PRESS INFORMATION
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – September 16, 2024
Contact: Karen Feridun, Better Path Coalition, 610-678-7726, betterpathpa@gmail.com
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New Brief Explores Too Infrequently Asked Questions About Carbon Capture & Storage
No False Solutions PA Coalition Urges Lawmakers to Avoid Rushing into Risky CCS Business
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Pennsylvania: Today, the No False Solutions PA Coalition delivered a letter to state legislators and other public officials urging them to read a new brief the group co-authored with the Better Path Coalition. The brief, titled Too Infrequently Asked Questions About Carbon Capture and Storage, provides answers to ten questions the authors say the government should consider before developing the technology in Pennsylvania.
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is a controversial technology that has received billions in investments and subsidies from the federal government for the past two decades. It is touted as being a climate solution by capturing, transporting, and storing carbon dioxide emissions from industrial sources. However, it has never worked at scale.
Governor Josh Shapiro signed into law a carbon capture and storage bill introduced by Senator Gene Yaw after a late-night vote as the budget was being passed in July. Act 87 bypassed the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee and received committee votes without discussion from Consumer Protection and Appropriations.
“Our coalitions submitted position statements arguing that a bill as consequential as SB831 needed the careful consideration it didn’t receive because so little is known about CCS. Now we’re telling our legislators that they are not compelled to act on the bill they passed. We are urging them to make an honest assessment based on the things that are known about CCS,” said Karen Feridun, Co-founder of The Better Path Coalition and No False Solutions PA, lead author of the brief.
“Just this week, we learned that corrosion at the first CCS injection site in the U.S. has allowed injected CO2 to migrate into spaces where it was not permitted to go,” commented Karen Elias, co-founder of No False Solutions PA. “Risks like this one exist at every stage of the CCS process. The questions we are raising in this report are too important to ignore.”
The letter concludes, “We stand to lose so much when we are put in a position where we are subsidizing and taking on liability for a technology that strips us of our subsurface property rights, exposes us to dangerous infrastructure buildout, and ultimately fails to reduce emissions. Passing legislation does not compel you to act on it. A matter as consequential as opening the Commonwealth to Carbon Capture and Storage requires careful and honest assessment of the issues we raise in our brief.”
Read Too Infrequently Asked Questions About Carbon Capture and Storage
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – August 29, 2024
Contact: Karen Feridun, Better Path Coalition, 610-678-7726, betterpathpa@gmail.com
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40 Organizations Tell DOE’s Granholm, “CNX Has No Place on Justice 40 Implementation List”
CNX/Shapiro “Radical Transparency” Deal Aims to Erase, Not Engage, Communities
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Pennsylvania: Today, 40 organizations and 13 individuals, including Pennsylvania State Senator Katie Muth, submitted a letter to Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Jennifer Granholm to protest the inclusion of the “Radical Transparency” deal between CNX and Governor Shapiro on a list of ARCH2 Justice 40 Implementation efforts.
DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) lists the CNX/Shapiro deal in the July update of its Community Benefits Commitments Summary in a section on Equitable Impacts that lists site level Justice 40 implementation efforts.
The letter states, “The ”Radical Transparency” program is a cynical attempt to undermine those harmed by fracking by discrediting the thousands of peer-reviewed papers, government reports, and media investigations that have demonstrated grave harms fracking poses to health, safety, the environment, and climate.” CNX recently told investors that data collected for a few months from a total of 14 sites, three of which are designated as “archived,” achieved that goal.
“Community engagement, especially in environmental justice communities, is supposed to be an important determining factor in whether or not projects receive federal tax dollars allocated to develop hydrogen hubs. CNX’s ‘Radical Transparency’ self-serving sham attempts to erase impacted communities, not engage them. Clearly, DOE has not vetted the companies vying for the funds or they would never have mentioned CNX and Justice 40 in the same breath. It’s just the latest example of the mismanagement of public money in pursuit of a greenwashed climate solution that benefits the fossil fuel industry and nobody else,” said Karen Feridun, Co-founder of the Better Path Coalition.
“Justice 40 is an initiative designed to benefit disadvantaged communities, those places where polluting industries are often sited, with little regard for residents’ health and safety,” commented Karen Elias, co-founder of No False Solutions PA. “CNX is currently attempting to discredit the important health studies that point to the harms the fossil fuel industry has brought to these very communities. The fact that CNX is included as an example of Justice 40 efforts is a travesty.”
“As a retired physician educated in public health, I am very concerned that CNX has been
mentioned as a supporter of Justice 40 in ARCH2. Efforts to greenwash the unprincipled deal between CNX and Governor Shapiro do nothing to prevent further harm to the people who live near fracking wells, compressors stations and pigging sites. CNX has had so many violations of environmental regulations, it should not be receiving public funds to continue work that destroys our environment,” said B. W. Brandom, Concerned Health Professionals of Pennsylvania.
The letter concludes, “CNX has no place in any discussion of Justice 40 implementation, nor should it have a place on any list of companies eligible to receive even a penny of hydrogen hub funding.”
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – July 18, 2024
Contact: Karen Feridun, Better Path Coalition, 610-678-7726, betterpathpa@gmail.com
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With Shapiro’s Signature, PA’s Fate Is Cast as Part of Climate Problem, Not Solution
Statement by The Better Path Coalition
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Pennsylvania: Today, Governor Josh Shapiro signed Senator Gene Yaw’s controversial Carbon Capture and Storage bill, guaranteeing that Pennsylvania will not be part of any climate solution and condemning Pennsylvania communities now and in the future to increasing climate chaos while they endure the localized harms the fossil fuel industry will continue to inflict. The bill more than erases any gains made from measures like Solar for Schools that were passed during the budget process.
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Forty-five organizations representing thousands of Pennsylvania residents appealed to the legislature and Shapiro to keep the bill from being enacted.
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The insult added to the literal injury this bill sets in motion is that landowners will be stripped of their subsurface property rights and will at some point be forced to pay when something goes wrong with the dangerous CO2 technology the government stripped them of their rights to reject.
The groups were concerned, not just with the substance of the bill, but with the way it moved through the legislature.
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“There were no hearings or discussions. The bill was never referred to the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee. In the end, an unproven, failed technology was deemed to be in the public interest,” said Karen Feridun, Co-founder of the Better Path Coalition.
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“Saying no to this terrible bill would have taken courage, a quality that is in short supply in our state government, ” said Feridun. “We are grateful to the few legislators who bravely spoke from the floor in opposition to this gift to the fossil fuel industry.”
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“Governor Shapiro should be ashamed of signing a bill that threatens the public and our environment with the dangers of carbon capture and storage, all for the benefit of special interests, namely the fracking industry. He has even agreed with the Legislature to saddle the public with the liability costs of this highly problematic practice and take away peoples’ constitutional rights through eminent domain. This is a terrible day for the Commonwealth and we’ll experience the harms far into our future,” said Tracy Carluccio, Deputy Director, Delaware Riverkeeper Network.
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“Carbon capture and storage is an unproven technology whose repercussions will prove dangerous to the environment and to human health. Voting to approve this untested technology without the benefit of a thorough science-based investigation is irresponsible and puts the future of our state and its residents unacceptably at risk,” said Tamela Trussell, Move Past Plastic.
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“Once again, Governor Shapiro has chosen to ignore the warnings of scientists about the feasibility of carbon capture and storage. This bill will not halt, or even slow down, the ticking of the climate clock installed in the Capitol Building,” said Ellen Gerhart, Camp White Pine.
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“Governor Shapiro has once again shown his preference for industry support over climate science and public health,” said Tonyehn Verkitus, Executive Director, Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania. “The Governor who once seemed to champion clean air and water continues to show a radical shift in environmental policy that fails to prioritize the interests of the people he serves.”
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“I am frightened for my child’s sake,” said Josephine Gingerich, PA resident and Climate Reality chapter member. “We are out of time in this climate fight and chasing our tails with these false solutions embraced by the industry and the politicians in their pockets.”
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“The passage of the Carbon Capture and Sequestration Act is a betrayal of our trust and a sell out to corporate interests. By promoting the injection of carbon dioxide underground under the guise of ‘benefiting the environment,’ lawmakers have ignored the glaring truth: this legislation opens the floodgates for unchecked exploitation and environmental degradation” said Megan McDonough, Pennsylvania Director for Food & Water Watch. “It’s a slap in the face to every Pennsylvanian who expects their elected officials to safeguard our health, our communities, and our future. This reckless decision will haunt us for years to come.”
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – August 14, 2024
Contact: Karen Feridun, Better Path Coalition, 610-678-7726, betterpathpa@gmail.com
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Coalition to CNX: “Radical Transparency” Does Not Refute Science and Data
Shapiro’s Dismissal of University of Pittsburgh Study as “Rhetoric” Aligns with CNX Label of “Innuendo”
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Pennsylvania: Today, CNX told investors that it has demonstrated since implementing the Radical Transparency program it developed with the Shapiro administration that natural gas development is safe and poses no public health risks.
CNX would have its investors believe its preposterous assertion that data collected for a few months from a total of 14 sites, three of which are designated as “archived,” refutes decades’ worth of peer-reviewed scientific research, government data, and investigative reports on a multitude of documented harms.
The company’s press release specifically calls out the state-funded University of Pittsburgh study, referring to the research team’s findings as “unchecked disinformation” and “innuendo.” The University of Pittsburgh actually conducted three studies that found an increased risk of lymphoma in children living in proximity of drilling, asthma exacerbations in people of all ages living up to ten miles from drilling sites, and low birth weight in babies whose mothers lived near drilling during their pregnancies. Their findings correlate with those of peer-reviewed papers that are among the thousands published over the past two decades showing harms to human health and the environment.
Governor Shapiro was asked if he thought the studies were an effective use of taxpayer dollars at the press conference when he and CNX CEO Nick Deiuliis announced the Radical Transparency program. He replied, “I feel like this is an effective approach,” referring to Radical Transparency’s voluntary compliance. He continued, “The public demands answers. Those answers need to be guided not by rhetoric, but by data and open source information for all to see and study.” To date, Governor Shapiro has not made a public statement on the studies.
“The public is, indeed, demanding answers regarding the harmful effects of fracking. But what we’re being given instead are hastily-derived, cherry-picked data points disguised as ‘science.’ It’s a sad day in Pennsylvania,” said Karen Elias, co-founder of No False Solutions PA, “when our very real concerns are dismissed as ‘rhetoric’ out of a clear desire to remove the toxins from an industry that’s rife with them, and declare it safe.”
“Innuendo. Rhetoric. We are in dangerous territory when a self-serving private interest and the Governor of Pennsylvania are working from the same script,” said Karen Feridun, Co-founder of the Better Path Coalition.
“Independent researchers from many sites outside, as well as inside, PA have documented the existence of harms to health from exposure to fracking. Now in its 9th edition, the Compendium of Scientific, Medical, and Media Findings Demonstrating Risks and Harms of Fracking and Associated Gas and Oil Infrastructure tracks the research,” said B.W. Brandom, MD, MS (Public Health) and member of Concerned Health Professionals of Pennsylvania.
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For Immediate Release – June 7, 2024
Contact: Karen Feridun, Better Path Coalition, 610-678-7726, karen@betterpathcoalition.org
PA Environmental Regulators Remove Nonexistent Product Type That Gave Legitimacy to Continued Road Spreading of Toxic, Radioactive Waste Despite Moratorium
Better Path Coalition’s Query into the Product Type’s Addition Led to Its Removal
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Pennsylvania: According to documents received in response to a Right-to-Know request submitted by the Better Path Coalition, “brine co-product” has been removed from the Department of Environmental Protection’s waste reporting system. The product type was scrapped during a mediation in February that followed from an appeal of an earlier Right-to-Know the Coalition submitted last October.
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The Coalition questioned why a nonexistent product type was added to the state’s official record of the handling of toxic, radioactive drilling waste when its presence gave legitimacy to drillers who were spreading the waste on unpaved roads in parts of the state. The drillers were acting in defiance of a moratorium the agency had declared a year before it added the product type.
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The DEP told the Better Path Coalition during the mediation that it believes it was acting on a verbal request from Pennfield Energy when it made the significant, and concerning, change to add the product type, but could provide no documentation of the request or the decision act on it.
When the moratorium went into effect in 2018, drillers believed they found a loophole in a beneficial use program overseen by the agency’s Bureau of Waste Management. The co-product program allows waste to be used in place of a commercial product if it performs as well and is no more injurious to the environment or human health than the commercial product is. The program allows waste owners to make those determinations themselves without any requirement to even notify the DEP. Thus, drillers believed they could justify their continued spreading of toxic waste on Pennsylvania’s roadways by making use of the co-product loophole.
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In 2021, the Bureau of Waste Management began requesting Co-product Determination reports from the drillers who continued to report road spreading. To date, not one has successfully demonstrated that their waste meets the program’s requirements found in Section 287.8 of the Pennsylvania Code.
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Since the moratorium was declared, drillers have reported spreading more than 3 million gallons of waste on roads.
“We are glad that the Department of Environmental Production heard our concerns about compromising the state’s oil and gas waste reporting system with a made-up product type,” said Karen Feridun, Co-founder of the Better Path Coalition, who has been researching and writing about the Coproduct loophole on behalf of the Coalition since 2021. “Although our main concern was with the decision to enable drillers who were trying to work around the moratorium, we were also very bothered by the fact that the state’s environmental regulators were willing to corrupt their own database. The product type was misapplied by several conventional and a few unconventional drillers.”
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The number of drillers who have reported road spreading since 2018 is a fraction of the number who reported using the disposal method prior to the moratorium.
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The sharp drop in the number of drillers reporting road spreading after the moratorium raises another concern about drillers’ use of the co-product loophole. Among the documents Feridun received in response to a 2022 Right-to-Know request was a 2019 letter Pennfield Energy sent to townships that were prospective clients. The letter states that “Pennfield has obtained a Co-Product status instead of Waste with our brine. What this means is you don’t have to report spreading and it can be spread all year round. I know this is hard to believe because D.E.P. doesn’t make anything easy, but it’s true, you do need our brine analysis on hand and a copy of the D.E.P. regulation with Co-product determination. We will provide this to you once we you(sic) have completed and returned the enclosed agreement.”
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Before the Bureau of Waste Management requested Pennfield’s co-product determination report in 2021, the company had not reported any form of waste disposal from 2018 through 2020, even though the DEP’s Oil & Gas Well Production reports from the same three years show that the company produced 10165.66 barrels of oil.
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“How many companies continued to spread their waste on roads but just stopped reporting it because they believed their waste was no longer a waste but a co-product? Nobody can answer that question and that’s a big problem,” said Feridun. “And it’s just one of many big problems with how dangerous drilling waste is managed in Pennsylvania. It’s past time for an outright ban on all road spreading in Pennsylvania.”
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The Better Path Coalition thanks Tim Fitchett of Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services for his assistance in negotiations during the appeal.
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May 6, 2024
For Planning Purposes
Contact: Karen Feridun, Better Path Coalition, 610-678-7726, karen@betterpathcoalition.org
Wednesday: Coalition Calling for End to Road Spreading of Drilling Waste to Deliver Letter to Shapiro
Private Donor Has Provided Coalition with Sports Tickets for Shapiro in Hopes of Helping Group Avoid Arrest
The Better Path Coalition will deliver a letter to Governor Shapiro’s office calling for a ban on all road spreading of toxic, radioactive drilling waste. Nearly 60 organizations and more than 80 individuals have signed the letter that continues to gain signatures.
Conventional drillers have reported spreading more than 3.5 million gallons of waste since the 2018 moratorium declared by the Department of Environmental Protection. Drillers claim to be using a Bureau of Waste Management beneficial use program to justify their defiance of the moratorium, but, to date, no driller has successfully determined that their waste qualifies for use. Results of a series of Right-to-Know requests filed by the coalition show that drillers have really never tried.
The DEP reported in March that 86% of drillers failed to file production and waste reports for 2023. Based on numbers the agency reported in 2022, the staggering percentage is consistent with levels of noncompliance with basic reporting requirements that have trended upward in recent years. How much of the unreported waste has been spread on roads is anyone’s guess.
The letter’s signers demand intervention by Governor Shapiro and the legislature to ban all road spreading and force a culture change at the agency that for too long has tolerated noncompliance.
Given Shapiro’s acceptance of $12,000 in sports tickets from Team PA that functions as a pass-through for undisclosed donors, a private donor has provided the coalition with two tickets to a sports event. The coalition believes this offering will forestall arrests (like those in March of climate protesters trying to deliver a statement to the governor) and will serve as a “ticket” into Shapiro’s office.
Who: Better Path Coalition members
What: Delivery of letter calling for ban on road spreading of drilling waste
When: Wednesday, May 8, 1:30 p.m.
Where: Governor Shapiro’s office
Visuals: Sign that reads, “Please Don’t Arrest Us. We Come Bearing Sports Tickets.”
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – March 26, 2024
Contact: Karen Feridun, Better Path Coalition, 610-678-7726, betterpathpa@gmail.com
Organizations and Concerned Residents Challenge Shapiro on Overreaction and Overreach
More than 50 Organizations and Concerned Residents Signed Letter to the Governor
Pennsylvania: Today, more than 50 advocacy organizations and concerned residents submitted a letter to Governor Josh Shapiro criticizing his response to peaceful climate protesters’ attempt to deliver a letter to his office a week ago.
The letter opens, “The actions you took against climate activists on March 19 were unwarranted. Blocking peaceful protest in the Capitol threatens the very democracy you swore an oath to preserve.”
Later, the letter reminds Governor Shapiro of his statement to Miss Earth. He said, “I don’t believe that governments will be able to make the kind of change necessary, speaking in the short period of time we need to really address climate change, without folks on the outside influencing the process.” The letter continues, “ A few weeks after the meeting with Ms. Coffey, you shared a text line the public could use to contact you following an executive order you’d signed that spring declaring that there should be ‘no wrong door to government.’”
The signers note, “Climate activists attempting to ‘influence the process’ have been met with nothing but closed doors, usually with armed guards stationed in front of them.”
The full letter is available here.
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For Immediate Release – February 23, 2024
Contact: Karen Feridun, Better Path Coalition, 610-678-7726, karen@betterpathcoalition.org
Change to Pennsylvania’s Oil & Gas Waste Reporting System Provided Air of Legitimacy to Continued Road Spreading of Toxic, Radioactive Waste Despite Moratorium
Better Path Coalition Renews Call for Ban on Road Spreading After Discovering Change Made by Regulators at Driller’s Request
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection told the Better Path Coalition, in response to a Right-to-Know appeal, that it believes it was acting on a verbal request from Pennfield Energy when it made a significant, and concerning, change to the state’s oil and gas waste reporting system. In 2019, the agency added “brine co-product” to the list of options drillers could select when they were reporting that they had spread toxic, radioactive drilling waste on Pennsylvania roads despite a moratorium the agency put on the practice the previous year. The revelation has prompted the Coalition to renew its call for a ban on all road spreading of drilling waste in the state.
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“Brine co-product” does not appear on the state’s list of Residual Waste Codes. In 2020, the Office of Oil and Gas Management updated its “Oil and Gas Reporting Electronic: Conventional Wells Production and Waste Reporting Guide.” Appendix D of the guide provides a list describing the types of waste drillers must report. Brine co-product is not on the list. According to the version history at the end of the document, the product type list was updated on March 12, 2019. Other updates to the document were made in May 2019 and September 2020.
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The addition of “brine co-product” effectively gave the air of legitimacy to continued reporting of road spreading by drillers who believed they had found a loophole in a beneficial use program overseen by the agency’s Bureau of Waste Management. The co-product program allows waste to be used in place of a commercial product if it performs as well and is no more injurious to the environment or human health than the commercial product is. The program allows waste owners to make those determinations themselves without any requirement to even notify the DEP. Thus, drillers believed they could justify their continued spreading of toxic waste on Pennsylvania’s roadways by making use of the co-product loophole.
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The Bureau of Waste Management did not begin requesting copies of drillers’ determination reports until 2021. The agency was unable to produce documents requested by Karen Feridun, Co-founder of the Better Path Coalition, that showed what, if any, process was used to approve the addition of “brine co-product” to the waste reporting system. It is not clear if the Office of Oil and Gas Management informed the Bureau of Waste Management that drillers were using the co-product program.
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To date, no drillers have made proper determinations, according to records of communications the Coalition has received from the Bureau of Waste Management in responses to a series of Right-to-Know requests.
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“The Office of Oil and Gas Management appears to have been more interested in legitimizing records than ensuring they were truly legitimate,” says Feridun, who has followed the road spreading issue since the Bureau of Waste Management first requested determination reports from drillers and has periodically updated a brief, Moratorium Morass, she wrote in 2021.
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Since the moratorium was declared, drillers have reported spreading more than 3 million gallons of waste on roads. However, the number of drillers reporting road spreading is a fraction of the number that reported using the disposal method prior to the moratorium.
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The sharp drop in the number of drillers reporting road spreading after the moratorium raises another concern about drillers’ use of the co-product loophole. Among the documents Feridun received in response to a 2022 Right-to-Know request was a 2019 letter Pennfield Energy sent to townships that were prospective clients. The letter states that “Pennfield has obtained a Co-Product status instead of Waste with our brine. What this means is you don’t have to report spreading and it can be spread all year round. I know this is hard to believe because D.E.P. doesn’t make anything easy, but it’s true, you do need our brine analysis on hand and a copy of the D.E.P. regulation with Co-product determination. We will provide this to you once we you(sic) have completed and returned the enclosed agreement.” (emphasis added)
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Before the Bureau of Waste Management requested Pennfield’s co-product determination report in 2021, the company had not reported any form of waste disposal from 2018 through 2020 even though the DEP’s Oil & Gas Well Production reports from the same three years show that the company produced 10165.66 barrels of oil.
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“How many companies continued to road spread, but just stopped reporting it because they believed their waste was no longer a waste but a co-product? Nobody can answer that question and that’s a big problem,” said Feridun.
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As Feridun’s 2021 brief concludes, “Decades-old problems with the management and tracking of oil and gas wastewater spread on Pennsylvania’s roads have made it impossible to know where it has been spread and in what quantities. Those problems have only deepened since drillers started availing themselves of the virtually unregulated Co-product Determination program.”
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“With no documentation and nothing more than a recollection of who made the verbal request, we can only speculate about why the request was made by Pennfield and why DEP fulfilled it. If the DEP believed that diminishing the integrity of the state’s official record of waste disposal was a fair trade off for getting drillers to disclose how much waste they had spread on Pennsylvania’s roads, they were wrong. The fact that Pennfield did not resume reporting waste disposal until they were contacted by the Bureau of Waste Management in 2021 proves that,” continued Feridun.
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“In Moratorium Morass, we discussed the many problems with the way oil and gas waste is reported in Pennsylvania and provided specific examples of errors in the system that should be corrected and improvements to the system that would allow for better tracking of waste. It is particularly galling that the DEP was responsive to a driller’s request for a made-up product type but has yet to even acknowledge the recommendations we shared with them three years ago. By the way, none of our recommendations involved corrupting the data.” said Feridun.
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The Better Path Coalition thanks Tim Fitchett of Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services for his assistance in negotiations during the appeal.
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Pennsylvania: In his first budget address since the hottest year in recorded history, delivered as California deals with a deadly, destructive atmospheric river, Governor Josh Shapiro had little to say about fossil fuels and continued to ignore the existential crisis they have brought about.
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In his strategic plan launched days before the budget address where energy is presented as one of 5 priority industry sectors, Shapiro laid out an agenda plagued by old thinking about outmoded energy sources. He cited jobs growth myths that have been debunked repeatedly since 2013’s Multi-State Collaborative. His plan relies on an all-of-the-above energy mix. President Barack Obama coined the phrase a dozen years ago. He stopped using it four years later.
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At first glance, hydrogen appears to be the new business on the governor’s energy agenda. A closer look reveals that hydrogen is nothing more than Fossil Fuels 3.0. Pennsylvania is part of two proposed publicly-funded hydrogen hubs on opposite ends of the state. Methane gas would provide the feedstock for most of the production and even the hydrogen produced from other sources would divert money and attention from making the transition away from fossil fuels.
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Rather than force us into further subservience to the fossil fuel industry and into an existential crisis, Governor Shapiro needs to seize the opportunity to lead the transition from fossil fuels into an economy that is safe, healthy and serves to uplift Pennsylvanians and the world.
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Governor Shapiro likes to “get sh*t done” quickly. Our future depends on him getting it done right.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – January 12, 2024
Contact: Karen Feridun, Better Path Coalition, 610-678-7726, betterpathpa@gmail.com
Better Path Coalition Points to Lack of Responsiveness & Bad Deals with Drillers in Shapiro’s First Year Review
Frontline- and Grassroots-led Coalition Adds Five New Recommendations to More than 30 Shapiro Ignored
Pennsylvania: Today, the Better Path Coalition submitted a letter to Governor Josh Shapiro that follows from a letter sent to him and his transition team a year ago. It is the second letter of its kind; the first was sent to mark his 100th day in office. And it is the second to find that he has all but ignored the more than 30 recommendations the original letter contained.
The new letter, sent days before the anniversary of his inauguration, adds five new recommendations based on his actions since taking office:
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Walk the “No Wrong Door” talk
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Rescind the CNX deal
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Act on the DOH/Pitt health studies
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End continued support for fossil fuels
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Address ongoing needs of PA communities devastated by Norfolk Southern derailment
The letter also contains comments on the original recommendations following each section.
Over the past year, the coalition has attempted to reach out to Governor Shapiro several times with invitations to meet, to attend briefings with experts the group organizes each month, and to hear Pennsylvanians testify at the People’s Hearing on Climate Change during the 2023 Pennsylvania Climate Convergence last October. Contrary to his rhetoric about “No Wrong Door” to government, the coalition has encountered only closed doors, sometimes guarded by an armed officer. The letter closes letting the governor know our invitations still stand.
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Read the full letter here.