POWHR Newsletter
Here's what our newsletter holds this week:
1. A blog post featuring Maury Johnson, the Hero from the Holler, and the 2021 Walk for Our Grandchildren and Mother Earth
2. MVP's greenwashing methane abatement
3. A new report from NRDC and Rolling Stone reporting on radioactivity in fracking waste
4. A new report from PSR on PFAS chemicals used in fracking and drilling
5. Other News + Upcoming Events
6. 'Did you know?' Feature
7. Check out photos from the Water Quilt Convergence in Newport, VA
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Maury Johnson with a sculpture made by ARTivism Virginia. Photo from Maury Johnson
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Check out this blog featuring POWHR's Hero from the Holler, Maury Johnson. Read about the 2021 Walk for Our Grandchildren and Mother Earth - and how you can get involved in the fight for a livable future. Here's an excerpt:
"Maury recounted that his favorite part of the walk was meeting like-minded people who are fighting for a livable future and caring for each other along the way. He published almost daily Facebook live videos featuring activists, organizers and community members he met along the way, and united communities across fossil fuel fights throughout the nation. When asked what he would like readers of this blog to do, Maury said 'do something. Anything. Everyone can do a little something. Whatever talents you have, [use them]. Sign onto a letter. Do something.'"
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Ted Auch, FracTracker Alliance, 2021.
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Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP)'s developers recently announced that they are paying $150 million dollars to an unnamed Southwest Virginia coal plant to - you guessed it - "offset" MVP's greenhouse gas emissions.
To quote our friends at Appalachian Voices, "don’t be fooled. Carbon offsetting is a questionable proposition in any form. The basic premise is that by subsidizing efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, or sequester carbon already in the atmosphere, a fossil-fuel project that is in fact carbon-intensive can claim to be carbon-neutral.
Importantly, the greenwashing agreement only includes operational emissions of the pipeline, omitting all emissions produced by the drilling, storage and transportation of the gas — which are a lot. And it’s still a plan to pollute — the process described to capture the coal mine’s methane would release significant amounts of carbon dioxide. This does nothing to curtail the pipeline’s leakage of methane gas, a significantly more potent contributor to global warming. The $150 million would be wholly insufficient to actually cover the total methane leakage, from cradle to grave, of the ruinous project."
MVP's gas, if put into service, will still be responsible for nearly 90 million annual metric tons (or 23 coal-fired plants) of greenhouse gas emissions (Source: Oil Change International). This is the case regardless if MVP helps fund a coal company's conversion of some methane emissions to a different greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide), which will still be released in addition to MVP's methane emissions. Carbon offsets, carbon capture and methane abatement prolong our reliance on fossil fuels while allowing polluters to continue releasing greenhouse gases under the guise of neutrality or being 'green'. MVP must not be allowed to use this propaganda to evade the truth of their massively polluting and unnecessary project.
To read Appalachian Voices' full coverage of this greenwashing, head here. To see Sierra Club's press release, head here.
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NRDC Report: A HOT FRACKING MESS
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Ted Auch, FracTracker Alliance, 2018. Aerial support provided by LightHawk.
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The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) just published a new report titled 'A Hot Fracking Mess - How Weak Regulation of Oil and Gas Production Leads to Radioactive Waste in Our Water Air and Communities'. Journalist Justin Nobel, who has exhaustively reported on fracking and radioactivity, reported in an article in tandem with the report in Rolling Stone.
Here's the gist from the NRDC report:
"Oil and gas extraction activities, including fracking, drilling, and production, can release radioactive materials that endanger workers, nearby communities, and the environment. The United States has known about these dangers for at least 30 years, ever since an EPA report revealed the health risks of unregulated radioactive oil and gas waste. Since then, additional research has confirmed those findings. Yet, even as oil and gas exploration and production have boomed across the United States, the country continues to lack any federal regulations governing the handling and disposal of radioactive waste and materials generated from these activities, leaving Americans reliant on spotty and loophole-ridden state oversight."
Here's a taste of the Rolling Stone article:
"The report details regulatory gaps in transportation and trucking, worker safety, and in some of the nation’s benchmark environmental laws, such as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act. One of the most notorious exemptions involves oilfield radioactivity not being covered by the Atomic Energy Act, which was passed in 1946 and is the nation’s chief law for regulating radioactive materials. The mother of all exemptions is the 1980 Bentsen and Bevill Amendments to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, which labels oilfield waste as non-hazardous, despite the EPA having found that the wastes contain multiple hazards, including uranium at 'levels that exceed 100 times EPA’s health-based standards.'"
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Forever Chemicals: The EPA Knew
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Photo from PSR/Fractracker
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Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) published a new report titled 'Fracking with Forever Chemicals: Records Indicate Oil and Gas Firms Injected PFAS into More than 1,200 Wells Since 2012; EPA Approved Chemical for Oil and Gas Operations Despite PFAS Concerns', showing evidence that many oil and gas companies knowingly used per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFAS) with/or substances that can turn into PFAS in their hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas. These chemicals are known to have been used in over six states in the U.S. between 2012 and 2020 - and also, since these chemicals are often unregulated, they could also have been/currently could be in use in other states and drilling techniques.
The report states, "PFAS have been linked to cancer, birth defects, pre-eclampsia, and other serious health effects. Toxic in minuscule concentrations, they accumulate inside the human body and do not break down in the environment – hence their nickname, 'forever chemicals.'" PFAS chemicals have been slipping through an astounding number of regulatory failures and loopholes over the last decades. It is another example of public servants failing to protect the public.
As the report states, "U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s approval of three chemicals for use in oil and gas drilling and/or fracking, despite EPA’s written observation that the chemicals could degrade into substances similar to PFOA, the most infamous PFAS, highlighted in the 2019 feature film Dark Waters. EPA regulators wrote, 'EPA has concerns that these degradation products will persist in the environment, could bioaccumulate or biomagnify, and could be toxic (PBT) to people, wild mammals, and birds based on data on analog chemicals, including PFOA and [REDACTED].' One of these chemicals was used commercially for unspecified purposes as recently as 2018, according to EPA records."
To read the full report, head here.
To read coverage on the report: New York Times, Rolling Stone
To read PSR's press release on the report, head here.
To see FracTracker's interactive map of where PFAS have been used in fracking wells, head here.
To get involved with Halt the Harm Network and learn more, head here.
To view the film The Devil We Know, you can watch the film here, and here is a blurb on the film from the website:
"THE DEVIL WE KNOW is the story of how one synthetic chemical, used to make Teflon products, contaminated a West Virginia community. But new research hints at a much broader problem: nearly all Americans are affected by exposure to non-stick chemicals in food, drinking water, and consumer products. With very little oversight on the chemical industry in this country, we invite you to learn more about the problem and how you can protect yourself and your family."
To find out what everyday products still may contain/openly contain PFAS chemicals, head to Environmental Working Group's website to get their guide.
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- Charleston Gazette-Mail - New reports make case that natural gas production boom was a bust for Appalachia, urge economic transition
- Common Dreams - IEA Warns CO2 Emissions Set to Climb to 'All-Time High' as Rich Nations Skimp on Clean Energy
- Financial Post - North America about to turn into a graveyard of mega pipeline projects
- E&E News - Inside a legal doctrine that could silence enviros in court
- New York Times - Extremist or Bridge-Builder? A Brawl Over Biden’s Pick to Oversee Public Lands.
- Utility Dive - Democrats' 'Hot FERC Summer' campaign aims to boost FERC's visibility on Capitol Hill
- DeSmog - DOE Quietly Backs Plan for Carbon Capture Network Larger Than Entire Oil Pipeline System
- Smithsonian - Why Indigenous Activists Are Driving a 25-Foot Totem Pole Across the Country
- Drilled News - Indigenous Water Protectors, Allies Protesting Line 3 First Ever To Be Cited Under Obscure County Ordinance In Minnesota
- The Intercept - Minnesota police expected pipeline budget boost to fund new weapons
- The Hill - TSA issues second security directive to secure pipelines against cyberattacks
- Resilience - KXL Victory Celebrations Roll Across the Great Plains
- E&E News - Lawsuits target Exxon’s social media ‘green washing’
- Honor the Earth - Winona LaDuke not released from jail
- The Hill - Democrats lay out vision for Civilian Climate Corps
- New York Times - Lost Lives, Lost Culture: The Forgotten History of Indigenous Boarding Schools
- Wild Virginia - EPA TAKES A STAND: A POWERFUL LETTER CAUTIONS AGAINST ISSUING A CLEAN WATER PERMIT TO THE MVP
- Grist - Climate anxiety doesn’t have to ruin your life. Here’s how to manage it
- VPM - Old Hills & Old Folks Resist Protest: Deborah Kushner’s Take on Protest
- Roanoke Times - Hadwin: MVP: The whole story
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Drilled News Podcast
Drilled Season 6 is out! 'The Bridge to Nowhere: A season in three parts about the past, present, and future of the natural gas industry.' Listen wherever you find podcasts.
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New Ohio River Valley Institute Report
'Destined to Fail: Why the Appalachian Natural Gas Boom Failed to Deliver Jobs & Prosperity and What It Teaches Us'
Read it here
Photo: Ted Auch, FracTracker Alliance, 2018.
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Water is Life: Protect It's Latest Newsletter
7 PROTECTIONS AGAINST FRACKED GAS IN VA FOR JULY 22 - 29
Thanks to Water is Life: Protect It for flagging some great events! (below as well)
Read it here
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Upcoming events
Thursday, July 22, 7-8 pm, online: Wild Virginia Summer Update Meeting. Hear about the current status of the fight to stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline; progress in efforts to protect and improve wildlife corridors; about the Campaign for Virginia's Water Future; and about great outings and educational programs. Free advance tickets here above.
Sunday, July 25, 3 pm, online: Walking Water Conversations with Crystal Cavalier-Keck
Monday, July 26, 4 pm, online: Oil Change International Deep Dive into the Carbon Capture Lie. Register to attend. "Oil Change has been digging into some of API’s most nefarious arguments to expose the real story behind API’s myths. From the role of fossil gas in a climate-safe future, to the reality of CCS, OCI experts will lay out the most recent analysis so that you’re equipped with facts to fight back."
Thursday, July 29, 11 am: Red Road to DC/Totem Pole Journey Blessing Ceremony, National Mall, Washington, DC
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After all the news about PFAS chemicals being used in fracking and drilling, we got curious. Below is 3M's CURRENT statement about PFAS chemicals, which asserts that they continue to manufacture and use PFAS chemicals in everyday products:
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Relive the Water Quilt Convergence
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We came together on July 10th to celebrate the amazing artistry of the water quilt squares and the waters we all love. From ARTivism Virginia, "So many thanks to all who made last Saturday's Water Quilt Project Convergence in Newport such a success! Quilters, speakers, musicians, organizers, and everyone who showed up to share in that good feeling of solidarity – we're still riding it almost a week later!" Check out these amazing photos taken by Sarah Hazelgrove.
Full galleries here, Part I and Part II. Here's a taste!
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