NOW Join the Grace and Frankie Galentine’s Day Virtual Cast Reunion!

Join us on February 13 at 6PM PT for our Grace and Frankie Virtual Cast Reunion (Galentine’s Edition!) featuring a live table read from some of your favorite Grace and Frankie cast members: Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Martin Sheen, Sam Waterston, and more!

Get ready for an evening sprinkled with laughter, cherished memories, and activism as we raise funds to support the fight against the climate crisis with the Jane Fonda Climate PAC.

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“Jane Fonda Climate PAC — Donate via ActBlue https://secure.actblue.com/donate/galentines-ddc”>JOIN HERE ASAP NOW! ~ We must need this to recover a rational approach to the future!

Our political officials are ignoring our environment at all levels!

From the Article by Michael M. Barrick, The Appalachian Chronicle, December 31, 2023

BIG ISSAC, W.Va. – Our top story from 2023 is the brutal abuse of eminent domain to complete the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP).

This power grab of private property along a 300-mile stretch through West Virginia and Virginia for the benefit of one for-profit company is the most audacious land grab since the landmark Supreme Court decision, Kelo v. New London. That is when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the right of the city of New London, Conn. to take the land of Susette Kelo and then sell it to private developers.

“Kelo broadened the scope of what could be defined as public use under eminent domain. In simpler terms, the supreme court decision created a legal precedent by which land seized can be deemed as public use even if it is not directly beneficial to the public.”

As Chloe Kauffman wrote for the James Madison Institute, “Kelo broadened the scope of what could be defined as public use under eminent domain. In simpler terms, the supreme court decision created a legal precedent by which land seized can be deemed as public use even if it is not directly beneficial to the public.”

Kauffman predicted, “In a post-Kelo world, the phrase ‘public use’ in the fifth amendment can be applied to anything deemed as economic development.’” The MVP is the poster child of her chilling warning.

It is quite a story. It includes a back-room deal at the highest levels of government. U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va) and President Joe Biden colluded to slip in fast track construction of the MVP in the so-called Inflation Reduction Act. It short-circuited the often effective efforts by MVP opponents in state and federal courts.

It is also a story about Authorities Having Jurisdiction turning a blind eye to MVP violations and damages, despite independent evidence pointing to the MVP as the primary cause of a destructive flood here in September. Families have lost their homes or had them rendered uninhabitable because of the dangers associated with being 500 feet downslope from the MVP Right-of-Way (ROW), within just hundreds of yards from 42” pipelines and with cancer-causing benzene hanging in the air of low-lying valleys.

PHOTO IN ARTICLE ~ Flooding in Big Isaac earlier this year; water is coming from direction of the MVP! This means the destruction of home places. This brutal abuse of eminent domain is beyond concerning; it is a warning that no inalienable, natural right is safe in the United States. If the liberty of keeping your home from being seized by the government is no longer applicable, what other authoritarian practices shall we be forced to tolerate? As you consider that question, take a few minutes to watch “Who Will Watch the Home Place” by Laurie Lewis.

Kelo, as proven by the MVP, has removed one of our most fundamental Constitutional protections; we know voting rights are under assault. What else is next?

It is betrayal at every level of government in multiple jurisdictions. It has impacted thousands, cost billions, violated our rights and impacted vulnerable people and watersheds such as the Karst Topography of Monroe County, W.Va. The MVP is hardly a good neighbor, as it claims.

It is an ecological disaster waiting to happen. That is as predictable as Kauffman’s warning about Kelo – anything goes – with the blessings of the Powers-that-Be.

(NOTE: Sarah and I spent much of the year traveling West Virginia to share stories from my book, “Fractured Sanctuary: A Chronicle of Grassroots Activists Fighting Pipelines of Destruction in Appalachia.” Michael & Sarah Barrick, of West Virginia & North Carolina.)

Our forests are widespread and diverse, but all serve mankind now and for generations

From the Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), Public Appeal, December 26, 2023

Protect our forests, no carbon dioxide storage there ~ Our national forests should be protected from corporate greed, NOT used as a dumping ground for industrial carbon waste. Write your comment to the US Forest Service today!

Carbon capture and storage is a false solution proposed by the most-polluting industries — one that only prolongs our dependence on fossil fuels. The United States Forest Service has suggested our national forests and grasslands are the right places to inject captured carbon into the earth.

Not only is this dangerous for our environment, climate and health, but it sets a dangerous precedent that opens the door for further exploitation of our natural resources. Our public lands should be protected from corporate greed, NOT used as a dumping ground for climate-damaging industrial carbon.

Write your comment today!

Low level radioactive wastes are a long term problem for society!

From an Article by Kristina Marusic, Environmental Health News, October 10, 2023

PITTSBURGH — Some 800,000 tons of radioactive waste from Pennsylvania’s oil and gas industry has gone “missing” due to poor recordkeeping and other problems.

Waste from the oil and gas industry contains toxic and radioactive substances. Disposal of this waste is supposed to be carefully tracked, but 800,000 tons of oil and gas waste from Pennsylvania oil and gas wells is unaccounted for, according to a recent study.
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University initially set out to investigate whether sediment in rivers and streams near landfills accepting higher volumes of oil and gas waste contained higher levels of radioactivity. But they discovered significant problems with the records meant to track this waste.

“We set out to write a different paper,” Daniel Bain, an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh and one of the authors of the study, told Environmental Health News (EHN), “but once we got into the records, we realized there was no hope of being able to meaningfully do this kind of assessment.”

The study, published in the journal Ecological Indicators, compared records on Pennsylvania’s oil and gas waste from 2010-2020, and uncovered significant gaps between what oil and gas operators reported they’d sent to landfills and what the landfills reported receiving. The records were so different, the researchers couldn’t find a single case where the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Oil & Gas Report figures on this hazardous waste matched reports from the landfills receiving it.

This type of waste often contains toxic chemicals and carcinogens, including high levels of heavy metals like arsenic, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, and radioactive materials. Previous research has shown that radioactive contaminants from fracking waste can linger in local waterways and wildlife for decades.

“You assume the people regulating hazardous waste would be double-checking these records,” Bain said. “We thought they could be off by maybe 10% — we didn’t expect anything like this.”

What’s going on with these records? ~ The oil and gas waste evaluated in the study originated at wells in Pennsylvania and was sent to landfills in Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York.

The industry self-reports how much waste it sends to landfills, and the DEP collects that data in its annual oil and gas reports. Landfills that receive the waste weigh it and keep their own records. In some cases, the differences between these two sets of records were vast.

For example, the 2019 oil and gas report said that 29,221 tons of waste were sent to the Arden landfill in Washington County, Pennsylvania, but the landfill’s records showed that it received 269,480 tons of waste that year — a difference of 240,259 tons. In total, the study found that around 800,000 tons of hazardous oil and gas waste was unaccounted for in official records.

“Everything is self-reported and the [Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection] is understaffed and doesn’t have the resources to double-check,” John Stolz, coauthor of the study and director of the Center for Environmental Research and Education at Duquesne University, told EHN.

A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection told EHN the agency was looking into these discrepancies, but did not respond to numerous follow-up requests for additional information sent over several months.

Carl Spadaro is an environmental manager for MAX Environmental Technologies, Inc., which accepts oil and gas waste at its Yukon facility, about 29 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. Spadaro, who previously worked for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, said accurate records are important, but that differences in reporting formats could explain the gaps.

“We report the volume of waste we receive and also the volume of landfill airspace consumed each year,” Spadaro told EHN. “I don’t think this is cause for any environmental concern. Inconsistency in reporting is more of a regulatory management issue.”

Radioactive hazards in rivers and streams ~ Despite the hurdles with the landfill records, the authors of the study did detect higher levels of radioactive materials in waterways near municipal wastewater treatment plants that processed liquid runoff from landfills accepting oil and gas waste.

This landfill runoff, called leachate, often goes to municipal sewage treatment plants, but when it comes from landfills accepting oil and gas waste, it can become radioactive. That’s because materials dredged up from deep in the Earth during oil and gas extraction — particularly during fracking, which requires more drilling — contain radium.

Exposure to radioactive radium increases cancer risk, particularly for lung and bone cancers.

“This waste is getting into our surface waters and streams,” Stolz said. “We found evidence that there’s up to four times as much radiation downstream from discharges from the municipal sewage treatment plants as upstream.”

Bain said better record-keeping would allow them to better assess whether the quantity of oil and gas waste accepted at a landfill predicts the level of radioactivity in leachate and nearby waterways, but that better record-keeping isn’t a solution to the larger hazards posed by these practices.

“This type of waste should not be going to municipal landfills or sewage treatment plants,” he said. “If there’s all this wealth being generated by this industry, they should be able to spend a little money to make sure they’re not exposing people to hazardous materials that can cause cancer.”

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Related: How the “Halliburton Loophole” lets fracking companies pollute water with no oversight.

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

A book for everyone on your list, and for you!

Programming from the Allegheny Front, Non-Profit Project, December 15, 2023

For this year’s Yale Climate Connection holiday book list, a mix of brand new and recent titles, five of which have now appeared on several “best books of 2023” lists.

The list begins with two overviews of Earth’s 4-billion-year climatic history: Michael Mann’s “Our Fragile Moment” and Stephen Porder’s “Elemental.” The focus then narrows to topical titles on biodiversity, infrastructure, and urban sustainability before turning to climate solutions in general and dietary solutions in particular.

The last five titles offer more literary takes on our complicated relationship with the changing climate; four of these five titles are receiving new rounds of critical acclaim.

>>> NPR included Amy Brady’s “Ice” and Elizabeth Rush’s “The Quickening” in its list of best books of 2023.

>>> “Fire Weather,” by John Vaillant was included on The New York Times and Time best-of-2023 lists.

>>> “Birnam Wood” by Eleanor Catton appears in the best-of-year lists from The Atlantic, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Slate, and Time, among others.

>>> Debbi Urbanski’s “After World,” a Dec. 5 release that combines artificial intelligence with cli-fi: the perfect gift for your dystopian-loving college student.

Read more about the 12 recommended climate books at alleghenyfront.org.

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CHECK OUT THE RECENT EPISODES OF THE ALLEGHENY FRONT HERE

The U.S. Forest Service is introducing insects to prey on a deadly pest threatening hemlocks in the Allegheny National Forest. For the first time, health was a focus at the UN climate conference, and advocates were pleased. We’ll also learn how climate-related weather, like flash floods and extreme heat, impacts people experiencing homelessness. Plus, people who live near a proposed campground at a state park want to stop the plan. They worry about noise, lights and air pollution from campfires.

Listen to our latest episode on a local radio station or on a website or on a podcast.

This was not an easy decision, and will be extremely difficult to implement, but needed ASAP.

Letter Update from the Climate Reality Project, December 19, 2023

Despite its many flaws and contradictions, COP 28 marks a major step forward for our movement. For the first time ever, a COP agreement explicitly acknowledges the main culprit responsible for the climate crisis: fossil fuels. While the agreement falls short of a complete phase out of fossil fuels, it urges countries to transition away from them, calling for a tripling of renewables and doubling of energy efficiency this decade.

Yes, there are caveats. The agreement lacks binding commitments, leaving countries to decide on their own pace of transition. It’s riddled with loopholes to benefit petrostates and fossil fuel lobbyists – who had more representation at the UN climate summit than every country except Brazil and the UAE – through “transitional fuels” like natural gas and unproven and expensive technologies like carbon capture and storage.

Plus, for the many island nations and climate-vulnerable countries whose very survival depends on the world holding rising temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the agreement doesn’t go nearly far enough. But our fight is far from over. If there’s anything to take away from COP 28, it’s the fact that the world is ready to leave fossil fuels behind.

The almost 130 countries supporting a phase out, the near open revolt by island nations, and the public outcry from thousands of climate advocates from around the world all point towards a future where fossil fuels are no longer king. For a recap of COP 28 and what comes next, check out our wrap-up videos at 24hoursofreality.org.

WATCH THE RECAP WITH AL GORE

The road ahead will be challenging, but we are not giving up yet. The science is clear: We need to phase out all fossil fuels to keep our goal of holding warming to 1.5 degrees within reach. Not just unabated fuels. Not just emissions. All fossil fuels.

Critically, we also have to do it fairly. The wealthy nations that got us here need to lead the transition away from coal, oil, and gas and provide the long-promised financing for developing countries to build clean energy economies of their own.

But the biggest takeaway is that now the world is talking about a future without fossil fuels. And that’s worth fighting for.

>>>Your friends at Climate Reality Project

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PS. Take action today by calling on leaders of the G20 group of major economies to end all subsidies for fossil fuel companies making billions driving climate devastation.

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PS. For the United States, it is now crystal clear that our country can no longer justify the Halliburton Loops, that is preferential environmental regulations for the fossil fuel industries. DGN

Calumet Montana Refinery on a cold November day in 2019

From an Article by David Murray, Great Falls Tribune, December 18, 2023

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has fined the Calumet Montana Refinery in Great Falls $385,000 for violations of U.S. Clean Air Act, related to the refinery’s failure to develop an adequate Risk Management Plan (RMP) that would help prevent chemical accidents and provide guidance for an emergency response in case of a “worst case scenario.”

The EPA’s consent agreement focuses most closely on Calumet’s handling of hydrofluoric acid, a catalyst used to produce high-octane gasoline. In addition to being a highly corrosive liquid, hydrofluoric acid is also a powerful contact poison. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hydrofluoric acid poisoning can readily occur through exposure to the skin or eyes, or when inhaled or swallowed.

“The Calumet facility is subject to Clean Air Act RMP regulations because it stores and processes large quantities of flammable mixtures and hydrofluoric acid, a highly toxic substance that may cause severe injury, burns or death when released into air,” an EPA news release states. “The RMP rule requires facilities holding more than 10,000 pounds of flammable mixture or 1,000 pounds of hydrofluoric acid to develop a RMP and submit that plan to EPA.

The EPA’s report does not contain any allegations that a specific hazardous release of hydrofluoric acid occurred at any point at the refinery, but it does report that EPA inspectors recorded 40 violations of the Chemical Accident Prevention Provisions of the Clean Air Act dating back to an inspection that occurred in September 2019. It also states that Calumet Montana Refinery officials failed to fully correct all the past violations as mandated by a July 7, 2023, deadline.

The EPA report summarizes “potentially dangerous conditions” observed by EPA inspectors during the September 2019 inspection that included Calumet’s failure to incorporate its flare system to burn off excess hydrocarbon gasses within the Clean Air Act analysis or to develop an adequate risk management plan for containing regulated substances.

Calumet also failed to include a response plan for a “worst case scenario” in the event of a catastrophic failure of its hydrofluoric acid containment system, did not disclose the greatest quantity of hydrofluoric acid contained within a single vessel and did not disclose the full breadth of the geographic area that a catastrophic release of hydrofluoric acid could potentially effect during a worst-case event.

The EPA also cited Calumet for engineering laxes within the system it uses to remove sulfur and other impurities from crude oil. These included a length of refinery piping held up by a temporary support stand, and the refinery’s failure to develop clear, written operating procedures for its employees in the event of an emergency refinery shutdown.

The Consent Agreement also notes that the Calumet Refinery had no 24-hour emergency contact telephone number, and that the existing number was an office line with that staff only attended during regular business hours.

Calumet neither admits or denies the alleged violations but consented to payment of the full $385,000 in civil penalties alleged in the EPA’s complaint. Calumet also waived its right to seek any reduction or waive of the fine through a judicial or administrative hearing.

“Facilities must properly handle hazardous substances to prevent dangerous chemical accidents and follow reporting requirements when releases occur,” said Suzanne Bohan, director of EPA Region 8’s Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division. “If they don’t, EPA will hold them accountable.”

“RMPs (Risk Management Plans) address the proper design and maintenance of equipment such as pipes and vessels, emergency preparedness and the ability to minimize releases that may occur,” the release goes on to explain. “They provide valuable information to local fire, police and emergency response personnel to prepare for and respond to chemical emergencies.”

While the EPA’s Consent Agreement was critical in its numeration of Calumet Montana Refinery’s code violations, the news release did praise the refinery’s willingness to correct the problems in a timely manner.

“The company has been cooperative in correcting all identified deficiencies to reduce the possibility of an accidental release,” the EPA release states. “We are pleased that Calumet Montana Refining is implementing critical safety measures to protect workers and the community.”

Earth’s geologic strata are irregular, heterogeneous and not reliable to retain carbon dioxide for centuries

>>> Article by Randi Pokladnik, PhD, Tappan Lake, Uhrichsville, OH, December 18, 2023

Recently, the United States Forest Service announced that it is proposing a rule change to allow carbon dioxide captured directly from the air or industrial processes to be stored permanently on public lands. This carbon dioxide would be pumped into Class VI injection wells drilled 3000 feet deep in national forests and grasslands.

The proposed rule, “Land Uses; Special Uses; Carbon Capture and Storage Exemption,” and instructions on how to comment are available in the Federal Register at https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2023-24341.

Comments, identified by RIN 0596–AD55, may be sent through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at https://www.regulations.gov.

Carbon capture utilization and storage has become the new “darling” of the fossil fuel industry and was touted at the climate discussions during the COP28 recently. “Along with 2,456 fossil fuel lobbyists, there were 475 lobbyists specializing in Carbon Capture (Utilization) and Storage (CC(U)S) projects at the COP28.” If you have any doubt as to who is pushing this unproven and expensive technology, just look at the membership of carbon capture organizations.

In its current state, carbon capture is another false promise when it comes to addressing the urgent need to decrease carbon dioxide emissions. A 2019 Report by the Center for International Environmental Law, “Fuel to Fire”, states, “It is not surprising that the fossil fuel industry has invested and is investing heavily in the technologies that would render a transition from fossil fuels less urgent.” Carbon capture is one of those technologies.

“The International Energy Agency estimates that the world will need to be able to capture 1.2 billion tons of CO2 per year by 2050; today, the world’s total carbon capture amounts to just 4 percent of that goal.” The IEA data shows the U.S. could see CO2 capture capacity increase five-times to over 100 metric tons (Mt) CO2 annually with 80 projects coming on line by 2030, but this is hardly enough to make a dent in emissions as more fossil fuel development continues to add to current emissions.

There are several techniques that have been used to capture CO2. These include: absorbing it with a sponge-like material; separating it with membranes; or cooling and condensing it using a cryogenic process. These processes all require high energy inputs, and once captured, the carbon dioxide is either stored or used. Storage involves the gas being transported to locations where it is injected deep underground into saline deposits or rock strata. Biden’s Administration on Environmental Quality said a CCS system that could meet a net zero goal of emissions by 2050 would require a pipeline system of close to 68,000 miles at a cost of $230 billion. The USA currently has 5100 miles of carbon dioxide pipelines.

Tenaska, a company with headquarters in Texas and Nebraska, recently announced that they will be receiving “an award of up to $69 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to assist with new CCS projects.” These include: seven carbon dioxide injection wells in West Virginia (Hancock, Brooke and Marshall) counties; twelve wells in Ohio (Jefferson, Harrison and Carroll counties); and three in Pennsylvania (Washington County). These wells would create 49 permanent jobs.

There is big money to made by the fossil fuel industry when it comes to carbon capture. Instead of being penalized for polluting, they are being paid. What a deal! Not all carbon dioxide captured is incentivized the same. Once captured, carbon dioxide can be stored underground in wells (CCS) or used for another process (CCUS). Currently, a majority of carbon captured and used for another process is for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). During this procedure, pressurized CO2 is pumped into old oil field wells to help force out any remaining oil deposits. The majority of the world’s 21 large-scale CCS plants are located in the USA and Canada, and all but five sell or send their carbon dioxide to facilities involved in enhanced oil recovery.

The Biden Administration is all in on CCS and CCUS projects and has even sweetened the pot. The Inflation Reduction Act increased tax credits from $35 to $85 per ton of CO2 captured and stored and $50 to $180 for every ton of CO2 removed through direct air capture and permanently stored. Companies get $60 ton for industrial CO2 captured and used for EOR and $130 ton for direct air CO2 used for EOR. We are subsiding the polluters’ emissions.

Industry claims that the carbon dioxide can be used for things besides EOR, for example, beverage carbonation. But according to a recent paper in Nature Climate Change, “the tonnage of CO2 humanity emits simply dwarfs the tonnage of carbon-based products it consumes.” Also consider that CCS only addresses the carbon dioxide emissions from stack gases. It does not curb methane gas emissions from fossil fuel extraction such as coal mines and fracking. It does not address additional sources of carbon dioxide emissions from transportation of equipment, construction of a CCS facility and the emissions from the CCS facility itself.

Carbon dioxide injected into rock strata can also contaminate ground and surface water as it combines with water creating carbonic acid. In many cases CCS facilities greatly increase the amount of water needed for power plants fitted with the technology. In addition to using more water, power plants fitted with CCS technology need more energy to power the CCS portion of the facility.

Finally, there are issues of safety involved in CCS, especially during the transportation portion. In 2019, in Yazo, Mississippi, a 24-inch carbon-dioxide containing underground pipeline ruptured. Over 300 people were evacuated and 46 people were treated at hospitals. The concentration of carbon dioxide was high enough to cause gas-powered car engines to stop. First responders said some people were unconscious while others wandered around like zombies.

Unlike solar and wind energy, which according to Clean Technica are “roughly displacing 35 times as much CO2 every year as the complete global history of CCS”, carbon capture technology is still in the early stages of development. It is not ready to be used in the scale necessary to curtail the climate crisis. It has however become a diversion used by the fossil fuel industry and governments to encourage the continued use of oil and gas while ignoring the climate crisis.

Do we want toxic carbon dioxide emissions stored in our national forests or our communities? Do we want more pipelines destroying the landscape? Please send a comment to the US Forest Service by January 2nd to let them know CCS is not a sustainable or safe way to use our forests.

PA Governor & CNX officials sign agreement

From an Article by Anya Litvak, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, November 2, 2023

Every new natural gas well that CNX Resources Corp. drills from this day forward will come with a real-time public portal into its air emissions. The Canonsburg-based gas producer said that it will place air monitors at or near well pads and compressor stations that will transmit readings to a public website, like a scaled-down version of fence-line monitors required at large industrial facilities like refineries.

The same will be true for water quality sampling done before and after drilling, upstream and downstream of a well — it will be publicly posted and, according to CNX and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, will serve as a basis to evaluate whether stricter regulations on shale gas development are needed.

CNX’s CEO Nick DeIuliis and Gov. Shapiro, who have been tossing this around for months, signed a statement of mutual interests on Thursday memorializing these and other voluntary steps CNX has pledged to take, based on the recommendations of an investigating grand jury convened by then Attorney General Shapiro.

Of the eight recommendations that have lingered only in the public imagination since the report’s release in 2020, CNX committed to some version of five of them.

The company said it will: disclose all drilling and fracking chemicals before they are used at each site; increase the no-drill zone between its wells and buildings from the mandated 500 feet to 600 feet, and to 2,500 feet from schools and hospitals; monitor the air for fine particulates and benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes; increase the number of water well tests it performs before and after fracking and widen the radius of testing to 2,500 feet of a well, wastewater tank or impoundment; publicly post its radiation protection plans and annual self-assessment of waste handling; and agree not to hire any former Department of Environmental Protection staffer that had oversight over CNX for two years after they leave the department.

The company will also open up two yet-undeveloped well sites to the Department of Environmental Protection for a comprehensive air quality study before, during and after drilling and fracking.

Standing on a well pad in Claysville where an air monitor is already recording emissions (a website will go live with the data next week, CNX said), Mr. Shapiro called his partnership with Mr. DeIuliis a ‘historic collaboration.’ “You can be profit-minded and you can meet your obligations to your shareholders and employees and also protect public health and public safety. CNX is proof of that,” he said.

Mr. DeIuliis, a vocal and frequent critic of government, climate advocates and those he says get in the way of the “doers,” said he hoped the open sourcing of data would create the basis for mutual trust. “We’re asking regulators and policy makers to now follow the data,” he said. “It’s imperative for us as CNX to be able to use radical transparency to make the recent rhetoric, speculation and the sensational headlines … obsolete; to definitively confirm for all stakeholders that there are no adverse human health issues related to responsible natural gas development,” he said.

The data CNX plans to make public is unique. “I think they are going further than any other company,” said David Woodwell, president of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, even if the kinds of steps CNX has agreed to are what has been needed and discussed for many years, he said. “Are they earth shattering? No. But are they still important? Yes.”

Companies adopting voluntary industry practices that go beyond what is currently required was also the idea behind the now-defunct Center for Sustainable Shale Development, which Mr. Woodwell helped convene in 2013. The center offered certifications to companies that voluntarily met certain standards as a means of building public trust and either informing or warding off regulation.

Critics said that environmental compliance needs to be ubiquitous, not self-selected, and called for the Legislature and regulators to craft stricter limits on the entire industry. But there has been little appetite for that in Harrisburg. Mr. Shapiro lamented that the General Assembly has yet to take up any of the recommendations in the jury report, which also recommended aggregating air emissions and assessing public health.

Earlier this week, the Pennsylvania House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee in Harrisburg held a hearing on a bill that would expand the mandatory setbacks between gas infrastructure and buildings from the current buffer to a minimum of 2,500 feet for wells, and 5,000 for features like compressor stations and gas processing plants near schools and hospitals.

The Marcellus Shale Coalition, a group that represents the industry, estimated that expanding no-drill zones to a radius of 2,500 would put most land out of reach. In Washington County, the group’s president Dave Callahan testified, drilling is prohibited on 43% of acreage. With expanded setbacks, that would rise to 99%. He called it a de facto ban on the oil and gas industry. The bill is unlikely to advance — State Sen. Eugene Yaw called the idea “stupid” and said “it would not be considered in the Senate.” Still, its introduction has spooked the industry.

However, Mr. Shapiro’s compact with CNX states: “The administration will follow the facts and data provided through this air and water quality monitoring, along with all other relevant facts and data, to inform the necessity of any additional setbacks or other future policy changes.”

The study period for this collaboration is two to three years. Environmental and community groups were split on the announcement on Thursday. Some praised the collaboration and welcomed Mr. Shapiro’s actions, which also included directing the DEP to craft new rules for chemical disclosure, methane emissions and gathering pipelines.

Others chaffed at the sight of Mr. Shapiro, the voice behind a grand jury investigation that did not look kindly on the gas industry’s conduct and impact in the state, echoing some of the same points that natural gas companies have been making for the past 20 years — that there’s not enough data, or not the right kind of data, to support environmental and health concerns and regulations.

While CNX’s real-time public data will be a first in the region, air-monitoring studies and water-quality analyses have been done before, including by university researchers, the National Energy Technology Laboratory, and Pennsylvania’s own DEP. A number of health studies have also been performed, many showing links between adverse health outcomes and proximity to shale gas.

The most recent were the cancer and asthma analyses done by the University of Pittsburgh on behalf of the Pennsylvania Department of Health. They concluded there was a higher likelihood of certain types of childhood cancers and an increase in asthma severity near oil and gas infrastructure.

But the research wasn’t particularly well received by either the residents of shale fields or the industry. Although their objections diverged, both groups complained about the lack of direct measurement of pollution and exposures — or even direct engagement with people living next to shale gas infrastructure.

CNX’s voluntary disclosures are intended to address the emissions part of that equation. Mr. DeIuliis and Mr. Shapiro said they hope other companies will join as well.

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IN OTHER NEWS ~ CNX Resources pulls out of Adams Fork ammonia project, Reuters News Service, December 15, 2023

CNX Resources said on Friday it had pulled out of the Adams Fork ammonia project and is evaluating several alternative sites in southern West Virginia for clean hydrogen projects. The natural gas producer cited delays and increasing uncertainty over implementation tax credit provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and an inability to reach final commercial terms with project developers, for ending its participation in the project.

Adams Fork was an anchor project in the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) and its construction was expected to begin in 2024. The project would have initial annual ammonia production capacity of 2,160,000 metric tons, with an optional additional production capacity.

CNX said on Friday it remains committed to ARCH2, adding that “final investment decision(s) remains contingent upon tax credit guidance that unambiguously supports low carbon intensity feedstock projects that will facilitate development of the regional clean hydrogen hubs, including ARCH2.” The ARCH2 project includes several partners, and the consortium was selected by US DOE to develop a multi-state clean hydrogen hub.