Keep Tap Water Safe

DUG In Deep

PA DEP Secretary Krancer was in Pittsburgh last week, marshaling his forces at the Drilling Unconventional Gas (DUG East) Conference, and peppering his pro-gas speech with an unnerving number of Civil War references. According to Don Hopey in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Krancer “referred to several dozen protesters outside as less imposing than opposition he sees as a Civil War re-enactor.”

Lest we forget, the Mason-Dixon line once divided The Marcellus Shale, too.

Access to the Pittsburgh conference was limited to those who meet DUG’s self-prescribed “press pass policy.” Indeed, it’s only getting more difficult to gain entry to big gas shows, even if you are willing to pony up nearly a grand to register, even if you are a legitimately credentialed member of the press, like Buck Quigley of ArtVoice.  

DEP Under Siege

So here you have it, fifteen minutes of shale gas props straight from The Secretary’s mouth. It’s intersting to note, while Krancer is being gently interviewed, The Herald Standard was reporting a record 166 Water Complaints Filed in Fayette, Greene and Washington counties, a gas pipeline was exploding and a frack well blowout was occurring in Ohio. And halfway across Pennsylvania, 26 major environmental groups were petitioning DEP to release the complete water test results, critical data Krancer appears to have shrugged off.

Krancer doesn’t stop at personally attacking PA Rep. Jesse White, an outspoken yet pro-gas drilling critic. He also equates the Federal EPA with a force that is (emphasis added) “coming in, behind the boots-on-the-ground’s frontline soldiers and SHOOTING US IN THE BACK.”

“He’s a public servant. He doesn’t quite understand what public means. It doesn’t mean gas industry only. He’s paid by the people of Pennsylvania, and he needs to understand he represents us,” states Diane Sipe of of Marcellus Outreach Butler.

Is DEP “Guilty of Fracketeering?” asks Suzy Gilbert, Shalereporter.com

Tags: ArtVoice, Buck Quigley, DEP vs. EPA, DUG Pittsburgh, EPA Fracking, Krancer, PA Well Water, Shameless Gas Promotion

This entry was posted on November 17, 2012 at 3:02 pm and is filed under DEP, Environment, epa, PA Drinking Water, Pennsylvania Watersheds, Politics, Unconventional Gas Drilling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.