Fossil Fuels

Brandon Ellingson (NRC)

Abigial Nash (Sustainable Food and Farming)

Irina Polunia (Environmental Science)

12/5/16

For the people of Aztec, New Mexico, the introduction of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, brings promises of job creation and lower energy prices (Barbee, 2015). Hydraulic fracturing is the process of extracting oil and natural gas from rocks in tight geological formations through high pressure pumping of water and various chemicals (McJeon et al., 2014). The resulting so-called ‘transitional fuel’ obtained via fracking is arguably cleaner than coal, emitting 45% less carbon dioxide per energy unit than coal production (Lomborg, 2012). For the United States, fracking provides an opportunity to achieve energy self-sufficiency and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Furthermore, hydraulic fracturing is cheaper than coal production (Schneising et al., 2014). Despite the idealistic promises of the fossil fuel industry, fracking instead exceeds the threshold where it would contribute less greenhouse gas emissions than coal production (Heath et al., 2013, Sanchez et al., 2015) and leads to substantial air pollution due to natural gas leakage around extraction sites. This is the case for Aztec, New Mexico, where fracking is a hazard to human health and puts the climate and community benefit of fracking into question (Barbee, 2015).       Continue Reading →

Arctic oil drilling poses a serious threat to wildlife and ecosystem health

Abigail Thomas: Environmental Science

Benjamin Sharaf: Natural Resource Conservation

Mike Piper: Turfgrass Management

The spill occurred about 5,000 feet below the ocean’s surface, where it spread devastation and chaos across the area’s ecosystem. Wildlife of all kinds washed up to shore covered in black muck (Frost, 2016).  They were overcome by the foreign liquid that seemed to consume them.  The day was April 20, 2010, when the worst oil spill in our nation’s history occurred (Frost, 2016).  After over 3 million barrels of oil leaked across the coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida hundreds of thousands of animals and even 11 human beings had been killed (Frost, 2016). This event crippled the ecosystem and created lasting effects across every trophic level that will be felt for many more years to come (Frost, 2016). The sad part is we may never learn from our mistakes. After we watch something like the Gulf oil spill happen, we are still considering allowing more oil companies to spread their territory (in other words by drilling in more frequently and in different areas).  More specifically oil companies are trying to lay claim to the Arctic, one of the last untapped resource of oil (“Arctic Oil Drilling,” (n.d.)). If we care about our planet and the creatures that reside here, we can not let this happen. The Arctic is home to millions of organisms that pose amazing benefits to our earth (Whelan, 2016). If something happened in the Arctic like it did in the Gulf of Mexico, there’s no telling if the area would ever recover. The risk is far too great just to make money, even if an oil spill is unlikely. The only way to make sure this never happens is to create a treaty. This would entail all the countries that will stake claim to the Arctic, to never allow any drilling. The Arctic is a extremely fragile ecosystem that needs to stay the way it is in order to preserve the vast beauty and creatures it protects. Oil drilling in the Arctic will negatively impact the health of nearby wildlife and creation of a treaty to leave the arctic alone, is the most reasonable solution. Continue Reading →

Carolyn Doyle (Animal Science), Collin Horgan (Environmental Science), and Rudy Lewis (BCT)

Modern day societies are entirely dependent on power and energy for survival. Without an energy source, even our most basic pillars of community will come crashing down. Gone are the days that human beings were able to thrive on their own without any electricity, heating, or any numerous other benefits that energy provides us with. Thankfully, we have developed a reliable system for harvesting and using energy, coal production. Unfortunately, coal production as it is currently produces excessive harmful environmental pollutants that are released into the atmosphere. Continue Reading →

Michael Deane — BCT

Isabella Maloney — NRC

Chris Therrien — BCT

In most modern households, clean tap water is considered a commodity: a common good that requires very little thought other than remembering to the pay the bill at the end of each month. People often take things like this for granted, but for Jessica Ernst, clean tap water is more than just a passing thought. Jessica hails from a small Canadian town in Alberta that rests above both a shale rock depository, and the freshwater aquifer that provides the majority of water for her home. After working as a consultant in the oil and natural gas industry for close to 25 years, she was not particularly concerned when an international gas company, Encana, decided to harvest the natural gases trapped within the underlying shale, a sedimentary rock with large amounts of fossil fuel gases. They achieved this with a method known as hydraulic fracturing, which involves drilling into subterranean shale pumping in thousands of gallons of chemically infused hydraulic fracturing fluid, cracking the rock under pressure, and releasing the gases trapped inside. The gas is then collected and shipped around the country to be used as fuel for any number of things. This very complex procedure has yielded a momentary economic boom in the U.S., and has polarized the American public into dichotomy. In this small Alberta town, however, there was an interesting side effect. Continue Reading →

Lourdharry Pauyo (BCT)

James McMullen (EnviSci)

Jaenyffe Santos (NRC)

     Williamsport, a former ghost town most famous for the Little League World Series, is one of America’s fastest growing cities, with an unemployment rate significantly below the national average (Meng, 2015). Similarly, the locals of Smithfield, Pennsylvania experienced only the positive outcomes of hydraulic fracturing, proclaiming their admiration by naming their local food delicacy the “frack burger” (Sovacool, 2014). An hour and a half drive down I-70, in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, the attitude differs greatly. Clear streams turned into muddy swamps full of dead fish and water flammable enough to make the Cuyahoga River burn with envy (Sovacool, 2014). Meng (2015) cited the potential for environmental drawbacks, claiming hydraulic fracturing can lead to significant environmental degradation and its enormous water requirements are problematic. Pennsylvania is one of the states where hydraulic fracturing is a common practice, and it is a great example of the extremes associated with hydraulic fracturing. Hydraulic fracturing offered significant opportunity for development in the shale play regions of Pennsylvania. Continue Reading →

Richard Hicks – Building Construction Technology

Brendan McGowan – Natural Resources Conservation

Kyle Karaska – Building Construction Technology

Assessing the Problem of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluids

Across the United States, millions of people have access to natural resources. One of the most important resources, clean drinking water, is usually held to strict regulations. In the small town of Dimock, Pennsylvania, this privilege was stripped from people due to the actions of Cabot Oil & Gas, one of the largest fracking companies in the U.S. CBS reported that the corporation collected natural gas via hydraulic fracturing and as a result chemicals seeped into their water, compromising all of the drinking water (2010). Hydraulic fracturing companies left families across the town with toxic, flammable water. This was only the beginning of their problems, as the gas company wasn’t held accountable due to a loophole, the same loophole that protected Chesapeake Energy in 2009 after fracking fluids infiltrated waters nearby killing 17 cows (CBS, 2010). Continue Reading →