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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From the Sierra Club’s Chuck Wyrostok.  This is really important guys.  PLEASE pick up the phone and take 5 minutes for the cause today – many thanks!

Greetings fellow environmental activists across West Virginia,

We would sincerely appreciate your passing this along to the members of your organization.  Thanks so much.

After three years of waiting, we are very close to passing a bill to regulate Marcellus shale gas drilling and fracking.

In the face of uncounted environmental travesties and families having their lives and land ruined, plus an almost constant barrage of citizen outcry, legislative meetings, hearings, news articles, letters to the editor and editorials, state leaders have so far avoided enacting meaningful law to reign in the runaway gas industry.

This Thursday, the first of December, call Governor Tomblin and tell him you want him to exhibit some leadership and “call a December special session of the Legislature to get the Marcellus bill passed.”

His phone numbers: 304-558-2000 or toll-free at 888-438-2731.

Thank you.

Chuck Wyrostok Sierra Club Outreach Organizer Toll free 877 252 0257 E: outreach@marcellus-wv.com www.marcellus-wv.com

At each location, there will be a table manned by 2 persons from 10am to 4pm.

Mark your calendars to come sign the petitions and Stand Up for Monroe!

If you would like to join us in manning a table, please send us an email with your preferred times and dates and a contact number so we can get in touch with you.

Attached is a copy of the proposed emergency oil and gas rules.  The Advisory Board hearing is 1:30 September 22 at WVDEP in Kanawha City.  The DEP will have staff there to answer questions about the proposed rule, but the questions have to come from the Board. The public is entitled to attend. It is an open meeting.

Proposed emergency oil and gas rule : WVSOS-Notice-of-an-Emergency-Rule-082211

Kristin A. Boggs, Esquire General Counsel West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection 601 57th Street Charleston, West Virginia  25304 (304) 926-0440 (304) 926-0447 (facsimile) (304) 941-8017 (cellular)

Source : FrackCheckWV

Water Well Contaminated by Fracking, Under Conditions Prevailing in 1982

by DUANE NICHOLS on AUGUST 4, 2011

In 1982, the Kaiser Gas Company drilled a gas well on the property of Mr. James Parsons in Jackson County, WV, according to a 1987 EPA report to the US Congress. The well was fractured using a typical fracturing fluid or gel, common at that time.

The residual fracturing fluid migrated into Mr. Parson’s water well according to an analysis by the WV Environmental Health Services Laboratory of well water samples taken from the property. Dark and light gelatinous material (fracturing fluid) was found, along with white fibers. (The gas well was located less than 1,000 feet from the water well which was 416 feet deep. Four old gas wells were also nearby.)

The chief of the laboratory advised that the water well was contaminated and unfit for domestic use, and that an alternative source of domestic water had to be found. Analysis showed the water to contain high levels of fluoride, sodium, iron and manganese. The water, according to State officials, had a hydrocarbon odor, indicating the presence of gas. Mr. Parsons was unable to resume the use of the well as a domestic water source.

According to a recent report from the Environmental Working Group, “When you add up the gel in the water, the presence of abandoned wells and the documented ability of drilling fluids to migrate through these wells into underground water supplies, there is a lot of evidence that EPA got it right and that this was indeed a case of hydraulic fracturing contamination of groundwater. Now it’s up to EPA to pick up where it left off 25 years ago and determine the true risks of fracking so that our drinking water can be protected.”