The majority of FracTracker’s posts are generally considered articles. These may include analysis around data, embedded maps, summaries of partner collaborations, highlights of a publication or project, guest posts, etc.

Kyle Ferrar, MPH

Kern County’s Drafted EIR Will Increase the Burden for Frontline Communities

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Overview

This article focuses on the city of Arvin as an example to show how some Frontline Communities in California are completely surrounded by an unrelenting barrage of carcinogenic and toxic air pollutants from oil and gas wells. Kern County’s proposed environmental impact report (EIR) would streamline the approval of an additional 67,000 new oil and gas wells in the County and thus further degrade air quality. We provide several recommendations for how local and state decision-makers can better protect public health from these serious threats.

Upstream greenhouse-gas and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from oil and gas extraction have been drastically under-reported throughout the United States, and California’s emissions regulations for oil and gas production wells are not comprehensive enough to protect Frontline Communities. The contribution of VOCs from the oil and gas extraction sector is responsible for California’s central valley and Kern County communities being exposed to the worst air quality in the country. As carcinogens, air toxics, and precursors to ozone, VOC’s present a myriad of health threats.

The contribution of VOCs from the well-sites in Kern, in addition to the cumulative burden of the Central Valley’s degraded air quality, puts Kern residents at considerable risk. Obvious loopholes in the California Air Resources Board’s oil and gas rule must be addressed immediately, and revised to prevent the cumulative impact of multiple exposure sources from causing additional documented negative health impacts. Additionally Kern County’s proposed environmental impact report (EIR) would streamline the approval of an additional 67,000 new oil and gas wells in the County and thus further degrade air quality. It is crucial that the EIR is instead revised to eliminate extraction near sensitive populations. (For more details on this proposal, see our more in depth environmental justice analysis of Kern County and our article on the proposed EIR.)

In support of establishing new public health rules that protect Frontline Communities, Earthwork’s Community Empowerment Project, in collaboration with the Central California Environmental Justice Network and FracTracker Alliance, has focused on documenting the uncontrolled emissions from extraction sites within and surrounding the small city of Arvin, California. Using infrared cameras with state of the art optical gas imaging (OGI) technology, the team documented major leaks at multiple well-sites. Footage from Arvin spans the years from 2016-2020. A collection of this footage has been compiled into the interactive story map that follows.

Toxic Emissions Filmed at Oil and Gas Wells in Arvin, CA

This StoryMap explores how current California regulations fail to stop emissions from tanks on oil and gas well-sites by looking at examples of emissions from well-sites in Arvin, California. Place your cursor over the image and scroll down to advance the StoryMap and explore a series of maps charting the fracking-for-plastic system. Click on the icon in the bottom left to view the legend.

View Full Sized Map | Updated 3/4/21

Data sources:

 

The cases of uncontrolled emissions in the story map provides just an example of the inventory of uncontrolled emissions sources in Kern County, and California at large. Finding and filming emissions sources while using OGI cameras in California is not at all uncommon, otherwise there would not be seven prime examples just in the City of Arvin. Prior to 2018, emissions from these well-sites went completely unregulated. While the California oil and gas rule (COGR) was developed to address greenhouse gas emissions from small sources, certain aspects of the rule are not being enforced by the local air districts. Rather than requiring tanks to have closed evaporation systems the air districts allow operators to set pressure/vacuum hatches to open and emit toxic and carcinogenic vapors when pressure builds inside tanks. While this is a safety mechanism on tanks, in practice it allows tanks to be consistent sources of exposure that put neighboring communities at risk. Specifically, California Code of Regulations, Title 17, Division 3, Chapter 1, Subchapter 10 Climate Change, Article 4, § 95669, Leak Detection and Repair, Paragraph I states that “Hatches shall remain closed at all times except during sampling, adding process material, or attended maintenance operations.”

Degraded Air Quality

New research from Harvard, Berkeley and Stanford has shown that living near oil and gas drilling and extraction exposes Frontline Communities to emissions of VOC’s and ozone that put them at risk for a variety of health impacts. Researchers at Stanford have linked proximity and density of oil and gas wells to preterm birth for pregnant mothers (Gonzalez et al. 2020), even at large distances. Similar research from UC Berkeley showed mothers living near oil and gas drilling and extraction are also at risk of birthing infants with low birth weight (Tran et al. 2020). The study found pregnant people who lived within 0.62 miles (1 kilometer) of the highest producing wells were 40% more likely to have low birth weight babies and 20% more likely to have babies who were small for their gestational age compared to people living farther away from wells or near inactive wells only. Most recently, new research from Harvard University shows that even very low ambient levels of ozone, particulate matter (PM2.5), and nitrogen dioxide increased hospitalizations for cardiac and respiratory conditions (Wang et al. 2021). These are the primary and secondary pollutants emitted from oil and gas extraction sites and also result from burning fossil fuels. The magnitude of the impact on public health is also much larger than previously considered. Another article recently published by researchers at Harvard shows that fossil fuel air pollution is responsible for 18% of total deaths, worldwide (Vohra, et al. 2021).

While the COGR rule is a step in the right direction to reduce emissions, oil and gas’s legacy of degradation to ambient air quality has placed the Central Valley in the worst categories for these pollutants in the country. This puts Kern residents at considerable risk. The local health department continues to report improved conditions and increased numbers of healthy air days, but the truth is the mean, median and maximum values of ozone concentrations at US EPA monitoring locations in Kern County have remained relatively constant at harmful levels from 2015-2019. Expanding the data to 2020 shows a two sharp decreases in ambient levels of pollutants that correspond to decreases in reported production volumes for the county. The first decrease in 2016 corresponds to a drop in production following the institution of State Bill requirements for fracking permits. The decrease in 2020 is a result of the slowed production and burning of fossil fuels related to the Covid-19 Pandemic, as shown below in Figure 1.

 

Figure 1. Plot of annual Maximum 1 hour Ozone concentrations at all monitoring locations in western Kern County. Ozone concentrations are presented in parts per million. Annual trends in ambient concentrations of ozone. Note the decrease in concentrations in 2016 and in 2020. Both events correlate to decreases in production.

 

Using the U.S. EPA’s AirData mapping portal, air quality data for Kern County was exported, compiled and plotted to show trends over time. Above in Figure 1, annual ambient concentrations of ozone are shown. The trends of ambient concentrations follow similar trends in the spatial and temporal distribution of CalGEM reported production volumes. FracTracker Alliance is conducting more thorough analyses of these correlations, so stay tuned for future reports.

The locations of these monitoring locations are shown below in the map in Figure 2. Note that there are not any monitors in northwestern Kern, near large oil fields including North Belridge and Lost Hills. The communities near these fields, such as the City of Lost Hills are predominantly Latinx with elevated levels of linguistic isolation and poverty.

 

Figure 2. Map of Air Quality Monitors in Kern County.

Conclusion

Permitting new oil and gas wells in Kern County is certain to degrade the already harmful local and regional ambient air quality of the Central Valley. Kern County’s proposed EIR, as it stands will streamline an additional 67,000 sources of VOCs to the inventory of emissions already impacting communities. The health impacts from concentrations of ozone are well established, and the release of VOCs are major risk driver for communities living closest to oil and gas extraction operations as well as for regional public health. Together, these primary and secondary pollutants create a major risk driver for Kern County communities. Globally, these emissions are responsible for upwards of 8 million premature deaths annually. The burden on Frontline Communities in Kern County is likely much higher, and will only grow if the currently drafted EIR is passed. Additional air quality monitoring stations in northwestern Kern County should be installed immediately to help track air quality impacts.

To reduce this harm to Frontline Communities, California Senator Scott Weiner has submitted a new senate bill. Senate Bill 467 would stop the issuance of hydraulic fracturing permits and create a public health setback distance of 2,500 feet from homes, schools and other health care facilities for all new drilling permits. The bill would also create a program to provide new training and job opportunities for workers who would be negatively impacted by the bill. Senate Bill 467 provides the first step for a green transition away from the health impacts resulting from fossil fuel industries.

The Take Away

Built on sound data and ample research, FracTracker recommends the following measures be taken to protect the health of California’s overburdened Frontline Communities: Kern County should revise its environmental impact report to address the onslaught of harmful oil and gas emissions (EIR), California Air Resources Board’s oil and gas rule should close its loophole allowing emissions from the pressure/vacuum hatch on the tank to be exempt from regulation, and legislators should educate themselves on the importance of 2,500 foot setbacks requirements for oil and gas wells.

References & Where to Learn More

FracTracker’s public comments regarding recommendations to modify the Kern County Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR): https://www.fractracker.org/a5ej20sjfwe/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Kern.EIR_.comments_FracTrackerAlliance_3.8.21_compressed.pdf

FracTracker California articles, maps, and imagery: https://www.fractracker.org/map/us/california/

Earthwork’s Community Empowerment Project: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9BS7nDf-8tqlaUT8pc0Yr0Tpfl0UFDMK

Newsom Well Watch, a collaboration between FracTracker and Consumer Watchdog: https://newsomwellwatch.com/

Topics in this Article

Infrastructure | Health & Safety | Legislation & Politics | Social

 

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Guest Author

Mapping intersectionality: Empowering youth addressing plastics

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Overview

A new collaboration between FracTracker Alliance and Algalita is aiming to help middle school and high school students understand the connection between plastics and fracking — and the wide ranging implications for climate change, environmental injustice, and human health.

Most young people today understand that plastics are problematic. But, there is still often a disconnect between the symptom of plastics in our oceans, and the root causes of the problem. Algalita’s mission is to empower a new generation of critical thinkers to shift the broken and unjust systems that are causing the plastic pollution crisis. Algalita’s strategy is creating educational experiences directly with the movement’s diverse leaders, and this new project with FracTracker is a perfect example. 

Specifically, Algalita and FracTracker have been working together to add new lessons to Algalita’s brand-new online, gamified, action platform: Wayfinder Society. Through this program, students can guide their own exploration of the complexities of the plastics issue, and can take action at their own pace and scale, by completing lessons and action-items (called Waymarks) based on difficulty, topic, and type of impact. 

The first of two FracTracker Waymarks outlines the connection between fracking and plastic production. Students explore a map showing the full plastics production process from fracking pads, to pipelines, to ethane crackers, and packaging factories. 

In a second Waymark that builds off of the first, students explore the massive petrochemical buildout on the Gulf Coast and in the Ohio River Valley. The map allows students to analyze the greenhouse gas emissions predicted for this buildout using the data point pop-up boxes. They can also examine the effects of climate change on communities amongst the buildout by viewing the coastal flood zone areas in Texas and Louisiana. Beyond that, students can investigate how facilities are impacting their peers in schools close to massive ethane cracker facilities. Finally, students are introduced to the movement’s #PlasticFreePresident Campaign, giving them a direct action to apply their new knowledge. 

Mapping Fracking’s Link to Plastic Production

This StoryMap was created by FracTracker for Wayfinder Society, a program by Algalita. Learn more at Algalita.org. Place your cursor over the image and scroll down to advance the StoryMap and explore a series of maps charting the fracking-for-plastic system. Click on the icon in the bottom left to view the legend. Scroll to the end of the StoryMap to learn more and access the data sources.

View Full Sized Map | Updated 11/20

 

Algalita is excited about this partnership for so many reasons. For one, GIS is a critical skill for young people to learn. These two Waymarks pose an accessible and non-intimidating introduction to ArcGIS by using simple maps and StoryMaps like the one above. The maps let students get comfortable with GIS concepts and capabilities like layers, data attribute tables, measuring tools, and filters. Allowing students to explore how plastics are produced through a geographical lens provides a unique visual and interactive experience for them. The goal is for students to be able to connect petrochem buildout, with the plastics, climate and justice issues that they are focusing on — often separately. Our aim is that by putting this part of the story in context of real physical space they will more easily make those connections. We hope these lessons spark some students’ interest in mapping, geography, and GIS, providing a new generation of changemakers with GIS in their toolbox. 

On top of that, we are stoked to be building this partnership with FracTracker because the success of our collective movement depends on strong, clear communication and synergies between the nodes of the movement’s network.  The FracTracker Waymarks give our Wayfinders direct access to real-time data, visualizations, and expert insights that they can then use to level-up their actions and stories around their activism. And, they connect the dots not just for students, but also for educators and movement partners like us at Algalita — we are all for this powerful lever for change!

Check out Wayfinder Society here. Access the FracTracker Waymarks here and here — but you’ll need to be logged in. If you’re a student, get started by creating a profile, and then start earning Cairns (points)! If you’re an educator, parent or mentor, and interested in exploring the site, email us here for the guest login. 

By Anika Ballent, Education Director, Algalita

Algalita empowers a new generation of critical thinkers who will shift the broken and unjust systems that are causing the plastic pollution crisis.  We do this by offering educational experiences created directly with the movement’s diverse leaders.

Anika has been working in the movement against plastic pollution for ten years, studying microplastics in benthic and freshwater environments. She brings together her science background and creativity to educate young changemakers through hands-on experiences in schools, Algalita’s International Youth Summit, and online programs.

References & Where to Learn More

Algalita.org

Data Sources:

ATEX Pipeline: EIA

Railroad: Selection from ArcGIS online

Process information: Houston Chronicle

Falcon Pipeline: Shell/AECOM and FracTracker Alliance

Mariner East 2 Pipeline: PA DEP

Greenhouse gas emission increases: Environmental Integrity Project. (2020, November 30). Emission Increase Database. Retrieved from https://environmentalintegrity.org/oil-gas-infrastructure-emissions.

All other data points were mapped by FracTracker Alliance referencing various online sources. While this map is based on actual infrastructure, it is intended as a model of the fracking-for-plastic lifecycle and certain steps may vary in real life.

Topics in This Article

Petrochemicals & Plastics

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FracTracker Alliance, 2021
Matt Kelso, BA

Pennsylvania’s Waste Disposal Wells – A Tale of Two Datasets

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Overview

Access to reliable data is crucial to our understanding of risky fracking waste disposal, and in turn, our ability to protect public health. But when it comes to oil and gas liquid waste disposal wells in Pennsylvania, despite monitoring by two separate agencies, we are left with an incomplete and inaccurate account.

If we were to emulate the Charles Dickens classic, this article might begin, “It was the best of datasets, it was the worst of datasets.” Unfortunately, even that would be too generous when it comes to describing available data around oil and gas liquid waste disposal wells in Pennsylvania. To fully understand the legacy and current state of these wells, it is necessary to query the two agencies that have a role in overseeing them, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

Given the relatively small inventory of these wells compared to other oil and gas producing states, the problems with the two datasets are enormous. Before jumping into these issues, however, it would be useful to review the nature of these wells, why there are two regulatory agencies involved, and why there are so few of them in Pennsylvania in the first place, relatively speaking.

Disposal Wells Categories

To further our industrial exploits of the planet, humans have found it useful to inject all kinds of things into the earth. In the United States, this ultimately falls under the jurisdiction of EPA’s Underground Injection Control (UIC) program, and the point of injection is known as an injection well. Altogether, there are six classes of injection wells, with those related to oil and gas operations falling into Class II.

There are three categories of Class II injection wells, including waste disposal, enhanced recovery, and hydrocarbon storage. There is also an infamous exemption known as the “Haliburton Loophole,” which has allowed oil and gas companies to inject millions of gallons of hydraulic fracturing fluid into oil and gas wells in order to stimulate production without any federal oversight at all.

When most people speak of “injection wells” in an oil and gas context, they are usually referring to waste disposal wells, and this is our focus here. This well type is also referred to as Class II-D (disposal) and salt water disposal wells (SWD). This latter term is used by a majority of state regulators, so we will use that abbreviation here, even though considering this type of toxic and radioactive fluid “salt water” is surely one of the industry’s most egregious euphemisms.

Dealing with Dangerous Fluids

There are two main types of liquid waste that are disposed of at SWD injection wells. As always, these waste types have a number of different names to keep everyone on their toes but for the sake of simplicity will call them “flowback” and “brine,” and both are problematic materials to handle. Additionally, the very act of industrial-scale fluid injection presents problems in its own right.

As mentioned above, when operators pump a toxic stew of water, sand, and chemicals into a well to stimulate oil and gas production, that mixture is known as hydraulic fracturing fluid, or fracking fluid. Some of these chemicals are so secretive that even the operators of the well don’t know what is included in the mix, let alone nearby residents or first responders in the event of an incident.

Between 10% and 100% of this fluid will return to the surface, and is then known as flowback fluid, becoming a waste stream. In Pennsylvania, the average amount of fracking fluid injected into production wells exceeds 10 million gallons in recent years according to data from the industry’s self-reporting registry known as FracFocus. With more than 12,000 of these wells drilled statewide, disposing of this waste stream becomes an enormous concern.

In addition to flowback fluid, there are pockets of ancient fluids encountered by the drilling and fracking processes that return to surface as well. These solutions are commonly referred to as brine due to their extremely high salt content, although this is not the type of fluid that you’d want to baste a Thanksgiving turkey with. Total salt concentrations can reach up to 343 grams per liter, roughly ten times the salt concentration of sea water. These brines include but are not limited to the familiar sodium chloride that we use to season our food, but include other components as well, including significant bromide and radium concentrations.

When Pennsylvania experimented with our public health by authorizing disposal of these fracking brines in municipal plants designed to treat sewer sludge, the bromides in that drilling waste stream became problematic as they interacted with disinfectants to cause a cancerous class of chemicals known as trihalomethanes. This ended the practice of surface “treatment” from these sites into streams in 2011, and along the way caused many water authorities to switch from chlorine to chloramine disinfectant processes. This, in turn, may have exacerbated lead exposure issues in the region, as the water disinfected with chloramine often eats away at the calcium scale deposits covering lead pipes and solder in the region’s older homes.

 

Radium-226 Decay Chain. Source: National Institute of Standards and Technology

Figure 1. Radium-226 Decay Chain. Source: National Institute of Standards and Technology

 

Marcellus and Utica wastewater are also very high in a radioactive isotope of radium known as Ra-226, which has a half-life of 1600 years. After that amount of time, half of the present radium will have emitted an alpha particle, which can cause mutations in strands of DNA when introduced inside the body, through contaminated drinking water, for example. After the hazardous expulsion of the alpha particle, the result become radon gas, which is estimated to cause 20,000 lung cancer deaths per year in the United States. Further down the decay chain is Polonium 210, which was infamously used in the assassination of Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.

None of this should be injected into formations beneath people’s homes, near drinking water supplies, streams, or really anywhere that we aren’t comfortable sacrificing for the next few thousand years.

 

Earthquakes in California and Oklahoma by year

Figure 2. Earthquakes in California and Oklahoma by year. Source: United States Geological Survey

 

On top of all the problems with the water chemistry of both produced water and brine, the very act of injecting these fluids into the ground has triggered a large number of earthquakes in areas with frequent or large volumes of waste injection. This human-caused phenomenon is known as induced seismicity. The most well-known example of this is the previously stable state of Oklahoma which surged to have more magnitude 3.0+ earthquakes than California for a number of years during a drilling boom in that region. The largest of these was the magnitude 5.8 Pawnee earthquake in 2016.

 

Figure 3. PA Earthquakes and Potential Causes: 1/2000 – 2/2021, Magnitude 2.0 or Greater. Most earthquakes in the eastern portion of the state are associated with Quaternary faults. In the western portion, the causes are less straightforward, and include zipper fracking, mine blasting or collapse, and faults that are more ancient and deeper than the Quaternary faults, many of which remain unmapped. As the use of SWD wells increases, seismic activity may increase as well.

 

Manmade earthquakes are not limited to Oklahoma. For example, there were approximately 130 seismic events in one year period in the Youngstown, Ohio area due to SWD activity, including one measuring 4.0 on the last day of 2011. Over the years, the regulatory reaction to induced earthquakes seems to walking along the slippery slope from “that can’t happen” to “that can’t happen here” to “they’re all small earthquakes” to “we can mitigate the impact,” despite all evidence to the contrary.

Two Regulators

So who gets to be in charge of this dumpster fire? As mentioned above, this is ultimately under the umbrella of EPA’s Underground Injection Control program. However, they have a complicated arrangement with the various states defining who has primary enforcement authority for this type of well.

In Pennsylvania, such wells must obtain a permit from EPA before obtaining a second permit from DEP. In a 2017 hearing in Plum Borough, Allegheny County, furious residents concerned with a variety of issues with a proposed SWD well were told that in Pennsylvania, EPA could only consider whether or not the well would violate the 1972 Clean Water Act when considering the permit, and that the correct audience for everything else would be DEP. Both permits for this well that is near and undear to me were ultimately issued, and operations are expected to begin in the next month if Governor Wolf does not instruct the DEP to reconsider their permit.

There is some precedent for overturning such a permit. In March of 2020, DEP yanked a permit for a SWD well in Grant Township, Indiana County, suddenly respecting a home-rule charter law that the agency had previously sued the Township over.

Without the prospect of royalties or impact fees, no community wants these wells and regulators know that they are nothing but problems. However, the reality is that the regulators oversee an industry that produces a tsunami of this toxic waste – more than 61.8 million barrels of it from unconventional wells in Pennsylvania in 2020 according to self-reported data, which is almost 2.6 billion gallons of the stuff, or slightly more than the capacity of Beaverdam Run Reservoir in Cambria County, a 382 acre lake with an average depth of 20 feet.

Unsuitable Geography

Nationally, injection wells are quite common, with over 740,000 such wells in the EPA inventory for 2018 and Class II (O&G) wells represent about a quarter of this figure. Of these Class II injection wells, roughly 20% are for fluid disposal, giving us an estimated 37,000 SWD wells nationwide. This number is expected to go up, as more than three-quarters of the 8,600 permits issued in 2018 were for oil and gas purposes.

However, in Pennsylvania, there have been quite few of these, compared to other states. The primary reason for this is its geology, which has largely been considered unsuitable for this type of activity. For example, a 2009 industry analysis states:

“The disposal of flowback and produced water is an evolving process in the Appalachians. The volumes of water that are being produced as flowback water are likely to require a number of options for disposal that may include municipal or industrial water treatment facilities (primarily in Pennsylvania), Class II injection wells [SWDs], and on-site recycling for use in subsequent fracturing jobs. In most shale gas plays, underground injection has historically been preferred. In the Marcellus play, this option is expected to be limited, as there are few areas where suitable injection zones are available.”

I discussed this topic in a phone call with an official from EPA, who largely confirmed this point of view, but preferred the phrase, “the geology is complicated” instead of the word “unsuitable.” When the UIC program was established from the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act, there were only seven such wells in operation, and according to EPA’s data, there were still just 11 active SWD wells in the Commonwealth but with more on the way. I was cautioned that the geology wasn’t the only reason, however. Neighboring Ohio had hundreds of these wells, many of which are clustered close to the border with Pennsylvania. The two states have different primacy and permitting arrangements, which is a factor as well.

I have not come across sources mentioning why Pennsylvania’s geology was so unsuitable – or complicated, if we are being generous. However, there are numerous widespread issues that could be a factor, including voids created by karst and legacy coal mines, and formations that might have otherwise trapped gasses and fluids being punctured with up to 760,000 mostly unplugged oil and gas wells and more than one million drinking water wells.

Even when these fluids have been pumped deep underground, they are not necessarily out of sight and out of mind. For example, an abandoned well in Noble County Ohio suddenly began spewing gas field brine just a few weeks ago, resulting in a fish kill in a nearby stream. The incident is believed to be related to SWD wells in the general vicinity even though the closest of these is miles away from the toxic geyser. The waste fluids injected beneath the surface will exploit any pathway available through crumbling or porous rocks to alleviate the pressure built up from the injection process. These fluids don’t care whether the target is an old gas well, mine void, or drinking water aquifer.

Of course, we could ask the question in reverse, and ask what makes the injection of oil and gas fluids suitable in other locations, and the aggregated evidence would lead us to “nothing” as our answer. Nothing, other than the fact that drilling and fracking produces billions of gallons of liquid waste, and that it has to go somewhere.

 

See FracTracker’s map showing the proximity of karst formations, coal mines and nearby streams that the state designates as either high quality or exceptional value.

 

Although EPA play a major role in permitting and regulating SWD wells in Pennsylvania, they do not publish data related to these wells on their website. FracTracker started hearing rumors about a spate of new SWD permits all over the state that were not accounted for in DEP data. As it turns out, many of these turned out to be other oil and gas wastewater processing facilities, and the public’s confusion about these is completely understandable because these facilities lacked the proper public notice process. These facilities are concerning in their own right – and residents of Pennsylvania should look here to see if one of these 49 facilities are in their neighborhoods – but these are not disposal wells.

To clear up the confusion, I submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to EPA for a spreadsheet of their Class II injection wells in Pennsylvania. This was apparently an onerous task that would require more than ten hours of labor on their behalf. When I mentioned that I was mostly interested in disposal wells, that sped the process up considerably.

Ultimately, I received a portion of the data fields that I had asked for.

Asked For Received
Well Name Yes
Well API Number Yes
Class II Category (disposal, recovery, storage) No
Date application received No
Application status (e.g., pending, complete) Yes
Application result (e.g., approved, rejected) No
Application result date (date of EPA’s decision) No
Well status (e.g., active, plugged) Yes
Well county name Yes
Well municipality name No
Well latitude Yes
Well longitude Yes

Table 1 – Summary of fields requested and received in FracTracker’s FOIA submission with EPA.

 

I started to compare the EPA dataset to DEP’s SWD well dataset, which is a part of its conventional well inventory. Each source had 23 records. We were off to a good start, but this data victory turned out to be limited in scope as the discrepancies between the two datasets continued to grow. Inconsistencies between the two datasets are as follows:

County DEP API DEP Well Name EPA API Match EPA Name Match Notes
Allegheny 003-21223 SEDAT 3A Y Y
Armstrong 005-21675 HARRY L DANDO 1 Y Y
Beaver 007-20027 COLUMBIA GAS OF PENNA INC CGPA5 Y Y
Bedford 009-20039 KENNETH A DIEHL D1 N N Not on EPA List
Cambria 021-20018 THE PEOPLES NATURAL GAS CO 4627X N N Not on EPA list
Clearfield 033-27255 FRANK & SUSAN ZELMAN 1 N Y DEP / EPA API Number mismatch
033-27257 POVLIK 1 N Y No EPA API No.
033-00053 IRVIN A-19 FMLY FEE A 19 Y Y
033-22059 SPENCER LAND CO 2 Y Y
Elk 047-23835 FEE SENECA RESOURCES WARRANT 3771 38268 Y Y
047-23885 FEE SENECA RESOURCES WARRANT 3771 38282 N Y DEP / EPA API Number mismatch
Erie 049-24388 NORBERT CROSS 2 Y Y
049-20109 HAMMERMILL PLT 1 N N Not on EPA List
049-00013 HAMMERMILL 3 N N Not on EPA List
049-00012 HAMMERMILL 1 N N Not on EPA List
Greene N N Not on DEP list. EPA Permit PAS2D210BGRE – no API to match
Indiana 063-31807 MARJORIE C YANITY 1025 Y Y
063-20246 T H YUCKENBERG 1 Y Y
Somerset 111-20059 W SHANKSVILLE SALT WATER DISP 1 Y N
111-20006 MORRIS H CRITCHFIELD 1 Y N
Potter 105-20473 H A HEINRICK RW-55 CA Y Category Anomaly – Not on DEP SWD list – does appear as Plugged OG Well (consistent w/ EPA status notes)
Venango 121-44484 LATSHAW 9 Y Y
Warren 123-39874 BITTINGER 4 N Y API Mismatch (But does match Bittinger #1) Lat/Long match site name
123-33914 JOSEPH BITTINGER 1 N Y API Mismatch (But does match Bittinger #4) Lat matches site name, Long slightly off
123-33944 JOSEPH BITTINGER 2 Y Y
123-33945 JOSEPH BITTINGER 3 CA Y Category Anomaly – Not on DEP SWD list – does appear as “Injection”
123-34843 SMITH/RAS UNIT 1 CA Y Category Anomaly – Not on DEP SWD list – does appear as “Observation”
123-22665 LEROY STODDARD & FRANK COFFA 1 WELL N N Not on DEP list of all wells.  Does appear on eFACTS. No location data

Table 2 – Discrepancies between EPA and DEP data for SWD wells in PA.

 

Altogether, there was at least one data discrepancy on 17 out of 28 wells (61%) on the combined inventories, and this is allowing for significantly different formatting of the well’s name. The DEP list contained five records that were not on the EPA dataset at all, four records where the well’s API number did not match, three instances where the DEP well type was different from EPA’s listing, two wells with matching API numbers but different well names, two wells that were missing the API number on the EPA list, and one well that was on the EPA list that I have not been able to find in any of DEP’s inventories.  These last two wells could not be mapped due to the lack of location data.

It isn’t always possible to know which dataset is erroneous, but the EPA list has several obvious omissions and one instance where the API number and well name are in the wrong columns. The quality of DEP data has improved over the years and appear to have some data controls in place to avoid some of these basic errors. For that reason, I suspect that most of the problems stem from the EPA dataset, and I have used DEP coordinates to map these wells.

Waste Disposal Wells in Pennsylvania

This map contains numerous layers that explore the current state of Class II-D Salt Water Disposal (SWD) injection wells for oil and gas waste in Pennsylvania. View the map “Details” tab below in the top left corner to learn more and access the data, or click on the map to explore the dynamic version of this data.

View Full Sized Map | Updated 2/21 

 

The Take Away

In the early 1970s, it was recognized that industrial injection of oil and gas waste underground could lead to risks to human health and the environment, so several major protective laws were put in place, including the Clean Water Act of 1972, the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974, and the Pennsylvania’s 1971 Environmental Rights Amendment. Decades later, it feels like the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the United States Environmental Protection Agency don’t take their regulatory responsibilities very seriously when it comes to oil and gas liquid waste disposal wells. While the state does have fewer of this type of well than other states, there are five that are currently under construction, according to the EPA dataset. Many of these, like the Sedat 3A well in Allegheny County, have come after significant community opposition, and many of the residents’ concerns have not been addressed by either agency.

There will undoubtedly be more of these disposal wells proposed in the near future. Residents would do well to hassle their municipalities to update their ordinances for this type of well if they happen to live in a place where such ordinances are possible. Solicitors should be instructed to regularly scour the Pennsylvania Bulletin and be in contact with EPA for the earliest possible notification of a proposed site, so that there is time to respond within the comment periods.

Additionally, the sloppiness of the datasets calls all sorts of questions into play regarding the co-regulation of these wells. In the case of an incident, it’s not even clear that both agencies have the information on hand to even locate the site in the field. Meanwhile, a 61% error rate between the sites name, API number, and status does not inspire confidence that agencies are keeping a close eye on these facilities, to say the least.

Above all, we must all realize that it isn’t safe to assume that someone will let us know when these types of facilities are proposed. Regulators have shown us through their actions that they are thinking far more about the billions of gallons of waste that needs to be disposed of than of the well-being of dozens or even hundreds of neighbors near each toxic dump site.

References & Where to Learn More

Data supporting this article, as well as the static map in Figure 3, can be found here.

FracTracker Pennsylvania articles, maps, and imagery: https://www.fractracker.org/map/us/pennsylvania/

Topics in this Article

Infrastructure | Waste

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Los Angeles, California skyline
Kyle Ferrar, MPH

California Oil & Gas Setbacks Recommendations Memo

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Kyle Ferrar, Western Program Coordinator for FracTracker Alliance, contributed to the December 2020 memo, “Recommendations to CalGEM for Assessing the Economic Value of Social Benefits from a 2,500’ Buffer Zone Between Oil & Gas Extraction Activities and Nearby Communities.”

 

Below is the introduction, and you can find the full memo here.

Introduction

The purpose of this memo is to recommend guidelines to CalGEM for evaluating the economic value of the social benefits and costs to people and the environment in requiring a 2,500 foot setback for oil and gas drilling (OGD) activities. The 2,500’ setback distance should be considered a minimum required setback. The extensive technical literature, which we reference below, analyzes health benefits to populations when they live much farther away than 2,500’, such as 1km to 5km, but 2,500’ is a minimal setback in much of the literature. Economic analyses of the benefits and costs of setbacks should follow the technical literature and consider setbacks beyond 2,500’ also.

The social benefits and costs derive primarily from reducing the negative impacts of OGD pollution of soil, water, and air on the well-being of nearby communities. The impacts include a long list of health conditions that are known to result from hazardous exposures in the vulnerable populations living nearby. The benefits and costs to the OGD industry of implementing a setback are more limited under the assumption that the proposed setback will not impact total production of oil and gas.

The comment letter submitted by Voices in Solidarity against Oil in Neighborhoods (VISIÓN) on November 30, 2020 lays out an inclusive approach to assessing the health and safety consequences to the communities living near oil and gas extraction activities. This memo addresses how CalGEM might analyze the economic value of the net social benefits from reducing the pollution suffered by nearby communities. In doing so, this memo provides detailed recommendations on one part of the broader holistic evaluation that CalGEM must use in deciding the setback rule.

This memo consists of two parts. The first part documents factors that CalGEM should take into account when evaluating the economic benefits and costs of the forthcoming proposed rule. These include factors like the adverse health impacts of pollution from OGD, the hazards causing them and their sources, and the way they manifest into social and economic costs. It also describes populations that are particularly vulnerable to pollution and its effects as well as geographic factors that impact outcomes.

The second part of this memo documents the direct and indirect economic benefits of the proposed rule. Here, the memo discusses the methods and data that should be leveraged to analyze economic benefits of reducing exposure to OGD pollution through setbacks. This includes the health benefits, impacts on worker productivity, opportunity costs of OGD activity within the proposed setback, and the fact that impacted communities are paying the external costs of OGD.

 

 

Please find the full memo here.

 

 

Find more FracTracker content on California oil & gas issues, including interactive maps and articles.

CA Content Page

 

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Guest Author

Electric Vehicles: Better Wheels

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The wheel may have been influenced by nature, but today, the inverse is true. The anthropogenic automobile stimulates climate change and the environmental ravages correlated with a heating planet. Twenty-eight percent of all greenhouse gas emissions in the US come from transportation – more than any other economic sector. As the climate crisis spirals out of control, the most sustainable modes of moving around require our attention, and our investment. In part, we need better ‘wheels.’

Electric cars, or EVs, while not the all-out cure for atmospheric ills, are a preferred substitute to autos powered by internal combustion. Quiet and clean, they lack tailpipes and tailpipe pollutants, but have abundant pep. Think instant acceleration. And EVs put the ‘E’ in efficiency. For example, the 2020 Kia e-Niro is EPA-rated at 112 miles per gallon equivalent or MPGe; the Chevy Bolt, 119. Other models are likewise impressive.

Misperceptions remain. So-called “range anxiety” is worrying about being unable to get to a destination or return home — that batteries will be depleted and leave the driver stranded. With an expanding nationwide charging network, such stress is unfounded. Companies like EVgo and ChargePoint offer apps that point to charging stations at convenience stores and retailers near and far. Tesla maintains their own extensive system of chargers. It won’t be long until electrons are as accessible as gasoline.

“Filling” an EV is quick and easy. Rapid charging devices can restore up to 80% of vehicle range in 20 to 60 minutes, depending on the make and model of the car. By the time one grabs a meal or coffee, the vehicle is ready to roll. Prefer to charge at home, in between trips? Residential chargers can do the job in roughly nine hours, with installation of a 220-volt AC household unit.

Meanwhile, battery range grows. The Hyundai Kona travels 258 miles between plug-ins; a Tesla Model 3 (long-range version), 322 miles. Almost any destination is possible.

 

 

 

 

By almost every environmental measure, electric vehicles surpass their fossil-fueled cousins, but the need for lithium – a primary ingredient in EV batteries – brings a variety of challenges.

Bloomberg reports that approximately 27 million passenger electric vehicles were in use globally in 2019. By 2040, the number could leap to 500 million. Is there enough lithium to support such growth?

Projections from S&P Global suggest the worldwide supply of lithium could triple by 2025, with new mines, brine extraction, and anticipated output from “existing projects.” Australia is the world’s largest producer of lithium, but as new sources have been identified, the country now ranks fifth  in known reserves, behind Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, and the US, respectively. China rounds out the list of the top six suppliers.

Innovation, efficiency, and new finds may extend the era of lithium-powered EVs, but fears of someday reaching “Peak Lithium” isn’t far-fetched, although lessons from the prediction of “Peak Oil” impart caution to forecasting.

And it’s not only a question of whether it can be obtained technologically, but can it be done sustainably and equitably? Mining today requires a commitment to environmental justice. Much of the known lithium deposits are in low and middle-income countries, which, for centuries, have been treated as sacrifice zones for the material desires of highly industrialized nations. Research commissioned by Earthworks points to EV batteries as the most significant driver of accelerated minerals demand, but notes that recycled sources can significantly reduce demand. Not all demand will likely be fulfilled through recycling, so responsible sourcing is critical.

Addressing the profound human and environmental dimensions of mineral demand – for batteries and other aspects of the renewable energy transition – the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) was established in 2006 and aspires to “certify social and environmental performance at mine sites globally using an internationally recognized standard . . . developed in consultation with a wide range of stakeholders.”

Such programs provide transparency and accountability, but non-governmental organizations, governments, manufacturers, and product customers using these materials must remain vigilant, informed, and outspoken. Society collectively must assure that exploitation is relegated to history. Communities in the fairway of mining must be vested partners; benefactors, not victims.

But accessing minerals, no matter how well-intentioned, is a messy enterprise. The lithium conundrum underscores the need to look beyond the convenience of automobiles, to a future oriented around energy efficiency, mass transit, and welcoming places that thrive at a human – and a more humane – scale, where walking and biking is the norm. Examples abound, but in the United States, in particular, neighborhood reinvestment infused with inclusive and creative ideas may propel us to greener days. Even better, it might instigate a new and profound harmony amongst people, and the generous nature that surrounds them.

EVs are a bridge to span decades, not the trail to tomorrow. But the bridge has to be reachable. A federal tax credit of up to $7500 may be available, depending on how many units of that model have sold. Some states also offer rebate and credit incentives as EVs become more common, they will likely become more affordable, at least rivaling gasoline and diesel counterparts.

The wave is coming. In January, General Motors announced its vision “. . . of an all-electric future . . . offering zero-emissions vehicles across a range of price points.” The company’s plan also focuses on charging infrastructure, consumer acceptance, and an emphasis on high-quality jobs. The Biden Administration is also championing EVs, promising 500,000 charging stations across America and electrification of the entire federal vehicle fleet.

If climate change is deflating – if not roughening – our human journeys, electric vehicles can serve as the temporary spare to get us where we need to be. The ride will be better, not perfect. . . a helpful cog in climate healing.

By Brook Lenker, Executive Director, FracTracker Alliance

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Kyle Ferrar, MPH

Oil and Gas Wells on California State Lands

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The fossil fuel industry has historically taken advantage of the nation’s mineral estate for private profit, while outsourcing the public health debts of degraded environmental quality to Frontline Communities. While President Biden has recently ordered the Department of Interior to put a 60-day halt on permitting new oil and gas drilling permits on federal lands, no such policy exists for state lands in California. Governor Newsom’s administration has allowed the California Geological Energy Management Division to issue rework and new drilling permits on California state lands, bringing the total number of operational oil and gas wells on state lands up to a total of 178, almost half of which are “idle.” This number pales in comparison to the number of California oil and gas wells on federal lands; a total of 6,997 operational wells.

FracTracker Alliance has mapped out the operational oil and gas wells located on state lands in California, using the California Protected Areas Database. The areas containing the highest concentrations of oil and gas wells on state lands include two sensitive ecosystem environments. Figure 1 shows the 102 operational oil and gas wells located in Southern California’s Bolsa Chica Ecological Preserve. The wells are part of the Huntington Beach oil field. The preserve shares marine habitat with a marine protected area (MPA) and is habitat for numerous rare and several endangered species. More sensitive habitat also threatened by oil and gas extraction; Figure 2 shows the oil and gas production wells on the Sacramento River Delta, just upriver of the Bay Area. It is habitat for several threatened and endangered species such as the Delta Smelt and Giant Garter Snake.

California needs Governor Newsom to take a stand against the further exploitation of California’s public lands. A ban on permitting new wells on state land and a commitment to plug existing wells would set an example for Biden’s administration to make the current 60-day freeze a permanent policy.

Figure 1. The Bolsa Chica Ecological Preserve hosts over 100 operational oil and gas wells that put the preserve’s ecological habitat at risk.

 

Figure 2. There are 50 operational oil and gas wells permitted on California state lands in the Sacramento River Delta.

 

See more California maps and articles here.

By Kyle Ferrar, Western Program Coordinator, FracTracker Alliance

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Ted Auch, PhD

Industrial Impacts in Michigan: A Photo Essay & Story Map

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Southwest Detroit and neighboring South Rockwood in Monroe County could not be more different demographically, but one thing they have in common is a consistent battle with the extractives industry.

With environmental advocates Theresa Landrum and Doug Wood, FracTracker created a Story Map to document what this infrastructural buildout in Southeastern Michigan looks like from the air, how it has displaced entire neighborhoods, and how it has forever changed their quality of life, in the name of short-term profiteering.

Jump to Story Map

 

 “Marathon is a prime example of corporate polluters continuing
to choose profit over safeguards for our public health.”
– Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib

 

Each year, FracTracker Alliance gives out its Community Sentinel Award for Environmental Stewardship. We had an amazing group of candidates this year, and the four winners are extremely brave, persistent, insightful, and collaborative activists representing diverse communities all over the country.

I have had the good fortune to interact with two of the winners – Theresa Landrum and Brenda Jo McManama – quite frequently over my time at FracTracker. This year’s Sentinel Award winners and all its previous recipients are passionate and persistent fighters for environmental justice in their own backyards and around the United States.

It is around this time of year that all the negativity involved in the fight against fossil fuel industries dissolves away for me as I find myself inspired and humbled by the Sentinel winners. Theresa and Brenda Jo constantly inspire me and FracTracker to strive to do more, do better, and remain cleareyed as to whom we serve. All the Community Sentinel nominees are exemplars of what it is to walk authentically and humbly through life.

However, I am going to spend the next couple paragraphs speaking specifically about Ms. Landrum, because it is she that I have come to know and work quite well with since COVID-19 was something we thought would be gone by June.

I had heard so many amazing things about Ms. Landrum from a common comrade, Mr. Doug Wood, whom FracTracker has written about  with respect to the silica sand mining he is fighting and dubious pro-mining legislation being pushed in Michigan’s Statehouse, but I had never met her in person. That changed on a scorching hot day this past June, when Doug, Theresa, and I met (socially distanced) in the shadow of Marathon Petroleum’s refinery at Detroit’s Kemeny Recreation Center, just a couple stones throws across I-75 (see images below).

Incidentally, this is the same refinery that Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D, MI-13) has been railing against for years, including in a statement she issued on yet another incident at
the refinery:

“Marathon is a prime example of corporate polluters continuing to choose profit over safeguards for our public health. It is time to say enough is enough of Marathon’s constant disregard of the health and safety of residents who live, work, and visit the surrounding communities. Marathon has perpetrated numerous incidents detrimental to our communities and must be held accountable – they clearly cannot be trusted to protect our health. I look forward to discussing the need to hold Marathon and other entities who poison our community accountable and solutions to make our communities breathe and live free at the upcoming congressional field hearing I am hosting with other members of Congress, experts, and grassroots activists here in Detroit.”

 

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Detroit residents stand in front of a Marathon Oil refinery in southwest Detroit, MI, 2020. Photo by Ted Auch.

Scroll horizontally to see additional images: 

  1. Southeastern Michigan Environmental Activists Doug Wood and Theresa Landrum at Detroit’s 48217 Kimeny Park with Marathon’s Refinery in the Background, June, 2020
  2. Anti-Frac Sand mine signage created by Monroe County, Michigan activist Doug Wood, June, 2020
  3. No Dumping signage erected by Marathon Oil in Detroit’s Oakwood Neighborhood adjacent to the company’s oil refinery
  4. Concerned Citizen and Sylvania Minerals mine neighbor Doug Wood

 

It did not take more than 30 seconds for me to realize that Theresa was an authentic and persistent fighter for her community, and that she belongs on the Mt. Rushmore of EJ advocates – as does Doug Wood and all of the Community Sentinel nominees past, present, and future.

After meeting at the recreation center, I followed Theresa around with my drone, capturing footage and images of the worst actors in the 48217 zip code of Southwest Detroit, as well as of River Rouge and Ecorse. This turned out to be the first of three trips to meet with Theresa throughout the summer and fall of 2020.

During each trip and across dozens of phone conversations, Theresa explained to me what industry has done to Southwest Detroit, how she has gone about combatting it, and the way that Lansing treats Wayne County.

It struck me that much of her experience overlaps with the stories I have heard in disparate demographics, from soybean farmers in LaSalle County, Illinois, to dairy farmers in Western Wisconsin, all the way to coalminers in Central Appalachia.

Their stories illustrate the near universal tale of how industry needs and welfare demands take precedence over the rights of citizens. It is the story of globalization, shareholder returns, and political/economic elites ignoring, mocking, or being deaf and blind to the needs of their constituents and the crimes being committed in the name of progress and Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

One thing Theresa and I have spent quite a bit of time discussing is the overlap in environmental justice across demographics, and how superficial differences have been weaponized to divide us, leaving only corporations and their political handmaids to benefit. Industry beneficiaries and politicians have colluded to declare in the words of Thomas Frank’s latest book “The People, No!” Yet, it is people like Theresa, Doug, Brenda Jo, and all the other environmental activists we celebrate who are and will be instrumental in bridging those divides, and guiding the citizenry to pivot, to identify and defeat the real Leviathan – the Hydrocarbon Industrial Complex in all its manifestations and with all its tentacles spread out across this country.

The best way I know how to return the favor to folks like Theresa is to continue to do what FracTracker does best, and what I hope I am doing well, which is documenting the infrastructure and landscapes that are or have been in the crosshairs of industry, whether it be steel, coal, oil, or in the case of our name – fracked natural gas.

I have been working with Theresa and Doug on a Story Map that illustrates the scale and scope of industrial impacts in southeastern Michigan, from US Steel’s Zug Island to Sylvanian Mineral’s frac sand mine in South Rockwood. As I mentioned above, we have outlined the plight of Doug and Dawn Wood in their fight against their neighbor Sylvanian Minerals. However, with respect to Southwest Detroit, it is critical that we give a bit of background to the region’s cultural significance. For that, I am going to refer to Ms. Landrum’s own words, shared below:

A Historical Perspective of Wayne County Michigan’s Tri-Cities Region

By Theresa Landrum

During the first and second waves of the early 20th Century Great Migration, African Americans came from the South to Michigan’s communities of Ecorse (48229), River Rouge (48218), and Southwest Detroit (48217), AKA the “Triple Cities,” seeking factory jobs in the surrounding industries; U.S. Steel (formerly Great Lakes Steel), Ford Motor Company, Zug Island, Dana Corporation, and BASF Chemicals. During this time, many white men enlisted in the armed forces, and employers needed workers – so companies recruited southern African Americans to fill the jobs.

This region is one of the first African American settlements in Michigan after World War II, where Black people could actually buy homes, which helped establish metro Detroit’s Black middle class.

By the 1930s and 40s it was a self-sustaining area rich with opportunities, a mecca for Black-owned businesses, like gas stations, stores, jazz clubs, restaurants, hotels, laundromats, dry cleaners, and much more. It was also the home of Black professionals: doctors, pharmacists, policemen, florists, bakers, dentists, teachers, lawyers, and realtors thrived here, and was the site of one of Michigan’s first Black hospitals, Sidney A. Sumby Memorial Hospital, built by Black doctors.

The thread that ties these three communities/zip codes together is their formation of (what was then) Ecorse Township. Their division came after the City of Detroit expressed interest in annexing the River Rouge area. River Rouge incorporated into a village to ward this off, but Detroit was able to annex the Southwest 48217 area in 1922, thus segmenting Ecorse Township into three parts.

Fast forward to the 1950s, when Detroit’s landscape changed forever with the government’s declaration of “Eminent Domain” that claimed many African American homes for construction of the I-75 Expressway, which runs right through the center of Southwest Detroit’s (SWD) 48217 community. As I-75 was constructed, Ohio Oil (which officially became Marathon Oil in 1962) also increased its footprint in the area by acquiring nearly 100 acres and destroying a wetland habitat to expand its storage tank farm, which to date has over 100 storage tanks.

Marathon expanded again in 2007 with the announcement of the $2.2 billion Detroit Heavy Upgrade Project (DHOUP), where they would transition to refining dirty tar-sands from Alberta, Canada. This increased production to 120,000 barrels of crude per day, and thus increased the expulsion of harmful, pollutive emissions into the nearby neighborhoods. The project was completed in 2012, which also resulted in Marathon buying over 400 homes in the SWD 48217 (Oakwood Heights) area, further encroaching into residential communities.

 

Theresa was a recipient of the 2020 Community Sentinel Award for Environmental Stewardship, presented by FracTracker Alliance and Halt the Harm Network. Read more about her story here.

The Thoughts of Dawn & Doug Wood About Living Next to a Frac Sand Mine

I asked Dawn and Doug Wood to send me their thoughts on what it is like living next to Sylvanian Minerals and US Silica’s frac sand mine in South Rockwood, Michigan. I extracted (and clarified where necessary) the excerpts below that clearly illustrate their frustrations with their community, local, and federally elected officials, as well as the mine operators:

 

“[The] list of insurmountable mini-nightmares of living next to a frac sand mine [is endless at this point]. [Ten] years ago, they wanted to annex this quarry. [Our] village government has exercised no control over this corporation. [T]he village and the quarry refuse to do any air monitoring, [and] the residents who voted [in favor of] this quarry continue to be silent against any controls over this quarry. Residents seem to fear retaliation if they speak out against [the] village/quarry, [and to this day we] can’t quite explain the community’s lack of outrage … [We] have been shaking our head for years about this … It’s like the pandemic, it is invisible, yet it is killing people … [and] we are living in a polluted community, so our lungs are already taxed [which amplified the impacts of COVID]. [We] have been petitioning for air monitors and dust controls for four years, [and to add insult to injury] after ten years of this bull- – – -, the industry proposes Senate Bill 431 to totally strip communities of their controls, allowing mines to expand whenever they want, and new quarries to just be approved wherever they want [which has prompted the industry to correctly assume] they are entitled.  PURE MICHIGAN is the state slogan. We think that’s PURE BULL- – – -!!”

A Southwestern Detroit and Neighboring Monroe County Industrial Impacts Story Map

Southwest Detroit and neighboring South Rockwood in Monroe County could not be more different demographically, but one thing they have in common is a consistent battle with the extractives industry.

We built this Story Map to identify the industrial bad actors and census-level indicators such as mean annual income, and most importantly, to present a growing library of georeferenced drone footage and imagery we have collected over the years.

There have been dozens of other industrial projects foisted on the Triple Cities area of Detroit during this period and to the present day. The goal of this Story Map was to document with drone photography what this infrastructural buildout looks like from the air, how it has displaced and been incorporated directly into neighborhoods – and in the case of Sylvanian Mineral’s South Rockwood facility operating adjacent to good people like the Woods – how it has forever changed their quality of life, in the name of short-term profiteering.

We will continue to “infill” and expand this Story Map in the coming months and years, especially throughout greater Wayne County and the surrounding counties, as southeastern Michigan continues to act as a chokepoint for all manner of industrial and fossil fuel operators and activities. Furthermore, this collaborative effort with Ms. Landrum demands her community’s involvement and acceptance. We also strive to make this project a valuable resource for Michigan-based environmental NGOs and the state’s excellent journalists, like Steve Neavling at Detroit MetroTimes, and Evan Kutz at Great Lakes Beacon.

We plan to update this Map with more culturally significant imagery from the Detroit Public Library and The Wayne State Walter Reuther Library to include media focusing on labor strife, police violence, and the rich tradition and history of the region’s artistic heritage. Additionally, we will expand the depth and breadth of our drone imagery library, as well as continue our nascent effort to collect the stories of regional elders who speak to Southwest Detroit as one of the fulcrums of African American culture, and who explore how industrial colonialism has decimated much the area’s sense of place and community pride.

However, I am confident and hopeful that with progressive voices like Congresswoman Tlaib, committed journalists like those previously mentioned, and activists like Ms. Landrum passing the torch to a younger generation of activists, Southwest Detroit’s condition will take a turn for the better.

Footnote on Michigan’s Senate Bill 431

We wrote about the impacts that SB 431 would have on Michigan’s community and ecosystems last summer, when we were outlining some of the industry’s efforts in Statehouses across the country to weaken environmental regulations – and in some cases, the democratic process itself.  SB 431, in particular, would have made the process of operating a sand and gravel mine in Michigan much easier, by way of removing local participation. As the Metamora Land Preservation Alliance (MLPA) wrote in opposition to the bill, this legislation would have allowed for “uncontrolled gravel mining” throughout the state. However, in a bit of good news, a large coalition of Michigan environmental organizations was able to defeat this bill with the MLPA, writing the following on its Facebook page:

“KILLER GRAVEL BILLS DEFEATED!!! 

SENATE BILLS 431/849 DEFEATED! 

NO SENATE VOTE THIS YEAR – BILLS ARE DEAD!

After almost 18 months of battling in Lansing – Senate Bills 431 & 849 (sponsored by Senator Hollier (D) Detroit) – have been defeated. They will not be coming up for a vote this calendar year, and by Senate rules they will therefore expire. Thus ending, for this year, the dire threat of uncontrolled gravel mining, endangerment of our groundwater, and loss of control of how our communities grow and develop. Make no mistake – this was a serious threat to Michigan’s citizens and communities – and it was a no-holds-barred fight in Lansing.”

Wins for communities over corporations like this are rare, indeed, and should be celebrated.  Congratulations to the Woods, MLPA, and all the Michigan communities and organizations that pushed back against this bill. You are true Community Sentinels!

Industrial Impacts in Michigan:

A Photo Essay & Story Map

View map fullscreen

 

By Ted Auch, PhD, Great Lakes Program Coordinator

and

Theresa Landrum, of Detroit, Michigan, 48217. The Original United Citizens of Southwest Detroit; 48217 Community and Environmental Health Organization; Michigan Advisory Council on Environmental Justice; Sierra Club Detroit Chapter, MEJC Clean Air Council; Michigan PFAS action response team

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Shannon Smith

Environmental Justice February Film Series

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Utica and Marcellus shale plays in the Appalachian Basin map
Erica Jackson

Fracking Waste in the Appalachian Basin – A Story Map

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The production of fracking waste in the Appalachian Basin puts public health and safety at risk.

 

Fracking produces more than just oil and gas — billions of gallons of highly toxic waste are also created in the process. Regulatory loopholes have led to limited oversight into how this waste is tracked and treated, putting public health and safety at risk.

The maps below explore issues related to fracking waste from the Marcellus and Utica Shale regions of Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, and West Virginia.

We suggest viewing this map fullscreen (click the link to do so)

View the map fullscreen

 

This mapping platform is an evolving tool based on available data — yet the opaqueness of the fracking industry limits our ability to map and analyze the full scope of the problem of fracking waste in the Appalachian Basin.

Unfortunately, even after sifting through thousands of data points, we’re left with many outstanding questions — what are the chemical components of the waste created? Where is it all sent? Where are its byproducts sent? What facilities are being planned and proposed? How much illegal dumping occurs?

The production of fracking waste in the Appalachian Basin will continue to create environmental and public health threats for decades after the industry leaves the region. Wells can continue to generate wastewater for years and contaminated equipment sent to landfills will leach toxins into the environment. Furthermore, with the industry’s history of failing to restore land after it has been used for oil and gas operations, we can expect abandoned fracking sites to become an increasing source of pollution in the Appalachian Basin in the coming decades. It’s imperative that the public have access to accurate and detailed data on fracking waste to protect the health of workers and residents.

By Erica Jackson, Community Outreach & Communications Specialist, FracTracker Alliance

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Ted Auch, PhD

Channels of Life: The Gulf Coast Buildout in Texas

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It’s been a little over a year since I visited the Texas Gulf Coast to document the oil, gas, and petrochemical landscape with our partners at LightHawk and Scott Humphries, an amazing pilot and Houston native.

Much has happened since then – in regard to and because of – the Gulf Coast’s petrochemical industry.

The fossil fuel landscape along the Gulf Coast is broad, and its impact is heavy.

The area has seen a massive build out over the last five years. New plastics and steel manufacturing facilities and pipelines from the Permian Basin that transport crude to ever-expanding tank farms and marine terminals – all with the blessings of local economic development groups and local government, despite known present and potential hazards.

As these developments continue, communities and workers pay the price. An incident in early December, 2020 left workers injured after a condensate fire at a Citgo tank farm in Corpus Christi. Before that, a pipeline explosion on August 20th in the Corpus Christi Ship Channel resulted in four deaths, with only two of those bodies recovered.

Channels of Life, below, is a short video looking at what is already on the ground, and what is on the horizon. Whether you are pleasure-boating in the channels or driving down the highway, you only see the edge of industrial sprawl that already exists. The depth of the incursion is not visible from the ground. Further down in an interactive Story Map, we give you a rare look from above, while pinpointing various incidents and facilities of concern. Partnering with LightHawk, we flew from Port Aransas, up the La Quinta Channel to the Nueces Delta, and ending at Refinery Row, giving you a bird’s-eye view of the sprawling fossil fuel landscape.

How much more industrial saturation can the Coastal Bend’s public health and ecosystem withstand before it is all sacrificed?

Is it destined to become a sacrifice zone for increasing corporate wealth and prestige?

 

Jump to interactive Story Map

 

Channels of Life

In many parts of Texas – as well as in Louisiana and New Mexico – oil, gas, and petrochemical facilities abut schools, backyards, and playgrounds. The Gulf Coast contains 95% of the country’s ethylene capacity and roughly half of the country’s petroleum refining and natural gas processing capacity. This development has propelled a new wave of petroleum and petrochemical infrastructure in recent years. There are 129 planned or recently completed petrochemical facilities in TX and LA alone.

This buildout has enormous consequences for the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, including intensifying climate change; increasing production of (often radioactive) waste and the need for its disposal; and discharging dangerous pollution into frontline communities where health has already been compromised by industry activities.

As the sacrifice builds and the losses mount, economic development corporations advertise the area as prime real estate for more facilities and infrastructure – even as markets steadily move away from fossil fuels. Exports are a tenuous lifeline for an industry drowning in an oversupply of oil and gas, but advocates like the Port of Corpus Christi Authority insist on proposing, financing, and constructing new crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals along the Gulf Coast, including the BlueWater and GulfLink terminals.

Even with access to global markets, the outlook for this Gulf Coast petrochemical expansion doesn’t look great. Countries that planned to import the US’ fossil fuels are withdrawing interest, citing climate concerns. Major projects are being abandoned, like the petrochemical facility Project Falcon that SABIC had planned to build near Aransas Pass. Frontline communities that have suffered devastating health impacts from the industry for too long are calling out environmental racism and causing major delays for new facilities.

These Texan sites are further captured in the Story Map below, as are the footprints of countless other existing and proposed petrochemical infrastructure sites, from the frac sand mines south of San Antonio down into Corpus Christi Bay, the mushrooming industry along the La Quinta Channel, up the Gulf Coast to Freeport, and finally along the always hectic Houston Ship Channel that empties out into Galveston Bay.

Group shot in front of airplane

Left to Right: Corpus Christi native and Coastal Alliance to Protect Our Environment (CAPE) member Dewey Magee, FracTracker Alliance’s Ted Auch, and LightHawk pilot Scott Humphries stand outside Scott’s Beechcraft Bonanza A-36 at McCampbell-Porter Airport in Aransas Pass, TX, November 11th, 2019. Photo by Errol Summerlin

 

Skyline landscape shot of Corpus Christi, TX

The View of Corpus Christi’s Petrochemical Corridor along La Quinta Channel and Tule Lake Shipping Channel from 200’ above McCampbell-Porter Airport in Aransas Pass, TX, November 11th, 2019. Photo by Ted Auch, FracTracker Alliance

 

I reached out to pilot and native Houstonian Scott Humphries for his thoughts on what he expected and what he gleaned from our flight. He wrote the following:

Question #1: What about our proposed flight interested you as a Texan and/or Houstonian – or just more generally – what interested you about this mission?

I’ve always tried to be environmentally conscious, and always try to have, “think globally, act locally” rummaging around in my head, but this mission (and affiliating with LightHawk generally) presented an opportunity for me to try to (hopefully) have a little more impact than just personally recycling, outlawing Styrofoam cups at our office, etc. Separately, as a longtime Houstonian, I’ve always been proud to live and work in what many refer to as the “Energy Capital of the World.” This mission seemed a useful way to do some small part to help make sure that title continues to be held responsibly.

Question #2: After conducting the flights, or as they were happening, did you learn anything, or have any thoughts that surprised you or realizations about anything particular?

I have flown along the Gulf Coast (including to/from Houston/Corpus Christi) many, many times, and if you’d asked me before this mission, I would have said, ‘Sure, there’s a decent amount of industry along that part of the coast.’ What surprised me while we were flying was two things: (1) there’s not just a decent amount of industry along that part of the coast; rather, along that route, even flying low, you’re rarely – if ever – out of sight of a significant facility of some kind, and (2) the size of the facilities – in other circumstances I’d have been flying much higher and wouldn’t get a good sense of the size of the pads.  Flying as we were at just over 1000′, it was striking how massive the various plants were, both in Corpus Christi Bay and along the coast.

Another perspective on this flight and the area we flew over comes from Kevin Sims, Aransas Bay Birding Charters Operator whose Whooping Crane and Pink Spoonbill photos we feature in the story map below. Kevin has been plying the waters in and around Aransas Wildlife Refuge since 1972, and when I contacted him about using some of his photos, he told me the following:

“We need the desalination plants, but the planned discharge points are going to cripple our ecology and the business that rely on it for tourism. They could’ve discharged offshore, but instead they are discharging into the bay, and if it gets too salty the crab populations will plummet, and everything around here depends on crabs and shrimp. If we have a constant influx of brine it could really cripple us. I went to a fantastic meeting from Texas A&M, and their science told them that if red fish larvae migrated into the [Aransas Pass] shipping channel and hit a wall of salty water, they wouldn’t go further, and their population would crash. But despite these facts, they’ve chosen to discharge into the La Quinta Channel, and that is bad news! They were having fairly regular meetings on all of these proposals prior to COVID, but once COVID hit, they went all remote, and less people knew when the meetings were, and the meeting details weren’t widely disseminated … So, the next thing we knew, everything was passed, and they’re gonna [sic] go ahead and do [all of] it. 

My perspective comes from a lifetime of fishing and observing the Whooping Crane, and watching them progress from 157 eighteen years ago, to 507 at the present time. Well, I feel this will threaten an endangered species that they’ve been trying to bring back from the brink of extinction since the 1940s. I can remember my dad showing me the cranes in the mid-70s, and there were only 52-55. All of the projects you are mapping have the potential to decimate all the progress made, not to mention money spent on Whooping Crane recovery. From my perspective, it’s a catch-22, ‘cause [sic] the big cities take the water out of the river, and they don’t have the inflows into the bays that they did in the past. We also don’t have the rains that we used to have. The desalination plants would relieve some of that pressure if they would just put that brine offshore. The other species of concern to my industry is the Pink Spoonbills, but the Whooping Crane is the main draw.”

Channels of Life: The Gulf Coast Buildout in TX

A Story Map

This Story Map illustrates the impacts of oil and gas infrastructure from San Antonio down to Corpus Christi, and then up the Gulf Coast to Houston.

The map displays aerial photographs of infrastructure, from frac sand mines and refineries, to chemical plants and offshore drill rig construction sites. This map includes CO2 emissions from oil and gas infrastructure from 2010 – 2018 (weighted by total CO2 during this period in orange), and/or oil refineries and their myriad products (weighted by capacity in black [barrels/day oil equivalents]).

The Story Map also presents detailed information and locations for proposed petrochemical infrastructure in the Corpus Christi Bay region, courtesy of Errol Summerlin and our partners at Coastal Alliance to Protect Our Environment (CAPE). These proposals include dredging projects needed to accommodate more traffic from larger tanker ships, as well as desalination facilities that would collectively intake 758 million gallons of Corpus Christi Bay water each day, and discharge 507 million gallons of brine per day, with an average of 95 and 64 million gallons of desalinated water produced daily, respectively.

The perforated yellow line is the flight path we took with our LightHawk partners. When the viewer scrolls into any given region, they will see SkyTruth incident alerts within five miles of our flight path. The two examples cited at the beginning of this article are just a couple of the nearly 760 such incidents in just the Corpus Christi Shipping Channel since 2011, according to data provided by SkyTruth.

The most recent data in this map is Whooping Crane locations and number counts in TX as of November 2020, courtesy of The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s eBird data portal. This data speaks to the concerns of Mr. Sims and many of his colleagues who rely on the Whooping Crane’s attraction to birders internationally, and it also highlights that the projects photographed and in the works across Corpus Christi Bay will not just negatively affect the human communities, but will have far reaching impacts on the ecosystems of the western Gulf, and the industries that have relied on these ecosystems for all manner of ecosystems services.

We recommend viewing this map in full screen

 

Looking forward

Decades of oil and gas development have created a dependency on extractive industries, which has in turn hindered community health and stability.

The Port of Corpus Christi’s controversial dock expansion and Harbor Bridge replacement project at the southern end of Refinery Row has taken over community land and eclipsed their fight to protect their neighborhoods and their public health. Even after an environmental review, the preferred route cuts through these neighborhoods that are surrounded by industry, interstates, and waste treatment facilities – isolated from other residences, and subjected to heavy pollution, noise, and constant hazard.

But with interest and investments declining in the fossil fuel industry and overproduction keeping prices low, the future of the Gulf Coast, its people, environment, and industrial landscape is uncertain – but resistance to extractive industry is strong.

Several activists and environmental coalitions are fighting this project and the industrial onslaught for the health of their communities. For more information on how to support their vision, visit our friends at Coastal Alliance to Protect our Environment (CAPE) and Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services (TEJAS).

 

Thank You

This video, Story Map and article were produced with much gratitude and appreciation for our partners at LightHawk, as well as the support and resources of Scott Humphries, Kevin Sims, and Errol Summerlin.

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