Agricultural Sciences

Webinar to review the Pennsylvania DEP Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force report

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force report will be the topic of a Web-based seminar offered by Penn State Extension.

This presentation, from 1 to 2 p.m. on Thursday, March 3, will feature Kenneth Klemow, associate director of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research at Wilkes University, and Dave Messersmith, an educator who is a member of Penn State Extension's Marcellus Education Team. Both were part of the DEP task force.

The task force's final report included recommendations for improved pipeline planning, permitting and construction as well as long-term operation and maintenance. The document was to be issued to Gov. Tom Wolf in February.

"Pennsylvania is experiencing substantial pipeline development to move natural gas from the Marcellus and Utica shale to market," said Messersmith. "The Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force report contains 184 recommendations and best practices to guide pipeline development during this period of unprecedented build-out."

During the webinar, Klemow and Messersmith will review key points in the report and discuss dynamics of the group, public participation and next steps.

The webinar is free, but registration is necessary. To register, visit the Penn State Extension Natural Gas Events Web page. More information is available on the website or by contacting Carol Loveland at 570-320-4429 or cal24@psu.edu.

Penn State Extension's Marcellus Education Team provides monthly webinars on a variety of topics. Upcoming webinars include the following:

--March 10: "Renewed Competitiveness for U.S. Plastics from Shale Energy," presented by Martha Gilchrist Moore, senior director, policy analysis and economics, American Chemistry Council.

--April 28: "Evolving Roles of Shale Gas in Central and Distributed Power Generation Scenarios," presented by James Freihaut, Penn State architectural engineer, who is technical director of the Energy Efficient Buildings Hub at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.

--May 19: "Seismicity in Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania State Seismic Network," presented by Andrew Nyblade, Department of Geosciences, Penn State.

Previous webinars, publications and information also are available on the Penn State Extension natural-gas website (http://extension.psu.edu/naturalgas), covering a variety of topics, such as Act 13; seismic testing; methane emissions; water use and quality; natural gas liquids regional development; natural gas reserves; gas-leasing considerations for landowners; legal issues surrounding gas development; and the impact of Marcellus gas development on forestland.

Last Updated February 29, 2016

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