What are some examples of fossil fuels

What are the main grades of coal and how are they defined?

peat, lignite, bituminous, and anthracite Their carbon content

What is the difference between a point source and a nonpoint source of pollution? What are typically the sources of each?

point source: sources which are readily identifiable spot like a sewer or factory non-point source not easily identifiable such as fertilizer run off

How does residence time tie in with pollution levels?

pollution levels will go down after a set amount of years but that does not mean the chemical no longer posses threat

What is the difference between primary, secondary, and enhanced recovery of oil and gas?

primary recovery= just pumping nothing else secondary= pumping + putting water in the reservoir to buoy oil to the surface of the well enhanced recovery= anything else to get the remaining oil 2/3

Who was M. King Hubbert?

geologist and geophysicist. responsible for the Hubbert curve and Hubbert peak theory,

What is eutrophication and what does it develop in response to?

having excessive nutrients in the water can happen from run off fertilizer or from excessive BOD

In what type of geological environments does oil get trapped?

***

What is the minimum estimated burial time needed to produce oil and gas to form?

1-2 million years

Approximately how much land in the United States is under federal control? Where is most of it located?

1/3 and most of it in the West (Utah Nevada Washington Idaho)

When did it occur in the US?

1970

What is the estimated reserve supply of coal in the US

255 billion tons of coal

Roughly, what is the number of global oil reserves?

3000 billion barrels

Roughly, what is the number of proven US reserves?

33 billion barrels

how much overall energy does it supply to our total needs?

37%

How many gallons are in a barrel of oil?

42 gallons

What are the two primary applications of groundwater law in the US?

471 ?

Under what temperatures do fossils fuels ideally form?

50-100ºC or 120-210ºF

What percentage (%) of our nation's energy supply comes from fossil fuels versus, say, hydropower / nuclear power?

64% roughly fossil, 17% renewable

How many billions of barrels of oil does the US consume per year

7.1 billion barrels

What is sediment pollution and why is it considered to be a hazard? Approximately how much of the sediment that finds its way into rivers comes from farmland?

75% comes from farmland and its a hazard because the water becomes undrinkable, un-swim-able and it clouds the water so light does not reach as far as usual which is bad for marine plants and animals

How is oil transported from the Alaskan North Slope to the southern part of the state?

800 mile trans Alaska pipe

***What is cap rock and how does it influence oil production?

A relatively impermeable rock, commonly shale, anhydrite or salt, that forms a barrier or seal above and around reservoir rock so that fluids cannot migrate beyond the reservoir

What country possesses most of the world's oil sand reserves and where is it located?

Alberta Canada 170 billion recoverable barrels

How are algal blooms related to this?

Algal blooms happen because of the excess nutrients and they can physically crowd out other organisms and make the cycle repeat all over again

What is the chemical make-up of natural gas

CH4 methane

and what are the primary countries from whom we import oil?

Canada, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Mexico and Columbia

What is the difference between petroleum, oil, and natural gas?

Crude oil and natural gas are fossil fuels that are used for heating. ... Crude oil, or petroleum, is a flammable liquid that consists of hydrocarbons and other organic compounds found beneath the earth through oil drilling. Natural gas consists mostly of methane and hydrocarbons or ethane petroleum/oil= same natural gas= different

What were the circumstances behind the Exxon Valdez and Deepwater Horizon incidents? What were some of the options used in the clean-up of the spills?

Exxon Valdez=tanker in the prince William sound used microorganism in a fertilizer spray skimmer ships burning Deepwater Horizon= hit a pressure pocket system failed and exploded

**About how long would they be expected to last if no new reserves were found?

Less than two years

. What is the idea behind an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)? What agencies are responsible for producing them, and how were they applied to the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline?

NEPA produces them alerts people to risks and possible mitigations and this made sure the pipeline was going to built to have the least environmental impact possible.

What is the significance of the NPRA and the ANWR

National petroleum reserve Alaska Arctic National Wildlife rescue one is an oil reserve field one is a protected wildlife area

Are fossil fuels renewable?

No, fossil fuels are not renewable. We are using them up faster than they can be replaced.

What does peak oil production refer to? Do we run out of oil at that point? What is expected to happen to the price of oil after this occurs?

Peak oil refers to the hypothetical point at which global crude oil production will hit its maximum rate, after which production will start to decline no, but we will it will skyrocket

Where is the biggest oil field in the US?

Prudhoe Bay

What are the two approaches to surface water rights in the US? Which apply to which regions of the US? (pp. 470-471)

Riparian Doctrine: whoever owns land adjacent to a body of water and all those bordering the water common in the eastern united states prior appropriation: whoever was there first gets to use the water and has top rights to it this is used in the western united states

What are oil shales? Where is the major US resource located and what type of petroleum deposit is formed there?

Sedimentary rocks containing a mixture of hydrocarbons known collectively as kerogen. Oil shales are crushed and heated to yield their oil, and the kerogen is refined after it is mined. Green river formation in the US holds 70% of the worlds oil shales

Why are they called fossil fuels?

They come from decomposition of organic material from 100-500 million years ago.

What is biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and how do its levels relate to stream / water pollution?

This is organic matter load in a body of water it relates to water pollution because if the body of water cant break down the pollution the oxygen is depleted

What is coal-bed methane?

a gas stored on the surfaces of the organic matter of coal

What are some of the environmental conditions needed to create fossil fuels?

a large accumulation of organic matter which is rich in carbon and hydrogen and the organic debris must be buried quickly so it is protected from the air

What does residence time refer to? How are the two ways that it is calculated?

a measure of how rapidly the chemical moves through each of these reservoirs time = capacity/ rate of influx amount of substance/rate of input or output how

What is a reservoir?

a space where a chemical can be held in substantial quantities

About how much oil (%) do we import

about half 50%

What is the difference between aerobic and anaerobic decomposition? What is the environmental concern regarding the latter?

aerobic: organic matter in water is broken down by microorganism this consumes oxygen in the water anaerobic: decay without oxygen that produces noxious gasses like hydrogen sulfide and methane this can "kill" bodies of water and with no oxygen not much can survive

How does the CO2 emission output of coal compare to that of oil and gas?

almost 2x as high

What are some of the environmental impacts of coal mining?

bad for the environment can leech into water and contains toxic metals

What is done with the waste product, ash?

can be put in containment ponds or in landfills

What two elements are fossil fuels predominantly composed of?

carbon and hydrogen

How does residence time tie in with the concept of half-lives / radioactive decay?

chemicals often dissipate following radioactive decay patterns

. What are other examples of organic and inorganic compounds that are past or present sources of environmental pollution?

chlorine DDT asbestos 428-429

What are some examples of fossil fuels

coal, oil, natural gas

What are some of the benefits / drawbacks to using coal?

dirty and hard to use, more abundant than other forms of energy

What are trace elements and how are they measured? What is their environmental importance?

elements that occur in very low concentrations few hundred ppm or less their effects may be beneficial or toxic

What is shale gas, and how is it typically mined? What are some of its environmental impacts?

fine sediments with heat, time and pressure that breaks down into natural gas hydraulic fracking polluting water and seismicity activity

How has the EPA made use of cap-and-trade to reduce sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions from power plants?

if a company is under the emission requirement they can sell it to other companies this was very effective and economically savvy and it reduce emissions

What are some of the challenges involved in land reclamation once the mining operation is completed?

it may not be possible to have it put back together and there may be problems with slides and runoff

What is the difficulty in proving that a chemical is safe? Approximately what percentage of industrial chemicals have no toxicity data available for them?

it takes a lot of time/ ethical concerns 70% have no data available

Globally, around what year is peak production predicted to occur?

it will peak between 2015 and 2030, with a significant chance that the peak will occur before 2020

What are some of the issues behind setting limits (acceptable standards) for pollution levels?

its hard to accurately measure pollutants

and what are some of the issues regarding to drill or not to drill in these areas

its really expensive and might not be worth it

What are the heavy metals? What is biomagnification? What is the cycle by which inorganic mercury and other toxic metals could end up in something we could ingest?

lead, cadmium, plutonium, biomagnification is the increase in concentration up the food chain of heavy metals clams--> fish --> tuna fish--> people

What are oil sands What is the name of the petroleum product that they produce?

oil sands also known as tar sands are sedimentary rocks containing a very thick semisolid tar-like petroleum called bitumen

What happens to a water source and the organisms within it after eutrophication occurs?

other living things are crowded out or suffocated

. What is the difference between source rock and reservoir rock?

source rock refers to rocks from which hydrocarbons have been generated or are capable of being generated A reservoir rock is a rock providing a condition to trap oil, contains pores and throats, creating flow path and an accumulating system for hydrocarbon and also consist of a sealing mechanism for prohibiting hydrocarbon penetration to surface layers

What are "scrubbers?"

special devices which trap sulfur in exhaust stacks

2. Why is sulfur content significant with regard to coal?

sulfur gasses are poisonous and acid rain is an environmental issue

About how long does it take to develop a new oil field?

ten years

What is the idea behind the 1973 Federal Flood Disaster Protection Act? What has been an unintended side effect of this act?

that builders in that area pay a federal insurance against flood loss but when damages is worse then expected buyers use insurance to build over and over again and cost the government lots of money

4. What are the general principles behind the General Mining Law of 1872 and the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977?

the land must try and be returned to its original state after mining is done

What is a geochemical cycle?

the pathway that chemical elements take in the surface and crust of the Earth

What is coal and how does it form?

the remains of land plants and it happens in swampy and anaerobic conditions made up of hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen

How are herbicides and insecticides thought to be a significant source of agricultural pollution?

they literally are and they are toxic and run off into surface water and streams

. What was the intention behind creating the Strategic Petroleum Reserve?

to provide a cushion in the event of disruption or imports of oil

What are the objectives of the Clean Water Act of 1977 and the Clean Air Act of 1963/1990?

to restore and maintain the chemical physical and biological integrity of the nations waters chlorofluorocarbons and other harmful emissions must be reduced

What were the primary aims of the 2015 Paris Agreement with regard to curbing the rise of global warming?

trying to keep the temp from rising more than 2ºC

How do the future prospects look for oil and gas?

we are foooucked

What is thermal pollution?

when a plant uses water to cool something and the cycle returns the water to the stream where the water is warmer than it is supposed to be which affects the organisms in that stream/river/lake