I’m in a love-hate with Facebook. Heaven knows I let it consume me at times. Just when I think we’ve got something going, it blocks me, makes me stop and fill in endless, annoying security codes. Maybe if I only posted pictures of my dinner and other people’s cats?
The upcoming onset of FrackNation, a pro-gas mockumentary which by all reports is chock full of industry half-truths and overt lies,demonstrates a clear dichotomy in America. We’ve quickly become a nation of Pro-Gas v. Anti-Fracking, Anti-Renewables v. Pro-Land, Air & Water. No matter how much you want to avoid polemicizing the issues, there remains a detailed and widening divide. (more…)
KeepTap’s Stats Reflect An Anti-Gas Movement On Fire
The momentum behind clean energy has been building like never before. In 2012, several grand-scale, public events like Shale Gas Outrage in Philadelphia, Stop The Frack Attack in Washington DC, and the sold-out 350.org Do The Math tour. Colleges and universities are now being asked by alumni, faculty and student bodies to take a leadership role in addressing Climate Change by pledging to divest from dirty energy and Go Fossil Free. (more…)
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has held out long enough.
It’s time for the state to release the full test results from a Washington County, PA water well near a Range Resources fracking operation. It is, after all, the taxpayers who pay for such testing, and these taxpayers ought to know what pollutants have been identified in their drinking water. It’s perfectly reasonable to want to know to which toxic chemicals you have been exposed, especially when those chemicals have been intentionally omitted from your well water report by the DEP.
Now that the infamous “Suite Code 942” has been revealed, the jig is up. Am loathe to moralize, but it sure seems like the right thing to do.
“Critics suggest the purported ‘filtering’ of testing data is just one of the ways people are left in the dark about the assortment of heavy metals and other toxic contaminants that may be in their air and water as a result of drilling, hydraulic fracturing and other phases of natural gas production. Recent studies have identified more than 600 chemicals used throughout the process of natural gas production, and often left undisclosed by companies. Additionally, natural but equally hazardous substances can be released from the wells.”
Doesn’t DEP get it yet? Dismissing the drumbeats of concerned citizens only makes them louder.
The Delaware Riverkeeper Networkis asking people to please send this letter via the link on their site, or write you own, to those directly responsible for keeping this vital health information a secret. Addresses below. (more…)
SkyTruth.org and FracTracker.orghave teamed up to build the most comprehensive – and functional – database of fracking chemicals on the planet. The new SkyTruthFracking 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…)
A few days ago, Joanne Fiorito announced on facebook that she had “justchased 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!”
Joanne replied: “if locals don’t want to be lumped in with those who are destroying our lands-air-water, then they best disguise their trucks better by placing a company logo on their vehicles…..until then – if your vehicle looks the same as the other industry pickup trucks with that box in the back bed that has a lube tube sticking out of the middle, then take a hint….”
This question was put to the Marcellus Shale Coalition’s Executive Vice President of Technical Affairs, Andrew Paterson, who was testifying on behalf of the 250-member gas industry trade group at a House Democratic Policy Committee hearing on Marcellus Shale Air Pollution at Delaware County Community College in Media, PA on October 12, 2011. (more…)
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.”
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!
I’ve been curious why the lamestream media has been slow to cover the Stop The Frack Attack! rally on Saturday in DC. After all, there were several thousand protesters. (I was there, I counted them.) Then I was reminded that no major news network, not even CNN, covered the largest public protest in Japan’s history earlier in the month, either – 100,000 people opposed to more nuclear power for that Fukushima-shocked nation. Similarly, the media ignored ensuing protests in Tokyo, though the story was finally picked up by Reuters and The Washington Post after protesters vitalized a key gubernatorial election there. Has ANGA threatened to pull their eight billion ads? Philip Bump examines the troubling phenomena of an under-performing media willfully ignoring the news in A Weekend Of Protests Barely Makes The Papers on Grist.org. (more…)
Political Powder Kegs For Pennsylvania’s Other Sixty-Five Counties
A 6-year unconventional gas drilling moratorium in the little-known South Newark Basin… Few saw it coming. Iris Bloom did. She immediately mobilized Protecting Our Waters and its allies to help stop the measure which was slipped into the Pennsylvania Fiscal Code Bill, HB1263, in the eleventh hour. Laura Olsen reports on Sen. Chuck McIlhinney’s [R-10th, Bucks] successful, powder-keg provision in Oil and Gas Permits on Hold in Southeastern Pennsylvania in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Bloom’s email alert, sent early Saturday afternoon, was the first many had heard of this extraordinary measure. It was extraordinary because McIllhinney is the among the self-same legislators who, only four months ago, crammed The Marcellus Shale Act down the Commonwealth’s collective throat – all in the name of “consistency” and “uniformity.” Now, McIllhinney is seeking exemption from the very zoning restrictions he would impose on the rest of Pennsylvania. (more…)
This week, one of EcoWatch.org’s Most Read Items was a post by Andy Rowell of priceofoil.org entitled Fracking Boom Kills Renewable Energy Industry. Commenting on a trio of pithy headlines from The Guardian newspaper, Rowell concludes, “Gas, especially shale gas, is likely to undermine renewable investment. Anyway, gas is now being seen as low carbon by the EU, and will receive subsidies that should have gone to kick-start the clean, renewable revolution. This is despite the fact that shale gas is no cleaner than dirty coal.” (more…)
On June 4, 2012, former Governor Ed Rendell published a letter to the editor in The Inquirer, entitled Embrace the Natural Gas Solution.
It’s now official that Democrats (the new Republicans?) will say anything to take credit for US energy independence, and former Governor Rendell is at the helm of the party. Mother Earth, meet the new face of the Enemy… and I lived in Philly when he was mayor, I used to like this guy! This charismatic fathead must not be allowed to tout natural gas as “clean” fuel without correction. We need to call Rendell out with an honest, Progressive voice. We need to remind him of the facts.
PennEnvironment is among the first to cry foul over Rendell’s erroneous editorial, urging people to express our outrage in our own letters to The Inquirer (200 words or less). Email it to inquirer.letters@phillynews.com. (more…)
A number of countries have taken action to curtail “seam gas fracking,” yet the fight to permanently protect land, air and water from extreme fossil fuel extraction rages on. Here, an overview of the global state of fracking opposition, brilliantly compiled and regularly updated by Johnny Linehan at FrackingHell (UK). (more…)
Anti-Fracking Petitions Proliferate in PA and Around the World
There are tons of anti-fracking petitions floating around these days. A few years ago, it would have been a challenge to find one, but now they’re like fish in a barrel. Some have gained heavy traction, like PennEnvironment’s “Protect Pennsylvania from Marcellus Shale Gas Drilling” which has more than 35,000 signatures, yet lawmakers of both parties regularly remark that they tend to pay “internet petitions” scant notice.
“Nobody pays attention to them,” confirmed State Senator Daylin Leach [D-17th] at an informal discussion on gas drilling issues hosted by PennEnvironment in Upper Merion earlier this year. I guess I already kinda knew that but I’m optimistic by nature and, after all, it’s only a few clicks, right? If nothing else, I’ll lend a little moral support to the petitioners? Leach recommends letters and petitions on paper, and calling on your legislators.
Still, maybe lawmakers ought to at least take note of the sheer number of online anti-fracking petitions. If nothing else, it’s an indication that the public is trying to tell them something. There are way more petitions than I could possibly list here, of course that didn’t stop me from trying! Please let me know if I missed yours.
The Fracking Boom: Missing Answers is a Special Series airing all week on NPR (WHYY in Philadelphia). According to the promo: “The natural gas boom is under way in the United States, with more than 200,000 wells drilled in just under a decade. But people living on the front door step of the natural gas bonanza have a question: Are these wells creating harmful pollutants? NPR explores why there isn’t an answer yet.” (more…)
Anti-Fracking Rally in Washington DC – Saturday, July 28, 2012
Contact: Your Legislators! Ask Them To Speak Out Against Unconventional Gas Drilling in Pennsylvania atStop the Frack Attack
May 3, 2102, Fracksylvania, USA: At long last, a date to focus on, and work towards. A time to make our objection to filthy shale gas drilling known. Hurray. Sign up now for the rally, get updates and information, and get psyched. Or simply save-the-date and be there to make history on July 28th and protect our human right to clean air, land and water. (more…)
Keep Tap Water Safe 