The Planet Testifies in Court

Hagy Fracking Lawsuit: February 2013

Published on Feb 19, 2013

 

Pictures & a taped call admitting guilt tell 1,000 words. This movie illustrates how fracking's "catch-22" shields natural gas companies and allows landowners to become collateral damage. The Hagy family in West Virginia had lived for 20 years on 81 rural acres and their water well was tainted and the family became sick after 3 "fracking" wells were drilled in 2008. The family has since vacated their property. SHOW THIS MOVIE TO YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS and ask for smarter state fracking regulations that level the playing field for all parties involved in fracking.

Read the article HERE.

“We just want our day in court.”
      Dusty Hagy of Romance, West Virginia
"In 1989, Dusty and Tamera Hagy bought 81 rural acres in Jackson County, West Virginia. Twenty-one years later, the Hagys sued 4 natural gas drilling firms alleging the natural gas wells drilled on their property in 2008 contaminated their drinking water and caused physical harm."

HUMAN COLLATERAL DAMAGE!  

IS THIS OK WITH US?

Video by Laura Peltier.  Many thanks, Laura.

The Gasman (16 Tons Parody)

In the New York area? Please go to: http://www.catskillcitizens.org/

Check out Gasland! Nominated "Best Documentary" by the 2011 Academy Awards!!! http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/

Lyrics:
Some people say that jobs will come with the drills but they outsource their workers cause they've got the skills they've got the skills and you're unemployed they've got a life that's rich while your's is destroyed

You let the gas man in what did ya get a little bit of money, lifetime of regret you signed on all the leases and gave 'em control you sold your soul for a poisonous hole

The tourists won't come when the drills all arrive it's no fun to see a drill everywhere that you drive they want 80,000 drills in upstate NY alone you can't blame the sighteers for just stayin home

You let the gas man in what did ya get a little bit of money, lifetime of regret you signed on all the leases and gave 'em control you sold your soul for a poisonous hole

When the drills get to going then the fun will begin they fracture through the bedrock and pump the chemicals in chemicals in then the gas rises up then you toast your fortunes with a poisonous cup

You let the gas man in what did ya get a little bit of money, lifetime of regret you signed on all the leases and gave 'em control you sold your soul for a poisonous hole

When the gasman comes you better not let him in You're bettin' on a game that you're not gonna win you're not gonna win when the dealer's corrupt and it's much too late when your water erupts

you let the drills come in and what did ya get a poisoned environment and mountain of debt you signed on all the leases and gave 'em control you sold your soul for a poisonous hole

New York, we're next.  Gov. Cuomo is for it.  He wants gas drilling in New York State.

President's Speech Misses Mark in Addressing Concerns Over Fracking

The President Gives the State of the Union Speech January 24th

Environmental Working Group weighs in on the president's State of the Union Speech.  Read the article here.

Retirement Ruined: Personal Story of Truman Burnett (2009)

Mr. Burnett's simple story of how his beautiful property was ruined forever by gas drilling spills nearby speaks for itself. The gas corporation that is responsible for this tragedy? Chesapeake Energy. Our good neighbors.

PA Laundromats Struggle With Gas Drilling Clothes

The clothing worn by gas drilling workers gets pretty nasty.  Nothing new, I suppose.  Industrial workers get dirty.  However, what do the drillers get on their clothes?  We don't know what chemicals are used in the drilling process (proprietary, you know), so I guess we just have to hope that it's okay.  The washing machines at laudromats are getting all gummed up with a brownish film.  Sometimes the machines have to be serviced to clean them out for other customers.  I personally would not wash my baby's clothes in a machine that had just been used for contaminated clothes soaked in toxic chemicals and grease.  It would seem that laundromat owners are going to have to invest in industrial machines or at least designate certain machines for use by gas drillers. 

This does not, however, address the problem of the wash water and what it has in it after swishing around these clothes.  Presumably the water goes into the local sewer system.  Where does that water end up?  I hope the local municipal authorities are in the know about this.  But my hunch is that this potential problem has not been thought of properly.  As is the case so often with the gas industry,  the motto is:  Drill now; figure out the kinks later.

Read the Daily Review article here: LINK

Another related article here. (from pressconnects.com)

Oh, and another serious problem:  What about car washes?  Gas drillers bring their muddy trucks to wash them in self-service car washes.  What is in that wash water?  I shudder to think.

Susquehanna River, Bradford County, PA: This Bubbly Is Not Fun

Bubbling Waters 2 - Susquehanna River from Don Williams on Vimeo.

Don Williams of the fantastic blog Susquehanna River Sentinal shows video of the Susquehanna River bubbling with methane in Sugar Run, Bradford County, PA.

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!

In memory of a dear friend

Karen Korell

SPLASHDOWN

1944-2010

Natural Gas Drilling: Think, baby, think!

Water guzzler trucks line up at a water extraction site in Ulster, PA, on the Susquehanna River
Photo: Carol Manuel (2010)

The numbers can be deceiving. That is what the gas companies are counting on. They make a habit of using rhetoric for their own purposes. Words can be misleading. Take, for example, the idea of water trucks stealing taking 3,570,000 gallons of water out of rivers and streams in Susquehanna County, PA. Cabot Oil recently filed a request with the Susquehanna River Basin Commission, indicating their intention of procuring this volume of water for what is called "consumptive use." This means that the water is never returned to the environment- gone forever. The average person, like you and me, would have a hard time visualizing just what this means for the surrounding community.  Gerald Salmon, a resident of Vestal, NY, writes on pressconnects.com

Hard for you to picture what 3.6 million gallons looks like? An 18-wheeled Hess tanker truck delivering gasoline to a station on the Vestal Parkway holds about 9,000 gallons of gas; 10 trucks would hold 90,000 gallons of gas, and 100 of them would hold 900,000 gallons. So, it would take 400 such trucks to hold the 3.6 million gallons of water Cabot wants to use each day.

And Salmon goes on from there, developing the picture further, painting the image of almost 5 miles of trucks end to end. Next he puts the "only one-half of 1 percent additive," proudly proclaimed by the "good neighbor" gas companies as an advantage, into perspective. Gas driller public relations people will stand in front of local citizen groups and say that the amount of deadly, toxic chemicals used in the drilling process is so minimal as to not be significant. Salmon does the math for us: two full tankers filled with 18,000 gallons of a "witch's brew of toxins, chemicals, and carcinogens guaranteed to poison its associated drilling water forever. That's the one-half of one percent we're talking about. Unless laws are changed, these chemicals do not have to be made known to the public. It is proprietary- a company secret.

Read the article in full here.

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!

WE'VE DONE THE MATH, CABOT AND CHESAPEAKE