Oil and Gas Accountability Toolkit
oil

The Public Lab non-profit hosts the **Oil and Gas Accountability Toolkit**, a collection of resources and a coalition of people working around the world on oil and gas issues. This toolkit goes beyond just "tools" to include: * peer support networks * [stories](/blog) of change and of challenges * ways to [build a community of practice](/facilitation) for sustained collaboration on a problem To see a full list of monitoring methods related to oil and gas, [click here](https://publiclab.org/methods#oil-and-gas). ### Coalitions What follows are a range of different topic-specific coalitions we've helped to bring together around a range of oil and gas related issues. We’ve learned more than ever to rely on the creativity and diverse skill-sets of contributors to develop new and unexpected ways of achieving goals. The thousands of people around the world who make up the Public Lab network **bring incredible expertise and a willingness to plug in and tackle problems** and continue to inspire us in their power and capacity. It’s our continuing responsibility to help them recognize and form alliances, and to solve problems together. ### Frac sand mining These resources are built around work supported by the [11th Hour Project](https://11thhourproject.org) which [focused on the issue of frac sand mining](/frac-sand). Since then, a range of projects have evolved to address different aspects of the issue. **** ## Air Monitoring ![microscope](https://publiclab.org/system/images/photos/000/022/880/large/OI000139_2.jpg) ### Microscope The Basic Microscope project on Public Lab was born from people’s interest in being able to visualize particulate matter that is known to be harmful for human and livestock health. Several local community members recognized the challenges in advocating with purely numerical data; when people can’t visualize and directly see threats, it can be easier to ignore. [wikis:microscopes] ### Air sampling Building on work by the Bucket Brigade, we've documented and collected several different techniques for collecting air samples for processing at a lab. [wikis:air-sampling] ### Measuring particles There are many different ways to measure particulate pollution. Read below to find out more. [wikis:particulate-sensing-overview] ### Visual emission monitoring Using your eyes or a camera to monitor emissions is a powerful type of monitoring which has several EPA methods associated with it. [wikis:visual-monitoring] ![Screen_Shot_2018-04-16_at_2.57.43_PM.png](https://publiclab.org/system/images/photos/000/024/620/large/Screen_Shot_2018-04-16_at_2.57.43_PM.png) ### Hydrogen Sulfide (above image by @ErikHanley11) [wikis:h2s-overview] ### Odor Reporting [wikis:odor] **** ![stormwater](/system/images/photos/000/024/626/large/Screen_Shot_2018-04-16_at_3.42.04_PM.png) ## Water Monitoring A wide range of sample-based, electronic, and other methods of monitoring water quality have been compiled on Public Lab, reflecting a range of efforts across our community. [wikis:water-monitoring] ![timelapse](/system/images/photos/000/018/073/large/Screenshot_2016-09-19_at_2.32.15_PM.png) ### Photo documentation Public Lab work began with photographic monitoring using [balloons and kites](/balloon-mapping). We've grown our coalition around a number of other ways that powerful visual evidence can be produced through photography. [wikis:photo-monitoring] ### Turbidity A range of techniques has been compiled around turbidity monitoring: [wikis:turbidity] ![datalogger](/system/images/photos/000/020/770/large/Screenshot_2017-06-12_at_3.06.25_PM.png) ### Datalogging A surprisingly broad coalition of projects has developed around Public Lab for logging data from different sources. See the main [Data Logging page](/data-logging) for more. [wikis:datalogger] **** ![soil sampling](/system/images/photos/000/024/627/large/Screen_Shot_2018-04-16_at_3.44.24_PM.png) ## Soil Monitoring We're developing initial soil sampling and monitoring techniques and resources under the "soil testing" topic: [wikis:soil-testing] **** ## Questions [questions:oil-and-gas]...


Author Comment Last activity Moderation
marlokeno "Markdown: An oil train, presumed to be full of bakken Oil, spilled on tracks between Red Wing and Winona MN along the Mississippi River. I photogra..." | Read more » almost 11 years ago
warren "Great -- Mathew just ordered all the parts yesterday; once they arrive we'll put up an order link on the store. Thanks, this is exciting! " | Read more » almost 11 years ago
Lynn "I would like to be part of the testing project. I'll buy the kit. When will it be available? " | Read more » almost 11 years ago
danbeavers "I think I just need some cuvettes. I have the laser and spectrometer. Oh, and perhaps some standard samples. " | Read more » almost 11 years ago
liz "I saw that note -- thanks for updating it with your update! But i was asking about this great picture of a foldable spec with the hackteria logo on..." | Read more » almost 11 years ago
Matt_P "hey jeff, hey scott, i am (still) willing to purchase a kit to help this get off the ground. i'm hoping to have more time in...april. scott, lets g..." | Read more » almost 11 years ago
dusjagr "Here is an updated file: http://hackteria.org/wiki/index.php/DIY_spectroscopy#Updated_version " | Read more » almost 11 years ago
warren "I think he already did: http://publiclab.org/notes/dusjagr/04-29-2013/redesign-of-the-foldable-mini-spectro-to-hold-a-cuvette " | Read more » almost 11 years ago
liz "@dusjagr Marc, awesome! Hey, also can you post that picture of your custom hackteria foldable spec i saw on Facebook to this site so we can cite it? " | Read more » almost 11 years ago
dusjagr "nice, count us in for testing. based in yogyakarta, indonesia. perfect addition to our current research during hackterialab 2014. " | Read more » almost 11 years ago
eustatic "matt_p this is scott, gulf coast, i have most of these materials, or their analogues what i don't have is time " | Read more » almost 11 years ago
warren "Hey Matt - well, not free, but as you can see the cost is going to be pretty darn low. @Paquicamus - sounds awesome! Could you link to some of the..." | Read more » almost 11 years ago
Paquicamus "I have done a lot of water quality analysis work using double beam UV/V spectrophotometer to determine phosphates, nitrates, nitrates, ammonia usin..." | Read more » almost 11 years ago
Matt_P "If you are asking me if I would allow you to send me one of these kits, for free...sure. How could I say no? I'll see what I can do with it. " | Read more » almost 11 years ago
eustatic "Hooray! " | Read more » almost 11 years ago
vjpixel "I want to test one! " | Read more » almost 11 years ago
liz "Count me in! We have lots of muck and mire in NYC to investigate. Conversely, we also have many delicious varieties of olive oil. :) " | Read more » almost 11 years ago
warren "We are now putting together an initial spectrometry oil testing kit... it'll need a lot of refinement but we really want to get moving on this. Che..." | Read more » almost 11 years ago
warren "Hmm, do you have enough UV light? No, the sample container shouldn't matter, as long as you are seeing a glow coming from the sample. Can you post ..." | Read more » almost 11 years ago
salem "hey guys..i am trying to do the same experiment but i am not getting any result. it seems that the uv light can't enter the spectrometer in order t..." | Read more » about 11 years ago
pwe11 "Hey guys- I'm new here and apologize if this has already been stated. If you want to see the maximum fluorescence, you must first look at its absor..." | Read more » about 11 years ago
eustatic "I'm also trying to reproduce. it's on an much longer time frame, though, than this experiment. " | Read more » about 11 years ago
warren "Note to self: found possibly-suitable boxes: http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-12694BL/Retail-Boxes/9-x-6-1-2-x-2-3-4-Black-Colored-Mailers?mod..." | Read more » about 11 years ago
warren "Sorry -- he is going to try to reproduce this experiment. :-P " | Read more » about 11 years ago