Walter Hang Tesitifies at Senate Standing Committee On Energy Conservation Hearing

Walter Hang, president, Toxics Targeting. NYS Public Hearing, Senate Standing Committee on Energy Conservation. Sponsored by NYS Senators Mark Grisanti and Patrick Gallivan to examine waste water produced by hydraulic fracturing. The Inn on the Lake, Canandaigua, NY December 12, 2011.

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Marcellus Shale: Dump Truck Crashes Near Troy, PA

A dump truck hauling residual waste from a gas well pad crashed on a road outside of Troy, PA, on Monday morning, March 8th. The driver was not hurt, thankfully. The accident occurred along a steep portion of the road coming down Armenia Mountain. The truck was traveling downhill, and was hauling residual waste away from a gas well on Sweeney Road. The waste spilled onto the ground as a result of the crash. Residual waste is non-hazardous. However, it can contain near hazardous waste. For more information about residual waste in PA, click here.

Peacegirl, this blog's moderator, has personally witnessed how these large trucks are driven in Bradford County, PA. They go extremely fast, exceeding speed limits on a regular basis on the narrow back country roads, often putting other drivers in jeopardy. She has nearly been forced into a ditch on two occasions. It is no surprise to her that a dump truck went off the road. The accidents involving vehicles being used in the gas industry will increase in numbers as more and more wells are put in. Many will involve hazardous waste. Do PennDOT and fire and rescue services have the knowledge they need to handle these mishaps? In some cases, the chemicals used in hydrofracking are not always made public.

Read the article from the Towanda Daily Review.

[The picture shows the afermath of the accident on Fallbrook Road near Troy, PA.]

Amy Goodman Interviews Walter Hang of Toxics Targeting

Walter Hang, President of Toxics Targeting, an environmental database firm in Ithaca, New York, talks to Amy Goodman in this riveting video. Toxics Targeting went through the Department of Environmental Conservation’s own database of hazardous substances spills over the past thirty years. They found 270 cases documenting fires, explosions, wastewater spills, well contamination and ecological damage related to gas drilling. Many of the cases remain unresolved. The findings are contrary to repeated government assurances that existing natural gas well regulations are sufficient to safeguard the environment and public health. New York State is considering allowing for gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale watershed, the source of drinking water for 15 million people, including nine million New Yorkers. Mr. Hang is calling on Gov. Paterson, who has embraced natural gas drilling as New York's best hope for economic recovery, to reject the Draft Supplemental Geologic Environmental Impact Statement just issued in October on the grounds that it is deeply flawed and does not adequately address the documented accidents and incidences which have occurred due to gas drilling activity.

The SGEIS was done because the gas drilling industry needed further review under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). A Generic Environmental Impact Statement was finalized in 1992. However, new technology, referred to as slick water hydrofracking, now being used to drill in tight gas reservoirs such as the Barnett Shale (TX) and the Marcellus Shale (PA,NY,WV,OH), is causing a great deal of concern amongst environmentalists and residents who live atop these shale formations. Public hearings are now in progress for the Draft SGEIS. The public comment period has been extended to December 31, 2009. After considering public inputs, the state will decide on additional parameters to be applied to gas drilling and will then issue well permits for gas well development.

To read the testimony of John Hanger, Acting Secretary of the PA Department of Environmental Protection, speaking before the Senate Majority Policy Committee about the Marcellus Shale formation, go here.

After the findings of Toxics Targeting, will the State of New York take seriously the possible, and perhaps probable, costs of drilling on the environment, the public health, and quality of life in New York State?

Does it make sense to destroy essential resources such as water and soil in order to extract one resource- natural gas? Are we to drill first and ask questions later?

*Thinking about buying a home? Check out this free internet map, compliments of Toxics Targeting, to see if there are any toxic problems nearby.

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!

Apollo 11 Pilot Remembers

Mike Collins was interviewed about his experience as pilot of Apollo 11. Here are two questions and his answers.

Q. Turning to your flight, what is your strongest memory of Apollo 11?

A. Looking back at Earth from a great distance.

"I really believe that if the political leaders of the world could see their planet from a distance of 100,000 miles their outlook could be fundamentally changed. That all-important border would be invisible, that noisy argument silenced. The tiny globe would continue to turn, serenely ignoring its subdivisions, presenting a unified façade that would cry out for unified understanding, for homogeneous treatment. The earth must become as it appears: blue and white, not capitalist or Communist; blue and white, not rich or poor; blue and white, not envious or envied."

Small, shiny, serene, blue and white, FRAGILE.

Q. That was 40 years ago. Would it look the same today?

A. Yes, from the moon, but appearances can be deceiving. It's certainly not serene, but definitely fragile, and growing more so. When we flew to the moon, our population was 3 billion; today it has more than doubled and is headed for 8 billion, the experts say. I do not think this growth is sustainable or healthy.

The loss of habitat, the trashing of oceans, the accumulation of waste products - this is no way to treat a planet.

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!