Lately coal export has been getting a lot of attention in the media. Exporting coal from the US to overseas markets means an increase coal mining activity and an increase in train traffic through communities between the mines and coastal export terminals. Last fall, I blogged about the massive 7,500 foot long coal trains, to […]
Here at SkyTruth, we are always looking for new ways to visualize the environmental impact of human activity, so we’ve been playing with LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data and digital elevation models (DEMs). We thought it would be interesting, and potentially useful, to create a profile of the terrain of a mine before and […]
Remember that 92-mile-long bilge dump off Congo and Angola that caught our attention back in April? The bright spot at the left end of the slick is likely the vessel that caused it. But the ASAR imagery left an important question unanswered: Who was responsible for this pollution? With the generous help of our new […]
If you haven’t met the Frack Family yet, check out this video! SkyTruth Reports: Meet The Frack Family from SkyTruth on Vimeo. Yolandita presents the imaginary Frack Family and their dog Rocky of Beaver County, PA who help us to visualize the staggering quantity of chemicals that were used in a typical frack job (hydraulic […]
If you’ve read our “What’s In My Frack Fluid” article, posted by David last week, you were probably disturbed to find out how much of the ingredients used in a typical hydraulic fracturing operation are unknown. We thought it might be a good idea to illustrate what 133 tons of chemicals (including 65 tons of […]