Here is the Governor of Delaware describing the State’s plans

From an Article by Maryann Pugh, PA Chester County News, December 23, 2023

WILMINGTON, DE — A historic conference held at the Chase Center on the Riverfront this week has placed Delaware firmly at the forefront of the clean hydrogen revolution. Governor John Carney, U.S. Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons, and Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester hosted U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Deputy Secretary David Turk to discuss the enormous potential of clean hydrogen energy for Delaware and the region.

The Mid-Atlantic Clean Hydrogen (MACH2) proposal, a public-private venture uniting Delaware, southeastern Pennsylvania, and southern New Jersey, was selected by the DOE in October as one of the country’s seven regional clean hydrogen hubs. This prestigious designation comes with a robust $750 million federal grant, courtesy of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The Clean Hydrogen for the Mid-Atlantic Conference brought together over 300 regional stakeholders to delve into the hub’s expected positive impact on regional economies, public health, and the environment. Distinguished guests and panelists included representatives from Bloom Energy, Chesapeake Utilities, First State Hydrogen, PBF Energy, DART, University of Delaware Center for Clean Hydrogen, Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, and the Delaware Workforce Development Board.

The MACH2 initiative aligns with President Biden’s ambitious environmental targets: a fully clean electrical grid by 2035 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. It is expected to reinforce national energy security and create approximately 20,000 well-paying clean energy jobs, including union jobs. The plan involves producing, distributing, and utilizing clean hydrogen to power everything from vehicles and airplanes to industries, leveraging the region’s highly skilled, unionized workforce and strong manufacturing, chemical, and bioscience sectors.

“Hydrogen hubs present a win-win-win for our climate, our communities and union workforce, and for the economy,” said David Turk, DOE Deputy Secretary. “Clean hydrogen is the Swiss Army Knife of clean energy technologies. It can decarbonize some of our hardest-to-abate sectors, like heavy industry and transportation, and can provide long-duration energy storage.”

Governor John Carney echoed Turk’s enthusiasm, emphasizing the significance of Delaware being selected as one of the seven regional hydrogen hubs. “This designation will bring $750 million for Delaware and our partners in the region to build a clean energy industry that will create thousands of good union jobs,” said Governor Carney. “The point of cleaner energy is to make things cleaner and better for people – especially those who live in disadvantaged communities. There will be an opportunity at each stage for the Delawareans to weigh in and shape these projects, and we encourage the public to participate.”

As Delaware steps into the future with this clean hydrogen initiative, the potential for economic growth, environmental sustainability, and community involvement is clear. The MACH2 project represents not just a step, but a giant leap forward in the journey towards a cleaner, greener future.

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READ ALSO THIS STORY: PA Senator Casey Questions Biden Administration’s Proposed Hydrogen Tax Credit Rule

Even roof bolters are exposed to silica dust in mining operations

From an Article by Rob Mitchum, University of Illinois — Chicago, December 6, 2023
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The first new pathology standards for black lung disease in over 50 years were published based on research from the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health. The findings will help pathologists diagnose a new, more aggressive form of the condition and may provide public health officials with additional motivation for passing stricter mining regulations.

Rates of coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, the severe respiratory condition popularly known as black lung disease, resurged in the last two decades after a steep decline in the late 20th century. Work from UIC’s Mining Education and Research Center determined that the rise is likely caused by excessive exposure to silica dust in the coal mine atmosphere, compared with the coal dust that historically put miners at risk.

“In the past, these diseases generally took decades to develop, but we’re seeing them developing in much shorter periods of time, and that it’s much more inflammatory and rapidly progressive,” said Dr. Robert Cohen, clinical professor in the UIC School of Public Health and director of the center.

Two recent papers from the center expand upon this link, with both comparing the lungs of miners from the mid-20th century with those from more recent cases of black lung disease. The studies are the first update on the pathology of black lung disease since 1971, highlighting features in lung tissue that are unique to this newer version and making pathologists aware of its changing nature in modern miners.

“In a textbook today, the teaching would be that it would take decades and decades of exposure to develop pneumoconiosis,” said Dr. Leonard Go, research assistant professor and assistant director of center. “But we’re seeing cases of disease in people with five, six years of exposure, sometimes less. And that’s almost certainly because of a more prominent silica component of contribution to their disease.”

Silica dust is known to be highly toxic, causing lung damage, cancer and COPD. While exposure to the substance in most professions is already limited by OSHA regulations, coal miners — governed by a separate federal agency — are still legally allowed to inhale twice as much of the dust on the job. Modern changes in coal mining, such as increased use of heavy machinery and mining of thinner coal seams surrounded by silica, may also contribute to higher exposures, the researchers said.

>> In one paper, the center researchers conducted a statistical comparison of lung tissue from miners born between 1885 to 1950. The historical samples were gathered from an archive in West Virginia at the Respiratory Health Division of the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health that the researchers discovered in the basement of the facility.

>> “It was almost like discovering archaeological evidence, because it has these ancient lungs from guys that were born in the early 20th century,” Cohen said. “It was kind of exciting for us, as pulmonary detectives, to find it.”

>> Researchers evaluated the specimens for the presence of progressive massive fibrosis, the most severe form of pneumoconiosis. They grouped each case into coal-type, mixed-type and silica-type based on the microscopic characteristics of the lung nodules.

>> When analyzed over time according to the birth year of the miner, the researchers found that the frequency of coal-type and mixed-type disease declined, likely reflecting the passage of stricter mining regulations. Conversely, rates of silica-type disease stayed constant, even increasing among miners born more recently.

>> “We saw the rise in disease, and now we can see under a microscope that the pattern of disease is clearly consistent with silica,” Go said. “It’s a smoking gun that something has to change to prevent this disease.”

In a second paper, an international panel of pathologists looked at 85 lung samples, but were not told whether they were from historical miners — those born before 1930 — or contemporary miners born after 1930. Once again, the researchers found that silica-type lesions were more common in contemporary miners than their earlier counterparts.

The analysis also offered detailed descriptions of additional features that are unique to the newer form of the disease, including alveolar proteinosis — a condition previously associated with heavy acute silica exposure but not previously observed in coal miners — and signs of inflammation and fibrosis. It also revealed the startling absence in contemporary miners of coal macules and nodules, once considered a hallmark of black lung disease.

The authors hope that this new information will aid diagnosis of the disease in its new form.

“We want pathologists to recognize this disease, to increase the knowledge and awareness of how this disease looks.” Cohen said. “We’re updating the literature so that pathologists are aware of the rapidly progressive nature and the new signs of disease.”

The authors also hope that the new findings will add more urgency to the debate around further limiting coal miners’ exposure to silica dust and lead to quicker passage of new regulations that further reduce miners’ exposure to dust particles. A federal rule bringing mining restrictions in line with OSHA standards is currently under consideration by the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

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The climate crisis will require life style changes and spending changes!

From Stephanie Wissman, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, November 9, 2023

Regarding the article “Pittsburgh-based plan passed over as hydrogen hub selections draw statewide praise” (Oct. 13, TribLIVE): Building a lower carbon future means ensuring the success of the Department of Energy’s new hydrogen hubs. The hubs are networks of clean hydrogen producers, consumers and connective infrastructure working together to kick-start the growth of a low-carbon hydrogen economy.

Pennsylvania and the Appalachian region’s abundant natural gas and skilled workforce make our area a prime location for hydrogen development, with the promise of economic growth and advancing shared climate goals.

A recent study found that if policies are implemented to support all types of hydrogen development, it could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 37% through 2050 and inject billions of dollars into the economy through jobs. To unlock these benefits, we need to start building the necessary infrastructure.

Given a workforce of over 423,000 already supported by the natural gas and oil industry, Pennsylvania is ready to embrace this new energy opportunity. With over half the proposed hubs using hydrogen produced from natural gas and carbon capture, this project will kick-start the next generation of energy development.

Pennsylvania has a proud history of energy production and a wealth of potential for innovation. Let’s all work together to make hydrogen a cornerstone of our cleaner energy future.

>>> Stephanie Catarino Wissman, Executive Director, American Petroleum Institute Pennsylvania, Harrisburg

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‘Climate Scam’: 180+ Groups Tell Biden to Drop Support for Hydrogen

From an Article by Jake Johnson, Common Dreams, August 22, 2023

“Calling hydrogen clean energy is a scam to prop up the oil and gas industry,” said one campaigner.

More than 95% of hydrogen produced in the United States is made using fossil fuels, but that hasn’t stopped its backers — including industry groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — from touting the energy source as critical to the fight against climate change.

A diverse coalition of advocacy organizations on Tuesday implored the Biden administration to stop buying into the hype.

In a letter to officials at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), more than 180 groups called on the administration to abandon plans to invest in hydrogen projects, warning that “a large-scale buildout of hydrogen infrastructure will further exacerbate the climate crisis and disproportionately harm people of color, low-income communities, and Indigenous peoples.”

Two recently enacted pieces of legislation—the Inflation Reduction Act and a bipartisan infrastructure measure championed by oil industry ally Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.)—include benefits for the hydrogen industry.

The latter bill authorized the Department of Energy to spend roughly $8 billion on developing Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs (H2Hubs), drawing outrage from community organizers in Colorado, New Mexico, and other states behind the Western Interstate Hydrogen Hub, a project aimed at expanding U.S. hydrogen production.

“We recognize that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act directs DOE to fund these hubs, but we ask DOE to find a different path and reject this false solution. It’s time for DOE to do the right thing,” the groups wrote in their letter on Tuesday.

The groups behind the letter — including the Center for Biological Diversity and Food & Water Watch — note that hydrogen production generates significant planet-warming emissions.

“Hydrogen lifecycle emissions which use carbon capture and storage are 20% greater than directly burning natural gas or coal, and 60% greater than burning diesel oil, because of the increased fossil fuels required to power it,” the letter states. “The process of producing gray and blue hydrogen is a major source of fugitive methane emissions from flaring, transportation, and other upstream processes—releasing even more potent greenhouse gases and exacerbating atmospheric warming over the next two decades.”

“President Biden can’t claim to be a climate leader while his administration continues to embrace the hydrogen climate scam and other policies that continue to perpetuate fossil fuel production and infrastructure.”

As Nature explained in an editorial warning against “overhyping” hydrogen, “Most hydrogen is currently made by processes—such as steam reformation of natural gas (methane)—that produce large amounts of CO2 as a by-product.”

“Although ‘green’ hydrogen can be made by using electricity from renewable sources to split water molecules,” the outlet added, “this process is costly compared with more conventional production methods.”

Silas Grant, a campaigner with the Center for Biological Diversity, said Tuesday that “calling hydrogen clean energy is a scam to prop up the oil and gas industry.”

“The Biden administration’s plans to expand this dirty energy will only increase oil and gas extraction at a time when the climate emergency demands the opposite,” said Grant. “We need investment in affordable, reliable, community-supported renewable energy like wind and solar.”

The coalition’s letter comes two months after New Mexico-based advocacy organizations urged the Biden administration to reject funding for the Western Interstate Hydrogen Hub, arguing the initiative would “devastate public health, clean air, Indigenous sacred places, and the climate.”

“The climate crisis poses a grave threat to all life on Earth,” the groups wrote in a letter to the U.S. Energy Department. “DOE has the power to help lead a transformation to a more sustainable future. To do so, you must help phase out fossil fuels and reject false solutions like hydrogen.”

But the Biden White House has yet to waver in its support for hydrogen, claiming in a brief last month that “clean hydrogen has the potential to play an important role in decarbonizing the U.S. economy.”

Jim Walsh, policy director at Food & Water Watch, countered Tuesday that investments in hydrogen are “a distraction from real climate action that will cause more pollution, more strain on water resources, and more extraction of climate warming fossil fuels.”

“President Biden can’t claim to be a climate leader while his administration continues to embrace the hydrogen climate scam and other policies that continue to perpetuate fossil fuel production and infrastructure,” Walsh added.

Many hydrogen bubbles may burst before getting off the ground!

From an Article by Mike Tony, Charleston Gazette, October 28, 2028
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Flanked by former U.S. Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va. and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., speaks in praise of federal support for an Appalachian hydrogen hub consortium at the National Energy Technology Laboratory in Morgantown Oct. 16. Pictured is a map of the seven hydrogen hubs selected for awards totaling $7 billion by the federal Department of Energy this month. The map was shown during a virtual community briefing hosted by the agency Tuesday evening on the Appalachian regional hub.

Political and industrial leaders behind a proposed Appalachian hydrogen hub selected for up to $925 million in federal support this month say blue is green. There are warning signs that blue could leave the region in the red instead. The Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub, or ARCH2, is based on “blue hydrogen,” a fossil fuel-enabled approach to energy in which hydrogen is derived mainly from breaking methane into hydrogen and carbon dioxide.

Citing estimates that hydrogen produced by renewably generated electricity known as “green hydrogen” will be cheaper than blue by 2030, Institutional Shareholder Services, an international shareholder advisory firm, declared a “significant risk of stranded assets for blue hydrogen investments” in an analysis last year.

The Energy Transitions Commission, a global coalition of leaders aiming to reach net-zero emissions by mid-century, found in 2021 that green hydrogen production costs still above those of blue hydrogen could decrease drastically, while blue costs weren’t expected to fall significantly.

In its own 2021 analysis, global energy research firm Bloomberg New Energy Finance projected renewable hydrogen would be cheaper than blue by 2030, even in countries like the United States that had cheap gas at the time.

The U.S. Department of Energy, which selected ARCH2 as one of seven hydrogen hubs nationwide for which $7 billion have been allocated, has projected a time frame of seven to 12.5 years for projects to ramp up to operations. That projected time frame would push ARCH2’s launch past the date when analysts have said green hydrogen will sink below blue hydrogen in price.

Institutional Shareholder Services said in its analysis a case could be made that producing blue hydrogen serves to extend the lifetime of the gas industry rather than consistently reducing reliance on the industry. Scientists have said lessening that dependence on a much faster timeline is required to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. “All things considered, there is a significant risk that blue hydrogen assets become white elephants,” Institutional Shareholder Services’ analysis cautioned.

There’s evidence that blue hydrogen is a liability rather than an asset in the fight to mitigate climate change. Researchers from Cornell and Stanford universities found in a study published in 2021 that greenhouse gas emissions from the production of blue hydrogen are “quite high,” especially due to leaked methane. Methane has a 100-year global warming potential 28 to 36 times that of carbon dioxide, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

A report released last month by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, an Ohio-based market research firm that aims to accelerate the transition to renewable energy, said making hydrogen from natural gas “makes no sense.” The report concluded that blue hydrogen is neither clean nor low-carbon. Funding of blue hydrogen projects by federal and state governments and investors could make global warming worse due to projects still emitting significant amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere for decades, the report said.

Warnings that blue hydrogen could fail environmentally while becoming increasingly uneconomic haven’t stopped the region’s leaders from getting behind it. “When you have a visionary and innovative thing like a hydrogen hub that has such a long future to it, this to me says to the next generation, you’re going to want to stay, be here and contribute,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said at an Oct. 16 celebration of ARCH2’s selection by the DOE for federal support.

“This represents economic opportunity for our state. In addition to jobs, it brings investment that will have a spin-off effect,” Marshall University President Brad D, Smith said at the celebration held at a National Renewable Energy Laboratory site in Morgantown.

The project will rely on its buildout and use of carbon capture technology unproven at commercial scale to support an energy solution in hydrogen for which energy experts say there often are safer and cheaper alternatives.

>>> Swiss Army knife eyed

Suzy Baker, the DOE’s engagement lead on hydrogen hubs, observed during a DOE-hosted virtual community briefing that hydrogen is often referred to as a “Swiss Army knife” among climate solutions.

Energy experts view hydrogen as especially valuable in lowering emissions from hard-to-decarbonize processes like production of ammonia fertilizer or improving low-quality gas oils in making jet fuel and diesel. But energy is lost when hydrogen is made, stored and converted into end uses like electricity, which experts say makes electrification a more cost-effective energy solution.

A study by Princeton University researchers published last year in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications observed it was largely unknown how much hydrogen will leak in a more hydrogen-based economy because the hydrogen molecule is very small and hard to contain. Although hydrogen isn’t a greenhouse gas, it can impact atmospheric composition and allow an increase in greenhouse gases.

The researchers said that indirect greenhouse effect of hydrogen “calls for a detailed scrutiny of the global H2 [hydrogen] budget and the environmental consequences of its perturbation,” calling hydrogen emissions “far from being climate neutral.”

In its 2021 report, the Energy Transitions Commission noted hydrogen poses “significant storage and transport challenges” because of its small molecule size and extreme flammability. The report observed that although ammonia, as hydrogen-derived fuel, doesn’t face the same transport and storage challenges, it’s toxic and requires strict safety procedures.

The commission’s report noted hydrogen didn’t exceed 7% of projected 2050 final energy demand or 18% in four of five energy analyst forecasts, with projections of 6-7% in scenarios set by the International Renewable Energy Agency and the International Energy Agency.

>>> Vulnerable communities in our region

The 9 million metric tons per year the DOE says ARCH2 intends to lower carbon dioxide emissions by represent 1.8% of the 495.9 million metric tons ARCH2 states West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania emitted in 2021.

Pursuing that goal will create 3,000 permanent and 18,000 construction jobs, ARCH2 has said. But many key ARCH2 project areas are in communities where heavy industry has contributed to or failed to prevent environmental health risks and socioeconomic challenges.

The area around the Chemours Company’s chemical facility in Belle is above the 95th percentile nationally in low-life expectancy and heart disease as well as flood risk, and above the 80th percentile in asthma, according to EJScreen, the EPA’s mapping and screening tool that combines environmental and demographic indicators. The area ranks above the 80th percentile in toxic releases to air and above the 90th percentiles in wastewater discharge.

The area around Chemours’ chemical facility in Washington is above the 90th percentile in heart disease and asthma, and above the 80th percentile in toxic releases to air, persons with disabilities, persons over age 64 and flood risk.

As part of ARCH2 and in collaboration with pipeline and storage facility operator TC Energy, Chemours is looking to develop two water electrolysis-based hydrogen production facilities at or near its manufacturing sites in Belle and Washington. Electrolysis is use of electricity to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen.

Although Chemours says its project won’t rely on natural gas for hydrogen creation and wouldn’t require carbon capture or sequestration, Chemours has worked with TC Energy to conduct hydrogen blend testing to demonstrate the feasibility of feeding a hydrogen-natural gas blend fuel to existing fired boiler equipment at its Washington Works and Belle sites.

The Fairmont area, where an ARCH2 spokesperson said Hope Gas will provide hydrogen blending and fuel cells to assist in powering residential customers in the region, ranks above the 95th percentile in low-life expectancy, heart disease, asthma and persons with disabilities, and above the 90th percentile in low-income population.

ARCH2’s key production nodes come in communities throughout West Virginia with high socioeconomic and environmental vulnerabilities, raising the stakes for achieving a large-scale, commercially viable hydrogen network.

Jim Kotcon, chair of the West Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club, is among the many renewable energy proponents who predict the billions of taxpayer dollars being invested in hydrogen hubs will require billions more in follow-up support. “The [DOE’s] goal is a zero-greenhouse gas emissions economy, and fossil fuels, even with carbon capture, simply cannot get us there,” Kotcon said.

The North Point Pleasant area, where Houston-headquartered energy transition company Fidelis New Energy plans a hydrogen production facility in the ARCH2 network, ranks above the 90th percentile in heart disease and above the 80th percentile in toxic releases to air and asthma.
Fidelis New Energy’s hydrogen production plans demonstrate how much more skin taxpayers have in the game than just the $925 million maximum set by the DOE.

In August, the West Virginia Economic Development Authority approved a forgivable, performance-based loan for Mountaineer GigaSystem, a Fidelis subsidiary. Mountaineer GigaSystem subsidiaries have acquired the rights to buy four contiguous properties totaling over 1,000 acres in the area for the project.

Fidelis plans to locate a carbon-neutral hydrogen production facility in Mason County, with data centers to be powered by net-zero carbon hydrogen. The loan from the Department of Economic Development is to be forgiven if Mountaineer GigaSystem meets preconstruction, employment and investment benchmarks. Mountaineer will implement proprietary technology that enables hydrogen production with zero lifecycle carbon emissions from a combination of natural gas; carbon capture, use and sequestration; and renewable energy, according to state officials.

But Mountaineer indicated in a project fact sheet obtained by the Gazette-Mail it anticipated a $50 million ARCH2 grant allocation and was eyeing an investment of another $8.5 billion to 16 billion in investment indirectly enabled by federal tax credits for carbon oxide sequestration.
Carbon capture, use and sequestration is an umbrella term for technology that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and uses it to create products or stores it permanently underground.

The potential for a regional carbon dioxide pipeline buildout has raised concerns due to risks of induced seismicity and carbon dioxide leakage during storage.

Heather Sprouse, Ohio River coordinator for the West Virginia Rivers Coalition, was disappointed the DOE didn’t respond to her organization’s question about how water quality impacts will be mitigated for those who live near hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, waste water storage sites. “Frontline communities face the most severe health consequences of the fracked gas industry,” Sprouse said, “and the ARCH2 blue hydrogen hub means fracking.”

West Virginia’s gas and oil industry-linked cancer risks are among the highest in the country, according to a recent analysis of EPA data by Clean Air Task Force, an environmental nonprofit.

Katy Delaney, director of media relations for Battelle, ARCH2’s program manager and the prime recipient of DOE funding for the hub, said there’s enough natural gas being produced in the Appalachian region to not require activity to meet anticipated demand not already planned by operators.

Battelle is an Ohio-based applied science and technology company. State officials teamed up with Battelle, Pittsburgh gas producer EQT Corp., Illinois energy research firm GTI Energy and Bridgeport energy technology consulting firm Allegheny Science & Technology last year to create ARCH2, which will be headquartered in Morgantown.

ARCH2 skeptic Sean O’Leary, senior researcher at the Ohio River Valley Institute, a Johnstown, Pennsylvania-based pro-renewable energy think tank, finds it implausible the hub isn’t likely to result in added demand for gas and fracking, given EQT is one of the main partners behind ARCH2.

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has issued EQT Production Company, an EQT Corp. subsidiary, 16 notices of violation since the start of 2021 for infractions including water pollution control permit and water quality standard violations, off-lease drilling, not giving proper notice of aboveground storage tank system closure and a facility lacking a combustor to control vapors from storage vessels.

“We must ensure that the communities historically left behind by energy development will be first in line to receive benefits from these historic government investments,” Sprouse said.

>> Mike Tony covers energy and the environment. He can be reached at 304-348-1236 or mtony@hdmediallc.com. Follow @Mike__Tony on Twitter. (FrackCheckWV.net recommends subscriptions to the Charleston Gazette. DGN)

SOURCE: https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/warning-signs-loom-over-future-of-fossil-fuel-powered-appalachian-hydrogen-hub/article_092f0c91-a577-5582-933c-57a7e984d364.html

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• HYDROGEN HUB ANNOUNCEMENT, October 16, 2023, National Energy Technology Laboratory video, https://youtu.be/oixs7kxjsdc

Earth Projects class: Sam Jurado ’24 hangs naturally dyed yarn to dry

From an Article by Blaine Friedlander, Cornell Chronicle, October 12, 2023

For environmental science students, making art with natural objects brings ecology into focus.

Instead of meeting in a formal classroom, students taking Earth Projects are examining the natural world immersed in the landscape outdoors during multi-day field trips and crafting art based on their experiences.

“Through these trips, I’m perceiving and understanding the landscape,” said Claire Hu ’25, who created a poetic English and Chinese leitmotif burnt into a slice from a tree cut long ago.

Robert Frost’s “The Sound of Trees” and Wang Bo’s “In the Mountains,” a Chinese poem from the 7th century, adorn Claire Hu’s woodcut at the Oct. 5 Earth Projects exhibition.

The group spent a weekend at Cornell’s Biological Field Station at Shackelton Point on Oneida Lake, north of Syracuse, New York. They camped at the university’s Arnot Teaching and Research Forest in Schuyler County, New York. And they’ve explored the Cornell Experimental Ponds in Lansing, New York.

The students unveiled their art at an exhibition held at Ithaca’s Soil Factory Oct. 5, illustrating how they grasped surroundings, scooped soil into their hands to make paintings and celebrated nature with their imaginations.

Anna Davidson, a senior researcher and lecturer in Department of Natural Resources and the Environment in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), teaches the experiential field course, offered through CALS. She is an Einhorn Center for Community Engagement faculty fellow.

“Earth Projects is a place-based class to discover ecology and landscapes through multiple artistic approaches using writing, drawing, performance, sculpture, video and sound,” Davidson said. “It’s important to take in our environment through different avenues. The idea is to appreciate and immerse yourself in it.”

Davidson herself balances a world between art and science; she holds an MFA in visual arts and a doctorate in plant science, both from the University of California, Davis.

The exhibit included Hu’s piece, which employs Robert Frost’s poem “The Sound of Trees” and Wang Bo’s “In the Mountains,” a Chinese poem from the 7th century. The woodcut has undertones of longing and immobility but invites people to ponder the influence of cultural narratives while examining humanity’s relationship with nature.

For the exhibit, the students installed a tree featuring hanging hoops woven with naturally dyed yarn, created after a visit to Miller Creek Farm in Spencer, New York, where farm owner Linda McCandless ’74 helped the students to use yarn spun from the wool of her Horned Dorset sheep.

Local artist Margaret Davidson later taught the students how to dye the wool with natural materials like golden rod, tea, onion skins and walnuts, and then how to create artistic weavings.

Inspired by local artist Kirsten Kurtz, manager of the Soil Health Lab in the School of Integrative Plant Science Soil and Crop Sciences Section (CALS), the students working in teams created large canvas “soil paintings” portraying tree cross sections to illustrate climate change through the lifespan of ash, fir, maple and hemlock. They linked annual climate data to different paint colors and added sound to the paintings as well.

One team – Daniel Dixon ’24, Ellen Berghausen ’25, Lily Heslam ’26, Ingrid Comella ’23 and Hu – noted that New York state’s ash trees not only provide forest habitats but also have been used commercially for furniture and baseball bats. Ash is disappearing due to an emerald ash borer invasion.

And the class learned about Indigenous cultural traditions in the Finger Lakes region. “This class was eye-opening just in terms of the ways of seeing, especially during our visit to the Oneida Cultural Center,” said Ty Oshima ’26. At the center, the students learned about the history and art of the Oneida Nation from linguist Chelsea Jocko and artist Jen Wilt. That experience culminated in the students’ creation of artistic video and sound pieces.

“I was intrigued by the different concepts of life and death, as viewed by the Oneida,” Oshima said, “especially their views on animals and sustainability.”

Added Janilia Etienne ’25: “I also learned about myself and like how to express environmental notions – using art as a medium to express how we feel about climate change.”

As an environmental science major, Gianna Klein ’25 said the class fell outside her comfort zone. “I’m not an artist, but that’s why I liked the class,” she said. “Everything is fast paced at school. Here, we got to slow down in the moment and do art, which was fun. There was a lot of human connection with my peers, which sometimes I don’t get in other classes. It was fascinating.”

The class demonstrates that art can play a role in a field course said Davidson, a Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability faculty fellow, who hopes it shows how cultural and artistic practices deepen a sense of place. “Art can lead to empathy for the environment,” she said. “Ultimately this leads to greater environmental consciousness and stewardship.”

Anthrosilicopneumoconiosis is coal miners black lung disease on X-Ray

Article by Emily Rice, West Virginia Public Broadcasting, September 20, 2023

West Virginia’s coal mining communities face an ongoing public health crisis as pneumoconiosis, better known as black lung, affects miners of all ages. For decades, the nation’s top health officials have urged the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the federal agency in charge of mine safety, to adopt strict rules protecting miners from rock dust.

In recent years, the problem has only grown as miners dig through more rock layers to get to less accessible coal, generating deadly silica dust in the process.

Rebecca Shelton, the director of policy at the Appalachian Citizens Law Center, said an MSHA inspector would visit a mine quarterly to take an air sample to test for silica dust.

According to Shelton, those measurements are not taken regularly enough, and she and other experts are unhappy with the current rule, which allows miners to be exposed to silica dust at 100 micrograms per cubic meter of air for an eight-hour shift.

“That 100 microgram standard is not one that’s supported by organizations or entities; other health institutions like the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), they for many decades have recommended an exposure level that’s half of that,” Shelton said. “So we’ve known for a long time that this exposure level is too high.”

On July 13, MSHA proposed a rule that would cut the current limit for silica exposure in half, down to 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air for an eight-hour shift. That level matches the standard set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The new rule would also set up new protocols for sampling and monitoring silica dust exposure levels. “For example, it now asks that coal operators do some amount of sampling for silica dust. Our understanding is that the agency would still continue its quarterly sampling for silica dust,” Shelton said. “If there are samples that are returned over that 50 micrograms limit, that permissible exposure limit, they will require the operators and mine operators to take corrective actions to reduce that limit.”

However, after decades of inaction, miners and advocates worry about the government following through on these rules. In addition, they don’t think the rule does enough to protect miners. “One, we feel uncomfortable with the amount of lives that this rule is projected to affect because it’s not many,” Shelton said. “The analyses in the rule actually project that fewer than 100 coal miners’ lives will be saved, while hundreds continue to get sick.”

A public comment period on the new rule was extended to Sept. 11 to allow additional time to develop and submit comments on the proposal. “It’s quite a variety of folks who have participated in this comment: former miners, organizations like ours who care about the health of miners, and also the industry has participated as well,” Shelton said. “So a lot of public health officials, doctors, a lot of folks who are directly involved in and have been directly involved in treating miners who have been ill with this black lung disease.”

More than 5,200 individuals signed onto a petition created by Appalachian Voices and Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center backing a stronger rule. Several desired changes to the rule were consistent throughout the comment process. Commenters want the rule enforced on a more frequent basis and for routine sampling to be performed by MSHA, not coal operators.

“One of the things that we care a lot about is enforcing this new exposure limit based on more frequent and routine sampling conducted by the Mine Safety and Health Administration, and not relying on coal operators sampling, especially because the sampling technology that they have proposed in the rule is an old sampling technology that is easily manipulable by operators in order to try to reduce what that sample returns,” Shelton said.

Commenters also asked for stronger criteria for citations and to provide clear penalties for those violating the rule. “We do think that the rule needs to have more specificity around the criteria for issuing citations, and penalizing operators who violate the rule,” Shelton said. “The requirements or the process for issuing citations, or what will trigger a citation is not clear in the rule.”

Advocates for miners with black lung also asked that the new rule include provisions to temporarily shut down mines in violation of silica dust limits, rather than allowing them to stay open and rely on miners to use respirators.

“We do not think that it is a bad thing to have respirators and extra protection on hand. We think that absolutely should be the case, but if and when a mine has depth levels that are over that safe exposure limit, we think that production should be shut down and that miners should be withdrawn until corrective actions can take place so that the ventilation plans, the engineering controls, are adequate to reduce dust levels back down to a safer level,” Shelton said.

Lastly, commenters, advocates and miners asked for the rule to phase in better sampling technology. “Rather than grounding the rule or having the rule rely on the current sampling technology that’s available, that there will be technology-forcing, and that it will adopt better technology as it becomes available,” Shelton said. “We know that these kinds of regulations and rules can produce the demand for better technology. And so we really want to see that change.”

>>> Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.

Training, Education, Public Awareness, Job Placement, Progress

From an Article by Jackie Ostfeld, Outdoors for All Campaign, Sierra Club, September 20, 2023

BIG. NEWS. After years of advocacy and grassroots pressure, President Biden responded to our overwhelming pressure and just announced the American Climate Corps!

This is a big deal. This executive action creates a massive green jobs training and placement program that will build pathways for good, union careers to tackle the climate crisis. There’s so much work to be done to build the clean energy economy, make our communities more resilient to extreme weather, clean up air and water pollution, and close the nature equity gap – and this program will create 20,000 new jobs to do exactly that.

One thing’s for sure: It never would have been possible without the advocacy from hundreds of thousands of people signing petitions, sharing on social media, and marching for climate action. The Sierra Club and our broader movement have been calling on President Biden to create a green jobs program since his inauguration, and this victory is a testament to our collective work.

This program will prioritize the communities most harmed by pollution and climate impacts, and create pathways to family-sustaining careers in the public and private sectors. It will train and mobilize a diverse generation of young people in conservation and climate resilience related work, from restoring coastal wetlands to planting trees in communities suffering from extreme heat to deploying clean energy and more.

After a summer of devastating climate disasters, this is exactly the kind of bold action we so urgently need. To everyone who marched, phonebanked, and advocated for climate action – this victory belongs to all of us.

P.S. This is a historic step towards averting the worst effects of climate change, restoring lands, and building a clean energy future. We always have more work ahead on these fronts. Donate today to support our grassroots organization to secure more landmark victories like this – the pressure we’re building for climate action is working!

>>> Thank you for all you do, Jackie Ostfeld, Director, Outdoors for All Campaign,

Sierra Club, 2101 Webster St., Suite 1300, Oakland, CA 94612

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SEE ALSO ~ Rare Bounty from Cleaning Up Toxic Waste? Article by Betsy Lawson, Mountain State Sierrian, September 2023

Bull Run, north of Masontown in Preston County, runs orange with acid before it drains into the Cheat River. Bright orange streams are an all-too-common sight in West Virginia. Acid mine drainage (AMD) refers to the acidic water that forms when surface water and air are exposed to iron sulfides, like pyrite, a solid waste byproduct of coal mining. The chemical reaction creates sulfuric acid, which is highly corrosive. It breaks down surrounding rocks and causes toxic metals to enter and dissolve in the water. Could there be a financial incentive for cleaning up our toxic, orange streams?

The 22 counties that produce 90% of Appalachian natural gas lost a combined 10,339 jobs between 2008 and 2021

From an Article by Kristina Marusic, Environmental Health News, August 24, 2023

PITTSBURGH — The largest natural gas-producing counties in Appalachia have had worse economic outcomes than the rest of the region and the nation since the start of the region’s fracking boom, according to a new report. The 22 counties that produce 90% of Appalachian natural gas lost a combined 10,339 jobs between 2008 and 2021.

In the early days of the Marcellus Shale boom, the natural gas industry and policymakers promised that the industry would bring economic prosperity, including hundreds of thousands of new jobs and downstream businesses to the region, which has long been plagued by a lack of jobs and dwindling populations. The Marcellus Shale spreads across New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky.

The report, conducted by the progressive think tank Ohio River Valley Institute, found that the 22 counties in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia that produce 90% of Appalachian natural gas actually lost a combined 10,339 jobs and 47,652 residents between 2008 and 2021. Income growth in these counties also trailed growth for the combined states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia by 4 percentage points, and the U.S. as a whole by 16 percentage points, according to the report.

The Ohio River Valley Institute published a similar report in 2021 that looked at data from 2008 to 2019. The new report adds data from 2020 and 2021 to the analysis and finds that economic decline in these counties has generally continued despite a boost in natural gas prices and production in recent years.

“There are still many policymakers and people in the region who hold out hope that natural gas development and downstream industries like petrochemicals will ultimately become an economic savior,” Sean O’Leary, lead author of the report and a senior researcher at the Ohio River Valley Institute, said during a press conference. “That faith is being undermined.”

Petrochemical plants have been proposed throughout Appalachia to turn fracked gas into plastic (99% of plastic is made from fossil fuels). As the world decarbonizes, the oil and gas industry is increasingly turning toward plastic production to sustain demand for fossil fuels. To date, only one Appalachian petrochemical plant has been built — Shell’s ethane cracker in western Pennsylvania — and so far, it has also failed to deliver economic growth in surrounding communities.

In addition to analyzing job and income growth, the report uses Pittsburgh-based EQT Corporation, the largest domestic producer of natural gas in the U.S., as an example of why the industry hasn’t resulted in more economic growth.

In 2010, EQT Corporation ranked 25th among U.S. natural gas producers and employed 1,815 people. By 2021, its output had more than tenfolded and it had become the number one producer in the nation, but it had just 624 employees. Some employees were lost to a spin-off, but including the employees at the spinoff company (Equitrans Midstream) brings the company’s total job count to just 1,395 in 2020 — still a quarter smaller than EQT’s workforce in 2010.

“EQT’s tale of skyrocketing output accompanied by a workforce decline of about a quarter sheds light on the economic potential of the shale gas industry,” O’Leary said in a statement. “It also shows why, as the gas industry matures, it becomes less jobs-intensive and less economically stimulating: as existing wells account for a growing share of output, fewer workers are needed to dig new wells or construct new transport infrastructure.”

In recent years, policymakers in Appalachia have pinned their hopes for economic development from fossil fuel extraction on downstream businesses like petrochemicals and a proposed hydrogen hub, which O’Leary says face similar challenges when it comes to fostering local economic development.

The Energy Information Administration’s most recent forecast for domestic natural gas production between now and 2050 estimates that natural gas production will stagnate, which could drive employment rates for the industry even lower.

“This industry was not able to deliver prosperity during the time when it was vibrant and growing,” O’Leary said, “so what are the chances that it’s likely to do that as it reaches the stasis of middle age and stagnates?”

Alternative paths to economic growth ~ A coal town called Centralia in Washington state took an innovative approach to economic redevelopment after the shut-down of its two largest employers, a coal mine and a coal-fired power plant.

Centralia and surrounding Lewis County used $55 million in federal economic transition funds toward initiatives focused on energy efficiency, renewable resources and education to create local jobs. Within four years of receiving that funding in 2016, Centralia recorded job growth at twice the national average, wage growth 50% greater than that of the nation, a restored downtown and a growing population.

In 2021, the Ohio River Valley Institute authored a report detailing Centralia’s strategy and illustrating how economically distressed fossil fuel communities in Appalachia could follow suit.

“That’s critical for a region which has seemingly tried everything else,” O’Leary said. “And pursuing the Centralia model doesn’t conflict with the hydrogen hub, or a petrochemical hub, or even natural gas. It just means that we should stop mistaking the natural gas industry and its assorted hubs for economic development strategies, because they are not.”

Project will need new technology and unusual utilization of outputs

From an Essay by Betsy Lawson to Morgantown Dominion Post, August 25, 2023

As reported in The Dominion Post on Aug. 17, the governor announced a big state investment in a hydrogen plant to be built in Mason County by Fidelis New Energy of Houston. The plant, to be called Mountaineer Gigasystem, is designed to generate hydrogen to be used for energy while capturing carbon dioxide to be buried below wildlife management areas.

The impetus behind this project is the money made available by the Inflation Reduction Act, passed last year, which provides tax credits for so-called clean energy. The intention is to reduce greenhouse gases, which trap heat in our atmosphere. Sounds good, but is it really?

Hydrogen gas, which is highly explosive, is made by separating the atoms of water (H2O), which requires a lot of energy. If renewable energy is used to separate the atoms, the hydrogen is “clean.” But the Fidelis project will mostly use fracked gas, whose drilling process and pipelines to transport the gas leak a lot of methane, an 80-times more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

Pumping CO2 underground, the second facet of this project, only works in very specific types of porous rock sandwiched between layers of solid rock, preventing its escape. But once the CO2 reaches the cap rock, the captured CO2 can migrate horizontally for a substantial distance. What could go wrong?

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has identified 6,500 known orphaned oil and gas wells but potentially thousands more exist that have yet to be found.  If these unplugged wells should reach into the potential carbon storage field formation, the potential for leakage into the atmosphere is enormous, defeating the purpose of carbon capture. For carbon capture and storage to make any sense in West Virginia, orphaned oil and gas wells must be properly plugged.

So far, carbon capture and storage is a new and commercially unproven technology. Chevron’s CCS project in western Australia, to date the largest in the world, is only operating at one-third capacity after six years of operation. Unexpected high pressures occurred, slowing the process.

It is known with certainty that injecting fracking waste water into porous geological formations increases pore pressure in ways that can trigger stressed fault lines to slip. This also applies to buried CO2. The result can be earthquakes. Further, when CO2 meets water, it becomes carbonic acid, a corrosive liquid. What effect will this have on underground water supplies?

Bottom line: hydrogen gas is expensive to produce, so will there even be a market for it? And, if it relies on natural gas for its creation, methane will be leaked into the atmosphere. Tying it to unproven carbon capture risks leaking more CO2 into the atmosphere via the many abandoned wells in this area.

With the state’s  $62.5 million in forgivable loans and anticipated funding from the federal government, the public investment for this project could already be at $112.5 million before ground has even been broken. Do we taxpayers want to further subsidize a project that has such an unproven and potentially risky technology and continues to add greenhouse gases into the atmosphere? This project defeats the purpose of the Inflation Reduction Act, which is meant to reduce the greenhouse gases that are warming our planet.

>>> Betsy Lawson is the Secretary of the Monongahela Group of the W.Va. Chapter of the Sierra Club.

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Mountaineer GigaSystem Project ~ Memorandum of Understanding with West Virginia Economic Development Authority. Some call this a massive giveaway to an out of state company having no established record of technological quality or concern for our communities!