On this beautiful Tuesday afternoon in June 2010, I sat with my son to watch 'Gasland' by Josh Fox. It was shocking and compelling! The fact that Josh is from PA piqued our interest in that he is "one of us" and will be affected the same as we will if the Oil and Gas companies are allowed to expand their drilling into Marcellus Shale.
I've been in two meetings prior to seeing this movie where the local Democrats discussed how we should tax the industry to bridge a budget gap. I would say that no amount of money should supercede the health of the people in the state of PA.
Josh did an excellent job of detailing the effects of the hydraulic fracking:
www.gaslandmovie/whats-fracking
Essentially they inject up to 597 chemical compounds into the earth in order to break up the rocks, etc. to set the gas free. This takes 80,000 pounds of chemicals and 70% of which remains in the ground. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the water used in combination with these chemicals will end up in a basin, tribuatry, lake, stream, river...etc. You get the picture!
Not all of us have the benefit of public water; many of our friends and neighbors have wells from which they draw their drinking, bathing, washing water from. These people are getting sick in records numbers shortly after the drilling commences and the Oil and Gas companies deny the unsafe drinking water exists. They claim to test it but Josh has proven them wrong. Independent lab tests determined that the water is completely unsafe for any living creature to consume.
After filming the people lighting their own water on fire, I believed the Independent lab! There was one chemical that was most compelling that prevented fish from growing gills and people experiencing tissue and brain damage. Animals were losing their hair and were getting sick and dying. Incredibly sad!
How did this all come about? You guessed it, good old Dick Cheney and Halliburton. The bill that passed back in 2005 allowed the Oil and Gas industries to be immune to the EPA laws. They were also permitted to drill on public land. Does anyone remember that? Well, no one has reported on the side effects of that yet.....
Halliburton seems to be doing the bidding of the "Money First" people in this country. From Iraq, to the Gulf, to Natural Gas drilling we are being raped and pillaged. Where's the media on this one? Hmm, well, they dropped the ball once again (just like they did prior to the Iraq invasion). We can't even blame the regulatory bodies in this; this industry was treated like diplomats get treated from other countries...immune from laws and prosecution!
I am just one person, I would love to make a difference in my life time. Anyone want to join me?
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This has been an important issue for the League of Women voters, both statewide and here in Radnor. There are great resources on the PA LWV website.
ReplyDeleteThanks John! I will look into that...
ReplyDeleteDanielle, My FIL and his wife (and all of their neighbors) have signed contracts that allow for natural gas drilling on their properties in northern PA.
ReplyDeleteOne of their friends sold his mountain...they cut off the top of it. They destroyed the environment. Now, the friends regrets the sale...
It's strange how happy they all were to get the gas money, and how they (almost) all regret it now. It's so much worse than they ever expected.
The citizens here had no idea what was actually going to happen to their land, (and now their water is contaminated). They were probably naive and greedy, but they were also misled.
Thanks for this!
EC
EC-
ReplyDeleteMoney is the root of all evil and it isn't everything. This is such a terrible lesson here because people, wildlife, etc. are dying every day and they didn't have to (just like with the Gulf oil spill)...I'm sick over it and this was a real wake up call for me. I just hope others listen!