Reposted Email Update from the U.S. EPA

On September 10, 2010, the Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office posted a List of eighty-five Nominated Candidates for a Panel under the auspices of the SAB that will provide independent expert advice on EPA’s draft Hydraulic Fracturing Study Plan to investigate the potential public health and environmental protection research issues that may be associated with hydraulic fracturing. Download the List of Candidates (PDF).

(Some of the people that we know who are serving on that committee include Michel Boufadel (Temple), Dave Dzombak (CMU), Tony Ingraffea (Cornell), Sandra Steingraber, John Stolz (Duquesne), Jeanne VanBriesen (CMU), and Radisav Vidic (Pitt).)

While public comments on the initial list is closed, the SAB Staff Office is seeking public comment on an additional list of candidates to be considered for this SAB Panel. The additional list of candidates is located here.  Comments should be submitted to the attention of Mr. Edward Hanlon,Designated Federal Officer, no later than November 22, 2010. E-mailing comments (hanlon.edward@epa.gov) is the preferred mode of receipt.

Click here for more information on the EPA hydraulic fracturing study. To report non-emergency suspicious activity related to oil and gas activity, please call the EPA Eyes on Drilling toll-free tipline at1-877-919-4EPA or send email to eyesondrilling@epa.gov.

Marcellus Shale and a Sustainable Future: Balancing Energy, the Economy, and the Environment

November 2-5, 2010

Locations: Indiana University of PA Student Union (the HUB); Eberly Auditorium; and the Indiana Theater – Downtown Indiana, PA
CHEC Speaker: Conrad Dan Volz, DrPH, MPH – “Marcellus Shale Extraction, the Fracking Process, and Potential Well Water Contamination” and “Using the FracTracker Website”

The gains from natural gas from Marcellus Shale are well known — jobs, energy, and economic gains for secondary business and industry. A four-day symposium, “Marcellus Shale and a Sustainable Future: Balancing Energy, the Economy, and the Environment,” explores the lesser-known aspects, such as the historical, social-environmental, legal, political, and health issues related to gas extraction. The conference includes a balanced series of topics, with speakers and panelists from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Duquesne University, and SUNY–Oneonta, plus University of Pittsburgh faculty, other regional scholars, state-elected and agency officials, corporate executives, and representatives from statewide environmental groups, as well as community members and students.

Free admission to all events. One of the speakers will be Conrad Dan Volz, DrPH, MPH of the Center for Healthy Environments and Communities. Learn more [link removed]

On behalf of the Center for Healthy Environments and Communities (CHEC) of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds, you are invited to participate in a FracTracker training on Monday, October 25, 2010 in Morgantown, WV.

During this training, CHEC will introduce participants to FracTracker, a combination of an interactive blog (https://www.fractracker.org) and the DataTool [link removed] , that is serving as a vital data-sharing tool in the Marcellus Shale play and beyond. Click here to learn more about CHEC and this project.

Meeting Details:

• October 25, 2010 – 1pm – 4pm
• Morgantown, WV
• Free to attend. Parking is free. Permits will be provided upon arrival.
• The agenda and additional meeting specifics will be sent to registered attendees prior to the training.

Important — In order to fully interact with FracTracker’s DataTool during the training, you must be registered with the DataTool. It is free to register, but please do this online as soon as possible. If you run into problems registering for the tool please contact: malone@fractracker.org.

In addition to registering for the DataTool online, please also register to attend the training by emailing me at malone@fractracker.org as soon as possible. We have limited space in the present venue, so don’t delay! In that email, please let me know whether CHEC can distribute your contact information to all attendees of the training for networking purposes. Once we receive your RSVP we will send you a confirmation email with more details about the training.

Previous Trainings

To give you some background on our previous trainings and the use of FracTracker, to-date we have held four trainings across PA and NY:

1. Bedford Springs (20 attended)
2. Pittsburgh, PA (20 attended)
3. Danville, PA (30 attended)
4. Ithaca, NY (36 attended)

The previous meetings we held were all-day affairs with two purposes. The first was to get groups together so that we could talk and network. Because drilling is occurring across a large geographic area, it is important to bring together stakeholders to improve communication and decision-making. The second purpose was to introduce the availability of FracTracker and provide a training on it. For the WV meeting, we decided that three hours is plenty of time in order to train attendees to load datasets, visualize geo-located data, and share snapshots. If a significant number of people (e.g. more than 50 people) express an interest in participating in this training, we will likely host another training in WV some time down the road.

Interesting User Statistics

FracTracker was launched on June 29, 2010. In less than 3 months, we have had almost 33,638 visits to the DataTool from 69 countries (even though we’ve only had trainings in 2 states so far.) Most of those users come from the U.S. (32,418), but there have been visitors from other countries including (in decreasing order): Canada, India, and the United Kingdom. Of the visitors from the U.S., most come from PA (20,064) where the most training has occurred, but we have had significant interest from people in NY, and somewhat less from (in decreasing order) Texas, California, Ohio, New Jersey, DC, and Louisiana.

As of today, we have 919 registered user on the DataTool. FracTracker just eclipsed the 100 mark for the number of datasets available for download!

Organizations that have participated in a FracTracker training

Academic and Research Institutions

• Bucknell University
  • Geology department
• California State University
  • Northern Appalachian Network
• Community Science Institute (CSI)
• Cornell University
  • CaRDI
  • Marcellus Shale Team
  • Natural Resources
  • Department of City and Regional Planning
  • Economics
• Dickenson University
  • ALLARM
• Duquesne University
  • Environmental Research and Education
• Geisinger Center for Health Research
  • Environmental Health
• Ithaca College
  • School of Journalism & Communications
• Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
  • Environmental Health
• Kings College
  • Environmental Program
• Lycoming College
• Pal. Research Institute
• Penn State University
  • Agricultural Studies
• State University of New York College of Environmental Science & Forestry
• University of Pittsburgh
  • Environmental Health
  • Learning Research and Development
  • Public Health Dynamics Laboratory

Industry

• EKT Interactive
• Yes, we’re lacking in participation here. The invitation is open to anyone who would like trained to use FracTracker! Just contact us if you are interested: chec@pitt.edu

Environmental Organizations

• Binghamton Regional Sustainability Coalition and Coalition to Protect New York
• Cayuga Lake Watershed Network
• CCE Yates
• Center for Coalfield Justice
• Chenago-Delaware-Otsego Gas Drilling Opposition (CDOG)
• Citizens Coal Council
• Clean Water Action
• The Committee to Preserve the Finger Lakes
• Community Environmental Defense Council
• Cortland gas drilling group
• Croton Watershed Clean Watershed Coalition
• Delaware County Neighbors
• Dryden Resource Awareness Coalition
• Eagles Mere Lake Assoc.
• Earthjustice
• Earthworks
• Environmental Management Council
• Finger Lakes Land Trust
• Food and Water Watch
• Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition
• Group Against Smog and Pollution (G.A.S.P.)
• Mountain Watershed Association
• North Central PA Conservancy
• NY Residents Against Drilling
• PA Trout Unlimited
• PennEnvironment
• People for a Healthy Environment
• ROUSE & Marcellus Accountability Project for Tompkins County
• Schulyer Watershed Protection Agency & Planning
• Scott Conservancy
• Shaleshock
• Sierra Club
• Steuben County Environmental Management Council
• Sustainable Tompkins
• Three Rivers Water Keeper
• TING
• Tioga Peace and Justice
• Water Resources Institute
• Youghiogheny River Keeper

• Bucknell Corporate and Foundation Relations
• Colcom Foundation
• Foundation for PA Watersheds
• Geisinger Foundation
• Park Foundation

• PA Fish and Boat Commission – Policy, Planning and Communication
• Susquehanna River Basin Commission
• Institute of Public Policy & Economic Development
• CCE-Tompkins & Statewide Energy & Climate Change Team
• Cornell Energy Think Tank

• University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health
• Tompkins County Department of Health

Public Safety

• Cornell Environmental Health and Safety
• Emergency Management Agency, City of Pittsburgh
• Geisinger EMS
• PA State Police
• Tioga County EMS

Regulatory

• PA Department of Environmental Protection – Southwest Region
• PA Department of Transportation
• PA Fish and Boat Commission – Bureau of Policy, Planning and Communication

Local Government

• City of Cortland Environmental Advisory Committee
• Community & Economic Vitality, Cornell Cooperative Extension
• Conservation Districts: Fayette County, Somerset County, Washington County
• Penn State Cooperative Extension of McKean
• SEDA – Council of Governments
• Tompkins County Council of Governments (TCCOG)
• Tompkins County Legislature

Media & Media Relations

• Blogging: marcelluseffect.blogspot.com
• University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Pittsburgh Schools of Pubic Health Sciences
• We’re planning a FracTracker training designed specifically for journalists and media relations personnel soon. Email us to request the details: malone@fractracker.org

The University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health cordially invites you to the following exclusive conference:

HEALTH EFFECTS OF SHALE GAS EXTRACTION: WHAT IS KNOWN AND WHAT CAN WE PREDICT?

This free conference will explore the science and methodological approaches behind understanding environmental health impacts associated with increasing development of natural gas extraction from shale deposits found under wide geographical areas of the United States.

University Club, Pittsburgh, PA 15260
November 19, 2010
8 AM – 6 PM
Download event flyer (PDF).

This conference is limited to 240 participants. Registration is required.
Click here [link removed] to learn more and register.

On Friday, August 27th, CHEC conducted a symposium at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) on the potential public health concerns associated with gas extraction activities, especially those occurring in the Marcellus Shale region.

The panel discussion addressed the following topics: Potential human exposure pathways to water and air contaminants, Behavioral and community health concerns, Public health preparedness related to gas industry operations, and Fractracker.org, a Web platform that gives researchers the ability to directly engage citizens in the collection of data to effectively demonstrate the impacts of Marcellus Shale gas extraction.

Panelists: