March 2023 - News - lists.frackcheckwv.net

Federal & State Legal Proceedings for Mountain Valley Pipeline Continue Month After Month
by Frack Check WV: Duane Nichols 31 Mar '23

31 Mar '23

# [Federal & State Legal Proceedings for Mountain Valley Pipeline Continue Month After Month](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/03/31/federal-state- legal-proceedings-for-mountain-valley-pipeline-continue-month-after-month/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/03/DD0FD160-DC8D-4F9C-957A-4CEA023C0F5C-223x300.png)](… content/uploads/2023/03/DD0FD160-DC8D-4F9C-957A-4CEA023C0F5C.png) Mountain Valley Pipeline Traverses Incredibly Rough Terrain Crossing Rivers & Streams **Court Upholds Virginia’s MVP Water Permit, But Ruling Forthcoming on West Virginia Approval** From an [Article by Jeremiah Shelor, Natural Gas Intelligence](https://www.naturalgasintel.com/court-upholds-virginias-mvp- water-permit-but-ruling-forthcoming-on-west-virginia-approval/), March 30, 2023 . . **The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has upheld a crucial water quality permit issued to the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) by Virginia state regulators, keeping the project on track to potentially resume and complete construction later this year. However, a forthcoming ruling on a water quality permit issued by the state of West Virginia could bring fresh setbacks for the embattled 300-mile, 2 million Dth/d Appalachian natural gas export pipeline, according to analysts.** In a ruling published Wednesday, the Fourth Circuit denied a petition to review the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality’s decision to approve MVP under state water quality standards. In rebuffing the petition, filed by a coalition of opposition groups, the Fourth Circuit concluded, in part, that Virginia regulators had “considered a variety of factors in determining that the construction and operation of the pipeline would comply” with state water quality standards. Still, the state-level water quality permit issued to MVP by neighboring West Virginia may also have to withstand judicial scrutiny in order to keep the project on track. **The Fourth Circuit heard oral argument in a case challenging the West Virginia water quality permit back in October “but has yet to issue a ruling,” analysts at ClearView Energy Partners LLC said in a note to clients. “We explained then that we thought it is likely that the court would return the permit to West Virginia for additional work, but that the real question is whether the court remands it without vacating it, too.”** Whether or not the court vacates the West Virginia permit could prove critical for the timeline of the pending Army Corps of Engineers Clean Water Act Section 404 permit, which requires the state water-quality approvals to be in place, the ClearView analysts said. Information posted to MVP’s federal permitting dashboard indicates the Army Corps plans to issue the Section 404 permit by late April. “If a court believes that the agency can resolve the shortcomings in a permit and would likely arrive at the same decision (in this case approval), the court can remand the permit” but preserve its legal validity, the ClearView analysts said. “Most of MVP’s schedule delays have arisen from judicial challenges that resulted in permits being vacated.” MVP is a joint venture of EQM Midstream Partners LP; NextEra Capital Holdings Inc.; Con Edison Transmission Inc.; WGL Midstream; and RGC Midstream LLC. Project backers have said work on the pipeline is roughly 94% complete and that they plan to bring the pipeline into service in the second half of 2023. URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/03/31/federal-state-legal-proceedings- for-mountain-valley-pipeline-continue-month-after-month/>

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Drilling & Fracking Threatens Our Allegheny Plateau and Its Biodiversity
by Frack Check WV: Duane Nichols 29 Mar '23

29 Mar '23

# [Drilling & Fracking Threatens Our Allegheny Plateau and Its Biodiversity](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/03/29/drilling-fracking- threatens-our-allegheny-plateau-and-its-biodiversity/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/03/2EF1F57C-EBEE-46C0-A13A-00B9CB0B2759.jpeg)](https:/… content/uploads/2023/03/2EF1F57C-EBEE-46C0-A13A-00B9CB0B2759.jpeg) Fracking waste disposal in Guernsey County, OH. (These activities are known risks of creating earthquakes.) **Protect This Place: Fracking Threatens the Allegheny Plateau in PA, N.W. WV & S.E. OH** [Environmental Essay by Lisa C. Lieb, Revelator Voices](https://therevelator.org/fracking-allegheny-biodiversity/), March 27, 2023 **Let’s Protect This Place: A region historically plagued by industrial pollution is overwhelmed with unconventional oil and gas development. The Allegheny Plateau is a lower-lying portion of the Appalachian Mountain Range that extends from southern and central New York to northern and western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, northern and western West Virginia, and eastern Kentucky.** **Why it matters:** The plateau consists of areas of gently sloping hills in the north and west of the region as well as rugged valleys in the south and east. It overlies the Marcellus Shale and Utica Shale, sedimentary rock formations. The region is rich in natural resources, including hardwoods, iron ore, silica, coal, oil and natural gas. The abundance of these resources supported development in the region and were integral to the local steel, glass, rail and extraction industries. Prior to widespread logging between 1890 and 1920, the area hosted old-growth forests containing red spruce, eastern white pine, eastern hemlock, sugar maple, black oak, white oak, yellow birch and American beech. But the forest’s makeup is now different, favoring oaks, maples, hickories, American beech and yellow birch. Though fragmented and much less mature than the old-growth forests, today’s forests continue to play a vital role in ecosystems, serving as habitats for the federally endangered Indiana bat as well as locally endangered or at-risk species such as little brown bats, northern flying squirrels and blackpoll warblers. The region hosts the Ohio River watershed and confluence, the Allegheny National Forest in New York and Pennsylvania, and the Wayne National Forest in Ohio. **The threat:** Unconventional oil and gas development has boomed in the region over the past decade. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that the Marcellus and Utica shale plays contain approximately 214 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas, making the Allegheny Plateau a lucrative location for hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” Already more than 13,000 unconventional wells have been drilled in Pennsylvania. Fracking itself is a resource intense process, requiring between 2 and 20 million gallons of water per well. A 2014 study estimated that in Pennsylvania, 80% of the water used for fracking comes from streams, rivers, and lakes, thus potentially altering water temperature and levels of dissolved oxygen. This water is combined with sand and a mixture of hazardous chemicals, which may include methanol, ethylene glycol and propargyl alcohol. Between 20-25% of the water that is injected into the well returns to the surface. This flowback water often has higher salinity and has been known to contain barium, arsenic, benzene and radium. While recycling of flowback is becoming more common, other methods of disposal include underground injection, application to road surfaces, treatment at public waste facilities, and discharging it onto rivers, streams and lakes. Near fracking sites in West Virginia, elevated levels of barium and strontium were found in feathers of Louisiana waterthrushes, native songbirds who make their home in brooks and wooded swamps. In northwestern Pennsylvania, crayfish and brook trout living in fracked streams were found to have increased levels of mercury. Fish diversity is also reduced in streams that have been fracked. Fracking consumes land, too. Each fracking well requires 3-7 acres. In Pennsylvania over 700,000 acres of state forest land are leased or available for gas production. Well pads, pipelines and other fracking infrastructure fragment forests, alter their ecology, and reduce biodiversity. Appalachian azure butterflies and federally threatened northern wild monkshood — purple- flowering herbaceous perennials found in New York and Ohio — are both sensitive to forest fragmentation. In addition to the direct impacts of fracking, the availability of natural gas in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays attracts petrochemical development to the region. Shell Polymers Monaca initiated operations in November 2022 at a newly constructed 386-acre petrochemical complex in southwestern Pennsylvania, along the Ohio River. The plant manufactures virgin polyethylene pellets, which will be largely be used for production of single-use plastic products. In addition to releasing hazardous air pollutants, volatile organic compounds and particulate matter, this ethane “cracker” plant will emit 2.2 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. The plant’s existence will also fuel fracking in the region; it is anticipated that it will require between 100 and 200 new wells each year in order to supply natural gas for its productions. Other petrochemical companies, including Exxon, PTT Global and Odebrecht, have reportedly been considering building similar complexes in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. **My place in this place:** I was born and raised in the area, and my family’s roots in southwestern Pennsylvania go back several generations. Some of my most cherished memories involve Pennsylvania’s forests, rivers and streams. As a child I loved my family’s summer pilgrimages to our cabin, a rustic building that had been converted from a one-room schoolhouse in the Pennsylvania Wilds. At “camp” we fished for yellow perch, smallmouth bass and walleye in the Sinnemahoning Creek and caught crayfish by hand. We sunned ourselves on the rocks along the river bank when the water was warm. In the evenings we walked on quiet, narrow roads in hopes of spotting an eastern elk in a grassy field. I now live in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, one mile from the Shell cracker plant. I can observe the plant’s flaring from my kitchen window, which often creates an ominous orange glow in the night sky. To me the plant doesn’t symbolize job creation or a rebounding local economy, despite the assertions of local and state politicians. I see the plant as the perpetuation of a hopeless dependence on fossil fuels and corporate profit at the expense of ecological integrity. I worry that fracking and an associated petrochemical buildout will destroy already fragile ecosystems throughout my home in the Allegheny Plateau. **Who’s protecting it now:** There are a variety of environmental groups located in the region. No Petro PA is an organization that resists fracking and pipeline development in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. More locally the Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Community in western Pennsylvania opposes fracking and seeks to protect local community members from its harmful effects. With the rise of the Shell cracker plant, the group also formed Eyes on Shell, a community organization that aims to hold Shell accountable for its activity and advocates for the surrounding communities’ health and safety. These are just three of the many grassroots organizations working to protect the air, soil, water, wildlife and communities in the region. The national organization, FracTracker, also provides extensive data on oil and natural gas wells, pipelines, legislation and environmental health. **What this place needs:** Ideally Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia will follow in the footsteps of New York and institute a ban on fracking in light of the environmental and health risks associated with unconventional gas and oil development. However, given their strong ties to the fossil fuel industry, it is unlikely that this will occur. Banning fracking on public land in the region, such as in state forests and county parks, in a practical first step in combatting forest fragmentation and pollution. At a regional level, regulations should be put in place to protect the water quality of the Ohio River. The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission, a multistate organization working with the federal government, could ban fracking in the Ohio River Basin in order to protect the river and its watershed. The Delaware River Basin Commission has successfully prohibited fracking within the Delaware River Basin; the rules developed by the commission could be adapted for use by the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission. Additional government oversight would help to protect water quality in the region. Presently fracking is exempt from the Safe Water Drinking Act and therefore isn’t regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Ending this exemption could increase water quality and safety within the Allegheny Plateau. Increased transparency from oil and gas companies is also required to protect the region’s water. As of July 2022, California is the only state in the country that requires full public disclosure of all chemicals used in fracking. Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio must implement policies that require full public disclosure of chemicals used in all phases of the fracking process. URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/03/29/drilling-fracking-threatens-our- allegheny-plateau-and-its-biodiversity/>

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WV Public Service Commission Should Serve the Public Interest
by Frack Check WV: admin 28 Mar '23

28 Mar '23

# [WV Public Service Commission Should Serve the Public Interest](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/03/28/wv-public-service- commission-should-serve-the-public-interest/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/03/8CED8432-1407-45ED-A88C-16018318915F.jpeg)](https:/… content/uploads/2023/03/8CED8432-1407-45ED-A88C-16018318915F.jpeg) “Climate, Jobs & Justice” are the Three Pillars of the WV Climate Alliance **The choice and the burden of energy in West Virginia** From the [Letter to Editor of Perry Bryant, Charleston Gazette](https://www.wvgazettemail.com/opinion/op_ed_commentaries/perry- bryant-the-choice-and-the-burden-of-energy-in-wv- opinion/article_e748f9d9-9db3-5c93-aeef-41be6cb16cf9.html), March 28, 2023 **Last year, Charlotte Lane, chairwoman of the West Virginia Public Service Commission, wrote an op-ed claiming that burning coal is cheaper than installing renewables, such as wind and solar. That really depends on what costs are included, and Lane failed to include the harm that burning coal causes — costs that renewables don’t incur. Plus, a lot has happened since she wrote her op-ed.** Lane’s basic argument is that solar and wind are intermittent sources of energy while coal is available all the time. The myth of coal’s super reliability was pierced recently when Standard & Poor’s reported that one of three coal-fired units at Harrison Power plant and two of three coal-fired units at John Amos were shut down during part or all of the frigid polar vortex in West Virginia last December — just when we needed their energy the most. Lane also dismissed battery storage as too expensive for storing solar and wind energy when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing. However, battery storage technology is rapidly evolving. Form Energy, for example, recently announced that it is opening a battery manufacturing facility in Weirton to make batteries that can store, and then discharge, power for 100 hours at a cost of one-tenth of lithium-ion batteries, the type of batteries utilities currently use. If Form Energy can deliver on its claims, it will make renewables very reliable at a very reasonable price. I do agree with Lane that we should consider the cost of battery storage when comparing the cost of renewables versus the cost of coal. But we also should consider the cost of the harm that occurs from burning coal. **These costs are substantial. The West Virginia University College of Law’s Center on Energy and Sustainable Development found that almost 100 deaths can be avoided in West Virginia in 2035 by adopting renewable sources of energy, instead of relying on burning coal for our electricity.** What’s the cost of these avoidable deaths? And what are the additional costs associated with global warming caused primarily by burning coal and other fossil fuels — including increased severity of flooding, longer lasting and more extreme heat waves, more intense hurricanes, etc.? **The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that the social cost of carbon — that is the total amount of damages from emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere — is $190 per ton of carbon dioxide.** The five coal-fired power plants under the jurisdiction of the PSC emitted 38 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2021 according to the Energy Information Administration, and caused $7.2 billion in damage using the social cost of carbon. The John Amos plant in Putnam County alone emitted 11 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2021 causing $2.1 billion in damages. **The social cost and resulting damages from emissions from solar and wind? Zero. ~ It’s a lot easier to claim that coal is cheaper than wind, solar and battery storage when you don’t include $7 billion in annual damages that coal- fired power plants cause with their emissions.** To be fair to Lane, neither the emergence of Form Energy’s breakthrough on new battery development nor the EPA’s proposed social cost of carbon was available when she wrote her op-ed last year. **West Virginia is at a crossroads.** We can double down on burning coal, with all its adverse effects, or we can transition to clean energy. For the next 10 years, the federal government will provide tax incentives to partially offset the cost of utility companies installing solar, wind, geothermal and other carbon-free sources of energy. This window of opportunity shuts in 2032. After that, West Virginia utility customers will be stuck with the entire bill for developing new sources of electricity. To avoid huge cost increases to consumers, we need leadership from Lane and West Virginia’s utilities. The choice is theirs. But the cost savings from adopting clean energy or the true cost of burning coal will be ours. >>> [Perry Bryant lives in Charleston. He is a co-founder and leader of the West Virginia Climate Alliance.](https://www.wvclimatealliance.org/) #######+++++++#######+++++++####### **SEE ALSO:** [PSC orders audit of Mon Power, Potomac Edison lobbying expenses](https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/psc- orders-audit-of-mon-power-potomac-edison-lobbying- expenses/article_e30e9673-5fa1-5b65-94b8-5752c2fa9c3d.html), Mike Tony, Charleston Gazette, March 28, 2023 URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/03/28/wv-public-service-commission- should-serve-the-public-interest/>

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Pennsylvania Now Has Crypto Mining Problems Including Sustained Noise & GHG Emissions
by Frack Check WV: Duane Nichols 27 Mar '23

27 Mar '23

# [Pennsylvania Now Has Crypto Mining Problems Including Sustained Noise & GHG Emissions](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/03/27/pennsylvania-now-has- crypto-mining-problems-including-sustained-noise-ghg-emissions/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/03/7F294E9A-638F-466C-81E3-FBF86FCC6A85.jpeg)](https:/… content/uploads/2023/03/7F294E9A-638F-466C-81E3-FBF86FCC6A85.jpeg) Consuming excess natural gas to run banks of computers, noise from cooling fans and GHG emissions **Crypto Mining at Gas Wells Sparks Regulatory Headaches, Outcry in Northwestern Pennsylvania** From an [Article by Audrey Carleton, Capital & Main News](https://capitalandmain.com/crypto-mining-at-gas-wells-sparks-regulato… headaches-outcry-in-northwestern-pennsylvania), March 22, 2023 . . **Before obtaining the required permits, Diversified Energy began installing cryptocurrency mining infrastructure on one of its thousands of well pads.** **Longhorn Pad C** is located about half a mile south of a small cemetery and a little over a mile north of a Methodist church in **Elk County, in northwestern Pennsylvania**. With a population of around 30,000, this county sits squarely in the center of the path the Marcellus Shale formation takes as it curves through the commonwealth. The lonely well pad houses four natural gas wells that records show were initially drilled in 2011 but sat inactive for years after that. Now, it also houses infrastructure designed to mine cryptocurrency, which, according to a comment filed by the surrounding township’s Board of Supervisors, hums loudly enough to have solicited numerous noise complaints from residents. Though it has applied for them, the company behind this operation has yet to receive the permits it is required by law to construct or operate the engines to power a cryptocurrency mine. **“After a recent inspection, the [Department of Environmental Protection] PA- DEP has determined that Diversified was in violation,” said Tom Decker, community relations coordinator at the PA-DEP’s Northwest Regional Office, “as it had installed equipment for its cryptocurrency operations prior to the issuance of a plan approval issued by the Department. “The company is required by law to obtain a plan approval from PA-DEP prior to installation and operation of the air contamination sources,” Decker said. “Installation of the equipment without a plan approval could lead to enforcement action by the PA-DEP.”** The pad is owned by a fossil fuel operator that’s come under fire in recent years for purchasing tens of thousands of low-producing oil and gas wells without a clear business motive and for making unrealistic budget projections that minimize the true cost of plugging, critics say. In doing so, it has amassed the largest portfolio of old, low-producing wells in Appalachia. That operator is **Diversified Energy Company PLC** , the parent company to Diversified Production LLC, which recently applied for a permit with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA-DEP) to add five natural gas-powered engines and one generator to the well pad with the intention of mining cryptocurrency. What the operator’s permit application does not disclose is that Diversified would go on to prematurely install cryptocurrency infrastructure on the pad, and while the PA-DEP reported that it was not operational on the day of a March 1 site visit, the department confirmed that the operator had installed one engine and two trailers holding cryptocurrency mining computers in violation of environmental law. According to the township that houses the site, it’s already showing signs of running. **“We are aware that Diversified Production has installed small engines on the gas well sites to generate cryptocurrency,” Jay Township’s Board of Supervisors wrote in a comment to the PA-DEP in January. “We have received many complaints on the noise disturbance of these engines.”** The engines will power what’s called wellhead mining, in which a cryptocurrency data center is powered directly by an oil or gas well. This pad appears to be the first of its kind in Pennsylvania to go through a formal permitting process for the practice, which is gaining prominence throughout the Keystone State, home to hundreds of thousands of abandoned wells and rich methane stores. It is not clear when Diversified installed cryptocurrency equipment on the pad without a permit. A PA-DEP inspection report from June 2022 notes that “the operator is installing equipment to resume cryptocurrency mining operations using the production from four producing Marcellus shale wells on the pad.” Another one filed in August 2022 includes photos of large trailers that, according to the PA-DEP, currently house cryptocurrency equipment. A PA-DEP representative told Capital & Main that the department did not learn that the equipment was installed until mid-February. **“Given Diversified’s history, this is not a surprise,” said Charles McPhedran, a senior attorney with Earthjustice and co-author of a comment opposing Diversified’s cryptocurrency permit application to the DEP. “The question is whether PA-DEP can make a forceful response to rogue crypto operators.** ” This new use for old wells, which has in recent years proliferated in other major oil and gas states including Texas, could extend fossil fuel production in Pennsylvania — and threaten to stall progress toward its climate goals, including an aim to reduce the commonwealth’s greenhouse gas emissions by 26% below 2005 levels by 2025. The emissions intensity of Bitcoin, which is “mined” via data centers that can plug into the electrical grid or directly into energy sources, as Diversified proposes, is larger than that of some countries. As states grapple with the need to transition from fossil fuels, environmentalists fear that attaching new cryptocurrency operations to untapped or otherwise dying energy sources will only extend their life. Longhorn Pad C appears to be a perfect example, per Capital & Main’s review of public records relating to the pad. A handful of environmental groups in Pennsylvania first took note of Diversified’s proposal in December, when the PA-DEP announced in the state bulletin its intention to approve the operator’s request, soliciting public comments on the matter. In January, staff from the Clean Air Council, Earthjustice and PennFuture filed a comment arguing against issuing the permit entirely — in part because of discrepancies on the permit application; in part because of the noise pollution that such data centers are known to cause; in part because the emissions intensity of cryptocurrency data mining is threatening to set back decades of climate progress; but primarily because, by the operator’s own admission, it has unresolved environmental violations at 19 other oil and gas sites. What the commenters didn’t know at the time was that the operator had jumped the gun and installed cryptocurrency infrastructure while awaiting the proper permits. The pad also appears to follow the exact trend environmentalists fear when it comes to the use of stranded fossil fuel assets for cryptocurrency: It sat inactive for years before Diversified bought it, saw low production volumes once online and was primed for cryptocurrency a few months into its productive life. **According to the PA-DEP, Diversified acquired Longhorn Pad C in September of 2021 from another prominent Marcellus operator, EQT, with which the company has been accused of “playing hot potato” with abandoned oil and gas wells.** EQT was initially permitted for the well pad in 2010, DEP records show. But it was unproductive for nearly 10 years after being spud (in which the initial drillings for an oil or gas well are made) in 2011, according to records reviewed by Capital & Main but compiled by the Capitol Forum, an investigative news and analysis organization. Per the PA-DEP, the well pad was placed on “inactive status” for that duration. After it sat undrilled for all that time, the well pad came online in December of 2021, according to the PA-DEP, after Diversified acquired it three months earlier, and was active for about six months before its new owner applied for permits that would give it a second life as a cryptocurrency mine in May of 2022. The well pad’s production volumes have remained relatively low since Diversified began drilling from it, totalling less than 90,000 cubic feet of natural gas for all four wells over all of 2022, Capitol Forum’s records show. The Internal Revenue Service defines a marginal, or low-producing, natural gas well to be one that generates less than 90,000 cubic feet per day. The timing of Diversified’s permit application, coupled with the well pad’s years of inactivity and recent meager production volumes, could indicate that it might have otherwise been a good candidate for decommissioning — and has since been thrown a lifeline. **“That is Diversified’s business model. They acquire underperforming assets and try to squeeze as much value out of them as possible,” said Daniel Sherwood, an editor at the Capitol Forum whose meticulously compiled database of production and financial records on the fossil fuel industry has also informed several critical reports by the nonprofit environmental think tank the Ohio River Valley Institute arguing that Diversified is employing questionable, potentially climate-threatening business practices.** “[Diversified] describes its strategy as ‘acquiring low-cost, long-life, low- decline’ oil and gas wells that previous owners found uneconomic,” an April 2022 report from the Ohio River Valley Institute reads. Should the company find itself unable to plug these wells, “Taxpayers could be left with a massive bill for cleaning up the wells that Diversified leaves behind, as well as an ongoing discharge of climate-warming greenhouse gases.” Diversified’s installation of a cryptocurrency mine comes as the commonwealth reckons with its abandoned well crisis. Environmental groups have warned that the practices of companies like this one, which is buying stranded and low- producing assets and assuming liability for plugging them based on questionable calculations, will do little to lessen this crisis. In other parts of the state, cryptocurrency miners are plugging directly into natural gas wellheads, old coal mines and former steel plants — could orphaned or low- producing wells offer Bitcoin a new frontier? The cryptocurrency industry appears to be positioning itself to solve the abandoned well crisis by assuming liability for low-producing wells and their plugging costs — only after using them to mine cryptocurrency via the proof- of-work (POW) algorithm for the rest of their productive lives. Via the POW algorithm, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) miners mint new “coins” by competing with brute force guessing to solve a mathematical equation. This process is extremely energy intensive and, critics argue, wasteful by design. A small nonprofit lobbying group called the Satoshi Action Fund believes Bitcoin could, in fact, be an “environmental cleanup machine” for states with swaths of abandoned wells; by hooking up to wells that are already leaking methane, a potent greenhouse gas, to power a revenue-generating task, places like Pennsylvania can begin to take small bites out of their orphaned well numbers, founder Dennis Porter told Capital & Main. The organization has drafted sample legislation for states endeavoring to streamline the process for doing so. Dubbed the Orphaned Well Bitcoin Mining Partnership Program, the bill — which can be tweaked between states — mandates that state departments of environmental protection create programs that partner with Bitcoin miners to offer them liability for the state’s abandoned wells, as well as federal funds from well-plugging initiatives created by the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). The bill has already been introduced in Oklahoma, Mississippi and Texas. Environmentalists caution that going this route will only extend the lifeline of fossil fuel assets that are in desperate need of retirement. In the long term, they argue, adding cryptocurrency facilities to dying oil wells will further entrench us in fossil fuel dependency by creating newfound demand for oil and gas. “Crypto has the specter of restarting fossil [fuel] in Pennsylvania,” McPhedran said. “We’re a state that has seen a lot of harmful effects from coal and gas, and we don’t need a new way to use fossil fuels.” A Diversified spokesperson told Capital & Main that the company endeavors to “minimize” its “environmental footprint” while “providing clean energy” to communities. The company told Capital & Main it believes it is in compliance with environmental law. “Diversified takes pride in the responsible stewardship model we have built, where we focus on improving and managing producing natural gas and oil wells from acquisition through retirement,” Diversified’s spokesperson said. **Robert Routh, public policy and regulatory attorney at Clean Air Council, who co-authored the comment with McPhedran and Rob Altenburg, senior director for energy and climate at PennFuture, notes that the true volume of cryptocurrency mining across Pennsylvania has proven difficult to track, because some miners avert the permitting process entirely, attaching data centers to wells in remote areas for varying lengths of time without regulators ever taking note. Perhaps the most famous local instance of this took place in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, in January 2022, when a DEP inspector stopped by a natural gas well site owned by Big Dog Energy only to find that the company had installed data centers and accompanying generators on it without authorization.** “The mobility and the remoteness of some of these operations occurring at well sites in Pennsylvania makes them and their pollution extremely difficult to quantify,” Routh says. But local communities around these sites are beginning to notice. Just 14 miles from Longhorn Pad C, the township of St. Mary’s recently adopted a zoning ordinance for future cryptocurrency projects that requires all future mines to be set at least 100 feet from a street or property boundary, to stay within a maximum sound level and to produce evidence that they won’t adversely affect the city’s electrical grid or Wi-Fi connections. A zoning officer with the city told Capital & Main that the City Council was prompted to pass the ordinance in part in response to Diversified’s cryptocurrency permit application. **And in Jay Township, the Board of Supervisors is urging the PA-DEP to account for noise limitations as it considers permits for Longhorn Pad C. “What efforts are being made to reduce the unreasonable noise beyond the property line?” they wrote in their comment.** The PA-DEP has yet to issue a permit for the well, but if it does, that would be against the law, argue the comment authors, who believe the operator’s unaddressed environmental violations would render it ineligible for new permits under the state’s Air Pollution Control Act. The PA-DEP’s Decker did not comment on how Diversified’s premature installation of equipment would affect its pending permit application. “We can only say that it is a violation and PA-DEP could take enforcement action in cases where it becomes known,” he said. URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/03/27/pennsylvania-now-has-crypto- mining-problems-including-sustained-noise-ghg-emissions/>

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IPCC Says Fossil Fuels Must Be Closed Down ASAP To Avoid Catastrophic Events
by Frack Check WV: Diana Gooding 26 Mar '23

26 Mar '23

# [IPCC Says Fossil Fuels Must Be Closed Down ASAP To Avoid Catastrophic Events](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/03/26/ipcc-says-fossil-fuels-must- be-closed-down-asap-to-avoid-catastrophic-events/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/03/FBF90FE8-3B44-4060-83A1-426E8EF4C13E-300x273.jpg)](… content/uploads/2023/03/FBF90FE8-3B44-4060-83A1-426E8EF4C13E.jpeg) “Keep It In The Ground” where Mother Nature Put It! **TEN (10) POLICIES FOR LIMITING G.H.G. AND MEETING CLIMATE GOALS** From an [Article by Joseph Winters, Grist Magazine](https://grist.org/economics/the-ipcc-says-we-need-to-phase-down- fossil-fuels-fast-heres-how-the-us-could-do-it/), March 24, 2023 **The IPCC says we need to phase down fossil fuels, fast. Here’s how the US could do it. A new report lists 10 policies to constrain polluting infrastructure and achieve key climate goals.** On Monday, a panel of the world’s top climate scientists released a grave warning: Current policies are not enough to stave off the most devastating consequences of climate change. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, climate pollution from the world’s existing coal, oil, and gas projects is already enough to launch the planet past 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming, and world leaders must abandon up to $4 trillion in fossil fuels and related infrastructure by midcentury if they want to keep within safe temperature limits. Instead, rich countries like the United States are going in the opposite direction. Just last week, President Joe Biden approved ConocoPhillips’ Willow Project, a so-called “carbon bomb” that could add some 239 million metric tons of carbon emissions to the atmosphere, about as much as the annual emissions from 64 coal-fired power plants. A new report released this week, “An Economist’s Case for Restrictive Supply- Side Policies,” argues that bans, moratoria, and similar measures are sorely needed to keep the United States from extracting more fossil fuels. It highlights 10 policies that can complement clean energy investments to help the country achieve the goals of the IPCC while also prioritizing the health and economic security of America’s most vulnerable communities. “The IPCC shows that restrictive supply-side measures have to be part of the policy mix,” said Mark Paul, a Rutgers University professor and a coauthor of the report. “We actually need to stop extracting and burning fossil fuels, there’s just no way around it.” Until quite recently, most American economists and policymakers have focused on demand-side solutions to climate change — primarily a carbon price that would leave curbing greenhouse gas emissions up to market forces. Supply-side policies, on the other hand, are concerned with suppressing the amount of fossil fuels available for purchase. They come in two flavors: supportive and restrictive. Supportive supply-side policies include some of the tax credits and subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act, the climate spending law that Biden signed last year, which support renewable energy to displace fossil fuels. Restrictive policies more actively seek to constrain fossil fuel development. Some of the most aggressive policies recommended in the new report would use congressional authority to stop new fossil fuel projects, whether by banning new leases for extraction on federal lands and in federal waters or by outlawing all new pipelines, export terminals, gas stations, and other infrastructure nationwide. Other measures would use economic levers to restrict fossil fuel development. For example, taxing the fossil fuel industry’s windfall profits could curtail supply by making oil and gas production less profitable. Requiring publicly traded companies to disclose their climate-related financial risks could also accelerate decarbonization by making polluters without credible transition plans unattractive to investors. The benefit of these policies, Paul said, is that they can directly constrain carbon-intensive activities and therefore more certainly guarantee a reduction in climate pollution. That’s not the case with demand-side policies, where lawmakers have to hope that consumers’ behavior will lead to less fossil fuel being produced and burned. (The Inflation Reduction Act included some of these policies, like consumer subsidies for electric vehicles and other low- emissions technologies.) Restrictive supply-side policies in the U.S. can also support international decarbonization. If the U.S. were to only reduce domestic demand for fossil fuels while keeping supply high, it could reduce the price of oil, gas, and coal abroad — incentivizing other countries to use more of those fuels. That said, not all restrictive supply-side policies are an easy sell. Some, like nationalizing the fossil fuel industry — which would effectively neutralize the sector’s outsize political influence and allow it to be dismantled in an orderly fashion — have not yet entered the political mainstream. Others, however, are closer to reality, and five have previously been introduced in congressional bills. The Keep It in the Ground Act, for example, introduced in 2021 by Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley, from Oregon, sought to prevent public lands and waters from being leased for fossil fuel extraction. The 2021 Block All New Oil Exports Act, sponsored by Democratic Senator Ed Markey, from Massachusetts, proposed reinstating a ban on exporting U.S. crude oil and natural gas, which was in place for 40 years before Congress lifted it in 2015. Philipe Le Billon, a geography professor at the University of British Columbia who runs a database on restrictive supply-side policies to curtail fossil fuels around the world, said ending federal subsidies to the fossil fuel industry is the policy most likely to garner bipartisan political support. “It would be so easy to say, ‘Come on, you made $200 billion last year, so no more subsidies,’” he told Grist. The End Polluter Welfare Act, introduced in 2021 by Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders, from Vermont, and Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar, from Minnesota, sought to do just that, in addition to stopping public funds from being used for fossil fuel research and development. The fossil fuel industry gets somewhere between $10 and $50 billion in U.S. subsidies every year. Paul said it’s hard to imagine any of the policies being enacted while the House of Representatives is under Republican leadership, but he highlighted the climate-related financial risk disclosure policy as a candidate for bipartisan support, since it seeks to inform action from investors. “Even the staunchest capitalist should be on board with this,” he said. Outside of Congress, the Securities and Exchange Commission, an independent federal agency that protects investors from financial fraud and manipulation, has proposed such a policy. Subnational “fossil-free zones” — areas that are off-limits to some or all types of fossil fuel development, like oil and gas drilling, gas stations, or export terminals — could be promising too; they’ve already been declared in many communities, and they demonstrate how combined demand- and supply-side interventions could play a role in a more comprehensive fossil fuel phaseout. To gain momentum for restrictive supply-side policies, Paul said it’s crucial to educate policymakers about “the actual math” behind U.S. and international climate goals. Investments in clean energy are a good start, Paul said, but they’re just “the first bite out of the apple. We need many more bites to limit emissions and preserve some semblance of a habitable planet.” ### URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/03/26/ipcc-says-fossil-fuels-must-be- closed-down-asap-to-avoid-catastrophic-events/>

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CLIMATE CHANGE IS NOW A CRISIS ~ “Time is Running Out” ~ Let’s Admit It!
by Frack Check WV: S. Tom Bond 25 Mar '23

25 Mar '23

# [CLIMATE CHANGE IS NOW A CRISIS ~ “Time is Running Out” ~ Let’s Admit It!](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/03/25/climate-change-is-now-a- crisis-%e2%80%9ctime-is-running-out%e2%80%9d-let%e2%80%99s-admit-it/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/03/F8803F69-0E91-4FF0-9248-3793F51A3863.jpeg)](https:/… content/uploads/2023/03/F8803F69-0E91-4FF0-9248-3793F51A3863.jpeg) Keeling Curve showing how carbon dioxide is accumulating in the atmosphere **' Time is Running Out,' American Petroleum Institute Chief Said in 1965 Speech on Climate** From an [Article by Sharon Kelly, DeSmog Blog](https://www.desmog.com/2018/11/20/american-petroleum- institute-1965-speech-climate-change-oil-gas/), November 20, 2018 The warning is clear and dire — and the source unexpected. “This report unquestionably will fan emotions, raise fears, and bring demand for action,” the president of the American Petroleum Institute (API) told an oil industry conference, as he described research into climate change caused by fossil fuels. **“The substance of the report is that there is still time to save the world’s peoples from the catastrophic consequence of pollution, but time is running out.”** ~~~ The speaker wasn’t Mike Sommers, who was named to helm API this past May. Nor was it Jack Gerard, who served as API’s president for roughly a decade starting in 2008. **The API president speaking those words was named Frank Ikard — and the year was 1965, over a half-century ago.** It was the same year that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led a civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Muhammad Ali felled Sonny Liston in the first round, and Malcom X was fatally shot in New York. The first American ground combat troops arrived in Vietnam and President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the law establishing Medicaid and Medicare. It would be another four years before American astronaut Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon — and another decade before the phrase “global warming” would appear for the first time in a peer-reviewed study. And 1965, according to a letter by Stanford historian Benjamin Franta published this week in the peer-reviewed journal Nature, was the year that President Johnson’s Science Advisory Committee published a report titled “Restoring the Quality of Our Environment,” whose findings Ikard described at that year’s annual API meeting. “One of the most important predictions of the report is that carbon dioxide is being added to the Earth’s atmosphere by the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas at such a rate that by the year 2000 the heat balance will be so modified as possibly to cause marked changes in climate beyond local or even national efforts,” Ikard presciently added, according to excerpts from his speech published in Nature. **Text of a speech by American Petroleum Institute leadership on climate change** ~~~ _“This report unquestionably will fan emotions, raise fears, and bring demands for action. The substance of the report is that there is still time to save the world 's peoples from the catastrophic consequence of pollution, but time is running out. “One of the most important predictions of the report is that carbon dioxide is being added to the earth's atmosphere by the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas at such a rate that by the year 2000 the heat balance will be so modified as possibly to cause marked changes in climate beyond local or even national efforts. “The report further states, and I quote: "..the pollution from internal combustion engines is so serious, and is growing so fast, that an alternative nonpolluting means of powering automobiles, buses, and trucks is likely to become a national necessity.”_ —- Exerpt of API President Frank Ikard’s 1965 speech on climate change and fossil fuels. **API Funded Early Research Linking CO2 and Fossil Fuels** That prediction was based in part on information that was known to the oil industry trade group for over a decade — including research that was directly funded by the API, according to Nature. In 1954, a California Institute of Technology geochemist sent the API a research proposal in which they reported that fossil fuels had already caused carbon dioxide (CO2) levels to rise roughly five percent since 1854 — a finding that Nature notes has since proved to be accurate. API accepted the proposal and funded that Caltech research, giving the program the name Project 53. Project 53 collected thousands of CO2 measurements — but the results were never published. Meanwhile, other researchers were reaching similar conclusions. Nuclear physicist Edward Teller became known in 1951 as the “father of the hydrogen bomb” for designing a thermonuclear bomb that was even more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Teller warned the oil and gas industry in 1959 about global warming and sea level rise in a talk titled “Energy Patterns of the Future.” “Carbon dioxide has a strange property,” Teller said in excerpts published earlier this year by The Guardian. “It transmits visible light but it absorbs the infrared radiation which is emitted from the earth. Its presence in the atmosphere causes a greenhouse effect.” A researcher at Humble Oil Co. (now known as ExxonMobil) checked results from a study of carbon isotopes in tree rings against the unpublished Caltech results, and found that the two separate methods essentially **And in 1960, Charles Keeling first published the measurements that became the famous “Keeling curve” — establishing one of the bedrock findings connecting climate change to fossil fuels. The CO2 measurements taken by Keeling back in the late 1950s showed levels of roughly 315 parts per million (ppm) at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii and rising.** **Those CO2 levels have since climbed upwards to 410.13 (ppm) on the day that the Nature letter was published — CO2 levels that scientists knew both then and now would be dangerously high, as carbon levels in the Earth’s atmosphere have not been over 410 ppm in millions of years.** **What the Oil Industry Knew, Then and Now (2018)** In his 1965 talk, the API’s Ikard described the role of oil and gasoline specifically in causing climate change. “The report further states, and I quote: ‘… the pollution from internal combustion engines is so serious, and is growing so fast,’” he told the API conference, “‘that an alternative nonpolluting means of powering automobiles, buses, and trucks is likely to become a national necessity.’” Three decades later, the API urged a different approach to climate science. “It’s not known for sure whether (a) climate change actually is occurring, or (b) if it is, whether humans really have any influence on it,” the API wrote in a 1998 draft memo titled “Global Climate Science Communications Plan,” which was subsequently leaked. It’s worth noting that since 1965, the science connecting climate change to fossil fuels has grown stronger and more robust. A scientific consensus around the hazards of climate change and the role that fossil fuels play in causing it has formed. “Rigorous analysis of all data and lines of evidence shows that most of the observed global warming over the past 50 years or so cannot be explained by natural causes and instead requires a significant role for the influence of human activities,” the Royal Society explains. **Today, the API continues to call for further research on climate change — and expanding the use of fossil fuels in the meantime.** “It is clear that climate change is a serious issue that requires research for solutions and effective policies that allow us to meet our energy needs while protecting the environment: that’s why oil and gas companies are working to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions,” the API’s webpage on climate change states. **“Yet archival documents show that even before Keeling published his measurements,” Franta’s letter published by Nature says, “oil industry leaders were aware that their products were causing CO2 pollution to accumulate in the planet’s atmosphere, in a potentially dangerous fashion.”** URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/03/25/climate-change-is-now-a- crisis-%e2%80%9ctime-is-running-out%e2%80%9d-let%e2%80%99s-admit-it/>

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Major Event on the “IRA” @ Public Library in Wheeling, WV
by Frack Check WV: admin 24 Mar '23

24 Mar '23

# [Major Event on the “IRA” @ Public Library in Wheeling, WV](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/03/24/major-event-on- the-%e2%80%9cira%e2%80%9d-public-library-in-wheeling-wv/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/03/38322C17-C1B4-41FB- BE3A-BB0D9B1744DA-300x118.jpg)](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/03/38322C17-C1B4-41FB-BE3A-BB0D9B1744DA.jpeg) West Virginia is in the Spotlight of transition already (Click on this image to magnify it) **To All Local Citizens & Residents Able to Attend** From the Coalition of Regional Organizations, CCAN, SUN, WV Rivers, CAG, New Jobs & WV-EE **How can the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) help YOU save money?** [Join our FREE event on Saturday, March 25th in Wheeling, WV](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ira-roadshow-wheeling-tickets-590196582867). For nearly two years, we endured the many bumps and roadblocks traversing the long and winding road that led us to the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Now this historic climate legislation has the potential to deeply impact our lives and the world around us by investing in clean energy, energy efficiency and community development initiatives. But you might wonder… [How will the IRA actually impact YOUR life? Let us tell you!](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ira-roadshow-wheeling-tickets-5901965828… **Join us Saturday, March 25, at 12:30 PM in Wheeling for an exciting FREE in- person presentation on how the Inflation Reduction Act can benefit YOU and your community!** The IRA is full of unprecedented investments and ambitious climate policies that can cut climate pollution 40 percent by 2030 and 50 percent by 2035 while creating hundreds of thousands of family sustaining jobs while advancing racial, economic and environmental justice. _Are you in?_ Join us March 25 in Wheeling to learn how to sort through this enormous bill and find out how you can personally save money, make energy efficient updates to your home, uplift your community and much, much more! **CCAN will be joining forces with Leah Barbor from Solar United Neighbors, Morgan King from West Virginia Rivers, Dani Parent from West Virginia Citizen Action Group, Brandi Reece from WV New Jobs Coalition and Morgan Fowler from West Virginians for Energy Efficiency to show how individuals, municipalities, and organizations can benefit from millions of dollars of investments contained in the Inflation Reduction Act.** [Click here to RSVP for March 25 and learn how you and your community can benefit from these investments.](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ira-roadshow- wheeling-tickets-590196582867) **If you want to learn more but can’t make it to Wheeling** , rest assured! We have many more IRA Roadshows planned for the upcoming months. [Click this link to learn more about our next stops in Morgantown and Huntington](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ira-roadshow-wheeling- tickets-590196582867). **Invite everyone you know and we 'll see you there!** >>> Prepared by Holly Bradley, Federal Team, Chesapeake Climate Action Network URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/03/24/major-event-on- the-%e2%80%9cira%e2%80%9d-public-library-in-wheeling-wv/>

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EXXON knew quite accurately ~ some 45 years ago ~ about the Climate Crisis!
by Frack Check WV: admin 23 Mar '23

23 Mar '23

# [EXXON knew quite accurately ~ some 45 years ago ~ about the Climate Crisis!](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/03/23/exxon-knew-quite-accuratel… some-45-years-ago-about-the-climate-crisis/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/03/9F67D019-1B1B-43C8-8F41-5E46C00041B4-300x265.jpg)](… content/uploads/2023/03/9F67D019-1B1B-43C8-8F41-5E46C00041B4.jpeg) EXXON knew more and pretended not …. **Exxon disputed climate findings for years & Its scientists knew better** From an [Article by Alice McCarthy, Harvard Gazette](https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2023/01/harvard-led-analysi… finds-exxonmobil-internal-research-accurately-predicted-climate-change/), January 12, 2023 **Research shows that EXXON modeled and predicted global warming with 'shocking skill and accuracy' starting in the 1970s** GRAPH CITATION ~ Summary of all global warming projections reported by ExxonMobil scientists in internal documents between 1977 and 2003 (gray lines), superimposed on historically observed temperature change (red). Solid gray lines indicate global warming projections modeled by ExxonMobil scientists themselves; dashed gray lines indicate projections internally reproduced by ExxonMobil scientists from third-party sources. Shades of gray scale with model start dates, from earliest (1977: lightest) to latest (2003: darkest). Projections created internally by ExxonMobil starting in the late 1970s on the impact of fossil fuels on climate change were very accurate, even surpassing those of some academic and governmental scientists, according to an analysis published in Science by a team of Harvard-led researchers. Despite those forecasts, team leaders say, the multinational energy giant continued to sow doubt about the gathering crisis. In “ **Assessing ExxonMobil’s Global Warming Projections** ,” researchers from Harvard and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research show for the first time the accuracy of previously unreported forecasts created by company scientists from 1977 through 2003. The Harvard team discovered that Exxon researchers created a series of remarkably reliable models and analyses projecting global warming from carbon dioxide emissions over the coming decades. Specifically, Exxon projected that fossil fuel emissions would lead to 0.20 degrees Celsius of global warming per decade, with a margin of error of 0.04 degrees — a trend that has been proven largely accurate. **“This paper is the first ever systematic assessment of a fossil fuel company’s climate projections, the first time we’ve been able to put a number on what they knew,” said Geoffrey Supran, lead author and former research fellow in the History of Science at Harvard. “What we found is that between 1977 and 2003, excellent scientists within Exxon modeled and predicted global warming with, frankly, shocking skill and accuracy only for the company to then spend the next couple of decades denying that very climate science.”** “We thought this was a unique opportunity to understand what Exxon knew about this issue and what level of scientific understanding they had at the time,” added co-author Naomi Oreskes, Henry Charles Lea Professor of the History of Science whose work looks at the causes and effects of climate change denial. “We found that not only were their forecasts extremely skillful, but they were also often more skillful than forecasts made by independent academic and government scientists at the exact same time.” Allegations that oil company executives sought to mislead the public about the industry’s role in climate change have drawn increasing scrutiny in recent years, including lawsuits by several states and cities and a recent high profile U.S. House committee investigation. Harvard’s scientists used established Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) statistical techniques to test the performance of Exxon’s models. They found that, depending on the metric used, 63-83 percent of the global warming projections reported by Exxon scientists were consistent with actual temperatures over time. Moreover, the corporation’s own projections had an average “skill score” of 72 percent, plus or minus 6 percent, with the highest scoring 99 percent. A skill score relates to how well a forecast compares to what happens in real life. For comparison, NASA scientist James Hansen’s global warming predictions presented to the U.S. Congress in 1988 had scores from 38 to 66 percent. **The researchers report that Exxon scientists correctly dismissed the possibility of a coming ice age, accurately predicted that human-caused global warming would first be detectable in the year 2000, plus or minus five years, and reasonably estimated how much CO2 would lead to dangerous warming.** The current debate about when Exxon knew about the impact on climate change carbon emissions began in 2015 following news reports of internal company documents describing the multinational’s early knowledge of climate science. Exxon disagreed with the reports, even providing a link to internal studies and memos from their own scientists and suggesting that interested parties should read them and make up their own minds. “That’s exactly what we did,” said Supran, who is now at the University of Miami. Together, he and Oreskes spent a year researching those documents and in 2017 published a series of three papers analyzing Exxon’s 40-year history of climate communications. They were able to show there was a systematic discrepancy between what Exxon was saying internally and in academic circles versus what they were telling the public. “That led us to conclude that they had quantifiably misled the public, by essentially contributing quietly to climate science and yet loudly promoting doubt about that science,” said Supran. In 2021, the team published a new study in One Earth using algorithmic techniques to identify ways in which ExxonMobil used increasingly subtle but systematic language to shape the way the public talks and thinks about climate change — often in misleading ways. These findings were hardly a surprise to Oreskes, given her long history of studying climate communications from fossil fuel companies, work that drew national attention with her 2010 bestseller, “Merchants of Doubt.” In it she and co-author, Caltech researcher Erik Conway, argued that Exxon was aware of the threat of carbon emissions on climate change yet waged a disinformation campaign about the problem. Despite the book’s popularity and the peer- reviewed papers with Supran, however, some continued to wonder whether she could prove the effect these campaigns had, if they indeed made a difference. “I think this new study is the smoking gun, the proof, because it shows the degree of understanding … this really deep, really sophisticated, really skillful understanding that was obscured by what came next,” Oreskes said. “It proves a point I’ve argued for years that ExxonMobil scientists knew about this problem to a shockingly fine degree as far back as the 1980s, but company spokesmen denied, challenged, and obscured this science, starting in the late 1980s/early 1990s.” **Added Supran: “Our analysis here I think seals the deal on that matter. We now have totally unimpeachable evidence that Exxon accurately predicted global warming years before it turned around and publicly attacked climate science and scientists.”** >>> The authors of this research were supported by a Rockefeller Family Fund grant and Harvard University Faculty Development funds. URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/03/23/exxon-knew-quite-accurately- some-45-years-ago-about-the-climate-crisis/>

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EXXONMOBIL Completes Major Refinery Expansion in East Texas
by Frack Check WV: admin 22 Mar '23

22 Mar '23

# [EXXONMOBIL Completes Major Refinery Expansion in East Texas](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/03/22/exxonmobil-completes-major- refinery-expansion-in-east-texas/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/03/59C0A05F-3120-4E36-BDA4-676BBBD4CA60.jpeg)](https:/… content/uploads/2023/03/59C0A05F-3120-4E36-BDA4-676BBBD4CA60.jpeg) Beaumont, Orange and Port Arthur form the Golden Triangle, the nickname of the 3 towns being the economic powers of East Texas. **ExxonMobil commissions Beaumont refinery expansion** . . From an [Article by Robert Brelsford, Oil & Gas Journal](https://www.ogj.com/refining- processing/refining/article/14291142/exxonmobil-commissions-beaumont-refinery- expansion), March 16, 2023 . . ExxonMobil Corp. has started up its long-planned project to expand light crude oil processing capacity by 250,000 b/d at ExxonMobil Product Solutions Co.’s integrated refining and petrochemicals complex along the US Gulf Coast in Beaumont, Tex. **Officially in operation as of Mar. 16, the $2-billion Beaumont expansion — completed on time and within budget despite difficulties posed by outbreak of the global pandemic following start of project construction in 2019 — increases the refinery’s overall crude processing capacity to more than 630,000 b/d, the operator said.** Proposed in 2018 and formally approved in early 2019, the expansion added a third crude unit and hydrotreaters to accommodate the operator’s growing Permian light crude production, to which the refinery is linked via pipeline. ExxonMobil said the Beaumont refinery’s new crude unit also will be well- positioned to further capitalize on segregated crude from the Permian’s Delaware basin. Delaware production will be delivered via the ExxonMobil Pipeline Co.-operated 650-mile, 36-in.Wink-to-Webster (W2W) pipeline that delivers to Webster, Baytown, and the Enterprise Crude Houston Oil terminal, in addition to providing connectivity to Texas City and Beaumont. An ExxonMobil spokesperson told OGJ the Beaumont refinery also has completed connecting pipeline additions at the site to accommodate the expansion’s increased intake and offtake of crude and finished products, respectively. “ExxonMobil maintained its commitment to the Beaumont expansion even through the lows of the pandemic, knowing consumer demand would return and new capacity would be critical in the post-pandemic economic recovery,” said Karen McKee, president of ExxonMobil Product Solutions. “The new crude unit enables us to produce even more transportation fuels at a time when demand is surging,” McKee said, noting the recent expansion adds the equivalent capacity of a medium-sized refinery. Technip Energies (formerly TechipFMC PLC) provided engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) of four units added as part of the expansion—including an atmospheric pipe still, kerosine hydrotreater, diesel hydrotreater, and benzene recovery unit—while KBR Inc. delivered EPC services for the project offsites and interconnecting units. **Permian oil-field growth continues** In its earnings presentation for fourth-quarter 2022 and preliminary results for yearend 2022, ExxonMobil said it increased year-over-year net production from the Permian by about 90,000 boe/d to about 550,000-560,000 boe/d, with overall production from its regional operations anticipated to reach more than 600,000 boe/d during 2023. By 2027, the operator said it plans to grow Permian output to about 1 million boe/d amid ongoing improvements in capital efficiency, lower costs, higher resource recovery, and better environmental performance. **ExxonMobil confirmed that by the end of fourth-quarter 2022 it had eliminated routine flaring from its Permian operations by 100% as part of the company’s efforts to achieve net-zero Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the region by 2030.** #######+++++++#######+++++++####### **SEE ALSO:** [Willow Oil Project in Alaska Faces Legal Challenges, Economic Doubts,](https://www.theenergymix.com/2023/03/19/willow-oil-project-in-alas… faces-legal-challenges-economic-doubts/) Gaye Taylor, The Energy Mix, March 19, 2023 URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/03/22/exxonmobil-completes-major- refinery-expansion-in-east-texas/>

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Local Emergency Planning was Inadequate at East Palestine, OH
by Frack Check WV: admin 21 Mar '23

21 Mar '23

# [Local Emergency Planning was Inadequate at East Palestine, OH](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/03/21/local-emergency-planning-was- inadequate-at-east-palestine-oh/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/03/CE12BAE3-402A-4F62-82A6-8553D18249CA.jpeg)](https:/… content/uploads/2023/03/CE12BAE3-402A-4F62-82A6-8553D18249CA.jpeg) Norfolk Southern Railroad train wreck involved the release of highly toxic chemicals **Ohio Train Derailment Raises Questions about Local Disaster Planning Across the USA** From the [Author ~ Michael Barrick, Appalachian Chronicle,](https://appalachianchronicle.com/2023/03/12/ohio-train-derailme… raises-questions-about-local-disaster-preparedness/) March 12, 2023 EAST PALESTINE, OHIO – As the people of East Palestine attempt to put their lives back together following the crash of a Norfolk Southern freight train full of hazardous chemicals in their tiny community on Feb. 3, 2023, politicians have expressed outrage. Lacking initiative, though, little if nothing will result from the faux anger of the politicians owned by corporate interests. So, it’s up to the local citizens to start asking some tough questions if they hope to have their community recover from this tragedy. In short, the last people needed in East Palestine are politicians. They are simply in the way of rescue and recovery efforts. What the citizens do need is greater awareness of how prepared local emergency response officials were for this predictable event. They are in the best position to know the community’s hazards and how response and recovery should unfold for them. Or are they? If, like far too many other communities across the nation, they have put emergency planning on the back burner, then they, too, have culpability in a disastrous incident. So, the people of East Palestine – and any community in the United States – need to first understand how community preparedness and response is supposed to work. Then, they need to start asking questions of their county leaders to see if their community is aligned with best practices. **All Disasters Begin and End Locally** It is a maxim among emergency preparedness officials that “all disasters begin and end locally.” Whether it is literally a local disaster because it impacts only a local community or segment of it, so it is also true with massive natural and man-made disasters. One never knows when or where the horribly unexpected – a tornado, a school shooting, or a train derailment – will happen in their own backyard. The recent disaster in East Palestine is the ultimate example of this principle. While there has been understandable community anger with Norfolk Southern officials, there are others who are also responsible for the response that happened when those cars left the track – local emergency officials. That is because, as we see from this disaster, it does not matter where the train originated or where it was headed. When it crashed, it impacted a local community. Indeed, as the news cycle moves on, the eventual final phase of the disaster management process – recovery – will be lead and done by local people. That community should have response plans in place for just such a potential disaster. As of this writing, I am not familiar enough to know exactly how well local emergency officials in East Palestine prepared, practiced and ultimately responded to the train derailment. Whatever the case there, it certainly raises a number of issues and questions for local citizens to be asking of their own community leaders. Those questions are beyond legitimate; they are essential. **Local Emergency Planning Committee** The first question to ask is, “Does our county have a Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC)? If the answer is “Yes,” then that leads to several follow-up questions (below); if the answer is “No,” then your community definitely has a problem. The lack of an LEPC calls into question why and how any decisions regarding emergency community preparedness (not to mention disaster response) are made. But it is one that can be solved by asking the right questions, ensuring that federal and state laws are being followed, and then working collaboratively to set up the structure and mechanisms to establish a functional and active LEPC. And, even if your community has an LEPC, it has a requirement to encourage citizen involvement, allowing for independent community input and probing questions to ensure that the safety of the citizens is being seriously considered and addressed by local emergency preparedness officials. **LEPC History** Initially LEPCs were set up to monitor one specific hazard in their communities – hazardous materials. In 1986, the U.S. Congress passed the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). “Under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), Local or Tribal Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs or TEPCs) must develop an emergency response plan, review the plan at least annually, and provide information about chemicals in the community (emphasis added) to citizens. Plans are developed by these emergency planning committees with stakeholder participation.” Membership is to include elected state, local, and tribal officials; police, fire, civil defense, and public health professionals; environment, transportation, and hospital officials; facility representatives; and, representatives from community groups and the media. **The National Incident Management System (NIMS)** For 15 years, monitoring and developing emergency response and evacuation plans to hazardous materials incidents remained the only responsibility of LEPCs. All of that changed after September 11, 2001. In response to the terrorist attacks that day, President George W. Bush directed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to establish the National Incident Management System (NIMS). On March 1, 2004, DHS rolled out NIMS. The establishment of NIMS dramatically expanded the roles and responsibilities of LEPCs. After years of focusing on only one community hazard, they were now charged with considering every potential hazard their community faces. They are now charged with utilizing an “all hazards” approach. To accomplish that, the LEPC develops a Hazard Vulnerability Analysis. **Hazard Vulnerability Analysis (HVA)** From the HVA, an Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) is developed. It is the document guiding all planning, exercises, responses and recovery by local officials, often in collaboration with regional, state and national partners. According to the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Service, a “Hazard Vulnerability Analysis (HVA) is a systematic approach to identifying all hazards that may affect an organization, assessing the risk (probability of hazard occurrence and the consequence for the organization) associated with each hazard and analyzing findings to create a prioritized comparison of hazard vulnerabilities. The consequence, or vulnerability, is related to both the impact on organizational function and the likely service demands created by hazard impact.” For instance, potential hazards could be identified as human-related events, naturally-occurring events, technological/industrial events, and hazardous materials events. Together, emergency response officials from the county, first responders, hospitals, utility companies, police, fire and public health will collaborate, considering their community’s hazards. Some questions considered when compiling an HVA include: What is the probability an event will happen and what is its severity? What will be its magnitude? How it will impact human health and lives, the land, property and businesses? What capabilities does the community have to respond to these possibilities? Are there Mutual Aid Agreements in place to assist when a logistical need can’t be met locally? Evidence of a Functional and Active LEPC Without a functioning and active LEPC, your community is at greater risk than it should be when disaster strikes. It is also out of compliance with federal law. So, citizens interested in ensuring that their LEPC is up to its task need to find out the status of their LEPC. Start by asking if your county has an LEPC. If the answer is no, that needs to be addressed immediately. Offer to work with the commissioners to rectify the problem, but do not hesitate to reach out to state and federal authorities to see that the county commission establishes a functional and active LEPC. If the answer is yes, there will be evidence to support it. There will be minutes proving that it meets regularly, a list of members aligned with federal membership guidelines, a written HVA, and a written Emergency Operations Plan (EOP). Ask to see copies of them. The EOP should include (at least): How to activate the plan, including identifying who has authority to do so; Guidelines for establishing an Incident Management Team (IMT) / Emergency Operations Center (EOC) with proper FEMA certifications; Guidelines for establishing Safety & Security measures A Crisis Communications plan; Staff Roles & Credentialing (One’s daily work may change quite dramatically during a disaster); Resources & Assets Evacuation Plans; Guidelines for Monitoring Vulnerable Populations; An Exercise & Evaluation program that includes a full range of community drills and exercises regularly; Mutual Aid Agreements & Memorandums of Understanding; Beware of Obstacles While you have the right to expect cooperation from county commissioners and Authorities Having Jurisdiction, you may, upon the rare occasion, find a person reluctant to honor their obligation to be transparent. In that event, ask the person what statute supports their decision to withhold information from you. Lacking one, you are entitled to the information gathered by the LEPC. Additionally, it is not uncommon for corporate interests to exercise a quiet but out-sized influence upon the decisions made by the LEPC. Remember that anything presented at an LEPC meeting is part of the public record, so to ensure that the voice of grassroots citizens are heard, ask the county commission to appoint you to the LEPC. © Michael M. Barrick, 2023. Barrick holds a post-graduate Certificate in Community Preparedness and Disaster Management from the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health. He also has experience as an EMT/Paramedic and served as the Emergency Preparedness Coordinator and Safety Officer in two hospitals. An experienced teacher, Barrick provides training in developing, implementing, assessing and maintaining Emergency Operations Plans for community, emergency response agencies, hospitals, nonprofits and corporations. URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/03/21/local-emergency-planning-was- inadequate-at-east-palestine-oh/>

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News March 2023