Free radicals as “reactive oxidative species” (ROS) are highly reactive and damaging

Submitted to the Morgantown Dominion Post, WVU Today (6/27/21), June 28, 2021

Every day, our bodies face a bombardment of UV rays, ozone, cigarette smoke, industrial chemicals and other hazards.

This exposure can lead to free-radical production in our bodies, which damages our DNA and tissues. A new study from West Virginia University researcher Eric E. Kelley — in collaboration with the University of Minnesota — suggests that unrepaired DNA damage can increase the speed of aging. — The study appears in the journal Nature.

Kelley and his team created genetically-modified mice with a crucial DNA-repair protein missing from their hematopoietic stem cells, immature immune cells that develop into white blood cells. Without this repair protein, the mice were unable to fix damaged DNA accrued in their immune cells.

“By the time the genetically-modified mouse is 5 months old, it’s like a 2-year-old mouse,” said Kelley, associate professor and associate chair of research in the School of Medicine’s department of physiology and pharmacology. “It has all the symptoms and physical characteristics. It has hearing loss, osteoporosis, renal dysfunction, visual impairment, hypertension, as well as other age-related issues. It’s prematurely aged just because it has lost its ability to repair its DNA.”

According to Kelley, a normal 2-year-old mouse is about equivalent in age to a human in their late 70s to early 80s.

Kelley and his colleagues found that markers for cell aging, or senescence, as well as for cell damage and oxidation were significantly greater in the immune cells of genetically-modified mice compared to normal, wild-type mice. But the damage was not limited to the immune system; the modified mice also demonstrated aged, damaged cells in organs such as the liver and kidney.

These results suggest that unrepaired DNA damage may cause the entire body to age prematurely.

When we are exposed to a pollutant, such as radiation for cancer treatment, energy is transferred to the water in our body, breaking the water apart. This creates highly reactive molecules — free radicals — that will quickly interact with another molecule in order to gain electrons. When these free radicals interact with important biomolecules, such as a protein or DNA, it causes damage that can keep that biomolecule from working properly.

Some exposure to pollutants is unavoidable, but there are several lifestyle choices that increase exposure to pollution and thus increase free radicals in the body. Smoking, drinking and exposure to pesticides and other chemicals through occupational hazards all significantly increase free radicals.

“A cigarette has over 10 to the 16th free radicals per puff, just from combusted carbon materials,” Kelley said.

In addition to free radicals produced by pollutant exposure, the human body is constantly producing free radicals during a process used to turn food into energy, called oxidative phosphorylation.

“We have mechanisms in the mitochondria that mop free radicals up for us, but if they become overwhelmed — if we have over-nutrition, if we eat too much junk, if we smoke — the defense mechanism absolutely cannot keep up,” Kelley said.

As bodies age, the amount of damage caused by free-radical formation becomes greater than the antioxidant defenses. Eventually, the balance between the two tips over to the oxidant side, and damage starts to win out over repair. If we are exposed to a greater amount of pollutants and accumulate more free radicals, this balance will be disrupted even sooner, causing premature aging.

The issue of premature aging due to free-radical damage is especially important in West Virginia. The state has the greatest percentage of obese citizens in the nation and a high rate of smokers and workers in high-pollution-exposure occupations.
“I come from an Appalachian background,” Kelley said. “And, you know, I’d go to funerals that were in some old house — an in-the-living-room-with-a-casket kind of deal — and I’d look at people in there, and they’d be 39 or 42 and look like they were 80 because of their occupation and their nutrition.”

Many West Virginians also have comorbidities, such as diabetes, enhanced cardiovascular disease, stroke and renal issues, that complicate the situation further.
Although there are drugs, called senolytics, that help to slow the aging process, Kelley believes it is best to prevent premature aging through lifestyle change. He says that focusing on slowing the aging process through preventive measures can improve the outcome for each comorbidity and add more healthy years to people’s lives.

“The impact is less on lifespan and more on healthspan,” he said. “If you could get people better access to healthcare, better education, easier ways for them to participate in healthier eating and a healthier lifestyle, then you could improve the overall economic burden on the population of West Virginia and have a much better outcome all the way around.”

Exposed pipelines are hazards to suburban neighborhoods

From an Article by Andrew Maykuth, Philadelphia Inquirer, February 27, 2020

State regulators on Thursday finalized a settlement with Sunoco Pipeline to atone for a 2017 leak from the aging Mariner East 1 pipeline that includes a $200,000 fine and a promise to conduct a “remaining life” study of the nearly 90-year-old pipeline.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission unanimously adopted a recommended decision by Administrative Law Judge Elizabeth H. Barnes, which requires the study be completed six months after an independent expert is selected to conduct it. A redacted summary of the study will be released to the public.

The PUC cited Sunoco in 2018 for the April 2017 leak, during which 840 gallons, or 20 barrels, of highly volatile natural gas liquids escaped from a small hole that formed in the eight-inch diameter steel pipeline in New Morgan, Berks County.

The PUC cited Sunoco for having inadequate cathodic protection of the pipeline, which allowed it to corrode and to leak ethane and propane. The material bubbled to the surface and evaporated without causing injury or explosion, but the episode heightened concerns about what might happen if the 300-mile pipeline experienced a larger failure.

Sunoco replaced an 83-foot section of pipe.

The pipeline, built by Atlantic Refining in 1931 to deliver motor fuel and heating oil from its Philadelphia refinery to Western Pennsylvania, was acquired by Sunoco in 1988. Sunoco Pipeline in 2014 patched up and converted the pipeline, now renamed Mariner East, to carry gas liquids from the Marcellus Shale fields to a terminal in Marcus Hook.

Sunoco, a subsidiary of Energy Transfer LP of Dallas, is building two new Mariner East pipelines along roughly the same path as the older pipeline to carry additional gas liquids to its Delaware County terminal. The contentious project, much delayed by construction mishaps, is nearing completion this year. But it is still being litigated in several venues, including the PUC.

The agreement allows Sunoco to recommend three independent experts to conduct the remaining life study, from which the PUC’s Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement will choose one.

The remaining life study, first publicly suggested by Gov. Tom Wolf a year ago, will assess the longevity of the Mariner East 1, including risks. “The information collected in this study will be invaluable for any determinations regarding the operations of Mariner East 1,” Gladys Brown Dutrieuille, the PUC’s chair, said Thursday.

The PUC on Thursday modified the agreement to also require the engineering firm that conducts the study to disclose any previous work for Sunoco or Energy Transfer.

If no adverse comments are received in the next 10 days, the settlement is approved. Sunoco will then have 30 days to recommend experts to the PUC, and the PUC’s enforcement unit will have a month to make a selection. Sunoco will pay the costs of the study.

Barnes, who has heard many of the complaints against the Mariner East project, dismissed suggestions from Sunoco’s adversaries that the fine was too small. She said the $200,000 penalty was reasonable, given that Sunoco had cooperated with investigators, and had agreed to additional conditions, including the study.

The settlement resolves one of several ongoing legal inquiries into Energy Transfer’s conduct in Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in January fined Energy Transfer a record $30.6 million related to the 2018 explosion of its Revolution Pipeline in Beaver County. That agreement lifted an 11-month permit freeze on the company’s other pipeline projects, including the cross-state Mariner East pipelines.

Mariner pipeline route thru Chester and Delaware counties

Energy Transfer also disclosed in November that the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania had issued a subpoena for documents related to the Revolution explosion. The company, in its most recent financial filings, repeated the same language from its November disclosure, and said the scope of the federal investigation is not known.

Mariner East transports Ethane to Delaware Bay for Export

From an Article by Michael P. Rellahan, Daily Local News, Chester County, PA, April 11, 2019

WEST CHESTER — Sunoco should not be permitted to construct its Mariner East pipeline through property owned by Chester County because the company improperly switched construction techniques after the county gave it access to the land through permanent easements, according to a lawsuit.

The suit filed in Chester County Common Pleas Court asks that a permanent injunction be issued against Sunoco, barring it from constructing the controversial Mariner East 2 pipeline on land at the Chester County Library in West Whiteland, as well as portions of the Chester Valley Trial that parallels Route 30 through that township, unless it uses a “bore drilling” method of constriction.

The suit, filed on behalf of the three county commissioners and the county itself, contends that Sunoco disregarded language in the agreements for supplemental permanent easements, specifically the company’s intent to undertake “open trench” construction for Mariner 2 on the Chester County Library property without county permission and in the absence of any temporary construction easement, according to a press release.

This legal action follows the county commissioners’ decision earlier this year to terminate two temporary easements though county property for pipeline construction, and the simultaneous decision to intervene in litigation filed by residents in Chester and Delaware counties before the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission against the company for its pipeline plans.

The lawsuit was spurred on Friday, when Sunoco informed the county that it would begin construction of the Mariner 2 pipelines on the Chester County Library property via traditional open trench method, rather than the bore method that had been included in agreements the county signed in 2017.

That decision drew an immediate reaction from the commissioners.

“At a site meeting last Friday between county staff and Sunoco representatives it became clear that Sunoco was going to proceed with the open trench method of installation at the Chester County Library property without providing written justification or county permission,” said commissioners’ Chairwoman Michelle Kichline in the release.

“This action violates the terms of the supplemental permanent easement.”

“Normally, when it comes to the installation of pipelines, municipal and county governments are restricted in our options to regulate. State regulators and legislators have essentially made us powerless to stop the process,” added Kichline. “But in this instance, the county as the landowner has the right to insist that Sunoco follows the terms of the supplemental permanent easement to the letter of the law.”

“By Sunoco not agreeing to follow those terms I have concerns that they may place our citizens at risk,” she said.

Commissioner’s Vice Chairwoman Kathi Cozzone further noted that the commissioners, “believe that Sunoco will be unable to construct the Mariner 2 pipeline on the county library property within the existing 50-foot right-of-way and in a manner which ensures public safety and welfare.

“By Sunoco’s unauthorized action to begin construction, we deemed it necessary to file this lawsuit to ensure that any construction across county property is done properly and does not adversely impact the surrounding neighborhoods,” Cozzone added.

Commissioner Terence Farrell added, “Now that Sunoco is crossing county property, we are able to formally petition the Court of Common Pleas and request the issuance of a permanent injunction prohibiting Sunoco from constructing the Mariner 2 pipeline in a manner that could place our citizens in jeopardy.”

All three commissioners are seeking re-election to the board in the May primary.

In February, the commissioners announced that they would file a motion to intervene in the PUC action that opposes the pipeline construction because of safety concerns.

They said that for more than two years the county Department of Emergency Services had been formally requesting crucial pipeline emergency safety information and procedures from Sunoco, either directly or through the PUC and Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, in order to prepare mass notification plans and neighborhood emergency practices in the event of a Mariner East pipeline disaster.

The commissioners contended those requests have gone unanswered. Thus, they said they had decided to join with the complainants in the case of Flynn vs. Sunoco because of shared interests. Other governmental entities, such as the West Chester Area School District, have also asked to intervene in opposition to the pipeline.

At that same time, the commissioners notified Sunoco that the county planned to terminate two temporary easements on the library property that were granted to the company in 2017 — a work space easement and an access road easement — for the new pipeline constriction.

Work on the property did not commence within the term of the temporary easements, the county contends, so the commissioners’ letter informs Sunoco that it no longer entitled to utilize the county’s library’s property. There were no terms for renewal of the temporary easements within the 2017 agreements.

In the news release issued Wednesday about the civil lawsuit, Kichline said, “Sunoco must understand that the County owns this property and we have the right to ensure as they cross County land that adjacent neighbors and our citizens are not adversely affected in any way.”

The suit was prepared on behalf of the county by the West Chester law firm of Buckley, Brion, McGuire & Morris. The case has been assigned to Judge Ann Marie Wheatcraft. No hearing date has been set.

Evergas Tankers Transport Ethane from Marcus Hook to Europe

From an Article by Mike Corkhill, LNG World Shipping, July 26, 2018

The first of a pair of very large ethane carriers (VLECs) under construction at the Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co (DSIC) shipyard for Evergas has been floated out from its building dock. The occasion was accompanied by cutting first steel for the second of the pair.

The two 85,000 m3 ethane carriers will be chartered to INEOS Trading & Shipping to carry ethane from the US Gulf to China. SP Chemicals has contracted to buy the cargoes that the first of the two VLECs will transport, for use as feedstock in a new 650,000 tonnes per annum ethylene cracker it is building at Taixing in China’s Jiangsu province.

The two newbuildings represent an extension of the ethane delivery capabilities of the shipping and trading arm of the giant INEOS petrochemical group. INEOS Trading & Shipping already charters eight 27,500 m3 Evergas-operated, Dragon-class ethane carriers for the transatlantic delivery of competitively priced US ethane to group ethylene crackers at Grangemouth in Scotland and Rafnes in Norway.

The first of the DSIC newbuildings is due for completion in Q1 2019. The pair, like the Dragon-class ethane carriers, are being built to the semi-pressurised/fully refrigerated (semi-ref) gas carrier design.

The vessels represent the first application of the semi-ref design to very large gas carriers and will be fitted with the largest IMO Type C pressure vessel cargo tanks ever constructed. IMO Type C gas tank containment systems do not require a secondary barrier.

Three of the four cargo tanks on each VLEC are being built to the Star Tri-lobe configuration to help optimise the cargo-carrying space available when the Type C containment system is chosen. The largest of the tri-lobe units, which consist of three cylinders combined into one, on the DSIC VLECs has a capacity of 23,000 m3 and weighs 1,800 tonnes.

For a given hull envelope, the tri-lobe solution offers a 20% increase in cargo space compared to using bi-lobe tanks. The Star Tri-lobe design was developed by JHW Engineering and Contracting in co-operation with the Hartmann Group. JHW, like Evergas, is part of the Jaccar Group.

Each of the DSIC VLECs will be powered by one of MAN’s M-type electronically controlled gas-injection (ME-GI) main engines. MAN designates the ethane-burning version of the ME-GI engine as its ME-GIE unit. Each vessel will be provided with a pair of deck-mounted cylindrical tanks to hold ethane fuel.

MAN Energy Solutions has supplied the 6G60 ME-GIE engine for each VLEC complete with its newly developed pump vaporiser unit (PVU), a device that ensures the supply of high-pressure gas to the ME-GIE engine in the correct manner. Providing full pump redundancy, the PVU costs less and occupies less space than previous fuel-gas supply systems for MAN’s high-pressure engines.