Mar 18, 2023
Randi Pokladnik
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
Ohio HB 507 was rushed through the “lame duck” session without any public comments. This bill, which facilitates fracking on our public lands, becomes a law on April 7. Once that happens, the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission will be in control of leasing processes. They are creating rules and lease agreement forms for the state parcels “nominated for fracking.” However, until the rules are in place, leases can be executed “without public notices, without public comments, and without competitive bidding or oversight by the commission to protect the public interests.”
Unlike New York, which banned fracking based on numerous health studies, Ohio has embraced the industry with open arms and a lackadaisical attitude toward regulations protecting the land, air, water and citizens’ health. Our state lands are now open for oil and gas extraction and we are faced with an impossible task: trying to preserve our forests and parks from an extractive industry. In a February meeting of the commission, Ohio citizens asked for a minimum 60-day comment period, advance notification of the parcels being considered, parcel information including maps, and factors being considered in making decisions.
I attended the March 1 commission meeting, but citizens were prohibited from speaking or asking questions. Instead, the majority of the meeting was allocated to the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD), who discussed their very lucrative long-term association with the oil and gas industry and their template for lease agreements.
While the MWCD claims their mission is flood reduction, conservation, and recreation, after their presentation, one might say their mission is to make money, lots of money. In fact, “no one has benefited financially as much as the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District; Ohio’s No. 1 beneficiary of drilling.”
The MWCD has made millions of dollars on water sales, fracking leases, and royalties. Additionally, the MWCD gathers fees from boaters who use the lakes, home leases, park fees, money from timbering, and fees from flood protection assessments.
Citing the MWCD royalty range (18%-20%) as a template, the commission set 12.5 % as the minimum royalty fee for state lands, saying they “are probably leaving dollars on the table.” There is little doubt our state lands are being viewed as money makers, not public lands where Ohio’s citizens can enjoy nature or where biodiversity is protected. Ohio’s citizens own these lands and tax dollars support these agencies, but it is doubtful we will have a seat at the table when it comes to deciding which lands can be leased.
Muskingum’s land manager Nate Wilson, described how their leases (MWCD) “require additional setbacks (3,000 feet), testing, and additional containment facilities in case of accidents.” But, their input into the process ends there. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has shown they lack the ability to enforce violations or levy fines and the industry benefits from exemptions of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, National Environmental Policy Act, and Emergency Planning and Community Right-to Know Act.
MWCD Executive Director Craig Butler said they (MWCD) “do not put surface construction on MWCD lands, but we do have pipeline access and gathering line access and water lines and those types of things.” It is still unclear if our state lands will be impacted by drilling pads. Companies could possibly use a “separate written surface use agreement” to construct well pads on state lands.
The widespread use of high-pressure hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has turned rural areas of SE Ohio into industrial zones. I travel along Routes 151, 250 and 646 in the Tappan Lake area of the MWCD watershed and see endless pipelines cutting across hillsides. Wells pads, access roads, water withdraw lines and infrastructure are devouring the landscape. Is this what we want for our state lands?
Many Ohioans chose to live in rural areas because of the beauty the forests and hills provide. Real stewards of the environment protect precious resources for future generations; they do not destroy them for financial gains. No amount of money or extravagant marina is worth exposing our children to toxic chemicals and pollution from an unregulated industry. Our rural communities have become sacrificial zones at the mercy of the fossil fuel industry.
Proponents of fracking only tout the monetary gains and continue to ignore the long-term health effects associated with fracking. They ignore the increases in methane emissions which are fueling climate change and contributing to the collapse of ecosystems world-wide. They allow radioactive leachate to enter our waterways. They overlook the millions of gallons of radioactive produced water and carcinogenic chemicals that travel along our rural roads every day. Accidents involving trucks and tankers have increased by 14 percent in fracked areas of Ohio.
The recent train derailment in East Palestine reminds us of how easily one mistake can permanently alter the lives of thousands of people and forever taint the environment. Until Ohio puts health, safety, and a clean environment ahead of the interests of the fossil fuel industry, we can only wonder what will be left of our state lands and rural communities in the aftermath of this rush to frack.
***
Randi Pokladnik, Ph.D., of Uhrichsville, is a retired research chemist who volunteers with Mid Ohio Valley Climate Action. She has a doctorate degree in Environmental Studies and is certified in Hazardous Materials Regulations.
Last Updated: May 31, 2023 by main_y0ke11
EPA works with industry, not ‘overreaching’
(Opinion)Charleston Gazette-Mail
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Republicans in West Virginia are absolutely obsessed with claiming that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is “overreaching” in its regulation of industry, especially fossil fuels and derivative industries. Hoppy Kercheval just made the claim again in an op-ed in the Gazette-Mail, continuing this tired refrain. It’s nonsense.
First of all, state regulators have a tremendous amount of authority that the federal EPA lacks. In West Virginia, we have the Department of Environmental Protection, a misnomer due to regulatory capture. When industry isn’t permitted to just “regulate” itself, it’s often charged fines so miniscule that it considers them the cost of doing business.
Secondly, the EPA, more often than not, reaches what are called consent decrees with the industries it oversees. This is a negotiated settlement entered as a court order to make sure it is enforceable. It is almost unheard of that the EPA would issue what is referred to as a unilateral administrative order to require parties to take a response action.
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: What’s food got to do with climate change?
Apr 29, 2023
Linda Eve Seth
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
Cutting food waste is a delicious way of saving money, helping to feed the world and protecting the planet. — Tristram Stuart
***
What we eat, and how that food is produced, affects our health, of course, but also the health of the environment.
Food needs to be grown, processed, transported, distributed, prepared, consumed, and often disposed of. Each of these steps creates greenhouse gases (GHG) that trap the sun’s heat and contribute to climate change.
We waste 1 billion tons of food every year. That’s a disaster for the planet. About a third of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions is linked to food. Reducing food waste is one of the most accessible, impactful climate solutions.
For many people in the world, food waste has become a habit: buying more food than we need at markets, letting fruits and vegetables spoil at home or taking/ordering larger portions than we can eat. Habits like those put extra strain on our natural resources and damage our environment. When we waste food, we waste the labor, effort, investment and precious resources (water, seeds, feed, etc.) that go into producing it, in addition to the resources that go into transporting and processing it. The result: wasting food increases GHG emissions and contributes to climate change.
Wasted food, no matter the cause, ultimately ends up in landfills, where it generates methane, an invisible, odorless gas with more than 80 times more warming power in the near-term than carbon dioxide, effectively helping accelerate climate change.
By some accounts, 20% of total GHG emissions annually is linked to food production. which means that agriculture contributes more than any other sector, including energy and transportation, to climate change. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN estimates that if food waste were a country, its GHG emissions would be the third highest in the world! Another way to look at the issue: Most of us generate more planet-warming emissions from eating than we do from driving or flying.
Reducing food loss and waste presents a simple. accessible opportunity for immediate climate benefits while simultaneously improving the overall sustainability of our food systems — a necessary transformation to ensure better planetary and nutritional outcomes for current and future generations.
It’s up to each of us to change our habits to make not wasting food a way of life! In the U.S. and beyond, food is wasted along all parts of the supply chain. A variety of local strategies and tools can be used to tackle this issue, including preventing food waste, connecting wholesome excess food to those who need it, and composting food scraps. People often wonder what they as individuals can possibly do to aid the world in the fight against climate change. Here are some easy actions you can take to re-connect to food and help the planet:
Buy only what you need: Plan your meals. Make a shopping list and stick to it, and avoid impulse buys: waste less food, and save money!
Pick ugly fruit and vegetables: Oddly-shaped or bruised fruits and vegetables are often thrown away because they don’t meet arbitrary cosmetic standards. Don’t worry – they taste the same! Use mature fruit for smoothies, juices and desserts.
Understand food labelling: There’s a big difference between “best before” and “use-by” dates. Sometimes food is still safe to eat after the “best before” date, whereas it’s the “use-by” date that tells you when it is no longer safe to eat.
Start small: Take smaller portions at home or share large dishes at restaurants.
Love your leftovers: If you don’t eat everything you make, freeze it for later or use the leftovers as an ingredient in another meal. You also can use your leftovers and food scraps to start a compost pile; Then use that rich organic matter to fertilize your own vegetable garden.
Changing our habits regarding food production and consumption is one very simple, but important, thing each of us can do! Every citizen can be part of the solution to combat climate change through thoughtful food consumption and processing of food wastes.
Until next time, be kind to your Mother Earth.
Last Updated: May 31, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Public land being stollen
April 24 Columbus Dispatch
Letter to the Editor
Aaron Dunbar
I testified at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources April 10, voicing my opposition to the theft of Ohio’s state parks and public lands for oil and gas extraction.
The decision to allow fracking on our shared land, without the public’s consent, is unacceptable. These actions will destroy wildlife habitats, poison visitors to Ohio’s state parks, and strongly impact tourism to these beautiful green spaces.
Opinion:Fracking in Ohio’s state parks is a recipe for disaster
All this comes alongside the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s most recent and starkest warning that we must immediately reduce greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the catastrophic heating of the planet.
The methane released by fracking in particular is a catalyst for rapid and intense heating, and its swift removal from our energy systems is necessary to keep heating below crucial tipping points — a far cry from the definition of methane as “green energy” as fraudulently pushed by House Bill 507.
Environmental organizations are currently taking legal action to prevent the desecration of our public lands. In the meantime, I urge Ohioans everywhere to speak out strongly against this this legislation.
More:Opinion: Politicians have put interests of oil, gas industries before Ohioans, parks
Where does it end if we let them get away with an act of theft from the public this shameless and brazen?
Aaron Dunbar, Lowell
Last Updated: April 28, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner:‘The most wonderful time to be alive’
Apr 22, 2023
Jean Ambrose
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
Botanist and bestselling author Robin Wall Kimmerer was recently in Athens, lecturing on indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and what we can learn from plants and the natural world. As both a scientist and a registered member of the Potawatomie tribe, she has unique advice for us as we mark Earth Day today.
Straddling two worlds, Kimmerer learned that scientists might learn about the natural world, but in her tradition people learned from the natural world. Take mosses, for example. Mosses have stayed basically unchanged for more than 450,000 years, while more than 99% of all species have gone extinct. Such resilience is unmatched and Kimmerer wrote an entire book on what we can learn from mosses in a time many species are standing on the brink of extinction. Learning from moss is difficult for those who think of humanity as the dominant species, but the humility that allows us to be a student of the Earth rather than her conqueror permits us to observe, learn, and be changed.
Kimmerer had advice for what we can do:
* Raise a garden because of all you will learn.
* Raise children to love and learn from the Earth.
* Raise a ruckus.
The first Earth Day in 1970 didn’t happen through government action but was a spontaneous global movement prompted by seeing the first pictures of our beautiful planet against the black void of space.
The Clean Water and Clean Air Acts, the Environmental Protection Agency, the protection of endangered species, and much more was sparked by our visceral need to protect our fragile planet and was accomplished in a bipartisan manner under Richard Nixon. We who participated in that first Earth Day 50 years ago were sure that we would have solved the threats to the Earth by now.
Speaking for her generation, Alayna Garst, the sophomore Climate Ambassador at Williamstown High School writes “These past few years, we have watched as wildfires destroyed the beautiful landscapes of Australia and California, turning the sky orange and the hills into barren wastelands. 467 species have gone extinct and 14% of the world’s coral reefs have been killed in just the past ten years. The climate crisis can feel hopeless. So what if I use a plastic straw or buy fast fashion, when everything is literally on fire? Does it really make a difference if I carpool to work, when only 100 companies are responsible for 71% of global emissions?
“Given the dire consequences of our past actions, we can waste our energy wishing we could prevent the Industrial Revolution from ever happening, or that we had started to act 30 or even 20 years ago. However, the best time to act is now because it’s all we have.
“Fear mongering and doomsday talk only hurt the movement to stop climate change. Polling from September 2020 showed that more than half of adults in the U.S. were anxious about how climate change affects their mental health. And nearly 40% of surveyed Gen Z Americans, born after 1996, said addressing climate change is their top personal concern. While this anxiety can lead to action, all too often it leads to paralysis in the face of something we perceive to be too far gone or outside of our control. It is important to maintain a positive, healthy mindset and realize the battle is not over. There is still time and that time is now.”
Alayna isn’t giving up and neither can we. This Earth Day, make it a point to talk to a young person about their relationship to the natural world. You may be surprised at their answers, like Dr. Kimmerer was, when a graduating student of hers told her not to despair because “This is the most wonderful time to be alive.” When asked how she could believe that, the student said, “It’s like the old Wiley Coyote cartoons where Wiley is standing on a teeter totter over a precipice. It matters where I stand. Every choice I make matters, everything I do matters.”
On this Earth Day, get outside. And remember, everything you do makes a difference to our Earth, our common home.
***
Jean Ambrose is trying not to be a criminal ancestor.
Last Updated: April 28, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: West Virginia Public Service Commission must say no
Apr 15, 2023
Eric Engle
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
First Energy West Virginia subsidiaries MonPower and PotomacEdison want their ratepayers to pay $36 million between June of this year and May 2024 to place the Pleasants Power Station in a state of “warm storage” (aka not generating energy), energy that is generated for Ohio customers even when operational, while First Energy decides whether or not to purchase the plant and keep it running over the long-term. This is a terrible idea that the West Virginia Public Service Commission should not allow.
A writer in last week’s edition of the Parkersburg News and Sentinel who is a plant employee argued that warm storage is a responsible option for coal plants instead of permanently shutting them down because coal’s baseload power is needed when power demands can’t be met by other sources. The writer mentioned the power demands placed on grids last Christmas when an Arctic blast of cold weather hit the nation and that coal plants were fired back up across Europe to meet energy demands recently when Russian natural gas became more scarce with Putin’s war in Ukraine. Those arguments are fallacious.
According to a report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) from March, “more than 100,000 megawatts of coal-and-gas-fired generation failed to start or were forced offline during the Arctic blast that hit the central and eastern U.S. just before Christmas.” Dennis Wamsted, IEEFA energy analyst and author of the report, Fossil Fuels Fail Reliability Test, stated in a media release that “Coal-and-gas-fired resources’ performance in December show how unreliable they can be exactly when they are needed most. The increasingly troublesome record of performance needs to be accounted for in utility transmission system planning efforts.”
In Europe, energy for heating was the biggest challenge as the onslaught of Russian aggression in Ukraine led the Putin regime to cut off some of Europe’s gas supplies. This is a challenge Europe is now beginning to meet with heat pumps and energy efficiency and the deployment of more renewables. The electric heat pump market in Europe has exploded since 2021. The International Energy Agency has found that coal use in Europe is expected to decline below 2020 levels by 2025, at the latest.
Last week’s writer also mentioned intermittency issues with renewables like solar and wind. That’s where battery storage, grid management, and energy efficiency come in. Even West Virginia’s Republican supermajority in the state legislature and coal baron governor can see the importance of battery technology, as evidenced by the efforts and expenditures made to bring Form Energy’s iron-air, long-lasting battery manufacturing facility to Weirton. Investments in such technologies are booming in West Virginia, thanks to the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and especially the Inflation Reduction Act. And renewables are already coming in cheaper than coal. A study released in January by Energy Innovation Policy and Technology, LLC, found that every coal plant in operation in West Virginia could be replaced with wind and solar at a lower cost. In the case of the Pleasants Power Station, the study found regional wind energy could replace its generation at a cost that is $10.37 lower per megawatt-hour for customers.
It’s often pointed out that the Pleasants Power Station employs more than 154 people. As a longtime union steward, I want to see jobs and livelihoods protected, but in this case that is the responsibility of First Energy and the state and federal governments. Why can’t First Energy help these employees make the transition and why did the state legislature pass a resolution saying the sale of Pleasants from First Energy’s Ohio subsidiary, Energy Harbor, to its West Virginia subsidiaries go through on the backs of ratepayers instead of focusing on protecting theses workers’ futures? When this same sale failed to go through in 2017, the state legislature’s only response was a $12.5 million a year tax break on the backs of West Virginia taxpayers to delay the inevitable. Why wasn’t the focus on the workers and local communities’ long-term interests then?
Another important question is why the environment and public health always take a backseat ride in these discussions. According to the U.S. EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory, the Pleasants Power Station released 2.4 million tons of toxic chemicals in 2021, mostly through ground contamination. According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) data, there is now 50% more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than in preindustrial times and an enormous proportion of that is attributable directly to coal use. We cannot dismiss the settled science of anthropogenic (human-caused) global climate change and the threats it poses or the extremely dire negative effects of coal on our air, water, soil and health. First Energy wants us to bear the costs of cleaning up those effects as ratepayers and taxpayers instead of their shareholders shouldering the responsibility.
On April 25, the West Virginia Public Service Commission must say no to another dirty deal that threatens our energy finances, health, and the very habitability of our only home in the cosmos.
***
Eric Engle is chairman of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Last Updated: April 28, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Climate change and your allergies
Apr 8, 2023
Rebecca Phillips
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
The Mid-Ohio Valley has long been known for the prevalence of respiratory woes, particularly the notorious “Ohio Valley Crud,” often a result of seasonal allergies. Unfortunately, there is bad news for allergy sufferers: Climate change is making allergy season longer and more intense, and is almost certain to continue to do so.
Researchers from Rutgers University noted in 2014 that pollen season length increased by three days just in the first decade of this century, with pollen counts rising by 40% in that same period. These phenomena are caused by rising temperatures–in other words, climate change — and increased atmospheric carbon dioxide. Warmer temperatures lead to more frost-free days, with trees blooming earlier and the first frost coming later. Our area now experiences on average nine more frost-free days than it did in 1999. Oak pollen arrives earlier, as does grass pollen. Ragweed pollen lasts longer into the fall.
Ragweed, that bane of so many people’s existence, is not just blooming longer; it is also producing more pollen. USDA scientist Lewis Ziska has found that increased CO2 levels cause ragweed plants to become larger, bloom more heavily, and therefore produce more pollen–somewhere around a billion grains per plant. Not only does it serve as fertilizer: CO2 causes the pollen to produce more of the protein that causes the allergic reaction. Not good news for us.
And the news gets worse. If current emission levels continue, some climate scientists are predicting a 200% increase in total pollen this century, with pollen seasons nearly sixty days longer in some places, particularly the northern U.S. Pollen seasons will overlap, with more varieties in the air at any given time, leading to increased exposure and increased sensitivity for allergy sufferers.
Rising temperatures and humidity are also causing increases in the growth of molds and fungi, yet more allergy triggers. The more intense thunderstorms many places are experiencing coincide with more emergency room visits for allergic asthma; some research indicates that the winds are rupturing pollen grains and allowing them to penetrate more deeply into people’s lungs. Respiratory allergies are worse in areas with compromised air quality, such as the Mid-Ohio Valley.
We joke about our “crud,” but it is no laughing matter. Nearly a third of the world’s population suffers from respiratory allergies, and the Cleveland Clinic reports recent increases in those numbers. In addition to the very real human suffering, allergic rhinitis (the medical name for the crud) has an economic impact, estimated at more than $3.4 billion in annual medical costs in the U.S. alone. Allergy sufferers miss an average of 3.6 days of work per year and are less productive at work when ill. The annual cost of asthma (not always allergy-related) is more than $80 billion, and over 4,000 Americans die from asthma attacks each year.
We can reduce this suffering and these staggering costs by reducing the carbon emissions currently serving as weed fertilizer. This valley will always have pollen season, but we do not have to keep making the situation worse.
Rebecca Phillips is a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Last Updated: April 30, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Becoming prepared for the next disaster
Apr 1, 2023
Callie Lyons
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
We have seen it happen time and again. Shell, IEI, train derailments like East Palestine, untold environmental accidents and disasters – and each of them a threat to our homes, our families, our health and our lives. What could be more important?
Yet each time it happens, we find ourselves in the void that occurs when we wait for the government to act and provide us with potentially lifesaving information. Valuable moments when action could be taken are sacrificed to uncertainty. Evacuation orders are late. Exposure overwhelms before culprits are identified and appropriate responses determined.
We can do better.
No longer should we be at the mercy of the government and the great unknown over such horrific incidents. If the history of C8 contamination in the valley has taught us anything, it’s that the U.S. EPA is not going to save us from harm. Watchers of the movie “Dark Waters” are no doubt familiar with attorney Rob Bilott’s famous words: “Who protects us? We do.”
It’s time we do.
Observing the examples of other communities faced with similar challenges, there is a path forward made possible because of modern technology and the availability of citizen science monitoring tools. We cannot wait for the next catastrophe. Advance work is required. We must be organized and prepared.
The strategy is simple. Form a team with the training, assets and infrastructure to respond immediately in a coordinated manner to document incidents, collect data, communicate information to the impacted public and work with experts to provide independent analysis and community safety and health recommendations.
We will need a small army of volunteers including nature observers and river watchers, sniffers and samplers, mappers and communicators. Add to that a process for reporting observations and developments, equipment and training for sampling air and water and a basic framework for coordinating community involvement.
One shining example of this is the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, which was formed in 2000 to support communities whose health and homes were being compromised by the petrochemical industry. Among the tools developed by the group is a Bucket, a low-cost air sampling tool approved by the EPA, and the iWitness Pollution map, a crowdsourcing tool used to document pollution.
There is no need to reinvent the wheel. An effective process has been defined by others like the founders of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade who are more than willing to share their expertise.
We need to learn from the past and prepare for the future. It is time for the Mid-Ohio Valley to have its own coordinated citizen response team — and it needs to happen before disaster strikes again.
Are you in?
***
Callie Lyons is a journalist and author living in the Mid-Ohio Valley. She is currently the chief researcher for the Murdaugh Murders Podcast. Her 2007 book, “Stain-Resistant, Nonstick, Waterproof and Lethal: The Hidden Dangers of C8,” was the first book to reveal the prevalence and danger of the PFAS family of highly fluorinated compounds used by industry in the manufacture of Teflon and thousands of other consumer applications.
Last Updated: April 30, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Climate CRISIS
Mar 25, 2023
Giulia Mannarino
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was created in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Program. Its objective is to provide governments at all levels with scientific information that can be used to develop climate policies.
Since its creation, the IPCC has delivered Assessment Reports, the most comprehensive scientific reports about climate change produced worldwide that have fed directly into international policy making. These reports have provided regular assessments of the scientific basis of climate change, its impacts, future risks, and options for adaptation and mitigation that can reduce those risks. But the IPCC does not conduct its own research. Hundreds of experts in different fields from all over the world volunteer their time and expertise to produce IPCC reports. Thousands more contribute to the review process and to the literature and other knowledge that are assessed in the reports.
None of these scientists are paid by the IPCC. In 1990, the First IPCC Assessment Report (FAR) underlined the importance of climate change as a challenge with global consequences and requiring international cooperation.
On March 20, 2023, the latest Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) was issued and the information it contains on the current status of climate change, its impacts and risks is not good. According to the report, the world is on track to face catastrophic warming. It warns the exceeding 1.5 degrees C of warming (known as “overshoot”) has dangerous and irreversible consequences, even if temperatures might later be brought back below that level.
The report also contains information on the options to adapt to and confront the crisis in the critical years ahead. Fortunately, the report determined world leaders already have the necessary tools to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save lives. A rapid phaseout of fossil fuels, accompanied by a roll out of renewable energy, is the clearest and most certain path to avoid overshoot.
The authors of the report hope it will give guidance for political leaders who will gather later this year for international negotiations on how to limit emissions. On announcing the report, U.N.’s Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated, “The climate’s timebomb is ticking, but today’s IPCC report is a how-to-guide to diffuse the climate timebomb. It is a survival guide for humanity.” The IPCC’s website urges all policymakers to read this report carefully as they consider future actions.
Yet, leading scientists predict that by 2030, the world is on track to produce 110% more fossil fuels than the world can ever burn; with the U.S. leading the world in its extraction and export. Congress and President Biden have been focused on policies that reduce the demand for fossil fuels, like the Inflation Reduction Act, but they haven’t been working on the cause of climate change–fossil fuels.
Despite the science and the universal agreement on the problem, the U.S. continues to permit new fossil fuel projects like the large Willow Arctic oil project, the Mountain Valley fracked gas pipeline, the possibility of another version of Manchin’s “dirty deal” to expedite fossil fuel expansion via “permitting reform” and more. But to truly stop the climate crisis, we must also control the supply of fossil fuels. The IPCC has clearly and repeatedly rung the alarm bells that staying below the 1.5 degrees C goal is vital to protect people and the planet.
They have also been equally clear that achieving that goal requires immediate and rapid action to phase out fossil fuels. Both the supply and demand side of climate action must be tackled. Fossil fuel expansion is incompatible with that 1.5 degrees C goal. The recent report is unequivocal about our best chance at a liveable future. A livable future for all will not be achievable if we fail to act on the latest and most urgent alarms sounded last week by the IPCC.
The clock is ticking and there is no time to waste on false solutions. Climate action must be ambitious, focus on real solutions and center climate justice and human rights. Believe the science and scientists NOT the disinformation of the fossil fuel industry that continues to put profits above the future of the Earth and the Earthlings who reside upon it. Every one must urge government officials at all levels to enact policies and programs that will end the era of fossil fuels because the climate CRISIS is now here.
Last Updated: April 30, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Fracking Ohio’s public lands
Mar 18, 2023
Randi Pokladnik
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
Ohio HB 507 was rushed through the “lame duck” session without any public comments. This bill, which facilitates fracking on our public lands, becomes a law on April 7. Once that happens, the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission will be in control of leasing processes. They are creating rules and lease agreement forms for the state parcels “nominated for fracking.” However, until the rules are in place, leases can be executed “without public notices, without public comments, and without competitive bidding or oversight by the commission to protect the public interests.”
Unlike New York, which banned fracking based on numerous health studies, Ohio has embraced the industry with open arms and a lackadaisical attitude toward regulations protecting the land, air, water and citizens’ health. Our state lands are now open for oil and gas extraction and we are faced with an impossible task: trying to preserve our forests and parks from an extractive industry. In a February meeting of the commission, Ohio citizens asked for a minimum 60-day comment period, advance notification of the parcels being considered, parcel information including maps, and factors being considered in making decisions.
I attended the March 1 commission meeting, but citizens were prohibited from speaking or asking questions. Instead, the majority of the meeting was allocated to the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD), who discussed their very lucrative long-term association with the oil and gas industry and their template for lease agreements.
While the MWCD claims their mission is flood reduction, conservation, and recreation, after their presentation, one might say their mission is to make money, lots of money. In fact, “no one has benefited financially as much as the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District; Ohio’s No. 1 beneficiary of drilling.”
The MWCD has made millions of dollars on water sales, fracking leases, and royalties. Additionally, the MWCD gathers fees from boaters who use the lakes, home leases, park fees, money from timbering, and fees from flood protection assessments.
Citing the MWCD royalty range (18%-20%) as a template, the commission set 12.5 % as the minimum royalty fee for state lands, saying they “are probably leaving dollars on the table.” There is little doubt our state lands are being viewed as money makers, not public lands where Ohio’s citizens can enjoy nature or where biodiversity is protected. Ohio’s citizens own these lands and tax dollars support these agencies, but it is doubtful we will have a seat at the table when it comes to deciding which lands can be leased.
Muskingum’s land manager Nate Wilson, described how their leases (MWCD) “require additional setbacks (3,000 feet), testing, and additional containment facilities in case of accidents.” But, their input into the process ends there. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has shown they lack the ability to enforce violations or levy fines and the industry benefits from exemptions of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, National Environmental Policy Act, and Emergency Planning and Community Right-to Know Act.
MWCD Executive Director Craig Butler said they (MWCD) “do not put surface construction on MWCD lands, but we do have pipeline access and gathering line access and water lines and those types of things.” It is still unclear if our state lands will be impacted by drilling pads. Companies could possibly use a “separate written surface use agreement” to construct well pads on state lands.
The widespread use of high-pressure hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has turned rural areas of SE Ohio into industrial zones. I travel along Routes 151, 250 and 646 in the Tappan Lake area of the MWCD watershed and see endless pipelines cutting across hillsides. Wells pads, access roads, water withdraw lines and infrastructure are devouring the landscape. Is this what we want for our state lands?
Many Ohioans chose to live in rural areas because of the beauty the forests and hills provide. Real stewards of the environment protect precious resources for future generations; they do not destroy them for financial gains. No amount of money or extravagant marina is worth exposing our children to toxic chemicals and pollution from an unregulated industry. Our rural communities have become sacrificial zones at the mercy of the fossil fuel industry.
Proponents of fracking only tout the monetary gains and continue to ignore the long-term health effects associated with fracking. They ignore the increases in methane emissions which are fueling climate change and contributing to the collapse of ecosystems world-wide. They allow radioactive leachate to enter our waterways. They overlook the millions of gallons of radioactive produced water and carcinogenic chemicals that travel along our rural roads every day. Accidents involving trucks and tankers have increased by 14 percent in fracked areas of Ohio.
The recent train derailment in East Palestine reminds us of how easily one mistake can permanently alter the lives of thousands of people and forever taint the environment. Until Ohio puts health, safety, and a clean environment ahead of the interests of the fossil fuel industry, we can only wonder what will be left of our state lands and rural communities in the aftermath of this rush to frack.
***
Randi Pokladnik, Ph.D., of Uhrichsville, is a retired research chemist who volunteers with Mid Ohio Valley Climate Action. She has a doctorate degree in Environmental Studies and is certified in Hazardous Materials Regulations.
Last Updated: April 30, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Ecological grief
Mar 11, 2023
Vic Elam
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
A few years ago, I reviewed the results of a survey of people from inner cities who were asked a number of questions about natural areas and their relation to them. One interesting takeaway from that survey was that even people who never traveled outside of the city and experienced nature, supported the protection of natural areas, and take comfort knowing that these areas exist.
This revelation leads me to believe that even people who don’t experience nature suffer from a phenomenon referred to as ecological grief. I feel certain that most people whose lives are closer related to nature must suffer much more so from ecological grief.
I think that it is human nature to throw up your hands in despair and feel that there is nothing that you can do to prevent the calamity of ecological destruction impacting ourselves, our environment, and the wildlife that we share this planet with. Although, I feel that it is important to be aware of the damage we are causing, and keep pushing for better, we should step back and take stock in our progress.
Most people now understand and accept that climate change is a real modern human-induced condition. Renewable energy technological breakthroughs are finding new and more efficient ways to harness energy at a blistering pace. The promising outlook for new, better-paying, clean energy jobs that offset those lost is encouraging. You see more electric vehicles on the road every day. Even when disaster strikes such as the train derailment in East Palestine the public outcry is louder and the demand for change so much stronger that it feels like change is in the air.
Yes, we have a long way to go to undue the damage wrought by our fellow humans acting without regard for their fellow man, and we will continue to have setbacks. But miring ourselves in ecological grief will not help the situation. We need to keep a positive attitude. I recommend that if you find yourself discouraged about the state of the environment, take a hike in the woods, take up a hobby such as birding, or just sit quietly in a park, open your senses and you will see that all is not lost, there is still much to save. Please join in the effort, for each of us making a small difference adds up to a huge change.
We all know what needs to be done, let’s get to it.
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