EPA strangle the Marcellus Shale golden goose with red tape?

When something smells like two day old fish, it may not be fish but it’s probably not good. The stench coming from the headline “Endangering the Water?” on the front page of the newspaper caused me to suspect something rotten so I held my nose and started reading the article. Sure enough, decaying fish intended to frighten and mislead the public was found within. For starters the reader was expected to buy an assertion that the 2004 EPA study that found that hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” posed “little or no threat to underground sources of drinking water” was politically tainted. No evidence of the tainting was offered. However, the reader is further expected to assume that a “new look” by the EPA under the current administration is not politically motivated and on its way to being tainted.

While searching online for a copy of the AP article about this EPA “new look” that appeared in the front page of the July 21, 2010 Patriot News I ran across a couple of related items.

The only thing that fills up more hotel rooms in the Williamsport PA area than Marcellus Shale gas drilling workers is the Little League World Series.
The Allegheny Conference on Community Development was just awarded nearly $5M to train the workforce for natural gas industry opportunities related to the Marcellus Shale.

The EPA “new look”

This “new look” is actually a “relook” at fracking. This is not a new technique for recovery of the types of natural gas deposits available such as those in the Marcellus Shale region which Pennsylvania sits astride of. Fracking has been refined over the years. So long as sound operating procedures are followed the risks, something that is inherent in every aspect of energy production, are manageable and acceptable. And yes clean, green, renewable, or whatever buzz word du jour you chose for other than primary energy recovery and production methods also comes with inherent risks that must be managed.

The oil and gas industry steadfastly defends the process as having been proven safe over many years as well as necessary to keep the nation on a path to energy independence.

Studies have “consistently shown that the risks are managed, it’s safe, it’s a technology that’s essential … it’s also a technology that’s well-regulated,” said Lee Fuller, director of the industry coalition Energy In Depth.

“A fair study,” Fuller added, “will show that the procedures that are there now are highly effective and do not need to be altered — the federal government does not need to be there.”

AP EPA article 7-20-10

Point 1 – Fracking is mature technology; there are risks, as there are with any thing of this nature, and they need to be managed.

But because of the oil spill, conservation groups say the drilling industry has lost it credibility and the rapid expansion of shale drilling needs to be scrutinized.

“People no longer trust the oil and gas industry to say, ‘Trust us, we’re not cutting corners,’ ” said Cathy Carlson, a policy adviser for Earthworks, which supports federal regulation and a moratorium on fracking in the Marcellus Shale.

AP EPA article 7-20-10

Cathy should be asked who are these “people” are and how many of them are there? Does she have any data to support this assertion?

Point 2 – It is probably more accurate to say that “people” have a “trust but verify” attitude when it comes to fracking or any other potentially dangerous industrial undertaking. When reasonable environmental and safety regulations are applicable, “people” have every right to expect that those charged with verifying that standard and safe operating procedures are being followed are doing their duty and verifying. That would be the responsibility of those public agency officials charged with verification of compliance.

Point 3 – It is fair to say the Gulf oil spill has caused some to soften their support for offshore energy recovery. It is not fair to say what happened on a deepwater oil recovery rig operating under those circumstances and the associated risks bears a significant resemblance to the circumstances surrounding natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale region.

Point 4 – The operating conditions for a land based operation versus a deep water operation are significantly different. The size and complexity of deepwater drilling/recovery platform versus a natural gas drilling rig is significantly different.

… 56% of U.S. Voters now believe offshore oil drilling should be allowed, while 26% oppose it. One-in-five voters (19%) are undecided.

Since the oil rig explosion that caused the massive oil leak, support for offshore drilling has ranged from 56% to 64%.

The rig that exploded was drilling in deepwater, and 47% of voters continue to support deepwater drilling. Thirty-one percent (31%) say deepwater drilling should not be allowed, but another 22% are not sure.

Rasmussen Reports July 20, 2010

The poll indicates that public support for increased oil drilling has eroded as the oil spill crisis has dragged on.

Gallup May 28, 2010

Point 5 – These are different surveys taken on different dates with slightly different questions. However, they do not show that Americans have completely lost their senses and want to abandon all offshore or deepwater offshore energy recovery efforts. Granted support for offshore drilling has softened following the Gulf oil disaster but the sky is not falling as far as most of us are concerned.

Point 6 – Politicians, spending other people’s money, mistakenly believe that throwing large amounts of other people’s money at something can drive risk to zero. The average person knows that sometimes risk can be reduced or minimized but at some point it becomes a losing proposition. That is just one more example of the significant disconnect between Washington and the rest of the country.

Just six years ago, an EPA study declared the fracking process posed “little or no threat to underground sources of drinking water” and with that blessing, Congress a year later exempted hydraulic fracturing from federal regulation.

Now the agency, prodded by Congress even before the Gulf disaster and stung by criticism that its 2004 study was scientifically flawed and maybe politically tainted, will bring the issues to the heart of the land lease rush in the Marcellus Shale: Canonsburg, Pa., on Thursday and Binghamton, N.Y., on Aug. 12.

AP EPA article 7-20-10

Point 7 – There are a number of things to consider before you accept that the 2004 study may be scientifically flawed and possibly politically tainted. Consider the source. The majority party in Congress, the critic, was not the majority party when the 2004 study was done. On the whole the current majority in Congress today is not above political tainting. Last year the current administration pushed a politically tainted CO2 endangerment finding out of the EPA. Politically tainted as in the EPA suppressed an internal dissenting report that said the finding was based on conclusions and documentation that had not been carefully examined. A reexamination of the outdated, and since that time discredited, information did not fit with a politically driven deadline to “produce” the endangerment finding. Note: A single reference is cited here. Covering this EPA suppression in detail is beyond the scope of this article.

“We’ve got to get it right,” said Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., a sponsor of the so-called FRAC Act, which would repeal the 2005 exemption and require regulation of fracking by the EPA under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.

“We allowed coal over many, many decades to be an industry that was so unregulated that it was allowed to do virtually whatever it wanted, and now we have numerous environmentally adverse impacts,” he said.

AP EPA article 7-20-10

Senator Casey appears to be doing his part to make sure Pennsylvania remains in the bottom ten of the Rich States, Poor States rankings by sponsoring a bill to repeal the 2005 EPA regulation exemption.

Point 8 – Comparing natural gas recovery methods, specifically those based on fracking techniques, to the “unregulated” state of the coal industry of many years ago is absurd. This is either naivety or intellectual dishonesty on Casey’s part; more likely a combination of the two.

No room at the inn

Due mainly to the natural gas drilling activity in the Marcellus Shale region, 75 percent to 80 percent of the 1,200 rooms are filled on a regular basis. Hotel operators say they are experiencing a boom they seldom see, except for the Little League World Series.

So where will the thousands attending the World Series stay next month?

Natural gas industry workers have been urged to take vacation so rooms are available, said Jason Fink, executive vice president of the Williamsport-Lycoming Chamber of Commerce.

Gas workers, many of whom were brought in for their well-drilling experience that is lacking locally, are staying in motels not by choice but because there is a lack of rental housing in the region, Tsunis said.

Patriot News 7-20-10

Point 9 – This is a clear example of economic benefit rippling throughout the economy as a result of Marcellus Shale drilling. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will realize increased tax revenues from this ripple. A tax directly on extraction is a ripple suppressor and in the long run is likely to result in less total tax revenue.

Federal agencies working at cross purposes

PITTSBURGH [July 21, 2010] – For the first time since the Marcellus Shale natural gas industry began to boom, workers in the multi-state Marcellus Shale footprint will have the opportunity to receive standardized training for employment around this burgeoning energy resource. Marcellus ShaleNET, a comprehensive recruitment, training, placement and retention strategy for jobs in the Marcellus Shale gas industry is launching with a $4.964M community-based job training grant from the United States Department of Labor (DOL), Employment and Training Administration (ETA). The grant is the largest awarded nationally in this federal funding opportunity.

A consortium of community colleges, led by Westmoreland County Community College (WCCC) and the Pennsylvania College of Technology, is the recipient of this federal grant and will be coordinating the training of interested and qualified workers across Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.

Working with the 10-county Pittsburgh region’s private sector leadership organization, the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, and the Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association (PIOGA), the grant partners* have devised a comprehensive network that will allow recruitment and training to build scale quickly, while ensuring that individual regions can respond flexibly to rapidly changing workforce needs.

Read the full press release from the Allegheny Conference on Community Development

Point 10 – As noted in the article about hotel rooms being filled, those Marcellus Shale gas drilling workers are from out of the area because of a lack of local workforce expertise. Spending tax dollars to train a gas drilling workforce for the Marcellus Shale region is probably not the worst possible use of tax dollars. Training a workforce that could end up sitting on its hands as potential drilling opportunities are delayed or abandoned due to uncertainty about or as a result of unnecessary EPA regulation and dithering would be a travesty of the highest order.

The wrap up

The EPA “new look” is a “relook” that is not necessary. It is politically motivated and highly likely to be tainted. When the economy is trying to recover from the hole we are in a progressive agenda EPA witch hunt is the last thing we need. Fracking is a mature technology. What is needed is proper execution on the part of the oil and gas industry and those in the government that have oversight responsibilities. Whining that more regulations are needed before it has been demonstrated that existing regulations are inadequate is absolute nonsense.

Progressives left to pursue a misguided and economically destructive energy agenda will strangle the Marcellus Shale golden goose with red tape before the first golden natural gas egg is laid.