Archive for March 11, 2009

Gas drilling damage II

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

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Well site during active drilling to the Marcelllus Shale formation in Upshur County, West Virginia, in 2008. Photo courtesy West Virginia Surface Owners’ Rights Organization.

We’ve had a couple of blog posts and a story in the Gazette about the problems caused by the U.S. Forest Service’s failure to properly police an oil and gas operation in the Monongahela National Forest (See here, here and here).

One of the blog posts, Gas drilling damage I,  took a closer look at what happened in the Mon Forest’s Fernow Experimental Forest, a research station near Parsons in Tucker County. Last week, through its Greenwire service, The New York Times had a piece about growing concerns about drilling on public lands, and what the Forest Service is — and isn’t — doing about it.

But there have been two growing types of concerns in West Virginia and around the region about the oil and gas business.

One surrounds the boom in drilling in the Marcellus Shale gas formation, and what happens to the huge amounts of toxic waste water produced by these wells.  This issue really came to the forefront last year, when some of this nasty stuff that was taken to small community sewage treatment plants made its way into the Monongehala River.

(more…)

Posted in Energy, Environment | 1 Comment »

MIC in Institute: What’s old is new again

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

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Reporters wearing hard hats cluster around Union Carbide officials during a tour of the MIC unit at the company’s Institute plant. Note the skull and crossbones on the “Poison Gas MIC” sign. This Dec. 11, 1984, Gazette file photo was taken less than a week after the Bhopal disaster.

I guess I’ve been around the Gazette a long time now, because the issues just keep repeating themselves.

About 15 years ago, I spent a lot of time reporting on the stockpile of methyl isocyanate, or MIC, out at the Institute chemical plant. The plant was then owned by Rhone-Poulenc Ag Co., had previously been run by Union Carbide, and is now part of Bayer CropScience.

MIC issues at the plant had become a hot issue right after thousands of people died in a leak at the sister Carbide plant in Bhopal, India. They got even hotter after 135 people were injured in an Institute leak in August 1985, and it was that leak that probably led Congress to reform chemical safety and right-to-know laws in 1986.

Recently, a couple of readers pointed out a story of mine that the Gazette published on Nov. 13, 1994, about an independent study of whether the Institute plant could — and more importantly should — reduce its MIC stockpile in the name of worker and community safety. The story said:

Rhone-Poulenc Ag Co. could eliminate the bulk storage of deadly methyl isocyanate at its Institute plant, but has never thoroughly studied methods to do so, a citizens group said in a report released Saturday.

(more…)

Posted in Chemical industry, Environment, Open government, Worker safety | 6 Comments »

Show us the money, part 2

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

ridpath.jpegMarshall University agreed to pay a cash settlement of $200,000 to David Ridpath, the university’s former NCAA compliance director.

Last week, I wrote a post about how the terms of the settlement between Marshall and Ridpath had not yet been shared with the public. Which was mildly surprising given that more than a month had passed since U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers gave both sides 30 days to submit an agreed dismissal order.

This afternoon, Marshall spokesman Bill Bissett e-mailed me the amount. In addition, the university agreed to write a letter to the NCAA stating that Ridpath was not responsible for major violations within the athletic department, as my colleague Doug Smock detailed in February.

Former football coach Bob Pruett and several other university officials were named in Ridpath’s suit, which sought $1 million in damages.

Just as a refresher, the 1986 case Daily Gazette Co. v. Withrow requires public bodies to share with taxpayers when their money is spent on court settlements:

“A public official has a common law duty to create and maintain, for public inspection and copying, a record of the terms of settlement of litigation brought against the public official or his or her employee(s) in their official capacity.”

Posted in Marshall, Uncategorized | No Comments »

The $9.7 million man at AEP

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

morrisaep.jpg  When Appalachian Power comes before the West Virginia Public Service Commission later this year to plead for an 18.5 percent electric rate hike, you can expect company lawyers will highlight all the recent cost-cutting measures taken to curb costs and keep rates low.

But you probably won’t hear about how much the company’s top executive hauls in.

Michael Morris, CEO of  American Electric Power and subsidiary Applachian Power, received $9.7 million in total compensation last year.

Here’s an excerpt from a Feb. 27 Associated Press story:

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Michael Morris, the top executive of power generator American Electric Power, received compensation in 2008 totaling $9.7 million, a nearly 6 percent increase, according to a regulatory filing by the power generator that managed to increase earnings last year even as the recession took hold.

Morris, chairman, president and chief executive of AEP, received a base salary of $1.3 million last year, up from $1.2 million in 2007, according to a proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Morris, 62, received $1.7 million in non-equity incentive compensation, down from $1.8 million in 2007.

All other compensation, including personal use of corporate aircraft, totaled $818,438 last year, compared with $643,718 in 2007.

While his total compensation increased last year, it is down 23 percent from 2006 when he received $12.6 million, including stock awards of $8.5 million.

  AEP wants to raise electric rates on residential customers in West Virginia 18.5 percent this year, 14.5 percent next year and 13 percent in 2011. That’s a 53 percent increase compounded over three years.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Gas drilling damage I

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

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Yesterday, I blogged about serious questions raised by the group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility about a gas drilling and pipeline operation in the Fernow Experimental Forest section of the Monongahela National Forest. We’ve also got a more detailed story in the paper today, and it’s online here.

The blog post includes links to some of the documents that PEER cited in alleging that managers at the U.S. Forest Service ignored their own staff scientists’ advice that the operation proposed by Berry Energy would damage caves that are critical habitat for endangered bats, create toxic runoff, and harm long-term forest ecology.

Posted above is a photo PEER sent me of this drilling operation, and I’m also posting  a shot they also provided of the vegetation damage apparently caused by toxic materials from the drill pit fluids. (more…)

Posted in Energy, Environment | 9 Comments »

Highway robbery III

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

If you think engineers are ripping you off, think again, several engineers have said in recent days. We’ve reported that Gov. Joe Manchin wants the Legislature to pass a bill to change the way the state puts engineering contracts for highway and water projects out to bid. The governor wants to dump the Qualified Based Selection process used by the federal government and 47 other states and replace it with a lowest-bid procedure.

barrel.jpgYes, the governor’s changes would cut into their profits, engineers say. But the changes would also increase the cost of doing business unnecessarily. Some firms would close, downsize, move out of state or simply shift away from government work.

In addition, what little money the state may save in engineering fees is going to be lost in increased construction costs, ongoing maintenance costs and possibly even safety, engineers say.

A June 2008 report  prepared for the American Public Works Association and the American Council of Engineering Companies concluded that:

Public agencies that use Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS) to procure architectural and engineering (A/E) services are better able to control construction costs and achieve a consistently high degree of project satisfaction than those using other procurement methods.  (more…)

Posted in Public spending, Uncategorized | 27 Comments »