UT Proposes Research of Fracking In Area
Sites in Morgan and Scott County to be Leased to Drillers
Sites in Morgan and Scott County to be Leased to Drillers
UT Institute of Agriculture Gas and Oil Research Project held an open house at the Wartburg Civic Center in Wartburg on Thursday to answer questions from residents, property owners and environmentalists about a UT proposal to drill for natural gas in Morgan and Scott counties. Under the proposal UT would allow an “oil and gas company to lease its land — about 8,350 acres in two separate tracts of property that make up the research forest — and send royalties from any gas or oil produced from the well back to the school. That money, said UT officials, would finance its research into how fracking affects surrounding wildlife, geology, and air and water quality. Those results could potentially influence industry standards and state regulations.”
Here is a link to the full article.
According to the article, fracking,
which is a controversial method of extracting oil and gas from shale beneath
the earth, normally involves drilling vertically into the ground and then
horizontally, pumping water and chemicals into the ground to fracture the shale
and release the oil and gas. But it was
interesting to learn that in Tennessee the method for fracking is a bit
different because the shale is generally shallower than in other parts of the
country. “Because the shale is shallower, companies often use nitrogen rather
than water to extract the gas, according to officials at UT and the Tennessee
Department of Environmental Conservation.”
Wikipedia
describes fracking as a common term for hydraulic fracturing. In its article on fracking it briefly
provides an explanation about why fracking has been controversial. “Opponents point to potential environmental impacts, including
contamination of ground water, risks to air quality,
the migration of gases and hydraulic fracturing chemicals to the surface, surface
contamination from spills and flowback and the health
effects of these. For these reasons hydraulic fracturing has come
under scrutiny internationally, with some countries suspending or even banning
it.”
This
is not the first time that folks in the areas around Rugby have been concerned
about affects from oil and gas drilling on area water supplies. In previous decades people in the area have
had trouble with well water supplies being contaminated, purportedly due to oil
and gas drilling in the area. Over the
years, water supply contamination has furthered pressure to connect homes in
the area to the cleaner water of local water utility districts.
One
would hope that the research that UT proposes to do will result in better
understanding of fracking and, if needed, improved procedures so that area
residents can be assured that water sources are protected.
Local Crafts Make Great Christmas Gifts
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Jessie Gully (top right) would love to show you some of the wonderful handmade crafts at Rugby's Commissary. Special gifts for this Christmas include handpainted Christmas bulbs with Rugby buildings and several colors of friendly octopi.Photos from Christmas at Rugby
Christmas at Rugby was well attended this year. Folks seemed to enjoy the music and singing that was in various buildings throughout the village. And the Victorian meal at the Cafe got rave reviews - kudos to the Cafe staff for a job well done!
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| Robin and the Girls sang at Rugby's Schoolhouse during last Saturday's Christmas at Rugby event, pianist Donna Heffner (top right) and singer Mike Harris (bottom right) relax in between performances in the parlor at Kingstone Lisle. |
Historic
Rugby is planning an exciting and expanded events calendar for 2013 along with
hours that better mirror visitation patterns. Nineteen special events are
already scheduled for the 2013 season. An expanded Appalachian Writer’s Series,
international guest interpreters, and new festivals highlight the offerings in
Rugby for the new year.
“There
will be something for everyone to enjoy in Rugby next year,” said Mike
Harris, Interim Executive Director. “Our spring festival is being re-imagined and
renamed the Rugby Village Festival. The
dates have been changed to better meet our visitor demands and will now be held
on Friday and Saturday, May 17 and 18. A Friday
evening concert is being planned because our visitors have said they love
having more music along with expanded hours during the day,” Harris said.
Along
with many of the traditional, popular events, an Antique Street Festival in the
summer and Appalachian Heritage Day on the lawn of Uffington House in early
fall is being added to the schedule. This new year is also the one for more Appalachian
writers to share their works with visitors.
Two
international speakers will provide a unique take on Rugby’s past. Wulfhard
Stahl, a visiting Swiss scholar, will tell the story of Eduard Bertz, Rugby’s first
librarian. From Rugby School in the United Kingdom comes Headmaster Patrick
Derham, who will share the story of Rugby School, the Tennessee village’s namesake, and a
new look at founder Thomas Hughes.
Stay
tuned as details will be added to a new website in the near
future.
New
hours for Historic Rugby also go into effect on January 2. The site will
be closed for winter until March 15, but the Harrow Road Café will
remain opened on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Historic Rugby will begin regular
hours on Thursdays through Sundays beginning March 16 and running
until August 23. Rugby will
be opened seven days a week from August 24 until the end of 2013. Check out the site schedule soon on the website for more information on
Rugby’s new schedule and expanded events.
Communicating in Rugby
New Committee to Help
Facilitate/Enhance Communication
By Hadley Hury
At its September meeting, and after several preceding conversations
about a recognized need, the HRI Board approved the creation of a new working
subcommittee. Its purpose will be to facilitate, coherently and effectively,
communication between Beacon Hill (as well as Boyle Woods and those Rugby
neighbors most immediately proximate to these neighborhoods) and HRI. The
committee will help address the longtime concern that there has been no formal
mechanism for communicating and addressing needs between the nonprofit
organization HRI and these neighborhoods which are so centrally vested in Rugby’s
well-being and daily life.
As a subcommittee of the Design/Review Committee, the new group
will include that committee’s chairman, Jim Meadows; the HRI executive
director; Rugby resident Cheryl Hodgkins; and will initially be chaired by
board member and Beacon Hill resident Hadley Hury (628-6454).
If you have a question, idea, issue, challenge, or opportunity
which affects the quality of life in Beacon Hill, Boyle Woods, or our immediate
environs, please call Hadley.
BIRTHDAYS
Dec. 15 - Matthew Stagg, Rita Myers and
JoNell Hester
Dec. 17 - Barbara Mitchell
CALENDAR
Rugby is in the Eastern time zone, just barely
Rugby is in the Eastern time zone, just barely
Dec. 24 – Christmas Eve Service at Christ Church – 5
p.m. followed by a potluck. All are welcome.
Dec. 31 – New Year’s Eve Dinner at Harrow Road
Café. Reservations required. Call 423-628-2441 or 1-888-214-3400 for details.
Jan. 2 – Winter Hours begin at Historic Rugby – Café
open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays
Feb. 14 – Valentine’s Dinner at Harrow Road Cafe
| Ongoing Activities Quilters’ Group - Wednesdays and Saturdays, 2–4 p.m. Eastern, at the Friendly House behind Christ Church Episcopal. Rugby Yoga – NEW DAY: Mondays at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, at the Friendly House behind Christ Church Episcopal. Christ Church Episcopal -- Sunday morning services, 11 a.m. Eastern, year round; all are welcomed |
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| Bark rings from Ribbed Pine Borers |
A Mystery Solved
By Linda Konig
Earlier this year I
wrote about some mysterious rings found just inside some pine tree bark.
Eric Wilson had brought me a couple of pieces
of dead pine bark with quarter-sized rings made of wood shreds attached to the
inner side of the bark. No one I asked
knew what made the rings. However,
William Crabtree, who's certainly seen a lot of dead pines, said he's seen
these rings many times, always inside the bark of dead trees.
Finally, almost by
accident, I ran across some information about Ribbed Pine Borers. The funny thing is, I've seen adult Ribbed
Pine Borers on flowers in late summer and never dreamed that they had spent
most of their lives inside the bark of dying or dead pine trees. Nor did I dream they were capable of building a sort
of fence of wood shreds. Only after a
complete metamorphosis and mating and laying eggs, do they fly away to flowers.
The young adult female
lays eggs in the crevices of pine bark. The larvae that hatch out immediately make their way inside the bark and
under to the decaying wood of the tree. They do a lot of tunneling and eating before getting the urge to
pupate. They also shred thin slivers of
wood which they don't eat. In the fall,
they make their way to the inner side of the bark, and there they place the
wood shreds in a circle around themselves.
It's a sort of corral. This is
probably a protection for them while they're pupating. They become adults very soon and spend the
winter inside their corrals, one insect per corral. In spring, the adult comes to the outside of
the tree, mates, and the cycle begins again. Unlike some insects, however, the ribbed pine borer doesn't die
immediately after mating and laying eggs. They have a happy retirement period in which they fly from flower to
flower. Do they drink nectar or nibble
on the flower petals? I'm not sure, but
I plan to pay more attention to any adults I see in the future.
When I saw photos of the
rings their larvae make for themselves to pupate in, I knew the mystery was
solved. Try Googling Ribbed Pine Borer to
find photos of all the life stages, etc. of these interesting borers, including photos of the larva or an adult Ribbed Pine Borer inside one
of those mystery rings. However, there's
still some mystery about these creatures.
How do they make those perfect circles without a pattern or measuring?
This Week’s Editors: Rick Murphy and George Zepp
