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Health and Environmental Impacts of Transmission Pipeline Infrastructure Prepared for Citizens Meeting Dallas, PA September 17, 2014 Sam Koplinka-Loehr Clean Air Council

Health and Environmental Impacts of Transmission Pipeline Infrastructure

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Health and Environmental Impacts of Transmission Pipeline Infrastructure. Prepared for Citizens Meeting Dallas, PA September 17, 2014. Sam Koplinka-Loehr Clean Air Council. Presentation Overview. Introduction Pipeline Specifics Air, Land, and Water Impacts Organizing Resources. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Health and Environmental Impacts ofTransmission Pipeline Infrastructure

Prepared for Citizens MeetingDallas, PA

September 17, 2014

Sam Koplinka-Loehr Clean Air Council

Presentation Overview

• Introduction

• Pipeline Specifics

• Air, Land, and Water Impacts

• Organizing Resources

Bob Donnan

Clean Air Council Marcellus Shale Program

• Lawsuits against polluters or agencies• Track current rulemaking and write comments on regulations• Work with residents to comment and testify on gas infrastructure• Community actions to achieve goals outside of regulatory pathways

• Luzerne County is a “gas gateway” from the shale fields to national markets and export facilities

• Current Marcellus shale production is 14.5 billion cubic feet/day

• Industry all-of-the-above strategy for pipelines in Pennsylvania

Why Pipelines?

Source: http://www.ogj.com/articles/uogr/print/volume-2/issue-3/marcellus-continues-to-defy-expectations-driving-us-gas-production-ever-higher.html

Leidy Southeast Expansion

• Williams Transco • On August 11, FERC

issued the Environmental Assessment for the project

• 30 miles of pipeline• 42” pipeline diameter• 1 billion cubic feet/day

Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline

• Williams Transco• In pre-filing review with

the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)

• 180 miles of pipeline• 30-42 inch pipeline• 1.7 billion cubic feet/day

PennEast Pipeline

• PennEast Pipeline Company is a joint venture between AGL Resources, NJR Pipeline, South Jersey Industries and UGI Energy Services

• “Open season” just finished• 100 miles of pipeline• 42” pipeline diameter• 1 billion cubic feet/day

Diamond East Pipeline

• Williams Transco• Currently in “open

season”• 50 miles of pipeline

looping and additional compressors

• 1 billion cubic feet/day

Impacts to the Air

Fugitive Emissions/Leakages

• In a study accepted last month, researchers at three universities found methane leakage rates from shale gas drilling at 10 and 9 percent of production for the Bakken and Eagle Ford shale formations, respectively

Sources: EPA; Schneising et al. 2014, “Remote sensing of fugitive methane emissions from oil and gas production in North American tight geologic formations”Available online: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014EF000265/pdf

Shale Gas Infrastructure Pollutants

• Spectra Algonquin Pipeline

42-inch Pipeline Compressor Stations

Stony Point Compressor Station Emissions: School Bus

Equivalent

Impacts to the Land

Forests

• Nature Conservancy predicts upwards of 150,000 acres will be impacted in the next two decades for pipeline construction

• Pipelines exacerbate forest fragmentation

Farms & Animals

• Topsoil disturbances for farmers

• Permanent right-of-way changes animal pathways and movement

Rivers and Streams

• Open cuts across streams and tributaries

• Erosion and sedimentation affecting fish and stream life

Pennsylvania Constitution

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.”

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)

FERC Engagement

• Comment – it’s free!http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/ecomment.asp

• Intervene – it’s free!http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp

• Know Your Rights – it’s free!http://tinyurl.com/carolynelefanthttp://cleanair.org/knowyourrights

Organize!

Organizing Tools

A Pipeline Movement

• Communities all along each pipeline are organizing from Susquehanna County to Lancaster, Berks to New Jersey

Resources:• gdacoalition.org• cleanair.org/pipelines

Landowners take over Williams open house at Millersville University earlier this year, demandinganswers to their questions. When no representativewas willing to meet with them, landowners left together shouting “Go Home Williams”

Right-Of-Ways on State Lands

Contact Information• Sam Koplinka-Loehr

215.567.4004 x115 [email protected]