Frack Check WV » carbon footprint

Does Your Governor Deny Climate Change? Seems to Me

Duane Nichols — Sun, 06 Jul 2014 10:34:07 +0000

A Leadership Test is Here

Is Your Governor a Climate Denier?

From an Article by EcoWatch, July 2, 2014

Climate change is a contentious topic in the U.S. and around the world, especially since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced its plan to impose the first-ever limits on carbon pollution from existing power plants.

While the general consensus from the global scientific community is that climate change is real and man-made, a large number of Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives refuse to recognize even basic climate science.

A new analysis by the Center for American Progress (CAP) shows that out of America’s 29 Republican governors, half of them side with the anti-science, climate denier caucus.

To highlight the discrepancy, CAP Action War Room created an interactive map where users can track each governor’s record on climate and energy policy, including the Democratic governors, none of which, as CAP points out, have made public statements denying climate change.

NOTE: The original Article from Think Progress contains an interactive map of the United States, from the Center for American Progress. What is so telling is that so many different indicators have shown influences of global warming. Now carbon dioxide is exceeding 400 part per million in the atmosphere. And, the emissions of methane and other potent gases continues to increase.

Obama Needs to Stop (not Delay) Keystone XL

Duane Nichols — Sun, 20 Apr 2014 13:48:27 +0000

Limiting Climate Change Starts NOW with K-XL

We Need to Win Not Delay the Keystone XL Pipeline Decision

From an Article by Bill McKibben, EcoWatch, April 19, 2014

The Keystone XL news this past week from DC is both important and murky. In brief, the Obama administration announced yet another delay in their decision about the pipeline, meaning it may be past the midterm elections before a final call is made.

Three things strike me:

In pipeline terms it’s a win. Every day we delay a decision is a day when 830,000 barrels of oil stays safely in the ground. Together we’ve kept them at bay for three years now, and will continue to until perhaps the beginning of next year it seems.
In climate terms, it’s a disappointment. Since the State Department can’t delay floods and droughts and El Ninos, we actually need President Obama providing climate leadership. If he’d just follow the science and reject the stupid pipeline he’d finally send a much-needed signal to the rest of the planet that he’s getting serious.
In movement terms, it’s a sweet reminder that when we stand up we win. Three years ago this pipeline was a done deal, and thanks to you it’s come steadily undone. We can’t match Exxon or the Koch Bros with money; we can and have matched them with passion, spirit, creativity and sacrifice.

So the Keystone fight goes on—we hope many of you will be in DC next weekend for Reject and Protect, joining the Cowboy Indian Alliance to say “hell no” to the pipeline. The Alliance members coming to DC next week are some of the strongest leaders in this fight.

If you can’t be there yourself, can you show your support for the Cowboy Indian Alliance by telling Pres. Obama and Sec. Kerry to use this delay to meet with them.

The decision to delay was made—supposedly—on account for the impact of a possible new pipeline route in Nebraska. As it happens, next week Nebraskans and members of U.S. Tribes and Canadian First Nations will be in Washington—it seems to me that it would be prudent for the President and Sec. Kerry to make plans to meet with the Cowboy Indian Alliance at their encampment and get their story of what this pipeline would mean on the ground.

The climate fight can’t be delayed. We need to keep building the movement, and we need to keep putting heat on leaders like President Obama till we win not delay the decision on the Keystone XL pipeline. Yesterday’s DC decision just reinforces the message that if we stand together we will make a decisive difference—and there is an important opportunity on the horizon to do that in the biggest way yet, to be announced soon.

The last thing to say is thank you. You are the strength in this movement, and together we will make even more amazing things possible.

————– Four Slideshows are available here.

Could We Win the Keystone XL Battle But Still Lose the Tar Sands War?

Why the Millennial Generation Sees Keystone XL as More Than Just a Pipeline

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ECA Explains Innovations for Gas Well Drilling in Greene County, Pennsylvania

Duane Nichols — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 23:17:03 +0000

: Natural Gas In Use On Location

The Energy Corporation of America is one of the smaller players in the Marcellus shale drilling operations taking place in Greene County, Pennsylvania. But, ECA is working hard to be a leader in the reduction of the carbon footprint left behind by drilling, according to Kyle Mork, vice president of eastern operations. They are using the Bi-Fuel System, a development of Helmerich and Payne International Drilling Contractors. This system allows drilling rigs to be fueled by a 50/50 blend of diesel fuel with the natural gas accessed on site, as reported in the Washington (PA) Observer-Reporter.

ECA representatives estimated it takes an average of 2,000 gallons of fuel daily to run a drilling rig, and this Bi-Fuel System reduces that amount by 70 percent. Air quality also is reduced by the use of this new technology, according to ECA. Emissions testing data has shown a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 31 tons per year and less impact of nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide and total particulate matter.

Their drilling site in Cumberland Township uses the Bi-Fuel System and also has employed electricity to run equipment instead of diesel fuel, reducing the noise level of the rig greatly. This site is currently laid out to drill six wells, nearly side-by-side. The drill rig being used moves from one well pad to the next over a system of rails. To drill one well takes roughly 10 days. In two months, this site will be drilled and ready to begin production of natural gas. The company spends less money, tears up fewer roads and emissions are reduced greatly by the lack of back-and-forth traveling from well to well.

ECA is also working with fresh water from permitted wells to supply the necessary water for drilling operations. It has been two years since they took water out of the Monongahela River, even though they are permitted to do so. The motors used to pump the fresh water through pipes to their well pads are commercial grade engines the company had converted to run on the natural gas they are extracting.

“By pumping the water from our own fresh water, we’ve eliminated over 2,000 truckloads of water on the road over a year. It is pumped to the pit and pumped to the job. There is no hauling,” said Hugh Caperton II, operations manager for ECA. “That is over 10 million ton miles on state roads. We only have a 5-to-10-minute drive to all of our locations. We are not trying to jump around to hold leases. The more wells we can put on a pad the better for everybody.” Caperton credited company president and CEO, John Mork for having the vision to seek out technology to run their equipment from the gas they extract. “Our president said, ‘guys, run it off of the gas,’” Caperton said. “We are at the front end of this.”

Some 559 Marcellus gas well permits have been issued in Greene County, as of July 15, 2011, with higher numbers in five other counties in Pennsylvania. The two leading counties are Bradford (1713 permits) and Tioga (1130 permits), both in the north central region, i.e. the so-called Endless Mountains area.