West Virginia: We demand clean and safe water

I'm Stacy Gloss, a MoveOn member in Charleston, West Virginia, and I started a petition to the West Virginia American Water Company, which says:

It is West Virginia American Water's responsibility to ensure that its drinking water is safe for every one of its customers. We are boycotting drinking West Virginia American Water until levels of crude MCHM are reported at undetectable levels with the best testing practices available and results made public on the West Virginia American Water website. Until the water is safe for pregnant women and all other at-risk populations, we will not drink the water.

DODDRIDGE COUNTY WV Mark West Plant Applying to Increase Size and Water Threat THIS NEEDS TO BE STOPPED NOW

CALL to ACTION

Doddridge County Residents

You are being Poisoned Polluted and generally disregarded by the Massive Oil and Gas Industry

Now there is a chance to STOP the Latest Growth and Incursion on our Water Supply

Potential for Flooding, Pollution and damage to your health

{Read The Full Story HERE}

West Virginia's First Oil and Gas Explosion of the New Year in Tyler County at Jay-Bee's Lisby Pad Site

This report compiled from Internet Reports and Pictures

Before the explosion

West Virginia rang in the New Year with a bang thanks to the Oil and Gas Industry. Sadly, because of the rush to drill and lack of proper oversight we can expect to hear of these things pretty frequently. Remember that here in West Virginia only about 6% of the proposed wells have been drilled so far .... and look at all the incidents and injuries those few wells have brought us.

Irresponsible Construction Practices to Cost Chesapeake Appalachia about $10 Million

Chesapeake Energy, one of the country’s biggest natural gas producers, is going to have to ante up for it's irresponsible construction practices. Federal penalties levied against Company subsidiary Chesapeake Appalachia will amount to an almost record breaking $3.2 million for clean water violations at fracking facilities in West Virginia.

Twenty-Seven West Virginia well sites need to be restored due to damage caused by construction activities and pollution that will cost Chesapeake Appalachia an additional $6.5 million. Makes you wonder if there's not some bespectacled bean counter at Chesapeake corporate who has figured that it would have cost more to do it the right way the first time and considers the $9.7 million total to actually be a cost savings in the long run. Not to mention the expediency of a shorter project completion time.

Tell The U.S. Coast Guard to KEEP FRACKING WASTE OFF OUR RIVER BARGES

This Friday, when we're all tired of turkey, the comment period closes on another turkey:

PLEASE COMMENT BEFORE NOV. 29TH

Action
Notice of availability and request for comments.
Summary
The Coast Guard announces the availability of a proposed policy letter concerning the carriage of shale gas extraction waste water in bulk via barge, and invites public comment. The policy letter specifies the conditions under which a barge owner may request and be granted a Certificate of Inspection endorsement or letter allowing the barge to transport shale gas extraction waste water in bulk. The policy letter also defines the information the Coast Guard may require the barge owner to provide and specifies the additional requirements the Coast Guard is considering imposing on such barges. Upon reviewing comments received on this proposed policy letter, Coast Guard will issue the final policy letter and specify its effective date.

Wheeling Jesuit University Professor Ben Stout to testify on GreenHunter plant at WV Capitol Tuesday, Nov. 19th

Opposing views on the controversial proposed GreenHunter frackwater recycling and barge offloading facility near Wheeling will be presented at the West Virginia Legislature on Tuesday Nov. 19^th.

Dr. Ben Stout, biology professor at Wheeling Jesuit University will testify before the Joint Legislative Oversight Commission on State Water Resources. On the agenda is “Handling and Disposing of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluids”.   John Jack, Vice President, GreenHunter Resources will testify prior to Dr. Stout. DATE Nov. 19, 2013, Tuesday TIME: 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. LOCATION: House Government Organization Committee Room, located on the second floor of the East Wing (House of Delegates side of capitol) COMMISSION CO-CHAIRS:  Senator John Unger Delegate Mike Manypenny      Professor Stout has been a vocal opponent of the project.

A horrible decision against Jessica Ernst, Landowner, Rosebud, Alberta, Canada

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

Canadian Courts Dismiss Protection for Owners of Polluted Lands & Waters

Alberta, Canada, is a province lying in and east of the Rocky Mountains, north of Montana and up to the 60th parallel. In it lie Edmonton and Calgary, large cities, so that only 19% of the 3.6 million total population live in  rural areas.  It is the home of the fabulously beautiful location, sometimes called Superman Country, where part of the movie Superman was filmed.  It is also the home of vast deposits of hydrocarbons: coal, gas and the famous Athabasca Tar Sands.  Alberta is the largest producer of crude oil, synthetic crude, natural gas and gas products in Canada. Alberta is the world’s second largest exporter of natural gas and the fourth largest producer.

That is the background of our story (and incidentally sheds some light on the Keystone XL pipeline).  The hydrocarbon industry in Alberta is a political power that makes Texas look downright democratic.

A fracking accident by Exxon results in negative environmental effects

by Toby Forstater The TEMPLE News

XTO Energy Inc., a subsidiary of the gas giant Exxon Mobil Corp., has recently been fined $100,000 for criminal violations and is forced to clean up a 2010 wastewater spill caused by hydraulic fracking in Lycoming County, Pa. Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane’s office announced  Sept. 10 that the company will be prosecuted.

XTO is subject to three criminal counts under the Solid Waste Management Act and five counts of violating the Clean Streams Law.

Marcellus Shale Documentary Project Coming to Wheeling Jesuit University

Doddridge County Watershed Association Photographs WACO water truck withdrawing from Big Flint & Middle Island Creeks

The water that is withdrawn from our creeks is FREE for the gas companies. Companies DO NOT pay for it. These withdrawals severely affect our water tables. State regulations are sketchy. There is little or NO help for households that lose their well water. What is wrong with this picture. WATER IS LIFE for humans and apparently for the fracking process. Households are NOT using millions of gallons of water.

Hose into Flint Creek extracting the "waters of the state"
during a period when NO withdrawals
were supposed to be occurring
at Big Flint Creek & Middle Island Creek.

Wetzel County Receiving an Excess of Radioactive Drill Cuttings

From the Article by Lauren Matthews, Wetzel Chronicle

Bill Hughes, Mark Cochran, and Terri Tyler of Wetzel County’s Solid Waste Authority approached Wetzel County Commissioners on September 24^th  regarding the amount of Marcellus drill waste that is being allowed at the Wetzel County Landfill. Furthermore, Hughes and Cochran expressed concerns over the quality of the waste, being that it might have high levels of radioactive materials.

The Wetzel County Landfill is classified as a “Class B” landfill. Hughes stated that for over 20 years the total amount of waste that the landfill could accept for disposal was legally limited to 9,999 tons per month.

An Assortment of Fracking Videos recomended by S. Tom Bond

Fracking videos (1) October 22, 2013

selected by S. Thomas Bond

Name, time in minutes, brief description, internet address

You will notice other good videos on the side when visiting these sites.

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.

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.

Half of WV Carbon Pollution comes from Five Power Plants

Dan Heyman, Public News Service-WV

(09/19/13) CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Half of West Virginia's greenhouse pollution comes from just five large power plants, according to a report by the Environment America Research & Policy Center.

The report lists the largest carbon polluters nationwide and the five West Virginia plants made the top 100.

Jim Kotcon, conservation chair for the West Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club, says it's no surprise that huge, coal-fired generating stations, such as John Amos or Harrison, made the list.

What he finds interesting is that so much of the state's carbon pollution comes from just a handful of sites.

Half of West Virginia's greenhouse gas pollution comes from just five large,
 coal-fired power plants, including the Harrison power station.
Photo credit: Lauren McGrath, Sierra Club. -

Gas Industry Study on Methane Leakage Biased by Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).

Big Oil PR Pros, Lobbyists Dominate EDF

Fracking Climate Study Steering Committee

Analysis by Steve Horn, Desmogblog, September 18, 2013


Alongside releasing its controversial findings on fugitive methane emissions caused by hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) on September 16, University of Texas-Austin also unveiled an industry-stacked Steering Committee roster for the study it conducted in concert with Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).

Stacked with former and current oil industry lobbyists, policy professionals and business executives, the Steering Committee is proof positive of the conflicts of interest evident in the roster of people and funding behind the “frackademia” study. Only two out of the 11 members of the Steering Committee besides lead author and UT-Austin Professor David Allen have a science background relevant to onshore fracking.

Hydraulic Fracturing Operations could be affected by OSHA Proposed Crystalline Silica Rule

Posted by Wayne J. D'Angelo Fracking Insider  

In late August, the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) proposed a long-awaited rule that is intended to limit workers’ exposure to crystalline silica. OSHA claims that exposure to crystalline silica kills hundreds of workers and sickens thousands more each year through lung cancer, silicosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and kidney disease.

Hoping for a Positive Fracking Outcome in West Virginia

In 2009, a total fish kill occurred in Dunkard Creek, which runs between West Virginia and Pennsylvania. The culprit was a type of algae that can only live in salt-water environments. Because the creek was freshwater, many wondered where the saltwater could have come from.

Source: Wikimedia Commons 

It's no secret that fracking water is many times saltier than normal ocean water, and authorities immediately started investigating whether local energy companies were to blame. Though the investigation was unable to definitively point any fingers, Consol Energy agreed to pay $5.5 million in penalties and to construct a saltwater treatment plant .