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Why regulation cannot protect us
• No regulation can prevent the extraordinary squandering of fresh water, 5½ million gallons average per well, 100% of which becomes contaminated — permanently — and removed from the natural water cycle. This in an era of critically diminishing supplies of fresh water in the US and around the world. According to Prof. Tony Ingraffea, Cornell rock […]
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Prove it
In a February 23rd story, the Denver Post reports that homeowner Tracy Dahl lost his case before the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Dahl’s water went bad on June 30, 2010, according to the Post story, “the same day that Pioneer fracked its Alibi well about 1300 feet away.” The COGCC – which “regulates” […]
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Moratorium – The Real Deal?
Background: Horizontally drilled, high-volume hydrofracturing (HD/HVHF) in shales has been under de facto moratorium since 2008, when the DEC was ordered to take testimony on the impacts of that proposed technology. Until the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) is produced (probably late spring 2011) that de facto moratorium is already in place. The current moratorium legislation extends that […]
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“The resource curse”
From “The Spill Seekers,” Outside Magazine, November 2010 ————————————- While I was in Louisiana, there was an event at the Cajundome, in Lafayette, called the Rally for Economic Survival: 11,000 people packed the place to hear the governor, the lieutenant governor, and, of all people, the executive director of the Louisiana Seafood Marketing and Promotion […]
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Activist testimony at PA Senate Hearing: “Here I was, trying desperately to get my government to put some controls on the natural gas industry invasion, and my government was admitting it was in cahoots with that industry.”
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak here today. A month ago, I was an average American citizen begging my government to save my air, my drinking water, and my community from the environmental devastation wrought by the natural gas industry across the country. I wrote dozens of letters to my legislators (receiving […]
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EPA hearing comment: The essential question is never asked
Oral comment on scoping document for EPA study, 9/15/10, Binghamton, NY: I own 200+ acres. I was offered a lease, and experience the difficult consequences of both long- and short-term economic trends. Yet this is not another plea for gas extraction. The first problem with this scope is its foregone conclusion, found in its very […]
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EPA hearing comment: “Agencies appear to be captured by an industry they’ve been tasked to regulate”
Comments to the EPA Hearing on Horizontal Drilling /High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing September 15, 2010, Binghamton, New York Good evening. My name is Joan Tubridy; I am the daughter of a NYC Fire Captain, a former farmer for 23 years, and a middle school Math and English teacher for the past 16 years. I am also a member […]
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A foregone conclusion
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson: “Natural gas is an important part of our nation’s energy future, and it’s critical that the extraction of this valuable natural resource does not come at the expense of safe water and healthy communities.” -EPA press release, 9/09/10 Okay. Most of the conventional natural gas is gone. What’s left? Unconventional natural gas such as […]
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Every agency has its price
Side-by-side sampling reveals that the Texas Department of Environmental Quality air monitor in Dish, Texas is under-recording toxic VOC levels in the air. Now why d’ya suppose it’d do that?