While the facts do not support many of the claims put forth by the New York Times (Gov. Ed Rendell and former PA DEP Sec. John Hanger agree), this new scientific data brings further clarity to the question of water quality being responsibly balanced with Marcellus development. Here are key excerpts from Pennsylvania American Water’s findings:

No Detectable Levels of Radiological Contaminants or Volatile
Organic Compounds Found at Intakes

Following a full battery of tests at Pennsylvania American Water’s raw water intakes along the Allegheny, Clarion and Monongahela Rivers and Two Lick Creek, in Indiana, PA, the company found no elevated or harmful levels of radiological contaminants, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or inorganic compounds (IOCs).The results confirmed that the quality of the water supplied by Pennsylvania American Water’s treatment plants has not been impacted by radioactive materials, VOCs or IOCs from Marcellus Shale drilling wastewater.

Some newspapers and outlets responsibly informed their readers of this new, fact-based information, helping to set the record straight.

• “Pennsylvania American Says Its Water Shows No Radioactivity”. “A battery of tests showed no radioactive contaminants in the water used and produced locally by Pennsylvania American Water, which serves about 222,000 customers in Western Pennsylvania, the company announced yesterday. “The company performed extra tests throughout March in reaction to media reports that questioned whether the expanding Marcellus shale gas drilling industry was putting radioactive chemicals into public water. The tests showed the company’s water supply and the drinking water it produces have not been affected by radioactive chemicals from shale drilling, the company said.”  (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 5/17/11)
• “PA Water Company Says No Radioactivity”. Pennsylvania American Water reports no elevated or harmful levels of radioactive contaminants, or volatile organic or inorganic compounds at its Southwestern Pennsylvania raw water intakes.  “The results confirmed the quality of the water supplied by Pennsylvania American Water’s treatment plants has not been impacted by radioactive materials, VOCs or IOCs from Marcellus Shale drilling wastewater.” (Gas Business Briefing, 5/18/11)
• “Pennsylvania Water Utility Doesn’t Find Pollution From Natural Gas Drilling”. “Several tests of western Pennsylvania river water prompted by fears of contamination from the state’s rapidly growing natural gas drilling industry didn’t turn up elevated or harmful levels of radioactivity or other pollutants not routinely monitored, a private water utility said Monday.”  (Associated Press, 5/16/11)
• “Pa. Water Utility Doesn’t Find Drilling Pollution”. “The Pennsylvania American Water Co. said its tests showed that its water quality complies with federal and states standards. State regulators have previously said that tests from samples they collected in November through February of water downriver from western Pennsylvania treatment plants raised no red flags for radioactivity. (Associated Press, 5/16/11)

NOTE: The following publications posted and/or published the Associated Press story: Centre Daily Times, Forbes, MSNBC, CNBC, Harrisburg Patriot-News, Beaver County Times, Houston Chronicle, Bloomberg, Hamilton Journal-News, Westport News, Albany Times Union, Beaumont Enterprise, The Evening Sun, San Antonio Express-News, The Express-Times, USA Today,Lebanon Daily News, Australia News, York Dispatch, Yahoo News.

NOTE II: While the Philadelphia Inquirer has published multiple stories on this subject — along with a 435 word editorial based on the debunked New York Times story — the paper only found 60 words in their “Business News in Brief” section for this fact-based analysis.

NOTE III: The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which dedicated over 750 words in a headline story and 465 words on the editorial page to the original Times story, barely mentioned these test results – giving one short paragraph to the matter in an otherwise unrelated news story. All this, despite the fact that Pennsylvania American Water has an office just 15 miles away from the paper’s newsroom and thousands in their coverage area receive drinking water from this utility.

Posted At: Marcellus Shale Coalition.org

The Coalition filed the lawsuit in federal court Sept. 27, naming state former Homeland Security Director James F. Powers. Jr. and the “Institute of Terrorism Research and Response,” a Philadelphia-based company previously contracted by Powers which had prepared an intelligence bulliten depicting the protesters of Marcells Shale gas drilling as potential terrist threats to the industry.

In a brief supporting a motion for dismissal filed today in Scranton, the Institute calls the suit “a transparent attempt to spread its message and obtain publicity for its cause,” and that the contract with the Institute and the state has already been cancelled by Gov. Ed Rendell in response to the controversy, making their presence in the case unnecessary.

The brief also argues the Coalition lacks legal standing in the case, and that the company and its officer are not “state actors simply because they are carrying out a state sponsored program and the contract is being compensated by the state,” nullifying part of the allegations in the suit.

And the company argues the Coalition’s request for “nominal damages” of $125,000 must be stricken because the state Supreme Court has ruled “nominal damages” must be $1.

Copyright: Times Leader

March 28, 2010, 7:38PM

CHRISTINE BAKER, The Patriot-News, 2009A towering gas-drilling rig stood on the Susquehanna County property of Jim Grimsley. Dimock Twp. farmers in Susquehanna County are signing leases with natural gas companies like Cabot Oil & Gas to drill into Marcellus Shale so they can pump out gas.

Pennsylvania lawmakers should learn from history and from Dr. Seuss, said Robert F. Davey
Jr., a retired forester with 38 years of experience in Penn’s Woods.

The state’s forests were decimated by rampant logging in the 19th century and a number of its streams were polluted by unrestricted mining, Davey said. He compared those scenarios to “The Lorax” by Seuss, the tale of a species of trees being nearly wiped out, with only one seed remaining.

Davey said lawmakers should be careful when profiting from the Marcellus gas boom “so that future generations won’t be saddled with mistakes we made because of a myopic view of natural-resource limitations or outright greed.”

He was one of several conservation leaders who testified this month before the state House Majority Policy Committee in support of a five-year moratorium on additional leasing of state forest land for drilling in the Marcellus Shale.

The moratorium, proposed by Rep. Greg Vitali, D-Delaware County, would also require studies of the impact of drilling on public lands. The bill, House Bill 2235, was voted out of committee Wednesday morning with two Republicans supporting it.

With the state facing another budget crisis, money lies at the heart of the debate over leasing more public land.

Advocates, including Gov. Ed Rendell, want to repeat last year’s profitable lease offer, which generated $128 million, twice what officials had hoped. Opponents said the state is moving too fast for a quick buck without fully weighing the implications.

“It’s become apparent that this administration intends to press for new oil and gas leasing to bankroll their spending priorities,” said Rick Carlson, a former policy director for the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

“I’m not real crazy about how we’re making these decisions,” said Rep. Garth Everett, R-Lycoming County, one of the two Republicans voting for the moratorium bill Wednesday. “These are long-term, far-reaching decisions, and we make them as knee-jerk budget reactions.”

Everett said he thinks a five-year moratorium is too long, “but I think we need to move this discussion forward.”

Many of his fellow Republicans emphasize the economic value of the Marcellus boom to depressed areas of the state.

“Another word for moratorium is delay, and in our part of the state, we need the jobs,” said Rep. Martin Causer, R-McKean County, whose district includes Cameron and Potter counties, where more than half of the land is owned by the state.

“I recognize the issues,” Causer said. “But I think we can do it properly.”

Some Democrats prefer a moratorium on leasing and a new tax on the gas extracted.

“The alternative to leasing more state forest land is simple: Raise new revenues elsewhere,” said John Quigley, the acting secretary of conservation and natural resources.

Rendell has said he supports an extraction tax on Marcellus gas, but Senate Republicans have said they oppose it.

The budget passed by the House last week includes $112 million in projected revenue from new gas leases next year but does not include an extraction tax.

Nine Marcellus wells have been drilled on state forest land thus far, but some lawmakers predict the number could rise into the thousands.

Everett said he’d “like to see us take a little bit of a timeout and have the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee do a study of the financial and environmental impacts of all the land we’re leasing already.”

Nearly 700,000 acres of state forest land is leased for drilling, according to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. And there’s not much left that would be appropriate to open up, Quigley said.

Quigley testified last week that all of the remaining land is “environmentally sensitive,” including wild areas, old-growth forest, wetlands, areas with endangered species and land with high tourism value.

“There may be pockets here and there” that might be available, said Chris Novak, a department spokeswoman.

Seneca Resources Corp., the highest bidder for two of the most recent leases, would be “likely to participate” in another, said Nancy Taylor, a company spokeswoman.

Seneca Resources and other gas companies oppose the moratorium.

But the issue may be more significant to legislators and conservationists than it is to the gas industry. The companies are aware there is little remaining land that the state is willing to offer; some of the best was included in the last offering, and a moratorium on state leases would have no impact on drilling on private land, which accounts for about 90 percent of Marcellus activity.

There may be bigger issues there.

Matthew B. Royer, a staff lawyer for the Pennsylvania office of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, blasted the Department of Environmental Protection’s “expedited review process,” which stripped authority from local conservation districts, saying it now “consists simply of making sure all the paperwork is in the permit application.”

Last September, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation appealed three permits approved by the DEP under the new process, alleging no technical review of plans was conducted, plans went through wetlands with no effort to avoid impacts, and permits were approved within two to four days.

The DEP subsequently revoked the permits, noting technical deficiencies.

“It should not take the efforts of a third-party conservation organization to track weekly Pennsylvania Bulletin notices, travel to Williamsport to review permit files, and file notices of appeal before the Environmental Hearing Board just to ensure that careful environmental review of Marcellus Shale permits is happening,” Royer said.

Visit the original article here.