Industrial gas plants, compressor stations, well pads, pipelines and O&G waste trucking have taken over Washington County, Pennsylvania.
By David E. Hess | PA Environment Digest Blog May 3, 2024 | Full story
The following DEP notices were published in the May 4 PA Bulletin related to oil and gas industry facilities. Many of the notices offer the opportunity for public comments.
Land Recycling/Brownfield Cleanups
— Range Resources-Appalachia, LLC – Cornwall Mountain Shale Gas Well Pad: DEP approved a Final Report on remediation of soil contaminated with wastewater to meet the Statewide Health Standard for the pad located in Lewis Twp., Lycoming County. (PA Bulletin, page 2415)
— Chesapeake Appalachia, LLC – Kingsley Unit Shale Gas Well Pad B: DEP approved a Final Report on remediation of soil contaminated with compressor oil to meet the Statewide Health Standards for the pad located in Monroe Twp., Bradford County. (PA Bulletin, page 2415)
— Chesapeake Appalachia, LLC – Indian Foot Shale Gas Well Pad Lease Road: DEP disapproved a Final Report on remediation of soil contaminated with wastewater to meet the Statewide Health Standards for the pad located in Monroe Twp., Bradford County. (PA Bulletin, page 2415)
2024 Land Recycling/Brownfield Cleanups
So far in 2024, DEP received or acted on 114 Act 2 Land Recycling notices related to oil and gas facility site cleanups.
Air Quality Permits
— Philadelphia Gas Works – Richmond LNG Gas Plant: Philadelphia Air Management Services invites comments on the renewal of the Title V Air Quality Permit for the natural gas liquefaction facility located at 3100 East Venango Street in Philadelphia. (PA Bulletin, page 2392)
— Texas Eastern Transmission LP – Marietta Compressor Station: DEP invites comments on the renewal of a Title V Air Quality Permit for the facility located in East Donegal Twp., Lancaster County. (PA Bulletin, page 2392)
— Chesapeake Appalachia, LLC – Shale Gas Well Pad Sources: DEP approved an Air Quality Plan Approval for gas flares, pipeline pigging operations and other sources of air pollution for the pad located in Tuscarora Twp., Bradford County. (PA Bulletin, page 2417)
— MFG Midstream Clearmont, LLC – Rich Valley Compressor Station: DEP approved an Air Quality Plan Approval for multiple air pollution sources at the facility located in Shippen Twp., Cameron County. (PA Bulletin, page 2417)
— EQM Gathering OPCO, LLC -Snapping Turtle Compressor Station: DEP approved an Air Quality Plan Approval for flares, compressor engines and other sources of air pollution at the facility located in Richhill Twp., Greene County. (PA Bulletin, page 2418)
— Energy Transfer Marketing & Terminals, LP – Marcus Hook Terminal: DEP approved an Air Quality Plan Approval to expand the ethane chilling capacity at the facility located in Marcus Hook Borough, Delaware County. (PA Bulletin, page 2418)
— Columbia Gas Transmission – Donegal Compressor Station: DEP issued an Air Quality Plan Approval for a flare, pipeline fluids storage tank and other sources of air pollution at the facility located in Donegal Twp., Washington County. (PA Bulletin, page 2418)
— Eastern Gas Transmission & Storage, Inc. – Centre Compressor Station: DEP issued a renewal of a State Only Air Quality Permit for the facility located in Spring Twp., Centre County. (PA Bulletin, page 2419)
— Sunoco Midstream, LLC – Petroleum Products Distribution Terming: DEP issued a State Only Air Quality Permit covering multiple sources of air pollution at the facility located in Hampden Twp., Cumberland County. (PA Bulletin, page 2419)
— Diversified Prod LLC – NV-58 Well Pad: DEP authorized “de minimis” air emissions increase for compressor equipment, storage tanks and other sources of air pollution at the facility located in Morris Twp., Washington County. (PA Bulletin, page 2420)
NPDES Water Quality Permits
— Buckeye Pipeline Company LP – Macungie Station: DEP invites comments on the renewal of any NPDES Water Quality permit impacting Swabia Creek (High Quality) located in Lower Macungie Twp., Lehigh County. (PA Bulletin, page 2362)
Erosion & Sedimentation Permits
— Appalachia Midstream Services, LLC: DEP approved a Chapter 102 permit for a project impacting Lick Creek (Exceptional Value) located in Cherry Twp., Sullivan County. (PA Bulletin, page 2422)
— Columbia Gas Transmission, LLC – Enlow Fork Coal Mine/Pipeline Mitigation Project: DEP approved a Chapter 102 permit for a project to mitigate longwall coal mining damage to a gas pipeline from Enlow Fork mining located in Morris Twp., Washington County. (PA Bulletin, page 2425)
— Equitrans LP: DEP approved a Chapter 102 permit for a project impacting Bates Fork (High Quality), Browns Creek (High Quality), Lightner Run (High Quality), Rush Run (High Quality) and South Fork Tenmile Creek located in Centre Twp., Greene County. (PA Bulletin, page 2423)
–Markwest Liberty Midstream & Resources LLC – Littell Bend Pipeline: DEP approved a Chapter 102 permit for a pipeline project impacting Little Traverse Creek located in Hanover Twp., Beaver County. (PA Bulletin, page 2423)
— PennEnergy Resources, LLC – PER B7 Well Pad: DEP approved a Chapter 102 permit for a project impacting Brush Creek located in New Sewickley Twp., Beaver County. (PA Bulletin, page 2423)
— Pine Run Midstream, LLC: DEP approved a Chapter 102 permit for a project impacting Marrowbone Run (High Quality) and Sipes Run (High Quality) located in North Buffalo Twp., Armstrong County. (PA Bulletin, page 2423)
— Repsol Oil & Gas USA, LLC: DEP approved a Chapter 102 permit for a project impacting a tributary to the Tioga River (High Quality) and Gaffers Creek located in Sullivan Twp., Tioga County. (PA Bulletin, page 2422)
— Repsol Oil & Gas USA, LLC: DEP approved a Chapter 102 permit for a project impacting a tributary to the Tioga River (High Quality) located in Sullivan Twp., Tioga County. (PA Bulletin, page 2422)
— Snyder Bros, Inc.: DEP approved a Chapter 102 permit for a project impacting Long Run (High Quality), Patterson Creek (High Quality) and Glade Run located in Sugarcreek Twp., Armstrong County. (PA Bulletin, page 2423)
— Snyder Bros, Inc.: DEP approved a Chapter 102 permit for a project impacting Bullick Run (High Quality), North Fork Pine Creek (High Quality) and South Fork Pine Creek (High Quality) located in Boggs Twp., Armstrong County. (PA Bulletin, page 2423)
Oil & Gas Well Drilling Permits [4.26.24]*
— Last Week – Permits: DEP issued 1 conventional and 17 unconventional
— Year To Date – Permits: DEP issued 63 conventional and 163 unconventional
— Year To Date – Wells Drilled: 40 conventional and 112 unconventional
Would Allow Pipelines Like Mariner East to Apply for Waivers of Any PUC Regulation, Law or Policy
Penn’s Woods has been ‘sliced & diced’ by pipeline cuts
By David E. Hess | PA Environment Digest Blog May 3, 2024 | Full story
On April 30, Senate Bill 1174 (Stefano-R-Fayette) was reported out of the Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee with unanimous Republican support that would allow any “public utility” to petition the Public Utility Commission to waive any law, regulation or policy under the Commission’s jurisdiction, if it benefits ratepayers.
While the intended purpose of the legislation is to help customers of electric, gas and telephone utilities by providing an opportunity for public utilities to reduce costs, it may have other impacts.
Pipelines like Energy Transfer/Sunoco’s troubled Mariner East Pipelines that carry hazardous liquids or natural gas have been designated as “public utilities” by the Public Utility Commission.
As a result, Energy Transfer/Sunoco or any other natural gas or hazardous liquid pipeline owner that is classified as a “public utility” would fall under the provisions of Senate Bill 1174 allowing waivers because it is written so broadly.
The PUC just adopted new regulations in February to strengthen state public utility safety standards related to hazardous liquid pipelines like Mariner East which could be undone by this waiver legislation. Read more here.
The PUC also regulates drinking water and wastewater systems as public utilities and under the language in the bill could also request waivers from the Commission.
While the bill includes a provision for evaluating waiver requests in terms of how “safety and reliability standards will be maintained or exceeded” if the petition is granted, there are no provisions excluding pipelines from the waiver process or specifically ensuring applicable environmental protection standards would still be met.
Could be worth clarifying the intent of the bill with respect to gas and hazardous liquid pipelines.
The bill was referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee which will consider the bill before it is brought back to the Senate Floor for final action, possibly as early as May 6.
Similar To Senate Bill 832
Senate Republicans last week passed similar legislation with an even broader waiver provision– Senate Bill 832 (Yaw-R-Lycoming)– that would allow an applicant for any large-scale energy project to request a waiver of any regulation needed for the project. Read more here.
The bill would also bypass permit reviews for these projects by qualified state agencies allowing state “licensed professionals” to do the reviews.
Licensed professionals named in the bill include land surveyors, landscape architects, geologists, a professional engineer as well as “other licensed professional” (an undefined term).
Presumably the authors of this legislation did not mean that barbers or any of the 28 state “licensed professionals” could be the reviewers of permits covering air pollution, hazardous waste or stream channel crossings. Read more here.
In addition, states do not have the authority to waive federal environmental health and safety standards. Read more here.
The North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center’s “Q1 2024 edition of The 50 States of Grid Modernization” finds that 49 states, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, took actions related to grid modernization during Q1 2024, with the greatest number of actions relating to energy storage deployment (52), overall utility business model reforms (49), performance-based regulation (26), interconnection rules (24), distribution system planning (23), and time-varying rates (23). A total of 567 grid modernization actions were taken during Q1 2024. New York, Massachusetts, Michigan, California, Connecticut, and New Jersey took the greatest number of actions during the quarter, followed by Hawaii, Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri, Maine, New Hampshire, and Ohio.
Business Council for Sustainable Energy, May 2, 2024
The “2024 Minnesota Energy Factsheet” released by Clean Energy Economy Minnesota and the Business Council for Sustainable Energy shows that zero-carbon power generated 54% of the state’s electricity in 2023. This is the fourth consecutive year that zero-carbon power has made up the majority of Minnesota’s electricity, compared to the national share of carbon-free power at just 41%. Renewable sources contributed to one-third of the state’s electricity generation in 2023. Over the past five years, Minnesota added 2.2-GW of renewable energy capacity while reducing coal dependency by 1.2-GW. The state has enhanced its energy productivity by 33% since 2001 while electric vehicle registrations have surged, with a 55% increase from 2022.
The world’s leading utility-scale solar constructors have installed over 20-GWac of new capacity since the beginning of 2023. This takes the cumulative installations of the top 34 EPC contractors above 100 GWac. Inevitably most companies on the list are from the five top countries China, U.S., India, Spain and Germany. Indian and Chinese contractors have taken four of the top six rankings for new capacity thanks to a number of new gigawatt-scale projects in China, India and the Middle East.
University of Michigan researchers have found that the value of rooftop solar will increase by between 5% and 15% by the mid-century across a range of U.S. cities under moderate climate change, and by up to 20% by the end of the century. They analyzed data from 2,000 households across 17 U.S. cities, estimating air-conditioning demand and solar panel performance under future climates. Across the 17 cities, Miami and Orlando are expected to see the strongest increase in solar value. Further, as the value of rooftop PV increases, the economically optimal capacity for households will rise. The researchers predicted a capacity increase of 5% to 25% by the end of the century under a moderate climate scenario.
A new study by Wind Harvest has found that mid-level wind (turbulent wind that blows between 5 and 30 meters) has been dramatically underestimated as an energy source in California’s goal to reach “net-zero” carbon emissions by 2045. This report details both why mid-level wind has been underestimated and what its impact really looks like statewide. The report estimates, if utilized to its fullest potential, mid-level wind in California’s five Wind Resource Areas could provide enough energy to achieve 33% of California’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality.
U.S. Energy Information Administration, April 30, 2024
In 2023, U.S. electricity generation from wind turbines decreased for the first time since the mid-1990s despite the addition of 6.2-GW of new wind capacity last year. U.S. wind generation in 2023 totaled 425,235-GWh, 2.1% less than the 434,297-GWh generated in 2022. U.S. wind capacity increased steadily over the last several years, more than tripling from 47.0-GW in 2010 to 147.5-GW at the end of 2023. Electricity generation from wind turbines also grew steadily, at a similar rate to capacity, until 2023. Last year, the average utilization rate, or capacity factor, of the wind turbine fleet fell to an eight-year low of 33.5% (compared with 35.9% in 2022, the all-time high). Slower wind speeds than normal affected wind generation in 2023, especially during the first half of the year when wind generation dropped by 14% compared with the same period in 2022. Wind speeds increased later in 2023, and wind generation from August through December was 2.4% higher than during the same period in 2022.
The latest briefing from the Energy Transitions Commission (ETC), “Overcoming Turbulence in the Offshore Wind Sector,” argues that governments and the industry need to join forces in order to both restore confidence in the market and drive down costs. Last year, inflation, supply chain bottlenecks and higher interest rates led to rising project costs in some markets. In areas where a perceived offshore wind “crisis” ensued, projects and contracts were canceled. However, ETC believes these increases are mostly expected to be short-term and recommends governments set ambitious targets and predefined auction schedules and address specific supply chain bottlenecks.
Geothermal energy is experiencing a surge of investment and policy support across the U.S. Startups within the fast-growing industry are developing next-generation solutions to produce “clean, firm” electricity in geographic locations that conventional geothermal technologies can’t access. Other companies like Bedrock are innovating on a relatively smaller scale to make it easier and more affordable to decarbonize homes and buildings. In buildings, geothermal systems – also called ground-source heat pumps, or geothermal heat exchangers – use the shallow earth to exchange heat and cold from aboveground. Compared with air-source heat pumps, geothermal systems can reduce energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions by up to 44 percent.
U.S. Energy Information Administration, April 30, 2024
According to data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, total U.S. biofuels production capacity was at 23.721 billion gallons per year in February, down 39 MMgy when compared to the previous month, but up 1.003 billion gallons per year when compared to February 2023. Fuel ethanol capacity reached 17.88 billion gallons per year in February, up 50 MMgy when compared to the previous month and up 485 MMgy when compared to February 2023. Capacity for renewable diesel and associated fuels, including renewable heating oil, renewable jet fuel, renewable naphtha, renewable gasoline and other biofuels and biointermediates, was at 3.857 billion gallons per year in February, a level of capacity that has held steady since October 2023. When compared to February 2023, renewable diesel capacity was up 597 MMgy.
According to data recently released by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, the U.S. exported 938,662.3 metric tons of wood pellets to approximately 18 countries in March, up from 696,692.9 metric tons in February and 909,787.1 metric tons in March of last year. The value of U.S. wood pellet exports reached $174.33 million in March, up from $135.66 million the previous month and $169.43 million in March 2023. Total wood pellet exports for the first quarter of 2024 reached 2.38 million metric tons at a value of $450.03 million, compared to 2.18 million metric tons exported during the same period of 2023 at a value of $402.08 million.
PV-Magazine, by John Fitzgerald Weaver, April 30, 2024
California is once again setting springtime output records from solar, while energy storage takes over the peak electricity demand period becoming the maximum output source. The state has installed 154,155 total energy storage systems as of April 15th. Of those, just over 98% are residential systems totaling 1.076-GW of output capacity. An additional 2,777 are commercial systems. The residential and commercial systems combined totaling 1.647-GW. For the residential and commercial systems, 4.951 GWh of storage may be available behind these units. Of the remaining, 175 are directly grid connected utility scale facilities providing 8.736-GW of out capacity or 34.944 GWh of storage. An additional 8 GW of energy storage is expected to be deployed in the next year.
Energy Storage News, by Cameron Murray, May 1, 2024
In a new G7 Ministerial Communique for Climate, Energy, and Environment, the G7 nations have agreed upon a new global energy storage target of 1500-GW by 2030, a six-fold increase from today’s levels. That figure covers all energy storage technologies including battery energy storage systems and pumped hydro energy storage as well as hydrogen and water-based technologies. The 1500-GW target is double what BloombergNEF has forecast is scheduled to be online based on current deployment pipelines.
According to a new report from global energy storage company Pacific Green, despite a limited number of BESS project financing deals to date, the market is reaching a turning point, as projects increase in scale and lenders work with storage developers to overcome barriers to capital deployment. Lender concerns are now easing, as early projects establish a track record of successful operation, the market better understands long-term revenue opportunities, and assets scale up from 50-100 MW to reach capacities of 250-500 MW. Key obstacles standing in the way of widespread BESS project financing earlier have included the small scale of projects, complexity of revenue generation models, and limited technological track record compared to established generation technologies such as wind and solar.
A new report from the Energy Efficiency Movement has revealed that 99 percent of businesses are already investing in, or are planning to invest in, making their energy usage more efficient. Notably, the number of businesses actively investing in energy efficiency has increased by 7 percent from two years ago. The report, based on responses from 1,282 business leaders across 13 countries, found that of the businesses investing, or planning to, 41 percent cite the next 12 months as the timeframe for making these improvements. Moving data to the cloud (71 percent) is the most common energy efficiency measure currently invested in by businesses, followed by performing energy efficiency audits (69 percent), and improving energy efficiency of cooling systems (64 percent).
The U.S. Department of Energy has finalized new energy efficiency standards for several types of residential water heaters, in a rule it expects will generate more energy savings than any other appliance rule the agency has issued. The new rule, which goes into effect in 2029, will generate more than 17.6 quadrillion British thermal units of energy savings over 30 years and will save consumers about $7.6 billion annually on energy and water bills. Residential water heater efficiency standards were last updated in 2010.
American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, April 30, 2024
ACEEE’s new “2024 City Clean Energy Scorecard” ranks 75 of the largest U.S. cities on energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. San Francisco topped the Scorecard for the second time. Denver (#2) moved up five spots after adopting energy efficiency requirements for existing buildings and providing support for affordable housing to meet the standards. Seattle (#3) provides no-cost heat pumps to income-qualified households and offers free transit passes for public housing residents. Rounding out the top ten are Los Angeles (#4), Oakland (#5), Minneapolis (#6), New York City (#7), Portland (#8), San José (#9) and Washington, DC (#10). While large U.S. cities are increasingly working to center racial and social equity in their climate and clean energy priorities, there’s a significant gap in translating ambitions for equitable outcomes into specific policies and programs.
Green Car Reports, by Stephen Edelstein, May 1, 2024
According to a new quarterly report from the California New Car Dealers Association, the absolute number of EVs sold in California grew from 89,741 in the fourth quarter of 2023 to 90,296 in the first quarter of 2024. However, the EV market share still decreased from 21.5% at the end of 2023 to 20.9% in Q1 2024. That’s because new-car registrations grew overall, with even more non-electric vehicles being sold. The rise of EV sales by volume rather than share is a trend that continues from the previous quarter.
According to new estimates from the International Energy Agency, EVs are breaking sales records across the globe. This year, around 17 million new fully electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV) will be sold worldwide, a new record. That’s up from 13.7 million sold last year. More than one-fifth of the vehicles sold worldwide will be an EV or a PHEV this year. In 2018, just about 2 percent of cars sold fit into this category. In the U.S., the third-biggest EV market – behind China and Europe, sales are expected to rise by about 20 percent this year, to 1.7 million units.
Notwithstanding the hype about EV sales drooping, or at least not living up to expectations, the EV market is still looking very good. Compared to Q1 2023, EV sales are up only a little bit in the first quarter of 2024 – just 2%. However, if you look back two years, EV sales are up 71%, and if you look back three years to Q1 2021, EV sales are up 170%. Moreover, compared to Q1 2021, non-Tesla EV sales were up 343%. Compared to Q1 2022, non-Tesla EV sales were up 211%. Compared to Q1 2023, non-Tesla EV sales were up 24%.
The Biden administration’s new rule on power plants’ planet-warming emissions will require coal plants and new gas plants to install carbon-capture technology to mitigate 90 percent of their emissions – or find another way to achieve the equivalent climate protections. It is expected to accelerate a shift away from coal, and potentially speed the U.S.’s adoption of renewable energy sources. An analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency’s shows that the rule could increase the amount of coal power that comes offline between 2028 and 2035 by nearly 25 percent. Without the rule, 84 gigawatts of coal power would have retired during that period. But under the rule, that number is expected to jump to 104 gigawatts of power.
U.S. Energy Information Administration, April 29, 2024
According to a new EIA analysis, U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions decreased by 3%, about 134 million metric tons (MMmt), in 2023. Over 80% of the emissions reductions occurred in the electric power sector, caused largely by decreased coal-fired electricity generation, which was displaced by increased generation from solar and natural gas. Electric power sector emissions decreased to about 1,425 MMmt in 2023, about 7% less than in 2022. Emissions also decreased in the residential and commercial sectors by a combined 6% in 2023, to about 561 MMmt, due to milder weather leading to less energy demand for space heating and cooling in buildings. Emissions from the industrial and transportation sectors remained relatively unchanged, with differences of less than 1% from 2022.
In a recent communique by their energy ministers, the G-7 countries (the U.S., U.K., Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan) said they will phase out “unabated coal power” from their power sector – unless those coal plants capture their planet-warming emissions – “during the first half of 2030s”. However, it also offers an alternative, saying that nations could phase out coal’s use during that period or in a more ambiguous “timeline consistent with keeping a limit of 1.5°C temperature rise within reach.”
Wood Mackenzie recently analyzed impact of delayed energy transition, amid political uncertainties, inflation and elections. While solar and wind dominate power markets in the longer term, near-term additions are slowed due to transmission bottlenecks. In terms of total investment, a delayed transition could cost up to $48 trillion, a “significant decrease” from Wood Mackenzie’s net zero scenario, which estimates a total of $75 trillion. It concluded that a five-year delay to the energy transition could see the global average temperature rise to 3°C above pre-industrial levels.
US House Passes Bill to Locate Abandoned/Orphaned Conventional Oil & Gas Wells, Improve Well Plugging Technology
One has to wonder how many of these old oil wells in the City of Washington, Pennsylvania were ever properly plugged.
by Adam Peltz, Director & Senior Attorney, Environmental Defense Fund | April 30, 2024
On April 30, the US the House of Representatives passed the Abandoned Well Remediation Research and Development Act by a vote of 333 to 75. The bipartisan bill now moves to the US Senate, where it is expected to also receive bipartisan support.
“Orphaned oil and gas wells threaten public health and safety, the water we drink and the climate,” said Environmental Defense Fund director and senior attorney for energy transition Adam Peltz. “This essential bipartisan bill will fund the research necessary to improve well plugging practices, find unregistered orphan wells in hard-to-reach places like streams, forests, farmland and backyards, and develop beneficial clean energy uses for end-of-life wells. This bill will create jobs and benefit public health, particularly for communities overburdened by legacy oil and gas development – and now the Senate should take up this bill so that President Biden can sign it into law.”
This important bipartisan legislation would invest more than $150 million over the next five years to help find an estimated 800,000 undocumented orphan wells, reuse those we can for beneficial purposes and ultimately close the rest more effectively and affordably.
AWRRDA provides funding to research how to improve well plugging, locate undocumented orphan wells and study potential uses for both orphan and end-of-life wells.
While responsible well operators promptly plug their oil and gas wells when they run dry, many orphan wells have been improperly abandoned for decades or more.
Hard-to-reach locations coupled with unknown well architecture, crumbling steel casings and unexpected objects downhole like telephone poles, rolled up carpets and even cannon balls make orphan well plugging especially challenging.
Newer Marcellus shale wells have problems too, while ridiculously-low well bonding rates persist in Pennsylvania, setting the stage for a large number of future problems. (More)
U.S. House passes Summer Lee bill to address abandoned oil and gas wells
The wells leak methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere
Rep. Summer Lee
By Jonathan D. Salant | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette April 30, 2024 | Full story
The vote was 333-75, with only Republicans in opposition. All five Western Pennsylvania representatives voted yes. There is no Senate bill.
The legislation also calls for research into new and perhaps more cost-efficient ways of plugging the wells and stopping the leaks of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Methane accounts for 12% of all greenhouse gas emissions in Pennsylvania and is 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere over a 20-year period.
“We cannot leave leaky oil and gas wells from the 1800s to continue poisoning and endangering our communities.”
U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, the bill’s chief sponsor
The bill’s passage comes at a time when the White House has worked to reduce methane emissions as it seeks to address the greenhouse gases contributing to climate change.
President Joe Biden has set up a methane task force to work with state and local officials to detect leaks and reduce emissions, and his bipartisan infrastructure law included $4.7 billion to address the problem.
SUN DAY CAMPAIGN (founded 1992) Ken Bossong, Executive Director
8606 Greenwood Avenue, Suite #2 Takoma Park, MD 20912-6656 301-588-4741; sun-day-campaign@hotmail.com Follow on twitter: @SunDayCampaign
Solar Was the Fastest Growing Source of Electricity in the U.S. in January-February
The latest issue of EIA’s “Electric Power Monthly” report (with data through February 29, 2024) reveals that in the first two months of 2024, electrical generation by solar (including small-scale distributed systems) grew by 25.8%, compared to the same period in 2023 – faster than any other energy source. Estimated small-scale solar PV accounted for 31.6% of total solar output.
The mix of utility-scale and small-scale solar PV plus utility-scale solar thermal provided 4.40% of the nation’s electrical output in the two-month period compared to the same time frame in 2023 when solar’s share was 3.75%.
For perspective, solar’s year-to-date share first reached 1.0% in March 2016. Since then, solar’s monthly generation has increased (in comparison to the corresponding prior months) every year.
Electrical Generation by Wind, Hydro, Biomass, and Geothermal All Fell
Compared to the same two-month period in 2023, electrical generation by all non-solar renewables fell in January-February 2024.
Geothermal was 7.8% lower. The mix of wood, wood-derived fuels, and other biomass fell by 6.1%. Wind was down by 5.9%. Hydropower dipped by 0.3%.
However, increased solar generation offset the diminished output of the other renewable energy sources so total renewable energy production was actually 0.6% higher in January-February 2024 than it was in the same two-month period a year.
On the other hand, total electrical generation by all sources, including fossil fuels and nuclear power, was 7.2% higher than last year. As a consequence, renewables’ share fell from 23.31% in the first two months of 2023 to 21.87% in the first two months of 2024.
Renewables May Be Rebounding
Notwithstanding the decreased output by the non-solar renewables in the first two months of this year, EIA’s data for just February 2024 suggests that they may be rebounding a bit.
Electrical output by hydropower was actually 4.9% higher in February 2024 than in February 2023.
Generation by wind, biomass, and geothermal in February alone was still lower than the prior year but by smaller margins than for the two-month January-February period. Biomass was down by 4.9%, geothermal by 2.5%, and wind by 1.3%.
Moreover, solar output – including small-scale systems – in just February was 30.4% higher than a year earlier.
As a consequence, in February 2024, electrical generation by the mix of all renewables was actually 5.4% higher than a year ago. Moreover, renewables’ share of total electrical generation in February 2024 rebounded to 25.8% compared to 25.4% in February 2023.
In February, Renewables Held Their Own Against Coal and Nuclear Power
In February 2024, electrical generation by the mix of all renewables surpassed nuclear power by 30.1%.
Similarly, in February 2024, the mix of all renewables generated 90.1% more electricity than did coal. In fact, the combination of just wind and solar out-produced coal by 34.9%.
EIA’s latest “Electric Power Monthly” report was released on April 24, 2024. For the data cited here, see Table ES1.A “Total Electric Power Industry Summary Statistics 2024 and 2023” and Table ES1.B. “Total Electric Power Industry Summary Statistics, Year-to-Date 2024 and 2023” are here and here.
Ohio AG Wants PA Company Held in Contempt for Failing to Clean-up Radioactive Drilling Waste
By Glynis Board | The Allegheny Front May 3, 2024 | Full story
In April, the Ohio Attorney General was granted a temporary restraining order against AMS, an oil and gas waste-processing facility operating in Martins Ferry, Ohio — about an hour’s drive southwest of Pittsburgh. The Belmont County Court issued the order against AMS for “egregious violations.”
In a legal complaint issued in March, Yost’s office said the amount of waste the Martins Ferry facility accepted was allowed to “far exceed its permitted storage capacity.” The request for a restraining order said AMS “allowed radioactive liquids and sludge to flow uncontained on the floor of its facility.”
Martins Ferry was flooded by the Ohio River twice in the spring of 2024. The river crested at 42 feet; Martins Ferry officials reported it would take 45 feet for water to infiltrate the facility. Photo courtesy of Concerned Ohio River Residents
The primary concern identified in the complaint is the facility’s location: It’s about 500 feet from the Ohio River and 1,000 feet from a municipal drinking water well field.
Oil and gas waste streams can contain mixtures of heavy metals, salts or brines, volatile organic compounds, and carcinogens including radioactive material. Research has linked exposure to some of these substances to reproductive and developmental problems. Full story
“The concentrations [of NO2] we measured from stoves led to dangerous levels down the hall in bedrooms … and they stayed elevated for hours at a time. That was the biggest surprise for me.”
Rob Jackson, a sustainability researcher at Stanford University and senior author of the study
Decades of well-established research have linked nitrogen dioxide, or NO2, to respiratory conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which especially affect children and older adults.
This harmful link is so well established that some states have begun banning gas appliances in new construction. And now a new study has shown in stark detail just how long and far this gas spreads and lingers in a home.
By sampling homes across the U.S., the researchers found that in many, levels of exposure to NO2 can soar above the World Health Organization’s one-hour exposure limit for multiple hours—even in the bedroom that is farthest from the kitchen. Full story
DeSmog writer Justin Nobel’s new book explores how workers bear the brunt of the oil and gas industry’s hidden contaminated waste.
By Justin Nobel | April 24, 2024 DeSmog | Full story
In Paris, France, there are fine cafés and famous landmarks. But what nobody really knows is at the other end of a building known as Le V, on the northeast side of the city, is a portal that leads to a secret pile of fracking waste from the woods of West Virginia. A lot more comes to the surface at an oil and gas well than just the oil and gas, including billions of pounds of waste every day across the U.S., much of it toxic and radioactive. My journey into this topic started when an Ohio community organizer told me someone made a liquid deicer out of radioactive oilfield waste for home driveways and patios, which was supposedly “Safe for Pets” and had been selling at Lowe’s. As you will see, this indeed was the case. Unraveling how that came to be turned into a 20-month Rolling Stone magazine investigation, which won an award with the National Association of Science Writers, and an entire set of shocking DeSmog investigations. And, eventually, it all became this book, Petroleum 238: Big Oil’s Dangerous Secret and the Grassroots Fight to Stop It — available here on Amazon, here on Bookshop, or it can be ordered at any local bookstore.
It almost doesn’t seem real, and you might deny it. But really all that has happened here is a powerful industry has spread harms across the land, its people, and more so than anyone, their very own workers, and did what they could to make sure no one ever put all the pieces together. And no one ever has — until now. Many people tell me there is nothing to see here, the levels aren’t that bad. But unfortunately this is the same thing the oil and gas industry’s shadow network of radioactive waste workers have often been told. So they work on, shoveling and scooping waste, mixing it with lime and coal ash and ground up corncobs in an attempt to try and lower the radioactivity levels, without appropriate protection, sometimes in just T-shirts, eating lunch and smoking cigarettes and occasionally having barbecue cookouts in this absurdly contaminated workspace. Sludge splattered all over their bodies, liquid waste splashing across their faces and into their eyes and mouths, inhaling radioactive dust, waste eating away their boots, soaking their socks, encrusting their clothes, which will often be brought home and washed in the family washing machine, or a local hotel, further spreading contamination. Oilfield waste has been spilled, spread, injected, dumped, and freely emitted across this nation. And contamination has been discharged—sometimes illegally, often legally—into the same rivers America’s towns and cities draw their drinking water from.
More Radioactivity Than at Chernobyl
Just the other month I visited an abandoned fracking waste treatment plant on a large U.S. river where unknowing local kids had been partying. It was littered with beer cans and condoms and parts of it were more deeply contaminated with radioactivity than most of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. I was there with a former Department of Energy scientist and his Geiger counter issued a terrifying alarm — at around 2 milliroentgens per hour. He had samples tested at a radiological analysis lab and discovered the radioactive element radium to be 5,000 times general background levels.
It’s all right there in the industry’s own research and reports. And this is the beauty of science, an incredible record of our world and its ways laid out across time, and like a sacred language, it moves through time, collecting new bits and building. One can go back to 1904, when a 25-year-old Canadian graduate student named Eli described “experiments with a highly radioactive gas obtained from crude petroleum.” Or 1982, when a report of the American Petroleum Institute’s Committee for Environmental Biology and Community Health stated: “Almost all materials of interest and use to the petroleum industry contain measurable quantities of radionuclides that reside finally in process equipment, product streams, or waste.” Radium, they warned, was “a potent source of radiation exposure, both internal and external,” while the radioactive gas radon and its polonium daughters “deliver significant population and occupational exposures.” Radon is America’s second leading cause of lung cancer deaths and naturally contaminates natural gas. Which means it is being emitted out of home stoves in parts of the country at levels high enough to generate public health risks, and over time, cancer and deaths. The 1982 American Petroleum Institute report concluded: “regulation of radionuclides could impose a severe burden on API member companies.”
And they have triumphed, as the radioactivity brought to the surface in oil and gas development was never federally regulated and remains unregulated. The industry was granted a federal exemption in 1980 that legally defined their waste as nonhazardous, despite containing toxic chemicals, carcinogens, heavy metals and all the radioactivity. As the nuclear forensics scientist Marco Kaltofen has told me: “With fossil fuels, essentially what you are doing is taking an underground radioactive reservoir and bringing it up to the surface where it can interact with people and the environment.” And he said this, too: “Radiation is complex and difficult to understand but it leaves hundreds of clues.”
Known to precious few people, the mineral scale and sludge that accumulates in our 321,000-plus miles of natural gas gathering and transmission pipelines can be filled with stunning levels of the same isotope of polonium that assassins used in 2006 to murder former Russian security officer Alexander Litvinenko, by placing an amount smaller than a grain of sand in his tea at a London hotel bar. Natural gas pipeline sludge, reads a 1993 article on oilfield radioactivity, published in the Society of Petroleum Engineers’ Journal of Petroleum Technology, can become so radioactive it requires “the same handling as low-level radioactive wastes.” And yet, by U.S. law, it is still considered nonhazardous. Unlike the cosmic radiation an airline passenger is exposed to, or the X-rays of a CT scan, moving around radioactive oilfield sludge or scale invariably creates dust and particles, which an unprotected worker may easily inhale or ingest, thereby bringing radioactive elements inside their body where they can decay and fire off radiation in the intimate and vulnerable space of the lungs, guts, bones, or blood.
Then the real revelation, the oil and gas workers that politicians regularly celebrate are getting their bodies and clothing covered in waste that can be toxic and radioactive but legally defined as nonhazardous. I ask these politicians now, as workers regularly ask me, is it still nonhazardous as they are breathing it in? Or tracking it through the door of their home and into their family? This same 1980 exemption allows radioactive oilfield waste to be transported from foreign countries seamlessly across America’s borders and deposited in the desert of West Texas. I have been there.
An ‘Astonishing Scientific Story’
This is a story about worker justice. This is a story about environmental justice. This is an astonishing scientific story. We live on a radioactive planet, and oil and gas happens to bring up some of Earth’s most interesting, and notorious, radioactive elements. They can be concentrated in the formation below, and further concentrated by the industry’s processes at the surface. From day one, which in the United States was 1859, the U.S. oil and gas industry has had no good idea what to do with this waste. And so began an extraordinary campaign to get rid of it all. Modern fracking has only worsened the problem, by tapping into even more radioactive formations, bringing drilling closer to communities, and vastly increasing the amount of waste.
In a 1979 Congressional hearing, Texas oilfield regulators, using figures calculated by the American Petroleum Institute, provided a clue as to just what more rigorous regulations, ones that actually labeled the oilfield’s most dangerous waste as hazardous, might mean for the industry: a “one time cost of over $34 billion to bring existing operations into compliance” and “as high as $10.8 billion per year.” That number would be drastically higher today, but no one has done the math, in part because the full picture of costs and harms has remained unknown.
Whether it is a multinational company out of Paris, or the guy in rural Pennsylvania who stashed fracking waste beneath a courthouse, readers will be surprised at how deep this rabbit hole goes, and how close it may touch to the thing they call home, or the things they cherish. It is out of this unknowing, and deception, that this book can exist. My challenge to you is read it through to the end, and realize, this is not a book about despair — to say it, is to know it, is to change it.
With environmental violations unresolved, Ohio AG wants Canonsburg company CEO jailed
A hearing on the contempt order is scheduled for May 20.
By Anya Litvak | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette May 3, 2024 | Full story
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost is asking a judge to hold American Environmental Partners’ last man standing in contempt and to order CEO Brad Domitrovitsch to spend his nights at the Belmont County Jail until the company’s subsidiary, Austin Master Services, cleans up its mess.
Austin Master, which like American Environmental Partners (previously, American Energy Partners), is based in Canonsburg, has a facility in Martins Ferry, Ohio, where it treats oil and gas waste, separating liquids from solids and disposing of each at local or specialty landfills, depending on the radioactive content.
Inspectors from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources in February found the facility had violated its permit and was essentially overflowing with gasfield waste, which was being stored in temporary containers, packed into railcars, and in large heaps on the floor. When, by mid-March the situation had worsened, the Ohio attorney general filed a lawsuit against the company. Full story
Maryland NG Abandons Proposal to do Low-Level Aircraft Training Over the PA Wilds
By David E. Hess | PA Environment Digest Blog May 4, 2024 | Full story
On May 3, U.S. Senators Bob Casey and John Fetterman (D-PA) announced the Air Force and National Guard Bureau has rescinded their proposal to create a low-flying training zone Duke Military Operating Area (MOA), which would allow pilots to fly as low as 100 feet above ground level in Pennsylvania’s PA Wilds.
The area affected would have included Cameron, Clinton, Elk, McKean, Potter and Tioga counties.
After hearing concerns from North Central Pennsylvania organizations and residents about the possible dangers this plan would pose to the Pennsylvania Wilds region’s economy, environment, and quality of life, Casey and Fetterman have repeatedly pushed the Air Force to abandon the plan.
“From the moment the Air Force’s proposal was announced, I’ve been deeply concerned about how low, loud, and frequent flights could disrupt livelihoods in a tranquil region that has built its identity on outdoor recreation,” said Senator Casey (D-PA). “After years of pushing the Air Force to abandon this plan, I’m glad that they are respecting the wishes of the people of North Central Pennsylvania. I will always fight to preserve the PA Wilds and the rest of the natural resources that make our Commonwealth so beautiful.”
“I will always fight to preserve the PA Wilds and the rest of the natural resources that make our Commonwealth so beautiful”
US Senator Bob Casey
“This decision is a huge win not just for the beloved natural resources in the Pennsylvania Wilds, but also for the many Pennsylvanians who call this region home,” said Senator Fetterman (D-PA). “I’m proud to have fought and delivered for these too often forgotten North Central Pennsylvania communities alongside Senator Casey. I’m also committed to working with our partners in the Air Force and National Guard to ensure our military remains strong and prepared—and I know we can do this while making sure Pennsylvanians’ voices are heard.”
Since its initial proposal, the Duke MOA low-flying training zone has faced strong opposition from Pennsylvania state officials, local leaders, conservation groups, and community members, who highlighted the potential negative impacts on local economies, public health and safety, and outdoor recreation.
After hearing constituent concerns, Senators Casey and Fetterman have advocated fiercely to stop the Air Force from adopting this plan.
In December 2021, Casey sent a letter to the Maryland Air National Guard expressing concern about the proposal and its effects on economic growth and quality of life in the region.
In May of last year, Senators Casey and Fetterman sent a letter to the Maryland Air National Guard and the Air National Guard Readiness Center once again expressing grave concerns with the plan and demanding the agencies examine the potential environmental impact of the proposal.
The Senators also met with the Air Force on several occasions to request a reconsideration of the plan, and have worked with federal, state, and local officials to bring the proposal to a halt.
PEDF is suing Josh Shapiro as Governor of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), and Cindy Adams Dunn as DCNR Secretary.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s June 20, 2017 Opinion that all elected officials must protect our State Forests (the Public Trust under Article I Section 27 of our State Constitution) continues to be ignored. Public Trust monies continue to be spent elsewhere.
Existing harm to the public and to future generations by the degradation and diminution of Public Trust assets (clean air; pure water; and natural, scenic, historic, and esthetic values) has not been remedied and continues to grow.
Multiple State Forest uses causing degradation, diminution, and depletion of State Forest resources and values have been authorized by Trustees but not accounted for or remedied. These include commercial oil and gas development, commercial gas storage, commercial rights-of-way, snowmobile and ATV recreational riding, private camp leases, commercial timber harvesting, extensive road development for multiple uses, extensive additional infrastructure authorized for multiple uses, and cumulative harm to the State Forest’s ability to mitigate climate change.
Trustees of the State Forest (elected politicians and appointed state officials) have appropriated $1.7 billion in Trust assets without ensuring that the monies were spent for Trust purposes.
For fiscal year 2024-2025, Trustees propose to allocate nearly $75 million more from the Oil and Gas Lease Fund (Trust monies).
Since Trustees have a mandatory duty to remedy degradation to the State Forest ecosystem, PEDF is asking the Court to compel the Trustees to redress the breach of trust by restoring property or by other means (a “surcharge”).
PEDF is also requesting “Mandamus Relief,” compelling the Governor et al to file an accounting for Trust funds.
PEDF is also requesting “Mandamus Relief,” compelling the Governor et al to file an accounting for Trust funds.
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