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DOE Releases report on Environmental Impacts of Unconventional Natural Gas Development and Production
May 30, 2014
The recent growth in unconventional natural gas production has also produced a profusion of publications on the exploration, development, production, infrastructure, economics, uses, and environmental impacts of these resources. These publications build on a strong body of existing literature that traces the evolution of these resources from their conceptual stages in the 1970s to the technology advancements that started the shale gas boom in the early 2000s. Between 2009 and 2013, government, industry, academic, scientific, non-governmental, and citizen organizations have added a substantial body of literature on the environmental impacts that could result from the continuing development of shale gas, tight gas sands, and coalbed methane resources.
This report summarizes the current state of published descriptions of the potential environmental impacts of unconventional natural gas upstream operations within the Lower 48 United States. As a survey, this report is by no means exhaustive. The goal of this report is to ensure that the predominant concerns about unconventional natural gas development, as covered by current literature, are identified and described. The sources cited are publicly available documents. Multiple publications on similar topics are compared and contrasted based only on their technical and methodological distinctions. No opinion or endorsement of these works is intended or implied.
Eight states set goal of 3.3M zero-pollution cars
May 30, 2014
Eight states, including California and New York, are vowing to collaborate to put 3.3 million electric cars on their roads and highways by 2025.
The eight are looking to step up public charging stations for electric cars and increase hydrogen fueling stations in a bid to create more incentive for consumers to ditch their gas-powered cars in the favor of electrics or hydrogen fuel cells.
Panel Says US Not Adequately Equipped to Handle Oil Spills
April 28, 2014
The National Research Council (NRC) says that the United States is not adequately equipped to effectively respond to oil spills, according to their new report.
Amidst a changing climate, this raises concern, given that the US Arctic Waters are more exposed to commercial activities such as shipping, oil and gas development and tourism. More response tools are needed to address such events, but not all of them are readily available.
For example, 25 years after the infamous Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, beaches on the Alaska Peninsula hundreds of kilometers from the incident still harbor small hidden pockets of surprisingly unchanged oil, according to an American Geophysical Union press release.
Canada Seeks Tightened Marine Oil Spill Plan
May 14, 2014
Canada moved on Tuesday to strengthen its response plan for oil spills at sea ahead of the development of new pipelines that would sharply increase tanker traffic in Canadian waters if they are built.
Among the new measures, the federal government said it would remove a per-incident liability cap on a domestic clean-up fund, which means that all the money in the fund could be made available to clean up a single spill. It also pledged to cover spill costs if clean-up funds were exhausted.
It also said it will lift its ban on the use of dispersants in cases when using them offers a net environmental benefit. Dispersants are chemicals that break down oil slicks but can also harm marine life.
Oil-by-rail loophole keeps emergency spill plans in the dark
April 23, 2014
U.S. transportation officials don’t review how railroads would handle worst-case oil train disasters like last summer’s derailment in Quebec, which killed 47 people in a fiery explosion.
While railroads must keep “basic” emergency response plans in their own files, the Federal Railroad Administration does not monitor or review those plans.
That’s because railroads are required to provide “comprehensive” oil spill response plans to the FRA only if they use tank cars that hold more than 42,000 gallons of crude. In an April 10 letter responding to a Freedom of Information Act request from EnergyWire, FOIA officer Denise Kollehlon said the FRA’s files “do not contain any records related to the active comprehensive ‘oil spill prevention and response plans’ for oil shipments.”
Safety experts and environmentalists say the 42,000-gallon threshold is too high. They stress that the 1996 rule that set the limit never applies in practice. Just five tank cars nationwide are designed to store that much oil in a single packaging, officials say, and the FOIA response confirms that none are hauling crude (EnergyWire, Feb. 19).