In 1930, my greatgrandparents purchased a beautiful farm in Bradford County, PA, in a little hamlet called French Azilum. In the summer, we spent time there, resting, breathing in the fresh air, enjoying the wild flowers, the bright stars and planets on a clear moonlit night, and swimming in the Susquehanna River. If gas drilling is allowed to continue, Bradford County and all of Pennsylvania will be forever changed, ruined beyond repair.
The video by Leland Snyder goes on for 13+ excruciating minutes. Who can live near this kind of industrial activity? There are diseases caused by sound and noise.
Dr. Ingraffea is the Dwight C. Baum Professor of Engineering at Cornell University, and has taught structural mechanics, finite element methods, and fracture mechanics at Cornell for 37 years. Dr. Ingraffea's research concentrates on computer simulation and physical testing of complex fracturing processes. He and his students have performed pioneering research in using interactive computer graphics in computational mechanics, and together they have authored more than 250 papers in these areas. He has been a principal investigator on more than $35 million in R&D projects from the NSF, NASA, Nichols Research, AFOSR, FAA, Kodak, U. S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, U.S. Dept. of Transportation, IBM, Schlumberger, EXXON, the Gas Research Institute, Sandia National Laboratories, the Association of Iron and Steel Engineers, General Dynamics, Boeing, Caterpillar Tractor, and Northrop Grumman Aerospace. For his research achievements he has won the International Association for Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics "1994 Significant Paper Award" for one of the five most significant papers in the category of Computational/Analytical Applications, twice won the National Research Council/U.S. National Committee for Rock Mechanics Award for Research in Rock Mechanics (1978, 1991), and the George Irwin Medal form the American Society for Testing and Materials (2006). He was named a Fellow of the International Congress on Fracture in 2009. He is Co-Editor-in-Chief of the premier journal in his field, Engineering Fracture Mechanics.
We have a choice between shale gas emissions of methane and black carbon into the air we breathe and the effect this has on climate change OR wind, solar, and water power which does not pollute. We own the wind, water, and solar energies. We don't have to fight over them. And we have the technology to go in that direction right now. It is even economically feasible. So what is holding us back?
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Vera took this video last night on her way home. Can you imagine what it must be like to see this happening not far from your home? It is alarming. What is being emitted into the air here? This can't be healthy, can it? There are homes nearby.
Vera wrote:
Taped 10-9-12. Saw this tonight on my way home. Flaring on Valley View Rd., but seen from Laurel Lake Rd., and something I hadn't noticed before. Looks like Gas Fumes comes up off the two flares. Franklin Twp. , Susquehanna County, Pa. Why is this being allowed ?
Taken from the road, Bailey Rd., Franklin Twp., Susquehanna County, Pa., on 5-16-12.
Mitchell home is just below the site. WPX Energy is the gas company involved.
Video taken by Vera Scroggins. Vera writes:
"See what it's like to live next to flaring of two wells; fortunately, it's the owners of this site that live next to it and have to experience this and see how they like it and whether they want all their neighbors to experience it, like they do. Their neighbors up to 3 miles away or more are hearing this throughout the whole day for days. [24/7]
Thanks, for disturbing our peace and country life and turning it into a gas field."
From Earthworksaction.org Flaring
Flaring is the practice of
burning gas that is deemed uneconomical to collect and sell. Flaring is also
used to burn gases that would otherwise present a safety problem. It is common
to flare natural gas that contains hydrogen sulfide (i.e., sour gas), in order
to convert the highly toxic hydrogen sulfide gas into less toxic compounds.
Flares emit a host of air pollutants, depending on the chemical
composition of the gas being burned and the efficiency and temperature of the
flare. Flaring results in hydrogen sulfide emissions if hydrogen sulfide is
present in large enough amounts in the natural gas. There may also be additional
by-products formed if some of the chemicals used during the drilling or
hydraulic fracturing process are converted to a gaseous form and are burned
along with the natural gas.
The Ventura County Air Pollution Control
District, in California has estimated that the following air pollutants may be
released from natural gas flares: benzene, formaldehyde, polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs, including naphthalene), acetaldehyde, acrolein, propylene,
toluene, xylenes, ethyl benzene and hexane. Researchers in Canada have measured
more than 60 air pollutants downwind of natural gas flares.
