Once again, PennEnvironment has smashed the barrier between Big Green and grassroots by eloquently framing the case for a moratorium on fracking in Pennsylvania. This week, PennEnviro presented a series of videos entitled Marcellus Shale Stories. Each clip features citizens speaking out, succinctly describing one aspect of the complex story that is Industrial Shale Gas Drilling. Together, their experiences are a testament to the devastating toll that shale gas production is presently exacting from unwitting Pennsylvanians like you and me.
Non-hysterically narrated by PennEnvironment‘s Erica Staaf, Marcellus Shale Stories is more than a catalog of the ill-effects of gas drilling. It’s an anthology of cautionary tales from Pennsylvania’s Sacrifice Zone, and it underscores the serious need for a moratorium on new drilling permits until comprehensive socio-economic and environmental impact studies are conducted. Otherwise, we are all vulnerable to:
Adverse Health Impacts
Water Contamination
Declining Property Values
Compromised Agriculture and Food Safety
Loss and Fragmentation of State Forest Land to Gas Drilling
Destruction of Scenic Landscapes Adversely Impacting Tourism
Downstream Pollution in Cities and Neighboring States
In case you didn’t notice, Pennsylvania already has a “Sacrifice Zone.”
Don’t believe it? Then I suggest you ask Rebecca Roter, who discovered months ago that her home is to be engulfed by the heavily industrialized business of shale gas production. Since then, Roter has been doing everything possible to obtain information on the scope and nature of a planned, GP-5 permitted compressor station project near her home in the Susquehanna region. She’s determined to protect the land she loves from air pollution, pipelines, noise, clear-cutting and truck traffic, but so far her efforts have only been stymied by the PA Department of Environmental Protection and other state agencies.
Been reading Wendy Lee’s heart-wrenching coverage of events surrounding the eviction of residents from the Riverdale Mobile Home Park in Jersey Shore, PA. It’s surreal to me that this is happening in Pennsylvania, USA, and the lamestream media has basically ignored the story. Thankfully, Dr. Lee and others have recorded their impressions of the injustices there.
Whether or not you think Aqua has a right to develop this facility, and syphon 3 million gallons of fresh water per day from the Susquehanna River Watershed, what happened in Riverdale is not only emblematic of the dramatically altered nature of police enforcement in Pennsylvania, it’s also a troubling reminder that a private entity owns the public’s fresh water supplies. Above all, it calls into question who has more value in our society, corporate citizens or individual citizens? We already know who has more political clout. Read the rest of this entry »
Listening to Pro-Drilling Landowners in Northeastern PA
Since Tim Darragh’s article, Pennsylvania Lobbying for DRBC Fracking Rules appeared in The Allentown Morning Call on thursday, there’s been a surprising dirth of Comments on the topic. StateImpact gave Darragh’s piece a shout out yesterday, and hopefully that will help raise awareness that the Delaware River is still very much endangered. Maybe it’s an apathetic readership? Or perhaps Patrick Henderson is effectively skirting media radar detection in their outright determination to drill in the Delaware right now, literally at any cost. Read the rest of this entry »
What Did The Delaware River Ever Do To Tommy Corbett?
PA Governor Tom Corbett wants to drill the iconic Delaware River Watershed… Y’know, the river George Washington crossed to win American independence, the river that currently sustains 15.6 million people and countless species, the river that already generates $22 BILLION for the Pennsylvania economy each year, according to the University of Delaware. Our guv’na is the poster child for greed, corruption and neo-con ignorance. He looks (and acts) like a stupid frat boy, yet when it comes to shale gas, he’s devious as all hell. It’s like he’s date-raping every river, meadow, forest and mountain in the state.
Tim Darragh gets us up-to-speed on the behind the scenes machinations of Patrick Henderson, Corbett’s state-funded Energy Executive, in Pennsylvania Lobbying for DRBC Fracking Rules in The Allentown Morning Call:
“‘That’s been a frustration since the November meeting was canceled,” said Corbett spokesman Patrick Henderson. ‘We have been having discussions with the DRBC staff as recently as this week’ ” Read the rest of this entry »
Annual Water Quality Reports don’t include unregulated toxins
People often ask if we drink tap water at home. “Not if we can help it” is the honest answer, but I rarely say so. I wouldn’t want anyone to feel their choice is wrong simply because it’s not my choice. Anyway, we bathe in tap water and water the vegetable garden, too. Whatever your pleasure, we all ingest our regional tap water. We’re currently looking into the possibility of drilling a well, though I’ve yet to determine the cost. Luckily, Environmental Working Group has created a great tool to inform (and justify) our water investments.
Shouted out in Toxic Shockers by Alexa Joy Sherman in the July-August issue of Natural Health Magazine, The Environmental Working Group’s National Drinking Water Database is a font of information for water consumers. EWG reports there are “Over 300 Pollutants in US Drinking Water,” some of which are regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act, some aren’t. Read the rest of this entry »
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.” Read the rest of this entry »
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. Read the rest of this entry »
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). Read the rest of this entry »
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.
It’s too easy to waste time on Facebook, yet every once in a while you find something big and beautiful. So, while I hope Mr. Zuckerberg’s new marriage goes more smoothly than his recent IPO, and I was initially daunted by Timeline, I had to share this recent fb discovery, which I happened upon via Alerte Schiste via Fracking Hell UK via Protecting Our Waters via …
Families fracked as threat of shale gas pollution hits home…
WTFrack.org, an impressive anti-fracking organization in Colorado, recently reposted this item fromThe Denver Post. The story made me mad. Madd mad.
“DENVER — A small group of mothers and children from Erie marched into the building that houses Encana Corp.’s Denver headquarters this morning to present a petition signed by 21,000 people demanding that the energy giant forgo a planned natural gas drilling site near elementary schools and an adjoining neighborhood…”
Why should these women have to fight for their children’s right to clean air? Probably because adequate zoning restrictions don’t exist in their neighborhood. And thanks to Act 13, they don’t exist in my Pennsylvania neighborhood anymore, either. I applaud these moms for organizing a direct action. I’m certain they have plenty of other things to do. Read the rest of this entry »
Angela and Wayne own and operate a farm in Clearville, PA. They candidly share their experiences with the Natural Gas Industry in this short video. Read the rest of this entry »
[UPDATED: May 25, 2012] Including more info on Reclassification to Exceptional Value or High Quality Stream
“The Delaware Riverkeeper Network (DRN) is petitioning the PA Department of Environmental Protection to upgrade the Upper and Middle Delaware River to Exceptional Value (EV) Quality,” states Faith Zerbe , DRN’s Water Watch Director.
To this very productive end, Delaware Riverkeepers and over 20 organizations and 300 co-petitioners have submitted a petition to to PADEP, and they are actively seeking signatures and letters of support. If you value this magnificent, historic American River, please lend your voice and sign on to the Original Petition to elevate the Delaware’s environmental, economic and social status. Demand adequate protections for drinking water today! Read the rest of this entry »
This morning, T. Boon Pickens literally laughed off environmental concerns about Fracking on msnbc’s Morning Joe. Joe just sat on his moderately conservative ass, nodding in agreement, while Tom Perriello, former Virgina Representative [D-5th] and CEO of Center for American Progress offered very little by way of a Progressive rebuttal. Essentially, “Boon” was given a platform to assert the false choice between oil and gas, and there was nary a mention of Renewables. Pickens spoke about Saudi Arabia hoarding oil for their own air conditioning, driving up prices, but not the fact that Saudi Arabia is now heavily invested in solar. You can read more about that in a May 16, 2012 post by Travis Hoim, The Surprising $100 Billion Solar Investment, also on msnbc.
Don’t be a gashole, Joe! Ask Willie Geist, he’s the only one who questioned the environmental impacts though he wasn’t given time for a follow up. Here are some news items which for some reason have been routinely sidelined by the lamestream media. And this post was brought to you by organic, Fair Trade green tea.
Drinking water disinfection is among the most important technological advances of humanity, yet like every major historic development it has a downside. Today, we run the risk of over-ingesting the disinfection chemicals used in public water treatment, along with their dangerous disinfection bi-products. It’s a bummer to know what’s really in our water – everything from naturally occurring radioactive contaminants to anti-depressants. Some toxins, such as chlorine, are relatively easy to filter out. Others, like chloramine, and disinfection biproducts (DBPs) such as chloroform (CHC13), are much slower to dissipate and far more difficult to remove. These are the toxins believed to cause cancer.
Governor Shumlin signs new ban, on track to become law…
From Vermont Fracking Ban Poised to Become Law by the AP via Huffington Post:
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Vermont appears on the verge of enacting the nation’s first statewide ban of a hotly debated natural gas drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing. Read the rest of this entry »
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.” Read the rest of this entry »
Coaltion-building is key to defeating the gasholes who want to Frack with the Delaware River Watershed. Luckily, we’ve got some serious NYC star-power to help fuel the movement to protect it.
“My Body of Water” is a short spot created by Citizens for Water, Damascus Citizens, Catskill Mountain Keeper, and Bone/Levine Architects, and it features Adrian Grenier, Leighton Meester, Norman Reedus, Zoe Kravitz, Sandra Bernhard, Ezra Miller, Nigel Barker, Christina Mclarty, Nev Shulman, Toure, Mehdi Nebbou, Alek Wek, Alysia Reiner, Melissa Auf Der Maur, Chris Taylor from Grizzly Bear. Thanks to Josh Fox and Faith Zerbe of Delaware Riverkeeper Network for passing it along. Enjoy!
Keep Tap Water Safe 