Earth Issues: Monitoring Marcellus

ALLARM Director, Julie Vastine, discusses the steps and the science behind the protocol as well as stories from communities trained in gas land. 

Thursday, April 12
5:00pm in Kaufman 179
RSVP: edenbov@dickinson.edu

Concerned residents and landowners living within the Marcellus shale gas play are asking how they can best determine if streams are being affected by drilling activities. For many, the goals are early detection and prevention of serious environmental impact. Community groups involved in volunteer monitoring and regional and state-wide service providers have responded to this need by collaboratively developing protocols and database management strategies to achieve these goals. In 2010, the Alliance for Aquatic Resource Monitoring spent seven months researching and testing a volunteer-based Marcellus Monitoring protocol for the early detection of flowback contamination in small Pennsylvania streams. The presentation will cover the steps in and the science behind the protocol as well as stories from communities trained in gas land.