In 1930, my greatgrandparents purchased a beautiful farm in Bradford County, PA, in a little hamlet called French Azilum. In the summer, we spent time there, resting, breathing in the fresh air, enjoying the wild flowers, the bright stars and planets on a clear moonlit night, and swimming in the Susquehanna River. If gas drilling is allowed to continue, Bradford County and all of Pennsylvania will be forever changed, ruined beyond repair.
Congress to Investigate Safety of Natural Gas Drilling Practice Known as Hydraulic Fracturing
The top Democrats on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce have asked eight oil-field companies to disclose the chemicals they’ve used and the wells they’ve drilled in over the past four years. Last week, Waxman also revealed two of the largest gas drilling companies have pumped hundreds of thousands of gallons of diesel-based fluids into the ground in violation of a voluntary agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency.
Guests:
Josh Fox, director of GasLand. Won Special Jury Prize for Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival. In GasLand, Josh Fox travels across the United States to meet people whose lives have been impacted by natural gas drilling.
Lisa Bracken, lives on a wildlife sanctuary near Divide Creek in Colorado. Divide Creek suffered environmental damage in a blowout cause by natural gas drilling. She appears in GasLand.
Joe Levine, co-founder of the groups Damascus Citizens for Sustainability and NY-H2O, which oppose the gas drilling.
Four truck drivers were fined and jailed on Wednesday, February 3rd, in Towanda PA. They were charged with driving with invalid permits. The state police alos found "numerous safety, permit and load securement violations." The trucks were impounded. The drivers, unable to post bond, were sent to the Bradford County Correctional Facility. They work for T. K. Stanley, Inc., of Waynesboro, Mississippi.
Some observations: None of the truck drivers were from the local area. Weren't at least the truck driving jobs supposed to go to locals? The company trucks were being operated without the proper permits, and they were probably way over the limit for tonnage. I have personally seen these huge trucks driving way over the speed limit on these narrow back roads. They can scare the living daylights out of us ordinary people. I've been nearly driven off into the ditch a couple of times. And lastly, everyone probably realizes that these violations go on every single day. And we can see the roads going to pot, literally. We also know, do we not, that there aren't enough inspectors or state police to monitor all the roads of Bradford County. So the gas drillers can just go on as usual, knowing that there will be a few fines here and there, but for the most part, they don't have to really worry about it. Why should they?
Gathering Line - a special pipeline that transports gas from the field to the main pipeline.
The Gathering Line is a round-up of oil & gas drilling news brought to you by National Alliance for Drilling Reform (NA4DR), a broad alliance of grassroots activists from states across the nation that are affected with drilling development.
Flower Mound Town Council will vote Thursday night on changing the zoning and ordinance to allow a Waste Water Centralized Collection Facility. What is a CCF and what will it mean to Flower Mound and their neighboring communities? Read about it at stopthedrilling
A resident of Montrose, PA, took this picture and wrote:
"Drove by the Markovitch well tonight and saw this spectacular sight. The sound was like a train or a jet engine. The flames were 30-40 ft. high. Flaring the newly fracked well. This is a Alta well, just north of Montrose, PA."
Especially eerie in the winter night scape. Picture by Lynn Selnick
Rents have doubled, tripled, quadrupled in Bradford County, PA, as gas drillers arrive with plenty of money to spare. Landlords aren't renewing leases for local residents in favor of renegotiating new lucrative leases with gas companies. Who wouldn't want all that money? Low-income residents and the elderly can't find housing. Waiting lists are getting longer and longer. It looks like many of the local people will become homeless. Local motels are booked for months in advance. Tourists are out of luck. Drive by the Towanda Motel, and look at the pickup trucks. Look at the license plates- Texas, Oklahoma.
Where are the gas companies? Can't they help? They make a lot of profit. Are they going to share the wealth? I seriously doubt it.
Gathering Line - a special pipeline that transports gas from the field to the main pipeline.
The Gathering Line is a round-up of oil & gas drilling news brought to you by National Alliance for Drilling Reform (NA4DR), a broad alliance of grassroots activists from states across the nation that are affected with drilling development.
How do yoga, the Bible, and hydrofracking relate to each other?Peacegirl sees a connection.If it were an answer by Karnak the Magnificent (you would have to be a certain age to know about Karnak!), it would be amusing, but it's not. Yoga, the Bible, and Hydrofracking brings up the issue of doing harm.Is hydrofracking harmless?No.Another question:Who will listen?There are many people who are telling their stories about how gas drilling has adversely affected their lives.Is anyone listening?From Peacegirl at Gas Wells Are Not Our Friends.
From atop the Marcellus Shale, Splashdown reports that a recent PA Supreme Court ruling states local municipalities can regulate where gas wells are located through zoning ordinances, pre-empting PA's Oil and Gas Act. Read how Greenfield Twp. stopped Exco Resources from drilling a misplaced well, despite their DEP permit.
At yoga class this afternoon, my teacher talked about the Eight Limbs of Yoga. The first limb is the yamas. The first jama is ahimsa or universal morality. It means showing compassion for all living things. One is not to injure or show cruelty to any creature or any person in any way whatsoever. In every situation one adopts a considerate attitude and does no harm.
Hydrofracking, the method used by gas companies to extract natural gas from deep in the earth, is a very violent, toxic, and harmful procedure, causing harm to people, animals, and, equally important, Mother Earth, who supports us with all our needs, if we but treat her with respect and care.
A friend of mine who lives in Dimock, PA, wrote a post yesterday about her frustration that no politicians will listen to her story. Furthermore, her neighbors want more gas wells. They want the money. Here is what she wrote:
Have you wondered how many of our "elected" officials or their friends and affiliates have leased with the gas company? Just a thought. I spoke at length to Senator Baker's office-Tom Uneski. He told me they do represent the constituents and the constituents want the leases and they want them now-not later-not after the studies are done or safety regulations- now. When I told him another neighbor reported orange and filthy household water this weekend(great New Year's start!) he said well DID they sign a lease? Whether you signed a lease or not is not the point! We were lied to, mislead and have lost our homes as we once knew them and not one elected official in PA will do anything about it! I suppose they figure since we are already a mess out here why not let them keep drilling! Let's double the wells next year! Who cares? I ask Baker, Yaw, Carney, Pickett, Majors-Who will YOUR constituents be? Who will live here? Who will be able to live here? Who will pay the taxes(NOT THE GAS COMPANY!)Pickett wants to lease the state lands for income-no tax on the gas company. Do they really believe Dimock is the exception? This won't happen in Wyoming County or Luzurne County? So please, if you haven't called the elected officials regarding the very real incidents and concerns that you are aware of-please call them and ask your friends and neighbors to call. Flood them with calls-This is it folks. The window is just about shut- it will be shut and nailed shut by our Senators, our Governor, Sec. Hangar, Congress, the blissfully ignorant citizens of PA who obviously refuse to educate themselves and continue to delude themselves that the money makes it all worth it. Call Senator Yaw tomorrow 717-787-3280- he won't be in because he is too busy making commercials for Chesapeake(Carney' s good guys)!
When I read her post, I could not help but think about a Bible story- the parable of the rich man (Luke 16:19-31). Lazarus, as you may recall, was living in terrible conditions with sores all over his body. The rich man paid no attention to him, even though he sat at the rich man's gate. One day both men died. Lazarus went to be with Abraham. The rich man ended up in Hades where he was in torment. He saw Abraham and Lazarus far away. As the story goes, the rich man tried to get Abraham and Lazarus to help him. But they would not, saying that the rich man had had every luxury in life, and now he was reaping his reward. Furthermore, no one could cross over the great chasm to help him. Next the rich man asked if Lazarus could go back and warn his five brothers so that they would mend their ways and not end up in Hades, too. Abraham said, "They have Moses and the prophets; let them listen to them." But the rich man, knowing that his brothers would not listen to Moses, he pleaded with Abraham because he thought,if someone came back from the dead, his brothers would pay attention. Abraham said, "If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets they will pay no heed even if someone should rise from the dead."
I constantly see the blindness of people who want money from a gas lease, but who purposely refuse to look upon the Earth, the animals, and human beings, who are all irreversibly harmed by the dirty business of extracting gas from the Marcellus Shale. The only benefit I know of from gas drilling is profits- MONEY. Most of the profits go to the gas industry, especially the CEOs. A few landowners get a lot of money. But there is absolutely no other reason to support the industry. The money will not make any difference in the long run after water is contaminated, the air is lethal to breathe, and the soil will no longer sustain animals or crops since all well pads become superfund sites.
You have to admire companies that give gifts out of the goodness of their hearts. Or do you? Chesapeake Energy, a major player in PA's natural gas industry, and thus one of PA's destroyers, has seen fit to donate a big gas guzzling SUV to an agency serving the people of Bradford, Sullivan, and Tioga counties in NE PA. But this vehicle, a Ford Escape, is not a new model. It is vintage 2005. Couldn't they have at least sprung for a 2009 vehicle? Just another example of throwing a little bone to people to make them think Chesapeake cares about them. Actually this agency which provides mental health services and drug and alcohol treatment will need more and more help as the area takes on boomtown qualities and the need for services expands by leaps and bounds.
The National Alliance for Drilling Reform wishes you Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas and plenty of clean air and safe water for all!
Gathering Line - a special pipeline that transports gas from the field to the main pipeline.
The Gathering Line is a round-up of oil & gas drilling news brought to you by National Alliance for Drilling Reform (NA4DR), a broad alliance of grassroots activists from states across the nation that are affected with drilling development.
Sierra Clubexecutive director Carl Pope has been spotted traveling around the country promoting natural gas's environmental benefits with none other than Aubrey McClendon, chief executive of Chesapeake Energy Corporation. Read more at Marcellus Effect
Peacegirl read a powerful blog post this week from Don Young of Texaswho viewed the recent film "Flame and Citron," a true story about a pair of heroic resistance fighters in Nazi-occupied Denmark.The film tag-line is haunting in light of what is happening when gas drillers come to your town: "Do you remember when they came?"Check out Peacegirl's post, Do you remember when they came? and visit her blog at Gas Wells Are Not Our Friends. Gas drillers are occupiers, and they are in charge.Do you see the parallels?
Don Young, who lives in Texas and has a blog FWCANDO, has written a powerful post this week. He starts:
I saw a great movie yesterday called "Flame and Citron," a true story about a pair of heroic resistance fighters in Nazi-occupied Denmark. It's WW2 and the Danish people have a mixture of fear and anger at the way the Nazis have taken over their Motherland. The tag-line of the film is: "Do you remember when they came?"
Young sees chilling parallels between then (1941) and now (2009)- to the Nazis and gas drillers.
A patriot must always be ready to defend her city against her government. -Edward Abbey Thank you, Don Young, for your blog and for your tireless efforts on behalf of people affected by the harmful effects of gas drilling in Texas.
Gathering Line - a special pipeline that transports gas from the field to the main pipeline.
The Gathering Line is a round-up of oil & gas drilling news brought to you by National Alliance for Drilling Reform (NA4DR), a broad alliance of grassroots activists from states across the nation that are affected with drilling development.
Given the thousands of truck trips expected to develop one well site, upstate NY highway supervisors are struggling to protect taxpayer investment in infrastructure. Read about it at Marcellus Effect
A preview of coming attractions, brought to you by the oil and gas industry. (October 2009)
If corporations were to consider the future generations, could they rape the land and make people sick? Corporations exist to make money. The planet and the human beings who live on it now, to say nothing of the next generation or seven generations to come as the Iroquois took into account, mean nothing to corporations. We are collateral damage, nothing more.
In November, a group of families from Dimock brought a lawsuit against Cabot Oil. Read about it here.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Seven generation sustainability is an ecological concept that urges the current generation of humans to live sustainably and work for the benefit of the seventh generation into the future.[1]
"In every deliberation, we must consider the impact on the seventh generation... even if it requires having skin as thick as the bark of a pine."
I’m not looking to host a debate about whether or not the US should do more to encourage drilling here in America.
On one side, we have the oilmen, who would look to drill enough holes to turn the entire continent into a block of Jarlsberg cheese. On the other side, there are the treehuggers who are so wrapped up in their ideology that the dangers of foreign oil dependence is entirely beyond their comprehension. My personal opinion is that the right path, as usual, lies somewhere in the middle.
That said, ProPublica gives us reason for concern today…
Pennsylvania residents whose streams and fields have been damaged by toxic spills and whose drinking water has allegedly been contaminated by drilling for natural gas are suing the Houston-based energy company that drilled the wells. A worker at the company is among the 15 families bringing suit.
The civil case, filed Thursday in U.S District Court in Scranton, Pa., seeks to stop future drilling in the Marcellus Shale by Cabot Oil and Gas near the town of Dimock.
Cabot is a public company, and is one of many natural gas and oil concerns currently converging on Pennsylvania’s natural gas-rich Marcellus Shale. This is a development that could impede future projects in this and other shales should the story happen to go national.
Gathering Line - a special pipeline that transports gas from the field to the main pipeline.
The Gathering Line is a round-up of oil & gas drilling news brought to you by National Alliance for Drilling Reform (NA4DR), a broad alliance of grassroots activists from states across the nation that are affected with drilling development.
Amy Goodman interviews of Toxics Targeting, an Ithaca, NY-based environmental database firm which released a report last week, uncovering 270 documented hazardous chemical spills which occurred over the past thirty years. PA's own Department of Environmental Conservation's database contained records of fires, explosions, wastewater spills, well contamination, and ecological damage related to gas drilling.Take a moment to watch the interview Amy Goodman Interviews Walter Hang of Toxics Targeting. Mr. Hang is calling on NY Governor David Paterson to withdraw the Draft Supplemental Geologic Environmental Impact Statement, citing woefully inadequate reporting which will not come close to protecting the environment, water, and public health.This is a must-see interview!Visit Gas Wells Are Not Our Friends to find out more from Peacegirl!
Gas drilling is destroying Pennsylvania's wilderness. The Pennsylvania Wilds include more than 2,000,000 acres of publicly owned virgin forest, clear mountain streams and abundant wildlife. Read about how these public lands are being violated and watch Splashdown for public action you can take soon to defend the Allegheny National Forest, part of the Pennsylvania Wilds.
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.
Gathering Line - a special pipeline that transports gas from the field to the main pipeline.
The Gathering Line is a round-up of oil & gas drilling news brought to you by National Alliance for Drilling Reform (NA4DR), a broad alliance of grassroots activists from states across the nation that are affected with drilling development.
Splashdown wants to encourage everyone to get behind the 2 Action Alerts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay and all inflowing waterways. 1. You can send an easy click message to Congress to urge them to join in sponsoring this critical Clean Water legislation. 2. Beginning Nov. 9th, public input (also easy click to comment) is being sought on strategic plans for President Obama's Executive Order for cleaning up the Bay. So please, hop to it!
Peacegirl writes about the situation in Clearville, PA, where compressor stations are causing serious environmental problems. Read Compressor Stations Wreak Havoc in PA.Watch two videos, and see for yourself what it looks like to have tiny oily spots on every surface, every plant, farm equipment, a pond- everywhere.It is unbelievable!See the cemetery adjacent to a Clearville compressor station where local residents hope someday to "rest in peace."They are wondering if that day will come sooner rather than later because of the serious health threats they now fear from the gas industry. Who will help the residents of Clearville?Is the PA DEP doing its job?Visit Gas Wells Are Not Our Friends.Reader comments are always welcome.
Sue Heavenrich reports on a recently released report about drilling accidents in NY 270 Drilling Accidents in NY So Far Read about that and and more at
Flower Mound Citizens Against Urban Drilling urges everyone to read the Environment Texas study to learn how excessive waste of fresh water and toxic chemicals gas drillers use in the extraction of the gas are threatening our drinking water in the Barnett Shale area.
Compressor stations are causing a lot of problems in Pennsylvania. This video was taken after a release of an oily substance from Steckman Ridge Compressor in Clearville, PA, on August 23, 2009. The owners of this farm are fearful that their land is hopelessly contaminated, and they don't know what is in the oily substance they found sprinkled all over everything: their farm equipment, the hay wagon, their crops and plants, their pasture land, their blueberry bushes, their springfed pond. They found soot on their roof. The pond has an oily scum on it. Their plants wilted after this incident. They are asking: Is our farm safe or not?
Clearville farmers have watched their animals die- two cows, a horse, many cats, and all of their hens. There are three compressor stations, all within 10 miles. According to the DEP, air tests are not done around compressor stations, despite many requests from residents who live near them. Is the air safe in Clearville? The residents are worried.
Chemist Wilbra Subra calls compressor stations, used in the gas drilling process, "mini-refineries." Dr. Subra's work has included studying the air quality around compressor stations in Dish, TX, where extremely high levels of benzene, toluene, and other carcinogenic and neurotoxic compounds were found "hanging in the air." Residents of Dish have been forced to breathe in these toxins for the past few years since gas drilling has come to their community. Will Clearville develop the same problems? People want to know the answers. Does any industry have the right to "do business" if it means polluting the air, soil, and water?
An article by Nastassja Noell reports on the incident in Mt. Pleasant, PA, when the Nancy Stewart compressor released a stream of high pressured natural gas for over an hour- a supposedly "normal operational procedure." Raw natural gas was escaping from a pipeline with such force that it caused nearby homes to shake. Martin O'Lear, who lives about a quarter mile from the compressor said,
It sounded like a rocket taking off. My eyes started to burn, and then I started to cough which lasted through the afternoon and night. I've lived here for 34 years and never before had my eyes start to burn when I stepped outside.
In another instance, Spectra CNG sprayed Omala Oil RL 329 over surrounding fields. A week later, the company told residents not to eat any of their crops and to wash their skin thoroughly. The DEP came a week later to test surface water near the compressor station and found at least two cases where toluene was present. This meant that toluene may be in the air. How are residents going to know for sure? Are their children safe? Are their animals safe?
Read more hereabout the problems in Clearville and how the DEP is not willing to take serious measures to protect the public. (Warning: Strong language.)
This video shows footage of a huge compressor staton in Clearville, PA, just up the hill from a cemetery. Rest in peace, anyone?
Rene Montagne, host of Morning Edition, and reporter, John Burnett, raise questions about the natural gas industry on NPR.
Vast new natural gas fields have opened up thanks to an advanced drilling technique. While natural gas is a cleaner burning fuel than coal or petroleum, extracting it is still hard, dirty work. Some people who live near the massive Barnett Shale gas deposit in north Texas, have complaints. Health and environmental concerns are prompting state regulators to take a closer look.
Gathering Line - a special pipeline that transports gas from the field to the main pipeline.
The Gathering Line is a round-up of oil & gas drilling news brought to you by National Alliance for Drilling Reform (NA4DR), a broad alliance of grassroots activists from states across the nation that are affected with drilling development.
This week's Gathering Line is too scary for Halloween
Peacegirl writes about gas drilling in Bradford County, PA. Welcome To Bradford County, PA, calls attention to an article in the Fall 2009 issue of Save the Bay, the magazine of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation which features the North Branch Susquehanna River in Bradford County. From the blog Gas Wells Are Not Our Friends where your comments are always welcome.
Aruba Petroleum is drilling a Barnett Shale gas well in the backyard of Tim and Christine. Their property was taken, it's value diminished, they were threatened and now Aruba Petroleum spilled toxic drilling waste a few feet from where their daughter plays. Another tale (with VIDEO) about the Victims of the Shale on Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.
Williams Petroleum wants to pipe drilling waste water under our homes in Flower Mound, TX to a huge tank farm. Flower Mound Citizens Against Urban Drilling we discovered an alternative that is safer and greener. Williams claims to be a "good neighbor." Here's their chance to prove it.
