Proposed rule on noise limits for oil, gas sites in PA pleases none

[Panich52]

FrackCheckWV

From an Article by Katelyn Ferral, Washington PA Observer-Reporter, May 3, 2015

Sound Off — The PA-DEP is accepting comments on a noise limit proposal and other changes to its draft of environmental rules until May 19. Comments can be emailed to RegComments @pa.gov or mailed to DEP Policy Office, P.O. Box 2063, 400 Market St., Harrisburg, PA 17105-2063.

Gas industry leaders and fracking critics in Pennsylvania have found common ground in their views on one aspect of proposed environmental regulations for drilling: A rule aimed at limiting noise from sites is too vague to be effective.

The PA Department of Environmental Protection is proposing noise regulations for oil and gas sites as part of its rewrite of surface rules around wells. They would require companies to record noise levels and formulate a plan to keep them down for neighbors. But the proposal introduced last month does not specify a decibel limit or how to monitor levels.

“Right now the regulation is unenforceable because there’s no objective standard,” said George Jugovic, general counsel for Penn Future, an environmental group that has lobbied for tougher regulations for the oil and gas industry in the state. “How do you determine that someone has minimized the noise?”

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The Study of Noise in West Virginia

The following report was prepared for the WV Legislsture http://wvwri.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/a-n-l-final-report-for-web.pdf by Michael McCawley, PhD, West Virginia University, School of Public Health, Morgantown, on May 3, 2013: “Air, Noise, and Light Monitoring Results for Assessing Environmental Impacts of Horizontal Gas Well Drilling Operations (ETD‐10 Project),” as reported to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Air Quality.

The WV-DEP reinterpreted the above report topics as follows and as a result the WV Legislature did nothing about the problem: “Final Noise, Light, Dust and VOCs Report, WV-DEP, May 28, 2013″ http://www.dep.wv.gov/oil-and-gas/Horizontal-Permits/legislativestudies/Documents/FINAL%20OOG%20Noise%20Light%20Dust%20and%20VOCs%20Report%205-28-2013.pdf


x p WV

[Curmudgeoness]

1. We all know that without specific numbers

and testing procedures, any rules are useless. The industry will always find a way around it. Then there is the penalty for not doing it right---if the penalty is not stiff enough, the industry will just write it off as a cost of doing business. Apparently, no one could come up with an "agreement" about the levels and testing, so they just left them out. And if they need to make changes to include all the specifications, it will probably be another five years before they can figure out what they will be, leaving the people to suffer that much longer.

Why is it that industry has so much input into these rules anyways, while the citizens are ignored? I will contact them, but it will be another one of my tilts at windmills.