Everything's Coming Together While Everything Falls Apart

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rebecca-solnit/the-climate-for-2015_b_6372150.html

The Climate for 2015 

Cross-posted with TomDispatch.com

It was the most thrilling bureaucratic document I’ve ever seen for just one reason: it was dated the 21st day of the month of Thermidor in the Year Six. Written in sepia ink on heavy paper, it recorded an ordinary land auction in France in what we would call the late summer of 1798. But the extraordinary date signaled that it was created when the French Revolution was still the overarching reality of everyday life and such fundamentals as the distribution of power and the nature of government had been reborn in astonishing ways. The new calendar that renamed 1792 as Year One had, after all, been created to start society all over again.

In that little junk shop on a quiet street in San Francisco, I held a relic from one of the great upheavals of the last millennium. It made me think of a remarkable statement the great feminist fantasy writer Ursula K. Le Guin had made only a few weeks earlier. In the course of a speech she gave while accepting a book award she noted, “We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings.”

That document I held was written only a few years after the French had gotten over the idea that the divine right of kings was an inescapable reality. The revolutionaries had executed their king for his crimes and were then trying out other forms of government. It’s popular to say that the experiment failed, but that’s too narrow an interpretation. France never again regressed to an absolutist monarchy and its experiments inspired other liberatory movements around the world (while terrifying monarchs and aristocrats everywhere).

Americans are skilled at that combination of complacency and despair that assumes things cannot change and that we, the people, do not have the power to change them. Yet you have to be abysmally ignorant of history, as well as of current events, not to see that our country and our world have always been changing, are in the midst of great and terrible changes, and are occasionally changed through the power of the popular will and idealistic movements. As it happens, the planet’s changing climate now demands that we summon up the energy to leave behind the Age of Fossil Fuel (and maybe with it some portion of the Age of Capitalism as well).

How to Topple a Giant

To use Le Guin’s language, physics is inevitable: if you put more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the planet warms, and as the planet warms, various kinds of chaos and ruin are let loose. Politics, on the other hand, is not inevitable. For example, not so many years ago it would have seemed inevitable that Chevron, currently the third biggest corporation in the country, would run the refinery town of Richmond, California, as its own private fiefdom. You could say that the divine right of Chevron seemed like a given. Except that people in Richmond refused to accept it and so this town of 107,000 mostly poor nonwhites pushed back.

In recent years, a group of progressives won election to the city council and the mayor’s seat, despite huge expenditures by Chevron, the corporation that also brought you gigantic oil spills onshore in Ecuador and offshore in Brazil, massive contamination from half a century of oil extraction in Nigeria, and Canadian tar-sands bitumen sent by rail to the Richmond refinery. Mayor Gayle McLaughin and her cohorts organized a little revolution in a town that had mostly been famous for its crime rate and for Chevron’s toxic refinery emissions, which periodically create emergencies, sometimes requiring everyone to take shelter (and pretend that they are not being poisoned indoors), sometimes said -- by Chevron -- to be harmless, as with last Thursday's flames that lit up the sky, visible as far away as Oakland.  

As McLaughin put it of her era as mayor:

“We’ve accomplished so much, including breathing better air, reducing the pollution, and building a cleaner environment and cleaner jobs, and reducing our crime rate. Our homicide number is the lowest in 33 years and we became a leading city in the Bay Area for solar installed per capita. We’re a sanctuary city. And we’re defending our homeowners to prevent foreclosures and evictions. And we also got Chevron to pay $114 million extra dollars in taxes.”

For this November’s election, the second-largest oil company on Earth officially spent $3.1 million to defeat McLaughin and other progressive candidates and install a mayor and council more to its liking. That sum worked out to about $180 per Richmond voter, but my brother David, who’s long been connected to Richmond politics, points out that, if you look at all the other ways the company spends to influence local politics, it might be roughly ten times that.

Nonetheless, Chevron lost. None of its candidates were elected and all the grassroots progressives it fought with billboards, mailers, television ads, websites, and everything else a lavishly funded smear campaign can come up with, won.

If a small coalition like that can win locally against a corporation that had revenues of $228.9 billion in 2013, imagine what a large global coalition could do against the fossil-fuel giants. It wasn’t easy in Richmond and it won’t be easy on the largest scale either, but it’s not impossible. The Richmond progressives won by imagining that the status quo was not inevitable, no less an eternal way of life. They showed up to do the work to dent that inevitability. The billionaires and fossil fuel corporations are intensely engaged in politics all the time, everywhere, and they count on us to stay on the sidelines. If you look at their response to various movements, you can see that they fear the moment we wake up, show up, and exercise our power to counter theirs.  

That power operated on a larger scale last week, when local activists and public health professionals applied sufficient pressure to get New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to sign legislation banning fracking statewide. Until the news broke on December 17th, the outcome had seemed uncertain. It’s a landmark, a watershed decision: a state has decided that its considerable reserves of fossil fuel will not be extracted for the foreseeable future, that other things -- the health of its people, the purity of its water -- matter more. And once again, the power of citizens turned out to be greater than that of industry.

Just a few days before the huge victory in New York, the nations of the world ended their most recent talks in Lima, Peru, about a global climate treaty -- and they actually reached a tentative deal, one that for the first time asks all nations, not just the developed ones, to reduce emissions. The agreement has to get better -- to do more, demand more of every nation -- by the global climate summit in Paris in December of 2015.  

It’s hard to see how we’ll get there from here, but easy to see that activists and citizens will have to push their nations hard. We need to end the age of fossil fuels the way the French ended the age of absolute monarchy. As New York State and the town of Richmond just demonstrated, what is possible has been changing rapidly. 

Tell Gov. Dayton We Need Tough Frac Sand Restrictions

Action Alerts

Tell Gov. Dayton We Need Tough Frac Sand Restrictions

Despite 2013 state legislation directing Minnesota agencies to create air quality standards and improve environmental review for frac sand facilities, the regulations are yet to be established. And we do not have a clear commitment from Governor Mark Dayton that these rules will be tough and put health, safety and rural communities before frac sand mining interests. This is a critical time to ramp up our efforts to demand that Gov. Dayton uses his authority to create stringent frac sand regulations.

Contact Gov. Dayton today at 651-201-3400 or 800-657-3717 and deliver the message that we need him "all in" when it comes to protecting Minnesota from the frac sand industry.

 For more information, see LSP's Frac Sand Organizing web page or contact LSP's Bobby King by calling him at 612-722-6377 or sending an e-mail.

Published on Frday, September 26, 2014 by Common Dreams

Evidence Mounts of Hidden Fracking Hazards

"We need strong state action to protect the public health from yet another troubling side effect of the unprecedented wave of shale gas development," environmentalist warns
byDeirdre Fulton, staff writer

A web of roads, pipelines, and fracking wells. (Photo: Simon Fraser University/flickr/cc)

A major report released Thursday exposes a hidden hazard of fracking: the mining of the special sand—known as 'frac sand,' for short—that is essential to the practice.
Frac sand mining uses significant volumes of groundwater, contributes to air pollution, and has negative socio-economic impacts, according to "Communities At Risk: Frac Sand Mining in the Upper Midwest" (pdf), produced by the the Civil Society Institute's Boston Action Research project in cooperation with Environmental Working Group (EWG) and Midwest Environmental Advocates (MEA).

Analysts estimate that fracking operations will use 95 billion pounds of sand this year, up 30 percent from last year and 50 percent higher than initial forecasts. The sand, which must be uniform in shape and the grains able to withstand enormous pressures at great depth underground, is currently mined most heavily in Wisconsin and Minnesota, though the report identifies sand deposits in 12 others states (including New York, North Carolina, Maine, and Virginia) that could be affected as fracking demand grows. Wisconsin alone is on track to extract 50 million tons of frac sand a year—the equivalent of 9,000 semi-truck loads a day.

"Citizens living near frac sand mining in Wisconsin are witnessing a massive destruction of their rural landscape."
—Kimberlee Wright, Midwest Environmental Advocates

The mining process, which involves blasting off the soil, rock, and vegetation above a sand deposit, then washing, drying, and storing the excavated sand, uses between 420 thousand and 2 million gallons of water per day, according to the report, potentially drawing down groundwater supplies. In addition, the use of added chemicals when processing the sand could lead to contaminated run-off in nearby streams and wetlands.

Even more troubling is the release of fine particulate matter, such as silica dust, at mining sites and in the surrounding areas. Frac sand mining produces "very small and very dangerous dust particles," the report reads, which have been linked to respiratory infections, lung cancer, and cardiovascular disease. While air samples have shown particle pollution around mining sites exceeds safe levels, there is little regulation of these emissions. "[M]onitoring of this rapidly expanding industry has been outpaced by the rate of development," the authors note.

"None of the states at the center of the current frac sand mining boom have adopted air quality standards for silica that will adequately protect the tens of thousands of people living or working near the scores of recently opened or proposed mining sites," said EWG's executive director Heather White. "EWG's mapping research found frac sand sites in close proximity to schools, hospitals and clinics, where children and patients may be exposed to airborne silica. Chronic exposure can lead to emphysema and lung disease. We need strong state action to protect the public health from yet another troubling side effect of the unprecedented wave of shale gas development."

Other economic impacts are harder to measure but no less important to consider. The report raises questions about how frac sand mining operations affect property values, infrastructure costs, and demands on health care providers, cautioning towns and local communities to "exercise precaution" when evaluating potential sites in their region.

"Citizens living near frac sand mining in Wisconsin are witnessing a massive destruction of their rural landscape," said MEA executive director Kimberlee Wright. "Elected officials and our states' natural resources protection agency have largely dismissed local citizens' concerns about their health, the health of their environment and their quality of life. Without a clearer view of the big picture of frac sand mining's impact, laws that protect our communities' air and water aren't being developed or enforced."

The other end of the shale gas extraction cycle is no less toxic. A separate peer-reviewed study, published earlier this week in the American Chemical Society journal Environmental Science and Technology, suggests fracking wastewater can endanger drinking water even after it has passed through treatment plants and been diluted.
According to UPI:

Most fracking operations store their wastewater in holding ponds. Eventually, that water is filtered through municipal or commercial treatment plants and emptied into rivers, lakes and ponds.
But new research suggests that wastewater contaminants, when subjected to traditional treatment methods like chlorination or ozonation, encourage toxic byproducts.
Researchers with the American Chemical Society found that even extremely diluted wastewater can still produce these byproducts during the treatment process. Scientists say their findings suggest regulators and energy officials should be more careful about which surface waters treated wastewater is emptied into.

The scientists and engineers from Duke and Stanford Universities used water samples from Pennsylvania and Arkansas frack sites.

“The drinking water facilities should be aware of this,” said Bill Mitch, a lead author on the study and an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford. “You need a lot of dilution to make these discharges no longer matter.”

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License

NATIONAL report - very important that this information be distributed to all governmental officials, and to all citizens across the nation.

The thorough NATIONAL report produced as a joint effort by Civil Society Institute, Midwest Environmental Advocates, and Environmental Working Group was released today at noon. It is very important that this information be distributed to all governmental officials, all newspaper and news media personnel, and to all citizens across the nation.  I was unable to send out the news release from Boston because of a computer problem, but all references can be found at this site.

http://www.americancleanenergyagenda.org/new-frac-sand-mining-report-details-health-environmental-and-economic-harms/

Links to all the resources can be found at this site including the map based links from EWG and references at MEA.  Please take a look at these well documented resources. Look for the address for a buffering replay of the press conference held at noon on Sept. 25. It is noted on the above link.

Report coauthor Grant Smith, senior energy policy adviser, Civil Society Institute, said:  “The rapid expansion in the United States of oil and shale gas drilling, including hydraulic fracturing, has a hidden side filled with problems: the mining of the special sand that is essential to fracking a drilled well.  As this report makes clear, it is essential that local and state governments assess and take action based on the impacts of the full cycle of shale oil and gas drilling, including frac sand mining.  Health, water, and other economic concerns should be addressed comprehensively, rather than being ignored or dismissed. Protecting public health and safety is the first responsibility of government.” 

 

EWG Executive Director Heather White said:  “None of the states at the center of the current frac sand mining boom have adopted air quality standards for silica that will adequately protect the tens of thousands of people living or working near the scores of recently opened or proposed mining sites. EWG’s mapping research found frac sand sites in close proximity to schools, hospitals and clinics, where children and patients may be exposed to airborne silica. Chronic exposure can lead to emphysema and lung disease. We need strong state action to protect the public health from yet another troubling side effect of the unprecedented wave of shale gas development.”

 

MEA Executive Director Kimberlee Wright said: “Citizens living near frac sand mining in Wisconsin are witnessing a massive destruction of their rural landscape. Elected officials and our states' natural resources protection agency have largely dismissed local citizens' concerns about their health, the health of their environment and their quality of life. Without a clearer view of the big picture of frac sand mining's impact, laws that protect our communities' air and water aren't being developed or enforced.”

 

Key concerns about frac sand mining outlined in the report include the following:

 

·              Water issues. Individual mining operations withdraw between 420 thousand and 2 million gallons per day.  The volume of water used is significant, and added chemicals to process the sand compound water related problems with sand mining.  Polyacrylamide, a flocculent, that encourages clumping of particles to remove impurities from the sand is used at mining and processing operations.  It contains traces of acrylamide and can break down into acrylamide, a neurotoxin and known carcinogen, and can enter groundwater or surface water from wastewater ponds at mining operations or from piles of processed sand ready to be transported. There is also increasing concern with acid mine runoff from operating and reclaimed frac sand mines. 

 

·              Health issues.  Silica dust is of great concern to people living near frac sand operations.  The smallest particles of dust (2.5 microns, a fraction of the width of a human hair) cause the greatest damage to the lungs.  This is due to the fact that smaller particles can evade the body’s natural defense mechanisms and penetrate deeper into the lungs, and even into the bloodstream.  Crystalline silica dust, generally around 4 microns in diameter or less, is also especially harmful.  Prolonged exposure to frac sand can lead to silicosis of the lungs and is thought to be a lung carcinogen. This is particularly troubling for people living in proximity to multiple frac sand mines as well as elderly people or families with young children as these populations may be more susceptible to disease.  Additionally, people with silicosis are at high risk for developing tuberculosis. Crystalline silica exposure has been linked with other lung ailments as well, including emphysema and bronchitis. It has also been linked with a variety of autoimmune diseases, such as scleroderma, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune hemolytic anemia, chronic thyroiditis, hyperthyroidism, and to kidney-related diseases, such as chronic renal disease, and those with high exposure are more likely to die from renal disease.

 

·              Financial issues.  Economic harms are seen as a result of frac sand mining including potential loss of nearby real estate values of up to 25 percent and decreased lifespan for roads and other infrastructure, which carry a substantial replacement cost.   Even though Minnesota state law allows counties to levy a 15-cent per ton aggregate extraction tax to help offset the costs of road repair, many counties choose not to.  Additionally, the Minnesota Local Research Board found that 22 cents per ton-mile would be a more accurate amount to cover the costs.

 

Commenting on the health aspects of the report, Crispin Pierce, PhD, associate professor and program director, Environmental Public Health Program, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, said:  “Our research group has tested the air around frac sand plants over the last five years and found elevated levels of fine airborne particulates including silica in neighboring communities. We are concerned about potential increases in cardiovascular disease, premature death, and lung cancer. Our state regulator, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, is requiring less than 10 percent of the 140 frac sand operations in the state to monitor their emissions, and even then not requiring monitoring of the particulates of most concern, including silica.”

 

Silica, or silicon dioxide, is a chemical compound that is most commonly found in nature as quartz.  Crystalline silica is an ultrafine particle that occurs when silica is crushed, exploded, drilled or chipped, as occurs during silica mining.  Crystalline silica can be ingested through breathing, allowing the particles to become lodged in the lungs. In addition to the danger posed to miners and pad workers, frac sand also carries a potential risk to residents near mining sites, along transport routes, and for the transport crews who move the cargo. Intense exposure to crystalline silica can cause silicosis within a year, but it usually takes at least 10-15 years of exposure before symptoms occur. 

 

Among those concerned about the health impacts are Victoria Trinko, a family farmer from Bloomer, Wisconsin in Chippewa County less than a mile from a frac sand mining operation, said:  “I am a retired speech clinician raising beef cattle on the farm my father bought in 1936.  I am also the clerk of the Town of Cooks Valley.  I have lived on the family farm most of my life. The third sand company in the Town of Cooks Valley began construction and operation in the spring of 2011 and is located within one half mile northwest of my farm … In April of 2012 within 9 months of the construction of this silica sand mine, I developed an intermittent sore throat and raspy voice.  In September of 2012, I visited my doctor who referred me to a pulmonary specialist. In October 2012, I was diagnosed with asthma due to my environment and use an inhalant and nasal spray twice a day to alleviate my breathing symptoms.”

 

In outlining a wide variety of possible industry, state and local responses to the impacts of frac sand mining, the report notes:  “Perhaps the best response to the rapid expansion of shale gas extraction is to take a step back and view the entire shale gas fuel cycle more holistically.  The questions, if properly posed, can assist us in defining the issues, challenges, and consequences of the shale gas fuel cycle.  They will also help answer whether or not the shale gas revolution is of benefit to all of us or just some of us, and determine the long-term viability of the shale-gas economy.  In pursuing this exercise, the scope of questions should not remain at some national or geopolitical strategic level.” 

 

The report continues:  “Rather, they should also address the consequences of the shale gas fuel cycle for people at the local level including the consequences for their property, their businesses, their cultural values and way of life, their health, their access to adequate supplies of clean water, the impact on local infrastructure, as well as the sustainability of their community’s economy in the near- and long-term.  Of course, such questions should have been posed long ago.  Powerful economic forces are churning ahead without pause or consideration of the implications of shale gas extraction for our country and our citizens.” 

Wall Street Journal article: "Demand for Sand Takes Off Thanks to Fracking--Companies Race to Build New Mines as Prices Rise"

"Demand for Sand Takes Off Thanks to Fracking--Companies Race to Build New Mines as Prices Rise"

Frackers are expected to use nearly 95 billion pounds of sand this year. A sand mine in Garnavillo, Iowa. Stephen Mally for The Wall Street Journal

Sand prices are rising and companies are racing to build new mines in South Dakota and other locations as demand intensifies for the silica crystals that energy companies use to frack oil and gas wells.

Sand is a key ingredient in items from solar panels to smartphones, but in recent years billions of pounds of it have been poured down wells to help coax more fuel out of the ground. In hydraulic fracturing, sand is mixed in a slurry of water and chemicals, then pumped down a hole to crack open dense rocks so oil and gas can escape to the surface.

Frackers are expected to use nearly 95 billion pounds of sand this year, up nearly 30% from 2013 and up 50% from forecasts made by energy-consulting firm PacWest Consulting Partners a year ago.

It can take four million pounds of sand to frack a single well, but several companies are experimenting with using more. Companies like Pioneer Natural Resources Inc., PXD -5.32% which recently received a ruling from the U.S. Commerce Department allowing it to export unrefined ultralight oil produced from shale formations, are finding that the output of wells is up to 30% higher when they're blasted with more sand. About a fifth of onshore wells are now being fracked with extra sand, but the technique could expand to 80% of all shale wells, according to energy analysts at RBC Capital Markets.



That's great news for sand miners, but it's heating up competition between energy buyers and other big industrial users.

U.S. Silica Holdings Inc., SLCA -1.17% one of the largest industrial-sand companies, has already raised prices for some frack sand, and it said recently that it would also start charging 10% to 20% more for the finer grades of sand typically used to make glass and various industrial products as it diverts some of this supply to oil producers. The best sand is dubbed Northern White because the round crystal, which can withstand serious heat and pressure underground, is found in states like Wisconsin and Minnesota. The company expects demand for sand will be at least 25% higher than supply for the rest of this year.

"Northern White is in short supply, so people are using basically whatever they can get their hands on to complete their wells," said Michael Lawson, a spokesman for U.S. Silica.

Oil companies' insatiable appetite has even generated renewed interest in second-tier deposits of lower-quality brown sand in places like Texas and Arkansas.

Preferred Sands, which announced last month it has received backing from private-equity firm KKR KKR -0.81% & Co., plans to increase sand production by next summer with new and expanded mines in places like Wisconsin and Minnesota, said Chief Executive Michael O'Neill, though he added that it's becoming tough to find available railcars to move the sand from mines to oil fields.

Jamie Weinstein, co-head of KKR's special solutions team, said the trend toward using more sand per well will mean sand producers will keep growing. The firm is extending $680 million in debt and equity to Preferred Sands to restructure the company's balance sheet.

"We believe the incremental demand for sand over time is only going to increase," Mr. Weinstein said.

Frack-sand producers are hot stocks. Emerge Energy Services EMES +0.48% LP was last year's most successful public offering, according to Dealogic, with a share price that has shot up 558% since its debut. Investors want more. They may get it from private-equity-backed Fairmount Minerals, a major U.S. sand miner, which has enlisted bankers to explore an IPO, according to people familiar with the matter.

Laura Fulton, chief financial officer of Hi-Crush Partners L.P., is predicting another 5%-to-10% increase in sand prices before year's end. Hi-Crush recently signed seven new long-term contracts at higher prices—and for greater volumes—with oil-field service firms including Halliburton Co. HAL -3.22% , which help exploration outfits pump more oil and gas.

"There's really no limit on the demand side," she said.

But there are growing restraints on sand supplies. By the end of this year, new and expanded mines capable of producing 10 million pounds of sand annually will be up and running, but future projects could face delays, Cowen & Co. analyst Marc Bianchi said.

Dozens of new sand-mine permits were issued over the last three to four years in places like Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois, triggering a massive public backlash about the truck traffic, dust and breathing problems these operations can create. Now many state and county-level health officials are trying to slow the sector's expansion.

A few companies are skirting those efforts by teaming up with towns hungry for jobs and tax dollars, as well as more regulatory control. In Wisconsin, the cities of Independence and White Hall last year annexed land in Trempealeau County so that Hi-Crush could move ahead with its new mine. Those cities' zoning rules governing sand operations supersede the county's regulations, including its temporary ban on permits, so Hi- Crush's site can go into service later this year. Local officials in Minnesota and Illinois are taking similar steps.

As the good sand becomes increasingly difficult to find, one company is turning next door to South Dakota. Pat Galvin is chief executive of South Dakota Proppants LLC, which aims to resurrect a 1950s-era mine on federal lands about 40 miles from Mount Rushmore. Located in the Black Hills National Forest, the abandoned mine is filled with the same type of high-quality sand frackers have come to count on, and it could generate up to one million tons annually, he said.

The company is getting ready to pull together an environmental-impact statement to present to the federal government, which controls the site. But oil companies are already asking about supply contracts, Mr. Galvin said. The proximity to fracking operations in North Dakota's Bakken formation and Colorado's Niobrara Shale could trim delivery costs by as much as $50 a ton, he said.

The South Dakota site has another key advantage: no neighbors. And shipments can be routed to avoid tourists bustling around Mount Rushmore.

"We're in the middle of nowhere compared to Wisconsin, where you've got farming and everything else going on," Mr. Galvin said.

—Ryan Dezember contributed to this article.

Write to Alison Sider at alison.sider@wsj.com

New York Fracking Opponents call for a moratorium of 3-5 years!

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New York Fracking Opponents call for a moratorium of 3-5 years!

http://www.dailyfreeman.com/general-news/20140529/ny-fracking-opponents-call-for-moratorium-of-3-to-5-years#disqus_thread

Have your property values decreased? See the attached for assistance in working through assessment values with local/county/state officials!

Total SA suspends $11B Joslyn oil sands mine in Alberta, lays off up to 150 staff

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Good news concerning the Joslyn Mine in Alberta, Canada…

“Joslyn is facing the same challenge that most of the industry worldwide is in the sense that the costs are continuing to inflate when the oil price and specifically the netbacks from the oil sands are remaining stable at best,” he said. That is squeezing margins and “cannot be sustainable in the long-term.”

Total SA suspends $11B Joslyn oil sands mine in Alberta, lays off up to 150 staff                     http://www.windsorstar.com/business/fp/Total+suspends+Joslyn+sands+mine+Alberta+lays+staff/9889319/story.html

WORKER DEATHS

On Workers Memorial Day, a new post on The Pump Handle about the second worker fatality of 2014 for Canada's oil sands company, Suncor:
http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/2014/04/28/second-2014-worker-fatality-at-suncor-alberta-oil-sands-facility-highlights-alarming-industry-death-rate/

The industry, according to records available through Alberta Occupational Health and Safety, suggest the provinces oil and gas extraction industry – which Alberta's energy agency says provides 1 in 16 of the province's jobs – has an alarmingly high rate of occupational fatalities -- on average over the past five years, about a third of those incidents on record with Alberta OHS.  Alberta is where most of Canada's oil reserves are located and where oil sands extraction was pioneered.
Please feel free to share and repost, and thanks as always for reading ~  Lizzie

Elizabeth Grossman

office & cell: 503-704-5637

lizziegrossman@mac.com

Twitter: lizzieg1

skype: lizzie.grossman

http://www.elizabethgrossman.com/Elizabeth_Grossman/Home.html

We don’t always hear about worker deaths; and certainly we have no way of knowing of citizen health issues of those living and working around mines, processing plants, and trans-load facilities, but it is atrocious to know that particulates are frequently being reported by citizens at their residences both in the City and the rural areas at distances from the facilities. We ask for transparency in reporting all deaths related to the mining industry!

.

OIL TRAINS AFFECTING MANY STATES

OIL TRAINS AFFECTING MANY STATES

THE ARTICLES BELOW PROVIDE IMPORTANT INFORMATION

You will find the information below pretty shocking. It shows the linkages between the tar sands, Bakken Crude Oil, and oil from the East to West Coast via rails, terminals, etc.   It is not complete but we have discovered more terminals along the way for both CP and BNSF.   Many of you are connected to hydraulic fracturing, frac sand mining, processing facilities, terminals, rails etc. Overlay this activity with the pipeline activity and you will realize there would be few people not impacted by the dirty oil industry in some way.  (Guy Wolf)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE           

28 May 2014

Contact:

Lorne Stockman, lorne@priceofoil.org, 540-679-1097

David Turnbull, david@priceofoil.org, 202-316-3499

New Report Outlines the Rise of Crude-by-Rail in North America

First Major Analysis of Booming Bomb Train Industry

Today Oil Change International released the first major exposé of the burgeoning crude-by-rail industry in North America, detailing where crude trains are being loaded and unloaded, how many oil trains are crossing the North American continent, and what companies are involved.

Runaway Train: The Reckless Expansion of Crude By Rail in North America is the first in a series, exposing North America’s booming crude-by-rail industry. It is published in conjunction with the launch of a unique interactive online map of crude-by-rail terminals and potential routes in North America. 

The report and map can be found at www.priceofoil.org/rail

“This analysis shows just how out of control the oil industry is in North America today. Regulators are unable to keep up with the industry’s expansion-at-any-cost mentality, and public safety is playing second fiddle to industry profits,” said Lorne Stockman, Research Director of Oil Change International and author of the report.

“This is what the All of the Above Energy Strategy looks like – a runaway train headed straight for North American communities,” Stockman said.

The report shows that there are currently over 230 crude-by-rail terminals in Canada and the United States either in operation, expanding, under construction or planned.

Today, one million barrels of crude oil per day is loaded and unloaded on the North American rail network, meaning roughly 135 trains of 100 cars each are moving dangerous crude oil each day through the continent. But if used at full capacity, existing loading and unloading terminals could handle 3.5 times more crude-by-rail traffic and by 2016 that capacity could grow to over 5 times current levels.

“Communities are already waking up to the dangers of oil trains barreling through their backyards, with spills, explosions and derailments happening all too often. This report and online tool will help provide the critical information that’s been sorely missing in order to shine a light on what’s really going on, and to help stop the runaway train of crude-by-rail in its tracks before more damage is done,” Stockman said.

The  oil industry is simultaneously pushing both new pipelines and increased crude-by-rail on the North American public and recent pipeline spills and train accidents show that the neither is safe. Spills from both transport methods are on the rise.

This report comes ahead of a nation-wide week of action planned for July 6 – 13 in opposition to oil by rail organized by Oil Change International, ForestEthics, 350.org, the Sierra Club, residents of Lac-Mégantic, and a number of other organizations. See more at www.stopoiltrains.org

Future reports in this series by Oil Change International will look at the economics of crude-by-rail, safety, and climate change issues. Please see www.priceofoil.org/rail for the map and links to reports and data.

###

Lorne Stockman
Research Director
Oil Change International
714 G Street SE, Suite 202
Washington, DC 20003P: 1 540 679 1097
W: priceofoil.org -- refineryreport.org/
FB: /priceofoil
T: @priceofoil -- @LorneStockman

Results for Proposed Initiative #75

You can read a summary of the proposition at the Colorado Sec of State 

webistehttp://www.sos.state.co.us/.../2013-2014/75Results.html

- Community Rights Alliance of Winneshiek County 

That’s code words for “take your time, we’re in no hurry to see anything accomplished.

The Minesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is in charge of organizing the three rulemakings mandated by last year’s silica sand bill, and it’s really not that complicated — narrow specific issues.  From the Session Law, here’s what they’re supposed to do.


Do notice that each directive for rulemaking says that “The rulemaking is exempt from Minnesota Statutes, section 14.125.“  That’s code words for “take your time, we’re in no hurry to see anything accomplished.  Dawdle, go around in circles, fall down, and get lost along the way…”  Folks, that’s just what we’re experiencing in this rulemaking process, molasses on a cold day in hell.

Silica Sand Rulemaking MIA -- Why we can NOT afford to be complacent at this time.

The work of an Advisory Committee is to review and comment on the draft, which moves through various iterations before going to the agency board & Commissioner for release as a draft rule for comment.  

Can't do the work if the draft isn't there.  It's that simple...

Carol A. Overland - Legalectric 


Last year's legislation has proven to be lots of wishful thinking and little enforceable regulation of silica sand mining.  The state did not enact a moratorium, there's no Generic Environmental Impact Statement, nor a requirement for an Environmental Impact Statement for individual sand mine permit applications, and we're waiting for the nominal narrow rules and the optional model Standards and Criteria.  Now another legislative session is upon us, legislators are touring their districts and preparing for elections, so now's the time to let the legislators know that last year's placating "compromise" doesn't cut it, that it's compromised the public interest, and we deserve and expect better. 

The people expect reasonable regulation of silica sand mining.

It's coming up on a year since Minnesota's Silica Sand legislation was passed -- what do we have to show for it?

 

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

  Although most of you have requested only action alerts, this info reminds us to not let up in our efforts.

Wishing you well,

Bonita

The question/demand participants in the Advisory Committee should have for the MPCA is simple:
        WHERE'S THE DRAFT RULE?

The work of an Advisory Committee is to review and comment on the draft, which moves through various iterations before going to the agency board & Commissioner for release as a draft rule for comment.  Can't do the work if the draft isn't there.
It's that simple...
Carol

The people expect regulation!

 

A year later, there's been lots of talk, but little action.  Enforceable regulation?  HA!  ... yet it's anything but funny...

Last year's legislation has proven to be lots of wishful thinking and little enforceable regulation of silica sand mining.  The state did not enact a moratorium, there's no Generic Environmental Impact Statement, nor a requirement for an Environmental Impact Statement for individual sand mine permit applications, and we're waiting for the nominal narrow rules and the optional model Standards and Criteria.  Now another legislative session is upon us, legislators are touring their districts and preparing for elections, so now's the time to let the legislators know that last year's placating "compromise" doesn't cut it, that it's compromised the public interest, and we deserve and expect better.  The people expect reasonable regulation of silica sand mining.

Find links to primary documents and statutes here on Legalectric:
 

Someone explain rulemaking to the MPCA

The Minnesota legislature has begun, a short session this year, and a budget session, not policy.  Where are the laws and regulations we expected to regulate silica sand mining?  Stalled out.  We've been to meeting after meeting, and there are no Standards and Criteria, and these were only models anyway, optional examples for local governments to adopt.  It's been taken off the EQB agenda, and I'm reminded of the way the EQB didn't want to address nuclear waste in Florence Township and took it off the agenda, and then just stopped holding meetings!  Deja vu all over again?  Will this really be on the next EQB Agenda and will action be taken?

And then there's rulemaking!  Oh my...  There were only three narrow areas to enact rules, it's not like they have to reinvent the wheel, but the effort, lead by the MPCA, has been one of resistance and failure to produce.  First they objected to expectations to form an Advisory Committee for input into the draft.  Then, once ordered to form Advisory Committee, rather than be prepared to talk turkey and produce a draft to discuss, they lead the group on a wild goose chase with literally TONS of "background information" that's enough to gag a policy wonk (background info and links here:Someone explain rulemaking to the MPCA)

I've participated in more than a few rulemakings over the last 20 years, including very intense ones reworking two chapters of utility regs, a decade ago and another now ongoing, and this silica sand rulemaking does not cut it.  We need draft language to discuss now, at the beginning, with fresh iterations after input at Committee meetings.

The MPCA has produced two process flow charts in their "background information," neither of which even show "Advisory Committee" as part of the process.  What??  Although that perspective is not really surprising, given the MPCA staff argued in comments to the EQB that they couldn't imagine what benefit an Advisory Committee could provide.  Get a clue -- Advisory Committees are authorized by statute and the purpose is to get the public involved at the front end and have a purpose -- to gather input on a draft and work towards consensus so the agency can then release for comment a workable rule (rulemaking law says that an agency can't adopt something that's substantially different from what's been released for comment, hence the need to do the work up front, before the draft is released).  The Advisory Committee has met once, and is soon meeting again.  I've checked with staff and they have no intention of bringing draft language to this SECOND meeting for discussion.  WHAT?  Draft language should be distributed before the first meeting to give folks time to chew on it and be productive right out the gate.  Revised draft language should be presented at every Committee meeting for review and comment.

The MPCA apparently doesn't do rulemaking the way other state agencies do (for example, in the Greenhouse Gas rule, they didn't even give proper notice and admitted it on the record!).  The agency should encourage input, understand the concern, and seriously consider whether and how to address it in the proposed rules.  It's to their advantage to do so to come up with an acceptable rule.  MPCA, get with it and open this process up to MEANINGFUL public participation.

Unfortunately, it looks to me as if they're going to manipulate the process -- take their sweet time, as invited to by the legislative exception to Minn. Stat. 14.125, and then, if the law isn't changed this session to eliminate the rulemaking and they then do have to move rules forward, that they'll continue to hold these nonproductive kaffee-klatsches, and yammer a bit, and then having dodged public input, MPCA will bring the draft directly to the MPCA Board for release for comment, without getting any substantive on-point feedback from the Advisory Group beforehand regarding the draft.  Then the "rule" will be released for comment, it will be horrible, there will be lots of public push-back, and everyone throws up their hands and says, "See, we couldn't and shouldn't try to regulate silica sand!"  That's the trajectory I see, and I don't like it one bit.

Hey, MPCA, prove me wrong!  I hope that you'll decide to do it differently and utilize the Advisory Committee as you should.  Enough of the "make work" meetings -- bring draft language on the three narrow issues for rulemaking to the Committee for review.  Disclose your draft rules!  Get substantive feedback on what rules you're proposing!

And for those of you in Minnesota and Wisconsin -- don't forget -- now is the time to tell your legislators that you expect regulation of silica sand mining operations.  Hold their feet to the fire.  Enough of this dodging and weaving!

On Mar 3, 2014, at 9:43 AM, Carol A. Overland - Legalectric wrote:

-- 

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent
about the things that matter."  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 


Carol A. Overland
Attorney at Law
Legalectric - Overland Law Office
1110 West Avenue
Red Wing, MN  55066

612-227-8638

overland@legalectric.org

http://www.legalectric.org/
http://www.nocapx2020.info/
http://www.not-so-great-northern-transmission-line.org/

This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.

Letters in Post-Bulletin Strongly Favor Moratorium. How to spread the word

  How to submit your letter as a comment if it was unpublished:

     

We did it!  We let the Rochester Post-Bulletin know that citizens want Gov. Dayton to enact a two year moratorium on frac sand mining in southeast Minnesota. Now let’s spread the message wider. 

The letters poured into the Rochester Post-Bulletin calling for a two year moratorium on frac sand mining.  Of the twenty-one printed all but one were in favor of a moratorium or ban! Read them here:  Your Turn: Should Dayton impose moratorium on frac sand mines? 

 

How to  spread the message wider.

 

1.       If they did not print your letter. Go online and enter it as a comment on the page. We know that many, many letters did not get printed.

2.       Email the link to the Governor and your state legislators with a short note along these lines: “It’s clear that southeast Minnesotans know that frac sand mining is bad for our community and want a moratorium.. Southeast Minnesota needs protections NOW but state regulations are over a year away from being implemented. Please, take the time to read the letters printed in the Rochester Post-Bulletin on the issue here: http://www.postbulletin.com/opinion/your-turn-should-dayton-impose-moratorium-on-frac-sand-mines/article_255aadfa-ef5f-596f-a297-18e33ba2e0dc.html. ”  You can email the Governor HERE.  You can get the email for your state legislators HERE.

3.       Share the Rochester Post-Bulletin page on social media.

Bobby King

Land Stewardship Project

612-722-6377

report from Citizens' Frac Sand Summit & LSP Petition to Gov. Dayton

 Report Back from the Citizens’ Frac Sand Summit

LSP Launches Petition Drive Urging Governor Dayton to Protect Minnesota from the Frac Sand Industry

The Citizens’ Frac Sand Summit in Winona was a huge success! Despite a winter weather advisory, over 225 people came together to build our power to stop the frac sand industry from destroying rural communities.

At the summit we launched a petition drive calling on Governor Mark Dayton to take effective action to protect Minnesota from the frac sand industry. Governor Dayton has laid out a policy that makes a lot of sense — a ban on the frac sand industry in the fragile karst area of southeast Minnesota and tough standards for the whole state that protect air and water quality. This petition supports that policy and urges the Governor to take action to implement it.  

Highlights included:

• ​Marilyn Frauenkron Bayer, LSP member from Houston County, reviewing the dozens of grassroots victories in Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota where people are standing up to the frac sand industry. Her conclusion? “We are powerful and we are committed to building more power to protect our communities from the devastation of frac sand mining.” Read her list of grassroots victories here.

• Bob Christie, LSP member and lifelong farmer from St. Charles in Winona County, sharing a statement he delivered to Governor Dayton about his experience with the frac sand industry and why it will destroy farmland and opportunities for beginning farmers. He received a standing ovation.

• Dr. Crispin Pierce, director of the Environmental Public Health Program at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, shared his research on how people who live near frac sand facilities are being exposed to silica dust and the health consequences of this exposure.

Much of the information from the conference is up our website here and more will be up soon.

TAKE ACTION!  With your help we can reach our goal of 5,000 petition signatures from Minnesotans in the next three months

1. Go online and sign the petition, then share it via e-mail, Facebook and Twitter
2. Print a copy of the petition and get your friends and neighbors to sign. An important purpose of the petition drive is to create an opportunity to have conversations with friends and relatives, to educate them about the issue and engage them.
3. Contact us about a LSP member-leader, or staff member, coming to your church or civic organization to talk about the frac sand issue and the petition drive. Contact LSP's Bobby King atbking@landstewardshipproject.org or 612-722-6377.

ACTION ITEM: YOU CAN HELP BY WRITING A NOTE TO YOUR LEGISLATOR TODAY!

Dear Friends and Neighbors,
  Contacting our national legislators is important in order to combine our efforts on this topic.
Wishing you well,
Bonita

On Tuesday, January 7, 2014 1:00 AM, Patricia J. Popple <sunnyday5@charter.net> wrote:

AN ACTION ITEM: YOU CAN HELP BY WRITING A NOTE TO YOUR LEGISLATOR TODAY!

The Frac Sand Sentinel (#31) from January 5, 2014, highlighted (via articles) the issues related to derailed tanker cars carrying volatile fuel.  I have copied the articles below for your reference.

Massive Fireball From North Dakota Oil Train Derailment Caught On Tape open original article

Mon Dec 30, 2013 16:46 from Zero Hedge by Tyler Durden

*NO INJURIES REPORTED FROM BNSF TRAIN FIRE IN NORTH DAKOTA

Wind is taking toxic smoke towards areas southeast of Casselton, ND, after train derailment. Residents urged to stay indoors

A train has derailed west of Casselton, North Dakota just before 2:20 p.m. Monday. As Valley News Live reports, several area emergency teams are on scene and are setting up an incident command center. Emergency crews are urging people to stay inside and a code red alert has been sent out to residents in a two mile radius of the accident. The Casselton Fire Department says a Burlington Northern Santa Fe train is involved. An unknown number of cars derailed, but Valley News Live reports is told one bulk oil car is on fire and toxic black smoke is being released

Fiery Oil Train Crash in Raging Shale Oil Boom State of North Dakota 

http://ecowatch.com/2013/12/31/fiery-oil-train-crash-north-dakota/ 

CRUDE BY RAIL SAFE?

http://www.mycenturylink.com/news/read/category/Top%20News/article/ap-weather_shift_near_nd_derailment_worries-ap

 Warning issued about oil shipped from the Bakken oil shale patch

http://m.billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/warning-issued-about-oil-shipped-from-the-bakken-oil-shale/article_262d70e0-29f8-5a97-9a68-1d81f6427442.html?mobile_touch=true

************

After I sent out the newsletter, I received this comment from a reader in the La Crosse area!

"I have been screaming about these trains for awhile....I worked on changing laws in ND in 1980's.  This crap runs right through my backyard south of LaCrosse.  People need to make the connection...there are consequences to our actions."

Train explosions prompt regulator warning on Bakken oil flammability

Posted on January 2, 2014 at 11:30 pm by Zain Shauk in Crude oil, Pipelines

I then received a great article written by Steve Horn who writes for desmogblog.com  http://www.desmogblog.com/2014/01/05/exclusive-permit-shows-bakken-oil-casselton-train-contained-high-levels-volatile-chemicals 

I read the article and near the end of the article (you have to look for more beyond the first page) I found a video showing a discussion between Scott Smith and Mark Ruffalo (It is about 10 minutes long but you just have to see it!!! ).  The two have a discussion about the North Dakota derailment and the concerns they have about the vast qualities of volatile substances these old obsolete tankers are carrying across the plains! There are some pretty clear cut revelations.

I wrote to Craig Peachy, Director of SMART in the Transportation Division in Madison and asked him the following questions:

"Are tankers of crude oil coming through WI from the Bakken??? If so, what measures are being taken to safeguard residents? I had a note this morning from a guy from an area south of La Crosse tell me these tankers were moving through "his back yard".  I would guess that this problem is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of dangers to people living near the rail." I then asked him to read Steve Horn's revealing article and to take a look at the interview between Smith and Ruffalo.

Craig Peachy responded with the following:

"Pat,

Yes, that oil is moving through Wisconsin and yes many citizens are concerned with the recent derailments moving this oil. I have many articles on the subject and all eyes in Washington are on the issue. One of the biggest problems are the old DOT111 cars being used in moving the oil. However, the real problem lies with the railroads moving the oil itself-safely. Track conditions, mechanical inspections of rail cars, fatigue of train crews etc. There is currently an HR 3040 Safe Freight Car bill in congress right now that has about 45 cosponsors already signed on that would require 2 persons on every freight train. The Quebec train derailment may have been diverted had there been a two person crew on board. The fact of the matter is the railroads everyday haul much more dangerous products than this oil. Its all about moving it safely. When I get a chance I'll send you the HR 3040 link for people to contact their representative. We would appreciate if you pass on to your group.

Thank you,

Craig "

Craig Peachy then sent me a copy of the letter he had written to Congressman Petri-HR 3040 about supporting  two-person crews. It is attached and I suggest you read it to see why there are problems on some shipments of hazardous products particularly when only one crew member is on board. I suggest you write to your congressman to draw attention to HR 3040 asking that there be at least two certified people on board trains to assure greater opportunities for safety not only on the train but for the communities and areas where these very long trains travel, often carrying volatile and hazardous materials.

Craig also shared this article. Subject: Tell Congress: Support Two-Person Crews HR 3040
http://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4038/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=7508

Craig can be contacted if you wish to know more, but I think it is important that citizens support bills that require greater safety for those on board those trains not only for the crew's protection but for the protection of people living in the areas surrounding the rail.  I know for certain that tankers go through Chippewa Falls and often are seen on tracks waiting to be picked up. My assumption is that some of the materials they have on board are hazardous and require special handling. You have probably seen them in your area as well!

Craig Peachy, Director
SMART – Transportation Division
Wisconsin Legislative Board, LO 056
7 N Pinckney Street, Suite LL-25
Madison, Wisconsin 53703-4208
0ffice-608 251 4120

Cell-608-695-6116
utulo56@gmail.com
http://wisconsin.utu.org

Later today, another person sent this article to me which raises questions about the energy lobbyists fighting to reduce the regulation which seems to be the name of the game when it comes to corporations not concerned about the safety of people living around or near big heavy industrial operations. 
Trains Carrying Oil Keep Exploding, but Will the Energy Lobby Allow More Regulation?

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2014/01/not_ready_as_texas_railwa
ys_tr.php

I urge you to write to your legislators at the national level as well as other governmental officials to help make life along the rail safe for all of those who could be affected.

Thanks for your help in this matter. I know you have lots on your plate in every area where this letter is sent. However,  policies need to be developed for the safety of all of us.
Pat Popple
www.ccc-wis.com
715-723-6398