Surface mining, road and pipeline construction are destructive

From an Article by Brett Israel, UC Berkeley News, March 29, 2018

Photo: Land degradation, caused by human activities like natural resource extraction and pipeline construction, is a global threat to humans and animals

More than 100 experts from 45 countries have published a three-year study of the Earth’s land degradation, calling the problem “critical” and saying that worsening land conditions undermine the well-being of 3.2 billion people.

The report was published by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) on March 26. Providing the best-available evidence for the dangers of land degradation for policymakers, the report draws on more than 3,000 scientific, government, indigenous and local knowledge sources.

Rapid expansion and unsustainable management of croplands and grazing lands is the most extensive cause of land degradation, creating significant loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, which include food security, water purification, energy sources and other contributions essential to people, the report says. The problem is so critical that a co-chair of the report said, “The degradation of the Earth’s land surface through human activities is pushing the planet towards a sixth mass species extinction.”

Land degradation is also an underappreciated factor contributing to global conflict and migration, among other problems, according to study co-author Matthew Potts, UC Berkeley associate professor in forest economics in the College of Natural Resources.

“Land degradation presents unique and persistence challenges to humanity,” Potts said. “This assessment shows that we are at a crossroads and must take urgent action to combat land degradation and restore degraded land if we want to create a happy and healthy planet for all humanity.”

Leaks, spills, fires, explosions happen every day, OMG!

Essay by Tom Bond, Retired Chemistry Professor and Resident Farmer, Lewis County, WV

Fracking is surely the most widely contentious industrial process today. It beats out use of pesticides, and brings much the same complaints as mountaintop removal to a much wider area. It involves natural capital, the God given things we humans have to use for our support and betterment, our common property.

Natural capital was here before we humans came along, and will be needed after you and I are gone, indeed as long as there are humans on earth, indeed as long as there is life of any kind. Failure to recognize it as an asset is a serious mistake, because this can be squandered.

The natural world is a wonderfully complex system. Whether you see it as worked out over 4.54 billion years, or the gift of an all-powerful God, examination shows wonderful properties. Dead life is recycled so that there are no piles of trash, a perfect recycling system, even the rocks are recycled in time. Humans are recent and have become in our day unaware of our increasingly urban way of connections to this marvelous system, and how tenuous our life is and how brief our time here actually is. (Old age forces you think about this, though.) Humanity survives by a succession of generations. Each must learn from the last.

We humans are increasingly out-of-whack because our technology alters our immediate environment for our survival and comfort. Our needs are immediate and our thinking first arrives at solutions suited for immediate use, rather than fitting well into the natural system. Thus we have garbage, resource shortages, and, largely unrecognized destruction of the vast system in which we survive. It has recently become known to science, our best system for knowing, that, “60% of all mammals on Earth are livestock, mostly cattle and pigs, 36% are human and just 4% are wild animals.” And we have caused the loss of 50% of the plant life.

So where does fracking come in?

Fracking will denude much of the area where it is practiced. Viewed from high altitude we will be able to see the pockmarks of fracking pads, and the veins of connecting roads and pipelines. Restoration of grass to pads and roadways will never be as productive as before within the lifetime even of the youngest now alive. Forests requires 70 years to grow to harvest if replanted on the pipelines, and it won’t be. Poisoned waters may clear up in centuries, and it may not. Sick people in the form of lost labor and lost mental work are human capital lost by fracking.

All this is natural capital and there is negligible price for altering it, no consideration for its loss. Owners of this capital and the public must bare a loss, so it is no inhibition on the fracker or factor in the price of natural gas to restrain it’s use!

It is widely understood that the decrease in the value of property, making people sick, adding to the burden of the taxpayer and poisoning water that could be used later or down stream is immoral. How does that enter the decision to frack? Not at all! It is ignored by the companies, by the financiers, and by government.

Legislators have the motivation for moral withdrawal provided by the companies. It is known that there are more than 20 registered lobbyists for every member of Congress. Most are deployed to block anything that would tax, regulate or otherwise threaten a deep-pocketed client. There is a similar situation in state legislatures, no doubt.

Enforcement is not adequate even for existing agencies. They are underfunded, understaffed, and under motivated. For example, the U. S. has one pipeline inspector for every 5000 miles of pipeline, about twice the length of the country.

There are 2.7 million miles of pipeline snaked across the U.S. Some of the pipes carry hazardous chemicals, others carry crude oil, and still others carry highly pressurized natural gas. And when it comes to safety, all of them are under the care of 528 government inspectors.

Moral withdrawal helps make money for a few, and robs many others, and plays havoc with natural capital.

CCAN & other groups call on GOV. NORTHAM

Press Release from Lara Mack, Appalachian Voices;
Jamshid Bahktiari, Chesapeake Climate Action Network; and
Kirk Bowers, Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club, March 27, 2018

Richmond, Va. — Citizens representing Virginia landowners, the faith community, scientists, people of color, water protectors and clean energy advocates today called on Governor Ralph Northam to protect Virginia’s waters by taking immediate action on the proposed Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast pipelines. The action comes the morning after Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality approved a key permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, paving the way for its construction.

At a press conference at the Bell Tower on Capitol Square, citizens presented the Northam administration with petitions signed by more than 10,000 Virginian residents. The signatories call on the governor to protect the drinking water supplies of countless Virginians from the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast pipelines, which would cross streams and other waters more than 1,400 times across the state.

The group also presented a petition from Change.org with more than 62,000 signatures from other concerned citizens from around the country calling on Governor Northam to reject the pipelines. In addition to the projects’ tremendous climate impacts that affect all Americans, the projects bisect national treasures including the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Appalachian Trail, and many miles of national forest land.

The petition demands that the Northam administration immediately halt the ongoing tree-felling along the routes, allow the public to review and comment on the erosion and stormwater control plans before they are finalized by the Department of Environmental Quality, and take action to ensure the state analyzes individual stream impacts, rather than the Trump administration’s Corps of Engineers.

Just yesterday evening, at 7 p.m., the Department of Environmental Quality announced it had finalized the water plans for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, authorizing the start of land-disturbing activities, without letting the public have one last chance to provide feedback on the critical water pollution plans.

“Citizens all along the MVP route have spent years educating themselves about this project and its potential impacts — everything is at stake for them. They’ve been asking Gov. Northam and his administration for one more chance to review these critical water pollution control plans before the DEQ finalized them and allowed construction to proceed. In an affront to all Virginians, this decision shut them out,” said Peter Anderson, Virginia Program Manager with Appalachian Voices.

“My question for Governor Northam is simple: did you really mean it when you said the DEQ reviews had to be thorough, transparent, and based on science? The science is clear – these projects will be the most damaging for Virginia’s waters in decades. It is time to turn your words into action,” said David Sligh with Wild Virginia.

“Governor Northam promised to hold these dangerous pipelines to the highest environmental standards,” said Jamshid Bakhtiari, Virginia Field Coordinator at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “Now, we’re seeing him already go back on this promise. The DEQ will allow the Mountain Valley Pipeline to begin construction, threatening the communities of countless Virginians, without allowing for any further public input. These pipelines will lock us into fossil fuels for decades if Governor Northam doesn’t take action. Thousands and thousands of concerned residents in Virginia — and across the country — are watching.”

“The plans approved for the Mountain Valley Pipeline are not environmentally sound and, from an engineering standpoint, will not sufficiently protect the environment and our drinking water from the pipeline’s construction impacts,” Kirk Bowers, Professional Engineer and Pipelines Program Coordinator for the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter, said. “Sierra Club had to utilize a Freedom of Information Act request in order to fully review the plans and come to these conclusions. Leaving those in the public without the financial and legal resources to use the FOIA in the dark is absolutely unacceptable. All Virginians should have had a chance to review and evaluate these plans for the Mountain Valley Pipeline and should get the chance for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.”

At the press conference, the citizens handed the petitions to the Administation’s office. They held different color survey tape to show the average 125-foot width of pipeline tree-felling and construction, and the 50-foot permanent right-of-way that will scar hundreds of miles of mountains, farms and fields through the commonwealth. They also held several large posters with pictures showing some of the places the pipelines will impact as well as pictures of failed erosion controls on other pipeline projects in mountainous terrain.

The event was organized by Appalachian Voices, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Natural Resources Defense Council, Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club, Virginia Interfaith Power and Light, and Wild Virginia.

Near Blue Ridge Parkway &. Appalachian Trail

News Alert from Blue Ridge Life Magazine, March 6, 2018

Tree cutting is now underway at Beech Grove near Wintergreen in Nelson County, Virginia.

Early Tuesday morning – March 6, 2018 – Crews were seen assembling to begin cutting trees near the entrance to Wintergreen Resort and property adjoining The Fenton Inn B & B on Route 664 just below the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Passing motorists say that a heavier than normal Virginia State Police presence was observed in the general area of Wintergreen Resort and The Fenton Inn’s entrance early Tuesday morning. Over the past several days crews marked trees that had been approved for removal as part of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline Construction.

This morning WPOA’s Executive Director, Jay Roberts released the following statement:

“ACP contractors arrived this morning to begin cutting trees on WPOA property. The Wintergreen Property Owners Association (WPOA), while opposed to the location of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, understands and abides by the legal process that has led to the commencement of tree removal on WPOA property. While disappointed, the beginning of construction only increases our resolve to hold Dominion accountable for the financial and non-financial implications placed on our community by the presence of the pipeline. WPOA is committed to the best possible outcome for our community; one that provides fair treatment and security for our owners, employees and guests.”

“WPOA remains committed to holding Dominion accountable for the taking of our property and the burden this project places on our community going forward.”

See also: Buckingham : Protesters Confront Pipeline Tree Cutters Near Yogaville (Video) | Blue Ridge Life Magazine

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 Highlands (Tucker County)

The Japanese practice of ‘forest bathing’ is scientifically proven to improve your health

From an Article by Ephrat Livni, Quartz News, October 12, 2016

The tonic of the wilderness was Henry David Thoreau’s classic prescription for civilization and its discontents, offered in the 1854 essay Walden: Or, Life in the Woods. Now there’s scientific evidence supporting eco-therapy. The Japanese practice of forest bathing is proven to lower heart rate and blood pressure, reduce stress hormone production, boost the immune system, and improve overall feelings of wellbeing.

Forest bathing—basically just being in the presence of trees—became part of a national public health program in Japan in 1982 when the forestry ministry coined the phrase shinrin-yoku and promoted topiary as therapy. Nature appreciation—picnicking en masse under the cherry blossoms, for example—is a national pastime in Japan, so forest bathing quickly took. The environment’s wisdom has long been evident to the culture: Japan’s Zen masters asked: If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears, does it make a sound?

To discover the answer, masters do nothing, and gain illumination. Forest bathing works similarly: Just be with trees. No hiking, no counting steps on a Fitbit. You can sit or meander, but the point is to relax rather than accomplish anything.

Forest air doesn’t just feel fresher and better—inhaling phytoncide seems to actually improve immune system function.

“Don’t effort,” says Gregg Berman, a registered nurse, wilderness expert, and certified forest bathing guide in California. He’s leading a small group on the Big Trees Trail in Oakland one cool October afternoon, barefoot among the redwoods. Berman tells the group—wearing shoes—that the human nervous system is both of nature and attuned to it. Planes roar overhead as the forest bathers wander slowly, quietly, under the green cathedral of trees.

From 2004 to 2012, Japanese officials spent about $4 million dollars studying the physiological and psychological effects of forest bathing, designating 48 therapy trails based on the results. Qing Li, a professor at Nippon Medical School in Tokyo, measured the activity of human natural killer (NK) cells in the immune system before and after exposure to the woods. These cells provide rapid responses to viral-infected cells and respond to tumor formation, and are associated with immune system health and cancer prevention. In a 2009 study Li’s subjects showed significant increases in NK cell activity in the week after a forest visit, and positive effects lasted a month following each weekend in the woods.

This is due to various essential oils, generally called phytoncide, found in wood, plants, and some fruit and vegetables, which trees emit to protect themselves from germs and insects. Forest air doesn’t just feel fresher and better—inhaling phytoncide seems to actually improve immune system function.

Experiments on forest bathing conducted by the Center for Environment, Health and Field Sciences in Japan’s Chiba University measured its physiological effects on 280 subjects in their early 20s. The team measured the subjects’ salivary cortisol (which increases with stress), blood pressure, pulse rate, and heart rate variability during a day in the city and compared those to the same biometrics taken during a day with a 30-minute forest visit. “Forest environments promote lower concentrations of cortisol, lower pulse rate, lower blood pressure, greater parasympathetic nerve activity, and lower sympathetic nerve activity than do city environments,” the study concluded.

In other words, being in nature made subjects, physiologically, less amped. The parasympathetic nerve system controls the body’s rest-and-digest system while the sympathetic nerve system governs fight-or-flight responses. Subjects were more rested and less inclined to stress after a forest bath.

Trees soothe the spirit too. A study on forest bathing’s psychological effects surveyed 498 healthy volunteers, twice in a forest and twice in control environments. The subjects showed significantly reduced hostility and depression scores, coupled with increased liveliness, after exposure to trees. “Accordingly,” the researchers wrote, “forest environments can be viewed as therapeutic landscapes.”

Berman advised the forest bathers to pick up a rock, put a problem in and drop it. “You can pick up your troubles again when you leave,” he said with a straight face.

City dwellers can benefit from the effects of trees with just a visit to the park. Brief exposure to greenery in urban environments can relieve stress levels, and experts have recommended “doses of nature” as part of treatment of attention disorders in children. What all of this evidence suggests is we don’t seem to need a lot of exposure to gain from nature—but regular contact appears to improve our immune system function and our wellbeing.

Julia Plevin, a product designer and urban forest bather, founded San Francisco’s 200-member Forest Bathing Club Meetup in 2014. They gather monthly to escape technology. “It’s an immersive experience,” Plevin explained to Quartz. “So much of our lives are spent interacting with 2D screens. This is such a bummer because there’s a whole 3D world out there! Forest bathing is a break from your phone and computer…from all that noise of social media and email.”

Before we crossed the threshold into the woods in Oakland, Berman advised the forest bathers to pick up a rock, put a problem in and drop it. “You can pick up your troubles again when you leave,” he said with a straight face. But after two hours of forest bathing, no one does.

Joy Chiu, a leadership and life coach on the forest bath led by Berman, explained that this perspective on problems lasts long after a bath, and that she returns to the peace of the forest when she’s far from here, feeling harried. “It’s grounding and I go back to the calm feeling of being here. It’s not like a time capsule, but something I can continually return to.”

See also: WV Highlands Conservancy

Myra Bonhage-Hale (Her WV Herb Farm)

Proposed Documentary on WV: In the Hills and Hollows

Film Proposal by Keely Kernan, Independent Film Director, Shepherdstown, WV, May 15, 2015

The boom and bust coal industry that has dominated the landscape of West Virginia for over a century is being replaced by the natural gas industry. Rural West Virginian communities, steeped in history and heritage, are facing yet another uncertain future.

Background:

Due to a shift in market demand, and the development of technology to access the Marcellus Shale formation, a massive natural gas boom has swept through rural communities in the northern part of West Virginia. Much like the massive infrastructure built to support the coal industry, large new infrastructure systems are being built to produce and transport natural gas acquired through fracking.

There are currently four pipelines proposed, each measuring over 3 feet in diameter, to transport natural gas from northern West Virginia to other states and ports for export. In the Hills and Hollows investigates the boom and bust impacts that mono-economies based on fossil fuel extraction have on local communities. It provides an intimate look inside the lives of several West Virginia residents living in the middle of the boom and how their quality of life has changed by this industry. The film also explores the lives of residents who have become refugees, forced to leave their home, and the place they love as a result.

Fundraising Tiers:

Your donation is tax-deductible, made possible by our fiscal sponsor, the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition! Below are the funding tiers and the value of each.

Tier 1 – With 10,000 we are able to continue shooting the film throughout the spring and summer of 2015. This will cover the cost of travel and accommodations.

Tier 2 – If we reach $20,000 we will be able to start post production and contract additional post production team members. This will help us begin the process of editing the hundreds of hours of footage captured during production!

Organizations interested in sponsoring the film have the opportunity!

Sponsorship Levels and Benefits

All organizations that sponsor will receive regular updates on all news relating to the film.

Official Sponsor “Made Possible by” Logo and organization’s name under a “Made Possible By” line in the end credits of the feature film and on the project’s website the organization’s logo appears on banner, listed on all social media and on printed material. This credit is given to organizations that contribute $10,000 or more to the feature film.

Sponsor “A Special Thank You to” Logo and organization’s name under “A special thank you” line in the end credits of the feature film and on the project’s website and on all social media. This credit is given to organizations that contribute $5,000 or more.

Co – Sponsor “ Thank you” Organization’s name listed in the end credits of the feature film and in the film’s website. This credit is given to organizations that contribute $2,500 or more.

Contributing support “Additional Support By” Organization’s name listed in the end credits the feature film. This credit is given to organizations that contribute $1,000 or more.

Some of the REWARDS are shown here. These include paintings by Lewis County resident and farmer Myra Bonhage-Hale as well as prints by local artist Mike Costello.

Why should I care about what is happening in West Virginia?

West Virginia is ground zero for fossil fuel extraction and is intrinsically linked to the country and the world. As a nation we are at a crossroads in history. Are we ready to transition from fossil fuels to more environmentally and socially responsible forms of energy? In the Hills and Hollows shows us the impact of today’s energy on people living at its source, and convinces us that we need another way.

The objective of this film is to inspire an urgent conversation about what is at risk and what we cannot afford to ignore. Because mainstream news and large media corporations are not giving residents a voice the urgency is at an all time high for independent filmmakers to ensure these stories are heard by mass audiences.

Production Schedule:

March — October 2015: Continue filming

November 2015: 100% of filming completed, contract sound designers and hire post-production team, post-production starts.

May 2016: Final finishing begins: picture locked, online 1080P, color correct master, score the film with composer, complete sound design and final mix.

Film submitted to film festivals. Following premieres at festivals and US broadcast: Film is made available on the website to stream. DVD copies will be distributed to colleges and universities, libraries, nonprofits, and other organizations and institutions.

Statement from Director:

I grew up in the Appalachian Mountains of south-central Pennsylvania, near the border of Maryland and West Virginia. My childhood was spent combing the vast mountain forest that surrounds our home. After exploring the world at large, I moved to West Virginia in 2013, back to the same mountain range where I spent my youth. My time since then has been spent traveling throughout the state researching the issues on the ground, connecting with families and organizations working to empower their communities against incredible odds. As Americans we are taught to believe that we have inalienable rights. What is happening in West Virginia is a human rights issue. Peoples’ health, water, security, property values, and quality of life are being compromised. “In the Hills and Hollows” is motivated by a desire to expose the extreme situation and inspire reform.

See:  https://vimeo.com/inthehillsandhollows and www.FrackCheckWV.net

Rural Oil & Gas Industrialization

Why damages “never” occur in oil and gas extraction!

Commentary by S. Tom Bond, Retired Chemistry Professor & Resident Farmer, Lewis County, WV

The human animal is a creature of habit. Analysis of our behavior involves the expenditure of energy, which is abhorred by our animal nature; and so custom, precedent and habit, lag behind change. Occasionally the spirit soars when understanding comes on a higher level, but to change our society is very difficult.

Oil and gas extraction began a long time ago, very gradually. Little energy was required, in fact little was available. The return was great, and since little area was disturbed by extraction, damages could be ignored. Most of what was used, lumber and nails, most of the waste oil and gas were removed by natural microbiological processes, and the iron machinery was valuable enough to be removed for junk. The marks down the hillside caused by salt water are still there, but grassed over – I have worked over them all my farming life. The oil on the creeks has washed away. The drilling platform was made by pick and shovel and occasionally by horse drawn slip scraper, and you can still find them, but they are not conspicuous.

Another factor was that the West was still open, so land was cheap. Cash money was hard to come by – think of the inflation since then. Much of the time in those days the wage for farm workers was “a dollar a day and all you can eat” – one good meal!

So it didn’t occur to people who owned both land and petroleum to separate the total return from the minerals into two parts – damage and mineral payment – it looked like a lot of money, just take it and smile.

When their children decided to move to town, some clever lawyers figured out a way to allow them to continue receiving the “royalty” payment for the specified minerals, and allow some land hungry person to buy the “surface.” This is called “separation of estates.” Invariably the mineral owner retained the “right to remove the (specified) minerals,” by methods unspecified. The new surface owner doubtless thought of the methods then in use and land value then current. He could hardly have been expected to think of changes in technology that would occur in 100 years.

Those early wells were drilled by spudding. That is raising and dropping a weight of solid iron about 6 inches in diameter weighing about a ton. Water was pumped out of the well, not brought to it, and the road was only wide enough for the oxen to drag up the engine block and later one track to allow a standard truck to come up and go down the hill one way at a time. Little rock was used, because it had to be broken up to the preferred size by hand. Qualitatively it was a different technology.

Fracking up to the 1950′s was done by dropping a bottle of nitroglycerin “down the hole.” In the early years the bottle was brought to the site by a horse and buggy which everyone on the road very carefully avoided. The remains of this extraction method are not conspicuous in 2015.

Today fracking involves 1000 truck-loads of water, carrying 4,000,000 gallons of water, truck-loads of chemicals of known and unknown toxicity. This is for each well and each well produces an average of 1,000,000 gallons of toxic flow-back carrying not only the chemicals sent down the well, but chemicals dissolved in the 180 degree temperature below. Trucks must pass, so the roads are often wider than the public road they hook up to. Drill pads and roads use acres and acres of land covered with thick crushed limestone that will be readily identifiable 2000 years from now. And acres and acres of pipeline right of way that will not be producing timber for 70 or more years after the production is abandoned. The return on capital and energy expended in drilling has diminished from over 50 to 1 to something like 10 to 1. Environmental damage has increased as a consequence by a similar factor.

And still there is no damage in the gas field, they say. Technology has outpaced custom and law. The rules are the same as they were in the beginning – the damage can be ignored because the return is so large. The owner of the minerals is not the owner of the damage, however. With separation of the minerals from the surface estate, separation of the income from the damage also took place. The surface owner took the environmental damage, the risk to his/her family from contamination of air and water, the inconvenience of the operation on the farm with fences to be rebuilt, areas cut off from the rest of the farm, diversion of storm water from its original path, toxic effects on the crops and livestock, and inconvenience to living standards. He still pays the same property tax while drilling and extraction is going on and in spite of the reduced productivity afterwards.

No damage done in the gas field? Deep mendacity. Mental laziness. Conservatism in the worst sense of the word – no thought.

The notion that environmental damage is less with slick water horizontal drilling and fracture is the invention of those who look at maps, not people who look at the result. It is not what the parties had in mind with separation of estates 70 years ago. It can absolutely ruin the small owner. Continuation of this practice is the result of the difficulty of making mental and legal rearrangement with a gradual change which has now become a revolution.

There is a precedent for making such a change, however. When strip mining first came into use a similar severance claim was the rule with coal. The miner obtained the coal and striped it with no compensation to the land owner. This unfairness was so obvious it was soon changed. By the late 1940′s the usual division was half for the land owner and half for the coal owner.

The original notion that the minerals belong to the land owner is somewhat arbitrary. In many countries they do not. In Poland and Australia, for example, the government owns the minerals. In Australia they famously say, “The landowner owns post hole deep.” Probably the reason minerals belong to the landowner in the United States is three fold: because of the huge abundance of land when the country was taken from the Indians, the fact the land owner was likely to be the one who extracted mineral value as well as agricultural value, and the desire to keep the government (of the individual states) corruption free and sensitive to citizen interests. At that time the Federal Government was concerned with defense, currency and diplomacy, and little more.

Separate mineral ownership is somewhat of a two edge sword for the oil and gas people. Royalty is a very good deal for the remote owner, with only tax to pay, no loss such as the landowner bears, so they are likely to grab what is offered. On the other hand such royalty is often very fragmented. And, it is hard to get agreement on price and all necessary signatures. Still the convenient fiction continues “no great damage in the extraction of oil and gas.” Yes, sometimes a nominal sum is paid. But, as the company man says, “Well, we find that West Virginians are mostly docile.” So, payments for damages aren’t typically very much.

The truth is that if damages were fully accounted for, present and future loses to agriculture, fracking wouldn’t be economic. Corporations seldom try to look much beyond seven years in any but the most hazy way. (Think about global warming and the inexoriable rise of world temperature.) The era of burning hydrocarbons is just a blip on the scale of human time, now understood at least in general outline for some 12,000 to 14,000 years.

Yes, damage occurs on that time scale (in more than one way). But not in the minds that are doing fracking or deep ocean drilling or mountian top removal or in the minds of those regulating these.

Severe Road Damages are Widespread

Road damages shown here; see also:  www.FrackCheckWV.net and  www.Marcellus-Shale.us

And these will go thru our Mountains?

WV-SORO Recommends Gathering Information and Letter Writing

>>> Community Meeting on Proposed Pipelines This Saturday, January 17 at Jackson’s Mill

Please join the Greenbrier River Watershed Association this Saturday, January 17 at 2PM at Jackson’s Mill (West Virginia Building) near Weston, WV for an update on the proposed Mountain Valley, Appalachian Connector and Atlantic Coast Pipelines. Lawyers from Appalachian Mountain Advocates will also be there to discuss landowner rights and answer questions from concerned community members. Please email elise@greenbrier.org or call 304-647-4792 for more information.

>>> Pipeline Company “Open Houses” Scheduled for Mountain Valley & Atlantic Coast Pipelines

Below is a schedule of upcoming “open houses” hosted by Dominion and EQT. Representatives from the pipeline companies as well as representatives from FERC (the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) will be available to answer questions from community members about the proposed pipelines.

>>> Mountain Valley Pipeline Open House Schedule

TUESDAY, JAN. 20, 2015, 5:30-8:00 pm, Summers Arena and Conference Center, 3 Armory Lane, Summersville, WV

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 21, 2015, 5:30-8:00pm, Webster Springs Municipal Building, 146 McGraw Ave., Webster Springs, WV

THURSDAY, JAN. 22, 2015, 5:30-8:00 pm, Burnsville Community Center, 237 Kanawha St., Burnsville, WV

MONDAY JAN. 26, 2015, 5:30-8:00pm, Plantation Inns and Suites, 1322 Hackers Creek Rd., Jane Lew, WV

THURSDAY, JAN. 27, 2015, 5:30-8:00 pm, Progressive Women’s Association (Old YWCA), 305 Washington Ave., Clarksburg, WV

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 28, 2015, 5:30-8:00 pm, Jacksonburg Fire Department, 93 Buffalo Run Rd., Jacksonburg, WV

>>> Atlantic Coast Pipeline Open House Schedule

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 21, 2015, 5:00-7:30 pm, Randolph County, WV, Gandy Dancer Conference Center,
359 Beverly Pike, Elkins, WV

THURSDAY, JAN. 22, 2015, 5:00-7:30 pm, Lewis County, WV, WVU Jackson’s Mill, 160 WVU Jackson Mill, Weston, VA

Who is writing for you?

>>> Contact: Julie Archer, WV Surface Owners’ Rights Organization, 1500 Dixie Street,Charleston, WV 25311 Phone: (304) 346-5891.  www.wvsoro.org

Cheat Summit Overlook, Randolph & Pocahontas County Line

Report by Lauren Ragland, July 28, 2014

[PHOTO - Courtesy of Amy Mitchem] Cheat Summit Overlook, Randolph / Pocahontas County line, WV. National Scenic Highway, Stau​n​ton-Petersburg Turnpike. View of Dominion’s proposed transmission pipeline: SE-Pipeline. [The black water line circle is the actual size of the proposed 42" dry gas transmission pipe. The pink hula hoop represents the actual size of the 36" Keystone transmission pipeline.]

VIEW —  Looking below and beyond over the endless green vista, it is impossible to imagine this becoming an industrial zone. The majority of the land is within the Monongahela National Forest, which the innocent believe is protected from development.

This view from the Randolph / Pocahontas county line could and would be destroyed by many massive, loud, toxic Compressor Stations that would dot the landscape.

Dominion stated in their original March and April 2014 press releases that industry standards require Compressor Stations every 10-40 miles to move​ the dry gas over the high elevation of our mountains.

SIZE – Dominion’s proposed SE-Pipeline is larger than the thirty-six inch diameter Keystone transmission pipeline at forty-two inches.

In the photo the black water line hoop is the actual size of the 42″ transmission pipe. The pink hula hoop represents the actual size of the 36″ Keystone transmission pipeline.

Natural gas companies are reluctant to ​mention publically that their massive Compressor Stations of two story turbines and radiators also include huge Liquid Separators. Another surprise is​ the Valve Meter Stations placed every two to five miles along the five hundred mile pipeline, requiring access. Have you heard yet about the helicopters and infra-red cameras flying by looking for leaks?

US Route 250, is the historic 175 year old Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike, and is within the heart of the ten-mile proposed path of SE-Pipeline. It winds through Civil War camps, battlefields​,​ cemeteries and ​rail road towns surrounded by the mountains.

Online at the Staunton Parkersburg Turnpike website, US Route 250 is described as having “breathtaking mountain views, fresh air, and wildlife are all abundant along the Turnpike in West Virginia. For nature-lovers and civilization-leavers, the Old Pike is a beautiful drive. Today the drive along the Turnpike through Pocahontas and Randolph Counties is still beautiful and idyllic, with varying shades of foliage through all seasons of weather. While many scenic byways promise a beautiful country road, driving the S-P Turnpike is like driving back through time.”

EDUCATING – A team of West Virginia citizens has been devoted to educating the local elected officials and the general public since the first week of June when the WV Gazette and Pocahontas Times printed the Dominion press release of May 18, 2014.

Lauren Ragland founder of WV Wilderness Lovers and Ed Wade Jr of Wetzel County Action group have made presentations at the Pocahontas Commissioners Meeting and the Mill Creek Town Council in July, and on August 7th will speak at the Randolph County Commissioners meeting at 1PM and at 6PM will host the first Public Meeting on the SE-Pipeline in West Virginia, at the Durbin Fire Hall.

At this point Dominion representatives have both cancelled scheduled meetings and not responded to requests for alternative spokespersons. There are dozens of questions that the residents of Randolph and Pocahontas County would like answered. The maps Dominion provided were “out of focus on purpose as to not cause fear,” stated both WV spokesperson Robert Orndorff​  and VA spokesperson Frank Mack.

Visit the Facebook  site “WV Wilderness Lovers vs P​roposed P​ipeline” and the FERC-101 Blog where one can learn the known health dangers and public safety hazards of pipeline development and operation.

CONTACTS:  Lauren Ragland (304-339-2598) and Ed Wade Jr. (304-775-5046).

EMAIL: WV.wilderness.vs.prop.pipeline@gmail.com