BREAKING NEWS !
Mountaineer Keystone's Plans for NE Portage County. NE Portage County has had only a few High Volume Horizontal Shale (HVHS) wells drilled, and those were drilled by Mountaineer Keystone. Because gas or oil is everywhere in shale, productive drilling requires well pads to be placed as frequently as possible (in many heavily drilled states, every square mile). Our members have been looking up public records to discover which parts of Portage County have been leased for drilling and have discovered that Mt. Keystone has also obtained easements for pipelines. The parcels of land in NE Portage (red, green and blue) on which Mt. Keystone has leases or easements have now been mapped by FracTracker. Click here to see large Map and Explanation.
Pipelines proposed across the United States. FracTracker is digitizing data about proposed pipelines across the U.S. They are still working on 10-12 proposals out west; they hope to have those pipelines mapped by next week. Check FracTracker. Or click here to look at the interactive U.S. Map.
SOLAR SHINGLES MADE FROM COMMON METALS OFFER CHEAPER ENERGY OPTION
U.S. scientists say that emerging photovoltaic technologies will enable the production of solar shingles made from abundantly available elementsrather than rare-earth metals, an innovation that would make solar energy cheaper and more sustainable. Speaking at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society, a team of researchers described advances in solar cells made with abundant metals, such as copper and zinc. While the market already offers solar shingles that convert the sun’s energy into electricity, producers typically must use elements that are scarce and expensive, such as indium and gallium. High-tech products increasingly make use of rare metals, and mining those resources can have devastating environmental consequences. But two experts look at the consequences of blocking projects like the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska. Read More. READ THE e360 REPORT
U.S. scientists say that emerging photovoltaic technologies will enable the production of solar shingles made from abundantly available elementsrather than rare-earth metals, an innovation that would make solar energy cheaper and more sustainable. Speaking at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society, a team of researchers described advances in solar cells made with abundant metals, such as copper and zinc. While the market already offers solar shingles that convert the sun’s energy into electricity, producers typically must use elements that are scarce and expensive, such as indium and gallium. High-tech products increasingly make use of rare metals, and mining those resources can have devastating environmental consequences. But two experts look at the consequences of blocking projects like the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska. Read More. READ THE e360 REPORT
Durango TX Pipeline Explosion (6.7.10)
FRIDAY, JAN 31, 2014 08:00 AM EST
The scariest thing about fracking is the risk nobody is talking about: A dense, poorly regulated network of pipelines [emphasis added] carries explosive gas hundreds of miles away drilling sites. . . . According to former Mobil Oil executive Lou Allstadt, the greatest danger of fracking is the methane it adds to the atmosphere through leaks from wells, pipelines, and other associated infrastructure. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has found leakage rates of 2.3% to 17% of annual production at gas and oil fields in California, Colorado, and Utah. Moreover, no technology can guarantee long-term safety decades into the future when it comes to well casings (there are hundreds of thousands of frack wells in the U.S. to date) or in the millions of miles of pipelines that crisscross this country. . . . Carl Weimer, executive director of Pipeline Safety Trust, a non-profit watchdog organization, says that, on average, there is “a significant incident — somewhere — about every other day. And someone ends up in the hospital or dead about every nine or ten days.” This begs the question: are pipelines carrying shale gas different in their explosive potential than other pipelines?
“There isn’t any database that allows you to get at that,” says Richard Kuprewicz, a pipeline safety expert and consultant of 40 years’ experience. “If it’s a steel pipeline and it has enough gas in it under enough pressure, it can leak or rupture.” Read More.
The scariest thing about fracking is the risk nobody is talking about: A dense, poorly regulated network of pipelines [emphasis added] carries explosive gas hundreds of miles away drilling sites. . . . According to former Mobil Oil executive Lou Allstadt, the greatest danger of fracking is the methane it adds to the atmosphere through leaks from wells, pipelines, and other associated infrastructure. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has found leakage rates of 2.3% to 17% of annual production at gas and oil fields in California, Colorado, and Utah. Moreover, no technology can guarantee long-term safety decades into the future when it comes to well casings (there are hundreds of thousands of frack wells in the U.S. to date) or in the millions of miles of pipelines that crisscross this country. . . . Carl Weimer, executive director of Pipeline Safety Trust, a non-profit watchdog organization, says that, on average, there is “a significant incident — somewhere — about every other day. And someone ends up in the hospital or dead about every nine or ten days.” This begs the question: are pipelines carrying shale gas different in their explosive potential than other pipelines?
“There isn’t any database that allows you to get at that,” says Richard Kuprewicz, a pipeline safety expert and consultant of 40 years’ experience. “If it’s a steel pipeline and it has enough gas in it under enough pressure, it can leak or rupture.” Read More.
Industry Awakens to Threat of Climate Change
Coral Davenport
New York Times January 24, 2014
WASHINGTON — Coca-Cola has always been more focused on its economic bottom line than on global warming, but when the company lost a lucrative operating license in India because of a serious water shortage there in 2004, things began to change.
Today, after a decade of increasing damage to Coke’s balance sheet as global droughts dried up the water needed to produce its soda, the company has embraced the idea of climate change as an economically disruptive force.
“Increased droughts, more unpredictable variability, 100-year floods every two years,” said Jeffrey Seabright, Coke’s vice president for environment and water resources, listing the problems that he said were also disrupting the company’s supply of sugar cane and sugar beets, as well as citrus for its fruit juices. “When we look at our most essential ingredients, we see those events as threats.”
Coke reflects a growing view among American business leaders and mainstream economists who see global warming as a force that contributes to lower gross domestic products, higher food and commodity costs, broken supply chains and increased financial risk. Their position is at striking odds with the longstanding argument, advanced by the coal industry and others, that policies to curb carbon emissions are more economically harmful than the impact of climate change. Read Whole Article. Click here for larger image and more information about the evidence for climate change.
Coral Davenport
New York Times January 24, 2014
WASHINGTON — Coca-Cola has always been more focused on its economic bottom line than on global warming, but when the company lost a lucrative operating license in India because of a serious water shortage there in 2004, things began to change.
Today, after a decade of increasing damage to Coke’s balance sheet as global droughts dried up the water needed to produce its soda, the company has embraced the idea of climate change as an economically disruptive force.
“Increased droughts, more unpredictable variability, 100-year floods every two years,” said Jeffrey Seabright, Coke’s vice president for environment and water resources, listing the problems that he said were also disrupting the company’s supply of sugar cane and sugar beets, as well as citrus for its fruit juices. “When we look at our most essential ingredients, we see those events as threats.”
Coke reflects a growing view among American business leaders and mainstream economists who see global warming as a force that contributes to lower gross domestic products, higher food and commodity costs, broken supply chains and increased financial risk. Their position is at striking odds with the longstanding argument, advanced by the coal industry and others, that policies to curb carbon emissions are more economically harmful than the impact of climate change. Read Whole Article. Click here for larger image and more information about the evidence for climate change.
Pipelines.
CCO is presenting pipeline informational meetings around Portage County.
February 8, 2014 Mogadore Library, 144 S. Cleveland Street (Ste. Rte. 532), Mogadore (From the intersection of 532 and Ste. Rte. 224, go north on 532, also known as Cleveland Street--right next to high school)
February 15, 2014 Randolph Community Center, 1639 Ste. Rte. 44, Atwater, (Behind Randolph Library, next to Sarchione Ford)
CCO is presenting pipeline informational meetings around Portage County.
February 8, 2014 Mogadore Library, 144 S. Cleveland Street (Ste. Rte. 532), Mogadore (From the intersection of 532 and Ste. Rte. 224, go north on 532, also known as Cleveland Street--right next to high school)
February 15, 2014 Randolph Community Center, 1639 Ste. Rte. 44, Atwater, (Behind Randolph Library, next to Sarchione Ford)
