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1 U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

2 PUBLIC HEARING

3 COMMENTS ON PROPOSED CLIMATE AIR QUALITY AND PERMITTING

4 RULES FOR THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY

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6 - - -

7 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2015

8 9:05 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.

9 - - -

10 WILLIAM S. MOOREHEAD FEDERAL BUILDING

11 1000 LIBERTY AVENUE

12 PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA

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18 ATKINSON-BAKER, INC.

COURT REPORTERS

19 (800) 288-3376

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20 FILE NO.: A909469

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1 EPA PANEL MEMBERS

2 FRED THOMPSON

3 BRUCE MOORE

4 SUZANNE WALTZER

5 DIANA ESHER

6 DAVID COZZIE

7 MARY CATE OPILIA

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1 I N D E X

2 SPEAKER:

3 Matt Todd

4 Henri Azibert

5 Larry Schweiger

6 Joy Bergey

7 Gretchen Dahlkemper

8 Reverend Mitch Hescox

9 Jessica Helm

10 Aaron Jacob Smith

11 Nadia Steinzor

12 Patrice Tomcik

13 Steven Hamburg

14 Steven Hvozdovich

15 Amy Nassif

16 Julia Nassif

17 Dan Scheid

18 Mark Gorog

19 Cricket Hunter

20 Jackie Smathers

21 Aviva Diamond

22 Reverend Paul Lubold

23 Dave McMahon

24 Reverend Sandy Strauss

25 Laura Burns
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1 Sister Donna Zwigart

2 Richard Brown

3 Lucyna DeBabaro

4 Maren Cooke

5 Nick Kennedy

6 Amanda Lupina

7 Justin Wasser

8 Michelle Boyle

9 Joanne Wagner

10 Melanie Houston

11 Peggy Ann Berry

12 Mark Dixon

13 Joanne Kilgour

14 Hannah Tyler (On behalf of Dr. Randy Kuplognik)

15 Mary Ann Mulroy

16 Barb Grover

17 Paul Fiesel

18 Lois Bjornson

19 Anna Hanson

20 Dana Dolney

21 Rachel Filippini

22 Lois Hornbostel

23 Bill Baker

24 Matt Walker

25 Rob Altenburg
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1 Jenny Demjanick

2 Melinda Hughes-Wert

3 Sarah Sanfilippo

4 Sarah Sanfilippo (On behalf of Michele Chapkis)

5 Mollie Simon-Joyce (On behalf of Rev. Amy Reumann)

6 Bergey

7 Melinda Hughes-Wert

8 Ron Golla

9 Bob Donnan

10 Nick Goodfellow

11 Etta Albright

12 Dr. Yousef Zarbalian

13 Jason Gu

14 John Morgan

15 Michael Badges-Canning

16 Randy Sargent

17 Thaddeus Popovich

18 Patricia DeMarco

19 Ron Slabe

20 Barbara Briggs

21 Miriam Lindauer

22 Eva Roben (on behalf of Rev. Dr. Leah Schade)

23 Mollie Simon-Joyce

24 Sage Lincoln

25 Rachel Goldman
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1 Robert Nashikawa

2 Randi Francois

3 Diane Peterson

4 Kyle Gracey

5 Mary Butella

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1 P R O C E E D I N G S

2 (9:05 o'clock a.m.)

3 MR. THOMPSON: Good morning, folks. We're

4 going to get started. So if you could take your seats.

5 Okay. We'll get started.

6 Good morning. My name is Fred Thompson.

7 I am the chair of today's hearing. Thank you all for

8 coming today. Joining me on the panel today are, to my

9 left, Susie Waltzer. She's with the EPA Office of

10 Atmospheric Programs; Bruce Moore, he's with the EPA

11 Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards; and Diana

12 Esher with EPA Region 3.

13 We're here today to hear your comments on

14 EPA's proposed rules relating to the oil and natural

15 gas sector. The specific rules are, 1) Oil and Natural

16 Gas Sectors: Emissions Standards for New and Modified

17 Sources; 2) is Source Determination for Certain

18 Emission Units in the Oil and Natural Gas Sector; and

19 3) Review of New Sources and Modifications in Indian

20 Country: Federal Implementation Plan for Managing Air

21 Emissions from True Minor Sources Engaged in Oil and

22 Natural Gas Production in Indian Country.

23 EPA's Administrator signed the proposed

24 rules on August 18, 2015. The proposed New Source

25 Performance Standards would establish methane and VOC
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1 standards for hydraulically fractured wells and require

2 owners and operators to find and repair leaks. The

3 proposed rule also would extend emission reduction

4 requirements further downstream covering equipment in

5 the natural gas transmission and storage segments of

6 the industry that was not regulated in the Agency's

7 2012 rules.

8 The proposed Source Determination Rule

9 clarifies the EPA's air permitting rules as they apply

10 to the oil and the natural gas industry.

11 We're also taking comment on the proposed

12 federal implementation plan to implement the Federal

13 Minor New Source Review Program in Indian Country for

14 oil and natural gas production. That plan, known as a

15 FIP, would be used instead of site-specific minor New

16 Source Review preconstruction permits in Indian

17 country. It would incorporate emissions, limits, and

18 other requirements from six EPA emissions standards,

19 including the 2015 proposed update to the New Source

20 Performance Standards on which we're taking comment on

21 today.

22 If you would like more details on the

23 proposed rules, there are fact sheets available at the

24 registration desk. Before we get started, I'd like to

25 go through a few housekeeping items and ground rules
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1 that will help make today's hearing run smoothly.

2 First, please be sure you have checked in

3 at the registration desk, even if you are not planning

4 to speak today. And if you signed up to speak online

5 or by phone, but haven't told us that you're here,

6 please step out to the registration desk and let the

7 EPA staff know that you've arrived.

8 I will call speakers up in pairs. When

9 your name is called, please come to the speaker's table

10 at the front of the room. When I call on you to speak,

11 please state your name and spell it for the court

12 reporter. Your comments will be transcribed and

13 included in the record of comments on the proposed

14 rule. It is important that you tell us which rule or

15 rules you're speaking about. Each speaker will have

16 five minutes to give comments. We have a timer light,

17 which is located here on the table, that turns from

18 green to yellow. That means -- I'm sorry. We have a

19 timer light, again, on the table that will help me to

20 know how much time you have left to speak. When the

21 light turns from green to yellow, that means you have

22 one minute remaining. When it turns red, that's a

23 signal that you are at five minutes and it's time to

24 stop. When you're finished speaking, please remain at

25 the table until the person next to you has completed
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1 his or her testimony.

2 We are here to listen to you today.

3 However, a panel member may ask questions to clarify

4 your comments. I will then call up the next pair of

5 speakers and so on.

6 If you have brought a written copy of your

7 testimony, please give that to the staff at the

8 registration desk before you leave today. We will put

9 any written comments submitted today in the official

10 docket for the Proposed Rule.

11 We also have comment cards available at

12 the registration desk, if you would like to submit

13 additional written comments today.

14 If you wanted to comment in writing later,

15 stop by the materials table in the registration desk

16 and pick up a copy of instructions for submitting

17 written comments. Comments must be received by

18 November 17, 2015. And I'll repeat that. Comments

19 must be received by November 17, 2015. Let me assure

20 you that the EPA gives just as much consideration to

21 comments received in writing as we do to comments

22 received at public hearings like this one. So, if you

23 have more comments that you would like to provide the

24 EPA, please submit them by the comment period deadline.

25 Your comments will be reviewed.
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1 If you have any questions during the day,

2 please see the staff at the registration desk and

3 someone will assist you. Thank you again for taking

4 the time today to share your comments on EPA's

5 proposal. And with that, let's get started.

6 At this time, I would like to ask Matt

7 Todd and Henri Azibert to please come forward with

8 testimony.

9 Yes, please. Good morning, gentlemen.

10 MR. TODD: Good morning.

11 MR. THOMPSON: Mr. Todd, would you start

12 with testimony, please.

13 MR. TODD: It's Matthew Todd.

14 M-A-T-T-H-E-W, T-O-D-D. I'm a senior policy advisor

15 for the American Petroleum Institute, API is a national

16 trade association representing all facets of the oil

17 and gas industry. It supports 9.8 million U.S. jobs

18 and 8 percent of the U.S. economy. API has more than

19 625 members, that include large integrated companies,

20 as well as exploration and production, refining,

21 marketing, pipeline, and green businesses, and service

22 and supply firms. Collectively they provide most of

23 the nation's energy and many will be directly impacted

24 by the proposed regulations we're here to discuss

25 today.
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1 In five minutes, it's difficult to speak

2 substantively to the details of each of these proposed

3 actions. However, API does intend to submit detailed

4 comments on each.

5 My first point, our industry has

6 voluntarily led the way in its pursuit of improved

7 operations to safely maximize the recovery and capture

8 of these valuable oil and gas resources. We're

9 incentivized to do that. And many of these leaking

10 technologies that have been broadly used by industry

11 were subsequently incorporated by EPA into its Natural

12 Gas STAR Program.

13 My second point, even as U.S. oil and

14 natural gas production has surged, methane emissions

15 have declined significantly. For example, methane

16 emissions from hydraulically fractured natural gas

17 wells has fallen nearly 79 percent since 2005; and

18 total methane emissions from the natural gas systems

19 are down 11 percent over the same period. These

20 reductions have occurred during a time when total U.S.

21 gas production has increased 44 percent.

22 This industry has also played a

23 significant role in the 27 year limits on power sector

24 fields in emissions we see today. These trends are

25 indicative of what our industry, when given the freedom
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1 to innovate, can achieve to improve the environment and

2 our nation's energy security.

3 What our industry has and will continue to

4 achieve under the current regulatory system without

5 directly regulating methane, dwarfs the emission

6 reduction EPA has estimated in these proposed rules.

7 My third point is that directly regulating

8 methane as proposed in the NSPS rules is unnecessary.

9 The 2012 final rule indirectly regulates methane by

10 regulating natural gas as a surrogate for VOC. Since

11 methane is the primary constituent of natural gas,

12 there are no additional emission reductions that will

13 occur from replacing the surrogate regulatory concept

14 with direct regulation of methane. Therefore, EPA

15 should continue to practice -- the practice of

16 indirectly regulating methane through the use of

17 natural gas as a surrogate for VOC.

18 My fourth point. We urge the EPA not to

19 get in the way of the success story by developing

20 one-size-fits-all regulatory solutions. Our industry

21 is big. It's complex. And operations vary

22 substantially across the nation. As we learned in the

23 development of the 2012 NSPS rule, the EPA should

24 exercise caution in the development of these new rules

25 to allow operational flexibility as it seeks
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1 one-size-fits-all regulatory solutions.

2 Industry must be able to comply with the

3 requirements of these new rules. In the 2012 NSPS

4 rule, the EPA allowed implementation for storage vessel

5 requirements to be phased in to accommodate the vast

6 number of affected facilities. The EPA should consider

7 whether or not a similar compliant schedule is

8 warranted in the proposed NSPS rule. We also urge the

9 EPA to accommodate operators that are currently

10 implementing leak monitoring repair requirements,

11 whether due to existing air permits, state regulations

12 or voluntary commitments to satisfy the federal rule

13 requirements and minimize regulatory fines for those

14 operators.

15 Finally, we urge the EPA to coordinate its

16 efforts with the agencies -- with other agencies to

17 avoid implementing duplicative requirements that could

18 potentially hinder the continued production and energy

19 that our nation will continue to demand.

20 The rules we're discussing today are a

21 small slice of the pending regulation that our industry

22 is facing. The EPA has also released proposed control

23 technique guidelines for implementation and the pending

24 revised ozone on air quality standard and pending

25 regulatory requirements from the Department of
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1 Interior's BLM on federal lands will also add the

2 cumulative impact to our industry in future operations.

3 We urge the EPA and the Administration to coordinate

4 their efforts and strongly encourage the EPA to extend

5 its common periods by 60 days to allow a minimum of 30

6 days overlap with the proposed BLM rule. Without this

7 overlap, industry will not have the chance to

8 understand the cumulative impacts and provide

9 meaningful feedback to avoid conflicting requirements

10 across the separate agencies.

11 To close, API and its members recognize

12 the importance of developing these valuable resources

13 responsibly. However, the last thing we need is more

14 duplicative and costly regulation that could increase

15 the cost of energy for Americans and undermine our

16 competitiveness with the operations that will bear the

17 brunt of these regulatory regs and represent only 1.4

18 percent of the total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

19 API remains committed to working with EPA,

20 and the Administration identified additional

21 cost-effective control opportunities which would

22 implement and not hinder our ability to provide the

23 energy our nation will continue to demand over the

24 years to come.

25 Thanks.
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1 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Todd.

2 Are there any follow-up questions from the

3 panel? Hearing none. Good morning.

4 MR. AZIBERT: Good morning. My name is

5 Henri Azibert, H-E-N-R-I, A-Z-I-B-E-R-T. I'm technical

6 director for the Fluid Sealing Association. The Fluid

7 Sealing Association is an organization comprised of

8 sealing devicing technology manufacturers who make

9 devices used to contain fluids and to prevent harmful

10 toxic or otherwise dangerous products escaping into the

11 environment. FSA's technologies are used in every

12 aspect of oil and gas production and refining and

13 generating all industrial activity around the world.

14 These devices are often overlooked and their function

15 is not well-known or understood, yet they fulfill an

16 essential role as a part of our customers in the oil

17 and gas sector to maintain a clean environment and

18 prevent product waste, while allowing industrial growth

19 and profitability.

20 FSA members manufacture the following

21 products that we believe will be helpful in achieving

22 the goals to significantly reduce methane emission.

23 Mechanical seals which are used to seal rotating shaft

24 as they enter the housing of a centrifugal compressor;

25 gaskets, which are used to provide a static seal
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1 between two stationary components. They're used on

2 flanges that connect piping, valves, compressors,

3 pneumatically-driven pumps, instrumentation, and many

4 other types of equipment. Compression packing is

5 mostly commonly made of braided fibers and is used to

6 seal valve stems and shafts of reciprocating

7 compressors. Modern fibers and construction methods

8 allow sealing at extremely low emission levels.

9 Expansion joints used for wide flexible connection

10 between pipes and their joining to other equipment.

11 They can reduce the number of piping connections and

12 also limit strains on piping that can create problems

13 in bolted joints.

14 These sealing technologies are extensively

15 used in the oil and gas industry to help contain

16 emissions. Their specific function is to prevent

17 leakage to the environment. The proper use and

18 selection of the right type of sealing products can be

19 significant contributors to a cleaner environment.

20 Although, the FSA does not wish to comment

21 on the purpose of the proposed regulation, nor its

22 justification, it would like to offer its services as a

23 resource on what is technically feasible to contain

24 fugitive emissions. There are questions that have been

25 asked and where applicable if FSA would like to make
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1 comments where combined knowledge of its members can

2 bring clarity and specific information. The -- there

3 are technologies available today to significantly

4 reduce methane emissions in a cost-effective and

5 comprehensive manner.

6 The leak detection and repair program have

7 been in use for quite some time now in the petroleum

8 and product refining and chemical processing and have

9 proven to be certainly effective to reduce emission

10 levels. Reasonably achievable emission levels are

11 different for different types of equipment. We do

12 agree that the best system of emission reduction is the

13 same for methane as it is for VOCs, or volatile organic

14 compounds. Leak detection and repairs are critical

15 components to reducing methane and VOC emissions.

16 Concerning centrifugal compressor seals, we do agree

17 that dry gas seal technology offers the best solution.

18 Rerouting leakage from wet oil. We're getting

19 compressor seals to capture erratic flares and manage

20 to reduce methane levels by up to 95 percent. However,

21 there are some factors that have been neglected in this

22 analysis. And we'll provide them later in written

23 comments.

24 We also believe that there are

25 circumstances where the switch from wet compressor
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1 seals to dry compressor seal is economically warranted.

2 It is true that the switch to dry gas seal is not

3 technically feasible in all circumstances. But there

4 are instances where it is technically and economically

5 feasible. And the FSA has developed a calculator tool

6 to determine when this is the case. And we'd like to

7 have the use of the tool considered to determine what

8 might be the best system of emission reduction.

9 Fugitive emissions are what FSA members

10 concern themselves with. There are several

11 technologies to detect emission levels, as members are

12 not experts in assessing the detection level of all

13 monitoring equipment. The members do have considerable

14 experience with EPA Method 21. And we believe it is an

15 accurate method to determine leakage levels, especially

16 in the lower range of what is reasonably achievable.

17 Three emission levels have been listed and

18 questions have been posed as to their reasonableness.

19 There are 500, 2,500 and 10,000 ppm. In the case of

20 valves, it is the opinion of FSA members that leakage

21 level is reasonably achievable from the set seal is

22 less than 100 ppm. And for flangers, the reasonable

23 achievable leakage level is even lower than for valve

24 stems. Although, there are many variations of types

25 and size of valves, it is generally recognized that a
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1 level of 50 ppm or lower is reasonably achievable.

2 FSA members do recognize that there are

3 pieces of equipment that are very specialized and may

4 not be able to meet the general guidelines. Although

5 this is not discussed in detail in the proposed

6 regulation, the FSA would like to point out that a

7 large source of fugitive emissions are not due to the

8 equipment designed or technology or end of life. The

9 problem quite often resides in the improper

10 installation in this application. Monitoring,

11 maintaining, and repairing equipment properly requires

12 highly-trained engineers and maintenance personnel.

13 Without rigorous training programs, the result can be

14 significant lack of knowledge of how to properly apply

15 readily available technology. The FSA and other

16 organizations provide generic training material and

17 would like to suggest that these also be considered.

18 So the FSA simply wishes to be considered as a

19 technical resource. And we want to thank you for your

20 consideration.

21 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for your

22 testimony.

23 Are there any follow-up questions from the

24 panel?

25 MR. MOORE: No.
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1 MS. WALTZER: No.

2 MR. THOMPSON: Gentlemen, thank you both

3 for your testimony.

4 At this time I would like to invite Larry

5 Schweiger and Joy Bergey for your testimony.

6 Good morning to the both of you.

7 MR. SCHWEIGER: Good morning. I'm Larry

8 Schweiger. And it's spelled S-C-H-W-E-I-G-E-R. And

9 I'm president of PennFuture, a statewide environmental

10 organization that has been working on energy and

11 climate policies for 20 years.

12 I personally have been involved in this

13 effort to protect our environment from climate change

14 since about 1988. So I guess I've been at it for a

15 while.

16 I've had the privilege of seeing the

17 Arctic now on three separate occasions from three

18 separate locations. I've been to Greenland and watched

19 the rapid melt of the Greenland ice sheet. I've had an

20 opportunity to see the Rocky Mountain glaciers. Those

21 in Alaska and also in the Alps. And everywhere I go,

22 the story is the same. We are rapidly changing the

23 nature of this planet.

24 And I want to compliment Gina McCarthy and

25 the EPA for taking this step on methane. I think it's
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1 an important complement to the Clean Power Plan rule.

2 I think it's much needed and long overdue.

3 Methane is a potential -- it's a potent

4 greenhouse gas, 84 times as potent as a single molecule

5 of carbon dioxide during the time it remains in the

6 atmosphere, which means, it's a very powerful

7 contributor to the overall threat of climate change.

8 I would also mention that we're now seeing

9 methane leaking from the tundra. We're seeing methane

10 leaking from the East Siberian Sea and from other

11 clathrate systems around the planet. So we're --

12 methane is going to become a big actor, both

13 human-emitted methane as well as natural methanes that

14 are now being released in a very dangerous way because

15 of the overwarming of our planet.

16 Methane emissions from oil and gas alone

17 contribute about 25 percent of the total manmade global

18 warming that we're experiencing today. Methane

19 pollution also poses a significant threat to public

20 health as a ground level ozone precursor. Methane from

21 gas and oil industry also comes packaged with other

22 volatile organic compounds, which are key ingredients

23 to ground level ozone or small damage as well as a

24 number of air toxins, including benzene, toluene,

25 ethylbenzene, and xylene. Smog is associated with
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1 numerous serious health effects, including asthma,

2 increased respiratory problems, permanent lung damage,

3 and early death from respiratory and cardiovascular

4 threats.

5 Air toxics are known or suspected to cause

6 cancer and other serious health problems. Our most

7 vulnerable populations, young people with asthma and

8 seniors with respiratory disorders cannot face another

9 day without proper regulation of methane as a

10 pollutant.

11 In every scenario that I've looked at,

12 unregulated methane leakage from gas development causes

13 gas to be a little better than coal, if at all, for

14 climate change.

15 The new standards proposed by EPA are an

16 important first step in addressing this important

17 pollutant. They will require new and modified

18 equipment in the oil and gas field to clean up their

19 methane pollution by avoiding leakage, more products to

20 get to the market where they can produce a return

21 offsetting some of the cost and done in a reasonable --

22 with reasonable payback.

23 I'm also impressed that the EPA has

24 estimates the rules will yield a net -- a climate

25 benefit of about $120 to $150 million by 2025.
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1 I was struck yesterday by President

2 Obama's comments concerning the overall effort to

3 address climate change, both here in the U.S. and in

4 the world, and recognizing that he started too late.

5 And also noting that we're far away from avoiding that

6 two-degree rise that everybody has been warning us

7 about.

8 I think the EPA rules go to a first step,

9 but not far enough. The proposed rules only cover new

10 and modified sources of methane emissions. And we're

11 calling on the Wolf Administration today, and we have

12 been calling on the administration in Pennsylvania to

13 regulate those existing sources of methane leakage,

14 both from existing operations as well as addressing

15 those abandoned wells that checker the state.

16 By 2018, nearly 90 percent of the methane

17 emissions will come from currently existing oil and gas

18 sources. Strong methane, the emissions standards are

19 needed not only for new sources but for existing

20 sources as well.

21 Methane control is key to the

22 Administration's ability to meet those international

23 goals of reducing carbon emissions by 26 to 28 percent

24 by 2025.

25 I'd like to close by saying, I thought the
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1 Pope had it right on his -- his ethical challenges to

2 this important issue of climate. I shudder to think

3 what my grandchildren and my children will face if we

4 fail to act on this important issue.

5 Thank you.

6 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for your

7 comments. Any follow-up questions from the panel?

8 MR. MOORE: No.

9 MS. WALTZER: No.

10 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you.

11 MS. BERGEY: Good morning, EPA. Thanks

12 for coming to Pittsburgh.

13 MR. THOMPSON: Good morning.

14 MS. BERGEY: My name is Joy Bergey, J-O-Y,

15 B-E-R-G-E-Y. And I speak this morning in my role as

16 director of the Environmental Justice Center of

17 Chestnut Hill United Church. Based in Philadelphia,

18 the center is an inter-religious program working with

19 congregations and individuals to address the problems

20 of environmental injustice.

21 The Environmental Justice Center thanks

22 the EPA for proposing this rule. We urge that it be

23 implemented quickly and not weakened in any way. In

24 fact, we urge you to strengthen the rule.

25 I traveled to Pittsburgh from the city
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1 that just hosted His Holiness Pope Francis, over the

2 weekend. And as Larry said, given the deeply inspiring

3 message of the Pope on climate change, can there be any

4 doubt in anyone's mind, at this point, that taking a

5 strong national action to limit climate change

6 pollution is an urgent moral imperative.

7 Every major faith tradition calls on its

8 followers to protect those at the margins of society

9 who cannot defend themselves, the young, the old, the

10 sick, the poor. And it is exactly these persons who

11 are being hurt first and worst by climate change.

12 With no national standards in place to

13 address methane from oil and gas wells and with a

14 solid, scientific knowledge that the heat-trapping

15 ability of methane is so much more potent than carbon

16 dioxide. Putting this standard in place as quickly as

17 possible is critical.

18 Since the technology to trap methane

19 already exists and is inexpensive and readily

20 available, we just don't understand why industry hasn't

21 already widely deployed the technology. Nine billion

22 tons of methane and toxic chemicals leaked into our air

23 last year. That's enough to heat five million homes.

24 But industry's unfortunate dragging of

25 their heels shows the rest of us that they will only
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1 act if and when they must.

2 The major faith traditions also call us on

3 to protect and even celebrate the natural world that

4 God has given us. God's love is infinite. The earth's

5 natural resources are not.

6 The ways that we generate our power in

7 this country are causing damage to God's world that

8 could take centuries to heal, threatening to deprive

9 our children and their grandchildren of safe and

10 healthy communities in which to live and grow.

11 The rule on which we comment today moves

12 us to better protect the sacred and irreplaceable gift

13 of creation which comes from and belongs to God. We

14 need this rule. Amen.

15 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for your

16 testimony, Ms. Bergey. Any follow-up questions from

17 the panel?

18 Again, thank you both for your testimony.

19 MS. BERGEY: Thank you.

20 MR. THOMPSON: Have a good day.

21 At this time I would invite Gretchen

22 Dahlkemper and reverend Mitch Hescox, H-E-S-C-O-X.

23 Please come forward with your testimony.

24 MS. DAHLKEMPER: Good morning.

25 MR. THOMPSON: Good morning.
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1 MS. DAHLKEMPER: I was driving down here

2 from Erie yesterday with my toddlers and told them what

3 you guys are doing all day. My six year old said,

4 "Wow. They must really love clean air if they're going

5 to listen to you all day long."

6 Yes. This is an important part of the

7 democratic process. I really appreciate you having us

8 here.

9 My name is Gretchen Dahlkemper,

10 G-R-E-T-C-H-E-N, D-A-H-L-K-E-M-P-E-R. I am the

11 national field director of Moms Clean Air Force. Moms

12 Clean Air Force is a group of over 570,000 parents

13 across the country who have banned together to protect

14 our children from toxic air pollution.

15 Today I'm here to applaud the EPA for

16 taking a step, albeit a baby step, to protect American

17 families from the health and climate impacts of methane

18 pollution from the oil and gas industry and to call on

19 you and EPA to quickly address methane leaks from

20 existing sources.

21 Why do parents like myself care about air

22 pollution from the oil and gas industry? The answer is

23 simple. Industrial pollution from the oil and gas

24 industry harms our children's health and fields global

25 warming, and it wastes billions of dollars of natural
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1 gas each and every year. Standards that reduce methane

2 emissions from oil and gas development will

3 simultaneously reduce emissions and formation of

4 health-damaging air pollutants, including volatile

5 organic compounds, hazardous air pollutants,

6 particulate matter, and ozone. Benzene and

7 formaldehyde and other toxic pollution does not belong

8 in the air our children breathe. Reducing methane

9 would reduce the exposure of nearby communities to

10 hazardous air pollutants and the subsequent risks of

11 health effects, including respiratory morbidity and

12 premature death.

13 Oil and gas wells, pipelines, compressor

14 stations, and other infrastructure are major sources of

15 air pollution that can harm public health. Communities

16 across Pennsylvania, including here in Western

17 Pennsylvania where I'm from, are suffering under the

18 burden of increased air pollution as a consequence of

19 increased oil and gas development.

20 Recent studies, out of right here in

21 Pittsburgh, indicate that pregnant women and their

22 unborne children living near natural gas infrastructure

23 run a higher risk of heart defects, neurological tube

24 defects, premature birth, low birth weight, still birth

25 and even perinatal death.
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1 Children five and under living near

2 natural gas infrastructure have a higher risk of

3 childhood cancers such as leukemia. That's totally

4 unacceptable.

5 Natural gas is mostly methane, which can

6 leak all along the oil and gas supply chain. Methane

7 is a powerful greenhouse gas, a big contributor to

8 dangerous climate change. Pound for pound methane

9 pollution is 25 times more potent than C02 over a

10 hundred-year period. The oil and gas sector is the

11 leading industrial source of methane pollution.

12 There are simple, effective, and efficient

13 ways to stop methane leaks. Fixes for methane

14 pollution will also cut other air pollutants as well

15 because it is not the only pollution that leaks from

16 the oil and gas industry. Fixes for methane pollution

17 will cut smog forming pollution that triggers asthma

18 attacks, and it will cut air toxics like benzene, a

19 known carcinogen. Children and the elderly are among

20 those most vulnerable to the health hazards of smog.

21 And our children will also suffer the most from runaway

22 climate change.

23 This is a national problem and it needs a

24 national solution. Voluntary measures do not work.

25 Today I urge the Environmental Protection Agency to
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1 adapt to the strongest possible rules to reduce methane

2 pollution from the oil and gas industry. This rule is

3 important. It lays the foundation for cutting methane

4 pollution from existing sources, something that

5 American families, and those like mine in Pennsylvania,

6 desperately need to protect our communities and our

7 families from an industry that operates as though our

8 backyard are the Wild West without any consequences

9 whatsoever.

10 Parents need to stand strong against

11 polluters to protect our children's right to clean air

12 and a stable climate. Parents ask that the

13 Environmental Protection Agency cuts through the noise

14 created by bipartisanship politics. The monetary

15 influence of the fossil fuel industry and the fear

16 mongering from frankly both sides of the argument,

17 ignore it and do what is right for American families.

18 Today I ask you to cut methane emissions from the oil

19 and gas industry, both from new and existing sources.

20 America's children are counting on you.

21 Thank you.

22 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for your

23 testimony. Any follow-up questions from the panel?

24 MR. MOORE: No.

25 MR. THOMPSON: Very good. Thank you.
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1 Good morning.

2 REVERAND HESCOX: Good morning. I'm the

3 Reverend Mitch C. Hescox, H-E-S-C-O-X. I lead the

4 Evangelical Environmental Network from New Freedom,

5 Pennsylvania. And when I sit beside Gretchen, I often

6 remind her that we have 750 evangelicals that believe

7 in climate change and protecting our kids around the

8 country, otherwise known as Creation Cares. It's a

9 Matter of Life.

10 I'd like to start out with a little story.

11 "Honey, should we fix the natural gas leaks in our

12 home?" "No sweetheart. We just won't light any

13 matches. And put signs up all over the place saying,

14 'no smoking allowed.'"

15 While we don't encourage smoking, does

16 this sound like a responsible conversation or

17 responsible course of action? And yet, our nation has

18 not fixed the threatening fugitive emissions for us

19 laypeople known as leaks from the natural gas

20 infrastructure around the country. It's well past time

21 to fix these leaks that spew dangerous pollution.

22 As pro-life evangelicals, we have a

23 special concern for the unborn. We want our children

24 to be born healthy and unhindered by the ravages of

25 pollution even before they take their first breath.
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1 The medical community has long known the

2 environmental impacts on our unborn children. Although

3 they once thought that a mother would give chemical

4 protection, that has been proven untrue. Studies have

5 shown that smog, VOCs, and air toxins have a

6 disproportionate impact upon life in the womb.

7 A recent study by Stacy and others from

8 the University of Pittsburgh found evidence of low

9 birth weight babies with proximate to unconventional

10 natural gas wells in Butler County, Pennsylvania. In

11 McKenzie, from the Colorado School of Public Health,

12 published peer review research linking birth defects

13 and methane production. The authors admit more

14 research is needed. But the correlations in and of

15 themselves demand action to reduce natural gas

16 releases. These leaks of our natural gas

17 infrastructure spew out smog precursors as well as

18 adding to our failing air quality.

19 Pennsylvania has already 277,000 children

20 with asthma, according to the American Lung

21 Association. And approximately ten percent of those

22 kids live right here in Allegheny County. And

23 Allegheny County's foul air fails in both ozone smog

24 and particulate emissions making the need to stop

25 natural gas leaks urgent. But it's not just a
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1 Pennsylvania problem.

2 As air pollution does not respect state

3 borders, a national policy is needed. With a public

4 policy, it's always hard to take the first step. And

5 the EPA has to be commended for this proposal that

6 calls industry to reduce methane leaks from its new

7 sources across the nation. But much more is needed.

8 These leaks threaten our most vulnerable,

9 as shared earlier, and also add to climate disruption.

10 We want our loved ones, the unborn, and those yet to be

11 born, to have a world free of climate change. Yet

12 today, our natural gas infrastructure, large amounts of

13 methane are being released. And as heard several times

14 here before, a pollutant 86 times stronger than carbon

15 dioxide over the first 20 years. And what we do in the

16 next 20 years will determine whether our struggle to

17 overcome climate change will be won or lost.

18 But that's why reducing methane is morally

19 strategic and morally important. For these reasons,

20 37,000 pro life Christians from Pennsylvania alone and

21 almost 92,000 from the states of Colorado, Ohio, New,

22 Mexico, and Pennsylvania have called for strong action

23 to reduce methane emissions. Their request states, as

24 pro life Christians, we want the air that we breathe to

25 be safe for our children. Leaks in our natural gas
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1 infrastructure spew out toxic pollutants cancer-causing

2 agents and climate pollution that place God's creation

3 and our families, especially children, pregnant mothers

4 and the unborn in harm's way. That's why we called our

5 elected officials to support strong regulations to cut

6 this pollution in both new and existing leaks from our

7 natural gas infrastructure. Our children deserve

8 nothing less.

9 As we mentioned earlier, that not only is

10 this a first step, but we want to see the EPA move as

11 strong as possible in creating a Section 111 (d)

12 standard for existing sources. But I know my time is

13 short, so I'd just like to state a story that we

14 already heard here today from industry groups yelling

15 foul at another EPA regulation. Many have said that

16 voluntary regulations are enough. But I'd like to

17 point it out that recent studies have shown that 80

18 percent of the natural gas leaks come from 30 percent

19 of the producers. What that tells me is the good guys

20 do a good job. In fact, I met with the leading

21 producers of natural gas recently this year. None of

22 them cried foul over this regulation. They only ask

23 that the performance standard be met. What we need is

24 a good police force that protects our children, cares

25 for God's creation, and acts justly for all people.
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1 Thank you very much.

2 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for your

3 testimony, Reverend Hescox and Ms. Dahlkemper. Thank

4 you both.

5 Are there any follow-up questions from the

6 panel?

7 MR. MOORE: I would like for you to

8 clarify when you talk about leaks from the

9 infrastructure.

10 REVERAND HESCOX: Yes.

11 MR. MOORE: Are you primarily talking

12 about the newer facilities or are you talking about the

13 infrastructure that gets gas to homes and other --

14 other end users?

15 REVERAND HEXCOX: No. This is only the

16 production infrastructure of all of the central ones

17 done (sic). We're not on the massive leaks that we

18 already know exist in the transportation system. This

19 is only dealing with production.

20 MR. MOORE: Thank you.

21 MR. THOMPSON: Additional questions?

22 Panel? All right. Thank you again.

23 Okay. At this time I would like to invite

24 Jessica Helm and Aaron Jacob Smith to please come forth

25 with testimony.
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1 MS. HELM: Good morning.

2 MR. SMITH: Good morning.

3 MS. HELM: Hi. My name is Jessica Helm.

4 I live in Waltham, Massachusetts. And I also want to

5 thank you for the opportunity to offer comment and for

6 sitting here today to hear my statement and those of

7 others in the room.

8 I'm a member of the Sierra Club Board of

9 Directors. And I'm here today to speak in support of

10 the EPA's proposed methane standards for the oil and

11 gas industry. For me, there are two compelling reasons

12 to adopt the strongest possible methane emission

13 standards. Our climate and health, the health of those

14 living near oil and gas wells, pipelines, and

15 compressor stations. Methane's effect on our climate

16 is on the order of 85 times more powerful than carbon

17 dioxide over a 20-year timeframe. This means the

18 methane emitted in the next ten years will be affecting

19 our atmosphere most, just as we most need to reduce

20 greenhouse gases to avert the worst effects of climate

21 change.

22 The oil and gas industry is the largest

23 industrial sources of methane emissions in our country.

24 And these regulations will be an important first step

25 in us reducing that contribution.
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1 However, since these regulations only

2 address new and modified sources, I ask that the EPA

3 develop a new rule to cover existing sources. By 2018,

4 16 sources will be contributing 90 percent of the

5 industry's methane. And the U.S. cannot meet its

6 international climate commitments, much less protect

7 the public of the effects of climate change without a

8 rule to cover existing sources.

9 The second reason the EPA must adopt the

10 strongest possible methane standards is to protect

11 public health, particularly, the health of our most

12 vulnerable, babies and the elderly, and those without

13 the financial means to access adequate health care or

14 to move away from an oil- or gas-related source of

15 pollution.

16 The proposed standards will help protect

17 the health of those near new emission sources by

18 curbing smog in the form of emissions and hazardous air

19 pollutants, which are released from oil and gas sources

20 along with methane.

21 Importantly, these regulations extend

22 existing protections under the VOC rule downstream to

23 include transmission storage. This means that

24 individuals near compressor stations and storage

25 locations all along the distribution networks can also
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1 benefit.

2 However, I ask that the EPA also require

3 leak testing in our air and methane emissions controls

4 for storage vessels, liquid only events, intermittent

5 pneumatic control emissions and process at well sites,

6 all of which represent significant possible sources of

7 emissions.

8 These rules are an important first step

9 towards reducing the harm of this industry. However,

10 we must go even further to tap existing sources of

11 methane emissions and ultimately keep all of the dirty

12 fossil fuels in the ground. We must transition swiftly

13 to the cleaner renewal energy sources that we know can

14 provide sustainable good-paying jobs and reduce

15 pollution. To that end, I hope that the EPA will

16 strengthen and finalize these rules and move swiftly to

17 issue standards covering the existing sources.

18 Thank you.

19 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Ms. Helm. Are

20 there any questions of the panel?

21 MR. MOORE: No. Okay.

22 MR. THOMPSON: All right, Mr. Smith.

23 MR. SMITH: Good morning.

24 MR. THOMPSON: Good morning.

25 MR. SMITH: My name is Aaron Jacob Smith.
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1 I'm the coordinating attorney for Clean Air Council, a

2 member-supported organization that has been fighting

3 for over 40 years to protect everyone's right to

4 breathe clean air.

5 I'm very grateful for the opportunity to

6 offer this testimony to you today. And I'll be

7 testifying on EPA's proposed methane regulations.

8 The Clear Air Council commends the EPA for

9 recognizing that the gas industry has a methane

10 problem. The proposed rules are an important first

11 step in forcing industry to curb the release of methane

12 and the hazardous air pollutants and smog-forming gases

13 that are dumped into our air along with it. However,

14 given the immediacy of the threat posed by climate

15 change and the direct local adverse impact the gas

16 industry is having on the health of Pennsylvania

17 residents, the Council urges EPA to go further.

18 The climate science is clear. We must

19 stop the release of heat-trapping gases. With

20 devastating wildfires ranging to our West and the odds

21 increasing of future Sandy-strength hurricanes ravaging

22 our coasts, delay is not an option. Which makes

23 methane pollution an issue of particular concern. It

24 traps far more heat than carbon dioxide. On a 20-year

25 time scale, the release of just one ton of methane has
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1 the same effect as emitting 86 tons of carbon dioxide.

2 Industry claims that methane are

3 dropped -- methane emissions are dropping must be met

4 with both skepticism and an understanding that we

5 cannot tolerate leaks at any level.

6 Studies show that emissions factors used

7 by industry to self-report pollution levels may lead to

8 gross under-estimations of total emissions and the

9 inventories failed to include significant sources of

10 air pollution.

11 In a recent review of the Barnett Shale

12 region, researchers estimate that actual emissions

13 could be 1.5 times higher than reported in this

14 Agency's greenhouse gas inventory.

15 Further, top down studies measuring the

16 methane actually found in the air continue to find much

17 more methane than our inventories would predict. And

18 to the extent that inventories show a drop in

19 emissions, under certain source categories, it should

20 come as no surprise to this agency that the sources

21 most responsible for the drop are those that are

22 subject to your previously-issued New Source

23 Performance Standards. All of this reinforces the

24 importance of the regulations at issue today. Methane

25 pollution continues to be a grave problem and strong
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1 regulations must be imposed.

2 But our climate is not the only system

3 under threat. So too is our health. Escaping from our

4 vast natural gas infrastructure, along with methane,

5 our pollutants that cause cancer, respiratory illness,

6 and other harms.

7 Pennsylvania is now the second largest

8 producer of natural gas in the country. And that

9 achievement has come at the cost of the health of

10 Pennsylvanians. In a comparison with northeast

11 Pennsylvania counties, researchers found that hospital

12 utilization rates were noticeably higher in areas in

13 which gas development has occurred. Among the reasons

14 for the increased hospital visits, cardiovascular

15 disease topped the list.

16 To mitigate the threat that the gas

17 industry poses to our climate and health, EPA must

18 adopt rules that are stronger. Most importantly, the

19 EPA cannot ignore the sources of air pollution already

20 in operation. As you've already heard, by 2018, nearly

21 90 percent of well and gas methane emissions will come

22 from sources now in existence. And those -- which are

23 the sources not covered by the proposed rule. This is

24 a gap that must be filled. The draft VOC targeted

25 controlled techniques guidelines will not be enough.
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1 States not in the ozone transport region and ozone not

2 attained areas will not benefit from the full effect of

3 the CTGs. Moreover, where CTGs will be applied, they

4 will leave significant sources of pollution unregulated

5 or under-regulated.

6 For instance, the transmission and storage

7 and distribution segments are not covered at all. More

8 must required from the sources that will be subject to

9 the proposed regulations. For instance, leak detection

10 and repair must be conducted more often. And the

11 failure to report leaks should not be reported.

12 Monthly LDAR should be mandated for all sites. A site

13 should never be allowed to go for a year without

14 equipment base being checked.

15 LDAR monitoring frequency "step down"

16 incentivize operators to fail to find and report leaks.

17 This is bad policy that encourages operators to act

18 contrary to the public interest.

19 In addition to LDAR controls, other

20 controls must be strengthened and more sources must be

21 covered. The Clean Air Council expect to submit

22 detailed technical written comments which will address

23 these issues.

24 The shortcomings in the Proposed Rule

25 leads the Clean Air Council to renew its call to the
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1 Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to

2 build off the work that the EPA has done and establish

3 Pennsylvania as a leader in protecting its residents'

4 health. And the DEP must pass best-in-the-nation

5 methane regulations that apply common sense controls to

6 all new and existing sources of air pollution in the

7 oil and gas sector.

8 Thank you very much.

9 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Smith.

10 Are there any follow-up questions from the

11 panel? Thank you both for your testimony.

12 MR. SMITH: Thank you so much.

13 MR. THOMPSON: At this time I would invite

14 Nadia Steinzor and Patrice Tomcik to please come

15 forward.

16 Good morning. Thanks for coming.

17 Thank you.

18 MS. STEINZOR: I'll go first. My name is

19 Nadia Steinzor, N-A-D-I-A, S-T-E-I-N-Z-O-R. I'm the

20 eastern program coordinator for Earthworks. For over

21 two decades we've worked to protect communities and the

22 environment from the negative impacts of mineral and

23 energy development, while seeking sustainable

24 solutions.

25 We applaud the EPA for recognizing that
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1 oil and gas industry must reduce emissions of methane

2 and VOCs to save both the global climate and the

3 communities that live day in and day out with the

4 negative impacts of operations on their health and

5 quality of life.

6 Overall, we struggle to support the

7 proposed amendments. The rules make sense because the

8 industry hopes to vastly expand production, processing,

9 and transmission facilities, all of which leak and

10 pollute. The rules even provide economic benefits for

11 operators, which may now be persuaded to capture

12 methane for sale, rather than simply continuing to

13 release into the air.

14 For the past year and a half, Earthworks

15 has used a forward-looking infrared or FLIR camera to

16 document emissions from well sites, compressor

17 stations, processing plants and other oil and gas

18 facilities in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and five other

19 states. As the merely 150 videos we've produced

20 clearly show, these leak from many sources and often do

21 so unabated. An industry that constantly tauts its

22 technological achievements and has found a way to drill

23 horizontally in deep shale should not have a problem

24 fixing leaks, inspecting facilities, and installing

25 better equipment.
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1 Federal rules are necessary because

2 operators generally don't reduce emissions unless they

3 are required to and because most states have chosen not

4 to take this step.

5 The industry's promise to consistently

6 apply best practices voluntarily is long past due. For

7 example, there are hundreds of natural gas producers in

8 Pennsylvania and Ohio, yet less than a dozen have

9 joined the EPA's National Gas STAR Program to reduce

10 pollution from natural gas activities.

11 In the meantime, a growing body of

12 scientific evidence confirms the connections between

13 emissions from wells and facilities and health

14 problems, such as respiratory distress, dizziness,

15 headaches, neurological damage, nausea and fatigue, and

16 nosebleeds.

17 Proximity to oil and gas operations has

18 also been linked, through research, to increased

19 hospitalizations, lower birth weights, and higher

20 lifetime cancer risk. Nitrogen oxide is one of the

21 primary VOCs associated with oil and gas development,

22 and forms the ozone or smog that can impair breathing,

23 aggravate asthma and permanently damage lungs.

24 Across the eastern states, drilling,

25 processing and distribution activities are on the rise
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1 in areas already classified as non-attainment for

2 ozone.

3 In light of these gray facts, we ask the

4 EPA to, in these current rules, add additional

5 equipment to the list of regulated equipment, in

6 particular, storage tanks, liquids unloading, and well

7 site compressor engines. All of these release methane

8 and hydrocarbons on a regular basis. Omitting them

9 runs counter to the emissions reduction goal of the

10 Proposal Rules.

11 We also ask you to shorten the period that

12 operators have to fix leaks. Six months may be

13 convenient for operators. But nearby residents will

14 suffer the consequences of ongoing exposure. As long

15 as leaks remain unaddressed, emissions levels and

16 pollution will worsen. Days of exposure is already a

17 risky period. Months is simply unconscionable.

18 We also ask that you quantify and monetize

19 the public health benefits of reducing emissions of

20 VOCs and hazardous air pollutants. Without these

21 metrics included, benefits of the rule are understated

22 giving industry the excuses it seems to claim that they

23 are too costly.

24 Most importantly, as others have here

25 today already, we strongly encourage the EPA to begin
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1 work on rules to cover existing sources of methane and

2 VOC emissions, which the Clean Air Act authorizes you

3 to do.

4 The current rules are vital, but they are

5 only the first step toward achieving full regulatory

6 coverage. Across the Marcellus and Utica Shale states,

7 thousands of wells, compressor stations and processing

8 facilities are now operational. In the next few years,

9 most methane emissions from the oil and gas industry

10 will come from sources that already exist today.

11 In closing, Earthworks does not believe

12 that regulating methane will make oil and gas

13 development safe. We've seen damage for far too long

14 in far too many locations. Yet, the proposed rules

15 will reduce emissions and hold the industry accountable

16 for more of the pollution than it causes every day. We

17 look forward to the timely adoption, implementation and

18 enforcement of strong rules which cannot come soon

19 enough for oil and gas field residents.

20 Thank you for your time.

21 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for your

22 testimony. Any follow-up questions from the panel?

23 MR. MOORE: No.

24 MR. THOMPSON: Hearing now Ms. Tomcik.

25 MR. MOORE: Patrice Tomcik, T-O-M-C-I-K.
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1 My name is Patrice Tomcik. And I'm here

2 today as a mother, a member of the Moms Clean Air Force

3 and a member of the Mars Parent Group. I am the face

4 and the voice of the people who are affected by oil and

5 gas development. I am the advocate for all children

6 who suffer from the effects of pollution from the oil

7 and gas industry.

8 The oil and gas industry is currently one

9 of the largest emitters of methane. Methane is an

10 especially potent climate pollutant. It has 84 times

11 the warming power of carbon dioxide over a 20-year

12 timeframe. It is important to know that methane from

13 the oil and gas industry is released along with other

14 pollutants like volatile organic compounds, otherwise

15 known as VOCs. These VOCs are toxic air pollutants

16 that help to form ground level ozone and smog.

17 Ozone is linked to a variety of serious

18 public health impacts, asthma, emergency room visits,

19 and early death. Children are especially sensitive to

20 toxic air pollutants and suffer these effects more than

21 adults.

22 My children attend the school in the Mars

23 Area School District, which is about 30 minutes north

24 here of Pittsburgh. A permanent gas well pad is

25 located approximately half a mile away from the school
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1 campus, which places 3,200 students at ground zero for

2 exposures if its developed.

3 Personally, I am especially fearful for my

4 youngest who had leukemia. So I know he's even more

5 vulnerable to the air pollution. He's in a sensitive

6 subgroup of a sensitive group. One of the VOCs found

7 at the gas well pad is benzene, which is a carcinogen

8 and is known to cause leukemia. I fear for my son's

9 health.

10 My friend, Rick, has a son who has asthma.

11 His name is Will. And he attends the Mars Area School

12 District. The family checks the air quality every day

13 to determine what their outdoor activity will be. On

14 days of high ozone, all outside plans are canceled

15 because Will's past history has shown that it can

16 trigger an asthma attack.

17 Rick worries that the potential air

18 pollution from the well pad could trigger an asthma

19 attack, especially on a day when gym class is outside.

20 Will is in the sensitive subgroup of a sensitive group

21 also.

22 Rick and I, along with other parents in

23 the Mars Area School District, are angry that we have

24 to make a difficult choice of having to pull our

25 children from their schools in fear of their health.
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1 But for many who live next to the oil and gas

2 development, there is no choice.

3 My friend and her daughter, Olivia, who is

4 five years old, live 1,300 feet from a gas well pad.

5 Olivia had nosebleeds and sore throats while the well

6 pad was being developed. This is where Olivia lives

7 and plays, near gas development.

8 The family has moved away for fear of the

9 family's health. The current rules and regulations are

10 not protective of Olivia's health.

11 A woman in Washington County, PA lives 500

12 feet from a cryogenic processing plant. She's also

13 surrounded by multiple well pads, pipelines and a newly

14 committed compressor station. The family smell odors

15 in the air and suffers from frequent headaches and

16 watery eyes. Her four-year-old daughter developed a

17 respiratory airway disease since age 1 1/2 and has been

18 diagnosed with pneumonia in the past. Her mother said

19 she had SUMMA canister testing showing spikes in VOCs,

20 and her urine tests have come back positive for many of

21 the same chemicals used or found in the gas industry.

22 The mother suffers from anxiety of what

23 the long-term effects are for her family and is angry

24 because the family's health has already been affected.

25 And nobody was there to protect them for five years.
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1 Thankfully the family just sold their

2 house one month ago and can't wait to escape.

3 Tragically, there are many people who are unable to

4 move, escape to healthier, cleaner air. Where is the

5 protection?

6 The public is left to fight their own

7 protection like we have in Mars, PA. Industry's

8 self-regulating does not work. Only a handful of oil

9 and gas companies participate in the EPA's Natural Gas

10 STAR Program, which is a voluntarily effort to reduce

11 emissions.

12 Nationwide, the people, especially

13 children, need stronger protective emission rules

14 because industry does what is inspected. They do not

15 do what is expected.

16 As a mom, I want children now, and in the

17 future generations to have safe, clean environment and

18 to give the opportunity for a healthy life. There must

19 be action taken now. This is why I've joined Moms

20 Clean Air Force, along with 570,000 members to fight to

21 limit the methane emissions that contribute to global

22 warming and climate change.

23 Thank you very much.

24 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you very much for

25 your testimony. Are there any follow-up questions from
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1 the panel?

2 MR. MOORE: Yes. Could you clarify for us

3 that are -- who are not as familiar with the geography

4 of Pennsylvania, where is Mars located?

5 MR. HVOZDOVICH: It's about 30 minutes

6 north from Pittsburgh.

7 MR. MOORE: Thank you.

8 MR. THOMPSON: Additional follow-up?

9 Thank You both very much for your testimony today.

10 MS. STEINZOR: Are you taking --

11 MR. THOMPSON: At the registration table,

12 please.

13 MS. STEINZOR: Thank you.

14 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you. Okay. At this

15 time I would like Steven Hamburg and Steve Hvozdovich

16 to please come forward with their testimony.

17 Good morning, gentlemen. I'd like to

18 begin with Mr. Hamburg, please.

19 MR. HAMBURG: Thanks very much. My name

20 is Steven Hamburg. I'm the chief scientist at the

21 Environmental Defense Fund, where I've lead the largest

22 scientific effort to date quantifying and characterize

23 methane emissions across the U.S. natural gas supply

24 chain.

25 On behalf of the EDF and our more than one
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1 million members nationwide and 75,000 members here in

2 Pennsylvania, thank you very much for having -- for the

3 opportunity to testify at today's EPA's proposed -- on

4 today's EPA's proposed standards to address methane

5 emissions from oil and gas sector.

6 We strongly support the EPA's proposed

7 standards and believe there are several areas where the

8 standards must be strengthened to ensure they are

9 rigorous.

10 The EPA's most recent inventory estimates

11 methane emissions from oil and gas exceeded 7 million

12 metric tons per year, equivalent to the 20-year climate

13 warming effect of 160 coal-fired power plants.

14 But recent scientific studies clearly

15 indicate that methane emissions from the natural gas

16 supply chain are substantially higher than indicated by

17 EPA's inventory.

18 In 2013, in the Barnett Shale region,

19 which was just referred to by another speaker, EDF led

20 the largest effort ever undertaken to quantify methane

21 emissions at this regional scale using multiple

22 simultaneous top-down and bottom-up approaches. The

23 results made it clear that emissions from the oil and

24 gas sector were at least 50 percent higher than

25 estimates based on the EPA greenhouse gas inventory.
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1 EPA's inventory of methane emissions

2 provides a solid estimate of many of the components and

3 factors considered. Yet, there are several important

4 factors not being considered in the inventory,

5 including the importance of large emission sources

6 across the natural gas supply chain, as well as

7 significant underestimates of the number of emitting

8 sources, such as compressor stations and pipelines.

9 Fortunately, there are readily available

10 low-cost solutions that can substantially reduce

11 emissions. Methane emissions can be cut by 40 percent

12 for only one penny per thousand cubic feet of natural

13 gas produced. States like Colorado, Wyoming and Ohio

14 have already employed common sense solutions that help

15 protect the environment and promote economic

16 development.

17 Industrial areas like Pittsburgh stand to

18 benefit immensely from the reduction in regional

19 methane emissions and associated air pollutants that

20 lead to health-harming ozone. More than four million

21 Pennsylvanians live in areas where ozone levels exceed

22 national clean air standards. These are areas that

23 contain over 17,000 oil and gas wells. Applying common

24 sense measures here in Pennsylvania, the second --

25 nations second largest natural producing state will
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1 capture valuable natural gas for sale while reducing

2 methane emissions. In fact, many Pennsylvania

3 companies are producing equipment that can help reduce

4 methane waste and pollution.

5 EPA's proposed standards for new and

6 modified sources and CTGs for sources in ozone

7 non-attainment areas are an important step forward.

8 But we urge the Agency to both strengthen them and

9 adopt other clean air measures to help secure cleaner

10 air in Pennsylvania and the rest of the region.

11 I want to highlight three specific issues.

12 One EDF supports the EPA's proposal to cover new and

13 modified methane emissions sources. The Agency

14 developed a strong scientific and technical basis for

15 addressing these sources through its peer review, White

16 Paper process.

17 Two, EDF strongly urges EPA to strengthen

18 leak detection and repair provisions. The proposed

19 standards call for semi-annual LDAR monitoring with

20 opportunities for facilities to reduce the frequency of

21 monitoring even further.

22 There is a common finding among dozens of

23 scientific studies that a relatively small number of

24 high-emitting components and sites are responsible for

25 a large fraction of total methane emissions from the
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1 natural gas supply chain. Frequent LDAR to find and

2 fix these leaks is essential to effectively reducing

3 methane emissions. These large leaks can emerge

4 anywhere at any time and are difficult to predict when

5 and where they will occur a priori.

6 States like Colorado and Wyoming have

7 recognized that more frequent monitoring is necessary

8 and cost-effective. Accordingly, we urge EPA to

9 finalize an LDAR program that requires at least

10 quarterly monitoring and is not subject to adjustment

11 based on a facility's percentage of leaking components.

12 There's no data to suggest that the

13 absence of leaks in a single facility over some period

14 is a good predictor of the probability of a leak

15 developing in the future.

16 Three, finally, we respectfully urge EPA

17 and leading states, like Pennsylvania, to build from

18 this important step and take action to address

19 emissions from existing sources.

20 ICF found that existing sources account

21 for almost 90 percent of the oil and gas sector.

22 Moreover, the same technologies and practices that can

23 minimize emissions from new sources are likewise

24 capable of reducing emissions from existing sources.

25 Building from the -- building from the
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1 steps, EPA's proposal will help reduce emissions in all

2 communities across the country where there is oil and

3 gas development.

4 Again, on behalf of the Environmental

5 Defense Fund, our Pennsylvania members thank you for

6 the opportunity to testify at today's hearing. This is

7 a critical step forward that will begin to secure the

8 needed pollution reductions and avoid waste in domestic

9 energy sources. We appreciate consideration of our

10 comments.

11 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Hamburg.

12 Any follow-up questions of Mr. Hamburg?

13 MR. MOORE: No.

14 MR. HVOZDOVICH: Good morning. My name is

15 Steve Hvozdovich and that's H-V-O-Z-D-O-V-I-C-H. I'm

16 the Pennsylvania Campaign Director for Clean Water

17 Action. We are a national nonprofit environmental

18 organization. We have over a million members in the

19 country. And here in Pennsylvania, we have over

20 100,000 members from across the Commonwealth.

21 It is on behalf of not only my

22 organization, but those 100,000 members that I'm here

23 to speak today, many of whom couldn't make it here

24 because of where they live or because of their work

25 schedule. Also, some of your members, across the
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1 country who might not have been able to make it into

2 one of the EPA -- excuse me, one of the EPA hearings.

3 So it is on behalf of the Clean Water

4 Action then, I -- we strongly support the EPA's

5 proposed methane pollution standards, which is a good

6 first step in reducing methane pollution from new oil

7 and gas wells. And we encourage the EPA to extend

8 these standards to existing infrastructure.

9 Each day the oil and gas industry leaks or

10 intentionally flares methane into the air from its

11 production wells and natural gas distribution

12 infrastructure. Their actions make them the largest

13 industrial source of methane emissions, releasing 8

14 billion metric tons per year, enough to heat 6.5

15 million homes.

16 Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that

17 pound for pound traps upwards of 80 times more heat

18 into our atmosphere than carbon dioxide in the near

19 term. It comes packaged with other pollutants which

20 are key ingredients in smog. These industrial leaks

21 are like an invisible oil spill happening every day.

22 And the oil and gas industry is getting away with it.

23 One recent report predicts that methane

24 emissions will increase five percent in the next five

25 years in the absence of federal emission standards.
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1 Hopefully, we won't have to confront that future if we

2 move forward implementing the EPA's proposed plan and

3 expand it to additional pollution sources already in

4 operation.

5 Some companies have already taken

6 voluntary steps to reduce methane pollution. But

7 voluntary methane reduction measures have not and will

8 not provide our nation's communities and families with

9 necessary comprehensive health and environmental

10 protections. With thousands of producers around the

11 country, only consistent nationals can ensure the

12 companies have a level playing field and people have

13 the protections they deserve.

14 Tackling -- tackling methane emissions is

15 not just good for health and the environment. It's

16 good for the economy as well. These new standards will

17 create high quality jobs in a growing domestic

18 manufacturing and service sector. According to a new

19 report, there are dozens of companies with locations in

20 nearly every state already manufacturing, selling and

21 supporting the proven and cost-effective methane

22 controls available today to address this problem.

23 The efforts in Colorado among energy

24 companies, environmental groups, and state

25 legislature -- and state legislators showed us that we
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1 can work together to find common sense rules to

2 directly limit methane emissions. It is shocking that

3 in that -- coming from that collaboration, as we expand

4 these proposed rules to a more national level, that we

5 would now see opposition to it. When we know that we

6 can work together to reduce methane emissions and

7 protect people's health and the environment.

8 There must be no delay for the EPA's new

9 methane pollution standard that will protect Americans

10 with low-cost safeguards that already exist to plug the

11 leaks and stop the pollution. Clean Water Action

12 encourages the EPA to finalize these sensible

13 protections and put similar prevention measures in

14 place with existing facilities, which under the current

15 plan, will be allowed to continue leaking and flaring

16 methane into the atmosphere. Thank you.

17 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Hvozdovich.

18 Are there any other questions from the panel?

19 MR. MOORE: No.

20 MR. THOMPSON: Okay, gentlemen. Thank you

21 both for your testimony today.

22 At this time I'd like to invite Amy Nassif

23 and Julia Nassif to please come forward.

24 MS. NASSIF: Good morning.

25 MR. THOMPSON: Good morning.
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1 MS. NASSIF: I do appreciate the

2 opportunity to speak to you in support of the proposed

3 EPA methane regulations. My name is Amy Nassif and I

4 live just north of Pittsburgh in Mars in Butler County.

5 You just heard Patrice speak a little bit about our

6 plight up there.

7 This is a large stake-hold for the oil and

8 gas industry. My daughter, Julia, is here with me

9 today. She's my moral support. And she's also here to

10 help give you perspective as you continue to make

11 decisions. Because this isn't about you and I. It's

12 really about her future.

13 Last spring I found out that a six well

14 site for unconventional gas drilling was proposed about

15 half a mile away from her school. I joined with other

16 concerned parents. I formed the Mars Parent Group

17 which has now over 400 members in Butler County.

18 We began to collect data and peer-reviewed

19 research regarding the consequences of such a proposal.

20 What alarmed me immediately was the lack of our public

21 officials' knowledge into the health and safety risks

22 for our children near these well sites, let alone any

23 insight to our environment.

24 Over the past year, I've spoken to our

25 local school board, local Township officials, state
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1 representatives, state Senators, DEP officials, and

2 even traveled to Harrisburg to speak to DEP officials.

3 Last week I actually had the opportunity

4 to share this information internationally with a

5 British member of Parliament, Kevin Hollinrake. He

6 traveled to Pennsylvania to speak to the Mars Parent

7 Group and others in this state to investigate the

8 consequences of shale development prior to making a

9 decision on permitting it. I took notice immediately

10 that he was investigating prior to making a decision.

11 And that he does not receive financial benefits from

12 the industry. He welcomed information and has returned

13 to England to discuss it with his constituency and

14 fellow members of Parliament.

15 As with Mr. Hollinrake, I continue to

16 share the data and research regarding all of the

17 incidents, accidents, methane, VOCs, benzene, and

18 diesel exhaust with all of our local officials. A

19 cautionary plea from a mother that wants to immediately

20 protect her children from this heavy volatile oil and

21 gas industry, and in the long-term, protect her future.

22 Representatives for the EPA, I now find

23 myself talking to you. I never thought that I would be

24 sitting here a year and a half ago. I was a PTA mom, a

25 physical therapist, you know, going to soccer practice,
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1 like every other mom out there. But now I'm here in

2 front of you, imploring you to heed these warnings,

3 respect the collateral damage that you've heard,

4 analyze the data that all the experts are bringing to

5 you, and follow that peer-reviewed research.

6 The regulations you are now proposing are

7 recognition of what we all need. And that's

8 protection. You will have many more testifying before

9 you today, including experts in industry, that will

10 provide the percentages that are meant to patronize and

11 disregard my statement today, describing my statements

12 as unpatriotic, and possibly even my support of this

13 regulation would cost money or jobs. Regardless, I

14 stand by my statement. I want you to protect my

15 daughter. Her sister, who's in school, she didn't get

16 to come and 3,200 of their friends in the Mars Area

17 School District.

18 The current regulations are not enough to

19 protect them or their future. I support, along with

20 the other 400 parents in my group, the EPA's proposed

21 climate, air quality, and permitting rules for the oil

22 and natural gas industry. Self-policing does not work.

23 Based on my experiences over the past

24 year, I have resigned myself to the fact that I can't

25 make this all go away. I can't fix it either. But I
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1 can ask for your help. The oil and gas industry is

2 getting closer and closer to my children. I demand

3 industry accountability and responsibility. And I

4 certainly do not want any more excuses.

5 I appreciate you listening to my statement

6 today. Please remember Julia and her friends as all of

7 this public comment starts to become divisive dialogue.

8 They need better regulations to protect their health

9 and their environment. And the EPA's sole purpose is

10 to take those steps. Thank you.

11 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Ms. Nassif.

12 And, Julia, do you have anything you would

13 like to say? No? Well, thank you both for being here

14 today. I thank you.

15 At this time I would like to invite Dan

16 Scheid and Mark Gorog to please come forward.

17 G-O-R-O-G.

18 Good morning, gentlemen.

19 MR. GOROG: Good morning.

20 MR. SCHEID: Good morning.

21 My name is Dan Scheid. D-A-N,

22 S-C-H-E-I-D. I want to thank the EPA for proposing

23 this standard on methane emissions which is crucial to

24 slow climate change, to improve public health, and to

25 protect our children's future. I also thank you for
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1 inviting public discussion on this issue. It's not a

2 special interest or partisan issue. But it's a vital

3 concern to every personnel living on the planet, and

4 especially every resident of Pennsylvania, and to every

5 American.

6 I speak today not only as a resident of

7 Pittsburgh but also as a person of faith, as a Catholic

8 who's been inspired by the recent visit of Pope

9 Francis. As some of you may know, Pope Francis issued

10 a major document called Laudato Si on care of our

11 common home in June of this year. In the Laudato Si,

12 Pope Francis continues the Catholic Church's

13 long-standing teaching on climate change, affirming

14 that it is real, that it is a moral issue, and the

15 prudence of it needs immediate and urgent action.

16 Encyclical follows the familiar format for Catholic

17 teaching. See. Judge. Act.

18 The first element is to see what is

19 happening, rely on the best scientific research

20 available. And science is telling us that methane

21 pollution persists for decades. That industry releases

22 millions of tons of methane and toxic chemicals into

23 the air every year. That without new limits on methane

24 pollution, emissions from the oil and gas industry will

25 increase by 25 percent in the next ten years. That in
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1 some areas, methane emissions are even higher than the

2 EPA currently reports. And importantly, especially for

3 Catholic teaching, methane and other toxic air

4 pollutants exposes neighboring communities to harmful

5 pollution and can cause serious health problems,

6 including cancer, asthma, and other respiratory

7 illnesses. Toxic emissions, particularly impact

8 vulnerable groups like children and the elderly, as

9 you've heard in statements already today.

10 The second statement Francis makes is to

11 judge through the lens of faith. That is, to

12 understand and to interpret the ecological crisis

13 according to theological and moral principles from the

14 tradition. There is, as he says, a gospel of creation.

15 And some of the principles he lays out include that we

16 need to approach nature with awe, wonder, and joy; that

17 the earth is not just a resource, but indeed is a

18 common home for all. The climate in particular, he

19 tells us, is a common good belonging to all, meant for

20 all.

21 We must pay special attention to the poor,

22 who would be most impacted and have the least power to

23 respond. And looking through with the eyes of faith,

24 we should understand that creator has always intended

25 creatures to live connected to and dependent on each
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1 other.

2 "The gaze of Jesus," he says, "invites

3 us," he says, quote, "to be intensive to the beauty

4 that there is in the world and to perceive the divine

5 message of the creator's love in each thing." He says,

6 "Creation is of the order of love."

7 I think Pope Francis takes us to the heart

8 of what is it is to be human. That we are linked to

9 all creatures, humans, the cosmos because of our one

10 creator. And because of this divine plan, we should

11 treat all creatures with love and respect and pay

12 special attention to the vulnerable.

13 Finally, in light of these faith

14 convictions and moral standards, Pope Francis calls us

15 to action. Reducing greenhouse gases, he tells us,

16 quote, "requires honesty, courage, and responsibility."

17 We all called to respond, in our individual lives, in

18 our families, in our neighborhoods, our communities.

19 And in all of this, national policies also have a vital

20 and indispensable role.

21 Pope Francis specifically challenges

22 elected leaders to have the courage to enact those

23 policies that we need on behalf of future generations

24 and the earth itself. If they do so, he says, quote,

25 "they will attest to their God-given dignity and leave
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1 behind a testimony of selfless responsibility."

2 And so I thank the EPA, again, for

3 proposing stronger methane emission standards. Please

4 embody courageous under the leadership and help us heed

5 the moral call to act. The proposed standards would

6 reduce methane and other toxic air pollution. The

7 standards will protect Americans with low-cost

8 safeguards that already exist. And industry needs

9 these standards to find the impetus to implement them.

10 On behalf of the common good, it is

11 important to act for the health of children, and for

12 the elderly, for future generations, and indeed for us

13 all.

14 So on behalf of the Catholic community,

15 which I'm just one small member, but inspired by Pope

16 Francis, please let us act with love. Let us act with

17 prudence and courage. Let us act with justice. I urge

18 you, do not delay in implementing the EPA's new methane

19 pollution standard.

20 Thank you.

21 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Scheid. Any

22 follow-up questions of Mr. Scheid?

23 MR. MOORE: No.

24 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you.

25 Move the mic. There you go.
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1 MR. GOROG: Good morning.

2 MR. THOMPSON: Good morning.

3 MR. GOROG: My name is Mark Gorog. And I

4 am testifying on behalf of the Pennsylvania Department

5 of Environmental Protection, PA DEP, concerning the

6 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, proposed oil

7 and gas sector emissions standards for new and modified

8 sources.

9 The proposed New Source Performance

10 Standards, NSPS, published in the Federal Register on

11 September 18, 2015, will reduce volatile organic

12 compounds, VOC, and methane emissions sources,

13 processes, and activities in the oil and natural gas

14 operations. The NSPS proposal will also regulate

15 sources that are not covered under EPA's subpart RR

16 provisions adopted in 2012 for the oil and natural gas

17 sector.

18 Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, GHG

19 pollutant, and is also the primary component in natural

20 gas. The PA DEP supports EPA's proposed -- proposal to

21 achieve additional VOCs and methane emission reductions

22 from the oil and natural gas sector. As proposed,

23 however, methane emissions will only be reduced as a

24 co-benefit of the VOC emission reductions.

25 We urge the EPA to regulate methane
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1 emissions directly from sources in the oil and gas

2 industry under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act. As

3 currently proposed, further reductions in methane

4 emissions from natural gas sources located in dry gas

5 areas of the Commonwealth, i.e., north central and

6 northeast regions would not be achieved under the

7 proposal.

8 PA DEP has had a comprehensive permitting

9 program to achieve reductions of air contaminates,

10 including methane, VOCs, and nitrogen oxides, NOX, from

11 sources at natural gas production, compression,

12 processing, and transmission facilities.

13 The Department's conditional exemption

14 criteria for sources at well sites and general permit

15 for sources of natural gas compression and processing

16 facilities, GP-5, require source owners and operators

17 to comply with stringent requirements, including a leak

18 detention and repair, LDAR program, for any type of

19 leak. PA DEP's LDAR requirements specifically target

20 reduction of methane emissions.

21 Unlike Pennsylvania LDAR requirements,

22 EPA's proposed LDAR requirements, which apply solely to

23 VOC leaks, would not address methane leaks at dry gas

24 drilling, compression, and processing operations.

25 EPA is proposing that the first attempt
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1 repairing leaks occur within five calendar days after

2 the leak is detected. Repair of the leak would be

3 completed no later than 15 days after detection of

4 fugitive emissions.

5 The PA DEP strongly recommends strong leak

6 detection and repair requirements and is currently

7 evaluating stronger state specific LDAR requirements.

8 Under the NSPS proposal, LDAR surveys

9 would be conducted semi-annually or annually.

10 Consistent with the Department's GP-5 requirements,

11 LDAR surveys should be performed on a quarterly basis.

12 EPA's proposed NSPS do not require any

13 major sources to reduce VOC emissions from truck

14 loading operations. We recommend that EPA adopt truck

15 loading requirements consistent with PA DEP's

16 permitting conditions, which require at least a

17 95 percent level of control for VOC emissions from

18 truck loading operations.

19 The proposed NSPS amendments do not

20 include requirements for pigging operations, which are

21 significant sources of methane and VOC emissions. The

22 EPA should establish regulatory provisions for control

23 or recovery of methane and VOC emissions from pigging

24 operations in the oil and gas industry.

25 In the final rule making, we strongly urge
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1 the EPA to address methane leaks directly, not as a

2 collateral benefit of VOC reductions. EPA's final NSPS

3 must address dry gas operations, as well as VOC and

4 methane emissions from central impoundments that

5 produce water.

6 Thank you for the opportunity to testify

7 on the proposed NSPS for new and modified sources in

8 the oil and natural gas sector. PA DEP will submit

9 detailed written comments to the EPA by November 17,

10 2015.

11 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for your

12 testimony. Any follow-up questions for Mr. Gorog?

13 MR. MOORE: No.

14 MR. THOMPSON: Okay, gentlemen. Thank you

15 very much for being here today. We appreciate it.

16 At this time I would like to invite

17 Cricket Hunter and Jackie Smathers to please come

18 forward for testimony.

19 Good morning.

20 MS. HUNTER: Good morning.

21 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you both for being

22 here. I would like to start with you.

23 MS. HUNTER: My name is Cricket Hunter,

24 just like it sounds. So my name is Cricket Eccleston

25 Hunter. And I am the director of Program and Outreach
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1 for Pennsylvania Interfaith Power & Light, one of 40

2 state affiliates of Interfaith Power & Light for

3 religious response to climate change.

4 Let me begin with thank you. I sat in

5 this building, this room, actually, 14 months ago and

6 praised the Clean Power Plan as a good beginning, and I

7 asked the EPA to quickly address extractive emissions,

8 since end use emissions only tell a portion of the

9 story. So thank you.

10 This new proposal is a good beginning,

11 too. We cannot now pretend ignorance about the

12 immediate health effects of VOCs, nor the smog they

13 react to create, nor can we pretend any longer that the

14 volume of escaping methane, the greenhouse gas 80 times

15 more powerful than carbon dioxide the first 20 years is

16 negligible. Every time fugitive emissions are

17 estimated and measures -- measured, it seems that the

18 estimates rise. FLIR cameras capture vast undetected

19 emissions even at operations that work hard to use best

20 practices. We cannot possibly count on every one of

21 the 450 companies of oil and gas operations in

22 Pennsylvania alone to use best practices. Not all 450

23 companies are the best. Expand that by including

24 subcontractors, and the opportunity for harm increases.

25 No, while we would like to assume the best
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1 of every one of these companies and every one of these

2 workers every day, we need a safeguard. And for the

3 best, we need a level playing field. We need, for

4 companies and their shareholders, to understand that

5 our atmosphere and the air we breathe are not free.

6 They are precious. They are life-giving.

7 Understanding that, how could we, in good conscience,

8 permit new operations as leaky as the old. So these

9 new limits are a good start -- a good start, but -- but

10 compressors at well sites are an important part of the

11 picture, and they are currently omitted. But regular

12 inspections should be required for all operations,

13 quarterly at least, to keep honest people honest, as my

14 grandmother would say, and to catch mistakes.

15 But we need methane and VOCs addressed for

16 existing operations too. Or the Clean Power Plan

17 shortsightedly implemented with an eye only on end use

18 emissions will lead us into a three steps forward and

19 two steps back dance that lands us far too close to

20 where we started out.

21 Last week in his address to Congress, Pope

22 Francis elevated the calling of our elected

23 representatives. He said, "You are called to defend

24 and preserve the dignity of your fellow citizens in

25 tireless and demanding pursuit of the common good. For
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1 this is the chief aim of all politics."

2 In that same speech, Pope Francis offered

3 another ideal, one for administering a law, as you are

4 charged with doing. "We protect by means of the law,

5 the image and likeness fashioned by God on every human

6 face." Protect the faces of the workers daily exposed

7 to leaks and smog. Protect the faces of the children

8 in the yard of the neighboring school. Protect the

9 faces of the poor, standing in the way of the next

10 Sandy or Katrina.

11 People of faith will continue to pray.

12 Congregations will continue to serve those at the bust

13 end of boom and bust extraction economy. To feed those

14 hungry because of crop failure, homeless because of

15 storm, or fleeing from warming fueled conflict. We

16 will continue to cut our energy use, becoming better

17 disciplined stewards of the land and of one another.

18 Christians may turn to Matthew 25 for inspiration;

19 truly, I tell you, whatever you did unto one of the

20 least of my brethren, that you did unto me. Others

21 will site the Golden Rule or recall Scripture from

22 their own traditions. We will pray for inspiration and

23 for courage for the full spectrum of hopeful, skillful,

24 and creative work that can bring us back into full

25 community. We will pray with our hearts and hands.
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1 And we are asking you to act quickly in your work.

2 Limit the harm we have tacitly agreed to. Limit the

3 harm we are doing to one another and to creation. This

4 proposed limit, though "we will not create more harm"

5 limit is a start. But surely, we can do better.

6 Strengthen this limit and then begin the next one,

7 challenging us to address wrongs already built.

8 Thank you.

9 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Ms. Hunter.

10 Are there any follow-up questions from the

11 panel?

12 MR. MOORE: No.

13 MR. THOMPSON: Very good. Ms. Smathers.

14 MS. SMATHERS: Good morning. Thank you

15 for this opportunity here today.

16 My name is Jacqueline Smathers. And my

17 concern for my three children and the other 3,200

18 children who attend the Mars Area School District is

19 what brought me here today to speak in support of the

20 proposed EPA methane regulations.

21 The catalyst for my involvement in this

22 issue was the announcement of plans by Rice Energy to

23 place six unconventional gas wells six-tenths of a

24 mile from Mars Area School campus where 3,200 children,

25 including my own, congregate daily. Upon this
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1 announcement, a group of parents got together to

2 research what these wells would mean for the children

3 of the Mars Area School District. We formed what is

4 now called Mars Parent Group.

5 At the start of this process, we

6 optimistically tried to verify the industry's claim

7 that setting up industrial sites in residential areas

8 and so close to our children's schools is safe. But we

9 found research -- research to support that claim to be

10 illusive. In fact, alarmingly absent. To use words of

11 Dr. Jerome Paulson, the claims of safety were based on

12 wishful thinking. Instead, we found an overwhelmingly

13 base of scientific evidence showing the oil and gas

14 industry is polluting our air with methane and fugitive

15 emissions. Even so, this industry continues to be

16 permitted to industrialize our residential communities

17 and expose Pennsylvania families to industrial accident

18 risks and toxic air pollutants.

19 Through our research of all available

20 information, my eyes were immediately opened to the

21 huge issues we are facing here in Pennsylvania, with

22 over 10,000 wells permitted, and projections of 196,000

23 to be drilled.

24 Methane emissions have a big impact not

25 only on climate change but also children's health.
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1 Studies right here in PA have shown that families

2 living near a heavy oil and gas development have lower

3 birth weight babies, higher incidents of asthma,

4 stillbirth, and cancer in children ages zero to five

5 years, when compared to the rest of PA children.

6 Over 380 unconventional gas wells and over

7 40 compressor stations operating within a one-mile

8 radius of Southwestern Pennsylvania public schools. We

9 are surrounded by gas development where we live, work,

10 learn, and play.

11 Despite industry protests, we can enact

12 change to better protect the air we breathe from this

13 pollution.

14 Since industry opposition was voiced, when

15 lawmakers called for the removal of lead from gasoline

16 to protect public health -- similar industry opposition

17 was voiced when lawmakers called for the removal of

18 lead from gasoline to protect public health. Thanks to

19 unleaded gasoline, the Clean Air Act and catalytic

20 converter, we saw methane emissions from passenger cars

21 fall by 77 percent from 1990 to 2009.

22 Parents like myself feel abandoned by our

23 elected representatives of regulators. We have been

24 left to forge ahead on our own to protect our children

25 from these hazards. There has been no health, no
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1 interest from government agencies at the local or state

2 level in helping us truly protect our families, and

3 this must change. We are asking for your help.

4 Eliminating methane emissions from new and

5 existing development is the first of many giant leaps

6 that we must take to protect our children from exposure

7 to the oil and gas industry. Our nation's most

8 precious resource is truly our children. Please don't

9 delay and put the next generation in the position of

10 looking back and wondering why we didn't act when we

11 had the evidence and opportunity to do so. Too often

12 we regrettably learn from hindsight. This does not

13 need to be the case with these regulations. Right now,

14 there's an overwhelming scientific basis, the

15 environmental urgency, and a clear opportunity to take

16 action with conviction and foresight.

17 Thank you.

18 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mrs. Smathers.

19 I just want to -- just for clarification.

20 Was it 3,200 children you say were in this school?

21 MS. SMATHERS: We have a five-school

22 campus of 32,000 children in total.

23 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you.

24 MR. MOORE: I had another clarification

25 question for you. You had mentioned that there were 40
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1 compression stations, and I've got a blank here, number

2 of well sites within a mile of --

3 MS. SMATHERS: Yes. 380, I think it is.

4 MR. MOORE: All right. Thank you both.

5 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you both for your

6 testimony.

7 At this time I would like to invite Aviva

8 Diamond and Laura Burns to please come forward for

9 testimony.

10 You can begin by stating and spell your

11 name for the court reporter, please.

12 MS. DIAMOND: Good morning. My name is

13 Aviva Diamond, A-V-I-V-A, D-I-A-M-O-N-D.

14 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you.

15 MS. DIAMOND: And I am the Western

16 Pennsylvania field organizer for Moms Clean Air Force.

17 Moms Clean Air Force thanks the EPA for

18 the opportunity to comment. Moms Clean Air Force is a

19 nonprofit and non-partisan environmental organization

20 with over 570,000 members nationally; and approximately

21 30,000 members in Pennsylvania. We are a community of

22 parents fighting for clean air and healthy kids. And

23 our mission is to arm our members with reliable

24 information and solutions through online resources,

25 articles, action tools, and on the ground events.
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1 As a representative of Moms Clean Air

2 Force, I am delivering these notecards signed by

3 Pennsylvanians supporting strong standards limiting

4 pollution from oil and gas operations.

5 I am a trained biomedical research

6 scientist with a doctorate in Molecular Genetics and

7 Microbiology. As a graduate student and postdoctoral

8 researcher, I've read numerous primary research studies

9 and comprehensively analyzed copious amounts of data to

10 form and be able to defend independent conclusions. I

11 designed experiments utilizing a model system to test

12 the problem and identify an explanation.

13 I also hold a Master of Science Degree in

14 Health Care Policy and Analysis and Management from

15 Hines College of Carnegie Mellon University. Here I

16 learned to evaluate multifactorial issues from

17 different perspectives and carefully consider social,

18 economic, and public health approaches to significant

19 public policy issues. Mostly importantly, I am a

20 mother to a wonderful one-year-old daughter.

21 My remarks to you today reflect my

22 professional preparation and my personal concerns.

23 Modern medicine demands physicians to first do no harm.

24 In contrast, we, as a people, are permitting our

25 environment to first be harmed and then we look for
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1 solutions to alleviate the problem. I believe a better

2 approach would be to prevent the harm in the first

3 place. Consider dirty, coal-fired power plants to be

4 like cancerous tumors with clearly defined margins in

5 our communities. When producing electricity, the power

6 plant belches harmful toxins into the air. And when

7 shut down or effectively removed, the air is, in time,

8 returned to an almost untarnished state. The power

9 plant or the tumor is excised and the community is

10 healed.

11 Now consider fracking wells. They are

12 numerous and have spread exponentially throughout

13 Western Pennsylvania. Fracking wells do not have

14 clearly defined margins, as fracking pollution spews

15 into our community's water supply. As such, fracking

16 pollution from oil and gas industry is metastatic and

17 indelibly enters our water supply. Removing one well

18 does not have measurable environmental and public

19 health impacts due to the ten new wells that are

20 developed elsewhere in its place.

21 My analogy leads me to the conclusion that

22 fracking is similar to the growth of metastatic cancer

23 on our earth. This is a national problem that needs a

24 national solution. Our country needs the EPA to enact

25 the strongest possible rules to reduce methane
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1 pollution from the oil and gas industry. These

2 regulations are critical to holding industry

3 accountable for creating and sustaining a serious

4 disease on our shared land.

5 Science teaches us to be precise and

6 diligent in evaluating complex problems. Public policy

7 teaches us to scrutinize multiple frameworks when

8 considering intricate social issues. Motherhood gets

9 to the true heart of the matter immediately and

10 intimately because it is our children who will most

11 benefit or be harmed by the actions we collectively

12 take.

13 Thank you.

14 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for your

15 testimony. Are there any follow-up questions?

16 MR. MOORE: No.

17 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you very much for

18 being here to both of you.

19 Is Laura Burns present? No. Just give it

20 to the registration table as well.

21 No Laura Burns? Okay. We're going to

22 take a break. Let's reconvene here at 11:00 a.m. All

23 right. Thank you.

24 (Recess in proceedings.)

25 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. Ladies and
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1 gentlemen, we would like to get started again, so if

2 folks could take their seats. Thank you.

3 At this time I would like to invite

4 Reverend Paul Lubold and Dave McMahon, I think I have

5 here. Please come forward for testimony.

6 MR. LUBOLD: Yes, sir.

7 MR. THOMPSON: Good morning, gentlemen.

8 MR. LUBOLD: Good morning.

9 MR. THOMPSON: Thanks for coming.

10 Sir Lubold, if you could state your name

11 and spell it for the court reporter and then begin your

12 testimony.

13 MR. LUBOLD: I am Paul Lubold. Last name

14 is L-U-B-O-L-D.

15 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you.

16 MR. LUBOLD: As a leader in the Christian

17 faith community, I want to thank the EPA for proposing

18 to limit methane pollution. I was along with

19 400,000-plus people who gathered last year in New York

20 City to raise the awareness of global climate change.

21 I believe I'm convinced that it is a life-threatening

22 issue. Climate change involves melting polar icecaps,

23 rising sea levels. But that is just the tip of the

24 iceberg. Excuse my word choice.

25 Limiting methane pollution will be a
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1 positive step toward controlling an environmental and

2 public health problem. I'm here to raise my voice to

3 urge the EPA to act on the new methane pollution

4 standard.

5 In the biblical account of creation on

6 each of the six days, when God finished the daily work,

7 a heavenly voice declared it was good. But on the

8 sixth day, the pinnacle of creation, human beings were

9 made and were given the responsibility to care for

10 God's creation that had just been newly created. The

11 Creator looked down that day and said, "It is very

12 good." All was peaceful and serene until we got

13 selfish. Our greed took over. And being caretakers or

14 stewards of God's creation became less and less

15 important as the earth, and all of it is therein,

16 became a commodity. Rather than appreciate and care

17 for the earth, humans focused more on what can I get

18 out of it? For all of these centuries, earth's natural

19 resources were thought to be boundless. We thought use

20 it up. They'll be more. And while we were using it

21 up, we weren't too concerned about the repercussions.

22 I had the honor of being a part of panel

23 discussion this past summer. It was in response to the

24 papal encyclical, "praise be to you on care of our

25 common home." I was the protestant representative
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1 sitting on a broad faith panel that included Buddhists,

2 Hindu, Islam, Roman Catholic, Jewish perspectives.

3 This rich, diverse group spoke in unison and expressed

4 appreciation and support for the work done by the Holy

5 Father, who so eloquently identified the crisis that

6 everyone on the planet is experiencing.

7 I quote from the Papal Encyclical. "The

8 earth now cries out to us because of the harm we have

9 inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of

10 the goods with which God has endowed her."

11 Now, I realize that methane pollution is

12 just one small part of the larger climate change

13 picture. But, again, I offer from the Encyclical,

14 "Climate change is a global problem with grave

15 implications, environmental, social, and economic, and

16 political. And it is one of the principle challenges

17 facing humanity in our day."

18 My personal faith believes that the

19 biblical creation account is but a part of a larger

20 living, ongoing story. And the God -- the God in which

21 I believe, who on the first five days declared, "it is

22 good." On the sixth day took a handful of dirt, molded

23 it in the form of a human being and breathed life into

24 it. We inhaled. We exhaled. And it was indeed good.

25 But God may very well be looking down at
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1 our current generation shaking His head in

2 disappointment. The world grew and became

3 industrialized. We learned to burn things for heat,

4 transportation, to generate power, manufacture goods.

5 And when we began to extract fossil fuels from the

6 earth, oh, productivity really took off.

7 I grew up three hours north of Pittsburgh

8 in northwestern Pennsylvania, not far from Drakes well.

9 My hometown is in the Allegheny National Forest.

10 That's an area that flourished during the early part of

11 the last century.

12 MR. THOMPSON: Pardon me for breaking in.

13 Thirty seconds. Your time has expired. I'll give you

14 30 seconds to give us your final thoughts, sir.

15 MR. LUBOLD: To this day, you can still

16 see and smell the remnants of past oil and gas

17 drilling. I believe that no care was given, no thought

18 was put in methane pollution. The materials still sit

19 there busting away. Methane is still being produced,

20 even more so in current oil and gas drilling. The EPA

21 is in a position to put a limit on that pollution. And

22 I urge them to do so.

23 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for your

24 comments.

25 Any follow-up questions for Reverend
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1 Lubold from the panel?

2 MR. MOORE: No.

3 MR. THOMPSON: Go ahead.

4 MR. McMAHON: Hello. Thank you for having

5 me here. I apologize if I look any -- out of sorts. I

6 drove up from Charleston this morning. And I hit a

7 traffic jam, a detour, a debate between my GPS and the

8 road signs, and I decided the -- to listen to the GPS

9 one time and against another (sic), I arrived five

10 minutes early. But then, of course, I had to run from

11 the parking garage, because it wasn't raining when I

12 went in the parking garage. But it was raining when I

13 came out.

14 Anyway, my name is David McMahon. I have

15 some quick handouts of my testimony that you may have

16 in front of you. I appreciate you having that.

17 I am -- I'm a lawyer. I'm also a

18 co-founder of the West Virginia Surface Owners Rights

19 Organization. Our organization has 800 dues-paying

20 members, 500 of them own the surfacing, not the

21 minerals. So they get no benefit when the driller

22 shows up and say, "We're going to put a pad." If --

23 sometimes we can stop them; sometimes we can't.

24 But we do know that other minerals that

25 are often the subject to old leases, offering flat-rate
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1 royalties, that are converted now. But basically,

2 surface owners.

3 I'm also speaking on behalf of the West

4 Virginia Environmental Council. They regret very much

5 they could not have a personal representative here. At

6 the last minute, their officers and appropriate board

7 members that would be perfect to come, could not make

8 it. The E-Council is an umbrella organization for all

9 of the environmental organizations in West Virginia.

10 My handout, No. 1, if you kind of search

11 down through these materials, is a list of the members

12 of the environmental council for whom I'm also

13 speaking. And, again, I urge the lack of a personal

14 representative should not show a lack of support for

15 the strongest possible curbs on EPA minutes from well

16 sites.

17 I'm going to speak first on behalf of the

18 surface owners as opposed to the entire E-Council. The

19 whole pollutions are affected by air pollution. Whole

20 populations are affected by climate change. The

21 surface owners, who do the well pads, are the ground

22 zero of pollution.

23 If you look at my handout No. 2, the first

24 picture, a woman there with Stacy. She and her husband

25 literally built this house themselves. Bought some
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1 quiet place in the country. I think they contracted

2 out the foundation and the plumbing. They did the

3 electrical. They framed it in. That's their roof.

4 They were there about two years. Then page 2 happened.

5 If you look at page 2, if you could still

6 find them in this picture, two years later now.

7 The 625 foot that I've got marked off

8 here, West Virginia passed some -- the Horizontal Well

9 Act a couple of years ago. They said the house

10 couldn't be within 625 feet. You can see that some

11 surface owners still need lots of protection because

12 that isn't nearly enough.

13 Also, that Act had studies that the

14 legislators were supposed to follow up on with our

15 local DEP. That never happened.

16 But the third page is a different pad. I

17 represent these people who tried to keep that pad from

18 coming on them. This is -- nine wells were drilled on

19 this pad. A total of 9.7 miles, a horizontal well pad.

20 Well bores were drilled from this pad on my clients.

21 According to the driller's permit, that --

22 that well pad has a potential of emitting 92 tons of

23 VOCs, volatile organic compounds. 40 tons per year of

24 other pollutants that are subject to the National

25 Ambient Air Quality Standards. 26,000 tons of
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1 greenhouse gases and 8 tons per year of hazardous air

2 pollutants. That's after the treatment that is

3 required by the permit that you see there on that pad.

4 The point that I want to make most

5 strongly is money should not be an issue. They can

6 afford this. As West Virginians, we certainly do not

7 want their oil and gas industry. We don't want them

8 not make the same mistakes with the oil and gas

9 industry that we made with the coal industry. This

10 left behind a legacy of environmental problems, acid

11 mine drainage, and poor health issues. We don't want

12 the same thing to happen for poor health and air

13 pollution, et cetera, with oil and gas.

14 Page 4 of that last one -- I'm sorry, it

15 actually folds out. I forgot. On page 4 of the

16 handout, there's a map that shows the horizontal wells

17 that are drilled from my client's pad like that. All

18 of the red lines are the wells that were drilled.

19 Page 5 shows that the company that drilled

20 them said there would be 1,688 cubic feet of gas

21 generated from every foot of horizontal well pad. So

22 if you multiple that out, I assume three dollars for

23 Mcm, which is a little high now, you get -- remember,

24 the estimated ultimate recovery from the wells on this

25 one pad, over the life of the wells, $250 million. A
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1 quarter billion dollars of gross -- of gas that's going

2 to be generated from this one well pad. There are lots

3 of pads out there.

4 I did a separate analysis of another case

5 where I determined that the Marcellus Shale gas is

6 worth $85,000 per acre in, for example, Marshall

7 County, West Virginia. That doesn't include the

8 liquids that they also sell. And I've seen some

9 royalty statements that show that people making as much

10 money on that. So whatever is required, no matter what

11 they say, the drillers can afford it.

12 My third handout is a set of pictures

13 taken by members of the Environmental Council that

14 shows actual pollution. The first page is -- that's a

15 completed site with a dehydrater on site. That's an

16 air permit. That's the pollution that's coming off.

17 Oh, I see red. I'm sorry.

18 You can view the rest of the pictures

19 yourself. I appreciate that.

20 I just wanted to say the E-Council and the

21 West Virginia surface owners rights organization are

22 the strongest possible controls on methane and other

23 emittents from gas pads and other equipment.

24 Thank you very much.

25 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for your
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1 testimony. Before you go, Reverend Lubold, I would

2 like to submit your written comments downstairs.

3 MR. LUBOLD: I gave them. I did.

4 MR. THOMPSON: You did. Because I'd

5 like -- I'd like to review what you're going to submit

6 sometime during the process.

7 MR. LUBOLD: I turned them in downstairs.

8 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you very much.

9 MR. LUBOLD: I'd also like to add that the

10 E-Council will turn in written comments with an

11 addendum.

12 MR. THOMPSON: Are there any follow-ups?

13 MS. WALTZER: You mentioned that estimated

14 92 tons of VOCs. What was that? What did that

15 represent?

16 MR. MCMAHON: That's when the -- when the

17 driller applied for a permit with our local

18 environmental protection in West Virginia, according to

19 the potential to emit on that permit, that's how much

20 they stated they would be -- would be emitting -- that

21 potential to emit over a year from this well pad after

22 all of this pollution equipment was functioning

23 properly.

24 MS. WALTZER: Thank you.

25 MR. MCMAHON: That number is stated in my
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1 comments.

2 MR. THOMPSON: Additional follow-up?

3 Gentlemen, thank you both for being here today.

4 MR. MCMAHON: Thank you very much.

5 MR. THOMPSON: At this time I would like

6 to invite Reverend Sandy Strauss and Laura Burns.

7 Please come forward.

8 Good morning, ladies.

9 REVEREND STRAUSS: Good morning.

10 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for being here.

11 I'd like to begin with Reverend Strauss.

12 REVEREND STRAUSS: Yes. My name is

13 Reverend Sandra Strauss, S-T-R-A-U-S-S. And I want to

14 thank you for giving me the opportunity to be here

15 today.

16 In 2010, the Pennsylvania Council of

17 Churches adopted a resolution calling for our

18 Commonwealth to protect public health and the

19 environment in all aspects of Marcellus Shale natural

20 gas production, site restoration, and delivery to

21 customers. The industry was still rather new to

22 Pennsylvania, and we thought that natural gas was a

23 more environmentally friendly alternative to coal and

24 other fossil fuels. Our concern was that the industry

25 was growing too quickly without sufficient attention to
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1 regulation that would protect Pennsylvania's citizens

2 and environment.

3 We were driven by our understanding as

4 Christians that all creation is a gift from God, given

5 to us to hold in sacred trust. And that it's our

6 responsibility as humans to protect and preserve the

7 environment for now and for future generations.

8 Well, we began to learn quickly that this

9 rapidly growing industry was not benign, including

10 families losing precious drinking water, health issues

11 in fracking communities, environmental degradation, and

12 wear and tear on roads.

13 Then we began to hear about a more

14 insidious problem, the escape of massive amounts of

15 methane into the air. This so called "cleaner

16 alternative" turned out to be a sheep in wolves'

17 clothing.

18 Methane, while less common than carbon

19 dioxide, is a far more potent greenhouse gas. And the

20 Environmental Defense Fund explains it briefly, while

21 methane doesn't linger as long in the atmosphere as

22 carbon dioxide, it is initially far more devastating to

23 the climate because of how effectively it absorbs heat.

24 In the first two decades after its

25 release, methane is 84 times more potent than carbon
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1 dioxide. All of these concerns led us to call for a

2 moratorium on fracking in Pennsylvania in 2012.

3 The oil and gas industry has tended to

4 downgrade or disregard the problem of methane emissions

5 from its production processes. A recent industry

6 fueled study, paid for by Chesapeake Energy, claims

7 that methane in drinking water isn't coming from

8 fracking processes, in opposition to two earlier

9 studies in the proceedings of the National Academy of

10 Sciences. The industry claims properly drilled and

11 maintained wells don't leak. But Cornell University

12 civil engineer Anthony Ingraffea has found that

13 nine percent of unconventional wells drilled in

14 Northeast, Pennsylvania, since 2009, has structural

15 integrity issues. And that the problem will grow as

16 well as age as thousands of new wells are bored.

17 Oil and gas companies are unlikely to deal

18 with methane and other emissions that result out of the

19 goodness of their hearts. Methane emissions, are often

20 much higher than reported, and without action, the

21 problem is expected to get worse.

22 However, for us, as people of faith, this

23 is more than arguing about levels of emissions than

24 effects on the environment. If methane is leaking into

25 the environment, so are other dangerous toxic
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1 materials, many of which affect the health of some of

2 our most vulnerable populations, particularly children,

3 seniors, those with existing health issues and workers

4 at drilling and production sites. But, really, anyone

5 living close to a drilling site.

6 Exposure to toxic pollution released into

7 the air and into our water supplies can cause serious

8 health problems, including cancers and respiratory

9 illnesses. For those who already have asthma and other

10 serious health problems, these toxic releases can

11 exacerbate what may already be life-threatening

12 conditions.

13 And I would be remiss if I neglected to

14 remind all concerned that the problem of methane and

15 other toxic emissions is a concern of the environmental

16 justice as well.

17 As many of the persons in communities that

18 are affected are poor and low income populations and

19 community of color, because more well-to-do populations

20 are able to sometimes prevent production and processing

21 from happening in their back yards.

22 As Christians striving to live out the

23 genesis call to till and keep creation, we urge the EPA

24 to act quickly and decisively to implement the new

25 methane pollution standard that will protect our
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1 environment and those without the power to protect

2 themselves.

3 Thank you.

4 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you. Thank you,

5 Reverend Strauss.

6 Are there any follow-up questions, panel?

7 Okay.

8 MS. BURNS: Good morning. My name is

9 Laura Burns and I am from Mansfield, Ohio. I

10 appreciate the opportunity to offer a comment this

11 morning.

12 I am one of the Ohio field organizers for

13 Moms Clean Air Force. And today, I am here to speak in

14 support of the EPA's recently proposed methane

15 pollution standards for the oil and gas industry.

16 The Obama Administration has proposed

17 standards for methane emissions for both new and

18 modified oil and gas facilities. This landmark has the

19 potential to blunt the growth of methane and

20 smog-forming pollution and meet the goal of pollution

21 reduction by up to 45 percent in the next ten years.

22 This pollution puts public health at great

23 risk as industrial methane pollution is bad for people,

24 bad for health, and bad for our environment.

25 The toxins can cause serious health
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1 problems, including respiratory disease and cancer,

2 which pose a distinct threat to not only the workers,

3 but the families who live nearby. Our most vulnerable

4 populations of children and elderly and poverty

5 stricken are often in a position where leaving the

6 immediate area is just not possible for them. These

7 people can no longer hope that the oil and gas industry

8 will do the right thing on their own. Instead, we need

9 our legislators to stand up and defend them by ensuring

10 these standards.

11 Methane emissions contribute to pollution,

12 health issues, and climate change. As our air fills

13 with more pollution, it traps heat against the earth's

14 surface and wind up with a greater risk of extreme

15 weather. Storms and well temperatures are all side

16 effects of extreme weather. A good local and concrete

17 example could be the heavy rains that Ohio experienced

18 this spring. Twenty-three straight days of rain

19 contributed to an already algae-plagued water skin of

20 Lake Erie, intensifying the toxic plume for this 2015

21 season.

22 The U.S. cannot meet its international

23 greenhouse gas reduction commitments unless it cuts

24 methane from oil and gas forces by 40 to 45 percent

25 from the 2012 levels by 2025. The only way we will
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1 ever be successful is if we step up now calling for

2 responsible action from the oil and gas industry.

3 We've waited long enough for them to voluntarily reduce

4 emissions and we cannot hold out any longer. The

5 public and environment should not be expected to bear

6 the burden of harm that has been put forth by these

7 toxic emissions.

8 Again, thank you for your (sic)

9 opportunity to speak. And I do hope that the EPA will

10 soon finalize these rules.

11 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for your

12 testimony.

13 Follow up from the panel?

14 MR. MOORE: No.

15 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you both for being

16 here today. We really appreciate it.

17 At this time I would invite Sister Donna

18 Zwigart and Richard Brown to please come forward.

19 Good morning.

20 MR. BROWN: Good morning.

21 SISTER ZWIGART: Good morning. I'm doing

22 all the stuff that we do.

23 My name is Sister Donna Zwigart, a member

24 of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Newmann

25 Communities whose Pennsylvania -- whose motherhouse is
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1 in Millvale, Pennsylvania.

2 MR. THOMPSON: Could you spell your last

3 name for the court reporter.

4 SISTER DONNA ZWIGART: Yes. My last name

5 is Z, the last letter in the alphabet, W like in

6 William, I, G like in George, A-R-T.

7 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you.

8 SISTER DONNA ZWIGART: You're welcome.

9 I wish to thank you for this opportunity

10 to speak on the proposed legislation on methane

11 emissions and their effect on the citizens of

12 Pennsylvania, especially the most vulnerable who suffer

13 from this pollutant in our atmosphere.

14 A few days ago, you may have been in the

15 area, we heard from Pope Francis, and previously in his

16 encyclical, Laudato Si, this wise man's concern for our

17 planet. "The earth itself burdened, laid in waste is

18 among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor,"

19 quote. As a Franciscan, a follower of St. Francis of

20 Assisi, and not only the bird bath, he's the patron

21 saint of the environment.

22 The poor hold a special place for me. I

23 am vowed to care for them, to speak for them in matters

24 of justice and peace. Our climate is a common good

25 belonging to all and meant for all of creation. Every
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1 person living on our planet is in relationship. We are

2 kin. God's kingdom. We need one another and care for

3 each other as kin.

4 Methane is a highly potent greenhouse gas

5 86 times as powerful as C02, which makes it a powerful

6 contributor to climate change. It's the greatest

7 threat ever to our common home, in residence of the

8 earth, all our brothers and sisters. When methane is

9 released into our atmosphere, along with the other

10 co-pollutants, a number of air toxins are formed.

11 These pollutants cause serious health problems. Smog

12 and soot are associated with numerous problems for

13 health. Some of these are asthma, an increase in

14 respiratory problems, COPD, emphysema and the

15 cardiovascular problems. Maybe this is why this

16 Pittsburgh area has one of the dirtiest atmospheres in

17 the United States. This is of great concern to the

18 residents of this area, especially those persons who

19 can't afford to move from their environmental justice

20 communities.

21 When we see what we -- that what we, who

22 produce the gas, are doing to others, doesn't our inner

23 self, our conscience bother us? The air we breathe is

24 for all people. It's a gift from our Creator. So if

25 we pollute the atmosphere, we are responsible for all
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1 of the respiratory health problems of others. We have

2 the same air.

3 This is something to observe. The Bible

4 states that we are our brothers and sisters keepers.

5 And from a faith perspective, clearly, the Bible has no

6 place for a tyrannical anthroprogentism unconcerned for

7 other creatures. This is a moral issue. It is wrong

8 to pollute our air.

9 Thankfully, in August, the EPA took some

10 common steps by proposing standards to reduce and clean

11 up methane pollution from our oil and gas industry.

12 These proposed standards would generate significant

13 health benefits for all who breathe air. Attention to

14 all the existing methane-emitting sources needs to be

15 added to the proposed standards as regulation,

16 inspection -- regulation inspections for leaks on a

17 fixed basis, use of zero-emitting equipment, and so

18 forth.

19 Pope Francis writes, quote, "Each

20 community can take from the bounty of the earth

21 whatever it needs for sustenance, but also has the duty

22 to protect the earth and ensure its fruitfulness for

23 the coming generations." Intergenerational solidarity

24 is not optional, but rather a basic question of

25 justice, since the world we have received also belongs
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1 to those who follow us.

2 Thank you for this opportunity to be here

3 today. And I end with a prayer from numbers. May the

4 Lord bless and keep you. May the Lord turn toward you

5 and have compassion on you. And may the Lord smile on

6 you and give you his peace.

7 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Sister Zwigart,

8 very much.

9 Any questions?

10 SISTER ZWIGART: It all arises from with

11 the gospel.

12 MR. THOMPSON: Mr. Brown, thank you for

13 being here.

14 MR. BROWN: Good morning, ladies and

15 gentlemen.

16 MR. THOMPSON: Good morning.

17 Sir, can you get the mic for us, please.

18 MR. BROWN: Slide it over.

19 SISTER ZWIGART: I'm sorry.

20 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, sir.

21 MR. BROWN: Good morning, ladies and

22 gentlemen. My name is Richard Brown. And I'm from Ann

23 Arbor, Michigan. Thank you very much for the

24 opportunity to provide comments.

25 Though I'm speaking as a private citizen,
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1 in order to provide context to my comments, I'd like to

2 mention that I am a member of St. Francis of Assisi

3 Parish as well as the Interfaith Council of Peace and

4 Justice and I'm a member of the Sierra Club.

5 I wish to state, I support the proposal by

6 the Environmental Protection Agency to set standards on

7 both methane and volatile organic compounds on new and

8 modified oil and gas processing equipment, as defined

9 in the EPA new proposal, because of the impact that

10 methane, in particular has on climate change and VOCs

11 have on human health. I support routine monitoring

12 proposed, although I believe that more frequent

13 monitoring as well as realtime monitoring, when

14 feasible, and preferably by independent entities, would

15 be very appropriate to assure the adherence to the

16 limits for methane and VOC emissions.

17 I would stress that our country needs to

18 meaningfully address these emissions at an earliest

19 possible time. Emissions standards for methane and

20 VOCs on current facilities in this category should be

21 implemented.

22 In a significant note, the EPA

23 documentation, as well as the IPC reports, stress that

24 anthropogenic climate change is creating conditions

25 that will alter our biosphere from that which human
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1 society has developed over much of its history. These

2 changing conditions may result in more severe droughts,

3 coastal storm surges, impact of biodiversity, and

4 forced migrations.

5 Release of Pope Francis's Encyclical

6 Laudato Si on the care of our common home this past

7 June caused me to reflect on climate change as a moral

8 issue in that it intends to impact most severely the

9 poor, the marginalized, and the forgotten of our

10 society.

11 And this timeline relates from personal

12 experience and have influenced my thinking regarding

13 climate change. I thought of the visits I've made in

14 recent years to the northern and southern polar

15 regions. The comments by Canadian Inuit of commonly

16 seen animals such as grizzly bears have never been in

17 the area previously. Rain in December is an event they

18 have not ever recall occurring before. Comments by a

19 school teacher in Greenland telling them of reduced ice

20 conditions that inhibited the building of local Inuit

21 to be able to hunt seals as a part of their diet, the

22 absence of sea ice, as we travel to the Northwest

23 Passage area, which some sea ice is common, even during

24 the summer. Discussions with and talks by various

25 University of Michigan, Penn State, and a Cornell
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1 geologist and climate scientist, they would stress that

2 warming is real and largely influenced by human

3 activity. And this warming can result in rising sea

4 levels, increased acidity, and other weather events as

5 significant.

6 There's a conference I attended in Erie,

7 Pennsylvania years ago -- it was sponsored by the

8 Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments -- stressed

9 the impact of oil and gas drilling and processing

10 plants have had on air and water quality and other

11 public health issues.

12 I sent them a (inaudible) on climate

13 change and the common good. The discussion dealt with

14 the human tragedy resulting from the climate change in

15 the form of refugees that must leave their homes

16 because of the rising sea levels, flooding, droughts,

17 and depleted water sources.

18 And this week, I'll be attending a seminar

19 at Duquesne University on the integrity of creation

20 climate changes. This is why I believe the standards

21 proposed by the EPA to address methane and VOC

22 emissions are only on the first that are absolutely

23 essential if leaders of America are to care for our

24 country.

25 In conclusion, a comment by Pope Francis
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1 on the Encyclical, leaving an inhabitable planet for

2 future generations is first and foremost up to us. The

3 issue is one which dramatically affects us or has to do

4 with the ultimate earth sojourn.

5 I thank you for your time and attention.

6 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Brown.

7 Panel?

8 Thank you both for being here today and

9 for testifying. Thank you very much.

10 At this time I would like to invite Ray

11 Roberts and Lucyna De Babaro to come forward, please,

12 with testimony.

13 I'd like to begin with you, Mr. Roberts.

14 Good morning.

15 MR. ROBERTS: Good morning. Thank you. I

16 appreciate you taking this time to listen to us.

17 This past -- I'm sorry. What you're

18 considering today are rules to try to make oil and gas

19 fracking less dangerous. However, the biggest threat

20 to our nation and the world's civilization is global

21 climate change. Your work is one part. And it's a

22 critical part of the President's more comprehensive

23 Clean Power Plan to reduce our nation's greenhouse gas

24 pollution. The dangers from climate change appear to

25 be gradual and growing only slowly.
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1 I live here in Pittsburgh. And this city

2 is famous for having been a home for Rachel Carson,

3 whose work eventually led to the creation of the

4 Environmental Protection Agency.

5 The air quality in our region killed

6 during the Donora fog. And while it's much better than

7 the days when the soot was a daily fact of life, we

8 still have some of the worst air quality in the nation.

9 The fact is our climate crisis is not able to be

10 quickly cleaned up.

11 In addition, we're rolling the dice,

12 gambling that the melting of the Arctic Sea ice is not

13 already past the point of no return. A global tipping

14 point that could lead to a series of other tipping

15 points, falling like dominoes, from which we cannot

16 simply clean up our mess.

17 This is personal for me. I was outside

18 last year at the park near my house when I suffered my

19 first ever asthma attack. The air pollution from

20 fracking has been found to cross state lines. So even

21 though there isn't fracking here within the City of

22 Pittsburgh, it surrounds us here.

23 This is personal for me also because I

24 have two daughters, ages 12 and 9. And they're growing

25 up in a world that is getting warmer each year, and
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1 because of that, they will face greater risks and

2 dangers to their health and safety.

3 This past weekend, I visited an area just

4 north of here where the first oil well was drilled.

5 There's a legacy of drillers leaving thousands of wells

6 in our area uncapped or inadequately sealed. Your

7 rules need to have the companies pay now for their

8 future cracks in the concrete at the well heads.

9 There's a long legacy of oil and gas

10 companies who see the costs of maintaining their

11 pipelines as more expensive than letting them age,

12 leak, spill, and then if they're still around, then

13 they pay fines that are simply a slap on the wrist.

14 I and my loved ones call on you to make

15 the fines so large, the pipeline and wellhead

16 maintenance is actually cheaper. Please account for

17 the true costs of methane leaks as a greenhouse gas

18 that is 80 to 100 times more potent at trapping heat

19 than carbon dioxide.

20 These companies have been free to treat

21 our air as if it's an open sewer. They've been getting

22 away with it, in large part, because we can't see or

23 smell the pollution, but its impacts are making our

24 world warmer, and those risks are huge and growing.

25 Another famous Pennsylvanian once said
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1 that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

2 Please make the rules for greenhouse gas pollution for

3 oil and gas reflect the true risks and costs of our

4 warming world. An ounce of prevention would have been

5 a great idea 15 or 30 years ago. We're now at the

6 point where it will take increasingly heavy fines and

7 the strictest of regulations to bring us back from the

8 brave man. The majority of U.S. citizens wants you to

9 do your job and act as our agency to protect our

10 environment.

11 Thank you.

12 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Roberts.

13 Any follow up from the panel?

14 MS. DE BABARO: Thank you, first of all,

15 for this opportunity to testify in front of you. We

16 very much appreciate the EPA creating the rule on

17 methane emissions. We -- you know, I represent sort of

18 environmental activists, myself, or Sierra Club group,

19 I'm a member of Union of Concerned Scientists, but I do

20 speak as a citizen at this hearing.

21 So I have been an environmental activist

22 for, like, close to 20 years and observed slow

23 progression of already visible signs of global warming.

24 I am very concerned like you -- many

25 people you hear from today. I am concerned with the
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1 same aspects of this global warming crisis getting sort

2 of out of hand and out of ability for all of us, as a

3 humanity, to actually impact it and control it. So the

4 more we do sooner, the less, you know, drama and

5 tragedy will impact human population later, as well as

6 our eco system.

7 So you've heard those arguments. You

8 probably more than we do. So I just -- I'm here to

9 give you my support. Please rule strongly and please

10 rule -- implement rules that are, you know, meaningful

11 and strong as you possibly can at this time.

12 And specifically concerning your current

13 proposal for the rule, I would like to urge you to also

14 include existing wells and existing sources of methane

15 pollution in your ruling because your current rule only

16 pertains to the new sources, per my understanding. I

17 guess, you know, that summarizes it.

18 There -- there are a few more specific

19 items that Sierra Club has brought to my attention that

20 there is this cost-benefit analysis for monetary

21 savings that you perform to -- to informing industry

22 and so forth. And then there's this question of

23 whether the gas that is, for example, leaked from

24 oil-producing fields can be captured. It seems like it

25 would be such a good thing to do, right? This is,
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1 after all, fuel that could be used. So there's just a

2 question, you know, how could EPA motivate industry to

3 do that?

4 There is that -- that effect that the

5 owner of the gas basically does not -- well, there are

6 two aspects. So when the -- when the gas is, you know,

7 in the pipes, the owner of the pipe is not, you know,

8 improving the pipes, and leakage in the pipes is not

9 giving any financial benefit of saving the gas; right?

10 So there's that one sort of, like, lack of economic

11 motivation. I don't know if this can be addressed

12 except by ruling.

13 And then, of course, people spoke about

14 how the people who -- who burn methane or who just

15 simply release methane into the atmosphere, in fact, do

16 not carry the burden, the cost of societal, you know,

17 burdens of this pollution.

18 So, again, I would like to thank you and

19 urge you to put in as strong a rule as possible.

20 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for your

21 testimony. If you would, for the record, state and

22 spell your name for the court reporter.

23 MS. DE BABARO: Sure. Lucyna De Babaro,

24 L-U-C-Y-N-A, space, D-E space B-A-B-A-R-O

25 MR. THOMPSON: Any follow-up questions
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1 from the panel?

2 Thank you both for being here for your

3 testimony. Thank you very much.

4 Okay. At this time I would like to invite

5 Maren Cooke and Nick Kennedy to please come forward.

6 MR. KENNEDY: Good morning.

7 MR. THOMPSON: I'd like to begin with

8 Maren Cooke.

9 MS. COOKE: Greetings. My name is -- oh,

10 sorry -- Maren Cooke. and I live here in Pittsburgh.

11 I very much appreciate your holding this

12 event and others like it to hear from citizens about

13 your efforts to control methane pollution from oil and

14 gas operations. I'm a planetary scientist, a science

15 and an environmental educator. I spent a great deal of

16 time over the years communicating science behind

17 climate change and what must be done both to mitigate

18 the problem from this point forward and adapt to

19 changes that are happening. How severe these problems

20 will be 20, 50, 100 or 200 years into the future

21 depends starkly on how quickly we can stop digging and

22 pumping fossil carbon out of the ground and putting it

23 into the air. I also work on air quality, as a board

24 member of the Group Against Smog & Pollution and in

25 concert with other organizations.
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1 The EPA's proposed restrictions on methane

2 and VOCs would improve the situation in our regions

3 somewhat, but are not nearly strong enough. Because

4 this new source rule would allow existing drilling

5 operations to emit at prior levels, a huge amount of

6 pollution and wasted energy will continue. And while

7 less pollution is always better than more pollution,

8 the notion that we should stand for health hazards at

9 any level, now and in the future in the name of profit

10 for the few and cheap energy for the many is ethically

11 indefensible.

12 As you know, the pollutants under

13 consideration cause current public health risks and

14 also contribute to the burden of greenhouse gases in

15 the atmosphere. And while methane is cleaner-burning

16 than coal, and when burned produces half the carbon

17 dioxide, methane itself is a far stronger greenhouse

18 gas than carbon dioxide. The EPA's August press

19 release compares the two with a ratio of 25 times the

20 greenhouse potential, but that number is based on a

21 100-year time horizon. Because methane is much

22 shorter-lived in the atmosphere, less ten years versus

23 200 to 10,000 years for carbon dioxide, and because

24 natural gas is being touted as a bridge fuel over a

25 much shorter timescale, if it needs to be, if at all,
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1 the relevant ratio for global warming a 85 to 100 times

2 that of carbon dioxide. If this quantitative

3 realization energizes the EPA to redouble its efforts

4 to quell these emissions, from existing sources as well

5 as new ones, that would be fantastic.

6 In the grand scheme of things, however,

7 the reduction of accidental emissions from oil and gas

8 operations is a bit of a red herring. They constitute

9 a small fraction of the climate impact of the industry

10 as a whole, whose very existence depends on the

11 extraction of fossil carbon. Even if we could

12 eliminate all well-head leakage and purposeful venting

13 and flaring, as well as transmission losses, the amount

14 of methane and carbon dioxide inherent in the

15 persistence of the cheap fossil fuel economy is more

16 than we can afford. The amount of known reserves that

17 world can afford to extract while retaining a liveable

18 planet for future generations is rapidly dwindling to

19 nothing. We should be drilling no new wells, no new

20 sources, blowing up no new mountains, building no new

21 fossil power plants, and we need to be pulling out all

22 of the stops on developing battery-power technologies

23 and more-efficient solar panels, so that renewable

24 electricity can take the place of fossil fuels in most,

25 if not all, applications. And for things like
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1 long-distance aviation, the answer is probably

2 biofuels. But they need to be sustainably produced by

3 advancing the technology to utilize cellulosic ethanol

4 from perennial switchgrass and coppiced tree crops,

5 rather than ethanol from energy-inefficient and

6 land-degrading corn. Conservation, both through energy

7 efficiency and through changing our expectations, also

8 needs to be a part of the picture; if this developing

9 world all starts to live like Americans do now, we'll

10 be in quite a pickle.

11 Pennsylvania is one of the nation's

12 emitters of greenhouse gases. There's a common

13 perception that without fossil fuel extraction,

14 Pennsylvania's economy would go down the mine-shafts.

15 And as we saw at the Clean Power Plan hearing last

16 year, there are plenty of coal workers from

17 Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky and other states

18 who are up in arms at the prospect of job losses. But

19 there's some factors that the protests by those coal

20 workers, their families, and retirees didn't make

21 clear. First, there aren't that many active jobs in

22 coal production. I've spent time down in an operating

23 coal mine. And there was just a handful of people down

24 there.

25 Second, coal is already losing out to
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1 natural gas, which especially while climate change,

2 water and air pollution, and their attendant health

3 costs are left out of the equation, is being produced

4 more cheaply than coal. Both will lose out to clean

5 renewable energy as we move forward with a national

6 Carbon Fee and Dividend program advocated by so many to

7 allow the free market to incorporate the

8 currently-externalized costs of dirty fossil energy,

9 incentivizing renewables, efficiency, and conservation

10 with cleaner air as a side effect and air and water,

11 while providing a net financial benefit to the vast

12 majority of citizens.

13 And third, as has been demonstrated by a

14 detailed study by Regional Economic Models,

15 Incorporated, an independent, non-partisan research

16 organization commissioned by Citizen Climate Lobby,

17 there are far more jobs to be had in renewable energy.

18 Well-paying, safer jobs that could be routed, many of

19 them, to those coal communities and gas communities out

20 in the industry because instead of a boom-and-bust

21 economy, you could have ongoing production of solar

22 panels and insulation and green-building products and

23 wind turbine parts. So we, and in large part, the --

24 the government just need to play our cards right,

25 applying suitable tax incentives and such so the green
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1 businesses emerge to replace a whole host of fossil

2 based ones. Will they come at a cost to the

3 shareholders and management of those once fossil-based

4 companies? Yes, but those parties have already taken

5 far too many profits at the expense of future

6 generations. They made their choices, and it is

7 ethically appropriate, or one might say, only karma

8 (sic) for them to get out or lose out.

9 We are at a critical juncture with respect

10 to climate change -- we simply cannot afford to keep

11 adding carbon to the atmosphere. The EPA has the

12 power, and the responsibility, to do a great deal in

13 mitigating the risk to our common future.

14 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you.

15 Any questions from the panel?

16 Thank you.

17 Mr. Kennedy.

18 MR. KENNEDY: Good morning. My name is

19 Nicholas Kennedy. I'm a community advocate and

20 attorney for the Mountain Watershed Association, home

21 of the Youghiogheny River. We are a 501 (3)(c)

22 organization.

23 I'm here today on behalf of my

24 organization to express our support in favor of the

25 proposed methane regulations. And offer suggestions to
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1 improvement. However, I would like to preface my

2 comments by providing insight on how we came to this

3 position. Our employees and members live and work in

4 areas where significant unconventional natural gas

5 development has been occurring. In particular, our

6 office is located in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, a

7 hot bed of shale activity. As a result of our close

8 proximity to natural gas development, we have

9 personally experienced negative impacts that come with

10 it. In my role as community advocate, I have witnessed

11 families' drinking water that has run foul and the

12 drinking water wells run foul with contaminated water.

13 I sat in living rooms as community members described

14 the health effects that they attribute to compressor

15 stations and well sites, burning throats and eyes,

16 memory loss, and nerve damage, and difficulty breathing

17 are among the symptoms detailed.

18 In addition to dealing with these impacts,

19 our community members had to contend with the

20 inadequacies of the Pennsylvania Department of

21 Environmental Protection. Slower -- slow response

22 times, vague explanations, and inconsistent

23 endorsements are among the issues encountered.

24 These firsthand experiences have led us to

25 support the EPA's efforts, in addition to the growing
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1 body of research detailing the negative effects caused

2 by air pollution from unconventional natural gas

3 development and the severe threats posed by global

4 warming.

5 While we support the regulations, we join

6 with other commenters who call for the following

7 changes to be made: Allowing oil and gas operators up

8 to six months to repair leaking equipment if the

9 companies say that it would be unsafe to make the

10 repairs in 15 days is too long. Operators should be

11 required to find a safe way to fix leaks in a

12 reasonable period of time. Operators should be

13 required to use or bring to market captured gas.

14 Flaring should only be allowed in the most extreme

15 circumstances when it is genuinely infeasible to

16 capture the gas for sale or on-site use or to use

17 zero-emitting equipment. We request that work begin

18 immediately while an existing source rule.

19 There are many existing sources currently

20 linked to health issues in our area that need to be

21 addressed. The regulations should be expanded to cover

22 several key pieces of equipment and practices that the

23 agency emitted from coverage, including liquid

24 unloading operations, pneumatic controllers that

25 operate on an intermittent or snap-acting basis,
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1 compressor at well sites and storage vessels. Also,

2 leak inspections should be mandatory on a fixed monthly

3 or quarterly basis. Making these changes will create a

4 much more robust regulatory framework for limiting the

5 discharge of VOCs and methane.

6 Mountain Watershed Association would like

7 to thank the Department for its time in considering our

8 comments.

9 And lastly added, while we support these

10 regulatory changes with current methane and VOC

11 disruptions, our country must shift its focus away from

12 finite resources. NWA believes our future lies in

13 renewable energy.

14 Thank you.

15 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Kennedy.

16 Any questions for Mr. Kennedy?

17 Thank you both for being here today.

18 Thank you for your testimony.

19 At this time, I would like to invite

20 Amanda Lupina and Justin Wasser to please come forward.

21 MS. LUPINA: Good morning.

22 MR. THOMPSON: Good morning.

23 MS. LUPINA: Thank you for this

24 opportunity. My name is Amanda Lupina. I'm a mom from

25 Mars, Pennsylvania, which is the site where they're
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1 trying to put six wells just 1,500 feet from my home

2 where my children and hundreds of other children play.

3 And it's only a half a mile from where thousands of

4 children go to school every day.

5 Many of us just came together across the

6 street at a rally to support the four methane rules.

7 We're calling on the EPA to continue working beyond

8 these rules to address methane pollution from existing

9 sources.

10 Now, I would like to take the next few

11 minutes of my testimony to present you with our

12 postcards in support of cutting methane.

13 Thank you.

14 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you.

15 UNIDENTIFIED MAN: This process needs to

16 end.

17 MR. WASSER: Thank you.

18 MR. THOMPSON: And thank you. Any

19 follow-up questions for Ms. Lupina.

20 Thank you.

21 If you could remain seated.

22 MR. WASSER: My name is Justin Wasser. I

23 live at 112 Stratford Avenue here in Pittsburgh.

24 I sincerely appreciate you allowing us to

25 present the postcards. I too was at the rally. And I
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1 speak as a young person and someone who grew up not too

2 far from here 70 miles to the east in an area that I'm

3 proud of on the Appalachian Mountains, but the effects

4 of air pollution, the effects of water quality, I've

5 seen them growing up. I didn't know them until I was

6 older, a little more educated, gained a little more

7 perspective.

8 My family has a history in industry of

9 extraction in coal, in oil and gas. And I do

10 understand their plight. As I'm sure all of you do.

11 But the conversation here isn't about the economy in

12 terms of immediate jobs. There are other agencies that

13 I'm sure we could discuss those Issues with.

14 As the Environmental Protection Agency,

15 you're not just protecting the environment. You're

16 protecting the health and well being of people in my

17 family, of me, the folks in my community. I support

18 all four of these rules. And I commend the EPA for

19 putting these forth.

20 I do want to stress that the EPA should

21 not stop here. That existing sources of methane, in

22 particular in Pennsylvania, must be a priority. In

23 particular, you know, in our public parks, and the

24 Allegheny National Forest, there's some wonderful

25 hiking trails that I enjoy, grew up in, hunt around,
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1 fish around that smell of methane. There hasn't been

2 gas production there for decades. So this is an

3 ongoing problem that I look forward to the EPA

4 addressing.

5 Again, I thank you for our opportunity to

6 speak, not just as two voices here, but the

7 hundred-plus people that showed up at a rally next door

8 to thank you, support all four of these rules, and

9 strongly encourage the EPA and this Administration to

10 continue to address existing sources of methane.

11 Thank you.

12 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you.

13 Any follow-up questions for Mr. Wasser?

14 Thank you both very much for being here

15 today and for your testimony.

16 At this time I would like to invite

17 Michelle Boyle to please come forward.

18 MS. BOYLE: Good morning.

19 MR. THOMPSON: Good morning. Thank you

20 for coming.

21 MS. BOYLE: You're welcome. I brought my

22 nurse's stethoscope today.

23 My name is Michelle Boyle. I am a floor

24 nurse in a large city hospital here in Pittsburgh. And

25 I'm with SEIU Healthcare PA.
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1 When our daughters were newborns, my

2 husband and I knew that there was absolutely nothing

3 more important in the world than them. We went from

4 baby proofing our homes, to currently putting bike

5 helmets and wrist guards for rollerblading on them.

6 However, unlike placing safety latches or teaching our

7 kids to wear helmets, we can't teach them to breathe

8 differently. As individuals, we can't -- we can't do

9 anything about the air they breathe, but if we all are

10 in this together -- I greatly appreciate you being

11 here today -- then we can do something about the air

12 they breathe.

13 My family's freedom has been limited by

14 orange alert days, as our world gets warmer, these bad

15 air days have become more frequent. My husband is a

16 runner, but last year he had his first asthma attack.

17 Bad air days look sunny and gorgeous, and my children

18 want to run out and play with it, as do I, but we can't

19 let them because we're afraid of them developing

20 asthma.

21 I teach my children to clean up after

22 themselves. How do I explain that they can't go

23 outside -- it's very difficult for me -- because adults

24 refuse to clean up their mess.

25 In our common home, how can we say to our
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1 grandchildren, we didn't do enough because it was too

2 hard. That's not the America I was brought up to

3 believe in and it's not the one I'm teaching my

4 children. Again, thankful that you're here today.

5 As a nurse, I'm all too aware of chronic

6 lung disease. I spent five years on a thoracic surgery

7 floor. I've cared for patients as liters of fluid

8 drained from garden-hose-sized chest tubes. Patients

9 who simply state the activities take on a whole new

10 meaning. Have you ever had to rest after getting

11 dressed? Have to calculate the steps between here and

12 the bathroom, and whether you need your oxygen for it?

13 And I've also witnessed patients gasping for air just

14 trying to tell their spouse that they love them.

15 We here today are blessed. We are blessed

16 to have good health. We didn't need to rest after

17 getting dressed this morning. I didn't have to stop

18 and take a rest after walking to my seat. As we take

19 that deep sigh of relief and count our blessings,

20 remember, we all have just inhaled VOCs, toxic

21 chemicals, methane into our lungs. How soon before our

22 own freedoms are limited because of climate change

23 pollutants?

24 We have a historic opportunity in front of

25 us to protect the health of our families, our
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1 communities, our country suffering from -- and since

2 I'm a nurse, you could listen to the list -- chronic

3 bronchitis, decreased function and lung cancer, heart

4 attacks, cardiovascular disease, neurological disorders

5 and strokes. Or continue to expose our children to

6 American adults -- they call themselves corporations --

7 who refuse to clean up the toxic mess that they

8 created, poisoning the very air we are graced with to

9 breathe and live.

10 Harriet Tubman took her first breath of

11 freedom here in Pennsylvania. Every great -- and she

12 said, "Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always

13 remember you have within you the strength, the

14 patience, and the passion reach for the stars to change

15 the world."

16 This is our opportunity to follow in her

17 footsteps and allow our children and grandchildren to

18 breathe freely by protecting our common home. I know

19 which American example I'm teaching my children.

20 And I thank you for being here today.

21 And also, today's my birthday. So it

22 would be really cool, if this went (indicating) and

23 just to give you a hint of how old I am.

24 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mrs. Boyle, for

25 your testimony.
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1 Any questions? I'm sorry. Happy

2 Birthday.

3 MS. BOYLE: Thank you.

4 MR. THOMPSON: At this time we're going to

5 take our break for lunch we'll reconvene here at 1:00

6 p.m. Thanks, folks.

7 (Recess in proceedings.)

8 MR. THOMPSON: So folks we're going to get

9 started again. So if everyone wants to take their

10 seats.

11 Good afternoon. My name is Fred Thompson

12 and I am the chair for today's public hearing. Thank

13 you for coming today.

14 Joining me on the panel today to my left

15 is Susan Waltzer, with the EPA Office of Atmospheric

16 Programs. Bruce Moore with the EPA Office of Air

17 Quality and Planning Standards, and Diane Esher who is

18 with the EPA Region 3.

19 We're here today to hear your comments on

20 EPA's proposed rules related to the oil and natural gas

21 sector. The specific rules are, 1) oil and natural gas

22 sector, Emissions Standards for New and Modified

23 Sources, 2) Source Determination for Certain Emission

24 Units in the Oil and Natural Gas Sector, and 3), Review

25 Any New Sources and Modifications in Indian Country,
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1 Federal Implementation plan for Managing Air Emissions

2 from True Minor Sources Engaged in Oil and Gas

3 Production in Indian Country.

4 EPA's Administrator signed the proposed

5 rules on August 18, 2015. The proposed New Source

6 Performance Standards would establish methane and VOC

7 standards for hydraulically fractured wells and require

8 owners and operators to find and repair leaks.

9 The proposed rule also would extend

10 emission reduction requirements further downstream

11 covering equipment and the natural gas transmissions

12 and storage segments of the industry that was not

13 regulated in the Agency's 2012 rules.

14 The proposed Source Determination Rule

15 clarifies the EPA's air permitting rules as they apply

16 to the oil and the natural gas industry.

17 We're also taking comment on the proposed

18 federal implementation plan to implement the Federal

19 Minor New Source Review Program in Indian country for

20 oil and natural gas production. That plan, known as an

21 FIP, would be used instead of site-specific Minor New

22 Source Review Preconstruction Permits in Indian

23 country. It would incorporate emissions, limits, and

24 other requirements from six EPA emissions standards,

25 including the 2015 proposed updates to the New Source
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1 Performance Standards on which we're taking comment

2 today.

3 If you would like more details on the

4 proposed rules, there are fact sheets available at the

5 registration desk. Before we get started, I'd like to

6 go through a few housekeeping items and ground rules

7 that will help make today's hearing run smoothly.

8 First, please be sure you have checked in

9 at the registration desk, even if you are not planning

10 to speak today. And if you signed up to speak online

11 or by phone, but haven't told us that you're here,

12 please step out to the registration desk and let the

13 EPA staff know that you've arrived.

14 I will call speakers up in pairs. When

15 your name is called, please come to the speaker's table

16 at the front of the room. When I call on you to speak,

17 please state your name and spell it for the court

18 reporter. Your comments will be transcribed and

19 included in the record of comments on the Proposed

20 Rule. It is important that you tell us which rule or

21 rules you're speaking about. Each speaker will have

22 five minutes to give comments. We have a timer light,

23 which is located here on the table, that turns from

24 green to yellow. That means -- I'm sorry. We have a

25 timer light, again, on the table that will help me to
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1 know how much time you have left to speak. When the

2 light turns from green to yellow, that means you have

3 one minute remaining. When it turns red, that's a

4 signal that you are at five minutes and it's time to

5 stop. When you're finished speaking, please remain at

6 the table until the person next to you has completed

7 his or her testimony.

8 We are here to listen to you today.

9 However, a panel member may ask questions to clarify

10 your comments. I will then call up the next pair of

11 speakers and so on.

12 If you have brought a written copy of your

13 testimony, please give that to the staff at the

14 registration desk before you leave today. We will put

15 any written comments submitted today in the official

16 docket for the Proposed Rule.

17 We also have comment cards available at

18 the registration desk, if you would like to submit

19 additional written comments today.

20 If you wanted to comment in writing later,

21 stop by the materials table near the registration desk

22 and pick up a copy of instructions for submitting

23 written comments. Comments must be received by

24 November 17, 2015. I'll repeat that. Comments must be

25 received by November 17, 2015. Let me assure you that
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1 EPA gives just as much consideration to comments

2 received in writing as we do to comments received at

3 public hearings like this one. So, if you have more

4 comments that you would like to provide the EPA, please

5 submit them by the comment period deadline. Your

6 comments will be reviewed.

7 If you have any questions during the day,

8 please see the staff at the registration desk and

9 someone will assist you. Thank you again for taking

10 the time today to share your comments on EPA's

11 proposal. And with that, let's get started.

12 At this time I would like to invite Joanne

13 Wagner and Melanie Houston to please come forward for

14 testimony.

15 Good afternoon, ladies.

16 MS. WAGNER: Good afternoon.

17 MR. THOMPSON: Thank for coming.

18 MS. HOUSTON: Thank you.

19 MR. THOMPSON: I would like to start with

20 Joanne Wagner. State and spell your name for the court

21 reporter and you can begin with your testimony.

22 MS. WAGNER: Yes. Joanne, J-O-A-N-N-E,

23 Wagner, W-A-G-N-E-R.

24 Okay. I'm here today to basically give a

25 replay of my testimony from September 27th of 2011. It
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1 was an EPA hearing. You may have been some of the same

2 folks that I spoke to. But our story is still the same

3 and continues on the same track.

4 I'm a mother of two. My children are now

5 ages 13 and 6. I moved to Mount Pleasant Township in

6 2005, the same year that Range Resources drilled the

7 first experimental Marcellus Shale ground. We are

8 ground zero from Marcellus Shale drilling. And if I

9 knew now -- or knew then what I know now, I would have

10 never moved to Mount Pleasant. In fact, I would

11 seriously consider moving out of the state.

12 But at this point in time, my husband and

13 I have come to the conclusion the only way to protect

14 our family is to move out. Unfortunately, we cannot

15 leave this region because of his job. But we're going

16 somewhere where we believe we will be better protected.

17 I'm not crazy. I'm educated. I have a

18 degree in computer science with an emphasis in science.

19 I've taken physics and chemistry and all of the

20 mathematical- and science-related classes and have a

21 Bachelor's Degree. I make rational decisions. I don't

22 get emotional. I base my decisions on facts. I

23 volunteered to help the Township when this activity

24 started in our town. And I researched and I educated

25 myself and I built relationships.
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1 One of those relationships that I built,

2 because I had a particular interest in air quality, was

3 with someone that had equipment to monitor -- very

4 sophisticated equipment to monitor air. I embarked on

5 a citizen air monitoring adventure with a friend of

6 mine a college professor. We monitored air throughout

7 the community and at various individual's homes. My

8 friend, Denzel Backus, a professor, we put the monitor

9 at his house. We recorded various episodes where the

10 lower explosive level percentages in the air had

11 considerable spikes. On March 23rd of 2011, we

12 recorded 7.1 percent LEL rating at 1:15 a.m.; at 5:45

13 a.m. a 5.3 spike; and on March 26th at 8:03 -- or at

14 5:03 a.m., a spike of nine. These readings, if

15 indoors, would be at a level where there would be call

16 for an evacuation. This was during a fracking

17 operation at the Drummond well site in Mount Pleasant

18 Township, monitored outdoor on his back patio. There

19 is no reason why the citizens of this municipality or

20 this state or this country should have to experience

21 this.

22 Similarly, we monitored in April of 2011.

23 There were spikes on the 14th of 8.3 at 2:00 p.m.;

24 another 6.0 on April 15th at 2:00 p.m. The monitoring

25 location was at the home of Denzel Backus at 221 Walnut
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1 Road, McDonald, Pennsylvania. The home of the Backuses

2 sits approximately 1,600 feet from the well pad.

3 We also monitored at various locations in

4 the community using other types of monitors. This

5 monitor was a five-gas monitor. It recorded VOCs as

6 well.

7 In the driveway of a friend's house, the

8 ratings of the volatile organic compounds were 64,113

9 parts per billion. We read a well site where we were

10 observing a wellhead, Stuart No. 8, also in Mount

11 Pleasant Township, right after a rain. You could see

12 bubbling come out of the well fittings. There was a

13 VOC rating of 45,403 parts per billion. On my friend's

14 deck, 53,442 parts per billion; and elsewhere in the

15 community driving on Caldwell Road, which I'm going to

16 guess is maybe two miles from that property, 23,114;

17 driving on Washington Road, which is probably

18 two-and-a-half miles, or maybe three, 14,947, and

19 likewise, at another residence that we looked at.

20 So what does this mean? Through the

21 connections that I made with a head of consulting for

22 clean air engineering, he told me, "Joanne, the EPA and

23 the DEP do not really concern themselves with these

24 local events. The EPA and DEP are more concerned about

25 regional air pollution. This is not a regional
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1 problem. Your problem is an air toxics problem. These

2 are the types of problems where children and people get

3 sick."

4 MR. THOMPSON: Mrs. Wagner, sorry for the

5 interruption. Your time has long expired. I'll give

6 you ten seconds to wrap-up your testimony, please.

7 MS. WAGNER: Okay. My conclusion is that

8 if you -- if you control methane at various points in

9 the process, not just during fracking, but after

10 fracking, it's going to help us control local air

11 toxics. There's tanks. There's pipelines. There's

12 leaks. There's smells. There's blowdowns. My

13 children are in danger at school, at home, and in the

14 community. And I believe that we strongly need to

15 monitor methane at all levels, including these

16 pipelines where there's pigging operations and have

17 blowdowns on a regular basis. And the data I have for

18 you is on a disk, if you would like to evaluate it.

19 MR. THOMPSON: Yes, please. Submit it at

20 the registration table.

21 MS. WAGNER: Okay.

22 MR. THOMPSON: And thank you for your

23 testimony. Let me turn to the panel? Are there any

24 follow-up questions for Ms. Wagner? Again, thank you

25 for your testimony.
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1 MS. HOUSTON: Is that close enough to

2 hear?

3 MR. THOMPSON: Perfect. Thank you.

4 MS. HOUSTON: So, again, say my name.

5 MR. THOMPSON: Please.

6 MS. HOUSTON: Melanie Houston. Do you

7 need it spelled.

8 REPORTER: No.

9 MS. HOUSTON: Houston, spelled like the

10 city.

11 Well, good afternoon. Thank you. I

12 really appreciate this opportunity to be here today

13 talking with you and to testify in support of this

14 Proposed Rule to reduce methane and VOC pollution from

15 the oil and gas industry.

16 I am presenting today on behalf of the

17 Ohio Environmental Council, a statewide advocacy policy

18 organization with several thousand individual members.

19 I do also plan to share with you, though,

20 today about a handful of stories of citizens from Ohio

21 who are experiencing currently or previously, direct

22 impacts of shale gas development. And just to -- a

23 broad-brush, in Ohio, we have about 1,600 drilled and

24 about 2,000 permitted shale gas wells, mainly Utica

25 Shale wells. We have approximately 75 compressor
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1 stations proposed or currently operating or under

2 construction. And our pipeline development is

3 projected to go rapidly -- to grow rapidly in the next

4 two years. So all of this means that the number of

5 Ohioans who will be affected by methane and VOC

6 emissions is going to grow rapidly as well.

7 And I'd like to share a brief personal

8 story to put the remainder of my testimony in context

9 of these folks' stories.

10 So this past Saturday morning at about

11 7:00 a.m. sharp, a diesel truck parked and began idling

12 about ten feet from my front door. It woke up everyone

13 in my family and created a cloud of diesel fumes

14 outside of our windows. Major construction had begun

15 on the storm drain surrounding my home. Yet I received

16 no notice that that was coming. The noise was

17 overwhelming at times. Loud, rumbling trucks. Jack

18 hammering. Heavy equipment thundering and beeping.

19 And frankly, I was very angry. I was so angry I

20 marched outside in pajamas and I asked the only person

21 I could find that -- the truck driver of this diesel

22 truck, to please turn off his engine. And he did. And

23 so I thought a lot about the challenges of my fellow

24 Ohioans living next to this new way of oil and gas

25 development. But until this personal experience, I
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1 hadn't really felt what they were going through. Folks

2 living near this development are much less likely to

3 get a "yes" response when I asked the operator of a

4 well pad or a diesel truck or compression station to

5 stop. And to me, this represents a loss of control for

6 these folks over the quality of the air around their

7 home and the immediate environments surrounding their

8 home, many families, by the way, who chose a rural

9 setting to raise their families because of the peace

10 and quiet, and because of clean air and clean water.

11 So I just wonder if you can take a moment to imagine,

12 you know, how frustrating that would be. And I also

13 know, for me, that that construction outside of my

14 front door is only temporary. But for these folks in

15 Eastern Ohio, they're faced with infrastructure that

16 will be in place for years, if not decades.

17 And so at the OEC, we've begun talking

18 with citizens who have been affected, and many times

19 negatively affected, by the fracking industry.

20 I've spoken multiple times with a woman,

21 for example, who lives about 600 feet from the site of

22 a major fracking chemical fire. She, her fiance, and

23 her son stayed in their home the night of that fire,

24 despite the chemicals in the air and the explosion risk

25 right next to their home, because the nearby hotels
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1 were full of oil and gas workers.

2 I talked with a father who lives within a

3 mile of a fracking well blowout, which the methane and

4 other harmful air emissions for over ten days. He and

5 his -- his family and 20 other households were

6 evacuated. This is right before the Christmas holiday.

7 And they were, you know, uncertain as to whether they

8 would be able to get home in time for Christmas. He

9 was unnerved, I know, and he was frustrated at the lack

10 of information that he could obtain about what he and

11 his family were exposed to.

12 I've spoken also with a former aluminum

13 worker who lives directly downwind from a compressor

14 station and near several fracking well pads. He had, I

15 know, had his home test positive for the presence of

16 methane. And also, passive air sampling work done by

17 University of Cincinnati showed elevated levels of

18 PAHs, the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons right

19 outside of his home. His wife is currently battling

20 breast cancer and now she continues to be exposed to

21 air contaminants outside of her control.

22 This gentleman also told me some days his

23 dogs will not go outside. And that the smell outside

24 of his home was so bad on one particular day that upon

25 opening his windows, it brought him down to his knees.
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1 And, finally, I read over a civil case,

2 which is now settled, of a family in Ohio who suffered

3 many documented health problems from a compressor

4 station just 350 feet from their front door. So

5 nausea, vomiting, and ongoing burning sensation of the

6 nose and throat, most likely due to methane and VOC

7 emissions.

8 These folks deserve protection. They need

9 this rule. And they need it as soon as possible. And

10 they need a rule to address existing sources, as many

11 of my colleagues have talked about here today. Not

12 just new and modified sources. So, you know, we ask

13 that the oil and gas industry be made to take

14 responsibility for their pollution, rather than asking

15 the public and asking the environment to bear the

16 burden. And I hope that EPA will strengthen and

17 finalize these rules and move swiftly toward covering

18 existing sources.

19 Thank you.

20 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for your

21 testimony. Thank you very much.

22 Any follow-up questions?

23 Okay. Thank you both for being here today

24 and for your testimony. Thank you very much.

25 MS. HOUSTON: Thank you.
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1 MR. THOMPSON: At this time I would like

2 to invite Peggy Ann Berry and Mark Dixon to please come

3 forward for your testimony.

4 MR. DIXON: I've got a visual.

5 MR. THOMPSON: He's given us a visual for

6 the record. Not a copy of his testimony.

7 MR. DIXON: Right. I'll give this

8 downstairs.

9 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you. I'd like to

10 begin with Ms. Berry, please.

11 MS. BERRY: Hi. My name is Peggy Berry.

12 Besides having a Ph.D. in nursing research, I'm a

13 certified occupational health nurse specialist and have

14 worked in heavy industry as far as truck and airfreight

15 is concerned, as well as I was a graduate nurse intern

16 for OSHA, while I was doing my Master's.

17 I have seen the effects of total disregard

18 when OSHA and other regulations are ignored by

19 industry. I've also seen the effects or, I guess --

20 I've also seen the effects of applying OSHA in health

21 prevention in industry and how injuries and illnesses

22 decrease because of that.

23 What I do want to say is I appreciate the

24 ability to speak with you guys here today about the

25 methane rules. These rules will impact total
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1 population health by decreasing child and adult

2 exposure to methane and other volatile organic

3 compounds released through the oil and gas exploration

4 and production.

5 As a health care professional, I see these

6 Rules as a step towards primary prevention of many

7 health issues U.S. children and adults suffer,

8 especially asthma and chronic obstructive lung disease.

9 Most organizations and industries are responsible

10 corporate citizens of their community. However, the

11 oil and gas industries are not held accountable to the

12 same laws and regulations that govern all

13 organizations, especially the Clean Air Act.

14 In addition, what constitutes compliance

15 from one organization in the oil and gas company may

16 not be considered compliance for another oil and gas

17 company, the methane rule standardized best practice in

18 containing new oil and gas exploration and production

19 with containment of the methane and other VOCs.

20 In Ohio, the health and safety concerns of

21 employees and communities have largely been ignored

22 regarding the contamination of community water sources

23 nearby or air contamination. We don't even know what's

24 in the fracking solutions. Likewise, the air we

25 breathe is affected when methane and other gases are
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1 allowed to be vented off and not captured for use.

2 Methane is a potent greenhouse gas.

3 You've probably heard this time and time again today.

4 It's 84 times more powerful than CO2 during the time it

5 remains in the atmosphere, which means it is a powerful

6 contributor to climate change and the greatest threat

7 to our planet we've ever faced. And these emissions

8 from the oil and gas industry specifically contribute

9 to a quarter of the total manmade global warming we are

10 experiencing today.

11 Methane is the second most prevalent

12 greenhouse gas emitted in the United States by human

13 activities. And only 30 percent of these emissions

14 come from oil production and the production,

15 transmission, and distribution of natural gas. These

16 emissions are projected to significantly increase over

17 the next decade without action to lower them.

18 Although the industry is going to talk to

19 you guys about the monetary hit with the compliance

20 with methane rules, the cost of the overwhelming health

21 impact can't be measured. The EPA's proposal is a

22 significant step -- a significant step towards curbing

23 climate disruption and protecting the health and well

24 being of communities across America.

25 Thank you.
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1 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for your

2 testimony.

3 MS. BERRY: I'm not done.

4 MR. THOMPSON: I'm sorry.

5 MS. BERRY: However --

6 MR. THOMPSON: You're welcome. Please

7 continue. You're welcome.

8 MS. BERRY: However, the EPA can go

9 further to set the strongest possible standards to

10 reduce methane emissions.

11 While I support your rules, your proposed

12 rules of methane, and I see them as an important first

13 step, the rules don't go far enough, and they only

14 cover new and modified sources of emissions. And they

15 do not address existing sources of methane emissions

16 from the oil and gas industry.

17 Our future generations will be impacted by

18 our decisions today and in the future. Every day in

19 America approximately 78,000 people miss school or work

20 due to asthma; 35,000 people have an asthma attack;

21 4,600 people visit the emergency room due to asthma;

22 1,200 people are admitted to the hospital due to

23 asthma; and ten people die. We need these methane

24 rules.

25 And I want to thank you so much for
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1 putting them together. Thank you.

2 MR. THOMPSON: You're welcome and thank

3 you. Any follow-up questions for Ms. Berry from the

4 panel? I sincerely thank you for your testimony.

5 Mr. Dixon.

6 MR. DIXON: Great. My name is Mark Dixon,

7 Pittsburgh resident, filmmaker, and a board member of

8 the Thomas Burke Center, though I do not speak today on

9 its behalf.

10 I am here to wholeheartedly support the

11 proposed reductions. But more importantly, I'm here to

12 state that these reductions do not go far enough.

13 Today climate change facts do not allow us to

14 simultaneously use any oil or natural gases fuels, and

15 expect anything but catastrophic climate consequences.

16 I encourage the EPA to work as quickly as

17 possible to ramp down and eliminate the extraction and

18 use of all greenhouse gas emitting fuels so that market

19 forces can move us into a renewable energy era, thereby

20 protecting our climate, our economic well being and the

21 lives and livelihoods of global citizens today and for

22 all of time.

23 The intergovernmental panel on climate

24 changes, FIP assessments, indicates that we have just

25 over 20 years of current CO2 emissions remaining if we
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1 want to have a 66 percent chance of keeping the global

2 temperature from rising two degrees C above

3 pre-industrial levels.

4 May I present to you this drawing of a

5 fictional 66 percent airline. It successfully flies

6 about 66 percent of the time. By allowing any

7 greenhouse gas emissions today, you are forcing us to

8 fly on this airline, and you are insisting that all of

9 our children, virtually for all time, will need to fly

10 on it as well.

11 I would like to point out that the odds of

12 an American being struck by lightning during a single

13 year are about 1 in 12,000. And according to

14 planecrashinfo.com, the odds of being killed in a

15 single airline flight are 1 in 4.7 million.

16 I would also like to point out that one of

17 our best climate experts, ex-NASA climate scientist,

18 James Hanson, said that the target that has been talked

19 about in international negotiations for two degrees of

20 warming is actually a prescription for long-term

21 disaster. He, instead, advocates for a limit of one

22 degree centigrade.

23 A simple extrapolation of the IPOC data

24 from 66 to a 90 probability of staying below two

25 degrees, let alone one, means that we have zero CO2 or
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1 equivalent emissions remaining. Zero. Yet here we are

2 discussing marginal emission deductions from oil and

3 gas as if we have all the time in the world to phase

4 them out. We don't.

5 Physics doesn't negotiate and the EPA is

6 chartered with the protection of our environment, yet

7 you would have all of us here and our children fly --

8 fly on this 66 percent airline.

9 And here in Pittsburgh, we breathe some of

10 the lowest quality air in the country, largely due to

11 greenhouse gas emitting sources, while we are forced to

12 ride into the future on this woefully and unreliable

13 climate airline.

14 I find these circumstances to be untenable

15 and hold the EPA accountable. Anything less than

16 wholesale and rapid phase-out of oil and natural gas as

17 fuels is a willful dereliction of your duty to protect

18 the environment and the well being of all citizens.

19 Please, please listen to the body of

20 evidence that your fellow government scientists have

21 generated, and strengthen your emission standards to

22 meet the urgent needs of our time on earth. It is not

23 your duty to allow the slow degradation of our planet

24 by those who wish to profit from its destruction.

25 It is our moral obligation to leave this
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1 planet better than we found it, and that work must

2 start here and now by facing the facts and doing what

3 is right.

4 Will you be able to look at your

5 grandchildren in the eye and tell them that you met the

6 challenge of our time? Or will you say, "bon voyage"

7 as they depart on the 66 percent airline.

8 Thank you for your time and attention.

9 And if anybody else would like to see the 66 percent

10 airline, I have copies of the picture.

11 Thank you.

12 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Dixon. To

13 the panel?

14 Well, thank you both for your testimony

15 today and thank you for being here.

16 MR. DIXON: Thank you.

17 MR. THOMPSON: At this time I would like

18 to invite to Joanne Kilgour and Hannah Tyler to come

19 forward please with testimony.

20 Joanne Kilgour.

21 MS. KILGOUR: Good afternoon.

22 MR. THOMPSON: Good afternoon. We'll

23 start with Ms. Kilgour.

24 MS. KILGOUR: Thank you. Is this -- can

25 you hear me okay?
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1 MR. THOMPSON: Pull it toward you just a

2 little closer.

3 MS. KILGOUR: Thank you for the

4 opportunity to speak with you this afternoon on the

5 important topic of controlling methane emissions from

6 the oil and gas sector.

7 My name is Joanne Kilgour and I serve as

8 the state director for the Sierra Club here in

9 Pennsylvania representing more than 25,000 members and

10 80,000 supporters across the Commonwealth. Our members

11 have, for decades, been leading climate advocates and

12 clean air champions in their communities. And I know

13 that if each of them could be here today speaking with

14 you, they would.

15 By holding this hearing in Pittsburgh,

16 you're recognizing the significant impact air pollution

17 for methane emissions has in this region and throughout

18 Pennsylvania, largely as a result of the dirty oil and

19 gas industry. While we support and appreciate EPA

20 taking this necessary first step to control methane

21 emissions from oil and gas sources, as you've heard

22 from many other individuals here today, we also

23 recognize the need for action that will address

24 pollution from existing sources.

25 I live in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which
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1 has some of the dirtiest air quality in the nation. In

2 fact, more than half of the counties in Pennsylvania

3 are at risk because of air quality concerns, which are

4 only made worse by harmful methane emissions from the

5 oil and gas sector. Just like me, more than four

6 million residents of Pennsylvania live in areas that

7 exceed national ozone standards, meaning that our

8 health and our communities cannot afford to bear

9 pollution from the thousands of existing sources in our

10 state, let alone from new and modified sources.

11 Our children, our elderly, and those

12 individuals at greater risk from respiratory

13 complications simply cannot take even one more ozone

14 action day. Since this is the first-ever proposal to

15 control methane pollution from the oil and gas

16 industry, we thank you, we support this initial step,

17 and we call for these proposals to be adopted quickly

18 so we can get to work tackling the threat from methane

19 emissions from the oil and gas sources now in

20 existence, sources that by 2018 are projected to

21 account for nearly 90 percent of all methane emissions

22 in this sector.

23 In addition to threatening our climate,

24 the public health threat posed by these emissions is

25 staggering. For this reason, we also call on EPA to
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1 revise its cost-benefit analysis and include, in this

2 revision, metrics that will monetize the public health

3 benefit the standard will generate by reducing all of

4 the volatile organic compounds, and thus smog and soot

5 as well as hazardous air pollutants. Without this

6 adjustment, the benefits of implementing the rule will

7 remain understated and the cost-benefit analysis will

8 be an inadequate assessment.

9 Public health benefits are not simply

10 qualitative or experiential but have a quantifiable

11 financial benefit that must be documented.

12 I applaud the EPA and the Obama

13 Administration for beginning to address this problem

14 for new and modified sources of methane and I now look

15 to our state's Department of Environmental Protection

16 and the Wolf Administration to follow this lead and

17 address fugitive emissions from existing sources,

18 moving as far as necessary to put the health and

19 prosperity of Pennsylvania families first.

20 Thank you.

21 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Ms. Kilgour.

22 Any follow-up questions?

23 MR. MOORE: No.

24 MS. WALTZER: No.

25 MS. TYLER: Good afternoon. My name is
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1 Hannah Tyler, and I will be speaking today on behalf of

2 Dr. Randy Kuplognik (sic) who is a resident of Harrison

3 County, Ohio.

4 My family chose to move into rural Ohio to

5 experience the beauty and serenity of living close to

6 nature and the wooded rolling hills. We built our own

7 log home, paying special attention to eliciting

8 sustainable building practices and using

9 environmentally-friendly materials. Unfortunately, we

10 did not realize that our home would come to be

11 surrounded by infrastructure and accompany --

12 accompanying industry that supports horizontal fracking

13 for natural gas and oil.

14 We now have an injunction well two miles

15 away from our home. A pipeline is being built at the

16 end of our street, less than a quarter of a mile away.

17 And fracking pads desecrate our landscape of our

18 county. We must navigate country roads, traffic by

19 large brine trucks and tankers carrying sand, water and

20 petroleum fuel. The muzzling and watershed conservancy

21 lakes in the region have become a major source of water

22 for the fracking process. Even the night sky has been

23 affected, as flares from methane burn-off and lights

24 from fracking pads obscure the once visible Milky Way.

25 As a mother and grandmother, I worry about
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1 the future we are creating for our children and our

2 grandchildren. As a scientist, I know what is being

3 emitted into the air, land, and water from fracking

4 facilities and supporting industries. I know it is not

5 safe or conducive to a healthy environment. This

6 industry will not effectively self-regulate. They have

7 proven this time and time again. Therefore, I

8 encourage the U.S. EPA to promulgate a comprehensive

9 and stringent set of rules and regulations to ensure

10 that fugitive emissions from this process are

11 addressed.

12 I also encourage the U.S. EPA to conduct a

13 regular monitoring program to ensure these regulations

14 are followed. It is disconcerting that the gas

15 industry recklessly allows release of methane and other

16 volatile carcinogen -- carcinogenic and endocrine

17 destructive organic compounds to be released

18 indiscriminately into the surrounding environment. Our

19 health and the health of our children should not be

20 sacrificed in order for the oil and gas industry to

21 maintain profits.

22 I respectfully thank you for your

23 consideration of this issue, and thank you for hearing

24 Randy's comments today.

25 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for sharing those
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1 comments.

2 To the panel? Thank you both very much

3 for your testimony you gave here today.

4 At this time I would like to invite Mary

5 Ann Mulroy and Barb Grover to please come forward.

6 Good afternoon, ladies.

7 MS. GROVER: Good afternoon.

8 MR. THOMPSON: Starting with Mrs. Mulroy.

9 MS. GROVER: Good afternoon. My name is

10 Mary Ann Mulroy, M-U-L-R-O-Y. And I serve as assistant

11 counsel for -- in the office of chief counsel with the

12 Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

13 I'm pleased to have the opportunity to

14 testify this afternoon to provide some initial

15 reactions to the EPA's proposal regarding source

16 determination for certain emission units in the oil and

17 natural gas sector.

18 The EPA is proposing for public comment

19 two options to clarify the term "adjacent". One

20 definition would define "adjacent" in terms of

21 proximity; the other would consider activities of

22 adjacent if they are either close together or are

23 related by function.

24 As you know, there are significant gas

25 exploration and extraction and activities occurring in
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1 the Commonwealth within the Marcellus Shale formation

2 and other formations. As a result, the Department on

3 August -- I'm sorry, on October 6, 2012 released a

4 Technical Guidance Document entitled "Guidance for

5 Performing Single Stationary Source Determinations For

6 Oil And Gas Industries" to address how the air

7 emissions from exploration, extraction, or production

8 activities should be aggregated to determine whether

9 the sources from these emissions qualify as a major

10 stationary source or a major facility for purposes of

11 the PSD non-attainment NSR and Title V permitting

12 programs. Prior to its release, the Technical Guidance

13 Document was subject to the 60-day public comment

14 period and 366 persons submitted comments on the

15 proposal.

16 Under Pennsylvania's Technical Guidance

17 Document, properties located a quarter a mile or less

18 apart are considered adjacent. Sources within this

19 quarter-mile distance should be aggregated as long as

20 they meet the other two regulatory criteria; the same

21 with industrial improvement and common control. The

22 emission units on two or more separate, but nearby

23 properties, and separated by an intervening railroad or

24 some other obstacle, may be considered adjacent.

25 Properties beyond a quarter-mile range may
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1 only be considered adjacent on a case-by-case basis.

2 Under Pennsylvania's Technical Guidance Document, while

3 functionality or interdependence may be considered when

4 conducting a single source determination, the plain

5 meaning of the term "adjacent" should be the

6 dispositive factor when determining whether stationary

7 sources are located on adjacent properties.

8 Today, Pennsylvania has many thousands of

9 single-source determinations using methodology under

10 the Technical Guidance Document. It believes it is a

11 sound approach that approximates the common sense

12 notion of the planet and avoids aggregating

13 pollutant-emitting activities that, as a group, would

14 not fit within the ordinary meaning of building,

15 structure, facility or installation.

16 In fact, the Department's Technical

17 Guidance Document was met with the approval of the

18 Federal Courts. In PennFuture versus Ultra Resources,

19 the United States District for the Middle District of

20 Pennsylvania upheld a department determination not to

21 aggregate any compressor stations and associated

22 natural gas wells.

23 The specific question that the Court

24 examined was whether the air contamination sources are

25 adjacent. Ultra Resources urged the Court to look
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1 exclusively at the plain meaning of that term, while

2 PennFuture asked the Court to look at the functional

3 interdependency of those facilities when making its

4 determination as to when they are adjacent.

5 After examining the Sixth Circuit's

6 opinion in Summit Petroleum versus EPA, and the

7 Department's Technical Guidance Document on

8 single-source determinations, the Court found that the

9 plain meaning of the term "adjacent" should control as

10 to whether two or more facilities should be aggregated

11 for single source purposes.

12 Despite the Court's finding that the plain

13 meaning of "adjacent" should control, the Court

14 declined to hold that functional interrelatedness can

15 never lead to or contribute to a finding of adjacency.

16 As a result, the Court departed from the

17 Sixth Circuit's interpretation of "adjacent" to the

18 extent that it prohibits any consideration of

19 interrelatedness or interdependence, and emphasized the

20 importance of the Department's Guidance recommending

21 that a case-by-case determination is needed to

22 determine if sources are considered "contiguous" or

23 "adjacent".

24 Based on the Department's Technical

25 Guidance Document, our experience in applying that
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1 guidance and the rationale of the Ultra Resources

2 Court, the Department believes that EPA's second option

3 is the more appropriate choice for making single-source

4 determinations for the oil and gas industries.

5 The EPA has a body of determinations

6 stretching back to 1981 that can assist states in

7 making a fact-specific, case-by-case decision as to

8 whether two or more sources should be considered a

9 single source for NSR and Title V purposes.

10 As we move further into the comment

11 period, the Pennsylvania DEP will continue to examine

12 the proposed rule and suggests additional changes to

13 it. We look forward to developing more detailed

14 comments and to a continued conversation with the EPA.

15 And, once again, thank you for the

16 opportunity to testify today.

17 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you.

18 Any follow up from the panel?

19 MR. MOORE: No.

20 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you. Put the mic in

21 front of you.

22 MS. GROVER: My name is Barbara Grover.

23 I'm -- as chair of the Allegheny Group of the Sierra

24 Club, I am speaking this afternoon on behalf of the

25 over 5,000 members here in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
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1 As you all well know, currently, there are

2 no federal limits on the amount of methane pollution

3 that the oil and gas operations can emit, and no

4 federal air regulations of existing oil or natural gas

5 infrastructure. We are extremely pleased and applaud

6 this first initiative by the EPA to control methane

7 emissions from oil and gas sources. Controlling

8 methane emissions will also reduce smog-, soot-forming

9 pollutants and hazard emissions.

10 An independent analysis conducted by ICF

11 International has determined that the U.S. oil and gas

12 industry sector can significantly reduce emissions of

13 methane using currently-available technologies and at a

14 low cost. By adopting proven emissions control

15 technologies, industry could cut methane emissions by

16 40 percent below projected 2018 levels at a cost of

17 less than one cent per thousand cubic feet of produced

18 natural gas. Some of these measures pay for themselves

19 over time through the sale of captured natural gas.

20 The health benefits from a reduction in

21 methane emissions are quite astonishing. According to

22 a study reported at the 2011 proceedings of the

23 National Academy of Sciences reducing emission by

24 20 percent, starting in 2010, would prevent 30,000

25 premature mortalities globally in 2030 and 370,000
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1 between 2010 and 2030. It's already 2015. So we've

2 lost the opportunity to prevent some of those deaths.

3 The study continues that the

4 cost-effectiveness of this 20 percent reduction in

5 methane emissions is estimated to be 420,000 per

6 avoided mortality. Think about that for a minute. If

7 we started to reduce methane emissions in 2010, that's

8 a cost-effectiveness of $12,600,000,000 worldwide.

9 Your proposal provides a unique

10 opportunity to improve air quality and can be a

11 cost-effective part of ozone management and result in

12 the benefits of better air quality, improve public

13 health, and mitigate climate change.

14 However, we suggest that your final

15 proposal should include some items not currently in

16 this initial version. Number one, as you've heard

17 before, the new rules must include oil and gas sources

18 now in existence. Not just the new and modified

19 infrastructure.

20 By 2018, nearly 90 percent of all methane

21 emissions in the oil and gas sector will come from

22 sources now in existence. Equipment such as storage

23 vessels and compressors must be subject to these

24 regulations also.

25 Inspections should occur monthly for all
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1 well sites and compressor stations for leak detection

2 and repair requirements. The current wording of

3 "flexibility of inspections depending on the percentage

4 of leaks in the previous 12-month period" is completely

5 unacceptable.

6 And finally, a six-month period to allow

7 source operators to repair leaking equipment is much

8 too long a period of time. The danger to health, air

9 quality, and climate change is far too important to

10 allow leaks to continue for six months.

11 There seems to be an additional problem

12 with respect to actually measuring methane leaks.

13 According to an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

14 just yesterday morning, more than a dozen studies

15 measuring emissions from shale gas sites have come up

16 with varying conclusions about leak rates.

17 The article continues, "Accurate

18 regionally comprehensive and continuous monitoring of

19 the actual rate of leakage from shale gas production is

20 required both to document the greenhouse gas impact of

21 gas production and evaluate efforts to reduce

22 emissions." Consequently, strong regulations to reduce

23 emissions are essential, but a clear, accurate system

24 of measuring is imperative.

25 In closing, I reiterate that the Sierra
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1 Club is supportive of your proposal. The boom in the

2 natural gas industry has resulted in increased methane

3 emissions that must be halted. We strongly urge you to

4 consider these suggested revisions. And I thank you

5 for your time.

6 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for your

7 testimony.

8 Any follow-up from the panel?

9 MR. MOORE: No.

10 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you both very much

11 for being here.

12 At this time I would like to invite Paul

13 Fiesel and Lois Bjornson, B-J-O-R-N-S-O-N.

14 MR. FIESEL: Thank you.

15 MR. THOMPSON: And if you could be so kind

16 as to repeat that for the court reporter during your

17 testimony, of course. Good afternoon to you both.

18 Thanks for being here.

19 Mr. Fiesel, I hope I'm pronouncing that

20 correctly.

21 MR. FIESEL: Thank you. That is correct.

22 My name is Paul Fiesel. My wife and I

23 live in Carroll County, Ohio, and we thank you for this

24 opportunity to provide comments in support of the

25 proposed changes to cut methane and VOC emissions from
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1 the oil and gas industry.

2 My undergraduate degree is in applied

3 mathematics. As you might guess, numbers are pretty

4 important to me. But today, I would like to focus on a

5 particular number, one or being first. Because since

6 the beginning of Ohio shale gas movement in 2010,

7 Carroll County has been first on many fronts. Carroll

8 County was first in Ohio to have test wells drilled in

9 Utica Shale. The Miller test well, just one mile from

10 my driveway.

11 We were first to have the hoards of

12 landmen come to town, all too often with their less

13 than honest sales pitches about how once they're done,

14 there will just be a little valve at the surface.

15 Landowners know better than that now.

16 Carroll County was first to have a shale

17 gas mega well drilled, fracked, and put into

18 production, with reports of being a gusher, based on

19 only 11 days' data. Soon reporters flocked to towns

20 from the big cities of Akron and Cleveland, then

21 Columbus. And NBC Nightly News came from New York,

22 then BBC from London, then Poland, Sweden and Ukraine,

23 all to report on how Carrolltonians were surely to all

24 become the first millionaires from Ohio's shale gas

25 boom. But each reporter also asked, "Aren't landowners
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1 concerned about potential health risks?"

2 Carroll County did become, and still holds

3 title, to being number one in gas, oil, and liquid

4 hydrocarbons production, with over 370 producing wells,

5 more than twice as many as any other county in Ohio.

6 In addition to our day jobs, my wife and I

7 have invested heavily in Carroll County by purchasing

8 an 80-acre farm, building an ecofriendly home, and

9 starting small-scale organic blueberry, egg and honey

10 productions. In trying to educate ourselves about

11 shale gas activities happening around us, we found that

12 there were many others who had similar questions and

13 similar concerns about what else it meant to be No. 1

14 in Carroll County -- excuse me, in Ohio's shale gas

15 boom.

16 So in 2011, we formed a nonprofit called

17 Carroll Concerned Citizens. Our motto is working to

18 protect why we live here for our families and for their

19 futures. Our group has about 300 people on its mailing

20 list. It holds regular public meetings with speakers

21 from government, the industry, academia, and other

22 nonprofits, Often with over 100 people in attendance.

23 We have spoken about what it means to live

24 in a boom town before hundreds of people at shale gas

25 forums, landowners groups, schools, universities, local
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1 governments, and nonprofit meetings.

2 As is the case with all extracted booms,

3 most landowners were elated at first with the signing

4 bonuses or royalty checks. They were all too willing

5 to overlook the traffic, noise, land use changes that

6 came with more well pads, more pipelines, more

7 compressor stations, and our wet gas liquid separation

8 and fractionation plants.

9 Recently, though, the reality of declining

10 production occurs, and oil and gas prices have started

11 industry to turn landowner elation into arbitration.

12 Even for our county-owned lands. Academic and

13 nonprofit researchers interested in the boom's effect

14 on -- on shale gas started contacting Carroll Concerned

15 Citizens as a channel to reach landowners willing to

16 participate in some of Ohio's first air quality

17 studies. Researchers leveraged portable VOC monitoring

18 devices, optical gas imaging, graph sample canisters,

19 and leading edge, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, or

20 PAH stationary and wearable human sampling devices.

21 Researchers, however, observed examples of

22 fugitive emissions, such as hydrogen sulfite gas being

23 released during well drilling; VOCs coming from a

24 compressor station that would eventually be fined for

25 exceeding EPA limits; VOC leaks at a transfer station
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1 for our liquid separation plant and high PAH levels at

2 a home -- at homes nearly one mile from a large

3 compressor facility.

4 Oregon State University and the University

5 of Cincinnati recently published their results in a

6 peer-reviewed journal showing how PAHs that were

7 emitted from existing well pads had exposure levels of

8 concern for long-term human and animal health. The

9 results were consistent with a similar proximity study

10 from the University of Colorado. And I will enclose a

11 copy of that results for you.

12 So in closing, Carroll County is expected

13 to have over 1,000 wells drilled, each with on-pad and

14 mid-streaming VOC emitting infrastructure. Does being

15 first in Ohio shale gas boom really mean that we'll be

16 the first ones to show the symptoms from long-term

17 exposure of these fugitive methane emissions? Methane

18 emissions that also carry with them toxic PAHs and VOCs

19 that will negatively impact our health far sooner than

20 global warming.

21 Please institute the changes so that EPA

22 can help reduce the risk for current and future

23 generations of death by a thousand leaks.

24 Respectfully, Paul Fiesel

25 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Fiesel.
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1 Any follow-up from the panel? Thank you.

2 Ms. Bjornson.

3 MS. BJORNSON: Hi. My name is Lois

4 Bower-Bjornson, and I live in Scenery Hill,

5 Pennsylvania. I sat here before you four years ago and

6 told you about a lot of the things I've been seeing.

7 And so I'm here to tell you a little bit more.

8 Four years ago we were surrounded by

9 probably, I'll say, eight to ten gas wells. We're now

10 surrounded by 27. That's in a two-mile radius of my

11 house. There's a giant compressor station that I can

12 see light up at night, along with another new gas well

13 to the right of my home.

14 The traffic has increased tremendously.

15 We moved south. We have four children, three boys and

16 a girl, who are growing up in this. They call their

17 mom the environmentalist, which is great. So they

18 learn about this a lot. However, they learned about

19 also to close the windows when the compressor is on and

20 when the new well is going both to the right, and to

21 the left, to the front, and to the back of us.

22 They've also learned about a lot and what

23 is being done with the water and how we are watching

24 people that we know working in the industry dump into

25 creeks, to take remaining fracking water and dump it
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1 back into the shaft, after they've done that. I hope

2 to get out to David's (sic) as most people, at one

3 point.

4 Things have gotten a bit better. We don't

5 see the holding off -- the burning off, excuse me, of

6 the holding ponds, but we do still see all the flaring

7 going on. We just saw it about three weeks ago,

8 actually. And our neighbors said, "Oh, yeah. I saw

9 that too." It sits on their property. So I do --

10 like, I can't stress to you enough to please, please,

11 please do this.

12 As you mentioned, this will kill us way

13 before global warming does. I think it's your duty as

14 citizens and then by all of you to come to my home and

15 take a look. I'll give you a tour.

16 Thank you.

17 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you. Any follow-up

18 from the panel?

19 MR. MOORE: No.

20 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you both very much

21 for your testimony today. Thank you for being here

22 today.

23 At this time I would like to invite Anna

24 Hanson and Dana Donnelly -- Dolney, Dolney,

25 D-O-L-N-E-Y. Dolney. Dana Dolney, please come
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1 forward.

2 Good afternoon, ladies.

3 MS. HANSON: Good afternoon.

4 MR. MOORE: Again, we'll start with

5 Ms. Hanson, please.

6 MS. HANSON: Hello. My name is Anna

7 Hanson, and I'm from Beaver, Pennsylvania. Thank you

8 so much for the opportunity to offer comment today.

9 I'm a student at Duquesne University and

10 member of Friends of the Harmed, a local grassroots

11 organization, and in the last year has delivered

12 $18,000 in direct aid to those impacted by shale gas

13 infrastructure through our publication, Shale Field

14 Stories.

15 I grew up in the suburbs of PA in a small

16 town called Beaver. I'm one of nine children. And in

17 growing up, we all enjoyed playing outdoors, I'm sure

18 as most of us did. However, children today are not so

19 lucky.

20 I'm asking you today, why is it that

21 parents have to fear for their children as they head to

22 school, concerned about air pollution from a nearby

23 well? I'm asking you why parents have to choose

24 between school supplies and an inhaler? And I'm asking

25 you why these parents, and future parents like myself,
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1 have to fear for our children's future in terms of

2 clean air?

3 I'm speaking today in solidarity with

4 these parents, children, and families impacted by the

5 oil and gas industry. Methane is a highly potent

6 greenhouse gas, over 80 times as powerful as CO2 over a

7 20-year timeframe. Methane says -- methane -- methane

8 stays in the environment for approximately 9 to 15

9 years.

10 The oil and gas industry, in 2003, emitted

11 over 7.3 million metric tons of methane, and are the

12 largest human-made source of methane emissions.

13 Methane can cause headaches, dizziness,

14 weakness, nausea, vomiting, and loss of coordination.

15 Air pollution leaks from the oil and gas industry also

16 include volatile organic compounds, which can cause

17 ground level smog and is extremely harmful to young

18 children, those whose lungs are still developing.

19 I commend you for filing proposal

20 standards that end at curbing methane and other smog21 and soot-forming emissions and hazardous air

22 pollutions. With that being said, I firmly believe

23 that if we are going to significantly reduce the harm

24 of this industry on our public health and environment,

25 we need to go farther.
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1 The proposed rules would only regulate new

2 and modified wells. I'm asking you to go further than

3 this and regulate existing sources of methane

4 emissions. According to a 2014 study, about 90 percent

5 of oil and gas methane emissions in 2018 will cover

6 existing sources built before 2012. With that being

7 said, I believe we should regulate all oil and gas

8 infrastructure, new and existing.

9 If we are going to cut methane emissions

10 40 to 45 percent by 2025, these rules and regulations

11 need to be mandatory. The current voluntary program,

12 Natural Gas STAR Program, is only utilized by

13 two percent of Pennsylvania operators on existing

14 sources. This is simply not enough.

15 I've seen what this industry has done to

16 citizens in Washington and Butler County. I have seen

17 people's health and wellness impacted by

18 under-regulated and, therefore, a reckless industry.

19 I'm angry that it has gone this far. I'm calling for

20 the oil and gas industry to be held accountable for

21 their air pollution, instead of having our public, our

22 environment, our children, and our future bear the

23 burden. I'm frankly scared for my future. And I hope

24 that the EPA will -- will strengthen and finalize these

25 rules and move swiftly to issue standards covering
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1 existing sources. We deserve a world with clean air.

2 It is our right.

3 Thank you.

4 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you. Thank you for

5 your testimony.

6 MS. DOLNEY: May I ask that I be able to

7 hand something to you as a visual?

8 MR. THOMPSON: Yes. And while she can

9 share that with us, are there any follow-up questions?

10 MR. MOORE: No.

11 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Ms. Hanson.

12 MS. DOLNEY: Hello. My name is Dana

13 Dolney. I'm the director of a small nonprofit called

14 Friends of the Harmed. I'd like to thank you all for

15 coming here today.

16 Normally, I have a whole bunch of things

17 prepared to say, but I know you already know the

18 science behind all of this. So I'm not going to bore

19 you all with the science today. I'm going to, instead,

20 speak from the heart and explain to you why we actually

21 have to exist here in Southwest, PA.

22 About 2008, around about then, I battled

23 with very aggressive breast cancer. I come from a long

24 line of steelworkers. Steel is naturally in my blood

25 it seems. I also happen to think that that's probably
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1 where my cancer came from too.

2 I've lived in Pittsburgh all of my life.

3 I have genetic mutation. I'm the kind of person that,

4 prior, did not know the ramifications of the

5 environment on my health and my safety.

6 I was very fortunate, I got a second

7 chance at life. I beat a cancer that most weren't able

8 to. I felt compelled to go out and act to do something

9 to prevent people from getting sick in the first place.

10 Not just skip or run or jump for a cure. Not that I'm

11 saying that people that fight for a cure, it's not

12 worth it. But I was watching my friends and my

13 neighbors, people in their 30s, when you lose both of

14 your breasts by 35, when you have children taken away

15 from your future, when you see your friends and family

16 all suffering the same fate from an area that was told

17 so many times over that we had to do all of this for

18 jobs. Jobs. Jobs. Jobs. Forget your health. Forget

19 your safety. Forget your family line. We're mutants

20 now in my family. This is the gift that keeps on

21 giving. So when I came through, and I heard that they

22 were starting this activity in my backyard, in

23 Pittsburgh, around the area, I joined with people and I

24 fought for a ban. I was naive. I admit it. I thought

25 that that was going to be enough to protect people
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1 around here, a ban. Keeping it out. If people were

2 educated, that they would know. But people weren't

3 educated. We were lied to here. We were told that it

4 was safe, that it was perfectly safe, again and again

5 and again. And that's what our media propagated. It

6 was perfectly safe.

7 So I ask you how can you protect people if

8 you don't at least admit where the risks are? That's

9 the problem we have now. No one is admitting that the

10 risks are there. We know the risks are there. We

11 fight them daily.

12 Because of those risks, I went from being

13 an activist that always had a megaphone in front of her

14 face screaming in the streets and challenging my

15 governor, to somebody who had to create a small

16 nonprofit that provides replacement water,

17 medical-grade air scrubbers, independent air and water

18 testing. That's what we have to do.

19 We're just average, ordinary volunteers.

20 We're not trained scientists. We don't have the

21 ability to know what we actually even should be doing.

22 This is all trial and error for us. But what we knew

23 was that the people who were complaining were not being

24 helped by the DEP; were not being helped by their local

25 and state officials. We would not exist if they were.
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1 Trust me. I have many better things to do than to show

2 up to every hearing, or go to this place or that place

3 outside of this facility, that facility.

4 This is all volunteer for us. So what we

5 had to do, because we had no money to help these

6 people, was we had to create a publication, which I put

7 before you. We distributed over 5,000 copies of this

8 in the last year and a half, and that's how we were

9 able to put out over $18,000 in direct aid in

10 independent air and water testing and scrubbers and

11 replacement water. It should not fall to the citizens

12 of this state to have to advocate and protect the

13 public's health and safety. There are people whose

14 job, many of you, you're charged to do this. It is

15 your responsibility. We're here to plead with you.

16 Please look. This is our testimony.

17 Most people can't even share their stories

18 because they're trapped in lawsuits for years. They

19 look like refugees now in this state. Do you know

20 that? We have refugee families that have to flee, that

21 have to walk away from everything because they have no

22 hope. It's either save your child or stand in the

23 house or -- stay in a house that you know is being

24 surrounded by a compressor station or a processing

25 facility.
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1 If you open up in the book, the individual

2 I would like you to see, the first page that's marked

3 by the -- we have families who -- whose homes have been

4 completely surrounded by facilities. If you look at

5 the bottom Google Map there, you'll see what their

6 house once looked like. Now you see what it looks like

7 in Phase IV of development. The people here aren't

8 told the truth. They were told there was just going to

9 be a facility -- a small facility on the top of the

10 hill. They piecemeal everything here in this state

11 permit to permit. Small source to small source.

12 We are begging for aggregation here. We

13 are begging for you to address things. We have to

14 address the existing emissions. So you should have to

15 address the existing emissions as well. Because we

16 don't have the millions of dollars that it takes to

17 provide every family by these centers and these

18 processing facilities and these well pads and these pig

19 launchers, the medical-grade air scrubbers or the

20 asthma inhalers, or the money to help them get to the

21 doctors now. You have to act.

22 I -- I -- I want to share one thing with

23 you to make you understand, too, the importance of

24 this, because over the last three years, what we've

25 noticed is that the public has taken it upon themselves
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1 to go out. I was one of those people. I was dropping

2 SUMMA canisters. I was in the fields. I was doing

3 anything to protect these people, for what? The

4 information we don't even know what to do with most of

5 time. Sure, it's good for research now. But what we

6 found out is that we're just guinea pigs, because no

7 matter how many SUMMA canisters I drop, that's not

8 changing what's going on right now, is it? Yet, those

9 people are still exposed to those contaminates every

10 single day.

11 Now what's happening, our do-gooders, like

12 me, are also having themselves exposed to those

13 contaminants. These pig launchers are being open

14 vented in people's back yards. These blowdowns are

15 happening in valley -- we have valleys here, where

16 people are being suffocated by these blowdowns. So

17 people like me go out and drop a canister thinking I'm

18 doing good. I'm trying to help, and inadvertently, I

19 get exposed. I get sick. I get taken out. That's why

20 I had stop doing this, because it became real to me

21 when I saw things like methane, ethanol, acetone,

22 propynyl, methylene chloride, which I think we all know

23 a thing or twos about methylene chloride these days in

24 the EPA, don't we?

25 MR. THOMPSON: Ms. Dolney, your time has
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1 expired. I'll give you 30 seconds to wrap it up.

2 MS. DOLNEY: Thank you.

3 So in addition to xylene, styrene, snomene

4 (sic) propylbenzene, trimethyl benzene, limonene, which

5 I don't even know what limonene is, phutinone (sic)

6 ethyl acetate, hexane, PHC, cyclohexane.

7 I took this test to try to figure out what

8 kind of respirator I needed so I could better protect

9 myself. I ended up being laid up for a week on a couch

10 and unable to move. That's what our citizens are doing

11 to try to get protection for the people in their

12 community and their back yards. I just ask you all to

13 step up and try to do just a little bit more than the

14 rest of us.

15 Thank you.

16 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for your

17 testimony. I do have a question for you.

18 MS. DOLNEY: Yes.

19 MR. THOMPSON: Is there something you want

20 to say about the second exhibit you have marked here?

21 MS. DOLNEY: If you look at that,

22 that's -- that's -- the second exhibit marked is

23 exactly why we need aggregation. That's

24 seven-and-a-half miles in Washington County.

25 If you'd like to the count the number
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1 frack pits, compressor stations, wells, and, you know,

2 (not audible) track and the cryogenic plant, if that

3 doesn't tell you why we need aggregation, then nothing

4 really will.

5 So thank you.

6 MR. THOMPSON: No, thank you. Thank you

7 for your testimony. Before you go, panel, any

8 follow-ups? I thank you both very much.

9 MS. DOLNEY: Thank you very much.

10 MR. THOMPSON: At this time I would like

11 to invite Rachel Filippini and Lois Hornbostel to

12 please come forward. Good afternoon, ladies, and

13 thanks for coming.

14 MS. FILIPPINI: Good afternoon. My name

15 is Rachel Filippini. And I'm the director of the Group

16 Against Smog and Pollution. We're a Pittsburgh-based

17 organization that has been working to improve air

18 quality in southwestern Pennsylvania for more than 46

19 years.

20 Air pollution continues to plague the

21 Pittsburgh region. Allegheny County is currently a

22 non-attainment for ozone and the daily and annual PM

23 2.5 standards. Oil and gas operations are one of the

24 sources of pollution that is dirtying our air, making

25 people sick, and impairing people's quality of life.
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1 So we are appreciative, of course, that the EPA is

2 taking the important first step to control methane

3 emissions from oil and gas sources, and we're pleased

4 you're holding a hearing in Pittsburgh today.

5 We know that the oil and gas industry is

6 the largest industrial source of methane, highly potent

7 greenhouse gas. In 2013, natural gas producers in

8 Pennsylvania alone emitted over 120,000 metric tons of

9 methane or the equivalent of the amount of gas used to

10 heat half the homes in Pittsburgh.

11 Under the proposed standards, oil and gas

12 operators will install controls that will reduce not

13 only methane, but also ozone and particle-formed

14 pollutants and hazardous air pollutants as well. This

15 will generate significant public health benefits in

16 addition to climate benefits.

17 The EPA has said that nationally, the

18 climate and health benefits of the emission cuts is

19 estimated at $460 to $500 million. And we look forward

20 to a portion of those benefits coming to our region.

21 So while we're glad to see the EPA address

22 methane directly, the rules deal largely with new and

23 modified sources and not so much from existing sources.

24 By 2018, nearly 90 percent of all methane emissions in

25 the oil and gas sector will come from new sources now
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1 in existence, which are largely uncovered under the

2 proposal.

3 According to the Environmental Defense

4 Fund, the proposed standards do include a way for

5 addressing existing sources in non-attainment areas

6 through control technique guidelines -- to get a

7 volatile organic compounds, an ozone precursor. For

8 many of the existing sources covered by the CTGs, EPA

9 leverage is the same technologies and practices that

10 the agency proposed to apply to new sources and the

11 rest of its rules demonstrating that we have the

12 technologies to cost-effectively deal with new and

13 existing emission sources.

14 States like Colorado and Wyoming have

15 effectively applied standards to reduce oil and gas

16 emissions from existing and new operations based on

17 these technologies, and EPA should follow.

18 Additional recommendations would be to

19 cover compressor engines located at well sites.

20 Compressor engines are frequently located at well

21 sites. In fact, in Pennsylvania, air regulations

22 provide an incentive for operators to locate them

23 there, as such engines are generally exempt from state

24 air-permitting requirements.

25 We also suggest the EPA prioritize the
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1 gathering additional data on accurately quantifying

2 methane emissions from liquids unloading of

3 hydraulically fractured wells and developing

4 regulations to control those emissions if they should

5 prove necessary.

6 Additionally, the rules should be modified

7 to require the use of no lead pneumatic devices at all

8 sites where electricity is available. CSSD performance

9 standards already include that as a requirement.

10 Storage tanks should also be covered in the standard.

11 In many instances, the proposed standard

12 would allow source operators either to capture gas for

13 sale or for beneficial use on-site or to direct the

14 captured gas to a completion combustion device such as

15 a flare. From both an environmental and a

16 waste-of-wind standpoint the form option is always

17 preferable to the latter. EPA must specify the use of

18 completion control devices shall be permitted only

19 where it's technically infeasible to capture the gas

20 for sale, or on-site use, or to use zero-emitting

21 equipment. Such devices must also have a 95 percent

22 combustion efficiency or greater.

23 While ultimately we must transition away

24 from fossil fuels to renewable energy and energy

25 efficiency in order to reap the most health and climate
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1 benefits, we do commend the EPA for taking this first

2 important step in regulating methane. And we urge you

3 to do all you can to minimize methane from existing

4 sources as well.

5 Thank you for your time.

6 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Filippini.

7 Any there questions from the panel?

8 Thank you.

9 MS. HORNBOSTEL: Hi. I'm really

10 passionate about this. I'm thankful for this chance to

11 read my prepared testimony.

12 My name is Lois Hornbostel. And I've

13 learned so much listening to everybody else here today.

14 This country is a member of Arctic Council. We're

15 losing all the glaciers on earth. There's these bodies

16 of science. We need to cut back on the two main

17 greenhouse gases. Last year I was testifying on CO2,

18 and I didn't realize how awful methane was and how

19 awful fracking is affecting people's lives, taking

20 their lives away.

21 I -- I am 76, and somebody told me when I

22 was 75, I could say anything that I want. So I want

23 you to do the deal. Okay. I spent two-thirds of my

24 life in Cleveland, Ohio and the last third as a

25 resident of Columbus. Last year, I said, can you hear
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1 me? You agreed that you can hear me.

2 I worked over four decades in the Clinical

3 Laboratory of Scientists in chemistry, immunology and

4 nuclear medicine. My chronic bronchitis is

5 attributable from harmful pollution from smog,

6 chemicals, and particulates in our environment.

7 When OSHA made directives for laboratory

8 chemicals way back in the '70s, or maybe the '60s,

9 benzene, toluene and xylene had to be documented. And

10 then along came Dick Cheney and altered the Clean Air

11 Act and Clean Water Act, and he altered -- I read

12 Robert Kennedy, Crimes Against Nature. And these

13 co-pollutants, released with methane in the fracking

14 process, are the dangerous polluters in the gas and oil

15 drilling emissions that damage air quality, threaten

16 the health and well being of the public, and contribute

17 to climate change. The co-polluters are the volatile

18 organic compounds, called VOCs, that cause permanent

19 lung damage and early deaths. And from respiratory --

20 from respiratory and cardiovascular causes. This has

21 been mentioned by RNs today.

22 The air toxics from the oil and gas

23 industry drilling caused cancer. The chemicals also

24 enter water tables and streams and make water unusable.

25 These are intangible memories -- measures of our past
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1 failure to regulate methane and the whole fracking

2 process. These are escaping from hydraulic fracturing

3 drilling. This methane, the primary component of

4 fracking as the -- is invisible and odorless. And it's

5 the worst greenhouse gas, and 84 times more potent

6 than carbon dioxide. Which climate scientists say is

7 the most critical -- this is the most -- the 20-year

8 period is most critical time to keep emissions at bay.

9 Pound for pound, the comparative impact of methane on

10 climate change is 25 times greater than carbon dioxide

11 over a 200-year period. The industry has proven that

12 despite its protest to the contrary, voluntary efforts

13 will simply not work. Of the thousands of oil and

14 natural gas companies that is currently in operation,

15 less than one percent participate as partners in the

16 Agency's long-standing Natural Gas STAR Program.

17 I support the proposed standards, and

18 would be concerned about any attempts by the industry

19 to weaken them. Thank you for being a part of the

20 multifaceted reform to solve a multifaceted problem.

21 But we must do more. We must turn back global warming

22 or we're going to lose the planet. Listen to the body

23 of science.

24 I've heard two glacial geologists speak.

25 They talk about it's cheaper to go green. And I'm from
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1 Ohio, and the Republicans there busted our green energy

2 bill. That's why I'm so angry.

3 What is the standards for controlling

4 methane must be effective standards for existing

5 sources also, not just new sources. Under the Clean

6 Air Act, the EPA is now required to issue regulations

7 for states to submit plans for reducing methane from

8 existing sources. This will be critical. By 2018,

9 nearly 90 percent of the oil and gas sector's methane

10 emissions will come from sources that were already in

11 operation by 2011. But I question whether, in the

12 absence of the U.S. EPA mandates, states will have the

13 political will to even develop an effective plan.

14 For example, in an Ohio county recently,

15 emergency responders were called to a fire at a well

16 drilling. They were not being told what the chemicals

17 were involved in the fire. This strange result is the

18 fruit of an Ohio law designated to protect the

19 industry's so called "trade secrets" at the cost of the

20 health of its citizens.

21 The economic arguments to support

22 regulation of methane are quite compelling. Methane is

23 the primary component of natural gas. So the recovery

24 of methane, that wouldn't otherwise be emitted, can be

25 used for power generation, heating or manufacturing.
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1 In addition, projects to reduce methane emissions can

2 cut -- can put people to work and spur investment in

3 local economies. Though I believe it is equally

4 important to support clean, green, renewable energy to

5 move us toward a liveable, sustainable planet.

6 In summary, the fracking industry must not

7 be allowed to continue bad practices that harm our

8 communities and mar our landscapes. Please stand firm

9 on the regulation of methane.

10 Thank you for listening to my concerns.

11 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Ms. Hornbostel,

12 for your testimony. Any follow up from the panel? And

13 thank you both for being here today and testifying.

14 MS. HORNBOSTEL: Thank you.

15 MR. THOMPSON:

16 At this time I would like to invite Bill

17 Baker and Matt -- it looks like Wallace -- Walker --

18 Matt Walker, please come forward. Bill Baker and Matt

19 Walker.

20 Good afternoon, gentlemen.

21 MR. BAKER: Good afternoon.

22 MR. THOMPSON: Beginning with Mr. Baker.

23 MR. BAKER: Hi. My name is Bill Baker,

24 B-I-L-L, B-A-K-E-R. I'm from Mansfield, Ohio, and I

25 want to thank the panel for allowing us to speak today.
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1 I do not have a technical written testimony. I guess

2 peer pressure worked in this occasion. The group I

3 came over with from Ohio was testifying, and I thought

4 it would be a good idea that I speak up as well.

5 I really just want to tell you a story

6 about my hometown of Mansfield, Ohio. In 2011, we were

7 threatened by two Class II injection wells permitted by

8 ODNR in the State of Ohio, and wanted to be built by a

9 Texas millionaire, and -- and Pennsylvania's fracking

10 waste, along with West Virginia, would be brought in by

11 rail and injected into the ground on the north end of

12 our community. And, typically, what I learned is that

13 many under-represented communities are the ones

14 targeted for a lot of this waste. That was true in

15 Mansfield as well.

16 Our law director, our city council and the

17 residents worked together to draft an environmental

18 Bill of Rights, based on Ohio constitution, we are a

19 charter home rule community. And this was drafted in

20 the sense of actually targeting injection wells

21 specifically, which we were told not to do. But that

22 was the threat that was posed to our community. We

23 didn't take a stand on fracking, on the whole process

24 of shale extraction. We focused on what threatened us.

25 A long story short, this was drafted in April of 2012.
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1 It was put up for a charter amendment, a vote to the

2 people in the fall. Our grassroots group, Frack Free

3 Ohio, raised and spent about $2,000 for the Yes Vote

4 Campaign. The industry spent over $200,000 to defeat

5 it. Across party lines, 66 percent of our community

6 voted in this environmental Bill of Rights. What that

7 said to us is that the burden is being placed on

8 residents and small grassroots groups to stand up for

9 the health of their communities, clean air, clean

10 water, fertile soil.

11 Now, I was -- I came here today in

12 cooperation with Sierra Club, Moms Clean Air Force, and

13 the Ohio Environmental Council. So I know that many

14 great organizations are working on getting you the

15 technical information and doing this.

16 My point is that the industry has lots of

17 money to put into advertising to defeat communities.

18 They surely have money available to implement these new

19 rules and to clean the air up and to make it safer for

20 all residents. That's really all I have today.

21 Thank you for the time and thank you for

22 allowing us to speak.

23 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for your

24 testimony, Mr. Baker.

25 Mr. Walker.
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1 MR. WALKER: Good afternoon.

2 MR. MOORE: Good afternoon.

3 MR. WALKER: My name is Matt Walker and

4 I'm the community outreach director for the Clean Air

5 Council, an environmental health organization with over

6 8,000 members throughout Pennsylvania. The Council

7 fought to improve air quality across the region for

8 more than 45 years.

9 Clean Air Council welcomes the

10 Environmental Protection Agency's first-ever proposed

11 methane pollution standards for new and modified oil

12 and gas facilities. The rules are a good -- a good

13 backstop to safeguard public health and cleaner air.

14 However, the rules will not adequately tackle the

15 thousands of tons of methane pollution currently

16 leaking from Pennsylvania's expansive gas industry

17 because they will largely only apply to new or modified

18 gas facilities, while expecting voluntary cooperation

19 from operators of existing sources.

20 Fracked gas is devastating to the climate,

21 especially over the next two most critical decades for

22 curbing climate change. Methane is over 86 times more

23 potent than the greenhouse gassing carbon dioxide over

24 a 20-year time period.

25 In 2013, the oil and gas industry of
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1 Pennsylvania leaked over 120,000 metric tons of methane

2 into the air, the equivalency of the two emissions is

3 burning 3.2 billion pounds of coal.

4 A recent study found, at least from

5 existing (not audible) facilities, used to process and

6 transport natural gas, could be as -- could be eight

7 times higher than EPA estimates. EPA's rules do not

8 adequately address cutting methane from existing

9 pollution sources.

10 According to a 2014 study, about 90

11 percent of oil and gas methane emissions in 2018

12 nationwide will come from existing sources built before

13 2012. The Council urges EPA to develop rules that

14 reduce methane and VOCs from all new and existing oil

15 and gas sources as much as possible and as quickly as

16 possible.

17 The Clean Air Council has also urged the

18 Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to

19 develop best-in-the-nation standards to address air

20 pollution leaks from the oil and gas industry and will

21 continue to do so.

22 There's a growing body of peer-reviewed

23 science that provides significant evidence of the

24 public health risks of shale gas operations. Unhealthy

25 levels of benzene and formaldehyde found down near
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1 compressor stations.

2 Research from the Colorado School of

3 Public Health showed in some women in high-density

4 drilling areas had an elevated risk of birth defects

5 such as congenital heart disease and neural tube

6 defects.

7 Researchers -- researchers from Oregon

8 State University and the University of Cincinnati found

9 that in areas closed-tapped wells, the level of

10 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are linked with

11 lung and skin cancer as well as respiratory effects,

12 exceeded the EPA's acceptable risk level. The risk

13 level only decreased by 30 percent three miles away

14 from an active well.

15 A new study showed that people living in

16 heavily-fracked areas are hospitalized for heart

17 conditions, neurological illnesses and other health

18 concerns at higher rates than people that live in areas

19 with no fracking.

20 The scientific community is playing

21 catch-up with the rapid growth of this industry, and is

22 now just beginning to understand the full environmental

23 health implications of the industry. The strongest

24 safeguards are surely warranted.

25 A number of the Council's members live in
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1 Pennsylvania shale fields and have told us their

2 stories and concerns. Some people who have been

3 impacted by oil and gas operations, who are -- who are

4 working to protect their communities from impending

5 fugitive facilities are here today to tell you their

6 stories. You've heard a lot of them already.

7 I encourage the EPA officials to listen

8 carefully to what each of them has to say and act on

9 this information, to do as much as possible to protect

10 public health under the methane rules.

11 Many others impacted by oil and gas

12 infrastructure could not make it to the hearing or

13 can't speak because they're involved in lawsuits right

14 now. I talked to a few of our members who wanted me to

15 share a little bit of their story with you today.

16 Jenny Lideseck couldn't be here. She's an

17 organic farmer in Clearfield County that has firsthand

18 experience with emissions from natural gas

19 infrastructure. She described one instance in which

20 she witnessed a venting plume of pollutants and then

21 immediately experienced a painful headache along with

22 her friends that were with her at the time.

23 Multiple families in Susquehanna County in

24 Northeast, PA, who live near compressor stations,

25 started experiencing nosebleeds as soon as nearby
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1 compressor stations started operating.

2 Kim Staub, of Washington County, couldn't

3 be here, she wanted me to relay this to you. She has

4 endured constant venting episodes from a pig launcher

5 close to her house, and has documented it with lots of

6 videos and photos.

7 Pam Judy, from Greene County, lives 708

8 feet from a compressor station. She's experienced

9 dizziness, vomiting, and vertigo to the point that she

10 was taken to the emergency room. Both of her children

11 experience nosebleeds. Judy and her family also

12 experience extreme headaches, sore throats, muscle

13 aches and the constant feeling of fatigue.

14 These are only a few of the many stories

15 about how people have been impacted by the gas

16 industry. Due to all of the health and environmental

17 impacts of the oil and gas operations in the industry,

18 it is imperative that EPA act quickly to address both

19 new and existing sources of methane pollution from

20 natural gas infrastructure.

21 Thank you for your time.

22 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for your

23 testimony, Mr. Walker.

24 Any questions for Mr. Walker?

25 MR. MOORE: No.
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1 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you both for being

2 here today and giving testimony.

3 At this time I would like to invite Ron

4 Altenburg and Jenny Demjanick to please come forward.

5 MR. ALTENBURG: Good afternoon.

6 MR. THOMPSON: Good afternoon.

7 MR. ALTENBURG: Good afternoon. My name

8 is Ron Altenburg, and I'm a director of the Energy

9 Center at Citizens for Pennsylvania Future or

10 PennFuture. We are a statewide membership-based

11 environmental advocacy organization that seeks to

12 improve the health and welfare of all Pennsylvanians as

13 we grow our economy.

14 We thank you for the opportunity to speak

15 here today in support of effective and comprehensive

16 regulation of VOC and methane emissions from the

17 natural gas industry. Pennsylvania is an

18 energy-producing state. We were home to the first oil

19 boom and an early leader in coal mining. Currently, we

20 lead the nation in electricity exports, the least of

21 which come from our fleet of coal and natural gas

22 plants. We're No. 2 in the nation in nuclear

23 generation, and now, with the recent boom in shale gas

24 production, we could become No. 2 in natural gas

25 production as well.
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1 All across the state, we see the scars of

2 past energy production and live with the risks of

3 continuing operations. It's critical that, with this

4 latest energy boom, we recognize the lessons of the

5 past and get these regulations right. The stakes are

6 higher than ever. The leakage of methane isn't just a

7 local issue. And with a global warming potential of 84

8 times that of carbon dioxide, methane leakage is a

9 potential climate killer. As the third largest

10 carbon-emitting state, controlling leakage in

11 Pennsylvania is essential to the success of our

12 national climate goals.

13 We applaud the EPA for taking steps to

14 direct -- to directly regulate methane. And we

15 support -- we support the proposed regulations and ask

16 that they be finalized expeditiously. But we must face

17 the facts that these rules do not go far enough.

18 Pennsylvania has over 7,000 active wells

19 that are not addressed under the proposed rules.

20 Achieving these reductions -- achieving reductions at

21 these sites are left to voluntary measures. And

22 unfortunately, the data shows clearly that voluntary

23 measures do not work.

24 Our Department of Environmental Protection

25 recently released inventory data, reported by the
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1 industry, that shows lower methane emissions than in

2 prior years, but this is only part of the picture.

3 That data also shows that the reductions we achieved

4 come almost entirely from green completions mandated

5 after the EPA's 2012 rule. When we look at those

6 sectors not currently covered by regulation, the

7 emissions are on the rise. Pennsylvania currently

8 relies on a patchwork of policies to regulate methane

9 that rarely exceeds minimum federal requirements.

10 There's a blanket exemption from operating permit

11 requirements at oil and gas industry wells. There's a

12 lenient preconstruction plan approval exemption for

13 those sites. And there's an expedited permitting

14 process for sources that don't qualify for an

15 exemption.

16 When we consider the scale of industrial

17 operations in Pennsylvania, it's vital that we ensure

18 our citizens are adequately protected.

19 Permanent exemptions and voluntary

20 programs are not enough. We need direct regulation of

21 these sources. We are here today to call on the EPA,

22 on Governor Wolf, and our state's DEP to work together

23 and take the next step in providing effective emissions

24 controls at all of our wells. This starts with the

25 rules that are under consideration today, but it must
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1 not end there.

2 The citizens of Pennsylvania deserve the

3 best protection available, and that means launching a

4 rule making that addresses existing sources as well.

5 Thank you.

6 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you. Thank you for

7 your testimony. Follow up from the panel?

8 Thank you, sir.

9 MS. DEMJANICK: Good afternoon. My name

10 is Jenny Demjanick, D-E-M-J-A-N-I-C-K. And I have been

11 a lifelong resident of Pennsylvania. I'm glad that the

12 EPA decided to hold one of their three methane hearings

13 here in Pennsylvania because Pennsylvanians are

14 significantly impacted by methane emissions.

15 As you know, over the past few years,

16 Pennsylvania has greatly increased its production of

17 natural gas, the primary ingredient of which is

18 methane. Although it is true from a carbon dioxide

19 emission standpoint, natural gas is cleaner than coal,

20 Pennsylvania's other large energy source.

21 Unfortunately, as we know, there's a catch. Natural

22 gas may not increase our state's CO2 emissions, but it

23 does increase our methane emissions.

24 Both C02 and methane are greenhouse gases.

25 Thus, they both impact human-induced climate change.
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1 As it turns out, in the moment, methane doesn't stay in

2 the atmosphere nearly as long as CO2. It is a far more

3 potent greenhouse gas than CO2. In fact, methane is 84

4 times as powerful as CO2 during the time it remains in

5 the atmosphere. That means that even if you fully

6 implement policies, such as the recently finalized

7 Clean Power Plan, that intends to reduce our CO2

8 emissions, if you continue business as usual with

9 methane emissions, we have gotten no where.

10 Methane emissions from the oil and gas

11 industry contribute about quarter of the total manmade

12 global warming we are experiencing today.

13 Methane is the second most prevalent

14 greenhouse gas emitted in the United States from human

15 activities, and nearly 30 percent of those emissions

16 come from oil production and the production of --

17 transmission and distribution of natural gas.

18 In 2013, oil and gas sources emitted over

19 7.3 million metric tons of methane, equivalent to CO2

20 emissions from over 160 coal-burning partlets. And

21 these emissions are projected to significantly increase

22 over the next decade without actions to lower Them.

23 Thankfully in August, the EPA took common

24 sense steps forward by proposing the first ever

25 standards to reduce harmful methane pollution of the
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1 oil and gas industry. However, the proposed Federal

2 Rules only cover new and modified sources of methane

3 emissions.

4 If Pennsylvania is going to continue its

5 investment in natural gas production, we desperately

6 need regulations to cover our existing methane

7 emissions. The EPA's methane rule is a good first

8 step, but does not go nearly far enough. There's

9 nothing to prevent the current sources of methane

10 emissions from continuing to release the harmful

11 greenhouse gas. It does not cover the thousands of oil

12 and gas wells in Pennsylvania currently spewing this

13 harmful pollution. Pennsylvania is our grids largest

14 electricity exploiter. Therefore, we share our

15 dependence on gas with over 51 million people across 13

16 states and, D.C., but we keep the cost of pollution

17 here in Pennsylvania. Thus, we need Pennsylvania to

18 step up and regulate the industry before it is too

19 late. The livelihoods of our children and their

20 children depend on it.

21 You would think that the industry would be

22 decreasing their own methane reductions because to them

23 methane is their profit. They should be capturing the

24 methane and selling it. But that is not the case. It

25 is concerning that the EPA has emphasized having
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1 voluntary measures that the industry can implement.

2 Even though there are some good companies out there

3 that have made some steps to reduce their emissions,

4 the number is still few and far between.

5 In this country, it has been proven time

6 and time again that regulations are necessary to change

7 the behavior of an industry. The industry side always

8 says the same thing. It's too difficult and it's going

9 to cost too much. But thanks to regulations, countless

10 lives have been saved.

11 For instance, all cars are required now to

12 have seat belts. The ocean is no longer a dumping

13 ground for hazardous waste, and children's toys do not

14 contain lead. And it wasn't too difficult or too

15 costly to make any of those changes.

16 Methane pollution poses a significant

17 threat to public health and is a potent contributor to

18 climate change. Until now, the oil and gas industry

19 has been allowed to dump methane pollution and other

20 harmful emissions into the air without limit. It is

21 time for the oil and gas industry to clean up its act

22 and stop jeopardizing the health and the welfare of our

23 communities.

24 Reducing methane emissions will also

25 reduce emissions are harmful pollutants that come
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1 packaged with the methane and drain our public health.

2 Those pollutants include volatile organic compounds, or

3 VOCs, which are a key ingredient in ground level ozone

4 or smog, as well as a number of air toxics. Smog is

5 associated with numerous serious health effects,

6 including asthma attacks, increased respiratory

7 problems, permanent lung damage, and early death from

8 respiratory and cardiovascular causes. Asthma is also

9 a serious issue, particularly in the Pittsburgh area,

10 where the air quality is quite poor. It's always

11 ranked very low. And air toxics are known or suspected

12 to cause cancer and other serious health problems. Our

13 most vulnerable population is like young people with

14 asthma or seniors with respiratory disorders can no

15 longer afford for there to be no national limits on

16 methane emissions from the oil and gas industry.

17 Setting methane standards will force the dirty

18 polluters, rather than our communities, to pay for the

19 cost of their emissions.

20 Thank you.

21 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you. Thank you for

22 your testimony. Any follow up from the panel?

23 MR. MOORE: No.

24 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you both very much

25 for being here today.
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1 At this time I would like to invite Joy

2 Bergey and Melinda Hughes-Wert to please come forward.

3 Good afternoon, ladies.

4 MS. SIMON-JOYCE: Hello.

5 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for being here.

6 MS. SIMON-JOYCE: I'm not Joy Bergey. My

7 name is Mollie Simon-Joyce. I'm filling in for her.

8 And I am reading testimony on behalf of the Reverend

9 Amy Reumann. That's R-E-U-M-A-N-N.

10 My name is Amy Reumann, and I am the

11 director Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in Pennsylvania.

12 Lutheran Advocacy Ministry serves the 1,300 evangelical

13 Lutheran churches in America congregations in the

14 Commonwealth through shaping faith-rooted advocacy on

15 issues that impact the health and well being of our

16 neighbors.

17 Thank you for the opportunity to speak

18 today in support of the proposed methane emissions

19 reduction and to underscore the urgency of their

20 implementation on behalf of God's creation and for the

21 common good. As Lutheran Christians, we understand

22 that we are called to protect the earth and to care for

23 our most vulnerable brothers and sisters. We have a

24 moral obligation to our neighbors who suffer now from

25 the effects of climate change which are exacerbated by
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1 methane pollution. We are accountable also to future

2 generations by implementing the strongest possible

3 standards to plug the leaks and stop the pollution as

4 swiftly as possible.

5 We speak out of concern for the

6 populations most adversely affected by toxic air

7 pollutants that is emitted from the scene (sic)

8 equipment that leaks methane. The proposed standards

9 would simultaneously reduce methane and toxic air

10 pollutants that can cause serious health problems,

11 including cancer, asthma, and other respiratory

12 illnesses in neighboring communities. These impacts

13 fall heavily on vulnerable groups like children, the

14 elderly, of communities of color, as well as among

15 workers in the gas industry. Our communities across

16 the country are impacted by this toxic pollution and

17 are suffering and cannot afford the delay.

18 Methane pollution controls would help

19 protect the health of our communities located near oil

20 and gas development by simultaneously cutting

21 smog-forming and cancer-causing pollutants from the oil

22 and gas sector. Low-cost technologies are already

23 commercially available to cut methane emissions from

24 leaking and venting equipment at oil and gas

25 facilities, and these methane-pollution controls also
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1 help companies cut energy waste. Stopping the leaks is

2 common -- is just common sense and good stewardship of

3 resources.

4 These rules only limit methane from new

5 and modified facilities. We support regulations on

6 existing sources of methane pollution as well, which

7 account for 100 percent of current emissions. We are

8 faced with an important choice. We can act now and

9 help to protect future generations and God's creation

10 from the worst impacts of climate change or we can fail

11 to act and let our children and the earth suffer the

12 consequences. This rule is a critical step in the

13 right direction.

14 Thank you.

15 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you. Thank you for

16 being here on behalf of Amy Reumann --

17 MS. HUGHES-WERT: If I could move this

18 thing over.

19 MR. THOMPSON: -- the Reverend Amy Reumann

20 respectfully.

21 Follow-up questions?

22 MR. MOORE: Just a brief one. I missed

23 the total name of the organization.

24 MS. HUGHES-WERT: Sure. It's the Lutheran

25 Advocacy Ministry in Pennsylvania, LAMPA.
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1 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you.

2 MS. HUGHES-WERT: Hopefully, my paper

3 doesn't make too much noise. It kind of got rained on

4 on the way in. Got to love rain.

5 Anyway, I want to thank everybody for

6 coming out and sharing their comments and also for you

7 all for the opportunity to share our thoughts on the

8 proposed methane emissions regulations.

9 My name is Melinda Hughes-Wert and I live

10 in DuBois, Pennsylvania, Clearfield County. In

11 addition to be a citizen concerned about the health of

12 our environment, I'm also the President and co-founder

13 of a national nonprofit called Nature Abounds, which

14 has supporters and volunteers across all 50 states.

15 Among our focus is natural resources extraction, which

16 we experience in our back yard with coal mining,

17 conventional gas and oil drilling, as well as fracking.

18 We have a significant focus on the effects of climate

19 change as well that I've been working on since 2006,

20 from which the world has already experienced and our

21 children and grandchildren will be far into the future.

22 We can't work on fracking or climate change without

23 also looking at the effects of methane emissions.

24 On top of that, I also have a Master's in

25 Environmental Law and Policy from Vermont Law School.
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1 So I'm actually very familiar with the INFRA XX

2 regulations, and I can't wait to close some of those

3 loopholes.

4 I strongly support EPA's recently proposed

5 methane pollution standards for the oil and gas

6 industry, although I only see this as a first step. We

7 really need stronger protections to ensure a healthy

8 future for all living creatures, and many flora and

9 fauna species are already having to adapt to the warmer

10 world. Continuing to allow greenhouse gases continue

11 with industry going about business-as-usual only

12 worsens this problem.

13 It is already known that methane is highly

14 potent greenhouse gas and in fact, you've heard this

15 many times a day, 86 times as powerful as carbon

16 dioxide over the 20-year timeframe. Methane is a

17 powerful contributor to climate change. In 2013 alone,

18 oil and gas sources emitted over 7.3 million metric

19 tons of methane. This is one year. This is equivalent

20 to the carbon dioxide emissions from over 160

21 coal-burning power plants. And this one year of 2013,

22 methane also accounted for about ten percent of all

23 U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from human activities,

24 according to the EPA web site.

25 With less methane in the atmosphere, we
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1 also reduce risks. According to the U.S. Department of

2 Energy, the most significant health hazard, which I

3 haven't really heard this talked about too much today,

4 is actually the highly combustibility in mixtures of

5 just 5 to 15 percent of methane in air which can be

6 quite explosive. Large concentrations of methane in

7 close areas lead to suffocation with those large

8 amounts of methane decreasing the amount of available

9 oxygen in the air.

10 The effects of oxygen deficiency are

11 nausea, headaches, dizziness, and unconsciousness.

12 These are the effects on normal people. But the risks

13 are even greater for those with health problems,

14 especially respiratory.

15 Which leads me to my next point. Many

16 fracking sites around the country are located in

17 mountainous areas, such as here in Pennsylvania or in

18 Colorado. Here, the air is known to get trapped

19 between the valleys. And in fact, our area is known

20 for having some of the worst air pollution in the

21 country already due to that air becoming trapped.

22 We're also known for some of the highest rates of

23 respiratory issues, like lung cancer and COPD. Adding

24 more pollution only exasperates the problem, while

25 reducing methane emissions will help.
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1 So I'm actually going to flip a little bit

2 here. The air pollution that does escape those valleys

3 can travel far. A recent study by research at the

4 University of Maryland looking at hourly measurements

5 of ethane and methane, both gases found in natural gas,

6 they looked at in Baltimore and DC areas, between 2010

7 and 2013. While there wasn't much information on the

8 methane sources at the time, they found that methane

9 measurements increased by 30 percent in that time

10 period. And, ironically, fracking operations aren't

11 found in Maryland or DC, but they are in the

12 neighboring upwind states of West Virginia, Ohio and

13 Pennsylvania where fracking was booming during this

14 period. Note that the researchers also ruled out other

15 potential sources of pollution. They also compared

16 their findings with cities that aren't downwind from

17 fracking operations such as Atlanta, and these areas

18 did not show changes in their ethane and methane

19 emissions.

20 In closing, the oil and gas industry must

21 take responsibility for their pollution rather than

22 asking the public and our environment to continue to

23 bear that burden. Too often is the profit privatized

24 while the effects and the clean-up are socialized. The

25 proposed standards will not only help with the methane,
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1 but will also help to curb other hazardous air

2 pollutants, such as volatile organic compounds, which

3 are released from oil and gas sources alongside the

4 methane. And as I mentioned earlier, these proposed

5 rules are an important first step towards reducing the

6 harm of the industry. I hope that the EPA will

7 strengthen and finalize these rules, move swiftly to

8 issue the standards covering existing sources, within

9 the oil and gas industry as well as other contributing

10 sources from other industries.

11 I want to thank you again for allowing me

12 to share my thoughts.

13 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you. Thank you very

14 much. Any follow-up from the panel?

15 Thank you both for being here today.

16 MS. SIMON-JOYCE: If you want a copy of

17 this, I'll give it to you to make it easier. It's just

18 wrinkled. By the way, rain is awesome. There you go.

19 Thank you.

20 REPORTER: Thank you.

21 MR. THOMPSON: At this time I would like

22 to invite Michelle Chapkis and Ron Golla, please come

23 forward.

24 Good afternoon to both of you. Thank you

25 for being here.
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1 MR. GOLLA: Thank you.

2 MS. SANFILIPPO: Hello. My name is Sarah

3 Sanfilippo. I'm an intern and I will be speaking on

4 behalf of Michelle Chapkis --

5 MR. THOMPSON: Okay.

6 MS. SANFILIPPO: -- on behalf of Women for

7 a Healthy Environment located in Pittsburgh,

8 Pennsylvania. Our mission is to educate and empower

9 women and those who love them to act as ambassadors

10 about environment risks. We carry out this mission by

11 educating the public about environmental exposures that

12 impact public health.

13 Further, we advocate for policy solutions

14 that improve the quality of life for ourselves and our

15 region such as the one we are discussing here today.

16 And lastly, we are a member coalition in

17 southwestern Pennsylvania that is working together to

18 clean up our air for the health of our families and

19 economy.

20 Women for a Healthy Environment strongly

21 support the oil and gas emission standards for new and

22 modified sources. The oil and gas industry is the

23 largest industrial source of methane pollution, a

24 highly potent greenhouse gas.

25 One of our main program areas is Healthy
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1 Schools, which focuses on creating a green and healthy

2 learning environment for all of those in the school

3 setting. Our organization recently created an online

4 mapping tool. We map all conventional and

5 unconventional active gas wells within a one-mile

6 radius of a school setting. Our analysis concluded the

7 following: There are over 380 unconventional wells in

8 southwestern Pennsylvania region situated within

9 one-mile radius of a public school building. There are

10 75 schools that have one or more wells within a

11 one-mile radius of the school building. And there are

12 30 school districts that have one or more wells

13 situated within a one-mile radius of one or more of

14 their school buildings.

15 Children are especially vulnerable

16 populations that need our protection. Pound for pound

17 children breathe more air, drink more water, and

18 consume more food than adults. Scientific studies

19 continue to assess and report on the health impact from

20 drilling operations, including the impacts of emissions

21 from this activity. When methane pollution is released

22 from leaky equipment to intentional venting, so too are

23 harmful pollutants and chemicals such as benzene, which

24 is linked to cancer and other smog-forming pollutants.

25 Not only do these oil and gas operations emit methane,
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1 they also emit volatile organic compounds, VOCs. VOCs

2 form ozone, which is lung -- which is a lung irritant

3 and aggravates those with asthma. High hazardous air

4 pollutants, HAP, and VOC emissions, especially near

5 drill-completion sites can impact health, including

6 links to heart and lung disease. Particle pollution

7 from the drilling operation also leads to increased

8 rates in heart attacks, strokes, various cancers,

9 respiratory disease, such as COPD, and asthma.

10 As stated in the 2012, Pennsylvania Asthma

11 Burden Report, asthma rates in school children have

12 increased over the last decade by 60 percent. For the

13 approximately 15 percent of Pennsylvania children that

14 have suffered from asthma, this new standard will

15 reduce industrial pollution and help reduce missed

16 school days, severe asthma attacks and hospital visits.

17 Pennsylvania's air quality has been

18 diminished for decades, especially southwestern

19 Pennsylvania. In fact, the seven county Pittsburgh

20 area has not been redesignated to attainment status for

21 ozone exposure by the Environmental Protection Agency,

22 (EPA). Over the last several years, there have been

23 many reports, statistics, and additional research

24 released documenting the poor air quality in our

25 region. According to the American Lung Association's
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1 State of the Air report, the region has landed at the

2 9th worst in the country for year-round measures on

3 fine particle pollution, or soot, and the 10th worst

4 for short-term particle pollution, the number of days

5 with unhealthy particle levels when air quality is

6 especially dangerous. Pittsburgh metro also ranked

7 21st worst in the nation for smog in ground level

8 ozone.

9 It's time to demand cleaner air for our

10 families so that our children can rest comfortably and

11 attend schools without coughing or wheezing from asthma

12 triggers such as emissions from these gas sources. The

13 proposed control methods are sensible, cost-effective,

14 and already in use across the oil and gas industry.

15 It is vital that the EPA take a leadership

16 role on this issue and to also begin work on an

17 existing source rule. We are counting on you to

18 protect our children and their future by placing strong

19 federal controls on methane and VOCs from oil and gas

20 drilling operations. With the adoption of this rule

21 making, EPA has the chance to make a positive impact

22 and improve the health of those living in our region.

23 Thank you for your time and the opportunity to present.

24 We will also submit more comprehensive technical

25 remarks online.
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1 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you. And, Michelle,

2 I didn't get your last name. Could you --

3 MS. SANFILIPPO: It's Michelle

4 Naccarati-Chapkis. Do you need the spelling?

5 MR. THOMPSON: Please.

6 MS. SANFILIPPO: N-A-C-C-A-R-A-T-I, dash,

7 Chapkis, C-H-A-P-K-I-S.

8 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you.

9 MS. SANFILIPPO: You're welcome.

10 MR. THOMPSON: Any questions from the

11 panel?

12 MR. MOORE: No.

13 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you very much.

14 MR. GOLLA: My name is Ron Golla.

15 MR. THOMPSON: Take the mic, please, sir.

16 MR. GOLLA: My name is Ron Golla. I live

17 in Washington County, Pennsylvania. I have spent

18 thousands upon thousands of hours investigating what

19 goes on in the oil and gas industry. And I was the

20 second horizontal well drilled in Pennsylvania. I was

21 the second test well. And Range Resources destroyed my

22 property.

23 A long story short, I have gone out and I

24 have talked to hundreds of people who have been

25 affected by this water-well contamination, health
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1 issues, loss of livestock. I've documented it. A lot

2 of this information has been documented.

3 I want to read a story here today by --

4 it's from one of the families I met in Clearville,

5 Bedford County. And I do want to make -- I want this

6 definitely to be on the record. I'm so tired of

7 hearing the word "anecdotal" from industry that no one

8 is getting sick and we don't have the water

9 contamination, because it's a pack of lies. We have

10 serious problems. I wish you could all spend two days

11 with me, and I will open your eyes.

12 Anyway, this story -- again, this is in

13 Clearville, Bedford County, Pennsylvania. We have

14 pipelines, gas wells, a 17 billion cubic feet

15 underground natural gas storage reservoir on 43 acres

16 with a 5,000 horsepower compressor station, 13

17 injection and withdrawal wells and transmission

18 pipelines that went into service in 2009.

19 From 2009 to -- from 2009 to 2014, there

20 have been 61 blowoffs and blowdowns. These are the

21 ones that we know about. In 2013, there was a major

22 release of 431.5000 cubic feet of gas and chemicals,

23 VOCs, released over a two-day period, according to PA

24 DEP records.

25 No one in the community living near the
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1 compressor station was ever notified. From the time

2 the compressor station went into service, we have had

3 health, animal, and environmental issues. We are not

4 being protected by our government or the industry that

5 has come into our community portraying to be a good

6 neighbor.

7 We need testing for the safety and welfare

8 of the community. The people of Clearville have the

9 right, under the PA Constitution, Article I, Section

10 27, to clean air.

11 There have been industry releases at well

12 sites that have caused headaches, bloody noses,

13 shortness of breath, just to name a few. We keep our

14 windows closed and are prisoners in our own home.

15 EPA, do the job that you were created to

16 do, protect the people and the environment. We should

17 not rely upon any industry to be self-reporting. No

18 industry has the right to be exempt from clean air,

19 clean water, safe drinking water, the right-to-know,

20 the Super Fund Act, and the Toxic Release Inventory.

21 Wayne and Angel Smith.

22 Thank you.

23 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for your

24 testimony. Any follow-up from the panel? Again, thank

25 you both very much for being here today. Thank you.
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1 MS. SANFILIPPO: Here is a copy of my

2 testimony.

3 REPORTER: Thank you.

4 MR. THOMPSON: At this time I would like

5 to invite Bob Donnan and Nick Goodfellow to please come

6 forward.

7 Good afternoon, gentlemen.

8 MR. DONNAN: Good afternoon. You want me

9 to go first?

10 MR. THOMPSON: If you're Mr. Donnan,

11 D-O-N-N-A-N, Donnan.

12 MR. DONNAN: I am Bob Donnan, D-O-N-N-A-N.

13 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you.

14 MR. DONNAN: I'm from Washington County,

15 Pennsylvania. That's the next county south of here.

16 In my 35 years of landscaping, it seemed

17 like we always had some fresh air. That seems to be

18 missing from Washington County now. A lot of mornings

19 I go out to the mailbox or to get the newspaper, and

20 the air smells industrial. A couple of days ago -- a

21 yard sample, okay, what's industrial? A couple of

22 days, it smelled oily.

23 So the thing that actually got me started

24 six years ago, when this industry started to bestow

25 their blessings upon us, was this water test we had
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1 done on our tap water in the South Hills of Pittsburgh.

2 And I think the most alarming part of it was

3 acrylonitrile was .9594, which is 11 times the level

4 permitted in streams. But it's not something our water

5 company tests for or is responsible for.

6 So I've included on this some of the

7 flyers we got about total dissolved solids because

8 industry was dumping their frack waste into the

9 Monongahela River. And I thank the EPA for whatever

10 they did to push the DEP along to get most of that

11 stopped.

12 So we've basically had 11 years of

13 unbridled development in Washington County. The first

14 well was fracked in 2004, the Marcellus Shale well was

15 in Washington County. And over that period, at least

16 according to the current -- the current web site from

17 Clean Air Council, we now have 34 compressor stations,

18 two gas processing facilities, and one Di dehydration

19 facility. This is just our county. This is just

20 Washington County.

21 So here's some postcard scenes from

22 Washington County. In 2011, this is a huge gas

23 processing plant, about seven miles upwind from us,

24 blowing off black smoke. Repeated in 2012, 2013, a

25 couple of times. These are just the ones people caught
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1 on film.

2 Company personnel tried to minimize the

3 severity of these events by calling them "upsets".

4 2012, the Pittsburgh Tri-State area is

5 unique because of our hills and valleys. And what

6 we're starting to see more of, when we fly, are these

7 thin layer cake inversion layers over the Ohio River

8 valley. And this is down near where Joe Montana grew

9 up in -- near Monongahela.

10 One of the environmental specialists

11 commented about the December 2012 layer where we can

12 see air quality action days in winter in the future on

13 mild days of a thick, yellow-cake haze of nasty

14 particulates continues.

15 2013, are things really getting better?

16 Here's a picture of a thin layer cake north of

17 Pittsburgh on April 27th. And here's another one on

18 October 12, 2013. "And what the frack? An ozone

19 action day in early December 2013?" And here you see

20 the graphic from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette where that

21 air contamination or pollution covered most of

22 Pennsylvania.

23 Okay. I heard her mention Kim Staub, who

24 I know, about the pig launcher venting. This -- this

25 is a different pig launcher, but it's not very far from
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1 the one in Hickory. So this -- this was occurring on

2 October 12, 2013 near Midway, PA, a couple of trucks

3 down there and company personnel. And according to

4 Kim, they've been at her pig launcher every day. Every

5 morning you can almost set your clock by it. So what's

6 that putting into the atmosphere?

7 Okay. A tank battery out at the well and

8 compression station in Buffalo Township, Washington

9 County. I've helped out some of the people doing FLIR

10 work from Shell Test and Earthworks. And we were past

11 this tank battery a few years ago. And there was a

12 leak I'm going to show you next. We were past there

13 again about a year ago. And it was still leaking.

14 This is a -- the graphic of the FLIR footage. You can

15 see the -- you can see the pollutants coming out. So

16 that's never been fixed. I don't know who needs to be

17 checking up on that stuff.

18 Okay. So we have 34 compressor stations.

19 Now, this is what the latest model look like. They've

20 built two of these south of the airport -- south of

21 Greater Pittsburgh Airport in Washington County; ten --

22 close to 20,000 compressor horsepower. This is the

23 three brothers. Here's another out there called the

24 Smith Compressor Station.

25 So I mean, how many of these can we
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1 aggregate into one area? And hopefully, we have put an

2 end to flaring. This is the flare at the

3 December 5, 2014 -- at the Clintonville Sportsmen Club

4 for a Utica Shale well. So I would mandate green

5 completions.

6 And finally, black carbon pollution

7 readings. You know, if each well takes 1,000 diesel

8 truck trips, what's that adding to this map of the

9 research being done by a CMU professor to the black

10 carbon?

11 Thank you.

12 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you. Let me ask, the

13 population of Washington County, would you happen to

14 know?

15 Any questions from the panel?

16 MR. DONNAN: We're probably one of the --

17 the fourth or fifth most fracked counties in

18 Pennsylvania, Washington and Greene. There's a lot

19 that are panhandled to our west and a lot in eastern

20 Ohio.

21 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, sir.

22 MR. GOODFELLOW: Hi there. Good

23 afternoon. Welcome to Pittsburgh. Thanks for having

24 this hearing here. I appreciate the opportunity to

25 give comments on such an important step in shifting
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1 from a fossil economy to a greenable economy.

2 So I am 24. I'm a student at the

3 University of Pittsburgh. I'm going to graduate in

4 December. Knock on wood. I'm skipping class to come

5 here. So we'll see how that goes.

6 I am no scientist. And I've studied urban

7 studies and communication. And I'm just here because I

8 am a young person. And a lot of these big decisions

9 will affect me a lot in the future. I am a member of a

10 few environmental groups on campus, because I am

11 terrified for my future. And I'm motivated to try and

12 take some control over the climate change, and actually

13 the effects that it's having now are terrifying, and

14 having the potential to destabilize the world.

15 I don't know if you're following the

16 events that are happening in Europe with the refugee

17 crisis. And as I'm sure you may know, there is a

18 linkage between climate change and that crisis.

19 So in Syria between 2007 and 2011, there

20 were a series of droughts that led to crop failure and

21 people moving into rural areas. Subsequently, 1.5

22 million Syrians moved from rural areas to urban areas

23 which exacerbated an already unstable kind of political

24 situation in those urban areas, which then led -- then

25 led to the civil war that's been going on for four
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1 years now -- four or five years. It's killed a quarter

2 of a million people and led to the displacement of nine

3 million. You know, I'm not going to say the climate

4 change caused this, but it did play a significant role

5 in this. And we think that this is a bad problem right

6 now. This is a cup of tea compared to what could

7 happen when other nations are submerged, when people

8 living in low-lying coastal regions are forced to move

9 inland and to other areas because there is literally no

10 more land.

11 And we're not at the -- I wouldn't -- I

12 don't want to say we're taking a gamble by, you know,

13 continuing to use fossil fuels because the game is

14 already over with. We've played -- we've played our

15 hand. And we didn't make the right decision. We still

16 have a chance to try and fix the problems that we've

17 created. And I hope that the EPA, as well as the

18 citizens of the United States, and corporations, will

19 come together and make the right decisions to stop

20 using fossil fuels -- to stop relying on fossil fuels

21 for our economic and energy development and to

22 transition to a greenable energy future.

23 Thank you.

24 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Goodfellow.

25 Are there any questions for Mr. Goodfellow? Gentlemen,
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1 thank you both for your testimony today.

2 MR. DONNAN: Do you want these over here?

3 MR. THOMPSON: At the table -- the

4 registration table, sir.

5 MR. DONNAN: Downstairs?

6 MR. THOMPSON: Yes, sir. I'd like to take

7 a look at those later. At this time I would like to

8 invite Etta Albright and Dr. Yousef Zarbalian to please

9 come forward.

10 MS. ALBRIGHT: Hi. I don't know how to do

11 this? Would you like me to bring these up and maybe

12 you could just go through them as I talk? Or do you

13 want me to talk about them from here?

14 MR. THOMPSON: You can talk about them

15 from there. Or whatever is most convenient for you.

16 MS. ALBRIGHT: Okay. I don't know how

17 much you could actually see.

18 MR. THOMPSON: Okay.

19 MS. ALBRIGHT: I guess I better sit down

20 and introduce myself first.

21 My name is Etta Albright, A-L-B-R-I-G-H-T,

22 and I'm from Crescent, Pennsylvania. And I am a

23 citizen, but mostly importantly, I'm a grandmother.

24 This gets rather complicating. I'll move this over.

25 This gets kind of complicated because
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1 we're here to talk about methane, I know. But you

2 can't talk about methane without looking at the real

3 big picture. And next to move well above -- above Pope

4 Francis as far as being the steward -- a representative

5 of the stewardship of our planet is the EPA. I hope

6 you take that very seriously because in this climate

7 that we're living in, where we have citizens united,

8 where money is playing such a critical role in the

9 decision-making, threatening people who are in

10 responsible, professional positions to compromise their

11 integrity out of fear for a job and different things,

12 so that's how serious this is. So we know that methane

13 is very important as a -- as a greenhouse gas. But I

14 think they've downplayed the significance of it because

15 they're trying to present natural gas as a bridge for

16 this energy need.

17 And I was privileged to just attend a

18 presentation by Dr. Anthony Ingraffea at Cornell

19 University about the myths, really, that are being

20 perpetuated as far as gas being clean energy and that

21 this escaping gas -- the methane, escaping methanes

22 is -- is 25 times more serious as a greenhouse gas and

23 impact on this climate disruption than -- than coal

24 power plants. And the reason for that is because

25 there's so much of it, because methane is -- is not as
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1 long-lasting. But the volume of it -- the volume of it

2 is -- is the most dangerous thing. So you can't wait.

3 You can't wait ten years. You can't wait to make this

4 decision.

5 And we ask ourselves what kind of an

6 industry needs exemptions from clean air standards and

7 laws? Safe drinking waters laws? Public's

8 right-to-know laws? And any accountability or

9 responsibility for their actions. This is how this

10 industry came to Pennsylvania. This is sick. And it

11 wasn't -- it was a democratic governor at the time.

12 Governor Rendell. And Kathleen McGinty was the -- the

13 Secretary of Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental

14 Protection, when she invited the gas drillers to the

15 first ever cultural res (sic) in Pennsylvania. She

16 invited them to Harrisburg. In June of 2008, she

17 resigned as Secretary in July of 2008. And she's

18 running for public office now. So this goes along with

19 the moral fiber that's driving our country.

20 And the EPA -- I -- I read your -- your

21 proposal. It's here. Your news release that was just

22 published 8/18/2015. And it scared me because it says

23 the proposed standards that -- this is taken out of

24 context. The proposed standards will complement

25 voluntary efforts and were based on practices and
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1 technology currently used by industry.

2 Now, we heard that when this fracking

3 industry came to Pennsylvania. The industry's own best

4 practice. They were in charge. And we now see what's

5 happened and what this continuing threat is by this --

6 this human-induced climate disruption --

7 human-activity-induced climate disruption. So

8 that's -- that's how serious this is. You can't toy by

9 letting this industry, who -- these people in industry

10 are no better than you and I with the same human

11 failings. And some of them are very aggressive and

12 domineering.

13 We saw how Dick Cheney duped the Congress

14 and the United States to attack Iraq. We've got these

15 people at the head of industry who really aren't at the

16 foundation of us. Of us in common community. That's

17 been represented in our history over and over again. I

18 have some poignant pictures about what industry meant

19 to the people who worked in the mines.

20 MR. THOMPSON: Ms. Albright, your time has

21 expired. But I'm going to give you 30 seconds to start

22 showing us your --

23 MS. ALBRIGHT: Oh. Oh, dear, I'll hurry

24 because I'd like for you to see this. This is the copy

25 of the League of Women Voters gas shale extraction
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1 study in public health. You need to be aware of. This

2 is about Dr. Ingraffea's presentation at -- at

3 Dickinson University. This -- this compositive picture

4 really tells it all. It shows how industry has come

5 into the world and taken over the resources and leaves

6 us in this very unhealthy dependency. And the caption

7 under here is "what's next?" So picture this

8 unhealthy, dependent role where we are many times, and

9 add compressors and pipelines, add all of this stuff

10 because this is what our communities are facing in

11 Cambria County. The gas industry is trying to sell

12 this to people to lay pipes and be dependent.

13 Thank you -- thank you for your -- your

14 patience.

15 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you. Any follow-up

16 questions for Ms. Albright from the panel?

17 MR. DONNAN: That's 208,000; Washington

18 County.

19 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you. Population, for

20 the record, 208,000. Thank you.

21 DR. ZARBALIAN: Hi. My name is Yousef

22 Zarbalian. I commend the EPA for proposing actions to

23 limit EPA emissions, for like others here today, I

24 agree that -- to really limit emissions, we need to

25 look at older existing facilities. That's an important
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1 next step.

2 Just to introduce myself a little bit

3 further. I am a young physician. I completed medical

4 school in 2010. I did a residency in internal medicine

5 at the University of Maryland, completed in 2013, I'm

6 currently at the University of Pittsburgh in training

7 in rheumatology. Rheumatology and fracking aren't

8 really related, but I've had a long interest in

9 environmental health, the intersection of where

10 environmental impacts -- environment impacts health.

11 And I've seen it growing up in Louisiana. And so --

12 had oil spills there, as everyone is aware of. So it's

13 been kind of a long-standing interest.

14 Regarding -- I'm going to try to limit

15 more the public health concerns regarding methane,

16 since that's what we're talking more specifically

17 today.

18 Regarding methane, approximately

19 40 percent more is released from hydraulic fracturing

20 as compared with conventional natural gas drilling,

21 according to data by Howard, other than it seems to be

22 there are various estimates. But I think it's

23 something that -- I think it is definitely good to

24 focus on.

25 There are three main public health impacts
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1 that I want to consider regarding methane. The first

2 being that methane is a surrogate for other volatile

3 organic compounds. Other people have touched on that

4 today. The second is that it's a powerful greenhouse

5 gas. The third is the flammability aspect. So I want

6 to focus on each of those.

7 Methane is -- basically, it's the most

8 simple hydrocarbon. It's carbon with four hydrogens.

9 There are five other volatile hydrocarbons in natural

10 gas that are going to be released with it. And those

11 are the ones that actually have known health risks.

12 Methane doesn't have directly -- other than

13 asphyxiation, which, I think, one of the speakers

14 mentioned. Other than asphyxiation, methane isn't

15 known to have a health risk. The other volatile

16 organic compounds which have been found in high levels

17 at sites of natural gas drilling have known both acute

18 and sub chronic and chronic health hazards.

19 Seventy-eight hydrocarbons were measured by Mackenzie,

20 et.al. in a 2012 study. And they estimated the risks

21 to neurologic, respiratory, hematologic, and

22 developmental risks. Those are all estimates based on

23 known prior toxicologic data. And those risks --

24 follow up in toxicologic studies are limited because

25 this is a pretty new industry.
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1 The follow-up studies that I'm aware of

2 are the Gas Patrick (sic) Blood Study. It's an

3 informal study, but I think it's -- still think it's

4 important. This was released about three years ago.

5 And it did find a correlation between distance from a

6 natural gas drilling site and prevalence of symptoms.

7 So the further you got away from the natural gas

8 drilling site, the less mucocutaneous symptoms in terms

9 of nosebleeds, headaches, and other neurologic

10 symptoms. They became less common as you increased

11 your distance from the natural gas site. But I think

12 it's important to take into consideration.

13 Volatile organic compounds, as others have

14 mentioned, they're also an important predecessor for

15 ozone formation and ozone has been extensively

16 researched for its pulmonary and cardiovascular

17 toxicity. We know -- we know it really well. It's in

18 the literature. The greenhouse gas, I think everyone

19 has touched on already. Just to highlight that again.

20 Over a 20-year and 100-year timeframe, certain

21 engineers have estimated that unconventional natural

22 gas drilling would have a greener greenhouse gas

23 footprint than the other forms of natural gas -- other

24 forms of energy development, including coal and oil.

25 And so I think those are estimates.
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1 But I still think we need to definitely --

2 if we're going to continue natural gas drilling gas,

3 which, in my opinion, doesn't seem to be good idea. If

4 we're going to be continuing it, we should be

5 regulating it much more closely.

6 The third part, flammability, which I

7 think others have touched on, Osborne et.al. looks at

8 60 private wells in close proximity to natural gas

9 development. They did find that methane concentrations

10 were 17 -- 17 times higher, on average, than the wells

11 that were near natural gas. So it actually met -- the

12 average methane concentration met the hazard medication

13 level recommended by the U.S. Department of the

14 Interior. So that, you know, it is clearly a

15 flammability hazard.

16 I think the gentleman from Clearville,

17 Pennsylvania touched on a good point about anecdotal

18 evidence. I think that in public health, whenever you

19 have a new intervention, you have a new sort of thing

20 introduced to the environment, it's going to take time

21 to establish clear environmental health risks. So we

22 really need to take a look at anecdotal evidence

23 closely. We can't just, you know, shoo-shoo it and

24 say, "Oh, this is just -- you know, not" -- you know,

25 "it's not a randomized controlled trial." I think we
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1 should look at that seriously. And I think the

2 precautionary principle is important to take into

3 account.

4 And I'll just read that from the World

5 Health Organization. "When an activity raises threats

6 of harm to human health or the environment,

7 precautionary measures should be taken even if some

8 cause and effect relationships are not fully

9 established scientifically." In this context, the

10 proponent to an activity, rather than the public,

11 should bear the burden of proof.

12 Thank you for having me.

13 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you. Thank you for

14 your testimony. Any follow up from the panel? Thank

15 you. Thank you both for being here. Thank you.

16 At this time I would like to invite Jason

17 Gu and John Morgan to please come forward with

18 testimony.

19 MR. GU: I guess I'll start.

20 MR. THOMPSON: Yes, please.

21 MR. GU: My name is Jason Gu. And I work

22 for SenSevere, a company that I started out of my

23 graduate career at Carnegie Mellon University.

24 Our mission is to actually develop and

25 deploy innovative new sensing technologies capable of
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1 withstanding extreme environments and accurately report

2 chemical and process information.

3 So over the past few years, it's been a

4 pleasure working with a wide range of customers,

5 including detecting hydrogen in wet chlorine gas

6 streams, hydrogen in nuclear power plants, bromides in

7 source water, and as well as remote sensing telemetry

8 with actually the U.S. EPA.

9 The organizations that we've dealt with,

10 both industrial and federal, have come up with very

11 forward-thinking, very-welcoming to new and innovative

12 technologies that can help them do their jobs.

13 My goal here today is not to directly talk

14 about the mechanism for regulation, but to discuss the

15 work that we've recently done with the Environmental

16 Defense Fund through the Methane Detector Challenge,

17 the significance of which may be able to reduce methane

18 leaks.

19 The Methane Detector Challenge was aimed

20 at bridging the gap between the oil and gas providers

21 like Shell, Anadarko, and technology providers like us

22 to develop economically feasible and field ready units

23 capable of continuously monitoring methane emissions

24 from oil and gas installations.

25 Continuous monitoring is currently too
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1 expensive to deploy in the field, but recent science

2 indicates that leaks are probably higher than current

3 inventories and can occur at irregular times.

4 The Methane Detector Challenge aims at

5 match -- at creating detection systems that will be

6 available at drastically lower costs with faster time

7 to market.

8 The end users -- the end users in this

9 case, the oil and gas industry, would have available

10 these resultant products which allows them to improve

11 processes from modern methane real time allowing for

12 organized responses to take place in hours, not months,

13 with modern infrastructure. It would also allow

14 operators to ensure the social rights to operate and

15 gain insights from the field that help prevent leaks.

16 For technology providers like us, the

17 methane detector challenge provides relevant

18 specifications and detailed installation conditions

19 that allow us to tailor our technologies to specific

20 need.

21 We have developed such a system that has

22 performed well through two rounds of testing at

23 Southwest Research Institute. Our unit has been tested

24 in a laboratory. People detecting ppm levels of

25 methane within a test chamber and also outdoors for
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1 eight weeks in the San Antonio summer. It was

2 successfully detected in controlled releases of methane

3 with flow rates down to about one centimeter cubic feet

4 per minute located up to nearly 100 feet away.

5 Our unit will likely be selected for

6 further tests with an industrial operator in 2016.

7 As this innovation and other innovations

8 become commercially available, we would like to

9 emphasize that regulation must allow and incent the

10 deployment of innovative technology capable of

11 streamlining the processes of detection to fix leaks

12 quickly, to prevent methane emissions and product

13 waste, and improve operational efficiency.

14 Any regulations need to have a clear

15 pathway for operators to be recognized for using

16 innovative technology, including continuous monitoring.

17 Without such a pathway, the proposed rule risks

18 freezing methane detection technology as it is today at

19 its current level.

20 I understand the EPA has asked for

21 comments on how to encourage technological advancement

22 in the methane rule.

23 I'm not a policy expert. I'm an engineer.

24 So I will only reinforce that such a pathway for

25 innovation in the final rule is very important for
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1 myself and other technology suppliers.

2 It is my hope that my voice in this forum

3 will better inform and enable additional contemplation

4 of how to best incentivize the rollout of innovations,

5 such as our continuous methane detection unit that has

6 been developed, and put through its paces in our

7 participation at the EDF's Methane Detector Challenge.

8 Thank you.

9 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, sir.

10 Any follow-up questions?

11 MS. WALTZER: Sir, a second question. I

12 didn't get the name of your company?

13 MR. GU: Oh. SenSevere. SenSevere.

14 SenSevere. So like we SenSevere.

15 MS. WALTZER: SenSevere.

16 MR. GU: Yeah. And everybody asks. It's

17 very clear.

18 MS. WALTZER: Thank you.

19 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you. Mr. Morgan.

20 MR. MORGAN: John Morgan from Delmont

21 County, Ohio. The climate science is clear that

22 developing and burning our inventory of shale gas is

23 incompatible with avoiding catastrophic climate change.

24 I support the proposed regulations as a

25 step in the direction of curbing the chronic problem of
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1 methane emissions from leaking wells. But I believe it

2 is too little and too late. Not only is shale gas bad

3 for the regional environment and the global climate,

4 but it is also a terribly misguided energy investment

5 for our country. Most stories touting the game changer

6 potential of shale gas and oil are based on the

7 industry hype for U.S. energy information

8 administration projections, EIA, which have been

9 notoriously unreliable.

10 There have been two independent in depth

11 studies released in 2014 analyzing the future potential

12 of the shale gas boom. One titled "Drilling Deeper" by

13 David Hughes and "Shale Resource and Reserve Study" by

14 the University of Texas, Bureau of Economic Geology.

15 Geological consultant, Arthur Berman, said

16 of these studies, quote, "The UT study and the David

17 Hughes study looked scrupulously at every single well

18 and did reserve estimates for every single well. They

19 did all of the economics, all the geology, all the

20 engineering, all the geophysics. EIA doesn't do that

21 level of work. And they would be the first to admit it

22 to you." I don't think -- "I don't even think that the

23 EIA has a geologist on staff," end quote.

24 Both of these studies estimate that shale

25 gas production in the U.S. will peak and start to
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1 decline in the next four to seven years. This is

2 related to the fact that failed wells

3 characteristically reached peak production and go into

4 terminal decline almost immediately after completion.

5 The only way production could be maintained is by

6 constantly drilling new wells and constantly increasing

7 the risk. And since the sweet spots are always drilled

8 first, it becomes steadily more difficult and expensive

9 to maintain production. Some analysts have described

10 shale gas investment as more than a bubble, a Ponzi

11 scheme.

12 A myopic obsession is keeping the U.S.

13 fossil fuel industry growing at all costs has blinded

14 us to the lunacy of making this massive material and

15 financial investment in such a short-term energy fix

16 with very long-term environmental consequences. Future

17 generations will not appreciate our having consumed the

18 short-term gain, while leaving behind a toxic and

19 finite damaged legacy. Would it be -- wouldn't it be

20 wise to do what we should have done at the beginning of

21 this process, make a careful and honest risk/benefit

22 assessment before we go all the way.

23 MR. THOMPSON: Does that complete your

24 testimony? Thank you.

25 Are there any follow-up questions for
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1 Mr. Morgan?

2 MR. MOORE: No.

3 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you. Gentlemen,

4 thank you both for your testimony today.

5 Okay. At this time we're going to take a

6 short break. We'll reconvene at 3:45. Thank you,

7 folks.

8 (Recess in proceedings.)

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1 MR. COZZIE: Good afternoon. At this time

2 I would like to reconvene the panel and restart the

3 hearing. Please indicate on the record that David

4 Cozzie has replaced Fred Thompson as the chair.

5 And at this time, I would like to invite

6 Michael Backus to come forward.

7 MR. CANNING: By myself, huh?

8 This is -- this is not my testimony. This

9 was actually sent here by Alana Tichin, an 11 year old

10 rising sixth grader from Middlesex Township, Butler

11 County, where I live.

12 My name is Michael Badges-Canning. I am

13 from Butler County, Pennsylvania. I am here as a

14 representative of Marcellus Outreach Butler. I'm also

15 the green party candidate for Butler County

16 Commissioner.

17 While I applaud the EPA for considering

18 ways to regulate methane, I don't think you've gone far

19 enough. At this critical time, releasing any methane

20 is problematic.

21 Further, when it comes to natural gas

22 extraction, methane emissions, to borrow a tag line

23 from the industry, "are just the beginning."

24 I live in Butler County, a frontline

25 community just a few miles north of here. We have
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1 ample evidence that this industry can't control any of

2 its emissions, despite the stringent regulations in

3 place. The presumption by the EPA that new regulations

4 will somehow help them get their act together is akin

5 to the magical thinking my grandson expresses when he

6 leaves cookies for Santa, carrots for the Easter Bunny,

7 and puts his tooth under his pillow for the tooth

8 fairy.

9 Further, we here in the shale fields have

10 little faith in the regulatory agencies that are in our

11 lives, the Department of Environmental Protection here

12 in Pennsylvania, which we call "Don't Expect

13 Protection," and the EPA, which has bungled a nickname

14 (sic) situation that it is a little more than an

15 enabler for the industry.

16 What are the consequences of regulating a

17 dangerous greenhouse gas? Let's look at it this way.

18 If you have a fever, do you ingest more of the

19 pathogens? I don't think so.

20 But the consequences go far beyond methane

21 emissions. In order to get the methane, it has to be

22 extracted. And this industry has demonstrated that it

23 can't do that safely. In Butler County, we have a

24 community of woodlands that has been without water for

25 almost five years. That tiny community, of around
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1 400 acres, is surrounded by over 70 wells, and their

2 water has, among other things, benzene and toluene.

3 They've been relying on a water bank run by the White

4 Oak Springs Presbyterian Church. Unfortunately, that

5 water bank, which was serving over 50 families a week,

6 giving them 20 to 25 gallons of water, recently ran out

7 of money. These people are not rich and powerful.

8 They're people just getting by. Most of their savings

9 are in their houses, which are now worthless.

10 In September of 2013, I got a call from a

11 mother in Summit Township. She was distraught because

12 the Kozik brother's well was flaring. This well was

13 located 500 feet from the playground at Summit

14 Elementary, 700 feet from the school, 900 feet from the

15 furthest point in the school. When I arrived, I

16 observed a group of children playing soccer on the

17 playground. I was alarmed. So I contacted Southwest

18 Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project and asked,

19 "Am I crazy?" "No." They issued a health advisory.

20 Any company that would engage in that sort

21 of reckless behavior exhibited by this driller should

22 be sanctioned. But, apparently, this is a permitted

23 activity.

24 Many of us in the shale fields hope the

25 EPA's air rules for the oil and natural gas industry
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1 would curtail dangerous frack practice of flaring. The

2 implementation of green completion was cheered by many.

3 However, the night before last, while attempting to

4 view the Super Blood Moon and its eclipse, my eyes were

5 yanked to the north where I observed an ominous,

6 oscillating red glow on the horizon. My wife, Karen,

7 and I jumped in our car hoping against hope, that it

8 wasn't the Cratty well flaring a few hundred yards from

9 where our granddaughter was sleeping. It was.

10 Closer reading of the air rules is

11 instructive. It states in part, "to ensure that smog

12 forming volatile organic compounds are controlled

13 without slowing natural gas production." Indeed,

14 poisoning people in the planet is permissible, if to

15 act to protect people in planet would hurt production.

16 Regulation of methane -- when my grandson

17 tells me about unicorns, I nod and smile and marvel at

18 the innocence of a four year old.

19 I would like to close with a quote from

20 Wendel Berry. "We're destroying our country. I mean,

21 our country itself. Our land. This is a terrible

22 thing to know. But it is not a reason for despair

23 unless we decide to continue the destruction. If we

24 decide to continue destruction, that will not be

25 because we have no other choice. This destruction is
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1 not necessary. It's not inevitable except by our own

2 submissiveness, we make it so. We Americans are not

3 usually thought to be submissive people. But, of

4 course, we are. Why else would we allow our country to

5 be destroyed? Why else would we be rewarding its

6 destroyers?" Why else would we call -- "Why else would

7 we all, by proxies, we have given to greedy

8 corporations and corrupt politicians we participate in

9 its destruction?"

10 Most of us are still too sane to piss in

11 our own cistern, but we allow others to do so. We

12 reward them for it. So, in fact, the ones who piss in

13 our cistern are wealthier than the rest of us. How do

14 we submit? By being not radical enough. Or by not

15 being thorough enough, which is the same thing. Ban

16 fracking. Thank you.

17 MR. COZZIE: Thank you. Any questions

18 from the panel? Thank you for your testimony.

19 At this time I would invite Randy Sargent

20 and Patricia Marida.

21 MS. DeMARCO: I'm Patricia DeMarco. Do

22 they have the name wrong?

23 MR. COZZIE: No. I have DeMarco on the

24 next sheet. M-A-R-I-D-A. All right. Well,

25 Mr. Sargent.
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1 MR. SARGENT: Thank you. My name is Randy

2 Sargent. I'm a scientist at Carnegie Mellon

3 University's green lab here in Pittsburgh. I'm

4 grateful for the opportunity to speak to you today.

5 And I'm grateful especially at EPA's proposed rules to

6 the methane emissions. I'm strongly in favor of

7 limiting methane emissions.

8 A very significant infraction of the

9 United States country is being shown to climate

10 changing and greenhouse gases in the earth's atmosphere

11 comes from the methane emissions due to human activity.

12 The largest source of that emission in the United

13 States is oil and gas extraction. Simply put, if we

14 extract nothing from the ground, we let some of it leak

15 into the atmosphere.

16 Two years ago, Miller et.al surprised us

17 with news that direct measurements of methane indicated

18 that fossil fuel extraction was actually leaking around

19 five times as much methane as official estimates have

20 previously claimed. Five times. How could this be

21 happening and how could we take action to reduce these

22 leaks? That's precisely why the discussion today is so

23 important. So thank you for having them.

24 There's no economic benefit to leaking

25 methane when extracting gas and oil. Instead it causes
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1 lung problems. Let's start with climate change. It

2 increases extreme weather events such as droughts,

3 floods, heat waves, cold waves. There are large costs

4 across many sectors adversely affecting transportation,

5 infrastructure, water infrastructure, direct down Utica

6 flooding, mitigation to prevent flooding, additional

7 energy use due to temperature extremes, loss of trees

8 that attract disease, increased health care costs, to

9 name a few.

10 Higher over winter temperatures are

11 increasing the ranges of some harmful insects, for

12 instance, the prevalence of Lyme disease here in the

13 east. In the past decade, we've seen a seven-fold

14 increase in Lyme disease here in Allegheny County. And

15 killing lots of large spots of trees in the western

16 states due in part to these infestations.

17 More globally, we see similar costs at

18 larger scale. Leaking gas here in the United States

19 impacts climate across the globe. Living in the United

20 States, we see the difficulties that farmers today in

21 California or Texas have coping with droughts. The

22 United States is relatively robust to these problems.

23 Let's contrast with the drought in Syria,

24 which started in 2007. When crops failed, we had

25 1.5 million people, that's about seven percent of the
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1 country's population, moved from farmlands to the

2 cities, concluded by the recent research done by

3 Kelley, et.al. Quote, "There is evidence that the

4 2007-2010 drought contributed to conflict in Syria. It

5 was the worst drought in the instrumental record

6 causing widespread crop failure and mass migration of

7 farming families to urban centers. Century-long

8 observed trends of precipitation, temperature, and

9 sea-level pressure, supported by climate model results,

10 strongly suggest that anthropogenic forcing "in human

11 caused climate change" has increased the probability of

12 severe and persistent droughts in this region, and has

13 made the occurrence of a three-year drought as severe

14 as that of 2007-2010, two to three times more likely

15 than by natural variability alone. We conclude that

16 human influences on the climate system are implicated

17 in the current Syrian conflict," end of quote.

18 The humanitarian cost of the civil war in

19 Syria has been very high. Over a quarter of a million

20 people dead, over three million refugees, now spilling

21 economic costs into the rest of the world.

22 We know with certainty that as we continue

23 to increase greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, extreme

24 events like the drought in Syria will continue to

25 increase in frequency and severity.
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1 Let me switch gears to the side benefit of

2 reducing methane emissions in the oil and gas

3 extraction, particularly with unconventional extraction

4 of shale, oil, and gas drag (sic) on fracking, methane

5 isn't the only substance leaking. For areas with oil

6 or wet gas extraction, heavier compounds leak in some

7 of the same paths as the lighter methane, the BTEX test

8 compounds, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes are

9 found in high concentrations in fracked wet gas and oil

10 and are directly harmful to human health, as you know,

11 causing cancer and a number of other direct health

12 impacts.

13 A number of studies have shown increased

14 number of problem in proximity to oil and gas fracking.

15 Reducing methane emissions from these sites should help

16 to somewhat reduce emissions of the heavier compounding

17 substances as well.

18 In summary, I strongly favor limited

19 methane emissions and believe we have both an economic

20 and the moral imperative to further decrease the

21 emissions of climate change, greenhouse gases, and its

22 accompanying pollution.

23 Thank you.

24 MR. COZZIE: Thank you for your testimony.

25 Any questions or clarification from the panel? Thank
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1 you.

2 At this time I would like to invite

3 Thaddeus Popovich and Patricia DeMarco.

4 MR. POPOVICH: I have some hand-outs.

5 You can follow along, make sure I don't make any

6 mistakes.

7 MR. COZZIE: Thank you.

8 MR. POPOVICH: Thank you for having this

9 hearing. This is the second EPA hearing I've had the

10 pleasure of saying something, and I hope it's valid

11 information I'm sharing with you.

12 My name, again, is Thaddeus Popovich. And

13 I live at 6606 Virginia Avenue in Ben Avon, a small

14 borough six miles downriver from Pittsburgh from where

15 we are now.

16 And I'm -- I'm going to talk about coke

17 plants, and you might say, well, what does that have to

18 do with anything? But coke plants are the emitter of

19 methane, especially when coke in its raw state. And

20 I'm going to read what I -- testimony that I gave to

21 the Allegheny County Health Department at their Board

22 of Directors meeting, because the health Department in

23 Allegheny County is the regulator for the EPA for air.

24 And we think they can be doing such a better job than

25 they're doing. How about that? So let me continue.
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1 We continue to be unsettled with the

2 haphazard way the DTE energy. They're the owner based

3 in Detroit. They're a Fortune 500 company who operate

4 this plant. The latest example is shown in the

5 embedded photo taken by a resident of Emsworth, an

6 adjourning borough, on June 11, 2015. The plant lost

7 power for nearly an hour, emitting raw coke gas and

8 toxic emissions. An hour. Amazing. And what's in

9 coke gas? How about this? Besides 55 percent

10 hydrogen, which is flammable -- very flammable;

11 methane, 25 percent. Twenty-five percent of methane

12 comes out of raw coke gas.

13 Fortunately, our Allegheny County Clean

14 Air Now, that's the grassroots group that I helped

15 co-found, had a meeting scheduled the very next day

16 with the Allegheny County Health Department Air Quality

17 Program. We urgently requested Jamie Graham, who heads

18 up the Air Quality Division, and her colleagues to

19 investigate this episode and keep us informed of

20 violations and possible fines. We have to push for

21 information, even though we're the ones who are

22 affected.

23 She shared with us, ultimately, a notice

24 of violation that identified four violations over a

25 four-week period, requiring emergency flaring over raw
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1 coke oven gas. Four times in a month's period. We can

2 send people to the moon, why can't we figure out how to

3 keep a coke plant operating?

4 And God knows how many times it's happened

5 before this, and still is happening. Two of those

6 episodes were caused by an upset of electrical power.

7 They have such things as backup power generation

8 devices, I think. Okay.

9 Thursday, August 13th at 9:18 a.m.,

10 another power outage mapped because we wanted to stay

11 in contact with the plant manager. We try to be nice

12 to everybody. And Mike Zuwaki, acting manager, could

13 not be found, because as the guard said, they're

14 scrambling. The managers and others are scrambling

15 because of a power failure. A fifth one. A fifth one.

16 This plant -- this plant scares the hell

17 out of me. Excuse my French. There have been multiple

18 power outages since DTE Energy purchased it in April of

19 2008. There have been multiple consent decrees. Our

20 health department negotiating these consent decrees.

21 It doesn't get any better. It is a rogue factory, and

22 it's owners are irresponsible. Simple. Simple to me.

23 I come out of industry, by the way. Not that industry.

24 Now, we have a third plant manager gone and an acting

25 manager in place. So what do you think is going on?
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1 Do they know what they're doing? I don't. I won't

2 answer that question.

3 Okay. I'm very concerned for all of

4 the -- all of us and the people on-site, the employees

5 and those of us who live in the surrounding

6 communities. There are 70,000 of us who live within a

7 three-mile radius. Seventy thousand people.

8 And I was directing this to the board

9 members. And we think they're supposed to be concerned

10 about our health and well being. And there are six

11 members of the board who are M.D.'s, doctors -- medical

12 doctors. And I asked them to re-examine their

13 Hippocratic Oath and support stronger efforts to

14 resolve this community health problem. And I said,

15 "Please help us shut it down." And I want the EPA to

16 help us shut it down.

17 We've invited Shawn Garvin from

18 EPA Region 3 headquarters to be with us. I know you

19 know him. He may or not come. But some people had

20 said they will come visit with us again. We had

21 visited their offices last -- earlier this year and

22 said, "We need help now to fix things like this." And

23 they have since visited us twice. And we're going to

24 keep at it. Maybe -- we wanted the Pope to come, but

25 he was busy.
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1 So thank you for your time. I appreciate

2 it. The red light, Mr. Popovich.

3 Any questions? Anything?

4 DR. DEMARCO: Thank you. My name is

5 Patricia DeMarco. I live in Forest Hills, a suburb of

6 Pittsburgh. I am a biologist by training, with a

7 30-year career in energy and environmental policy. I'm

8 speaking to you today on behalf of my grandchildren and

9 all of the children of the 21st Century who will be

10 affected by the actions that we take today.

11 I support your efforts to regulate the oil

12 and gas development industry. As part of the 2009

13 Endangerment Finding, the EPA Administrator declared

14 that the current elevated concentrations of greenhouse

15 gases in the atmosphere may reasonably be anticipated

16 to endanger public health and welfare of current and

17 future generations in the United States. In the

18 background documents of this regulation, you state, "As

19 earth continues to warm, it may be approaching a

20 critical climate threshold beyond which rapid and

21 potentially permanent...changes not anticipated by

22 climate models tuned to modern day conditions may

23 occur."

24 In the face of such dramatic findings, the

25 regulations you propose here have the effect of putting
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1 a Band-Aid on a hemorrhage. The regulations you're

2 considering come late in the process for an industry

3 that is shamefully protected by Section 322 of the

4 National Energy Act of 2005 with exemptions from the

5 Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and the

6 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. These

7 exemptions for high volume hydraulic fracturing and

8 other deep drilling operations assure weak regulatory

9 provisions on your part. Nevertheless, as citizens, we

10 must reiterate the plea for regulations that take

11 consideration of the public health and safety for those

12 affected by fugitive methane and volatile organic

13 compounds produced at all stages of the gas and oil

14 production process. As you consider the reams of data

15 already received in this docket, I ask that you

16 recognize that the hydraulic fracturing process for

17 developing natural gas from deep shale formation

18 happens in neighborhoods, next to schools, in and under

19 the parks, and on farms where our food is grown.

20 For example, the neighborhood adjacent to

21 me has 5,000 people living in it. It's almost

22 exclusively residential. EQT Corporation has begun the

23 process of trying to lease for natural gas production

24 by fracking in a former golf course, right in the

25 middle of a residential neighborhood.
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1 The industry has intruded with impunity

2 into the most intimate parts of communities and sets up

3 industrial operations adjacent to sensitive areas and

4 in watersheds. Fugitive emissions from such operations

5 affect people where we live, work and play.

6 The EPA's mission is to protect human

7 health and the environment, but it has lost the

8 confidence of the people because the industry has

9 eviscerated its capacity to act strongly in the public

10 interest.

11 The EPA's purpose is to ensure that all

12 Americans are protected from significant risks to human

13 health and the environment where they live, learn, and

14 work. These restrictions, regulating the emission of

15 methane and volatile organic compounds from oil and gas

16 industrial operations, must draw a clear line of safety

17 for the public.

18 Hydraulic fracturing now takes place in 39

19 states, with millions of people living within

20 five miles of a fracking facility. For people in the

21 zone of impact, the national average data used for

22 assessing "significant risk" are not relevant. If your

23 house is within 100 feet of a well, or your school is

24 200 feet from a compression station, or your business

25 is 300 feet from a processing facility, you are exposed
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1 to numerous volatile organic compounds.

2 Dr. Theo Colborn and her colleagues

3 compiled a list of 632 chemicals, which is incomplete

4 due to the proprietary and secentry -- secrecy

5 exemptions. But they identified in drilling operations

6 throughout the United States, they found that

7 75 percent of those chemicals could affect the skin,

8 eyes, and sensory organs, and respiratory and

9 gastrointestinal systems; 40 to 50 percent could affect

10 the brain and nervous system, the immune and

11 cardiovascular systems and the kidneys; 37 percent

12 could affect the endocrine system, and 25 percent could

13 cause cancer and mutations.

14 Fugitive methane mobilized by the fracking

15 process has migrated into water supplies, even wells,

16 posing significant health and safety hazards to persons

17 affected. Inquiries for documentation about the number

18 of people for whom gas companies are providing trucked

19 drinking water were not obtainable, being considered

20 proprietary information. Requests for documentation of

21 the composition of the emissions that people are

22 exposed to in their neighborhoods were not obtainable

23 because the industry has no requirement to disclose or

24 even measure what they are.

25 This arrogant attitude of disregard for
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1 the concerns of people about their health and safety

2 cannot stand.

3 I have further technical recommendations

4 which I've submitted on record and which are available

5 to you in writing.

6 Thank you.

7 MR. COZZIE: I appreciate that. Thank you

8 for your testimony. Any clarifying questions from the

9 panel?

10 Thank you both very much for your

11 testimony this afternoon.

12 Patricia Marida.

13 At this time I invite forward Ron Slabe

14 and Barbara Briggs.

15 MR. SLABE: You can go first.

16 MRS. BRIGGS: Hi. Good afternoon. My

17 name is Barbara Briggs. And I live in Pittsburgh.

18 Seven years ago my husband and I bought a camp in the

19 middle of the Allegheny forest in a place called

20 Brookstone, right in the crosshairs of Forest, Elk,

21 Warren and McKean Counties. We've grown to love this

22 place for the wildlife and the natural beauty. But

23 that experience has been shattered for us with a real

24 deep sadness and concern around the drilling emissions,

25 the water methane infiltration that we see. But I'll
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1 focus on -- on the air and the gas.

2 The valleys and the ridges around us are

3 laced with dirt roads that are carved through the

4 forest that lead to gas and oil drill sites. And if

5 you look on the second page of the handout I just

6 printed out a big Google Earth satellite photo, and you

7 can just see how the roads have gone absolutely

8 throughout the national forest, leading all to drill

9 sites. This isn't a mostly -- most of this isn't

10 methane Marcellus Shale drilling. It's shallower

11 wells. The place was first drilled, it was site -- the

12 original oil drilling about 160 years ago. And those

13 exhausted wells have now been fracked again to make

14 them productive for both oil and gas extraction. Also,

15 hundreds of new wells have been drilled. And in

16 addition to the roads to the drill sites, the forest is

17 absolutely crisscrossed with pipelines to carry the gas

18 out of the forest. So this is just a bit of a story

19 of, you know, what it looks like and what it smells

20 like on the ground.

21 About 500 feet from our house, there's a

22 gas extraction pad with six wells and a couple of

23 collection tanks. The ridges above us are -- you know,

24 there are many, many more wells on the ridge, right

25 above our house. There's a loop of dirt road with
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1 branches every hundred yards or so to individual well

2 sites. The smell of the gas hangs in the air. I mean,

3 especially when -- when it's foggy. There's certain

4 places along the seven miles of our road, Watson Farm

5 Road, where the gas smell is -- is completely

6 pervasive. Every time we pass it. It's there and very

7 heavy.

8 There's at Old Woods Road, at the top of

9 the hill, that runs for miles through the forest, and

10 every hundred yards or so, there's a new dirt road

11 busted through the forest to go to more -- to more

12 drill pads. There are also a number of holding tanks

13 at various points along the road. And each of them has

14 little chimneys on the top and you can see the -- the

15 volatile gases just -- just releasing. You can see it

16 going up into the air. And you can smell it, in the

17 middle of the Allegheny National Forest, and, yet, the

18 air is always heavy with gas fumes, especially right

19 around the gas pads and some of the tanks.

20 I thought about looking for a way to test

21 the air. But so far haven't found any that was

22 affordable or that could be managed by someone without

23 special training. But anybody with a nose has to know

24 that fumes are escaping, and -- and a lot of it. And

25 again, this is right in the middle of our national
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1 forest, this giant swath of green in Western

2 Pennsylvania, if you look on the map.

3 I often get headaches on the weekends. My

4 sister-in-law, every time she comes, has it even worse.

5 I mean, she gets terrible migraines every time she

6 comes. And we love this place. We love it. And yet,

7 I find myself glad that we don't live there and are

8 really worried about our neighbors who do live there.

9 And I find it heartbreaking that instead

10 of being -- you know, this forest being a carbon sink

11 that would help to mitigate global warming and CO2

12 emissions, that, you know, instead, it has to actually

13 be contributing to global warming because of the

14 methane emissions that are taking place.

15 So I want to thank you and the EPA for

16 holding these hearings and for moving towards stricter

17 methane emission standards that would apply to new

18 facilities. It's such an important first time, first

19 step forward.

20 But I'd also like to make three requests.

21 I think the most urgent for me is that I would beg the

22 EPA to move quickly toward extending stricter emissions

23 and capture standards to already existing facilities.

24 In our area, there are hundreds, if not, thousands of

25 well pads and storage facilities in operation now. And
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1 our national forest smells like a gas station. There

2 has to be major leakage. There's just no excuse for

3 this. And so please just -- just move to bring these

4 emissions under control as well.

5 I'd also urge the proposed repair --

6 repair period of six months for leaks that can't be

7 readily fixed within 15 days, be shortened. Six months

8 is too long to be allowing increased exposure and

9 environmental damage from the release of methane and

10 other volatile organic compounds.

11 And finally, I have a suggestion. Why not

12 move toward crowd sourcing monitoring of emissions from

13 drilling? In our area, there are hundreds, you know,

14 and maybe thousands of drill sites spread across many

15 square miles of forest. And that's true across forests

16 and parks and cities and neighborhoods all over

17 Pennsylvania. The local people know these sites and

18 they care. Why not make basic testing equipment

19 available for those on the ground? And then the EPA

20 could move more quickly to identify problems and focus

21 on -- you know, focus enforcement resources where they

22 are most needed. Thank you.

23 MR. COZZIE: Thank you. Any questions

24 from the panel?

25 All right. Mr. Slabe.
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1 MR. SLABE: I have one copy. I gave her a

2 copy.

3 MR. COZZIE: Thank you.

4 MR. SLABE: Good afternoon. My name is

5 Ron Slabe and I'm here today to support your standards

6 to reduce methane pollution from oil and gas sources.

7 Let me apologize, first of all, because

8 I'm sure after sitting here for many hours, you've

9 already heard some of these statistics and so on, but

10 bear with me, please. Because there should be no

11 question that methane, a greenhouse gas, is 86 times

12 more powerful and contributing to global warming than

13 carbon dioxide from the burning of coal over a 20-year

14 period. Numerous studies show this.

15 For example, in the oil and gas sector

16 alone, there were emissions in 2013 of over 7.3 million

17 metric tons of methane, which is the equivalent of 160

18 coal-burning power plants emitting carbon dioxide.

19 In Pennsylvania, methane leakage is

20 equivalent to the greenhouse emissions of over 700,000

21 cars in Allegheny County alone and 120,000 tons

22 equivalent to the amount of gas used to heat half the

23 homes in Pittsburgh.

24 Another report finds methane leakage each

25 year able to meet the heating and cooking needs of both
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1 the Pennsylvania cities of Scranton and Bethlehem.

2 This is on top of having over four million

3 Pennsylvanians living in areas where ozone levels

4 exceed national clean air standards. And cases of

5 asthma in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County are the

6 highest in the nation, with children being the most

7 affected.

8 A University of Pittsburgh study shows

9 cancer risks in Allegheny County twice that of

10 surrounding areas with certain hot spots running such

11 risk at 20 times higher. And among those listed as

12 sources of such health-affecting pollutants, says the

13 Pitt study, are the quote, "Pollutant mixtures from

14 unconventional gas drilling operations," end quote.

15 This kind of pollution, along with the smog- and

16 soot-forming emissions so associated must be controlled

17 and eliminated as it also adds to the alarming

18 increases in heart and respiratory disease.

19 Though the EPA proposed standards are to

20 be applauded, they are also lacking in that they do not

21 cover existing sources of methane pollution, which are

22 responsible for some 90 percent -- 90 percent of where

23 methane emissions come from. And the proposed

24 standards only deal with new and modified

25 infrastructures. Also omitted are key pieces of
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1 equipment, such as storage vessels, liquids unloading

2 operation, pneumatic controllers, and natural gas

3 compressors at well sites.

4 Another serious concern is the potential

5 need to direct the captured methane to combustion

6 methods such as flaring with its absolutely degrading

7 effects on air quality. These emissions are

8 unacceptable and must be corrected.

9 Finally, the oil and gas industry must be

10 held responsible for its pollution and environmental

11 degradation. Such proposed regulations can only go so

12 far when dealing with an industry operating with dirty

13 fossil fuels and -- and operating and supporting the

14 dangerous and polluting method called fracking. We

15 want very much to believe the EPA in its current

16 efforts, but we are also very aware -- well aware of

17 how the EPA's recent draft assessment of potential

18 impacts on fracking, on drinking water resources was

19 often sabotaged by the oil and gas industry; how the

20 industry failed to cooperate with your studies; denied

21 you access to information; and how you succumb to such

22 pressures abandoning and retreating from studies in

23 Wyoming, Texas and Pennsylvania, and failed to enforce

24 the ban on using diesel fuel in fracking; and how

25 thwarted the hoax of those across the country who rely
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1 on you for help against the fracking industry.

2 The oil and gas industry has shown its

3 ability to stimy -- truly stimy regulatory efforts,

4 today and in the past, through its powerful lobbying

5 efforts. We can only hope the proposed methane

6 regulations will not have the same fate. EPA's lack of

7 will and determination have been obvious problems in

8 the past. So you can understand my lack of perhaps

9 faith in the EPA in what it might be doing. But I

10 applaud your efforts nonetheless. I hope you carry

11 through faithfully. Thank you.

12 MR. COZZIE: Thank you, Mr. Slabe.

13 Any questions from the panel? Thank you

14 for coming today.

15 MR. SLABE: Do you want this extra copy?

16 MR. COZZIE: Take it down to the

17 registration desk.

18 At this time I would like to invite

19 forward Miriam Lindauer and Eva Roben.

20 MS. LINDAUER: Thank you for the

21 opportunity to comment on these rules.

22 My name is Miriam Lindauer and I live here

23 in Allegheny County. I'm a retired computer

24 programmer. I strongly support the proposed EPA

25 methane pollution standards for the oil and gas
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1 industry.

2 Methane is a highly potent greenhouse gas

3 which is a major contributor to climate change. By one

4 estimate, natural gas producers in Pennsylvania alone

5 leaked over 120,000 metric tons of methane in 2013,

6 enough to heat half the homes in Pittsburgh. When

7 methane is released from oil and gas facilities,

8 particulate emissions and other hazardous air

9 pollutants, which cause smog, are also released into

10 the air.

11 Recent studies have indicated a possible

12 link between this pollution and the onset of asthma.

13 And studies have proven beyond a doubt that air

14 pollution aggravates previously diagnosed asthma and

15 triggers asthma attacks. Higher levels of air

16 pollution in Western Pennsylvania correspond to a high

17 prevalence of lung diseases.

18 I have lived here in Allegheny County all

19 of my life, and like more than one million other

20 Pennsylvanians, I have asthma. I'm one of those who

21 needs to stay indoors during air quality alerts. This

22 happens all too frequently around here, especially in

23 the summer when I'd like to be outside. According to

24 the Pennsylvania Department of Health, about

25 ten percent of the state's population suffered from
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1 asthma in 2012 and 15 percent of the population will

2 get it during their lifetimes. The prevalence of

3 asthma in Pennsylvania is about one-third higher than

4 the national average and Allegheny County is worse than

5 the rest of the state.

6 We have the technology to reduce this

7 pollution by capturing methane that is released by oil

8 and industry drilling. Drilling companies can benefit

9 by being able to use or sell the captured methane if

10 they comply with voluntary methane control standards.

11 But voluntary compliance is not working in

12 Pennsylvania. Of over 450 natural gas producers in the

13 state, only ten percent end up doing the EPA's

14 voluntary Natural Gas STAR Program.

15 The EPA has done a cost-benefit analysis

16 of the effects of methane on public health and the

17 environment. I urge the EPA to include all benefits to

18 the drilling companies in this analysis, including the

19 sale and use of captured methane.

20 The gas industry has, for years, been

21 reaping the benefits of publicly-funded infrastructure

22 and enjoying tax incentives to produce gas, while the

23 public has been paying the costs of health issues

24 caused by methane pollution.

25 Enactment of the proposed methane
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1 standards, along with a robust inspection schedule to

2 enforce them, will not only improve the health of

3 millions of Pennsylvanians, but also help future

4 generations by slowing the warming of the Earth that is

5 caused by extraction and burning of fossil fuels.

6 I want to mention one other thing that

7 wasn't on my original document. I noticed that people

8 here were talking about the effects of fracking on

9 their lives. We had -- not too long ago, there was

10 apparently illegal dumping of fracking waste in a creek

11 that's upstream from the Monongahela River water intake

12 where we get our water. And so right now, we're afraid

13 to drink our water. We drink bottled water all the

14 time. And I live in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. This

15 is not -- I'm not in an industrial area. It's really

16 maddening. And I really hope that the EPA will be able

17 to find the money to adequately regulate this industry.

18 Thank you.

19 MR. COZZIE: Thank you. Any questions

20 from the panel?

21 MR. MOORE: No.

22 MR. COZZIE: Ms. Roben.

23 MS. ROBEN: Hi. My name is Eva Roben,

24 R-O-B-E-N. I'm the climate change outreach coordinator

25 at Clean Air Council, a member-supported organization
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1 committed to improving air quality in Pennsylvania and

2 protecting public health. Thank you for the

3 opportunity to comment.

4 I'm glad that the EPA has proposed this

5 rule to limit methane pollution from oil and gas

6 infrastructure. This rule is a critical first step in

7 addressing the dangerous pollution that has accompanied

8 the shale gas boom in Pennsylvania. As the second

9 largest producer of natural gas in the country,

10 Pennsylvanians are too familiar with the health and the

11 environmental hazards brought by fracking. The rules

12 proposed by the EPA represent an important step towards

13 building a healthier future, but they do not go nearly

14 far enough in addressing the severity of the problem.

15 Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, 86

16 times more potent than carbon dioxide over 20 years.

17 Every day that we fail to stop methane leaks, we lock

18 ourselves into greater warming and closer to dangerous

19 tipping points that would make it harder and harder to

20 avoid climate catastrophe.

21 As a relatively young person, I hopefully

22 have the majority of my life still ahead of me. And

23 since I have already begun to witness the impacts of

24 climate change in my lifetime, I expect that my future

25 will he defined by a changing climate. I hope that the
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1 EPA will not take my future and the futures of

2 generations to come lightly by writing anything less

3 than the most stringent rules to regulate this

4 dangerous greenhouse gas.

5 In Pennsylvania, we have already seen the

6 destruction that a warmer world can bring, from super

7 storms, to unhealthy air quality, to abnormal weather

8 that destroys our farmers' crops. The latest

9 Pennsylvania Climate Impact Assessment showed that

10 Pennsylvania is on track for an alarming three-degrees

11 Celsius warming by mid century. We simply cannot

12 afford to let the fossil fuel industry continue to emit

13 methane freely.

14 But, of course, it's not just about

15 climate change. Just this past year, we've seen

16 studies coming out that suggests that fracking is

17 increasing radon levels in our homes, lowering the

18 birth weights of our babies, and increasing hospital

19 admissions for cardiovascular diseases.

20 Just ask the people who live near the

21 infrastructure, who you've been hearing from all day I

22 know. They can tell you firsthand, even over the

23 short-term, our neighbors in the shale fields are

24 experiencing health impacts, such as sore throats,

25 nosebleeds, and eye irritation; all symptoms associated
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1 with acute exposure to the carcinogenic air toxics that

2 are emitted from shale gas infrastructure, alongside

3 methane. And in the long-term, we can expect to see

4 impacts ranging from lung damage to cancer.

5 With four million Pennsylvanians already

6 living in areas where ozone levels exceed federal

7 health standards, we can hardly handle any more

8 pollution. Pennsylvanians are on the frontlines. And

9 while I'm glad that the EPA is taking this first step,

10 it is critical that these rules be strengthened and

11 accompanied by another suite of rules to regulate air

12 pollution leaks from existing shale gas infrastructure.

13 Although, fracking will never be safe, and it is

14 critical that we transition away from all fossil fuel

15 infrastructure as quickly as possible, Pennsylvanians

16 are being impacted today by existing infrastructure and

17 cannot afford to wait any longer for regulations.

18 I urge the EPA and the Pennsylvania DEP to

19 act quickly to put in place the strongest possible

20 standards for air pollution from new and existing oil

21 and gas infrastructure.

22 Thank you for your time.

23 MR. COZZIE: Thank you. Any questions

24 from the panel at this time? Thank you both for your

25 testimony. Thank you for joining us today.
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1 At this time I don't have any more

2 speakers on my list. I don't know if there's anyone in

3 the audience that would like to speak at this time.

4 MS. ROBEN: Can I give testimony on behalf

5 of Reverend Leah Schade?

6 MR. COZZIE: You certainly may.

7 MS. ROBEN: All right. Thank you again.

8 I'm reading this testimony on behalf of

9 the Reverend Dr. Leah D. Schade, Ph.D., who is the

10 pastor of the United In Christ Lutheran Church in

11 Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. So her comments read as

12 follows:

13 First, I want to thank the EPA and

14 Administrator McCarthy for paying serious attention to

15 this issue of methane emissions from shale gas drilling

16 and related processes and their deleterious effect on

17 our planet's atmosphere. I commend you for giving

18 citizens the opportunity to be heard on this important

19 issue. I send this testimony today on behalf of my

20 myself, my husband, and my two young children, my

21 congregation, United in Christ Lutheran Church in

22 Lewisburg and the Upper Susquehanna Synod of the

23 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to express my

24 support for the EPA to impose regulations to

25 drastically reduce methane emissions. I'm a member of
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1 my synod's task force on slick water hydraulic

2 fracturing. We spent two years of studying the ethical

3 and moral issues surrounding fracking, and as a member

4 of several environmental groups, that study can bear

5 witness to the harmful effects of the shale gas

6 industry in our state and across the country.

7 I have often raised concerns about the

8 dangers of shale gas drilling. Methane is a greenhouse

9 gas even more potent than carbon dioxide. The total

10 life cycle emissions from methane gas-fired power

11 plants, including leakage during production,

12 processing, and transmission, emissions flaring at gas

13 wells, and energy consumed in the production and

14 transport of liquified natural gas have the potential

15 to send greenhouse gases on our planet into

16 out-of-control levels.

17 Researchers found that methane leak rates

18 of a hundred to a thousand times greater than EPA

19 estimates at well pads in Pennsylvania. And the EPA's

20 Office of the Inspector General issued a report citing

21 the Agency's failures to manage methane leaks from

22 pipelines.

23 I'm committed to helping people of faith

24 learn how to do their part to care for God's creation

25 and address ecological justice issues. I call for the
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1 EPA to not only implement the strictest regulations

2 possible to reduce methane leakage at the wellhead and

3 every step along the process, but to move toward a ban

4 on fracking because of the other deleterious effects of

5 this industrial process -- this industrial process has

6 on water, land, and public health. Clean renewable

7 energy has the potential to create jobs, reduce

8 greenhouse gases and power our world in sustainable

9 ways. I urge the EPA to do everything within its power

10 to move our country away from fossil fuels and towards

11 solar, wind, geothermal, and other forms of energy.

12 Thank you.

13 MR. COZZIE: Could I get the name of that

14 reverend?

15 MS. ROBEN: Yes. It's Leah, L-E-A-H, D.,

16 S-C-H-A-D-E. I can submit -- I think I have two

17 copies.

18 MR. COZZIE: I appreciate it. Thank you

19 very much. At this time, we'll take a short Recess.

20 We'll take a ten-minute recess at this time.

21 (Recess in proceedings.)

22 MR. COZZIE: Good evening. My name is

23 David Cozzie, EPA's Office of Air Quality Planning and

24 Standards. I am the chair of this evening's public

25 hearing. Thank you for coming this evening.
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1 Joining me on the panel this evening are

2 Bruce Moore from EPA's Office of Air Quality Planning

3 and Standards and Mary Cate Opilia from EPA's Region 3.

4 We're here today to hear your comments on

5 EPA's proposed rules with the oil and natural gas

6 sector. The specific rules are 1) Oil and Natural Gas

7 Sector, Emissions Standards for New and Modified

8 Sources, 2) Source Determination for Certain Emission

9 Units of the Oil and Natural Gas Sector, 3) and the

10 Review of New Sources and Modifications in Indian

11 Country, Federal Implementation Plan for Managing Air

12 Emissions from True Minor Sources Engaged in Oil and

13 Natural Gas Production in Indian Country.

14 EPA's Administrator assigned Proposed

15 Rules on August 18, 2015. The proposed New Source

16 Performance Standards would establish methane and VOCs

17 standards for hydraulically fractured wells and require

18 owners and operators to find and repair leaks. The

19 proposed rule also would extend emission reduction

20 requirements further downstream covering equipment in

21 the natural gas transmission and storage segments of

22 the industry that was not regulated in the Agency's

23 2012 rules.

24 The proposed Source Determination rule

25 clarifies the EPA's air permitting rules as they apply
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1 to the oil and the natural gas industry.

2 We're also taking comment on the proposed

3 federal implementation plan to implement the Federal

4 Minor New Source Review Program in Indian Country for

5 oil and natural gas production. That plan, known as a

6 FIP, would be used instead of site specific Minor New

7 Source Review preconstruction permits in Indian

8 Country. It would incorporate emissions, limits, and

9 other requirements from six EPA emissions standards,

10 including the 2015 proposed update to the New Source

11 Performance Standards on which we're taking comment

12 today.

13 If you would like more details on the

14 proposed rules, there are fact sheets available at the

15 registration desk.

16 Before we get started, I'd like to go

17 through a few housekeeping items and ground rules that

18 will help make this evening's hearing run smoothly.

19 First, please be sure you've checked in at the

20 registration desk. Even if you are not planning to

21 speak today. And if you signed up to speak on --

22 signed up to speak online or by phone, but haven't told

23 us that you're here, please step out to the

24 registration desk and let the EPA staff know that

25 you've arrived.
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1 I will call speakers up in pairs. When

2 your name is called, please come to the speaker's table

3 in the front of the room. When I call you to speak,

4 please state your name and spell it for the court

5 reporter. Your comments will be transcribed and

6 included in the record of comment on the Proposed rule.

7 It is important that you tell us which

8 rules or rules you are speaking about. Each speaker

9 will have five minute to give comments. We have a

10 timer light to help you know how much time you have

11 left to speak. When the light turns from green to

12 yellow, that means you have one minute remaining. When

13 it turns red, that's a signal that you're at five

14 minutes, and it is time to stop. When you're finished

15 speaking, please remain at the table until the person

16 next to you has completed his or her testimony.

17 We are here to listen to you today.

18 However, a panel member may ask questions to clarify

19 your comments. I will then call the next pair of

20 speakers and so on.

21 If you have brought a written copy of your

22 testimony, please give that to the staff at the

23 registration desk before you leave today.

24 We will put any written comments submitted

25 today in the official docket for Proposed rule. We
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1 also have comment cards available at the registration

2 desk, if you would like to submit additional written

3 comments today. If you want to comment in writing

4 later, stop by the materials table, near the

5 registration desk, and pick up a copy of the

6 instructions for submitting written comments. Comments

7 must be received by November 17, 2015.

8 Let me assure you that the EPA gives just

9 as much consideration to comments we receive in writing

10 as we do to comments we receive at public hearings like

11 this one. So if you have more comments that you would

12 like to provide the EPA, please submit them by the

13 comment period deadline. Your comments will be

14 reviewed.

15 If you have any questions during the day,

16 please see the staff at the registration desk and

17 someone with assist you. Thank you again for taking

18 the time of day to share your comments on the EPA's

19 proposal.

20 At this time we'll get started. And I

21 will call forward and invite forward Mollie Simon and

22 Sage Lincoln.

23 MS. SIMON: Hello. My name is Mollie

24 Simon, M-O-L-L-I-E. And I am an outreach coordinator

25 with Clean Air Council. Clean Air Council is a
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1 nonprofit environmental health organization

2 headquartered in Philadelphia. I'm also a Master's

3 candidate studying environmental Policy at the

4 University of Pennsylvania.

5 I thank the EPA for the opportunity to

6 comment today, and I would like to express my support

7 of the EPA's recently proposed methane pollution

8 standards for the oil and gas industry. I believe that

9 we have a firm obligation to take action on climate.

10 Methane is a highly potent greenhouse gas,

11 86 times more powerful as -- 86 times as powerful as

12 CO2 over a 20-year timeframe. This means that methane

13 emitted in oil and gas operations is significantly

14 damaging our climate and the future of our planet.

15 In 2013, oil and gas sources nationally

16 emitted over 7.3. million metric tons of methane,

17 equivalent to CO2 emissions of over 160 coal-burning

18 power plants. If we do not act to curb methane

19 emissions, all the recent efforts through the Clean

20 Power Plan to clean up our coal-burning power plants

21 will be in vain.

22 As a millennial, we'll be challenged by

23 climate change for decades to come. I know that this

24 is not a problem that we can put off any longer.

25 As a practicing Catholic, I believe that
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1 we are all called to be stewards of creation. This

2 past weekend we received that message loud and clear as

3 His Holiness Pope Francis visited Philadelphia. When

4 addressing the U.N., Pope Francis said, quote, "Any

5 harm done to the environment therefore is harm done to

6 humanity." There is no better way to care for our

7 neighbor and humanity by taking firm actions to clean

8 up the air pollution and mitigate climate change. Two

9 issues that disproportionately impact the most

10 vulnerable in our communities, the poor, the sick, the

11 elderly.

12 Beyond mitigating climate change, the

13 proposed standards will also generate significant

14 public health benefits by curbing smog- and

15 soot-forming emissions and hazardous air pollutants

16 which are released from oil and gas sources.

17 Everyone has the right to breathe clean

18 air, but too often across I meet people across

19 Pennsylvania who are unable to take a clean deep

20 breathe due to smog pollution. Pollution blankets our

21 major urban areas causing high levels of asthma,

22 cancer, respiratory illness, and cardiac complications.

23 Both Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are in the top 25 most

24 polluted U.S. cities for ozone and smog; nine out of

25 ten of Pennsylvania's most populated counties are
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1 designated non-attainment for National Ambient Air

2 Quality Standards for ozone.

3 EPA's proposed standards represent an

4 important step in addressing climate pollution as well

5 as protecting the health and safety of our communities

6 and workers from these dangerous air pollutants.

7 We have tried voluntary standards and they

8 do not work. Only about two percent of Pennsylvania

9 operators of existing sources participate in EPA's

10 voluntary Natural Gas STAR Program, designed to prevent

11 methane leaks. The oil and gas industry must take

12 responsibility for their pollution and not pass the

13 burden of injury on to our communities.

14 These rules are an important first step

15 towards reducing the harm of this industry. However,

16 the EPA must be go even further to tackle existing

17 sources of methane emissions and ultimately keep all

18 dirty fossil fuels in the ground.

19 According to a 2014 study, about

20 90 percent of oil and gas methane emissions in 2018,

21 will come from existing sources built before 2012. We

22 must act to limit methane pollution from existing and

23 new sources so we can begin to transition to the clean,

24 renewable energy sources that we know can provide

25 sustainable, good-paying jobs, and reduced pollution.
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1 I support the proposed EPA rules and I

2 hope that EPA will move swiftly to issues standards

3 covering existing sources as well as resources.

4 Thank you.

5 MR. COZZIE: Thank you, Ms. Simon. Any

6 questions?

7 Miss Lincoln.

8 MS. LINCOLN: Hello. My name is Sage

9 Lincoln. And I am a student at the University of

10 Pittsburgh studying geology, ecology urban studies.

11 Climate change is the biggest threat to my

12 generation's future. And if greenhouse gas emissions

13 are not drastically reduced, the U.N.'s International

14 Panel On Climate Change predicts rising sea levels,

15 widespread droughts, extreme weather, severely

16 increased temperatures, increased political

17 instability, and many, many more devastating

18 consequences.

19 Many of these effects of climate change

20 we're already beginning to experience now, from the

21 drought in the U.S. West, to the global instability in

22 the Middle East, due in part, to widespread drought

23 there as well. Because of these reasons, my generation

24 demands that governments impose strong regulations to

25 drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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1 For this reason, I support the EPA's

2 proposed rule regulating new sources of methane

3 emissions. However, because these new regulations only

4 cover new and modified sources of methane emissions,

5 they're insufficient to produce the greenhouse gas

6 emissions reductions that we need. For this reason, I

7 call upon the EPA and the Wolf Administration to enact

8 new policies that -- sorry -- to enact new policies

9 that cover existing sources of methane and other carbon

10 pollutants. The time for government action, both

11 nationally and at a local level, in order to prevent

12 the worst effects of climate change is now.

13 Thank you.

14 MR. COZZIE: Thank you very much. Any

15 questions? Thank you both for your testimony.

16 At this time, given there's no speakers in

17 the audience, we will recess until another speaker

18 comes to the floor.

19 (Recess in proceedings.)

20 MR. COZZIE: At this time, we'll reconvene

21 the panel and invite Rachel Goldman and Silvy Goldman.

22 Thank you so much for the opportunity to

23 speak and for holding this hearing here in Pittsburgh.

24 My name is Rachel Martin Goldman. This is

25 my seven-and-a-half-month-old daughter, Silvy. We live
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1 here in Pittsburgh. And we're here today to speak in

2 part of the EPA's proposed methane and oil and gas

3 industry.

4 I've been deeply concerned about and

5 actively engaged in climate and air pollution for

6 years. I've been concerned about my own family's

7 health and for many of my friend's children. But my

8 concern has hit an entirely new level since Silvy was

9 born. Or, really, since I became pregnant. I tried to

10 do all the right things to have a healthy experience

11 and to limit exposure to toxins. And since Silvy has

12 been born, I've made sure that her first foods are

13 healthy. We baby-proofed the house and try to keep

14 toxins down for her. But I can only control so much.

15 I can't control the air that she breathes. Every day

16 we are here in Pittsburgh with heavily-polluted air due

17 to cold fire pollution increasing from the oil and gas

18 drilling and wells in the region. I can't control the

19 impact that might have on small, still-developing

20 lungs. We're not dealing with a gas well next door,

21 but it is frightening what climate change will have

22 during Silvy's lifetime.

23 And as you know, methane is an extremely

24 powerful and potent greenhouse gas which the oil and

25 gas industry releases millions of tons into the air
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1 every year.

2 I'm aware the total impact of methane

3 compared to CO2 pollution is 25 times more potent than

4 CO2 over a hundred-year period or equivalent of 160,700

5 cars.

6 I've already received information that

7 there has a 90-day increase in bad air days and that

8 brings us to looking at the dissemination of the

9 Bitternut Hickory Tree, which is my favorite tree, the

10 critical effect it has on wildlife habitat and on our

11 cold water fisheries. I am afraid that Silvy will not

12 be able to experience the Earth as it should be and is

13 very different from the one today, and not for the

14 better.

15 We are likely to develop into an area that

16 is prone to hurricanes or sea level rising, and

17 flooding is a concern. And what instills fear in me

18 the most is the economic and social destabilization

19 that climate change has is exacerbating, and that is

20 likely to have the greatest impact in Silvy's lifetime.

21 So on behalf of my daughter, I applaud

22 the Department of Environmental Protection Agency for

23 their proposed regulations to cut methane emissions

24 from the oil and gas industry. This is a first step in

25 holding the oil and gas industry responsible for their
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1 pollution. But I implore the EPA to go further. I

2 thank the EPA for the work that you're doing. Don't

3 stop today. This rule must apply to emissions from new

4 and existing drilling projections. There are thousands

5 of wells that are already in existence that will

6 continue to spew out climate disruption and air toxins,

7 if we don't take action. We must adjust to finalize

8 this current rule and swiftly move to protect Silvy

9 from pollution from the existing wells.

10 Thank you.

11 MR. COZZIE: Thank you very much. Thank

12 you for stopping by this evening. I know it's very

13 difficult with a young child and the weather.

14 MS. GOLDMAN: Yeah. Yeah. We were

15 interrupting nap time and with all of the traffic.

16 MR. COZZIE: Do you have something to add,

17 Silvy? Thank you very much.

18 MS. GOLDMAN: Thank you.

19 MR. COZZIE: We'll recess again until

20 somebody else gets here.

21 (Recess in proceedings.)

22 MR. COZZIE: It's now 6:58. We'll re-open

23 the panel. I'll call for Robert Nashikawa and Randi

24 Francois.

25 MR. NASHIKAWA: My name is Robert
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1 Nashikawa. I live in Pittsburgh. And I'd like to

2 thank you for the opportunity to speak on the EPA

3 bill -- or regulation. Pardon me.

4 I just want to make two points, to be

5 fair, on the local level. In Pittsburgh, there's a lot

6 of fracking going on. And there's a lot of efforts by

7 people at the local level to fight some of the

8 fracking, particularly near schools and parks. But

9 we're not getting any help from local government. So

10 local government is basically supporting the fracking

11 industry wherever they want to frack. In direct

12 opposition, many of the people who don't want them.

13 At this time, it's not as bad as in

14 Colorado or Texas. They wanted to pass regulations on

15 the oil and gas industry, then the state ruled them

16 invalid. So we're looking to the federal government to

17 help us, because the state government here is not going

18 to help us. And I think that's important for the local

19 people to be able to have a voice. We're asking the

20 EPA to be our voice.

21 The other issue I want to comment on is

22 global level. I hear many politicians, particularly in

23 the Republican party say it's not worth doing anything

24 to fight climate change, because, one, it's going to

25 cost a lot. And two, that is not going to make any
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1 difference to the overall global warming. So I'm not

2 going do dispute those facts whatsoever. I don't think

3 they're true.

4 But I'd like to point out that the United

5 States has, whether we like it or not, a

6 responsibility, because we are the most powerful nation

7 in the world, we are an easy target for other

8 governments to say, "We won't do anything because the

9 United States is not doing anything." We have the

10 responsibility to be leaders. And so the government,

11 which is what you're a part of, needs to step up to

12 that responsibility and fight global warming and

13 climate change.

14 Thanks.

15 MR. COZZIE: Any questions from the panel?

16 No. Thank you. All right then.

17 MS. FRANCOIS: Hi. My name is Randi

18 Francois (sic). I live in Pittsburgh. I'm a concerned

19 and informed citizen. Thank you for letting me speak

20 tonight.

21 I support EPA's new regulations on

22 limiting the amount of toxins released in the

23 atmosphere from the oil and gas industry. But I have

24 one remark. If those regulations want to be meaningful

25 towards lowering the methane on global warming, they
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1 have to go further and apply to not only

2 infrastructures, but also the existing oil and gas

3 infrastructures because they're the ones that are

4 really contributing the most due to the actual number

5 and their aging. So we can all live on the same

6 planet, I think it is now a moral issue to do our best

7 to stop global warming from happening.

8 Thank you.

9 MR. COZZIE: Thank you as well.

10 And at this time, I would like to invite

11 Diane Peterson.

12 MS. PETERSON: Hi. I'm Diane Peterson,

13 125 Wilshire. I'm chuckling while I speak because I

14 was in the car rehearsing what I wanted to say, and I

15 had been asking him all day to speak. "No. No." When

16 we get here, he said, "Why won't you please speak

17 because I'm going to steal all your points." And he

18 did.

19 So anyway, I'm not scientist like my

20 husband. I'm not a doctor, like my friend. I'm not an

21 expert. And hopefully, you'll forgive me, but I did

22 not read the 591 pages of documents on oil and gas

23 emission standards for new and modified sources. I'm

24 not even really that political. But I am a concerned

25 citizen, and this issue is really important.
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1 Thank you for coming to Pittsburgh and

2 listening to what we have to say. And it's of no

3 surprise to me that you're going to Dallas and to

4 Colorado and to Pennsylvania, as those are heavily

5 fracked states. I'm concerned because I recently have

6 become a resident of this state. And my eyes have been

7 opened because I've learned firsthand how it seems that

8 the industry and its desire seems to outweigh what is a

9 concern for our human health and upon that of our

10 planet.

11 Locally, this spring, our County Council

12 approved fracking for under our county park. After

13 months and months of expert testimony and scientific

14 data sharing the risks, explaining the risks, and even

15 after the industry itself came and said, "This will

16 provide no new jobs for you locally," the County

17 Council approved fracking under our park. And one of

18 the chief reasons stated was "it will provide jobs." I

19 guess my point is there, that I really wonder about

20 this decision and if these people are protecting us. I

21 really wonder about their rationale.

22 Even more recently, in the spring, in

23 nearby Mars County, the local governments there

24 approved fracking less than one-half mile from our

25 public schools. And, also, this occurred at Deer Park
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1 schools -- sorry, Deer Lake schools. When I tell this

2 to people locally, my friends and my neighbors what's

3 happening, they're shocked. They can't believe this is

4 happening. And, you know, I have to understand that

5 people are busy. There's a lot of data out there.

6 There's at lot of the information -- just reading the

7 paper, people don't have the time. But then, when I

8 ask them or when they are shocked local government

9 isn't protecting them, they say, "Well, surely, the

10 federal government is protecting us. How about the

11 EPA?" Well, that's you. And we are counting on you to

12 protect us. We are counting on you.

13 So I want to thank you from the bottom of

14 my heart for working to reduce the methane emission

15 standards -- reducing the emissions, and encourage you

16 to seek the highest standards possible. And not just

17 on the new and modified sources, but on all sources.

18 My family grins every time I do an analogy. But I'm

19 going on the record publicly to try to do it again.

20 But if you find a toxin in potato chips, well, how do

21 we stop that toxin going into the bag? What do we do?

22 Leave all of the bags on the shelf. Of course not. We

23 take all the bags off the shelves because we are

24 concerned about our health.

25 Methane has a huge impact on climate
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1 change. And pound for pound it is having a warming

2 effect of roughly 105 times greater than carbon dioxide

3 over a 20-year time period. Climate change has a

4 critical point. We all know that we don't have the

5 time to do it slowly. Over time to do it at anything

6 less than an optimal rate. We also via the natural

7 resource difference through better technology and

8 better practice, 80 percent reduction is possible by

9 industry. Eighty percent reduction in emissions. Not

10 just 40 to 50 percent. But 80 percent. And that's

11 capturing, we return $2 billion worth of natural gas.

12 Otherwise, it will be wasted in atmospheric pollution.

13 Note, this adjustment by industry is estimated to be

14 able to be paid back to then within three months to

15 three years.

16 This information is also from the Natural

17 Resources Defense Council. I am just a mom and a small

18 business owner. And just in an afternoon, I could dig

19 up some sources. But you have so many more sources and

20 so many more experts to talk with.

21 You're asking for 40 to 50 percent

22 reduction by 2025. Industry can do better. And they

23 can do it faster, and we need to do that.

24 I'm personally urging and begging you, for

25 the sake of myself, my family, my children, the world,
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1 please do all that's possible to reduce methane

2 emissions and other VOC emissions as much as possible,

3 as quickly as possible, and as many sources as

4 possible.

5 I thank you. And I am personally counting

6 on you for this for my family, for our children, for

7 our life. Thank you for listening to me.

8 MR. COZZIE: Thank you for your providing

9 testimony. Any questions from the panel?

10 MR. MOORE: I don't.

11 MR. COZZIE: Thank you for coming out.

12 MS. PETERSON: I hope you have a safe

13 voyage home and quick one.

14 MR. COZZIE: There are no additional

15 speakers, we'll recess until another speaker arrives.

16 (Recess in proceedings.)

17 MR. COZZIE: We're reconvening the panel.

18 At this time I invite Kyle Gracey to speak.

19 MR. GRACEY: Thank you. These proposed

20 regulations are an excellent step forward in protecting

21 Americans from the dangers of climate change and dirty

22 air. However, they are not strong enough. There are

23 two key changes that would strengthen them in the final

24 rules. First of all, the old and existing facilities

25 should be covered in a similar manner as far as the oil
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1 and gas infrastructure as it would apply to the new

2 facilities.

3 Secondly, the oil and gas industry should

4 not be the primary parties responsible for inspection

5 and monitoring of their own infrastructure. They're

6 not to be trusted with the health and welfare of the

7 citizens, especially when it pertains to impacting

8 their own profits. Similarly, several state regulatory

9 agencies have also shown that they are also not capable

10 or able to independently conduct industry monitoring

11 and compliance. This is definitely an area instead for

12 the federal government. And these changes, I think,

13 would significantly enhance the federal rule. I thank

14 you for the opportunity to comment.

15 MR. COZZIE: Thank you for taking the time

16 out to provide this testimony.

17 We will take a recess until we get another

18 speaker.

19 (Recess in proceedings.)

20 MR. COZZIE: It is 7:42. I'd like to

21 reconvene the panel. At this time, I invite Mary Grace

22 Butella to come forward. Introduce yourself for the

23 court reporter and then the timer will show five

24 minutes. It will turn yellow when you get to one

25 minute, and will turn red when you hit the five
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1 minutes.

2 MS. BUTELLA: Hello. My name is Mary.

3 Grace Butella. And I'm a resident of Fayette County

4 also I am an elected tax collector for real estate for

5 Delmar Township.

6 I'd like to take this opportunity to

7 comment on the recently proposed methane pollution

8 standards for oil and gas industry. However --

9 however, the proposed measure needs to apply to all

10 existing sources as well. We have many families in

11 Fayette County that are suffering from the negative

12 effects from the oil and gas industry.

13 In our county, we have over 24 natural gas

14 compressor stations, with dangerous and deadly

15 contaminants such as benzene, acetone, formaldehyde,

16 hydrocarbons, VOCs, and other hazardous air pollutants

17 that have caused so many families to become sick.

18 The Spring Hill compressor -- on Hope

19 Hollow in Spring Hill, this station was built without a

20 permit from our county zoning department, and continues

21 to emit dangerous toxic pollution that threatens our

22 environment and people that live close by. This

23 industry is polluting our land, soil, and atmosphere at

24 an alarming rate. I know this public comment is for

25 EPA's methane standards, but there is much more that
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1 needs to be addressed.

2 Just last year, a former Pennsylvania

3 Department of Health employee, Tammy Stuck of

4 Uniontown, Fayette County, gave a news reporter an

5 interview concerning a coverup with the Pennsylvania

6 Department Health Department, it's the EPA, but what we

7 call the health department, and complained about

8 sicknesses such as headaches, chest pain, nausea, and

9 obnoxious odors from the gas development and were told

10 not to discuss the matter with them and would not to

11 return their phone calls.

12 Now we're still waiting for the health

13 registry, that Former Governor Corbett promised an

14 immediate investigation, needs to be conducted within

15 our Pennsylvania EPA and our health department. There

16 is mounting evidence now that the development of

17 Marcellus Shale will destroy not only our land, water,

18 and air, but also is harming and destroying the health

19 of every citizen where this takes place. Again, I

20 thank you for your efforts. However, the new

21 pollutions standards must apply to all existing sources

22 in order to protect the public's health.

23 Thank you very much.

24 MR. COZZIE: Thank you for coming out to

25 give your testimony. I said thank you very much.
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1 MS. BUTELLA: You guys are the only ones

2 we can trust. Keep up the good work. Thank you.

3 MR. COZZIE: Thank you.

4 It's 7:46. We'll adjourn the panel until

5 we have another speaker.

6 (Recess in proceedings.)

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1 REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE

2

3 I, Lois Sikoski, Notary Public, certify:

4 That the foregoing proceedings were taken before

5 me at the time and place therein set forth;

6 That the testimony made at the time were recorded

7 stenographically by me and were thereafter transcribed;

8 That the foregoing is a true and correct

9 transcript of my shorthand notes so taken.

10 I further certify that I am not a relative or

11 employee of any attorney of the parties, nor

12 financially interested in the action.

13 I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws

14 of Pennsylvania that the foregoing is true and correct.

15 Dated this 12th day of October, 2015.

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19 _______________________________

20 Lois Sikoski, Court Reporter

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