New York DEP...Fracking Waste is NOT Medical Waste

The Medical Waste tracking Act of 1988 defines medical waste as "any solid waste that is generated in the diagnosis, treatment, or immunization of human beings or animals, in research pertaining thereto, or in the production or testing of biologicals." This definition includes, but is not limited to:

• blood-soaked bandages
• culture dishes and other glassware
• discarded surgical gloves
• discarded surgical instruments
• discarded needles used to give shots or draw blood (e.g., medical sharps)
• cultures, stocks, swabs used to inoculate cultures
• removed body organs (e.g., tonsils, appendices, limbs)
• discarded lancets

So, one might ask, "What does Medical Wastes have to do with Horizontal Hydraulic Fracturing, and the diabolical industrial practice nicknamed Fracking?"  As unbelievable as it may seem, the New York DEC plans to treat the waste water streams from fracking along the same lines as Medical Wastes are treated, rather than classifying them for what they are, "Lethal Hazardous Wastes"!  Now to understand how ridiculous it for the NY DEC to wrongfully classify and treat Fracking waste along the same lines as Medical Waste, we should look at some of the requirements the US EPA has when a waste is classified as being hazardous...keep in mind, the waste does not have to meet ALL THESE CRITERIA, but instead only has to meet ANY OF THE CRITERIA.  Any, as in ONE!

Lets start with Benzene shall we?

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has classified Benzene as a Class A carcinogenic. Benzene exposure can result in the development of leukemia. Variations of leukemia have been linked to Benzene exposure, including:

• Acute myelogenous leukemia
• Acute lymphocytic leukemia
• Chronic myelogenous leukemia

Symptoms of Benzene Exposure

People that are exposed to Benzene in high levels or for long periods of time might experience the following symptoms:

• Drowsiness
• Dizziness
• Headaches
• Irregular heartbeats
• Loss of consciousness

Benzene exposure to the eyes and skin can cause tissue injury and irritation. Drinking water containing high levels of Benzene can cause:

• Stomach irritation
• Vomiting
• Convulsions
• Rapid heartbeats
• Death

Guess what folks...benzene is injected underground in hydraulic fracturing, and the extraction process also causes naturally occurring deposits of benzene to surface (Hess 1998, EPA Final 2004 4-11).  OK, lets try to understand this...Benzene is by US EPA classifications a hazardous waste.  The (un)Natural Gas industry injects Benzene into the ground to FRACK A WELL, and when the well has been fracked, even more Benzene is released.  Said Benzene gets into the environment (air, water, ground), thus opening up exposure pathways that will see humans exposed to a chemical that is a know cancer causing agent, a chemical that can cause us to lose consciousness, a chemical that CAN CAUSE DEATH...those are some serious medical concerns that all New Yorkers should be concerned with...

Light bulb moment!

So that is why the NY DEC wants to classify and treat fracking wastes as Medical Wastes...said wastes are going to cause us folks serious health issues! ...so that's the thinking?  Let's not put all the blame on the NY DEC...the US EPA seems to have blood on its own hands when it comes to being p front and honest when it comes to chemicals in fracking fluids, and the health risks they WILL PRESENT TO US HUMANS.

In a draft 2002 report, EPA reported that at the point of injection, nine hydraulic fracturing chemicals violated water quality standards (EPA Fracturing Draft 2002). This assertion was edited out before the final report was published. The published report did note that fracturing fluids are likely to remain underground and are “likely to be transported by groundwater supplies” (EPA Fracturing Final 2004).

So, the (un)Natural Gas industry does not like US EPA findings...no problem, they just get those results edited out, and that changes everything...right? As the Church Lady would say, "Isn't that SPECIAL"?  Not to be out done, wanting to get in on all the killing of human beings, Dick Cheney and our United States government jumped into the fray in 2005 solving the issue once and for all by granting the (un)Natural Gas industry an exemption from the Clean Drinking Water Act...much like the NRC does with regulations when the nuclear industry cannot meet standards, GRANT AN EXEMPTION!

In 2005, Congress exempted most hydraulic fracturing from the Safe Drinking Water Act but said the act would apply to fracturing with diesel fuel (SDWA Exemption 2005).

Meanwhile, here in our little community we are waiting for Steve Vegliante and the Fallsburg Town Board to let us know when the promised Public Informational Meeting on FRACKING is going to be held as said board considers a proposed ban on fracking for our community...with this kind of information out in the public domain, one has to wonder why the delay...PASS THE BAN!  Seriously...can we really trust the DEC to do the right thing, or is our community better off passing a ban on fracking while we still can?

Some other reasons to JUST SAY NO to FRACKING:

• Thousands of post-1980 wells are exempt from the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) that holds most industries accountable for cleaning up hazardous waste.
• Thousands of post-1980 wells were exempted from the Clean Air Act, which limits emissions of nearly 190 toxic air pollutants, including many emitted by oil and gas companies (Mall et al. 2007, Clean Air Act 2008).
• Thousands of the nearly 270,000 wells drilled in the West since 1980 are exempt from the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act of 1986. 
• The nearly 270,000 oil and natural gas wells drilled in the West since 1980 have enjoyed an exemption from the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), passed in 1976 to establish a cradle-to-grave hazardous waste management program (RCRA History). 

Are you starting to see a TREND HERE?  The (un)Natural Gas industry has been exempted from almost every rule meant to protect human health and the environment, has been exempted from almost every law that could and should hold them legally liable when they screw it all up, which they certainly will do.  Give Steve Vegliante a call, tell him the time for Fallsburg to pass a fracking ban IS NOW.

EPA Declares Dimock PA Water SAFE to Drink...NOT SO FAST

The (un)Natural Gas industry must be plugging holes with lots of dollars at the EPA...the big news that had the FRACKING industry cheering was that the contaminated water in Dimock, Pennsylvania was safe to drink, and that much hullabaloo had been made of nothing...industry insiders were quick to deliver their public "We told you so's" and that was the end of it right?  First, lets be clear...what the EPA said was:

"The Environmental Protection Agency said it did not find significant contamination in well water serving 11 Pennsylvania families who feared that natural gas drilling had polluted their well."

PAY ATTENTION FOLKS...did not find SIGNIFICANT CONTAMINATION....hmmmm...does this mean they FOUND CONTAMINATION, and if so how much and of what kind?  More importantly, did what they find present any short or long term health risks to people now being told to DRINK IT DAILY?  Read on.

NOT SO FAST...seems that the EPA's public assurances don't quiet jive with the water test results being given to the homeowners faced with ruined water supplies...in fact, if anything the PRIVATE RESULTS given to the property owners seem to validate every claim they have made about contaminated drinking water wells.  Lets address some of the citizens worries compared to EPA's FALSE PUBLIC CLAIMS.

1.  Elevated levels of Methane...IE, think Gasland and flaming facets.  

The EPA has publicly stated that the water in Dimock wells is safe...by what standards.  The tests results given to well owners privately show levels over THREE TIMES HIGHER than allowable levels...from report:

"...water samples contained dangerous quantities of methane gas"

This finding by the EPA actually confirmed some of the agency's initial concerns as well as verifies the complaints raised by Dimock resident, so one has to ask the question, who is being PAID OFF AT THE EPA, and why are these citizens with poisoned explosive water wells being abandoned, thrown to the wolves...lets keep in mind that one woman's drinking water exploded as a result of CABOT's negligent drilling practices...I know, Cabot is going to say PROVE IT.  Of course, they were quick to MUTATE the EPA claims to their benefit with this EMAIL quote sent to the news media:

"Pleased the drinking water meets all regulatory standards."

Giving Cabot Oil the ceremonial one fingered salute before continuing on.

Consider this from ECO Watch:

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Region 3 office issued a press release on March 15 implying that Dimock, Pa.’s water has been given a clean bill of health. In the same statement to the press, EPA admitted that several families still have arsenic and methane in their water, but the news headlines are already proclaiming that the water in Dimock is safe. 

Independent testing has found that 11 Dimock families’ water is contaminated with explosive levels of methane, as well as heavy metals, radioactive material and fracking chemicals like ethylene glycol—commonly known as antifreeze.

The private results given to home owners does get worse...seems that EPA's public assurances of Dimock water being safe to drink run contrary to the actual test results provided to homeowners that show:

"wells contained dozens of other contaminants, including low levels of chemicals known to cause cancer and heavy metals that exceed the agency's "trigger level" and could lead to illness if consumed over an extended period of time."

Can the EPA explain this to those opposed to FRACKING?  For just how long a period of time can these citizens drink this water before becoming ill?  A week, a month, a year?  If drinking, cooking and bathing in this water over an extended period of time of say weeks and months is going to make the people SICK, is the water actually SAFE?  Again, can the EPA please explain this to us uninformed simple folk in the audience? 

To my own elected officials here in Sullivan County New York, to my elected officials in Fallsburg...with these kinds of findings by the Federal Government that obviously cannot be trusted, with an industry that continues to stack lie after lie on top of propaganda and falsehood, why are you NOT PASSING ANTI FRACKING ZONING ORDINANCES?  We here in Sullivan County to not want to find our communities being another Dimock Pa. and you have the ability to stop it from happening.

Fracking Foes Yesterday Marched In Albany

Average Law Abiding Citizens Seek Ban on Fracking

The fracking war continues as well funded Industry Lobbyist try buying off government officials at every level of our government, from the local politician to the halls of Congress in Washington, DC.  Meanwhile, average every day citizens are continuing the good fight, trying to save our water, our health, and our pristine environment here in New York state, many of those average citizens taking yesterday off from work to get in buses to head to Albany to march down the halls of our Legislative Building seeking articulate, intelligent elected officials who willing to listen to their call for an "Out Right Ban" on hydraulic fracturing here in New York state, and there are ever mounting numbers of reason to pass a bill that would create such a ban.

The old adage says, "where there is smoke there is fire" and with each passing day, week, there is mounting evidence that "Horizontal Hydraulic Fracturing" causes lots of problems, and does contaminate both our water, and our environment, that there is FIRE that the industry is trying to sweep under the carpet.  

There is also ever mounting proof that the Natural Gas industry is playing a con game on both America, and the world in the name of PROFITS and shale gas drilling.  No better example of this can be found than the industry's claim that Hydraulic Fracturing has been done safely now for 60 years...NOT EXACTLY.  They are comparing apples to oranges.  Vertical Horizontal fracking has been used for 60 years, and on average uses maybe 60,000 gallons of water to frack a well, and is done at much shallower depths.  

Horizontal Fracking in many cases drills down into Mother Earth over a mile deep, then horizontally drills just as far sideways...so, a mile deep, and a mile in any direction is much different than singular bore hole vertical fracking.  No greater example of the difference can be found in these two diametrically opposing techniques than looking at the huge amount of water needed to frack just one Horizontal well....these horizontal wells use on average more than 2.5 MILLION GALLONS of our precious water supplies.  Do the math folks....60,000 gallons verse 2.5 million gallons per well...and don't forget the CANCER CAUSING CHEMICALS mixed in with that 2.5 million gallons of water.

Want another con...Cabot was excused from delivering water to the citizens of Dimock Pennsylvania even though they CONTAMINATED THE WATER SUPPLIES, and now in Dimock and other communities where fracking is taking place, the US EPA is delivering citizens drinkable water AT THE TAXPAYER's EXPENSE!  That's right...the (un)Natural Gas industry comes in, drills for gas, contaminates wells and underground water aquifers, then leaves out of town leaving the burden and expenses of repairing the damage they did on WE THE PEOPLE.

Norma Fiorentino’s drink­ing water well was a time bomb. For weeks, work­ers in her small north­east­ern Penn­syl­va­nia town had been plumb­ing nat­ural gas deposits from a drilling rig a few hun­dred yards away. They cracked the earth and pumped in flu­ids to force the gas out. Some­how, stray gas worked into tiny crevasses in the rock, leak­ing upward into the aquifer and slip­ping qui­etly into Fiorentino’s well. Then, accord­ing to the state’s work­ing the­ory, a motor­ized pump turned on in her well house, flicked a spark and caused a New Year’s morn­ing blast that tossed aside a con­crete slab weigh­ing sev­eral thou­sand pounds.

Fiorentino wasn’t home at the time, so it’s dif­fi­cult to know exactly what hap­pened. But after­ward, state offi­cials found methane, the largest com­po­nent of nat­ural gas, in her drink­ing water. If the fumes that built up in her well house had col­lected in her base­ment, the explo­sion could have killed her.

As yourselves Sullivan County residents..."can our rural community afford the costs that come with Horizontal Hydraulic Fracturing?"  All those heavy trucks will take a heavy toll on our rural roads, but the Natural Gas industry is not going to pick up the tab to repair them.  Some of us, perhaps a large number of us will see our fresh water supplies negatively impacted, perhaps even forever RUINED, but the (un)Natural Gas industry has already shown their true colors, will not be there picking up the tab when we have no choice but to BUY WATER to drink, cook, and clean with.  Some of us will suffer very serious, even deadly negative health impacts...the (un)Natural Gas industry is not going to be there to pay our medical bills, is not going to give us a pay check when we are too sick to work.

The time has come for every small hamlet, village, town and city in our county to demand local legislation BANNING FRACKING.  It is time for our state officials in Albany to do the right thing and pass a law that BANS FRACKING, and it is time for Governor Cuomo to SIGN THAT BILL INTO LAW.

The Latest Fracking News

First Up...if you have not yet submitted comments to the NYDEC opposing the inadequate fracking regulations found in the SGEIS, now is the time to do it (deadline is January 11th...this upcoming Wednesday) is now. To make it easier for citizens to submit comments, Catskill Citizens has put up a page with 20 READY TO GO comments here. They are great comments, but if you want some serious IMPACT to your statement, want to have it receive MORE ATTENTION, it is recommended you use their suggested comments as a model to write your own. The more the merrier, so consider to some or even all of them! As a stakeholder, it is also recommended you ask to be put on the document SERVICE LIST.

Catskill Citizens will make sure that anything you send to us by Monday January 9th will be delivered to the DEC on time. After Monday the 9th, use the DEC's web-based comment form.[http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/76838.html]

Next up...is the US EPA going to start delivering water to the citizens of Dimock, Pennsylvania? Cabot has reneged on doing right by the citizens of Dimock, even though they are the guilty party that has contaminated the community water, and sadly, the state of Pennsylvania's own DEC is letting them get away with it...however, all is not lost. Seems that the US EPA is weighing to their own investigations, and bringing in water.

If the EPA delivers water to the village, it would be the clearest sign yet regulators are concerned about the effect of drilling on drinking water there.
Dimock may become pivotal in a national debate about the environmental impact of fracking, the drilling technique that could unlock decades' worth of natural gas trapped in shale deposits, but which environmentalists say contaminates water supplies.

11 minor earthquakes in Ohio attributed to FRACKING. First, this raises some serious question about allowing fracking anywhere near any earthquake faults. More importantly, it raises a much more serious question...why is the Hydraulic Fracturing industry being allowed to DUMP THEIR CANCER CAUSING WASTE STREAMS into the ground with our potable water supplies. Seriously, how safe can it really be to be dumping all these toxic chemicals into the ground, and will not those toxic chemicals PERCULATE up into the aquifers if said chemicals are causing earthquakes?

Now, seismologists have attributed a recent series of 11 minor earthquakes in Ohio to injection wells that disposed of wastewater byproducts from fracking operations.

Will opponents of Fracking here in New York be successful in getting another one year moratorium on the dangerous industrial drilling practice known as Hydraulic Fracturing, or would such a moratorium amount to putting lipstick on a pig. As it is, the DEC cannot issue permits before 2013, as there is no money in the budget for the added employees needed to enforce the proposed rules moving their way through the process now. Symbolically it would be a big victory for the Anti's, but we need to make sure it is not window dressing meant to appease.

Pointing to experiences in other states, including Pennsylvania and Colorado, critics say the practice could contaminate drinking water and air, cause small earthquakes and lower property values. Supporters say allowing fracking in New York would create an important domestic source of energy and thousands of jobs for depressed rural areas.

State Assembly Environmental Committee Chair Robert Sweeney said on Friday he would soon introduce a proposal to have a moratorium on fracking until June 1, 2013. Sweeney pointed to recent reports that fracking may have caused a series of small earthquakes in Ohio and contaminated drinking water in Wyoming and Dimock, Pennsylvania.

Bottom line is simple...at every step of the way, Fracking seems to get more dangerous, and at some point politicians and regulators have to accept that some risks are not worth taking, and Hydraulic Fracturing is one of those risks that small rural communities like our own cannot afford to have the DEC force us into accepting. How many examples of problems do regulators need to have presented before they just tell the Exxon's, Cabot's and Chesapeake Energy's of the world NO?

Summitting Comments on DEC's Fracking Revised Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement

Last week the New York State DEC released the complete, a d fatally flawed Revised Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement on the environmental dangerous drilling technique hydraulic fracturing. Although the entire document runs to over 1,500 pages, the Cuomo Administration insists that scientists, the medical community and the general public will have only three months to read, analyze and submit written comments on a plan that will contaminate our safe drinking water supplies, endanger our public health, destroy our local economies, and put we the taxpayers on the hook for billions in environmental clean up costs.

It is imperative that the average citizens who will be negatively impacted by this large scale drilling under our lands, our homes, even our schools be heard. If you are concerned about FRACKING, now is the time to summit your questions, worries and concerns to the DEC before the deadline for comments expires. Many of us are submitting a formalized request for an extension of time to file, but Cuomo seems far more concerned with keeping his DONORS in the (un)Natural Gas Industry happy than keeping our water, health and the environment both safe and clean, which means the comment deadline will not be extended.

To submit your comments, simply write them into a letter and send to:

Attn: dSGEIS Comments
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
625 Broadway
Albany, NY 12233-6510.

Please include the name, address, and affiliation (if any) of the commenter. Paper submissions also will be accepted at the public hearings date/locations TBD.

Do Not Buy Into The Natural Gas Propaganda Campaign

If you watch television in the Sullivan County area, you see commercials, and lately a whole lot of those commercials are trying to sell our community on the virtues of Clean, Green Natural Gas. The problem is, we are being targeted by those who wish to use Hydraulic Fracturing to tap into the natural gas resources that are trapped in the Marcellus Shale which runs underneath most of our county, are waging a propaganda campaign to convince us that Natural Gas, and the dangerous act of accessing it using Hydraulic Fracturing is something we should not oppose, but instead embrace as patriotic Americans, and environmentally conscious citizens.

"Extracting natural gas from the Marcellus Shale could do more to aggravate global warming than mining coal, according to a Cornell study published in the May issue of Climatic Change Letters"

More than almost any other county, Sullivan County must decide for ourselves if we can afford the environmental and health costs associated with drilling for Natural Gas using Hydraulic Fracturing or Fracking, and to do this fairly, we must first dispel some of the myths being perpetrated in the Natural Gas industry commercial that our homes are being bombarded with on a daily basis as they try to get us to embrace this proposed transition from one fossil fuel to another, as they try to sell us on the concept that Natural Gas is the perfect transition fuel as we move from a oil based economy to one based upon some other alternative fuel.

"the average methane concentration to be 17 times higher in water wells located within a kilometer of active drilling sites."

Myth One...America has a natural gas supply that will last us over 100 years. Fact is, most of the big players in the industry, such as Chesapeake Energy have already sold off large chunks of this natural resources to allow them to secure more contracts to drill on every increasing swaths of land in the Marcellus Shale...so, even if America does have 100 years of Natural Gas underneath our lands, a huge amount of said gas has already been sold off to foreign lands and their governments, with the biggest buyer of these resources China...yes, that is right, China now owns a HUGE PERCENTAGE of America's natural gas resources. Question, are we as a county willing to risk serious damage to our environment to supply China natural gas? Are we willing to risk our most valuable resource (WATER) in the name of China Natural Gas, should we see Hydraulic Fracturing contaminating our fresh water supplies so that our state's natural resources can be shipped off to China?



Myth Two...Natural Gas is affordable. First, what they are hiding from you is the huge amounts of our tax dollars being given to the industry in helping them reach and economy of scale. As example, the state of Pennsylvania has given the industry 50 million dollars directly and indirectly. These tax dollars are available to build Natural Gas stations for the industry along interstate highways (they cannot build their own?), and are available for municipalities to convert their own vehicles to natural gas. Secondly, Natural Gas is only cheap right now because supply is outpacing demand...as the demand for Natural Gas increases and these supplies are more in line with the demand, you will see the price of natural gas raise dramatically, the so called bargain pricing GONE, and already too late, all of us sucked into having no choice but to pay a kings ransom to fuel our vehicles.



Myth Three...Natural Gas is a clean, green alternative natural resources. Not exactly, and if you look at the nuclear industry, you see the natural gas industry playing the same shell game with the facts when it comes to Natural Gas. The mining and processing of uranium into fuel rods is the dirtiest industrial process known to mankind, it's contribution to the world's pollution staggering. In 50 years, the nuclear industry has never properly and permanently dealt with so much as one ounce of their spent fuel wastes...but they don't tell you these facts, instead only wanting you to focus in on the fuel in their reactors and the electricity those reactors provide. They also know that their reactors cause a certain number of cancers per 100,000 people in the communities forced to host these facilities, but work very hard to hide statistical data from the public, the NRC cooperating in this ruse, writing these cancers off as acceptable risks based upon the larger benefit to mankind.



The natural gas industry is attempting to hoodwink us with the same kinds of tricks, focusing in on the benefits, while failing to provide full disclosure, failing to inform community where their wells will be drilled of the risks and health problems that ARE ASSOCIATED WITH HYDRAULIC FRACTURING. Citizens living near any natural gas well can have additional health problems, such as increased pollutants contributing to increased numbers of people having breathing issues. Our pure, clean, safe drinking waters will be negatively impacted, and in some cases permanently ruined...this is not an opinion, but rather a simple fact that can be easily verified with a Google search of the word FRACKING. Are scenic rural beauty and the tourism it creates will also be negatively impacted...did you know that in both Ohio and Pennsylvania the state governments are letting the Natural Gas industry drill INSIDE STATE PARK LANDS? Do you really want to go for a nature walk and see dozens of gas drilling rigs scarring this majestic beauty? Do you want to be walking along a stream once pristine that REEKS of the pollutants making their way into our tributaries from these drilling sites? Again, do a Google search, this is not hyperbole, but fact...Hydraulic Fracturing will contaminate our waters, it is not a matter of is, but when this damage occurs, and how often it occurs.



The industry would also have us believe that Hydraulic Fracturing, drilling for Natural Gas in our communities is good for the local economy...it is not. Sure, some landowners will benefit from selling their rights, others though will be forced into allowing drilling on their lands, even if they oppose the practice. More importantly, there are an ever mounting number of examples of property values being destroyed as a result of having Natural Gas Drilling Rigs as your neighbor. Are you prepared and willing to lose as much as EIGHTY PERCENT of your homes value in the name of cheap, affordable Natural Gas? Trust me, the natural gas industry is not going to come in after the fact and make you whole again...instead, they will spend millions of dollars in attorneys fees fighting any such claims, knowing full well that small rural communities to not have the cash reserves necessary to prove various and assorted acts of pollution are the fault of the industry...just like the nuclear industry has done now for some 50 years.



Sullivan County sits square in the middle of the Marcellus Shale debate, and we as citizens need to start talking among ourselves, need to make intelligent decisions on the topic of allowing drilling using Hydraulic Fracturing in our pristine county. Can we afford to risk losing our biggest tourism draw card in the name of providing China, and even other states within the United States so called cheap energy? Look at the environmental and health costs states like Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Pennsylvania paid in the name of clean cheap coal...are we willing to pay those same steep health and environmental costs so that companies like Chesepeake Energy can sell our natural gas to China?



Get involved in the FRACKING BATTLE, plug in, put signs in your yards, make phone calls and write letters to your elected officials. We need to stand up to both big government, and big Natural Gas companies, and "Just say no!"

I accept Senator Cornyn's CHALLENGE to Enter Into Intelligent Discourse on Subject of FRACKING

Apparently I caught the attention of rabid right wing Texas Senator @JohnCornyn on twitter (his profile) He replied that he "LOVES AN INTELLIGENT conversation in regards to a remark I made to someone else about him (see his TWEET BELOW)...

Love an intellegent conversation RT @FracktoidNews: @bacco1 I would tell Senator John Cornyn (R) TX to kiss my hillbilly white arse. I got his SMART SCIENCE RIGHT HERE. #GASLAND

Now I am sure our ESTEEMED (use that term LOOSELY...emphasis added)Senator John Cornyn was being flippant, but I was raised to TAKE A MAN AT HIS WORD.  Going to assume here that Senator John Cornyn was/is sincere in stating he "loves an intelligent" conversation, specifically on the subject of Hydraulic Fracturing as relates to Natural Gas...he is for it, myself and others are against it, and his past behaviors would lead me to believe he has a VERY CLOSED MIND on the subject, but I am more than willing to be proved wrong on that assumption. 

So, Senator Cornyn, you have CHALLENGED ME to enter into intelligent discourse with you, and I hereby accept on the behalf of myself and all those who feel Hydraulic Fracturing as it is currently being carried out presents a grave peril to human health and our environment.  As I am sure you are aware, blog posts have a comment section...we can use that too debate and/or discuss this issue, the National Security ramifications of not going after Natural Gas plays here in America, the truth or lies of the industry (and our government's) claim that our Natural Gas deposits can help get us off of addiction to oil, as well as the health and environmental risks that are involved in the exploitation of this energy source, and wither or not it is fair to ask our rural communities to PAY THAT PRICE.  

The comments section on this post is hereby OPEN TO YOU SIR...lets, as you say, enjoy some intelligent conversation.  Or is our esteemed Senator from Texas a CHICKEN?

Severely INJURED Workers Suing Chesapeake Energy

Seems two workers injured in a serious fire on February 23rd are suing  Chesapeake Energy...what is interesting, is the facts that come out when you start looking for different versions of the news.  In the short story below, it's OK...lawsuit for injuries, basic negligence case right?  But then look at the second article from a different news source, and you see much more SERIOUS CHARGES are being claimed that should alarm all environmentalists, as well as all those who are supposed to regulate the industry...specifically, a charge of EVIDENCE TAMPERING has been brought again Chesapeake Energy.

Article Version One

AVELLA, Pa. — Two workers injured in a fiery explosion during testing at a natural gas-drilling site in southwestern western Pennsylvania are suing the drilling firm and two subcontractors.

The Observer-Reporter in Washington, Pa. says 50-year-old Richard Lancaster, of Sardis, Ohio, and 36-year-old Frank Lancaster, of New Martinsville, W.Va. filed the suit in the Circuit Court of Kanawha County, W.Va.

The men were working for a trucking firm that is not being sued, and are blaming Chesapeake Appalachia for the fire at the well near Avella, about 25 miles west of Pittsburgh.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has said the driller failed to properly manage flammable byproducts before the Feb. 23 fire in which five 500-barrel storage tanks of the liquid condensate ignited, but has yet to say if fines are warranted.

A Chesapeake spokeswoman declined comment. Article Source

More Than Just an Eye Sore...LAND RAPER

Article Version Two...more serious charges highlighted in RED.

Injured workers sue driller
By Scott Beveridge, Staff writer
Observer-Reporter
April 28, 2011

AVELLA, PA -- Two workmen who were severely injured in a massive Feb. 23 fire at a Marcellus Shale natural gas well site near Avella have sued the drilling company, claiming it was negligent in allowing flammable vapors to ignite at the site.  As we said, basic claim of being negligent...but READ ON.

Attorneys for victims Frank Lancaster and Richard Lancaster also claim the driller, Chesapeake Appalachia, removed critical evidence after the fire at the Joseph Powers well site, West Virginia court records indicate. The lawsuit further claims the fire was a result of "lax government regulation" in Pennsylvania over the Marcellus Shale industry. The problems with oversight have "created an environment where drillers believe they can disregard commonly accepted industry standards and risk the health and safety of workers and local communities without accountability," the lawsuit states.  Article Source

Removal of EVIDENCE!...wonder if they also removed evidence of wrong doing at the well pad blowout last week? Even more DAMNING...a charge LEVELED RIGHT AT GOVERNOR CORBETT who is trying to tie the hands of his DEP inspectors behind their backs.

Why Tom Corvett's Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission's IS A SHAME

As pointed out in the previous article, protesters yesterday successfully interupted the proceedings of the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission's second meeting, and they should be applauded.  More importantly though...do they have a point in their protests, is the governor's Commission a SHAME, stacked in favor if a dishonest, corrupt (un)Natural Gas Industry?  In a word, "Yes".  Consider if you will some very disturbing facts.

1. EIGHT companies that have liberal representation on the Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission were cited with VIOLATIONS last year...including the notorious KING DADDY ENVIRONMENTAL RAPIST, Chesapeake Energy who has had TWO well head failures in the past few months, three in the past ten with the latest being the Bradford County well failure which dumped tens of thousands of gallons of lethal fracking chemicals out onto farmland, and into streams.

2.   One of these companies with commission representation LEAD THE STATE IN VIOLATIONS, and will let you guess WHO IT WAS.

3.  SURPRISE SURPRISE, every one of these companies WERE HEAVY CONTRIBUTORS to Tom Corbett's campaign for governor.

Now if you listen to these industry insiders, the proverbial FOXES guarding the henhouse, they will claim their
presence on the Commission adds extremely valuable expertise, knowledge and talent to the panel. Knowledge of what?  How to skirt and/or break the laws meant to protect human health and the environment?  How to see that the rules meant to regulate themselves are written in a way that FAVORS THEMSELVES?  How to see that the recommendations, and resulting rules are written in a way that they can just write out a check as a cost of doing business every time they destroy a water supply, or despoil the land?

The citizens of Pennsylvania should already be circulating a Recall Petition to rid themselves of Tom Corbett who may well be the most dishonest politician to hold public office.

Fracking...Why I Have Joined The Fight

It's Easter Saturday, I am up drinking coffee as I look out my window at a lush woodland view, can see in my mind the pristine stream and its waterfall that is just down the path about half a mile from my apartment.  I ponder what my old eyes (I am 55) have seen in five plus decades...memories take me back to my own youth when I lived in the small town of Jeffersonville, Indiana which is located just across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky. 

As a very young child I fell in love with nature, water, the proverbial Great Outdoors.  Imagine a young boy walking along the rivers edge looking for frogs, fishing with a string tied to a stick, the thought of needing a hook never crossing his mind.  Imagine if you will that same young boy looking down and across the river and seeing the Belle of Louisville paddle-wheeler coming into view, steam billowing from her stacks, the American Flag fluttering in the wind, calliope Music giving the moment a very festive feel.

That was me, the life I lived.  Other days found me out by the railroad tracks, putting pennies on the rail for the train to roll over, flattening them into medallions that my Dad would later drill a whole through so I could wear them on a piece of leather cord.  Times were different, the engineers waving too us as the Locomotive slowly chugged past heading for the factory just down the way where they would load up potato-chips that were destined to far off places.  Just across the tracks and through a small strip of trees was a field, the farmers cows content as they grazed upon fresh meadow grass, some lounging under a old willow tree that sat perched next to the stream from which they drank.

One summer we went to Mammoth Cave State Park, but along the way, my father insisted on taking us through COAL COUNTRY, down into some of the crooks and hollers where everything has a black dusty downtrodden feel to it.  He stopped along babbling brooks that just did not seem quite right, a dirty film upon the surface, the leaves on the trees withered and sparse.  He would be angry...not at us, at the damage being done to the earth, and the people...poverty was everywhere.  Another summer we traveled to West Virginia, and there way back some 40 plus years ago, he drove us through tens of thousands of acres of strip mined lands, the landscape taking on a eerie inhuman feel, almost nothing there but destruction.

Later on, a young man I found myself out in Utah where I saw up close and personal the ravages of Uranium Mining, the BOOM TIMES GONE, communities and lands left scarred pocked and UGLY.  I traveled through and lived in Ohio...again, tens of thousands of acres of strip mined land, some of it restored but NOT LOOKING RIGHT, and down outside of Portsmouth Ohio the unseen dirty underbelly of the Nuclear Industry reared its ugly head as I drove around the Gaseous Diffusion Plant with all of its rusting, earth contaminating barrels of Depleted Uranium sitting there behind a even rustier 12 all chain-link fence.  The government found a way to deal with that waste...they reclassified it as potential future use resources when it was learned it could be used to make armor piercing ammunition's.

Living outside of Cambridge Ohio, I uncovered a specialty steel alloy company that processed South African Ores...the naturally occurring radioactivity in these ores would re-concentrate into the slag that was being skimmed off during the process.  That slag was then dumped into a wetlands that drained into our community's drinking water supply, given away as road and construction fill, over 200 of our county's 1200 homes contaminated, in need of remediation...you can read about this by doing a search for Shieldalloy...you will find they did this at a site in Byesville Ohio, as well as another in New Jersey.

Until recently, lived in Peekskill, could look out my window and see the looming danger that was/is Indian Point perched there upon the Hudson River.  Studied that site, am familiar with the 300,000 plus gallon plume that IP 3 floats on top of, a radioactive concoction of the worst kind. I know that the Fuel transfer canal that goes from IP2 into the overly crowded spent fuel pool is leaking, though Entergy will deny it.  I could spend hours discussing Indian Point and why it should be closed down....could also tell you about DOE, NERAC and why it was decided to re-license EVERY REACTOR IN AMERICA in the name of National Security.  I could point to the 30 plus nuclear reactors now leaking tritium, and would suggest to you that the NRC is telling us not to worrying about that for very selfish reasons...Did you know that tritium is needed to recharge our NUCLEAR ARSENAL, and where do you think that tritium comes from?

Now, I find myself living atop of the Marcellus Shale formation, seeing the few Anti-Fracking signs popping up here and there, and I see the clouds darkening.  I know what is coming, and I know the lies.  I watch my TV, and see slick commercials promising the citizens CLEAN AIR, GREEN FUEL, and prosperity for one and all...and I know it is all a lie.  I watched Exxon-Mobil run a PRO-FRACKING commercial on Earth Day yesterday...watched the day before as the entire National Media simply choose to ignore the Chesapeake Energy well blow out that was unfolding on the one year anniversary of BP's accident that did critical harm to the Gulf...never mind the fact it was Chesapeake Energy's SECOND BLOW OUT IN AS MANY MONTHS IN Pennsylvania.

Do I think we can win this fight?  Probably not, we are simply out gunned and out financed at every step of the way, and desperate people want to believe in dreams.  Couple that with a national energy policy that holds communities like our own in little regard, a pentagon convinced that the Natural Gas fracking promises is far more important than any land or waters that might be destroyed, and I can only hope we can preserve small pieces of land, communities here and there as we preserve a patchwork quilt of the beauty that once was...it is not much, it is not what I would wish for, but it is something I feel is worth the fight.  Hopefully more of you will as well, and over time, I pray that all of our small splintered local groups can join into one LARGE NATIONAL Anti FRACKING group, as that is OUR ONLY HOPE.

LOOKING TO GET MORE INVOLVED IN THE FIGHT AGAINST FRACKING?

Sullivan County's Future with Natural Gas Fracking

I live in Sullivan County New York...a place in the big picture of shale gas that is GROUND ZERO when it comes to FRACKING FOR NATURAL GAS in the Marcellus Shale because of the thickness of the vein that runs through our lands (some estimates put it at over 300 foot).  Sullivan county is some of the most historical and pristine land one would ever hope to enjoy...I discovered the beauty of the place back about six years ago when I started coming up each summer as a seasonal camper.  I got to know the people, found a great sense of community here, and took up residence.  It was after I moved into the area while attending a Slow Foods event that I became aware of the issue of Fracking thanks to the people at Catskill Citizens, who have been the leaders of the Frack Fight here in our area for quite some time.

We all know that the fight is gearing up, and that it is going to get a lot costlier in so many ways as David (our small rural communities) take on Goliath (the big Natural Gas companies and their BILLIONS of dollars) as we try to protect a way of life, try to protect our pristine lands and water resources, as well as the human health of our inhabitants. 

Catskill Citizens is looking for additional grassroots activists, is looking for people with ideas and energy.  If you are a person living in the southern teir of New York (Sullivan, Ulster, Westchester, Dutchess counties as example, or anyone living in New York City as we supply your fresh beautiful drinking water supply from our watershed) and have been wanting to get involved in this important Social/Health issue, would encourage you to Contact Catskill Citizens, or attend their Volunteer's Meeting on May 1st, 2011.

Catskill Citizens Volunteer Meeting

North Branch Inn

869 North Branch-Hortonville Road
North Branch, New York 12766
(845) 482-5925

Meeting Time:

11 AM on Sunday May 1

Bring your ideas, energy, and enthusiasm. Whatever skills you have can be put to good use. Remember, Catskill Citizens is an all-volunteer organization! For more information, contact: info@catskillcitizens.org or call (845) 468 7063.

(un) Natural Gas-Excerpts From Landman's Bible...Dedicated to KnappAP

I was sent a link this morning via Twitter to a document file (PDF) of some five pages in length...said documents was supposedly dropped in someone's driveway (in Ohio) when the Landman came to visit.  There is a fierce lash-back from the Pro-Frack people about the veracity of the document, people like @knappAP on twitter (who for all purposes is defacto a LANDMAN) saying those of us opposed to the fracking of our lands, the ruination of our communities as neighbor is pitted against neighbor made it up.  So, upfront, will concede one point...neither side can prove the validity of the document...BUT it does ring true based upon my own time as a grassroots environmentalist that now goes back DECADES.  So, based on my own instincts, I have decided that the document passed along to me is REAL ENOUGH, I believe it was DROPPED by a LANDMAN, and that the person who found it in their driveway decided to share it with the world.  So, I have decided to share some of the salient "Quotes" from the document, as it really encapsulates the spirit and mentality of the demonspawn who aspire to be a landman, it captures the essence of the Natural Gas industry, their own Moral turpitude.

Oil and Gas exploration and drilling is meeting increasing resistance from local community groups, so it is essential to contact land holders and acquire signatures before sentiment by environmental and other public organizations limits our ability to obtain access to private land for oil and gas development.

LANDMAN BEWARE this passage seems to scream out...they (the general public) are becoming aware of our GREAT CON, and the time to quickly snatch up fistfuls of signed leases with the false promise of great wealth and riches is slipping away, so HASTE is IMPERATIVE in your task.  Go forth and lie, cheat, coerce and make false promises, as we need those leases on, over, through and UNDER (don't forget under) the land to access minerals, and we need them now.  The good news for our side, cause for us to DOUBLE OUR EFFORTS...we are being heard, and our hard work is making it harder, MUCH HARDER for these (un)Natural Gas landmen to dupe people into signing leases.

 

Remember, if at all possible try not to deliberately mislead the landowner, that only makes our position harder to defend at a later date.

Lets finish that sentence...but if you have to mislead the landowner, make sure you only make ORAL PROMISES and DECLARATIONS, as we all know a contract is only as good as the paper it is written on.

Most mid-west Americans dislike confrontation. Even if they disagree on a selling point, they are unlikely to confront  you over it. Therefore it is critical to obtain a lease signature in the first meeting, or at least the agreement to sign and take the lease to a notary. Drive them to the notary if you have to. If they have time to think it over, they are more likely to decline the offer.

 

A WORD TO THE WISE HERE...if any sales person is hard selling you, trying to get you to commit RIGHT THEN, you need to RUN AWAY, as you are about to get screwed.  There is no sale, no contract that needs to be signed RIGHT NOW.  Tell them you will get back to them, will call them.  Then take adequate time to think about the repercussions of signing a land lease (IE...you could later become a PARTY TO LITIGATION, be found to be a RESPONSIBLE PARTY if your neighbor's land is damaged as a result of drilling on your land).  Consult with an attorney, find out what your rights, and WHAT YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES ARE.

Most landowners will be patriotic Americans, and will desire to free our nation from foreign oil dependence. make certain you lead with this selling point. CHINA bought more oil than the United States last year. Fear of foreign encroachment is the biggest asset we have in selling our development strategy.

Sad that a company would play upon, take advantage of our patriotism...even worse, is what they are not telling us about their own business model.  Using just one company (and there are numerous examples), Chesapeake Energy" we should inform you, that all this Natural Gas that is supposed to break us of our dependence on FOREIGN OIL is actually being sold off to Foreign companies and nations...IE, just one deal that Chesapeake Energy made with CNOOC (fully owned by the Chinese Government) sold off over SIX BILLION DOLLARS worth of American National Gas...and this is JUST ONE DEAL.

ALWAYS start your conversation with a new potential signee on a point that they will agree with. This is pure psychology. They will be more likely to let you stay and talk. Studies show the longer you talk, the more chance we have of signing.

 

Again take NOTICE...this is a hard sell TACTIC....they want your (husband and wife) signature on that lease THAT DAY AT ALL COSTS, and have devised ways to get it...pitch the positive, and BUY TIME TO WEAR THEM DOWN.

At any point in the pitch if talk turns to local issues, environmental hazards, etc.. .a good way to re-direct the conversation is to re-engage over the nation's energy needs and the desire to be oil self-reliant. Come back to the mutually agreed upon point about freeing the nation. CHINA bought more oil than the United States last year!

Return to your MAJOR TRUMP CARD...patriotism, make it seem like the owner of the land would be UN-AMERICAN if they did not let the company rape their lands in the name of AMERICA,,,God save America, land of the FREE...stand beside me, and guide me as I sign on thee DOTTED LINE...and wrap, exit stage left with another LEASE IN HAND.

We are a small business, working closely with state governments when we set up wells. More educated landowners may know that we often sell our land leases to larger corporations.

Two points...they are being duplicitous from the start, presenting one picture when in reality they have ALREADY MADE A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL, are actually REPRESENTING A MUCH LARGER COMPANY without actually saying so...you should ask them about Gas Lease AUCTIONS FOLKS.  Secondly, notice the remark, "more educated landowners" and digest that...what they are really saying, is that they see many of you as not overly smart, simply local folks, EASY PICKINGS.  

Stress to the landowner that we. are primarily looking for oil resources. Searching for oil is less environmentally damaging than the claims against fracing. Oil exploration has heen conducted for centuries and is safe and effective. Do not deny that gas exploration may be possible, but do not emphasize it. Distance our selling position from the movie "Gasland". We do not want landowners linking that image with our development plans.

The old SLIGHT OF HAND TRICK...take their eye off of the real target of your desires, keep them confused, assure them you are an OIL MAN, not a GAS MAN, but make sure you tie up THE GAS RIGHTS, as that is what we really want.

If anyone knows about slick water fracturing, avoid the topic. Do riot discuss the chemicals and other material used during slick water fracturing. The strategy is to state the chemical mixtures used are proprietary and are highly diluted with water when injected. Reassure landowners that no well contamination has ever been documented.  Do not mention water contamination in Pennsylvania We do not want to associate ourselves with potential ground water issues.

We all now know that WELLS HAVE BEEN POLLUTED, and SO DO THEY...yet, they continue to lie and play games.  They will tell half truths...IE, "Fracking has never contaminated a well."  Maybe, maybe not, but it has started the CHAIN OF EVENTS that will contaminate your well or underground drinking water source.

We covered only the first page and a half of this FIVE PAGE LANDMAN HOLY GRAIL...you get the picture.  We here at Fracktoid are doing our best to give you the tools to make an intelligent choice when it comes to letting the (un)Natural Gas industry onto and under your property.  Before you and your neighbors sign leases, EDUCATE YOURSELVES.  Your clean drinking water, and the health of your children and their children DEPENDS ON IT.  

Because True Blue Blog Probably Will Not Post My Comment

SAFE CLEAN NATURAL GAS?


The NATGAS ACT has been introduced to Congress, and it seeks to stack the deck in favor of the (un)Natural Gas industry by limiting our choices when it comes to purchasing an alternative energy vehicle...IE, it gives incentives for Natural Gas Vehicles (NGV), but not similar Propane powered vehicles.   The True Blue Blog published an entry on the event, to which I posted commentary...that is MODERATED, and will more than likely not get published as the Natural Gas industry and their PAID BLOGGERS try to present a falsely rosy picture of public acceptance....so, realizing that reality, I have taken the liberty of posting their article below with MY RESPONSE.

NGVs Take the Hill

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Lydia Meigs

Driving Clean, Saving Green
Congressmen, thought leaders, industry experts…and natural gas vehicles (NGVs) all convened this morning at the NGVs Take the Hill event.  Showcased at this unique gathering were state-of-the-art natural gas fleet vehicles, compact cars, a school bus and even a natural gas fueling station.

T. Boone Pickens lead the charge with his remarks (Self Serving lies of a BILLIONARE OIL MAN) about what will surely be his legacy: America’s energy future and how natural gas is driving the change to cleaner transportation (while raping rural lands, destroying our communities, and poisoning our water supplies). He applauded Congressman John Sullivan (R-OK), Dan Boren (D-OK), John Larson (D-CT) and Kevin Brady (R-TX)  for co-sponsoring the New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions (NAT GAS) Act of 2011. (the acronym says it all...the NATGAS Act was introduced because these politicans WERE BOUGHT OFF...as the old saying goes, FOLLOW THE MONEY.)

“It’s a national security issue more than anything else,” said Rep. Sullivan. “But it is also about the environment, the economy and American jobs.” (National Security is code for...play on their patriotism, and we can get away with RAPING THEIR LANDS, POISONING THEIR WATER while we make BILLIONS off the gas under their properties, and be GONE before they can prove it is us...besides, it does not matter....we make sure all the leases are owned by LLC shell companies with profits funneling up to the untouchable mother ships.)

That could not be more accurate. Approximately 98 percent of the natural gas we use in this country comes from right here in North America. (Site your SOURCES...be willing to bet that your 98 percent figure is a FABRICATED LIE!) So, why are we importing more than 10 million barrels of oil each day – much of it from countries whose interests are not aligned with our own? (Why are companies like Chesapeake Energy selling American Natural Gas as fast as they can package up the leases.....very similar to what banking industry did selling mortgages in bundles...most of these sales to FOREIGN COMPANIES owned wholly by foreign governments.  See their 6 BILLION DOLLAR deal with CNOOC.) The 154 cosponsors of the NAT GAS Act believe it is time for a change. And shifting our reliance from foreign sources of energy to our own vast domestic supplies of clean natural gas will advance our national security and create clean energy jobs here at home.  (If this is a NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUE....nationalize the resource, and forbid its shipment OUTSIDE OF AMERICA.)

Greater adoption of natural gas as a transportation fuel can also significantly improve air quality in communities across the country. (This is a LIE...over a 20 year period, (un)Natural Gas will leave a bigger carbon footprint, contribute more to Global Warming than COAL.) Consider this. Transportation accounts for 30 percent of U.S. CO₂emissions and NGVs run 25 percent cleaner than vehicles powered by traditional gasoline or diesel.  (Lets talk CRADLE TO GRAVE...lets talk about the radioactive particulates you want to discharge into our waterways and ground water/potable water supplies, lets talk about METHANE.) The energy savings don’t stop there. Converting a single waste truck from diesel to natural gas is the pollution-reduction equivalent of removing as many as 325 cars from the road.

America has to make a change. The solution – natural gas – is the only fuel alternative that can drive that change while increasing energy security, reducing harmful emissions and creating clean energy jobs. (AT WHAT COST?  Stay  AWAY FROM OUR RURAL LANDS...we are tired of being raped in the name of your profits, and in the name of National Security...funny how that last one always seems to mirror CORPORATE INTERESTS.

0 Responses to NGVs Take the Hill

Pa Shale Gas Incentives (The Great Rich White Republican Lie) Coming To a State Near You

The Beauty FRACKING Will Steal Away

First, political correctness is killing America...so if the title of this article, the tone of the writing offends someone, do apologize in advance. Politics in America is still a white, rich mans sport (White Privilege should be changed to RICH WHITE PRIVILEGE, or just RICH PRIVILEGE) for the most part, and if you do not believe me look at some simple facts.  At every level of government, we have more millionaires and billionaires than ever before, most of them stuffed shirt white men who have bought themselves a SEAT AT THE TABLE.  In New York, we have Billionaire Mayor Bloomberg as a perfect example...when he wanted to stay in office longer, he used his MONEY to change the law.  Our current President is expected to spend a billion dollars trying to get re-elected in 2012, and if his silver tongued self promoting self is too be believed, goofy haired Billionaire wheeler dealer man Donald Trump is going to run for the office of President himself.  

Secondly, because I want to set the stage, and voicing just my own opinion here, prejudice and bigotry are expertly manipulated tools of the UBER RICH used to keep our collective focus off of themselves, and on each other as we seek someone to blame for our own plight...maybe, just maybe it is time for those in the middle and lower class to realize our problems are caused not by peoples of a different race, color or sexual orientation, but by those holding well over ninety percent of America's wealth, while expecting us far too often to work for slave wages, while our taxes are used to subsidize the industries of the UBER RICH, with (un)Natural Gas just the lastest example of how our land, communities, water and health are attacked in the name of WEALTH BUILDING, the people in power thinking nothing about visiting Environemental Racism on those communities who cannot AFFORD TO PROTECT THEMSELVES.

There is a blog article talking about Republicans in Pennsylvania keeping Pennsylvania Shale Gas in the state to benefit the people of the state through a set of incentives (paid for with YOUR TAXES).   Though the number will grow, right now over $47 Million state tax dollars would go to support the Shale Gas industry, and their building of infrastructure...this, even though lunatic Governor Corbett and his Robber Barons are refusing to tax even ONE DROP of the (un)Natural Gas coming out of the state.  These incentives, the package of seven House bills, known as Marcellus Works, would use tax credits and grants to expand the number of natural gas-powered vehicles on the state's roads, the theory being more Natural Gas vehicles would thus keep more of the Natural Gas at home in Pennsylvania.  Another part of the bill would provide money to the industry to build (un)Natural Gas stations all along the Pennsylvanian Interstate system...could someone explain to all us poor people why our taxes are being given to UBER RICH PEOPLE to use to build gas stations to sell us gas they took/stole from our lands?

These incentives MAKE NO SENSE...more importantly, they are based on a FALSE PROMISE.  Supposedly, these incentives will keep Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale Gas in Pennsylvania.  Do this dishonest politicians do ANY HOMEWORK AT ALL?  Do they know, are they aware of just how much of our American Shale Gas leases have already been sold to FOREIGN INTERESTS, with the largest purchaser of our Shale Gas resources being none other than COMMUNIST CHINA, who also happens to be the holder of most of our American Government's DEBT.  

If any one is foolish enough to believe China (through wholly owned companies like CNOOC) is buying up massive mineral, gas and oil rights as just a good investment, you are either A) living under a rock, or B) devoid of patriotism, and caring only about lining your own pockets with GOLD...most politicians fall into this later category.  China has a population of BILLIONS, and their people have gotten a taste for this flawed MASS CONSUMPTION economic model that is raping the earth, and with every passing day, the citizens of China are demanding more and more access to goods, and in that demand consuming an every increasing amount of the Earth's dwindling stockpile of natural resources, and the Central Communist Committee in China is doing everything in their power to corner the market on the world's most precious (and limited) natural resources, both Gas and Oil being on that list.

Would like to have some of these politicians explain to us how incentives to keep our resources at home is not MONEY DOWN A RAT HOLE, when these same politicians are doing NOTHING to keep companies like Cabot and Chesapeake Energy to buy up leases, bundle them and sell them off to foreign companies like so much graffiti as the (un)Natural Gas industry races down the same road of despair that the Home Mortgage business ran down not that long ago.  We do not need Natural Gas welfare, do not need to be offering incentives that make no sense.  We need ENFORCEMENT, and we need laws that PRESERVE America's resources FOR AMERICANS...a simple fact that the Natural Gas industry cannot refute, "If a national law were passed tomorrow nationalizing America's Shale Gas reserves for reasons of National Security, if that law forbid the outsourcing of this commodity, the BOTTOM WOULD INSTANTLY FALL OUT OF THE AMERICAN NATURAL GAS MARKET"...why?  Because what is driving the industry is not our own market here at home, but the world demand for what will soon be a scarce resource.

So far, politicians and the Natural Gas industry have just what they want...local governments, state capitals and Washington DC paying lip service to their constituents while PAVING THE ROAD of the Natural Gas industry with Gold (with our taxes) while locally, we have neighbors fighting neighbors, as one group hopes to cash in, get a small slice of the pie, while the other fights to preserve our lands, water, environment and health. It is time that WE WAKE UP...time that we stop letting the UBER RICH manipulate us, pit us one against the other, and instead start looking at the true root of our problems here in America...a system gone bad, a government that no longer listens to and represents the will of the people.

200 plus years ago we rose in protest (Boston Tea Party) over taxation without representation, fought a war to gain our Independence from England.  Now, two centuries later, we have lost our way, are so stuck in our own morass to be bothered with problems larger than ourselves.  If we want to see true democracy in action in 2011, we have to look to the Middle East where average every day people are joining together in common goals, in a unified voice as they throw off their own chains of oppression.  Natural Gas and all that it represents is the POSTER CHILD of just what is wrong right now in America, and we are running out of time to stop this runaway train, running out of time to SAVE AMERICA.  

We cannot win this war, cannot stop the raping of our lands one small community at a time and the (un)Natural Gas Industry, our own politicians KNOW THIS...we need a National Movement, and played right, we have the power to MAKE THAT HAPPEN.  How many small communities have small Anti-Fracking groups and organizations fighting their own wars against Goliath, and how many of those communities ARE LOSING THE FIGHT?  What happens if we all start linking up together to form one NATIONAL ORGANIZATION, one NATIONAL MOVEMENT to fight the (un)Natural Gas industry, their lobbyists and the politicians THEY OWN?  We have the internet, we have twitter, and joined together we have the VOTERS to become a force to be reckoned with.

If this post, this message resonates with you, your group, if you are interested in working toward building and Anti-Fracking Army of grassroots volunteers please leave a comment on this post, private message me via Fracktoid News, or find me on Twitter.  Will leave you with this...if One Million concerned citizens opposed to Fracking each donated $100 to a National Organization, we would have enough to field at least fifty candidates for NATIONAL OFFICE...what kind of a game changer would it be if we sent 50 Anti Fracking Congressman into the Halls of Congress?  Love them or hate them, look at the effect Tea Party backed candidates who won Congressional Elections are having in Washington!  Isn't it time we had that kind of voice ourselves?

SCUMBAGS, Be All You Can Be, Oil and Gas Industry Landman JOBS

For all those in the Oil and Gas Industry that think raping our lands, despoiling our environment, and poisoning our Fresh Drinking Water supplies in the name of meeting a never ending demand for energy, regardless of the costs to communities is an honorable profession, do apologize in advance for my opinions expressed here.  People with that mentality, those ascribing to embrace that mentality are SCUMBAGS.   That said, and as a public service to SCUMBAGS everywhere, thought I would make it easy for you...the Oil and Gas Industry is looking for a few good Scum Bags (this seems to be a male dominated industry, but sure there is not a gas company in the world that would turn down a good Scumbag, regardless of race, creed, or sexual orientation) to become LANDMEN...hmmmm...Landwoman.

If reports from landowners are too be trusted, some of the qualifications would include, but are not limited to, making false promises while being careful not to put them in writing ANYWHERE, speaking with a forked tongue, and out of both sides of your mouth...extra points for silver tongued devils.  Those capable of lying with a straight face move to the front of the line, and of course those who can get people to swallow and believe BOLD FACED LIES are hired on the spot.  So, if you have these qualifications, you might want to consider applying for some of the jobs listed below that are now available for Landmen and aspiring landmen.  Again, your opinion of the (un)Natural Gas Industry, and those working in it may vary, but if the ever increasing number of complaints and violations about the Shale Gas drilling practices are too be believed, you really have to be a serious loser, or a scumbag to work in this industry that puts so little stock in doing the right thing, in an industry that seems to have no moral compass, an industry with NO ETHICS, or if they have ethics, the ethics of a snake.

Featured Job Postings from the Web
Apr 04	Sr Staff Landman	El Paso	Houston, TX
	Title: Sr Staff Landman Location: Texas-Houston This position is responsible for all land ... Qualifications * Minimum of 10 years oil and gas experience required * Strong... more
Apr 01	Sr Staff Landman	El Paso	Houston, TX
	title approval for drilling operations. Landman will also be responsible for working ... area. Qualifications Minimum of 10 years oil and gas experience required Strong... more
Mar 30	Assistant Landman	Chesapeake Energy	Oklahoma City, OK
	Were the second-largest producer of natural gas, a Top 20 producer of oil and natural gas ... developing unconventional natural gas and oil fields onshore in the U.S. Chesapeake... more
Mar 30	Assistant Landman	Chesapeake Energy	Oklahoma City, OK
	Were the second-largest producer of natural gas, a Top 20 producer of oil and natural gas ... developing unconventional natural gas and oil fields onshore in the U.S. Chesapeake... more
Mar 30	Land Manager	Halliburton	Houston, TX
	with regard to the company's global oil and gas property interests with ... 8-10 years related experience with an oil & gas company. Registration as a Certified... more
Mar 29	Contract Landman	Halliburton	Houston, TX
	scanning and setup of a large number of oil and gas leases into the Land module of ... be well versed in all the various clauses of oil and gas leases and will have the ability... more
Mar 28	Associate Field Landman Ohio.	Chesapeake Energy	Canton, OH
	for the position of Associate Field Landman - Ohio. This position will be based ... Compiling and analyzing oil & natural gas production documentation Utilizing... more
Mar 28	Senior Landman	Aerotek	Oklahoma City, OK
	Landman to work for a growing independent oil and gas company located in Oklahoma City, OK with 10 or more years mid-continent experience. Candidate should have a background... more
Mar 28	Associate Field Landman Ohio.	Chesapeake Energy	Canton, OH
	for the position of Associate Field Landman - Ohio. This position will be based ... Compiling and analyzing oil & natural gas production documentation Utilizing... more