You are correct in only one of the seven sweeping generalizations you listed in your recent, hugely offensive blog post, Why Shale Gas Fractivists Are Doomed to Lose,NaturalGasNow, July 28, 2013. I’m not sure if you’re aware, but it’s actually not cool to catalog your dislike for people who don’t share your opinions, then list your misapprehensions like sociological observations. Please allow me to introduce myself…
1) “The typical anti doesn’t have to earn a living off the land he or she insists on protecting.” (more…)
The formerly vile and offensive Texas gasfield workerFacebook page, FracPride, received a Public Relations overhaul in recent weeks. Now it’s just offensive.
You’ve got to hand it to the young men and women who work on shale gas rigs. They’re tough and they know how to innovate. Ever since Rachel Maddow displayed the image of a truck javelined by steel rigging on a frack pad in Hemp-Hill County, Texas – a photo that originated on this now infamous page – those guys have really tried to improve the image they project. Gone are photos of mangled equipment and crude pranks. Now, it’s all sunsets, shiny trucks and sweet, little faces, with only a whiff of its former misogyny. (more…)
An Urgent Call to Action from the Delaware Riverkeeper Network
Please sign the letter,”Tell DRBC: Permanent ban on fracking now!” Once again, shale gas development threatens the Delaware River Basin, a national treasure, and the drinking water source for 17 million people.
“There seems to be new interest on the part of DRBC staff to rekindle the development of gas development regulations, which would lift the current moratorium. We must tell the DRBC that NOW IS THE TIME to enact a permanent ban on all gas development, including drilling and fracking, in the Delaware River Watershed.” – Delaware Riverkeeper Network
Photo: Susan Phillips, NPR
TAKE ACTION:
Support the call for the Delaware River Basin Commission to adopt a ban on gas and oil development in the Delaware River Watershed. Sign on to the letter to the Governors of the four states that flow to the Delaware River and tributary streams – Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware – and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as the federal representative, to immediately adopt a ban on all oil and gas development in the Delaware River Watershed.
He’s slimy, offensive and a threat to the ecology.
Like rock snot, Trump’s proposed policies would be devastating to Pennsylvania’s watersheds. Like rock snot, a Trump administration may be a danger to the drinking water of 17 million people in the Delaware River Watershed. Like rock snot, Trump jeopardizes the integrity of our state’s tourist economy. Plus, he’s just gross.
Didymo, often referred to as rock snot, kind of looks like Donald Trump’s hair.
Didymosphenia geminata, or Didymo, is a single celled, invasive algae. “Thick mats of Didymo can crowd out or smother more biologically valuable algae growing on the riverbed. Didymo is easily spread, and the chance of it hitchhiking its way into nearby streams or rivers that currently lack this unwanted invader is cause for alarm.”
According to Reince Priebus, Trump’s White House chief of staff, climate denial is the president-elect’s official default position. While the rest of the world scoffs, Trump has repeatedly promised to boost gas and coal. He is currently, albeit quietly, appointing frackers and climate change deniers to top cabinet posts. The current frontrunners in The Appointee Apprentice are Myron Ebell for EPA Chief, and fracking billionaire, Harold Hamm, for Secretary of Energy, swamp-dwelling industry insiders both. Hamm is, by way of his adultery, the current record holder for most expensive divorce of all time.
Rock snot sticks to your shoes and spreads easily, so you need to check very closely. With similar vigilance, Pennsylvanians need to pay special attention to these fossil fools because they plan to expand fracking in the Marcellus Shale, big time.
It’s not easy being green! I’m grateful for all the fractivists in the world, and to everyone who’s fighting to protect our planet and prevent climate disruption.
Future generations will be thankful, too. Peace and smiles!
On Wednesday, February 11, 2015, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced to a classroom full of Thorndale elementary students that he plans to tax shale gas drillers to pay for things like textbooks, and the laminated weather map hanging ironically on the wall behind him.
Tying education funding to a single, cyclical, heavy industry, and one with a wildly variable price at that, is bad business for the state. Wolf should know that no tax will ever begin to cover their true tab, or replace what they are presently destroying.
While he’s at it, Wolf might ask gas drillers to print up some new textbooks, too. Otherwise, Pennsylvania school children might learn about the legacy of toxic pollution that they and our legislators are leaving behind.
Montgomery and Bucks are the only counties in Pennsylvania where there’s a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing. We don’t see rigs from our front porches, or continuous flares. We don’t get headaches from strange odors, or drive on crumbling roads clogged by endless truck traffic. In the Philadelphia suburbs, it’s easy to ignore the health and environmental impacts of Marcellus shale gas drilling.
When the shale gas industry arrived nearly a decade ago, it was still somewhat plausible to insist that there’s “no proof” gas drilling has ever polluted water supplies. Today, there’s plenty of proof. In 2014, The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection reported 248 cases of water supply contamination since 2007. Nationwide, there are more. (more…)
Fracking Bans Sweep Across North America, And That Was Just The Month Of December
A steady uptick in citizen activism, and a broadening awareness of hydraulic fracturing’s negative impact on everything from climate to wildlife to water, resulted in successful anti-fracking measures on ballots across North America in 2014. Then, in mid-December, the state of New York banned it. They’re not the first, Vermont holds that distinction, yet they are the first state with significant shale gas reserves to do so. People are pumped.
Naturally, the issue is emotionally charged. Shale gas development not only damages land, air and water, it destroys people’s lives. Fracking promises to be a factor in the upcoming 2016 Presidential race. Let’s make of sure of it.
Despite customarily downplaying the successes of the anti-fracking movement in the media, activists across the county have racked up a handful of amazing, longshot victories. Fracking bans were won, far and wide, and they can be found in the unlikeliest places.
Recently, my son wrote an essay about hidden costs. He discussed the heavy toll that certain industries, like factory farming and clothing manufacture, take on humanity and our environment when they externalize their true costs. Naturally, it got me thinking about the external costs of fracking.
One of the biggest hidden costs of Marcellus shale gas development will be a significant reduction in the number of clean, fresh drinking water supplies for future generations.
PA watersheds have endured a history of environmental degradation from a variety of sources such as logging, agricultural run-off and acid mine drainage, to name just a few. But while it’s true that many threats to our water supplies are long-standing, we can’t ignore the fact that they now face a much more serious, imminent threat.
The instances of fresh water contamination in Pennsylvania have increased dramatically since hydraulic fracturing began.
How can we not worry? The business of shale gas is predicated on taking public risks for the purpose of private gain. All it requires, apparently, is a pricey ad campaign and couple of slick publicity stunts.
Some of Ohio’s most talented musicians came together on Earth Day, 2014 to record this bluesy, planet-loving song, written by Jenny Morgan of “You Can’t Drink Money” fame. I love that it echoes a strong current among fractivists. Fighting fracking is not simply about stopping the boom/bust cycle of shale gas development, it’s about getting real, and actively moving toward a healthier, more sustainable fossil-free future.
Play it loud.
“He can make his billions, buthe don’t own the sun.” Video share by Carolyn Harding, radioactivewastealert.org and Cinublue Productions in Columbus, Ohio. Thank you!
What’s the fastest way to get approval to build a hotly contested, demonstrably volatile 299-mile gas liquids pipeline through numerous densely populated suburban Pennsylvania municipalities?
First, elevate your corporate status to Public Utility. Then, claim the right of Eminent Domain to bulldoze over local zoning restrictions and the objections of local residents. At least that’s how former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Michael L. Krancer, would like to see construction of Sunoco Logistics Mariner East Pipeline proceed. In fact, he’s leading the charge.
Most Pennsylvania primary elections are sleepy business. Not this one.
On May 20, 2014, an all-important primary election will be held, and it will probably determine the state’s next governor.
A whopping 55-34% of Pennsylvania voters feel that Tom Corbett does not deserve reelection, according to a recent Quinnipiac University poll. Politico Magazine has captioned Corbett “arguably the most vulnerable incumbent governor in 2014.” And, per Stephen Calabria in The Huffington Post on February 26, 2014, GOP Governor Tom Corbett Trails Each of His Democratic Challengers. It’s one of the few causes for optimism in an otherwise fracked up commonwealth. (more…)
Van Wagner teaches Environmental Science at Lewisburg High School in Pennsylvania. He’s also an accomplished country-folk musician who has donated his time to teach music to kids at Pennsylvania summer camps. I came across this compelling plea on Wagner’s website:
“I have played music at several summer camps for children who are cancer survivors. Camp Victory / Camp Dost and Camp Can-Do to name a few local examples. These children are amazing. I’m always amazed how grateful they are to me for spending a few hours simply singing with them. It is I who should be thankful. These children have smiles worth their weight in gold. They are filled with joy and know more about love and friendship than most adults. I challenge any fracking advocate to donate some time at one of these camps. While there sit down at the dinner table with these kids and try to explain to them why grown-ups want to put more cancer causing chemicals in our environment because of things like energy, stock values and jobs. (more…)
Funny how Exxon owns half the world but they still can’t control the conversation about fracking. Shale gas producers leave themselves wide open. They persist in underestimating the intelligence of average consumers, and we can’t help but ridicule them in return. Of course, there was Chevron’s infamous pizza party after a fatal well explosion in Pennsylvania, and last week the fracking industry attempted to throw itself a 65th birthday party. Never mind that it was low volume, vertical fracking which was invented decades ago, and that high-volume horizontal hydraulic slickwater fracturing wasn’t developed until 2003. “Happy 11th!” just doesn’t have the same ring to it. Here’s another history of fracking, one this behemoth industry doesn’t particularly want told, let alone illustrated by some of the country’s wildest minds. The pen is mightier still, thank heaven, and naturally the ink is fossil free. (more…)
As former Vice President of Operations at Pennsylvania American Water, who also previously served on the board of trustees for the American Water Works Association and the Water Resources Association of the Delaware River Basin, the National Association of Water Companies – Pennsylvania Section, Steven (don’t forget the Rancocas Conservancy) Tambini seems like the ultimate water industry insider. Just sayin.
“Mr. Tambini’s work on both the Pennsylvania and New Jersey sides of the Delaware River has allowed him to develop and build relationships with regulators and stakeholders throughout the basin,” states the Delaware River Basin Commission press release.
Somebody ought to ask Mr. Tambini to define exactly who those “stakeholders” are. I want to have faith, really, but Tambini’s resume is pretty thin on conservation, and darn heavy on extending private water industry interests. One can’t help but worry that he will be inclined to keep on carrying water for the water industry. (more…)
Progressive Measures Across U.S. Aim for Local Protection of Land, Air and Water Resources
Leave it to LA to make a big splash. The city of angels just became the largest U.S. city to approve a zoning ordinance against hydraulic fracturing and other well stimulation methods, and the vote was unanimous.
“City council unanimously voted Friday afternoon to send a moratorium motion to the city attorney’s office to be written as a zoning ordinance. It will then return to council for a final vote,” reports Brandon Baker in Breaking: Los Angeles Passes Fracking Moratorium, EcoWatch News, February 28, 2014.
I’ve been updating the List of Bans Worldwidepage regularly. Thankfully, the list will never be finished. Bans against hydraulic fracking, shale gas processing and waste disposal are proliferating. Pennsylvania has 17 local bans and a statewide moratorium in the works, and many democratic gubernatorial candidates agree with the growing call for a permanent ban in state parks and the Delaware River Watershed. New Jersey has 33 anti-fracking actions currently gaining momentum, and New York has a staggering 218, including a strong statewide moratorium measure. When the tiny town of Marcellus, New York seeks a fracking ban and the right to local zoning, the irony pretty much abounds.
Seems wherever fracking goes, vigorous grassroots opposition springs to life. High volume hydraulic fracturing is a developing industrial technology, and as it expands into more populous regions, shale gas drillers are finding that most people object to noxious air pollution, water contamination, explosions, blow outs, spills, truck traffic, light pollution and earthquakes caused by the injection of millions of gallons of radioactive toxic waste – water that was once fresh, clean and potable. Turns out, no one – not even Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson – wants to live in an industrial sacrifice development zone.
The Big Ban Theory
A lot of very talented people are working hard to make clean air, non-industrialized un-fragmented land, and protected public water supplies a reality. Luckily, Food and Water Watchkeeps a list of their efforts. It’s grown to 407 measures passed in the U.S., and counting.
It’s Time To Save The Delaware River From Fracking, For Good
Food & Water Watch wants you to know that the Special Protection Waters of the Delaware River Basin are more endangered than ever.
“For the past two years, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) has upheld a moratorium on frackingin the Delaware River Basin due to massive public outcry. But right now, Carol Collier is calling for a strategy around gas drilling in the basin before she retires as executive director in March. Join us by telling President Obama and the governors of NY, NJ, DE and PA that the only strategy we support is a ban on fracking!”
Gas drillers want in. They want to produce and transport, and to frack, baby, frack. DRBC’s Collier has indicated that she intends bring a new drilling “strategy” to a vote before departing her post. It may be her idea of a legacy, though I certainly wouldn’t want all those undisclosed chemicals on my conscience.
President Obama – the man who campaigned on a pledge for a sustainable energy future yet now favors the term “energy independence” – may well deliver the deciding vote on the DRBC via the federal Army Corps of Engineers. Conscience, per se, probably won’t factor much into that decision.
As ever, the only way to protect the Delaware River Basin from the massive impacts of shale gas industrialization is with massive pubic outcry.
Permanent Protection
Start by adding your name to the the growing list of Americans who oppose expanding our dependence on fossil fuels, along with any plans to allow shale gas drilling the Delaware River Basin. Sign the Food and Water Watchletter addressed to President Obama and the governors of New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania, Protect the Delaware River Basin With a Ban on Fracking.
Let legislators know that the only long-term strategy for protecting the Delaware River Basin is a permanent ban on fracking. (more…)
Take Note: DRBC Wants To Vote On Shale Gas Drilling Regulations
It’s time once again to save the Delaware River basin from the toxic impacts of shale gas drilling.
At the next public hearing of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), on Tuesday, December 3, 2013, a coalition of concerned advocacy groups will present a scrapbook entitled The Delaware Is Me.
The idea is to celebrate the Delaware River and commemorate another year without fracking. The point is to show the commission why this high-value, highly productive watershed ought to be spared from the ravages of industrial shale gas drilling.
The magnificent, historic Delaware River touches 15.6 million lives, and extraordinary photographs has been literally flowing in. As you may have guessed, no two images – or reasons – are alike. You can glimpse some of the photos and join the event on Facebook at The Delaware Is Me, or follow on Twitter #TheDelawareIsMe.
Better still, attend the public hearing and stand behind watershed advocates and activists in Trenton on December 3rd.
On November 12, 2013, State Senator Daylin Leach [D-Montgomery/Delaware] introduced new Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards (AEPS) legislation, SB1171, aimed at reducing Pennsylvania’s dependance on fossil fuels. Leach was flanked by State Representative Greg Vitali [D-Delaware], who is sponsoring companion legislation in the house (HB100), and Tom Schuster, who represented about 24,000 Sierra Club members in Pennsylvania.
SB1171 is already supported by the majority of economic and environmental stakeholders in the state, including Blue-Green Alliance, Mid-Atlantic Renewable Energy Coalition and PennFuture. Makes sense, too, in this age of super storms and carbon thresholds, and given the fact that Pennsylvania is the third highest carbon producing state in the nation, right? Tell it to the Mayberry Machiavellians in Harrisburg, please.
What’s 8% Of Lame?
Under current state law, passed in 2007, Pennsylvania’s power generating utilities must acquire 8% of their energy from renewable sources. Last time I checked, natural gas was not considered a renewable in Pennsylvania, though in Texas the definition gets a little hazy.
“Time, technology and other states have passed us by,” said to Leach to Kevin Gavin and Haldan Kirsch in PA Lags In Renewables, on 90.5 WESA NPRPittsburgh on November 12, 2013. (more…)
Phil Doe Covers The Water Issue “To The Point Where You’re Gonna Be Pretty Angry” ~ Frackbusters
This short video, Truth About Fracking, features retired U.S. Bureau of Reclamation official, Phil Doe, speaking about fresh water protection to a packed house in Colorado Springs, Colorado on January 10, 2013. It’s part three of four in a series on YouTube.
Doe is concise, yet his message is sobering and universal. He opens with a quote from British poet, W. H. Audin: “Thousands have lived without love, but nobody has lived without water.”
“You should all be concerned about where your water is going… You should protect it.” ~ Phil Doe. Uploaded by GrowthBusters.org.
Being The Change
Public interest in the event was so great that organizers shared the series online. Thanks to educational outreach events like these, environmental groups in the Rocky Mountain State have successfully raised awareness about the impacts and dangers associated with fracking.
For information about “events and happenings related to this issue” in Colorado, or simply to find some inspiration, visit the FrackbustersFacebook page.
RT @jsrailton: This is your reminder: journalist Linette Lopez is still suspended.
She was early & tireless in reporting on issues at Musk… 3 months ago
Monte Wolverton, 
Keep Tap Water Safe 
