National Anthem: was sung by Lauren Hunt. Official Parade Videographer & Drone Specialist: MyTV26 Official Parade Photographer: VSG Photo & Design Parade Announcers: Chris Murphy, Rick Myers & DJ Walker Parade Start Time: 9:30 AM Sharp! 2022 'Grand Marshals'Ĥth of July Champions: Terry McGrath Family Organized by the Modesto Kiwanis Clubs who wish you a safe and wonderful Independence Day celebration! A downtown parade at 9:30 a.m., kicks off this year’s Fourth of July celebration, on July 4th! Since 1874, the city of Modesto has celebrated the 4th of July with a parade through downtown. Geological Survey, which bestowed upon him the Distinguished Service Award.This year’s parade was in honor of Terry McGrath. Vance Kennedy lives in Modesto where he retired after 40 years with the U.S. If we do that, we’re just trading one problem for another. While I support finding ways to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, once removed it must be disposed of carefully - not simply pumped below ground where it can ruin our aquifers. There are some good ideas emerging from the scientific community for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, though the best solution is not to put it there to begin with. And similarly, this fracking has ruined freshwater aquifers around the world, including in California, as demonstrated in a study done at Stanford University and reported on extensively in Scientific American, Consumer Reports and NPR. What is being proposed here is similar to the fracking that oil companies are doing. It should be noted that to pump CO2, a gas, under ground it must be liquified under intense pressure to negative-87 degrees, which would instantly freeze any water it contacts, blocking further injection. You and I cannot drink salty water, and we can’t grow food with it, either. When that happens, freshwater will be ruined. Eventually, this displaced salty water will find a pathway upward into our freshwater aquifers. Knowing them, we can see that injecting carbon deep into ancient water beneath the surface will push some of this salty water into other spaces above. So, if you add insoluble carbon dioxide into vast pools of salty water deep underground, an equal amount of that salty water will be displaced - moving up or sideways, wherever the path of least resistance allows it to go. If you try, the original pool of water will simply be displaced. Water is incompressible, meaning unlike a gas, you can’t force more of it into the same space where water is already existing. Instead, the water will be displaced, or simply pushed aside and upward. That means however much carbon dioxide you pump into the crevices and gaps in the strata of the Earth, very, very little of it will be absorbed by the water into which it is injected. Almost everyone in the Valley relies on this fresh water for drinking and growing things to eat.Ĭarbon dioxide is only very slightly soluble in water. Closer to the surface is fresh water that has collected in the alluvial gravels and sands that washed down from Sierra mountains over many thousands (not millions) of years. Water fills in the many gaps between the sands and gravels in layers we call strata.ĭeep beneath the Valley is a remnant of an ancient, salty ocean that millions of years ago covered the Valley floor. I am the author, or co-author, of numerous scientific papers published in scholarly journals.Īs regulators consider permitting wells to inject retrieved carbon dioxide underground, here are a few basic scientific facts they should keep in mind:Įarth beneath the Valley is made up of many strata of shale, sand, gravels and, closer to the surface, some organic materials. Geological Survey studying the Earth’s geology and hydrology. I read in The Modesto Bee that a company from Cupertino is requesting a federal permit to sink wells up to 8,000 feet beneath our Valley so that they can pump carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere into the Earth. But the thought that you can somehow inject CO2 deep underground with no consequences of any kind is, well, a pipe dream. Removing carbon dioxide from our air is a good idea, and something we should all take seriously.

Modesto bee