xiii
Acknowledgments
I thank the Energy Resources Initiative at the South Dakota School of Mines &
Technology for partial financial support during the preparation of this manuscript.
Ron Doering and Aaron Schiller at Springer Nature made the process easy and their
enthusiasm kept it going. Numerous colleagues at the South Dakota School of
Mines & Technology, West Virginia University, the U.S. Geological Survey,
Geological Survey of Canada, and the U.S. Department of Energy provided valuable feedback and insights. Dr. Donna Vorhees of the Health Effects Institute in
Boston supplied comprehensive information on the status of various ongoing health
and environmental studies. Conversations with environmentalists, O&G industry
personnel, state regulators, and university researchers provided insights into the
issues, concerns, and knowledge gaps. Interactions with graduate students and professors in the United States and Canada helped shape the narrative and focus the
discussions. I also thank the reviewers: Seth Pelepko of the Pennsylvania Department
of Environmental Protection, Nate Warner at Penn State, and one anonymous
reviewer. Their comments and suggestions helped improve the manuscript.
I also thank my family for inspiration, including my late brother Jim, an ardent
environmentalist and outdoor adventurer to whom this book is dedicated, my other
brothers and sister, my wife, my children, and my grandson, who will be inheriting
this planet someday. There is a Native American proverb that states, “We don’t
inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.” Wise
words, indeed.
Acknowledgments
I thank the Energy Resources Initiative at the South Dakota School of Mines &
Technology for partial financial support during the preparation of this manuscript.
Ron Doering and Aaron Schiller at Springer Nature made the process easy and their
enthusiasm kept it going. Numerous colleagues at the South Dakota School of
Mines & Technology, West Virginia University, the U.S. Geological Survey,
Geological Survey of Canada, and the U.S. Department of Energy provided valuable feedback and insights. Dr. Donna Vorhees of the Health Effects Institute in
Boston supplied comprehensive information on the status of various ongoing health
and environmental studies. Conversations with environmentalists, O&G industry
personnel, state regulators, and university researchers provided insights into the
issues, concerns, and knowledge gaps. Interactions with graduate students and professors in the United States and Canada helped shape the narrative and focus the
discussions. I also thank the reviewers: Seth Pelepko of the Pennsylvania Department
of Environmental Protection, Nate Warner at Penn State, and one anonymous
reviewer. Their comments and suggestions helped improve the manuscript.
I also thank my family for inspiration, including my late brother Jim, an ardent
environmentalist and outdoor adventurer to whom this book is dedicated, my other
brothers and sister, my wife, my children, and my grandson, who will be inheriting
this planet someday. There is a Native American proverb that states, “We don’t
inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.” Wise
words, indeed.