Richmond Shreve – B-CAUSE (Bucks Concerned About Unsafe Shale-gas Extraction)

Methane a Mystery? Not Really

Richmond Shreve — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 04:07:11 +0000

The Washington Post is cautiously taking a closer look at the problem of methane leaking from US shale gas operations and the network of pipelines that carry the gas to market. You have to read the article carefully, because the new and troubling evidence is couched in language that would lead a reader to think

Protest at Farm Show

Richmond Shreve — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 04:17:04 +0000

A number of our friends and neighbors made the news today (Saturday) by joining Pennsylvania farmers protesting fracking. Here are some links, in case you missed the news: http://fox43.com/2016/01/09/pennsylvania-farmers-urge-governor-wolf-to-stop-fracking/ http://via.fox43.com/1i42s http://s.pennlive.com/4sGOP5R

200,000 Abandoned Wells

Richmond Shreve — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 18:59:56 +0000

That’s right, Pennsylvania has about 200,000 abandoned oil and gas wells and doesn’t know where 96% of them are. We also don’t know if they have been plugged. This is a problem when new wells are fracked because the old wells can be an open conduit between the newly fractured strata and other layers or the

Decades of Deception

Richmond Shreve — Sun, 02 Aug 2015 13:55:30 +0000

That oil and gas interests might be reluctant to accept information pointing to the end of the fossil fuel era is completely understandable. But the just released report by the Union of Concerned Scientists titled The Climate Deception Dossier documents decades of deliberate deception aimed at sewing doubt in the media and the public’s perception

Water Contamination Likely

Richmond Shreve — Sun, 26 Jul 2015 22:38:35 +0000

Will Water Wells and Fracking Cracks Intersect? – Because the fracked cracks can extend some 2,000 feet above the well bore hole, wells that lie less than a mile (5,280 feet) below the surface pose a higher risk for water contamination. According to Stanford University scientist Robert Jackson: “Not all shallow wells pose the same

Take a Fracking Tour

Richmond Shreve — Sat, 18 Jul 2015 02:08:09 +0000

One of our contributors discovered “Explore a Fracking Operation – Virtually” – a website that lets you see photographs of the various stages of fracking operations. Those who have not traveled to the regions where fracking is done may be surprised at the scale of this industry. Well drilling and fracking requires hundreds of heavy

Pillar of Fire

Richmond Shreve — Wed, 08 Jul 2015 17:35:15 +0000

In a June 1st, 2015 article StateImpact reports on the gas well fire that sent flame so high into the air that the flames were visible for miles above the tree tops. Kati Coleneri reports, “Fires at two wells in Dunkard Township, Greene County burned for several days before they could be extinguished, but it took

The Prize?

Richmond Shreve — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 01:52:56 +0000

Why would anyone wish to drill for gas in Bucks? There is a moratorium on drilling until 2018 in our area. Until it ends there won’t be any drilling in Bucks County we are told. But two years ago in June 2013, “the U.S. Geological Survey released a report estimating the South Newark Basin could

Impact on Communities

Richmond Shreve — Wed, 01 Jul 2015 21:29:34 +0000

The Pennsylvania Association of Township Supervisors (PSATS) described the impact of drilling on affected communities in their 2015-16 Policy Statement as follows: Townships feel impact Formerly quiet townships have been transformed by the drilling industry. Small rural roads that once carried a few dozen cars a day have become the site of daily traffic jams,

Nothing Good Comes to Locals

Richmond Shreve — Wed, 01 Jul 2015 01:06:07 +0000

“In the past four years, the number of peer-reviewed studies on shale drilling and fracking has gone from almost zero to more than four hundred, according to the Physicians Scientists & Engineers for Healthy Energy public database. That’s a lot of data, with topics including health impacts, air pollution, water contamination, seismic impacts (including earthquakes),