tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10738550102520257572024-02-02T04:17:16.562-06:00About Air and WaterActivist website focusing on environmental issues in DFW Region. Air Quality, water quality, water consdervation, gas drilling, and public policy in Tarrant, Dallas, Wise, Parker, Johnson, Denton, Collin, Rockwall, Kaufman, Palo Pinton, Erath, Ellis, Hood, Somervall and Navarro Counties.faithchatham@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15842753099519084220noreply@blogger.comBlogger279125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073855010252025757.post-14723847664420062302015-03-05T19:20:00.002-06:002015-03-05T19:26:29.699-06:00Chemical Plant in Waxahachie has exploded before<i>By Faith Chatham - DFW Regional Concerned Citizens - Jan. 27, 2015</i> - <i>Updated March 5, 2015:</i><br />
This is not the first time that the neighborhood where Navarro College and West Elementary School in Waxahachie has been covered with the black smoke from an inferno caused by an explosion at the Magablend Chemical Plant in Waxahachie, Texas. Here are some images from an explosion at that facility Oct. 3, 2011. A fire broke out at the Magnablend Chemical Plant near State Highway 287 and Interstate 35E at 10:35 a.m. Oct. 3, 2011. The plant exploded and school children were evacuated from a near-by school.<br />
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In 2011n Lisa Wheeler of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality stated that the plant deals with " ammonia, sulfuric, hydrochloric, nitric and phosphoric acids and mixes them for fertilizer and agricultural products." The Magnablend Plant in Waxahachie is about a 45 minute drive 51 miles north of the town of West which was devastated by a fertilizer plant explosion in 2013 which killed 15 people and injured 225.<br />
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Here are some images from the October 3rd 2011 explosion:
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGenVHKFhuAm3m5kH4NYFyseAbIiN7mdE1e8eJRKrKzlDj23hKkgd2W5pdJE4aRjUnrfyzAnwTO2x_4NWl_doRt5-jNmc8UoRSxp21Tp8vxo_h0TS0e34TH_eBLXKF4G-T4gqepoGtu0c/s1600/2011explosionMplantWax.PNG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGenVHKFhuAm3m5kH4NYFyseAbIiN7mdE1e8eJRKrKzlDj23hKkgd2W5pdJE4aRjUnrfyzAnwTO2x_4NWl_doRt5-jNmc8UoRSxp21Tp8vxo_h0TS0e34TH_eBLXKF4G-T4gqepoGtu0c/s400/2011explosionMplantWax.PNG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbLwvDdIlIiIwicle6q52EagVg98t2zUHqj1W2L_UWX22e69-0TfwOSooqrP2S9XdikccYpqX0mZzKPSl2aAlwdh8grOK11bXgkQxPoLxxDgf-yimsPVp5L-o2QobtEi0hU8jjicC6KRE/s1600/2011expMplantWax.PNG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbLwvDdIlIiIwicle6q52EagVg98t2zUHqj1W2L_UWX22e69-0TfwOSooqrP2S9XdikccYpqX0mZzKPSl2aAlwdh8grOK11bXgkQxPoLxxDgf-yimsPVp5L-o2QobtEi0hU8jjicC6KRE/s400/2011expMplantWax.PNG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge55gbZ28HHBbF-F9iAW8pTl6amunrJmY0vB_yK8ydPdycazQqOr091mqfx3WwaFAXtMnOQIIzaYwJoqP37CVvzYKYrVp66d7_lN_amFDSBqGe0HxCtrroyxb-LG5H-6g21krcavBKFmI/s1600/windtowarddalloctMplantexplosion.PNG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge55gbZ28HHBbF-F9iAW8pTl6amunrJmY0vB_yK8ydPdycazQqOr091mqfx3WwaFAXtMnOQIIzaYwJoqP37CVvzYKYrVp66d7_lN_amFDSBqGe0HxCtrroyxb-LG5H-6g21krcavBKFmI/s400/windtowarddalloctMplantexplosion.PNG" /></a><br />
In October 2011 the air blew the smoke and contaminants from the explosion in Ellis County into Dallas County.
News reports of that 2011 explosion:
<script charset="UTF-8" src="http://www.nbcdfw.com/portableplayer/?cmsID=130993708&videoID=Y5AVh3W1JWm4biaA9RYqOT8jTFA1ZFEi&origin=nbcdfw.com&sec=news&subsec=local&width=600&height=360" type="text/javascript"></script><br />
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In 2011 NCB5 reported the inadequacies of local fire and rescue in combatting the blaze.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.063em; line-height: 26px;">Waxahachie Fire Chief David Hudgins said crews that arrived shortly after the first alarm saw thick smoke and flames coming from the facility. Hudgins said they quickly realized the fire was too intense to battle from the inside, so they tried to drench the flames using unmanned water cannons placed inside the building.</span></blockquote>
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When the water cannons didn't work, firefighters tried to tap into the sprinkler system to force more water through the pipes and out of the sprinkler heads. Hudgins said the sprinkler system was either damaged in the initial explosion or didn't have enough pressure.</blockquote>
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"As you know a sprinkler system is designed for x-number of heads to go off," he said. "If more heads than that go off, you don't have adequate water coming out. That's where the fire department comes in. That's the first thing we did was go to the sprinkler system to pump into it, and it was not helping any."</blockquote>
Some footage of the 2011 explosion are available from <a href="http://youtu.be/Pe0QWdIcudA">WFAA's coverage</a> and <a href="http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Massive-Industrial-Fire-Burns-in-Waxahachie-130982093.html">NBC5's coverage.</a><br />
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In 2011 there were no injuries. Huffington Post reported:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Magnablend spokesman Donald Golden told WFAA-TV that 25 to 30 employees who were inside the plant's 100,000-square-foot warehouse evacuated safely when the fire broke out before 11 a.m. Golden said the company manufactures about 200 products, including some that are hazardous when ignited.</span></blockquote>
A firetruck was consumed by the blaze while firefighters were combatting the blaze.<br />
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In 2011 WFAA Channel 8 reported:<br />
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According to fire department records, the plant's sprinkler system has never been analyzed.</div>
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The plant was inspected twice by the Waxahachie fire marshal once when Magnablend moved in and again during a a 30-minute walk-through in February of this year.</div>
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Apart from some blocked exits, the fire marshal said the plant appeared to be in good condition and its housekeeping looked good.</div>
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Records also show that Magnablend's sister plant on the north end of town and a plant with even more dangerous chemicals than the one that that erupted in flames has not been officially inspected by the Waxahachie Fire Department since June 2007.</div>
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Chief Hudgins confirmed what the records indicate: That plant has no sprinkler system at all. Hudgins said it wasn't required when the plant was grandfathered after the area was annexed by the city in 1985.</div>
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Moving forward, Chief Hudgins said he will propose a new ordinance requiring a thorough inspection by a qualified fire protection engineer of every building in Waxahachie whose owner is applying for a certificate of occupancy.</div>
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He also said his department has learned from this experience and vows to review every facility that poses a public safety risk.</div>
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Chief Hudgins also told WFAA: "Sometimes when people move out of a building and somebody else moves in, there could be a mistake; you could need a bigger system, but we are not the experts to tell you that, Hudgins said."</div>
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The recent incident on Monday, January 26, 2015 is described by company representatives as a "Chemical Spill." Witnesses reported hearing a "boom" that sounded like an explosion. The company said from inside a plastic<br />
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The Waxahachie published a timeline on some of the repercussions from the Jan. 27th 2015 chemical spill in Waxahachie.<br />
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UPDATE <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0048007965088px; line-height: 15.0060005187988px;">4:10 p.m.: Officials are going to shut down the I-35E northbound frontage road from Farm-to-Market 387 north to near Red Oak. Avoid the area.</span></blockquote>
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UPDATE 4:36 p.m.: Texas Commission on Environmental Quality representatives are onsite, starting their investigation into the sodium chloride spill, TCEQ spokesperson Andrea Morrew said."</blockquote>
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U<span style="line-height: 15.0060005187988px;">PDATE 4:36 p.m.: Texas Commission on Environmental Quality representatives are onsite, starting their investigation into the sodium chloride spill, TCEQ spokesperson Andrea Morrew said.</span></blockquote>
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"Northbound frontage roads are closed. Sterrett Road on-ramp to northbound I-35E is closed," said Ryan LaFontaine, a TxDot spokeswoman said. "The frontage road and the on-ramp will remain closed until they're cleared by first responders."<br />
At this time, those roads are closed indefinitely, he said.</blockquote>
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<span class="paragraph-5" style="background-color: white; display: inline; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0036001205444px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">UPDATE 4:10 p.m.: Officials are going to shut down the I-35E northbound frontage road from Farm-to-Market 387 north to near Red Oak. Avoid the area.</span><br />
<span class="paragraph-5" style="background-color: white; display: inline; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0036001205444px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">UPDATE 3:38 p.m.: Additional Ellis County Sheriff's Office deputies are headed to the east side of U.S. Highway 77 to notify residents about the spill.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0048007965088px; line-height: 15.0060005187988px;">"New information has come up that there are more of these same totes in there that were delivered from the same company," said Randall Potter, Waxahachie assistant fire chief. "We don’t know if those were contaminated. They are not sure what caused the malfunction. It is mostly likely that something was accidently mixed in with the chemical, like the tanks they put the stuff in were not washed thoroughly or something. Something caused it to off gas. There were 12 of these things delivered at the same time. So we are not sure if the rest of them are going to do it until the Hazmat company comes and makes sure we are all good we are going to expand the zone."</span> (Corsicana Daily Sun)</blockquote>
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Some of the same problems which contributed to the devastation of West, Texas impact other small counties in Texas. A year after the explosion in West, the Industrial Chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso of the National Chemical Safety Board stated when the Board issued it's report a year after the explosion at West, that the fertilizer plant explosion at West "should never have occurred," and was "preventable".<br />
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CNN reported that U.S. Chemical Safety Board Agency report blamed the company that owned the fertilizer plant, government regulators and other authorities for the incident.</div>
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"It resulted from the failure of a company to take the necessary steps to avert a preventable fire and explosion and from the inability of federal, state and local regulatory agencies to identify a serious hazard and correct it," Moure-Eraso said.</blockquote>
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McLennan County, for example, didn't have an emergency response plan in place, and "the community clearly was not aware of the potential hazard at West Fertilizer," the report said.</div>
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A lack of fire codes was repeatedly cited in the report, with investigators noting Texas didn't have a fire code and small counties are prohibited from having them. But, the chairman said, local fire departments need fire codes to "hold industrial operators accountable for safe storage and handling of chemicals." The Report cited McLennan County for "not having an emergency response plan in place when and the community was not aware of the potential hazards at West Fertilizer."</div>
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A problem that impacts small counties in Texas is that <b>Texas doesn't have a fire code</b> and small counties under 250,000 population which are not adjacent to counties of 250,000 population are prohibited by Texas State Law from enacting a County Fire Code. A lack of fire codes was repeatedly cited in the West accident report, with investigators noting Texas didn't have a fire code and small counties are prohibited from having them. The chairman said," local fire departments need fire codes" to "hold industrial operators accountable for safe storage and handling of chemicals."<br />
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<b>Fact Checking the statement: </b>I placed a call to Austin and was connected with the The Texas Fire Board under the Texas Insurance Commission. They affirmed that Texas does not have a state fire code. Counties of under 250,000 which are not adjacent to counties of at least 250,000 are prohibited by Texas state law from enacting a fire code.<br />
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<b>Ellis County was able to Enact A Fire Code</b>:<br />
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Following the Oct. 3, 2011 explosion at the March Chemical Plant in Waxahachie, E<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 15.6000003814697px;">llis County enacted a Fire Code </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.6000003814697px;">Effective Jan. 1, 2013, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 15.6000003814697px;">Ellis County</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.6000003814697px;"> requires commercial buildings to meet the requirements of the newly enacted Fire Code. Adjacent to two counties in excess of 250,000 population Ellis County was able to adopt a Fire Code. Navarro County,which is under 250,000 population and not adjacent to a county of that size, if prohibited by Texas State Law from enacting a Fire Code. Expansion of the Industrial Park in Navarro County could place residents at greater risk because of overreaching state laws which prohibit local authorities from taking prudent action and enacting and enforcing a reasonable Fire Code. </span></blockquote>
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Local officials learned from the events in West and at the Magnablend Plant. In 2012 they began the process to adopt a Fire Code and to update their Preparedness Plan. By January 1, 2013 they had removed all the exemptions for plants which were grandfathered and made all of them comply with the new County Fire Code. Even though Ellis has less than 250,000 population, they were able to enact the Fire Code because they are adjacent to both Dallas and Tarrant counties and each of those counties exceed 250,000 in population. Having the authority to inspect and enforce the new Fire Code helped local responders address accidents at the Magnablend Plant in 2015. Knowledge of what chemicals they were facing and the floorplan of the facility enabled responders to contain the incident faster with less property loss and greater safety to the responders and employees and citizens in the vicinity.<br />
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Nearby counties such as McLennan (where West is located) and Navarro (which has a fertilizer plant) are not as fortunate as Ellis. For some reason State Legislators decided that most of the counties in Texas should not have the same opportunity as Ellis to assess the dangers that exist in their communities and to enact Fire Codes should they decide there is sufficient need., From Austin, those who run for office citing too much government and denouncing governmental "overreaching" chose to upsup local authority and micromanage from afar, despite evidence that enforcement of Fire Regulations prevents or minimizes loss of property and harm to human beings.<br />
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During the 2015 Legislative Session in Austin three identical bills have been filed, all seeking to remove the prohibition from the Local Government Code. They are: <br />
HB924: <a href="http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=84R&Bill=HB924">http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=84R&Bill=HB924</a><br />
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HB684: <a href="http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/MyTLO/BillList/BillListRun.aspx?Id=81658">http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/MyTLO/BillList/BillListRun.aspx?Id=81658</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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SB327: <a href="http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=84R&Bill=SB00327">http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=84R&Bill=SB00327</a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Rep.
Ryan Guillen (D) (956 716-4838) and Representative Kenneth Sheets ( R) (214
370-8305) and Senator Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa (956-972-1842) have filed
(respectively) HB924, HB684 and SB327. Hopefully at least one of them will get
out of committee and be enacted into law. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
faithchatham@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15842753099519084220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073855010252025757.post-54108673279760489792015-03-05T18:54:00.001-06:002015-03-05T18:54:07.242-06:00Dallas Observer Coverage of Fracking and Gas Drilling Ordinance in Mansfield<a href="http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2015/03/mansfield_fracking_regulations.php">http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2015/03/mansfield_fracking_regulations.php</a>faithchatham@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15842753099519084220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073855010252025757.post-26944734033240289352014-11-07T07:44:00.002-06:002014-11-07T07:44:30.532-06:00Concern over Gas Drilling and Arlington Earthquakes<script type="text/javascript" charset="UTF-8" src="http://www.nbcdfw.com/portableplayer/?cmsID=281378731&videoID=KInCYKT_LLe7&origin=nbcdfw.com&sec=news&subsec=local&width=600&height=360"></script>faithchatham@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15842753099519084220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073855010252025757.post-5627730328824254372014-11-06T18:11:00.001-06:002014-11-06T18:16:27.118-06:00Denton Voters Approve Proposal To Ban Fracking « CBS Dallas / Fort Worth<script type='text/javascript' src='http://CBSDAL.images.worldnow.com/interface/js/WNVideo.js?rnd=555242;hostDomain=video.dallas.cbslocal.com;playerWidth=620;playerHeight=349;isShowIcon=true;clipId=10813510;flvUri=;partnerclipid=;adTag=News;advertisingZone=CBS.DALLAS%252Fworldnowplayer;enableAds=true;landingPage=;islandingPageoverride=false;playerType=STANDARD_EMBEDDEDscript;controlsType=overlay'></script><a href="http://video.dallas.cbslocal.com" title=""></a>
<a href="http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2014/11/04/denton-voters-approve-proposal-to-ban-fracking/">Denton Voters Approve Proposal To Ban Fracking « CBS Dallas / Fort Worth</a>faithchatham@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15842753099519084220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073855010252025757.post-89814339777335785112014-11-06T17:58:00.001-06:002014-11-06T17:58:45.207-06:00Fracking Ban Vote Looms Over Denton Election « CBS Dallas / Fort Worth<a href="http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2014/10/31/fracking-ban-vote-looms-over-denton-election/#.VFwLLER4ol0.blogger">Fracking Ban Vote Looms Over Denton Election « CBS Dallas / Fort Worth</a>faithchatham@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15842753099519084220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073855010252025757.post-18679123721019447762014-11-06T17:52:00.001-06:002014-11-06T17:52:55.651-06:00Emotions Running High Over Denton Fracking Ban Vote « CBS Dallas / Fort Worth<a href="http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2014/10/29/emotions-running-high-over-denton-fracking-ban-vote/#.VFwJwHU5ewc.blogger">Emotions Running High Over Denton Fracking Ban Vote « CBS Dallas / Fort Worth</a>faithchatham@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15842753099519084220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073855010252025757.post-88153587839392040512014-07-10T11:59:00.001-05:002014-07-10T11:59:15.419-05:00Report on Capacity Model<a href="http://s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/documents/2014-01-31_-_Brattle_Report_on_Economically_Optimal_Reserve_Margin_in_ERCOT.pdf">http://s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/documents/2014-01-31_-_Brattle_Report_on_Economically_Optimal_Reserve_Margin_in_ERCOT.pdf</a>faithchatham@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15842753099519084220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073855010252025757.post-83931817175329297322014-07-10T11:54:00.000-05:002014-07-10T11:54:31.146-05:00Energy Market Overhaul <article></article><br />
<h1>
The Brief: Rift Opens Between Oil, Electric Interests on Market Overhaul</h1>
<br />
by <a href="https://www.blogger.com/about/staff/reynolds-john/">John Reynolds</a>, The Texas Tribune i<time datetime="Thu, 9 Jan 2014 05:59:00 -0600" title="2014-01-09 05:59"> Jan. 9, 2014 </time><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2014/01/09/brief/">http://www.texastribune.org/2014/01/09/brief/</a><br />
<h2 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 13.63636302947998px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;">
The Big Conversation</h2>
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The Public Utility Commission's proposed changes to the electric market gained a powerful detractor in recent days: the Texas Oil and Gas Association, the state's oldest and largest petroleum organization.</div>
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As reported by the Tribune's <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Jim Malewitz</strong>, TXOGA <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2014/01/08/txoga-says-no-capacity-market-proposal/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #008990; text-decoration: none;">sent a letter</a> to the PUC last week saying it opposed creating a capacity market "<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">that would pay electricity providers billions of dollars to maintain excess generating capacity." The move also opens a rift between the influential petroleum group and the electric utility industry, which backs the capacity market model.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 1.35; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">TXOGA asserted in its letter that the PUC did not have the authority to embark on a market redesign and that a capacity market would not work as intended. Instead, more efforts should be made to take advantage of "smart grid" technology, TXOGA argued.</span></div>
faithchatham@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15842753099519084220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073855010252025757.post-47796921156945041662014-06-19T21:17:00.000-05:002014-06-19T21:18:50.262-05:00Texas Among Nation's Worst Water Polluters<article>
<h1>Texas Among Nation's Worst Water Polluters</h1>
<ul class="meta"><li class="byline">
by <a href="/about/staff/gilad-edelman/">Gilad Edelman</a>,
The Texas Tribune
</li><li><time datetime="Thu, 19 Jun 2014 16:16:05 -0500" title="2014-06-19 16:16">
June 19, 2014
</time></li></ul>
<div class="content">
<p><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Texas is the second-biggest water polluter in the country, in terms of pounds released, according a new report. But when the toxicity of the pollution is factored in, Texas jumps to the top of the list — and it’s not even close.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Texas polluters released about 16.5 million pounds of toxic chemicals into waterways in 2012, second only to Indiana, according to <a href="http://environmenttexascenter.org/reports/txe/wasting-our-waterways-0?__utma=1.385107094.1403204588.1403204588.1403212439.2&__utmb=1.8.10.1403212439&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1403212439.2.2.utmcsr=google|utmccn=(organic)|utmcmd=organic|utmctr=(not%20provided)&__utmv=-&__utmk=182417959">a report</a> released Thursday by Environment Texas, an environmental advocacy group based in Austin. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">And in terms of a measurement that compares pollutants according to how toxic they are, Texas is without rival. According to the report, Texas produced 34 million “toxicity-weighted pounds” in 2012 — 30 times more than the next state, and more than double the rest of the country combined. Almost all of that toxicity comes from one source: the Dow Chemical Company plant in Freeport.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">“You can slice your Texas toast either way and it comes up toxic,” said John Rumpler, one of the authors. “We can do it [by weighted toxicity], and Texas comes up among the worst. Or we can just do it by straight-up volume, purely pounds of toxic chemicals dumped into rivers, and Texas still comes up one of the worst.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span>The report is based on data self-reported by polluters to the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA only requires this information from certain industrial facilities, which leaves out other sources of toxic pollution, including oil and gas drilling, the report notes. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.35;">The Dow plant wasn't among the top 50 facilities in 2012 in terms of total pollution. But its chemical runoff, which flows into the Brazos river and the Gulf of Mexico, included 3 pounds of dioxin, an extremely toxic chemical that can cause reproductive and developmental problems, immune system damage, and cancer. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">According to the <a href="http://cfpub.epa.gov/dmr/docs/Technical_Users_Background_Doc_AppC.pdf">EPA's guidelines</a>, that's equivalent to 33.4 million toxicity-weighted pounds. </span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A Dow spokeswoman acknowledged that the facility had released 3 pounds of dioxin, but disputed the EPA's toxicity measurement.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"Our water emissions are closely monitored and reported and we are in compliance with all state and federal permits," the spokeswoman, Trish Thompson, said in an email.</span></p>
<p>According to the EPA's website, the Freeport plant was <a href="http://echo.epa.gov/detailed_facility_report?fid=110008170237">noncompliant</a> for 12 consecutive quarters ending in 2013, the most recent year for which data are available.</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The top overall water polluter in Texas was the Pilgrim’s Pride chicken-processing plant in Mount Pleasant, which in 2012 dumped 2.8 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the Tankersley River in Northeast Texas, the report says. Most of those toxins were nitrates, chemicals found in fertilizer that can cause infant health problems and oxygen-depleted “dead zones” in waterways. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">A spokesman from Pilgrim's Pride said he couldn't comment without having read the report.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Luke Metzger, director of Environment Texas, said the case of Pilgrim’s Pride shows that Texas water pollution is a statewide issue not limited to the chemical plants on the coast. <strong> <br/></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">“There are still millions of pounds of very dangerous chemicals going into our waterways which could put human health and the environment at risk," he said.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The report recommends that the federal government approve <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2014/04/01/epa-seeks-clarify-jurisdiction-regulate-water/">rules proposed earlier this year</a> by the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that would extend Clean Water Act coverage to more small waterways. It also calls for stricter enforcement of existing regulations. According to Rumpler, lax state enforcement is a major reason for Texas’ poor water pollution record.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which is responsible for enforcing environmental regulations in the state, "has not done its job in terms of either enforcing limits on pollution, or attaching stringent enough pollution limits in the first place to ensure that Texas rivers are clean," Rumpler said.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">A spokesman from TCEQ declined to comment, saying he had not yet read the report.</span></p>
</div>
</article>
<p>This article originally appeared in <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/">The Texas Tribune</a> at <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2014/06/19/texas-among-nations-worst-water-polluters/">http://www.texastribune.org/2014/06/19/texas-among-nations-worst-water-polluters/</a>.</p>
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faithchatham@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15842753099519084220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073855010252025757.post-82060754467093968672014-06-12T09:51:00.001-05:002014-06-12T09:51:24.984-05:00'Turn Red Seats Blue and END the Obstruction in Congress'<a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/turncongressblue?refcode=promote-share#.U5m9zvgdXeo.blogger">'Turn Red Seats Blue and END the Obstruction in Congress'</a><br /><br />
I'm supporting David E. Cozad for Congress. To stop the obstruction and have enough votes for Texas's priorities to be funded, we must send 7 more Democrats from Texas to the U.S. Congress.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
To pass Pay Day Fairness we must change the ratio of Red to Blue.<br /><br />
Every Republican (women and men) voted against fairness for women in the workplace.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
David E. Cozad will fight for Pay Day Fairness.faithchatham@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15842753099519084220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073855010252025757.post-49450996057787251342014-06-10T15:15:00.000-05:002014-06-10T15:15:13.096-05:00<script src="http://www.wfaa.com/templates/belo_embedWrapper.js?storyid=262056131&pos=top&swfw=470"></script><object name="player" id="_fp_0.05173732014372945" width="517" height="290" data="http://swfs.bimvid.com/player-3.2.15.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"> <param value="true" name="allowfullscreen"/> <param value="always" name="allowscriptaccess"/> <param value="transparent" name="wmode"/> <param value="high" name="quality"/> <param name="movie" value="http://swfs.bimvid.com/player-3.2.15.swf" /> <param value="config=http://www.wfaa.com/?j=embed_262056131&ref=http://www.wfaa.com/news/investigates/Scientists-say-state-tests-prove-fracking-to-blame-for-Parker-Co-flaming-wells-262056131.html" name="flashvars"/></object><script src="http://www.wfaa.com/templates/belo_embedWrapper.js?storyid=262056131&pos=bottom&ref=http://www.wfaa.com/news/investigates/Scientists-say-state-tests-prove-fracking-to-blame-for-Parker-Co-flaming-wells-262056131.html"></script>faithchatham@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15842753099519084220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073855010252025757.post-19963300504596428322014-04-21T17:27:00.001-05:002014-04-21T17:27:55.523-05:00BP: Four Years On, No Restoration in Sight<a href="http://truth-out.org/news/item/23147-bp-four-years-on-no-restoration-in-sight#.U1WbWpi9EIU.blogger">BP: Four Years On, No Restoration in Sight</a>faithchatham@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15842753099519084220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073855010252025757.post-41523690040925599482014-04-01T21:24:00.000-05:002014-04-01T21:24:10.725-05:00Fracking fluid may be headed from Johnson County run-off into Joe Pool Lake<a href="http://www.wfaa.com/home/Runoff-from-injection-well-site-worries-land-owners-138163754.html">http://www.wfaa.com/home/Runoff-from-injection-well-site-worries-land-owners-138163754.html</a>
by CASEY NORTON
WFAA
Posted on January 27, 2012 at 11:58 PM
Updated Friday, Jan 27 at 11:58 PM
JOHNSON COUNTY - Rain raised lake levels and eyebrows in Johnson County.
Water broke through a containment wall at a saltwater injection well and into a creek. Land owners want to know why authorities aren't doing more to stop it.
Home video shows white water pouring through the berm during Wednesday's rainstorm. What was supposed to be contained inside the saltwater injection well site ran through an unnamed creek.
The property owner says it's not the first time the berm has broken.
"It does look different. It does smell different," Jennifer Dunlap said. "And we have had instances when the water in the creek has a sheen on top of the water."
Dunlap is worried the cloudy, white water could be mixed with fracking fluids. Every day, dozens of trucks unleash fracking wastewater into a trough system. It splashes out the back of the tankers.
That waste is collected in the trough and pumped into tanks, a reservoir or underground, but Dunlap is not sure how much from the haulers sprays onto the ground, sitting there until a heavy rain pushes it all into her pastures.
"We've had some cattle that have been sick," Dunlap said. "Of course all the trees along the creek have died."
She pointed to home video that showed dead trees near the creek bed.
Video taken Dec. 5 shows a fog running through the creek. After a year of wondering about the site, that event was enough for Tim McCloskey to start documenting overflows with his camera.
"This is our creek here, and in the summer time, there is a lot of white haze along the sides of it after the water recedes," McCloskey said, pointing to the stream that runs the length of the property.
The EPA says it has investigated two complaints.
On Oct. 13 and Dec. 5, 2011, it found no violations of the Clean Water Act. A spokesperson said rainwater that over tops the berm is not illegal.
Containment is enforced by the Texas Railroad Commission. It says all sites are required to have secondary system, in case storage tanks leak. Laws say rainwater runoff is only a problem if the water contains elevated chlorides. That would prove contact with oil and gas waste.
The Railroad Commission didn't say if it tested the water from this site.
The company did not return calls from News 8, but a manager at the site showed us how standing rainwater was pumped into those same haulers. Once collected, it was then dropped into the trough with the fracking waste.
The manager said there was never a breach in the earthen wall, but from Dunlap's property and inside the wall, one can clearly identify new gravel filling a gap in mud and grass.
Dunlap has hired a private lab to test water samples on her property.
"We know that creek goes into Joe Pool Lake, which is one of the main water sources for North Texas," she said. "I know I would not want to have that lake contaminated."
Lab Tests may not reveal any contamination, but Dunlap wants to know what's in the water as long as it continues to flow through her pastures.
E-mail cnorton@wfaa.comfaithchatham@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15842753099519084220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073855010252025757.post-4039491124820126942014-02-09T16:43:00.001-06:002014-02-09T16:43:57.218-06:00The Keystone XL Pipeline's 'Accidental Activists' | Activism, Blog, Perspectives | BillMoyers.com<a href="http://billmoyers.com/2014/01/22/how-obama-threw-the-south-under-a-bus-for-the-keystone-xl-pipeline/#.UvgEnY1SVOY.blogger">The Keystone XL Pipeline's 'Accidental Activists' | Activism, Blog, Perspectives | BillMoyers.com</a>faithchatham@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15842753099519084220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073855010252025757.post-79081266677962338262014-01-24T15:28:00.001-06:002014-01-24T15:28:46.605-06:00Brains and Eggs: Keystone XL lets it flow<a href="http://brainsandeggs.blogspot.com/2014/01/keystone-xl-lets-it-flow.html?spref=bl">Brains and Eggs: Keystone XL lets it flow</a>: It was declared dead , it came back to life . Let's call it Zombie Pipeline . The Keystone XL Pipeline runs under Julia Trigg Crawf...faithchatham@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15842753099519084220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073855010252025757.post-16485455412963782992014-01-22T18:07:00.001-06:002014-01-22T18:07:11.123-06:00Brains and Eggs: Nobody likes Barry Smitherman<a href="http://brainsandeggs.blogspot.com/2014/01/nobody-likes-barry-smitherman.html?spref=bl">Brains and Eggs: Nobody likes Barry Smitherman</a>: It's not just the residents of Azle and elsewhere in Frackland, but also the media and even a few Republicans. Let's see what&#39...faithchatham@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15842753099519084220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073855010252025757.post-62820803124564510052014-01-17T17:46:00.001-06:002014-01-17T17:46:31.262-06:00West Virginians Tolerate Chemical Spills Out of Fear of Losing Jobs<a href="http://billmoyers.com/2014/01/17/west-virginians-tolerate-chemical-spills-out-of-fear-of-losing-jobs/#.UtnAwRzJloY.blogger">West Virginians Tolerate Chemical Spills Out of Fear of Losing Jobs</a>faithchatham@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15842753099519084220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073855010252025757.post-86269630933152244732014-01-13T16:57:00.000-06:002014-01-13T23:41:10.172-06:00Water! It's about Water and Education for Senate 9 Candidate<i>By Faith Chatham - Jan. 13, 2014</i><br />
Gregory R. Perry is a quiet-spoken intelligent man. When asked why he is running for Texas Senate District 9, he replied: "Mainly Anger!"<br />
When he begins talking about public policy and how it impacts his grandchildren, it becomes clear that Gregory R. Perry is determined to change the course of Texas public policy. Gregory is convinced that the trajectory of this state is at odds with the opportunities facing his grandchildren and their generations. Gregory R. Perry is a man with a purpose and he knows what must be done and is ready to get to work seeing that it gets done!<br />
<b>1. Education </b>- "Without education no one is going anywhere!" Perry says that even highway funding is inconsequential if we do not educate our children. He is running in an urban district (Arlington, Irving, Grand Prairie and the Mid-Cities) which has over 89,000 adults who have not graduated from High School. Unopposed in the Democratic Primary, Gregory R. Perry is facing incumbent Kelly Hancock (R) in the General Election. Hancock voted to slash school funding in 2011 while in the Texas House. In the Senate he has done little or nothing to restore the funding or to strengthen the public education system in Texas. In the Senate, Hancock opposed Equal Pay for Equal Work for women.<br />
<br />
<b>2. Public Infrastructure - especially Water - For Gregory Perry it comes down to energy and water. </b>The U.S. Government stopped building reservoirs in the 1980s. The Reagan administration tried to privatize building water reservoir. Perry, retired from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, specialized in water management and river engineering. He says that until the Reagan administration, the Army Corps of Engineers built three reservoirs per decade to keep up with water demands from population growth and expanded industrial usage. When Reagan tried to sell of the reservoirs and speculated that future reservoirs could be constructed by private corporations, they failed to factor in the impact of flood control and sovereignty.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDU2ArAkE6hsFRE9A0I_SF7xE7Gp3Xj59K9dckI6qxpoGlThfhFeBK5kqkPbCNadpALUhea-bCqjwr2jFwOe6EYN8dl7BGNcn2EL9fqwAaKDnIzMx4tWsy5CnvgwrbDJvjoArdLWNIc_A/s1600/ArkBank02.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDU2ArAkE6hsFRE9A0I_SF7xE7Gp3Xj59K9dckI6qxpoGlThfhFeBK5kqkPbCNadpALUhea-bCqjwr2jFwOe6EYN8dl7BGNcn2EL9fqwAaKDnIzMx4tWsy5CnvgwrbDJvjoArdLWNIc_A/s320/ArkBank02.JPG" /></a></div>
Only the United States Government can claim sovereignty. When reservoirs have to open the floodgates in exercising flood control, the government can defend itself from law suits because of sovereignty. A private company cannot. Therefore, it is too big a risk for private corporations to invest in reservoirs. There is a water crisis in Texas and it will not get better. Deferring investment in water solutions -- long term investment in infrastructure is imperative for the quality of life and economic future of North Texans. Gregory R. Perry worked on the Joe Pool Lake, Lake of the Pines, Sam Rayburn, and Lake of the Pines Corps of Engineers water management projects. He understand water and he knows Texas aquifers. With the stress of trillions of gallons of water used by horizontal drilling/fracking in Texas during drought, water is a priority for this next legislative session. He has worked on the rivers and lakes of Texas and now Gregory R. Perry is prepared to bring solutions to the floor for consideration.<br />
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Commenting on the power plants which went off-line during the January cold spell, Perry explains that these plants are coal power plants and it takes longer for a coal plant to come on-line. Water powered power plants come on-line rapidly. However, in Texas we do not have the water to power new hydro powered plants.<br />
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We have to think ahead and be innovative and apply sustainable energy solutions throughout the state. "Fossil fuel is a limited resource. We must shift to renewable energy for powering our homes and businesses and save the petro chemicals for producing plastics." Perry sees the current use of fossil fuel as "squandering resources which are too precious to use on generating electricity."<br />
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<b>3. Equal Pay for Equal Work - </b>Gregory Perry says that failure to index the minimum wage to inflation has eroded the financial base of families and transferred costs to the government which should be included in the cost of business when making a profit. In Senate District 9, over 48% of the households in the district live on less than $50,000 a year. About 45% of the households in the District are renters. The median gross rent is $850 a month. Transportation cost is high. The Texas Legislative Council estimates that 110,536 people were living in poverty in Senate District 9 in 2011 and the per capita income is estimated as $25,046. Gregory R. Perry believes all workers should be fairly compensated. Gender and racial workplace discrimination must stop. The percentage of Latino and African American workers are three times more likely to live in poverty than Anglo workers. Texas has a higher employment rate than many other states but 28.6% of Texas jobs are low-wage. Gregory R. Perry says that "Trickle-down economic is a dismal failure. Money flows to the top one percent and American jobs have gone off-shore. Money hasn't trickled down to the middle class. The earning of many of the middle class is now below the poverty level." Gregory Perry cites a 2011 U.S. Census Bureau report that the number of families living in poverty in the United States is now at the highest level in 50 years.<br />
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Perry sees education as the big divide between economic stability and opportunity. The Texas Legislative Council reports 26.6% of the adults in Senate District 9 have Bachelor's Degrees or higher. However, 18.1% of the adults 25 years and older do not have high school diplomas. Many of the 45.8% of the district which have graduated from High School have difficulty affording a college education. In 2011 only 45,613 persons in the district were in college, attending university or trade schools. Gregory R. Perry says that lack of education combined with racial and gender discrimination in pay rates and job opportunities impacts the poverty level in the district. When families earn less, they have less to spend. This impacts the retail, housing and wholesale sectors of the district and impacts the overall economics of the region.</div>
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Gregory R. Perry does not think in sound-bites. He thinks like an engineer who is interested in macro economics. He views the big picture and looks for short-term solutions as a bridge while long-term investments can be implemented to prevent future problems.<br />
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I found the conversations with Mr. Perry very stimulating. He does not duck and hide from the difficult questions. He is a family man who thinks of the future instead of just trying to put a band-aide on current problems. I find him refreshingly honest and intelligent. He is not a politician. He's neither polished nor evasive! He does have a plan and he has purpose. I like him. He is worth giving serious consideration for replacing the current incumbent in Senate District 9.
Visit his website at <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.txsen9gregoryperry.com">www.txsen9gregoryperry.com</a><br />
Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/GregoryRPerrySen9/">https://www.facebook.com/groups/GregoryRPerrySen9/</a>
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Google+: </a><a href="https://plus.google.com/114868630917640358013/posts?utm_source=bk&utm_medium=ha&utm_campaign=plusgeneralb2c&utm_term=%2Bgoogle%2B&gclid=CNvx2sWr_LsCFShk7Aod0V8A4A">https://plus.google.com/114868630917640358013</a>faithchatham@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15842753099519084220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073855010252025757.post-62262927067123924202013-12-09T07:39:00.002-06:002013-12-09T07:45:33.408-06:00Cross-border pollution - Eastern States Press Midwest to Improve Air<h6 class="byline" style="color: grey; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 2px 0px;">
<i>By <span itemprop="author creator" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span itemprop="name">CORAL DAVENPORT - The New York Times - </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.2em;">Published: December 9, 2013 </span></i></h6>
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/09/us/politics/eastern-states-press-midwest-to-improve-air.html?smid=pl-share<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 22.002840042114258px;">WASHINGTON — In a battle that pits the East Coast against the Midwest over the winds that carry dirty air from coal plants, the governors of eight Northeastern states plan to petition the</span><a class="meta-org" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/e/environmental_protection_agency/index.html?inline=nyt-org" style="background-color: white; color: #666699; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 22.002840042114258px;" title="More articles about the Environmental Protection Agency.">Environmental Protection Agency</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 22.002840042114258px;"> on Monday to force tighter air pollution regulations on nine Rust Belt and Appalachian states.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The East Coast states, including New York and Connecticut, have for more than 15 years been subject to stricter air pollution requirements than many other parts of the country. Their governors have long criticized the Appalachian and Rust Belt states, including Ohio, Kentucky and Michigan, for their more lenient rules on pollution from coal-fired power plants, factories and tailpipes — allowing those economies to profit from cheap energy while their belched soot and smog are carried on the prevailing winds that blow across the United States.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">All the governors on the petition are Democrats. Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, a Republican and a potential presidential candidate in 2016, has not signed it.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 1.467em;">The petition comes the day before the Supreme Court is to hear arguments to determine the fate of a related E.P.A. regulation known as the “good neighbor” rule. The regulation, officially called the </span><a href="http://www.epa.gov/crossstaterule/" style="color: #666699; line-height: 1.467em;" title="More about the rule.">Cross-State Air Pollution Rule</a><span style="line-height: 1.467em;">, would force states with coal pollution that wafts across state lines to rein in soot and smog, either by installing costly pollution control technology or by shutting the power plants.</span></div>
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Even if the regulation is upheld, the Eastern governors are seeking stronger constraints on pollution from the Midwest and Rust Belt states.</div>
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The Obama administration issued the “good neighbor” rule, which would apply chiefly to power plants in 27 states east of Nebraska, half of the country, in 2011, but the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit <a href="http://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/19346B280C78405C85257A61004DC0E5/$file/11-1302-1390314.pdf" style="color: #666699;" title="EME Homer City Generation v. Environmental Protection Agency, et al.">struck it down</a>, ruling that the E.P.A. had not followed the <a class="meta-classifier" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/clean_air_act/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" style="color: #666699;" title="More articles about the Clean Air Act.">Clean Air Act</a> when it calculated how to assign responsibility for cross-state air pollution. The rule is part of President Obama’s growing effort to use E.P.A. regulations to crack down on coal pollution.</div>
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In the case before the Supreme Court, the E.P.A. argues that the cross-state air rule, which it is required to issue under the Clean Air Act of 1990, is necessary to protect the health and environment of downwind states. The utilities and 15 states on the other side argue that the rule, as written by the Obama administration E.P.A., gives the agency too much regulatory authority and places an unfair economic burden on the states.</div>
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<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/09/us/politics/eastern-states-press-midwest-to-improve-air.html?smid=pl-share" style="font-size: small;">Read more</a></div>
faithchatham@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15842753099519084220noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073855010252025757.post-2424652455104257862013-12-08T05:11:00.001-06:002013-12-08T05:13:00.699-06:00Your Choice - Pro Environment Democrat or Joe Barton!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhyphenhyphenmSeCgzL4oTlszvZe5Wflh2JVOPRMe8xcH_BED1T0AR2dwRWkrY39N1s2K3OK2sGpiO8Jvs_yFaKYhEKmfWybaxWCPG3S6JnZdZj0QEVFEG_FYtWWn3kCy-0R2Sxv2T_o_vpECKlLHc/s1600/MedCozadYourChoice.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhyphenhyphenmSeCgzL4oTlszvZe5Wflh2JVOPRMe8xcH_BED1T0AR2dwRWkrY39N1s2K3OK2sGpiO8Jvs_yFaKYhEKmfWybaxWCPG3S6JnZdZj0QEVFEG_FYtWWn3kCy-0R2Sxv2T_o_vpECKlLHc/s1600/MedCozadYourChoice.png" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/payfilingfee" style="background-color: #f2faff; color: #002782; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 31px;" target="_blank">https://secure.actblue.com/<wbr></wbr>contribute/page/payfilingfee</a>faithchatham@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15842753099519084220noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073855010252025757.post-42298830690715337762013-11-21T10:51:00.001-06:002013-11-21T10:51:31.149-06:00City Gas Drilling Ordinances within the Barnett ShaleB<i>y Faith Chatham - DFWRCC - Nov. 21, 2013</i><br />
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A number of cities in the DFW Region have passed or revised gas drilling ordinances in the past few years. Here are links to a few of them.<br />
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The City of Arlington<br />
<a href="http://www.arlingtontx.gov/planning/pdf/Gas_Wells/Gas_Drilling_and_Production_Ordinance.pdf">http://www.arlingtontx.gov/planning/pdf/Gas_Wells/Gas_Drilling_and_Production_Ordinance.pdf</a><br />
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The City of Dallas in progress<br />
<a href="http://www.dallascityhall.com/council_briefings/briefings0812/GasDrillingBriefingPro_080112.pdf">http://www.dallascityhall.com/council_briefings/briefings0812/GasDrillingBriefingPro_080112.pdf</a><br />
(Note: Ed Ireland is a paid PR person for the Gas Drilling Industry. He is paid to misrepresent the facts to prevent regulation to the industry. He exaggerates the benefits, inflates the number of jobs and plays down the "sugar-coats" the averse impact of mixing heavy industry into residential neighborhoods. He uses air brushed photographs, sometimes even inserting trees where none exist! It is important to weigh anything coming from Ed Ireland and The Energy Education Council (a consortium of Oil and Gas Producers he represents) very carefully and DO NOT RELY ON HIS STATEMENTS TO BE FACTUAL. Sometimes they are. Frequently they are not.)<br />
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The City of Fort Worth<br />
<a href="http://fortworthtexas.gov/uploadedFiles/Gas_Wells/090120_gas_drilling_final.pdf">http://fortworthtexas.gov/uploadedFiles/Gas_Wells/090120_gas_drilling_final.pdf</a><br />
<a href="http://pstrust.org/docs/gaswell_ordinance.pdf">http://pstrust.org/docs/gaswell_ordinance.pdf</a><br />
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The City of Grand Prairie<br />
<a href="http://www.gptx.org/modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=4742">http://www.gptx.org/modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=4742</a><br />
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More links will be added to this post soon.<br />
faithchatham@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15842753099519084220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073855010252025757.post-8931844696125969592013-11-05T01:30:00.001-06:002013-11-05T02:51:26.133-06:002013 DFW Smog Report: Failure....Again <a href="http://myemail.constantcontact.com/2013-DFW-Smog-Report--.html?soid=1102600045057&aid=JgwHqW_e-lQ">2013 DFW Smog Report Failure ...Again</a><br />
By DownWinders At Risk, Nov. 2013<br />
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<li><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Even a Mild Summer Can't Keep DFW from Once Again </span><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Violating Now-Obsolete 1997 Ozone Standard -</span><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">for 16th Straight Year </span><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;"><br /></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Only Two Out of 18 Monitors</span><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Compling with New EPA Ozone Standard</span><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;"><br /></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Highest Readings in Keller and Grapevine,</span><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;"><br /></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">10 out of 17 Monitors See Rise in Averages</span><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;"><br /></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Is Air Pollution from Natural Gas Production</span><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Preventing Clean Air Progress in DFW ?</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUOIzbepzMI3BSzv4FeYLUKdFXOFXF17jRuIsgNxLPa9Eq5v1rIr_AZSmPpB27gruv4_nrRwO4eauOKQcKNf2b_HKm5K-Qu6k_sO6PCO03ErJmGmyyQaFBPpD5TeQN0oAOahnkl-pQwUE/s1600/smogmap2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUOIzbepzMI3BSzv4FeYLUKdFXOFXF17jRuIsgNxLPa9Eq5v1rIr_AZSmPpB27gruv4_nrRwO4eauOKQcKNf2b_HKm5K-Qu6k_sO6PCO03ErJmGmyyQaFBPpD5TeQN0oAOahnkl-pQwUE/s400/smogmap2013.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></li>
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(DALLAS)----On the eve of constructing yet another DFW clean air plan, the 2013 Ozone Season ended on Thursday the same way the previous 16 have ended: <strong>with North Texas out of compliance with the 1997 federal clean air standard.</strong><br /><br />Even a mild summer with lower temperatures and more rain couldn't save the numbers from <strong>exceeding an illegal three-year running average of 85 parts per billion at monitors in Keller and Grapevine.</strong> </div>
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What makes this year's violation particularly troublesome is that the 1997 standard has been replaced with a more protective one that's 10 ppb lower. <strong>So for the next DFW air plan to succeed, it will have to reduce smog </strong><strong>to levels no DFW monitors have ever recorded. </strong><br /><br />That new plan <strong>has its official kick-off event next Tuesday, November 5th, beginning at 9am in Arlington at the Council of Governments Headquarters.</strong> It's the first briefing from the state on the computer model it will be using to base the plan on. <strong>Everything about one of these plans is based on such a computer model,</strong> a model only the state can run. For now. The plan must be submitted to EPA by June of 2015.<br /><br /><strong>Downwinders will have representatives at this meeting, as well as every other one that takes place between now and June 2015</strong>. Director Jim Schermbeck is one of three representatives from environmental groups that sits on the North Texas Clean Air Advisory Committee that gets briefed by state staff on a plan's progress. <strong>It's the only opportunity citizens groups have to cross-examine the state's staff about its assumptions.</strong><br /><br />Even though extremely high ozone numbers were rarer this year, there were enough bad air days to cause <strong>the running averages of 10 out of 17 monitors, called "design values" to rise</strong> - not the kind of trend you want when you're next task is complying with a tougher standard.<br /><br />One of those increases is worrisome because it marks <strong>the third year in a row the central city monitor in Dallas near the corner of Mockingbird and I-35 (Hinton Street) has increased its annual average.</strong><br /><br />This is a monitor that had <strong>a "design value" of 67 parts per billion in 2010 -</strong> that is, it was in compliance with the new 75 ppb standard just three years ago. <strong>But now this monitor is up to 84 ppb and almost out of compliance with the 1997 standard.</strong> That's quite a swing in three years - again in the wrong direction.<br /><br /><strong>Every monitor inside the DFW metro area and even most "rural" monitors had a design value above the new standard of 75 ppb.</strong> Only Kaufman and Greenville made it under the wire, barely, with readings of 74 ppb.<br /><br /><strong>As usual, the worst ozone levels were found in the northwest quadrant of the DFW area.</strong> This is a well-known historical pattern caused by the predominant southeast to northwest winds that blow pollution from the coast up through the coal and gas patches of East and Central Texas, over the Midlothian Industrial Complex and North Texas central urban cores into Northwest Tarrant Wise and Denton counties.<br /><br />This pattern has been the target of the last three state clean air plans, but somehow it never gets fixed the way Austin predicts it will.<br /><br />If you look at the readings of DFW's air monitors since 1997, (as you can with <a href="http://www.downwindersatrisk.org/?attachment_id=3919" linktype="1" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="color: blue;" target="_blank" track="on">our downloadable pdf)</a>, you'll see that the last clean air plan to make a dent was the 2006 effort that looked like it was going to succeed for a year or two. <strong>Since 2008 however, air quality that was supposed to be getting better has gotten worse, or stagnated.</strong><br /><br />While cars have gotten cleaner during this time, and pollution from cement and coal plants has been reduced, <strong>there's one "source category" of pollution that's increased significantly since 2008: the gas industry. </strong><br /><br />In submitting the last DFW air plan to EPA in 2011, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality estimated there <strong>were more tons of smog-forming Volatile Organic Compounds being released by the gas industry in the official DFW "non-attainment area" than by all the cars and trucks on the road combined.</strong> That wasn't true in 2008.<br /><br />Moreover, this is new air pollution in a smog non-attainment area that doesn't have to be off-set by reductions in pollution elsewhere in DFW. <strong>Unlike every other large industry, the gas industry is exempt from this offset requirement of the Clean Air Act. </strong><br /><br />You always hear about what kind of DFW smog problems all those nasty cars cause. <strong>You never hear about the smog problem caused by the gas industry.</strong><br /><br />Could DFW's continuing inability to comply with the old 1997 ozone standard be due to this new under-regulated source of air pollution? <strong><br /><br />Denton's Airport monitor's 4th highest reading of 85 ppb</strong>this summer, the one that officially counts toward its running average, <strong>was the <a href="http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/cgi-bin/compliance/monops/8hr_4highest.pl" linktype="1" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="color: blue;" target="_blank" track="on">highest such reading in the entire state,</a>including Houston.</strong><br /><br />There's no doubt Denton is in the <strong><a href="http://www.texassharon.com/2013/10/31/eagleridge-does-not-use-gas-flaring-except-when-they-use-gas-flaring/" linktype="1" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="color: blue;" target="_blank" track="on">middle of the local gas patch,</a></strong> as are the Keller and Grapevine monitors that had the highest design values this year. Given the decreases in pollution from other categories, <strong>are gas patch emissions keeping these numbers from coming down they way they were supposed to? Austin keeps saying no, but the evidence is compelling.</strong><br /><br />Just last year there was a <a href="http://www.downwindersatrisk.org/2012/09/study-gas-drilling-significantly-increasing-dfw-smog/" linktype="1" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="color: blue;" target="_blank" track="on">study out of Houston</a> showing <strong>how a single flare or compressor station could significantly impact local ozone levels by as much as 5 or 10 ppbs.</strong>TCEQ itself just produced a study this last summer showing how Eagle Ford Shale gas pollution is <a href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/environment/article/Eagle-Ford-drilling-is-polluting-San-Antonio-s-air-4660237.php?utm_source=MRT+Morning+Email+List&utm_campaign=ed18080f39-0712_715am_CT7_12_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3a93afa5aa-ed18080f39-[LIST_EMAIL_ID]&ct=t%280712_715am_CT7_12_2013%29&gooal=eyJjaWQiOiJlZDE4MDgwZjM5IiwidGFnIjoiMDcxMl83MTVhbV9DVDdfMTJfMjAxMyIsInVpZCI6IjY0NDE5NDQ4NWZiZjMyY2RmYTk3NTNmNzUifQ%3D%3D|bHVrZUBlbnZpcm9ubWVudHRleGFzLm9yZw==&mc_cid=ed18080f39&mc_eid=[UNIQID]" linktype="1" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="color: blue;" target="_blank" track="on">increasing ozone levels in San Antonio. </a><br /><br />Other studies show how gas patches are producing record levels of ozone in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah where there were no such problems prior to the industry's arrival on the scene. <br /><br />Local Barnett Shale gas pollution might explain these Tarrant and Denton county monitors' problems, but they don't explain the rise in numbers of the Dallas monitors, since the wind during ozone season comes in from the south to southeast.<br /><br />What new pollution is coming from that direction? <strong>Gas industry pollution from numerous compressor stations and processing plants stations in Freestone, Anderson, Limestone and other counties just about 90 to 100 miles south-southeast of Dallas.</strong><br /><br /><strong>If one adds up all the emissions these facilities are allowed under their "standard permits." it exceeds the pollution from coal plants like Big Brown.</strong> That's a huge hit from sources that weren't there 10 years ago.<br /><br />In effect, <strong>DFW is getting squeezed</strong> between gas pollution being produced in the middle of its urban areas, and gas pollution blowing in from the south. We're in the middle of a big, gas-produced ozone sandwich.<br /><br /><strong>Officials with Rick Perry's TCEQ would rather drink lye than admit gas pollution is causing smog problems for DFW.</strong> But such an admission might be the only way you ever start to bring DFW into compliance with the Clean Air Act.<br /><br /><strong>This is why local DFW municipal and county governments serious about air quality must divorce themselves from Austin's politicized science and begin to seek their own solutions.</strong> Austin really isn't interested in solving DFWs chronic smog problems. Heck, the Commissioners who run TCEQ <a href="http://www.downwindersatrisk.org/2013/10/poultry-expert-to-doctors-youre-wrong-ozone-doesnt-cause-asthma/" linktype="1" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="color: blue;" target="_blank" track="on">don't even believe smog IS a health problem</a>. <br /><br /><strong>Forecasters are saying drought conditions are the new normal for North Texas.</strong> If that's true, this last summer seems like an exception to the rule. And if we couldn't catch a break when it's cooler and wetter than it should be, it's hard to imagine making much progress when we're facing more summers like 2011.<br /><br />Downwinders will have a summary of next week's modeling meeting in its "Fighting for Air" blog. Stay tuned.<br /></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><br /></span>faithchatham@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15842753099519084220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073855010252025757.post-51655171544505332542012-08-16T18:19:00.002-05:002012-08-16T18:30:03.445-05:00Good news and dubious developments from EPA<i>By Faith Chatham, DFWRCC, Aug. 16, 2012</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Today in the Federal Register new rules for Natural Gas production and transmission were published by the Environmental Protection Agency. <a href="https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/u/0/?ui=2&ik=f10bf157dd&view=att&th=139318b206b0eec2&attid=0.1&disp=inline&realattid=442b02852867cdc4_0.1&safe=1&zw&saduie=AG9B_P_B1malHmuNtm83Ok6_X4De&sadet=1345158636552&sads=9lOwHdRI-RgPtMsaQ3aznxAtjL0">The NSPS/ NESHAP for Oil &; Gas Sector</a> published today are in the most part good news for the health of citizens in the Barnett Shale and other oil and gas patch environments.<br />
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I am writing this from the EPA public hearing on proposed roll-back of standards for cement kilh production and proposals to delay implementation of stronger standards upheld by the Federal District Court. This is probably the first that many of you have heard of these hearings. Unless you were on the mailing list of an environmental group, you probably did not get a notice of the public hearings. The EPA only gave 2 weeks notice and named only one hearing site in the United States. For me that was good news. The site is the Arlington City Hall a few blocks from my home. I admire people from Kansas and Maryland and North Carolina who came to this hearing. The number of people on portable oxygen, with inhalers, and medical reports on environmentally excaberated asthma and COPD seemed to outnumber the persons without such conditions.<br />
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With the exception of a few cement industry spokespersons, every speaker urged the Environmental Protection Agency to implement the stricter standards proposed in their 2010 guidelines and to not delay implementation. Citizens who have "worked on" cement kilh emission issues for decades, and who are savvy enough to understand that this is settled science and no new findings prompted these proposals to set aside the stricter guidelines are perplexed at the EPA calling these hearings and proposing rollling back these standards.<br />
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If you wish to submit statements by Sept. 17, 2012 on the cement kihl emission standards, you can send them by e-mail to:<br />
a-and-r-Docket@epa.gov, Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2011-0817 or fax your comments to:<br />
202-566-1741, Attention Docket ID. No. HQ-OAR-2011-0817<br />
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The proposed changes to the 2012 Published rules would "extend the compliance date for existing kilns under the air toxics standards for two more years from September 2013 to September 2015. Hearings and studies and court cases on these emissions have been in progress for over 20 years. The 2010 published standards (which the industry is pressuring the EPA to roll-back) are based on "SETTLED SCIENCE." The technology has not changed and the health consequences documented for decades demonstrate the need for compliance and timely enforcement. The proposed changes will increase the emissions from the cement plants significantly and delay implementation If you care about your breath and your family's health, join with those who testified in person today and urge the EPA to enact the 2010 published standards without further delay.<br />
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EPA website on<a href="http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/pcem/pcempg.html"> Proposed Changes to Portland Cement Standards.</a><br />
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<br />faithchatham@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15842753099519084220noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073855010252025757.post-2649717700915090512012-05-09T16:17:00.002-05:002012-05-09T16:17:53.976-05:00<br />
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<i>BY MEAD GRUVER - <span style="font-size: 0.9em;">Associated Press - </span><span style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">Friday, May. 04, 201</span></i></div>
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<span class="dateline" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">CHEYENNE, Wyo. — </span>Wyoming's governor persuaded the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to postpone an announcement linking hydraulic fracturing to groundwater contamination, giving state officials - whom the EPA had privately briefed on the study - time to attempt to debunk the finding before it rocked the oil and gas industry more than a month later, an investigation by The Associated Press has found.</div>
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During the delay, state officials raised dozens of questions about the finding that the controversial procedure that has become essential to unlocking oil and gas deposits in Wyoming and beyond may have tainted groundwater near the gas patch community of Pavillion.</div>
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Gov. Matt Mead contacted EPA Director Lisa Jackson and persuaded her to hold off any announcement, according to state emails and an interview with the governor. The more than 11,000 emails made available to AP in response to a state records request show that Wyoming officials took advantage of the postponement to "take a hard line" and coordinate an "all-out press" against the EPA in the weeks leading up to the announcement Dec. 8.</div>
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Meanwhile, the chief state regulator of oil and gas development fretted over how the finding would affect state revenue.</div>
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And even as the state questioned the EPA's science, there were internal doubts about how effective those objections would be.</div>
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"It's already too late. The White House has already seen the report with conclusions," wrote Gary Strong, an engineer with the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, following a presentation by EPA deputy assistant regional administrator Martin Hestmark. The emails indicate that, at least in the minds of Wyoming officials, the federal agency was being pressed by the White House to release its report.</blockquote>
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"Once local folks received data and it showed what it did they had the responsibility to take it to HQ and in fact it ended up with them in front of the White House. HQ and White House decided that now that data is released EPA must release conclusions quickly," wrote Tom Kropatsch, a natural resource analyst for the state Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, who also took the notes at a Nov. 16 EPA-state meeting.</blockquote>
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But the state's questions did set the stage for additional groundwater and household well water sampling in the Pavillion area that began a couple weeks ago.</div>
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The struggle by both Wyoming officials and the EPA for message control shows the extent to which they fretted about the findings. Wyoming depends on oil and gas for its economic well-being while environmentalists have pushed the Obama administration to crack down on a process responsible for increasing U.S. onshore production.</div>
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The worry wasn't misplaced: Though the findings were unique to Pavillion, they ricocheted amid heightened scrutiny of fracking in other drilling regions including the Marcellus Shale states of New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.</div>
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The emails also suggest an uneasy partnership now that the EPA and Wyoming, as well as U.S. Geological Survey and two American Indian tribes, say they are working together on further study of the Pavillion groundwater.</div>
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However, some recent re-sampling by the EPA of household well water in the Pavillion area took Mead and other state officials by surprise. They had presumed that only two monitoring wells the EPA had drilled to test for groundwater pollution would be retested this spring.</div>
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"I won't tell anybody not to test. But if you're going to test, you need to bring everyone in the process," Mead said in an interview Monday.</div>
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The EPA did not make Jackson available for an interview. EPA Region 8 Director Jim Martin said in a statement through spokesman Richard Mylott that the EPA "has been transparent and has relied on the best science" to inform Pavillion-area residents about their water.</div>
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Environmentalists including the Natural Resource Defense Council and Sierra Club have looked to the Obama administration EPA to get tougher on fracking, the practice of cracking open oil and gas deposits by pumping pressurized water, fine sand and chemicals down well holes. They maintain that fracking is a threat to clean groundwater.</div>
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<b>The EPA study in the Pavillion area followed years of complaints from homeowners that their well water took on a chemical stink around the time that fracking picked up in their neighborhood about eight years ago. Environmentalists welcomed the draft report as validation of their concerns</b>.</div>
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Wyoming is the third-ranked state for onshore gas production and ninth for onshore oil production. Nearly every new oil and gas well in Wyoming that isn't a coal-bed methane well is fracked.</div>
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In internal emails that followed the Nov. 4 briefing, state officials expressed support for fracking as critical to oil and gas extraction, a $7.7 billion a year industry in Wyoming that accounts for 20 percent of the state's gross domestic product.</div>
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"The limiting of the hydraulic fracturing process will result in negative impacts to the oil and gas revenues to the state of Wyoming. A further outcome will be the questioning of the economic viability of all unconventional and tight oil and gas reservoirs in Wyoming, across the United States, and ultimately in the world," wrote Tom Doll, supervisor of the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, in a long email that circulated among top state officials.</blockquote>
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Wyoming's top state regulator of oil and gas development, including essentially all fracking in the state, Doll was a district manager for Tulsa, Okla.-based Williams Production Company until 2008.</div>
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The spark for Doll's missive was the closed-door meeting at Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality headquarters in Cheyenne two days earlier. EPA administrator Martin briefed Wyoming officials about what the EPA was about to announce based on its research in Pavillion. Doll took part by phone.</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>"Contaminants present at high concentrations in the deep monitoring wells are likely a result of hydraulic fracturing," read a "Key Findings" slide in an EPA PowerPoint shown at the meeting. Each slide was marked "Confidential-Do Not Disclose."</b></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>The public announcement more than a month later stated that the groundwater "contains compounds likely associated with gas production practices, including hydraulic fracturing."</b></blockquote>
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<b>The EPA also suggested at the private meeting that gas development likely had contaminated household well water in the Pavillion area but that current data did not definitively support such a link. The EPA has made no such claim in public to date.</b></div>
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Emails show that Mead sought to reach Jackson within hours. Mead confirmed that he got her to hold off on the findings report until state officials could review the data.</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>"When I talked to Lisa Jackson they were going to release the findings regardless. That wasn't even the question. The question was on the timing of it. We wanted a chance to see what are they basing this on," Mead told the AP.</b></blockquote>
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<b>"She said, 'Well, maybe we can hold off a couple weeks to give you guys this data.'"</b></blockquote>
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<b><span style="color: #111111;">The EPA released raw data on pollution in the two monitoring wells at a public meeting in Pavillion on Nov. 9, five days after the private state briefing. </span><span style="color: red;">Among the pollutants was the carcinogen benzene as high as 50 times the EPA limit. </span><span style="color: #111111;">The EPA showed a PowerPoint similar to the one shown at the private meeting but without announcing any findings. There was no "Key Findings" slide.</span></b></div>
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Releasing the data and findings outside of the purview of two "working groups" angered state regulators. The working groups made up of state and EPA officials had been examining the Pavillion pollution for the better part of a year.</div>
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Wyoming didn't take the news from the private EPA briefing sitting down.</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>The state could "get ahead of the curve" by assigning its own experts to review the data, suggested John Corra, the environmental quality director.</b><b>"Sort of an all out press," Corra wrote to Doll and others Nov. 7.</b></blockquote>
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Doll suggested to Corra and others in a Nov. 19 email that Wyoming take "a hard line" after one EPA official told them to drop their concerns.</div>
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"EPA has not substantially defended their explanation, the data is questionable on many levels, and EPA has ignored our alternative explanations," Doll wrote.</div>
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<b>Dozens of questions from state regulators followed. They included why the monitoring well water samples had high pH readings. The EPA report referred to the high pH and mentioned the detection of potassium hydroxide, a basic chemical used in fracking.</b></div>
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Pavillion residents didn't hear about the finding before the public announcement, said John Fenton, chairman of Pavillion Area Concerned Citizens.</div>
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<b>Fenton said he was unhappy that regulators hadn't kept local residents fully apprised of the latest developments concerning their water supply. Yet he held EPA in higher regard than the state officials he said ignored Pavillion for years, prompting residents to request the EPA investigation.</b></div>
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<b>"Those of us living out here, we don't trust the state," he said.</b></blockquote>
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State officials actively kept the media in the dark about the upcoming EPA announcement, even as reporters questioned them about the data.</div>
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"My sense is that the reporter was searching for a conflict to write about, and I tried to head that off," Corra wrote Nov. 29 to several other state officials about one reporter's questions.</div>
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Another state regulator suggested that Wyoming officials keep in mind how they're perceived while they questioned the EPA data.</div>
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"This could go on for a long time, during which we'll likely continue to be in an adversarial discussion with EPA, the public and the press," the Department of Environmental Quality's groundwater chief, Kevin Frederick, wrote to Corra on Dec. 2. "Is there a way to shift the focus of discussion to show the State in a more positive light while the present uncertainties continue to simmer?"</div>
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<b>The additional sampling since agreed to has extended the study of the Pavillion groundwater. Peer review of the sampling results, set to begin this spring, now is scheduled for this fall.</b></div>
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Follow Mead Gruver on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/meadgruver</div>
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<br style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" />Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/05/03/3933449/ap-exclusive-wyo-got-epa-to-delay.html#storylink=cpy</div>
<br />faithchatham@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15842753099519084220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073855010252025757.post-36333919733873430052012-05-09T15:55:00.000-05:002012-05-09T15:57:24.858-05:00Gas Drilling Industry files law suit opposing Arlington's Fire Fee<a href="http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/05/07/3943109/arlington-faces-lawsuit-over-fee.html">http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/05/07/3943109/arlington-faces-lawsuit-over-fee.html</a><br />
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BY SUSAN SCHROCK</div>
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ARLINGTON -- Two natural gas well trade organizations filed suit Monday in a District Court in Tarrant County to prevent Arlington from implementing what they deem an unnecessary and discriminatory new tax on gas wells.</div>
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Last month, the City Council unanimously approved a $2,397 annual fee per well to pay for more firefighters, training and equipment, which Fire Chief Don Crowson said the city needs to prevent and better respond to gas well emergencies. The fee, the first of its kind in the Barnett Shale, is expected to generate an estimated $800,000 for the Fire Department's gas well emergency preparedness and response program.</div>
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The Texas Oil & Gas Association and the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association argue that the city, which has more than 300 gas wells, is trying to unfairly "expand its revenues by taxing a single industry."</div>
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"It's seven times higher than any other permit fee they charge to a particular business," said Justin Furnace, president of the royalty owners association. "We're really left with no alternative but to seek relief from the court."</div>
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The associations call the Fire Department's gas well program, which will add a layer of inspections at well sites, unnecessary given the industry's safety record in the Barnett Shale. The suit says that while the Fire Department responds to tens of thousands of service calls annually, the city has had only three natural gas well incidents in six years and that those releases were handled by the companies, not firefighters.</div>
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The city has also repeatedly turned down well operators' offers of free training, Furnace said.</div>
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"The industry has a terrific record when it comes to public safety in the city of Arlington," Furnace said, adding that companies have their own emergency responders available around the clock. "To the extent that extra training is needed, we stand ready as an industry to provide that training free of charge to the city."</div>
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Crowson defended his program Monday, saying first responders need training in an urban environment that is more advanced than the cursory gas well site awareness classes being offered by the industry. Though the fee has not been implemented, the Fire Department has hired a gas well safety and security inspector and a captain to oversee the preparedness and response program.</div>
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Dozens of firefighters are also expected to undergo industry-specific training in Houston this summer to learn how to protect the community during gas well fires or other incidents, he said.</div>
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"At the end of the day it's my team that is responsible for public safety. The only way we can do that is to properly equip and train our team to do those things that keep the public safe," Crowson said. "Awareness-level training does not come anywhere close to matching our need to deal with an emergency. We need to know more than just what elements are on a pad site."</div>
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The Fire Department also plans to use the fee to pay for six additional firefighter positions and to train and equip 42 current firefighters to create two gas well emergency response teams.</div>
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The council approved the program despite opposition from Chesapeake Energy, XTO Energy and Quicksilver Resources. Representatives from those companies told the council that they were concerned that the Fire Department's program could lead to "potentially unsafe measures, unreasonable costs and additional burdens that may prohibit the industry from quickly and safely managing any unforeseen or unplanned critical incident."</div>
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Crowson said that the program was reviewed by the city's legal department and two outside legal teams and that they determined that the city has jurisdiction to implement to an industry-specific fee for additional public safety expenses.</div>
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The associations say the new fee will make Arlington unattractive to natural gas operators and could cost the community jobs and mineral rights revenue, Furnace said.</div>
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"My hope is they understand that tens of thousands of jobs are created up there through the oil and gas industry. It affects thousands of mineral owners anytime one of these fees are assessed this way," he said.</div>
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The lawsuit says that Arlington has one of the highest gas well permit fees in North Texas and that the city collected more than $1.7 million in fees from natural gas well operators in 2011. The city also collected more than $105 million in bonuses and royalty payments for gas well leases on public lands, according to court documents.</div>
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While the Fire Department plans to charge drillers nearly $2,400 per well to cover public safety risks, it charges other businesses that store, haul or handle hazardous materials no more than $350 in permit fees per year.</div>
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"There is simply no justification, no reasonable basis, for singling out natural gas well operators among similarly situated businesses when it comes to the potential dangers and hazards they pose to public health and safety," the suit says.</div>
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<a href="http://twitter.com/susanschrock" style="color: #003399; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><br style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" />Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/05/07/3943109/arlington-faces-lawsuit-over-fee.html#storylink=cpy</a></div>
<br />faithchatham@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15842753099519084220noreply@blogger.com0