CCW conference: Impacts of natural gas production and transmissionClean Water
James Schmid, Schmid & Co
Natural gas development has continued to expand in states like Pennsylvania and West Virginia, while states like Maryland and New York are proceeding cautiously while trying to gather additional information on environmental, health, and forest and habitat impacts. Development of the industry has left communities dealing with impacts from industrialization to farm and forest land to increased stormwater runoff of sediment from drilling operations, including pipelines, road, and drill pads. This panel will explore the changing landscape in the Chesapeake region in relation to clean water goals and what impacts local communities are experiencing as well sites are developed, roads are built, and pipelines are constructed. The panel will take an in-depth look at pipelines in the region and the siting, regulatory, safety, and environmental aspects to consider when transporting water and natural gas throughout the region.
Lafarge Brookfield Concerns Re Tire Burning: Impact on Shortts Lake and on waterway leading to the Shubie River, Cement Kiln Dust spread on Farmers' Fields, long term implications for health and the environment.
CCW conference: Impacts of natural gas production and transmissionClean Water
James Schmid, Schmid & Co
Natural gas development has continued to expand in states like Pennsylvania and West Virginia, while states like Maryland and New York are proceeding cautiously while trying to gather additional information on environmental, health, and forest and habitat impacts. Development of the industry has left communities dealing with impacts from industrialization to farm and forest land to increased stormwater runoff of sediment from drilling operations, including pipelines, road, and drill pads. This panel will explore the changing landscape in the Chesapeake region in relation to clean water goals and what impacts local communities are experiencing as well sites are developed, roads are built, and pipelines are constructed. The panel will take an in-depth look at pipelines in the region and the siting, regulatory, safety, and environmental aspects to consider when transporting water and natural gas throughout the region.
Lafarge Brookfield Concerns Re Tire Burning: Impact on Shortts Lake and on waterway leading to the Shubie River, Cement Kiln Dust spread on Farmers' Fields, long term implications for health and the environment.
PA Forest Fragmentation from Marcellus Shale, Wind Turbines & Transmission LinesPaul Zeph
Overview of the habitat This is a captioned slideshow reviewing the fragmentation impacts of Marcellus Shale drilling, ridge-top wind development, and proposed new regional electricity transmission corridors to the forests of Pennsylvania.
This is a 2009 report from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
Bureau of Oil and Gas Management on gas migration from wells in the state. More on fracking http://j.mp/dotfrack and the "gas age" http://j.mp/GasAge on Dot Earth.
Early on a spring morning in the town of Damascus, in northeastern.docxjacksnathalie
Early on a spring morning in the town of Damascus, in northeastern Pennsylvania, the fog on the Delaware River rises to form a mist that hangs above the tree-covered hills on either side. A buzzard swoops in from the northern hills to join a flock ensconced in an evergreen on the river’s southern bank.
Stretching some 400 miles, the Delaware is one of the cleanest free-flowing rivers in the United States, home to some of the best fly-fishing in the country. More than 15 million people, including residents of New York City and Philadelphia, get their water from its pristine watershed. To regard its unspoiled beauty on a spring morning, you might be led to believe that the river is safely off limits from the destructive effects of industrialization. Unfortunately, you’d be mistaken. The Delaware is now the most endangered river in the country, according to the conservation group American Rivers.
That’s because large swaths of land—private and public—in the watershed have been leased to energy companies eager to drill for natural gas here using a controversial, poorly understood technique called hydraulic fracturing. “Fracking,” as it’s colloquially known, involves injecting millions of gallons of water, sand, and chemicals, many of them toxic, into the earth at high pressures to break up rock formations and release natural gas trapped inside. Sixty miles west of Damascus, the town of Dimock, population 1,400, makes all too clear the dangers posed by hydraulic fracturing. You don’t need to drive around Dimock long to notice how the rolling hills and farmland of this Appalachian town are scarred by barren, square-shaped clearings, jagged, newly constructed roads with 18-wheelers driving up and down them, and colorful freight containers labeled “residual waste.” Although there is a moratorium on drilling new wells for the time being, you can still see the occasional active drill site, manned by figures in hazmat suits and surrounded by klieg lights, trailers, and pits of toxic wastewater, the derricks towering over barns, horses, and cows in their shadows.
The real shock that Dimock has undergone, however, is in the aquifer that residents rely on for their fresh water. Dimock is now known as the place where, over the past two years, people’s water started turning brown and making them sick, one woman’s water well spontaneously combusted, and horses and pets mysteriously began to lose their hair.
Craig and Julie Sautner moved to Dimock from a nearby town in March 2008. They were in the process of renovating their modest but beautifully situated home on tree-canopied Carter Road when land men from Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas, a midsize player in the energy-exploration industry, came knocking on their door to inquire about leasing the mineral rights to their three and a half acres of land. The Sautners say the land men told them that their neighbors had already signed leases and that the drilling would have no impact whatsoever on their land. (Othe ...
A so-called "fact sheet" prepared for the FreshWater Accountability Project Ohio by Dr. Marvin Resnikoff that purports to show dangers from Utica Shale drilling waste (rock, soil, etc.) that may contain low levels of radioactivity. Resnikoff is a well-known anti-driller who uses the radioactivity issue to push his agenda to curtail drilling.
Last Updated October 31, 2011Hydrofracking Is hydraulic fractu.docxsmile790243
Last Updated: October 31, 2011
Hydrofracking: Is hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, a safe way to extract natural gas?
Pro/Con Article Media Editorials News
Page Tools Highlighting
FULL ARTICLE
Introduction
Background
Supporters Argue
Opponents Argue
Conclusion
Chronology
By the Numbers
Spotlights
Discussion Questions
Bibliography
Further Resources
Introduction
SUPPORTERS ARGUE
There is no proven case of hydrofracking contaminating drinking water, and the process is perfectly safe. Natural gas can revive local economies, reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, and provide a cleaner-burning fossil fuel. Further regulation is unnecessary and will only prevent an opportunity for the United States to develop an alternative energy source and create jobs.
OPPONENTS ARGUE
The chemicals used in fracking fluid are toxic and pose a danger to public health if they contaminate drinking water reserves or leak out of wells. Oil and gas companies are not being honest with the public about the dangers of hydrofracking, and the federal government should apply much stricter, nationwide regulations to ensure that hydrofracking does not cause widespread health problems that could plague the public for generations.
Issues and Controversies: Hydrofracking Workers
Workers at a natural gas well site in Burlington, Pennsylvania, in April 2010 prepare a drill to begin the process of hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking.
AP Photo/Ralph Wilson
Many observers have hailed natural gas as a solution to several energy problems facing the U.S. Utilizing the country's ample domestic supply of the resource, many have said, could greatly decrease U.S. dependence on foreign oil and possibly drive energy prices down. Furthermore, natural gas produces much less carbon dioxide than other fossil fuels, about half as much as coal, making it the cleanest burning fossil fuel available. Energy experts have also touted natural gas as a cheap alternative to renewable energy sources, such as wind or solar energy, until engineers devise a way to make renewable energy more cost efficient. According to the Department of Energy, natural gas already produces about one-fifth of the nation's electricity, a proportion that may increase as energy firms tap more domestic reserves of natural gas.
The Marcellus Shale, a 95,000-square-mile geologic formation deep underground that stretches from West Virginia through Pennsylvania to upstate New York, is estimated to contain as much as 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. In order to access the natural gas in the Marcellus Shale and other shale formations, however, energy companies have to employ a controversial procedure called hydraulic fracturing—also known as "hydrofracking" or simply "fracking." Hydrofracking is a technique that releases natural gas by pumping millions of gallons of water, laced with sand and chemicals, thousands of feet underground to blast open, or fracture, shale formations, freeing the gas. [See Today's Science: Nat ...
Rising Seas and Solutions: MIT Club of Southwest Florida.Paul H. Carr
1. RISING SEAS
Sea levels are now rising 4 times faster than in 1900.
Sea levels could rise up to 18 ft by 2058.
2015 & 2016: warmest years on record.
2. SOLUTIONS: Green Technology & Legislation
PA Forest Fragmentation from Marcellus Shale, Wind Turbines & Transmission LinesPaul Zeph
Overview of the habitat This is a captioned slideshow reviewing the fragmentation impacts of Marcellus Shale drilling, ridge-top wind development, and proposed new regional electricity transmission corridors to the forests of Pennsylvania.
This is a 2009 report from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
Bureau of Oil and Gas Management on gas migration from wells in the state. More on fracking http://j.mp/dotfrack and the "gas age" http://j.mp/GasAge on Dot Earth.
Early on a spring morning in the town of Damascus, in northeastern.docxjacksnathalie
Early on a spring morning in the town of Damascus, in northeastern Pennsylvania, the fog on the Delaware River rises to form a mist that hangs above the tree-covered hills on either side. A buzzard swoops in from the northern hills to join a flock ensconced in an evergreen on the river’s southern bank.
Stretching some 400 miles, the Delaware is one of the cleanest free-flowing rivers in the United States, home to some of the best fly-fishing in the country. More than 15 million people, including residents of New York City and Philadelphia, get their water from its pristine watershed. To regard its unspoiled beauty on a spring morning, you might be led to believe that the river is safely off limits from the destructive effects of industrialization. Unfortunately, you’d be mistaken. The Delaware is now the most endangered river in the country, according to the conservation group American Rivers.
That’s because large swaths of land—private and public—in the watershed have been leased to energy companies eager to drill for natural gas here using a controversial, poorly understood technique called hydraulic fracturing. “Fracking,” as it’s colloquially known, involves injecting millions of gallons of water, sand, and chemicals, many of them toxic, into the earth at high pressures to break up rock formations and release natural gas trapped inside. Sixty miles west of Damascus, the town of Dimock, population 1,400, makes all too clear the dangers posed by hydraulic fracturing. You don’t need to drive around Dimock long to notice how the rolling hills and farmland of this Appalachian town are scarred by barren, square-shaped clearings, jagged, newly constructed roads with 18-wheelers driving up and down them, and colorful freight containers labeled “residual waste.” Although there is a moratorium on drilling new wells for the time being, you can still see the occasional active drill site, manned by figures in hazmat suits and surrounded by klieg lights, trailers, and pits of toxic wastewater, the derricks towering over barns, horses, and cows in their shadows.
The real shock that Dimock has undergone, however, is in the aquifer that residents rely on for their fresh water. Dimock is now known as the place where, over the past two years, people’s water started turning brown and making them sick, one woman’s water well spontaneously combusted, and horses and pets mysteriously began to lose their hair.
Craig and Julie Sautner moved to Dimock from a nearby town in March 2008. They were in the process of renovating their modest but beautifully situated home on tree-canopied Carter Road when land men from Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas, a midsize player in the energy-exploration industry, came knocking on their door to inquire about leasing the mineral rights to their three and a half acres of land. The Sautners say the land men told them that their neighbors had already signed leases and that the drilling would have no impact whatsoever on their land. (Othe ...
A so-called "fact sheet" prepared for the FreshWater Accountability Project Ohio by Dr. Marvin Resnikoff that purports to show dangers from Utica Shale drilling waste (rock, soil, etc.) that may contain low levels of radioactivity. Resnikoff is a well-known anti-driller who uses the radioactivity issue to push his agenda to curtail drilling.
Last Updated October 31, 2011Hydrofracking Is hydraulic fractu.docxsmile790243
Last Updated: October 31, 2011
Hydrofracking: Is hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, a safe way to extract natural gas?
Pro/Con Article Media Editorials News
Page Tools Highlighting
FULL ARTICLE
Introduction
Background
Supporters Argue
Opponents Argue
Conclusion
Chronology
By the Numbers
Spotlights
Discussion Questions
Bibliography
Further Resources
Introduction
SUPPORTERS ARGUE
There is no proven case of hydrofracking contaminating drinking water, and the process is perfectly safe. Natural gas can revive local economies, reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, and provide a cleaner-burning fossil fuel. Further regulation is unnecessary and will only prevent an opportunity for the United States to develop an alternative energy source and create jobs.
OPPONENTS ARGUE
The chemicals used in fracking fluid are toxic and pose a danger to public health if they contaminate drinking water reserves or leak out of wells. Oil and gas companies are not being honest with the public about the dangers of hydrofracking, and the federal government should apply much stricter, nationwide regulations to ensure that hydrofracking does not cause widespread health problems that could plague the public for generations.
Issues and Controversies: Hydrofracking Workers
Workers at a natural gas well site in Burlington, Pennsylvania, in April 2010 prepare a drill to begin the process of hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking.
AP Photo/Ralph Wilson
Many observers have hailed natural gas as a solution to several energy problems facing the U.S. Utilizing the country's ample domestic supply of the resource, many have said, could greatly decrease U.S. dependence on foreign oil and possibly drive energy prices down. Furthermore, natural gas produces much less carbon dioxide than other fossil fuels, about half as much as coal, making it the cleanest burning fossil fuel available. Energy experts have also touted natural gas as a cheap alternative to renewable energy sources, such as wind or solar energy, until engineers devise a way to make renewable energy more cost efficient. According to the Department of Energy, natural gas already produces about one-fifth of the nation's electricity, a proportion that may increase as energy firms tap more domestic reserves of natural gas.
The Marcellus Shale, a 95,000-square-mile geologic formation deep underground that stretches from West Virginia through Pennsylvania to upstate New York, is estimated to contain as much as 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. In order to access the natural gas in the Marcellus Shale and other shale formations, however, energy companies have to employ a controversial procedure called hydraulic fracturing—also known as "hydrofracking" or simply "fracking." Hydrofracking is a technique that releases natural gas by pumping millions of gallons of water, laced with sand and chemicals, thousands of feet underground to blast open, or fracture, shale formations, freeing the gas. [See Today's Science: Nat ...
Rising Seas and Solutions: MIT Club of Southwest Florida.Paul H. Carr
1. RISING SEAS
Sea levels are now rising 4 times faster than in 1900.
Sea levels could rise up to 18 ft by 2058.
2015 & 2016: warmest years on record.
2. SOLUTIONS: Green Technology & Legislation
Similar to Tennessee sludge spill runs over homes, water (20)
1. Tennessee sludge spill runs over homes, water
(CNN) -- A wall holding back 80 acres of sludge from a coal plant in central Tennessee broke this
week, spilling more than 500 million gallons of waste into the surrounding area.
Environmental Protection Agency officials are on the scene and expect the cleanup to to take four to
six weeks.
The sludge, a byproduct of ash from coal combustion, was contained at a retention site at the
Tennessee Valley Authority's power plant in Kingston, about 40 miles east of Knoxville, agency
officials said.
The retention wall breached early Monday, sending the sludge downhill and damaging 15 homes. All
the residents were evacuated, and three homes were deemed uninhabitable, a TVA spokesman told
CNN.
The plant sits on a tributary of the Tennessee River called the Clinch River.
"We deeply regret that a retention wall for ash containment at our Kingston Fossil Plant failed,
resulting in an ash slide and damage to nearby homes," TVA said in a statement released Tuesday.
TVA spokesman Gil Francis told CNN that up to 400 acres of land had been coated by the sludge, a
bigger area than the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.
Video footage showed sludge as high as 6 feet, burying porches and garage doors. The slide also
downed nearby power lines, though the TVA said power had been restored to the area.
Francis said Environmental Protection Agency officials were on the scene and estimated the cleanup
could take four to six weeks.
Some of the goop spilled into the tributary, but preliminary water quality tests show that the
drinking water at a nearby treatment plant meets standards.
"I don't want to drink it. It doesn't look healthy to me," Jody Miles, who fishes in the Clinch River,
told CNN affiliate WBIR. "Do you reckon they can bring all this life back that's going to die from all
2. this mess?"
Still, there is the potential for more sludge to enter the water supply through waste runoff.
"We're taking steps to stabilize runoff from this incident," Francis said.
Although video from the scene shows dead fish on the banks of the tributary, he said that "in terms
of toxicity, until an analysis comes in, you can't call it toxic."
One environmental attorney called that statement "irresponsible." The ash that gives sludge its
thick, pudding-like consistency in this case is known as fly ash, which results from the combustion of
coal.
Fly ash contains concentrated amounts of mercury, arsenic and benzine, said Chandra Taylor, staff
attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center.
"These things are naturally occurring, but they concentrate in the burning process and the residual
is more toxic than it starts," she told CNN.
Appalachian environmentalists compared the mess with another spill eight years ago in eastern
Kentucky, where the bottom of a coal sludge impoundment owned by Massey Energy broke into an
abandoned underground mine, oozing more than 300 million gallons of coal waste into tributaries.
The water supply for more than 25,000 residents was contaminated, and aquatic life in the area
perished. It took months to clean up the spill.
"If the estimates are correct, this spill is one and a half times bigger," said Dave Cooper, an
environmental advocate with the Mountaintop Removal Road Show, a traveling program that
explains the effect of an extreme form of mining.
While the full scope of the TVA spill is being determined, coal critics are already concerned about its
long-term effects.
Cleaning up the mess, which could fill nearly 800 Olympic-size swimming pools, could take months
or years, Taylor said.
"We're very concerned about how long it's going to take" to clean the spill, she told CNN.
Cooper agreed, saying, "It's 4, 5 feet deep. How are you going to scoop it up? Where are you going
to put it?"
All About Tennessee Valley Authority o Tennessee o U.S. Environmental Protection Agency