KDKA photo of existing
Little Blue Run coal-ash pond.

A new study by Environmental Integrity Project/Earthjustice/Sierra Club shows that 39 additional coal-ash dump sites in 21 states that are contaminating drinking water or surface water with arsenic and other heavy metals. At every one of the coal ash dump sites equipped with groundwater monitoring wells, concentrations of heavy metals such as arsenic or lead exceed federal health-based standards for drinking water, with concentrations at Hatfield’s Ferry site in Greene County, PA, reaching as high as 341 times the federal standard for arsenic. The other Pennsylvania site listed in the study is the Bruce Mansfield (aka Little Blue) site in Beaver County.

This new study arrives in time for a public hearing to be held by the US Environmental Protection Agency here in Pittsburgh:

Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Omni William Penn Hotel,
530 William Penn Place,
Pittsburgh, PA 15219

The hearing is one of several held around the country for public comment on the proposed rule related to Disposal of Coal Combustion Residuals from Electric Utilities. The hearing will be an all-day affair, with morning, afternoon and evening sessions, starting at 10:00 a.m. and ending at 9:00 p.m. or later depending on the number of speakers.

Speakers will have three minutes to present their views. The form for the required Pre-Registration is available on the EPA website. Preregistration guarantees you time to speak. While not required, the EPA also urges persons planning to attend or submit a written statement at a hearing to preregister. This will help the EPA improve its planning of the hearings.

For more information, contact Randy Francisco at 412-802-6161 or randy dot francisco at sierraclub dot org.

There is news that the Region 3 office of the US Environmental Protection Agency According has established a Resource Extraction Task Force to explore how existing EPA regulations and procedures may be used for stricter protection of natural gas extraction in PA, VA, and WV. Headquartered in Philadelphia, this Region 3 Task Force is reported by insideEPA.com to include the Department of Justice and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

Although limited by the exemption of hydrofracturing fluids from the Safe Drinking Water Act, the agency may be able to use its authority under the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts. Regardless of what happens in the state legislature this Fall, the prospect of stronger enforcement by the EPA, along with its study of the impact of hydrofracturing on water quality, is good news for the environment.

As the ‘gas-patch’ booms, so do the related number of articles and news items. Below are four locally relevant capsules.

Expert Explains Possible Marcellus Health Problems: At a seminar on August 27, Pitt public health expert Dr. Volz described the variety of hazardous air and water contaminants from well wastewater ponds — including benzene, toluene and xylene.

“We have little data now on the species of organic chemicals in the air as a result of gases released from the fracking fluids. Research is needed,” said Dr. Volz, according to the Post-Gazette. “There’s controversy over whether the levels of gases released can produce health effects. But with thousands or tens of thousands of wells and [gas pumping] stations, you can get an idea of what the emissions will be and what the risk will be to human health.” (more…)

Getting rid of household waste that you suspect is environmentally hazardous can be a problem. Fortunately, the Household Hazardous Waste Task Force will hold these recycling events:

• September 18, 9 am to 1 pm at the Monroeville Mall, across from Best Buy.
• October 2, 9 am to 1 pm in Bradys Run Park, Beaver County.

For more information about these recycling events and our Global Warming Action Team’s involvement, contact Chris Shepard at shepherd999 at gmail dot com

Curb-side sign in Ithaca, NY.
Photo: P. Wray

Do municipalities have the right to determine whether drilling for Marcellus natural gas be allowed in their district? That is the constitutional question that Pittsburgh Councilman Doug Shields raised at a press conference on August 16. As he proposed a banning of Marcellus drilling in the city, Councilman Shields used the example of a municipality being able to decide whether or not to allow the sale of liquor in its area, as places like Wilkinsburg have done for years. Once allowed, the sale of liquor is then subject to regulation by the state. (more…)

Calvary Catholic Cemetery is on Hazelwood Ave in the Greenfield and Hazelwood neighborhoods of Pittsburgh (map), and is the largest cemetery owned by the Diocese of Pittsburgh. Former Mayors Lawrence, Caliguiri and O’Connor are buried in this cemetery. Those gentlemen are likely to have their bones shaken because the Diocese has leased the 200 acres for Marcellus gas drilling.

Drilling down 5,000 ft. to Marcellus Shale is a big operation!
Photo: Bill Belitkus

If drilling takes place, and why lease if you don’t intend to drill, seismic testing will be undertaken to determine the character of the shale deposit, then a 3-4 acre well pad will be created, containment ponds built for the fracking fluid, and pipelines constructed for the removal of the extracted gas. Even industry-hired consultant Tom Ridge is quoted as saying “I’d have a tough time putting a rig down next to my tomb or next to anyone I’m related to.” (more…)

Photo courtesy of Mountain Justice

Banking giant PNC has gained a fair reputation in Pittsburgh for being a ‘green’ corporate member of the community, but its role in financing the destructive practice of mountain top removal is not so ‘green’.

On the company website is the statement “Among America’s top financial institutions, no company has done more to spur the charge, or energize the green cause than PNC. We have taken the lead when it comes to environmentally and employee friendly construction.”

A Green Building Alliance quote on the Website states PNC is “a corporate leader in green building and employee friendliness.” And from the Urban Land Institute’s Awards for Excellence, PNC was among firms from Japan, the Netherlands and United States recognized for its “powerful impact of thoughtful urban design.” (more…)

For the fourth year the national Sierra Club has ranked colleges and universities according to their efforts to stop climate change and educate students about sustainability. Heading the list is Green Mountain College (VT), with Dickinson College (Carlisle, PA) second and Evergreen State College (WA) third. Not all the ‘green schools’ are small colleges– the University of Washington (WA) and Stanford (CA) came in fourth and fifth, respectively.

So how ‘green’ are Western Pennsylvanian schools? Carnegie Mellon remains the best at #64, but this is down from #31 last year. Other local ‘green schools’ are Allegheny College (#91), Chatham University (#106), and Penn State (#108).   Apparently Pitt and Duquesne did not return the Club’s questionnaire, for whatever reason.

The ranking of 162 schools was based on categories such as energy supply, energy efficiency, food, purchasing, waste, investment, etc.

KDKA photo of existing
Little Blue Run coal-ash pond.

In response to the catastrophic TVA coal ash spill in Kingston, Tennessee in 2008, the US Environmental Protection Agency is holding public hearings around the country. The hearings are for public comment on the proposed rule related to Disposal of Coal Combustion Residuals from Electric Utilities.

Because the disposal of coal ash at the power plants surrounding Pittsburgh is a major concern, local environmentalists asked the EPA to add Pittsburgh to the number of locations already selected. EPA’s response was to announce the following hearing:

Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Omni William Penn Hotel,
530 William Penn Place,
Pittsburgh, PA 15219

THANKS TO ALL WHO ASKED THE EPA FOR THIS PITTSBURGH HEARING.

The hearing will be an all-day affair, with morning, afternoon and evening sessions, starting at 10:00 a.m. and ending at 9:00 p.m. or later depending on the number of speakers. (more…)

Railroad bridge in the back, old turnpike bridge in the middle, new bridge in front
Photo courtesy of MPD01605

Following the demolition of the old Turnpike bridge across the Allegheny River at Harmar and Plum in mid-July, Allegheny County decided not to take ownership of the piers for possible construction of a hike/bike trail bridge across the river in the future.

On August 9 the piers were scheduled to be demolished. However, former Allegheny County Council Member-at-Large David Fawcett contacted Turnpike Commission CEO Joseph Brimmeier and persuaded the CEO to halt demolition and retain ownership of the piers for a couple of years. This delay will allow Allegheny County to decide if they indeed want to eventually construct a trail bridge across the river.

Thanks to Mr. Fawcett deserves our thanks, as do all who wrote to County Executive Dan Onorato.

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is putting funds from the Federal stimulus bill (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) to good use. The Pennsylvania Home Heating Equipment Rebate Program offers rebates for non-electric home heating and water heating equipment. Begun in April 2010, on August 2 the DEP announced that rebates have increased from the original range of $100 to $500 to a range of $250 to $1,000. (more…)

Curb-side sign in Ithaca, NY.
Photo: P. Wray

With a surprise bipartisan vote of 48-9, on August 3, the New York Senate approved a temporary moratorium on Marcellus Shale drilling in the state. The moratorium would extend to May 15, 2011, giving the state Department of Environmental Conservation time to formulate guidelines for issuing drilling permits. The bill awaits action when the state Assembly’s recess ends September 15. See the news report video. (more…)

A dictionary entry for the word ‘appalling’ reads “Very bad, or much worse than expected”. That sums up the report issued by the Pennsylvania Land Trust (PLTA) on the number of violations recorded by the Dept. of Environmental Protection between January 2008 and June 25, 2010.

Drilling down 5,000 ft. to Marcellus Shale is a big operation!
Photo: Bill Belitkus

Of the 1,435 violations associated with Marcellus Shale gas extraction, PLTA identified 952 as having harmed the environment, and they were broken down as:

• 268 involving improper construction of waste water impoundments
• 10 involving improper well casing
• 154 involving discharge of industrial waste
• 16 involving improper blowout prevention

The big companies East Resources, Chesapeake, Chief, and Cabot accounted for 449 of these 952 harmful violations. In what some may see as fine understatement, DEP Secretary John Hangar said “The industry as a whole is not operating at an excellent level. We are not demanding perfection, but we are demanding excellence.” (more…)

Leasing of our state forest lands for Marcellus Shale leasing has reached its limit. First, some facts: of the 2,100,000 acres in Pennsylvania’s state forest system, 71% are above the Marcellus Shale deposits containing natural gas. Of that 71%, 47%, or 700,000 acres, are currently under lease. The state does not own the mineral rights under all of that 700,000 acres; the mineral rights under 290,000 acres are privately owned. These statistics are from the DCNR Bureau of Forestry Marcellus website.

Map of new gas well pads in
the Clear Run watershed of
Tioga State Forest.
Map courtesy of DCNR

Of special interest at the Bureau’s website is the section “Impacts of Leasing Additional State Forest Land”. To examine “whether a moratorium is needed”, the wild areas of the state’s forest lands in north-central Pennsylvania are mapped, and the intrusion of Marcellus shale drilling is illustrated. The Bureau’s conclusion is that “This analysis shows that no additional leasing involving surface disturbance can occur without significantly altering the ecological integrity and wild character of our state forest system.” Even more strongly … “There are zero State Forest Land acres suitable for gas leasing involving surface disturbance.”

A bill calling for a five-year moratorium on any further leasing of state forest lands (HB2235) was passed by the state House by margin of 157 to 33 on May 4. The bill now languishes in the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee chaired by Sen. Mary Jo White.

ACTION: Please contact Sen. Mary Jo White at mwhite at pasen dot gov and urge her to move HB2235 out of committee, AND send a copy to your State Senator.

A bill to apply more protective stormwater standards to publicly funded development was unanimously voted out of committee by City Council on July 21. This significant step towards further “greening” of Pittsburgh will hopefully set a high standard for other municipalities. Following guidelines for new Federal buildings, it will prevent 1.5 inches of rainfall from leaving the property of a new development, and it will require the use of the most innovative stormwater management tools.

The 9-0 vote came after weeks of hearings and legislation amendment. At the July 21 meeting final statements in support of the legislation were made by the Clean Water Action, GASP, Pittsburgh United, Pittsburgh Interfaith Impact Network, Sierra Club, UFCW, and Women for a Healthy Environment.

Tom Hoffman opens June 1 Clean Water press conference with Council members Rudiak, Peduto, and Shields.

This is the second part of the Economic Development Reform campaign organized by Pittsburgh United, a coalition of community, environmental, and faith-based groups. The first part established prevailing wages for publicly-funded development. The next part will be a Clean Air bill for diesel emissions on building sites.