Two regional land conservation groups join forces

The Montgomery County Lands Trust (MCLT), which has been preserving
land in Montgomery County, Pa since 1993, has agreed to become an
affiliate of the larger Natural Lands Trust which, since 1953, has protected more than 100,000 acres of land in eastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey.

“Our paths and missions have been intertwined for many years as both
organizations have worked to protect Montgomery County’s natural and
agricultural lands,” said Molly Morrison, president of Natural Lands
Trust. “We have partnered on many projects over the years; this
affiliation will formalize that partnership and allow us to use donor
and public support even more efficiently. Our combined resources will
make both organizations stronger.”

“MCLT has always excelled in making strong, local connections. That
work will continue, but we’ll now have the support and experience of the
region’s largest and oldest conservation organization,” added Dulcie
Flaharty, executive director of MCLT. “As a land trust, we have a
perpetual obligation to the land under our protection. This affiliation
will ensure we are using resources wisely and are well positioned to
meet that obligation.”
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Under the new arrangement, Flaharty will continue to serve as
Executive Director of MCLT.  Two representatives of MCLT—current Board
Member John Harris
and long-time Director of Land Protection Jake Lea—will join Natural
Lands Trust’s Board of Trustees, which will become the governing body
for both organizations. A new committee that includes Harris, Lea, and
others associated with MCLT will explore opportunities for land
protection in the county and advise the Board of Trustees. MCLT will
continue to hold conservation easements; staff from Natural Lands Trust
will monitor these easements annually.

Two regional land conservation groups join forces Read More »

Protesters shut down shale-gas well in Pennsylvania

Three protesters were arrested yesterday at a natural gas drilling site in Moshannon State Forest in Clearfield County, Pa after their demonstration shut down site operations.
A Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry patrolman told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that between 40 and 70 protesters arrived at the state forest sometime between 4 and 8 a.m. Sunday, pulled downed trees and other scattered material from the forest and placed them in about 30 piles along road leading to the site of a nearby natural gas well.


The Pocono Record reported today that the EQT Corporation’s natural gas drilling rig was
just being commissioned. Protesters said it had gone up in the last
week.
Gloria Forouzan of Marcellus Protest claimed that 150 demonstrators had blocked an access road for trucks headed to the EQT rig.

One of the protesters, 25-year-old Alex Lotorto of Pike County, said two activists
were sitting 75 feet in the air on a tree platform that had been
connected to a cable stretched across the access road. If a truck or
machine were to cross the cable and cut through it, the tree sitters
would fall, Lotorto said.
“Unfortunately, this
is the extent we have to go to,” said Lotorto, who has lived in rural
Pennsylvania since birth. He blamed energy companies for pushing
hydraulic fracturing in unwilling communities in the Marcellus Shale
region, a gas-rich rock formation thousands of feet underground in large
parts of Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, and West Virginia.
Lotorto
said the new rig and fracking process was spoiling the forest, a
treasure for the local economy. He said the protesters wouldn’t leave until EQT took the rig away.
Related environmental news stories: 

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New Pa. law aims at easing regulations on small business

If you are one of the estimated 900,000 owners of a small business in Pennsylvania, here’s some good news.

Governor Tom Corbett last week signed into law Act 76 which requires state
agencies to consider less costly or intrusive
alternatives before imposing a new regulation on your small business. 

In a bulletin to their firm’s clients, Saul Ewing  attorneys Andrew T. Bockis and  Richard Guerra explained:


“Act 76 requires state agencies, when proposing a new
regulation to the Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC), to identify
numerous factors concerning how the proposed regulation will affect small
businesses. IRRC is the Pennsylvania agency tasked with reviewing all
Pennsylvania agency regulations to ensure they are in the public interest. Most
agency regulations, including those proposed by the Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection, must be approved by IRRC before going into effect.
Under the new law, state agencies must: 

  • Identify
    how the new regulation will financially, economically and socially impact
    small businesses.
  • Estimate
    the number of small businesses that will be affected by the proposed
    regulation.
  • Project
    the cost of compliance with the proposed regulation for small businesses.
  • Describe
    methods by which the state agency could reduce the proposed regulation’s
    impact on small businesses.”

A copy of the full bulletin is available here.

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Fill er up: Pa’s natural gas storage nearing capacity
Christie urged to sign bill banning frack-water treatment
NJ lawmakers breathe new life into old building permits
An investigation with election & enviro (maybe) impact 

New Pa. law aims at easing regulations on small business Read More »

A cool video discussion on a hot topic–the temperature


Wherever you are in the U.S. this week, you’re very uncomfortably aware that it’s HOT.

In many areas, temperatures are at 100-year record highs.

Heat waves, like the one we’re presently trapped inside in the Northeast, get us all wondering about possible connections among the usual environmental suspects. Are global warming, drought, wild fires and sea-level rise all connected or just random events?

For a video discussion that touches on these topics, check out the Google+ Hangout below that took place last night.



Participants included: Stanford University Professor Noah Diffenbaugh; Princeton-based Andrew Freedman who writes for Climate Central; a physician, Doug Stetson, who has worked with the Department of Homeland Security, and two others–a westerner with an interest in weather effects on ranching and farming, and a graduate student from India who currently is studying here in the states.

Don’t expect any definitive conclusions, but you will get to view and hear an interesting exchange.

And, if you are not familiar with Google +, you’ll also see why the ‘hangout’ feature of this social-networking service offers great opportunities for free video meetings that you can organize, join in on, or simply watch.

Have you tried Google + (Google Plus)?  What do you think about it?  If you’re also on other social media, like Facebook or Twitter, are you finding Google + to be more valuable in any way?  Less valuable? Just a waste of time? Please share your views in the comment box below. If one is not visible, activate it by clicking on the tiny ‘comments’ line.   

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Christie urged to sign bill banning frack-water treatment
NJ lawmakers breathe new life into old building permits
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Fate of NJ solar industry rescue bill now up to Governor

A cool video discussion on a hot topic–the temperature Read More »

Fill er up: Pa’s natural gas storage nearing capacity

With natural gas being drawn at record levels from the Marcellus shale, the once-distant prospect of using up Pennsylvania’s vast
underground spaces — listed at nearly 777 billion cubic feet statewide — could be reached briefly this year, reports the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. 

Industry analysts point to mild winter weather and a near fourfold bump in natural gas production as reasons.

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Gavin Roberts, an energy analyst for Colorado-based Bentek Energy, predicts that a hotter summer will force electricity
producers to rely more on natural gas as a power-generation fuel.

That could help lessen the demand for gas
storage space underground, where energy companies use natural geologic
formations to hold the extracted fuel.


Tribune-Review staff writer Adam Smeltz reports:
“The federal Energy Information Administration
(EIA) has not released June storage totals in Pennsylvania, but national data
for May show the upward trend stretches across the country. At month’s
end, working natural gas inventories nationwide hit about 2.9 trillion
cubic feet, 31 percent higher than May 2011 levels, according to the
agency.

“That number is likely to swell to 4.2 trillion
cubic feet by autumn, up from 3.9 trillion cubic feet last year,
according to Bentek’s projections. Roberts estimated the national
storage capacity at 4.5 trillion cubic feet.

“Storage levels have been high since spring,
helped along by moderate winter temperatures that kept a lid on heating
fuel demands. Meanwhile, EIA data show natural gas production in
Pennsylvania has more than quadrupled since 2009.

“And “there’s still a lot of capacity that’s
been drilled and developed but is not online,” said Thomas Murphy,
co-director of the Penn State Marcellus Center for Outreach and
Research. He pointed to state numbers, which show about half of the
Marcellus shale wells drilled in Pennsylvania are not yet feeding
pipelines.”

Related energy news stories:
US gas futures higher at midday ahead of holiday
Gas Storage Levels Already at 75% Capacity

Our most recent posts:
Christie urged to sign bill banning frack-water treatment
NJ lawmakers breathe new life into old building permits
An investigation with election & enviro (maybe) impact

Fate of NJ solar industry rescue bill now up to Governor
Enviro-engineering firm, HRP Associates, expands to Pa.

Fill er up: Pa’s natural gas storage nearing capacity Read More »