Guest column: Public forum just a publicity event in support of fracking

Claims of energy independence are undercut by the fact companies are contracting to sell the gas to Europe and China, and even the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' own literature admits that the available gas will satisfy demand for only about 14 years ("Environmental Regulatory Basics," July 2011). Investment in renewable energy would move us toward independence faster.

Accidents from horizontal fracturing are well documented. In Pennsylvania, 13 percent of fracked wells resulted in contaminated ground water; in Dimmock, Penn., the figure was 33 percent. You-Tube videos from there reveal an industrial wasteland. In Pennsylvania, Wyoming and Colorado people who lived near drilling sites lost all the value of their property because of water contamination. The EPA found evidence of hazardous chemicals including 2-butoxyethanol, benzene, acetone, toluene, and naphthalene at 50 times their safety levels. The claim that these chemicals should be considered innocuous because they can be found in household products is disingenuous because as products they are sold in small quantities and contain warnings about serious effects from ingestion. Even if the exorbitant claims of wealth and jobs bear some truth, neither compensates for threats to health.

n the event of environmental damage, the burden of proof is on individuals against big energy companies with massive resources. Even Republican Attorney General Michael DeWine recommends that stronger regulations be put in place before more drilling permits are issued.

http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/article/20120219/OPINION02/202190317

How to Phase Out Nuclear, Coal and Oil in 25 Years

“But there are existing technologies, if we have the will power to – one year at a time – replace the coal, the oil and the nuclear power.”

“We have a little bit of that going in the electric power field, where California and many other states are gradually increasing the percentage of renewal. But it is moving at a snail’s pace. And it’s through the regulatory system, where the enforcement is a bit lax.”

“Mother nature doesn’t know about the lack of enforcement. The problem is, we have a family doctor – the climatologist – telling us that in this decade, we need to get carbon under control.”

“On nuclear power, just read the papers – Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Fukushima. We have a fleet of old nuclear power plants that are radioactive factories that are now over 30 years old. And we are just running the risk that we are going to have Fukushimas all over the world in coming years.”

“And we have the technology to replace them.”

“I have been at this for a long time. I was once in favor of nuclear power because of the air pollution from coal. And we didn’t have alternatives. But now we do.”

“Ask your children – what would you choose – a bunch of solar panels or a radioactive factory?”

“It’s a no-brainer for somebody who is not an energy expert – for an ordinary citizen.”

“Of course you are not going to take a one in a million chance of killing millions of people and wiping out a big chunk of America. Why take that risk? The marketplace won’t take that risk.”

“It’s not a hard decision to make that from now on we ought to focus on making energy from what mother nature gives us free of charge – the wind and the sun.”

As for electric cars, Freeman has an idea.

“The utilities ought to own the batteries,” he says. “They can store electricity in the batteries in the car. And it helps firm up the power system.”

I would own the electric car, but the utility owns the battery in my car?

“Right,” Freeman says. “The price of the electric car goes down from $25,000 to $15,000. And people start buying them in droves.”

The batteries cost $10,000?

“Yes, the batteries are very expensive.”

What’s the incentive for the utility to own the battery?

“They are going to sell a lot more electricity,” Freeman says. “It’s a big new market. It’s a huge market. And they can make money on electricity to drive the car. And then they can also use the battery to store power in the hours that the car is not running. And it fits in nicely to the electric system. And they amortize them as they do their power plants over a long period of time.”

“It’s a way of getting the electric car business booming. And it makes sense. The batteries have a dual purpose. They run the car, but they are part of the storage system that the utilities are going to need in the future with an all renewable electric system.”

[For the complete question./answer format Interview with S. David Freeman, see 26 Corporate Crime Reporter 9, February 27, 2012,print edition only.] 

http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/02/24/how-to-phase-out-nuclear-coal-and-oil-in-25-years/

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Head of Ohio Oil and Gas Commission seeks inquiry into member

Chase runs Marietta College’s Department of Petroleum Engineering and Geology, which trains students to work in the drilling industry. He also works as a consultant for landowner groups that negotiate terms and payments for the mineral-rights leases offered by drilling companies eager to tap oil and gas trapped in Ohio’s Utica shale.

When the deals are struck, he gets a percentage of what the companies pay the landowners.

Jack Shaner of the Ohio Environmental Council said Chase is more a representative of industry than the public. The committee’s other members include two oil-industry reps, a geologist and an oil and gas attorney.

“This thing sounds way too cozy,” Shaner said.

Chase said that’s not true.

“I’m a citizen of this state. I just happen to have a Ph.D. in petroleum engineering,” Chase said. “I’m as objective as anybody in looking at that information.”

Still, Chase said his past work to negotiate lease terms with Oklahoma-based Chesapeake Energy on behalf of a Carroll County landowner group made him recuse himself from a Jan. 25 case involving the company.

The Summitcrest cattle farm near Summitville in Columbiana County contested a permit that state regulators gave Chesapeake Energy to drill on the farm’s property. Chesapeake dropped its drilling plans before the hearing was held.

Linda Osterman, the Oil and Gas Commission director, said she has asked the Ohio Ethics Commission to determine whether Chase’s business activities present a conflict of interest.

Chase has taken part in 13 hearings since he was appointed by Gov. Ted Strickland in June 2008, Osterman said. His term expires Oct. 14.

Elisa Young, a southeastern Ohio environmental advocate, said Chase should not be on the commission.

“He’s profiting from this industry when they sign these leases,” Young said. “I don’t have any confidence at all in this person.”

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The Human Story

This page is dedicated to compiling the reports of people dealing with water contamination, air pollution, loss of property value, and sickness due to fracking near their homes.   The Academy Award nominated movie Gasland documented the experiences of people with hydraulic fracturing principally in the Western US.  Reports are coming in now that the same kind of incidents are occurring in the Marcellus shale region i.e. New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and parts of Maryland, Virginia, and Ohio.  Now that the rich Utica shale in Ohio is in play, we expect the have more stories from that state.

http://www.frackcheckwv.net/impacts/the-human-story/

Shale Boom: Economic impact

"We had our attorneys develop a lease that we felt we could be comfortable with, that would approach and address some of the issues that potentially could be harmful to the environment and that's where we started," Rea said.

That lease has become a national model that presses gas companies to do better than the state of Ohio's regulations.

For example, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources gas companies can drill at least 200 feet away from a residence. Under ALOV's agreement, it's 500 feet.

Rea says, "That simply comes because you do have a number of people who are willing to sign a lease at the same time. Strength in numbers certainly benefits us."

The agreement also holds the company responsible for damages to the water supply.

That it will bear the burden of restoring water quality and quantity to its pre-existing condition. And it will provide potable water during that restoration process.

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Chesapeake gets OK for 3 new fracking wells in northeast Ohio

Chesapeake gets OK for 3 new fracking wells in northeast Ohio

(NYSE:CHK) has gotten permits for three new wells to explore for natural gas in Ohio’s Utica shale field, the Youngstown Vindicatorreports.

The Oklahoma City-based company’s Chesapeake Exploration LLC affiliate said the Ohio Department of Natural Resources granted the wells in Columbiana County, the paper reported, where it plans to look for resources using fracking.

Columbiana County now has 14 wells approved for fracking, the paper said.

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/morning_call/2012/02/chesapeake-gets-ok-for-3-new-fracking.html

Will Natural Gas Become the 'Achilles' Heel' of Our Country?

After hearing Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar at the City Club of Cleveland on Feb. 14 speak about President Obama's vision for the new energy frontier, which is largely a full-steam ahead agenda for fossil fuel extraction, and then reading that more than 800,000 people signed a petition to their U.S. Senators to stop the Keystone XL pipeline and nearly2,000 people in Frankfort, Ky., called for an end to mountaintop removal coal mining that same day, it was clear that Obama's energy plan does not align with the sustainable energy future many Americans want.

Salazar said Obama's energy blueprint focuses on tapping into all of the energy resources of the U.S. and that the Department of the Interior will play a key role in mapping out a future that will bring about energy security for America.

He talked about renewable energy and the 41 solar energy manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and how this country is projected to be the number one solar energy market in the world by 2014. He also said that major strides have been made in wind energy, with more than 400 U.S. companies manufacturing components for the wind energy industry and one-third of all new electrical capacity in the U.S. coming from wind farms.

In 2009, there were no solar energy projects permitted on public lands. Today there are 29 commercial-scale solar projects and more than 5,600 megawatts of permitted renewable energy projects on public lands. Salazar said these projects are creating thousands of jobs and even making skeptics believe that we can actually capture the power of the sun to power our cities.

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