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WVSORO ~ West Virginia Needs Fully Staffed Oil & Gas Inspectors
by Frack Check WV: admin 09 Feb '23

09 Feb '23

# [WVSORO ~ West Virginia Needs Fully Staffed Oil & Gas Inspectors](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/02/09/wvsoro-west-virginia- needs-fully-staffed-oil-gas-inspectors/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/02/5330E509-1F2F-4F3C-A588-1BAD7AEEC42E-300x245.png)](… content/uploads/2023/02/5330E509-1F2F-4F3C-A588-1BAD7AEEC42E.png) Regular comprehensive inspections are necessary to protect the public and the workers **WV Surface Owners say DEP needs at least 45, not just 23, oil and gas inspectors** Alert from [WV Surface Owners Rights Organization (WVSORO)](https://wvsoro.org/), February 7, 2023 **WVSORO and our State of WV needs your help.** Senate Bill 448 and House Bill 3110 have passed out of the Energy Committees in their respective houses and are now in their Finance Committees. The WV-DEP and the industry and the Governor and maybe some Legislator agreed to fund a total of (only) 23 inspectors in this bill. No one talked to us surface owners whether we agreed to that number — and we are where the wells are leaking and stinking! And that is only half the inspectors per well that Pennsylvania and Ohio have. **The good news is that those bills will take the DEP from 10 inspectors to 23. The bad news is that the IOGCC research shows we should have 127 inspectors to inspect each of our 75,000 wells (not to mention 20,000 associated tanks) just once a year — and that does not include their other jobs of checking permit applications, visiting well pads during critical drilling stages, overseeing federal orphaned well plugging, responding to complaints etc.** **WVSORO is asking for enough money from the Finance Committees to hire at least 45 inspectors. We do not care if it comes from a share of severance taxes or a fee on industry like a $100 inspection fee on each well.** [Please go to this link that the West Virginia Rivers Coalition is sharing with us and let your legislators know we did not agree to 23 inspectors](https://wvrivers.salsalabs.org/oogfunding/index.html) — that we need at least 45 inspectors — as many per well as other states! [Put that in your message!](https://wvrivers.salsalabs.org/oogfunding/index.html) [For more details see our one-page of bullet points on this subject.](https://wvsoro.org/wvsoro-points-out-that-much-more-funding-is- needed-for-many-more-inspectors/) #######+++++++#######+++++++####### **See Also:**[ GREEN Legislative Update, West Virginia Environmental Council, ASAP](https://wvecouncil.org/) URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/02/09/wvsoro-west-virginia-needs- fully-staffed-oil-gas-inspectors/>

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It Isn’t Easy Being ‘Green’ ~ Some Will Fake It! … Shame on Ryan & DeWine
by Frack Check WV: admin 08 Feb '23

08 Feb '23

# [It Isn’t Easy Being ‘Green’ ~ Some Will Fake It! … Shame on Ryan & DeWine](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/02/08/it-isn%e2%80%99t-easy- being-%e2%80%98green%e2%80%99-some-will-fake-it-%e2%80%a6-shame-on-ryan- dewine/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/02/E8390E86-8380-454D-8C57-B474B8B704E9-300x133.jpg)](… content/uploads/2023/02/E8390E86-8380-454D-8C57-B474B8B704E9.jpeg) Kermit the Frog is correct, you can be green too, if you try! **No, natural gas is not “green energy”** Submitted by [Randi Pokladnik, PhD, Enviro. Scientist](http://main.movclimateaction.org/category/contributors/randi- pokladnik/), Tappan Lake, OH **During the recent “lame duck” session, Ohio’s predominantly Republican legislature and Governor DeWine rushed to pass HB 507.** The amended bill prohibits communities from banning pesticides within city borders and allows state lands and parks to be leased for oil and gas development. The legislation would also “[create a broad new legal definition of ‘green energy’ that would include natural gas](https://www.cleveland.com/open/2022/12/senate- passes-bill-expanding-drilling-on-state-land-dubbing-gas-green-energy.html).” An anonymously funded, pro-natural gas, dark money group, the [Empowerment Alliance](https://www.energyandpolicy.org/the-empowerment-alliance/), helped Ohio lawmakers spin the narrative that natural gas is ‘green.’ Seems like there are also Democrats willing to spin this narrative of methane as being ‘green’ energy. The group, “[Natural Allies for Clean Energy Future](https://naturalalliesforcleanenergy.org/)” has been running TV ads during programing in my area. They claim that gas is “necessary to accelerate our clean energy future.” In January, **they recruited a new Democrat to greenwash the industry: Tim Ryan (D-Ohio)**. This 501c4 organization says it wants to “better inform the public and policy makers about natural gas” but labeling gas as ‘green’ energy does not change the scientific facts: the combustion of methane produces carbon dioxide, and methane itself is a potent greenhouse gas. The bio-geo-chemical processes that created the methane gas and coal deposits in the geographic area of Ohio took place millions of years ago, when carbon sources such as ancient plants and animals decayed in anaerobic conditions. Coal has a higher percentage of carbon than methane; therefore, it produces more carbon dioxide per BTU when burned. However, both substances are fossil fuels that contribute to climate change, and both have limited supplies. Methane produces lower carbon dioxide emissions when burned but that benefit is overshadowed by the fact that extracting methane via high pressure [hydraulic fracking releases enormous amounts of methane gas](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/fracking-boom- tied-to-methane-spike-in-earths-atmosphere) into the atmosphere. These emissions can be from leaks of storage tanks, compressor stations, blowdowns, pipelines, and flaring. A [report published in “Energy Science and Engineering” states“](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ese3.35) natural gas (both shale gas and conventional gas) is responsible for much of the recent increases in methane emissions, and because of this have a higher greenhouse gas footprint than coal or oil. **Pound for pound, the comparative impact of methane is 25 times greater than carbon dioxide.** Actual ‘green’ energy sources differ dramatically from fracked methane gas when it comes to infrastructure needed, energy costs, and environmental externalities. After initial construction, renewable energy projects such as wind turbines and solar panels require little resource inputs. Their energy sources are limitless and free and the carbon footprint is minimal. “[Utility- scale renewable energy prices are now significantly below those of coal and gas](https://energyinnovation.org/2018/01/22/renewable-energy-levelized-cos… of-energy-already-cheaper-than-fossil-fuels-and-prices-keep-plunging/).” Fracking requires extensive infrastructure and constant inputs of resources such as water, sand and chemicals used to extract the methane. When it comes to the energy costs of fossil fuels, consumers are at the mercy of an industry which consistently makes record profits [while it receives $20 billion a year in subsidies](https://www.brookings.edu/research/reforming-global-fossil-fuel- subsidies-how-the-united-states-can-restart-international-cooperation/). **Ohio’s southeastern counties provide examples of how fracking has turned rural communities into sacrificial industrial sites.** Pipelines mar wooded hillsides, well pads rise over the landscape, thousands of trucks loaded with carcinogenic chemicals, frack sand and toxic produced- water travel our roads every day. Local residents are exposed to air and water emissions from [the process which releases hazardous air pollutants and contaminants water](https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/fracking/). In **February 2018, a gas well in Belmont County experienced a blowout**. The well released methane gas for 20 days before the leak could be contained. The total emissions from the 20-day event were estimated to be equivalent to the total annual emissions of [several countries or 120 metric tons per hour](https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1908712116). **Given the significant contribution of methane gas to climate change and the environmental destruction caused by fracking** , it is hard to understand why any educated person would call this energy source “green”. The only time “green” can legitimately be used to describe methane gas is when pointing out it is a potent greenhouse gas. #######+++++++#######+++++++####### **See Also:** [Ohio Leads On ‘Green’ Energy By Embracing Methane Gas](https://cleantechnica.com/2023/01/24/ohio-leads-on-green-energy-by- embracing-methane-gas/) - Steve Hanley, CleanTechnica, January 24, 2023 URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/02/08/it-isn%e2%80%99t-easy- being-%e2%80%98green%e2%80%99-some-will-fake-it-%e2%80%a6-shame-on-ryan- dewine/>

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What’s It Like Living Next Door to a Frack Sand Mine (WI, MN, MI, etc.)
by Frack Check WV: Duane Nichols 07 Feb '23

07 Feb '23

# [What’s It Like Living Next Door to a Frack Sand Mine (WI, MN, MI, etc.)](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/02/07/what%e2%80%99s-it-like-livin… next-door-to-a-frack-sand-mine-wi-mn-mi-etc/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/6FF43073-517F-4090-A170-180E465BC2D0-300x200.jpg)](… content/uploads/2023/01/6FF43073-517F-4090-A170-180E465BC2D0.jpeg) “White Lung” like Black Lung is a debilitating (permanent) condition **PHOTO ~ Pure White Silica Sand & Respirable Crystalline Silica Dust** From the Message by [Patricia Popple, Frac Sand Sentinel # 428](https://wisair.wordpress.com/frac-sand-sentinel/), January 30, 2023 **Doug Wood, who lives with his wife, Dawn, in Michigan, just south and west of Detroit, is besiged with a continually developing silica mine right next door to his home. Silica dust is carcinogenic and has known to be so for many years. It settles in the deep lung and in other body parts, unable to be released in anyway due to the small glasslike particulates that are a part of the geological formation.** While Michigan may have a standard set for respirable crystalline silica dust, it seems there is no enforcement by state protection agencies in residential areas. Who is responsible? Doug and his wife have worked endlessly it seems to get someone in the regulatory agencies and mining industry, to install air quality monitoring, and yet nothing has been achieved. Neighbors seem to be unconcerned about the presence of a mining operation that continues to spew dangerous dust into the air without concern for the residential areas that exist around the silica mine. There are other problems also associated with this operation including truck traffic and noise, but the dust produced is horrific and dangerous. **While it could take 20 years for silicosis to develop in the deep lung, it could take less. The glass like particulates don 't seem to be much different than asbestos which is also a known carcinogen.** [Take a look at the video at the site and see for yourself](https://youtu.be/T6PSl9Cdhvw) the problems that the Wood family members are dealing with. They need help and support from the state and neighbors and Michigan's protective agencies and organizations to spread this information and their concerns and more than that, take action. [Fractracker has played a role in the production of this video](https://www.fractracker.org/), and [there are other videos in this series](https://www.fractracker.org/resources/photos/) about the problems faced when regulatory agencies aren't much concerned about the health, safety, and welfare of people and their offspring living near silica or other mines that bring the potential for grave health conditions to a neighborhood. Also, look for them on YouTube. **Please click on the video link here:** <https://youtu.be/T6PSl9Cdhvw> I know that Wisconsinites are aware what the Wood Family is facing, but there are others of you in other locations who may be in similar situations. The industry must tighten its regulations, states and local governmental officials and groups much enforce. Residents and others must get involved by speaking out and by attending meetings of local and state agencies who can make a difference through rules, comprehensive plans, ordinances, zoning, and action. >>> _And by the way, register to VOTE in your communities at upcoming primary and general elections. It is critical that everyone get to the polls or participate in voting via absentee ballot. You can make a difference by researching candidates who are responsive to people facing environmental and health issues in your communties across the nation. Make a difference by exercising your right at your nearest voting location. VOTE!_ >>> [Welcome to the Frac Sand Sentinel,](https://wisair.wordpress.com/frac- sand-sentinel/) a newsletter highlighting resource links, news media accounts, blog posts, correspondence, observations and opinions gathered regarding local actions on, and impacts of, the developing frac sand mining and processing industries. URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/02/07/what%e2%80%99s-it-like-living- next-door-to-a-frack-sand-mine-wi-mn-mi-etc/>

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Looking Inward AND Looking Outside Ourselves ~ Convocation Set for April 27th
by Frack Check WV: admin 06 Feb '23

06 Feb '23

# [Looking Inward AND Looking Outside Ourselves ~ Convocation Set for April 27th](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/02/06/looking-inward-and-looking- outside-ourselves-convocation-set-for-april-27th/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/02/FD1F2BBC-5C39-420E-A9DD- AFD11A2D1F2D.png)](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/02/FD1F2BBC-5C39-420E-A9DD-AFD11A2D1F2D.png) UU Buddhist Convocations have been ongoing since 2005 **Unitarian Universalist Buddhist Fellowship: Convocation 2023 on April 27th** From the [Announcement of James Ford, UU Buddhist Fellowship](https://www.patheos.com/blogs/monkeymind/2023/01/unitarian- universalist-buddhist-fellowship-convocation-2023.html), January 9, 2023 **Convocation is a biennial opportunity for UU Buddhists** to sit together, compare notes on our sangha experiences, study and play together. We have been holding convocations since 2005. For each convocation we invite a guest teacher to offer dharma talks and teaching. In addition, there will be times of meditation, workshops, and informal meals and breaks where you can get to know other attendees. The 2023 Convocation will begin on Thursday, April 27, with a “grab and go” dinner available at 6 pm, and will end on Sunday, April 30 at 11:30 am. The [DeKoven Center, is lovely retreat center on the shores of Lake Michigan](https://www.dekovencenter.org/). You can register as 1) an online zoom participant, 2) a commuter participant with meals, or 3) an in-person participant, including lodging. There will also be a public talk on Saturday, April 29. **Registration will continue until 4/12/2023.** A limited number of scholarships are available. If you are in need of a scholarship in order to attend, please email _jzimmerman(a)uuma.org_ before registering. There are several major airports nearby (including O’Hare and Milwaukee), and Racine is also served by Amtrak trains. We will be arranging carpooling for the retreat, connecting those who can provide rides with those in need of ground transportation. [CLICK HERE TO REGISTER](https://secure.myvanco.com/L-Z6WK/home) **More on David Loy and the theme of the Convocation ~** Dr. David Robert Loy is a professor of Buddhist and comparative philosophy and Zen teacher in the Sanbo Zen tradition of Japanese Zen Buddhism. Loy is one of the founding members of the new Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center, near Boulder, Colorado. He is the author of many books, including Ecodharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crisis. **For our weekend together, Loy writes:** _“Traditional Buddhist teachings help us wake up individually and realize our interdependence with others. Today we need to wake up collectively in another way. We need to wake up to what is one of the greatest dangers that humanity has ever encountered. Buddhism can help us understand and respond appropriately to the climate emergency driven ecological crisis. Neither the Buddha nor Asian Buddhist traditions have faced the complex set of challenges of the twenty-first century. Yet Buddhism includes many teachings that are relevant to our situation._ >> _There are profound parallels between our individual human struggles which Buddhism addressed and our ecological predicament today. The parallels suggest that the eco-crisis is as much a spiritual challenge as a technological and economic one. In both cases, at the root of the problem is our illusion of separation: that “I” am separate from others, and that we are separate from the natural world._ >> _Perhaps the most important thing that Buddhism has to offer today is a new version of the bodhisattva — or ecosattva — path, which can respond to collective and institutionalized versions of greed, ill will and delusion (the three poisons). All this suggests, the ecological challenge is also a challenge to the ways we understand and practice Buddhism.”_ #######+++++++#######+++++++####### **See Also :** [Morgantown Buddhist Meditation](https://morgantownbuddhism.wixsite.com/morgantownmeditation) <https://morgantownbuddhism.wixsite.com/morgantownmeditation> URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/02/06/looking-inward-and-looking- outside-ourselves-convocation-set-for-april-27th/>

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Religion Involves Looking Inward at Ourselves AND Outward at Our Earth
by Frack Check WV: admin 05 Feb '23

05 Feb '23

# [Religion Involves Looking Inward at Ourselves AND Outward at Our Earth](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/02/05/religion-involves-looking- inward-at-ourselves-and-outward-at-our-earth/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/02/9B186F79-5C17-4575-B3E7-913FB621D441-300x147.jpg)](… content/uploads/2023/02/9B186F79-5C17-4575-B3E7-913FB621D441.jpeg) Religion is more than a narrow self-centered viewpoint; a comprehensive worldview involves concern for the Earth **How religious faith can and should inspire environmental action** From an [Article by Christopher Ives, The Conversation](https://phys.org/news/2023-01-faith-environmental-action.html), January 9, 2023 It has become clear that meaningful progress on climate change is not going to be achieved by one person or indeed, one government. Coordinated action between governments, industry, local leaders and society is needed urgently. The recent COP27 decision itself mentions the importance of local communities, cities, indigenous peoples and children. But strikingly absent is the role of faith or religion. Roughly 84% of the global population identifies with some sort of religion, a figure expected to rise to 87% by 2050. Our research shows there is potential for faith to mobilize social environmental change, yet it is usually left out of conversations about sustainability. Religion can have a significant and positive influence on people's behavior when it comes to the environment. Spiritual practices and liturgies are being developed to help believers integrate environmental concerns with their spirituality. **Two key publications are Pope Francis 's encylical Care for our Common Home and Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh's Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet. Both highlight the relevance of religious ideas to environmental crises and guide people to live sustainably.** **Faith can be a driving force behind environmentally responsible investment. The organization FaithInvest helps religious institutions use their financial resources ethically and sustainably.** Religious groups can also coordinate collective action on the climate. **Ahead of COP27, faith leaders from around the world published a letter calling for an end to new fossil fuel projects.** Of course, the same influences can and have been used to obstruct action on climate change, and formal institutional commitment does not necessarily translate to personal action. Our research helps explain how mechanisms of religious belief can be used to inspire environmental action. **Faith and the planet Earth** ~ We were interested in understanding processes of personal and practical change towards sustainability among Christians in the UK. We studied responses to the Archbishop of Canterbury's 2020 Lent book, **Saying Yes to Life** , authored by Ruth Valerio. The book presented theological perspectives on the importance of taking care of the natural world, focusing on environmental challenges such as water scarcity, air pollution, land degradation, biodiversity loss and energy use. **We surveyed 133 people from a range of age groups and church backgrounds before and after engaging with the text, and conducted focus groups. We found that this intervention significantly influenced participants ' beliefs and behavior related to the environment.** After engaging with the text, people had more positive attitudes towards the environment. Most reported at least a short-term increase in pro-environmental behaviors, particularly around energy use, food choices and recycling. Framing environmental issues in theological terms also influenced participants' environmental attitudes. They reported perceiving nature as sacred, feeling more connected to the natural world, and adopting a belief that humans should care for creation. **We identified three steps that people go through when their faith is mobilized into action:** 1\. The first step is revealing, where the nature of environmental problems and pre-existing theological beliefs (such as humans having a divine right to dominate the environment) are illuminated to the individual. For our participants, this came through thoughtful reading of the text and discussion with other believers. 2\. The second step is reflecting. People then consider how their own beliefs and lifestyles might need to be reconsidered according to new theological ideas or scientific information. 3\. The final step depends on the degree of environmental commitment already held. For those whose lifestyles are incompatible with the new information, the step of redirecting describes a process of internal (cognitive or spiritual) and external (behavioral) change. For those already pursuing pro- environmental lifestyles, the step of reinforcing involves further strengthening these commitments. **Tackling the environmental crisis** ~ Currently, many conversations about the environment are framed by economics—the triple bottom line (a concept urging businesses to think about profit, people and the planet), natural capital and green investment. Appealing to moral and spiritual worldviews could inspire people to think about environmentalism in terms of justice, sacred duty, compassion, empathy and kindness. **Having a community of faith that can support, reinforce and sustain environmental action is another critical function of religion. Many participants mentioned the hope and resolve that came from knowing they were part of a larger body of Christian believers working for change.** Appealing to faith-based worldviews has potential to bypass political divides and cultural affiliations that have stifled action. Indeed, in this research, the greatest shifts towards environmental concern were among participants who self-identified as politically conservative. **Faith is fundamental to many people 's outlook on the world.** Our research shows that religion offers a powerful opportunity to inspire environmental action. But there is work to be done on both sides. Religious leaders could further incorporate environmental matters into their spiritual teaching and practice, and scientists and policymakers could engage more with people of faith. **Humanity 's ability to avert environmental catastrophe will depend on sustainability becoming embedded into every institution and cultural setting. Religion is no exception.** >>> **Christopher Ives is a professor of religious studies at Stonehill College**. In his teaching and writing he focuses on ethics in Zen Buddhism and Buddhist approaches to nature and environmental issues. His publications include _Zen on the Trail: Hiking as Pilgrimage; Imperial-Way Zen: Ichikawa Hakugen’s Critique and Lingering Questions for Buddhist Ethics_. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Buddhist Ethics. URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/02/05/religion-involves-looking- inward-at-ourselves-and-outward-at-our-earth/>

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MVP Comment Period for EIS Extended by US Forest Service to February 21st
by Frack Check WV: admin 04 Feb '23

04 Feb '23

# [MVP Comment Period for EIS Extended by US Forest Service to February 21st](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/02/04/mvp-comment-period-for-eis- extended-by-us-forest-service-to-february-21st/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/02/D5286E9D-BF84-49F4-9A4D-2E1545516F15-300x168.jpg)](… content/uploads/2023/02/D5286E9D-BF84-49F4-9A4D-2E1545516F15.jpeg) Appalachian Voices held a COMMENT WRITING PARTY on Jan. 25th **USDA Forest Service Mountain Valley Pipeline and Equitrans Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement Update** >> From the [USDA Forest Service](https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/USDAFS/2023/02/03/file… (forestservice(a)public.govdelivery.com), February 3, 2023 **In December of 2022 we informed you that the Forest Service’s Mountain Valley Pipeline Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (DSEIS) was available. The USDA Forest Service (FS) had prepared a DSEIS to the 2017 Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and the 2020 FS Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) and Equitrans Expansion Project.** Publication of the Notice of Availability of the DSEIS in the Federal Register on December 23, 2022 initiated a 45-day public comment period on the DSEIS that was scheduled to end on February 6, 2023. **We are extending the comment period by two weeks. The comment period for the DSEIS will now end on February 21, 2023. Interested parties have been notified in accordance with 36 CFR 220.5(f)(3) and public notification of this comment extension will appear in the Federal Register on February 10, 2023.** **The preferred method to provide specific, written comments during the 45-day comment period is by submitting comments electronically to:** <https://cara.fs2c.usda.gov/Public/CommentInput?Project=50036>. This web-based comment form will only be active during the designated comment period. Written comments may be mailed to: Dr. Homer Wilkes, Under Secretary, Natural Resources and Environment, U.S. Department of Agriculture, c/o Jefferson National Forest, MVP Project, 5162 Valleypointe Parkway, Roanoke, VA 24019. Please note, this project will not be subject to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s project level 36 CFR 218 Subparts A and B pre decisional administrative review process because the responsible official is the Undersecretary, Natural Resources and Environment, U.S. Department of Agriculture, (36 CFR 218.13(b)). For more information on this project or to request documents in another format, please contact Joby Timm, Forest Supervisor for the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, by leaving a voicemail at 1-888-603-0261. Individuals who use telecommunication devices for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at: 1-800-877-8339 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern Time, Monday through Friday. For inquiries for the BLM, contact Robert Swithers, District Manager, BLM Southeastern States District Office, by phone at 601-919-4650 or by email at BLM_ES_SSDO_Comments(a)blm.gov. >> **Sincerely, Joby Timm, Forest Supervisor,** George Washington and Jefferson National Forests **SOURCE** ~ [20230203 Mountain Valley Pipeline DSEIS _Interested Party Comment Extension.pdf](https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/USDAFS/2023/02/0… URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/02/04/mvp-comment-period-for-eis- extended-by-us-forest-service-to-february-21st/>

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Put MVP on ICE! Support the CCAN Polar Bear Plunge @ National Harbor!
by Frack Check WV: admin 03 Feb '23

03 Feb '23

# [Put MVP on ICE! Support the CCAN Polar Bear Plunge @ National Harbor!](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/02/03/put-mvp-on-ice-support-the- ccan-polar-bear-plunge-national-harbor/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/02/D5F396A2-6E1C-4CC8-B0C3-F07A4A47153E-300x168.png)](… content/uploads/2023/02/D5F396A2-6E1C-4CC8-B0C3-F07A4A47153E.png) Hopefully, this will be the last we will hear about the MVP! **Take the Polar Bear Plunge on Sat. Feb. 11th. SIGN UP NOW!** From the [Invitation of Mike Tidwell, Chesapeake Climate Action Network](https://us-p2p.engagingnetworks.app/7945/keepwintercold), February 1, 2023 **Fighting dangerous fossil fuel projects like the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) is tough work, I’ll admit it. This year we’re fighting harder than ever to make sure fossil fuels stay in the ground and the MVP never gets built. But we can’t do it alone.** That’s where you come in. Spread the word, join the movement to move from fossil fuels to a sustainable future by joining our CCAN Polar Bear Plunge on Saturday February 11 (just one week away)! Like I said, saving the climate is tough work. That’s why it’s important to make a little room for joy. Warm towels! Free pizza! Yes, you read that right. Joy! The Polar Bear Plunge is FUN. You almost don’t feel the shock of cold when you run into the icy waters. That’s because you’re surrounded by so many loving activists who are all in this together. Then you get to join your friends afterwards for free pizza. [So sign up now!](https://us-p2p.engagingnetworks.app/7945/keepwintercold) We have big plans in 2023. In addition to fighting dangerous pipelines in Virginia, we’re working to electrify buildings in Maryland and push for rapid implementation of the historic clean-energy initiatives in the federal Inflation Reduction Act. These are just a few of the ways that we'll fight climate change this year with the funds raised by the Polar Bear Plunge. Our Polar Bear Plunge Sponsors know how important this event is to CCAN's work. I’d like to thank Neighborhood Sun, Green 2.0, MOM's Organic Market, US Wind, and Orsted for taking the Plunge with us in 2023 and supporting our upcoming campaigns. **Our annual CCAN Polar Bear Plunge is only one week away!** [SIGN UP NOW to take a winter swim with us on Saturday February 11](https://us-p2p.engagingnetworks.app/7945/keepwintercold). The Plunge brings in one third of our funds raised from individuals. The more we raise, the more flexibility and power we have to win our campaigns! [See you there, Mike Tidwell, Executive Director,](https://us-p2p.engagingnetworks.app/7945/keepwintercold) **Chesapeake Climate Action Network** #######+++++++#######+++++++####### **NOTE RECORDING ~** [Mountain Valley Pipeline Lunch and Learn February 2, 2023](https://wvrivers.org/2023/02/mvpfeb2023/) – WV Rivers Coalition **ACCESS WINDOW~** <https://wvrivers.org/2023/02/mvpfeb2023/> **YouTube Recording ~** <https://youtu.be/42d-68a1-tc> URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/02/03/put-mvp-on-ice-support-the-ccan- polar-bear-plunge-national-harbor/>

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Groundhog Day Webinar: WV Rivers Discusses the Mountain Valley Pipeline
by Frack Check WV: Duane Nichols 02 Feb '23

02 Feb '23

# [Groundhog Day Webinar: WV Rivers Discusses the Mountain Valley Pipeline](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/02/02/groundhog-day-webinar-wv- rivers-discusses-the-mountain-valley-pipeline/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/02/D946DE1A-A2AA-4A05-8CAE-3754695AF6AE2-300x251.jpg)]… content/uploads/2023/02/D946DE1A-A2AA-4A05-8CAE-3754695AF6AE2.jpeg) Punxsutawney Phil has relatives in West Virginia who care! **West Virginia Rivers Coalition on the MVP** >>> Received on January 31 at 8:41 AM Make sure you join us Thursday, February 2nd, for a special #GroundhogsDay webinar on the [Mountain Valley Pipeline](https://bit.ly/MVPGroundhogsDay). Right now, there are two permits from federal agencies pending approval and you have the opportunity to comment! **Learn how you can send your comments. This a webinar is set for 12:00 Noon!** All registrants will receive a recording of the webinar. Register here: <https://bit.ly/MVPGroundhogsDay> URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/02/02/groundhog-day-webinar-wv-rivers- discusses-the-mountain-valley-pipeline/>

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The Largest Owner of Oil & Gas Wells (Diversified Energy) Could Go Bankrupt
by Frack Check WV: Duane Nichols 01 Feb '23

01 Feb '23

# [The Largest Owner of Oil & Gas Wells (Diversified Energy) Could Go Bankrupt](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/02/01/the-largest-owner-of-oil- gas-wells-diversified-energy-could-go-bankrupt/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/02/F991AFB1-B2D7-4A9D-9FE5-FC022EA11081-240x300.png)](… content/uploads/2023/02/F991AFB1-B2D7-4A9D-9FE5-FC022EA11081.png) Diversified Energy has ~ 70,000 wells, mostly for natural gas **Diversified Energy’s liabilities exceed its assets — Will public wind up paying to plug its ~ 70,000 wells** From an [Article by Kristina Marusic, Environmental Health News](https://www.ehn.org/abandoned-oil-and-gas-wells-2659296731.html), January 26, 2023 PITTSBURGH — Diversified Energy Company, the largest owner of oil and gas wells in the country, might abandon up to 70,000 oil and gas wells throughout Appalachia without plugging them, according to a new report. The company, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, spent the last five years acquiring tens of thousands of aging, low-producing conventional oil and gas wells and some fracking wells primarily in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky. Conventional oil and gas wells are traditional wells where fossil fuels are extracted through vertical boreholes. **A new report, published by the Ohio River Valley Institute,** finds that the company’s financial liabilities exceeded its assets by more than $300 million in June 2022. It’s rare for an oil and gas company’s liabilities to exceed its assets to this extent, prompting concerns that Diversified Energy will go bankrupt without plugging its wells. “We don’t want to see citizens and taxpayers have to pay for plugging these well after this company is gone,” Ted Boettner, author of the report and a senior researcher with the Ohio River Valley Institute. “The way Diversified’s business model is set up, this is a distinct possibility.” Boettner’s report expands on a previous report on Diversified Energy published by the same organization in April 2022 that found the company did not have enough funds on hand to plug its rapidly growing inventory of wells. The company claims it can plug wells at a cost less than half the industry average, claims dying wells will continue producing for decades longer than can be reasonably anticipated, and misrepresents methane emissions. “These unusual assumptions — as well as accounting practices that function to punt cleanup costs down the line — are not used by any other company in the industry,” says Kathy Hipple, report coauthor and research fellow at the Ohio River Valley Institute. A spokesperson for Diversified Energy told EHN, “like other publicly traded peers, we’re held to strict financial reporting standards, including third- party auditing, and we’re measurably reducing emissions by deploying hand-held methane detectors, eliminating or replacing pneumatics, and upgrading equipment.” They added that Diversified Energy retires wells responsibly and is “helping states tackle the orphan well challenge.” **The Ohio River Valley’s new report comes on the heels of a December report by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection finding that abandonment of wells and improper reporting by the conventional oil and gas industry are the norm, rather than the exception in Pennsylvania. The agency found more than 17,000 violations at conventional well sites between 2017 and 2021, with more than 3,300 violations issued over operators’ attempts to abandon a well. “Clearly,” the report stated, “there is significant noncompliance with relevant laws in the conventional oil and gas industry in Pennsylvania.”** Unplugged oil and gas wells can emit climate-warming methane and air pollutants that are hazardous to human health, contaminate soil and groundwater, and allow gas to migrate into occupied buildings, creating a risk of fatal explosions. When drillers abandon wells without plugging them, taxpayers are generally left to clean up the mess. **In 2021, reporters for Bloomberg visited 44 of Diversified Energy’s aging wells throughout Appalachia and found methane leaks and an observable lack of maintenance at most of them, with many wells appearing abandoned.** **Corporate welfare is on the table** The 2021 federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act allocated $4.7 billion to plug abandoned oil and gas wells throughout the country. Soon after the legislation was passed, Diversified Energy began acquiring well-plugging companies to take advantage of these federal funds. **Diversified Energy has not received federal funds to plug its own wells, but the new report from the Ohio River Valley Institute found that through one of its new well-plugging subsidiaries, the company secured federal funding to plug other orphan wells at a per-well cost more than six times greater than the company earmarks to plug its own wells. “All of this leads me to believe that Diversified’s business model is built on a faulty foundation,” Boettner said. “This is something regulators should be taking a closer look at.”** Boettner also noted that many wells listed as abandoned by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and submitted to the federal government for its orphan well plugging program actually have documented owners, including Diversified Energy, which by law should be liable for plugging them. In May 2022, the Sierra Club informed the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection that the federal list of orphaned wells that state regulators hope to use federal funds to plug includes 7,300 active wells in Pennsylvania that still have identified owners. The group urged state regulators to require the companies that have profited from these wells to pay for their cleanup instead of putting the burden on taxpayers. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection said it doesn’t have the resources to track down the owners of these wells and require the companies to pay for plugging them and was considering hiring contractors to help. The Sierra Club, along with a number of other environmental advocacy groups, also petitioned Pennsylvania state regulators to look into increasing bonding for the oil and gas industry to protect against abandoned wells in the future. **Pennsylvania’s current bond rate for conventional oil and gas wells is $2,500 per well or a blanket bond of $25,000 to cover all of a company’s wells.The petition, however, estimates that the full cost of plugging and reclaiming a conventional oil and gas well is $38,000 and a Marcellus Shale fracking well is $83,000, so it recommends raising bond rates to those levels.** Wells drilled before 1984 don’t require any bonds in Pennsylvania, so the actual funds on file to cover Pennsylvania’s conventional wells amounts to just $15 per well, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. The agency is studying whether raising bonding rates to the levels recommended by the petition is feasible. **Unusual accounting practices** ~ The new report highlights a number of unusual accounting practices used by Diversified Energy, which Boettner said are not typical for the oil and gas industry. They include claiming it can plug wells for less than half the industry standard cost, assuming dying wells will continue producing for longer than they’re likely to in order to delay plugging them, understating the rate at which oil and gas production is likely to decline over time, recording acquisitions as financial gains, and carrying forward $183 million in unused tax credits, which it generated when gas prices were low. “It’s honestly hard to make heads or tails of the way they report some of these financials,” Boettner said, “but we do know that much of what they’re doing is not typical.” Every well is different and requires different costs to plug based on its age, depth and location. Some wells can be plugged for as little as $5,000, while some can cost as much as $125,000 to plug, Boettner said, noting that Diversified Energy could streamline some of its plugging costs now that it owns several well-plugging companies. “But even given all of that, these numbers are still well below industry norms,” he added. “No matter how you look at it, they’ve just continued to make very questionable assumptions regarding retirement of their well inventory.” Gas prices have soared in recent years, but Diversified Energy has missed out on most of that revenue because it engages in a practice known as “hedging” — locking in a price for oil and gas to hedge against volatile shifts in the market. This ensures that they’ll get that minimum price even if the market price is lower, but also prevents them from reaping large profits when the market price is high. “The bottom line is that it’s highly unlikely that this company will have enough revenue to be able to plug all of its wells,” Boettner said. “Their financial outlook is not good, and if something happens to this company, we’ll all be on the hook for it.” URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/02/01/the-largest-owner-of-oil-gas- wells-diversified-energy-could-go-bankrupt/>

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BIG BREAKFAST ~ Blueberry Pancakes, Sausage & Maple Syrup — w/ Coffee
by Frack Check WV: Duane Nichols 31 Jan '23

31 Jan '23

# [BIG BREAKFAST ~ Blueberry Pancakes, Sausage & Maple Syrup — w/ Coffee](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/31/big-breakfast-blueberry- pancakes-sausage-maple-syrup-%e2%80%94-w-coffee/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/B34E5757-0533-429E-B4D9-70B2383A203A-300x230.jpg)](… content/uploads/2023/01/B34E5757-0533-429E-B4D9-70B2383A203A.jpeg) Young sugar maple trees are beautiful in the autumn **Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Corner: Maple syrup season approaches – but for how much longer?** From the [Opinion Editorial of Rebecca Phillips, Parkersburg News & Sentinel](https://www.newsandsentinel.com/opinion/local-columns/2023/01/mid- ohio-valley-climate-corner-maple-syrup-season-approaches-but-for-how-much- longer/), January 21, 2023 **If you are like me, you look forward to each year’s maple syrup crop. After tasting the real thing, the artificially flavored and colored substance that passes for syrup in most grocery stores is a sad imitation. Ohio has a long history of maple syrup production, going back to its indigenous peoples, and is the fourth-largest producer of maple syrup in the U.S.** **With more than 900 producers, mostly small businesses, the maple industry adds about $5 million to our state’s economy each year, according to the Ohio State University — not bad for a niche crop that can live for over 300 years. In West Virginia, maple products are helping small farmers succeed while preserving woodlands on their property, as witnessed by the state’s annual Maple Days.** Unfortunately, this long tradition and the economic boost it provides are endangered by our changing climate. The sugar maple requires specific conditions to thrive, and even more specific conditions for peak sap production. Scientists are warning that those conditions may cease to exist in our region within the next few decades. During the growing season, maple trees store starch, a process that ends with leaf fall. The starch stored over the summer and fall converts to sugar when the temperature of the tree’s wood reaches 40 degrees or so, and the sap rises. In Ohio, the tapping of maple trees generally begins in late January when, historically, conditions have been right for optimal sap flow — daytime temperatures in the low 40s and nights slightly below freezing. The tapping ends when the trees bud out, something that is happening earlier in the season than it once did due to earlier spring thaws. A shorter season means less maple syrup and reduced income for producers. Higher temperatures also result in reduced sugar content in the sap, making it not as good for syrup production. **Erratic weather is also bad for the trees themselves.** Early extreme cold such as the Christmas freeze we recently experienced can damage roots and slow tree growth, especially when there is no snow pack. Early warmth and late frosts can kill the year’s first leaf buds, forcing trees to expend energy growing a new set of leaves. These combined stresses, besides reducing sap production, can harm the long-term health of the trees. **Climate change is harming maple forests in other ways.** Sugar maples evolved in relatively cool climates with abundant rainfall; they do not tolerate heat or drought well. Unfortunately, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Ohio River Valley is likely to see heavier rainfall over short periods of time interspersed with summer drought. All predictions are for more days exceeding 90 degrees. Increased temperatures mean that insect seasons are longer, and while insects are a vital part of all ecosystems, a warmer climate is allowing certain invasive species to thrive. Pear thrips, tiny insects originally from Europe, are thriving in the northern half of the U.S. and, despite their name, damaging millions of acres of maple forest, over a million in Pennsylvania alone. It is true that we are unlikely to see a massive sugar maple shortage in the near future, these trees being as long-lived as they are. Recent studies from several universities and the Department of the Interior, however, indicate that seed germination is likely to decrease, and the range of these magnificent trees will slowly move north, possibly vanishing from the southern part of their range (Virginia, West Virginia, and southern Ohio) by 2100. It is likely that the cool overnight temperatures required for optimum sap movement will decrease, and that our region may not be able to sustain syrup production for more than a few more decades. This is bad news, but at least for now, we can enjoy this gift of the forest while supporting the small farmers who produce it — before a changing climate takes it away from us. ***#####***#####***#####***#####***##### >>> **Rebecca Phillips is a retired professor from WVU Parkersburg.** A member of [Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action](http://main.movclimateaction.org/), she is also on the coordinating committee for the [Fort Street Pollinator Habitat](https://fuusm.org/index.php?page=gs-projects-programs) in Marietta, OH. $$$$$$$@@@@@@@$$$$$$$@@@@@@@$$$$$$$@@@@@@@ **SEE ALSO:** [Sugar Maple Research to Save the Trees & Syrup Industry](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2017/10/04/sugar-maple-research-to- save-the-trees-syrup-industry/) ~ _Climate research on maple tree sap ~ Maple Watch has its focus on the color of the maple tree sap_ , From a Bulletin of Forest Watch, Univ.of New Hampshire, October 2017 $$$$$$$@@@@@@@$$$$$$$@@@@@@@$$$$$$$@@@@@@@@ **SEE ALSO:** ['This is our forest': Climate change means uncertain future for maple trees, syrup season](https://phys.org/news/2022-05-forest-climate- uncertain-future-maple.html), Dinah Pulver, Phys-dot-org News, May 16, 2022 URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/31/big-breakfast-blueberry- pancakes-sausage-maple-syrup-%e2%80%94-w-coffee/>

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COLUMBIA MAGAZINE ~ Can the World’s Religions Help Save Us from Ecological Peril? Part 2
by Frack Check WV: Duane Nichols 30 Jan '23

30 Jan '23

# [COLUMBIA MAGAZINE ~ Can the World’s Religions Help Save Us from Ecological Peril? Part 2](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/30/columbia-magazine-can- the-world%e2%80%99s-religions-help-save-us-from-ecological-peril-part-2/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/27A6DB66-39E5-4481-877A-4B68748160F7-300x224.jpg)](… content/uploads/2023/01/27A6DB66-39E5-4481-877A-4B68748160F7.jpeg) Back Bay and False Cape State Park adjoin Virginia Beach as the ideal locations to observe the life cycle of turtles **A spiritual connection to nature is essential for environmental recovery** From the [Article “Sacred Trees, Holy Waters” in Columbia Magazine](https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/can-worlds-religions-help- save-us-ecological-peril), Winter Edition 2022 – 2023 **Kareena Gore, who is from Tennessee, grew up immersed in American politics.** Her grandfather, Albert Gore, was a US senator, and her father, Albert Gore Jr., was a US senator (1985–1993), vice president (1993–2001), and author of the 1992 book Earth in the Balance, which warned of the global- warming catastrophe (the 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth chronicled his campaign to educate people about climate change). Raised in the Baptist tradition, Gore is a remarkably selfless, compassionate advocate who calls her own spirituality “private and ever-unfolding” and whose respect for the power and insights of Indigenous spiritual beliefs is a guiding force in her faith- based environmental work. At Columbia Law School, Gore took a course in copyright law and was absorbed by the concept of intellectual property and, ultimately, she says, of property itself. Being in Manhattan, she thought about the “sale” of the island by the Lenape people to the Dutch colonizers and how the two sides had very different notions of what that transaction meant. And she thought about how we treat the land, and how social norms have blinded us to the environmental impacts of our consumer lifestyle. “We get confused,” she says, “because much of what’s driving ecological destruction is perfectly legal and socially encouraged.” **Karenna Gore graduated from law school in 2000** , which was also the year her father ran for president on a strong environmental platform, winning the popular vote but conceding the race to George W. Bush after the Supreme Court denied a manual recount in Florida. In 2002, President Bush opened previously off-limits federal lands near national parks to oil and gas development, initiating a push for energy independence that has since triggered numerous conflicts over land, water, and air as woods are cleared, roads are built, pipes are laid, and animals are driven from their homes. “We see nature as property rather than as a commonly held or even inhabited community of life,” Gore says. “That we recognize a cathedral as a sacred site but not a rainforest reveals a lot about our thinking.” **James Hansen could not have picked a better day to make his point to Congress.** It was June 23, 1988, and the temperature in Washington was ninety-eight degrees. As director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, which is housed at Columbia, Hansen, now an adjunct professor at the Columbia Climate School, had come to address the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on the topic of “global warming,” a term popularized by Columbia geochemist Wallace Broecker ’53CC, ’58GSAS in his 1975 paper “Climatic Change: Are We on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming?” “The global warming is now large enough,” Hansen told the senators, “that we can ascribe with a high degree of confidence a cause-and-effect relationship to the greenhouse effect” — the process by which carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels collects in the atmosphere, trapping heat. “The first five months of 1988 are so warm globally that we conclude that 1988 will be the warmest year on record.” As if on cue, that summer was unlike any other in living memory. The US saw long, intense heat waves, drought, wildfires, and hundreds of human deaths, even as humans were pumping billions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere annually, with no end in sight. **That same year, Thomas Berry published The Dream of the Earth,** a seminal meditation on human–earth relations. Guided by a profound reverence for the beauty and genius of nature, the book articulates a vision of a living earth whose complex life systems, developed over billions of years, are being severely altered, degraded, and extinguished through deforestation, extraction, contamination, and plunder. “If the earth does grow inhospitable toward human presence,” Berry wrote, “it is primarily because we have lost our sense of courtesy toward the earth and its inhabitants, our sense of gratitude, our willingness to recognize the sacred character of habitat, our capacity for the awesome, for the numinous quality of every earthly reality.” Thirty-five years later, with global carbon emissions near record highs, the earth does seem to be growing inhospitable. The effects are spiritual as well as physical. Ecological anxiety is deepening, especially for children and teenagers, and faith communities have had to find new strategies to address an existential dilemma without precedent. “The psychological breakdown and despair around climate change is so strong that young people are studying for eco-anxiety ministry,” says Tucker. “The next generation gets that climate change is real and caused by human activity. They don’t have to be convinced. Along with religious communities, they are advocating for eco-justice — a concern for the most vulnerable being affected by climate change.” _At the Center for Earth Ethics_ (CEE), **Kareena Gore teaches** that faith leaders can approach the climate crisis in three main ways: **prophetic, pastoral, and practical.** “Prophetic means telling the truth about real value versus GDP-measured value, and about costs that aren’t being counted. Pastoral deals with issues of grief and anxiety as climate impacts — floods, fires — increase. The practical can be things like faith communities greening their land, buildings, and schools and pressuring banks to stop financing fossil fuels.” **Polls show that most religious Americans see climate justice as a political priority, and new expressions of eco-spirituality have appeared, such as the Wild Church movement, in which congregants meet in natural settings, where a pastor might cite the book of Job (“But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you, or speak to the earth, and it will teach you”) or repeat a quote attributed to the conservationist John Muir, who fought for the creation of national parks (“I’d rather be in the mountains thinking of God than in church thinking about the mountains”).** _“Churches are looking to new ways of being both relevant and in their best forms spiritually,” says Tucker. “The hope is that that ecological anxiety is going to put us back in touch with awe, wonder, and beauty.”_ **>>> A month after Hurricane Ian, as scientists tested the sewage-choked waters of southwest Florida and determined that waterways would be polluted for months, the _Center for Earth Ethics_ hosted a forum at Union Theological Seminary (UTS) on religious freedom for Indigenous people.** >>> **Karenna Gore** , standing in James Memorial Chapel in front of the copse of tall pipes of the Holtkamp organ, opened her remarks by reading the text of a plaque that was to be installed on the seminary grounds, honoring the surroundings as “the homeland and territory of the Lenape people as well as the habitat and dwelling place of the many beings they have been in relationship with.” She then introduced Ahmed Shaheed, the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, who spoke about his report to the UN General Assembly describing how the nature-based ways of life of Indigenous peoples had been violated by forced displacement, intrusion of industry, and disregard for their spiritual practices. >>> **Betty Lyons,** the CEE advisory board co-chair from the **Onondaga Nation,** spoke of “our sacred relationships to the natural world” and argued that the Indigenous value system — a sense of responsibility, respect, and reciprocity with nature — holds the key to survival for everyone. “We see all living beings as relatives and not merely resources,” she said. “The Creator exists in all living beings.” >>> **Bernadette Demientieff of Gwich’in Nation,** who calls herself a “land, water, and animal protector,” appeared via video from her home in Fort Yukon, Alaska, and expressed anguish over the vote of the US Congress, in 2017, to lease land in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for oil exploration to feed the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. ANWR is one of the last unspoiled areas on the planet, a critical habitat for many animal species, including caribou, waterfowl, and polar bears. Its coastal plains are so hallowed to the Gwich’in that they won’t even set foot on them. “When we were being told we were going to be rich if we opened up our sacred land to oil and gas development,” Demientieff said, “our elders told us we are already rich: rich in our culture, rich in our way of life. And all we have to do is protect it.” Though the Biden administration has suspended the leases, the threat of future development remains, and the pain was audible in Demientieff’s voice. “Our land that we consider extremely sacred is being turned into an oil field,” she said. “Can you imagine a church that you attend, a place that you hold very sacred, being bulldozed over? That is how we feel about this area. This is not a place we built. This is a place we were blessed with. We hold this place to the highest standard. Our connection to the land, water, and animals — it’s all interconnected. There is no one or the other. This is our survival. This is our entire way of life.” >>> **Mona Polacca, a spiritual elder of Hopi, Havasupai, and Tewa lineage,** spoke of the “original instructions” — the ancient teachings of spiritual interconnectivity with creation that have sustained Indigenous people in the Americas for thousands of years — and stated her purpose: “It’s our responsibility as Indigenous people to be gentle reminders to all people about these basic original instructions,” she said. “We made a covenant with the Creator when we first came into this world to live here. We made a promise that we would take care of it. So that’s what we’re doing. We’re making every effort to now be that gentle reminder about that instruction that all people were given — that we are all related, and that our basic survival needs are not any different from each other’s. It’s all the same.” >>> When the program ended, Gore, the speakers, and the audience members exchanged greetings and chatted. Then they made their way down the halls and went outside, where, in the night sky, a waxing crescent moon hung over the spired city, over the churches, mosques, and synagogues, the temples and shrines, and the ancestral land of the Lenape, where bears and wolves once roamed; and for a moment it was possible to believe that it was all the same, that all religions had something to contribute, and that a re-enchantment with creation was within reach, the one humanity needed in order to tackle the great work ahead. >>> **[For further resources, see:](https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/can- worlds-religions-help-save-us-ecological-peril)** 1\. Thomas Berry, The Sacred Universe: Earth, Spirituality and Religion in the Twenty-First Century, 2. Kimberley Patton and Paul Waldau, A Communion of Subjects: Animals in Religion, Science and Ethics, 3. Online Courses in Religion and Ecology. **This article appears** in the [Winter 2022-23 print edition of Columbia Magazine](https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/can-worlds-religions-help- save-us-ecological-peril) with the title “Sacred Trees, Holy Waters.” URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/30/columbia-magazine-can-the- world%e2%80%99s-religions-help-save-us-from-ecological-peril-part-2/>

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COLUMBIA MAGAZINE ~ Can the World’s Religions Help Save Us from Ecological Peril? Part 1
by Frack Check WV: Duane Nichols 29 Jan '23

29 Jan '23

# [COLUMBIA MAGAZINE ~ Can the World’s Religions Help Save Us from Ecological Peril? Part 1](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/29/columbia-magazine-can- the-world%e2%80%99s-religions-help-save-us-from-ecological-peril-part-1/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/2B3D0C7A-E2E7-4B84-8183-790632524286-300x193.jpg)](… content/uploads/2023/01/2B3D0C7A-E2E7-4B84-8183-790632524286.jpeg) Mother Nature has many lessons for us! DGN **A spiritual connection to nature is essential for environmental recovery** From the [Article “Sacred Trees, Holy Waters” in Columbia Magazine](https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/can-worlds-religions-help- save-us-ecological-peril), Winter Edition 2022 - 2023 **On the morning that Hurricane Ian approached southwest Florida with 155-mile-per-hour winds and a twelve-foot storm surge, Karenna Gore ’00LAW, ’13UTS stood at a lectern in Brooklyn Borough Hall and invoked the divine. Addressing a local interfaith conference on preparing for climate emergencies, Gore said, “When I was a child, my own faith tradition taught me that God looks directly at us through the eyes of someone who is in need: someone who is hungry, thirsty, needs clothes — much like someone affected by a disaster.”** **She acknowledged recent flooding in Pakistan and Puerto Rico, noting that “those who suffer the most from this crisis have done the least to cause it.” She equated climate action with social justice and summoned the civil-rights movement, which inspired people of all religions to transcend their differences and answer a call of conscience. “This,” Gore told the assembled, “is what must happen today around the climate crisis.”** **Gore is the director of the Center for Earth Ethics (CEE), which she founded in 2015 at the Columbia-affiliated Union Theological Seminary (UTS). Its purpose, she says, is to “draw on the world’s faith and wisdom traditions to confront the ecological crisis.” Poised at the crossroads of spirituality, social justice, and environmentalism, CEE is part of a movement known as “religion and ecology,” a new academic field — and a growing moral force in society — that brings people into closer communion with the planet and focuses on honoring and protecting the earth’s life systems. The center grew out of a conference called Religions for the Earth, which Gore and one of her mentors, Kusumita Pedersen ’76GSAS, who is co-chair of the Interfaith Center of New York, organized in conjunction with the 2014 UN Climate Summit.** Gore, who had just gotten her master’s from UTS, was interested in the root causes of the climate problem. She identified two: the widespread belief that humans are separate from, and superior to, all other beings; and a value system that favors profit over environmental health. Wanting to elevate voices outside this worldview, Gore, for CEE’s first academic course, invited a range of Indigenous speakers, including Betty Lyons (Onondaga Nation), the president of the American Indian Law Alliance and co-chair of the CEE advisory board; and Tiokasin Ghosthorse (Cheyenne River Lakota Nation), founder and host of First Voices Radio, who spoke eloquently of the earth as something alive, energy-filled, and communicative. **“We are nature. The air in our lungs, the water we drink, the soil, the sunshine that nourishes the life forms that comprise the food that we eat. "** “Throughout human history,” Gore told the clergy in Brooklyn, “people have understood their relationship with water, wind, fire, and land in the context of their relationship with God or some divine being or beings. This is deep, it’s ancient, sometimes it is unnamed, but it is not to be underestimated.” She echoed UN Secretary General António Guterres, who days earlier had called the climate crisis “a case study in moral and economic injustice” caused by “a suicidal war on nature.” “We are nature,” Gore said. “The air in our lungs, the water we drink, the soil, the sunshine that nourishes the life forms that comprise the food that we eat. We all depend on the health of the biosphere.” As climate-linked weather events intensify and carbon emissions continue to rise globally, faith-based communities and institutions are emerging as pivotal players in the bid for environmental salvation. In 2019, CEE became an affiliate center of the Earth Institute, which is now part of the Columbia Climate School, and brings a moral and spiritual angle to discussions conducted largely among scientists, engineers, businesspeople, lawyers, and policy wonks. In November 2021, the Biden administration formally recognized “Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge” — ways of life that foster respect and care for the environment — as vital to federal science policymaking. This past August, the National Association of Evangelicals, representing a religious group traditionally opposed to climate action, released a hundred- page report laying out the biblical basis for ecological protection, stating, “We worship God by caring for creation.” And a wave of legislation worldwide has granted legal personhood to entities like the Whanganui River in New Zealand, seen by Indigenous Whanganui Maori tribes as a living being. Such laws allow human advocates for these ecological systems to sue for protection on their behalf. Inside Borough Hall, Gore emphasized the need to consider all the planet’s inhabitants in any climate discussion. “A friend of mine from the Church of Sweden, Reverend Henrik Grape, said once that in any room where decisions are being made about climate policy there should be three empty chairs, representing those who are most impacted and least likely to have a voice: the poor, future generations, and all nonhuman life,” Gore said. “If we had been making decisions with those three perspectives in mind, we would not be in this perilous situation. “Realizing this, we can see the connection between Dr. King’s famous statement that ‘injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere’ and the words of Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh when he said that ‘we are here to awaken from the illusion of our separateness.’” By the end of the conference, at around 3:15 p.m., a thousand miles away, Hurricane Ian made landfall on the barrier island of Cayo Costa, Florida, as one of the strongest storms ever to strike the United States. “The ecological situation requires the moral force of all the world’s religions,” says Mary Evelyn Tucker ’85GSAS, a historian of religion who holds a dual appointment at the Yale School of the Environment and the Yale Divinity School. She and her husband, John Grim, lead the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology and are recognized as the founders of the field, which began as a series of conferences at Harvard in the late 1990s and today includes sixteen graduate programs nationwide. “We all understand that the awe and wonder of the natural world is something that captivates every human — we see it expressed in art, music, poetry — and if we leave that aside, we lose a sense of motivation, joy, engagement, and all the dynamizing energy that’s needed for ecological movements,” Tucker says. “The energy must come from a love of the earth community in all its complexity and beauty.” There’s no shortage of energy to be tapped. Of the world’s eight billion people, some 85 percent claim religious affiliation. According to the Pew Research Center, Christians are the largest group (2.3 billion), followed by Muslims (1.8 billion), Hindus (more than a billion, around the same number as Confucians, who, says Tucker, are often not counted as a religious group), and Buddhists (500 million). Another 400 million practice traditional folk religions. There are fourteen million Jews, and millions of others follow such faiths as Sikhism, Bahaism, and Jainism. Tucker notes that all the world’s religions have ecological components, from Hindu principles of asceticism and loving devotion toward nature to Buddhist concepts of interconnection and compassion to Jainism’s emphasis on nonviolence to Western traditions valuing creation. And she observes that all religions are broadening their teachings and practices in order to meet the ecological challenge. “Their theologies need to be expanded,” she says. “We call it retrieval, reevaluation, and reconstruction. All religions have something to offer, and that’s really the foundation for this new and emerging field.” The field, like Tucker, has deep Columbia roots. Tucker was raised on Claremont Avenue, in the shadow of Riverside Church. Her grandfather, the historian Carlton Hayes 1904CC, 1909GSAS, 1929HON, taught at Columbia from 1907 to 1950 and was ambassador to Spain during World War II. She lived steps from UTS, at 121st and Broadway, where Reinhold Niebuhr ’54HON preached a gospel of social justice. And across Broadway stood Corpus Christi Church, where Father George Barry Ford counseled Thomas Merton ’38CC, ’39GSAS and Wm. Theodore “Ted” de Bary ’41CC, ’53GSAS, ’94HON when they considered becoming Catholics. Tucker came of age during the civil-rights movement and the war in Vietnam, and after graduating from Trinity College (now Trinity Washington University) in 1971, she set out for East Asia, starting with teaching in Japan. “My disillusionment with Western assumptions was so great that my attraction to a culture that was so different was very strong, and it absolutely transformed my life,” Tucker says. “Buddhism has this tremendous sense of the interdependence of all life, and that’s where I started.” She returned two years later and got her master’s in world religions at Fordham under Thomas Berry, a Catholic monk, cultural historian, and scholar of Eastern and Indigenous religions whose passionate, prophetic writings on what he termed “human-earth relations” inspired a generation of environmentalists. For her doctorate at Columbia, Tucker studied Confucianism with de Bary. “To me, Confucianism has an even more comprehensive philosophy,” she says. “The human is not an isolated individual but is embedded within concentric circles of family, friends, school, society, politics, nature, earth, and the cosmos itself. The most important thing is the triad: cosmos, earth, and human. The human completes this trinity of universe processes, earth fecundity, and human creativity.” Tucker’s two mentors, de Bary and Berry, met on a ship to China in the late 1940s — de Bary was starting a Fulbright scholarship at Beijing University, Berry was a teacher at Fu Jen Catholic University in Beijing — and both were attracted to Chinese religious traditions, especially Confucianism. De Bary went on to pioneer the field of Asian studies in the West, while Berry preached an ethics based on a deep regard for the natural world. In the 1960s, they started the Oriental Thought and Religion Seminar (later the Asian Thought and Religion Seminar) at Columbia. For both scholars, as for Tucker, Confucianism was central. “We were all looking for something beyond the West — a sense of how culture engages people in a feeling of meaning and purpose,” Tucker says. In the late 1970s, de Bary arranged for Berry to teach one of the country’s first courses in Native American religion at Barnard. Tucker eagerly attended those classes, and she and Grim (who were married by Berry in 1978) became Berry’s editors and continued to promote his work after his death in 2009 at age ninety-four, including the book and Emmy-winning PBS film Journey of the Universe. They also coauthored Thomas Berry: A Biography, published by Columbia University Press in 2019. “Berry saw how the destruction of the environment for massive materialism had spread around the world, and how our institutions — politics, education, economics, and religion — are invested in this economic system and therefore inadequate to address the problem,” Tucker says. As Berry wrote, “The reenchantment with the earth as a living reality is the condition for our rescue of the earth from the impending destruction that we are imposing upon it … Our sense of reality and of value must consciously shift from an anthropocentric to a biocentric norm of reference.” If Berry helped plant the seeds of the movement that Tucker and Grim brought forth, it was Martin S. Kaplan ’61CC who delivered the rain. In 1996, Kaplan, a Boston-based lawyer and partner at the firm of Hale and Dorr, was thumbing through the Harvard Gazette when he saw an announcement for a series of three conferences being held at Harvard Divinity School on world religions and ecology, organized by Tucker and Grim. Speakers would discuss Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shintoism. Intrigued, Kaplan decided to attend. One of the speakers was Thomas Berry. “His entire philosophy just blew me away,” Kaplan says. “I was especially taken with his quiet passion for considering the entire earth as a living organism. He was gentle and compelling; you felt his presence. You sensed this was a person of great moral power.” At the conference, Kaplan, exhilarated by what he’d heard, introduced himself to Tucker and told her he was the managing trustee of the V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation, a philanthropic fund with an environmental bent. He invited Tucker to a grant-making meeting, and the trustees were so impressed with her pitch that they provided money to increase the number of conferences on religion and ecology from three to ten. Those conferences marked the birth of the field. "To make progress on climate you need more than policy and science — you need a commitment to human life and all the life on the planet." Kaplan, who received the Columbia Alumni Medal in 1992 and the John Jay Award in 2000, has directed support to a host of Columbia initiatives, including the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation (known today as the Earth Institute Center for Environmental Sustainability), which led to the creation of Columbia’s Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology. But when it came to dealing with climate change, Kaplan, like Tucker and Gore, felt that something was missing from the conversation. “To make progress on climate you need more than policy and science — you need a commitment to human life and all the life on the planet,” Kaplan says. “That’s essential. We want this idea to be accessible to the people I call the ministering class — current and future clergy — so that they speak of these issues in their religious events and not just on Earth Day. They need to do this in a meaningful fashion and on a continuing basis.” On September 26, 2009, three months after Berry’s death, a memorial service for the self-described “geologian” was held at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. The service featured readings from Thomas Aquinas, who wrote that “the whole universe together participates in and manifests the divine more than any single being whatsoever,” a key idea for Berry. Toward the end of the service, Kaplan ascended to the high pulpit. The Thomas Berry Foundation, founded in 1998 by Berry, Tucker, Grim, Kaplan, and Berry’s sister, Margaret Berry, had honored Kaplan with the 2009 Thomas Berry Award, and now Kaplan offered an address on the “Great Work,” as Berry called it, of reestablishing our connection with nature. “Berry believed that we must expand the scope of religious and humanist concerns to embrace the larger life systems and all species of the planet,” Kaplan told the gathering. “As a lawyer, I am intrigued by Berry’s call for a broader vision of rights.” Kaplan then quoted Berry’s statement that there can be no sustainable future “unless these inherent rights of the natural world are recognized as having legal status.” For the past twenty-five years, Kaplan has been trumpeting Berry’s message. At a UN panel on religion and the environment held in 2000, Kaplan examined the crucial passage in the book of Genesis in which God tells humans to “have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” The King James Version translates the Hebrew word radah as “have dominion,” implying domination — resulting, as Berry saw it, in our indifference to nonhuman life, since it has no inherent rights. “Only in this detached situation,” Berry wrote, “could we have felt so free to intrude upon the forces of the natural world.” **As Kaplan told the UN panel, “dominion” is just one translation. “Another is ‘stewardship,’ which is very different,” he says. “Stewardship means that, given our power, we humans have a responsibility to take care of God’s creation.”** This idea, radical in its implications, has reached the highest echelons of organized religion. In 2015, Pope Francis published Laudato si’: On Care for Our Common Home, a 184-page encyclical that blends science and spirituality and warns of “desolation” if humanity does not change its ways. Says Gore, “One of the main contributions of Laudato si’ — although not explicit — was to unravel that toxic theology of seeing dominion as this domination. Pope Francis says there has been a mistake in interpretation.” The encyclical, which environmentalist Bill McKibben called “probably the most important document yet of this millennium,” was extolled in eco-spiritual circles. Through CEE, Gore convened an interfaith working group around Laudato si’ with Rabbi Burton Visotzky, a professor of interreligious studies at Jewish Theological Seminary, also a Columbia affiliate. Visotzky brought in theologian Hussein Rashid ’96CC, who was exploring similar questions from a Muslim ethical standpoint. The scholars, who had spun off from a larger interfaith study group at Fordham Law School, decided to examine the issue of water as a way to focus their work, and for World Water Day 2017 they published a series of tracts around water-related themes. That got them invited to the Vatican to meet with the pope about Laudato si’. “For me, reading the encyclical made me think of an eighth-century figure named Ja‘far al-Ṣādiq,” says Rashid, who teaches at the New School and UTS. “There’s a work attributed to him where he says for a believer there are four relationships that keep you in balance: to God, to yourself, to other people, and to the rest of creation. My understanding of what Pope Francis was doing really resonated with that.” It was a far cry from another influential Vatican tract, one that Gore learned about as a student at UTS and which supplied an “aha” moment that reshaped her understanding of current social and environmental iniquities. On May 4, 1493, Pope Alexander VI issued a papal bull that was part of a body of papal edicts known as the doctrine of discovery. These statements decreed that the lands encountered by Columbus on his voyages, populated by “Saracens, infidels, or pagans,” were Spain’s for the taking. “They proclaimed that the original peoples of Africa and the Americas were merely part of the flora and fauna to be ‘conquered, vanquished, and subdued,’” says Gore, adding that this was occurring just after the crusades against Muslims and during the expulsion of Jews from Spain. “Racism, colonization, exploitation — it all ties together. The military forces and economic interests of those European nation- states were being wed to theology that sees certain people as being subhuman, an interpretation that can be heard in the white Christian nationalism of today.” **TO BE CONTINUED AS “PART 2” ….** **This article appears in the[Winter 2022-23 print edition of Columbia Magazine with the title "Sacred Trees, Holy Waters."](https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/can-worlds-religions-help- save-us-ecological-peril)** URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/29/columbia-magazine-can-the- world%e2%80%99s-religions-help-save-us-from-ecological-peril-part-1/>

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United Nations Foundation Seeks to Protect Species Diversity Globally
by Frack Check WV: Diana Gooding 28 Jan '23

28 Jan '23

# [United Nations Foundation Seeks to Protect Species Diversity Globally](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/28/united-nations-foundation- seeks-to-protect-species-diversity-globally/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/D08DC6F5-7568-477C-B257-E3C8E4E0D014.jpeg)](https:/… content/uploads/2023/01/D08DC6F5-7568-477C-B257-E3C8E4E0D014.jpeg) The Fourth Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO) covered 2011 to 2020 **Biodiversity Explained: Facts, Myths, and the Race to Protect It** From the [Blog Article by M. J. Altman, United Nations Foundation](https://unfoundation.org/blog/post/biodiversity-explained-facts- myths-and-the-race-to-protect-it/), January 4, 2023 **Biodiversity is the interconnectedness of all forms of life on our planet — is in jeopardy as ecosystems and habitats degrade and disappear. On the heels of a landmark global agreement to protect our lands, ocean, and waters, discover what biodiversity really means and what it will take to preserve life on Earth.** From microscopic fungi to mega forests, “biodiversity” is the collective term for the variety of life on Earth in all its forms. It is 4.5 billion years of evolution, embodied. Biodiversity is responsible for our food, our soil, our water, our weather, even the air we breathe. Yet despite being a crucial foundation for our collective future, biodiversity is often lost amid conversations on climate change — until recently. In December 2022, leaders from nearly 200 nations adopted a landmark UN agreement to reverse nature’s rapid decline before it’s too late. Known as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, it calls for protecting 30% of the planet’s land, ocean, and inland waters and includes 23 other targets to help restore and protect ecosystems and endangered species worldwide. **§§§ ~…Here are 12 things you should know:** **1\. Biodiversity is more than just the total number of species on Earth.** “It is actually more complex than that,” Dr. Thomas Lovejoy, the late ecologist, told the United Nations Foundation in 2018. “It’s about the genetic diversity within species, the diversity of habitats, and the large biological units known as biomes.” This includes the interactions that occur between species within ecosystems – primordial relationships that shape our environment in countless, often unseen ways. “Without biological diversity, there is no other life on Earth — including our own,” he explained. “Even though we are often oblivious to it, this diversity of life is what provides clean water, oxygen, and all other things that end up being part of our diet, as well as clothing and shelter. It provides a lot of psychological benefits too, which are not much appreciated.” **2\. We’re only just beginning to understand biodiversity’s influence and importance in our lives.** Earth’s many ecosystems rely on a delicate, complicated, and fascinating tangle of life that, in many ways, remains a mystery. In fact, the term “biological diversity” wasn’t introduced to the scientific community until 1980 in a research paper on species loss by Dr. Lovejoy. Scientists still haven’t identified all forms of life on the planet. New species are discovered every year. Take kelp, for example. These undersea forests provide sustenance and shelter for marine species like chinook salmon, which, in turn, serve as a staple food for orcas. And kelp also absorb excess carbon dioxide, which can help mitigate climate change. **3\. The planet’s biodiversity holds enormous, untapped potential for medical and scientific breakthroughs.** Lovejoy described each species on the planet as a unique set of solutions for a particular set of biological problems. “Whoever would have thought a bacterium from a Yellowstone hot spring would revolutionize forensic and diagnostic medicine, make the human genome project possible, and confer benefits in the trillion-dollar range?” he wrote as a Senior Fellow at the United Nations Foundation, citing a previously unknown and seemingly inconsequential microbe discovered in 1966 that revolutionized genetic testing and immunization development, including the COVID-19 vaccine. Today, one-fourth of all modern medicines are derived from tropical plants, and 70% of all cancer drugs are natural or bio-inspired products. In the past decade, researchers in Nova Scotia found a soil fungus that can disarm antibiotic-resistant bacteria — a discovery that could transform the fields of medicine and agriculture. The possibilities for discovery and innovation are monumental. **4\. Climate change and biodiversity are interconnected.** Climate change is causing biodiversity loss, and biodiversity loss is causing climate change. Here’s how: Destroying and degrading ecosystems release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than burning fossil fuels. Meanwhile, the consequences of burning fossil fuels — rising global temperatures, an increase in wildfires, and ocean acidification, to name a few — are devastating to the planet’s biodiversity by destroying habitats and animals alike. In late 2019 and early 2020, for example, more than 60,000 koalas were killed by wildfires in Australia so massive that nearly 3 billion species died or were displaced. Earlier this year, the Australian government officially listed koalas as an endangered species. At COP 27 last year, world leaders reached a historic agreement to create a “loss and damage” mechanism to support vulnerable communities that are already feeling climate change’s disastrous impact, including biodiversity loss and the resulting impact on livelihoods. **5\. Biodiversity can help us adapt to climate change.** The UN considers biodiversity our strongest natural defense against climate change. Land and ocean ecosystems currently absorb 60% of human-caused emissions, and they are the planet’s only way of storing massive amounts of carbon dioxide. Coastal wetlands, for example, protect against storm surges and flooding during extreme weather while also storing carbon dioxide and creating oxygen. According to a joint estimate by the UN Development Programme and the Government of Papua New Guinea, every dollar invested in environmental protection generates more than $2,500 in so-called ecosystem services — water regulation, coastal protection, carbon storage, and other invisible functions that nature provides. It’s one of the reasons that Papua New Guinea launched the first-ever national, independent Biodiversity and Climate Fund to protect its status as one of just 17 “megadiverse” countries. **6\. Less biodiversity means a higher risk of disease.** For decades, the scientific community has warned that biodiversity loss increases the spread of infectious disease. Why? Because extinction upsets the ecosystem in unpredictable ways, and the destruction of natural habitats increases interaction between humans and wildlife. Biodiversity essentially acts as a barrier between humans and animal-borne disease. Species that tend to survive logging, farming, mining, wildlife trade and consumption, and other human activities behind widespread biodiversity loss are often “vectors of disease” like mice and mosquitoes, which host pathogens that are able to make the jump to humans. It’s one of the reasons that cases of Lyme disease in the northeast United States have spiked in recent decades: With fewer mammals to prey on, ticks are increasingly seeking out people. In fact, roughly 75% of emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic. It’s also why researchers like Dr. Alessandra Nava and her team of virus hunters at Brazil’s Fiocruz Amazônia are tracking the spread of disease in bats, monkeys, and rodents in the world’s largest rainforest. Their goal is to stay a step ahead of future pandemics by better understanding the pathogens contained within the jungle’s creatures before they come in contact with humans — encounters that become more likely as the human footprint expands. **7\. Biodiversity on land depends on biodiversity in water.** Maintaining the ocean’s ecological balance is crucial for protecting biodiversity on land, as well as maintaining our ability to feed future generations. The ocean plays a vital role in regulating the planet’s weather and water and the air we breathe. It is also the planet’s largest source of protein, feeding more than 3 billion people every day who rely on fish as a staple food. Yet the ocean remains a vastly unexplored ecological frontier. While scientists have identified 200,000 marine species, the actual number is estimated to be in the millions. Unsustainable fishing practices, pollution, climate change, and habitat destruction are threatening creatures that may vanish before we even knew they existed. **8\. Our planet’s biodiversity is on the brink.** Some 1 million species are threatened with extinction right now. That’s more than any other time in history, and they’re disappearing at a rate that is 1,000 times the norm. The culprit is the way most humans consume, produce, travel, and live. A 2019 UN report found that we have altered 75% of the planet’s terrestrial environment, 40% of its marine environment, and 50% of streams and rivers. Nearly three-fourths of our freshwater resources are devoted to crop or livestock production, which often means using pesticides, fertilizers, fuels, and antibiotics that pollute our rivers, streams, seas, and soil. Every day we are destroying habitats and degrading massive amounts of soil and water through industrial manufacturing and agriculture while jeopardizing precious natural resources that could be lost forever in our lifetime; in the past two decades, we’ve lost half of the planet’s coral reefs. Deforestation in the Amazon rainforest hit a record high last year; some 18% is gone already, with scientists warning that we’re approaching a tipping point toward potential collapse. **9\. Sustainability is the only way forward.** Such irresponsible production and consumption of our natural resources come at a catastrophic cost. We are destroying our planet at an unprecedented rate and losing a vast number of plants, animals, insects, and marine life in the process — to the detriment of our own future. Humanity’s health and well-being are dependent on a biodiverse planet. Fortunately, examples are emerging of a greener, more sustainable way of doing business. Circular economic models are becoming more common as companies realize the economic and environmental value of reducing, reusing, and recycling their supply chain. At the same time, more citizens are demanding sustainable sourcing and socially just labor practices from their consumer goods. In 2022, the founder of the outdoor retailer Patagonia announced plans to invest all of the company’s profits toward combating climate change. “If we have any hope of a thriving planet — much less a business — 50 years from now, it is going to take all of us doing what we can with the resources we have,” Yvon Chouinard wrote. **10\. Indigenous communities are crucial.** For thousands of years, Indigenous communities have served as the planet’s most effective environmental stewards. Today, according to the UN, Indigenous people manage more than 20% of the planet’s land and 80% of its biodiversity. “For us, it is not a passion, or a job,” Hindou Ibrahim of the Mbororo tribe in Chad, an SDG (Sustainable Development Goal) Advocate and Indigenous rights activist, told the UN last year. “It is our way of living. And that’s what we have done for all generations.” In 2015, the UN created the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform to ensure their formal participation in global negotiations on climate change. **11\. Conservation is critical.** One of our most promising solutions is preservation. Restoring degraded ecosystems alone could provide up to one-third of the climate mitigation needed to keep the Earth from warming too far above preindustrial levels. This means creating protected areas, curbing extractive capitalism, and restoring the planet’s enormous amount of degraded land. People across the globe are leading efforts to do just that. One inspiring example is Rita Mesquita, who expanded the amount of protected rainforest in Brazil by 76% during her time in the country’s Ministry of the Environment. Today, she oversees programs that encourage residents and visitors alike in Manaus to interact with the surrounding Amazon rainforest. **12\. We need cooperation — and revolution — at all levels.** We need partnerships among countries, communities, consumers, and corporations. And we’re seeing signs of progress every day. In fact, at COP 27, the Governments of Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Indonesia announced an alliance to protect their respective rainforests. Their historic agreement could pave the way for more multilateral action and impact. Coming just a month later, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework represents an enormous and long-awaited step toward halting extinction rates that some scientists are calling an existential crisis akin to climate change. A huge part of the solution to the biodiversity challenge will be transforming how we approach the natural world and our place within it. As Dr. Lovejoy told the UN Foundation in 2018, “There needs to be a major shift in perception from thinking of nature as something with a fence around it in the middle of an expansive, human-dominated landscape … to thinking about embedding our aspirations in nature.” URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/28/united-nations-foundation-seeks- to-protect-species-diversity-globally/>

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Projects Aim to Remove CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) Directly from the Atmosphere
by Frack Check WV: S. Tom Bond 27 Jan '23

27 Jan '23

# [Projects Aim to Remove CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) Directly from the Atmosphere](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/27/projects-aim-to-remove- co2-carbon-dioxide-directly-from-the-atmosphere/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/770AA86B-BABE-4690-8725-7E361B5E0CF5-300x220.jpg)](… content/uploads/2023/01/770AA86B-BABE-4690-8725-7E361B5E0CF5.jpeg) Oxidential Petroleum plans to build the world’s largest “direct air carbon” removal facility **Direct air carbon capture sets up shop in the oilfields of Texas** From the [Article by Ari Phillips, Oil and Gas Watch](https://news.oilandgaswatch.org/post/direct-air-carbon-capture-sets-… shop-in-the-oilfields-of-texas), January 24, 2023 **A subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum is planning to build the world’s largest plant designed to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) directly from the air in the oil and gas fields of West Texas, with a start-update sometime in 2024.** **Once fully operational, the plant will capture up to 500,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, with the capability to scaleup to 1 million metric tons per year. Direct air capture is a nascent technology that extracts CO2 directly from the atmosphere and stores it underground (or uses it to make fizzy drinks or other products).** **While many carbon sequestration experts see the technology as a promising, if expensive, process to remove climate-warming greenhouse gases from the air, major concerns remain about how much of the captured carbon will be pumped back down into the Permian Basin to help Occidental to extract more oil or gas from difficult-to-reach reserves. Critics also wonder how trustworthy the monitoring will be, and how communities and the environment might be impacted by its large-scale application.** **For now, Occidental – one of the largest petroleum producers in the country – has a subsidiary, called 1PointFive, that is taking advantage of billions of federal decarbonization dollars up for grabs under new government subsidies to invest in climate tech solutions to global warming. Meanwhile, Occidental will still be pumping out oil and gas responsible for heating the atmosphere. It will be simultaneously profiting from fossil fuel extraction and carbon capture.** The oil and gas company is also attracting revenue from corporate partners. These partners claim that it is good for the climate that they will be paying Occidental to “offset”– or make up for – their greenhouse gas emissions through direct capture while the partners continue to pollute. For example, the National Football League’s Houston Texans recently announced that they have selected Occidental’s subsidiary as a “preferred carbon removal partner” to offset their flight emissions. Occidental is marketing not only carbon credits but also what they call “net-zero oil” to NFL teams and airlines. According to Occidental, net-zero oil will be attained by removing, via direct air capture, enough emissions to offset all the emissions associated with the oil’s lifecycle from extraction to consumption. **In November, Occidental announced plans for an even bigger direct air capture site in Texas. Occidental has leased 106,000 acres of the 825,000-acre King Ranch, located in South Texas near the Eagle Ford Shale oil and gas field. The company says the land can support up to 30 direct air capture projects that could potentially remove up to 30 million metric tons of CO2 per year, storing up to up to 3 billion metric tons of CO2 in the geologic reservoirs below the ranch.** **This storage capacity would be orders of magnitude larger than that provided by the 18 existing direct air capture plants around the world, which capture just 0.01 million metric tons of CO2 each year.** While the latest United National Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) climate report calls carbon removal essential to meeting climate targets, it also warns of over-relying on notions like direct air capture, which may lull policymakers and perhaps the general public into a false sense of security as to the necessity of deep cuts to emissions now. Anthony R. Kovscek, a professor of petroleum engineering at Stanford University who studies carbon sequestration, worries that the public might reach a different misunderstanding relating to direct air capture. “My most substantial concern about direct air capture is that lack of public understanding of the capture process will lead to negative opinions and the withdrawal of government support before the technology is fully developed and evaluated,” said Kovscek. Currently, initiatives taken through the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions are providing the incentive to advance carbon sequestration projects and for businesses to seek out credits. Federal tax credits within the Inflation Reduction Act designate direct air capture projects a $180-per-metric-ton credit, far above the previous $50 allotment. Kovcek believes Occidental’s efforts to be aimed at developing a technology that allows them to use their existing engineering and geosciences expertise as well as sequestration storage space that the company already has rights to use. "If it’s successful, they will have a new business that potentially outlasts hydrocarbon production and performs a necessary service,” said Kovcek. “Because they are trying to develop a new business, I don’t think that what they are doing is greenwashing.” **Greenwashing or not, for the time being direct air capture and carbon sequestration overall face no shortage of obstacles on the road to contributing significantly to decarbonization. The process remains very expensive and energy intensive and could divert resources and attention from renewable energy projects with more clear-cut benefits. Furthermore, the geologic reserves capable of sequestration are often located far away from carbon emitters such as steel plants and might require substantial investment in new pipelines.** Kenneth B. Medlock III, Senior Director of the Center for Energy Studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, said he believes even if Occidental is not generating truly “net-zero” oil, it is still resulting in a net CO2 reduction, which can buy time for other technologies. “It is an intriguing step in the multitude of options being presented for reducing the net carbon footprint of energy,” Medlock said. “It also can leverage existing infrastructures and business models, which can bode well for its future as the technology develops.” **The Infrastructure Bill designated $3.5 billion towards the establishment of large-scale, regional direct air capture hubs across the U.S. In response to the announcement, the Climate Justice Alliance released a letter calling direct air capture, “an unproven technology that allows fossil fuel extraction and use to continue, resulting in ongoing harm to frontline communities.”** “To have any significant effect on global CO2 concentrations, DAC would have to be rolled out on a vast scale, demanding very large amounts of water and energy, and raising environmental justice concerns about the toxic impacts of the chemical absorbents used in the process,” the letter states. Medlock believes that environmental justice (EJ) concerns about Occidental’s direct air capture are minimal, since the projects are set in remote locations, but that going forward they must be kept front-and-center in the discussion. “As with all new energy infrastructure, EJ assessments are critical to siting and operation,” he said regarding Occidental’s plans. “So, it is incumbent on the industry to internalize EJ asit moves forward, which requires direct engagement with communities and a conscious effort to avoid injustices.” ‍ **Erin Burns, Executive Director of Carbon180** , a climate nonprofit organization focused on carbon removal solutions, said that direct air capture is “an effective means of removing emissions that drive climate impacts and injustice.” But she added that, more broadly: “carbon removal can’t slow efforts to rapidly decarbonize and can't be an excuse to keep using fossil fuels in the US.” **Because of this, Burns believes that federal government should not fund enhanced oil recovery projects in which the sequestered CO2 is used to extract more fossil fuels , such as the Occidental Permian Basin project, and Carbon180 has advocated for its specific exclusion from key federal direct air capture projects.** Burns said trust underpins the success of this field and the ability to achieve gigaton scale carbon removal by 2050. “But before we can build trust in direct air capture, robust monitoring, reporting, and verification – MRV – is a fundamental prerequisite,” Burns said. “MRV is the process of accounting for all the emissions, energy use, environmental and public health impacts associated with a carbon removal project to determine its net climate impact. It tells us if the work was done safely and effectively and provides receipts.” According to Occidental’s agreement with the Houston Texans, the carbon credits purchased will not be linked to any new oil and gas extraction. Instead, the CO2 will be sequestered in reserves not associated with fossil fuel production. However, this agreement is specific to a carbon offset agreement with one NFL team. And it is not clear how much independent verification there will be, or if – in other business agreements or contexts -- Occidental will use captured carbon to inject into shale formations to help extract oil and gas. Aside from the two Texas direct air capture projects, Oil & Gas Watch is also tracking the Sweetwater Carbon Storage Hub, a proposed direct air capture project in Wyoming that would consist of modular carbon capture units capable of removing 12,000 tons of CO2 per year from the air. #######+++++++#######+++++++######## **See Also:** [Direct Air Capture: 5 Things You Need to Know About This Climate Scam](https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2023/01/19/direct-air-capture- climate-scam/) ~ Oakley Shelton-Thomas & Mia DiFelice, Food & Water Watch, January 25, 2023 URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/27/projects-aim-to-remove- co2-carbon-dioxide-directly-from-the-atmosphere/>

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Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z, Now “Z” for Zero
by Frack Check WV: admin 26 Jan '23

26 Jan '23

# [Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z, Now “Z” for Zero](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/26/alphabet-of-climate-change-fr… a-to-z-now-%e2%80%9cz%e2%80%9d-for-zero/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/F03A135B-21BB-496D-A77C-FD855AFE7E35.jpeg)](https:/… content/uploads/2023/01/F03A135B-21BB-496D-A77C-FD855AFE7E35.jpeg) Lake Mead was formed by the Hoover Dam in the Colorado River in AZ & NV **“Z” = Zero …… Lake Mead as Ground Zero of Ground Zero!** >>> From a Compilation of [Articles by Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker Magazine](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/elizabeth-kolbert), 11/28/22 **Not long ago, I rented a car in Las Vegas and drove out to Hoover Dam. There I signed up for a tour that began with an educational video.** Construction of the dam, the narrator of the video intoned while grainy black- and-white footage jittered across the screen, entailed pouring more than three million cubic yards of concrete. Put to a different use, this much concrete could pave “a four-foot-wide sidewalk around the earth’s equator.” When the dam was completed, in the middle of the Depression, it “gave new life to the desert Southwest” as well as “to the nation’s spirit.” The Colorado River began backing up behind the massive structure to form Lake Mead, the country’s largest reservoir, which can store enough water to “cover the entire state of Pennsylvania to the depth of one foot.” After the video, my tour group took an elevator down thirty stories, into the dam’s hydroelectric plant. Here we were regaled with more facts: **Hoover Dam is equipped with seventeen generators — eight on the Nevada side of the river and nine across the border, in Arizona. Each generator can produce enough electricity — a hundred and thirty (130 MW) megawatts — to power sixty-five thousand homes. Each contains five miles’ worth of copper wire and a hundred and sixty tons’ worth of electromagnets. The tour ended on an observation deck where an audiotape of yet more dam-related facts — the structure weighs 6.6 million tons and is twelve hundred and forty-four feet long** — was issuing from a loudspeaker. The narrator of the audiotape sounded an awful lot like the narrator of the video. “It has been said that in the shadow of Hoover Dam one feels that the future is limitless, that we have in our grasp the power to achieve anything, if we can but summon the will,” he concluded. Then the tape started over. **The Colorado River basin has been called “ground zero for climate change in the United States.”** If this is the case, then Hoover Dam might be described as **ground zero’s ground zero.** Since 1998, the basin has been stuck in a drought; this drought has lasted so long and grown so deep that it’s now routinely referred to as a megadrought. From the observation deck, the drought’s effects are scarily apparent. An abandoned dock lies, in pieces, high above the lake’s edge. Instead of being submerged, the power plant’s four intake towers stick up into the air, like lighthouses. The steep walls of the reservoir, which in pre-dam days formed Black Canyon, are lined with an enormous white stripe — a geological oddity known as the bathtub ring. The ring, composed of minerals deposited by the retreating water, runs as straight as a ruler, mile after mile. At the start of the drought, the stripe was as high as a giraffe. By 2015, it had grown as tall as the Statue of Liberty. This past summer, it had reached the height of the Tower of Pisa. I had wanted to talk about the dam, the megadrought, and the future of the Colorado basin with a representative of the Bureau of Reclamation, which built and still operates Hoover Dam. But when I got in touch with the bureau’s office in Boulder City, Nevada, a town created to house the workers who erected the dam, I was told that no one there was giving interviews. **I was, of course, welcome to take a public tour. I ended up taking two.** On the first, no mention was made of the drought; on the second, I tried to force the issue. I asked the guide whether she got any questions about Lake Mead, which is now only about a quarter full. She said she did, but she wasn’t supposed to answer them. “We’re not to comment too much on it,” she told me. “You know, I haven’t been on the lake at all this year,” she added. “It’s just sad when I go out there. It’s a little depressing. To save my sanity, I don’t go.” Lake Mead used to be lined with boat launches; most of these are now closed. The construction of Hoover Dam was authorized in 1928, just a year after Svante Arrhenius died. The project reflects the same faith in progress that he held to — a faith in humanity’s power to improve on nature. This is still the faith that the Bureau of Reclamation is pushing even as the logic of the dam comes undone. In April, the reservoir dropped so low that one of the intake pipes for Las Vegas, which gets practically all its water from Lake Mead, poked above the surface. In August, the Interior Department announced what’s officially called a Tier 2a shortage; the shortage means that Arizona’s water allotment for next year will be cut by almost two hundred billion gallons and Nevada’s by eight billion gallons. **Owing to the shortage, the dam’s seventeen turbines operate only sporadically.** Following my second tour, I climbed back up to the observation deck for a last look around. It was almost noon, and the desert sun was high overhead. A couple of tour groups came and went as the tape played in the background: “In the shadow of Hoover Dam, one feels that the future is limitless . . . limitless . . . limitless.” What I felt standing in the dam’s shadow was something different. **Climate change isn’t a problem that can be solved by summoning the “will.” It isn’t a problem that can be “fixed” or “conquered,” though these words are often used. It isn’t going to have a happy ending, or a win-win ending, or, on a human timescale, any ending at all. Whatever we might want to believe about our future, there are limits, and we are up against them.** ♦ ~ Published in the print edition of the November 28, 2022, issue of The N _ew Yorker magazine with the headline “A Vast Experiment.”_ #######+++++++#######+++++++####### **[Subject: Lake Mead& Hoover Dam | Scenic Drive Along Shrinking Lake Mead & Lakeshore Drive to the Hoover Dam 4K](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QWuK5AqVsKY) - YouTube** One hour & ten minutes. <https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QWuK5AqVsKY> Scenic driving in Nevada and Arizona through Lake Mead National Recreation Area on Lakeshore Drive along the shrinking Lake Mead to the Hoover Dam in 4K/5K. Along the way we stop at the scenic overlooks and beaches, and see how far Lake Mead's water level has dropped in the last 22 years. We then head to the Hoover Dam, stopping and walking on the Mike O'Callaghan – Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge and soaking in the magnificent views of the Hoover Dam and Colorado River, then driving and walking on the Hoover Dam. (Apologies for the wind noise, filming was done in very windy conditions) >>> **Click here for our complete scenic drive on Northshore Road through Lake Mead National Recreation Area:** <https://youtu.be/xvtmJtNROD0> URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/26/alphabet-of-climate-change-from- a-to-z-now-%e2%80%9cz%e2%80%9d-for-zero/>

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Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z, Now “Y” for Yourself
by Frack Check WV: admin 25 Jan '23

25 Jan '23

# [Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z, Now “Y” for Yourself](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/25/alphabet-of-climate-chang… from-a-to-z-now-%e2%80%9cy%e2%80%9d-for-yourself/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/54762CCF- DFEB-4B20-949A-ADFD4BAF0A15.jpeg)](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/54762CCF-DFEB-4B20-949A-ADFD4BAF0A15.jpeg) You can have a role in the community solar program? Locally & Globaly! **You Are Significant as Climate Change Becomes a Climate Emergency** From the [Article by Elizabeth Kolbert, New York Magazine](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/elizabeth-kolbert), November 28, 2022 **So far, average global temperatures have risen by 1.1 degrees Celsius — two degrees Fahrenheit — and the budget for 1.5 Celsius is nearly gone. How hot will it get? Will temperatures climb two degrees Celsius? 2.5? Three?** **A study published a few years ago, by Veerabhadran Ramanathan, a climate scientist at the Scripps Institution, and Yangyang Xu, of Texas A &M, defined a temperature increase of 1.5 C degrees as “dangerous,” an increase of three C degrees as “catastrophic,” and an increase of five C degrees as “unknown, implying beyond catastrophic.”** **A second study, by a group of American and European researchers, determined that, if we were to burn through all known fossil-fuel reserves, global temperatures could rise by as much as eleven degrees Celsius, or twenty degrees Fahrenheit. (How humanity could keep the oil flowing even as the world drowned and smoldered was a question the researchers did not address.)** **There are good reasons to opt for optimism. ([See “narratives.”](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/elizabeth-kolbert)) It could be argued that the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act this past summer was possible only because so many people believed in a better future.** **At the same time, there are good reasons to wonder whether optimism lies at the heart of the problem. For the last thirty years — more if you go back to 1965 — we have lived as if someone, or some technology, were going to rescue us from ourselves. We are still living that way now.** **“You can’t just sit around waiting for hope to come,” Greta Thunberg observed in a speech scolding E.U. politicians. “Then you’re acting like spoiled, irresponsible children. You don’t seem to understand that hope is something you have to earn.”** #######+++++++#######+++++++######## **See Also:** [West Virginia Environmental Council](https://wvecouncil.org/) URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/25/alphabet-of-climate-change-from- a-to-z-now-%e2%80%9cy%e2%80%9d-for-yourself/>

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Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z, Now “X” for Xcel or Not
by Frack Check WV: admin 24 Jan '23

24 Jan '23

# [Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z, Now “X” for Xcel or Not](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/24/alphabet-of-climate-change-fro… a-to-z-now-%e2%80%9cx%e2%80%9d-for-xcel-or-not/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/C91CDD10-0B04-46EE- BA5D-68FA0D262E39-300x199.jpg)](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/C91CDD10-0B04-46EE-BA5D-68FA0D262E39.jpeg) Looking for the future takes some mighty fine binoculars **“Xcel” Names Outstanding Green or Blue or Brown Things or Not** From the Desk of Duane G. Nichols, FrackCheckWV.net, January 24, 2023 **[XCELPLUS INTERNATIONAL ~ About our company …](https://xcelplusint.com/)** In 1999, XcelPlus was started as a private label distributor for a line of specialty chemicals and lubricants. Along the way, we found reducing energy consumption just wasn’t enough, so we set out to find technologies to help satisfy an increasing demand for energy from waste streams. We discovered ways to make ethanol from garbage, and used biodiesel waste glycerin to make turbine fuels and coal plant fuels. When Hurricane Katrina hit the U.S. in 2005, we sought ways to turn the resulting waste into electricity or fuels, including synthetic diesel fuels, gasoline and ethanol. The issue we faced was that technology had not been developed to the commercial and industrial standards we needed. In 2007, we had to suspend our projects. A chance encounter in 2017 changed everything, and since then we have been working diligently to bring our solution to fruition in the form of plasma gasification. We became a public company in 2004 on the OTC Markets under the trading symbol XLPI. [The most recent quote lists the stock price at 6 cents per share.] **We 've been searching for years ~** We spent years searching out and vetting technologies that would improve our quality of life on planet Earth. We consider these to be legacy technologies that will figuratively change the world. We identified a line of energy-reducing lubricants, discovered ways to convert plastics and tires into synthetic diesel fuel, unearthed the technology to turn fuel-injected cars into Flex Fuel vehicles, and created gasifiers that use plasma technologies to dissociate molecules into atoms. Those dissociated atoms are recombined to make syngas. [Such processes generate carbon dioxide, not discussed here.] We’ve already done the hard part, now we can do the innovative part of bringing these new technological solutions to market today. [MISSION STATEMENT](https://xcelplusint.com/about-us/) ~ Using our access to sustainable and innovative technology, we seek to use waste as a resource to provide clean, affordable, pollution-free energy to communities around the world in order to improve the global environment. **We 've Seen the Future of Energy** ~ We have been looking into the future of energy and we are ready to unveil that future right now. Today, the power for electric cars is primarily derived from coal and some energy from natural gas. While cleaner than coal, natural gas is still a polluting energy source. Unless we find new ways to produce clean, sustainable energy – not only for electric cars but other applications – it will be no better than petroleum- powered vehicles. Our technologies can fuel and power the hydrogen highway, electric cars, aircraft, diesel trucks and cars, all while simultaneously using and reducing our world’s waste. Take a look at that future with us. We have developed a better form of energy production. **XCELPLUS PLASMA GASIFICATION OF WASTE ~ 50-Ton-Per-Day Gasifier** We were able to build upon an already solid foundation. We've hired engineers to take a proven, viable technology and propel it to a whole new level. Fifty tons of material from waste streams allows our gasifier to produce up to 5 megawatt of power, 1,900 gallons of diesel fuel, 2,100 gallons of gasoline or ethanol, or about 1,250 to 6,000 kg of green hydrogen. Whatever your energy needs are, we can accommodate you. We will be manufacturing gasifiers and selling them to global customers and Build-Own-Operate (BOO) customers with access to capped-off landfills. [NOTE ADDED ~ The claims above of subject to verification. The claim is that XcelPlus provides “green” technology. This conventionally means that no carbon dioxide or methane will be emitted. What to believe Xcel or Not? DGN] URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/24/alphabet-of-climate-change-from- a-to-z-now-%e2%80%9cx%e2%80%9d-for-xcel-or-not/>

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Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z, Now “W” for Weather
by Frack Check WV: admin 23 Jan '23

23 Jan '23

# [Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z, Now “W” for Weather](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/23/alphabet-of-climate-change- from-a-to-z-now-%e2%80%9cw%e2%80%9d-for-weather/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/08EB5151-DC5D-4CD0-874E-602D8384C104-300x300.jpg)](… content/uploads/2023/01/08EB5151-DC5D-4CD0-874E-602D8384C104.jpeg) Predictions from the IPCC Report ~ Click to expand this graph **WHAT? ~ Whether the Weather is Winding for Wicked Wretchedness?** >>> Adapted from the [Article by Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker Magazine](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/elizabeth-kolbert), November 28, 2022 The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tracks weather-related disasters in the U.S. that cause more than a billion dollars’ worth of damage. According to NOAA, in the nineteen-eighties the U.S. saw an average of three such disasters per year. In the nineteen-nineties, the average was five per year; in the two-thousands, it was six; and in the twenty-tens it jumped to twelve. (The figures have been adjusted for inflation.) In 2020, a record-shattering twenty-two disasters costing more than a billion dollars struck the country. This year is nearly on pace to match that record, with fifteen such disasters by October, including Hurricane Ian, which is likely to prove one of the most expensive storms in American history. Adam B. Smith, a NOAA researcher, has written that a disastrous number of disasters “is becoming the new normal.” The rise is partly a function of more people living in vulnerable areas, such as floodplains. But increasingly it’s a function of climate change. **In the future, the costs may climb steeply or they may climb precipitously. All our infrastructure has been built with the climate of the past in mind. Much of it will have to be rebuilt and then, as the world continues to warm, rebuilt again.** To protect the Houston area (and its many petrochemical plants) from rising seas and storm surges, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is planning to erect a huge system of gates at the mouth of Galveston Bay. The price tag for the project, known as the Ike Dike, is estimated at thirty billion dollars. Norfolk, Virginia, is hoping to stave off the water with a $1.5-billion series of barriers, levees, and tidal gates, and Charleston, South Carolina, is looking to build a billion-dollar flood wall. Some places — large swaths of Miami, for instance — may prove impossible to defend, meaning that real estate now valued in the hundreds of billions of dollars will have to be written off. #######+++++++#######+++++++######## **~. ~. The Accelerating Frequency of Extreme Weather ~. ~.** From an [Article by Carmen Ang, Visual Capitalist](https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-accelerating-frequency-of- extreme-weather/), January 13, 2022 _The world is already witnessing the effects of climate change._ A few months ago, the western U.S. experienced one of the worst droughts it’s seen in the last 20 years. At the same time, southern Europe roasted in an extreme heatwave, with temperatures reaching 45°C (113°F)in some parts. But things are only expected to get worse in the near future. Here’s a look at how much extreme climate events have changed over the last 200 years, and what’s to come if global temperatures keep rising. **A Century of Warming & More of Same Going Forward** The global surface temperature has increased by about 1°C (1.8°F) since the 1850s. And [according to the IPCC](https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Full_Report.pdf), this warming has been indisputably caused by human influence. **As the global temperatures have risen, the frequency of extreme weather events have increased along with it. Heatwaves, droughts and extreme rainstorms used to happen once in a decade on average, but now:** Heatwaves are 2.8x more frequent Droughts are 1.7x more frequent Extreme rainstorms are 1.3x more frequent **By 2030, the global surface temperature is expected to rise 1.5°C (2.7°F) the Earth’s baseline temperature, which means that:** Heatwaves would be 4.1x more frequent Droughts would be 2x more frequent Extreme rainstorms would be 1.5x more frequent **The Ripple Effects of Extreme Weather** **Extreme weather events have far-reaching impacts on communities, especially when they cause critical system failures.** Mass infrastructure breakdowns during Hurricane Ida this year caused widespread power outages in the state of Louisiana that lasted for several days. In 2020, wildfires in Syria devastated hundreds of villages and injured dozens of civilians with skin burns and breathing complications. As extreme weather events continue to increase in frequency, and communities become increasingly more at risk, sound infrastructure is becoming more important than ever. [The importance of net-zero projects cannot be over emphasized. [WiN = When is Now!](https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Full_Report.pdf)]. URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/23/alphabet-of-climate-change-from- a-to-z-now-%e2%80%9cw%e2%80%9d-for-weather/>

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Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z, Now ”V” for Vehicles
by Frack Check WV: admin 22 Jan '23

22 Jan '23

# [Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z, Now ”V” for Vehicles](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/22/alphabet-of-climate-chang… from-a-to-z-now-%e2%80%9dv%e2%80%9d-for-vehicles/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/527E2E84-CFAD-4400-B553-C055AFA7D6C4-300x192.jpg)](… content/uploads/2023/01/527E2E84-CFAD-4400-B553-C055AFA7D6C4.jpeg) The term “tipping point” is applied here to Archimedes lever in contrast to tipping points in which ice melting accelerates beyond expectations **Current Climate: Tipping Points To Net Zero, Smarter Train Tracks And Greenland’s Accelerating Melt** >>> From the [Forbes Article by Alex Knapp & Alan Ohnsman](https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2023/01/21/current-climat… tipping-points-to-net-zero--smarter-train-tracks-and-greenlands-accelerating- melt/?sh=6d37f4a036f1), January 21, 2023 [This information is from the **“Current Climate” from Forbes** , which every Saturday brings you the latest news about the business of sustainability. [Sign up to get it in your inbox every week.](https://www.forbes.com/newsletter/currentclimate/)] Ancient Greek mathematician and engineer Archimedes is said to have one said, “Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world” – highlighting the power of simple machines to magnify effort. This principle is limited to ancient Greece. **This week, a[report presented to the World Economic Forum](https://www.systemiq.earth/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/The-Breakthrough- Effect.pdf) meeting at Davos argues that there are points like this that can accelerate the world’s transition to an economy that’s built around more sustainable principles in order to slow climate change. The researchers behind the report identified three potential “tipping points” that can be pushed in order to accelerate some of these changes.** 1\. The first is the **transition to electric vehicles** , as “government policies and better infrastructure increasingly [are] making electric vehicles more attractive than petrol and diesel cars,” according to a press release around the report. 2\. A second tipping point is swapping out **methods of producing ammonia for fertilizers** in a manner that’s more sustainable, which the researchers say could have a side benefit of bringing down the costs of green hydrogen. 3\. The third tipping point is moving towards more **alternatives to animal- based proteins** , which could help reduce emissions from livestock farming and slow down rates of deforestation. All of these areas, the report argues, can produce ripple effects that reach further into the economy in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. “This non-linear way of thinking about the climate problem gives plausible grounds for hope,” the report’s lead author aid in a statement. “The more that gets invested in socioeconomic transformation, the faster it will unfold – getting the world to ‘net zero’ greenhouse gas emissions sooner.” **The Big Read ~ Greenland Ice Sheet Warmest In At Least 1,000 Years As Scientists Warn Melting Ice Will Accelerate Sea-Level Rise** Recent temperatures in Greenland’s ice sheet—one of the primary culprits behind rising seas—were the warmest they’ve been in at least 1,000 years, according to a new report, as scientists warn the melting of Greenland’s ice could threaten coastal communities around the world. [Read more here.](https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/01/18/greenland-ice- sheet-warmest-in-at-least-1000-years-as-scientists-warn-melting-ice-will- accelerate-sea-level-rise/) **More Concerns for Our Earth** Human-caused light pollution has made the night sky nearly 10% brighter each year, according to new research, obscuring astronomical observations and posing a threat to migrating birds that rely on the position of stars and the moon to travel. Nearly two-thirds of coral reef shark and ray species worldwide are threatened with extinction, [reports a new study](https://www.forbes.com/sites/melissacristinamarquez/2023/01/17/most- coral-reef-sharks-and-rays-may-be-at-risk-of-extinction/?sh=1770e5713c74). **Sustainability Deals Of The Week ~ ~ ~** **Durable Batteries:** California-based Noon Energy has raised a $28 million series A round, which is geared towards growing its team and accelerating the commercialization of its carbon-oxygen battery for long-term energy storage. **Carbon Removal:** Financial services firm Rothschild & Co has entered into a multi-year agreement with French startup NetZero to purchase carbon credits for NetZero’s biochar, which sequesters carbon by being mixed with topsoil, which also reduces the need for fertilizers in agriculture. **Electrification:** The city of San Jose has entered into a $489,000 contract with BlocPower to electrify 250 residential buildings. **On The Horizon, Ugggh!** Last week, areas of Northern California featured days worth of rainfall and high winds, causing large amounts of damage to the area. And if sea levels continue to rise, it’s likely that more storms are in the works for the region, according to new research published this week. **Green Transportation Update** When it comes to moving people and goods, even all-electric vehicles can’t match the environmental benefits of trains. And when you think “advanced rail technology,” bullet trains or magnetic-levitation systems might come to mind. But what about the steel rails freight and passenger trains run on? It turns out that machine learning, big data collection and voice-recognition tools that have transformed manufacturing, cars, retail and social media are also being leveraged to make vital rail operations safer and much more efficient. **The Big Transportation Story ~ Cheap, Utilitarian Electric Cars Would Trigger Big Sales Without Subsidies** Dozens of new electric vehicles models are rolling out but most of them are still too pricey for most carbuyers. What if automakers slashed EV prices, weight and battery size and concentrated on the short-range applications electric cars do best? [Read more here.](https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilwinton/2023/01/17/cheap- utilitarian-electric-cars-would-trigger-big-sales-without-subsidies/) URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/22/alphabet-of-climate-change-from- a-to-z-now-%e2%80%9dv%e2%80%9d-for-vehicles/>

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Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z, Now U for United Nations Programs
by Frack Check WV: admin 21 Jan '23

21 Jan '23

# [Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z, Now U for United Nations Programs](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/21/alphabet-of-climate-chang… from-a-to-z-now-u-for-united-nations-programs/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/DCE1AD06-5150-406A-A87B-C6C5FD5D9AA5-300x135.jpg)](… content/uploads/2023/01/DCE1AD06-5150-406A-A87B-C6C5FD5D9AA5.jpeg) People protest for reparations for stolen land at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt **United Nations Doggedly Pursues International Climate Agreements Amid Global Turmoil (2022 Year in Review)** >>> From [Collected News by Duane Nichols, FrackCheckWV.net](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/), January 21, 2023 **SUMMARY ~ Despite strong evidence that human activity played a role in catastrophic weather events, and the emergence of a fuel crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine, greenhouse gas emissions continued to rise. Nevertheless, the UN kept the climate emergency high on the international agenda, reaching major agreements on financing and biodiversity.** At the end of 2021, when the UN climate conference (COP26) wrapped up in Glasgow, none of those present could have suspected that a war in Ukraine would throw the global economy into turmoil, convincing many nations to suspend their commitments to a low carbon economy, as they scrambled to reduce their dependence on Russian oil and gas supplies, and secure fossil fuel supplies elsewhere. Meanwhile, a host of studies pointed to the continued warming of the Earth, and the failure of humanity to lower carbon emissions, and get to grips with the existential threat of the climate emergency. Nevertheless, the UN continued to lead on the slow, painstaking, but essential task of achieving international climate agreements, whilst putting sustained pressure on major economies to make greater efforts to cut their fossil fuel use, and support developing countries, whose citizens are bearing the brunt of the droughts, floods and extreme weather resulting from man-made climate change. #######+++++++#######+++++++######## **[Breakthrough agreements reached at UN climate conferences](https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/12/1131972)** _The year 2022 was punctuated by three important climate-related UN summits – the Ocean Conference in June, the COP27 Climate Conference in November, and the much-delayed COP15 Biodiversity Conference in December – which demonstrated that the organization achieves far more than simply stating the dire climate situation, and calling for change._ At each event progress was made on advancing international commitments to protect the environment, and reducing the harm and destruction caused by human activity. The Ocean Conference saw critical issues discussed, and new ideas generated. World leaders admitted to deep alarm at the global emergency facing the Ocean, and renewed their commitment to take urgent action, cooperate at all levels, and fully achieve targets as soon as possible. More than 6,000 participants, including 24 Heads of State and Government, and over 2,000 representatives of civil society attended the Conference, advocating for urgent and concrete actions to tackle the ocean crisis. They stressed that science-based and innovative actions, along with international cooperation, are essential to provide the necessary solutions. #######+++++++#######+++++++######## **[‘Loss and damage’ funding agreed, in win for developing countries](https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/12/1131972)** **COP27** , _the UN Climate Conference, which was held in Egypt in November, seemed destined to end without any agreement, as talks dragged on way beyond the official end of the summit._ Nevertheless, negotiators somehow managed to not only agree on the wording of an outcome document, but also establish a funding mechanism to compensate vulnerable nations for the loss and damage caused by climate-induced disasters. These nations have spent decades arguing for such a provision, so the inclusion was hailed as a major advance. Details on how the mechanism will work, and who will benefit, will now be worked out in the coming months. However, little headway was made on other key issues, particularly on the phasing out of fossil fuels, and tightened language on the need to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. **See this** [Extensive Article](https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/12/1131972) **explaining the various aspects of climate change in which the United Nations is involved:** <https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/12/1131972> URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/21/alphabet-of-climate-change-from- a-to-z-now-u-for-united-nations-programs/>

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The Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z, Now T for Temperatures on Earth
by Frack Check WV: admin 20 Jan '23

20 Jan '23

# [The Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z, Now T for Temperatures on Earth](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/20/the-alphabet-of-climate-chan… from-a-to-z-now-t-for-temperatures-on-earth/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/F334E3C1-2033-40BC-B188-21EB77B7FA79.jpeg)](https:/… content/uploads/2023/01/F334E3C1-2033-40BC-B188-21EB77B7FA79.jpeg) The highest temperature in WV was 115 F, in CA up to 134 F. **T = Temperatures are Rising Locally and Globally** From the [Article by Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker Magazine](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/elizabeth-kolbert), November 28, 2022 The **Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine, in Dallas** , offers a hyperbaric chamber where divers can recover from the bends, a pool equipped to continuously measure swimmers’ oxygen use, and a **climate-controlled vault that can be programmed to test the limits of human endurance**. Not long ago, I swallowed a thermometer the size of a pill and had myself sealed in the vault. **Formally known as the environmental chamber, the vault resembled a walk-in freezer, with metal walls and a pressed-metal floor. Pretty much every available surface was occupied by machinery — computer screens, thermocouples, an electrocardiogram monitor, a treadmill, and a sort of stationary bicycle that looked like a suitcase with pedals. In the center sat a lawn chair, which a technician indicated I should take.** With me in the chamber was a researcher named Josh Foster. Before he allowed me to enter the vault, Foster had asked for a urine sample —a first in my reporting career. He’d also stuck some electrodes on my chest and performed an ultrasound scan of my heart, which, he said, was unusually low and hard to find. Foster, who is British, is interested in the effects of extreme heat on the body. To this end, he creates miniature heat waves and solicits volunteers to sweat their way through them. **On the day I volunteered, the temperature in the vault was a hundred and six degrees and the humidity forty per cent.** “Temperature regulation is one of the most important variables the body will try to protect,” Foster told me. “Because as soon as you start to stray from what’s normal, outside of a given quite small range, our ability to tolerate that is very, very low.” **Once a topic of marginal academic interest, the physiology of heat stress is now a subject of widespread practical concern. According to a recent study, two hundred and seventy-five million people around the globe are subjected to life-threatening temperatures at least one day a year, and this number could easily grow to eight hundred million by the middle of the century.** According to another recent study, the incidence of “extreme humid heat” has doubled in the course of the past forty years. Some parts of the world, particularly in South Asia and around the Persian Gulf, are already experiencing temperatures close to the human “survivability limit.” **This past summer, heat record after heat record fell. In Pinhão, in northern Portugal, temperatures topped a hundred and seventeen (117) degrees. In Sacramento, California, the mercury hit a hundred and sixteen (116) degrees. Yanjin City, in southwestern China, saw a hundred and eleven (111); Abilene, Texas, a hundred and ten (110); and London a hundred and four (104).** The human body reacts to such temperatures by sweating and directing more blood toward the skin. Problems arise when people become dehydrated, or their hearts get overtaxed, or it’s just so sweltering that they can’t dissipate enough heat. **The elderly are particularly vulnerable to heat stress, Foster told me, because they sweat less than young people, and their hearts don’t pump as efficiently.** (Humidity impedes the evaporation of sweat, which is why extreme humid heat is so dangerous.) One consequence of prolonged heat exposure can be a kind of blood poisoning. “Increased blood flow to the skin means that less blood is being directed toward the gut,” Foster explained. “And, if that happens for a long enough time, it can damage the cells that line the gut, and bacteria that are normally housed in the gut can leak out. It’s basically the same as having sepsis.” **The heat wave that affected most of Europe this past summer is estimated to have killed more than fifteen thousand people.** Sitting in the environmental chamber, with the pill-size thermometer in my stomach, would, I hoped, be edifying without being too edifying. Until the U.S. and the other big emitters reach net zero — indeed, until the entire world reaches net zero — the planet will continue to warm. What is the future we’re creating actually going to feel like? Every quarter of an hour, I was supposed to ride the stationary bicycle for five minutes; this was to simulate the sort of effort a person would have to make in the course of completing ordinary household chores. I started off strong but after a few rounds began to flag. The humidity made the air seem strangely solid. I tried to imagine what it would be like to perform real work under these conditions but found it difficult to hold on to a thought. **A few days later, when I got back home, Foster sent me the data that had been collected by the various instruments. I had sweated out almost a pint of water every hour. My heart rate had increased by thirty beats a minute and the blood "ow through my brachial artery had more than tripled. Despite all the (admittedly involuntary) effort I had made to thermoregulate, my core temperature had risen to a hundred degrees.** #######+++++++#######+++++++####### **See Also:** [Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis | (Sixth IPCC Report)](https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/) Results from a wide range of climate model simulations suggest that our **planet 's average temperature** could be between 2 and 9.9°F (1.1 to 5.7°C) warmer in 2100 than it is today. The main reason for this temperature increase is carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping “greenhouse” gases that human activities produce. URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/20/the-alphabet-of-climate-change- from-a-to-z-now-t-for-temperatures-on-earth/>

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The Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z ~ Now S for Sand & Sixth Mass Extinction
by Frack Check WV: admin 19 Jan '23

19 Jan '23

# [The Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z ~ Now S for Sand & Sixth Mass Extinction](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/19/the-alphabet-of-climate- change-from-a-to-z-now-s-for-sand-sixth-mass-extinction/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/4713BA97-EEA5-448A-9F73-25CB893A104D-233x300.png)](… content/uploads/2023/01/4713BA97-EEA5-448A-9F73-25CB893A104D.png) Frac Sand Sentinel is crying out for sanity ~ “sand sanity” for Earth’s sake! **Frac Sand Sentinel #427 ~ “Sixth Mass Extinction”** From the [Newsletter by Patricia Popple, Frac Sand Sentinel](https://wisair.wordpress.com/frac-sand-sentinel/), January 15, 2023 If the Planet is Warming, Why am I Freezing? ~ Scientists for a long time have been looking at the causation of changing weather patterns and climate and how these two elements are instrumental in making changes for us all. Take a look at [this 5 minute link](https://youtu.be/Pe9SbC1D-sk) to help resolve this question in your mind. <https://youtu.be/Pe9SbC1D-sk> Once you have viewed the response to the question above, the concerns regarding the [Sixth Mass Extinction](https://youtu.be/6TqhcZsxrPA) become even clearer by watching this clip from the 60 Minutes broadcast: <https://youtu.be/6TqhcZsxrPA> Paul Ehrlich was on the 60 Minutes show (I could not believe he is 90) but immediately friends recalled seeing him several times on the Johnny Carson Show, beginning in the early 70s. [Paul Ehrlich on Johnny Carson ~ YouTube](https://youtu.be/29PwAu-6oGA) “Who is going to change their living habits?” There are some folks out there who deny and obstruct science of any kind. Those of us who have been involved in fighting the frac sand issues realize the value of our experiences with the hazards of this activity as well as the political differences that divide and conquer us whenever issues of this nature arise. Yet we do have a planet to protect and preserve and make healthier, not only for ourselves but for those who come after us. **NOTE** ~ _Patricia Popple is the Editor_ of the Frac Sand Sentinel in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. The web site is [wisair.wordpress.com](https://wisair.wordpress.com/) and for additional information, [click here for panoramic aerial views](https://lookdownpictures.com/) of frac sand mines, processing plants, and trans-load facilities. [FracTracker.org](https://www.fractracker.org/home/) is also an excellent source of information and a picture source. FRAC SAND SENTINEL | 561 SUMMIT AVENUE, Chippewa Falls, WI 54729 **See Also:** [Climate Change and the New Age of Extinction,](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/05/20/climate-change-a… the-new-age-of-extinction) Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker Magazine, May 13, 2019 People easily forget “last of” stories about individual species, but the loss of nature also threatens our existence. URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/19/the-alphabet-of-climate-change- from-a-to-z-now-s-for-sand-sixth-mass-extinction/>

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The Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z ~ Now R for Republicans
by Frack Check WV: admin 18 Jan '23

18 Jan '23

# [The Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z ~ Now R for Republicans](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/18/the-alphabet-of-climat… change-from-a-to-z-now-r-for-republicans/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/A8B0AEB9-E0CD-439F-9E2C-97D58E8895DC.jpeg)](https:/… content/uploads/2023/01/A8B0AEB9-E0CD-439F-9E2C-97D58E8895DC.jpeg) Republicans seem to be going from bad to worse! **The Letter R for Republicans ~ Republicans Show No Concern for Global Climate Change** From the [Article by Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker Magazine](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/11/28/climate-change-from… to-z), November 28, 2022 **Reaching net zero in the U.S. will require putting such wrangling aside. It will require building out the transmission system while, at the same time, expanding its capacity so that hundreds of millions of cars, trucks, and buses can be run on electricity.** It will require installing tens of millions of public charging stations on city streets and even more charging stations in private garages. Assembling the electric cars and trucks will, in turn, necessitate extracting nickel and lithium for their batteries, which will mean siting new mines, either in the U.S. or abroad. The new cars and trucks will themselves have to be manufactured in an emissions-free manner, which will involve inventing new methods for producing steel or building a new infrastructure for capturing and sequestering carbon. **The list goes on and on.** The fossil-fuel industry will essentially have to be dismantled, and millions of leaky and abandoned wells sealed. Concrete production will have to be reëngineered. The same goes for the plastics and chemicals industries. Currently, ammonia, a critical and water heaters that now run on oil or gas, commercial and residential, will have to be replaced. So will all the gas stoves and dryers and industrial kilns. **The airline industry will have to be revamped, as will the shipping industry.** Farming is responsible for roughly ten per cent of America’s greenhouse-gas emissions, mostly in the form of nitrous oxide and methane. (Nitrous oxide is a by-product of fertilizer use; methane is released by rotting manure and burping cows.) Somehow, these emissions, too, will have to be eliminated. All of this should be done — indeed, must be done. **Officially, the U.S. is committed to reaching net zero by 2050. But a task of this scale has never been attempted before. Zeroing out emissions means rebuilding the U.S. economy from the bottom up. Perhaps Americans recognize this, perhaps not.** In early July, at a time when much of the country was baking in ninety-five- degree-plus heat, the Times took a poll of registered voters. Asked to name the most important problem facing the nation, twenty per cent of the respondents said the economy, fifteen per cent said inflation, and eleven per cent said partisan divisions. Only one per cent said climate change. Among registered Republicans, the figure was zero per cent. #######+++++++#######+++++++####### **See Also:** [Despite Net-Zero Vows, Wall Street 'Climate Arsonists' Still Pumping Billions Into Fossil Fuels](https://www.commondreams.org/news/wall- street-fossil-fuels), Jake Johnson, Common Dreams, January 18, 2023 It is business as usual for most banks and investors who continue to support fossil fuel developers without any restrictions, despite their high-profile commitments to carbon neutrality. Top banks in the United States and around the world have made a show of embracing net-zero emissions pledges, portraying themselves as allies in the fight against the global climate emergency. But a [new analysis entitled “Throwing Fuel on the Fire”](https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Throwing- fuel-on-the-fire-GFANZ-financing-of-fossil-fuel-expansion.pdf) by a group of NGOs makes clear that the world's leading financial institutions — including major Wall Street banks such as Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America — are still pumping money into fossil fuel expansion, bolstering the industry that is primarily responsible for worsening climate chaos. According to the report, 56 of the largest banks in the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) — a coalition convened by the United Nations — have provided nearly $270 billion in the form of loans and underwriting to more than 100 "major fossil fuel expanders," from Saudi Aramco to ExxonMobil to Shell. Additionally, 58 of the biggest members of the Net-Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) initiative — including the investment behemoths BlackRock and Vanguard — held at least $847 billion worth of stocks and bonds in more than 200 large fossil fuel developers as of September. Both the NZBA and the NZAM are under the umbrella of the **Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net-Zero (GFANZ)** , a campaign launched in 2021 with the goal of expanding "the number of net zero-committed financial institutions." Climate advocates have long argued that net-zero pledges are fundamentally inadequate to the task of stopping runaway warming. "The science is very clear: we need to stop developing new coal, oil, and gas projects as soon as possible if we want to meet our climate goals and avoid a worst-case scenario," said **Lucie Pinson, the executive director and founder of the watchdog group Reclaim Finance**. "Yet, it is business as usual for most banks and investors who continue to support fossil fuel developers without any restrictions, despite their high-profile commitments to carbon neutrality." URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/18/the-alphabet-of-climate-change- from-a-to-z-now-r-for-republicans/>

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The Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z ~ Now Q for Quagmire
by Frack Check WV: admin 17 Jan '23

17 Jan '23

# [The Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z ~ Now Q for Quagmire](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/17/the-alphabet-of-climate- change-from-a-to-z-now-q-for-quagmire/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/2E5C74AD-1F0E-4251-913C-66A8E1E6481F-300x157.jpg)](… content/uploads/2023/01/2E5C74AD-1F0E-4251-913C-66A8E1E6481F.jpeg) High voltage electrical transmission lines operate up to 765,000 volts, for example. (Click image to expand). **The Letter Q for Quagmire ~ The National Electric Transmission Grid System** From the [Article by Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker Magazine](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/elizabeth-kolbert), November 28, 2022 Take what’s been called the “transmission quagmire.” To clean up America’s grid, it’s not enough to build new generating capacity, or even new generating capacity plus new storage capacity. Power has to be transported from places that have a lot of wind and sun to urban centers that use a lot of electricity. Decarbonizing the grid will, by one estimate, demand more than a million miles of new transmission lines, and the cost of stringing all these lines will, by another estimate, come to more than two trillion dollars. Managing such a gargantuan project would be difficult enough if someone were in charge. But thanks to the way the grid was put together — bit by bit, over many decades — jurisdiction over transmission lines is divided among an electoral map’s worth of competing authorities. **Whenever lines cross state borders, this Q-mire becomes particularly quaggy. In that case, each state’s utility commission has to sign off. In some states, every affected county does, too. Then there are the local utility companies, which may, officially or unofficially, hold veto power.** “Let’s say I’m a local utility, and you tell me all this low-cost power is going to come in from out of state with a new transmission line,” Steve Cicala, an economics professor at Tufts, said to me. “My reaction is ‘Absolutely not. It’s a threat to my business model.’ And a lot of public- utility commissions are pretty much captured by the local utilities.” The seven-hundred-and-twenty-mile (720 miles) Plains and Eastern Clean Line was supposed to link wind farms in Oklahoma to customers in Tennessee; it was killed by opposition from Arkansas. The Grain Belt Express was designed to run from southwest Kansas to Indiana; it’s been delayed for a decade thanks to resistance from Missouri. The TransWest Express is intended to bring wind power from Wyoming to cities on the West Coast; construction has been held up for years, in good part owing to a single litigious family in Colorado. Northern Pass was a transmission line designed to bring hydropower from Quebec to Massachusetts via New Hampshire. After New Hampshire rejected the project, in 2018, Massachusetts announced that it would try going in a different direction. It would build a line, dubbed New England Clean Energy Connect, that would cut through Maine instead. Work on NECEC was already under way when, in the fall of 2021, Maine voters approved a referendum effectively killing it. Much of the money spent on campaigning in favor of the referendum — and against NECEC — was supplied by NextEra, which owns the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant, a potential competitor to the hydro project. #######+++++++#######+++++++####### **See Also:** **[“Tracking Transmission Reform”](https://stateimpactcenter.org/insights/tracking-transmission-refor… The State Energy & Environmental Impact Center,** New York University, School of Law, January 13, 2023 Hear from state attorneys general about why transmission reform is a critical aspect of climate response and what’s at stake, learn about the broad reform needs in this space, and keep track of opportunities to engage in pushing towards more equitable transmission policy. URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/17/the-alphabet-of-climate-change- from-a-to-z-now-q-for-quagmire/>

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Climate Change Resists Narrative, Yet the Alphabet Prevails (A to Z): Now P!
by Frack Check WV: admin 16 Jan '23

16 Jan '23

# [Climate Change Resists Narrative, Yet the Alphabet Prevails (A to Z): Now P!](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/16/climate-change-resists-narrativ… yet-the-alphabet-prevails-a-to-z-now-p/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/88569E3E-F61A-4B17-98F0-D9CD1B502281.jpeg)](https:/… content/uploads/2023/01/88569E3E-F61A-4B17-98F0-D9CD1B502281.jpeg) The ACP and MVP at 42 inches and 300 miles were too damaging to hills, valleys, farms, forests, rivers, creeks and wetlands **“P” = Pipelines Making News About Fossil Fuels** >> **RE** : [“Fractured Sanctuary: A Chronicle of Grassroots Activitists Fighting Pipelines of Destruction in Appalachia”](https://appalachianchronicle.com/book-fractured-sanctuary/) by Michael Barrick, January 12, 2023 **‘From Almost Heaven to Almost Hell’** ~ Containing articles written between 2014 and 2022, it is an account of reluctant, citizen activists who rose up organically in grassroots resistance to the natural gas industry as it has attempted to complete two, 42” pipelines carrying natural gas hundreds of miles through the Appalachian Mountains from the fracking fields of northern West Virginia, southwest Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio. It is a first draft of a chapter in a history that is old. The fossil fuel industry has siphoned off billions of dollars of wealth – timber, oil, coal, gas – from Appalachia for well over a century, benefiting corporations, but devastating people and the earth. Indeed, the experience of dealing with the gas companies and dangers of the pipelines led one longtime resident of Lewis County, West Virginia to leave the state. When doing so, she said the state had gone “from Almost Heaven to Almost Hell.” Thousands of people agree with her. This books captures just a few of their stories. Their fight is not over. The Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) intends to complete construction by the second half of this year. Powerful interests and people have invested far too much on the project to surrender just yet. The same is true with the activists; they have lost far too much to the MVP to surrender now. So, these accounts, taken together, can be used as a playbook for citizens wishing to ally themselves with MVP opponents and other grassroots activists working to mitigate the effects of the climate emergency in Appalachia – while there is still time. We will soon share additional details regarding signings, town hall-style meetings and other ways to hear the stories, and if you wish, purchase the book. So, please check back soon or go ahead and subscribe so that you can receive every article we publish. There is no cost for the subscription. [Simply enter your email address in the “Follow” box at the top right hand side of the page.](https://appalachianchronicle.com/book-fractured-sanctuary/) January 12, 2023 – MMB. #######+++++++#######+++++++####### **Update Article:** [Amended Forest Service guidelines could remove Mountain Valley Pipeline roadblock,](https://roanoke.com/news/local/amended-forest- service-guidelines-could-remove-mountain-valley-pipeline- roadblock/article_a23f0bb0-82e1-11ed-be34-3351f7d5d1e9.html) Roanoke Times, December 23, 2022 The George Washington and Jefferson National Forests have issued a revised environmental impact statement that could remove a major obstacle to completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. The U.S. Forest Service has proposed new construction guidelines that, if adhered to, would enable the 303-mile intrastate natural gas pipeline to traverse a 3.5-mile section of the Jefferson National Forest in Giles and Montgomery counties, the project’s final missing link. The revised environmental impact statement considered two alternatives. One would have taken no action to revise the regulations, which could have dealt the controversial project a potential death blow. It would have required the project to remove sections of pipe currently stored above ground and to restore soil and vegetation altered by digging or timbering. The second alternative, which the Forest Service has recommended, would “allow for the construction, operation, and maintenance” of the pipeline. (This would permit a 600 foot long borehole under the Appalachian Trail.) …. **more at** ….. <https://roanoke.com/news/local/amended-forest-service- guidelines-could-remove-mountain-valley-pipeline- roadblock/article_a23f0bb0-82e1-11ed-be34-3351f7d5d1e9.html> URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/16/climate-change-resists- narrative-yet-the-alphabet-prevails-a-to-z-now-p/>

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