1. Citizen Empowerment Training:
Marcellus Shale Overview
PennEnvironment
www.PennEnvironment.org

2. 64% of PA is underlain by Marcellus Shale. As of October 2011 more than 8,400 drilling
permits have been issued and nearly 4,000 wells Marcellus wells have been drilled.
http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/deputate/minres/oilgas/images/Marcellus%20Shale%20Formation.jpg

3. Environmental and Public Health
Concerns
 Chemical & wastewater leaks and
accidents
 Threatening drinking water
 Endangering public and private lands
 Harmful air pollution
 Water use

4. Chemicals and wastewater leaks
 PA DEP lists 85 hydraulic
fracturing components
 Wastewater returns to
surface over lifetime of
Frack fluid pill at
Dimock gas well the well.
 Drilling wastewater
often stored in open-air
pits before transported
to treatment facility.
Tioga State Forest Turner
Photo Credit: Jenne

5. Threatening drinking water
 Leaks and spills can
also threaten nearby
drinking water sources.
 Drilling allowed to
occur as close as 100
feet from rivers and
streams in PA and 200
feet from private water
wells. Beaver Run Reservoir
 Several cases where
private water wells
contaminated or
depleted soon after
drilling begins (faulty
casing, human error).

6. Endangering public lands
 As of May 2011,
companies had leased Loyalsock State Forest
appr. 7 million acres of
public & private land
(1/4 state land mass).
 Each drilling pad takes
up an estimated 8 acres,
including access roads,
infrastructure
 40 percent PA’s state
forest that sit on top of
Marcellus Shale have
been leased to drilling
companies – parks next?

7. Degrading Air Quality
 At various phases of
extraction, invisible but
harmful emissions can
leak.
 Smog-forming Volatile
Organic Compounds
(VOC);
 Air toxics (benzene,
ethylbenzene
 Methane (Potent
greenhouse gas)
 Air is also the primary
pathway of concern for
fracturing chemicals in
contaminated water
(shower, cooking food).

8. Excessive water use
 Each well requires 2
to 6 million gallons of
water for the process
 Gas companies look
to local waterways to
access water
 Many waterways
cannot handle these
excessive
withdrawals
 Despite increased
water re-use, fresh
water still needed
Matthewbartholemew under license from Shutterstock.com

10. Strengthen clean water laws
 Setting water
withdrawal limits and
reporting requirements
on wastewater disposal
 Expanding the
protective buffer zone
around streams and
drinking water supplies

11. Place pristine places off limits
PennEnvironment supports:
 Designating pristine places
off limits for natural gas
drilling
 Designating a safe distance
between drilling activities
and these places
 Halting all new natural gas
drilling leases in public
Matt Dylan under license from Shutterstock.com
lands (state forests, state
parks).

12. Improve public right to know
 Requiring natural gas
companies to report
the specific types and
volumes of the
chemicals used at
each well.
 Requiring companies
to report withdrawals
Photo Credit: Robert Donnan
from Pennsylvania’s
waterways.

13. Increase public participation
 Requiring a public
comment process for
decisions being made
about large tracts of
state land.
 Improving
Pennsylvania’s property
rights and land use
laws.
 Granting more rights to NicholasT under license for Shutterstock.com
surface owners.

14. Improve tools for Pennsylvania’s regulators
 Increasing capacity and
funding for DEP’s
permitting department
and enforcement staff.
 Increasing DEP’s time
period for reviewing
permits .
 Allowing state health and
environment officials to
provide input on
Bob Donnan applications for
operations that could
affect public health or
wildlife habitat.

15. Ensuring industries pay for damages
 Levying extraction fees on gas
drillers for the valuable
resources they remove form
underneath Pennsylvania.
 Requiring drilling companies
to pay for environmental and
public health problems they
create.
 Requiring natural gas Photo Credit: Wetzel County Action Group
companies to pay the entire
cost of reclaiming wells.

16. Opportunities for Action
 U.S. EPA: Air rules on oil and gas sector
to reduce smog-forming pollutants, air
toxics and methane
 Delaware River Basin Commission:
Likely to allow drilling in river basin soon:
October 21 decision.
 Susquehanna River Basin
Commission: Fast-tracking of Marcellus
Shale projects