Category: Commentary/Editorial || By

Possible Gas Well Pollutant in River?: Scott Beveridge of the Observer-Reporter reports that Monongahela River water has become unexpectedly high in bromide contamination since July, according to a new study from Carnegie Mellon University.

Bromide is a chemical compound found in many products, including pop, fire retardants and prescription medications. Indeed, bromides were so often used as sedatives in the 19th century (including in Bromo-Seltzer) that the word "bromide" became synonymous with something that's tiresome or boring (in other words, it puts you to sleep).

Levels of bromide in the Mon spiked in July, coincidentally (or maybe not) as more and more Marcellus shale gas wells have gone online.

The gas in Marcellus shale is trapped in dense layers of rock, which must be fractured or "fracked" during the well-drilling process. To crack the shale, water, usually laced with other chemicals, is pumped into the well at high pressure. The wastewater is then pumped out, and is supposed to be disposed of properly.

However, as the ProPublica news service reported last year, local wastewater treatment plants such as McKeesport's can't remove salts --- such as bromide --- from the fracking water, and it winds up being discharged back into the river.

. . .

By itself, bromide isn't harmful, but it can't be removed by water treatment plants, either. And when it goes through a water treatment plant, the bromide combines with the chlorine to create bromate, a compound which has been linked to cancer.

Indeed, in 2007, bromate contamination forced Los Angeles officials to drain two reservoirs of 600 million gallons of drinking water.

Though city residents and others served by the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County get their drinking water from the Youghiogheny River, other area communities --- those served by Pennsylvania-American Water, for example --- are supplied from the Mon.

PAWC told Beveridge its drinking water meets all applicable federal safety standards. No one has definitively linked the bromide contamination to fracking water, but the state Department of Environmental Protection is trying to find the source, which could take "weeks or months."

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Righteous Indignation Over Pa. Spying: On a related note, John Cole of Balloon Juice was steaming mad over the news that Pennsylvania Homeland Security officials have spied on local residents involved with groups that oppose Marcellus shale gas drilling --- and then turned the supposedly confidential reports over to the drilling companies.

"Because, you know, if you oppose corporations ruining your road, cracking your foundation, housing huge reservoirs of toxic water evaporating near your house and spilling into your well water, well, the government needs to keep their eye on you because you might be a terrorist," Cole wrote last week.

"And if you propose taxing these companies rather than just looting the land for resources and leaving behind 'externalities' and Superfund sites for you to clean up, then you are socialist, and that is even worse."

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New Superintendent Named: In case you missed it, Assistant Superintendent Timothy Gabauer has been elevated to the top job at McKeesport Area School District. Gabauer, a former social studies teacher and high school principal, has worked in the district since 1994. He replaces Michael Brinkos, who resigned to take a job with the Allegheny Intermediate Unit.

Brinkos, a McKeesport High grad, was appointed superintendent just last year, and was the district's third superintendent in four years. He took a pay cut to work for the AIU, but told the Post-Gazette he was making the move "for professional growth."

We wish both Gebauer and Brinkos well, but all of the highly public personnel moves made over the past few years --- including the departure of the head football coach at the high school --- cause one to wonder about employee morale in the district.

Experience proves that when a company's morale goes down, the quality of its product goes down, too. Education is the only product of a school district, and if morale is going down, instruction starts to take a backseat to political bickering.

Children, teachers, support staff and taxpayers need the school board to supply consistent, stable leadership, and we hope things are on the right track.

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Good Government Marches On, Part 1: California has taken a stand against illegal immigrants who sneak across America's borders and steal our jobs.

California Borough, that is, not the state.

By a 3-2 vote, borough council suspended the police chief because council supposedly has concerns about her citizenship.

Police Chief Tracy Vitale was born in Germany and adopted at age 3 by an American couple. That's not good enough for council, which has demanded documentation about her adoption.

That's triggered an investigation that includes U.S. Rep. Mark Critz and the German consulate. It certainly seems like a good waste ... I mean, use ... of everyone's time and money.

It's worth noting that Vitale was named acting police chief after the previous chief was demoted when Washington County prosecutors discovered drugs and other evidence missing from the police station.

The councilman who proposed the motion, Jon Bittner, said he proposed suspending Vitale "to protect the residents of California." Protect them from what? Germany's top-secret plan to take over small-town police departments?

Nobody asked us, but do you know what would really help protect the residents of Councilman Bittner's borough? Having a police chief. Where was council back when things were going missing from the evidence locker?

Heckuva job, California Borough Council! You are the Mon Valley's latest example of Good Government ... On the March!

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Good Government Marches On, Part 2: But wait! Not far from California Borough, up in New Eagle, state police have charged the man who ran Ringgold School District's cafeteria program with theft and related offenses.

Police allege he encouraged his employees to falsify their applications so they could qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches, and that he listed his dog as a dependent in order for his family to qualify.

We now know why Ringgold school cafeterias were serving lunches that made gravy when you poured water onto them. (Rimshot)

(Some of these items previously appeared at Tube City Online's Facebook page. Opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not represent those of Tube City Community Media Inc. or any other organization.)

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