Is anybody else scared about hydrofracking???

I'm terrified, myself. And it's all being allowed because (once again) science is being trumped by politics...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/us/04gas.html?hp

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/us/series/drilling_down/index.html

I'm so pissed.

-s.

Well, we know we want cheap energy.

And we know we don't want to burn coal.

And we know we don't want to build nuclear reactors.

And we know we don't want to dam more rivers.

So what's left? This country has to make some hard choices, and for every day they're ignored, they get harder.

I think the need and expectation of "cheap" energy plays a big roll in this situation.
And the government has somehow seemed to tie their own hands on this one.
Typical bureaucratic garbage.

hydrofracking sounds like code for some kind of torture.


Unfortunately evolution didn't yet fix the short-sightedness problem in the vast majority of the population.

It's called the human condition.

For those interested the South Orange Library is hosting a lecture this afternoon at 1:00 pm on the Social and Environmental Impacts of the Natural Gas Industry in Wyoming. Our speaker, Mark Boglioli is a professor of anthropology at Drew University. All are welcome and refreshments will be served.

The gas companies want to drill in the Delaware Valley watershed. That's where our water comes from.

I am hugely angry and frustrated and terrified that our lands and water will be terminally polluted because of simple greed, graft, and craven politicking, driven by the economic interests of an industry that is used to getting its way. My family and I live in M-wood, and our household water supply is in danger (I think we need to call New Jersey American Water and get them involved in the resistance movement) and we own a cabin in the Catskills that we love deeply, where the only protection so far (the town supervisors in Delaware County seem to be, for the most part, pro-drilling) is that we are in the NYC watershed and, if there's ANY sanity out there, the DEC will make sure no drilling permits are given there.

If anyone here in M-wood would like to mobilize a local effort to protest the drilling plans, I'd be VERY happy to work together. I am on a very active listserve that's focused on the resistance movement in PA and upstate NY, but I haven't heard ANYTHING from New Jersey. Of course our boorish governor won't make a peep.

If it's so safe, I think executives from the companies that do hydraulic fracturing should be required to drink the groundwater from the areas the do this in... for 5 years after they begin.

And the executives should be required to live in the lee of the evaporation ponds and "recycling" wells and truck stops and gas flares, etc..... How else could we create anything like accountability? Enough of them must live in NYC or the suburbs, I can't figure out why they're not worried. I guess their salaries make it possible for them to ship clean water in from Iceland or something.

Here are some email and print mailing options to express our hopes for regulation of gas drilling in the Delaware River Basin:

For those of of you that have not yet submitted a comment on hydro-fracking to the Delaware River Basin Commission, they have extended the time limit an additional 30 days through the close of business (5 p.m.) April 15, 2011. The following websites have sample letters you can e-mail (preferred) or print up and mail:

http://www.delawareriverkeeper.org/act-now/urgent-details.aspx?Id=66

http://www.damascuscitizens.org/DRBC.html

http://www.catskillcitizens.org/

Sometime last year a documentary was released on hydrofracking. I can't remember the title, but it was terrifying. The director made the film because his family has property near a well. Among other things, it showed how people living near a well were able to light their water on fire. Also pointed out in this film is how the cows eat the grass watered with polluted water. AND- the drilling companies are not required to disclose what chemicals they are pouring down the well because it is proprietary.

The film is called Gasland, and it is worth seeing. It will make you despair.

This link should raise your hopes a little...

http://www.workingfamiliesparty.org/2010/08/ny-senate-passes-drilling-ban/

http://marcelluseffect.blogspot.com/2011/01/still-time-to-comment-on-drbc-proposed.html

Apparently the public has until April 15, 2011 (was March 16th but the deadline has been extended) to put in their two-cents-worth. Please pipe up! (PUN INTENDED:wink

Last one - Petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/pagas99/petition-sign.html

I contacted New Jersey American Water to see what they're doing, and all I got was passive boilerplate -- I was shocked, since they'll have to find clean water for us.

GASLAND is an amazing movie, and, yes, terrifying. It's been the focus of industry backlash, probably especially since it was nominated for an Oscar. The towns upstate (NY and PA) in the watersheds are in heated debates about fracking, so they can use all the help we can give.

just saw this in the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/science/earth/08water.html?_r=1&hpw

thanks, soda.

What is interesting is the amount of negative stories that come out of fracking....but no positive stories, not even deniers from the industry.

Yipe.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/28/business/energy-environment/28shale.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=all

-s.

Gasland is a scary movie.

I've see that fire in the faucet thing firsthand.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/01/nyregion/new-york-sues-to-slow-rules-for-new-gas-drilling.html?ref=nyregion

I'm more concerned about my beer getting warm.

I work with the energy industry and they regard fracking as more of a NIMBY issues. Yes, it's loud, so you don't want to live near it, but in most places, the oil is being extracted from rock 1-3 miles underground and most water tables are a few hundred feet underground. The industry standard (even with a conventional well!) is to line the well with steel casing in places that have contact with the water table. I'm not concerned about the health issues.

Posted By: srg36I work with the energy industry and they regard fracking as more of a NIMBY issues... I'm not concerned about the health issues.

shocker.

-s.

srg, how do you/they react to situations like those described in gasland and various reports on hydrofracking?

And "NIMBLY" is a perfectly valid reaction to all this. Those advocating for it wouldn't want it near their families either. What rational person would?