Another Wild Week in Fracking…
The true story of the Marcellus Shale Gas Boom is stranger than fiction, full of polemic twists, shocking revelations and methane geysers. Here, an aggregation of the aggravation caused by the gas industry in Pennsylvania in the past week alone. Look out, David Hess, I’ve been taking notes.
AntiGas NewsClips – Friday, November 16, 2012: (more…)
SkyTruth.org and FracTracker.org have teamed up to build the most comprehensive – and functional – database of fracking chemicals on the planet. The new SkyTruth Fracking Chemical Database is a powerful research tool, enhanced by FracTracker‘s stellar mapping technology. Been looking for something a little more practical than the smattering of 27,000 pdfs found on FracFocus.org, the gas industry’s chemicals registry of choice? Look no further. (more…)
Everyday, I see an ANGA ad, or I read a slop-ed from a Marcellus Shale Coalition minion, and I wonder how can they say shale gas is “safe” when ALL their triple cement well-bore seals will fail within 70-100 years? How can the U.S. president say it’s safe?
Cement isn’t magical. It won’t last forever.
Is ANGA, or the Marcellus Shale Coalition, or EPA for that matter, planning to replug all the frack wells in every last watershed and aquifer by 2112? In reality, it’s more like “safe for now” or maybe “safe for a few generations” but down the road, the population in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware will have to deal with toxic drinking water.
Safe Fracking: A Modern Myth (more…)
Are you getting the message, Harrisburg? Don’t frack with Philly!
While these newly elected officials aren’t all for a ban on fracking (yet) many have taken very pro-environment positions on shale gas drilling. It’s safe to say, they’re all fractivist friendly.
Republicans and Fossil Fuel Phanatics rest assured, fractivists are taking names, determined to hold ALL elected officials accountable to their campaign promises. Clean fracking is pure fantasy, but bi-partisanship is always within reach.
Where Do Our Candidates Stand On The Important Environmental Issues Facing Pennsylvania?
If you’re interested in supporting eco-friendly candidates in Pennsylvania, you might need more information about their voting records, endorsements, contributors and, of course, their campaign promises. And you’ll want to be sure to exercise your franchise on Tuesday, November 6th.
It’s Time To Mother Earth
Visit Marcellus At The Polls to learn where your candidates stand on issues related to shale gas drilling. A note from Marcellus at The Polls: It’s an all-volunteer effort. We have information on candidates running in PA who are ‘fracktivist friendly’. They are running for various offices, they are of varying political parties. We list the ones who have made strong statements against the wanton fracking of PA. We’re all volunteers & accept no $ from anyone/any political party/PAC.
Who Got What
Campaign contributions from the Oil & Gas Industry to Pennsylvania Politicians are tallied up at MarcellusMoney.org
Promised Land, filmed on location, starring Matt Damon… This is the trailer you’ve been trolling for!
Matt Damon is Steve, a charismatic Marcellus landman having a drastic change of heart. “I’m selling them the only way they have to get back.” John Kraskinski is the farmer whose land has been destroyed by the gas industry. “We’re not fighting for land, Steve, we’re fighting for people.” And Frances McDormand is the sassy voice of reason… Has Oscar written all over it. Can’t wait.
A few days ago, Joanne Fiorito announced on facebook that she had “just chased a gashole off my land who was idling his diesel engine while he chatted on his cell because the reception is good there….he rolled his window down and asked me what I called him, and I told him I asked you to leave, and proceeded to tell me he isn’t a gashole he’s a local….I said gashole it is then, now LEAVE! and he left! TIRED OF THEIR BULLSHIT…..not taking it anymore!”
I could sense her frustration. Joanne is fractivist and prolific fb poster from a once quiet corner of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Her environs have been systematically invaded by gas drilling interests. That day, her wit lacked the usual wry twist. I offered some solidarity from SEPA: “from the Philly suburbs, it sounds like the wild west up there. you’re a good neighbor, Joanne!”
Or Why I Favour A Ban On Fracking
According to Global Ban on Hydraulic Fracturing, a facebook page administered by Luke Ashley of Wrexam, England, “Understanding how fracking and repeated fracking can result in failing well integrity. Gaps and cracks in the annular casing cement allow unwanted contaminates to migrate between formation layers and aquifers. After a well has been repeatedly fracked and is no longer economically viable, it is plugged and abandoned but nothing is or can be done to ensure adequate well integrity between the casing and drilled well bore.”
Cement Isn’t Magic. All Frack Wellbore Seals Fail Eventually.
England, Canada, United States, Ireland, Czech Republic, France, Denmark, South Africa… On Saturday, September 22, 2012, energetic yet peaceful protests sprouted up around the globe as many thousands gathered to demonstrate their concern over fracking for shale gas.
Images of The Global Frackdown from nearly every continent depict the growing outrage over this dangerous and polluting form of extreme fossil fuel extraction. They’ve been gloriously collected on the Global Frackdown facebook page.
According to EcoWatch.org in Thousands Rally Around The World To Ban Fracking: “Major actions overseas included a rally on the steps of the European Parliament; demonstrations in front of Parliament buildings in South Africa, Bulgaria and the Czech republic; marches in Argentina; grassroots activities in Paris and the south of France, and screenings of the film Gasland in Spain.”
“One for all and all for one … “
Uploaded by Tatty771
No such thing as a typical fractivist, or gasser! (more…)
Gas industry conference attendees watched from the Convention Center windows while we rallied on Arch Street below. They’d been warned to remove their badges when leaving the building. It was very Ayn Rand. The speakers, the testimonies, the songs, the chants and street theatre were nothing short of spectacular. I suspect like many I am still processing it. And, yes, together we greeted them Philly-style…
For an amazing photo gallery of the event, visit the Shale Gas Outrage facebook page. My favorite image:
credit: © Jacques-Jean Tiziou / www.jjtiziou.net
#GovernorGashole
Meanwhile inside the industry conference, Shale Gas Insight, our governor, Tom Corbett, delivered an amped-up version of his usual anti-environment rhetoric. Pennsylvanians are being harmed by gas drilling, and by his administration’s weak environmental policies, though Corbett and the industry would like us ignore this fact. They say all energy production comes with “risks.” They need to say it the stricken farmer’s face, and to the grieving mother. Define “risks.”
For Immediate Release: September 21st, 2012:
“Shale Gas Outrage speakers, marchers push to stop fracking, support renewable energy, efficience, conservation”
credit: © Jacques-Jean Tiziou / www.jjtiziou.net
Protesters from shale gas “sacrifice zones” and downstream communities protest industry conference, press for fracking bans and moratoria
Contacts:
Iris Marie Bloom, Protecting Our Waters, 215-840-6489 protectingourwaters@gmail.com
Tracy Carluccio, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, 215-692-2329 tracy@delawareriverkeeper.org
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Philadelphia, PA – “The nearest wellpad was 4000 feet from my house. After my family’s water became saturated with methane, officials told us not to use the kitchen stove because it could cause a flash fire… My granddaughter began vomiting, and only got better after they brought us a water buffalo [tank for clean water],” Tammy Manning, one of many speakers whose lives have been turned upside down by gas drilling, told the crowd of about 1000 at Shale Gas Outrage yesterday in Philadelphia. Rally and march participants vowed to protect people in affected communities by demanding a moratorium on shale gas drilling. (more…)
Protests against unconventional shale gas drilling have been popping up across the United Shale Shocked States of late, and the global List of Fracking Bans and Moratorium, curated by the incomparable Johnny Lineham at Fracking Hell (UK), has grown so long it speaks for itself. More citizens in more countries are demanding serious study of the impacts of unconventional gas production on human health and climate change. Is it a coincidence that the public’s interest in renewables has also been renewed? Given than many of the bans and moratorium are in the US, it’s safe to say most Americans expect an equally high level of environmental accountability from elected officials.
Shale Gas Outrage • September 20, 2012 at Noon
In front of the Convention Center, 13th & Arch Sts., Philadelphia, PA (19107)
Hyperbolic Hippies On The March?
Anti-Fracking Activists will go “toe-to-toe” with gas industry executives who will be present at The Marcellus Shale Coalition‘s second annual Shale Gas Insight conference, held on the very same day. As Protecting Our Waters, the Shale Gas Outrage host organization, states: “Industry will be rubbing elbows with some of our elected officials, their sights set on expanding toxic fracking throughout our region. Their ‘greenwashing’ doesn’t fool anyone: we’ve seen the damage, and even with a few new regulations, the damage is escalating out of control.” (more…)
I was recently asked if there are actual instances of shale gas drilling contaminating water and air in Pennsylvania. The answer is a resounding, “Yes!”
Gas Industry pollution happens all the time. Here, there and everywhere. No matter how much the industry doesn’t want us to notice.
Many people have signed gas drilling leases and later come to regret it. Often, they are prevented from speaking out due to non-disclosure agreements stipulated by gas companies when compelled to award damages. Yet there are plenty of people who can – and do – tell their experiences with the gas industry. Hundreds, in fact, and there are even a few who are determined to keep a record. (Hint: It ain’t PA DEP.)
The List of the Harmed is compiled and updated by Jenny Lisak, Co-director of Pennsylvania Alliance for Clean Water and Air (PACWA).
Damned Press
“It’s all where you source your information from… He who pays the piper calls the tune.” Paul Gallay, President, Riverkeepers. (more…)
Bogus US Drilling Chemicals Database No Substitute For FRAC ACT
Make no mistake… the “Chemical Disclosure Registry” found at FracFocus.org is a sophisticated instrument of industry propaganda, not an independent, academic webtool. Though basically useless as a database, the site accomplishes more than simply informing the public about the chemicals a gas driller may, or may not, be using when hydraulically fracturing a well near you. FracFocus cleverly packages the information in an attempt to legitimize the use of the many dangerous toxins required in unconventional horizontal drilling. (more…)
Does The Corbett Administration Hate Nature As Much As They Hate Environmentalists?
Not all Pennsylvanians are prepared to accept the governor’s latest executive order for a fracking “Permit Decision Guarantee” without crying foul, as Kevin Begos of the Associated Press reports via Businessweek in Foes: Pa. State Permit Order Threatens Environment.
StateImpact’s Scott Detrow appears to concur that Corbett’s new decree is a potential political misstep in How Will Corbett’s Executive Order Change The Marcellus Permitting Process? on August 13, 2012. Though he barely hints at it, Detrow’s article earned him a proper bitch-slapping in the Comments section by the governor’s hyper-conservative energy czar, Patrick Henderson, who takes to task both StateImpact and the AP for their apparent and willful lack of “context.” (more…)
In the face of a frightful dearth of genuine environmental stewardship at top Pennsylvania state levels, New Yorkers living in Marcellus towns have been scrambling to proactively manage the imminent shale gas issues confronting them – from water management to truck traffic and emergency preparedness, to the negative impact on their taxbase. The Marcellus Effect chronicles the town of Caroline’s struggle to protect its water supply near Ithaca New York in How Far Is “Safe” When Protecting Aquifers?
Simultaneously, one of New York’s most picturesque finger lakes strives to maintain hard-won environmental gains as residents and fans organize to fight off an ill-advised gas storage facility planned for the abandoned salt mines located beneath it. You can learn about the citizen-led struggle to Save Seneca Lake in writer Elaine Mansfield’s moving video, Angry Faces, Placid Water: Fracking, LPG Gas Storage, and Seneca Lake produced by Owl Gorge Productions.
“The oil and gas industry plans to build an enormous liquid petroleum gas storage and distribution depot in abandoned salt mines under Seneca Lake near Watkins Glen, one of New York’s most popular scenic tourist attractions. Part of the Marcellus Shale hydrofracking nightmare, this huge facility threatens the pure water of Seneca Lake with petroleum gas and salt pollution, would burn off excess gas with a towering flare stack, produce air pollution, and be a visual and noisy blight along this gorgeous lake. Worst of all would be the constant risk of gas explosions. Local resident, writer, and activist Elaine Mansfield eloquently presents this issue in Smith Park along the shore of Seneca Lake.”
More: gasfreeseneca.com.
UPDATE [August 17, 2012]:
News coverage of the Watkins Glen Protest in The Times Leader: Watkins Glen March To Protest LPG Facility
Fraccidents happen, and happen, also from The Times Leader: Tanker Leaks Propane In Gang Mills
UPDATE [August 19, 2012]:
EPA Refuses to Release Seismic Data on Proposed Inergy Finger Lakes Liquid Gas Cavern with a History of Earthquakes by Peter Mantius, dcbureau.org, June 15th, 2012.
Cuomo’s Fracking Pan: Politics Trumps Science by Peter Mantius, dcbureau.org, August 17, 2012.
UPDATE [August 23, 2012]
http://ithacafingerlakes.com/2012/08/23/200-march-in-watkins-glen/
We’ve only got one planet, let’s not frack it up. Join the global movement to ban fracking!
Get down with the GLOBAL FRACKDOWN!
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Host An Event • Join The Party • Meet Dozens of Organizations
Spread The Word • Make A Good Noise
Sign up for updates and info at globalfrackdown.org or learn more on facebook.
Get It In Writing
Online petitions aren’t ba-a-ad, but nothing’s more valuable than hard-copy signatures. Lots of `em. Because people who are willing to put their name to paper are also more likely to go out and vote. That’s why PennEnvironment has been busy spear-heading the largest anti-fracking petition in Pennsylvania.
“Powerful gas industry lobbyists and their allies in Harrisburg are pushing through policies that would expose our environment and communities to the dangers of Marcellus Shale gas drilling. But they’ve got a fight on their hands — thousands of Pennsylvanians are joining our call to help stop gas drilling from contaminating our drinking water, polluting our air, destroying our forests and threatening our health.”
You can print & sign the PennEnvironment petition here: PennEnvironment Marcellus Shale Moratorium Petition
Already more than 50, 000 petitioners are calling on legislators “to support a moratorium on further shale gas extraction in Pennsylvania until it is proven safe for our environment and the public’s health.” The current goal is reach 100,000 so ask all your friends to sign it, too!
If you’re on Facebook, click here to post the petition to your Wall. You can copy/personalize/forward an email to your friends, including this handy link: http://bit.ly/PAMoratorium. (more…)
I’m mad as hell about dirty gas drilling, and I’m not going to take it anymore!
“The Fracking Industry Returns To Philadelphia”
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Philadelphia, PA
Hosted by Protecting Our Waters.
“Last year, two thousand people flooded the streets of Philadelphia to confront the mega-corporations that are playing fast and loose with public health. Protect our communities and stand up for justice! Protect air, water, farms and food. Fight against climate change by fighting unconventional dirty drilling. Make sure our voices are even louder this year, and more clear: No Fracking. No Cracking. Send this industry packing! Don’t let them frack our future!”
Get the very latest on events, speakers and educational sessions at shalegasoutrage.org. Want to volunteer? Please contact this amazing grassroots organization at protectingourwaters@gmail.com.
Keep Tap Water Safe 