On January 8, the No False Solutions PA Coalition released a position statement on hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, chemical recycling of plastics and what they say are other false climate 'solutions.'

Sandy Field and Karen Elias were the lead authors on the 47-page Statement Regarding Emerging Technologies that Represent False Solutions to the Climate Crisis.

Field and Elias are both members of a False Solutions network that formed in 2020 when Gov. Tom Wolf announced that Pennsylvania would be part of a Regional CO2 Transport Plan initiative led by the Great Plains Institute.

They represent The Climate Reality Project’s Susquehanna Valley PA Chapter.

“What we are seeing in Pennsylvania is a concerted effort from the oil and gas industry to maintain business as usual by coming up with new ways to continue to use fracked gas,” said Sandy Field.  “The industry makes these new projects sound like they are technological solutions to the climate crisis and the plastics crisis but, in reality, they are much more expensive, more polluting, and more risky than the existing renewable energy, storage, and plastics waste solutions that we know work.

“The health and environment of Pennsylvanian communities have been sacrificed for energy production by the fossil fuel industry for 150 years, Pennsylvanians deserve a better future,” said Field.

“Before undertaking this project, I had only a superficial understanding of the multiple challenges we are facing here in Pennsylvania,” said Karen Elias.  “As the evidence began to accrue, it became clear that these challenges are both long-standing, rooted in the commonwealth’s lengthy extraction history, and stubbornly resistant, given the addiction of the state’s economy to fossil fuels. 

“It’s my hope that this document will not only provide an overview of the many technological false solutions that continue to be proposed for Pennsylvania but will also give us the data that allow us to assert a hard No in response,” said Elias.  “Saying Yes to our future means saying No to False Solutions.

The document was compiled to educate and inform legislators and decision makers about emerging technologies that claim to be solutions to the climate crisis but in fact exacerbate the climate crisis, damage the environment, and/or harm public health and do not offer more effective or economically viable solutions than those offered by renewable energy and renewable energy storage technologies.

The almost 50-page document provides a fully referenced resource that discusses each false solution in the context of Pennsylvania’s legacy of energy production, outlines the group’s concerns, and provides example projects. 

“For too long, Pennsylvania’s government has been hitching our collective wagon to the two dying stars of fossil fuels and petrochemicals,” said Karen Feridun, a No False Solutions PA founding member.  “Every one of the technologies our coalition opposes has been cynically promoted by those industries as a solution to the rapidly intensifying climate crisis, all in a self-serving attempt to ward off their own inevitable demise.

“As their efforts escalate with the help of our enabling government, so too must our efforts to stop the insanity. To that end, we decided it was time to coalesce around a clearly articulated statement of opposition,” said Feridun.

Click Here for a copy of the statement.

Visit the No False Solutions PA Coalition website for more information on the Coalition and upcoming initiatives.

PA Oil & Gas Industry Public Notice Dashboards:

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - Jan. 4 to 12 - 9 More Abandoned Conventional Wells; Leaking Wastewater Tanks; Rager Mountain Gas Storage Area Cleanup Continues; Pipeline Land Slips  [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment - January 13  [PaEN]

-- DEP Posted 61 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In January 13 PA Bulletin  [PaEN] 

2023 Oil & Gas Compliance Reports:

-- DEP Issued At Least 512 Violations To 95 Conventional Oil & Gas Operators For Abandoning Wells Without Plugging Them In 2023; 10 Shale Gas Operators Were Issued NOVs For Abandoning Wells  [PaEN]

-- DEP Issues Record 6,860 Notices Of Violation To Conventional Oil & Gas Operators In 2023-- Nearly 52% More Than In 2021; ‘Culture Of Non-Compliance’ Continues  [PaEN] 

-- 2023 Shale Gas Operator Compliance Report: 1,310 Violations; Explosions; Pad Fire, Evacuation; Uncontrolled Gas Venting; Frack-Outs; Polluting Water Supply; Spills; Pipeline Crashing Thru A Home; More  [PaEN]

-- PA Environment Digest: Articles On Oil & Gas Facility Impacts

Related Articles This Week:

-- Environmental Hearing Board Allows Protect PT Appeal Of Olympus Shale Gas Well Permits In Westmoreland County To Proceed; Olympus Was Trying To Deprive Protect PT Of Its Rights  [PaEN]

-- PJM Interconnection: Winter Weather Forces Natural Gas Pipeline Fuel Restrictions, ‘Conservative Operations’ Declared To Assure Electric Grid Reliability Through Jan. 17  [PaEN]

-- DEP Issues Water Quality Certification For Equitrans Project To Replace Abandoned Natural Gas Storage Wells In Greene County Due To Coal Mining  [PaEN]

-- DEP Reviewing Equitrans Act 2 Soil Cleanup Report On Rager Mountain Gas Storage Area Conventional Well That Failed Venting 1.1 Billion Cubic Feet Of Natural Gas In Cambria County  [PaEN]

-- DEP Issued Air Quality Permit For Leachate Evaporation System At Westmoreland  Landfill With Special Radiation Monitoring Due To The Disposal Of Shale Gas Drilling Waste  [PaEN]

-- DEP Sets Feb. 27 Hearing On Helix Ironwood Gas-Fired Power Plant Air Quality Permit Renewal, Lebanon County  [PaEN]

-- No False Solutions PA Coalition Issues Position Statement On Hydrogen, Carbon Capture & Storage, Chemical Recycling Of Plastics, Other Climate 'Solutions'  [PaEN]

-- Jewish Earth Alliance, Beth Am Israel Hosting Jan. 23 Online Program Rethinking Our Connection To Fossil Fuels - A Discussion  [PaEN]

-- Evangelical Environmental Network: EPA Proposes Waste Charge On Methane Leaking From Large Oil & Gas Facilities  [PaEN]

NewsClips This Week - Oil & Gas:

-- Bob Donnan Blog: Fracking Groundwater Study Underway In SW PA

-- TribLive: Olympus Energy Contends Natural Gas Compressor Station For Penn Twp. Not Harmful To Environment In Westmoreland County

-- Bob Donnan Blog: What’s Not To Hate About Natural Gas Compressor Stations?

-- The Center Square - Anthony Hennen: PA Natural Gas Pipeline Capacity Problem Persists [Industry Points To Out-Of-State Pipeline Delays As Examples]

-- The Center Square - Anthony Hennen: Partisan Split On Energy, Environment Makes Compromise Unlikely

-- Post-Gazette - Anya Litvak: Chesapeake Energy Buys Southwestern Leapfrogging EQT As Biggest Gas Producer In US

-- Bloomberg Columnist: US Oil And Gas Boom Doesn’t Feel Like One To Workers

-- Wall Street Journal - Kris Maher: Democrat PA Gov. Shapiro, CNX Fracking Executive And The Deal They Struck, Can It Work?

-- TribLive Editorial: Hydrogen Isn’t Clean If It Adds To Climate Pollution; Biden’s Rules Are A Good Start

[Posted: January 8, 2024]

1/15/2024