West Virginia Works to Rehabilitate the Little Coal River

The DEP reports, in a recent press release:

Work has begun on another major restoration project on the Little Coal River. The river continues to benefit from the strong commitment of state agencies, environmental groups, businesses and concerned citizens to improve its water quality, fish habitat and recreational opportunities.

The latest restoration effort, sponsored by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, will enhance water quality on a 15-mile stretch of the river from Danville downstream to McCorkle. Work recently began on a section of the river at Julian in Boone County.

The entire project involves placing 198 restoration structures (boulders and logs) in the river to increase its flow velocity. Rapidly moving water better carries sediment through the river, flushes out sand and silt from the bottom and improves habitat for fish and insects. The project also will help reduce stream bank erosion on the Little Coal. The placement of the restoration structures allows fish passage at all flows and will not hinder current recreational boating opportunities.

R.E.I. Consulting designed the work and Stantec Inc. is engineering the $3 million project, which is targeted for completion in December 2014. Partial funding was provided by American Electric Power, whose utility subsidiary, Appalachian Power, serves a portion of West Virginia. AEP’s

$1.45 million contribution was provided through a consent decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Clean Air Act. DEP Stream Restoration Fund money is covering the remainder of the project’s costs.

Efforts to improve water quality on the Little Coal have been ongoing for close to 30 years. The state Division of Highways first began placing restoration structures in the river during construction of Corridor G. Since then, state agencies and others have continued the work to reduce sediment in the river, a problem brought on by pre-law mining, timbering and road construction. The latest project is being supported by the West Virginia Conservation Agency.

Local schools have joined the effort, as well. Madison Middle School science students in Boone County wrote about how they hoped to assist agencies in the Little Coal restoration and entered those plans in a national science contest, “Solve for Tomorrow,” sponsored by Samsung.

Madison Middle is now among 15 finalists nationwide to win up to $110,000 in technology and software for the school. A Samsung judging panel will select four grand prize winners.

A fifth winner -- called the Community Choice winner -- will be selected based on on-line voting by the public. To vote for Madison Middle School and to view a video about their efforts, go to www.samsung.com/solvefortomorrow.

Licensed Remediation Specialist Exam Scheduled for March 27

            The Department of Environmental Protection is announcing that the next examination for licensed remediation specialist certification will be held from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. on March 27, 2013 at Marshall University Graduate College – South Charleston Campus, Room 205 of the Robert C. Byrd Academic Center Building, 100 Angus E. Peyton Drive, South Charleston, West Virginia.

      Certification is required for anyone submitting voluntary remediation and brownfields cleanup designs to the agency’s Office of Environmental Remediation (OER) for review.

      To qualify for the exam, you must have a bachelor’s degree in an approved scientific field and at least six years of relevant professional experience. You can also qualify with a high school diploma and 10 years of relevant professional experience. In either case, you must have at least one year of supervisory or project management experience.

      To take the exam, register online at www.dep.wv.gov. Under the Office of Environmental Remediation, go to the licensed remediation specialist online application and follow the instructions. Fees of $300 for the application and

$250 for the examination are required.  Online applications must be received by March 13, 2013.

      Only approved candidates with picture identification cards will be admitted to the testing site. Photo identification and the $250 testing fee must be presented before the exam starts.

      For more information about the exam, call Jamie Wolfe, CEGAS Manager, at (304) 696-6042, or by email at jawolfe@marshall.edu. Marshall University

(CEGAS) administers the licensing exam for OER.

      The legislature enacted the voluntary remediation and brownfields law during the 1996 legislative session. Voluntary remediation involves a responsible party cleaning up a site for future development, and brownfields involves clean up by a third party.

      

Japan Asking for More US Natural Gas

Japan is feeling the effects of shuttering its nuclear power plants, and needs liquified natural gas  to run its power plants.  According to Bloomberg News, Prime Minister Abe is going to ask President Obama to approve more outlets for LNG in the US, to allow Japan some alternatives to LNG it is buying now.

The U.S. has only approved one export plant for shipments to countries without a free-trade agreement. Cheniere Energy Inc.’s plant at Sabine Pass is due to begin exports in 2015. The U.S. may ship about 50 million tons of LNG by the end of the decade, Royal Dutch Shell Plc Chief Executive Officer Peter Voser said last month. That compares with 77 million tons a year from Qatar, currently the world’s top exporter.

Japan paid an average of 67,210 yen a metric ton for LNG in December, according to data from the country’s Ministry of Finance. That’s equivalent to $15.79 per million British thermal units. U.S. gas futures traded in New York hit a 10-year low in April of less than $2 per million Btus. The gas price rose 0.2 percent to $3.3 per million Btus today.

Some politicians, such as Rep Markey of Massachusetts, oppose sending gas overseas because they think it will drive up prices here in the US.  As prices are uneconomical for drilling at this time in many locations, a little higher price for gas would be welcome,  and would help keep America producing an abundant resource.  Here's hoping President Obama will recognize the godsend that the Japanese Prime Minister's request represents.  

West Virginia to Change Aluminum, Beryllium Criteria

 The DEP will be holding a public hearing to discuss the proposed emergency rule establishing new criteria for aluminum and beryllium. The rule is found here; to see the changes  scroll back to the chart in Appendix E.  The aluminum  criteria are being updated to reflect hardness-based approaches to criteria setting, and beryllium is being changed to reflect the Safe Drinking Water Act  maximum contaminant level goal  of 4 mg/l.  EPA has never had a recommended beryllium criterion, and the reason for the current West Virginia number is  unclear.  All agree, though, that it is unnecessarily stringent.  Some mining companies were running afoul of it, even though there was no environmental harm being done. 

Here's the DEP's press release:

     The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Division of Water and Waste Management has scheduled a public hearing and comment period on emergency rule changes to 47CSR2, “Requirements Governing Water Quality Standards.”  The DEP proposes an emergency rule to revise the dissolved aluminum criteria and human health Category A beryllium criterion in 47CSR2.

The hearing will be held at DEP’s Charleston headquarters, 601 57th Street S.E., Charleston, WV  25304, in the Coopers Rock Training Room on March 27,

2013 at 6:00 p.m.  In addition to oral comments provided at the hearing, the agency will accept written comments at any time up to the conclusion of the public hearing.  No comments will be accepted after that time.  Written comments may be submitted to the following address:

Kevin R Coyne

Water Quality Standards Program

WV Department of Environmental Protection

601 57th Street SE

Charleston, WV  25304

Comments may also be e-mailed to dep.comments@wv.gov  Comments will be made a part of the rulemaking record.  Copies of the emergency rule and other rule documents are available from the Secretary of State’s office or from the agency website www.dep.wv.gov/wqs.  Hardcopies of this information may also be obtained by calling Kevin Coyne at (304) 926-0499, ext. 1110. 

Ohio Proposes Higher Severance Fees for Oil and Gas Producers

Pam Kasey of the State Journal reports that Ohio's Gov. Kasich is proposing an increase in oil and gas severance fees, but at rates lower than West Virginia's :

In the proposal, the state would tax the production of natural gas from shale at 1 percent of market value and natural gas liquids, condensate and oil at 4 percent of value. The tax rate for liquids would be 1.5 percent in the first year to allow producers to recover the cost of establishing new wells. 

Low-volume gas wells — those producing less than 10 thousand cubic feet per day, or Mcf, on average — would be taxed at the lesser of 3 cents/Mcf or 1 percent of market value, and small, conventional natural gas producers would see their severance tax eliminated. 

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Decrease Without EPA Controls

For those worried about Global Warming, EPA's greenhous gas emissions report shows reductions in GHG emissions from 2010 to 2011.  EPA's press release follows:

WASHINGTON – Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) posted the second year of greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions data on its website, which provides public access to emissions data by sector, by greenhouse gas, and by geographic region such as county or state.

Greenhouse gases are the primary driver of climate change, which can lead to hotter, longer heat waves that threaten the health of the sick, poor or elderly; increases in ground-level ozone pollution linked to asthma and other respiratory illnesses; as well as other threats to the health and welfare of Americans.

“Transparency ensures a better informed public, which leads to a better protected environment,” said Gina McCarthy, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. “With this second data release, communities, businesses and others can track and compare facilities' greenhouse gas emissions and identify opportunities to cut pollution, minimize wasted energy, and save money.”

The 2011 data, collected through the congressionally mandated Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reporting Program, includes information from facilities in 41 source categories that emit large quantities of greenhouse gasses. The 2011 data also contains new data collected from 12 additional source categories, including petroleum and natural gas systems and coal mines.

For facilities that are direct emitters of GHGs the data show that in 2011:

- Power plants remain the largest stationary source of GHG emissions, with 2,221 million metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent (mmtCO2e), roughly one-third of total U.S. emissions. 2011 emissions from this source were approximately 4.6 percent below 2010 emissions, reflecting an ongoing increase in power generation from natural gas and renewable sources.

- Petroleum and natural gas systems were the second largest sector, with emissions of 225 mmtCO2e in 2011, the first year of reporting for this group.

- Refineries were the third-largest emitting source, with 182 mmtCO2e, a half of a percent increase over 2010.

EPA now has two years of greenhouse gas data for 29 source categories. Some industrial sectors, such as metals production and chemicals production, reported overall increases in emissions, while others, such as power plants, reported decreases. Overall emissions reported from these 29 sources were 3 percent lower in 2011 than in 2010. In the future the data collected through the program will provide the public with the opportunity to compare emissions and developing trends for all 41 industry types –by facility and sector.

This data is accessible through the Facility Level Information on Green House gases Tool (FLIGHT) – a web-based data publication tool. EPA has also expanded accessibility of this data through EPA’s online database EnviroFacts that allows a user to search for information by zip code.

The data collection program is required by Congress in the FY2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act, which requires facilities to report data from large emission sources across a range of industry sectors, as well as suppliers of certain greenhouse gases, and products that would emit GHGs if released or combusted. EPA’s GHG Reporting Program includes information from more than 8,000 sources and represents 85-90 percent of total U.S. GHG emissions. This data only includes large facilities and does not include small sources, agriculture, or land use, which can also be significant sources of greenhouse gas emissions.

Access EPA’s GHG Reporting Program Data and Data Publication Tool:

http://www.epa.gov/ghgreporting/

Access EnviroFacts:

http://epa.gov/enviro/

Android App Could Improve Local Weather Forecasting

These new phones and their apps continue to amaze me.

Evidently some recent Android phones come with a pressure sensor that measures barometric pressure.  By downloading an app that reports those pressures to forecasters, local weather reporting can be improved. Read about it here.