Examples of Ultrafine Dust Particles

WVU Researcher Warns About Toxic Ultrafine Dust in West Virginia

From an Article by Glynis Board, WV Public Broadcasting, April 15, 2015

When we hear about the danger of dust exposure, we are usually talking about coal dust underground, or silica dust. But that’s not the only dust that can make people sick. Apparently almost any dust can, if it’s fine enough.

Much research has surfaced over the past decade demonstrating clearer and clearer evidence that surface mining creates environmental hazards for communities in the vicinity. Epidemiologist Michael Hendryx has published a lot of research that demonstrates how life expectancy in the southern coalfields, for example, is much shorter than just about anywhere else in the country. But Michael McCawley says that’s not all we know.

“We also know they have a much increased rate of lung disease and also death from lung disease, much higher than in the rest of Appalachia and much higher than in the rest of the country in general.”

Michael McCawley is Interim Chair of the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences at West Virginia University. He’s been studying some aspects of air pollution that might shed new light on some of the human health disparities that seem to be abundant around surface mining operations, including lung and cardiovascular disease, and high blood pressure. His passion these days: ultrafine particle pollution.

Health Effects

By ultrafine, we are talking about dust small enough to pass right into the smallest parts of you.

“So your cell is kind of like Jell-O with a harder outside casing but the harder outside casing has pinholes,” McCawley explained, “and these particles are smaller than the pinholes. So they can move into the inside of the cell where the exposure results in inflammation. And inflammation is the beginning of a huge number of diseases.”

McCawley explains that there is a substantial body of literature that demonstrates the toxic effects of these particles. He says exposure to ultrafine particles emitted from diesel engines in Europe is associated with exacerbated asthma in young children as well as lung and cardiovascular diseases.

“They get into the lungs. In the lungs they can affect the nervous system. And the nervous system has an effect on the entire body including the arteries in the body. So you can get an increased blood pressure due to exposure just in the lungs.”

McCawley says it matters to some degree what the dust is made from, but all ultrafine particles are probably toxic.

“One of the ways we know that,” McCawley said, “they’ve done experiments with titanium dioxide. Titanium dioxide is the white pigment in paint. Generally it’s known to be fairly nontoxic.”

He says rats exposed to high concentrations of titanium dioxide dust at two, to four micrometers in size, has no effect on the animals’ health. But the same amount of exposure to ultrafine particles of titanium dioxide kills the rats.

Monitoring Ultrafine Particles

McCawley has been studying ultrafine particles in regions of West Virginia where surface mining is underway. In his research, he uses particle counters that indicate how many dust particles exist in the air. He has also been able to determine the sizes and distribution of particles. It’s a complicated metric system but McCawley says it provides much more accurate ideas of the doses of dust likely to be absorbed in human lungs.

He also looked at the makeup of the dust and was able to determine that it was, “crustal, in other words from dirt being disturbed,” McCawley said. “So that suggested to us that there was activity going on removing dirt and materials that would have aerosolized these crustal particles, so we assumed that would be associated with the mining activities.”

The Environmental Protection Agency does not have any rules on the books regulating ultrafine particle pollution. Rules do exist pertaining to larger dust particle exposure. But McCawley explains that EPA considers the overall mass of dust in the air for those rules. Ultrafine particles, he says, would need to be monitored and regulated differently.

McCawley recently gave a talk about ultra-fine particles to the Kanawha Forest Coalition, a group of Kanawha County residents concerned about a mountaintop removal site located near Charleston. He recommends that any community in the vicinity of surface mining or mountaintop removal test for ultrafine particle pollution.

But coal mining isn’t the only industry McCawley is concerned about. He says anywhere where there’s a lot of traffic or diesel generators (highways and horizontal gas drilling operations, for example) are major sources of ultrafine particle pollution. McCawley is also set to talk in Doddridge County, April 16th at 6 pm, at the Senior Center in West Union, to folks who live in the heart of West Virginia’s natural gas boom.

See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

HALT! Fracking is Too Risky

Risks of shale oil drilling apply in West Virginia, too

Op-Ed by Barbara Daniels, Morgantown Dominion Post, Page 2-D, January 11, 2015

On December 17^th, joining New Jersey, Quebec, the Delaware River Basin and several nations, and due to much hard evidence presented by the public, New York state switched from a six-year moratorium on hydrofracturing (fracking) to a complete ban.

One of the documents most responsible for this historic action is the Grass Roots Environmental Education Summary Report on Health Risks From Proposed Hydrofracturing in New York state.

With the caveat that there is far more evidence, the report lists 26 of what it conservatively terms “risks.”  A like-mined petition to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo sums them up: “New data … associated with frack operations expose … intractable, irreversible problems” that even “th best imaginable regulatory frameworks” cannot protect against.

As fracking is little different in West Virginia, these risks might apply here as well.

Foremost is the enormous quantity of chemical-laden, radioactive, frack-brine in constant need of disposal.  If discharged from sewage plants, it contaminates rivers and streams.  In its most common use as a de-icer on public roads, these contaminants will also be carried into water supplies.  The radioactivity, mainly from radium 226, is soluble in water; but, as dust, can lodge in carpets, upholstery – and lungs.  Radium is colorless, odorless and tasteless.  Even in low doses, once ingested by breathing or drinking, it causes anemia, cataracts, lung and bone cancer, and death.

Secondly, New York state regulators reported that Marcellus-produced gas contains radon at average levels of eight times the allowable limits.  This radioactive gas is liberated whenever the fuel leaks or is burned, as in flares, power plants and homes.

Additionally listed were:

#3. Air pollution from the myriad on-site diesel engines plus the thousand or so truck trips, per well, carrying water and machinery through rural areas.  Diesel exhaust produces ground-level ozone (smog) and particulates.  These pollutants cause asthma in children and lung cancer in adults, and are linked to bladder and breast cancer, stroke, heart attack, cognitive decline and premature death.

#4. Flaring – which releases gasoline-type chemicals, such as benzene and xylene, plus other poisons.  Though the EPA ban on flaring starts in 2015, there are loopholes.

#5. The radiological contamination of ground water that will persist for thousands of years from landfilled frack drill cuttings and sludge.

#6. The certainty of polluted aquifers as frack waste and methane, coming from deteriorating cement well casings, follow old gas wells and fissures into water.

#7. Chemical combinations under heat and pressure with unknown effects.  For instance, 4-NQO, a carcinogenic chemical, even in parts per trillion, and not found in nature, is thought to be so created.  It has been recorded in toxic amounts in 24 out of 24 randomly chosen frack waste samples from Pennsylvania and West Virginia wells.

#8. The gas industry’s ability to fund colleges and research so as to generate false findings that cover up hazards.  These misleading reports create a state of leniency wherein existing rules are ignored and new ones stifled.

The West Virginia Mountain Party is working for a moratorium on mountaintop removal and fracking.

Note:  Barbara Daniels is a writer for the West Virginia Mountain Party, who lives in Richwood, WV.

Santa's assistant Sandra Steingraber (elf)

‘Santa’s crew arrested at Schuyler County NY gas protest

From an Article by Bob Jamieson, Elmira Star Gazette, December 23, 2014

Nine protesters dressed as Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus and seven elves were arrested Monday for blocking the gates to the Crestwood Midstream gas storage facility in Schuyler County, New York.  Watkins Glen is at the base of Seneca Lake.

The environmental group We Are Seneca Lake, which is organizing the ongoing protest and blockade, said there have been 170 arrests in two months in what they call their civil disobedience campaign.

The protest group, in a news release, said those arrested Monday carried banners that read “Christmas Against Crestwood” and “Methane in Your Stocking is Worse Than Coal.”

The group said the nine were charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct at Texas-based Crestwood Midstream’s gas storage facility gates on the shore of Seneca Lake.

Those arrested Monday according to We Are Seneca Lake included: Stefan Senders, 55, (as Santa Claus), Schuyler County; Charlotte Senders, 18, Schuyler County; Kim Cunningham, 58, Heron Hill Winery; Ilona Marmer, 68, Montour Falls; Jean Olivett, 68, Ithaca; Hope Rainbow, 24, Ithaca; Gabriel Shapiro, 18, Ithaca; Bill Carini, 53, Newfield; Chrys Gardener, 53, Newfield.

Protesters began blocking the Crestwood gas storage facility gates on October 23, leading to many arrests for trespassing at the Town of Reading facility on state Route 14. Protests have been ongoing since federal approval was received in October to expand its methane storage in former salt caverns along (and under) Seneca Lake.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Check out this video from Watkins Glen, NY, on YouTube:

Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus and 7 Elves Arrested on December 22^nd while Blocking Crestwood Gas Storage Facility, Marking 170 Arrests in Two-Month-Old Civil Disobedience Campaign at Watkins Glen, NY.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Gas Pipeline Explosion & Fire near Houston, PA

Breaking News: “Fire caused by pipeline explosion at Washington County PA gas plant under control.”  See the Pittsburgh Post Gazette article here.

One small example: "ATEC pipeline in Ohio"

Ohio’s natural gas boom brings flurry of pipeline construction

From an Article by Jon Chavez, Toledo Blade, December 7, 2014

The 1,230-mile Atex pipeline is one of numerous new or ongoing natural gas projects criss-crossing Ohio right now. Atex went into operation in 2013. About 38,000 miles of pipeline are expected to be built or replaced across the state in the next decade.

A huge supply of natural gas in the shale of northern Appalachia is igniting a mega-boom in gas pipeline construction in Ohio, the likes of which haven’t been seen since the 1940s.

“You have interstate, intrastate, local utility service lines upgrades, collection lines for oil and gas utilities, and lines for gas-fired electric utilities. Altogether, there will be 38,000 miles of pipeline development in Ohio over the next decade,” said Dale Arnold, director of energy services for the Ohio Farm Bureau Foundation.

“I tell people you might not see shale and oil drilling development in your area like in the eastern part of the state, but with pipelines and development, it’s coming your way.”

Three proposed pipelines are winding their way through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approval process now. A major pipeline company has hinted it may build a fourth large pipeline.

The largest project is Energy Transfer Partner L.P.’s $4.3 billion Rover Pipeline, an 823-mile conduit running from southeast Ohio west to Defiance County and then north to Michigan and Canada. The 409-mile main line will have nine new lateral pipelines ranging from 4 to 206 miles to connect it to southeast Ohio, Michigan, and Canada.

E.T. Rover will begin moving 3.25 billion cubic feet of gas daily from Appalachia to southern Ontario in 2016. [This pipeline would start at the Sherwood Separation Plant on US Route 50 near West Union in Doddridge County, WV.]

Also aimed at the Canadian market is Spectra Energy/​DTE Energy’s $1.5 billion Nexus, a 250-mile pipeline that will begin in northeast Ohio’s Columbiana County, cut across to Maumee, and turn north through Fulton County to reach Michigan and Canada. It will move 2 billion cubic feet of gas daily starting in 2017.

In southeast Ohio, NiSource subsidiary Columbia Pipeline Group is proposing Leach XPress, a $1.75 billion, 160-mile pipeline to send 1.5 billion cubic feet of gas daily from West Virginia and southeast Ohio to central Ohio, where it will connect to lines running to Leach, Ky. Set to be ready 2017, the line is needed to ship gas to the Gulf of Mexico — where Ohio got most of its natural gas in the past.

Two other major pipelines went into service the last two years.

Enterprise Products Partners’ 1,230-mile Atex pipeline runs from southwest Pennsylvania through a sliver of West Virginia and across 13 Ohio counties, ending in southern Indiana. It began operating in 2013. It can move up to 190,000 barrels a day of ethane (a natural gas liquid) that winds up in Texas and the Gulf Coast, where it is refined into the petrochemical ethylene.

Sunoco Logistics/​MarkWest Liberty Midstream’s 230-mile Mariner West pipeline, which moves ethane from the Youngstown area to Sarnia, Ont., via Toledo and southern Michigan, began operating last spring. It can transport 50,000 barrels of ethane per day.

Recently, ANR Pipeline Co., one of North America’s largest pipeline operators, has started discussions about building a major pipeline that would follow the ET Rover route. ANR has yet to submit a proposal to FERC.

However, it is not just major pipelines that are cutting across Ohio’s farm fields. Smaller lateral lines that feed off the new pipelines to provide gas for homes or for new electric generation plants are in the works as well. “Gas exploration and production has grown in Ohio in the last few years. We have seen a general increase in the construction of pipelines in the state. Most of it is routine,” said Matt Butler, a spokesman for the Ohio Power Siting Board.

But, “We have definitely seen an increase in natural gas-fired plant proposals, and that has a lot to do with the trend in utilities to retire coal-fired generation,” he said. The new Oregon Clean Energy Center, an $800 million electric plant with natural gas-fired turbines, will be fed from a new pipeline — the 22-mile Oregon Lateral line proposed by North Coast Gas Transmission LLC of Columbus.

Mr. Butler said two more plants, one south of Dayton and the other in Carroll County in northeast Ohio, have been proposed. A third plant is being discussed for suburban Cleveland. All would need lateral pipelines.

Huge upgrade

New pipeline also is being laid statewide to replace pipes laid almost 70 years ago when a post-World War II economic boom led to high demand for natural gas. This year Columbia Gas of Ohio is replacing a million feet (189 miles) of old pipe at a cost of $181 million statewide. In the Toledo area, it is replacing 40 miles at a cost of $22 million and spent $7.5 million this year on a replacement gas line running under the Maumee River between Maumee and Perrysburg.

Driving the pipeline boom are rich natural gas deposits in the Utica Shale bed in West Virginia, western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and southern New York, and the Marcellus Shale in West Virginia, eastern Ohio, and western Pennsylvania. Utica Shale sits a few thousand feet below Marcellus Shale.

Reverse flow

Petrochemical plants, which break down or “crack” natural gas liquids into more usable products, historically were built in the south or southern Canada because it put them closer to the pipelines. Now with plentiful, cheaper natural gas liquids available in Appalachia, the Atex and Mariner pipelines were needed to get those liquids to the plants, Mr. Bennett said. “Our traditional conventional pipeline system is just for natural gas. But now we’re having to build pipelines to take these natural gas liquids out of here to get them to the markets,” he said.

In 2009, Kinder Morgan Energy’s 1,679-mile Rockies Express pipeline came east to Ohio to bring cheap Rocky Mountain and West Texas natural gas east. Earlier this year, however, the Rockies Express reversed its flow to head west because gas from Utica shale was much cheaper than gas coming from the western areas of the United States.

Demand for cheap Utica and Marcellus gas now is coming from Canada, the Gulf region, Texas, and further west but the infrastructure can’t move large volumes to supply Ontario, Louisiana, Chicago, St. Louis, and elsewhere, Mr. Anderson said.

That is why E.T. Rover, Nexus, Leach XPress, and other projects all are happening simultaneously, he added. “I don’t recall anything of this kind of magnitude having occurred in my historical recollection,” Mr. Anderson said. “The driver is the success basically of the Marcellus and Utica shales. The level of production there is trying to find a market, trying to find a home.”

NOTE: The landscape in WV and PA is also becoming overwhelmed with pipeline rights-of-way. The Marcellus and Utica shale counties are in for more gathering lines, local process plant lines, regional lines and interstate pipelines.  The 36 inch and 42 inch lines are particularly disturbing to the backyards, farms, hills and valleys. DGN

See also: www.mareproject.org and www.FrackCheckWV.net

Doddridge County Watershed Association joins Global Frackdown 3

Lewis County Lavender Farm Hosts Global Frackdown

News Report by Marisa Matyola, WBOY 12 News, October 11, 2014

Weston, WV – Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” has gained popularity over recent years, and continues to spark debate.

October 11 marked “The Global Frackdown“, an international day of action initiated by Food & Water Watch to ban fracking, a controversial technique that uses gallons of water, sand, and chemicals to break open rock formations deep underground to release oil and gas.

More than 200 partner organizations around the world participated, some local activists gathered at La Paix Herb Farm in Lewis County on Saturday.

“Why are we putting our people at risk? Why are we as a public allowing the legislators to act this way? They’re not acting in the best interest of the public, they’re obviously acting in someone else’s best interest,” said April Keating, anti-fracking activist.

“It’s like singing to the choir, we talk to ourselves and we all know everything that is going on. We need to get the general public in on this because everyone is affected not just us in the choir,” said Ruth Lamb, Lewis County resident.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Third annual ‘Global Frackdown’ invades Fountain Square

News Article by Henry Molski, Cincinnati Enquirer, October 11, 2014

Protesters crowded Fountain Square Saturday to oppose fracking in Ohio. Just after 3 p.m., protesters sang, danced, marched and called on Gov. John Kasich to ban fracking waste dumping statewide.

“We need some accountability and awareness to be brought to this problem,” said Alison Auciello, organizer for the Food & Water Watch group. “The government has allowed the literal dumping of fracking waste in this state and we need to hold the governor accountable.”

The protest was a part of the third annual “Global Frackdown,” a day of action against related oil and gas infrastructure. The event was initially started by the Food & Water Watch advocacy group.

“I am most pleased with how this fracking movement is growing,” added Auciello. “A lot is being done in more than a dozen countries around the world and across the country today.”

Also joining in the event on Saturday were representatives from The Sisters of Notre Dame De Namur, the Southwest Ohio No Frack Forum and dancers from the Global Water Dances Cincinnati project.

Protestors gathered with signs on the corner of Vine and 5th Street before musical performances, and rain dances behind the fountain. The activities came to a close as the groups marched up 5th Street holding signs high again.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

About the Global Frackdown

The Global Frackdown is an international day of action initiated by Food & Water Watch to ban fracking —a risky technique that uses millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals to break open rock formations deep underground to release oil and gas. The oil and gas industry has spent millions of dollars on slick public relations campaigns and high-profile lobbying efforts to buy the ability to extract fossil fuels from our communities with as little government oversight as possible, all while destroying our air, water, health, communities and our climate.

While the industry is working hard to protect its profits and drown out the worldwide demand for clean, renewable fuels, there is a tremendous movement afoot around the world to protect our global resources from fracking.

The first Global Frackdown in September 2012 brought together 200 community actions in over 20 countries to challenge fracking. The second Global Frackdown in October 2013, was even bigger with over 250 actions in 30 countries spanning six continents. And we continue to grow.

Together as a movement, we have:

• Passed more than 400 measures against fracking, wastewater injection and frac sand mining in communities across the United States.
• Kept fracking out of the Delaware River Basin.
• Passed ballot measures banning or placing a moratorium on fracking in Longmont, Boulder, Fort Collins, Broomfield, and Lafayette Colorado, and in Oberlin and Broadview Heights, Ohio.
• Passed an indefinite moratorium on fracking in Vermont.
• Continued to keep New York and Maryland frack free.
• Launched Americans Against Fracking – a national coalition to ban fracking – and strong statewide coalitions in New York, California, Colorado, Oregon, Ohio, and Maryland.
• Made significant progress against fracking in Bulgaria, France, Romania, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, UK, Argentina, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, South Africa, Australia, Mexico, etc.
• Won recognition in the European Parliament for the right of local communities to be consulted about fracking in their area.

The Global Frackdown united concerned residents everywhere for a day of action on October 11, 2014 to sent a message to elected officials across the globe that we want a future powered by clean, renewable energy — not dirty, polluting fossil fuels. The journey to a renewable energy future will not be fueled by aggressively expanding the use of extreme technologies to extract oil and gas. Climate scientists warn that continued extraction and burning of fossil fuels will lead to catastrophic climate change.

Participants in the Global Frackdown organized events in their communities to challenge decision makers to oppose fracking, united around a common mission statement calling for a ban on fracking and investment in a clean energy future.

Concern Continues for Deep Drilling under Three Counties on Ohio River

From an Article by Casey Junkins, Wheeling Intelligencer, September 21, 2014

MOUNDSVILLE – A plan to extract natural gas from under the Ohio River is receiving mixed reviews from county commissioners. State officials are set to open proposals for river drilling on Friday. Marshall County commissioners are giving the project a thumbs-up, while Pleasants County Commissioner Larry Barnhart has concerns. Leading the uncertainty for Barnhart is a lack of communication from the state.

“The first that anyone here saw of this was in the newspaper,” Barnhart said of an August 22 report in The Intelligencer detailing the plan to drill under the Ohio River. “You would think they would at least let the county commissioners know they are going to do this. We need them to explain this to us.”

The West Virginia Department of Commerce received bids through September 11th. Spokeswoman Chelsea Ruby said the office has “received numerous inquiries” about the drilling opportunity, but said she could not be more specific until after the bid opening at 1 p.m. Friday.

As for concerns with drilling under the region’s primary drinking water supply, Corky Demarco, executive director of the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association, said contractors can drill more than a mile deep before turning the bit horizontally to reach the oil and natural gas beneath the river. The producer can also establish its drilling pad more than a mile away from the target because of the length of the horizontal wells. “It has been done before. I don’t see how it would be a problem,” he said.

Marshall County Commissioners Bob Miller, Don Mason and Brian Schambach agree. “I think a tanker truck filled with fluids is more likely to wreck into the river to contaminate it than anything coming up from fracking,” Miller said. “It is over a mile down there, so I don’t really see it being a problem.”

Schambach and Miller pointed to coal mining underneath rivers, which is done at a much more shallow depth compared to Marcellus and Utica shale drilling. “As long as the regulators believe it is safe, I have no problem with it,” Schambach said.

Mason noted Eureka Hunter, a division of Magnum Hunter, already has a pipeline running under the river to connect Utica Shale production operations in Ohio to the MarkWest Energy processing plant at Mobley, W.Va.

Barnhart and Delegate David Evans, R-Marshall, are not quite as confident in the process. “It always makes you wonder what will happen under the river. The gas industry is a great thing for the state, but I don’t want to jeopardize the water supply,” Barnhart said.

Evans said if the state allows a company to proceed with drilling and fracking under the river, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and other regulatory agencies must thoroughly oversee the process. He cited Axiall Corp., which now operates the Marshall County chemical plant formerly under the PPG Industries badge, as a company that could see a negative effect from such action.

“Their salt wells are down about 5,000 feet. You need to make sure they are not going to do any damage,” Evans said, noting Axiall uses these brine wells as part of the chemical manufacturing process. “It all seems good if you can do something like that, but you need to make sure you are not hurting other plants that are already here.”

As some maintain concerns about the horizontal drilling and fracking plans, a study released last week by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory showed that at fracking operations in Greene County Pa., fracture growth stopped more than 5,000 feet below drinking water aquifers. There also was no upward migration of natural gas or fluid from the fracking procedure.

While studying fracking at the Greene County site, federal researchers detected some microseismic signals, but all were at levels more than 5,000 feet below drinking water aquifers.

James Martin, chief of the DEP’s Office of Oil and Gas, said his agency will thoroughly review any developer’s plans for drilling under the river, just as it would in any other instance.

>>>Localities are forced to deal with much of the problems associated with fracking, while states and the federal government rake in all the revenues<<<

From an Article by Frank Shafroth, Governing.com (Public Money), September 10, 2014

The shale gas market is an economic boon for the 30-odd states that permit fracking. The severance tax states impose on the process adds up. In 2010, it generated more than $11 billion. The flow of that revenue goes straight into state and federal piggy banks, as does increased corporate income tax revenue from energy companies profiting from fracking.

Localities, however, enjoy no such benefits. Instead, they get stuck with all the fracking problems: noise from blasting, storage of toxic chemicals, degraded water sources and heavy truck traffic, as well as the rising costs of cleaning up the detritus fracking leaves behind. North Dakota counties affected by hydraulic fracturing have reported to the state Department of Mineral Resources’ Oil and Gas Division that traffic, air pollution, jobsite and highway accidents, sexual assaults, bar fights, prostitution and drunk driving have all increased.

In addition, fracking, in many cases, negatively impacts property values, which in turn depresses property tax revenue. For property owners who own the rights to the oil and gas on their land, the effects of drilling can be offset by royalty payments. But localities have no revenue offset if properties lose value.

The financial risks posed by fracking have become significant enough to capture the attention of mortgage bankers and insurers, who appear to be adopting guidelines that forbid mortgage loans or insurance coverage on properties affected by drilling. According to a 2013 survey by business researchers at the University of Denver, persons bidding on homes near fracking locations reduced their offers by as much as 25 percent.

In North Texas, the Wise County Central Appraisal Review Board reduced the appraised value of a family’s home and 10-acre ranchette more than 70 percent. The board agreed to the extraordinary reduction as a result of numerous environmental problems related to fracking just one year after the first drilling rig went up on the property.

While a number of states continue to push to expand fracking, localities have some leverage. They control land use policies, zoning and property rights. Ironically, one of the earliest local-state challenges came from Exxon’s CEO. As a homeowner in an upscale community in Bartonville, Texas, the CEO found himself at odds with a local fracking operation.

He filed suit to block construction of a water tower near his home — a tower that would increase fracking in the area — alleging it would create “a noise nuisance and traffic hazards.”

The dispute in Texas is only the tip of the derrick, as it were. In New York, the state’s highest court upheld the right of two of the Empire State’s local governments to establish zoning laws that keep out fracking companies. The court’s 5-2 decision was based solely on reaffirming the towns’ rights to make their own zoning choices. In its ruling, the majority noted that the towns had engaged in a “reasonable exercise” of their zoning authority, that they had “studied the issue and acted within their home-rule powers in determining that gas drilling would permanently alter and adversely affect the deliberately cultivated small-town character of their communities.”

In Colorado, where the cities of Boulder, Broomfield, Fort Collins and Lafayette have adopted antifracking measures, Gov. John Hickenlooper recently announced the appointment of a task force to develop recommendations that would reduce land use conflicts when oil and gas facilities are located near homes, schools, businesses and recreation areas. He would also ask the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission to dismiss litigation challenging the city of Longmont’s ban on hydraulic fracturing and call on all parties to withdraw ballot initiatives on the topic. The task force will make recommendations to the legislature and issue majority and minority opinions.

The Script: "the frack bubble is bursting"

Enviros Blamed for Bursting Frack Bubble

From an Article by Richard Heinberg, EcoWatch.com, August 11, 2014

Here’s The Script, in four despicable acts:

Act 1. Fracking boom goes bust as production from shale gas and tight oil wells stalls out and lurches into decline.

Act 2. Oil and gas industry loudly blames anti-fracking environmentalists and restrictive regulations.

Act 3. Congress rolls back environmental laws.

Act 4. Loosened regulations do little to boost actual oil and gas production, which continues to tank, but the industry wins the right to exploit marginal resources a little more cheaply than would otherwise have been the case.

You can bet The Script is being written in operational detail right now at corporate headquarters in Oklahoma City and Houston, and in the offices of PR firms in New York and Boston. Each of its elements has the inevitability of events in a Shakespearean tragedy.

It’s fairly clear that the fracking bubble will burst soon—almost certainly within the decade. Our ongoing analysis at Post Carbon Institute documents the high per-well decline rates (a typical well’s production drops 70 percent during the first year), the high variability of production potential within geological formations being tapped and the dwindling number of remaining drilling sites in the few “sweet spots” that offer vaguely profitable drilling potential.

Meanwhile, as the Energy Information Administration (EIA) has recently documented, the balance sheets of fracking companies are loaded with debt while surprisingly short on profits from sales of product—with real profits coming mostly from sales of assets (drilling leases).

The industry continues to claim that tight oil and shale gas are “game changers” and that these resources will last many decades if not centuries. Though the CEOs of companies engaged in shale gas and tight oil drilling are undoubtedly aware of what’s going on in their own balance sheets, hype is an essential part of their business model—which can be summarized as follows:

Step 1. Borrow money and use it to lease thousands of acres for drilling.

Step 2. Borrow more money and drill as many wells as you can, as quickly as you can.

Step 3. Tell everyone within shouting distance that this is just the beginning of a production boom that will continue for the remainder of our lives and the lives of our children and that everyone who invests will get rich.

Step 4. Sell drilling leases to other (gullible) companies at a profit, raise funds through Initial Public Offerings or bond sales, and use the proceeds to hide financial losses from your drilling and production operations.

The rest of this Article is on Page 2.

>>> Richard Heinberg is the author of ten books including: The End of Growth: Adapting to our New Economic Reality (June 2011). He is Senior Fellow-in-Residence of the Post Carbon Institute and is widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost educators. He has authored scores of essays and articles that have appeared in such journals as Nature, The Ecologist, The American Prospect, Public Policy Research, and the Quarterly Review. He has appeared in many documentaries, including Leonardo DiCaprio’s 11th Hour, and is a recipient of the M. King Hubbert Award for Excellence in Energy Education. <<<

Important film about fracking with free admission in Buckhannon, Clarksburg, Charleston & Wheeling

From Chuck Wyrostok, Outreach Coordinator, WV Sierra Club

Saturday, June 21st, 7:00pm at Hyma Auditorium, Christopher Hall of Science, West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon during the 2014 Marcellus Academy

Wednesday, June 25, 5:30pm at the Fairmont State University, Caperton Center, 501 W. Main Street in Clarksburg

Friday, June 27 at 7pm at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 520 Kanawha Boulevard West in Charleston

Sunday, June 29 at 2pm at Ohio County Public Library in Wheeling

Bring your friends and catch one of the four screenings throughout the State.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Cross-Country Tour Of Fracking Investigation To Use Zero Gasoline

Investigative News Team Booking ‘Triple Divide’ Screenings Across U.S.

What do fracking and the car of the future have in common? This summer communities across the country have the opportunity to witness investigative documentary Triple Divide about fracking in the Marcellus Shale, with the added bonus of getting up close and personal with the Tesla Model S, a long-range, all-electric family sedan selected to transport the directors across the U.S. without using gasoline and adding zero greenhouse gas pollution.

“Triple Divide is about how water and energy connect us all,” said Troutman. An investigative documentary about impacts from fracking in the Marcellus Shale of Pennsylvania, Triple Divide has been called “a bombshell” and will tour the United States from June thru November thanks to a grant from the Investigative News Network with support from the Knight Foundation.

The documentary is the feature debut of journalists Joshua Pribanic and Melissa Troutman, who will tour the U.S. in an all-electric vehicle from Tesla Motors to test the manufacturer’s nationwide Supercharger system, where electric cars can be quickly recharged for free.

“Imagine crossing the country without using a single drop of gasoline,” said Troutman. “Tesla’s model may be a way to lessen the impact of fossil fuels on society and the climate. We’ll share our review of the experience online, and those who attend screenings will get to check out the car in person.”

Triple Divide’s namesake, the triple continental divide in Pennsylvania, is one of four highly unique watersheds in North America. It’s where three major rivers begin and flow to separate ends of the continent, providing drinking water for millions of people and hundreds of communities downstream.

According to Pribanic and Troutman, Triple Divide reveals how one state’s ‘world-class regulations’ fail to protect people, communities, and the environment. They believe it offers an opportunity for people on any side of the issue to come together and discuss solutions. To increase the ability to track human and environmental health complaints, Public Herald started the #Fileroom project, which it plans to discuss and gather data for during the tour as well.

Academy Award-nominated actor Mark Ruffalo co-narrates the documentary and added his voice to the project after seeing the film just weeks before its release. The filmmakers will have screenings in West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, Texas, New Mexico, Utah, California, Colorado, Montana, and Michigan with stops in between.

The film’s website is http://TripleDivideFilm.org and you can read reviews here.

A playlist of video clips from the film are here.

Seeking Sites for Disposal of Marcellus Fracking Wastewater

From the Article by Spencer Hunt, The Columbus Dispatch, September 23, 2013

Photo in Article: A semi from Pennsylvania unloads wastewater at the Devco No. 1 injection well near Cambridge, Ohio.

Scientists at the Batelle Memorial Institute in Columbus are leading a search for sites where companies can pump fracking waste underground in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

The two-year project, funded by a $1.8 million U.S. Department of Energy grant, is a response to the growing amount of polluted wastewater that bubbles out of fracked shale wells. Millions of barrels of the waste are pumped into disposal wells, many of which are in Ohio.

With more drilling and fracking expected, oil and gas companies will need to find the best locations to safely inject more waste, said Neeraj Gupta, senior research leader for Battelle’s subsurface-resources group.

“That’s one of our objectives. Where is the injection capacity?” Gupta said. Right now, it’s in Ohio, where more than 14.2 million barrels of fracking fluids and related waste from oil and gas wells were pumped into 190 disposal wells last year. That was a 12 percent increase over 2011.

Much of the waste — 8.16 million barrels last year — came from Pennsylvania, which has seven active disposal wells. West Virginia has 63 disposal wells. (Most of these in WV are limited to specific wastes, as sanitary sewage sludge. DGN)

The fracking process pumps millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals underground to shatter shale and free its trapped oil and gas. Some of the fluid bubbles back up, along with ancient saltwater that contains toxic metals and radium.

Environmental advocates say they worry that old, poorly maintained disposal wells will leak pollutants to groundwater. “Ohio has injected enough waste into all of the different strata,” said Teresa Mills, fracking coordinator for the Buckeye Forest Council. “They just need to stop it.”

Mark Bruce, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, said state geologists will provide mapping data and core samples to help Gupta’s team map the extent and capacity of injection zones. “The more information you have, the better and the easier it is to make the decisions that have to be made,” Bruce said.

Christina Novak, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, said her state’s geologists hope to learn more about the rock strata there and whether it can safely contain fracking waste.

Gupta said Battelle has done extensive work in West Virginia to see whether deep rock formations could contain injected carbon dioxide, a key climate-changing gas. Many of the rock formations that could hold carbon dioxide also should hold fracking waste, he said.

The $1.8 million grant was awarded by the Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America, headquartered in Sugar Land, Texas. The partnership, which judges applications for federal energy grants, is made up of university officials and oil and gas companies, including Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips Co.

Kent Perry, a Research Partnership vice president, said he hopes Battelle produces a map and database that drilling companies can use to locate spots for new disposal wells. “Ideally, there are some areas and more formations that have possibilities for disposal,” Perry said.

NOTE: The Batelle Memorial Institute was founded by industrialist Gordon Batelle in 1929. This non-profit research and development organization is the largest of its type with some 22,000 employees worldwide, with headquarters in Columbus, OH.