Sierra Club PA Chapter Testifies at EPA Methane Hearing in Pittsburgh

The following is testimony provided to the EPA by Sierra Club PA Chapter Director, Joanne Kilgour, on September 29, 2015 in Pittsburgh, PA: 

Good afternoon, and thank you for the opportunity to speak here to day on this important topic - controlling methane emissions from oil and gas sources. My name is Joanne Kilgour and I serve as the Director of the Sierra Club PA Chapter, representing 25,000 members and 80,000 supporters across the Commonwealth of PA. Our members have - for decades - been leading climate advocates and clean air champions in their communities, and I know that each of them would be here testifying today if they could. 

By holding this hearing in Pittsburgh, you are recognizing the significant impact air pollution from methane emissions has on this region - and regions across Pennsylvania - largely as a result of the dirty oil and gas industry. While we support and appreciate EPA taking this necessary first step to control methane emissions from oil and gas sources, we also recognize the need for action that will address pollution from existing sources.

I live in Lancaster, PA - one of the areas with the worst air quality in the nation. In fact, more than half of the counties in Pennsylvania are at risk because of air quality concerns, which are exacerbated by harmful methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. Just like me, more than four million residents of Pennsylvania live in areas that exceed national ozone standards, meaning that our health and our communities cannot afford to bear pollution from the thousands of existing sources in our state - let alone from new and modified sources. Our children, our elderly, and individuals as greater risk from respiratory complications cannot take another ozone action day.

Since this is the first-ever proposal to control methane pollution from the oil and gas industry we thank you, we support this initial step, and we call for these proposals to be adopted quickly so we can get to work on tackling the threat from methane emissions from oil and gas sources now in existence - sources that by 2018 are projected to account for nearly 90% of all methane emissions in this sector. 

In addition to threatening our climate, the public health threat posed by these emissions is staggering. For this reason, we call on EPA to revise its cost-benefit analysis and include in this revision metrics that monetize the public health benefit the methane standard will generate by reducing VOCs - and this smog and soot - as well as hazardous air pollutants. Without this adjustment, the benefits of implementing the rule will remain understated and the cost-benefit analysis will remain an inadequate assessment. Public health benefits are not simply qualitative or experiential, but have quantifiable financial benefits that must be documented.

I applaud the EPA and the Obama Administration for beginning to address this problem of new and modified sources of methane, and I now look to our state Department of Environmental Protection and the Wolf Administration to follow this lead and address fugitive emissions from existing sources, moving as fast and far as necessary to put the health and prosperity of Pennsylvania families first.

Restoring Clean Water Act Protections to Streams and Wetlands

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) recently proposed an important rule restoring Clean Water Act protections to streams and wetlands that protect our drinking water and reduce flooding. Many of these waters have been at increased risk of pollution and destruction for more than a decade because of inconsistent enforcement in the courts. The rule will be open for public comment for 90 days. 

• These updated safeguards reflect new scientific studies that show protecting these waters are important to down-stream consumers.
  
• Tributary streams and a wide variety of wetlands and other waters are critical to the condition of America’s waterways.
  
• The rule preserves existing exemptions for normal farming, mining and forestry activities for the production of food, fuel and fiber. This clean water rule clearly excludes certain upland ditches, ponds, and irrigation systems. 

The Sierra Club is joined by scores of industry, conservation, hunting and fishing organizations to support this “waters of the United States” rule, which will bolster the Clean Water Act’s legal and scientific foundation, provide greater long-term clarity for landowners and protect the streams, wetlands and other waters that feed our Nation’s rivers, lakes and bays. 
  
Why Streams and Wetlands Need Protection Now 

Before 2001: Virtually all streams, wetlands, lakes and other natural water bodies were covered under the Clean Water Act in accordance with congressional intent and the long-standing Corps and EPA definitions of “waters of the United States.” The important physical, chemical and biological connections between upstream wetlands and tributaries and downstream navigable waters were accepted and presumed to exist. The Supreme Court unanimously rejected industry arguments that wetlands were not “waters of the United States,” deferring to the experts at EPA and the Corps to identify water resources the law must protect to serve the law’s clean water goals. 

Since 2001: Later Supreme Court decisions, along with subsequent agency guidance issued in 2003 and 2008, called into question the status of upstream tributaries and wetlands and, as a result, have jeopardized critical water resources and fish and wildlife habitat. Taken together, these decisions have: 

• Threatened drinking water supplies. Headwater and intermittently-flowing streams feed into the public drinking water systems of more than 117 million Americans.
  
• Removed protections for 20 million acres of wetlands, including prairie potholes and other seasonal wetlands that provide important flood protection and essential wildlife habitat nationwide.
  
• Put at risk 59% of all stream miles in the continental United States. Many of these streams provide critical habitat for countless fish, especially trout.
  
• Put at risk the people, businesses and industries that rely on clean water: Everyone wants to drink clean, pure water. Brewers advertise the purity of their source water. Fish need clean water. Anglers alone generated nearly $115 billion in economic activity in 2011, breathing life into rural communities and supporting more than one million jobs.
  
• Polluted water costs consumers billions of dollars a year. 

Ensuring a Clean Water Future 

The proposed rule clarifies protections for about two million miles of streams and 20 million acres of wetlands and other waters not currently receiving full protection under the Clean Water Act. Recent scientific studies show that these waters have a significant physical, chemical, or biological connection to traditionally navigable or interstate waters. When finalized, this “waters of the United States” rule will bolster the Clean Water Act’s legal and scientific foundation, provide greater long-term clarity, and protect the streams, wetlands and other waters that feed our Nation’s rivers, lakes and bays. 

Click here to download a printable postcard that you can mail to EPA Administrator McCarthy and U.S Army Corps of Engineers Lieutenant General Thomas P. Bostick. 

Federal Rule Will Clarify Nation’s Streams and Wetlands and Protect the Susquehanna River

For Immediate Release:

For more information contact
Thomas Au, Conservation Chair
Sierra Club PA Chapter
717.234.7445
thomxau@gmail.com

Today, the Environmental Protection Agency and US Army Corps of Engineers proposed a new federal rule that would protect streams and wetlands from pollution throughout the US, including those in the Susquehanna River basin. The rule will help to protect the drinking water for millions of Americans, preserve fish and wildlife habitat, and reduce the risk of flooding.

The Sierra Club applauds the Obama administration for this effort to restore a common-sense approach to protecting our nation's lakes, rivers and streams. Clean water is an undeniable necessity for the health of our families, our environment, and our economy—not to mention our enjoyment. The Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have recognized that ensuring the protection of water bodies upstream is vital to keeping pollution out of our waters downstream.

To protect Americans' drinking water, health, and recreation opportunities, Congress passed the Clean Water Act in 1972. But, due to conflicting Supreme Court decisions during the past decade, there has been confusion over which streams and wetlands are covered, undermining efforts to protect streams which feed into the public drinking water systems.

“With this rule, everyone—including those wishing to develop in and around these waters—will have a clearer picture of what they can and can’t do under the law,” says Thomas Au, Conservation Chair for the Pennsylvania Sierra Club. "The rule will help everyone comply with the Clean Water Act."

The proposed rule, subject to public comment, would make clear which "waters" will be covered by the Act’s pollution prevention and cleanup programs and protect those waters that have important effects on downstream creeks and the Susquehanna River.  "Today's rule will implement the goals of the Clean Water Act.  We look forward to seeing a strong rule finalized quickly," stated Mr. Au.

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Beaver County Under Siege

By Roni Kampmeyer

A distressing stage is being set in Southern Beaver County as it becomes a major target for oil and gas development.  This area is already enduring the health and environmental impacts from several corporate polluters.  The American Lung Association ranks Beaver County as 19th in the nation for air pollution.  The region’s mortality rate is 27 percent higher than the nation’s average.

The first of the polluters is the world’s first nuclear power plant originally built in 1959 and rebuilt in 1972.  This aging nuclear power plant has had multiple recent incidents which make one wonder if its age is showing or if there is some sort of operator negligence or neglect.  Industry regulators who once said that the life span of a nuclear power plant was forty (40) years are now claiming the life can be up to 100 years.  Beaver Valley Unit 1 Nuclear Power Plant’s license has been extended to 2036.

Right next door to the nuclear plant is the fifth largest coal combustion plant in the country, Bruce Mansfield, which also ranks as the nation’s eighth highest producer of greenhouse gases.   Every producer of energy has to have a disposal site and Bruce Mansfield has the nation’s largest high hazard earthen dam and coal ash impoundment just seven (7) miles west of the plant.  It is currently operating under a Federal Consent Decree to correct the leaking impoundment and the contamination caused by it.  Both Unit 1 and Bruce Mansfield are owned by First Energy, LLC.

AES Power Plant, Wheaton Power Plant, Armstrong World Industries and Horsehead Zinc Plant round off the major contributors to Beaver County’s pollution and mortality rankings.  It is, however, the shear sight of thumper truck caravans and helicopters transporting seismic testing equipment by land and over head on a daily basis that brings visions of an invasion to an area with a dozen or more gas wells with many more on the way.  With the pipeline already in place and property acquisition and demolition in process another captain of industry, Shell, has its sights set on building a Cracker Plant on the existing Horsehead site.

A study, released by the Center for Healthy Environments and Communities at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, found that residents living in southwestern Pennsylvania, have a “significantly higher than acceptable risk” of getting cancer from air toxins.  Specific cancer risk rates for Beaver County were not immediately available.  The report did say Shell’s proposed $2.5 billion petrochemical plant could raise cancer risk in the area because it will emit large quantities of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde, both considered “probable human carcinogens” by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

In spite of the report’s findings, State Representative Christiana and State Senator Vogel are deeply entrenched in these dealings.  Senator Vogel’s farm is home to a gas well.  The Beaver County Commissioners are swelled with hopes of economic stimulus from all this activity.  While it cannot be argued that economic stimulus is welcome and necessary in Beaver County which has been in an economic state of depression since the eighties when the steel mills ceased operations; one cannot help but feel that no one is "watching the hen house" and making sure this development is safe for the health of the community and the environment.

Time to Update Water Quality Standards

Opinion by Karen Melton

Published in Roxborough Review, Sept. 4. 

Standards governing water pollution from coal-fired power plants have not been updated in 30 years.  Pennsylvania has 28 active coal power plants and only 8 have permits that limit dumping of any toxic metal, while only 4 plants have permits that limit selenium, mercury, and lead.

According to the EPA, more than half of all toxic water pollution in the country comes from coal-fired power plants, making coal plants the number one source of toxic water pollution in the U.S. More than 23,000 miles of U.S. rivers and streams are being damaged by steam electric plant discharges, which include arsenic, mercury, lead, boron, cadmium, selenium, bromides and more.  Each year nearly 65,000 pounds of lead, 3,000 pounds of mercury, and 80,000 pounds of arsenic are discharged into surface waters.

The health effects of many of these pollutants are well known, ranging from increasing risk of certain cancers as a result of exposure to arsenic, and neurological and developmental damage in children exposed to lead.  Once in the environment, these toxics can remain for many years.

In June the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published new proposed national standards on discharging toxic metals into waterways. The updated standards would also require coal power plants to monitor and report the amount of pollution being dumped.

The period for public comment on the new standard ends September 20^th.  A number of local organizations such as the Sierra Club, Clean Water Action and the Delaware Riverkeeper Network have been working to inform the public about the proposed standards and the opportunity for citizens to provide comments to the EPA.

You can read more by logging onto water.epa.gov/scitech/wastetech/guide/steam-electric/proposed.cfm and you can submit comments in support of clean water standards by sending an email to OW-Docket@epa.gov, Attention Docket ID EPA–HQ–OW–2009–0819 or by logging onto www.regulations.gov and referencing the docket ID.