in-the-spotlight

EVENT: Marcellus Shale Forums Aug 26 & 27

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:42:12 +0100

Aug 26th Marcellus Shale informational forum (Just over the border in PA)

Speaker: Conrad Dan Volz, DrPH, MPH. This forum will include representatives
from legal groups, environmental research and academic institutions, and the
natural gas industry. Contact CHEC for more information at this time:
412-624-9379 or chec@pitt.edu.

When

Thu Aug 26 6pm – 9pm Eastern Time

Where

Chippewa E-Free Church, 239 Braun Road, Beaver Falls, PA 15010 (map)

Aug 27th What Do We Need to Know? The Potential Public Health Impacts of Marcellus Shale Drilling

Serious potential environmental and public health concerns surround the gas extraction    
process used in the Marcellus Shale, the sedimentary rock formation underlying    
significant portions of Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, and West Virginia. This panel    
discussion will address the following topics: Conceptual site modeling,    
Potential human exposure pathways to water and air contaminants, Behavioral and    
community health concerns, Public health preparedness related to gas industry    
operations, Fractracker.org, a Web platform that gives researchers the ability    
to directly engage citizens in the collection of datat to effectively    
demonstrate the impacts of Marcellus Shale gas extraction. Panelists: Dan Volz,    
DrPH, MPH, assistant professor, GSPH Department of Environmental and    
Occupational Health, and director, Center for Healthy Environments and    
Communities (CHEC), Charles Christen, DrPH, CHEC director of operations, and    
Samantha Malone, MPH, CPH, CHEC communications specialist. Contact CHEC for more    
information: chec@pitt.edu,    
412-624-9379 

When	Fri Aug 27 1:30pm – 3pm Eastern Time
Where	University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, G23 Auditorium, Pittsburgh, PA (map)

EVENT: MOVIE AUGUST 12TH

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:38:14 +0100

WHEN: Thursday, Aug 12th, 7:00 pm

WHERE: Bela Dubby (Coffee/Art/Beer)

13321 Madison Avenue

Lakewood, OH 44107

WHO: Presented by the Lakewood Democratic Club in conjunction with Sierra Club Northeast Ohio Group and the Northeast Ohio Gas Accountability Project (NEOGAP), followed by open discussion led by NEOGAP Director Kari Matsko.

WHAT: Split Estate is a 76-minute documentary chronicling the David-vs-Goliath struggle currently raging over oil and gas production in the United States. While the film focuses on the social, environmental, and health costs of natural gas and oil production in the western United States, it offers insight into the universal politics among government entities, oil and gas interests, and citizens in resource-rich residential areas (including Ohio).

Split Estate presents a prime opportunity for concerned citizens to learn how to change drilling practices and make the gas and oil industry accountable to the communities in which it operates. It features scenes with landowners, community activists, and U.S. Senators John Kerry and Tom Udall. Some of the long-term health risks of oil and gas development are described by Theo Colborn, PhD, Daniel Thau Teitelbaum, MD, and Kendall Gurdes, MD. What you don’t know can hurt you!

Split Estate www.splitestate.com is produced and directed by Debra Anderson. It is distributed by bulldogfilms www.bullfrogfilms.com

EVENT: GET THE FACTS ON RESIDENTIAL OIL & GAS DRILLING

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:30:09 +0100

State Rep Matt Patten to Hear Citizen Concerns on Proposed Neighborhood Drilling

July 26th 7:00 pm
North Royalton Library
14600 State Rd
North Royalton, OH
(440) 237-3800

Mayor Bob Stefanik, City Councilman Gary Petrusky will also be present

Affirming GASLAND

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:54:13 +0100

A de-debunking document in response to specious and misleading gas industry claims against the film.

http://www.damascuscitizens.org/Affirming-GASLAND.pdf

MEET: June 26th from 11am - 12:15pm

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:42:15 +0100

Hands Across the Sand

Join us at your local beach, including Mentor Headlands and Edgewater Park and more, see here:
http://handsacrossthesand.org/organize.php?state=Ohio

Geologist, Chris Landau, on high pressure drilling

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 18:39:30 +0100

http://www.opednews.com/articles/B-P-Halliburton-and-Trans-by-Chris-Landau-100611-452.html

B.P, Halliburton and Transocean have unleashed Armageddon and now there is no stopping it.

By Chris Landau

This is our worst nightmare. The oil industry has killed the Gulf of Mexico.

My worst fears have been realized. If this link is true and the oil is coming through the sea floor, they have either blown out the formation or blown out the cement (which we know they did anyway to get the blowout to occur).

I am beginning to realize why they have not wanted to close the valves on the cap. The more they close it, the more oil is going to come up through the sea floor, next to the well casing.

I listed 12 points in my attached article. The really big concern here is that their directional wells are now pointless. They are GUARANTEED to fail because you can not pump mud or cement into a blown out well. It just does not set with oil and gas roaring past.

The next biggest concern is that they have to get 8 new wells in immediately to relieve the background oil and gas pressure. The oil is going to start coming up at an ever increasing rate along the casing and the blowout preventer. The oil and gas is going to act as a high pressure washer and erode away all the sandstone and mudstone. There is nothing they can do about it.

This is also the end of B.P. The claims will go on forever.

What these guys do not understand is that it is much worse than they think. Here is the reason why.

They need to date the oil to find out how old the oil is. The rock formation might be 30 to 200 million years old here. I do not know and have not looked at under sea maps.

The oil is either old oil, say almost as old as the formation, or they have drilled into a massive active fault zone that is reducing carbon dioxide to methane.

If it is high inhydrogen sulfide, it is reducing calcareous sediments to oil and more natural gas in the presence of salt solutions. Now they are providing more saltwater, so via the Wurtz Synthesis more oil is going to be created than natural gas. The methane is going to be converted to ethane, propane, butane, pentane and other long chain organic compounds.

You see if oil is being made now, at a very rapid rate in this area, the pressure is never, ever going to drop off along the casing and the oil is going to flow into the gulf forever.

The only hope to reduce the pressure will be by sinking more new wells into this area and try and drain off the oil and gas as quickly as it is being made.

You see oil is basically inorganic. It is not made from dead squashed plankton. It is not a fossil fuel. It is an inorganic chemical compound reduced from calcareous sediments and carbon dioxide and methane gas. My peer reviewed published papers using chemical and thermodynamic equations show how this occurs. The link to the papers is available below.

Of course although I was published by The American Institute of Professional Geologists in 2009 and the Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists in 2008, it does not mean that my theories are accepted by the majority of geologists. It will probably take 50 years, as with the theory of Continental Drift to get accepted by geologists in general. Maybe this disaster will shave off 20 years. Things evolve slowly in geology!

We can only hope it is old oil. We can only date oil back 100,000 years by carbon dating, but that is fine. We need to know if this oil is 10 to 100 years old and if its age is changing as it escapes. Is the escaping oil getting older or younger? So we need to start dating the oil on a weekly basis to see what is happening.

I volunteer for the job.

One last point that the public does not understand. It is not about deep water drilling where the problems have arisen. It is about high pressure oil and gas drilling that creates the problems.

These zones can be found on land as well as at sea and can start from as little as 10000 feet, not the 20000 of this well. These high pressure wells have always been a problem. Of the millions of wells drilled, there are thousands of these ticking time bomb, high pressure wells in existence and new ones are being drilled every day. New risks are being taken daily.

The world has to make a concerted effort to get off oil. It is killing us.

I hope I have not been too technical, but the matter is grave.

This is the video showing Senator Nelson reporting the oil is coming up through the sea floor:
http://www.youtubecom/watch?v=2Bj_kco8qTQ

As a geologist, I delivered two peer reviewed presentations to prove the theory, one to the Association of Engineering and Environmental Geologists in 2008 (AEG). See http://www.aegweb.org/files/public/abstracts.pdf, page 17.

The other was to The American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG) in October 2009.
See http://www.aipg.org/Meetings/2009%20Annual%20Meeting/2009proceedings.pdf, page 94.

Chris Landau
530 751 9829
916 469 8807

*********************************
Listen to the archived show "Eco-Logic" on WBAI.org

http://174.121.28.18/~uarchive/files/mp3/100615_110001tue11amtonoon.MP3

Chris Landau is one of those interviewed, along with Riki Ott and Heather Rogers, on Tuesday, June 15 2010 at 11 a.m.

About the show:

Tuesday June 15, 11am-Noon

Oil, Catastrophe and the Commonwealth

The current BP oil-blowout and catastrophic event we are now immersed in places us at the center of a momentous ecological call to action. The deep distress, misery and major misfortune radiating from the Gulf of Mexico will no doubt bring national, international and global suffering. This is the moment to not only mobilize all resources for emergency action in the Gulf, but also to transform our political and social reality to account for ecological and humanitarian imperatives. Please tune in for a conversation with marine biologist Riki Ott, geologist Chris Landau, and journalist Heather Rogers. Hosted by David Occhiuto.

Oil, Catastrophe and the Commonwealth

The current BP oil-blowout and catastrophic event we are now immersed in places us at the center of a momentous ecological call to action. The deep distress, misery and major misfortune radiating from the Gulf of Mexico will no doubt bring national, international and global suffering. This is the moment to not only mobilize all resources for emergency action in the Gulf, but also to transform our political and social reality to account for ecological and humanitarian imperatives.

"Commonwealth", in the traditional sense, is the term for a political community founded for the common good; a state in which the supreme power is vested in the people; a republic or democratic state constituted to promote the general welfare. Perhaps we are at a turning point where the commonwealth, as defined by dedicated citizen action, will execute a series of decisive deathblows to the era of deregulation, corporate-personhood, and corruption of the legislative powers of government for private gain.

Please tune in to WBAI/Pacifica Radio in NYC on Tuesday, June 15th, from 11am to Noon for a conversation with marine biologist Riki Ott, geologist Chris Landau, and journalist Heather Rogers.

Marine toxicologist/marine biologist/community activist Riki Ott: Riki has experienced firsthand the devastating effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. She is the author of 'Sound Truth and Corporate Myth$: The Legacy of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill' and 'Not One Drop: Promises, Betrayal, and Courage in the Wake of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill'. Riki is currently doing emergency response work in the Gulf region.
www.rikiott.com
movetoamend.org

Geologist Chris Landau: Chris is very concerned that the slant/directional relief wells that are being drilled could actually make matters much worse. There are already indications that the main wellbore has lost integrity and oil is seeping from the seabed in multiple places. Chris is calling for BP to publish the 'mudlogs' (schematic cross sectional drawing of the lithology of the well ) as vital maps to assist in finding solutions to stop the uncontrolled oil gusher. The links below outline an independent geological perspective.
www.opednews.com/articles/Atomic-Bomb-proposal-for-G-by-Chris-Landau-100606-957.html
www.opednews.com/articles/B-P-SHOW-US-THE-MUDLOGS--by-Chris-Landau-100610-978.html

Journalist Heather Rogers: Heather documents and provides analysis of political and economic obstacles to ecological well-being. Heather's new book is entitled 'Green Gone Wrong - How Our Economy Is Undermining the Environmental Revolution'. “This carefully researched, deeply human, and eminently sensible investigation arrives just in the nick of time. Let’s hope it inspires a radical course correction.” —Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine
www.heatherrogers.info

For info about 'Move To Amend':
The Campaign to Legalize Democracy - Join the Movement to Abolish Corporate Personhood - a calling to amend the U.S. Constitution to abolish the legal doctrine of "Corporate Personhood" - the illegitimate notion that a corporation can claim political and civil rights to overturn democratically enacted laws.
www.movetoamend.org

Week of June 13th Hydraulic Fracturing Clips

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 23:02:52 +0100

Pa. official warns of consequences to gas industry

http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/business/20100616_ap_paofficialwarnsofconsequencestogasindustry.html#axzz0rE37m7nN

Fracking foes say disaster similar to Gulf oil spill could happen here

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100616/NEWS/6160347/-1/SITEMAP

Marcellus drillers face stringent wastewater regulations

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10169/1066449-454.stm

US state calls for tougher laws on gas industry

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1616516020100616

Editorial: Drilling could harm water

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20100617_Editorial__Drilling_could_harm_water.html#axzz0rE2d2fio

Marcellus Explosion-BP Spill: Both Involved This Faulty $7 Piece of Plastic

http://moneymorning.com/2010/06/15/marcellus-explosion-bp-spill/

New rules proposed on Marcellus wastewater

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/breaking/business_breaking/20100617_New_rules_proposed_on_Marcellus_wastewater.html#axzz0rE1uucrt

Smart Moves on Drilling in New York

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/17/nyregion/17towns.html?src=me

Film challenges safety of U.S. shale gas drilling

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65G2OC20100617

Onshore Drilling Disasters Waiting to Happen: An Interview With "Gasland" Director Josh Fox

http://www.thenation.com/article/36385/onshore-drilling-disasters-waiting-happen-interview-gasland-director-josh-fox

Gulf oil spill worsens -- but what about the safety of gas fracking?

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2010/06/gulf-oil-spill-bp-hydraulic-fracturing-gas-fracking-.html

N.D. official: Gulf spill could benefit state’s oil production in some ways

http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/165374/group/homepage/

Virginia House race takes up gas drilling debate

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9GB95IG7.htm

Legislation seeks 1-year moratorium on natural gas drilling

http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100614/NEWS/100614030/Legislation-seeks-1-year-moratorium-on-natural-gas-drilling--

Analysis: Offshore drilling backlash may boost shale, oil sands

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65D56I20100614

EOG Gets OK To Restart More Drilling Work In Pa.

http://cbs3.com/wireapnewspa/Pa.allows.EOG.2.1751013.html

Protect water

http://dailyitem.com/0109_opinion/x371478177/Protect-water

Health studies gas up

http://www.hcn.org/hcn/issues/42.11/health-studies-gas-up

Panel to hold forum on drilling preparedness

http://www.timesleader.com/news/Panel_to_hold_forum_on_drilling_preparedness_06-16-2010.html

As Wyoming Goes, So Goes the Nation?

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/06/wyoming_fracking.html

Environmentalists and Lawmakers Call for a State Moratorium on Hydrofracking for Natural Gas

http://www.indypendent.org/2010/06/14/hydrofracking-june11-rally/

Onshore accidents add to concerns

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/deepwaterhorizon/7051148.html

Does your *pension* fund fracking?

http://blog.timesunion.com/arbetter/does-your-pension-fund-fracking/1509/

Sestak issues call for gas drilling moratorium in Misericordia visit

http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/sestak-issues-call-for-gas-drilling-moratorium-in-misericordia-visit-1.843391

Opponents of gas drilling hold rally at Arnold Park

http://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20100612/NEWS01/6120355/Opponents+of+gas+drilling+hold+rally+at+Arnold+Park

Groups in NYC call for gas drilling moratorium

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9G99SE02.htm

No rush to drill

http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20100612/VIEWPOINTS02/6120309/1120/No-rush-to-drill

June 21st 9pm EST HBO

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 22:01:32 +0100

June 2010

Dear friends,

In one week, America will tune in to HBO to see what happens when we allow gas drilling companies to run rampant in our towns. Gasland premires on HBO at 9:00 P.M. EDT on June 21st. Host a house party that night! We've got a toolkit for you, a new ultra-phenomenal website (going live this week), a "spark" (an embeddable mini-website), and this fantastic new trailer.

Please join us on Facebook and Twitter and tell your friends to sign up for our monthly e-mails here; we promise not to spam or sell addresses.

Stop the insanity,

Josh Fox
Director, GASLAND

DONATE

Join the movement and help stop the irrefutably destructive impact of natural gas drilling. This summer we are organizing a national campaign to get this country to wake up to this perilous practice. You can support our efforts by making a tax-deductible donation here.

(Sweet Jane Productions, Inc. is the non-profit parent company that produced GASLAND)

HOST A HOUSE PARTY ON JUNE 21ST

Next Monday at 9 P.M. EDT, Gasland will be presented on HBO! Gather your friends together and host a house party. Here's our free party toolkit. We'll help you organize your event soup to nuts. To help promote your party, share the Gasland spark below on your Facebook page, website and blog.

PRE-PREMIERE SCREENIG 6/17 AT HBO

New Yorkers - Join Josh Fox for our pre- premiere screening at HBO on June 17th. The party starts at 6 pm with a reception for all ticket holders. Screening begins at 7 pm. This event is free but you must RSVP here. HBO's theater is located at 1100 Avenue of the Americas (6th Ave) at 42nd Street.
JOIN THE NATIONAL REGISTRY!
Can you light your water on fire? If you've experienced the harmful effects of natural gas drilling on your property, e-mail us your story. We're creating a national registry of stories to share with the public and Congress this Fall.

TAKE ACTION TODAY

1.Tell your Representatives to support the FRAC Act here.
2. New Yorkers: Call your State Senator to advocate for the Englebright/Adabo Bill 518-455-2800.
3. Pennsylvanians: Demand a statewide moratorium. Tell your Representatives to support HB 2213. Find their contact info here.

HOST A SCREENING THIS SUMMER

We are now booking a community screening tour for July and August. Please contact Stephanie if you are a community organization interested in hosting Josh Fox and a screening of Gasland. Please note, DVD's go on sale in December and so we are not able to sell DVD's for screenings until then.

First Annual 'Fracking' Fish Fry!

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 22:23:08 +0100

When: June 12th at Noon
Where: Edgewater Park, Lower Pavilion
What: What the implications of gas drilling will be for our region, and especially our watersheds and Lake Erie.

For Event Details: http://www.clevelandclimatewatch.org/come-to-the-first-annual-fracking-fish-fry.html

OIL ODORS: IF YOU SMELL IT, IS IT TOXIC?

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:00:43 +0100

Oil Odors: If You Smell It, Is It Toxic?

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/gsolomon/oil_odors_if_you_smell_it_is_i.html

Posted June 7, 2010 in Health and the Environment

Everywhere you go these days on the Gulf Coast, people are complaining about the smell of oil. Fishermen and other clean-up workers are noticing strong smells, and coastal residents from Venice, LA, to Pensacola, FL are complaining that when the wind is fairly still or when it blows from the South, they're suffering from the stench of oil. In some cases, people are telling us that when they smell the oil, they're feeling sick. Here's a comment that was posted on my blog this weekend:

"We live on the AL gulf coast - about 20-25 miles north of the gulf, and about 8 miles east of Mobile Bay. As I'm sure you're aware, the oil started washing up on shore here yesterday. Yesterday around 5pm (when the wind was still) I noticed the smell outside, which in my opinion was pretty strong, but later in the evening it seemed to vanish. I can still smell it slightly this afternoon, and as a mother, I'm naturally very concerned for my 4 year old daughter, husband & myself."

So the question everyone is asking is: If you can smell the oil, is it toxic?

The answer (unfortunately) is: "it depends".

There are lots of chemicals in crude oil and dispersants, and some are more toxic than others. Worse still, the health effects of some of the chemicals are untested and unknown. Some of the chemicals in oil are toxic at levels far below levels detectable by the human nose. For example, benzene is harmful at levels 1000-times below what people can smell. Other chemicals can be smelled at levels that are not considered harmful to health - an example of a chemical in that category is ethylbenzene. For other chemicals, the odor threshold is relatively close (within 10-fold) of the level that is considered a health concern. Some examples of chemicals in oil or dispersants, odor thresholds, and levels of health concern are in the table below.

The so-called volatile organic compounds (VOCs), tend to have a sweet-sour 'solvent' odor (think paint-thinner). The semivolatile compounds like naphthalene have an odor that's more like tar or creosote. Hydrogen sulfide gas has a characteristic 'rotten egg' odor. 2-butoxyethanol (a chemical in some of the dispersants) smells exactly like a household window cleaning product. So it's helpful to note the type of smell that you're experiencing, since it might provide a clue. I blogged about the health effects of some of these chemicals here.

The EPA has more information about odors from the oil on their website. Also, you can follow the results of the air monitoring on my blog (which I'm updating regularly), here for Louisiana. If you're from other Gulf Coast states, stay tuned to my blog site, since I'll start posting air quality updates for your state soon!

If you do notice odors, please report them to the Louisiana Bucket Brigade's Oil Spill Crisis Map, so they can track the problems and complaints. We're hoping that EPA will soon also have a place where people can report odor concerns.

So the bottom line is: if you smell it, it doesn't always means it's toxic (and if you don't smell it, that doesn't always mean it's safe), but for most of the chemicals in oil, the nose is a reasonable way of warning of the presence of oil vapors. Meanwhile, it's reasonable to take some common-sense steps if you notice strong odors. Going inside and turning the air conditioner on to recirculation mode for a while will reduce exposures to these chemicals. The levels in the air along the Gulf Coast are mostly looking OK for local residents so far, so any elevated levels of pollutants likely won't last very long (they are dependent on wind speed, wind direction, and temperature). So there's no need to leave the area or to hunker down indoors for the long-haul.

Workers offshore who notice strong odors or experience health symptoms should report them to their supervisor or the Coast Guard, and should get checked out by a doctor. I'm still not sure if it's safe to be working offshore without a respirator, so reports from workers are important so we know if there's a problem out there.

Chemical	Odor Threshold (mean, ppm)	Odor Characteristic	NIOSH REL 8hr TWA (ppm)	ATSDR MRL (ppm)
Benzene	97	Sweet, solvent	0.1	0.009
Toluene	7.6	Sweet-sour/solvent	100	1
Ethylbenzene	0.6	Oily/solvent	100	10
Xylene	0.73 - 5.4	Sweet	100	2
Naphthalene	0.038	Tar/creosote, mothballs	10	0.0007 (Chronic)
Hydrogen sulfide	0.0005 – 0.3	Rotten eggs	N/A	0.07
2-butoxyethanol	0.1	Fruity/like glass cleaners	5	6

ppm = Parts per million

NIOSH = National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health

REL = Recommended Exposure Limit for workers

ATSDR = Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

MRL = Minimal Risk Level for community residents