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Community fights massive drilling site planned near public school in low-income area

March 16, 2018

Community fights massive drilling site planned near public school in low-income area

Oil and gas company originally planned to drill in largely white, middle-class neighborhood.

An oil drilling operation near a subdivision in Weld County, Colorado. CREDIT: Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post via Getty Images
AN OIL DRILLING OPERATION NEAR A SUBDIVISION IN WELD COUNTY, COLORADO. CREDIT: HELEN H. RICHARDSON/THE DENVER POST VIA GETTY IMAGES
Residents of a city along Colorado’s Front Range are fighting the construction of a major oil and gas drilling site set to be completed next year near a public school attended mostly by low-income students of color.

Denver-headquartered Extraction Oil and Gas was originally awarded a permit in 2013 to drill up to 67 wells a few hundred feet away from Frontier Academy in Greeley, Colorado, a city with a population of over 100,000. The school is composed of children that come largely from white, middle-class families. The parents were not happy with the project and organized a movement against the project.

In 2014, in the face of the parents’ resistance, Extraction Oil and Gas opted to abandon the Frontier Academy site, in southern Greeley. The company instead turned its attention to a different site on the eastern side of the city. In May 2016, the company filed an application with the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) for the project.

This new location also was within a thousand feet of a school. The school, Bella Romero Academy, serves mostly working-class Latinx families. Nearly 90 percent of its children qualify for free and reduced-price lunches.

In June 2016, the Weld County board of commissioners unanimously approved a special use permit that would allow Extraction Oil and Gas to build a 24-well pad project, known as the Vetting site, near the Bella Romero Academy campus. The industrial project will be located about 1,350 feet from the school building but about 500 feet from the school’s playground and ball fields. In March 2017, the COGCC issued permits for the project. With all of its necessary permits, the company hopes to complete the project sometime in 2019.

Last spring, a group of residents joined environmental groups to file a lawsuit in Denver County (Colorado) District Court against the COGCC for approving the project. According to the lawsuit, Extraction Oil and Gas stated that the Frontier Academy was “not ideal” for oil and gas development because of its proximity to the school and playground. The playground at the Frontier Academy, however, was further away from the proposed development than the playground and ball fields at the Bella Romero Academy.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

 

Stunning new research finds fracking a major source of carbon pollution in Pennsylvania

February 22, 2018

Stunning new research finds fracking a major source of carbon pollution in Pennsylvania

Methane leaks in the state’s oil and gas industry equal 11 coal-fired power plants.

Flaring takes place after a gas well has been drilled and before it is put into operation. CREDIT: Carolyn Cole/L.A. Times via Getty Images
FLARING TAKES PLACE AFTER A GAS WELL HAS BEEN DRILLED AND BEFORE IT IS PUT INTO OPERATION. CREDIT: CAROLYN COLE/L.A. TIMES VIA GETTY IMAGES

The evidence is now overwhelming that natural gas is not part of the climate solution, it is part of the problem.

A new study finds that the methane escaping from Pennsylvania’s oil and gas industry “causes the same near-term climate pollution as 11 coal-fired power plants.” And that is “five times higher than what oil and gas companies report” to the state, according to analysis from the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) based on 16 peer-reviewed studies.

Natural gas is mostly methane, a super-potent greenhouse gas, which traps 86 times as much heat as CO2 over a 20-year period. So even a small leakage rate from the natural gas supply chain (production to delivery to combustion) can have a large climate impact  —  enough to gut the entire benefit of switching from coal-fired power to gas for a long, long time.

Yet even though many earlier studies have found that natural gas production spews out huge amounts of carbon pollution all across the country, just last week, the Trump administration moved to undo an Obama-era rule aimed at limiting the methane leakage from gas and oil production on public lands.

CREDIT: AP PHOTO/ERIC GAY, FILE

Methane Leaks Erase Climate Benefit Of Fracked Gas, Countless Studies Find

As EDF’s president Fred Krupp told the New York Times, “Gutting the rule would allow unchecked waste of natural gas, unnecessary pollution and the loss of revenue to communities and tribes to address critical needs such as schools and roads,”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Fracking companies won’t have to disclose chemicals thanks to Trump administration rollback

January 27, 2018

Fracking companies won’t have to disclose chemicals thanks to Trump administration rollback

California and a coalition of environmental groups have all filed challenges to the Bureau of Land Management’s fracking rule repeal.

A large fracking operation in Colorado. (CREDIT: Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
A LARGE FRACKING OPERATION IN COLORADO. (CREDIT: HELEN H. RICHARDSON/THE DENVER POST VIA GETTY IMAGES)

On the one-year anniversary of becoming California’s attorney general, Xavier Becerra (D) did something he had done 25 times in the previous year — he filed an environmental lawsuit against the Trump administration.

The challenge was to the Trump administration’s recent rollback of federal regulations on fracking — a method of oil and gas drilling that requires companies to inject large volumes of chemical and sand-laced water into rock formations below ground in order to expose oil and gas trapped within. The regulations, finalized under the Obama administration, would have required companies that frack on federal lands to, among other things, disclose the chemicals used in their operations.

But the rule was immediately challenged by the oil and gas industry, which called it “politically motivated” and “duplicative.” In his March executive order on energy independence, President Donald Trump ordered Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review and repeal the fracking regulations. That process was finalized in late 2017.

But California — as well as a coalition of six environmental groups, which separately filed a lawsuit challenging the repeal on Wednesday — argue that the Bureau of Land Management and Zinke violated federal law by failing to provide sufficient justification for repealing the rule.

“We seek an order invalidating Bureau of Land Management’s unlawful repeal, which would in turn reinstate the fracking rule,” Becerra said during a press conference on Wednesday. “We take this action…to insist that the rule of law be followed by everyone, including the occupant of the White House.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

2017 crushed a major temperature record and scientists are sounding the alarm

January 5, 2018

2017 crushed a major temperature record and scientists are sounding the alarm

“All the natural influences should have made the year cooler than normal, not hotter than normal.”

CREDIT: Getty Images
CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES

It’s been very cold over North America for days, but globally, 2017 has ended up smashing the record for the hottest year on record without an El Niño.

And that has scientists worried, since the warmest years usually happen when the long-term human-caused global warming trend gets a short-term boost from an El Niño’s enhanced warming in the tropical Pacific.

The fact is that without global warming, “all the natural influences should have made the year cooler than normal; not hotter than normal,” professor of thermal sciences John Abraham explained to ThinkProgress.

January–June 2017 global surface temperatures (compared to the 20th century average) in Degrees Celsius. CREDIT: NOAA

2017 is so unexpectedly warm it is freaking out climate scientists

“Extremely remarkable” 2017 heads toward record for hottest year without an El Niño episode.

Climatologist Michael Mann said in an email that the recent spate of annual temperature records means that not only hasn’t global warming warming slowed down, as the deniers have asserted, “If anything, it’s accelerating as we continue to pump carbon into the atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels.”

The chart below shows El Niños are generally the hottest years on record  whereas La Niña years, with their cooler-than-normal temperatures in the tropical Pacific, are usually below the global warming trend line.

1964–2017 global surface temperature data from NASA, divided into El Niño (red), La Niña (blue), and neutral (black) years, with linear trends added. CREDIT: Dana Nuccitelli
1964–2017 GLOBAL SURFACE TEMPERATURE DATA FROM NASA, DIVIDED INTO EL NIÑO (RED), LA NIÑA (BLUE), AND NEUTRAL (BLACK) YEARS, WITH LINEAR TRENDS ADDED. CREDIT: DANA NUCCITELLI

Environmental scientist Dana Nuccitelli explained in the UK Guardian Tuesday, “For each type of year — La Niña, El Niño, and neutral — the global surface warming trend between 1964 and 2017 is 0.17–0.18°C per decade, which is consistent with climate model predictions.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Natural gas has no climate benefit and may make things worse

November 15, 2017

Natural gas has no climate benefit and may make things worse

Methane leaks in New Mexico’s oil and gas industry equal 12 coal-fired power plants.

A gas flare at a gas-processing facility in North Dakota. CREDIT: AP/Matthew Brown
A GAS FLARE AT A GAS-PROCESSING FACILITY IN NORTH DAKOTA. CREDIT: AP/MATTHEW BROWNThe evidence is overwhelming that natural gas has no net climate benefit in any timescale that matters to humanity.

In fact, a shocking new study concludes that just the methane emissions escaping from New Mexico’s gas and oil industry are “equivalent to the climate impact of approximately 12 coal-fired power plants.” If the goal is to avoid catastrophic levels of warming, a recent report by U.K. climate researchers finds “categorically no role” to play for new natural gas production.

Sadly, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has just published a “Commentary” on “the environmental case for natural gas,” that ignores or downplays key reasons that greater use of natural gas is bad for the climate.

In the real world, natural gas is not a “bridge” fuel to a carbon-free economy for two key reasons. First, natural gas is mostly methane (CH4), a super-potent greenhouse gas, which traps 86 times as much heat as CO2 over a 20-year period.

That’s why many, many studies find that even a very small leakage rate of methane from the natural gas supply chain (production to delivery to combustion) can have a large climate impact  —  enough to gut the entire benefit of switching from coal-fired power to gas for a long, long time.

Kourtney Hardwick, BP Florida operations manager, looks over a methane gas well site east of Bayfield, Colorado. CREDIT: AP PHOTO / JERRY MCBRIDE, FILE

By The Time Natural Gas Has A Net Climate Benefit You’ll Likely Be Dead And The Climate Ruined

Second, other studies find  —  surprise, surprise  —  natural gas plants don’t replace only high-carbon coal plants. They commonly replace very low carbon power sources like solar, wind, nuclear, and even energy efficiency, which is often overlooked as a major alternative to fossil fuels. That means even a very low leakage rate wipes out the climate benefit of fracking.

Northern California firestorm ‘literally exploded,’ killing 21 and destroying hundreds of homes

October 12, 2017

Northern California firestorm ‘literally exploded,’ killing 21 and destroying hundreds of homes

More than 650 have been reported missing after fast-moving fires devastate communities north of San Francisco.

Flames from a massive wildfire burn in Napa, CA. (CREDIT: AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
FLAMES FROM A MASSIVE WILDFIRE BURN IN NAPA, CA. (CREDIT: AP PHOTO/RICH PEDRONCELLI)

High temperatures and fast winds are fueling more than a dozen wildfires across California, forcing more than 20,000 northern California residents to evacuate their homes and communities. At least 21 people have died, and 670 have been reported missing, after several fires spread rapidly throughout Monday.

Vice President Mike Pence spoke at California’s emergency management headquarters on Tuesday and said that President Trump had approved a “major disaster declaration” for the entire state.

The fires ignited late Sunday night and into Monday morning and have since spread over 50,000 acres across Napa and Sonoma counties, destroying at least 3,500 structures and sending at least 100 to the hospital with injuries ranging from burns to smoke inhalation. The Tubbs Fire — which is currently burning at 33,000 acres — has prompted the evacuation of at least 10 neighborhoods in the city of Santa Rosa, which has a population of 125,000. Two hospitals have also been evacuated after the fire jumped across Highway 101 between Sunday night and Monday morning.

Aerial photographs show entire neighborhoods of the city completely destroyed by the fire, which as of Tuesday morning was zero percent contained. Smoke from the wildfires caused the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to issue an air quality warning for the region on Monday; as of Tuesday, much of the area north of San Francisco was still experiencing unhealthy air quality. Fire officials said it could be days, or even weeks, before many of the fires are contained.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Residents told to shelter in place after chemical plant explosion in Tennessee

October 7, 2017

Residents told to shelter in place after chemical plant explosion in Tennessee

Police were dispatched to the Eastman Chemical Company in Kingsport, Tennessee.

A portion of the Eastman Chemical Co. plant can be seen along the South Holston River in Kingsport, TN. (CREDIT: AP Photo Wade Payne)
A PORTION OF THE EASTMAN CHEMICAL CO. PLANT CAN BE SEEN ALONG THE SOUTH HOLSTON RIVER IN KINGSPORT, TN. (CREDIT: AP PHOTO WADE PAYNE)

Emergency crews are responding to reports of an explosion at the Eastman Chemical Company in Kingsport, Tennessee, which sent flames and plumes of dark smoke billowing into the air on Wednesday morning.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Eastman said that they were “continuing to stabilize and assess the situation.”

Footage of the explosion shows flames and smoke rising from several locations on the plant, and nearby witnesses told WJHL-TV that they heard the sound of at least two explosions. An Eastman employee who was at the plant on Wednesday told the Kingsport Times News that the explosion was “very very loud,” and that it “blew and ripped part of the building off.”

Thus far, there have been no reported injuries from the incident. Employees at the plant were told to shelter in place, but that order was lifted a few hours after the explosion. Residents that live within a half mile of the plant were also told to remain indoors, with their windows closed and air-conditioning units turned off. That order has not been lifted.

In a statement, Eastman said that the explosion happened around 10 a.m. this morning, and called it a “process upset in the coal gasification area” of the Kingston site. Coal gasification is a process in which coal is converted into a product known as synthetic gas, or syngas. Syngas is comprised mainly of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, and can be used to generate electric power, or as the building block for manufacturing certain chemicals.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Late-September heat wave leaves climate experts stunned

September 28, 2017

Late-September heat wave leaves climate experts stunned

“Never been a heat wave of this duration and magnitude this late in the season,” reports NOAA

Places where temperatures are projected to be within one degree of a record high Wednesday. CREDIT: National Weather Service via WashPost/WeatherBell.com.
PLACES WHERE TEMPERATURES ARE PROJECTED TO BE WITHIN ONE DEGREE OF A RECORD HIGH WEDNESDAY. CREDIT: NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE VIA WASHPOST/WEATHERBELL.COM.

Century-old records across the Midwest and East Coast are being shattered by a monster late-September heat wave — the kind of extreme weather we can expect to get much worse thanks to President Donald Trump’s policies to undermine domestic and global climate action.

“There has never been a heat wave of this duration and magnitude this late in the season in Chicago,” the National Weather Service reported Tuesday evening.

“Summer in some regions of the world will become one long heatwave even if global average temperatures rise only 2°C [3.6ºF] above pre-industrial levels,” finds a study published Monday in Nature Scientific Reports. The Paris climate agreement, which Trump has decided to pull out of, seeks to limit global warming to “well below” 3.6ºF.

On Wednesday, another study showed the connection between deadly heat waves and climate change. Scientists with World Weather Attribution (WWA) released an analysis of Europe’s blistering summer heat, which included the heat wave so deadly it was nicknamed “Lucifer.” The researchers found, “climate change increased the chances of seeing a summer as hot as 2017 by at least a factor of 10 and a heat wave like Lucifer by at least a factor of four since 1900″ (emphasis in original).

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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