Archive for May, 2013

Frack-Free Film Festival

May 29, 2013

Suddenly, A New Genre:  Independent Films About Fracking

Cool art house theater or screen porch screening, there’s a whole crop of new films that reveal the true stories of fracking and the impact of industrial shale gas extraction on people, land, air and water. There are so many new movies, you could spend the whole summer watching them, and why not? Here’s my current Don’t Miss list – please share your reviews and recommends.

Groundswell Rising Rough Cut Ready, Almost!

Susan Lyons recently posted on StopFrackingPA! that a “Rough Cut debut of Groundswell Rising sold out at Pocono Community Theater. Got there too late to get a seat. Hope to see the final version soon.”

Mark Dodel replied: “Actually we ended up watching Dear Gov Cuomo. The final print of Groundswell Rising wasn’t finished in time to get it to the theater I had never seen the Cuomo movie so it worked out. They will reschedule Groundswell soon.”

Groundswell Rising, Protecting Our Children’s Air And Water, the new documentary from Emmy Award-winning Resolution Pictures, captures the passion of people engaged in a David and Goliath confrontation. They stand together, challenging a system that promotes profit over health. We meet mothers, fathers, scientists, doctors, farmers and people from all sides of the political spectrum taking a hard look at energy extraction techniques not proven to be safe. With the Oil and Gas industry’s expansion of fracking seen as a moral issue, this provocative documentary tracks a people’s movement, a groundswell rising towards reason and sensitivity, to protect life, today and tomorrow.

For information on upcoming screenings, visit www.groundswellrising.com

Split Estate

Imagine discovering that you don’t own the mineral rights under your land, and that an energy company plans to drill for natural gas two hundred feet from your front door.    (more…)

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Posted in anti-fracking movement, Energy, fracking, fresh water pollution | 3 Comments »

161 Reasons You Can’t Trust The DEP

May 22, 2013

Pennsylvania State Documents Reveal Rampant Water Contamination In Gas Sacrifice Zones  

Several excellent articles have been posted recently about the inadequate, often shoddy, records keeping practices of The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. They’re linked here and shouldn’t be missed. Bottom line is, if you think PA DEP is actively protecting Pennsylvania’s water supplies from the impacts of shale gas drilling, think again.

In Open Records Case Produced Untracked Drilling Documents The Times-Tribune, May 19, 2013, Laura Legere writes:

“Scattered records kept by the state Department of Environmental Protection offer one answer to a key question in a new age of fossil fuel extraction in Pennsylvania: How many water supplies have been damaged by drilling?”

Gas proponents might continue to insist that gas drilling has never damaged a single water supply, yet we now know there are plenty of instances where it has. As it turns out, PA DEP knows this, too, though they had to be sued to produce the evidence. They claimed, unsuccessfully, that the public records requested by The Times-Trbune were “too burdensome” to find. In The Times-Tribune’s Sunday Times Review of DEP Drilling Records Reveals Water Damage, Murky Testing Methods, Legere reviews the pages eventually furnished by the civil servants of this hyper-reluctant state agency:
“State environmental regulators determined that oil and gas development damaged the water supplies for at least 161 Pennsylvania homes, farms, churches and businesses between 2008 and the fall of 2012, according to a cache of nearly 1,000 letters and enforcement orders written by Department of Environmental Protection officials and obtained by The Sunday Times.”

The Times-Tribune editors have even included a detailed groundwater complaints map with the help of the genius geeks at FracTracker.org, “a non-profit organization that collects, shares and visualizes data related to the oil and gas industry.”

Drilling Complaints Map, The Times-Tribune, May 19, 2013.   (more…)

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Posted in Energy, Environment, fracking, PA DEP, PA Drinking Water, Pennsylvania Watersheds, shale gas pollution | 1 Comment »

“Domestic” Does Not Necessarily Mean “Renewable”

May 16, 2013

Texas Ethanol Bill Uses Semantics To Lipstick The Shale Gas Pig   

Using “alternative” as bridge label, a bipartisan group of misguided Texas congressmen have decided to redefine the term “Renewable” as it applies in the Federal Renewable Fuels Standards Act to include ethanol from fracked shale gas. Last time I checked, natural gas was a fossil fuel, and shale gas was considered an extreme fossil fuel.

The legislation, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Pete Olson of Texas, is examined in Bill Would Let Natural Gas-Based Ethanol Qualify As Renewable by Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Chron.com, May 16, 2013:

“Olson’s bill responds to commercial interest in producing ethanol from natural gas, amid questions about the ability to efficiently and cost effectively to transform plant material into ethanol that can be blended into fuel.”   (more…)

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Posted in Energy, Environment, fracking, shale gas pollution | 1 Comment »

“Drillers Paradise” A Brand New Anti-Fracking Anthem

May 10, 2013

You Best Get Out Their Way…   

Urban Disaster Records, producer of From The Frontlines, released this powerful new music video today. “Drillers Paradise” was written and composed by veteran gasfield videographer Jay Wilcox and Indie acoustic musician Dylan Storm.

 

Much of “Drillers Paradise” Was Filmed In Marcellus Hell. Video by Jay Wilcox and Dylan Storm, published on May 10, 2013.

“After touring, filming and witnessing the devastation, intimidation and corruption that goes hand in hand with the giant fracking corporations this song was born…Special thanks to Penni Patches Pixie Laine and the Butler Hoopers…pass this on cause ‘They use payoffs to buy off all the fools’……. ”

I’ve listened to it a dozen times already, and it just keeps getting better!

Please Share wildly, and be sure to give it a thumbs up on YouTube.

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Posted in anti-fracking movement, Energy, Environment, fracking, shale gas pollution | Leave a Comment »

Ban v. Moratorium: What Pennsylvania Fractivists Want

May 7, 2013

TELL THE PA DEMS – Stop Fracking, Start Using Common Sense

Political actions are monumental labors, but when they strike the right chord, they’re anything but laborious. They unite the grassroots, attract support from big greens and inspire new voices. Successful actions activate the rusty apparatus of democracy, and they tend to take on a life of their own.

CALL TO ACTION! – Tell the PA Dems, “STOP FRACKING NOW!”

Pennsylvania State Democratic Committee Meeting 

on

Saturday, June 15th in Lancaster, Pa.

PLUS A Week of Anti-Fracking Actions!   June 3rd – June 8th

In step with Stop The Frack Attack’s National Week of Action, Tell The PA Dems “STOP FRACKING NOW!”  will include a week of local lobbying and recruiting efforts, and culminate in strong, united representation at the next State Democratic Committee policy meeting on June 15, 2013. Here’s why the action was created (from the Event Description):

“A member offered a resolution calling for a moratorium on fracking at their last meeting. The resolution never made it to the floor. A revised version will be offered this time and we think it deserves a floor vote. 

“Senator Jim Ferlo is introducing a moratorium bill. Berks Gas Truth helped deliver over 100,000 signatures calling for a moratorium to the Governor’s office on April 30th. It’s clearly time, actually way past time, for a moratorium, so why do the PA Dems hang onto the severance tax/regulation stance that is as outmoded as fossil fuels?

“The party sets the platform on which candidates run. We can’t go into the 2014 campaign with our only alternative to Corbett a string of candidates who are still willing to give Pennsylvania to the drillers, as long as they pay a little in the process. We deserve better than that! Our natural resources deserve better. Our state constitution says so! Now it’s time for the Democratic Party to chime in and throw their support behind a moratorium.”

For time and location, plus updates on accompanying actions, please visit the event on Facbook:  Tell the PA Dems, “STOP FRACKING NOW!”

(more…)

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Posted in anti-fracking movement, Energy, Environment, fracking, PA DEP | Leave a Comment »

Best Documentary On Fracking Ever

May 6, 2013

Triple Divide  – Trailer

Visit TripleDivideFilm.org to get your sustainably-produced DVD of the highly acclaimed new film Triple Divide – considered essential viewing by Organizations United for the Environment.

At TripleDivideFilm.org, you’ll also find more information on Public/Private screenings in Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio.

Find even more local screenings at Triple Divide on Facebook.

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Posted in Energy, Environment, fracking, fresh water pollution, PA DEP, Pennsylvania Watersheds, shale gas pollution | 4 Comments »