New York report on fracking cost impacts to be delayed

The state’s environmental agency
says a key advisory panel will not be issuing a report on the impacts
of hydrofracking by a November 1 deadline, delaying part of the process
of allowing the natural gas drilling on some private lands in New York
until early next year.

WXXI’s Karen DeWitt reports:

The State’s Environmental Commissioner
Joe Martens, says the report from the advisory committee, will be not be
issued next month as originally planned, partly because data on costs
of fracking to other state agencies, including the departments of
health and transportation, aren’t ready yet.

Martens says the
panel, made up of industry, environmental and community representatives,
will be meeting through January of 2012 to try to issue a report that
will now also address costs to local governments , as well as the state
costs.

“There’s no firm timetable,” Martens said.

Martens
says the data on the potential costs of hydro fracking to the state is
“unlikely” to be ready in time for the governor’s budget proposal in
January, and he says if it’s not completed until February or March, it
might be “push it out” beyond the start of the new fiscal year, on April
1st.

The DEC Commissioners was asked, following the three hour
meeting, whether he thinks hydrofracking permits will be issued in
2012.

“It is really hard to predict,” Martens said. “We have a lot of work left to do”.

Commissioner
Martens says just the review of the thousands of comments that have
been received during an ongoing public comment period will take months.
The public comment period is scheduled to end December 12th.

Rob
Moore, with Environmental Advocates, and a panel member, says giving
the group extra time to complete its work is a “positive development”.

“We
don’t let the budget clock dictate the state’s deliberations on this,”
said Moore. “The gas has been down there one hundred million years, it
will be down there forever, we’ve got plenty of time to get to it.”

Eric
Goldstein, with the Natural Resources Defense Council, also a panel
member, says he’s relieved that the process is slowing down a bit.

“The entire fracking train from here on in will be traveling at a more reasonable pace,” said Goldstein.

See full story here. 



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New natural gas regulation controversy flares up in PA

Rarely does a day go by without new controversy over how the administration of Pennsylvania’s Republican Gov. Tom Corbett is regulating the natural gas industry.

The latest flareup centers on a new PADEP policy that would treat most facilities as individual air pollution sources. 

That would minimize the 
application of federal emissions control programs and cause a
deterioration of the state’s air quality, according to several
environmental organizations.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette‘s Dan Hopey reported yesterday that: 

The recently announced policy from the state Department of
Environmental Protection policy addresses how the department will
determine if emissions from two or more stationary air pollution sources
— facilities such as gas wells, pipelines, compressor stations,
storage tanks and refineries — should be “aggregated” and regulated as a
single source.

The new policy uses the physical distance between the shale gas
facilities as a major qualifying criteria for determining if they should
be considered a single, major source of air pollutants that would be
required to meet stricter emissions standards, instead of individual
emissions sources subject to lesser pollution monitoring and controls.

Kathryn Klaber, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, said the
change is simply a clarification of “a very complex and long-standing
body of guidance” from the federal government.

“This is not a new policy,” she said. “You still have to get a
permit. You still have to comply with all the rules. But how big are we
going to define the source?

“Predictability and clarity in an otherwise uncertain area of the law
is in everyone’s best interest. Transparency in the process benefits
everybody involved.” 

Environmental groups see it differently.

“The department is sticking its head in the sand if it looks at these
shale gas facilities individually instead of as a group, because the
emissions from that drilling group have a cumulative impact,” said
Thomas Au, conservation chair of the Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter
and co-chair of its oil and gas committee.

The DEP should be looking at “clusters of related drilling
facilities” for purposes of controlling emissions, Mr. Au said. That
approach was part of the emissions aggregation policy adopted by the
Rendell administration in December 2010.

Read the entire story here. Let us know in the comment box below what you think. 
 


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Sun setting on solar industry in PA? Who’s to blame?

Solar energy installers in Pennsylvania say their alternative energy businesses and jobs are in danger of failing and some are putting the blame on Republican Gov. Tom Corbett.

The Associated Press reports:


The Pennsylvania Sunshine program, passed in
2008, provided $100 million in solar rebates to homeowners and
businesses to install such systems. That led to a boom, but the program
has only a few millions dollars left, and the state has no plans to
renew it.

“Some firms have moved to Ohio already, and we are
considering that. By springtime we’re going to be looking at layoffs, or
have to open another location in another state,” said Joe Morinville,
the owner of Energy Independent Solutions in McKee’s Rocks.

He said some of his competitors have already left Pennsylvania for states that are continuing to support for the industry.

Karen
Foltz, a spokeswoman for Pittsburgh-based Vox Energy Solutions, said
the current climate for solar businesses in the state is hardly
welcoming.
“People are losing their jobs,” said Foltz.

One environmental group puts the blame on the governor.

“He is so against renewable energy, it’s a
crime,” says Sharon Pillar, a solar project manager for the environmental group PennFuture. She says she believes Corbett is “100% backed” by
Marcellus Shale companies who see solar energy as a competitor.

Pillar said that in 2005, Pennsylvania
was a national leader in legislation supporting the solar industry, but
has now fallen far behind neighboring states such as New Jersey that
have more robust subsidies.

In other states the solar industry is doing quite well, the AP notes in a separate story:

The high costs that for years made it impractical as a mainstream
source of energy are plummeting. Real estate companies are racing to
install solar panels on office buildings. Utilities are erecting large
solar panel “farms” near big cities and in desolate deserts. And
creative financing plans are making solar more realistic than ever for
homes.

Solar power installations doubled in the United States last
year and are expected to double again this year. More solar energy is
being planned than any other power source, including nuclear, coal,
natural gas and wind.

Should Pennsylvania renew its solar subsidy program? Why? Share your thoughts in the opinion box below. Signed comments are appreciated but anonymous submissions also are accepted

Related:
Solar industry touts gains in New Jersey

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Get snappin’ this weekend on your enviro-photos

Last week, we invited your submissions (Got an enviropolitical photo you’d care to share?)
Joanne Pannone got things rolling with the picture below of a guy who didn’t need Desert Storm or Hip Hop to teach him the value of camouflage. 

Owl in dead tree limb in Robbinsville, NJ Credit: Joanne Pannone

What have you got for us? Pry off that lens cap and get snappin’ this weekend.
Submit your photos by email to: editor@enviropolitics.com 
We’ll share them on this blog and on our Facebook page.

Have a great weekend.
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Pennsylvania environmental bills in committee Oct. 25

The Pennsylvania Senate Environmental Resources & Energy Committee will meet on Tuesday
at 9:30 AM in Room 8 E-B of the State Capitol Building in Harrisburg to consider the following bills:
House Bill
608 (Brooks)                  Provides incentives for the planting of
bio-energy crops to re-vegetate lands affected by surface mining.
Senate Bill
152 (D. White)                Amends the PA Infrastructure
Investment Act (PENNVEST) to incorporate federal standards related to funding
of non-point source discharge projects related to storm water management.
Senate Bill
532 (Rafferty)                Amends the Solid Waste Management Act by requiring
a new permit or permit modification to have no outstanding violations of the
act. 
Senate
Resolution 143 (Pippy)         Directs the Legislative Budget and
Finance Committee to study the economic impact of recreational water trails on
local communities in this Commonwealth.
Senate Resolution 202 (Kasunic)    Urges the
oil and gas industry to utilize acid mine water in fracturing Marcellus Shale
for natural gas extraction whenever economically feasible and environmentally
safe.
Have an opinion on any of the above pieces of legislation?  
Share it in the opinion box below.
If one is not visible,  activate it by clicking on the tiny ‘comment’ line.   





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NJ towns (finally) taking advantage of energy savings

Replacing aging boilers and lighting systems in town hall isn’t as sexy as showing voters the new solar panels on the roof, but more than 460 municipalities in New Jersey–responding to some terrific economic incentives provided by the state Board of Public Utilities and aggressive marketing efforts by private energy companies–are finally catching up.

Often the energy efficiency upgrades cost the town nothing, but in all cases they’re expected to save taxpayers a bundle.

You would think that it would have been an easy sell to cash-strapped local governments.  It wasn’t. See our earlier post: Is your town missing this energy-savings opportunity? 
                                  
But, finally, local governments are waking up and smelling the savings.

The public affairs television show Caucus New Jersey dedicated a recent broadcast to the issue, starting with a tour of the boiler room in a typical municipal building and following up with a panel discussion.

If you’re interested in the energy efficiency and the environmental benefits it can bring, you’ll likely find the program Living Green: Clean Energy for Municipalities worth your time.


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