Councilman Zeke Cohen surrounded by youth and environmental leaders in support of the city’s climate resolution.
At first glance, the Paris Climate Agreement resolution that the Baltimore City Council passed this week may seem perfunctory. After all, cities from Pittsburgh to Paris have voiced their opposition to President Trump’s anti-climate decision and pledged to support the global agreement.
Charm City’s air quality is so bad that we top the list for highest mortality rate from air pollution.But, this isn’t just a bummer-our-air-quality-is-lousy-post. Have you heard of two proposed government initiatives (yes-that’s code for regulations) that may actually improve our city’s air quality? New EPA smog limits and the Maryland Clean Energy Advancement Act sound kind of wonky, but these “big deal” policies can cut air pollution and hopefully better protect Baltimore’s citizens.
This massive fracking well is ~15 acres and is located at the top of a flattened mountain in Doddridge County, W.V. Trucks get to well by driving up a narrow 2 mile country road lined with about 40 homes.
“What’s that smell?”
I asked that question when I caught a whiff of metallic gas while standing in Lyndia’s front yard.Her house is four hours west of Baltimore in West Union, a town in Doddridge County, West Virginia. Ten active fracking wells sit within one mile of her home.
Doddridge County is a hot spot in our country’s fracking boom. I visited the fracking fields there last June to learn first-hand what it’s like to be a “fracking neighbor.” I define fracking neighbor as someone who lives near a natural gas hydrofracturing, a.k.a. fracking, well. According to the Wall Street Journal, 15.3 million people live within one mile of a fracking well. In only nine years, five percent of Americans are now fracking neighbors, and that’s because 100,000 fracking wells have been drilled across 31 states.
The good news about broccoli tea is that it might help prevent cancer and aid the body in dealing with air pollution, according to recent research out of Johns Hopkins. The bad news about broccoli tea is that it doesn’t taste very good.