Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority Launches Regional Stormwater Management Project – Senator John Yudichak

Announcement: Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority Launches Regional Stormwater Management Project

“On the banks of the Susquehanna River, the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority (“WVSA”) recently launched an innovative regional stormwater management project that could be a springboard for other cooperative efforts between the region’s municipalities. Senator John T. Yudichak, Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) Secretary Patrick McDonnell, and representatives from more than 30 municipalities from Luzerne County announced the joint venture on the River Commons in Wilkes-Barre.

Under the plan, the WVSA will coordinate and implement a regional and comprehensive stormwater management program that will reduce pollution of the Susquehanna River and help Pennsylvania meet its obligations under the Chesapeake Bay Agreement. Under existing federal law, municipalities in Northeastern Pennsylvania must curb pollution of the Susquehanna River by as much as 10% in the next five years or each community could be penalized for failure to comply with federal law. The Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) regulations are intended to keep harmful contaminants out of the river and minimize each community’s environmental impact upon the river and downstream communities. As the EPA targeted reductions are met, the Susquehanna River will become cleaner thereby making it safer for wildlife as well as for fisherman, kayakers, and other sportsmen to enjoy.

The WVSA will assume the lead–on behalf of member municipalities–to finance capital projects, submit all stormwater management plans and permit applications, and implement pollution control measures throughout its service area that will reduce stormwater pollution to meet the EPA’s benchmarks. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, will be assisting with stormwater mapping as part of the program.

“The WVSA is well-prepared to meet this challenge and we are eager to advance this project after months of planning,” said Jim Tomaine, Executive Director of the WVSA. “Over the next five years, we will reduce pollutants contaminating the Susquehanna River, which will improve water-quality.” By working together, the WVSA estimates that the region will save $57 million over five years and $274 million over the next two decades, in present-value dollars. Individual households will pay a nominal fee—anywhere between $3 and $4.50 monthly—to the WVSA to finance the regional effort. The WVSA estimates that households will pay between 70% and 90% less than if their municipality pursued EPA compliance on its own. “We all have a responsibility to clean up the Susquehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay because no single municipality could meet this obligation alone,” said Senator Yudichak. “The regional stormwater project—designed to improve water quality and wildlife habitats throughout the watershed—represents the most comprehensive environmental project in northeast Pennsylvania in the last forty years.”

Learn More about Senator Yudichak (14th Senate District)

Stormwater Management for Homeowners

Pike County Pennsylvania – Conservation Events for April 2017

Conservation Events in April 2017

The month of April is filled with environmentally themed events. Below is a list of events. Be sure to visit the Events Calendar at www.pikeconservation.org or like Pike County Conservation District on Facebook to be sure you are kept up to date.

April 8- Pike Wayne Trout Unlimited Banquet: Reservations required; contact John Hochreither: 570-352-8303 or by email: john.hochreither@pwtu.org.

April 9- Pike Wayne Trout Unlimited River Clean-up: Visit www.pwtu.org/ for more information.

April 17- Pike County Conservation District Roadside Clean-Up: Contact Michele Long at mlong@pikepa.org or by phone 570-226-8220.

April 21-23- Hawley EarthFest: Contact Rebecca Holler at rholler@pikepa.org or by phone 570-226-8220 or visit www.hawleyearthfest.com/.

April 23-30- Conservation District Week: Contact Pike County Conservation District 570-226-8220 or follow us on Facebook to see the various events during the week.

April 27- Pike/Wayne Envirothon: Contact Rebecca Holler at rholler@pikepa.org or by phone 570-226-8220.

April 29- Pocono Environmental Education Center Earth Day: Visit www.peec.org/ for more information.

Nationwide Program: Community Environmental Report Your Home Health Status and Know Your H20?

Nationwide Program:
Community Environmental Report
Your Home Health Status and Know Your H20?

Direct Link to this Nationwide Program-
Visit Us at Keystone Clean Water Team

capably Know Your H20?

Carnegie We Launched Two – New Phone Apps and they are Available for IOS and Android Platforms

  1. Know Your H20? – Know Your H2O? is an educational tool that can help you diagnose the problem with your water. This app will lead you through a series of questions to pinpoint the issues with your water. You can reach your diagnosis through describing symptoms that are effecting your home, your health, or the water itself. This App is linked to the Water Research Portal.
  2. Baseline Water Testing (Pennsylvania) – The PA Baseline Testing mobile app is an educational tool for residents of Pennsylvania who are impacted by Oil & Gas Development or Subsurface Coal Development. By selecting which factor impacts your region, you can discover various recommendations and tiers of water testing that can help bring you piece of mind about the safety of your drinking water. Got Data? You can also submit your own testing data and results to help continue to build the PA Clean Water Team’s database.
  3. New Online Water Quality Diagnostic Tool.

The Nationwide Program

  1. The program helps you to identify the existing and historic environmental hazards in your community.
  2. We are working with a national environmental database search company to offer a report to help you understand your home or your future homes environmental health status within a community.
  3. We are doing this by taking a snapshot of the current and historic environmental concerns and hazards in the community and a review of select criminal activity.
  4. Featured Activities or Issues: Old Landfills, Leaky Fuel Tanks, Hazardous Waste Sites, Department of Defense Facilities, Superfund Sites, Radiological Sources, Clandestine Drug Labs, Floodplains and Wetlands and more.
  5. Neighboorhood Hazard Reports cost $ 55.00 per property, payable to the Keystone Clean Water Team.

Questions – please contact us at (570) 335-1947 or email the program manager, Mr. Brian Oram, at bfenviro@ptd.net.

Keystone Clean Water Team – 501c3
15 Hillcrest Drive, Dallas, PA 18612
http://www.pacleanwater.org

B.F. Environmental Consultants Inc.
http://www.bfenvironmental.com

@KnowyourH20

360training.com, learn2serve.com & OSHAcampus.com Black Friday & Cyber Week Deals

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America’s infrastructure collapsing Hexavalent chromium (chromium-6) was just found in 75% of drinking water

“(NaturalNews) An Environmental Working Group review of government water analysis data reveals that 75% of drinking water in America is contaminated with cancer-causing hexavalent chromium (also known as chromium-6). In a widely publicized report, EWG warns that 200 million Americans are right now being exposed to this toxic chemical in their water.

This is on top of our own efforts at EPAwatch.org where my lab tested hundreds of municipal water samples from across the country and found high levels of lead and other heavy metals in 6.7% of samples.

America’s infrastructure collapsing into Third World status

This quote at a recent rally in  Michigan is very true- “”we used to make cars in Flint and you couldn’t drink the water in Mexico. Now the cars are being made in Mexico, and you can’t drink the water in Flint.”” Nor can you safely drink public water almost anywhere in America, as it’s almost universally contaminated with chromium-6, heavy metals or other toxic chemicals.”

To Read More: http://www.naturalnews.com/055408_chromium-6_drinking_water_chemical_suicide.html

Personally – We are the solution, not big govt, we must act to be informed, understand risk, and act.  You can Act NOW! Just some suggestions:

Act NoW !

  1. Get Your Water Tested – We recommend the Well Water or City Water Test Kit.
  2. Neighboorhood Hazard Reports
  3. Get or Install a Point of Use Water Treatment Device  (Treated Water for Pennies a Gallon) !

Webinars Natural Gas – Disposal Pit Emissions and the Link Between Wind and Natural Gas

Upper Green River Basin Disposal Pit Emission Study
When: August 25, 2016 | 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. EST
Where: Webinar

Richard L. Bowers, P.E., BCEE, GSI Environmental will discuss the air quality study of large produced water disposal ponds, part of the Wyoming Dept. of Environmental Quality Air Quality Division’s Upper Green River Basin Ozone Strategy. The goal of the study is to develop a method for accurately characterizing disposal pond air emissions using water samples.

Wind & Natural Gas as Energy Partners
When: September 15, 2016 | 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. EST
Where: Webinar

Dr. Michael C. Slattery, Professor, Director of the Institute for Environmental Studies, Texas Christian University, will discuss the environmental impacts of wind and natural gas, and how they can compliment each other as energy sources.

Other Educational Opportunities in Environment and Energy

Self- Help
Education2Go and the Udemy – Education Programs (Social Media Marketing Course) – over 30,000 courses

Webinar Identifying Urban and Industrial GHG Sources Using Continuous d13C Observations

Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) come from a variety of natural and anthropogenic sources and have a powerful global warming impact.  Understanding the magnitude and distribution of these emissions spatially and temporally is critical to evaluating present and future climate impacts. Stable isotope signatures of methane and carbon dioxide are often employed to investigate the relative importance of various sources (and sinks).

Picarro invites you to a webinar on Identifying Urban and Industrial GHG Sources Using Continuous d13C Observations. This live webinar, featuring Felix Vogel (Researcher, LSCE) and David Kim-Hak (Product Manager, Picarro), will focus on GHG source identification. Felix will share his experiences in monitoring atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane concentrations and stable isotopes. David will present information about how Picarro technology has enabled continuous and in-situ measurements of stable isotopes, including providing information on the Picarro G2201-i for best-in-class greenhouse gas (GHG) concentration and isotopic measurements. If you are interested in learning about urban and industrial GHG source identification, this is the webinar for you!

Picarro Live Webinar:
Identifying Urban and Industrial GHG Sources Using Continuous d13C Observations
Register
Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Other Training Courses

Sustainability Issues

Watershed Management – Stream Ecology-Wetlands

Fracking- Hydraulic Fracturing

AAPG American Association of Petroleum Geologists Training Courses

 

Training Courses Offered by the AAPG – AAPG Education Program
The American Association of Petroleum Geologists is an international organization with over 38,000 members in 100-plus countries

Fluvial Sedimentology and Geomorphology
John Holbrook, Ph.D. | 14 January 2016 | 2 p.m. CST

This short webinar will focus mainly on “source-to-sink,” and will detail methods used to quantify and qualify the sediment mass transported from the hinterland to the depocenter and the storage sites in route. This segment will train in the “fulcrum” approach for quantitatively approximating the sediment budget for ancient source-to-sink systems.

Ambient Seismic Imaging Throughout the Life Cycles of Unconventional Fields
Alfred Lacazette
| 21 January | 2 p.m. CDT

This e-symposium provides an overview of a new ambient seismic imaging method and applications of the method throughout the lifecycles (exploration through refracing) of unconventional oil and/or gas fields. These applications include: direct imaging of hydraulic fractures, hydraulically stimulated natural fractures, stimulated reservoir volumes, and producing volumes; stress mapping in three dimensions before, during and after fracing; and Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) frac and reservoir simulation.

Petroleum Geology Fundamentals
Susan Nash
| 1st of Each Month | 2 p.m. CDT

This course provides an overview of petroleum geology, from exploration to development. It provides foundational information required to work in the current industry environment, with content that ranges from a historical overview to methods of exploration, new technologies, subsurface geology, petroleum generation, reservoirs, traps, seals, petroleum systems, unconventional reservoirs, shale plays, geophysics, geochemistry, and more.

Courses are typically excellent – but can exceed most budgets.  For other training courses that are for basic continuing education – you may want to visit Training Professionals.

Valley View Holds First High School Energy Fair Archbald Pennsylvania

Northeastern Pennsylvania gas companies went to Valley View High School in Lackawanna County to sponsor an energy fair introducing youth to energy careers.

The growth and dedication that has been displayed between the natural gas industry and educational institutions over the years has been staggering. While much of that relationship has been amongst local area colleges, high schools have been becoming closely involved too, as evidenced by the Energy Education Program offered at Valley View High School in Archbald.”

As this blog has noted before, the Energy Education Program offered by Valley View is the first of its kind in the state, as it brings energy-specific curriculum to the high school level and was developed as a collaboration between industry experts and school officials. The course covers nine different types of energy and regularly features speakers from the various industries.

But on Friday, Dec. 18, Valley View took the next big step in its program and hosted its first Energy Fair, which was planned and organized by the Energy Education Program class.

Read More about the Event and Program

We were planning to go to the event, but the presenter became ill.  Prior to the event, we did conduct training and educational course on energy conservation and Geothermal Energy.

Presentation on Sustainability Training (pdf)
Our Presentation on Careers in Energy – The Great Earth Engine (pdf)

More training Opportunities in Energy and the Environment

 How you can help the Water Science Basics ! Trying to encourage a positive change in Pennsylvania.

2016 PAEP Scholarship application materials $ 1000 scholarship

The 2016 PAEP Scholarship application materials are now available on our website (http://www.paep.org/scholarships2016.htm).  Please forward this email or the attached flyer to any students or others in academia to help us spread the word!  We are again offering one $1,000 scholarship to a college freshman or sophomore and one $1,000 scholarship to a college junior, senior, or graduate student pursuing a degree in environmental science (or related major).  Both scholarships additionally include free attendance and stay at the 2016 PAEP Annual Conference at Toftrees Resort in State College, PA on May 11-13, 2016.

Complete instructions and applications are available on the website.  Please note that dependents of PAEP members and student PAEP members receive bonus points in their application evaluation!  If anyone has any questions or requires further information, please contact the PAEP Student and Scholarship Co-Chairs, Kristin Aiosa (kaiosa@jmt.com) and Mike Kenawell (mkenawell@jmt.com).

Thanks to our 2016 Student & Scholarship Committee (Virginia Bailey, Jessica Brzyski Wetzel, Michelle Goddard, JT Graupensperger, Jason Minnich, and Cami Otto).