Landscaping, gardening and the environment
Bob shares his thoughts on landscaping and environmental topics.
Good or bad, the President of the United States has a powerful influence on our future global environment. And as the old saying goes, “Lead, follow or get out of the way.” Donald J. Trump needs to “get out of the way” so the…
The ‘fracked financials’ of shale oil and gas drilling (Updated blog from December 12, 2019) The oil and gas extraction industry is well known for its ‘boom and bust’ cycles, and the newest venture, known as Marcellus Shale, has proven to be no exception….
~ SILVER SPOON TOUR REDUX ~ An Eric Trump re-run plays out in western Pennsylvania today, in a desperate attempt to get his dad a second term. His visit to Beaver County is back page news, so you probably missed it. Fortunately for us,…
There’s an old saying, “Talk is cheap, but you can’t buy it back.” Another classic is, “Put brain into gear before engaging mouth.” When it comes to veterans and their families, you have to wonder if President Donald J. Trump subscribes to either saying!…
Through years of student deferments, then a medical deferment for bone spurs, Donald Trump avoided being drafted at the height of the Vietnam War. Image: Chinook helicopter lifting an artillery piece during the Vietnam War. Even though the 1969 draft lottery drawing included men…
Some areas should be banned from oil and gas drilling (Updated blog from December 13, 2019) Yesterday, the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) broke a 5-year moratorium on oil drilling and fracking in California, by allowing over one-million acres of public land, in…
“Government Failed You” (Updated blog from December 14, 2019) The team at Public Herald, headed by Joshua B. Pribanic, has done an extraordinary job of shining a spotlight on most of the regulatory “fracking faults” in Pennsylvania, especially ones related to the Pa. Department…
Following Trump’s presidential campaign rally in Westmoreland County, Covid-19 cases spiked! Tonight, after being sickened and hospitalized by the virus himself, Donald Trump returns to Johnstown in Cambria County, Pa. for another one of his ‘super-spreader events.’ Will the final outcome be any different…
(Republished blog from December 7, 2020) The old saying — “Waste not, want not” — along with dire warnings about climate change, are being ignored in Texas, enough so that a pipeline operator is actually suing the Railroad Commission of Texas, the commission overseeing…
Pennsylvania has become a dump for radioactive waste in landfills never designed to hold any toxic waste. Fossil Fuel Polluters and Friends Ramp Up New Attack on Solar Energy in Pa. In 2019, Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency issued its recommendation to exempt oil and gas waste…
aka ‘Drilling on Debt’ (Republished blog from November 11, 2019) Low natural gas prices continue to cause layoffs and bankruptcies, with no short term end in sight. We’re also aware that most of the “sweet spots” in the Marcellus Shale have already been drilled…
Air pollution from the Shell Cracker Plant in Beaver County will be like adding 50,000 automobiles to the roads! One of the most informative speakers at the 2015 Shale and Public Health Conference in Pittsburgh was Wilma Subra. Over seven years of attending the…
Oil and gas, held tight by Marcellus shale, vanishes quickly. Poof and it’s gone! (Updated blog from November 4, 2019) In the past, oil and gas reservoirs were tapped with vertical wells, kind of like a straw in a milkshake glass. However, in the…
Local 128-acre farm, one that belonged to a Pennsylvania family for over 100 years, was auctioned-off yesterday. A quick aerial view of that farm on Google Maps shows the gray gravel blotches of two gas well pads, one-mile or less, from the edge of…
Even with a history of accidents at wells close to the public water reservoir for 150,000 people, there are new plans to continue drilling and fracking! OVERVIEWAlthough fishing has been banned at Beaver Run Reservoir since 1952, the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County (MAWC) decided to allow Marcellus…
Dr. McCawley knows compressor stations, Ultra Fine Particles (UFP’s) and their adverse health effects. He’s a health expert and you probably won’t like what he had to say if you live in our tri-state area. (Updated post from November 2019) November 20, 2019 –…
Breathing clean air near Marcellus Shale drilling? (Republished blog from December 9, 2019) While it was water pollution that first raised my concerns about fracking, air pollution soon gained an equal rank. Presentations by health experts at the recent Shale and Public Health conference…
School children are ‘Danger Close’ in Burgettstown, Pa. (Republished blog from November 5, 2019) It’s jaw-dropping to see how much infrastructure has been built by the natural gas industry over the past 15 years, all since the first Marcellus Shale well was fracked in…
How close is 500 feet to drilling and fracking in Pennsylvania? This close! Hard to imagine having a nicely forested area close to your home suddenly destroyed for a huge gravel well pad for industrial activities. So what’s the rub? After all, Pennsylvania requires…
Elon Musk set the stage for next week’s NATIONAL DRIVE ELECTRIC WEEK at Tesla’s ‘BATTERY DAY’ FASTEN YOUR SEATBELT! Tuesday evening, Tesla unveiled the ‘MODEL S PLAID‘ with 520+ mile range, 200 mph top speed, and 0-60 mph in under 2 seconds. With $1,000…
Pennsylvania adds another hazard to the rails (Republished blog from December 11, 2019. UPDATE: Since this blog was posted, the Trump administration pushed through new rules that allow rail shipments of LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) that took effect in August 2020) Another oil train…
Even without forest fires and hurricanes, our 2020 weather has had its extremes. This morning, Sunday (9-20-20) just before dawn, our thermometer read 28-degrees F. Image: Yesterday, Saturday morning (9-19-20) at 6:50am, the temperature on our deck was only 30-degrees. Charts at the weather…
Baseline Water Testing is Critical to Proving Contamination from Fracking (Republished blog from December 29, 2019) The news out of Wyoming last Monday didn’t surprise anyone, at least not those of us who have closely followed water contamination cases near fracking. We’ve seen too…
Our tri-state region of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia has been “sliced and diced” by new pipelines over the past 15 years to move, and often export, natural gas, propane and ethane. (Republished blog from January 5, 2020) Some say FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory…
In Marcellus Shale country, drill rig counts have dropped, while drilling pads and gas well counts have super-sized. Welcome to the next fracking decade. What used to be 6-well pads are doubling, tripling or even bristling with seven-times more wellheads. Well laterals have lengthened…
HOW RADIOACTIVE FRACKING WASTE GETS IN PENNSYLVANIA WATERWAYS FACT: Marcellus Shale gas drilling waste contains water soluble Radium 226 and Radium 228 that have contaminated our local environment. Over the past 15 years, this waste has been illegally dumped in multiple counties, willfully dumped…
(Republished blog from December 10, 2019) Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) crunched the numbers on a dozen years of shale gas development in our tri-state region, concluding shale gas development is not worth the costs. Image: Marcellus Shale wells drilled and fracked, in…
Videos of the 2019 “SHALE AND PUBLIC HEALTH” conference have been posted online here for those who weren’t able to attend. (Republished blog from December 5, 2019) The annual conference was presented by the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania with funding from the…
Why these brave passengers had time to act on September 11, 2001 Flight 93 was 41 minutes late leaving Newark Airport for its planned flight to San Francisco. This delay allowed time for the passengers on Flight 93 to learn of the other three…
“If these health effects are not due to fracking, what has changed, we couldn’t think of anything else.” Dr. Brian Schwartz (Republished blog from November 24, 2019) Over the course of several years, I’ve heard Dr. Schwartz speak at the Shale and Public Health…
Definition of PURE “Free from impurities or adulterants” (Republished blog from November 16, 2019) Our Pennsylvania Constitution — Article I, Section 27 — begins with “The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic…
A series of train wrecks has citizens concerned about public safety when it comes to increased rail shipments of LPG and LNG.
An exciting look at the future of electric vehicles from Lucid Motors! World’s quickest production sedan is also “Future Ready” to power a home during a grid outage. This 9.9-second quarter mile ET (at 144 mph) electric sedan is being unveiled next Wednesday (9-9-20)…
Earthquake strikes Washington County, Pa. near shale gas drilling for the second time in three years (Republished blog from October 30, 2019) In a county where earthquakes are non-existent to extremely rare, a minor earthquake shook residents 6-1/2 miles south of Washington, Pennsylvania in…
Tonight, President Trump is holding a pep rally in Latrobe, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Since his inauguration, he and his administration have worked to destroy nearly 100 sensible environmental laws and regulations. Those regulations were put into place by Republicans and Democrats, over past decades,…
EarthWorks just released a new report summarizing the massive volumes of waste generated by fracking in Pennsylvania. (Republished blog from September 12, 2019) The report focuses on 8 years – 2011 through 2018. Unconventional Marcellus shale gas drilling (using high volume, slick water, hydraulic…
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