Resistance in Ohio, Fracking’s Dumping Ground The Ohio River valley is lush in the spring. The eastern Ohio River, one of America’s most economically vital waterways, winds through the rolling green foothills of Appalachia as it ambles past small towns and cities in Ohio and West Virginia. The valley has been heavily industrialized for decades. Coal-burning power plants, chemical processing facilities and mills dot the riverside. In 2012, the Ohio River was ranked the nation’s most...

Licking County Fracking Advisory Committee is retired by county commissioners TO:   Licking County Fracturing Advisory Committee Members FROM:   Licking County Commissioners Tim Bubb, Duane Flowers and Doug Smith DATE:  May 23, 2013 RE:    Thanks for your service to Licking County First of all ‘thanks’ for serving on the Licking County Fracking Advisory Committee in 2012 and 2013.    Your service to Licking County is very much appreciated! During the past year this special purpose committee met eight times on a...

HYDRAULIC FRACTURING: BLM rule omits greens’ desires, but Interior says it’s still listening If environmental groups want a “BLM fracking rule” more to their liking, they’d better get out their pens and start writing. Obama administration officials ignored most of the requests green groups had made to strengthen the rule in the draft they rolled out yesterday. But Interior Department officials stressed that they are still willing to listen during the “public comment” period. “We’re very much in the...

72 percent of Ohioans Live in Areas Hit by Recent Weather Disasters; New Report Says Global Warming to Bring More Extreme Weather After another year in which many parts of the country were hit by scorching heat, devastating wildfires, crippling drought, severe storms and record flooding, a new Environment Ohio Research & Policy Center report finds that weather-related disasters are already affecting hundreds of millions of Americans, and documents how global warming could lead to certain extreme weather events becoming even more common or more severe in the future. Almost 3 out...

New Study Underscores Benefits of Natural Gas Production and Exports for Small Business and Jobs Washington, D.C. – Today, the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council) published a new report titled “The Benefits of Natural Gas Production and Exports for U.S. Small Businesses.”  The report highlights the significant growth in the number of employer firms and jobs in the energy sector between 2005-2010.  The job growth is most striking among small businesses. During this same period, total U.S. employment and firms...

Geochemical and isotopic variations in shallow groundwater in areas of the Fayetteville shale development, north-central Arkansas Highlights No evidence for shallow groundwater contamination in Fayetteville Shale, Arkansas. Methane in groundwater is low and likely associated with shallow aquifer processes. No relationship between methane and salinity in groundwater and shale-gas wells. δ13CCH4 and δ13CDIC suggest biogenic origin for dissolved methane. Water- aquifer rock interaction controls majority of water chemistry. Abstract Exploration of unconventional natural gas...

Shale boom? What happened? 1. It’s a Marcellus shale boom. No, wait, it’s a Utica shale boom. At first, the Ohio shale boom was all about the Marcellus shale, not the Utica.  For example, in October 2010, Chris Perry and Larry Wickstrom of the Ohio Geological Survey gave a presentation on Ohio’s shale prospects, called, “The Marcellus Shale Play: Geology, History, and Oil & Gas Potential in Ohio.” The State geologists saw a big future in the Ohio Marcellus...

Will Ohio’s Landfills Become a Dumping Ground for Radioactive Fracking Waste? Don’t turn Ohio’s landfills into a dumping ground for radioactive waste from the oil and gas industry. That’s the message environmental groups hope will resonate with state lawmakers as they consider whether to approve a controversial proposal by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) to allow the disposal in Ohio landfills of radioactive-laced drill cuttings from deep-shale oil and gas drilling in Ohio and nearby states. “If passed,...

Useful Insights from Robert Bryce’s book Power Hungry Book details: Title: Power Hungry – the Myths of “Green Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future Author: Robert Bryce Publisher: PublicAffairs, 2010 ISBN: 978-1-58648-789-8 Library Call No.: 333.79 Bry Here are some quotes that I found useful in considering what we need to do about reducing our carbon footprint. He shared two valuable sources of information: U.S. Energy Information Administration – http://www.eia.doe.gov/ BP Statistical Review of...

Did climate change cause the Syrian uprising? Climate change played a role in the Syrian uprising, according to a new study. Due to the devastating drought and subsequent lack of food and water in rural areas, hundreds of thousands fled to the cities, where existing problems were only exacerbated by the influx of new mouths to feed, Kennedy writes. A new study on the Arab Spring and Climate Change, finds evidence to suggest that it was not merely a coincidence that the Syrian revolution began just...