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Pennsylvania’s natural gas wells are leaking up to 1,000 times more methane than EPA estimates

Sat, 2014-04-19 12:29 — Maeryn Obley

Fracking site. (Credit: Jim Parkin/Shutterstock)Image: Fracking site. (Credit: Jim Parkin/Shutterstock)

salon.com - April 16th, 2014 - Lindsay Abrams

Fracking sites at Pennsylvania’s natural gas-rich Marcellus Shale are releasing way more methane than we thought — somewhere on the order of 100 to 1,000 times EPA estimates, according to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences. Flying about seven well pads in a plane equipped to measure greenhouse gas emissions, researchers found that, on average, the sites emitted 34 grams of methane per second. The EPA’s estimate: between 0.04 and 0.30 grams of methane per second.

The problem, the researchers were surprised to discover, begins before the controversial process of fracking even gets started.

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H.R. 6, the Domestic Prosperity and Global Freedom Act

Fri, 2014-04-18 11:53 — Maeryn Obley

energycommerce.house.gov - April 4th, 2014

In response to Russia’s recent aggression and DOE’s slow export approval process, Rep. Cory Gardner (R-CO) introduced H.R. 6 to expedite exports of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) to our allies.

H.R. 6, the Domestic Prosperity and Global Freedom Act, provides that all pending LNG export applications for which a notice has been published in the Federal Register as of March 6, 2014, will be granted without delay.

The legislation also modifies the standard of review for future export applications, shifting the benchmark from Free Trade Agreement (FTA) countries to World Trade Organization (WTO) members.

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Ohio links fracking to earthquakes, announces tougher rules

Fri, 2014-04-18 11:37 — Maeryn Obley

reuters.com - April 11th, 2014 - Edward McAllister

Recent small earthquakes in Ohio were likely triggered by fracking, state regulators said on Friday, a new link that could have implications for oil and gas drilling in the Buckeye State and beyond.

In the strongest wording yet from the state linking energy drilling and quakes, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) said that injecting sand, water and chemicals deep underground to help release oil and gas may have produced tremors in Poland Township last month.

The statement, in which the department announced stricter rules for oil and gas exploration in areas where seismic activity has occurred, comes after a steep rise in earthquakes in Ohio and other areas where intense drilling has taken place.

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Biomass Electricity More Polluting Than Coal

Sat, 2014-04-05 20:58 — Kathy Gilbeaux

CLICK HERE - REPORT - Trees, Trash, and Toxics: How Biomass Energy Has Become the New Coal (81 page .PDF report)

The report found that although wood-burning power plants are often promoted as being good for the climate and carbon neutral, the low efficiency of plants means that they emit almost 50 percent more CO2 than coal per unit of energy produced.

pfpi.net - by Partnership for Policy Integrity - April 2, 2014
ecowatch.com - April 4, 2014

Biomass electricity generation, a heavily subsidized form of “green” energy that relies primarily on the burning of wood, is more polluting and worse for the climate than coal, according to a new analysis of 88 pollution permits for biomass power plants in 25 states.

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Ohio Pipeline Spill Twice As Large As Original Estimate

Sun, 2014-03-30 23:04 — Maeryn Obley

Crews manage the pipeline spill. CREDIT: Ohio Environmental Protection Agency

Image: Crews manage the pipeline spill. CREDIT: Ohio Environmental Protection Agency

thinkprogress.org - March 25th, 2014 - Kiley Kroh

20,000 gallons of crude oil spilled from a damaged pipeline into a nature reserve in southwest Ohio — double the initial estimates — according to officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The leak was discovered by Gary Broughton as he was driving on March 17 and smelled a “fuel, oily smell,” the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

“It’s absolutely terrible,” Broughton told the 911 dispatcher. “It made me sick when I saw it.”

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BP Refinery Leaks Oil Into Lake Michigan

Sun, 2014-03-30 22:54 — Maeryn Obley

Crews clean up an oil spill along Lake Michigan from the BP Whiting refinery in Whiting, Ind., on Tuesday. (photo: E. Jason Wambsgans /MCT /Landov)Image: Crews clean up an oil spill along Lake Michigan from the BP Whiting refinery in Whiting, Ind., on Tuesday. (photo: E. Jason Wambsgans /MCT /Landov)

readersupportednews.org - March 26th, 2014 - Katie Valentine

A BP refinery in Whiting, Indiana leaked an unknown amount of oil into Lake Michigan Monday afternoon, an incident that occurred less than two weeks after the U.S. lifted BP’s ban on seeking new oil leases in the Gulf of Mexico.

BP says the spill, which has since been stopped and contained, was caused by a “disruption in the refining process” at its Whiting refinery in northwest Indiana. Dan Goldblatt, spokesman at the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, told ThinkProgress that his office was notified at about 4:30 CDT Monday of an oil sheen, which EPA officials said on a press call Thursday totaled about 5,000 square yards, on Lake Michigan.

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Fracking in America Kills Off Clean Energy, Leading to Higher Emissions: EIA Report

Fri, 2014-03-28 16:04 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

vancouverobserver.com - by Barry Saxifrage - March 28, 2014

America's surge in cheap fracked gas is acting like a climate change Jekyll and Hyde. In the public eye, fracked gas is being applauded for replacing climate-dirtier coal burning. But behind the scenes, it is also an efficient killer of climate-safer energy projects.

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Assumptions to the Annual Energy Outlook 2013

Report - Assumptions to the Annual Energy Outlook 2013 (210 page .PDF report)

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Wind Industry’s New Technologies Are Helping It Compete on Price

Wed, 2014-03-26 21:36 — Kathy Gilbeaux

The Altaeros BAT V4, a turbine tethered to land, in a 2013 test at the former Loring Air Force Base in Maine. Altaeros Energies

nytimes.com - by Diane Cardwell - March 20, 2014

The wind industry has gone to great lengths over the years to snap up the best properties for its farms, often looking to remote swaths of prairie or distant mountain ridges to maximize energy production and minimize community opposition.

Now, it is reaching for the sky.

With new technology allowing developers to build taller machines spinning longer blades, the industry has been able to produce more power at lower cost by capturing the faster winds that blow at higher elevations.

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West Virginians Raise Alarm as Research Links Coal Mining to Cancer, Birth Defects

Mon, 2014-03-24 22:54 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

A home is nearly surrounded by the Hobet mountaintop-removing coal mine in Boone County, W.V.
Photo by Vivian Stockman

Recent studies suggest that coal mining affects the health of everyone who lives nearby—not just those who work in the mines.

yesmagazine.org - by Erin L. McCoy - February 26, 2014

. . . In recent years, research has drawn new links between coal mining and health problems in the areas where that mining takes place. In response, local groups are working to support further research and boost awareness of these problems. The chemical leak that left 300,000 West Virginians without water for more than a week in January, the 108,000-gallon slurry spill on Feb. 11, and another slurry spill just days ago have brought national attention to the issue. Local advocates hope that this attention, in combination with new research, will translate into a more open dialogue on the health dangers of coal mining.

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Shaping a Response to Russia Will Be a High-Stakes Test for Obama

Mon, 2014-03-24 21:30 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

President Obama, at the Andrews Air Force Base golf course in Maryland, will visit Europe this week.
(Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images / March 22, 2014)

President Obama's trip will be a plunge into American leadership in Europe after years of shifting U.S. policy away from the Old World.

latimes.com - by Kathleen Hennessey - March 23, 2014

WASHINGTON — Planned as a springtime tour with a modest itinerary — affording time to chat with the pope, admire the Rembrandts and take in the Colosseum — President Obama's weeklong trip to Europe instead has become a high-stakes test of whether he can move the continent's leaders into a tougher response to Russia's annexation of Crimea.

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