OK tries stronger measures to stop fracking earthquakes

Oklahoma's fracking boom has brought a surge in earthquakes
Zahra Hirji reports for Inside Climate News:
Oklahoma regulators released for the first time guidelines aimed to reduce the risk of major earthquakes being generated from fracking operations, including a mandate to immediately shut down operations in the event of a quake measuring 3.5 or higher on the Richter scale.
State officials at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission have tried a series of steps in recent years to bring down the number of earthquakes likely linked to local oil and gas activity. All the previous initiatives, however, focused only on underground oil and gas wastewater disposal triggering earthquakes, not hydraulic fracturing activities used to stimulate a well before extraction.
The new voluntary rules, which are now in effect, instruct companies on how to respond to magnitude 2.5 earthquakes or greater that strike within 1.25 miles of their fracking operations.
If the nearby earthquake has a magnitude of at least 3.5, for example, the company should suspend operations and cooperate with state officials on subsequent steps. For smaller earthquakes, state officials will contact companies but it may not necessarily result in a shutdown.
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The state’s oil and gas areas most likely to be impacted by the guidelines are called the South Central Oklahoma Oil Province (SCOOP) and the Sooner Trend Anadarko Basin Canadian and Kingfisher counties (STACK). There are about 35 active fracking operations in the SCOOP and STACK, according to Matt Skinner, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, and those numbers are expected to increase next year.
Since early July, geologists identified more than a dozen small earthquakes, all less than magnitude 3.0, across the SCOOP and STACK that weren’t near any deep wastewater injection wells. Experts say these events could be linked to nearby fracking operations.
But most of the state’s earthquakes, including the bigger events, have occurred elsewhere;  experts say they are likely tied to wastewater disposal.
Oklahoma has experienced thousands of earthquakes since 2009, when oil and natural gas production increased. The state had a record-high 3,309 earthquakes of at least magnitude 2.5 in 2015.
While the number of total earthquakes has declined this year—2,073 have been measured with at least a magnitude of 2.5 through Dec. 19—the number of big earthquakes has set a record, according to Jeremy Boak, director of the Oklahoma Geological Survey. In September, for example, the largest earthquake in the state’s history struck, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake near Pawnee.
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Private money fixed Bayonne water; now time to pay up


Brenda Flanagan reports for NJTV NEWS:
“I can’t afford it. You know, I just can’t afford it any more,” said Sandra Richardson.

Bayonne native Richardson walks dogs for a living and says she can’t keep up with her rapidly rising water bill. Rates have jumped almost 28 percent since Bayonne privatized its water utility in 2012.

“My last bill was over $400. Yeah for three months,” she said. “I think it’s ridiculous. I can’t afford, for something as basic as water.”

Residents complain and post bills on Bayonne Talks’ Facebook page. For people on fixed incomes, it forces hard choices.

What does Mark Schutte do without?
 
“TV, internet. You figure out how to cut down on a few things,” he said.

But the 80-year-old system needed millions in upgrades and — like many city councils across New Jersey and the nation — Bayonne’s had avoided biting that bullet for decades.

“And then suddenly, you know, they have to pay the piper. And they have to go in and do this work, and the rates go up significantly,” said New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel Director Stefanie Brand.

“They get a large increase all at once and that’s much harder for ratepayers to bear.”

Instead of trying to upgrade the crumbling infrastructure on its own, Bayonne forged a 40-year partnership contract with $150 million in up-front financing from the private Wall Street equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. [20112 announcement of the public/private venture]
 

The city used that money to pay off old debts, dissolved its MUA and brought in SUEZ Water to run, maintain and upgrade the drinking, storm and wastewater facilities. SUEZ rep John Ludington says it found a rusted, leaking mess.

 
 
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Feds to retrofit diesel school bus engines in 5 NJ districts

diesel schoolbus


Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:

Five school districts in New Jersey have been awarded grants totaling $810,000 to replace or retrofit older diesel bus engines under a program from the federal government.


The awards from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are part of $7.7 million given to 88 school bus fleets in 27 states under its diesel-emissions reduction program.
The eight-year-old program is designed to reduce pollution linked to health problems caused by soot, or fine particulates, emitted by dirty buses that are associated with such health problems as asthma and lung damage.
In New Jersey, the school bus fleets receiving the grants are Orange, $145,000; Lakewood, $200,000; North Brunswick, $85,000; Toms River, $180,000; and Wall Township, $200,00.
“Thanks to funding, we are protecting our children from breathing diesel emissions as they travel to school,’’ said Christopher Grundler, director of EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality.

“Nearly 17,000 of our country’s schools are located within steps of a heavily traveled road, exposing more than six million children to traffic-related pollution at a time when developing lungs are particularly vulnerable to the harmful effects of pollution.’’

The federal agency has implemented standards to make newer diesel engines more than 90 percent cleaner, but many older diesel school buses are still operating. These older diesel engines emit large amounts of pollutants such as nitrogen oxide and particulate matter, both persistent pollutants in New Jersey.
Since 2008, the federal program has funded more than 700 clean-diesel projects across the country, involving more than 70,000 engines.
New Jersey has its own diesel-engine retrofit program run by the state Department of Environmental Protection, which addresses older diesel engines on school buses and garbage trucks. Since 2008, more than 7,400 school buses have been retrofitted, according to the DEP.
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NJ Highlands Council seeking civil/environmental engineer

 

HIghlands scenic pix The Highlands Council is currently seeking  full-time Civil/Environmental Engineer. Applications are being accepted through January 27, 2017.

This position is responsible for the research, planning, development, implementation, and review of engineering-related projects for the Highlands Region including technical expertise in project review, stormwater management (including green infrastructure and low impact development/best management practices) and water resource management.

Complete details here

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Ex-NJ Gov. Corzine fined $5M; avoids MF Global trial

Jon Corzine, the former New Jersey governor who led the collapsed brokerage MF Global, has been ordered to pay a $5 million penalty for his role in the firm’s alleged illegal use of almost $1 billion in customer funds.

The Associated Press reports:


A federal court in Manhattan on Thursday granted the order against Corzine to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which brought civil charges against him in 2013. Following the stunning collapse of the big Wall Street firm in late 2011, the CFTC alleged that MF Global misused customer funds in a vain attempt to remain solvent. Corzine failed to closely supervise the handling of customer money by the firm’s employees, according to the order.

Corzine, who was the CEO of Wall Street powerhouse Goldman Sachs before entering politics in 2000, was banned by the court order from serving as an official or employee of any commodities trading firm. He also was banned from trading most commodities and other investments regulated by the CFTC, with some limited exceptions.

A related order issued by U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero imposed a $500,000 penalty on Edith O’Brien, an assistant treasurer at the firm who had the authority to approve transfers of customer money. She was said to have aided and abetted MF Global’s alleged violations. O’Brien was banned from working at a commodities trading firm or trading commodities for 18 months.

The court action brought the resolution of a five-year legal drama for Corzine, enabling him to avoid a trial that had been set to begin in October. He had denied wrongdoing from the outset and insisted he didn’t order anyone at MF Global to divert customer funds.

Read the full story

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NJDEP regulators propose to tighten air-pollution limits

fiberglass solvent Proposed NJDEP rule would limit emissions from solvents used to manufacture fiberglass boats.

Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:

The state is proposing a series of new rules to clamp down on pollution from small turbines and stationary engines, as well as commercial products that contribute to the formation of smog.

In a rule published Monday, the state Department of Environmental Protection is hoping to limit emissions from industrial cleaning solvents; film, paper and foil coatings; and materials used in fiberglass boat manufacturing, among other things.
The proposal is designed to curb pollution that leads to the formation of ground-level ozone, or smog, the state’s most ubiquitous air pollutant. In New Jersey last summer, there were 24 days when smog exceeded the national air-quality health standard for ozone.

If adopted, the department said the reductions in pollution could help the state achieve the national standard for smog and maintain the state’s attainment for another pollutant, fine particulate matter. More commonly known as soot, the pollutant causes thousands of premature deaths each year across the nation.

The proposed regulations are highly technical in nature and based largely on guidelines established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for curbing pollution from volatile organic compounds in commercial products and industrial cleaning solvents. The rules also aim to reduce nitrogen oxide pollution from single-cycle turbines and stationary engines, both of which contribute to smog.
In its proposal, the DEP said the new rules will improve public health by reducing air pollution and cutting medical costs. According to the state, the rules could eliminate 40,000 asthma attacks if adopted.
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