WVU Professor Addresses 625 Foot Set-Back Rule for Marcellus Wells

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

Usually when you write about a meeting, the procedure is to focus on what was said.  In this case the emphasis must be on interpretation of what was said, because the background formed what was said, not the research.

The meeting was titled “Monitoring of Marcellus Drilling Operations.”  The speaker was Dr. MIchael McCawley of the WVU Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Scienc. These lectures were held at Philip Barbour High School auditorium, Philippi, WV on October 15 and again the 16th at Erickson Alumni Center at WVU.

Fish Kill Tied to Fracking Fluids

The Creek Chub (Image from flickr.com user@mattyfioner)

A new government study found that a 2007 fracking fluid spill in Kentucky killed off several species of fish, including two that were classified as “threatened.” Some of the surviving fish developed gill lesions, liver damage and spleen damage.

“Our study is a precautionary tale of how entire populations could be put at risk even with small-scale [fracking] fluid spills,” lead author Diana Papoulias wrote in a news release.

The study, which was conducted by the US Geological Survey and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, studied water samples and the bodies of the exposed fish to determine the effects of fracking chemicals on their health.

Where frackers go, lagoons filled with toxic wastewater follow

By John Upton

National Energy Technology Laboratory via NRDC

Fracking wastewater impoundment lots as big as football fields already dot heavily fracked landscapes in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The lagoons are built to help the industry manage and reuse the vast volumes of wastewater that it produces.

Ohio lawmakers looked admiringly to their neighboring Marcellus Shale states and decided to draw up their own rules for wastewater lagoons. From The Columbus Dispatch:

Disputed Fracking Water Recycling Plant Will Opens In Spite of Public and Municipal Outrage

by Casey Junkins, The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register

City Councilwoman Gloria Delbrugge usually welcomes new businesses to Warwood, West Virginia, but she doesn't plan to be on hand when GreenHunter Water opens its natural gas frack water recycling plant. Following months of planning and public debate, GreenHunter has all the permits required to begin removing the old structures at the former Seidler's Oil Service site, directly adjacent to the Wheeling Heritage Trail. John Jack, vice president of business development, said work could begin as soon as this week.

Marcellus & Utica Shale Fracking Taking a Toll on Our Land

Article by Shane Hoover, The Canton (Ohio) Repository

An environmental group released a report Thursday that it says quantifies the environmental costs of fracking in Ohio and across the country.

“The numbers don’t lie,” said Christian Adams, Clean Energy Associate with Environment Ohio, during a press conference next to the Mahoning River. “Fracking has taken a dirty and destructive toll on our environment and if fracking continues unchecked, it’s only going to get worse.”

The Nature and Extent of Global Warming, Affecting Our Entire Planet

Global Warming is Affecting Our Entire Planet

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

Most are aware that global warming has not increased as fast recently as it did a few years ago. Global warming deniers made sure of that, while frequently saying global warming has slowed down, implying the heating process had decreased. Not so! The energy is being held in, prevented from escaping from the earth, the same as before, and as the relentless increase in carbon dioxide continues, somewhat more every single day.

The heat retained is going to warm other things than the air. For the transfer of heat from one object to another, the first object (the air which has been heated by infrared radiation) has to be warmer. The greater the difference, the faster the heat transfer. The air is not warming as fast, because it is now transferring much of the heat energy to other bodies that must be warmed simultaneously (because there is no insulation between them).

Chief among the places the retained heat goes is the ocean. As one goes down in the ocean the water becomes colder, because cold water is more dense. Water cooled at the poles sinks under the rest of the ocean, and the coldest water is near the bottom all over the world. The data in the World Ocean Database includes nine million temperature profiles.

The proportions of where the heat goes is shown here.

 (J is for joules, which is a measure of heat energy.) Only 2% of the heat is stored in the atmosphere by raising its temperature, the rest goes to the other sources shown.