This is a very big deal.  What a brave state government.  And kudos to Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin.

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Article in the NY Times.  New proposed bill requires O&G companies to disclose the chemicals they use in fracking.  GREAT.  Oh wait.  They don’t have to disclose them until after they have completed the drilling.  Hmmm.  That seems to defeat the purpose.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Friday issued a proposed rule governing hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas on public lands that will for the first time require disclosure of the chemicals used in the process.

But in a significant concession to the oil industry, companies will have to reveal the composition of fluids only after they have completed drilling — a sharp change from the government’s original proposal, which would have required disclosure of the chemicals 30 days before a well could be started.

Read more at the NY Times >>

Ladies and gents, sorry for our absence.  There is renewed interest in spending time maintaining this site, as we have primarily been relying on our Facebook page to deliver headlines, but we will begin to again post periodic items here as well.  Facebook is certainly the place for up to the minute news, we urge you to check out our group and request to join.  The communities and activists that are now binding together in an effort to protect our limited water supply is mind-bending!  It was just two years ago most were saying “what’s fracking?”  Look how far we have come, folks,

Please dig deep and continue your efforts!  You are our only hope.  Thanks for all that you do.

The masses now know that fracking is a high-risk operation, that regulations are too lax, that inspectors are barely existent, and that the worse case scenario, meaning a water supply being contaminated – yes, that can happen.  That has happened.  That happens.

Still unclear on that?  Goto google.com and enter “water contamination fracking” and have fun.  You will read some arguments that fracking is not the problem.  Keep reading.  It doesn’t take long to get the idea.

And here’s a few random related headlines to get you going:

SCIENCE: Peer-Reviewed Study: Fracking Fluids May Migrate to Aquifers, Researcher Says – http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-05-03/fracking-fluids-may-migrate-to-aquifers-researcher-says

ACTION: Help the Delaware Riverkeeper protect the Delaware from Gas Drilling – http://www.delawareriverkeeper.org/act-now/urgent-details.aspx?Id=109

SCIENCE: Scientists predict groundwater contamination in as little as 10 years, they’re talking about the wastewater seeping up through the limestone from 7000 feet down.  So much for that wastewater staying put.  What goes down must come up.  http://www.marcellusprotest.org/myers_17Apr2012

ACTION: Get the Facts on Fracking Wastewater webinar – http://eany.convio.net/site/Calendar?view=Detail&id=100221&autologin=true&AddInterest=1081

ACTION: “Stop the Frack Attack” Call to Action – http://www.stopthefrackattack.org/call-to-action/

NEWS: Dirty dealings of the industry: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/02/us-chesapeake-mcclendon-hedge-idUSBRE8410GG20120502

NEWS: Dory Hippauf, an absolute champion of the cause, offers: Connecting the Dots: The Marcellus Natural Gas Play Players – http://commonsense2.com/2011/12/naturalgasdrilling/connecting-the-dots-the-marcellus-natural-gas-play-players-part-1/

VIDEO: One woman’s mystery medical saga, hear her speak – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hB33D105ak&feature=share

NEWS: Residents Fed Up with Bad Water Flee Shale Drilling Areas – http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2012/04/30/residents-fed-up-with-bad-water-flee-shale-drilling-areas/

ACTION: Support New Yorkers against Fracking – http://www.nyagainstfracking.org/#.T5rgv4vOKmk.facebook

LETTERS: Letter to the Editor – Marcellus Issues – So Sure of Permitting they Don’t Bother Following Construction Dates  – http://doddridgenews.com/letter-to-the-editor-marcellus-issues/

SCIENCE: Updated Cornell Study Shows Fracking Causes More Global Warming Than Coal – http://inhabitat.com/updated-cornell-study-shows-fracking-causes-more-global-warming-than-coal/

BLOGS: Frack Waste Causing Fish Cancer? – http://keeptapwatersafe.org/2012/04/17/frack-waste-causing-fish-cancer/

VIDEO: The untested science of fracking, 16-minute video, worth a look – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEHz8SSfFJs

SCIENCE: The Fracking Frenzy’s Impact on Women – http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/04/04-3

VIDEO: Couldn’t help it, children talking about fracking – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIFP0bk_AaY

SCIENCE: Confirmed, Fracking Tied to Unusual Rise in Earthquakes in U.S. – http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-04-12/earthquake-outbreak-in-central-u-dot-s-dot-tied-to-drilling-wastewater

SCIENCE: Another one for good measure, study conducted by the USGS – http://www.frackcheckwv.net/2012/04/10/deep-well-injections-cause-increased-earthquake-activity/

VIDEO: Ignitable Drinking Water in Candor, NY, Above Marcellus Shale – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEtgvwllNpg

NEWS: Doctors Forbidden From Sharing Info With Fracking Victims (seriously?) – http://greenglobaltravel.com/2012/03/27/eco-news-doctors-forbidden-from-sharing-info-with-patients-exposed-to-effects-of-fracking/

ACTION: Donate to SavetheWaterTable.org today to help us continue the fight to protect our water!  Many thanks!

And to all, keep up the good fight.

To apply for this Project Underground workshop please contact Carol by February 3, 2012.

Email: Carol.Zokaites@dcr.virginia.gov  or

Mail: Carol Zokaites, 8 Radford St., Christiansburg, VA 24073 or

Phone: 540.553.6865

This training event is offered for anyone who wishes to become a Project Underground facilitator allowing you to lead workshops for other educators. The training program will include a three-day meeting from 4:00 pm, Tuesday March 13 – Thursday, March 15 at 4:00 p.m. at Douthat State Park, near Clifton Forge, Virginia.

A short karst field trip will be included!

The only cost to the participants will be a $40 registration fee. Lodging and meals will be provided at the park with participants sharing rooms with bunk beds. Bathrooms are down the hall. Lodging will be available for the nights March 13 and March 14.

Those who complete the facilitator training program will be able to conduct their own Project Underground educator training workshops and distribute Project Underground materials.

Those completing the facilitator training also agree to conduct at least one Project Underground workshop in the next two years.

This program is being sponsored by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and the National Speleological Society.

Additional information and directions will be sent to those accepted for the training program.

Douthat State Park is in Millboro, Virginia which is near Clifton Forge.

http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/dou.shtml

For information on Project Underground see the website:

http://karsteducation.org/

Stand Up for Monroe County, Greenville, WV. Photo credit: Elora McKenzie

Monroe County citizens gather to sign petitions on STAND UP FOR MONROE day December 10th, 2011. The Greenville location pictured in the photo above was one of 8 locations provided throughout the county by local businesses. To date (as of mid-December, the numbers have grown, update soon), the ongoing Save theWater Table initiative has gathered 515 signatures to restore our delegate and 820 signatures to ban shale gas development.

The petitions target two goals: 1) to uphold the democratic process and 2) to buy time for Monroe County until natural gas can be extracted without causing detriment to public health and to the environment. STAND UP FOR MONROE tables will continue to operate at the Union location in front of the Silver Birch, between the courthouse and gas station and at the Barn Store in Gap Mills.

Source : Charleston Gazette By Ken Ward Jr., January 23, 2012

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Federal government analysts on Monday slashed their estimate of the natural gas reserves in the Marcellus Shale formation, and at least one major producer announced plans to cut in half its expenditures on new gas leases in the wake of dropping prices.

The U.S. Department of Energy cut its estimate of the Marcellus reserves from 410 trillion cubic feet of natural gas to 141 trillion cubic feet, citing better production information that emerges as drilling operations in the region mature and the exclusion of data from the pre-shale area.

“Drilling in the Marcellus accelerated rapidly in 2010 and 2011, so that there is far more information available today than a year ago,” said the DOE’s Energy Information Administration.

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Source : ProPublica by Nicholas Kusnetz, Nov. 10, 2011

A federal energy panel issued a blunt warning to shale gas drillers and their regulators today, saying they need to step up efforts to protect public health and the environment or risk a backlash that stifles further development.

“Concerted and sustained action is needed to avoid excessive environmental impacts of shale gas production and the consequent risk of public opposition to its continuation and expansion,” said members of the Energy Department’s Shale Gas Subcommittee in a draft report released today.

The seven-member committee, appointed in January by Energy Secretary Steven Chu, provides a way for the Obama administration to weigh in on gas drilling, which is primarily overseen by state regulatory agencies.

In August, the panel issued a lengthy set of recommendations to state and federal agencies and the gas industry for making gas drilling safer.

Today’s report – acknowledging that progress on the panel’s suggestions has been slow – sets out who needs to do what in order to turn recommendations into reality. The panel also stressed the importance of shale gas to the nation’s energy policy, noting that it already makes up 30 percent of domestic gas production.

The report calls on the EPA to revise a proposed rule on air emissions to include limits on methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and criticizes recent moves by the agency that have hindered efforts to get better data from the oil and gas industry, a crucial step toward improving controls.

The report also concludes that joint federal and state efforts to ensure water quality are “not working smoothly” and urges the EPA to move unilaterally to improve oversight as it carries out a study on potential effects of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water.

The panel’s recommendations are not binding, but Amy Mall, a senior policy analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said they carry significant weight.

“We need more experts acknowledging publicly that there are real risks and they can be addressed,” she said. NRDC and other environmental organizations sent a letter to President Obama last week, urging him to issue an executive order directing federal agencies to carry out the panel’s recommendations.

Drilling companies have in the past resisted some policy changes that the panel is recommending, such more stringent federal limits on emissions. Reid Porter, a spokesman for the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, would not comment on the specific recommendations, but said API members have begun to implement some of the panel’s recommendations, including working with state agencies to strengthen best practices on well design and minimizing water use.

The Energy Department’s advisory board will hold a public meeting on the draft report on Monday before finalizing it.

Correction (11/10): This story has been changed. An earlier version made it seem as if Reid Porter, an API spokesman, said that drillers have opposed some of the energy panel’s recommendations. Porter did not comment on that issue.