Pipeline Panel Discussion Northeastern Pennsylvania
Wilkes University is hosting a panel discussion entitled “Gas Pipelines in Northeastern PA: Challenges and Solutions” on Thursday, 19 March between 7:30 P.M. – 9:30 P.M. The session will be held in Stark Learning Center, Room 101. The event is free.
The purpose of the session will be to offer the public a balanced perspective on natural gas pipeline development. Regulatory, planning, and landowner issues to protect PAs citizens and its environment while allowing for infrastructure development will be explored.
Panelists will include Mike Mara (UGI Energy Services), Dave Horn (LIUNA), Davitt Woodwell (Pennsylvania Environmental Council), Paul Metro (Pennsylvania Utility Commission), Josh Longmore (Luzerne County Conservation District), State Senator John T. Yudichak, Kenneth Klemow (Wilkes University), and Brian Oram (BF Environmental Consultants Inc).
The anticipated format will involve panelists responding to a series of prepared questions, followed up by moderated questions from the audience.
Ken
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Gas pipelines in Northeastern PA: Challenges and Solutions
New fuel for coal vs. gas debate
www.timesleader.com/news/New_fuel_for_coal_vs__gas_debate_12-27-2011.html
December 27, 2011
By Steve Mocarsky smocarsky@timesleader.com
Wilkes-based group finds natural gas has smaller greenhouse footprint.
A research group based at Wilkes University recently revised its position on whether burning coal or natural gas has a worse impact on the environment and global warming.
Based on several new studies, the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research of Northeastern Pennsylvania concluded that, contrary to findings in an April study by researchers at Cornell University, natural gas produced from Marcellus Shale wells has a lower greenhouse footprint than coal.
According to the institute essay, the use of natural gas and the other fossil fuels for energy releases greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere. Those gases are thought to increase global temperatures.
Studies conducted between 2000 and 2007 suggested that natural gas produces fewer greenhouse gases than coal, especially when used to generate electricity.
But a study by a team of researchers at Cornell University published in April found that extracting natural gas from shale released large quantities of methane – a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
The researchers concluded that when the full life-cycle of energy extraction, delivery and use is considered, shale gas produces up to twice the greenhouse gas emissions compared to burning coal or oil – especially when viewed over a 20-year time span.
However, seven analyses released in the summer and fall of 2011 came to a different conclusion than the Cornell study. All seven found that natural gas produces 20 percent to 60 percent lower greenhouse gas emissions, especially when used for electrical generation and when viewed over a 100-year time span.
The discrepancies between the Cornell and subsequent studies appear to result primarily from the different time frames used (20-year time frame versus 100-year).
Kenneth Klemow
Wilkes professor Kenneth Klemow, one of the authors of the institute essay, was hesitant to rank as more credible either the Cornell study or a study by Carnegie-Mellon University researchers that the energy industry said disputed the Cornell study when the Carnegie-Mellon study came out in August.
Klemow had said the Carnegie-Mellon study tipped the balance more in favor of natural gas, but only “by a little bit.” While the gas industry had claimed the CMU study slam-dunked the Cornell study, Klemow said he wasn’t so sure about that.
He was sure that more research was needed and researchers needed to take more field measurements rather than rely on data from previous studies.
Klemow said last week that because of several new articles and reports that have come out in the past three months, researchers at the institute found it necessary to issue an update on the original position.
“The main message is that seven independent studies now agree that shale gas has a lower greenhouse footprint than coal. That conclusion largely contradicts the findings by a team of researchers at Cornell who published a paper last April that argued shale gas has a higher footprint than coal due to inadvertent releases of methane at gas wells,” Klemow said.
In addition to incorporating the findings of the recent studies, the institute included some graphics to illustrate key trends that have been observed. And in addition to summarizing the research to date, they say they provide “our own synthesis – especially relating to future research needs.”
“Scientists are becoming increasingly convinced that burning fossil fuels releases gases that affect our climate,” Klemow said. “Therefore, studies comparing emissions of natural gas against coal are vital if we want to have informed discussions and make wise choices.”
“While recent analyses generally show natural gas has a lower footprint than coal, the science is far from settled. More studies of methane leakage near Marcellus wells and pipelines are critically needed to give us a more accurate picture,” he said.
Panelists will discuss Marcellus Shale development at Wilkes forum
http://citizensvoice.com/news/panelists-will-discuss-marcellus-shale-development-at-wilkes-forum-1.1150635#axzz1NGoFQInA
Published: May 23, 2011
Wilkes University will host a forum, “Consensus on Marcellus development: What would it look like, and how do we get there?” at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center for the Performing Arts.
The event, sponsored by the Wilkes University Alumni Association and the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research of Northeastern Pennsylvania, will feature a panel of participants with different perspectives.
Panelists include:
> Kenneth Klemow, Wilkes professor of biology and associate director of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research of Northeastern Pennsylvania.
> Brian Redmond, Wilkes professor of earth science.
> Clayton Bubeck, environmental engineer with Rettew Associates and a 1997 Wilkes graduate.
> Steve Brokenshire, environmental scientist with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and a 1992 Wilkes graduate.
> Nancy Dolan, a community activist with the Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition and a 1996 Wilkes graduate.
> State Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre, a state legislator and a 1967 Wilkes graduate.
> Teri Ooms, executive director of the Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development.
Admission is free and the forum is open to the public. Advance registration is encouraged; pre-register at [ http://community.wilkes.edu/s/344/index.aspx?sid=344&pgid=1115&gid=1&cid=2245&ecid=2245 ]
Well water users will get financial aid
Seminars will provide low interest loan information to rural households.
Rural household owners using well water – pull out your calendars and red pens. Four seminars are planned to introduce a Household Water Well Assistance Program.
Brian Oram, Wilkes University professor and Director of the Center for Environmental Quality, said the goal of the seminars is to educate the public.
The Pocono Northeast Resource Conservation and Development Council, a nonprofit organization, has acquired $130,000 in grant money and will lend it out as low interest loans to low- and moderate-income households to repair and improve their quality of well water.
A seminar is scheduled from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on March 21 at the Lake Township Municipal building. Other seminars are scheduled for today at the Monroe County Conservation District, Stroudsburg; March 22 at the Columbia County AG Center, Bloomsburg; and March 23 at the Wayne County Park Street Complex, Honesdale.
Anyone unable to attend any of the meetings can obtain information by contacting the Pocono Northeast Resource Conservation and Development Council, Mayfield, by calling 570-282-8732, extension 4, e-mailing to sue@pnercd.org, or visiting the RC & D website www.pnesolutions.org.
RC & D chairman Brian Oram said the goal of the seminars is to educate the public on what minerals and their amounts are normally found in well water, private well and drinking water issues, and the specifics of the RC & D Household Well Water Program.
The terms of the loan are simple. Well water home owners must live in a rural area with an average of fewer than 274 people per square mile, proof of ownership and full-time residence, must qualify as low-to-moderate income, well water must already be tested to show existing problems, and applicants must prove ability to repay the loan.
According to the guidelines of the RC & D, low income in Luzerne County starts at $31,700 for one person to $52,550 for six people in one household. A chart is available at the RC & D website.
Oram, a geology professor and laboratory manager for the Center of Environmental Quality at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, said loans will not exceed $11,000, will have 1 percent interest, and recipients will have a maximum of 20 years to repay.
Applications will be accepted starting March 1. Oram said beginning April 25, applications will be reviewed every two weeks.
Some of the uses of the loan would include drilling a new well for an existing home, and closing off an old well. Oram said the loan would not cover drilling a well for new construction, water testing, to pay for home plumbing systems, or for a home sewer or septic systems.
In his 20 years of experience in studying area water supplies, Oram found the biggest well water problems involve bacteria and solids. He said unlike reservoir water which is tested daily, well water users do not test their water frequently.
“The Environmental Protection Agency advises well water should be tested annually,” he said.
Lately, rural homeowners have been testing their well water, due to the invading Marcellus Shale natural gas industry. Hidden pre-existing quality problems are being found. The loan could help them increase the quality of their water, Oram said.
“Almost everybody uses well water,” Oram said. “Thirty percent of reservoir water comes from ground water. We all have a vested interest in maintaining quality ground water.”
EILEEN GODIN Times Leader Correspondent
March 14, 2011
http://www.timesleader.com/news/Well_water_users_will_get_financial_aid_03-14-2011.html
Wilkes creates water quality database
http://citizensvoice.com/news/wilkes-creates-water-quality-database-1.955949
Wilkes creates water quality database
BY ELIZABETH SKRAPITS (STAFF WRITER)
Published: August 18, 2010
WILKES-BARRE – Due to natural gas companies’ increasing interest in the Marcellus Shale, Wilkes University’s Center for Environmental Quality is establishing Northeastern Pennsylvania’s first water quality database to determine the condition of groundwater and surface water before drilling activity commences.
Property owners in Luzerne and Columbia counties who have had their private wells tested by state-certified laboratories are invited to contribute the data, which will be collected and used to help pinpoint any changes or trends in water quality.
“We’ll take information from any wells from anywhere,” Brian Redmond said.
Geologists Redmond, Sid Halsor and Brian Oram, who have a combined 100 years of groundwater experience in the region, will manage the database. Oram is director of the Center for Environmental Quality and Redmond and Halsor are professors in the Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences department at Wilkes. They held a press conference Thursday to announce the launch of the database.
Previous water quality tests were limited, said Redmond, who held up a copy of an outdated 1984 study by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Now, with the interest in the Marcellus Shale, the big question is what impact, if any, will natural gas drilling have on the groundwater, “especially with all those lovely private wells,” Redmond said.
He said public water suppliers are required to test for a “long, long list of things” and make the results public. But many homeowners don’t test their wells, he said.
The three geologists stressed the importance of having well testing done before any drilling takes place, in order to establish a baseline of what already is or isn’t in the water.
There are many potential sources of contamination, ranging from bacteria to the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing. Methane migration can occur even in areas where there isn’t any natural gas drilling, and Oram said arsenic can be found naturally in groundwater.
Testing can determine where the contaminants come from. For example, if the well water contains a high level of salt, it could be caused by the hydraulic fracturing of a well.
But it could also come from a well so deep it is below sea level, or from road salt, Redmond said. The well should be tested for other things that might indicate the source. An anti-caking agent is usually added to road salt, he said.
To maximize the value of the water test data, a geographic information system will be used for digital maps, Redmond said. If homeowners see elevated levels of things in their well water, they will be able to see if the same parameters are elevated elsewhere – whether it’s isolated or part of a trend, and if it’s a trend, where concentrations are highest, indicating the source, he said.
So far, more than 400 homeowners in Luzerne and Columbia counties, some of whom are in potential drilling areas, have contributed their test results, Halsor said. Oram said the data should be posted on Wilkes’ website by the fall.
Participation is voluntary, and Oram said homeowners’ personal information will be kept confidential; wells will be identified by geographic coordinates and zip codes.
All property owners with wells can contribute their test data, including those who are beyond the distance of natural gas well sites.
“Just because your land is not leased to a gas company doesn’t mean you’re immune to the impact,” Halsor noted.
eskrapits@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2072
Wilkes University to track NEPA well water quality
http://citizensvoice.com/news/wilkes-university-to-track-nepa-well-water-quality-1.946863
Published: August 14, 2010
Wilkes University to track NEPA well water quality
Wilkes University will announce a major initiative to track water quality in residential wells in Northeastern Pennsylvania at a news conference Tuesday. Water quality has become a significant issue in the area with the advent of natural gas drilling related to the Marcellus Shale formation. The project, by the university’s Center for Environmental Quality and its Homeowner Outreach Program, will be the first of its kind to track the quality of water in homeowners’ wells in Luzerne and Columbia counties. Educational outreach programs and materials related to water quality and well testing will be shared at the event.