Shale Gas Infrastructure
The Marcellus Shale is a black shale formation that is located beneath the Appalachian basin and most of Pennsylvania. Considered to be one of the largest sources of natural gas in America, there is great interest surrounding the economic potential of drilling in the Marcellus Shale. However there are also serious environmental concerns. The Council’s Shale Gas Infrastructure Program tracks a wide variety of air quality issues associated with natural gas drilling in the Marcellus formation.As natural gas infrastructure continues to expand throughout Pennsylvania and the Eastern seaboard, Clean Air Council remains steadily committed to supporting impacted communities in their struggles for a clean and healthy environment. This includes communities that are facing hydraulic fracturing, pipelines, compressor stations, pumping stations, storage facilities, and refineries.
Every stage of natural gas production and delivery causes air pollution. Shale gas operations can cause local air quality issues and interfere with our region’s ability to meet air quality standards. The Council maintains informational resources for residents, community groups, and public officials on the public health impacts of shale gas infrastructure. A full list of our resources is available at: http://cleanair.org/resources
The Council is directly involved in community efforts to analyze the environmental, health, and safety impacts of shale gas pipelines and related infrastructure. Our response to shale gas infrastructure includes education, organizing, and legal advocacy to ensure that residents are well informed about the impacts to their communities and are able to pursue avenues for making their voices heard. More information about the proposed Atlantic Sunrise and Mariner East pipelines is available here: http://www.cleanair.org/pipelines
Protect Our Children (POC) is a coalition of parents, concerned citizens, and advocacy organizations, dedicated to protecting school children from the health risks of shale gas drilling and infrastructure. We aim to mobilize communities to prevent shale gas infrastructure near schools, through connecting local groups to shared resources and information needed to protect our children’s health and safety. Our goal is to limit children’s exposure to harmful pollutants by keeping shale gas drilling and infrastructure one mile away from schools. More information about Protect Our Children is available here: http://www.protectourchildrencoalition.org/
Bureaucratic Improvement and Legal Action:
The Council will compare air regulations and policies of the Pennsylvania DEP’s various regional offices to ensure enforcement of regulations and to advocate for consistency where necessary. The Council will review and track issued permits to ensue that regional offices are applying policies and regulations as required. The Council will also identify best management practices and best available technologies that will be incorporated into future regulations.
Some of the Council’s recent shale-related achievements include:
• Forcing the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to be more transparent in permit evaluations as part of a legal settlement.
• Forcing the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to adopt US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) definition of single-source determination.
• Assisting a group to formally petition the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) to complete air monitoring and a health assessment of a community living near a waste water impoundment. ATSDR accepted the petition and is currently performing the assessment
• Organizing a local group to advocate for and get better technologies for new compressor stations and other fracking infrastructure.
• Advocating for and achieving best practices for preventing air pollution at compressor stations and increased air monitoring at compressor stations. Some PA DEP regional offices are now starting to include these permit conditions into new plan approvals before the Council even has to suggest it.
• Forcing the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to be more transparent in permit evaluations as part of a legal settlement.
• Forcing the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to adopt US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) definition of single-source determination.
• Assisting a group to formally petition the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) to complete air monitoring and a health assessment of a community living near a waste water impoundment. ATSDR accepted the petition and is currently performing the assessment
• Organizing a local group to advocate for and get better technologies for new compressor stations and other fracking infrastructure.
• Advocating for and achieving best practices for preventing air pollution at compressor stations and increased air monitoring at compressor stations. Some PA DEP regional offices are now starting to include these permit conditions into new plan approvals before the Council even has to suggest it.
- 1 of 5
- ››
