Fracking in Pennsylvania: A Spatial Analysis of Impacts on Land Cover and Land Use, the Viewshed, and the Audioshed

Hydraulic fracturing is the process of extracting natural gas from layers of shale rock beneath the surface of the Earth. The largest source of natural gas in the US is the Marcellus Shale, largely located in Pennsylvania, and it is believed to hold about 141 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in its shale deposits. My study examined the impacts of well sites on land cover and land use, the viewshed, and the audioshed. To study the effect of wellpads on land use and land cover, we overlaid a layer of wellpads over land cover data as well as a layer of Pennsylvania natural resources. To study the visual and sound impacts of wellpads and compressor stations, we generated viewsheds and audiosheds and then calculated the percent of land, road, and trails impacted within different environment types. We found that the majority of producing wells are currently found in forested areas and within 1320 feet of a stream or wetland. However, we found that there is also seemingly a bias against placing wellpads near wetland areas. Additionally, rural land cover areas were found to have a disproportionate number of wellpads in relation to their area within the Marcellus shale region. Rural environments were also found to be impacted the highest in regards to the viewshed, having over 20% of the tile within the fracking viewshed for tiles with at least 2 wellpads. In regards to noise impacts, high road density areas and state forest areas were found to have similar percentages within the audioshed for tiles with at least one compressor station. So overall, in areas with at least 2 wellpads, rural areas have the most potential impacts due to fracking for both land cover and land use as well as the viewshed

The 'climates' of the logging industry : effects on safety, commitment, turnover, and accidents : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Soc. Sci.) in Psychology at Massey University

New Zealand's logging industry is one of the country's largest exporting industries. With increased global competition and demands, work environments like the logging industry are finding that problems such as accidents and turnover rates are intensifying. Much research has been completed on accident and turnover rates, yet no decrease is apparent. New approaches in identifying reasons for such problems are therefore necessary. Gaining knowledge of the rationale for high turnover and accident rates (adverse activities) within the logging industry included investigating the general PC, group and organisational climate, safety climate, organisational commitment and intentions to quit (job behaviours/perceptions)of logging industry members. Field and Abelson's (1982) model asserts that PC can affect job behaviours/perceptions and adverse activities. Their 'new evolution' model of climate also argues that aggregation of psychological climate (PC) perceptions to gain evidence of group and organisational climate is possible if there is consensus in PC perceptions within groups and across organisations. Respondents were a heterogeneous group of contractors (n=6) and crew members (n=67) drawn from a list of Corporate and Woodlot crews provided by Carter Holt Harvey Limited and Fletcher Challenge Limited. The relationships between demographic variables and PC were examined using analysis of variance (ANOVA). ANOVA's and Pearson r's correlations were also performed to analyse potential relationships between all the variables to determine effects on the adverse activities of the logging industry. The psychological climate, safety climate, organisational commitment, and intentions to turnover variables were found to be rather negative in direction. Aggregation of PC to group level climate proved unfruitful because of the lack of consensus within crews. However, organisational climate was evident across the logging industry. Some PC variables were found to be significantly related to safety climate variables, organisational commitment variables, and intention to quit variables. The contractors perceptions of the PC variables role ambiguity and workgroup friendliness and warmth were significantly related to crewmember turnover rates. Moreover, the contractors perceptions of the safety climate variable fatalism were significantly related to crewmember accident rates. The research limitations and implications were discussed along with recommendations for future research

The Mystery of Suffering

Roll 108. Golden Gloves Arena, St. Louis. Image 8 of 18. (19 February, 1954) [PHO 1.108.8]The Boleslaus Lukaszewski (Father Luke) Photographs contain more than 28,000 images of Saint Louis University people, activities, and events between 1951 and 1970. The photographs were taken by Boleslaus Lukaszewski (Father Luke), a Jesuit priest and member of the University's Philosophy Department faculty

Luther in context

Reviewed Book: Steinmetz, David C. Luther in context. Bloomington: Indiana Univ Press, 1986

The Augsburg Confession: A Commentary

Reviewed Book: Grane, Leif. The Augsburg Confession: A Commentary. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1987