Crossridge Landfill near Steubenville Ohio has issues

From an Article & Broadcast by Tyler Madden, WTOV News 9, Steubenville, OH, 5/19/22

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ohio — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said it was important to visit the Crossridge Landfill in Jefferson County on Thursday as his office is still involved in litigation pertaining to the site. “I’m very troubled by what I saw,” Yost said.

Signs up and down the road leading to the landfill site underscore the longstanding tension over the site in the community. Yost was joined by officials from the Jefferson County Health Department on a tour of the site. “I’m amazed this has been pending for so long and hasn’t been cleaned up,” Yost said. “There’s a part where you can see the leachate and it looks like some kind of horror movie.”

NEWS9 cameras were not permitted to go on the tour as it is private property. But there were a number of different areas on the site highlighted on the tour, including those problem areas that have caused so many concerns from residents.

“Whether it’s dumping leachate into the water, that’s vitally important environmental issue that needs to be addressed and he’s seen them himself now firsthand,” Jefferson County Health Commissioner Andrew Henry said.

“It’s red and oily and it’s coming off of there and it looks like it’s headed down the creek into the river,” Yost said. The AG’s office is still involved in litigation involving the site and how it moves forward.

“We keep kicking the can down the road and our can is getting kicked,” Yost said. “We’ve got a hearing on (June 21). I wanted to see this for myself, and I’ve instructed my staff to do everything in their power to move this thing forward.

“I want the local folks that have been working so hard on this to know that they have a partner in the state and we’re looking to get this done and cleaned up.”

Flares burn excess natural gas & pollute the air

From an Article by Justin Nobel, Rolling Stone Magazine, March 13, 2018

Photo: Flares burning at fracking industry site on federal land near Counselor, New Mexico, where environmental groups and indigenous people are fighting back against the expansion of the fracking industry.

The most authoritative study of its kind reveals how fracking is contaminating the air and water – and imperiling the health of millions of Americans

“Our examination…uncovered no evidence that fracking can be practiced in a manner that does not threaten human health,” states a blistering 266-page report released today by Concerned Health Professionals of New York and the Nobel Peace Prize-winning group, Physicians for Social Responsibility. Drawing on news investigations, government assessments and more than 1,200 peer-reviewed research articles, the study finds that fracking – shooting chemical-laden fluid into deep rock layers to release oil and gas – is poisoning the air, contaminating the water and imperiling the health of Americans across the country. “Fracking is the worst thing I’ve ever seen,” says Dr. Sandra Steingraber, one of the report’s eight co-authors, a biologist who has worked as a public health advocate on issues like breast cancer and toxic incinerators. “Those of us in the public health sector started to realize years ago that there were potential risks, then the industry rolled out faster than we could do our science.” In recent years, the practice has expanded from rural lands to backyards, farms, and within sight of schools and sources of drinking water. “Now we see those risks have turned into human harms and people are getting sick,” says Steingraber. “And we in this field have a moral imperative to raise the alarm.”

The researchers behind the report, titled “Compendium of Scientific, Medical and Media Findings Demonstrating Risks and Harms of Fracking,” are quick to point out that fracking, or “unconventional oil and gas extraction,” extends far beyond the idea of a single well obediently gurgling up natural gas or oil. Fracking is part of a complicated extraction process with a spider web of infrastructure that extends many miles from the well pad. At virtually every turn, the process contains public health hazards. Residents living near an active site breathe air laced with carcinogens, including benzene and formaldehyde, and research has shown an increased risk of asthma, a decrease in infant health and worrisome effects on the development of a fetus, such as preterm births and birth defects. “Pregnant women have a major risk, not only themselves but they’re carrying a fetus whose cells are multiplying continuously,” says Dr. Lynn Ringenberg, a retired Army colonel and the president-elect of Physicians for Social Responsibility. “If those cells get hit by some toxic chemical from fracking, it may not manifest itself for years.”

Fracking sites have caught fire – others have exploded, as happened last month in Belmont County, Ohio – torching chemicals whose dangerous components local fire chiefs may be surprised to learn are an industry secret. Communities have long feared the fracking process can contaminate underground aquifers with hazardous chemicals and research in Texas and Pennsylvania has now confirmed this to be the case. Fracked gas flows via pipelines, whose leaks and explosions are now well-documented. Piped gas must continuously be re-pressurized at compressor stations which have been documented to emit methane, fine particulate matter, as well as benzene, formaldehyde and other known human carcinogens. Report co-author Dr. Kathleen Nolan, a pediatrician and bioethicist who has examined numerous people sickened by fracking-related contamination, describes the harrowing case of one western Pennsylvania family. “They would see a yellow fog, kind of like a chemical mist coming from the compressor station,” says Nolan. “Their two youngest children, nine and 11, started having tics where their muscles would go into spasms, those spasms would persist even when they were asleep.”

Then there’s the issue of the waste that flows back up a fracked well. Although the industry calls it “brine” or “produced water,” this material contains carcinogenic chemicals, can be flammable and, in much of the country, also contains radioactive elements from deep below the surface. Occasionally, this toxic waste is used to frack new wells. Often, it is hauled by trucks that must weave around narrow local roads to sites called injection wells, where this hazardous slurry is injected deep into the earth, a process that has repeatedly been linked to earthquakes. In 2016, in Barnesville, Ohio a truck spilled approximately 5,000 gallons of fracking wastewater when it crashed beside a stream that leads into one of the village’s main reservoirs.

Last November a truck carrying fracking waste overturned near Coolville, Ohio and emptied fluid into a culvert that connects to a creek. Residents were prepared; they’d been living for years with the menace of injection wells, including what resident Susie Quinn calls a “chemical factory like smell” around their homes. Like many in the region, she spends free time researching risks the industry and her own government have failed to protect her against. More than a week after the frack truck overturned, she visited the site to take samples, but forgot gloves. “About an hour and twenty minutes later all the fingers on my left hand were burning underneath my fingernails,” says Quinn. Tests later revealed the culvert was loaded with barium, as well as strontium, whose isotopes can be radioactive.

In West Virginia and Pennsylvania, radioactive fracking waste is being processed at facilities like Antero Clearwater in Doddridge County, West Virginia, which claims it can produce water clean enough to be discharged back into nearby local waterways. But Antero’s website contains scant details on how this is done, and radioactivity experts, like Dr. Marvin Resnikoff, a nuclear physicist and international consultant on radioactive waste, remain concerned. “The radioactive levels at the Marcellus shale formation are off the charts,” he says, referring to the gas-rich layer that underlies much of West Virginia and Pennsylvania. “What is radioactive underground is still radioactive when it’s brought to the surface,” says Resnikoff. “This is not alchemy where radioactivity disappears.” A tour last February with local residents through heavily-fracked Doddridge County revealed Antero’s facility, located just six miles from Doddridge County High School, was emitting tremendous amounts of steam that drifted away in the wind. “There may be radioactive elements in the steam,” says Resnikoff.

The “Harms of Fracking” report also highlights astonishing risks for an often overlooked group in the public health discussion on fracking: The workers. Fracking has created 1.7 million jobs, says the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the industry has potentially exposed workers on the ground to extremely dangerous conditions. “These are killing jobs,” says report co-author Dr. Sandra Steingraber. “We have actually detected benzene in the urine of workers at levels known to raise the risks of leukemia.” Dr. Pouné Saberi, a Philadelphia-based occupational and environmental medicine physician says workers face a wealth of risks, but their injuries rarely show up in the data, for a variety of reasons. They often work as non-unionized sub-contractors, allowing parent oil and gas companies to avoid reporting injuries, and the oil and gas industry is exempt from certain worker safety rules. Also, doctors and major Pennsylvania health care providers that service the industry, potentially a valuable source of worker data, says Saberi, rarely mention anything negative about fracking. “There is a code of silence that exists,” she says. Plus, workers themselves rarely report injuries or hazards, for fear of losing their jobs.

“If you asked too many questions, you were labeled a tree-hugger and you were gone,” says former fracking waste truck driver Randy Moyer, who describes his stomach-turning experience on a website called Shalefield Stories. “Every day was different,” he writes. “Some days I’d carry mud, but most days I’d haul wastewater from fracked wells…It was an endless parade of trucks on those back roads.” Moyer was never told the contents of the waste he was hauling. At the well-site, waste was kept in a makeshift pit, and when loading his truck Moyer often had to climb in and squeegee out material. To avoid getting their boots wet, “some guys would go in there in their bare feet.” Moyer was given no safety gear, aside from a flame-resistant coat, because, he explains, “If the public sees guys in hazmat suits they’re going to start to ask questions.” As one would anticipate from a human being with direct exposure to radioactive waste, Moyer became quite sick.

“My tongue, lips, and limbs all swelled up,” he writes. “I’ve had three teeth snap off. The first two broke while I was eating garlic bread and spaghetti. I have burning rashes all over my body that jump from place to place.” Moyer has seen over 40 specialists across West Virginia and Pennsylvania. “One told me that I had bed bugs. Another said it must be a food allergy.”

The report, which is in its fifth edition, flips the narrative on an energy rush that is quite literally powering the nation. Fracking has “bolstered our economy and energy security” says Seth Whitehead, a consultant with Energy in Depth, a website affiliated with the Independent Petroleum Association of America. The numbers bear out: Fossil fuels supply the U.S. with a majority of its electricity, and gas has overtaken coal as America’s number one power source. Meanwhile, about 60 percent of the gas produced in America and 48 percent of the oil now comes from unconventional oil and gas deposits. Fracking has helped ease America off foreign fossil fuels. And the boom extends far beyond the well pads.

Ethane, one of many components in fracked gas, serves as the base ingredient for the production of numerous plastics and petrochemicals. On the Gulf Coast, these industries are making big investments in infrastructure to take advantage of America’s newly abundant cheap gas. “With more than $35 billion in planned chemical plant expansions in our area over the next five years, these are the ‘good old days,’” Chad Burke, President of the Economic Alliance Houston Ship Channel Region, posted on the organization’s website. The American Chemistry Council bullishly estimates that over the next decade the plastics industry will generate over 300,000 jobs. “The surge of natural gas production from shale has reversed the fortunes of the U.S. plastics industry,” states a 2015 Council report.

But these glowing numbers rarely take into account the fracking boom’s epic toll on public health, the American landscape and the world’s climate. In fact, against a mounting pile of personal testimony and scientific data, the industry continues to claim it is doing nothing wrong. “The science clearly indicates that, with an emphasis on prevention…energy production can and is being done right, and that hydraulic fracturing is not leading to widespread, systemic effects to drinking water resources,” Stephanie Wissman, an Executive Director with the American Petroleum Institute, stated at a recent meeting of the Delaware River Basin Commission. “It’s sad,” Marcellus Shale Coalition spokesperson Erica Clayton Wright wrote in an email, “that some shoddy so-called ‘studies’ focused on attacking American energy and the tens of thousands of hardworking Pennsylvanians that work across the industry are the subject of fake news stories like these.”

But the science on fracking is getting more difficult to dismiss. “With fracking,” says Steingraber, “we had six peer reviewed articles in 2009 pointing to possible public health risks. By 2011 we had 42. Now there are more than 1200.” Some states are indeed listening to the scientists. New York, Maryland and Vermont have banned fracking, and even Florida’s state legislature is seriously considering a ban. “The chickens are going to come home to roost,” says Ted Auch, an environmental scientist with FracTracker Alliance. He believes that as negative impacts on health and water supplies continue to stack up, the fracking industry will have an increasingly difficult time gaining investors, an issue highlighted in a December article in the Wall Street Journal. “Shale has been a lousy bet for most investors,” the article states, referring to the deposits where fracking typically occurs. Within the past decade, says the Journal article, “energy companies…have spent $280 billion more than they generated from operations on shale investments.”

As a result, many companies have taken extreme measures to politically protect their investments. Last month, Wyoming became the third state, after Iowa and Ohio, to introduce a bill criminalizing protest activities like the ones undertaken at Standing Rock. “It is a war,” says Tina Smusz, a retired emergency medicine and palliative care physician and Virginia-based member of Physicians for Social Responsibility. “And in this war one of your most valuable weapons is science.”

Public health is at risk from increased air pollution

From Nate Seltenrich, Environmental Health Perspectives, July 27, 2018

Could air pollution be a trigger for suicide? Researchers first began asking this question less than a decade ago. Accumulated evidence from around the world now suggests there may well be a connection, although the nature of such a connection is still unknown. The authors of a study in Environmental Health Perspectives add to the evidence for this link, drawing upon a robust data set of pollution and suicide figures.

The researchers examined the relationship between daily suicide deaths and daily mean levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and categories of particulate matter (PM10,  PM10–2.5,  PM2.5) in 10 large Northeast Asian cities. The data covered one to three decades, depending on the country. The team controlled for variables such as hours of daylight, day of week, and ambient temperature, which can potentially affect the risk of suicide.

On a city-by-city basis, higher levels of air pollution were not always associated with higher suicide risk; in some cities, the association was even reversed, with increases in air pollution associated with lower risks of suicide. But when up to 30 years of information for PM10, NO2, and SO2 was combined across all 10 cities, higher average exposures on the same day and over the previous 1–3 days were associated with a higher daily suicide risk. Combined estimates for PM10 and PM10–2.5 across three cities with two to eight years of data also suggested an increased risk of suicide with higher exposures. However, these estimates were less precise, particularly for PM2.5.

The estimated increases in suicide risk were small but consistent. For example, each 4.3-ppb increase in average daily exposure to SO2 was associated with a 2.0% increase in estimated suicide risk on the same day, while each increase of 36.4 mg/m3 in PM10 was associated with a 1.6% increase in estimated risk.

“Previous studies have considered [data for] maybe a decade or so, but having up to thirty years is a unique contribution,” says University of Utah professor of psychiatry Amanda Bakian, who was not affiliated with the study. “There’s growing evidence to suggest an association between ambient air pollution and suicide risk in diverse populations from around the world.”

Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan share more than just the waters of the East China Sea. They all have above-average suicide rates, with South Korea ranking fourth worldwide in 2016 with 26.9 deaths per 100,000 people and Japan fourteenth with 18.5. Taiwan’s rate of 16 per 100,000 in 2016 also significantly exceeded the global average of 10.6. Worldwide, roughly 800,000 people die from suicide every year.

One major unanswered question is exactly how specific pollutants, or air pollution in general, might influence suicide risk. The young line of inquiry has yet to provide any answers, although some studies have suggested that neuroinflammation may be involved. The authors note that suicide is a complex behavior linked to a number of psychosocial factors. Geographical differences such as cultural backgrounds, socioeconomic factors, and sources and components of air pollution all deserve consideration, they write.

“From my perspective, the broader take-home message relates to how we think about preventing suicide,” says Sunnybrook Research Institute’s Mark Sinyor, a psychiatrist and expert in mood disorders and suicide prevention, who was not affiliated with the study. “Any effort to make an enduring dent in suicide rates must address broader social problems and, as the evidence increasingly suggests, environmental problems such as air pollution as well. That may seem daunting, but at least there is a confluence of agendas—efforts to protect and improve our world are also likely to lead to fewer suicide deaths.”

>>> Nate Seltenrich covers science and the environment from the San Francisco Bay Area.

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See also: “Noise Is The Next Great Public Heatlh Crisis. Here’s How It Will Affect Your Health,” Neel V. Patel, The Future Society, December 19, 2018

https://futurism.com/future-noise-pollution/

Environmental Management,
July 2014

Essay by S. Tom Bond, Resident Farmer, Lewis County, WV

Remember the days when “natural gas is a bridge to the future” was a big advertising gimmick?  It has gone the way of the revived gas light sentimentality a few years before that.  People were encouraged to put out their gas lights because of a gas shortage almost before the gas lights were paid for.

Now the “bridge to the future” is going where Finian’s Rainbow and Uncle Remus have gone.  The fracked gas guys have the idea they ARE the future, never mind all the problems: high cost of recovery; environmental damages; health and safety problems; providing few, well paid but terrible jobs; and the ever present threat of global extinction of the human race.

Signs of its demise are everywhere.  Most  recently, in November. “closure of Siemens and GE’s gas turbine-making capacities. Just to recap for those that missed it, first Siemens, the giant European champion of the electric power revolution, laid off 7,000 workers. It reported that it had a capacity to make 400 of the 100 MW gas turbines annually but only had received orders for 110 in 2017. Ouch. Retrain!

“And then GE: Two weeks later, it laid off 20,000 workers in its gas-related business, including turbine-making teams around the world. Remember,  just about five years ago Siemens and GE battled for the gas business of Alstom, the French descendent of the same companies GE came out of in the early 20th century. GE paid $10 billion for it and declared a coup.”   Oopsie daisy!

The disinvestment campaign has been going very well.  New York City is taking its money out of the hydrocarbon pool.  The Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund announced in December it would no longer fund upstream (production) projects.  California, the sixth largest economy in the world, is moving that way.  Stanford  University dropped its gas investments and went all solar.  Then Palo Alto did the same and offered to rebate people who changed from gas to electrical appliances.  The California Public Utilities Commission and the California Energy Commission —  the two agencies pretty much designing and approving the state’s energy assets —  is saying  they no longer need natural gas in their tool kits.

Admittedly this is a drop in the bucket, but it points to the use of hydrocarbons as a moral issue.  On the other hand, solar and wind are in an exponential rise.  Due to politics (more below) the new energy era is coming in the less developed world.  The following quote is from Adam Vaughan, Environmental editor of the Guardian.

“Last year, for the first time, renewable energy accounted for more than half of new power generation worldwide, as we report today. China is expected to build more than twice that global amount in the next five years, driven by its thirst for more electricity capacity, public anxiety over air pollution and the need to fulfill its climate change pledges.

“The world is changing, and Europe is no longer the big driver of green energy growth that it once was. “In the next five years, the People’s Republic of China and India alone will account for almost half of global renewable capacity additions,” says the IEA in a new report.

“But even with all this growth, renewables are only forecast to provide just over a quarter of the world’s electricity by 2021. There’s still a long way to go.”

A quarter of the world’s energy will be renewable in four years – sounds pretty important to me.  Far beyond what most Americans would guess.

To be Continued as Part 2.  See also:  Mountain Lakes Preservation Alliance

PM-2.5 and smaller are extremely dangerous

From an Article by Robert Ferris, CNBC, September 21, 2017

Add kidney disease to the list of health problems associated with air pollution.

A team of scientists from Washington University in St. Louis and the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System found an association between tiny particulate matter and kidney disease in two different data sets.

The scientists compared Veteran Affairs data on kidney disease with data on air pollution from two separate sets: satellite data from NASA and information from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Their study consistently found that risk of kidney disease rose along with air pollution levels across the continental United States.

As might be expected, many of the areas of the U.S. at greatest risk tend to be more heavily populated. The part of the country with the lowest risk overall is a section that runs roughly from Montana through West Texas. There are pockets of lower-risk areas in other places, but much of California and the Eastern half of the United States are more vulnerable.

The scientists published their results in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

It is important to note that this only found an association with air pollution — the study did not conclusively determine pollution to be the cause of kidney disease.

But the fact that the study found the association in both the EPA data set and the NASA data set is compelling, said Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, a senior author on the study and an assistant professor of medicine at Washington University, in a statement.

“The beauty of using both EPA and NASA data is that the agencies used two distinct techniques for collecting data, yet the results were similar,” he said. “This constellation of findings suggests that chronic exposure to air pollution is a significant risk factor for the development and progression of kidney disease.”

The study focused on a type of pollution called PM 2.5, which is particulate matter up to 2.5 microns in size. This particular form of pollution can come from myriad sources, including vehicle emissions, fossil fuel power plants, wildfires or even campfires.

Scientists say the particles can enter the bloodstream once they are breathed into the lungs.

Air pollution has been linked to health problems as varied as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and weight gain. The study’s authors say that one of those conditions could be responsible for kidney damage, rather than the pollution itself.

They also noted that the population they studied was mostly older white male military veterans, so the results might not apply to other populations. The scientists tried to account for confounding factors, but there could still be additional variables, such as diet or genetics, or even other environmental factors such as exposure to heavy metals.

But the data show a clear association.

“In our analyses, the risk of chronic kidney disease and its progression was most pronounced at the highest levels of fine particulate matter concentration,” Al-Aly said in the release. “This suggests further study is needed for a broader assessment of the global burden of kidney disease attributable to air pollution.”

Air quality has improved in the United States in recent decades, but Al-Aly pointed out that there is no safe level of exposure to PM 2.5; even low levels can increase risk.

Other parts of the world have serious problems with hazes of pollution. China has even had to essentially shut down entire cities for days at a time. Just breathing Beijing’s air might be as bad as smoking 40 cigarettes a day.

Fly Over Mountains in Virginia

Natural Gas Pipeline —  A Bird’s Eye View, Part 2

From an Article by Robbie Harris, WVTF News, National Public Radio, June 14, 2017

Decision day is getting closer for the Mountain Valley Pipeline. If approved, it would carry natural gas from Pennsylvania, through Virginia and beyond. In part one of our report, Robbie Harris told you about about a call for regulators to look at the big picture when considering new pipeline projects. Today we get a bird’s eye view of part of the proposed route, where the pipeline would cross the Appalachian Trail, also known as “The ‘A’ ‘T.’

Andrew Downs: “The A. T. is right below us now. All this land was preserved for the Appalachian Trail.”

Andrew Downs has hiked this part of the Appalachian Trail many times, but it’s the first time he’s seeing it from the air.

“We should be just about over the pipeline route right now as we bank left. / Pilot, Jack Lynch/ Yeah, right of the wing tip…”

Pilot, Jack Lynch is flying this Columbia 350, 4 seater just below the clouds and just above the mountains.

“Oh yeah look at that! There’s some hikers down there. See that little flash of red. They’re drying their clothes.”

We’re over Giles County Virginia where the AT winds through what many consider the to be one of the most beautiful stretches of the 2,200 mile footpath. From up here we see forested mountain ridges that look like an ocean of green wave.

“You feel like you’re at the ends of the earth all most there’s that sense of adventure and wonder that comes with being immersed in nature and we still have that available to us here. That’s something not to be taken for granted.”

Downs is this area’s Regional Director of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. He’s concerned about the pipeline’s proposed route because he believes it would impact areas that define the character of southwestern Virginia wilderness.

“Kelly Nob, which is the large mountain in front of us is 2 miles away from the pipeline corridor, one of the most iconic views in central Virginia and one of the places with likely significant visual impact. (From the right of way for the Mountain Valley Pipeline.)”

This is not the first time a power line or pipeline would cross the trail. But this is the first time this organization is officially opposing the proposed route of one. In the past it has worked directly with energy companies to site them in ways that protect the land they cross.

“We want to support a good idea and there are good ideas on energy infrastructure out there. We don’t want to spend our time opposing energy infrastructure that our country might benefit from.”

There are some 500 miles of Appalachian Trail in Virginia. The Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) would parallel it for about 15. Downs says, because of the scale of this project, and the geography of this area, evidence of the pipeline’s footprint could be visible for a hundred miles.

“That’s the thing, people say it’s going to be buried but there’s still the corridor of cleared land. When you look at these lands defined by unbroken tracks, it really sticks out like a sore thumb.”

Downs says, the entire U.S trail system is watching to see what happens here.

“The A.T. is like the grandfather of the national trail system so when you undermine that protection on national forests, for the A.T. you set a precedent that can negatively affect every national scenic trail in the country.”

There has been disagreement between the Conservancy and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission over what the actual impact of the pipeline might be on the trail. After FERC issued a draft Environmental Impact Statement last year, the conservancy flagged what is said were numerous errors and called it woefully inaccurate. It commissioned visual impact simulations of its town and filed additional comments and photos in an effort to have those errors corrected. There’s no way to know if those concerns have been addressed, that is, until the Final version of the Environmental Impact Study is released next week, as planned.

>  >  >  >  >  >  >  >  >  >

Dominion Energy Pushes Employees to Protect ACP Pipeline in VA Democratic
Governor Primary Election

The mega size energy company in Virginia is Dominion Resources, now named Dominion Energy.   The employees and others are being biased into voting for candidates much more favorable to their projects, including the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP).  See the article here.

DPMC at http://pipelineupdate.org

Roanoke Times Op-Ed: Governor’s Role in Pipeline Review

David Sligh says Virginia’s governor can and must protect us from bad pipeline projects

From the Opinion-Editorial by David Sligh, Roanoke Times, February 23, 2017

David Sligh is conservation director for Wild Virginia, an investigator for the Dominion Pipeline Monitoring Coalition, an environmental attorney, and a former senior engineer at the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. He lives in Charlottesville.

Contrary to assertions in a February 13th Roanoke Times editorial (“Showmanship”), Virginia’s governor will play a decisive role in determining whether major interstate natural gas pipelines can be built across our state. To play that role correctly, the governor must do two things: make certain the regulatory process for state environmental review is complete and open to the public and empower environmental regulators to reject the projects unless they can ensure full protection of Virginia’s waters. The evidence currently in the public record makes approval impossible for both pipelines.

An overriding problem with the Times’ editorial is the assertion that “[t]he agency that will determine whether the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and Mountain Valley Pipeline go forward is a federal one, not a state one.” This claim, in that it denies Virginia’s authority to reject these pipelines and the governor’s legitimate role, is patently false. Congress explicitly reserved states’ authorities to veto federally-permitted projects, to protect state waters. That authority comes from section 401 of the Clean Water Act, which empowers states to grant or deny a “water quality certification” and forbids federal approval without that certification.

The editorial implied that “environmentalists” are naive or ignorant in being “convinced an anti-pipeline governor could still thwart the pipelines by directing the Department of Environmental Quality to withhold certain permits by find[sic] the pipelines violate the Clean Water Act.” I am neither naive nor ignorant about these matters, having worked on them for more than 30 years, as a VA-DEQ regulator and an attorney working with citizens in 10 states and the District of Columbia.

I do not expect and would never propose that a governor “direct” the VA-DEQ to do anything that’s not supported by science and law but the governor cannot be divorced from the regulatory process. The governor leads the executive branch and is responsible for the soundness of state agency decisions.

The Times’ editorial implied that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo improperly ordered environmental regulators to reject a 401 certification for a pipeline. The evidence does not support that implication nor are pipeline company claims that the decision was “arbitrary and capricious” supportable.

In reviewing the New York Department of Environmental Conservation’s decision denying 401 approval for the Constitution pipeline, one finds that the agency cited many areas where the applicant failed or refused to provide the necessary data and analyses or prove water quality standards would be upheld. Many other cases exist where states rejected 401 certifications, for a wide variety of federally-licensed projects. One example pertinent here is Connecticut’s denial of a 401 certification for the Islander East Pipeline, which the federal appeals court upheld.

It is important to note that many of the deficiencies in information and water quality problems cited by the New York DEC apply for both the ACP and MVP. The Virginia DEQ’s own comments on the draft environmental impact statement for the MVP contain dozens of areas in which the company has failed to provide necessary data and where valid impact analyses are missing. Likewise, the U.S. EPA, the Forest Service, and citizens have identified a large body of missing or inaccurate information for MVP.

Citizens have, for many months, sought assurances from Governor Terry McAuliffe and his top officials that the state would conduct a full and open regulatory review for each of these pipelines. We have yet to obtain those assurances. The state must conduct individual section 401 reviews, with public involvement, for each pipeline but VA-DEQ staff indicated this may not happen.

Instead, agency employees said these pipelines might be covered under blanket approvals issued for a category of small projects with minimal impacts. Such an approach would be illegal and we will not accept it. Neither should the governor. VA-DEQ’s requests for sufficient information and adequate protections for MVP cannot remain mere suggestions or requests for proper regulation by FERC. They must become legal mandates from the VA-DEQ.

I again call on Governor McAuliffe to commit to full, public reviews for both ACP and MVP. I make the same call to all those asking to be Virginia’s next governor, because the timeline for decision may well extend into the next administration. I urge all other public officials, all concerned citizens, and The Roanoke Times editorial board to join in this call. I thank Tom Perriello for supporting a fair and open process and for recognizing the enormous harms these pipelines would impose on Virginia’s environment and its people.

Look also for more Pipeline Update information.

WV Legislature Gone Amuk

Thou Shalt Not Sue in West Virginia, says SB-508

From an Article by Dory Hippauf, Frackorporation, February 7, 2016

Approximately 220 nuisance lawsuits have been filed in West Virginia  over the past 3 years against such drilling/fracking companies such as Antero Resources, EQT and Hall Drilling.

WV is considered a national energy hub, leading the nation in net interstate electricity exports and underground coal mine production, while experiencing a growing natural gas industry as a result of the Great Shale Gas Rush. Overall, it produces 15% of the nation’s fossil fuel energy. The state’s underground natural gas storage represents 6% of the nation’s total, and overall it has 5.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas reserves through 2008 estimates.

Beneath WV is the Marcellus Shale and its vast natural gas resource. The natural gas trapped in the Marcellus Shale was considered to be unrecoverable until approximately 10 years ago. Technological improvements through a combination of chemicals, horizontal drilling and “fracking” changed all that.

Along with the natural gas hyped promise of “jobs” and money came numerous problems to residents, including water contamination, air pollution, noise, traffic, and more. Living the drill in WV (and elsewhere) means sleepless nights from the noise and lights coming from a well pad, it means keeping windows closed – even in the summer months – to prevent breathing in emissions. It means putting up with thousands of trucks running 24/7 up and down rural roads and kicking up dust.

IT IS A NUISANCE —

Residents have little recourse to stop or curtail the drilling except through the courts and this has led to the increase of filing Nuisance Lawsuits.

In a nuisance lawsuit, a plaintiff is basically saying to the defendant, “Your action is interfering with my enjoyment of my property; therefore, you must stop acting in that manner.”

The WV Senate agrees it is a nuisance, but not to the WV residents. Nuisance lawsuits are being viewed as a nuisance to the drilling corporations, factory farms, and other giant industries. The WV Senate is going to fix that problem by prohibiting Nuisance lawsuits.

WV Senators Ferns, Stollings, Kirkendoll, Blair, Carmichael, Mullins and Palumbo introduced Senate Bill 508 (SB508) on Thursday, February 4, 2016.

(Emphasis added) The purpose of this bill is to establish the standards applicable to the common law claim for private nuisance. The bill lists elements and establishes requirements including the requirement that physical property damage or bodily injury exist before a person can seek damages for a private nuisance. The bill also prohibits private nuisance claims if the activity at issue is conducted pursuant to and in compliance with a permit, license or other approval by a state or federal agency or other entity. The bill also requires a plaintiff to have either an ownership interest or possessory interest in the property at issue to have standing to bring a private nuisance claim.

SB508 will strip way West Virginians right to enjoy their property. Mining or Drilling operations disrupting your sleep? You won’t be able to sue.

Is a factory farm runoff or odors making you sick? You won’t be able to sue. Noise from a strip club next door too loud? You won’t be able to sue.

An industrial operation causing problems in your neighborhood? You won’t be able to sue.

Barking dogs from a Kennel business? If they have a municipal, state or federal permit – there won’t be anything you can do about it.

ALEC ORIGINS —

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a right-wing bill mill, has written far-reaching Right to Farm Act as one of its over 800 “model bills” that it encourages state legislators to pass. The bill would bar any lawsuits by neighbors claiming nuisance from any activities that are typical in farming, including industrial agriculture.

Although the ALEC “Right to Farm” bills pertain to industrial or factory farming, its purpose is to stop Nuisance lawsuits from being a nuisance to the industry.

Perhaps seeking to kill several pesky nuisance lawsuit issues in one blow, SB508 contains much broader language than just being “farm” specific. As long as any business or activity has a municipal, state or federal agency issued permit a nuisance lawsuit cannot be filed.

SB508 has been referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

West Virginians who wish to preserve their rights to enjoy their property must to take action now and stop SB508!

>>> Dory Hippauf became involved with the “fracking” issue when a landman came knocking on her door, instead of signing a lease she joined the Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition and was soon the chair of the research committee. Although the research involved all aspects of Natural Gas activities, she has focused her personal time on “Connecting the Dots” of Corporations and Politicians. Dory was one of 3 winners of the 1st Annual FracTracker and Halt the Harm Environmental Stewardship award in Septmber 2015.

CMU Speck PM2.5 monitor on table

CMU creates device, app to monitor home air pollution

From an Article by David Templeton, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 10, 2016

When her son was diagnosed with leukemia six years ago, Patrice Tomcik said she wanted to protect the 3-year-old from environmental exposures she believed may have contributed to the cancer.

But few options were available to monitor air pollution levels, let alone control them. The Butler County woman was particularly concerned about the proximity of natural gas fracking operations and a compressor station to her home in Adams.

“Early on, what could we do to protect ourselves?” said Ms. Tomcik, 45, married and the mother of two sons. The only real option was AirNow.org, which provides regional pollution levels online every half hour.

In response to the concern, Carnegie Mellon University developed Speck, a fine particulate pollution monitor that provides fairly accurate readings of fine particle levels (known as PM2.5 levels) and shows rising or falling pollution levels.

Illah Nourbakhsh, a university professor of robotics, led the CMU Robotic Institute’s CREATE Lab in developing the affordable air quality monitor in 2014. He faced a similar situation in his own home with his children having coughing spells at night that could be halted only by using an air purifier.

Speck is available for $200 through the Pittsburgh spinoff company, Airviz Inc., at www.specksensor.com/. Various local organizations are distributing monitors regionwide and beyond as a new tool to keep close track of air quality so people can react more quickly to reduce health risks from polluted air inside their homes.

More recently, the team developed the newly available smartphone app, SpeckSensor, which provides up-to-date Air Quality Index readouts from the closest air-pollution monitor, based on ZIP code. The app can be programmed to provide air-quality readings from multiple ZIP codes nationwide for those wishing to track pollution levels for friends or family.

An Android version of the SpeckSensor app can be downloaded at Google Play, and an iOS version is available through the iTunes Store.

“There are so many people with asthma or a heart condition who need to track air quality,” said Mr. Nourbakhsh, who holds a doctorate in computer science.

Pittsburgh pollution levels are among the worst in the nation. Fine particulate matter, which comes from combustion of fossil fuels, travels deep into the lungs, raising health risks including heart and bronchial disease, asthma attacks and lung cancer.

Southwestern Pennsylvania continues to have some of the nation’s worst PM2.5 levels, but few residents realize that by peering into the sky. But blurred horizons provide a hint of the problem, even with blue, sunny skies.

Heinz Endowments through its Breathe Project and the Pittsburgh Foundation purchased 1,000 Speck devices they made available through public libraries, schools and citizen groups throughout the Pittsburgh area.

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project based in Peters now has 240 Speck monitors it provides people in gas fields in four states. It’s systematically gathering home-based particulate levels indoors and outdoors with its nurse practitioner Lenore Resick collecting health information from residents with monitors.

“So far we have seen respiratory issues closer to the well sites,” said Ryan Grode, an environmental health educator with the project. “The more gas, the more respiratory problems.” The group, he said, also has documented increases in headaches, dizziness and even nausea with a link to higher particulate levels.

Spikes in particulate levels can’t be traced to well pads, he said. But when residents are sleeping or away from home, higher particulate levels more likely are linked to gas-well operations, he said.

“What we do know is that higher readings in homes should be looked at and people should be concerned about it,” he said, adding that Speck monitors have proven accurate when compared with government air monitors. “I think Speck is blossoming and more organizations are using it. In time, it will be a really useful tool for a lot of households.”

Ms. Tomcik said her Speck is extremely sensitive to household activities that stir up dust.

“Personally I want to see how things are going in terms of my own air, and I’ve noticed when the kids are playing, they are kicking up dust,” she said. “But it gives people an incredible amount of information. For people who live near unconventional gas well pads, we can monitor the air and see whether the air is safe inside our homes.”

If particulate levels rise for whatever reason, she can open a window or turn on the air purifier. If the air outside is bad, she can close windows.

Jody Handley, 40, who’s concerned about air quality due to allergies, has been testing Speck monitors inside and outside her Squirrel Hill home. High readings often correlate with allergy problems, which she resolves by wearing a mask or clearing the air with an air purifier. She sees levels rise from activities inside the home — while vacuuming floors, making beds or folding clothes, which she said produce lots of dust.

“I’ve been very vocal about improving outdoor air quality,” said Ms. Handley, the mother of two daughters, ages 6 and 4. “We can’t do that, but we can marginally make it better inside our house. That’s important to improve air inside the house for the kids.”

New York, Maryland, California ban fracking

New Yorkers Celebrate One-Year Anniversary of Fracking Ban

From New Yorkers Against Fracking, EcoWatch.com, December 18, 2015

Thursday marked the one-year anniversary of the announcement by Gov. Cuomo, the Department of Health and the Department of Environmental Conservation that New York would ban high-volume fracking given its serious public health and environmental risks.

New Yorkers and the many organizations that worked to ban fracking are reflecting on the ban that occurred one year ago and the anti-fracking movement overall, noting its importance nationally and internationally.

“I will always remember this as the day that Governor Cuomo became a climate leader and put New York at the forefront of the climate movement,” actor Mark Ruffalo, advisory board member of the New Yorkers Against Fracking, said. “He listened to the science and the experts in protecting New Yorkers public health, environment and climate. He said no to dirty, dangerous fossil fuel extraction and put New York on a path to a healthy, renewable energy future. We need more governors and leaders to show that type of leadership. As the world turned its attention to the climate conference in Paris last week, the need is crystal clear to leave fossil fuels in the ground and boldly build the 100 percent renewable energy future.”

Natalie Merchant, musician and advisory board member of New Yorkers Against Fracking, agrees. “As a life-long New Yorker, I’m grateful to Governor Cuomo and the good people of New York State who worked to ban fracking,” she said. “New York is a precedent setting state and what happens here is felt across the country and around the world. On this one year anniversary of the fracking ban, we should all be proud to be New Yorkers.”

Since the ban, more and more science has shown that it was the right decision. Following the UN climate conference in Paris, leaders and groups note the significance of Gov. Cuomo and New York’s climate leadership in keeping fossil fuels in the ground and scaling up renewable energy. Groups also highlight that Maryland followed New York’s lead as well as various communities and other countries including Ireland, where today a fracking ban bill is being introduced in the Irish Parliament.

“People across Ireland are looking to New York’s ban on fracking and Governor Cuomo’s leadership as we work to follow their lead by banning fracking,” Dr. Aedin McLoughlin, director of Good Energies Alliance of Ireland, said. “We hold New York State very dear to our hearts, and as we face the threat of fracking we are so thankful for New York’s ban. Governor Cuomo and New York’s anti-fracking movement have inspired a fracking ban bill that is being introduced today in the Irish Parliament.”

Maryland followed New York’s lead in early 2015 by passing a two and a half year moratorium on fracking. More and more, health experts and citizens are calling on the legislature and the governor to turn the moratorium into a ban. A renewed effort and rapidly growing movement in Pennsylvania, including the coalition Pennsylvanians Against Fracking, is calling on Pennsylvania Gov. Wolf to stop fracking in light of New York’s findings, evidence of serious health impacts, hundreds of cases of water contamination and a range of other problems.

The campaign to ban fracking in California has seen immense growth as Gov. Jerry Brown has faced mounting pressure to follow Gov. Cuomo’s lead. Communities in a number of states have taken actions to ban fracking. Internationally, Ireland has embraced a moratorium on fracking and is pursuing a health review inspired by New York’s. In a watershed moment, Lancashire, England denied fracking.

“New York State’s fracking ban has inspired and empowered local citizens’ groups and elected officials across the nation and around the world to ban fracking,” Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch, said. “Maryland and hundreds of communities have taken action to stop fracking, and momentum to stop fracking everywhere is quickly growing. In California, citizens are demanding a fracking ban and calling out Governor Jerry Brown for promoting himself as an environmental climate leader while increasing drilling and fracking in the middle of a drought and climate crisis. It’s time for Governor Brown and others to follow the leadership of Governor Cuomo and New York State and ban fracking now!”

The groups noted that the scientific evidence that has emerged in the past year further shows that the decision to ban fracking was right. In the first six months of 2015, more than 100 new peer-reviewed studies came out, overwhelmingly showing risks and adverse impacts.

This October, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Physicians for Social Responsibility partnered with Concerned Health Professionals of New York to release the third edition of the Compendium of Scientific, Medical, and Media Findings Demonstrating Risks and Harms of Fracking, which demonstrates that the evidence is increasingly revealing more and worse risks and harms from fracking.

In a letter to President Obama and the Surgeon General, Physicians for Social Responsibility and Concerned Health Professionals of New York pointed to New York State’s leadership and urged them to acknowledge the health impacts, and urged other state’s governors to stop fracking.

“Governor Cuomo and his Administration rightly followed the science and protected public health by banning fracking,” Larysa Dyrszka, MD, of Concerned Health Professionals of NY, said. “A year later, well over a hundred more studies continue to reveal impacts includinginfant health issues and increased hospitalization rates. The ban on fracking is an example of excellent public policy based on science, which more governors and governments should follow.”

In the past year, the anti-fracking movement has focused on a number of issues, including: advancing renewable energy through local solar programs, engaging in the REV proceedings, and advocating for state policies. Many have worked to stop a range of gas infrastructure projects including the Port Ambrose LNG facility which Gov. Cuomo vetoed, pipelines, compressor stations and gas storage, all of which pose various threats to public health and safety.

Many have worked tirelessly to help residents affected by fracking in Pennsylvania, stop fracking and address climate change nationally, while also aiding international efforts. Notably, New York helped to inspire and build the national anti-fracking movement, which is getting bigger and stronger. The Americans Against Fracking coalition has delivered more than 600,000 comments calling for a ban of fracking on public lands.

See also:

Confirmed: 4.6-Magnitude Earthquake in British Columbia Caused by Fracking (Likely World’s Largest)

Portland Bans Fossil Fuel Export

Gov. Cuomo Vetoes Port Ambrose Liquefied Natural Gas Project

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Your health matters in Maryland — Will The Marcellus Shale Gas Advisory Group study health? Let’s ask!

Notice:  MD SGAG meeting on December 22 at 4:30 PM in Oakland, MD

The Maryland Shale Gas Advisory Group (SGAG) has completed the first phase of their charge to study and advise the county on transportation issues pertaining to natural gas development. The next meeting will be attended by one or more of our County Commissioners to go over the next phase of the group’s tasks. Some issues that have been brought up by the group include Public Health, Emergency Response, Updated Constraints Analysis, Economic Study RFP Review, Review of or Input to State Regulations, and Non-transportation Industrialization Impacts.

One major component to natural gas development that has been consistently overlooked is health. The avoidance of this issue was first apparent during the O’Malley administration’s Commission, where the health study was omitted. This is of utmost importance since increasing research has shown real heath affects near fracking locations. These can include, respiratory issues, low infant birth weight, low fertility, and problems associated with endocrine disruptors.

The County Commissioners have put no limitations on the SGAG which would allow them to take on this task. Even if there are no qualified members in the group to study health, they have the authority to set up a specialized sub-committee that could include health professionals with the expertise needed. Please attend this meeting and encourage this overlooked component to finally become part of the study. Your public comment is welcome.

Location: Garrett County Health Department, First Floor Meeting Room, 1025 Memorial Drive, Oakland, MD 21550 — Use the main entrance and walk straight down the main corridor through the large double doors. The doors are generally open throughout the meeting.

From: Engage Mountain Maryland, PO Box 747, McHenry, MD 21541

Email address is:  engagemountainmaryland@gmail.com

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See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net