Gas Drilling Wastewater in the Monongahela River 11/10/09

The Monongahela River as it passes through Pittsburgh, PA.

Photo: Wikipedia

There is a gas rush in Pennsylvania. The PA Department of Environmental Protection ("DEP") issued more than 1,300 permits for gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale this year, up from 97 in 2007. Extracting gas from the shale involves the use of toxic drilling muds and a stimulation process known as "hydraulic fracturing," whereby millions of gallons of water and toxic chemicals are pumped at high pressure into horizontal wells to break up low-permeability rock and release trapped gas. About half of the injected fluids are recovered, along with high levels of total dissolved solids ("TDS"), heavy metals, and normally occurring radioactive materials that leach out of underground formations. The wastes from drilling muds, hydraulic fracturing fluids, and brines that emerge during the production phase cannot be discharged safely into the waters of the Commonwealth without extensive treatment.

Unfortunately, Pennsylvania does not have enough treatment capacity for all of the gas wastes. In fact, DEP has admitted that there is not enough water in the entire state to absorb all of the contaminated drilling wastes that will be generated over the next two years. Instead of reducing the pace of drilling, however, DEP is expediting approval of new and modified wastewater treatment plants ("WWTPs") without legally required protections for public health and the environment. Under heavy political pressure from the Governor and other elected officials, DEP is authorizing WWTPs to discharge inadequately treated wastes into both pristine cold water fisheries and rivers that already are impaired, in violation of the federal Clean Water Act and the Pennsylvania Clean Streams Law.

On behalf of Clean Water Action, Earthjustice and the University of Pittsburgh Environmental Law Clinic have filed an appeal of an agreement between DEP and Shallenberger Construction, Inc., which plans to construct and operate a new WWTP for gas development wastes that would discharge into the Monongahela River -- the drinking water supply for approximately 350,000 people. The River has exceeded water quality standards for TDS repeatedly over more than a year, but the agreement would allow long-term discharges from the plant without any treatment for TDS or any limitation on TDS levels. The agreement also fails to impose any effluent limitations, or even mere reporting requirements, for a raft of toxic chemicals that DEP has identified as parameters of concern for Marcellus Shale gas wastes. CWA's appeal is the first challenge of any permit for a gas drilling WWTP in Pennsylvania, and its resolution may set the standard for dozens of permits currently in the pipeline.

Defending America’s First Carbon Cap-and-Trade Program 07/21/09

The Northeastern states have succeeded in launching the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) to reduce carbon emissions from regional power plants using a cap-and-trade system. However, an industry lawsuit in New York threatens the entire program. Representing Environmental Advocates of New York, the Environmetal Defense Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Pace Climate and Energy Center, we have submitted amicus briefing to defend this program, and more fundamentally, the states' ability to take proactive measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions in advance of federal climate regulation.  

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is the first U.S. effort to reduce carbon emissions using a cap and trade system. RGGI has pioneered a model for cost-effective climate action at the state level. The model is particularly important because it incorporates the "polluter pays" principle, demanding that polluters buy the allowances that entitle them to emit carbon dioxide to the atmosphere at auction, rather than getting these valuable allowances for free. Each RGGI state has begun implementing the system, and the first allowance auctions have been held successfully.

The RGGI experiment is being closely watched and copied at every level of government. RGGI has inspired other states to step into the void left by the Bush administration and begin designing flexible regional systems that will limit greenhouse gas emissions. The Western Climate Initiative, the Southwest Climate Change Initiative, and other regional efforts have looked to the RGGI example for both inspiration and technical guidance on the design of an auction-based approach to allocating emissions allowances. Similarly, proposed federal cap-and-trade legislation draws on lessons learned from the RGGI process. We will fight to ensure that the New York legal challenge does not set back these important efforts to stop global warming.

Hatfield's Ferry & Coal Combustion Waste 07/21/09

Hatfield's Ferry is located along the Monongahela River that flows north from West Virginia into southwestern Pennsylvania. The Monongahela is heavily used for recreation (boating and sportfishing) and is the main drinking water source for over 90,000 people in the region south of Pittsburgh. It is also the location of one of Pennsylvania's dirtiest coal-fired power plants.

After decades of operating without air pollution controls, the Hatfield's Ferry plant is finally installing "scrubbers" that will dramtically reduce its emissions of air pollutants. The bad news is that the plant is going to dump the scrubber waste water into the Mongahela River. This waste water is laden with toxic heavy metals including arsenic, cadmium, mercury, selenium, copper, hexavalent chromium, lead, and thallium that are toxic to people as well as fish and wildlife. Cleaning up air pollution should not come at the cost of polluted water.

On behalf of conservationists and local citizens, Earthjustice is participating in administrative appeals of the Clean Water Act permit that was issued to Hatfield's Ferry by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. We are pushing for installation of state-of-the-art controls that would eliminate all pollution discharges from the new scrubbers. If we prevail, we will help restore water quality not only in the Mongahela River but also across the country, as an increasing number of old plants are forced to install scrubbers of their own.

Cleaning Product Chemical Reporting 02/17/09

Earthjustice is taking Proctor & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, and other household cleaner manufacturing giants to court for refusing to follow a New York state law requiring them to disclose the chemical ingredients in their products and the health risks they pose.
 
The first-of-its-kind case could have national implications. Independent studies into chemicals contained in cleaning products continue to find health effects ranging from nerve damage to hormone disruption. But ingredient disclosure requirements are virtually non-existent in the United States.
 
The exception is this long-forgotten New York state law which requires household cleaner companies selling their products in New York to file semi-annual reports with the state listing the chemicals contained in their products and describing any company research on these chemicals' health and environmental effects.
 
But in the three decades since the 1976 law was passed, companies failed to file a single report. In the fall of 2008, Earthjustice sent letters to more than a dozen companies asking them to comply with the law. The companies targeted in this lawsuit -- Proctor & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, Church and Dwight and Reckitt-Benckiser -- each ignored or refused this request.

Brookfield Landfill: Cleaning Up a Toxic Dump 07/09/08

Between 1974 and 1980, tens of thousands of gallons of toxic industrial waste were dumped illegally at the Brookfield landfill in Staten Island. It was one of five New York City landfills involved in a 1982 federal investigation into illegal dumping which sent a city Department of Sanitation official and a hauling operator to prison. While cleanup has concluded at the four other landfills involved in the 1982 investigation, work still has yet to begin on the Brookfield site in Staten Island.

Earthjustice is representing Staten Island residents in a lawsuit against the city of New York to force the cleanup of this abandoned toxic waste dump.

New York Brownfields 02/22/08

Thousands of contaminated and abandoned gas stations, factories, other industiral and commercial sites are poisoning the air, land, and water for communities across New York. The state adopted regulations that fall far short of the landmark law passed in 2003 to clean up many of these brownfields.

In February 2008, the court ruled that contaminated sites must be cleaned up to the statutory cleanup objectives, not simply to the contaminated background levels at the site.

New York Title V Permits 03/02/04

The state of New York issued operating permits to two large coal-fired power plants that violate provisions of the federal Clean Air Act. The Environmental Protection Agency should have invalidated the permits but failed to do so. Earthjustice is suing EPA to force it to enforce the law.