BIOET 533
Ethical Dimensions of Renewable Energy and Sustainability Systems

Overview

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Overview

Oil Rig
Figure 6.1: Oil Drilling Rig
Credit: US Bureau of Land Management (Public Domain)

Examine possible correlations between independently acquired datasets dynamically using open source methods and sources.

Lesson Objectives

  • Identify the stakeholders in hydraulic fracturing.
  • Describe and categorize the possible ethical issues that emerge in the use of scientific and engineering research on hydraulic fracturing.
  • Analyze the potential ethical issues around transparency of reporting, hydraulic fluid contents, and the projected certainty around well leakages.
  • Categorize and justify the potential ethical issues as Research Integrity, Broader Impacts, or Embedded Ethics.
  • Advanced Options:
    • Level 1: Describe how groundwater is sampled and how, depending on which of the sampling methods is applied, can possibly change the understanding of the risks associated with methane leakages.
    • Level 2: Define what the term "appropriate" means in the discussion of Appropriate Wastewater Management Options.

What is due for Lesson 6?

This lesson will take us one week to complete. Please refer to the Course Syllabus for specific timeframes and due dates. Specific directions for the assignment below can be found within this lesson.

Lesson 6: Assignments
Requirements Assignment Details
To Do Read and familiarize yourself with all the Lesson 6 materials.
Read Week 9: Read the following articles, in order:
  1. R. Vidic et al., Impact of Shale Gas Development on Regional Water Quality, Science 340, 1235009 (2013). DOI: 10.1126/science.1235009.
  2. Daniel J. Rozell and Sheldon J. Reaven, S. "Water Pollution Risk Associated with Natural Gas Extraction from the Marcellus Shale" Risk Analysis, Vol. 32, No. 8, 2012.
  3. Lara O. Haluszczak, Arthur W. Rose, Lee R. Kump, Geochemical evaluation of flowback brine from Marcellus gas wells in Pennsylvania, USA, Applied Geochemistry, Volume 28, January 2013, Pages 55-61.
  4. "Chemicals Used in Hydraulic Fracturing", United States House of Representatives, Committee on Energy and Commerce, Minority Staff, April 2011.
Week 10: Read the following articles in order:
(Note, yes, you are supposed to reread the Science article "Impact of Shale Gas Development on Regional Water Quality" at the end.)
  1. Kinga M. Révész, Kevin J. Breen, Alfred J. Baldassare, Robert C. Burruss, Carbon and hydrogen isotopic evidence for the origin of combustible gases in water-supply wells in north-central Pennsylvania, Applied Geochemistry, Volume 27, Issue 1, January 2012, Pages 361-375.
  2. Stephen G. Osborn, Avner Vengosh, Nathaniel R. Warner, and Robert B. Jackson. "Methane contamination of drinking water accompanying gas-well drilling and hydraulic fracturing" PNAS 2011 108 (20) 8172-8176; published ahead of print May 9, 2011.
  3. Lisa J. Molofsky, John A. Connor, Shahla K. Farhat, Albert S. Wylie Jr., Tom Wagner. "Methane in Pennsylvania water wells unrelated to Marcellus shale fracturing" Oil & Gas Journal, Dec. 5, 2011. (See PDF in Lessons folder.)
  4. Samuel C. Schon. "Hydraulic fracturing not responsible for methane migration" PNAS 2011 108 (37) E664; published ahead of print August 30, 2011, doi:10.1073/pnas.1107960108.
  5. R. Vidic et al., Impact of Shale Gas Development on Regional Water Quality, Science 340, 1235009 (2013). DOI: 10.1126/science.1235009.
Assignment Week 9:
  • Prepare a draft of an Ethics Matrix 2a, 2b, and 2c, but only of the relevant issues. You are not to try to find an example for every subpoint on the matrices, but really to identify the most relevant issues. Focus only on the issues that are there.
Week 10:
  • Complete a Stakeholder Matrix based on the most relevant issues from the Ethics Matrices 2a-c. Combining the two (fine to pull anything you've written in the matrix) into a 500-600 word write-up. To submit, go to the course in Canvas, click on Lesson 6, then Assignment 6 - Submit Analysis Ethics Matrix.

Questions?

If you have any questions, please post them to our Questions? discussion forum (not email), located under the Discussions tab in Canvas. I will check that discussion forum daily to respond. While you are there, feel free to post your own responses if you, too, are able to help out a classmate.