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NY 414

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Sunday July 29, 2018

Albany’s South End, Historic Dumping Grounds

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This colorized LiDAR Hillshade of elevation of the South End shows the filled in gorges in Albany South End that were used until the late 1960s for dumping trash and debris from the Empire State Plaza demolition.

Thematic Albany\'s South End, Historic Dumping Grounds

What to do on summer vacation? 🏖️ 🏕️ 🚲 🐦 🍨

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A week from Friday or maybe two weeks from Friday – it depends on the weather, my schedule and what weeks the Watkins Glen track is active – I will be starting my vacation. I know the time period – early Friday morning one to sunset nine days later on a Sunday. I know the location of base camp – either Chicken Coop Road or Potamac Road in Finger Lakes National Forest which is between Watkins Glen and Ithaca. But the details are still very vague in my mind.

Truth is I don’t need a solid plan as I have a base camp already planned and a time period I’ll be there each night. I also want to find novel, memorable things to do on summer vacation – the old favorites are fun but hardly memorable. I’d much rather explore new places but I don’t have the time to necessarily develop a new complete new plan, plus it’s just easy to go out to Finger Lakes National Forest which I know well.

I’d like to get down to Pennsylvania to do more of the Pine Creek Gorge Trail and poke around Wellsboro. Also maybe poke around Elmira a bit. Maybe it’s rainy, I could do a day trip to the Corning Museum of Glass. Not usually my cup of tea but I like doing things. I should research interesting views and trails on some of state forests I’ve not explored in that area. I feel like there must be some trails or roads I’ve not ridden before. Also, are there some lakes and ponds to kayak and fish? I should renew my fishing license so I catch dinner. And maybe get clams to boil down mid-week.

NPR

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Plugging old wells is important. It’s neither easy nor cheap : NPR

But while old wells might be forgotten, they never go away. After decades, this plugged well started to leak.

"Grass didn't grow," Burns said. "The pine trees kept dying. And there was another tree that sat there, and it died."

Leaks from defunct oil and gas wells are a problem for more than just plant life. The chemicals that leach up from deep underground, including benzene and arsenic, can harm human health and leach into water reservoirs. And any remaining natural gas that works its way into the atmosphere contributes to global warming. Natural gas is almost entirely composed of methane, a greenhouse gas that's far more potent than carbon dioxide.

Millions of oil and gas wells have been drilled in the U.S. since the oil industry was launched in the 1800s. A small number of those might conceivably be repurposed for something else — making geothermal power, for instance. But the vast majority will someday need to be plugged.

Doing that properly is neither easy nor cheap. And if plugging isn't done properly, it might not last — as Burns discovered.