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IMPORTANT: Domain change MVCAC list
by Jonathan Rosenbaum 15 Aug '12

15 Aug '12

Hello MVCAC list, This weekend, the Friends of Cheat will be moving their email services to Google for nonprofits. What this means is that the mvcac(a)cheat.org list will become mvcac(a)osenergy.org. This change will occur early Friday morning between 12:00 a.m - 6:00 a.m. I will send another message to this list alerting people after the change is complete. Until Friday morning you may continue to send emails to mvcac(a)cheat.org, but after the change you will need to send emails to mvcac(a)osenergy.org . Again, mvcac(a)cheat.org is changing to mvcac(a)osenergy.org! Also, I am phasing out my freesource(a)cheat.org address. Please reach me at Jonathan Rosenbaum <jr(a)wvcompletestreets.org> . Thanks! -Jonathan

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... technology to monitor how air quality affects health . . .
by Duane 09 Aug '12

09 Aug '12

MY AIR, MY HEALTH COMPETITION STILL ACCEPTING PROPOSALS UNTIL OCTOBER 5 On June 6, EPA, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the Department of Health and Human Services announced a competition to inspire the invention of technologies that monitor how air quality affects health. Four finalists will each receive $15,000 to demonstrate how their projects measure the physiological effects of air quality on health. One of the four finalists will be awarded $100,000 to use the collected data that in the long-term will improve diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. More information on the challenge: http://challenge.gov/HHS/372-my-air-my-health-challenge COMMENT. We could identify select families in areas with air pollution, then auto-send EMAIL request to answer 10 straight forward questions each week (e.g. any burning in eyes in family, any visits to health services). An incentive would be necessary. Monthly telephone interview call. Quarterly on site visit to collect cumulating monitoring tubes. CHALLENGE. Acute exposures and chronic exposures would probably need to be studied separately.

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Proposed Shale drilling fracking research center at WVU
by Duane 27 Jul '12

27 Jul '12

DOMINION POST Wednesday 25 July 2012: Lawmakers weigh effects of shale center bill BY DAVID BEARD, The Dominion Post CHARLESTON — Legislators working on a bill to approve WVU’s Shale Research Center wrestledTuesday morning with a question posed by Sen. Ronald Miller, D-Greenbrier: “Are we going to focus on fixing every center in West Virginia or just this one?” Miller wasn’t implying there was anything wrong with WVU’s center. He was simply summarizing their confusion — a simple 2012 session bill to give the center state backing became another to create Higher Education Policy Commission (HEPC) oversight over all centers. WVU continues its research, and legislators continue to wrestle with what they want. Bill Hutchens, WVU’s general counsel and vice president for corporate and legal affairs, and Bruce Walker, HEPC general counsel, explained the issues to a joint Finance subcommittee Tuesday. Hutchens drafted what became HB 4511, creating the WVU Shale Research, Education, Policy and Economic Development Center under the direction and authority of the WVU Board of Governors (BOG). But the Senate Education Committee expanded the Senate twin, SB 522, calling for the HEPC to draft a rule (subject to legislative OK) establishing an approval process for all university research centers and requiring every university governing board to seek HEPC approval for new research centers. The Senate amended its version into HB 4511. The two sides never reached agreement on the differences, so it died the last day of the session. Members are trying again. Hutchens said he was OK with the Senate changes at the time, but learned that faculty balked at the expanded HEPC oversight. Academic matters typically fall under the BOG and the president, and faculty feared the HEPC could be approving every project by every individual researcher. “They do not think it’s appropriate to go through rule making for every center,” Hutchens said. Walker likewise said the HEPC isn’t seeking that kind of authority, but it’s a legislative policy matter, and if that’s what legislators want, that’s OK. Asked why WVU sought the bill to begin with, Hutchens explained that WVU researchers are already studying aspects of the fracking industry. But the state’s backing “could give us increased credibility and cache.” Hutchens said the whole state would give weight to the center’s interactions with federal and international agencies — the equivalents of the National Energy Technology laboratories in Canada, Mexico, Poland, China and more. Hutchens told members that if they decide to mandate HEPC oversight of research centers, faculty would like a chance to help draft a definition of “research center.” There are already dozens of them at institutions across the state, of varying sizes and purposes, and the bill would need to be clear about the scope of HEPC authority. To help members make up their minds how far they want to go with this issue, Walker said he would conduct a survey of how many centers already exist. WVU research well Hutchens said a dream project for the research center was put on hold by the recent dive in natural gas prices — but he’s working to get it going again. WVU wants to work with an operator to drill a horizontal well on WVU land. It would be a working well, generating money for the operator. But it would also be a research well, with every bit of data from the first turn of dirt through drilling and production and on being shared to advance knowledge in the field. When gas prices fell, operators cut back their drilling plans. “Now I’m looking for money to fund the work, from industry and others,” Hutchens said. Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535.

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hydraulic_frac_hazard_alert.pdf
by Duane 22 Jul '12

22 Jul '12

http://www.osha.gov/dts/hazardalerts/hydraulic_frac_hazard_alert.pdf The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) identified exposure to airborne silica as a health hazard to workers conducting some hydraulic fracturing operations during recent field studies.

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Air needs protection
by Duane 16 Jul '12

16 Jul '12

Texas judge rules atmosphere & air must be protected http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48161013/ns/us_news-environment/#.T_7fsnDiMa4 By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI HOUSTON — A Texas judge has ruled that the atmosphere and air must be protected for public use, just like water, which could help attorneys tasked with arguing climate change lawsuits designed to force states to cut emissions. The written ruling, issued in a letter Monday by Texas District Court Judge Gisela Triana, shot down arguments by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality that only water is a "public trust," a doctrine that dates to the Roman Empire stating a government must protect certain resources — usually water, sometimes wildlife — for the common good. Adam Abrams, one of the attorneys arguing the case against TCEQ, said Triana's ruling could be used as a persuasive argument in lawsuits pending in 11 other states. In Texas, though, a ruling to protect air and the atmosphere has added significance. Republican Gov. Rick Perry is one of the most vocal opponents against widely accepted scientific research that fossil fuel emissions are causing global warming. And the state has refused to regulate greenhouse gases, forcing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to work directly with industries to ensure they comply with federal law. "The commission's conclusion that the public trust doctrine is exclusively limited to the conservation of water is legally invalid," Triana wrote. She also wants the case brought to a standstill, saying that so long as Texas has open-ended litigation on similar issues on the federal level, she cannot compel the TCEQ to write rules to protect the atmosphere and the air. The TCEQ said in an emailed comment that it was reviewing the judge's letter and is awaiting her final order, but it appears Triana will support the agency's move to deny the request for new rules. The lawsuit was brought by the Texas Environmental Law Center, and is part of a court campaign in a dozen states by an Oregon-based nonprofit, Our Children's Trust. The group is using children and young adults as plaintiffs in the lawsuits — some state and some federal — filed in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas and Washington. By relying on "common law" theories, the group hopes to have the atmosphere declared a public trust for the first time, granting it special protection. The doctrine has been used to clean up rivers and coastlines, but many legal experts have been unsure if it could be used successfully to combat climate change. Still, Abrams, who has handled the Texas case on behalf of the Texas Environmental Law Center, believes Triana's ruling can be used to argue the cases in other states. So far, he said, this is the first judge to back the group, though a New Mexico court recently allowed the case to go forward. "I think it's huge that we got a judge to acknowledge that the atmosphere is a public trust asset and the air is a public trust asset," Abrams said. "It's the first time we've had verbage like this come out of one of these cases." THANKS go to Chuck Wyrostok, WV Sierra Club, for distributing this article.

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EPA proposes to reduce PM2.5 from 15 to 12 ug/m3
by Duane330＠aol.com 05 Jul '12

05 Jul '12

EPA PROPOSES CLEAN AIR STANDARDS TO CURTAIL SOOT POLLUTION AND PROTECT PUBLIC HEALTH On June 15, EPA proposed updating its national air quality standards to reduce harmful fine particle pollution (PM2.5) from the current annual standard of 15 micrograms per cubic meter, to within 12 micrograms to 13 micrograms per cubic meter. EPA will accept public comment for 63 days after the proposed standards are published in the Federal Register and will issue the final standards by Dec. 14. For more information, go to _http://www.epa.gov/pm_ (http://www.epa.gov/pm) .

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Southwest PA: Compressor Station Expansion Comments and Public Workshop Opportunity
by Duane 11 Jun '12

11 Jun '12

> Subject: Southwest PA: Compressor Station Expansion Comments > and Public Workshop Opportunity > > Hey, > > I wanted to let you know about two upcoming opportunities for public participation in natural gas issues: > > 1. Comment on increased harmful air pollution from Welling Station Expansion in Washington County > > PA DEP recently announced their intent to issue an air quality permit for another compressor station expansion proposed in Buffalo Township, Washington County – MarkWest’s Welling Compressor Station. This expansion will create significant environmental and health impacts, especially in the context of the currently extensive natural gas infrastructure in the region. > > This facility expansion would result in a station with 9 engines, a dehydrator, a flare, condensate tanks, and other various smaller engines and equipment. As planned, this facility would emit 49.2 tons per year of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), 58.7 TPY of Nitrous Oxides, and 89,422 TPY of CO2e. All projections are just under limits that would trigger more stringent pollution control requirements. > > This is your chance to tell the state what you think about this compressor station expansion. Please change the content in the action alert below to reflect your concerns and position. Don’t let this be just another form letter that PA DEP gets in their inbox. Let them know you care by adding your own perspective and by editing the template to include the topics that interest you most. Thanks for your participation. > > Click HERE to send your comments to DEP > > OR > > Copy and paste this link in your web browser: > > http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1152/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=1… > > > > 2. Protecting the Air We All Breathe: Health & Air Impacts from Natural Gas Operations and Info on the Welling Compressor Station > > Buffalo Township Municipal Building, Washington County, PA > > Wednesday, June 20th, 7PM > > Clean Air Council and the Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP) will provide residents of the area with information about air quality issues and health impacts associated with natural gas development. The presenters will discuss the proposed Welling Compressor Station expansion and provide details on how the public can comment on this station. > > Please let me know if you have any questions. > > Sincerely, > > Matt Walker > Clean Air Council > Community Outreach Coordinator > Marcellus Shale Program > 215-567-4004 ext. 121 > mwalker(a)cleanair.org > Website: www.cleanair.org > Facebook: Clean Air Council > Twitter: @cleanaircouncil >

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Marcellus Air Quality & Health Impacts
by Duane 11 Jun '12

11 Jun '12

Marcellus Shale Community Symposium Air Quality and Health Impacts presented by Friends of Deckers Creek in partnership with Friends of the Cheat Thursday, June 28, 2012, 6:30 – 8:00 PM WVU Evansdale Campus Room 207 Engineering Science Bldg Friends of Deckers Creek and Friends of the Cheat are hosting the 2ndquarterly Marcellus Shale community symposium, focused on air quality issues and health impacts. Other topics to be addressed include air quality monitoring and volunteer water monitoring programs. Dr. Mike McCawley, WVU Department of Community Medicine, will present information on a novel system he’s developed to monitor air quality around Marcellus drill sites as well as potential health impacts. Bill Hughes, Wetzel County Action Group, will share on-the-ground photographs of air pollution sources from well site activities. Friends of Deckers Creek and Friends of the Cheat will briefly discuss their citizen scientist monitoring programs. There also will be ample time for questions and discussion. This will be a great opportunity for residents to learn more about the potential environmental impacts from Marcellus Shale drilling, potential air quality and health impacts, and to get involved with monitoring efforts. Hope to see you there! Elizabeth Wiles, Executive Director Friends of Deckers Creek PO Box 877 Dellslow, WV 26531 Office: 304.292.3970 Fax: 304.292.5070 Email: liz(a)deckerscreek.org www.deckerscreek.org

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"It's not just Armendariz."
by Duane 05 Jun '12

05 Jun '12

From: Calvin Tillman <tillman4council(a)aol.com> Date: Sun, Jun 3, 2012 at 7:39 PM Subject: Fwd: "I Am An Armendariz" To: Tillman4council(a)aol.com Dr. Al Armendariz (was also in the Texas portion of Gasland) was the EPA Region 6 Administrator that spoke before the citizens of DISH TX shortly after his appointment, and was discussing how he would attempt to hold the Oil and Gas Industry accountable for there actions. A video of this was made public and a brief clip of this was blown out of proportion by the oil and gas industry. Subsequently Dr. Armendariz resigned from the EPA, and is still being forced to testify before congress, below is a campaign to show support for Dr. Armendariz. If you support what Dr. Armendariz was attempting to do, please consider participating. Calvin Tillman Former Mayor, DISH, TX (940) 453-3640 "Those who say it can not be done, should get out of the way of those that are doing it" -----Original Message----- From: schermbeck <schermbeck(a)aol.com> To: Sent: Sun, Jun 3, 2012 6:26 pm Subject: "I Am An Armendariz" This Wednesday, June 6 at 10 EST, Dr. Al Armendariz will be facing off with Smokey Joe Barton in Washington at a hearing of a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Some of us have decided to try and put up a new website by the time Dr. Al begins to testify that will both show we stand behind him and try to build a larger base of support for him and his work. The site is IMANARMENDARIZ.COM and it's name comes from this quote by Senator Inhofe (R-Oil and Gas) after he learned that Dr. Al resigned: "It's not just Armendariz. There are lots of other Armendarizes around." To prove how right the Senator is, we're collecting pics from citizens who are proudly willing to stand behind a sign that says "I am an Armendariz" - that they too are for prosecuting environmental criminals instead of coddling them, and support Al as he faces another round of needless harassment in order to advance the House's radical anti-EPA agenda. We'll put these "I am an Armendariz" pics up online at the new website. If you want to contribute, please send your pics to iamanarmendariz(a)gmail.com Also - if you as an individual or your group would like to be listed as a supporter of Dr. Al, please let me know by e-mailing me or using the iamanarmendariz(a)gmail.com address. Attached is a quick flyer put together for the purpose of graphically illustrating the concept and being able to forward the campaign to others. Please send it along with this e-mail to others you think might be interested in pushing back on behalf of a guy who tried to look out for us. We're looking forward to receiving everyone's contributions. Thanks for your consideration. Jim Schermbeck Downwinders at Risk 806-787-6567

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Fracking's Methane Trail: A Detective Story : NPR
by Duane 17 May '12

17 May '12

http://www.npr.org/2012/05/17/151545578/frackings-methane-trail-a-detective… May 17, 2012 NPR: FRACKING'S METHANE TRAIL: A DETECTIVE STORY Gaby Petron didn't set out to challenge industry and government assumptions about how much pollution comes from natural gas drilling. She was just doing what she always does as an air pollution data sleuth for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "I look for a story in the data," says Petron. "You give me a data set, I will study it back and forth and left and right for weeks, and I will find something to tell about it." Petron saw high levels of methane in readings from a NOAA observation tower north of Denver. And through painstaking, on-the-ground detective work, she tied that pollution to the sprawling oil and gas fields in northeastern Colorado. The story she stumbled into suggests that government may be far underestimating air pollution from natural gas production. Her measurements, which were published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, suggest that methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is leaking at least twice the rate reported by the industry. Coal Vs. Natural Gas: Which Is Cleaner? Her paper was the latest volley in an intense estimate war under way in the scientific community about whether natural gas really is cleaner than the coal it's already starting to replace on the electric grid. A lot of research shows power plants pump out fewer greenhouse gases when they run on gas instead of coal. But no one really knows how much natural gas leaks out when companies are drilling for gas and getting it to power plants. Natural gas is primarily methane. Methane is very effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere. And already, natural gas production is the biggest manmade U.S. source of methane. The way it is now, the Environmental Protection Agency relies on estimates of methane emissions. They're based on some measurements of emissions from individual pieces of equipment and lots of complicated math. A Revealing Tower A tall tower at the foot of the Rocky Mountains tipped off scientists that these estimates are poor substitutes for measuring. Imagine an open metal structure as tall as the Eiffel Tower and in the shape of a Toblerone chocolate box. A tiny elevator runs up the middle. For the past few years, that tower has been Gaby Petron's muse, spewing out numbers about air pollution. Petron was studying those numbers at NOAA's lab in Boulder, Colo., just 15 miles from the tower. What she saw amazed her. "Oh, my God, we were looking at something really different than anywhere else where we were taking measurements in this country," Petron recalls. "And at first I didn't know what it was." What she saw was very high levels of methane gas, not all the time, but often. And every time methane was high, she saw a consistent mix of other chemicals with it — a sort of chemical cocktail — that included methane, propane and pentane in specific proportions. Levels as high as she was seeing suggested a lot more methane than anyone realized was coming from somewhere, but from where? She talked a colleague into turning his Prius into a mobile lab so she could sniff out the source. As they drove east, toward the tower, methane levels would increase. Seeking The Source They saw lots of potential sources of methane: a landfill, cows and lots of telltale signs of the oil and gas industry, such as storage tanks, drill rigs and lots of bright red Halliburton trucks. She collected canisters of air near cows to see if they were her mysterious source. But when the analysis came back from the lab, there was methane, but not the other chemicals in the cocktail from the tower. No match. The landfill was not a match, either. When she drove around the oil and gas field northeast of the tower, the methane levels spiked."They would increase a lot, and that's why we saw we were looking at something really important and really big," Petron recalls. "We would say, 'Oh, my god, let's stop and take a sample.' " When her lab analyzed the canisters of air from the gas field, she had a match. The tower is on the southwest corner of the Denver-Julesburg basin, where at the time there were more than 20,000 active natural gas and condensate wells. She got detailed wind direction data from the tower and confirmed that methane at the tower was highest when the wind was blowing from the direction of the gas fields. She also got a hold of the industry's analysis of the mixture of chemicals that come out of the ground with the natural gas here. It also matched what she found in the tower air. "So that's when you have your moment. All right, the story is right there. It's really not the landfill. It's really not the cows. It's really all the oil and gas equipment and activities that are going on in the region. And it's not new — it's always been there. We were just not measuring it." Petron said. Then came the hard part: trying to figure out how much methane was leaking from the gas fields. That took a few years and a lot of input from industry and regulators. The science and calculations were complicated. "That's why it took so long to write this story," Petron recalls. She says even the lowest range of her estimate was higher than the leak rate industry and regulators were reporting. "Really, what our story is telling in our paper is the leak rate is twice what the industry thinks it is," she says. Petron's work also suggests that the industry is underestimating its releases of other chemicals, including benzene, which, if present at high enough levels, can cause cancer. The industry reports negligible benzene emissions. But her calculations show it is likely the region's largest source of benzene. Measuring A Sprawling Industry So why don't gas companies measure the pollution they pump into the air? Companies can have thousands of gas wells, storage tanks and equipment that leak air pollution sprawled over hundreds of square miles. Allen says it would take too much work for companies to maintain air pollution monitors near each well site. "Direct emission measurement is extremely expensive. It's not realistic to install such devices on every single emissions source that there is," says Cindy Allen, who heads the environment team for a drilling company called Encana. The American Petroleum Institute says companies are trying to improve their air pollution estimates. The trade group is working on a new survey of methane emissions from tens of thousands of wells. The API's Howard Feldman says more measurements like the ones that came from that NOAA tower are needed, too. "Both are valid, and both add to the information that we have," he says. Feldman says it's in the industry's interest to find leaks and capture methane, because methane — which is natural gas — is their product, and they don't want to lose it to the atmosphere. Road Trip Petron believes scientists need to play a much bigger role in measuring air pollution from natural gas production — at well sites and compressor stations, and over entire gas fields. This winter, she tricked out a van with a lot of sensitive instruments and hit the road in Utah and Colorado. She's collaborating with other scientists measuring the air over gas fields from aircraft. She believes pollution levels could vary a lot from one gas field to another. So Petron wants to take her van to other gas fields in Utah, Texas and Pennsylvania. "There's a lot of booming oil and gas activities around the country," Petron says. "If I could dream, I would be going to all these places." Submitted by: Duane Nichols. See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

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