Measuring the biological impact of drilling waste on the deep seafloor: An experimental challenge.

The depletion of traditional oil fields is driving the oil & gas industry to explore new exploitation sites previously considered as unprofitable. Deep-sea oil fields represent one of these new areas of exploitation. Well drilling during exploration and production operations generate large quantities of drilling waste whose biological impact on the deep-sea floor remains largely unknown. Because of the harsh abiotic factors characterizing this environment, the evaluation of this impact remains challenging. High hydrostatic pressure is the prominent factor which will affect in-situ biological processes. This review will examine the feedback on the various strategies used to evaluate the biological impact of deep-sea drilling waste deposition as well as the current technological limitations. Given the complexity of this issue, a good perspective strategy would be to trend towards the research and development of more relevant bioassays, especially considering the crucial factor of hydrostatic pressure.

Reversing wetland death from 35,000 cuts: Opportunities to restore Louisiana's dredged canals.

We determined the number of permits for oil and gas activities in 14 coastal Louisiana parishes from 1900 to 2017, compared them to land loss on this coast, and estimated their restoration potential. A total of 76,247 oil and gas recovery wells were permitted, of which 35,163 (46%) were on land (as of 2010) and 27,483 of which are officially abandoned. There is a direct spatial and temporal relationship between the number of these permits and land loss, attributable to the above and belowground changes in hydrology resulting from the dredged material levees placed parallel to the canal (spoil banks). These hydrologic modifications cause various direct and indirect compromises to plants and soils resulting in wetland collapse. Although oil and gas recovery beneath southern Louisiana wetlands has dramatically declined since its peak in the early 1960s, it has left behind spoil banks with a total length sufficient to cross coastal Louisiana 79 times from east to west. Dragging down the remaining material in the spoil bank back into the canal is a successful restoration technique that is rarely applied in Louisiana, but could be a dramatically cost-effective and proven long-term strategy if political will prevails. The absence of a State or Federal backfilling program is a huge missed opportunity to: 1) conduct cost-effective restoration at a relatively low cost, and, 2) conduct systematic restoration monitoring and hypothesis testing that advances knowledge and improves the efficacy of future attempts. The price of backfilling all canals is about $335 million dollars, or 0.67% of the State's Master Plan for restoration and a pittance of the economic value gained from extracting the oil and gas beneath over the last 100 years.

ADA Title I allegations and the Mining, Quarrying, and Oil/Gas Extraction industry.

BACKGROUND: The majority of research about employment discrimination in the U.S. Mining, Quarrying, and Oil/Gas (MQOGE) industries has concentrated on gender and race, while little attention has focused on disability. OBJECTIVE: To explore allegations of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Title I discrimination made to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) by individuals with disabilities against MQOGE employers. METHODS: Key data available to this study included demographic characteristics of charging parties, size of employers, types of allegations, and case outcomes. Using descriptive analysis, allegation profiles were developed for MQOGE's three main sectors (i.e., Oil/Gas Extraction, Mining except Oil/Gas, and Support Activities). These three profiles where then comparatively analyzed. Lastly, regression analysis explored whether some of the available data could partially predict MQOGE case outcomes. RESULTS: The predominant characteristics of MQOGE allegations were found to be quite similar to the allegation profile of U.S. private-sector industry as a whole, and fairly representative of MQOGE's workforce demographics. Significant differences between MQOGE's three main sector profiles were noted on some important characteristics. Lastly, it was found that MQOGE case outcomes could be partially predicted via some of the available variables. CONCLUSIONS: The study's limitations were presented and recommendations were offered for further research.

[Excess deaths for haematological tumours in Falconara Marittima (Marche Region, Central Italy): short story from the epidemiological survey up to now]. / EPICHANGE/3. Eccesso di morti per tumori ematologici a Falconara Marittima: breve storia dall'indagine epidemiologica a oggi.

API is a company refining petroleum products located in Falconara Marittima (Ancona Province, Marche Region, Central Italy). Thanks to the pressure made by citizens' committees, which considered the plant as a risk source for the population residing in the surroundings municipalities, Marche Region as institution asked for an epidemiological survey. This survey found a significative excess in deaths for haematological tumours in women and in a sub-group of retired and elderly. The results were published in one report and two scientific journals, and were also presented during a public meeting. It was urgent to made public health intervention, which were called for, but up to now nothing has been done. Here, the reconstruction of this affair, from the start of the epidemiological survey up to the more recent development in terms of public health.

[The opponent you do not just imagine. The case of Falconara Marittima (Marche Region, Central Italy)]. / EPICHANGE/2. L'avversario che non ti aspetti. Il caso di Falconara Marittima.

Falconara Marittima (Marche Region, Central Italy) is declared to be an area at high risk of environmental crisis, due to the presence of a refinery plant. In 2004, Marche Region funded an epidemiological survey to assess atmospheric risks linked to the refinery. This survey was conducted by the Italian National Cancer Institute of Milan, and citizens actively contributed. An excess for leukaemias and an increase in non-Hodgkin lymphomas were showed. These results were confirmed also by the Regional Environmental Protection Agency and the Regional Health Authority. But Marche Region and the Municipalities chose to not report the situation: the same Institutions, which at the beginning sided the citizens, became an opponent for health protection.

On the road to recovery: Gasoline content regulations and child health.

Gasoline content regulations are designed to curb pollution and improve health, but their impact on health has not been quantified. By exploiting both the timing of regulation and spatial variation in children's exposure to highways, I estimate the effect of gasoline content regulation on pollution and child health. The introduction of cleaner-burning gasoline in California in 1996 reduced asthma admissions by 8% in high exposure areas. Reductions are greatest for areas downwind from highways and heavy traffic areas. Stringent gasoline content regulations can improve child health, and may diminish existing health disparities.

Health Impact Assessments, Regulation, and the Unconventional Gas Industry in the UK: Exploiting Resources, Ideology, and Expertise?

Health impact assessments (HIAs) across the globe may be used by governments and industries to secure approval for unconventional gas extraction developments. HIA is an umbrella term that covers an array of health review and assessment practices, ranging from the very general to quite specific and technical health studies. Our concern in this paper is principally with the specialist end of the HIA continuum and particularly its application to unconventional gas extraction in the UK. We outline the context within which HIAs in unconventional gas extraction may be conducted. We then explain what HIAs may do. HIAs are often commissioned from consultancy companies to assess unconventional gas extraction project risks and benefits and propose mitigation measures. Communities can rarely afford HIAs in the planning process and may consider them biased when commissioned by vested interests. The oil and gas industry uses these techniques for its own ends. Hiring experts, be they specialist consultants, researchers, lobbyists, ex-government officials, or regulators, to influence planning and regulation is a well-tried tactic and structural advantage exploited by industry in seeking license to operate. Equitable and ethical HIA principles are urgently needed in the UK in relation to unconventional gas to secure the integrity and probity of the emerging regulatory system and address concerns regarding unregulated practitioners.

A multi-attribute decision analysis for decommissioning offshore oil and gas platforms.

The 27 oil and gas platforms off the coast of southern California are reaching the end of their economic lives. Because their decommissioning involves large costs and potential environmental impacts, this became an issue of public controversy. As part of a larger policy analysis conducted for the State of California, we implemented a decision analysis as a software tool (PLATFORM) to clarify and evaluate decision strategies against a comprehensive set of objectives. Key options selected for in-depth analysis are complete platform removal and partial removal to 85 feet below the water line, with the remaining structure converted in place to an artificial reef to preserve the rich ecosystems supported by the platform's support structure. PLATFORM was instrumental in structuring and performing key analyses of the impacts of each option (e.g., on costs, fishery production, air emissions) and dramatically improved the team's productivity. Sensitivity analysis found that disagreement about preferences, especially about the relative importance of strict compliance with lease agreements, has much greater effects on the preferred option than does uncertainty about specific outcomes, such as decommissioning costs. It found a near-consensus of stakeholders in support of partial removal and "rigs-to-reefs" program. The project's results played a role in the decision to pass legislation enabling an expanded California "rigs-to-reefs" program that includes a mechanism for sharing cost savings between operators and the state.

Decision framework for platform decommissioning in California.

This article describes the overall decision framework for eventual decisions about decommissioning the 27 operating oil and gas platforms offshore southern California. These platforms will eventually reach the end of their useful lifetimes (estimated between 2015 and 2030, although specific dates have not been determined). Current law and regulations allow for alternative uses in lieu of the complete removal required in existing leases. To prepare for eventual decommissioning, the California Natural Resources Agency initiated an in-depth process to identify and investigate issues surrounding possible decommissioning alternatives. The detailed evaluation of alternatives focused on 2-complete removal and artificial reefing that included partial removal to 85 feet below the waterline. These were selected after a comparison of the technical and economic feasibility of several potential alternatives, availability of a legal framework for implementation, degree of interest from proponents, and relative acceptance by state and federal decision makers. Despite California's history of offshore oil and gas production, only 7 decommissioning projects have been completed and these were all relatively small and close to shore. In contrast, nearly 30% of the California platforms are in water depths (as much as 1200 feet) that exceed any decommissioning project anywhere in the world. Most earlier projects considered an artificial reefing alternative but none were implemented and all platforms were completely removed. Future decisions about decommissioning must grapple with a more complex decision context involving greater technological and logistical challenges and cost, a wider range of viable options, tradeoffs among environmental impacts and benefits, and an intricate maze of laws, regulations, and authorities. The specific engineering differences between complete and partial removal provide an explicit basis for a thorough evaluation of their respective impacts.

Frac Sand Mines Are Preferentially Sited in Unzoned Rural Areas.

Shifting markets can cause unexpected, stochastic changes in rural landscapes that may take local communities by surprise. Preferential siting of new industrial facilities in poor areas or in areas with few regulatory restrictions can have implications for environmental sustainability, human health, and social justice. This study focuses on frac sand mining-the mining of high-quality silica sand used in hydraulic fracturing processes for gas and oil extraction. Frac sand mining gained prominence in the 2000s in the upper midwestern United States where nonmetallic mining is regulated primarily by local zoning. I asked whether frac sand mines were more commonly sited in rural townships without formal zoning regulations or planning processes than in those that undertook zoning and planning before the frac sand boom. I also asked if mine prevalence was correlated with socioeconomic differences across townships. After creating a probability surface to map areas most suitable for frac sand mine occurrence, I developed neutral landscape models from which to compare actual mine distributions in zoned and unzoned areas at three different spatial extents. Mines were significantly clustered in unzoned jurisdictions at the statewide level and in 7 of the 8 counties with at least three frac sand mines and some unzoned land. Subsequent regression analyses showed mine prevalence to be uncorrelated with land value, tax rate, or per capita income, but correlated with remoteness and zoning. The predicted mine count in unzoned townships was over two times higher than that in zoned townships. However, the county with the most mines by far was under a county zoning ordinance, perhaps indicating industry preferences for locations with clear, homogenous rules over patchwork regulation. Rural communities can use the case of frac sand mining as motivation to discuss and plan for sudden land-use predicaments, rather than wait to grapple with unfamiliar legal processes during a period of intense conflict.

Impact of shale gas development on water resources: a case study in northern poland.

Shale gas is currently being explored in Europe as an alternative energy source to conventional oil and gas. There is, however, increasing concern about the potential environmental impacts of shale gas extraction by hydraulic fracturing (fracking). In this study, we focussed on the potential impacts on regional water resources within the Baltic Basin in Poland, both in terms of quantity and quality. The future development of the shale play was modeled for the time period 2015-2030 using the LUISA modeling framework. We formulated two scenarios which took into account the large range in technology and resource requirements, as well as two additional scenarios based on the current legislation and the potential restrictions which could be put in place. According to these scenarios, between 0.03 and 0.86% of the total water withdrawals for all sectors could be attributed to shale gas exploitation within the study area. A screening-level assessment of the potential impact of the chemicals commonly used in fracking was carried out and showed that due to their wide range of physicochemical properties, these chemicals may pose additional pressure on freshwater ecosystems. The legislation put in place also influenced the resulting environmental impacts of shale gas extraction. Especially important are the protection of vulnerable ground and surface water resources and the promotion of more water-efficient technologies.