Push for more pipeline safety in Pennsylvania’s rural areas
Sunday, November 22, 2015
A bill recently introduced in the Pennsylvania Senate would make pipelines that stretch across rural areas of the state meet certain safety standards.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette PowerSource reports that the proposed standards in Senate Bill 1044 would be like those that control pipelines in more populous areas. The bill says that the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission would have to regulate a number of items, including incident reporting, leak surveys and markings.
In Class 1 areas (10 or fewer buildings and where people live or work within 220 yards of a mile-long pipeline) can’t be given stricter standards by the PUC. This is a worry to some residents, who are concerned about how some companies construct, maintain and inspect the pipelines, according to the newspaper.
Via: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette PowerSource > Calls for greater pipeline safety in rural areas
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What is fracking?
Fracking is a slang term for hydraulic fracturing. Fracturing is a process by which highly pressurized fluid is pumped thousands of feet into the ground to fracture rock formations. The goal is to release the natural gas that’s locked inside the rock.
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What most concerns people about fracturing is ground water contamination. The worry is that fractures underground, caused by the process, will extending upwards and into aquifers, releasing gas and chemicals into the ground water supply. There’s been no confirmed reports of such a thing happening. Though surface spills and drill site blowouts can lead to localized environmental concerns.
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Flammable water is caused by the release of methane gas into a drinking water supply. Methane gas occurs naturally and can be released by any kind of drilling, including water wells. In Pennsylvania officials fined Chesapeake Energy $1 million for contaminating ground water with methane. It was determined that the company had not properly cemented it’s boreholes and gas migrated up the well, between rock and into aquifers.