Natural Gas Drilling: The Gasman Comes and What d'ya get?

Sometimes music has a way of telling the story best. 

Song: Let's Be Careful

A song by Chris Holder and Tom Taylor.

For more information: http://www.preservethefingerlakes.com/

"The cost could be forever. Let's be careful what we do!"

Pennsylvanians for Human Life: Are they anti-drilling?

Pro-lifers held a rally in Towanda Saturday, January 22nd, on the steps of the courthouse on Main Street.  Then on Monday they went to Washington, DC, to lobby their newly-elected and pro-life legislators, Congressman Tom Marion and Senator Pat Toomey. 

I am wondering this:

  Are these same people as passionate about children who are already here?  Will they speak out against gas wells being put within feet of schools?  Are they concerned about the extreme dangers on our roads due to over-sized gas trucks?  How serious are they about the detrimental effects of toxins in the air from compressor stations and flaring activity?  What about low frequency noise which can cause harmful effects on the human body, enough to send people to a hospital?  Are these same people worried about our water quality? 

Are Rep. Marion and Sen. Toomey going to fight for our environment and human health in Washington?

Read an article from The Rocket-Courier here:  LINK

Mike Kilmer of Wyalusing, who headed up this rally said,

"We're here to challenge our nation's conscience."

May the anti-abortion people also fight for the environment and human health for the living by fighting just as hard for drilling regulations and reform in Pennsylvania. Otherwise there is a huge disconnect in logic going on here.

Anti-drilling Activist Being Watched as Terrorist

Virginia Cody -- a retired Air Force officer and anti-drilling activist -- was shocked to mistakenly receive a bulletin from the Pennsylvania Homeland Security Director describing the monitoring of several anti-drilling groups. The bulletin revealed that Virginia and other anti-drilling activists who were peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights were included in state "anti-terrorism" reports.


Unfortunately, Virgina'a story is not unique. Similar law enforcement behavior has taken place in at least 33 states and Washington D.C.

To learn more, go to www.aclu.org/spyfiles

Frack ABCs

Alphabet sing-along!

Fracking Hell: The Untold Story

If you have 18 minutes to spare, watch this compelling video, showing the Towanda area of Bradford County, PA.  Hear what scientists, landowners, gas workers, and others have to say about the negative impacts of natural gas drilling.

Fracking to pollute water, air

A Letter to the Editor (The Oneida Daily Dispatch) tells of foreign companies investing in U. S. shale.  Natural gas will be sold internationally by foreign and U. S. companies.  Norse Energy, for example, a Norwegian company, already holds gas drilling leases on about 180,000 acres of land in New York State.

Read more.......

LINK

Gas Drilling in PA: No Respect For the Law

This morning PennDOT removed a tracked drilling rig from the wooded area where it fell off a lowboy Friday in East Troy, PA.  Two problems come immediately to mind:

1. The weight of the rig and the lowboy together were overweight.  Law for weight IGNORED.

2. Diesel was drained from the rig after the accident.  That sounds very nice, but did any of the diesel fuel spill during the accident or as the fuel was being drained?   ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTIONS!

This scenario has been repeated many, many times in PA and everywhere else gas drilling is happening.  It is a significant danger to local people and the environment.  However, there seems to be little worry by gas companies.  I will give the benefit of the doubt that the gas industry does care about their workers.  However, the fines for these accidents is laughable at best.  The Daily Review reported that the fine here will be more than $12,000.  A mere drop in the bucket.

Read more...........LINK

Drilling Wastewater Goes Into PA Rivers

ProPublica reports on the dire situation regarding the disposal of wastewater from gas drilling operations in PA.  One-fifth of the wastewater is apparently unaccounted for.

"As gas-drilling operations proliferated in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale over the past couple of years, most of the hundreds of millions of gallons of briny wastewater they produced was eventually dumped into the state's rivers. Much of the rest is unaccounted for. That news, from a detailed look [1] at the state's management of drilling wastewater by the Associated Press, should come as no surprise....."

Read more...

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!

In memory of Karen Korell

Splashdown