EDITORS: Reporters and editors, you are welcome to cover this briefing. Please RSVP Blaine Friedlander, Cornell Press Office, at [email protected] or (607) 254-8093. If you wish to conduct interviews aside from the briefing, please contact Blaine Friedlander.
Newswise — Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences presents an informational briefing, “Natural Gas Extraction Using Horizontal Drilling and Hydraulic Fracturing: Impacts on Water Resources and Communities,” to Congressional staff on Monday, Feb. 22, 2010 from 10 – 11:30 a.m., at the Capitol Visitor Center, Congressional Meeting Room South, Washington, D.C.
The briefing will be given by Susan J. Riha, Cornell professor of earth and atmospheric science, and director of New York’s State Water Resource Institute, and Rod Howe, executive director of Cornell’s Community and Rural Development Institute. They are working on issues related to gas extraction from the Marcellus shale, a geologic formation extending across much of southern New York, western and northern Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and West Virginia.
This session will focus on the potential environmental, community and economic impacts associated with natural gas mining using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies. This extraction process is used in several states, including Texas, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Wyoming, Colorado, Louisiana, Montana and Arkansas.
Riha and Howe will discuss key concerns of citizens and scientists, and the importance of mitigating cumulative impacts on communities and the environment, minimizing environmental risks, and monitoring environmental effects as development proceeds. They also will address research needs.
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