Tag Archives: Marcellus shale

Shale Gas Outrage, a rally, in Philly 9/20

Shale Gas Outrage PhillyOn September 20, the fracking industry returns to Philadelphia for their annual Shale Gas Insight conference.

Join thousands for the second Shale Gas Outrage outside the convention center at the intersection of BROAD and ARCH streets. We will rally and march to protect health, communities, air, water, farms, food, and climate. Demand green jobs and justice NOW! Let’s flood the streets of Philly again to stop them from fracking our future!

ShaleGasOutrage.org
ProtectingOurWaters.com

Buses leave around 8am on 9/20 and will return around 5pm the same day. SIGN UP FOR A BUS OR CARPOOL here. If you are a student, there may be a free ticket waiting for you. Email for more info.

Central NJ Bus
North NJ Bus
https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1185/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=75792

FULL SCHEDULE FOR 20th and 21st SEPTEMBER

THURSDAY, 20 SEPTEMBER
10am: Press Conference: Arch Street Methodist Church, Broad and Arch, Philadelphia, 19107

12-2pm: Main Shale Gas Outrage Rally Outside Convention Center, Broad and Arch, Philadelphia, PA 19107

Speakers include Sandra Steingraber, Josh Fox, Stephen Cleghorn

2-3pm: March
Blessing of the Waters (Interfaith event) TBA

7:30-10pm: Shale Gas Outrage After Dark (informal networking, connecting)

FRIDAY, 21 SEPTEMBER
8:30am – 12pm Health and Gas Drilling Morning Conference
College of Physicians of Philadelphia 19. S. 22nd St., Philadelphia, PA 19103

Speakers include Michelle Bamberger and Robert Oswald, authors of “Impacts of Gas Drilling on Human and Animal Health” and Dr. Walter Tsou, President, Philadelphia Physicians for Social Responsibility.

1:30pm – 5:30pm Mini-Organizing Conference
“Freedom from Fracking 2012”

Act For a Permanent Ban on Delaware Basin Fracking

Groups instrumental in advocacy against Marcellus Shale fracking suggest future action towards achieving a permanent ban.

The vote on fracking the Delaware Basin was postponed when Delaware Governor Jack Markell announced before the Trenton rally on November 21, 2011 that Delaware would vote No on the proposal, and New York’s Governor Cuomo had already decided to cast a No vote too. Because there weren’t enough votes to win, the vote was postponed.

The Food & Water Watch Group, which wants fracking banned in New York, asks that people, “please keep the pressure on President Obama to oppose fracking in the basin and urge Governor Cuomo to maintain his opposition by calling

President Obama: 866-586-4069
Governor Cuomo: 866-961-3208

The group has produced a movie exposing false claims that fracking would produce a landslide of jobs in the region. And, they invite people to join a protest against fracking in Manhattan on Wednesday, November 30 at 4:30 pm at the DEC hearing.

The other message was sent out by Environment New Jersey:

Last Thursday, Environment New Jersey helped to deliver an important victory to protect the Delaware River and our drinking water from dangerous gas drilling—and we couldn’t have done it without your ongoing involvement and support.

After months of deliberation, a little-known agency called the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) delayed a proposal to open the Delaware River Basin—and our drinking water —to harmful gas drilling. Why the delay? Because there weren’t enough votes to approve drilling.

It looks like we won by the skin of our teeth—representatives from the Obama administration joined the governors of New York and Delaware to voice their disapproval for any proposal that would put our Delaware River at risk.

But we’re not done yet. President Obama holds the deciding vote on the commission.

Please, “>Email President Obama today, and tell him to stand up for the 15 million of us who get our drinking water from the Delaware.

PROTESTS
Fracking protests around New York

What Is Marcellus Shale/Delaware Basin Fracking?

Fracking is an abbreviation for hydro-fracturing, a practice in which a cocktail is made of chemicals and thickeners mixed with water drawn from local water supplies and injected deep underground to force natural gas trapped in shale to rise to the surface, where it is captured and can be sold. Once used, treated water that rises to the surface cannot be reused because it becomes way too contaminated. Much of the water stays trapped in the shale and can neither rise nor filter down into underground aquifers which would bring it through soil to be cleansed before depositing it into natural bodies of water

There are deposits of shale throughout the United States, but the Marcellus Shale formation is the biggest one in the country and the 2nd largest in the world.

The New York City Council has a great synopsis about why fracking shouldn’t be allowed in the Delaware River Basin where the Marcellus Shale formation sits.

Other Green Wei blog posts relating to fracking:
Dangers of Fracking – Fracturing Shale With Water
Act For a Permanent Ban on Delaware Basin Fracking

Dangers of Fracking – Fracturing Shale With Water

Update: See separate post on actions for moving towards a permanent ban on fracking

The New York City Council has a great synopsis about why fracking shouldn’t be allowed in the Delaware River Basin where the Marcellus Shale formation sits

The Delaware River is the critical water source for over 15 million people — five percent of the U.S. population — including residents of New Jersey, Delaware, Philadelphia, and 8 million New Yorkers. Furthermore, experts agree that hydraulic fracturing could contaminate drinking water, causing irreparable harm and costing taxpayers billions of dollars. The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), an agency composed of representatives from four states and the federal government, is taking steps to finalize regulations for hydraulic fracturing in the area near the Delaware River in Pennsylvania. While thousands of gas wells have been developed in Pennsylvania in recent years, development of hydraulic fracturing has been much more limited in the area near the Delaware River due to the area’s status as a critical drinking water source for five percent of the U.S. population.

On September 29th, Councilmember James Gennaro introduced a resolution calling on the DRBC to halt the issuance of regulations for gas production using hydraulic fracturing for water withdrawal for the purpose of hydraulic fracturing within the Delaware River Basin until a cumulative impact study is completed to assess the risks and inform the development of adequate regulations for hydraulic fracturing in the Delaware River Basin.

New York Times writer Eliza Griswold reports on the local environmental dangers of fracking, a practice which in the regions it takes place is ruining water supplies in locations across the country, corroding home and business water delivery pipes and appears to be killing pets and farms animals too. Griswold was directed by a Range Resources spokesman to move away from a “fracking pond” containing chemically treated waste water that had been used in the company’s fracking process which Griswold observed to be sitting in a catch basin at the top of a watershed (EPA definition).

Griswold points out

In Amwell Township, your opinion of fracking tends to correspond with how much money you’re making and with how close you live to the gas wells, chemical ponds, pipelines and compressor stations springing up in the area. Many of those who live nearby fear that a leak in the plastic liner of a chemical pond could drip into a watershed or that a truck spill could send carcinogens into a field of beef cattle. (According to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, 65 Marcellus wells drilled this year have been cited for faulty cement casings, which could result in leaks.) But for many other residents, including Haney’s neighbors, the risks seem small, and the benefits — clean fuel, economic development — far outweigh them.

One of her escorts through Amwell Township was 64 year old farmer and science teacher Ray Day of who, “like most of his neighbors, trusted the companies to use best practices. A man’s word means a lot here. After all, without regulation or oversight, he and other farmers worked together to do things like fence streams to keep cattle out of them.”

I first learned of the danger to water supplies caused by fracking when my friend, Sabastian Belfon, returned from visiting family in Arizona. “Kimi, I kept seeing all these pickups driving around with huge tanks in their beds in the back, so I asked my family what was going on.” They told me that’s how most people have to get their water now – by trucking it in. Because of hydrofracking, groundwater’s contaminated now. Just Google the phrase arizona people truck drinking water frack to produce a long list of problems people in that state are having with their drinking water, which some apparently can ignite simply by putting a flame near the water as it runs out of their kitchen sink faucet. Bob Donnan of Pennsylvania blogs about the water in his region turning putrid due to fracking,

TDS, or total dissolved solids in our drinking water were blamed for its chunky state. But water company officials were quick to tell us that even though it may spot glasses in your dishwasher, there is nothing to worry about — the water is safe to drink. Sure, if you can get past drinking something tasting nearly as bad as the prep for your last colonoscopy!

Turns out some of the low river flow, and much of the TDS chunkiness, resulted from the Marcellus Shale gas boom. Unless you have been sleeping, or residing on Mars for the past year, you know about this madhatter gas drilling boom that’s going on, with the epicenter in Hickory, Pennsylvania. Estimates indicate the Marcellus Shale holds enough gas to supply the entire US for 14 years, so main players ante up like it’s the California Gold Rush.

Water is pumped out of streams anytime, anywhere . . . The Pennsylvania Clean Streams Law is supposed to protect drought- stricken streams from de-watering, but is this law being enforced?

Mark Ruffalo stood with Occupy Trenton at the huge anti-fracking rally in Trenton yesterday (on 11/21) with Josh Fox, creator of the movie Gasland, to address the hundreds of protestors and Green Drinks co-host Sally Gellert was there too. Gasland‘s home page features a FAQ on fracking terms, including:

What is the Halliburton Loophole?
In 2005, the Bush/ Cheney Energy Bill exempted natural gas drilling from the Safe Drinking Water Act. It exempts companies from disclosing the chemicals used during hydraulic fracturing. Essentially, the provision took the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) off the job. It is now commonly referred to as the Halliburton Loophole.

What is the Safe Drinking Water Act?
In 1974, the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) was passed by Congress to ensure clean drinking water free from both natural and man-made contaminates.

What is the FRAC Act?
The FRAC Act (Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness to Chemical Act) is a House bill intended to repeal the Halliburton Loophole and to require the natural gas industry to disclose the chemicals they use.

Slicing and dicing up the earth for natural gas through fracking = no good, no way.

Discussed at Green Drinks Hackensack on 9/12

Marcellus Shale Fracking
Extracting gas from the Marcellus Shale deposit in Pennsylvania – country’s largest deposit – is still being promoted and it’s not good for us. Takes too much water from the region causing the water table to sink dramatically and it creates potable water pollution. Keep learning about fracking and advocating against it. Speak about it with family, friends and politicians.

Reality Climate Project on 9/14
Join the Reality Climate Project starting at 8pm EST on September 14.

24 Presenters. 24 Time Zones. 13 Languages. 1 Message. 24 Hours of Reality is a worldwide event to broadcast the reality of the climate crisis. It will consist of a new multimedia presentation created by Al Gore and delivered once per hour for 24 hours, representing every time zone around the globe.

Natural Resource Monetizing Equated With Public Good
Traditional government policy view the monetizing of natural resources as equivalent with the “public good”: that’s why business interests are able to get away with so much environmental destruction. But it isn’t very good to lack clear air and water, is it?

Investigate Scare Tactics Passed Along by Friends
Morty mentioned that he received a scare letter forwarded from a friend cautioning senior citizens that Medicare rates are going to be much higher in 2012 and even worse after that, so Morty called the Medicare office for verification. The customer service rep laughed when she heard his concern: 2012 Medicare rate figures don’t get released until October; and no one has even a slim idea about what the rates will look like in the years to come.

Real News v. Fox 5 Infotainment Propaganda
It’s important to realize that Fox News doesn’t deliver real news (informed people call it “infotainment“) and furthermore, it has a very apparent aim to create a state of constant panic in viewers; it will pull any dirty tactic possible to discredit individuals wishing to rationally debate ideas; and, Fox presents fabricated versions of history to bamboozle viewers into believing what it wishes them to believe. More info at Fox News Boycott and 14 Propaganda Techniques Fox ‘News’ Uses to Brainwash Americans.

Disneyworld: As Un-American As . . .?
Fox isn’t the only organization promoting buy-in to image over reality. What about Disneyworld? A National Geogrphic exposé unearths a lot of disturbing secrets about this “American Institution” which strangely, doesn’t exactly belong to America.

By the 1960s, all over America, suburbs were replacing old neighborhoods. Malls were driving Main Street out of business. There was hardly a new ranch home or split-level that didn’t have a TV antenna on the roof. Disney realized that in the coming decades shows like The Mickey Mouse Club, not climate and geology, would determine what the majority of Americans would consider a safe and enjoyable place to take a family vacation. That day, flying over central Florida, Disney decided that he, not reality, would define what constituted the Magic Kingdom in the minds and spending habits of millions of Americans in the years to come . . .

Disney’s new empire in central Florida would be marketed as Disney World. Its official name was, and remains, the Reedy Creek Improvement District. Thanks to a sweetheart deal with the state legislature, the lands Disney purchased were detached from the rest of Florida to form a Magic Kingdom, above and outside the law. Even now, Disney World’s rides are exempt from state safety inspections. Democratic process is excluded, too. Power remains in the hands of a board of supervisors composed of Disney allies. However much you pay for a time-share condo in Disney World, you cannot buy property outright, and therefore establish official residence, and therefore vote for the board. Celebration, Disney’s residential community themed to evoke pre-1940s small-town America, has a city hall but no actual municipal government.

Our Own Sally Get Arrested Protesting Alaska-Mexico Pipleline
I’ve saved the most exciting news for last. Green Drinks 3 co-host Sally Gellert, travelled to DC last week in order to get arrested along with 1200 plus other protesters including NASA’s James Hansen – who is speaking about the environment at Bergen Community College on 9/22.

Green Drinks Paterson/Clifton
Next week is Green Drinks Paterson/Clifton. We’ll be back with a report on what was discussed, or you can come out and help shape the conversation yourself.

Third Mondays at 6:30pm
Sultan Restaurant
429 Crooks Avenue, Clifton, NJ 07011
973-772-1995
Food and Drinks: Pay only for what you order
Parking: street parking
More info