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.”

Mariner East pipeline involves dangerous conditions over 300 miles

From Susan Phillips, StateImpact Penna., August 29, 2019

Energy Transfer/Sunoco Logistics will pay a combined $313,000 for two penalties related to Mariner East 2 construction violations in 2017 and 2018. This latest assessment brings the total financial penalties assessed to the company for Mariner East construction to more than $13 million.

One penalty stems from the pipeline company’s horizontal directional drilling activities, which caused drilling mud spills in 16 streams and wetlands in 10 counties in 2018. Drilling mud consists of bentonite clay, which is not toxic but can damage aquatic life. The company’s actions violated the Clean Streams Law and the Dam Safety and Encroachment Act. The penalty assessed for that violation is $240,840.

“PA-DEP is committed to ensuring that Sunoco and other companies are held to the highest standard possible. These actions, which resulted in violations of permits and laws that are meant to protect our waterways, are unacceptable,” PA-DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell said in a statement. “PA-DEP will maintain the stringent oversight that we have consistently exercised by monitoring Sunoco and taking all steps necessary to ensure that the company complies with its permits and the law.”

The company also violated the Clean Streams Law during 2017 pipeline construction, which led to erosion and sedimentation at a number of waterways in Cumberland County. The company will pay $78,621 to the state and the Cumberland County Conservation District.

Construction on the $2.5 billion Mariner East project began in February 2017, after the Department of Environmental Protection identified hundreds of deficiencies in its water-crossing and earth-moving permits. Since then, the PA-DEP has issued more than 80 violations to the company for polluting wetlands, waterways, and destroying about a dozen private water wells.

“We are happy to have resolved this issue with the PA-DEP as we remain focused on safely completing construction of this important pipeline,” Energy Transfer spokesperson Lisa Coleman said.

The pipeline brings natural gas liquids from eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania to an export terminal near Philadelphia. The majority of the product shipped through the pipelines will go to Scotland to make plastics. Completion of the third and final pipeline in the project, the Mariner East 2x, is expected by the end of this year.

In the summer of 2017, PA-DEP, along with several environmental groups, agreed to a consent decree with Sunoco after dozens of drilling mud spills led to the pollution of high value wetlands and trout streams, and the loss of drinking water for residents of a Chester County community.

As part of the consent decree, the agency is developing new permit conditions and policy guidelines for future pipeline projects.

>>> About StateImpact Pennsylvania — StateImpact Pennsylvania is a collaboration among WITF, WHYY, WESA, and The Allegheny Front.

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See also:
Criminal Defense Counsel Represents PA-DEP in Mariner East Probe, Susan Phillips, StateImpact Penna., August 30, 2019

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has engaged a criminal defense attorney to represent at least one employee with regard to a criminal investigation of the Mariner East pipeline project — a move several environmental attorneys said is unusual and possibly unprecedented for the regulatory agency. Agency says it’s routine to have outside counsel, but several environmental lawyers say they haven’t seen it before.

Mariner East 2 parallels Mariner East from OH & WV to the Delaware River

From an Article by Bill Rettew, Daily Local News, West Chester, PA, January 2, 2018

SILVER SPRING TOWNSHIP >> Sunoco is again feeling the heat after the PA Department of Environmental Protection accused the pipeline builder of drilling without authorization. The 350-mile Sunoco Mariner East 2 pipeline is now under construction.

The PA-DEP alleges that Sunoco impacted two fresh water wells on December 18, about 10 miles west of Harrisburg, when utilizing horizontal directional drilling, without authorization. The PA-DEP maintains that the approved method of pipeline installation at that location was by open trench.

The PA-DEP also alleges that a November 17 inspection in Berks County also revealed unauthorized drilling.

Sediment first showed up in a West Whiteland Township couple’s well water in July. Sunoco later agreed to hook up about 30 residents to public water and pay each homeowner $60,000.

Sunoco was also rebuked for likely causing a six-foot backyard sinkhole in West Whiteland and not reporting it in a timely fashion.

Kathryn Urbanowicz, staff attorney with Clean Air Council, fired off a letter to associates. “For this secret, unauthorized drilling to happen even once is outrageous,” she wrote. “For it to happen twice – that we are aware of — makes an utter mockery of PA-DEP and all the calls of the public for increased safety and transparency.” Also: “It is painfully clear the PA-DEP’s enforcement efforts are not consequential enough for Sunoco to deem it worthwhile to follow the law.”

The PA-DEP alleges that the permittee (Sunoco) was not authorized to use horizontal directional drilling at the central Pennsylvania site.

The December 22 notice of violation reads: “A request to modify the permit must be submitted by the permittee and approved by PA-DEP before the permittee may commence any construction or earth disturbance activities that are not included in the information submitted in support of the application.”

Plans call for the Sunoco Mariner East 2 pipeline to stretch from Marcellus Shale deposits in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio, to the former Sunoco Refinery in Marcus Hook, Delaware County.

Jeff Shields, Sunoco Pipeline Communication Manager, released the following statement Tuesday:

“The Clean Air Council is making statements that are simply false. We have made every effort in the construction of this more than 300-mile project to respect and follow the stringent conditions of our environmental permits.

“In instances where a different construction method was used other than what was outlined in the permit, the method chosen had a lesser environmental impact. We are working with the PA-DEP to address any construction issues and to ensure that any changes to permitted activities are approved in advance.

“Regarding the Clean Air Council’s water claims, there have been no wells impacted in Cumberland County in the way they suggest. We did have some residents complain of a drop in water levels, which we are investigating. Finally, nothing we do in building this important infrastructure project is ‘secret.’

“All our construction is subject to extensive and unprecedented agency oversight and reporting requirements, which are published by the PA-DEP, making Mariner East 2 not only the largest construction project to date in Pennsylvania, but also the most transparent.”

Urbanowicz said during a Tuesday phone interview that the violations were not accidents. “It seems like Sunoco is making a decision to go against the environmental protections in place,” she said. “They’re undermining the whole process and the public’s ability to protect itself.”

The PA-DEP required Sunoco to submit daily construction logs, including logs, covering the time when drilling started. Those logs should document each day of activity, start and stop times for drilling, stage of drilling process, approximate progress, drill pressure, depth of cover, and any loss of pressure or drilling fluids.

Sunoco was also reminded that it had to offer well water users located within 450 feet of all horizontal directional drilling sites free water sampling, before, during and after the start of drilling.

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State halts Mariner East II pipeline construction over environmental violations

Article by Jacob Tierney, Pittsburgh Tribune Review, January 3, 2017

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has ordered Sunoco Logistics LP to stop work on the 306-mile, $2.5 billion Mariner East II pipeline.

Sunoco violated its permits, using unauthorized drilling methods that leaked nontoxic drilling fluid into trout streams and water wells across the state, according to the DEP.

The state discovered Sunoco was using unauthorized drilling methods after learning of a drilling fluid leak into a Berks County creek in November, according to the DEP order.

Over the next few weeks, the state discovered numerous other sites in Berks, Blair, Cumberland, Dauphin, Huntingdon, Perry and Washington counties where unauthorized drilling methods were being used, often resulting in drill fluid leaking into nearby bodies of water, several of which were designated trout streams, according to the DEP.

Sunoco’s permits for the affected areas called for digging a trench to install the pipeline. Instead the company used horizontal directional drilling — which takes place almost entirely underground.

“They are bound by the permit conditions, and in this case they violated them by using different techniques,” said DEP spokesman Neil Shader. “Our inspectors have to be aware of what is going where when they go out to do spot checks and other inspections.”

The DEP has recorded more than 100 “inadvertent returns” — leaks of drilling fluid and other liquids — related to the construction of the pipeline since May. These range from tiny spills of less than a pint to 160,000 gallons leaked into a Cumberland County wetland. There were 20 spills in Westmoreland County, mostly around Loyalhanna Lake.

Under the DEP order, Sunoco must immediately stop all work previously authorized by state DEP permits, which cover all 17 of the Pennsylvania counties spanned by the pipeline, until a slew of conditions are met.

According to the order, Sunoco has 30 days to submit a full report of any trout streams crossed by the pipeline, along with a report of any other sites that use unpermitted drilling techniques, a list of all drilling contractors and subcontractors associated with the project, an explanation of how and why the permits were violated and a plan to prevent further violations.

Sunoco must also replace or restore private wells in Silver Spring Township, Cumberland County, where property owners reported cloudy water as a result of unauthorized drilling, according to the DEP.

“This project remains critically important for our commonwealth. Sunoco and DEP should work expeditiously to resolve this matter so safe construction can resume and this vital project can get back on track,” Kurt Knaus, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Energy Infrastructure Alliance, said in a statement.

Municipal leaders in Westmoreland County said as far as they know local drilling for the pipeline is already done, or nearly so.

“What I see through the township here is they’ve got some dressing up to do, but they’re pretty much done,” said Salem Township Supervisor Robert Zundel.

A December newsletter from Sunoco said work on the project was 91 percent done, with work in Washington, Allegheny and Westmoreland counties 84 percent complete.

A judge previously halted work on the project in July when Sunoco was accused of violating a 2015 settlement with West Goshen Township, but work resumed the next month when a settlement was reached.

The 20- and 16-inch pipelines will be able to carry 275,000 barrels of liquid natural gas a day and cross 270 properties over 36 miles in Westmoreland County. The new pipelines will run parallel to the existing Mariner East I line.