Contains the keyword government
NYC Department of Environmental Protection
Communications & Intergovernmental Affairs. Department of Environmental Protection Calls for Prohibition on Drilling in the New York City Watershed.
Report finds gas drilling poses unacceptable risks to the unfiltered drinking water supply for nine million New Yorkers. Press Release. 12/23/2009.
Congressman Scalise serves on the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment. Monday, December 7, 2009.
"Regulation of green house gases will put millions of American jobs in danger."
Washington, DC -- Congressman Steve Scalise (R-LA) today made the following statement after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that they have declared carbon dioxide (CO2) along with five other gases as dangerous pollutants.
“The EPA's decision today is another example of this Administration’s liberal agenda that is killing jobs. What makes the EPA’s decision even more reckless is the fact that it is based on corrupt science that has recently been exposed by the ‘Climate gate scandal,’” Scalise said.
“At a time when the American people are asking ‘where are the jobs,’ the Obama administration continues to promote policies that run jobs out of our country while adding unprecedented debt onto the backs of our children and grandchildren.”
Sen. Robert Casey
S.1215. 6/9/2009. `Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals (FRAC) Act'. Sponsor: Sen. Casey, Robert P., Jr. [PA], Co-Sponsors in alphabetical order: Sen. Cardin, Benjamin L. [MD], Sen. Feinstein, Dianne [CA], Sen. Gillibrand, Kirsten E. [NY], Sen. Sanders, Bernard [VT], Sen. Schumer, Charles E. [NY].
Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice 6/9/2009 and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
See House Bill: H.R. 2766. 111th Congress. Rep. Diana Degette. Rep. Maurice Hnchey, et al. Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act of 2009 - Amends the Safe Drinking Water Act to: (1) repeal the exemption from restrictions on underground injection of fluids near drinking water sources granted to hydraulic fracturing operations under such Act; and (2) require oil and gas companies to disclose the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations. (6/9/2009).
Rep. Diana Degette
Rep. Maurice Hinchey
See: CIVICA: Centrist & Independent Voters in Coalition for America. "How out Laws are Made." 2011-04-09.
Letter sent to the NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Written in public response to the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (dSGEIS). Dec. 30. 2009.
EPA believes that the analysis and discussion of cumulative and indirect impacts in the dSGEIS need to be significantly expanded. Even with its generic format, the dSGEIS should discuss the impacts that may result from past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future projects as well as those impacts associated with gas drilling and hydro fracturing that may occur later in time or at a distance from the immediate project site.
See: Walter Hang's Letter to DEC Commissioner Grannis Regarding Additional Natural Gas Hazards
Daniel J. Soeder and William M. Kappel. "Water Resources and Natural Gas Production from the Marcellus Shale". U.S. Department of the Interior, Fact Sheet 2009-3032, May 2009. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), 2009. (PDF)
See Figure 7: Example of a gel used in hydrofracturing to carry proppant into a fracture. Photograph by Daniel Soeder, USGS. Page 5.
See also:
Milici, Robert C. (2005). Assessment of undiscovered natural gas resources in Devonian black shales, Appalachian basin, eastern U.S.A.: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Abstracts Volume for the AAPG 2005 Annual Convention, p. A93.
Milici, Robert C. and Christopher S. Swezey. (2006) Assessment of Appalachian Basin Oil and Gas Resources: Devonian Shale–Middle and Upper Paleozoic Total Petroleum System.
"The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently completed an assessment of the technically recoverable undiscovered hydrocarbon resources of the Appalachian Basin Province. The assessment province includes parts of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama."
House Republican Leader John Boehner's blog. Posted by Kevin Boland on July 14th, 2009.
Boehner said, "Democrats talk about creating jobs - but Speaker Pelosi’s national energy tax will cost 2.5 million American jobs each year and will punish every American who dares to flip on a light switch or drives a car.
Democrats are also floating a half-a-trillion dollar tax hike on small businesses as part of their trillion-dollar government-run health care proposal, another sure job-killer."
Boehner was first elected to Congress in 1990, representing a district that includes parts of the suburbs of Cincinnati and Dayton. As a member of Gang of Seven, a group of G.O.P. freshman reformers who demanded that the names of colleagues who had overdrafts at the House bank be made public, Mr. Boehner angered Congressional veterans.
But he quickly became a top lieutenant of Newt Gingrich, the Republican leader in the House who became speaker when the party took control in 1994. Mr. Boehner helped to draft and champion the party's Contract With America. Read More...
For the other side of the Energy Debate, see Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) Newsroom Web Page, and her blog, The Gavel-Draining the Swamp.
Congressional Research Service. Anthony Andrews, Coordinator, Specialist in Energy and Energy Infrastructure. CRS Report for Congress Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress. October 30, 2009. 53 pages.
"...The saline “flowback” water pumped back to the surface after the fracturing process poses a significant environmental management challenge in the Marcellus region."
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) serves shared staff to congressional committees and Members of Congress. CRS experts assist at every stage of the legislative process — from the early considerations that precede bill drafting, through committee hearings and floor debate, to the oversight of enacted laws and various agency activities.
See: What is the Congressional Research Service?
It is ironic that the following report was about to be published on April 20, 2010, the day the BP Deepwater Horizon platform caught fire, resulting in the largest oil spill in U.S. history.
See also:
Humphries, Marc, Robert Pirog, and Gene Whitney. U.S. Offshore Oil and Gas Resources: Prospects and Processes. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service, April 26, 2010. (PDF).
Additional authors of Unconventional Gas Shales:
Peter Folger
Specialist in Energy and Natural Resources Policy
Marc Humphries
Analyst in Energy Policy
Claudia Copeland
Specialist in Resources and Environmental Policy
Mary Tiemann
Specialist in Environmental Policy
Robert Meltz
Legislative Attorney
Cynthia Brougher
Legislative Attorney
President Bush delivers his 2006 State of the Union address, where he famously stated that “America is addicted to oil.” AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
Rebecca Lefton includes a timeline: 2001-2008 of the Bush Presidency's corrupt energy policy.
BP’s oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is without a doubt former Vice President Dick Cheney’s Katrina. President George W. Bush and Cheney consistently catered to Big Oil and other special interests to undercut renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives that would set the United States on a more secure clean energy path.
Oil companies raked in record profits while benefitting from policies they wrote for themselves. These energy policies did nothing for our national security and left consumers to pay the price at the pump and on their energy bills, which rose more than $1,100 during the Bush administration.
See: The Bill From Bush’s Broken Energy System
Read also: The Prelude to Cheney's Katrina by Joshua Dorner
How and Why Clean Water Protections Are Being Weakened
The Clean Water Act, as written in 1972, safeguards all of the "waters of the United States," through a number of programs. The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Army Corps of Engineers regulations implementing the law have for decades reflected the intent of Congress to protect all of America's waters. These rules had been upheld by the vast majority of state and federal courts.
In 2001, however, a bare majority of the Supreme Court-in a case called Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook Cty. v. Army Corps of Engineers - ruled 5-4 that the presence of a habitat for migratory birds is not sufficient justification for protection of a water that does not flow year round or that is an "isolated" wetland under the Clean Water Act. The decision in Rapanos v. United States in 2006 created further confusion about which waters deserved protection under the Clean Water Act.
...The Clean Water Restoration Act of 2009(S 787) introduced by Sen. Russell Feingold, D-WI, would accomplish these important goals and has been endorsed by Clean Water Action."
Clean Water Action: A Brief History
Mission Statement
Clean Water Action is an organization of 1.2 million members working to empower people to take action to protect America's waters, build healthy communities and to make democracy work for all of us. For 36 years Clean Water Action has succeeded in winning some of the nation's most important environmental protections through grassroots organizing, expert policy research and political advocacy focused on holding elected officials accountable to the public.
Passage of the original 1972 Clean Water Act, with many of the law's most important parts drafted by Clean Water Action, has been followed by other major successes. They include enactment of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act in 1974 and subsequent changes in 1996 that strengthened the law. Clean Water Action's successful defense in 1977 of the Clean Water Act's wetlands protection program was won by a single vote in the U.S. Senate.
Paul Schwartz, Clean Water Action National Policy Coordinator
202-895-0420 ext. 105
Take Action!
Clean Water Action: A Brief History
Mission Statement
Clean Water Action is an organization of 1.2 million members working to empower people to take action to protect America's waters, build healthy communities and to make democracy work for all of us. For 36 years Clean Water Action has succeeded in winning some of the nation's most important environmental protections through grassroots organizing, expert policy research and political advocacy focused on holding elected officials accountable to the public.
Daniel T. Spadoni. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) Press Release. 4/30/2010. "DEP Orders Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. to Remove Hibbard Well Pad Reserve Pit in Susquehanna County: Company Ignored DEP’s Prior Written, Verbal Requests".
WILLIAMSPORT -- The Department of Environmental Protection today ordered Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. to close and remove an earthen pit in Susquehanna County that holds drilling fluids to determine whether it is contaminating nearby water resources.
The pit, known as a reserve pit, is located at the Hibbard well pad in Dimock Township. The company has 14 days to comply with the order.
DEP’s North-central Regional Director Robert Yowell said today’s more aggressive enforcement action was necessitated after the company ignored previous requests.
"DEP strongly advised Cabot to close and remove the reserve pit in an April 8 notice of violation letter and reiterated to Cabot’s senior management the same message a few short days ago," said Yowell. "However, Cabot has not remedied the situation and its inaction demonstrates an arrogant disregard for Pennsylvania’s oil and gas regulations and proper protection of our environment."
