Flick of a Switch

On Saturday, March 27th, at 8:30pmEST, millions of people around the world will call for action on climate change by doing one simple thing - turning off the lights for one hour. This intiative lead by the World Wildlife Fund, Earth Hour symbolizes that by working together, each of us cn have a positive impact in the fight against climate change. Become an Earth Hour supporter where you can join the cause here with friends and family members.

Transition Pittsburgh Training

TransitionPGH is proud to announce that our city have been selected to host a training for transition (T4T)! Two trainers from our national organization will visit for a two-day intensive training. Training for Transition is the popular, in-depth experiential workshop brought to the U.S. by the international Transition Network. The course describes how to set up, run, and maintain a successful Transition Initiative. It is packed with imaginative and inspiring ways to engage your community, and delves into both the theory and practice of Transition that has worked so well in hundreds of communities in the U.K. and around the world. It meets the training requirement for local initiating groups to become an internationally-recognized Transition Town.

Location: Kingsley House, 6435 Frankstown Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15206
Date: March 13-14, 9am-5pm, 2 days!
Food: A POTLUCK Lunch and snacks are provided. Cost is $200 for 2 days with 2 trainers from TransitionUS. Some scholarships will be given if there is a legitimate need or trade agreement.

Register Here or email jeff@ecoburgh.org

We are limited to 40 spots so RSVP soon!

Watchdogs of Toxic Waters

Stephanie Simmons, the Water Chair for the Sierra Club asked at our March meeting: Have you heard of the Marcellus Shale? If you haven’t, then you might have asked at one point…can we utilize the kind of drilling processes currently undertaken safely, without significant damage to the environment, communities, and water quality? Stephanie guided us through the lack of disclosure from companies concerning types of chemicals used in the process including the lack of legislative prowess to get in front of the process, instead of significantly behind it. Also DEP's role in regulating, taxing, and leaving one with a simple question: is that enough to protect the commonwealth and its people from a potentially devastating hazard? Has the true cost of operating unconventional horizontal well drilling been calculated? Everyone, even the oil and gas professionals agree, the answer is no. To the degree of liability and culpability there is a dividing line. Some companies have sold their land to sub-contractors because they now realize the risk may be too great to absorb for them, and probably, for us as well.

What follows is Jay Sweeney's enlightening story behind the Marcellus Shale. Jay is the Green party candidate running for the 111th District of the State of Pennsylvania.

In 2008, I was running for State Representative in the 111th District. I attended a League of Women Voters meeting. Everyone was asking, “Did you sign a lease yet?” It was then that I learned of the Marcellus Shale. The Marcellus Shale is a sedimentary black shale. It is located beneath most of Pennsylvania with the exception of the southeastern part of the state. It is also found beneath parts of Ohio, West Virginia and New York. It is named the Marcellus due to it’s outcropping near the town of Marcellus, New York. In Pennsylvania, it is located between 5,000 and 10,000 feet below the earth’s surface several thousand feet below the fresh water aquifer, which is around 400 feet. Trapped between the shale is natural gas. The Marcellus also contains uranium, and the radioactive decay of the uranium-238 makes it a source of radioactive radon gas.

I then learned about the landsmen. They approached landholders to sign mineral leases with them. They were given sign on bonuses and the promise of future royalties. This all began quietly as early as 2005 with landsmen offering large landholders such as farmers $15.00 per acre. Today they are paying $6000.00 per acre. Dr. Terry Engelder, Professor of Geology at Penn State University was the co-author of a scientific paper on the economic and geologic opportunities of the Marcellus Shale formation. He estimates there is between 160 and 525 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the Marcellus with about 50 tcu recoverable. This is enough to meet the nations needs for 2 years. Since then estimates have rapidly risen to a 14-year supply, 50 year supply and finally to 100 year supply.

Drilling in the Marcellus is considered unconventional and utilizes a procedure developed by Halliburton called hydrofracturing. As the name suggests, water mixed with sand and chemicals is forced through the shale under pressure to crush the shale and release the gas. Each fracking operation requires 1 to 3 million gallons of water per well. Wells can be fracked several times. While only 5% of the fracking fluid is composed of chemicals, 50,000 gallons of chemicals are used per million gallons of water. The fracking companies claim the formula for their fluids are proprietary. They do not want to release the information about the chemical content.

Before the hydrofracturing, a borehole is drilled. It goes through the aquifer and continues for at least a mile. When it approaches the shale it is curved to run horizontally through it. Then the borehole is cased with pipe. A second layer of pipe is inserted and the well is cased with concrete. A series of explosives are detonated in the area to be fracked, initiating the fissures needed to release the gas. Horizontal drilling allows drilling in several directions from one well and several wells can be drilled from one pad. The number one environmental problem associated with this drilling is the threat to our water, although there is also fragmentation of the land. Drilling pads of up to 5 acres are cleared for each operation. There is also the release of methane, the principal component of natural gas. As a greenhouse gas, Methane is 20 times more dangerous than Carbon Dioxide. Truck traffic, road damage and noise are just a few more of the environmental problems associated with natural gas drilling.

Getting back to water, millions of gallons of water are used in the hydrofracturing process. Roughly one half of the water remains in the ground and the rest returns to the surface. This water contains total dissolved solids that make it 5 times saltier than seawater. It contains the chemical additives, which have been found to include carcinogens and endocrine disruptors. It is also potentially radioactive. This water is now industrial waste and must be treated as such. However, there are few facilities available to handle this type of waste. The drilling pads contain pits where this water can be stored. It is subject to leaks, overflow from heavy rain or snowfall and exposes waterfowl and wildlife to these toxins. It is going to municipal wastewater treatment plants, which are not equipped to properly handle industrial waste. This water is being diluted with the treated water and dumped into our rivers and streams. This resulted in problems with total dissolved solids in the Monongahela River this summer. The Monongahela provides drinking water to many downstream communities.

In addition, this wastewater is dumped on roads for dust control and can be used in the winter to pretreat roads prior to snowfall. All of these activities were permitted by DEP even before it was gutted in the recent budget signed by Governor Rendell. DEP has not lived up to its mission, which reads as follows to protect Pennsylvania’s air, land and water from pollution and to provide for the health and safety of its citizens through a cleaner environment. We will work as partners with individuals, organizations, governments and businesses to prevent pollution and restore our natural resources.

DEP is understaffed, underfunded and cannot possibly monitor activity at the wells. The Oil and Gas industry expects to apply for 5200 permits in 2010; three times more than in 2009! DEP has raised the cost of a permit and these funds will be used to hire more employees. This means that the industry that is subject to DEP regulation and monitoring is now funding the agency. DEP does not plan to regulate the wastewater until treatment plants come online in 2011. Yet, it has streamlined the permitting process to drill a well. The treatment plants that do come online in 2011 will not be sufficient to handle the volume or properly cleanse the wastewater before it is dumped into our rivers and streams. That volume has been estimated to be nearly 20 million gallons per day. At the request of the oil and gas industry DEP Secretary John Hanger removed the County Conservation districts from any oversight or regulatory role in natural gas drilling. Hanger stated that with all of the drilling, there is bound to be environmental impact, but the economic benefit would outweigh the environmental harm. The Green Party of PA called for his resignation.

There have been numerous environmental incidents in the past couple of years. In western PA, there was the contamination of the Monongahela River and the drinking water supply of many area residents. There was the destruction of Dunkard Creek. Atlas Resources was cited for violations at 13 wells, including spills of fracturing fluids and other contaminants onto the ground around the sites. M.R. Dirt, a company that removes waste from drilling sites, spilled more than 7 tons of drilling dirt along a public road. Range Resources spilled nearly 5,000 gallons of wastewater, including hydraulic fracturing fluids, into a tributary of Cross Creek Lake, a protected watershed near Pittsburgh. In NEPA, There was a diesel spill of several hundred gallons in a wetland, there was a frack fluid spill of several thousand gallons that resulted in a fish kill, and there were unregulated water withdrawals from streams. DEP responded with fines that could hardly be described as punitive to companies that generate revenues of hundreds of millions to billions of dollars. Atlas resources paid $85,000 for its offenses. Mr. Dirt paid $6,000 for its violations. Cabot Oil & Gas Company had a litany of violations. Cabot entered into a consent agreement with DEP and negotiated a $120,000.00 fine. One of Cabot’s most egregious violations occurred on January 1, 2009. There was the explosion of a well housing for the water supply of Norma Fiorentino in Dimock. Methane had accumulated beneath the concrete slab over her well. A spark from the electrical connection to her pump ignited the methane.

Norma and others in Dimock could no longer use their once pristine water supply. Water from the faucet could be ignited. It looked and smelled bad. People got sick from drinking it. Cabot denied that this was a result of their operations. DEP studied and recommended that Cabot supply water to some, but, not all of the affected homes. Norma Fiorentino was not one of the residents to receive water. She and other Dimock residents pleaded with Cabot. Cabot still refused. When she asked if she would have to initiate a lawsuit, a Cabot lawyer told her you’ll lose. Finally fed up, a group of 15 families filed a lawsuit against Cabot for polluting their water, medical problems and the loss of value of their property.

I should point out that the Oil and Gas industry is exempt from the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Air Act, EPA hazardous waste regulations which require a cradle to grave tracking system and more. Other regulatory agencies involved in the process in NEPA include the Susquehanna and Delaware River Basin Commissions. They regulate water withdrawals from streams and rivers associated with their respective rivers. Drilling companies must apply to these agencies before they withdraw any water from the basin. In fact, at least one company was fined for illegally taking water from a stream. Despite claiming to produce local jobs, many of those employed in the drilling industry are transients and bring with them an increase in crime. There has also been a housing issue. As these people move into the area rental values go up and locals are finding difficulty locating affordable housing.

What can we do?

We have formed a watchdog group called Citizens for Clean Water. Members of our group attend public meetings held by DEP and others including Penn State. These meetings are supposed to answer questions and suppress the fear of the public. They tend to be favorable to the industry, but the opposition is growing. One thing that I have learned over the course of attending these meetings for the past year or so is that no one owns the water. It is a commonwealth resource. This is where we have a right and a need to speak out. Private landowners have a right to lease their land, but, they do not have a right to utilize and deplete our water resources to enrich themselves and even more so the oil & gas companies.

Citizens for Clean Water were on hand when an 8,000 gallon frac fluid spill occurred at a drilling site. They documented the spill with video recorders and called DEP to complain. Cabot Oil & Gas was supposed to report this incident, which were actually 3 separate spills over a couple of days, but they did not until Citizens for Clean Water discovered it. Cabot was prohibited from hydrofracturing in the area until they complied with DEPs requirements. Unfortunately, that only lasted 2 weeks. We had Ben Price from the Community Environmental Defense Fund come and speak about the CELDF strategy of passing local ordinances prohibiting offensive behaviors. While I think this is a great strategy, in an area where most have signed a lease and expect to become millionaires, this would be extremely difficult to implement.

Another thing I have learned is that DEP is answerable to the Environmental Protection Agency. We must address our grievances to the EPA. The gas companies would rather deal with the state agencies and why not. They have had their way with DEP. Senator Casey is a co-sponsor of the Fracturing Responsibly and Awareness of Chemicals Act, FRAC Act for short, which would require the industry to disclose the chemicals it uses in hydrofrackturing and subject it to the Safe Drinking Water Act. The oil & gas industry opposes the Act. I personally don't think it goes far enough.

If drilling is planned near you, you should get a comprehensive water test done. If your water becomes contaminated, you will need this water test to validate your claim. To stand up in court, a professional must do it with no interest in your property. A chain of custody needs to be established for the water samples and an EPA certified lab must test them. This is costly, about $1,000, but necessary. You may also want to get an appraisal of your property. If your property value declines due to drilling, you could also present this evidence to the courts.

Finally, there is direct action. I believe we should use Earth Day to assemble outside DEP offices across the Commonwealth to demand that DEP fulfill its mission and protect our environment from the oil & gas industry. The Governor and General Assembly are also responsible. They have sworn to uphold the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which includes, Article I, Section 27. The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania's public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people. The failure of the Governor, our State Senators and State Reps to uphold the constitution makes them liable for damages and potential defendants in future lawsuits. We must stand up to these elected officials and challenge them at the polls.

Sustainability Needs Assessment for Monroeville, PA

Three students from Carnegie Mellon University are currently doing a Sustainability Needs Assessment for Monroeville, PA. These students are in the Sustainable Communities course this semester, Spring, 2010, taught by Professor Matthew Mehalik. Two of the students and 10 Sustainable Monroeville members attended a council study session 0n February 4, 2010, when Professor Mehalik presented to Monroeville council about this wonderful program. The meeting is availabe for viewing at the Monroeville public library.

One of the students, Ian Newborn, attended the March 1, 2010, Sustainable Monroeville monthly meeting and asked that any ideas to work towards a sustainable future for Monroeville be shared! We are looking for ideas and suggestions relating to Economics, the Environment, and Social Justice, the triple bottome line. We are working towards a green future for Monroeville and are looking for any and all input!

We welcome ideas from residents, businesses, religious institutions, business owners, government officials and employees, and others that live, work and play in Monroeville or in the surrounding suburbs in and around Pittsburgh, PA. E-mail to sustainablemonroeville@gmail.com or put a post on this blog with your comments, suggestions and ideas! We welcome input from residents, business owners, religious institutions, politicians and anyone and everyone in and around Monroeville and the Pittsburgh region.

Van Jones Bringin' the Spirit

Van Jones is America's champion for green jobs. A former White House employee that embodies the spirit of the NAACP Image Awards - an entrepreneurial spirit that comes with a sense of social responsibility. His plan to retool the American economy by creating millions of new "green collar" jobs is groundbreaking, not only because it opens up a new sector of American industry, but also because it does so in a way that creates jobs and protects the environment.

Since 1970, the NAACP Image Awards have celebrated the best in African American Arts and Culture. It is an awards ceremony that honors the aspirations and dreams of all Americans, told from an African American perspective. The President's Award has traditionally honored those whose achievements in public life have been game changing. Recent honorees have included Muhammad Ali, Ruby Dee and President Bill Clinton.

Please be sure to tune in to the live broadcast this Friday, February 26, on FOX at 8:00pm EST. You will also get a chance to see Tyler Perry, Mo'Nique, Morgan Freeman, Mariah Carey, Jamie Foxx, Regina King, Taraji P. Henson and other leaders of the entertainment world walk the red carpet. And do not miss out on exclusive mobile updates here.

Farm to Table: Eat Local Food

Come and find out where you can buy local milk, cheese, grains, produce, meats and more. There will be a Farm to Table event on Friday and Saturday, March 26 & 27 from 10am to 5pm, at the David Lawrence Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh. Tickets are required to enter and include food tasting, giveaways, cooking demonstrations and speaker series by doctors and healthcare experts.

To learn more about the event, click here.

For the Friday night food tasting info, click here.

March Meeting

Our next public meeting is scheduled for March 1st, Monday, at 7pm at the Monroeville Public Library. Our guest speaker will be Stephanie Simmons, chair of the Water committee for Sierra Club-Alleghany County. Please join us as we discuss open issues about improving water quality and sharing best practices.

Save Turtle Creek

Ever heard of Turtle Creek Stream Valley? Well, it needs your help and passion to save a unique stretch of 6 miles in the valley.

The Turtle Creek Greenway Plan Study Committee wants to hear your ideas about conservation, recreation and restoration potential for about 6 miles of the Turtle Creek Stream Valley. It is recognized as a local treasure of remarkable natural beauty and ecological value that offers educational and recreational opportunities. The Greenway encompasses the gorge and is part of a larger regional continuum of greenways and also serves as a resource to protect the Turtle Creek communities from flood damage. These communities have united to share in the responsibilities to remediate, protect, and preserve the Greenway for future generations.

Fast forward to 2010 and a DCNR grant in their pocket, the team is working in close cooperation with the Regional Trail Corporation, four municipalities, both counties, and assorted other stakeholders to evaluate the feasibility of such a project. Some of the land under consideration is already public, but much is private. Diane Selvaggio, executive director of the Turtle Creek Watershed Association, said little money is available from the state or foundations to buy land, but a study of what do with the area could help obtain funding. "It's really quite a jewel in a fairly urban suburban setting," Selvaggio said. "Many of those involved in this project feel one of the best ways to preserve a natural area is to put a trail through it so the community realizes it is a community asset."

The working group is now prepared to update the general public on the progress and to collect more information that will help us make smarter decisions as we proceed. The first public meeting introducing the Turtle Creek Greenway project concept to the community will be held this Wednesday, the 24th, at the Murrysville Senior Center (3091 Carson Avenue) starting at 7:00 p.m. Join us!

Turtle Creek Greenway Project

To learn more, come to the public meeting of the Turtle Creek Greenway Plan on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 from 7:00-9:00 PM at the Murrysville Community Building at 3091 Carson Street in Murrysville, PA. Provide input on opportunities related to recreation and conservation. The project involves 6 miles along Turtle Creek an d involves Trafford Borough, Penn Township, Monroeville and Murrysville.

The goals of the project are to preserve the integrity of natural, recreational, and cultural resources; manage adverse impacts to the Greenway and its ecosystem from stormwater damage; raise public awareness (yes, so come to this meeting!) and encourage stewardship of natural resources; encourage the Greenway as a destination and encourage ecotourism, and much more. For questions, contact Amy Wiles of Mackin Engineering at 412-788-0472, or Malcolm Sias of Westmoreland county Parks and Recreation at 724-830-3968.

Transition Pittsburgh Event

Join the up Meetup site of Transition Pittsburgh to sign up to attend the first public meeting of Transition Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh is now officially a transition initiative town, number 58 to be exact! All of Allegheny County is included, so of course Monroeville is part of it too! To learn more about what Transition is, check out the book called The Transition Handbook by Rob Hopkins, copyright 2008.

Even if you don't sign up to come to the meeting, attend the event on Tuesday, March 9, 2010 anyway! The event will take place at the First United Methodist Church at 5401 Center Avenue at Aiken Avenue in Shadyside. There will be a free movie screening and small group discussion including brainstorming, networking, and open space forums on the topics of food, energy, waste, transport, economy, art, heart, creative land use, or host your own! Bring along a friend or two. For more information contact jeff@ecoburgh.org

Protect the Alfalfa

I, Elisa Beck, worked for the United States Department of Agriculture when I was an undergraduate at the University of Maryland studying Biology with an emphasis in Ecology back in the early 1980's. We isolated the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) from the environment and worked with it in our laboratory. Bt was used as a biological insecticide at that time. Its commercial name was Dipel. My understanding at that time was that it was an excellent alternative to chemical insecticides as it will biodegrade, or disappear from the environment within a short time period. I believe it was Monsanto that then incorporated Bt into the genetic code of corn and created Bt corn.

I remember panicking and calling the scientists I worked with at the time, Phyllis Martin and Russell Travers, both Ph.D.'s and employees of the USDA. I knew the physiology of how Bt worked. It disrupted the gut of lepidptera larvae (moths and butterflies) and basically blew the animal larvae to pieces.

What would happen to our butterfly and moth populations, I wondered? And how would it affect the human population and all other living species in between?

Phyllis Martin reassured me not to worry, that baby food would always be protected. She did mention that there would certainly be unintended consequences. These unintended consequences are happening in our world every moment now. Whenever the pollen from Bt corn is ingested by a butterfly or moth it not only kills that individual insect, but prevents that insect from pollinating other flowers.

The huge experiment that is being conducted by Monsanto (most recently they want to start a new experiment with Alfalfa) is unacceptable. Once the population at large begins to grasp the enormous complexity of what is going on and how this company called Monsanto is experimenting with the genetic structure of humanity, I am certain any human being that can will express a resounding "NO" to Monsanto's plan. I urge you to go this link and work to to reject Monsanto's application to market GMO alfalfa.

Coal Free Future Project

Get off the couch, and join us for an evening with award winning journalist Jeff Biggers, filmaker Ben Evans and actress Stephanie Pistello as they share, "Coal Free Future Project." This film will plug you into the movement to stop mountain top removal of coal and create a road map for a coal free future. This evening event will also include a short reading from Bigger's new memoir, "Reckoning at Eagle Creek: The Secret Legacy of Coal." And we can't forget YERT (Your Environmental Road Trip). The hilarious, eye-opening eco-comedy for all.

WHEN: Thursday, February 11th, 8pm
WHERE: The Union Project, 801 N. Negley Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15206
Get Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/98397