LANDSCAPING – GARDENING – ENVIRONMENT – WITHOUT ADS
In this day and age, with all we’ve learned about climate change and the disastrous effects it’s already having on our Commonwealth, it’s hard to believe there can be this kind of stone age thinking ‘under the dome’ in Harrisburg, Pa, led by none… Continue Reading “GOP Legislators Trying to Kill Clean Energy in Pennsylvania”
Pennsylvania Senator Katie Muth hosted a hearing last week, CLOSING THE HAZARDOUS WASTE LOOPHOLE IN PA, where we learned once again why citizens jokingly say the initials D.E.P. (short for Department of Environmental Protection) stand for “Don’t Expect Protection.” Of course it’s no laughing… Continue Reading “Don’t Expect Protection”
Oblivious to toxic waste pollution and the devastation from climate change, Pennsylvania politicians continue to put frackers first! Washington County commissioners have never been shy about their diehard, all-in support of the oil and gas industry, even in the face of an endless stream… Continue Reading “Earth to Nick”
Looking at our regional electric grid, we have a lot of work to do if we are going to wean ourselves off fossil fuels by 2030, or even 2035! The PJM Interconnection grid, that delivers electricity to WV, PA, OH, NJ and parts of… Continue Reading “Clean Energy Week”
In a hard-fought bid to make Pennsylvania the first major fossil fuel state to adopt a carbon pricing policy, Governor Tom Wolf’s plan to fight climate change passed its last regulatory hurdle yesterday with the IRRC (Independent Regulatory Review Commission). The 3-2 party-line vote… Continue Reading “One Step Forward”
Good news out of Columbus, Ohio on Monday, concerning the decision to quit using radioactive de-icer on state roads The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) is finally acting, following lab tests that were done by the ODNR just over 4 years ago, that included… Continue Reading “Smart Choice In Ohio”
“While most of the climate crisis attention is focused on land, many of the best fixes are offshore.” A new post by Ian Urbina, “Saving the Planet While Ignoring Two Thirds of It” puts an interesting twist on what our planet Earth faces as… Continue Reading “Lungs Of The Globe”
Justin Nobel, Science Journalist for ROLLING STONE, DeSmog, and other US magazines and investigative sites, presents his findings on the radioactivity found in oil and gas development during a Delaware Riverkeeper webinar. Begins at the 11:20 mark of video: More: TENORM: Stories on Fracking’s… Continue Reading “America’s Radioactive Secret”
Reading the weekly news of the oil and gas fracking industry in the United States reminds one of an old expression, “Death by a thousand cuts,” with the similarity being the cumulative effect of multiple smaller events. With the oil and gas industry, another… Continue Reading “Death by a Thousand Spills”
When the frackers began to ramp- up their fracking activities in our county, just over a decade ago, my greatest pollution concerns were for our streams, rivers and lakes. It made perfect sense then, and even more sense now, as we have seen repeated… Continue Reading “Brown Foam”
We had yet another ‘Stuck on Stupid’ moment this week when news emerged about the use of ‘Forever Chemicals’ in hydraulic fracturing of shale oil and gas wells. Approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency! This comes on the heels of past revelations about… Continue Reading “Poisoning Pennsylvania”
While the oil and gas industry is attempting to rebrand some of its fracked gas as being more ‘green,’ and to spin ‘unnatural gas’ in a more positive light, yesterday’s newspaper stories reminded those of us who follow fracking of their long- running, and… Continue Reading “More Frac Fluid Fears”
The dark red colors on yesterday’s weather map of the Pacific Northwest exemplified the harrowing tale of climate change, with several states and part of Canada, setting new records for extreme heat under what is called a ‘heat dome.’ One recent tweet included this… Continue Reading “Extreme Heat”
Following a recent protest in front of the City County building in downtown Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, Allegheny County executive Rich Fitzgerald made a few erroneous statements to the Press, according to a recent story by Eric de Place, a research fellow at the Ohio River… Continue Reading “Fracking With Fitz”
The progression of Marcellus Shale oil and gas development, processing, and export in western Pennsylvania has gone like this: 1. Seismic Surveys – Widespread exploration began with seismic surveys, that used “thumper trucks” and shot holes with explosive charges, to determine what the underground… Continue Reading “Compressor Stations”
As more peer- reviewed health studies are completed around unconventional gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing across the United States, more mothers, doctors, and local citizens are calling for greater setbacks from these industrial- grade activities that are used to drill and frac Marcellus Shale… Continue Reading “Fracking Setbacks”
Our Washington County, Pennsylvania has a long, disturbing history when it comes to football field sized impoundments, 15 to 20 feet deep, which are used by the oil and gas industry to ‘hold’ their liquid waste, or should we say, are supposed to hold… Continue Reading “4 Million Reasons”
The weather is playing a doubleheader in the Pittsburgh region this weekend, with Sunday being the second of back- to- back CODE ORANGE weather alerts. Code Orange days cause problems for young children, the elderly, and those with respiratory issues like asthma, emphysema, and… Continue Reading “Code Orange Doubleheader”
You’ve probably heard of the Allegheny Mountains. Also known as the Appalachian Mountain Range, it extends 400 miles through Pennsylvania, and several other states. As famous as those mountains are, Pennsylvania is now becoming known more for the 30 new “mountains” that it’s creating,… Continue Reading “TENORM Mountains”
Andrew Nikiforuk’s headline says it best, “The Brutal Legal Odyssey of Jessica Ernst Comes to an End. The Alberta landowner fought an epic battle against fracking interests.” Jessica shares her amazing story on her blog: Ernst v. EnCana Corporation. Andrew Nikiforuk knows her story… Continue Reading “Canada’s Best”
Pennsylvania legislators and our Attorney General are promoting new, overdue legislation, to help protect Pennsylvanians from the drilling and fracking of the unconventional oil and gas industry. PUBLIC HERALD has been head and shoulders above the rest of the media outlets, in reporting the… Continue Reading “Pennsylvania Fracking Reform”
In my Saturday May 22 blog ‘THE FRACKING SANDBOX’ we looked at frac sand, from cradle to grave, so to speak. And on that second point, I’m not even sure I pointed out how much of this sand, contaminated by hydraulic fracturing, ends up… Continue Reading “The Fracking Sandbox – Part 2”
There was a lively debate going on in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, eight years ago, regarding the potential leasing of the DEER LAKES PARK gas rights. Concerned citizens filled the chambers of multiple Allegheny County Council meetings, in an attempt to get a ‘No’ vote… Continue Reading “Returning The Favor”
A group of environmental reporters, recently polled Pennsylvania legislators, for their reactions on the results of some disturbing health studies, both past and present, regarding those citizens who live in close proximity to unconventional oil and gas well drilling and fracking, primarily in southwestern… Continue Reading “Republicans Love Fracking”
Who knew that the next wave of destructive mining would gobble up huge amounts of electricity, further delaying our transition from fossil fuels? Yup, Bitcoin mining. The new energy hog. For those who don’t understand how this 21st Century “mining” works, and why it… Continue Reading “Crypto Climate Change”
Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court will hear arguments on an important case on fracking, as it relates to residential zoning, this Monday. Those who have followed fracking closely in Pennsylvania, over the past decade, recall alarming legislation that was passed by our state legislature, known as… Continue Reading “Fracked By Zoning”
Peer reviewed health studies have shown greater health risks for those living within one-mile of a gas well site. Look how close this house is to a well pad! Wastewater impoundments have been an ongoing problem in western Pennsylvania, in fact, I thought they… Continue Reading “Fracked in Pennsylvania”
Cut down all the trees, which helps to promote climate change, eliminate wildlife habitat, increase runoff making flooding worse, toxify millions of gallons of water while making some radioactive, pollute the air with methane and diesel truck fumes to haul-in strip mined frac sand… Continue Reading “Environmental Destruction”
Backward thinking state senators in Pennsylvania are NOT thinking about a cleaner future for Pennsylvanians… you, your kids, your grandkids. State senators like Gene Yaw(n) are working hard, to keep those of us who live in the Commonwealth, stuck in a ‘fossil-fool past.’ Yaw… Continue Reading “Backwards Pennsylvania”
The man who wrote those words into Pennsylvania’s Environmental Rights Amendment 50 years ago, has authored a new book, to be released on Earth Day. We just learned of this new book in the PA Environment Digest Blog which included this: It’s a crying… Continue Reading “Clean Air and Pure Water”
Some Texas politicians tried to falsely blame wind energy for their major power outage Since the weekend, weather news has been primarily focused on Texas, due to power outages caused by the unusual February ice, snow and cold that has gripped large parts of… Continue Reading “Texas Wind Turbines”
When did you ever think you would see “Elon Musk” and “fracking” in the same sentence? Well now you have! It caught me by surprise too, even though Elon is known for his lightning quick surprises, ‘coming out of the blue.’ Well go figure,… Continue Reading “Elon Musk to Start Fracking?”
Citizens and environmental groups call on Pennsylvania Gov. Wolf to revoke this permit Injection wells are used by the drilling and fracking industry to dispose of toxic flowback and produced water from oil and gas wells. Huge volumes of this toxic liquid waste return… Continue Reading “‘Plum Crazy’ Injection Well Permit”
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… Continue Reading “Unsustainable Energy Waste”
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… Continue Reading “Frac Tracers”
Beautiful fall weather in western Pennsylvania has been tainted by four ‘Code Orange’ air alert days in a row. 11-9-20 UPDATE: Four Five air quality alerts in a row! For the fourth day in a row, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection forecasts a… Continue Reading “Code Orange Again in Pennsylvania”
The Pennsylvania oil and gas (O&G) industry is at it again, with help from their friends in Harrisburg. (Updated blog from January 16, 2020) Image: The label on these trucks says “RESIDUAL WASTE” but what does that mean? Pennsylvania GOP Predominately Pa. GOP legislators… Continue Reading “Drilling Waste Dumped On Pennsylvania Roads”
“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… Continue Reading “Fracking is Elevating Radioactivity in the Air, Land and Water”
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… Continue Reading “Radioactive Dumps in Pennsylvania From Fracking”
