An energy infrastructure workshop called Statewide Impacts of Shale and Alternative Energy Development, hosted by CFAES’s outreach arm, OSU Extension, is Tuesday, Oct. 27, on Ohio State’s Columbus campus. You’re invited to attend. Shale oil and gas development and its effects on landowners, communities and public officials (through land leasing, influxes of workers, building new pipelines and more) will be a main focus. Read more here and here. Register here (the cost is $30 and includes lunch).
Growers wondering what impact, if any, installing new natural gas pipelines will have on crop productivity in their fields can sign up for a pilot study being done by CFAES researchers. (Previous related post here.)
A new pilot study is being planned to document the effects of natural-gas pipeline installation on crops and soils, and interested farmers are invited to participate. Steve Culman of CFAES’s outreach arm, OSU Extension, has details in Ohio’s Country Journal.
Shale drilling’s biggest effect on Ohio’s environment might not come from the wells themselves but from the many new pipelines they need. So says CFAES watershed expert Joe Bonnell, who will speak twice on his research exploring the Ohio shale industry’s environmental impacts at Farm Science Review. The Review, which CFAES sponsors, is Sept. 22-24.
The environmental impacts of oil and gas production “are much broader than what most people consider,” says Joe Bonnell, who hopes to show farmers, landowners and others the bigger picture. Bonnell, who is watershed management program director for CFAES’s statewide outreach arm, OSU Extension, will present “Environmental Impacts of Shale Gas Extraction” twice at the upcoming Farm Science Review. Times and other details. Sponsored by CFAES, the Review goes from Sept. 16-18 at the Molly Caren Agricultural Center near London, Ohio.
Rick Reitzel of WCMH-TV, Columbus, interviewed Julie Weatherington-Rice, adjunct assistant professor in CFAES’s Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, for a story about last month’s fire, and the chemicals now being reported as being involved, at a hydraulic fracturing well site in southeast Ohio. Watch.
A Feb. 11 West Virginia University press release says Ohio State and WVU have signed a memorandum of understanding creating a shale energy partnership between the two schools, agreeing to work together to develop a joint research program in the Appalachian region’s developing shale energy industry.
“This singular partnership demonstrates the wisdom of universities collaborating with one another,” Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee said in the release. “West Virginia University and Ohio State have complementary research strengths in this area. Working together, our faculty will take a unique leadership role that will advance our shared, scientific understanding of the complex environmental and economic issues in shale energy.”
Two shale gas/fracking-related programs you may find of interest:
• “A Theoretical Framework for Analyzing Hydraulic Fracking Policy” on Jan. 24, which at this point is tomorrow, on Ohio State’s Columbus campus. The speaker is Gwen Arnold, assistant professor of environmental policy, University of Cincinnati. It’s part of the spring seminar series of CFAES’s School of Environment and Natural Resources.
• “Shale and You: A Workshop for Landowners” on Feb. 23 in Canfield near Youngstown in northeast Ohio. The sponsor is CFAES’s statewide outreach arm, OSU Extension.
CFAES professor Allen Klaiber spoke yesterday (12/13) with WVIZ-TV, Cleveland, on the impact of shale drilling on nearby property values (includes link to audio). The story comes from Portage County in northeast Ohio. Read Klaiber’s co-authored paper, “Is the Shale Boom a Bust for Nearby Residents? Evidence from Housing Values in Pennsylvania,” here (pdf).