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Views Differ on Fracking’s Impact

by Myrna Posted on April 26, 2013

Do the economic benefits outweigh the environmental risks? CREDO.fracking/Flickr The practice of hydraulic fracturing is under debate across the country in areas impacted by America’s ongoing natural gas boom. In the town of Findlay, Ohio, an increase in manufacturing in recent years has been accompanied by expanded natural gas drilling. That has Greg Auburn, professor of International Business at the University of Findlay feeling optimistic about Ohio’s future employment prospects. “The estimates (for jobs in the natural gas industry) range anywhere from 20,000 to 200,000 over the next 3 years,” he said. Along with employment projections, researchers have explored other possible costs and benefits of hydraulic fracturing, known colloquially as “fracking.” Studies conducted on the counties above the Marcellus and Barnett Shale for example — where extensive drilling has already taken place — present mixed economic results. Tim Kelsey is a Professor of Agricultural Economics at Penn State and author of “Economic Impacts of the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania: Employment and Income 2009.” He argues that possible benefits from increased drilling will impact different towns in different ways. “The potential benefits from hydraulic fracturing are tightly linked to the local labor force and infrastructure conditions as well as the structure and capacity of local governance.” Back in Findlay, Marathon Petroleum company headquarters sit directly on the town’s main street. According to Kelsey, the Midwest has a historical tradition entrenched in resource extraction through coal mining and oil drilling. Therefore the skilled labor and equipment necessary for hydraulic fracturing already exists in towns such as Findlay. However, the context is quite different in other communities open to shale plays across Ohio. To keep reading, click here. Link: Views Differ on Fracking’s Impact Related ArticlesObama Campaign Launches Plan to Shame Climate Sceptics in CongressRestoring the RockawaysClimate Desk Live 06/06/13: The Alarming Science Behind Climate Change’s Increasingly Wild Weather

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Views Differ on Fracking’s Impact

Posted in alo, ALPHA, Anchor, aquaponics, eco-friendly, FF, G & F, GE, horticulture, Monterey, ONA, solar, solar power, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Views Differ on Fracking’s Impact

Activists to Interior: Stop letting coal companies pillage our land, atmosphere, and treasury

by y0afvun Posted on April 16, 2013

Activists to Interior: Stop letting coal companies pillage our land, atmosphere, and treasury

By Lisa Hymas

Shutterstock

On her first full workday at her new job, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell got a loud message from green groups: Stop selling publicly owned coal for a pittance and destroying our atmosphere.

AP reports:

Environmental groups are calling for a moratorium on coal leasing in the Powder River Basin of Montana and Wyoming until the federal government reviews the program.

Representatives of 21 groups including Greenpeace and the Sierra Club requested the moratorium Monday in a letter to newly confirmed Interior Secretary Sally Jewell. …

As companies seek to ramp up coal exports, the environmentalists say the government needs to make sure companies are paying proper royalties. They also want more attention given to the climate change impacts of greenhouse gasses emitted when coal is burned.

On the royalty issue, the enviros put it a little more sharply in their letter:

The Department of Interior must ensure that coal companies do not cheat U.S. taxpayers …

A 2012 report from the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis revealed that BLM’s inaccurate assessment of the “fair market value” of coal has cheated taxpayers out of almost $30 billion over the last thirty years, a massive subsidy to the coal industry.

David Roberts put it more sharply still in a post last year: “taxpayers are getting screwed.”

it’s time climate hawks clued in to the fact that the feds — that is to say, we, collectively — own a sh*tload of land and resources, much of which can be used for energy. Among other things, this land we own provides 43.2 percent of the nation’s coal. Not only do we offer this coal up, but we practically beg coal companies to mine it, offering them, [as the Center for America Progress puts it,] “billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies via preferential tax treatments such as the ability to expense exploration and development costs, tax deductions to cover the costs of investments in mines, and favorable capital gains treatment on royalties.”

This week’s letter to Jewell means that a lot of climate hawks are cluing in. Policy analysts Matthew Stepp and Alex Trembath argue that it’s none too soon:

Targeting coal is … an appropriately ambitious strategy against climate change. While Keystone is a single project, U.S. coal is an entire energy system. A fight against it can draw support not only from Bill McKibben’s anti-Keystone troops but also from local clean-air organizers, conservationists who are against strip mining and mountaintop removal, and the many clean-energy industries that stand to gain from coal’s loss.

Indeed, McKibben’s 350.org is one of the groups that signed on to the letter. Activists from 350, the Sierra Club, and other groups know they have to do battle on multiple fronts. It’s not Keystone or coal. It’s Keystone and coal and fracking and offshore drilling and Arctic exploration …

—

Editor’s note: Bill McKibben is a member of Grist’s board of directors.

Lisa Hymas is senior editor at Grist. You can follow her on

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Activists to Interior: Stop letting coal companies pillage our land, atmosphere, and treasury

Posted in alo, Anchor, FF, G & F, GE, ONA, solar, solar panels, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Activists to Interior: Stop letting coal companies pillage our land, atmosphere, and treasury

Almost half of all coal burned in the world is burned in China

by gerdi Posted on January 29, 2013

Almost half of all coal burned in the world is burned in China

By Philip Bump

Speaking of air pollution in China, here’s a disconcerting graph from the U.S. Energy Information Agency.

EIA

The EIA explains:

Coal consumption in China grew more than 9% in 2011, continuing its upward trend for the 12th consecutive year, according to newly released international data. China’s coal use grew by 325 million tons in 2011, accounting for 87% of the 374 million ton global increase in coal use.

China now uses 47 percent of the world’s coal. It’s an almost unfathomable figure.

The EIA also created this animation of Asian coal growth between 1980 and 2010.

In 2011, China’s per-person carbon footprint neared Europe’s, but was still far behind that of the U.S. As the country consumes more coal, that figure will rise — meaning an exponential increase in carbon dioxide, soot, and other toxic pollutants in the air and atmosphere.

One last bit of bad news, from Financial Times energy reporter Ed Crooks:

We’ll update with some good news if possible. Someday.

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

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Almost half of all coal burned in the world is burned in China

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San Francisco’s private-public spaces go public-public

by RubinkJoseph Posted on December 18, 2012

San Francisco’s private-public spaces go public-public

By Susie Cagle

It may be one of the most expensive places to live in the country, but San Francisco is still sticking to its hippie roots and trying to look out for its commoners. A city mandate requires that downtown developers include a space in every new building for the city’s scruffy thousands who can’t afford Financial District condos. Some of these privately owned public spaces, or POPOS, look especially nice and fancy. Some have weird but glorious monster head sculptures. All languish relatively unused — but that may be about to change.

Scott Beale

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

The provision of privately owned public open spaces is governed by the city’s 1985 downtown plan. The formula “to meet the needs of downtown workers, residents and visitors” requires 1 square foot of public space per 50 square feet of office space or hotels.

At least 15 such spaces have been created since then because of the program. In addition, at least two recent projects not covered by the downtown plan include distinctive publicly accessible spaces: the San Francisco Federal Building with its three-story “sky garden” cut into the 18-story tower, and an expansive landscaped passage between the clover-shaped towers of the Infinity condominium complex. …

The 1985 plan states that when public spaces are located within or on top of buildings, “their availability should be marked visibly at street level.” But because the guidelines are so vague, it’s easy to fulfill their letter but not their spirit.

C’mon: If you were a downtown developer, would you want the street rabble accessing your luxury loft building’s glorious roof garden, even though the city requires it? Hell no. They must build it, but they can make it very difficult for you to come. ”Stay in the streets, plebes!” the developers cry as they ash their cigars off the 101st floor.

But not anymore! An update to the city’s ordinance now requires much clearer signage for the public benefit. From Atlantic Cities:

“It should create a branding to get to the question, ‘does the public understand what these spaces are?” [city manager of legislative affairs AnMarie] Rodgers says. “It should really help people to see it as not just one space, but a network of downtown open spaces.”

A new online tool maps all the POPOS and lets you sort by open hours, food availability, and public restrooms. Many have seating and views of the city, and some even have power outlets for your new pop-up flash-mob coworking space.

Can you imagine if all cities did this? We’d have public bathroom maps for every downtown!

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San Francisco’s private-public spaces go public-public

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