Aug 13 Energy & Environment Trump Visits Shell Plastics Facility, Touts Petrochemical Future For Ohio Valley President Donald Trump Tuesday toured Shell Chemical’s soon-to-be completed ethane cracker complex in Monaca, Pennsylvania, to tout his administration’s commitment to expanding energy production. The facility is part of what industry boosters hope will be a new plastics and chemical manufacturing base in the upper Ohio Valley, but many residents here worry about the heat-trapping […] By Brittany Patterson Aug 13 Energy & Environment Trump Visits Shell Plastics Facility, Touts Petrochemical Future For Ohio Valley Brittany Patterson
Aug 2 Energy & Environment Mussel Woman: Biologist Passes Along Pearls Of Wisdom About Threatened Mussels Janet Clayton is standing thigh-deep in a back channel of the Elk River. Clad in a wetsuit and knee pads, the silver-haired biologist with the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources reaches into a bright orange mesh bag submerged in water. Inside are a half dozen mussels she plucked from the rocky river bottom. “This […] By Brittany Patterson Aug 2 Energy & Environment Mussel Woman: Biologist Passes Along Pearls Of Wisdom About Threatened Mussels Brittany Patterson
Nov 30 Energy & Environment Fracking’s Next Boom? Petrochemical Plants Fuel Debate Over Jobs, Pollution More than 100 people braved freezing temperatures to both listen and have their say in front of Ohio environmental officials at a recent hearing in Belmont County, Ohio. For the three dozen or so people who testified, the stakes were high. The hearing at Shadyside High School focused on a nearly 300-page, densely technical, draft […] By Brittany Patterson Nov 30 Energy & Environment Fracking’s Next Boom? Petrochemical Plants Fuel Debate Over Jobs, Pollution Brittany Patterson
Sep 7 Energy & Environment Orphan Wells: States Wrestle With Soaring Costs For Oil & Gas Industry Mess William Suan is no stranger to the problems abandoned oil and gas wells can cause. “It’s just an eyesore,” he said, standing inside a barn on his cattle ranch near Lost Creek, West Virginia. “I had to fence one off because it’s leaking now.” There are five inactive wells on his land, most installed in […] By Brittany Patterson Sep 7 Energy & Environment Orphan Wells: States Wrestle With Soaring Costs For Oil & Gas Industry Mess Brittany Patterson
May 25 Energy & Environment Clipped Wings: Trump Weakens Law That Protected Birds For A Century On a recent chilly Tuesday morning, about 20 people filed along a winding dirt path leading deeper into West Virginia University’s Arboretum in Morgantown. Armed with binoculars, smartphones and hiking boots, the group had one goal — spot and identify the chittering birds hidden in the trees above. LeJay Graffious with the Mountaineer Audubon chapter […] By Brittany Patterson May 25 Energy & Environment Clipped Wings: Trump Weakens Law That Protected Birds For A Century Brittany Patterson
Feb 14 Energy & Environment Fracking Waste Disposal: Still A Hot Mess The slogan for Estill County is “where the bluegrass kisses the mountains.” But since 2015 the county, population 15,000, is widely known as the place where radioactive material generated by the oil and gas industry in a process known as fracking was dumped near some schools. As the Ohio Valley ReSource reported in 2016, tons […] By Mary Meehan Feb 14 Energy & Environment Fracking Waste Disposal: Still A Hot Mess Mary Meehan
Aug 9 Energy & Environment In The Pipeline: New Commission Members To Take Up Energy Projects Big-ticket gas pipelines and other energy projects pending in the Ohio Valley have largely been in limbo because the federal body that issues important permits had too many empty seats. Those projects in the pipeline of the federal process could soon move forward with the confirmation of two Republicans nominated by President Donald Trump to […] By Glynis Board Aug 9 Energy & Environment In The Pipeline: New Commission Members To Take Up Energy Projects Glynis Board
Jul 27 Energy & Environment The Pipeline Boom The explosion in natural gas supplies in the Ohio Valley region is creating demand for more pipelines to carry the gas. The Department of Energy predicts Pennsylvania and Ohio will nearly double their natural gas production in the next 15 years. That isn’t the only boom that has people in the region concerned. Gas line ruptures, leaks, […] By Jeff Young Jul 27 Energy & Environment The Pipeline Boom Jeff Young
Jun 17 Energy & Environment Hot Mess: How Radioactive Fracking Waste Wound Up Near Homes And Schools The energy that lights up, turns on, cools and heats our lives leaves a trail of waste. Natural gas is no exception. The waste from the gas drilling known as “fracking” is often radioactive. The gas industry produces thousands of tons of this “hot” waste and companies and state regulators throughout the Ohio River valley […] By Glynis Board Jun 17 Energy & Environment Hot Mess: How Radioactive Fracking Waste Wound Up Near Homes And Schools Glynis Board
Jun 17 Energy & Environment Hot Mess: States Struggle to Deal With Radioactive Fracking Waste This piece was produced in partnership with the Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan, nonprofit investigative news organization. The Marcellus Shale has transformed the Appalachian Basin into an energy juggernaut. Even amid a recent drilling slowdown, regional daily production averages enough natural gas to power more than 200,000 U.S. homes for a year. But the rise […] By Jie Jenny Zou Jun 17 Energy & Environment Hot Mess: States Struggle to Deal With Radioactive Fracking Waste Jie Jenny Zou