Seminar at Fairmont State Biology Program.

From: Flood, Mark
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 8:48 AM
To: Huggins, Pamela; Roof, Steven; Gilberti, Anthony; Yeager, Phillip; Morris, Tony; Grubb, Karen; Trisel, Donald; Magro, Albert
Cc: Hemler, Debra; McKeen, Angela; Harvey, Erica; Scanlon, Matthew; Baur, Andreas; Weekley, James; Baxter, Harry
Subject: Seminar Oct 4th - The Environmental Impacts of Marcellus Shale Gas Extraction

Everyone,

Below is the information on the seminar (and the speaker) coming up on Tuesday October 4th at 12:30pm in 305ET. Please pass this along to any interested students. Thanks,

Mark

The Environmental Impacts of Marcellus Shale Gas Extraction

The Marcellus Shale represents one of the largest reservoirs of unconventional natural gas in the world. It holds the potential to provide a source of energy and jobs. It’s extraction, however, requires significant land area, millions of gallons of water, toxic chemicals, pipelines, compressor stations and processing plants. The full development of an unconventional gas play can result in habitat fragmentation, ecological damage, and the degradation of water and air quality. The produced water especially, presents a major challenge as it may contain upwards of 350,000 mg/l of total dissolved solids and naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM). The use of open impoundments for recycling has provided a unique incubator for the enrichment of salt tolerant microbial species. The talk will provide an overview of the processes involved in shale gas extract and their environmental impacts.

John Stolz is a Professor of Environmental Microbiology in the Department of Biological Sciences and Director for the Center for Environmental Research and Education at Duquesne University. He studies the microbial metabolism of metals including arsenic, selenium, and chromium. He is currently investigating the environmental impacts of shale gas extraction with emphasis on water issues. He has published 63 journal articles, 30 book chapters, and edited two books. Dr. Stolz has a BS in Biology from Fordham University and a PhD in Microbial Ecology and Evolution from Boston University and was an NRC Fellow at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Cal Tech, and an NSF Plant Biology Fellow at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.