DEC denies permit for controversial National Fuel pipeline.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation has rejected National Fuel’s plans for a 97-mile pipeline to carry natural gas from northwestern Pennsylvania to Elma.
The DEC determined there was too big a threat to water quality and wildlife to grant National Fuel the water quality certificate required to construct the Northern Access Pipeline.
"After an in-depth review of the proposed Northern Access Pipeline project and following three public hearings and the consideration of over 5,700 comments, DEC has denied the permit due to the project’s failure to avoid adverse impacts to wetlands, streams and fish and other wildlife habitat," the DEC announced.
"We are confident that this decision supports our state’s strict water quality standards that all New Yorkers depend on," the DEC statement added.
Environmental groups and residents raised concern about threats the pipeline posed to water quality, including its planned crossing of Cattaraugus Creek, which is the sole source drinking water aquifer for residents in a 325-square-mile area.
DEC officials determined National Fuel’s plans did not "avoid or adequately mitigate" impacts that could harm water quality and associated resources.
Last April, the DEC denied a water quality permit to the Constitution Pipeline.
Another Pendleton resident and a leader of the action team, Paula Hargreaves, said the DEC’s findings confirmed what her organization had been saying all along.
Hargreaves called the DEC’s findings a victory in a single "battle" and said the organization intends to remain vigilant in anticipation of the gas company resubmitting their plans.

Fracked natural gas is dirtier than coal?
Yes.. Jan, a student in my environmental economics class, expanded on his blog post in his class paper [pdf] on the costs and benefits of hydraulic fracking of shale to free natural gas (aka, methane).
This result is driven by the far stronger impact of unburned (compared to burned) methane on climate change and the high cost of trying to control leaks in the many steps between the well and final user.
Given that 1,000 cubic feet (MCF) of natural gas weighs 62 pounds and 1 MCF sells for about US$4 (C$5 or so), the simplest rule would be to, for example, close an open valve (cost = $0) that’s leaking more than 11,000 MCF per year as that’s worth about C$55,000.
Going back to that "open valve", we’re talking about a leak that would have a social cost of $277,000 (C$370,000), which is nearly 7 times higher than its market (lost opportunity to sell) cost.
Alberta’s regulator, in other words, is allowing far more leakage and venting based on private costs and benefits than it would if it used social actual costs and benefits.
This result doesn’t surprise me, since the regulator works for industry, but it should help you see how mismanaged the natural gas industry is.
(Don’t even get me started about "voluntary data reporting" etc.!)
Bottom line: Years ago I suggested that the natural gas/fracking industry should "take the high road" to setting tough regulatory and performance standards as that would allow them to make greater profits and keep the public on their side.
They have failed to do this in a rush to make profits… and hasten climate change.

Weak evidence and frequent out-of-bounds statements by plaintiffs’ counsel were cited by a federal judge in Pennsylvania in vacating a more than $4.2 million verdict awarded to two families against a natural gas company that they alleged negligently polluted their water supply.
Claims permitted at trial focused narrowly on negligence and private nuisance causes of action, but, according to Carlson, the attorney who tried the case made repeated comments in front of the jury that went against court orders that had previously tailored the claims.
"The court finds that, although counsel may have been seeking to deliver zealous advocacy on behalf of her clients she has known for years regarding a matter that holds deep meaning for her personally, the aggregation of the instances of inappropriate conduct throughout the trial cannot be allowed to stand where the court finds it very likely that they influenced the jury’s verdict in this case," Carlson said.
In an emailed statement to the press, New York attorney Leslie L. Lewis, who represented the plaintiffs, said the decision did not fully reflect what occurred in the courtroom over the course of the 10-day trial.
"Upon a first review of the decision, it appears that the court made no reference to the evidence and arguments contained in plaintiffs thoroughly-reasoned and legally-based papers," Lewis said.
"Plaintiffs reject the court’s conclusion that Cabot was robbed of a fair trial or that the unanimous, eight-person jury verdict was excessive."
Jeremy Mercer of Blank Rome, who represented Cabot Oil & Gas, did not return a call seeking comment.
However, a major hurdle in the case arose when the plaintiffs stipulated that problems with the water supply began before the drilling activities started.
According to Carlson, this created a "cause and effect" problem that was "never adequately explained by the plaintiffs, who time and again either evaded this issue, attempted to impeach their own stipulation, or endeavored to provide some alternative explanation for their own prior representations."
Carlson said that, because of the repeated defense objections and admonitions by the court, the jury may have come under the impression that it wasn’t getting the full story regarding the claims and that some facts were being hidden from them.

Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane’s announcement last week that the government has decided to proceed with shale gas extraction in the Karoo has been slammed by industry experts on the basis of its negative consequences for the environment and the region’s water supply.
Five applications for fracking licences have been submitted so far by Shell (3), Falcon Oil and Gas and Bundu Gas and Oil Exploration.
"There simply is not enough water in the Karoo for the purpose of fracking as well as agriculture and human consumption.
The decision to approve fracking comes at a time when the Western Cape is dealing with water restrictions," Hellyer said.
Wim Jonker Klunne, who is on the advisory board for Energy Revolution Africa, which will form part of the African Utility Week conference in May, noted that while gas might be a viable option for South Africa’s energy mix, "I see too many issues around shale gas from the Karoo to justify its exploration.
The impact on local livelihoods and available water will not justify the exploration of shale gas, particularly as many other (renewable) options are available."
In his speech Zwane gave the assurance that the government was committed to developing shale gas "in a manner that is considerate of the country’s water resources and environmental sustainability".
He said the decision to proceed with the development of shale gas in the Karoo was based on the balance of available scientific evidence.
"The finalisation of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act amendments will also help to expedite the development of shale gas.
He estimated the recoverable resource of shale gas at up to 50-trillion cubic feet in the Karoo basin especially in the Eastern, Northern and Western Cape provinces.

Study: Natural Methane To Blame For Tainted Water, Not Fracking.
University of Texas at Austin researchers said high levels of methane in well water was likely caused by naturally-occurring, shallow natural gas deposits, not leaks from fracking operations near Fort Worth.
“Over geologic time, methane has accumulated into these shallower reservoirs,” Dr. Jean-Philippe Nicot, a geologist at UT involved in the research, said in a press statement.
A judge later ruled this “was not done for scientific study but to provide local and national media a deceptive video.” “Shortly after the EPA issued its baseless endangerment order, numerous experts testified at a Texas Railroad Commission hearing that methane in Parker County groundwater was not due to drilling,” Steve Everley, a spokesman for pro-industry Texans for Natural Gas, told The Daily Caller News Foundation.
The EPA curiously refused to attend that hearing,” Everley said.
Environmentalists often cite Parker County as an example of how fracking contaminates groundwater.
Activists argued in an article published by DeSmogBlog that while “local geology plays a role in leaks,” methane contamination was “traced to natural gas wells with insufficient cement barriers to separate them from surrounding rock and water or to improperly installed steel casings that allow the gas to travel upward.” EPA eventually dropped the case in 2012 and the Texas state government began an investigation.
Terry Engelder from Penn State University, one of the most well-respected experts on shale gas development in America, concluded in 2014 that there is ‘no link between fracking and groundwater contamination in the Fort Worth Basin.
“Our funders, the groups that had given us funding in the past, were a little disappointed in our results,” Amy Townsend-Small, the study’s lead researcher, told Newsweek in April.
Texas’s Barnett Shale is estimated to hold 172 million barrels of shale oil and 176 million barrels of natural gas liquids, twice as much natural gas and oil as expected, according to a December study by the U.S. Geological Survey.