mixed with fracking chemicals, which is injected at extremely high pressure to fracture the bedrock, using lateral drilling up to two miles long and one mile deep. Fracking releases methane, a climate-warming fossil fuel the industry calls “natural gas.” Other gas byproducts are also released; some are used to create single-use plastics, which are choking the oceans and killing marine life; and nitrogen-based fertilizer, the runoff from which is creating huge dead zones in the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean.
The DRBC estimates about 20,000 gas wells would be approved. At the average rate of about 5 million gallons of “slickwater” injected per well, that would mean over 100 billion gallons of toxic fracking fluid would be injected through the aquifers of the Delaware River Basin, deep underground. Cement casing failure rate is about 12% immediately, 50% within 30 years, and 100% within 100 years, according to Professor Anthony Ingraffea, fracturing mechanics expert at Cornell University. The current rate of environmental violations at Marcellus Shale drilling sites, including spills of industrial liquids such as frack fluid, is eleven violations as day.
In 2009, seventeen cows died bellowing in agony within an hour after drinking fracking fluid which spilled from a valve left open. That fluid, according to Chesapeake Energy, which was responsible for the incident, was 99% water and only 1% fracking fluid.
Farmers in Pennsylvania have reported many deaths of cattle which they believe was caused by fracking contaminants in water, as well as stillborn calves, puppies, goats, and other animals linked to exposure to gas drilling contaminants. Fracking fluid impacts the respiratory, endocrine, reproductive, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular systems of humans and animals, according to research by The Endocrine Disruption Exchange.
Fifty-nine scientists released a letter September 15th stating that “flowback,” the wastewater which comes back up during and after fracking for methane gas, cannot be filtered by municipal water treatment systems. That letter is here.
The complete text of the resolution passed today is here and all phone numbers for City Council members are on the POW blog, here.
Protecting Our Waters is a Philadelphia-based grassroots organization dedicated to protecting the Delaware River Basin, the state of Pennsylvania, and the region from unconventional gas drilling and other threats to drinking water, the environment, and public health.
Thursday October 13, 2011
Contact: Iris Marie Bloom, Director, Protecting Our Waters
(215) 840-6489, protectingourwaters@gmail.com
Philadelphia City Council unanimously passes Resolution to
sue the Delaware River Basin Commission, demands cumulative impacts of
high-volume hydraulic fracturing be studied, forbidding fracking for now
Philadelphia: At noon today, all seventeen members of Philadelphia’s City Council voted in favor of a resolution which joins the City of Philadelphia as a Friend of the Court, together with lawsuits already filed by the Attorney General of the State of New York, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, and other parties, in suing the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC). Philadelphia is joining these lawsuits to require, according to the resolution passed today, “that no drilling of Marcellus Shale take place until a full environmental analysis is completed.”
“Today was a great day for democracy, science and human health in Philadelphia,” said abe [Mr. Alex Allen], Associate Director of Protecting Our Waters, after the vote. ”Our representatives in City Council chose to unanimously look out for the interests of the people while resisting the persistent lobbying of the industry.”
The resolution was sponsored by Councilman Curtis Jones and Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, and co-sponsored by Councilwoman Maria Quinones Sanchez. Physician Walter Tsou, Rabbi Mordechai Liebling, Denise Dennis, whose historic land is impacted by shale gas drilling; and two activists testified in favor. About 30 supporters inside City Hall held up signs affirming, “Protect Our Water,” and “Don’t Drill the Delaware.” Councilman O’Neill, the only councilperson not present for the vote, had cast his “aye” vote before leaving the chambers. Councilman Jones’ office is now following up to ensure that the brief is filed, working with Council’s technical staff of lawyers.
Rabbi Mordechai Liebling, who testified at Council today, was delighted with the vote. ”Shale gas drilling is a public health disaster in the making,” he warned.
Dr. Walter Tsou, President of Physicians for Social Responsibility, past president of the American Public Health Association and former health commissioner of Philadelphia, also testified. ”As a public health physician, I have grave concerns about public health and environmental consequences of hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale region,” he said. “A cursory list of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing includes known carcinogens like diethyl benzene, ethyl benzene, formaldehyde, petroleum distillate (paint remover) and ethylene glycol, otherwise known as antifreeze. Add to that methane [migration into groundwater] and flowback [drilling wastewater] contaminated with radioactive isotopes…. Politicians have explicitly avoided the public health question because if they were really confronted with it, they would stop hydraulic fracturing.”
The resolution, which demands both a Delaware River Basin-specific cumulative impacts study and the EPA national study of the risks high-volume hydraulic fracturing poses to drinking water, includes a clause which appears to lay the groundwork to do just that for the Delaware River Basin, which supplies Philadelphia with 100% of its drinking water (the Schuylkill River is also in the Basin):
“Whereas, If the combined results of both a national EPA study and a Delaware River Basin-specific cumulative impacts study, show the potential for catastrophic risk, potential costs, and the inherent and cumulative risks to water, air, climate, farms, food, economy, fish and wildlife, human health, scenic value, and the tourism base, the City of Philadelphia will determine whether it is advisable to call for the entire Delaware River Basin to be kept off limits to unconventional gas drilling techniques.” The resolution also quotes the Pennsylvania Constitution’s famous clause ensuring that the people of Pennsylvania must enjoy “clean air, pure water,” and more.
Julie Edgar of Gas-Truth, an advocacy group which has sprung up to oppose shale gas drilling, testified in favor. After the vote she said, “Common sense advocates were pleased that the City Council of Philadelphia did the obvious right thing to support voices calling for the precautionary principle, demanding that we wait for cumulative environmental impact studies to be completed.”
Aaron Birk, a resident of West Philadelphia, was exuberant. In his testimony prior to the vote he said, “This is our chance to make history. The City of Philadelphia can stand up to an industry which wants only profit…. If we stand up to the industry, we have everything to gain.” After the vote, he commented, “There’s a lot of excitement here. Denise Dennis was fiercely articulate. (Councilwoman) Jannie Blackwell made several moving comments; she made a prayer for the occupiers, the sick and homeless and struggling people, and spoke in praise of the Occupy movement. She encouraged Council to respond to their constituents who are out in the street with serious concerns.” Today, Birk said, Council did just that, standing up to the fracking industry because, he said, “even if dollars did flow into the city, they’d dry up from public health costs and we’d be left with poisoned water.”
Late in the day on Wednesday, several Councilmembers indicated they’d been hearing a great deal from constituents in favor of passing the resolution to forbid fracking and sue the DRBC. A spokesman for Councilman Green said, “We are receiving a lot of calls in favor, and we are documenting everything.” A spokesman for Councilman Rizzo said, “We’ve gotten a lot of calls about that… I believe he’ll go that way [a yes vote].” Spokespeople in the offices of Councilman Darrell Clarke and Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller said they’d received “a large number of calls in favor.”
BACKGROUND:
The Delaware River Basin Commission has stated that they expect to vote on November 21st on ending the current moratorium and opening the Delaware River Basin to fracking, the controversial technique used in “tight” formations such as deep shale using large volumes of water mixed with “mystery” chemicals, which the industry is not obliged to disclose due to exemptions from federal law. The chemicals turn fresh water into “slickwater,” the industry term for water mixed with fracking chemicals, which is injected at extremely high pressure to fracture the bedrock, using lateral drilling up to two miles long and one mile deep. Fracking releases methane, a climate-warming fossil fuel the industry calls “natural gas.” Other gas byproducts are also released; some are used to create single-use plastics, which are choking the oceans and killing marine life; and nitrogen-based fertilizer, the runoff from which is creating huge dead zones in the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean.
The DRBC estimates about 20,000 gas wells would be approved. At the average rate of about 5 million gallons of “slickwater” injected per well, that would mean over 100 billion gallons of toxic fracking fluid would be injected through the aquifers of the Delaware River Basin, deep underground. Cement casing failure rate is about 12% immediately, 50% within 30 years, and 100% within 100 years, according to Professor Anthony Ingraffea, fracturing mechanics expert at Cornell University. The current rate of environmental violations at Marcellus Shale drilling sites, including spills of industrial liquids such as frack fluid, is eleven violations as day.
In 2009, seventeen cows died bellowing in agony within an hour after drinking fracking fluid which spilled from a valve left open. That fluid, according to Chesapeake Energy, which was responsible for the incident, was 99% water and only 1% fracking fluid.
Farmers in Pennsylvania have reported many deaths of cattle which they believe was caused by fracking contaminants in water, as well as stillborn calves, puppies, goats, and other animals linked to exposure to gas drilling contaminants. Fracking fluid impacts the respiratory, endocrine, reproductive, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular systems of humans and animals, according to research by The Endocrine Disruption Exchange.
Fifty-nine scientists released a letter September 15th stating that “flowback,” the wastewater which comes back up during and after fracking for methane gas, cannot be filtered by municipal water treatment systems. That letter is here.
The complete text of the resolution passed today is here and all phone numbers for City Council members are on the POW blog, here.
Protecting Our Waters is a Philadelphia-based grassroots organization dedicated to protecting the Delaware River Basin, the state of Pennsylvania, and the region from unconventional gas drilling and other threats to drinking water, the environment, and public health.
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