PBS stations are producing radio and television segments, hosting discussions between policy makers and their communities, and offering further content online, all as a part of Blueprint America. /wnet/blueprintamerica/files/2009/05/200×100blueprint_america.jpg ]]> http://www.pbs.org/wnet/blueprintamerica/reports/partner-stations/overview/578/feed/ 1 http://www.pbs.org/wnet/blueprintamerica/reports/choke-point/overview/536/ http://www.pbs.org/wnet/blueprintamerica/reports/choke-point/overview/536/#comments Wed, 22 Apr 2009 23:16:40 +0000 tom mcnamara http://www.pbs.org/wnet/blueprintamerica/?p=536 Blueprint America — with The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer — in a two part report looks at the bottlenecks of America’s freight rail network, and the communities the trains intersect.

In the Midwest, Chicago has been a freight rail hub for around 150 years. In the old days, some lines brought raw materials to the city –- like cattle to the stockyards –- while others carried finished products to market. The city’s rails are still laid out that way: a couple of lines come in from the west and a couple of others from the east. Even though Chicago still handles about a third of the nation’s freight, a lot of it has to stop there -– wait there –- and shift from one railroad to another.

As a result, traffic on Chicago’s rails is even slower than traffic on its roads: A 2002 study found that freight trains pass through the city at an average of just nine miles an hour.

At the same time, the community of Barrington, IL, an outlying suburb in the Chicago area, has had freight re-routed to pass through the city. Residents are not too happy. Still, the shift in train traffic is likely to lessen the congestion of freight in the City of Chicago.

And while the City of Chicago, railroads, and federal authorities have developed a plan to ease freight train traffic, it won’t be complete for years. As a result, the freight carrier Canadian National did what it could and moved some of its trains away from the metropolitan area.

Correspondent Rick Karr reports.

Blueprint America — with NOW on PBS — reports from California, which has the most ambitious clean energy plan in the nation. But, the state’s efforts face stiff opposition from property owners and conservationists who prefer renewable energy from local sources, such as photovoltaic rooftop solar panels.

Complicating the matter are claims that the transmission lines are not actually carrying renewable energy at all, but represent a thinly-disguised strategy to stick to old energy practices.

The green energy dream: Why it may not happen. /wnet/blueprintamerica/files/2009/01/503_indepth200×100.jpg ]]> http://www.pbs.org/wnet/blueprintamerica/reports/power-struggle/overview/459/feed/ 0 http://www.pbs.org/wnet/blueprintamerica/reports/in-the-hills/analysis-marcellus-shale-in-northeastern-pennsylvania/333/ http://www.pbs.org/wnet/blueprintamerica/reports/in-the-hills/analysis-marcellus-shale-in-northeastern-pennsylvania/333/#comments Fri, 16 Jan 2009 20:06:15 +0000 tom mcnamara http://www.pbs.org/wnet/blueprintamerica/?p=333 Gas exploration has been happening in Pennsylvania since the 1800s. However, a new technology and new price incentives have made possible the exploration of the Marcellus shale. It is a geological formation – the size of Greece – stretching from New York to West Virginia and holding what could become the nation’s most prolific natural gas reservoir. In 2008, Penn State University estimated the economic value of the formation at $1 trillion and that, for every $1 billion in royalties paid to Pennsylvania residents, nearly 8,000 jobs would be created.

The pace of exploration accelerated in 2008 due to increased demand and higher gas prices. Companies rushed to add acreage, expand leaseholds and submit applications to drill the Marcellus shale. In mid-2008, in northeastern Pennsylvania, gas operators were offering landowners as much as $3,000 per acre and 15 percent royalty over the period of the lease. A landowner with a well on his property could expect to make $800,000 in royalties during the first year of production. Thousands of property owners in Pennsylvania signed leases welcoming the extra income in a region that has long suffered from economic malaise.

As Blueprint America correspondent Rick Karr uncovered, not everyone in northeastern Pennsylvania is thrilled about this new gas rush. The main areas of concern relate to the impact of exploration and drilling on the environment and on local infrastructure.

Environmentalists point to the vast amounts of water (one to five million gallons per well) required to extract gas from the Marcellus shale and to the potential contamination of groundwater and watersheds. Drilling is done horizontally and uses hydrofracking – high-pressured water laced with chemicals is pumped into the earth to break the rock and extract gas trapped 7,000 feet below ground. Frac water is then diluted before being released into waterways. Environmental groups are seeking increased oversight and regulation from state agencies.

At the local level, the gas bonanza can put serious stress on a town’s infrastructure. Increased truck traffic accelerates the wear and tear of country roads and bridges. Children of rig workers must be accommodated in local schools. Pennsylvania does not tax gas revenues. Local jurisdictions with natural gas wells face higher demands for services, but receive little new revenues to pay for those services. School districts, county and municipal governments who own land leased for natural gas are looking for ways to receive windfalls from leasing and royalties. At the state level, Governor Rendell lifted a 2003 moratorium on drilling to shore up the state’s ailing finances. Bidding for oil and gas drilling rights on state forest land atop the Marcellus shale was initiated in September 2008. The lease revenues will go to the Oil and Gas Lease Fund which finances park, conservation, recreation, dam repair and flood-control projects.