PADEP releases information on its study of fracking air

The Department of Environmental Protection provided added information today about its long-term air monitoring study in southwestern Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale region.

A PADEP news release, announcing that its study will continue through the end of the year, was accompanied by a technical support document providing additional information about the study’s scope and process.

Aaron Kendeall, a staff writer for the Observer-Reporter writes:

"The study, which began in July 2012, was designed to track potential health risks associated with natural gas extraction, processing and transportation. The air quality assessment was originally scheduled to be completed last month.

"(DEP spokesman Kevin) Sunday said the extension was in part due to a delay in installing monitoring hardware at satellite sites and to allow more time for analyzing the data. The department hoped to release a final report next spring.

"The DEP released a “technical support document” Thursday that made public information about the study’s design, sampling criteria and analysis methods. According to the 60-page document, researchers are collecting data on the concentration of pollutants near shale-related sites in the Chartiers-Houston area.

“Washington County is a hotbed of Marcellus activity,” Sunday said. “Anything that could be going on with drilling is going on in Washington County – whether it’s compressor stations, pipelines or wet gas processing facilities.”

"Sampling equipment was placed in areas near the MarkWest Liberty Midstream Resources processing facility in Houston, which separates methane from other natural gas byproducts. Two other “satellite” sites were installed downwind of the plant, the Brigich study site about 2.2 miles southwest of the processing facility and the Stewart site 7 miles west. The sites will collect air samples and measure the level of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, particulate matter, sulfur oxides and volatile organic compounds."

See the full Observer-Reporter story here
PADEP news release
PADEP Marcellus Shale air study’s technical support document

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Will enviro exec’s big plunge spur on green competitors?

In a time of compassion fatigue, environmental organizations, like all charities, must get more creative to attract attention (and contributions) to their causes. But how ever will they compete with Meghan Wren?

The clever promotion below by the Bayshore Center at Bivalve, sent to us by the folks at the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, announces that Ms. Wren plans to become the third person ever swim across Delaware Bay–all to draw attention to the bay’s environmental fragility and to raise money to help her organization and others to protect it.

Still, we can’t help but wonder: Does this set a demanding, new athletic bar for leaders of regional green organizations?

Will we soon see Jeff Tittel backstroking Newark Bay? Debbie Mans kayaking the Hudson River? Cindy Zipf surfing the Jersey Shore or Maya K. van Rossum paddleboarding across the Delaware?

Let us know what you think in the comment box below the post.            

The
Delaware Bay has a Champion!
The Partnership for the
Delaware Estuary wants you
to support Meghan Wren
as she becomes
the third
person to ever swim Delaware Bay!
Meghan Wren, founder and executive director of the Bayshore
Center at Bivalve, will swim across Delaware Bay on August 3 to help
raise money and awareness of the importance it has in all of our lives.
Please come out to the kick-off party for supporters at JP’s Wharf in North
Bowers Beach (201 Hubbard Ave., Frederica, DE) this
Friday, from 2 to 4 p.m.  Tickets are available by calling
(856) 785-2060, extension 108, or online at BayshoreDiscovery.org (select
“Click HERE for Tickets!” and look for August 2).
  
Wren
will arrive at Port Mahon, Delaware (near Dover) at approximately 6:30
a.m. this Saturday in
preparation for a 7 a.m. start, conditions permitting (times subject to
change).
The swim should take
approximately 8 to 10 hours.  Spectators, well-wishers, and bay lovers
alike are invited to spend the afternoon (1 to 4 p.m.) on Fortescue Beach in
Fortescue, New Jersey on Saturday, where activities will include a
children’s fishing contest, beach games, and t-shirt sales.  This
“Bash on the Beach for the Bay” will include casual music by
Fortescue resident Steve Byrne.  Refreshments will be available, and
the Fortescue Grille (102 Delaware Ave.) will open at 1 p.m. for the
occasion.
A flotilla of kayakers
and pre-registered swimmers will meet Wren as she nears the beach to escort
her in.  Please e-mail SWIMDelawareBay@gmail.com if you’re
interested in kayaking or swimming.
Also, the iconic MISS FORTESCUE will
board supporters to cheer Wren on as she approaches the Jersey coast. For a
$50 donation, you too can join this historic event. Get your tickets by
calling (856) 785-2060, extension 108, or online at BayshoreDiscovery.org
(select “Click HERE for Tickets!” and look for August 3). 
Then gather at State Marina Dock 13 at 1 p.m.

After the successful SWIM, Wren and Team SWIM will gather in the gallery of
the Fortescue Chapel, which will be open from 1 to 4 p.m., for closing
ceremonies.
By taking on this personal challenge, Wren hopes to raise
$25,000 for the protection and preservation of the Delaware Bay. Donations
are being accepted at SWIMDelawareBay.org, and
these are fully tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Meghan Wren is the founder and executive director of the Bayshore
Center at Bivalve.  She was also one of the founding board
members of the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary.
  

Our most recent posts:
Open-space initiative won’t be on NJ ballot this year
Former Pennsylvania Gov. Bill Scranton has died at 96  
Want publicity for your upcoming environmental event?  
EPA is wiping out an overly burdensome regulation  
Another setback for offshore wind’s Fishermen’s Energy 

Will enviro exec’s big plunge spur on green competitors? Read More »

Open-space initiative won't be on NJ ballot this year

New Jersey’s open space funding initiative won’t be on this year’s November ballot after falling two votes shy of a supermajority in the state Senate on Monday.

But, if the Assembly follows the Senate’s lead and passes it with a simply majority before the end of the year, state voters may get to decide the funding question in 2014.

The Record‘s Michael Linhorst explains it all here.

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Related environmental news stories: 
No Open Space Referendum This Year
Open space resolution falls two votes shy 
Open-space funding bill narrowly passes in NJ Senate Our most recent posts:
Former Pennsylvania Gov. Bill Scranton has died at 96 
Want publicity for your upcoming environmental event? 
EPA is wiping out an overly burdensome regulation 
Another setback for offshore wind’s Fishermen’s Energy 

Open-space initiative won't be on NJ ballot this year Read More »

Open-space funding bill narrowly passes in NJ Senate



** Updated at 6:25 p.m.**

It’s been a nail-biter for NJ Keep it Green, a 180-member coalition of green groups that’s been campaigning hard for passage of open-space funding initiative, SCR 160, in the New Jersey Senate today.  The organization sent a worried message to its members early this afternoon saying that many Republican Senators, who supported the original bill, were flip-flopping.

That apparently was because of communications from the Governor’s office.
Bill sponsor Sen. Bob Smith said Governor Christie’s office called Republican senators over the weekend and “pressured” them to vote against the resolution, according to The Record and the Asbury Park Press.

A three-fifths majority of each house (24 in the Senate) is required before Aug. 5 to put the question on this year’s general election ballot in November. If it passed by a simple majority (21 votes in the Senate) but less than three-fifths, the state constitution requires the Legislature to pass it again next year before it goes to the voters. 

At 3:50 p.m.,the Senate board showed 19 yes votes and 7 no votes, and some supporters feared that the legislation would fail to reach either landmark.

By 4:45, however, two additional votes were secured. The 21st vote had pushed the bill into the single-win column. Keep it Green even held out hope that three more senators could be persuaded to leave their vacations and drive to Trenton to propel the bill onto the General Election ballot.

 

** Update: At 5:20 p.m., the tally was 22 yes votes—two short of the ballot mark **
  

While the legislation has been strongly supported by most environmental groups in the state and by agriculture, conservation, recreation and historic preservation organizations as well, the NJ Sierra Club, and the NJ Environmental Federation–two heavy hitters–both lined up with state employee and teachers unions in opposing it. Early today, the Sierra Club put out a press release essentially declaring the legislation to be dead.

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Former Pennsylvania Gov. Bill Scranton has died at 96

Bill Scranton – Times Tribune
Former Pennsylvania Gov. William W. Scranton, known by many as a moderate who frequently reached across party lines, died on Sunday in Montecito, Calif. of a cerebral hemorrhage.
He was 96.
The Philadelphia Business Journal‘s Jared Shelly writes:
"Scranton served as the 38th Governor of Pennsylvania from 1963 to 1967. He made an unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination for president in 1964, losing to eventual candidate Barry Goldwater.
"The Republicans had been beaten in two straight gubernatorial elections before Scranton’s victory. It had even seen John F. Kennedy win Pennsylvania in the 1960 presidential election, which was considered a turning point for the long-held Republican state.
"Scranton’s moderate status on many issues helped him become victorious.
"During his term, he focused on education, starting the community college system in the state, and the state Board of Education began during his term.
"He ran as what we would call today a progressive agenda," said G. Terry Madonna, director of the Center for Politics & Public Affairs at Franklin and Marshall College.
“He also had a deep knowledge of economics, helping to start the Dept. of Community Affairs and making major investments in infrastructure."
Read the full story here.
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Want publicity for your upcoming environmental event?

In upcoming weeks, the following events will take place in New Jersey and Pennsylvania:

  • New Jersey Green Infrastructure Forum
  • Pennsylvania DEP’s Alternative Fuel Workshop
  • Forum on Northeast New Jersey Environmental Sustainability
  • Eastern Regional Meeting – Society for Petroleum Engineers of PA
  • …and many more (new events added daily)

Each has appeared in our Enviro-Events Calendar—an online listing that attracts more than a thousand environmental-minded viewers every week.

The calendar contains dates, times, locations and summaries of what to expect at a host of upcoming environmental seminars, forums, webinars and educational, social, and networking opportunities, too.

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