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Mon, 2011-05-23 09:49 — mdmcdonald
Environment

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Corey Watts John Girard Kathy Gilbeaux Maeryn Obley mdmcdonald Miles Marcotte
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Biochar

Sat, 2012-06-16 14:36 — Corey Watts

www.avellobioenergy.com - June 16, 1012

submitted by Al Cisneros

Biochar is the solid, black co-product from the Avello™FRAC process. The properties of biochar may vary widely depending on biomass type, processing technology and operating conditions; but all exhibit a high carbon content that typically ranges between 50 and 85%+. The highly aromatic structure of biochar make it chemically and biologically more stable than the biomass from which it was made.

Biochar will be marketed as a soil amendment, renewable heat and power fuel and potential carbon sequestration agent.

Power Plant Mercury Emissions Poisoning the Great Lakes

Mon, 2012-06-11 21:36 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Poisoning the Great Lakes: Mercury Emissions from Coal-Fired Power Plants In the Great Lakes Region (54 page .PDF file)
http://www.nrdc.org/air/files/poisoning-the-great-lakes.pdf

switchboard.nrdc.org - Thom Cmar's Blog - June 8, 2012

This week we released a report, Poisoning the Great Lakes: Mercury Emissions from Coal Fired Power Plants in the Great Lakes Region, which highlights the impacts of mercury emissions from Great Lakes power plants on the people, fish, birds, and wildlife of our region.  EPA recently issued new nationwide Mercury and Air Toxics Standards that require power plants to cut their mercury emissions by 90% on average, as well as to make similar cuts to their emissions of arsenic, lead, acid gases, and other toxic air pollution.  

New EPA Rules Target Pollution at Fracking Sites

Thu, 2012-04-19 22:00 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Janine Rees

      

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's new rules are expected to affect about 11,000 new wells annually that undergo fracking and an additional 1,200 that are re-fracked to boost production. Above, a fracking operation near Dimock, Pa. (Carolyn Cole, Los Angeles Times / December 27, 2011)

by Neela Banerjee - Los Angeles Times - April 18, 2012

WASHINGTON — TheU.S. Environmental Protection Agencyissued regulations that for the first time will curtail air pollution from natural gas wells that use a controversial production technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

The regulations will limit emissions of volatile organic compounds, which react with sunlight to create smog. The rules also will curb carcinogens and methane, the main component of natural gas and a potent contributor to climate change.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Activists Worry About Oil Spill Due to North Sea Platform Gas Leak

Mon, 2012-04-16 15:47 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

This is an undated handout photo issued by Total E&P UK Ltd of Total's Elgin PUQ (Process/Utilities/Quarters) platform. (AP/TOTAL E&P UK Ltd.)

Associated Press - foxnews.com - March 29, 2012

EDINBURGH, Scotland –  Environmental groups warned Thursday they fear an oil spill could be triggered at a North Sea offshore platform that has been leaking highly pressurized gas since the weekend.

A flame is still burning in the stack above the Elgin platform, which stands about 150 miles off the coast of Aberdeen, eastern Scotland, after a leak of flammable gas Sunday-- prompting all 238 staff to be evacuated on Monday.

Platform operator Total S.A. insists there is no threat of any explosion under current weather conditions, but said that surveillance flights have detected a sheen around the platform estimated to extend over 1.85 square miles.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)


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Getting To Zero 2012 Status Update: A First Look at the Costs and Features of Zero Energy Commercial Buildings

Tue, 2012-04-10 23:51 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Florence Gibert

greenbiz.com - March 6, 2012

Though their numbers are still relatively small, so-called zero energy buildings -- ones that generate as much energy as they consume -- are on the rise in the United States.

A new report by the New Buildings Institute and the Zero Energy Commercial Building Consortium identifies 99 structures that can be deemed zero energy commercial buildings or zero-energy capable buildings, ones that are highly energy efficient and could be counted in the zero energy category with the addition of on-site renewable power generation.

The study titled "Getting To Zero 2012 Status Update: A First Look at the Costs and Features of Zero Energy Commercial Buildings" takes a look at the buildings, their types, locations, design strategies and costs.

(GO TO THE ARTICLE)

New USGS Report Links Fracking and Earthquakes

Tue, 2012-04-10 23:18 — Kathy Gilbeaux

by Akhila Vijayaraghavan - triplepundit.com - April 5, 2012

The US Geological Survey (USGS) will be presenting a paper next month at the annual meeting of the Seismological Society of America in San Diego. The paper will directly link an “unprecedented” increase in frequency and magnitude of earthquakes to drilling for oil and gas.

This link is not a new one. The USGS already linked about 50 earthquakes in Oklahoma due to fracking.

National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) - Fracking Update: What States Are Doing to Ensure Safe Natural Gas Extraction

Sun, 2012-04-08 20:38 — Kathy Gilbeaux

By Jacquelyn Pless

Hydraulic fracturing, a technique used to extract natural gas from deep shale formations, has been employed for decades. However, technology advancements are enabling access to vast quantities of previously unrecoverable natural gas in regions where it is not a familiar practice. While some argue that more oversight is necessary to protect public health and the environment, others believe that it’s already adequately regulated. At the federal level, hydraulic fracturing is exempt from the underground injection control program requirements set forth in the Safe Drinking Water Act. Congress is considering legislation known as the FRAC Act though, which would remove this exemption and require public disclosure of chemicals used in fracking. State lawmakers are also exploring more stringent requirements to assure that new natural gas resources are developed safely.

Since October 2010, more than 100 bills across 19 states have been introduced relating to hydraulic fracturing for natural gas. The most active states include New York and Pennsylvania.  This explosion of recent attention is largely attributed to fracking in regions where it is not as familiar to the affected communities, such as in the Marcellus Shale region. 

Map - Fracking Across the United States

Sun, 2012-04-08 19:34 — Kathy Gilbeaux

                           (CLICK ON THE MAP IMAGE BELOW TO GO TO THE INTERACTIVE MAP)

      

The country is in the midst of an unprecedented gas drilling boom—brought on by a controversial technology called hydraulic fracturing or "fracking." Along with this fracking-fueled gas rush have come troubling reports of poisoned drinking water, polluted air, mysterious animal deaths, industrial disasters and explosions. We call them "Fraccidents."

The map below displays a sampling of some of the high profile incidents related to the country's gas drilling boom. Each of the symbols represents a fraccident. Click on any of the highlighted states to learn more about some of the fraccidents in that state, details on the fracking issues facing the state, and resources for getting involved in your local fight against fracking.

You can also visit the state pages directly.

(GO TO THE INTERACTIVE MAP)

Canopy-Forming Kelps as California’s Coastal Dosimeter: 131I from Damaged Japanese Reactor Measured in Macrocystis Pyrifera

Sun, 2012-04-01 01:06 — Kathy Gilbeaux

                             This study indicates Kelp could act as a coastal dosimeter for California.              

                   

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant, damaged by an earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011 released large amounts of 131I into the atmosphere, which was assimilated into canopy blades of Macrocystis pyrifera sampled from coastal California. The specific activity calculated to the estimated date of deposition/assimilation ranged from 0.6 to 2.5 Bq gdwt–1, levels greater than those measured from kelps from Japan and Canada prior to the release. These 131I levels represent a significant input into the kelp forest ecosystem. Canopy-forming kelps are a natural coastal dosimeter that can measure the exposure of the coastal environment to 131I and perhaps other radioisotopes released from nuclear accidents. An organizational mechanism should be in place to ensure that they are sampled immediately and continuously after such releases.

High Number of Sick Dolphins May Be Linked to Gulf Oil Spill

Tue, 2012-03-27 17:38 — Kathy Gilbeaux

by Jeanna Bryner - livescience.com - March 26, 2012

Sickly, underweight bottlenose dolphins living and dying in the northern Gulf of Mexico may be the result of exposure to oil that gushed into the water after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion.

Barataria Bay in the Gulf was particularly affected by the oil for a prolonged period, the researchers noted. So to get a bead on dolphin health, they conducted comprehensive physicals of 32 live dolphins in Barataria Bay during the summer of 2011.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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