Pennsylvania Pushes Drillers To Frack With Coal Mine Water

English: Cropped portion of image from USGS report showing extent of Marcellus Formation shale (in gray shading). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Each day, 300 million gallons of polluted mine water enters Pennsylvania streams and rivers, turning many of them into dead zones unable to support aquatic life. At the same time, drilling companies use up to 5 million gallons of fresh water for every natural-gas well they frack.

State environmental officials and coal region lawmakers are hoping that the state’s newest extractive industry can help clean up a giant mess left by the last one. They are encouraging drillers to use tainted coal mine water to hydraulically fracture gas wells in the Marcellus Shale formation, with the twin goals of diverting pollution from streams and rivers that now run orange with mine drainage and reducing the drillers’ reliance on fresh sources of water.

Drainage from abandoned mines is one of the state’s worst environmental headaches, impairing 5,500 miles of waterways.

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=461598

Geisinger Study To Examine Health Effects Of Gas Drilling

English: Cropped portion of image from USGS report showing extent of Marcellus Formation shale (in gray shading). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

DANVILLE – A Pennsylvania health company said it has gotten a $1 million grant to study possible health impacts of natural gas drilling on the Marcellus Shale.

Geisinger Health System said Monday that the Degenstein Foundation had awarded the money to help underwrite what it called a “large-scale, scientifically rigorous assessment” of the drilling.

Most of the money will be used for data-gathering, and some will go toward developing studies of the data. Officials said they expect other funders to come forward.

The study is to look at detailed health histories of hundreds of thousands of patients who live near wells and other facilities that are producing natural gas from the Marcellus Shale formation thousands of feet underground.

Read more:  http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/568967/Geisinger-study-to-examine-health-effects-of-gas-drilling.html?nav=742

Ono, Lennon, Sarandon Tour Susquehanna County Gas Drilling Sites

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Susquehanna County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

MONTROSE – Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon and Susan Sarandon spoke out against fracking Thursday during a tour of natural-gas drilling sites in Northeast Pennsylvania, warning about what they view as the danger to air, water and human health.

The celebrities boarded a tour bus in New York City and headed to rural Susquehanna County to see gas wells, compressor stations and other evidence of the Marcellus Shale drilling boom, and to visit with residents who say they have been negatively impacted by drilling.

Tom Shepstone of Energy In Depth, an industry group, trailed the sleek silver Mercedes tour bus – which had trouble negotiating an icy hill at one point and had to creep back down – and declared the celebrity visit to be a publicity stunt.

“They don’t pay mortgages here, they don’t have to get jobs here, they don’t have to pay taxes here, they don’t have to support their families here.  They just come up here to pick on this area and use it as part of their trendy cause,” he said.

Read more:  http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/gas-drilling/ono-lennon-sarandon-tour-susquehanna-county-gas-drilling-sites-1.1431533