Earthbytes

Groups gear up for hearing on gas drilling regulations in Tennessee

In February, about 100 citizens showed up for a hearing on oil and gas drilling regulations proposed by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. A procedural wrinkle created in January by an administrative decision of the state's incoming Governor Haslam opened the door for a second hearing on the proposed regulations, scheduled for next Thursday, April 28, 2011at 6 pm at TDEC's field office in Knoxville.

Tennessee groups that began their collaboration for the first hearing have continued meetings to discuss drilling issues in the state. Next week they'll gather again to give further testimony on specific concerns.

While much public concern about oil and gas well drilling nationwide focuses on hydrofracturing, there are many other serious issues with extraction to be addressed, such as casing deterioration of abandoned wells and damages to land and vegetation secondary to well pad construction.

This Google Earth image of a well field in Anderson County, Tennessee, is dated October 9, 2010 (eye altitude is around 27,000 feet):

The patterns made by gas and oil drilling activity are easily recognizable from the air. So far, the well fields in Tennessee are not nearly as dense as they are in other notable fields such as this one (image date: August 2006; eye altitude about 10 miles) of the Jonah field in Wyoming:

Tennesseans may be in a better place in resource extraction history than many other states where gas booms have already happened. If we get organized now to insist on strong regulations, we may be able to avoid some of the social, economic and environmental consequences that the boom-and-bust cycles of oil and gas development have imposed elsewhere.

I'll be posting more about efforts to get good oil and gas regulations for Tennessee. Today I'll end with this awesome animation from Earthjustice:

 

 

For more information on the hearing next Thursday, check out the Facebook event page.

 

In New Film, Gulf Residents talk about persistent impacts of oil spill

Reports and stories about unresolved human and environmental health problems in the Gulf of Mexico continue to find their way to the surface of the daily news rush. Now Robert Redford announces a new film that documents the collective trauma that persists following the BP oil disaster:

In a powerful new documentary airing on Saturday on Planet Green called Stories from the Gulf, residents make it clear they are still suffering the aftermath of the largest oil spill in American history.

 

See also:

A Developing Health Crisis Across the Gulf Coast (Stephen Bradberry)

3,200 Gulf Wells Unplugged and Unprotected (Jeff Donn)

Gulf Oil Spill: Preventing Another Disaster (Southern Environmental Law Center)

 

No sign of miner in Idaho mine collapse

Day six of rescue efforts at the Lucky Friday Mine passed without any word on the fate of a miner trapped by a rockfall.

Rescue workers were able to insert a video camera used by plumbers through a 180-foot-long drill hole to Larry “Pete” Marek’s work area. The tiny camera revealed a space amid the boulders and other debris that fell Friday night during a cave-in at the Mullan, Idaho, silver mine. But so far, the camera hasn’t captured any images of Marek.

via www.spokesman.com

Shutdown of wells extended in Arkansas quake study | Seattle Times

Two natural gas exploration companies have agreed to extend the shutdowns of two injection wells in Arkansas as researchers study whether the operations are linked to more than 1,000 unexplained earthquakes in the region, a state commission said Wednesday.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. and Clarita Operating LLC asked to postpone a scheduled April 26 hearing on the shutdowns until the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission's next meeting on May 24, said Shane Khoury, deputy director and general counsel for the commission.

Khoury said the commission agreed to the continuance provided the companies not restart injection well operations at the two wells, both located in Faulkner County, before the May hearing.

via seattletimes.nwsource.com

Coalfield Residents Deliver Letters to Alpha Energy: Cease Mountaintop Removal Operations | Act Against Extraction

Some Appalachian mountain citizens are paying a visit to Alpha Energy today. They'll give Alpha a piece of their minds about coal companies that blow their homelands to pieces.

Excerpts from press release:

At 1:30 p.m. today, Alpha representatives will be presented with a letter outlining their demands that can be read here. They will also be given a copy of a study that outlines the many economic, social, public health, and environmental benefits that would result from a Coal River Mountain wind farm, as an alternative to surface mining. The study can be found here (PDF).

Coalfield residents and their allies hope to meet soon with representatives of Alpha to discuss how the company can work with coalfield communities to build alternatives to surface mining that will respect the land and the people. If Alpha is unwilling to put a stop to the destruction, the residents state they will continue their struggle on a local, state, and national level to abolish mountaintop removal mining and reclaim communities that have been devastated by this practice. According to Junior Walk, “If [Alpha] continues to poison us, our friends, and our families, as Massey has, we have a lot of people in our corner willing to stand up and fight beside us.”

For more information, see:
http://rampscampaign.org
http://www.crmw.net/
http://mountainkeeper.blogspot.com/
http://www.samsva.org/

via www.extractionaction.net

Citizens Converge On Capitol Hill to End Destructive Mining in Appalachia

Fellow citizens from member groups of The Alliance for Appalachia are in Washington this week to remind President Obama and Congress that Appalachian communities are still at risk from mountaintop removal coal mining, and has to stop. Forever. Here's the press release from the Alliance:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 5, 2011

Citizens and Policy Riders Converge On Capitol Hill

Residents Impacted by Mountaintop Removal Visit Congress, Obama Administration

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CONTACT
Sandra Diaz …. (407)739-6465 …. sandra@appvoices.org
Dustin White....(304)541-3144....mountain.patriot@gmail.com
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(Washington, D.C.) — With amendments to the federal budget bill threatening to undermine the effectiveness of the Environmental Protection Agency, citizens from Appalachia are stepping forward to ask Congress to protect their communities.

As debate over the budget continues in the Senate, over 150 citizens with the Alliance for Appalachia are converging on Capitol Hill this week to address the adverse impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining and to witness key members of Congress unveil a bill to permanently end the radical form of strip mining.

"We, the people of Appalachia, are made to give up our homes and communities, our culture and heritage, our health and even our lives so others can turn on a light bulb,” says Dustin White, a volunteer with Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition. “So we come to D.C. to tell Congress and our President we will no longer be ignored and we will no longer be sacrificed."

On Tuesday, Congressmen Frank Pallone of New Jersey and David Reichert of Washington state, along with more than 50 original cosponsors, will introduce the Clean Water Protection Act, legislation to prevent the dumping of coal mine waste into valley fills—a method that buries headwater streams and contaminates nearby ground and drinking water with heavy metals and other pollutants.

"This bill alleviates the wide array of human and environmental health issues directly correlated with mountaintop removal coal mining by restoring the Clean Water Act to its original intent," said Congressman Pallone. "By redefining fill material, we’ll be able to keep toxic mining waste out of our nation's streams."

Under the Obama administration, the EPA has taken steps to limit mountaintop removal mining, but several pieces of legislation—including policy amendments in the federal budget bill that would severely curtail the agency's authority to regulate the practice—threaten the EPA's ability to limit environmental and community health impacts.

Mountaintop removal mining relies on heavy explosives to blast off several hundred feet of mountain to expose coal seams, and has impacted over 500 mountains in West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee to date. According to the EPA, the practice has also buried or destroyed more than 2,000 miles of streams in those states.

Residents who live in proximity to mountaintop removal mine sites complain of orange and black tap water flowing from their faucets, breathing in coal dust floating in the air outside their homes and higher-than-normal cancer rates.

“If we are serious about moving America toward a clean energy future, banning mountaintop removal must be the first step," says Jane Branham of the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards. “For our economy, for our health, and for our heritage—we need this administration and this Congress to act.”

Appalachian coal-mining regions have traditionally had high rates of unemployment, even prior to the current economic downturn, and the central Appalachian region contends with some of the highest poverty rates in the country. According to Mine Safety and Health Administration, because of the mechanized nature of mountaintop removal which replaces men with explosives and large equipment, underground mines produce more jobs than mountaintop removal mines for the same amount of coal produced.

“Americans want to see an end to the destruction of our oldest and most biologically diverse mountains, and the administration has taken limited steps towards restricting the impacts of mountaintop removal,” says J.W. Randolph, Legislative Associate for Appalachian Voices, a non-profit organization working on the issue. “Congress needs to listen to the will of the people and pass legislation that would help to end mountaintop removal, and block any legislative attempt to enshrine the practice.”

Members of the Alliance for Appalachia include: The Appalachian Citizens Law Center, Appalachian Voices, Appalshop, Coal River Mountain Watch, Heartwood, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, Mountain Association for Community Economic Development, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, SouthWings, SOCM (Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment), and West Virginia Highlands Conservancy.

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