For Immediate Release: October 23, 2012<\/p>\n
a<\/span><\/p>\n CONTACTS: a<\/span><\/p>\n Groups Urge Gov. Corbett to Reverse Policy That Delays Warning Public of Fracking Water Pollution For Immediate Release: October 23, 2012 a CONTACTS: Deborah Goldberg, Earthjustice, 212-845-7377 Karen Feridun, Berks Gas Truth, 610-678-7726 Steve Hvozdovich, Clean Water Action, 412-765-3053 x<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=781"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":788,"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781\/revisions\/788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nDeborah Goldberg, Earthjustice, 212-845-7377
\nKaren Feridun, Berks Gas Truth, 610-678-7726
\nSteve Hvozdovich, Clean Water Action, 412-765-3053 x 210
\nTracy Carluccio, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, 215-692-2329
\nThomas Au, Sierra Club, 717-234-7445<\/p>\n
\nNew policy puts public at risk, adds unnecessary red-tape
\na<\/span>
\nHarrisburg, PA– A coalition of regional, state, and local groups is calling on Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett to reverse a new policy that would delay warning the public of water pollution from oil and gas development. Until now, regional Department of Environmental Protection offices had issued warnings, or\u201cnotices of contamination,\u201ddirectly to the public based on the analysis of water samples by DEP geologists and water quality specialists. Under the new policy, the public is not warned until after senior Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) management in Harrisburg is notified.
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\n\u201cWhen water supplies are polluted, the public should be warned immediately so affected residents can take steps to protect themselves. They should not have to wait until after the news has passed through several layers of bureaucracy and political interference,\u201d said Deborah Goldberg, managing attorney at the environmental law organization Earthjustice.
\na<\/span>
\nThe coalition demanded the policy be reversed, in a letter sent via Federal Express yesterday by Earthjustice on behalf of 13 groups: Berks Gas Truth, Clean Water Action, Damascus Citizens For Sustainability, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition of Luzerne County, PA, Lehigh Valley Gas Truth, Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper, Marcellus Outreach Butler, Mountain Watershed Association, PA Forest Coalition, Protecting Our Waters, Sierra Club – Pennsylvania Chapter, and Three Rivers Waterkeeper.
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\nThe new policy seems designed specifically to accommodate the controversial oil and gas extraction process known as hydraulic fracturing or fracking \u2013 in which drillers blast millions of gallons of water mixed with secret chemicals deep into the earth to extract the gas.
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\n\u201cThis change in procedure is unnecessary and, more than that, it\u2019s a dangerous policy,\u201d said Karen Feridun, Founder of Berks Gas Truth. \u201cRequiring approval from Harrisburg will needlessly delay providing Pennsylvanians with vital information about the safety of their water. Considering that the chemicals used in fracking have been linked to nausea, lung irritation, skin rashes, vomiting, dizziness, and even cancer, citizens should not be forced to wait an additional minute while political decisions are made to notify the public about possible exposure to these chemicals.\u201d
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\nThe new policy was announced in an internal departmental memorandum, without public notice or an opportunity to comment. \u201cWith this secretive change in policy, DEP has violated fundamental democratic values of transparency and public participation,\u201d said Thomas Au, conservation chair of the Sierra Club – Pennsylvania chapter. \u201cChanging processes that have serious health implications, without public input goes directly against DEP\u2019s stated mission to \u2018work as partners with individuals\u2026\u2026 to prevent pollution and restore our natural resources.\u2019\u201d
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\nThe oil and gas industry in Pennsylvania already enjoys considerable leeway. A study by Clean Water Action found that in 2011 there were more than one thousand violations by gas drilling companies cited by DEP, yet 9 out of 10 of these polluters were not fined. And under the new policy, water contamination is likely to go under-reported, leading to even looser enforcement of water protections.
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\n\u201cThe DEP geologists and water quality specialists who are uniquely qualified to make water contamination decisions cannot help but be chilled by the knowledge that their superiors will be second-guessing their scientific determinations,\u201d said Maya van Rossum, Delaware Riverkeeper, Delaware Riverkeeper Network. \u201cThe message is clear that the fewer notifications sent to DEP headquarters, the better. And with fewer notifications comes the likelihood that incidents affecting water quality may not be addressed.\u201d
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\nPennsylvania is in the midst of an unprecedented gas drilling rush brought on by fracking in the region\u2019s Marcellus Shale deposit. Along with this fracking-enabled gas rush have come troubling reports of poisoned drinking water, polluted rivers, lakes and streams, mysterious animal deaths, industrial disasters and explosions. More than one million people still get their water from private sources and many public water supplies draw from rivers and streams in the Marcellus Shale region.
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\n\u201cPennsylvania is being held up nationwide as a poster child for gas development gone wrong. And this new policy certainly won\u2019t do anything to change its reputation,\u201d said Steve Hvozdovich, Marcellus Shale Policy Associate for Clean Water Action. \u201cIt\u2019s high time that state leaders stop granting favors to the oil and gas industry at the expense of public health.\u201d
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\n# # #
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\nLetter to Gov. Corbett.FINAL.10-22-12<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"