Big Trees in West Virginia

Charlotte Ferrell Smith of the Charleston Daily Mail reports on updating the West Virginia Big Tree Registry. Bob Radspinner, former president of the West Virginia Forestry Association, is heading up that project.  You may have a hard time finding some of the trees already on the registry, because the Division of Forestry doesn't always give out their locations, to avoid their being  damaged by vandals or stolen. If you want to nominate trees, Ms. Smith says the  public can go to the website www.wvcommerce.org/ resources/forestry/big_tree for information about measuring and submitting nominees.

Questions About Duke University Study On Methane In Wells

Researchers from Duke University recently reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science on  methane found in drinking water located near fractured wells . The authors reportedly concluded that hydraulic fracturing is responsible for the methane.  However, correlation is not necessarily causation.  There certainly was no fracturing fluid or flowback that would indicate that the fracturing was causing the methane to end up in the drinking water.  As reported in Forbes,

We found no evidence for contamination of drinking-water samples with deep saline brines or fracturing fluids,” write the four scientists from Duke University in their study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Energy in Depth has an initial  response to the study that is worth consideration. 

You wouldn’t have known it by looking at all those headlines this morning, but spend some time wading through the report and (admittedly limited) data set issued by researchers at Duke University over the weekend, and you’ll come across a number things that opponents of responsible natural gas development in the Marcellus aren’t likely to repeat. Or like. One bit.

For starters, the researchers basically admit that hydraulic fracturing itself is not responsible for methane migration into water wells, additionally conceding in their paper that neither brine nor fracturing fluids were detected in any of the water wells they sampled, even in areas where development operations are most active.

They were also forced to admit that methane is a natural, common constituent found in just about every water well across the entire region (85 percent of them, to be exact), with thermogenic methane – as opposed to the biogenic stuff – identified in the vast majority of those, even in areas where no development has taken place. How does thermogenic gas migrate upward in areas of zero Marcellus development? Geology, it turns out, has plenty of answers to offer on this question. But the authors of this report aren’t geologists, so they chose to ignore that question in its entirety.

Of course, neither a lack of expertise nor a frighteningly small data set had the effect of slowing down one bit the researchers’ aggressive campaign to generate as many hits as they could in the media – up to and including the placement of an op-ed by Duke’s Rob Jackson in this morning’s Philadelphia Inquirer.

In truth, it’s a campaign that started late last week, with a reporter in Quebec (of all places) sending us a media advisory from Mr. Jackson trumpeting the release of a new paper that “attributes contamination to gas extraction technologies.” As mentioned, the report itself doesn’t actually say that – in fact, Jackson says the exact opposite in an interview with Bloomberg TV today. But as it turns out, putting out a paper calling for updated state well-casing standards isn’t quite as sexy as putting out a paper calling for an EPA take-over of the fracturing process itself, is it?

Below, we take a closer look at the central “findings” of the Duke report, along the way identifying several errors, inconsistencies and problems that, taken together, raise serious doubts about the rigor, veracity and statistical significance of the project.

For the full response from Energy in Depth, go here

Coal-To-Liquids Plant Breaks Ground in Mingo County

It was a beautiful day in Gilbert, WV at the ground-breaking ceremony for theTransGas  Adams Fork coal-to-gasoline plant.  The ceremony was held at the Larry Joe Harless Commmunity Center. Here is the MetroNews report.  I didn't see Ken Ward there,  but here is his and Eric Eyre's report on the project.

80 Year Old Miner Still Works Underground

Here is an incredible story from the Beckley Register Herald about a miner who is still working underground at the age of 80.  He started working in the mines when Truman was president and the pay was $2 an hour.

Stink Bugs

Here is information from Dr. Dave Samuel, former chairman of the Environmental Quality Board, about stink bugs, which have been especially bad the past few years.
 t bite, and they didn't really smell, but they were everywhere, inside and outside our homes.  Get out the sweeper and suck them up by the thousands, but there always seemed to be more pouring in.  That was then, but now we have a new home invader. Stink bugs. 

Stink bugs came to America from the Orient where they are agricultural pests.  They apparently caught a ride on a container ship and were first seen in Allentown Pennsylvania in 2001.  They were first spotted in West Virginia in 2004.  Stink bugs didn't appear to be much of a problem until last year when the numbers soared.  Today they have spread to many states, and this summer and fall we'll all get a chance to see them . . . in our homes. 

There are a number of species of stink bugs, but the one we have is the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug.  There, aren't you glad you read my column today?  Regardless of its formal name, for home owners, the real problem is that they are in your house in large numbers.  The other night I got up around 3 A.M. to do what older men do at 3 A.M., and voila, there on the toilet was a stink bug.  He ended up floating away (use your imagination). 

Even though it was in my bathroom, he (she) posed no threat to me.  Stink bugs don't bite, and unless you crush them, they don't smell too bad.  However, if you are in the agriculture business, especially fruits and vegetables, stink bugs are a major economic problem.  Growers in the eastern panhandle were hit fairly hard last year, and things could get worse this summer. 

Adults emerge in late April and May, mate (is that what that guy or girl was doing on my toilet? There has to be a better place for those activities.  Then again, when you are a bug, you may just be a little less discriminating), then lay eggs from late May through August.  The eggs hatch and go through five molts.  As cold weather comes on the adults look for places to overwinter.  Your home. 

They'll feed on ornamental plants, but really like fruits such as pears, peaches, and apples.  They've even been found on blackberries, tomatoes and corn. 

OK, the big question.  How to keep them out of your home?  Actually, the best way is the same way you used to keep the Asian lady beetles out of your homes several years ago.  Cover or caulk all cracks around the exterior windows and doors.  Do the same around chimneys, wood fascia, and repair all bad screens.  In other words, seal your house as best you can.  Yes, you can spray, but I'm told that most insecticides you would use on your house have a short effective life span, so these won't work very well. 

In the spring, if they start to emerge in your home, then seal all cracks around baseboards, window and door trim, ceiling light fixtures, etc.  You can suck them up with a vacuum cleaner, but that smell may stay with the sweeper for three weeks.  Last year some folks in Maryland removed more than 20,000 of these rather large critters from their homes. 

The prediction is that in mid-September we will be inundated with these pests.  Get prepared and seal your home as best you can.  For your gardens, I found one reference that said to use insecticidal soaps.  Several references noted that when sprayed, these nasty little bugs can lay "dead" for up to a week, then suddenly resurrect.  Tough critters.  One last thing.  Be careful about buying sprays that guarantee to kill all the stink bugs in or around your home.  Apparently, at this time, there just isn't any such product.  What a stinking mess this is. 

Bugs That Are Stinking Up The Place          May 15, 2011
by
Dr. Dave Samuel

First it was those pesky little rascals that looked like ladybugs that invaded our space and made a nuisance of themselves.  They didn'

The Right Path to Renewable Energy

This is how renewable energy should be advanced - private money is invested in developing new methods of nonpolluting power. Taylor Kuykendall of the Beckley Register Herald reports on Google's plan to throw cash at several renewable energy sources.   One possible source of renewable power in West Virginia is a geothermal hotspot in the eastern portion of the state.

I wouldn't put my money into these projects, which generally can't survive without significant government subsidies, and don't show much immediate promise.  But I respect others who are trying to develop new industries without using tax dollars or government coercion. The founders of Google are evidently willing to put their money where their mouths are.