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Letters-to-the editor tips
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 Paul Bender, the city of Cleveland’s new head of public utilities. CLEVELAND — “At Bender’s swearing-in ceremony last month, Jackson praised him for his range and depth of experience and said Bender will play a critical role in ensuring the future viability of the city’s utilities.
But not everyone is sold on the new director just yet.
Environmentalists say they have yet to see where Bender stands on controversial issues involving Cleveland Public Power. The city is still studying the possibility of building a waste-to-energy plant, which would burn trash to generate electricity. And the utility is snagged in expensive long-term contracts with coal-burning power plants. In one case, a plant was never even built, but the city is on the hook for millions of dollars in stranded costs. The failed plant is at the heart of a pending lawsuit, involving CPP and a consortium of other cities that signed the deal.
Bender said in a recent interview that he has only begun to review CPP’s contracts and energy portfolio. He also deflected questions about the waste-to-energy plant, stating that the mayor is taking the lead on that issue.”
— Leila Atassi, Cleveland Plain Dealer
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 The Truth-O-Meter says Pants on Fire! CLEVELAND — “But the reality and relevance of the number in the context of the ad is undermined considerably by the fact that it is not the result of surveying but of modeling; that fewer than half of its nearly 40,000 jobs are directly or indirectly related to drilling, and that the single largest element — almost 30 percent of the jobs total — consists of unidentified “induced” jobs.
… Finally, the IHS report says its figure of 38,830 jobs refers to total jobs supported by drilling during 2012, not to new jobs created in the year, as the ad claims.
And the words matter. The IHS report itself makes clear that there is a difference between jobs that are “created” by the industry — which, in a generous reckoning, would encompass direct and indirect jobs — and jobs that are “supported,” which would be all of the 21,020 induced jobs.
That’s an important distinction that the ad ignores, and it accounts for more than half the jobs that the ad claims.
So the association has misrepresented its own industry’s study with compounded exaggerations.”
— PolitiFact, Cleveland Plain Dealer
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YOUNGSTOWN — “Supporters of a Youngstown anti-fracking charter amendment on the May 7 ballot say the proposal returns the rights to clean air, pure water and self-government to the people.
But opponents of the citizens-based initiative see the proposal quite differently.
…The state Legislature approved laws nine years ago to take over control of gas and oil drilling from local governments.
Ohio Department of Natural Resources officials have repeatedly said the state has complete oversight when it comes to fracking, and nothing done by a community can change that.”
— David Skolnick, Youngstown Vindicator
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— Joe Gorman, Warren Tribune Chronicle
 The spills themselves are not poisonous, but the clay sinks into wetlands and streambeds where it can smother aquatic plants and other wildlife. COLUMBUS — “A series of pipeline-construction spills by one company has the Ohio EPA demanding answers and environmental-advocacy groups warning that this is one more activity tied to fracking that is endangering streams and wetlands.
Ohio Environmental Protection Agency officials call the spills ‘inadvertent returns.’ They involve a lubricant made of clay and water that sometimes gushes unexpectedly from the ground when builders drill tunnels to install natural-gas pipelines.
Ohio EPA records show that Denver-based MarkWest Energy had four spills between Sept. 17 and Feb. 9, polluting streams and wetlands in Harrison and Belmont counties. The Harrison County spills included one late last summer affecting Brushy Fork near Cadiz, and a Nov. 4 spill near Cadiz that fouled 1 1/2 miles of Boggs Fork and a nearby wetland and took more than three months to clean up.”
— Spencer Hunt, Columbus Dispatch
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 (Photo: Steve Harbula / Flickr) NEW YORK, NY — “Steingraber also talks to Bill about her arrest for illegally blocking the driveway of a natural gas company as part of a protest against the controversial energy extraction process known as fracking. Steingraber went to jail on April 17, the day after this conversation was taped. She is currently serving a 15-day sentence.
‘I believe, as do many of my colleagues in the sciences, that it’s not safe to compress explosive gases and store them underneath and beside a lake that serves as the drinking water for a hundred thousand people,’ she tells Bill. ‘From my point of view as a biologist and a mother, this out-of-state company… is trespassing in our community.’
Steingraber returns often to the concept of “toxic trespass” — which ‘means that chemicals without our consent enter our body sometimes because we inhale them,’ she explains to Bill. ‘You know, each of us breathes a pint of atmosphere with every breath. And so that’s one way in which toxic air pollutants then enter us, into our bloodstream.’”
— Bill Moyers, Truthout
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YOUNGSTOWN — “As the practice unfolds, though, it will become increasingly important that ODNR remain diligent, attorneys say.
Currently, in Trumbull County, Halcon is attempting to bypass properties that already are leased, by including a provision to ‘adapt nonconforming leases,’ in their request for unit operations, Wenger said.
‘They are trying to bend and ignore existing lease properties,’ Wenger said. ‘The law is meant for unleased parcels, not leased parcels; they don’t want to amend the leases if they stand in their way — we’ll be challenging that.’
BP recently was approved by ODNR in Mecca and Johnston Townships to recover 300 percent of the well costs, rather than 200 percent. BP’s request was approved by ODNR in only two months.
‘This could very much affect the rights of landowners,’ Wenger said. ‘These laws were established so that a minority or single- property owner cannot stop development willy-nilly. But you have to make sure that there’s proper regulation, due process and fair compensation.’”
— Jamison Cocklin, Youngstown Vindicator
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 (Photo: Takver / Flickr) NEW YORK, NY — “Domestic coal use is one of the few figures that has been steadily dropping, with coal-fired power plants closing in many states and utilities shifting toward other sources (mainly natural gas) for power generation. So coal companies are scrambling with proposals to extract coal in Montana and Wyoming, ship it by train to ports in British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon, then freight it to Asian markets.
For a good overview of domestic coal use vs. export written last year, read Ben Jervey’s analysis at DeSmog Blog.
It is frustrating (and terrifying) to devote so much of our effort to preventing fossil fuel expansion rather than actually reducing emissions, but springtime brings some good news from the northwest coast. Of the five port proposals for increased coal export capacity in the U.S. this year, one has lost its investors and failed.
The other four are facing serious public and legal opposition, and are destabilized by the shifting sands of corporate prospects; Ambre Energy in particular is dogged by rumors of insolvency. No permits have been issued yet.”
— Josephine Ferorelli, Truthout
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 Location of Rice Energy’s Thunder 2 well (Image: NPR’s StateImpact Pennsylvania) SOUTH HUNTINGDON, PA — “A truck carrying drill cuttings from a hydraulic fracturing pad in the Marcellus Shale was rejected by a Pennsylvania landfill Friday after it set off a radiation alarm, according to published reports. The truck was emitting gamma radiation from radium 226 at almost ten times the level permitted at the landfill.
The MAX Environmental Technologies truck was first quarantined at the landfill, which is operated by MAX, and then sent back to the fracking pad—Rice Energy‘s Thunder II pad in Greene County—to be redirected to a site that can accept higher levels of radiation.
…The cuttings in the truck were found to emit 96 microrem per hour of radiation, and the landfill is required to reject materials that emit more than 10 microrem. The EPA’s standard for air pollution is 10,000 microrem per year (also known as 10 millirem/year).”
— Jeff McMahon, Forbes
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BELLBROOK — After working at Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, Matt attended Vermont Law School to pursue an interest in environmental and public interest law. During law school, he led the student chapter of the National Lawyers Guild and has participated in anti-globalization and GE free food campaigns. After law school, and two clerkships in Alaska, he moved to Ohio and now leads the housing and economic development practice group at Advocates for Basic Legal Equality in Dayton. Matt also practices in the area of environmental justice, utilizing law to reach social justice goals.
“I tend to find my environmental ethics lining up with that of Social Ecology, which sees the causes of nearly all of our present ecological problems as originating in deep-seated social problems”, he says.
Matt was drawn to Ohio Citizen Action by its good neighbor campaign work, specifically the attributes of decentralism, community control, and direct, face-to-face democracy. “I am honored to be a part of an organization with a rich history in supporting communities’ efforts to protect themselves from pollution and other harmful contamination.”
He is also passionate about global justice issues, local and organic farming, civil liberties, wilderness, and alternative energy issues.
ATHENS — “The Athens County Commissioners on Tuesday voted to support proposed state legislation that would ban disposal of fracking waste in injection wells.
The commissioners signed on to a letter being circulated that voices support for legislation being proposed by State Reps. Denise Driehaus and Robert Hagan and State Senator Michael Skindell. The letter is addressed to the three Democratic legislators.
A spokeswoman for Driehaus said that legislation banning disposal of fracking waste in injection wells is slated to be introduced in the Ohio House on Tuesday, with Driehaus and Hagan as co-sponsors. She said Skindell is expected to introduce companion legislation in the Ohio Senate.”
— Steve Robb, Athens Messenger
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— Tony and Cindy Danzo, letter to the editor, New Philadelphia Times Reporter
 BOSTON, MA — “A study by a new Harvard University policy initiative says the FracFocus.org website has “serious flaws” as a means of disclosure for hydraulic fracturing chemicals used in oil and gas production, and state governments shouldn’t be relying on it.
The study says FracFocus has a one-size-fits-all approach that doesn’t account for different state requirements, prevents many kinds of searching and gives drilling companies too much leeway to miss deadlines or withhold information as trade secrets.
“States have written tough disclosure requirements, backed by robust public information laws,” said Kate Konschnik, policy director of the Harvard Environmental Law Program. “However, when those same states direct companies to report to FracFocus, they give up a lot of oversight authority. Meanwhile, the public’s ability to seek additional information or challenge trade secret claims is lost when an agency is not in possession of the disclosures.”
— Mike Soraghan, E&E Publishing
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WASHINGTON, DC — “But not everyone is convinced that this drilling frenzy has carried the U.S. economy. In a new research note for Capital Economics, Paul Dales argues that the oil and gas boom has so far provided only a modest economic boost since 2009.
… Now, it’s worth emphasizing that we’re still early into this era of cheap natural gas. Firms like Shell are in the process of building ethane crackers in places like Pennsylvania to take advantage of nearby shale production. That, in turn, could eventually provide a boon to other industries — plastics, say. But it may be a few years before this registers in the macro-level data.
In all, Dales concludes, it’s hard to give oil and gas more than a small bit of credit for America’s better-than-average economic performance since 2009. ‘[T]he recovery in US GDP since the recession has been driven by an improved performance across a wide range of sectors, including motor vehicle production and professional business services.’”
— Brad Plumer, Washington Post
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Law gives agency power over permits, 3-0 ruling says
 Mountain Justice activists rally in front of the EPA in Washington, DC. CHARLESTON, WV — “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was clearly within its legal authority when it rejected a permit for one of the largest mountaintop removal mines in West Virginia history, a panel of three federal appeals court judges ruled Tuesday.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia panel — made up of three Republican-appointed judges — reversed a lower court ruling that had thrown out the EPA’s veto of the Clean Water Act permit for Arch Coal Inc.’s Spruce Mine in Logan County.
Writing for the unanimous panel, Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson said federal law gives the EPA authority to veto permits that agency officials believe the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was wrong to issue.”
— Ken Ward, Jr., Charleston Gazette
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 Spain NEW YORK, NY — “While the vote is only a local effort, the region possesses the largest potential reserve of shale gas in the country, effectively removing the Spain’s surest bet for domestic production and outside investment from the table. In addition to hosting the largest potential reserves in Spain, Cantabria benefits from easy access to water resources in a country often struggling with shortages – vital component of any shale extraction effort.
Further, the vote was proposed the local branch of the center-right Partido Popular (PP) or People’s Party, which would traditionally not present an environmental argument against the practice. But they did and they did so with the full backing of the local government. The vote was unanimous.
In early March, Spain’s Council of Mining Engineers outlined Spain’s shale potential with a report that suggested as much as 50 trillion cubic feet or enough to meet about 39 years of domestic demand. What’s more, a boost in domestic production could help ease expensive imports and maybe even help drive down or consumer prices. While not likely considering the country’s artificially low prices, but that was the argument.”
— Christopher Coats, Forbes Magazine
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Letters supporting the Fracking Emergency Medical Right to Know Act 7,546 neighbors have sent handwritten letters and made personal phone calls urging state legislators to support the Fracking Emergency Medical Right to Know Act as of May 8, 2013.
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