NATURAL GAS - JUST SUCK IT UP

"WE DO WHAT WE WANT...

AND YOU JUST SUCK IT UP"

KEEPING IT REAL

ALDEBARAN

 Eithne Ní Bhraonáin (Enya)

Codladh fada,

Codladh domhain.

Éirigh! Amharc síos

Aldebaran.

Siúil liom tríd an réalta dearg.

Deireadh, deireadh an turas.

Réaltóg, réaltóg dearg.

Éirigh!

Éirigh! Éirigh!

January 18 - Harrisburg

Come on, dammit

STOP GAS DRILLING - SUE YOUR FRACKING NEIGHBOR

"It's just Real Estate 101"

Gotta Love It

"Two recent Pennsylvania lawsuits, filed separately against Southwest Energy Co. and Chesapeake Energy Corp., claim that their gas drilling has contaminated local water supplies...

and harmed the related property values."

Claim 1: gas drilling contaminated the water

"...defense attorneys can try to play out the clock on the water contamination claim with what you could call the tobacco defense -- first deny there was any contamination, then that gas drilling caused it, then insist the issue needs more study,and finally say there's no way to quantify the damage. By the time they're ready to settle, it's many years later, and drilling's gone on apace. ... case will be an appeal to common sense -- that the water was fine until drilling began, so it obviously caused the contamination. How useful common sense will be in a court room remains to be seen. ...expects the case to last at least two years -- before appeals."

Claim 2: gas drilling has harmed property values

"It's the stronger claim, ...I don't think there is a defense against it. Nationwide, the statistical case that gas drilling depresses property values is practically bullet-proof."

AN ALTERNATE CLAIM:
Anticipatory Nuisance

"...it's basically the notion that you can stop your neighbor from doing something if waiting to sue until you're harmed is ludicrous. In a western, this is where the marshal says you shot in self-defense.  'It's a doctrine that's established in common law, ...A court would not be making new law' by supporting such a claim, and 'it presents a plaintiff with a lot of ammunition.' The beauty here is that applying the case law to gas drilling is no stretch."

"These are really ...different sorts of lawsuits; (the first two) compensate you if drilling's already taken place and the (third) would stop it before it happened."

"Here's the scenario. Most gas leases in New York, Ohio, and much of Pennsylvania are running out and need to be renewed. It's one of the big reasons drilling's taking place now; if they are renewed, the lease prices will jump, but if the well's drilled before the lease expires, the old deal still holds.

"This is where you get together with the neighbors who don't want drilling around them, and then explain to the neighbor with the lease that if he does drill, he'll have to make their neighbors whole, and if he renews, he'll be sued for anticipatory nuisance.

"Taking this approach probably wouldn't make your neighbor your best friend; but a cynic might point out that he probably wasn't thinking about you when he signed the lease in the first place. And it does offer the promise of letting you sit on your porch for years, watching the sunset."

Huffington Post - HERE

Like Diogenes, I am a Cynic

Looking for an honest man

Oh, yeah

INTEGRITY VS GAS DRILLING

"Integrity Reveals Beauty"

THIS LANDOWNER MAKES A CHOICE ON GAS DRILLING

"I am a landowner who chooses not to lease.

"I choose to be a good neighbor and work to keep the watershed clean and the foodshed pure.

"I choose not to put my neighbors at risk for compulsory integration, eminent domain, poisoned water, air pollution and decreased property values.

"I choose to take responsibility for the welfare of my neighbors, my community and future generations.

"I choose not to subject my community to road destruction, noise and light pollution, and the cost of emergency response for the sole benefit of energy companies and my own selfish desires.

"I choose to work toward ways to support the local economy so that everyone prospers and everyone wins.

"I choose not to change my community into a permanent industrial zone.

"I choose to act in ways that support energy independence without the need for dirty and destructive gas drilling.

"I choose not to perpetuate the myth that natural gas is a cheap and clean transition fuel.

"I choose a safe and healthy community for all."

Chris Applegate - Virgil, NY 

 

Ithaca Journal - HERE

 

"Ethics are how you think...

Virtues are what you do...

Integrity is Who You Are"



WHO THE FRACK ARE YOU?
I REALLY WANT TO KNOW

DESSERT?

Jeff Beck

Royal Albert Hall

October 27, 2010

Ethereal Guitar

Please Indulge - No Calories

Women of Ireland with Sharon Corr

Corpus Christi - Hammerhead

Walking in the Sand with Imelda May

with Rhonda Smith - Unreal

Full Yet?

Want Some More?

Notes:

Women of Ireland is Mna Na h'Eireann by Kate Bush

Corpus Christi & Hammerhead by Jeff Beck

Walking in the Sand by George Morton for the Shangri-Las

Rhonda Smith is so good I don't care what the song is called

The Imelda May Band opened for Jeff on his spring tour.

I went to the show in June in Asbury Park - it was empyral.

More Jeff Beck and Imelda May coming very soon.

Can't help it - I'm fully fracked.

MY FELLOW FRACKEES

"Nothing is more honorable

than a grateful heart"

Seneca

To the Frackers:

ess drek und shtarbn

Oh, yeah

CHESAPEAKE FRACKS WEST VIRGINIA

Chesapeake Cited For Filling Local Streams

"The Oklahoma City-based company - which is working toward drilling on private property near The Highlands in Ohio County and at other locations throughout the Wheeling area - received four separate "Order for Compliance" forms from the EPA, citing the driller for allegedly violating the Clean Water Act. The orders show the earthwork occurred at various points from January 2007 through this month."

From local residents Ed Wade and Bill Hughes

of the Wetzel County Action Group:

 "Chesapeake 'has been doing these things for years.'"

"They need to put the waterfall back," Wade said. "If we can send a man to the moon, they can rebuild that waterfall."

"Wade said one of the main problems involving the natural gas development is that 'everybody just sees the money.'"

"Chesapeake knows that the state does not have anywhere near enough inspectors - therefore they can pretty much do what they want and then move on to the next site because the state inspectors will never catch up with them."

Chesapeake spokesman Matt Sheppard

blew the usual sunshine up our collective ass:

"Chesapeake Appalachia LLC is committed to the responsible development of our clean-burning, domestic natural gas resources and environmental stewardship,"

Report - HERE

John Cole - The Times Tribune

DEADLY SPIN to PROTECT PROFITS

FABULOUS

Michael Moore & Wendell Potter

Countdown with Keith Olbermann

Please watch - The parallels are obvious

Part 1

Part 2

It is the same
for every major industry
It is Corporatocracy
And it is afraid that you will
WAKE UP

"Worst case scenario...

...that it would evolve into...

A Sustained Populist Movement"

"...people will see them for the

organized crime system that they are"

FRACKED UP AGAIN

FRACK FLUID SPILLS

IN LYCOMING COUNTY

Where: Penn Township, Lycoming County

What: 13,000 Gallons of Frack Fluid

Who: XTO Energy

DEP Release - HERE

Huffington Post - HERE

WBNG Report - HERE

THIS MUST END

HERE'S ONE THING...

PLASTIC STATE OF MIND

Worse than they want you to know

ONE THING

FOR YOUR KIDS

SURELY YOU DID SOMETHING

PLANETIZE THE MOVEMENT

WHAT DID YOU DO

ONCE

YOU

KNEW

? ? ?

"NO WORRIES"? FRACKING DOWN UNDER

"UNDERMINED"

60 Minutes Australia

Reporter: Liz Hayes

This was aired in Australia on May 14

I had not yet created this blog.

It showed me that fracking is globally horrific.

It introduced me to Chris Mobaldi.

It is timely now for several reasons:

Josh Fox has been in Australia.

BTEX has been found at several sites in Queensland.

Here, we were handed "60 fracking lame minutes"

THIS IS WHAT WE DESERVED TO SEE

Liz Hayes was Terrific - Leslie Stahl was not

"Out in Queensland's central west, it's war...

..a war that's pitting angry locals

against the big gas companies."

"Properties are being taken over and
now their water supplies are spewing out gas."

60 Minutes AU Site - HERE

BTEX in Queensland - HERE

Josh Fox in AU:

Gas-tastrophe - HERE
Gasman locks horns - HERE
What the Frack - HERE
Gassing the Frack out of us - HERE

AU Farmers to Frackers: "BUGGER OFF"

"The gas companies are not coming onto this property."

"They can take me to the land court. If they win, they are

still not coming on here. I am prepared to go to jail."

"This is just out of hand, it is not going to happen here.

What they're doing to some of these farmers out here

it is just unreal, it is not Australian, and they are just

going to bugger this country."

Story - HERE

I LIKE IT...

HEY PA FRACKERS

BUGGER OFF

FIRST WORDS FROM THE PEOPLE'S SUMMIT

From J. David Bell of Pittsburgh:

"Today, I attended the first half of the

EarthWorks National People's Oil and Gas Summit" 

 "A number of shocking facts emerged..."

"In two communities in Wyoming and Texas where fracking is taking place, between 70 and 80% of residents are experiencing respiratory problems."

"While drilling is often touted as a job-maker for local communities, fully 70% of the industry's workers in Pennsylvania come from out of state."

"The natural gas methane--which is not only deadly to humans but a potent greenhouse gas--has been recorded at asphyxiation levels in some homes near fracking sites."

"High rates of sexual predation--including predation on children--are reported among fracking workers."

"Though Pennsylvania's State Senate insists that a severance tax will drive industry away, Wyoming, with the highest taxes among western states, also has the highest energy production in the U.S. (indeed, it ranks close to the top compared to other energy-producing nations)".

 "...as evidenced by today's summit, the movement against fracking is growing larger every day."

"The chief message I took from today's meeting was the need to learn as much as possible about this issue, and to act on that knowledge in every way imaginable."

"I'll be going back tomorrow to continue that process."

Full Post - HERE

 

From his Nov 3 post "Frick, Frack":

 

"Today I attended a rally in downtown Pittsburgh to protest industry plans to drill tens of thousands of natural gas wells (through a process known as hydraulic fracturing or “fracking”) into the Marcellus Shale formation that lies beneath

our fields, forests, and cities.

The rush to drill is based on two deeply flawed propositions that, if exposed and rejected, may well set us on the road to recovery as a people and as a world:

 

1. Natural gas is a clean energy source.

This is, quite simply, bullshit.

While natural gas is marginally cleaner-burning than coal or oil, the process by which it’s extracted is brimming with environmental hazards: contaminated water, damaged soil, toxic air. Of the three, the threat to water is perhaps the most ominous: the amount of water required to drill one well is astronomical, and there’s precious little regulation concerning where that water comes from and where it goes after it’s been drenched in hazardous chemicals. As several speakers at today’s rally pointed out, if drilling is as safe as the industry claims, then why did they enlist Dick Cheney and his cronies in Congress to ensure that legislation would be passed exempting the fracking process from key provisions of the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Superfund law? To tout natural gas as a “clean” alternative to oil is akin to praising crack as a safer-burning form of cocaine.

2. Natural gas represents a “transition fuel” to a clean energy economy. Again, total bullshit.

If you look at the history of the fossil fuel industry, you’ll find plenty of transitions--but only from one fossil fuel to a yet more cheap, abundant, energy-intensive, and environmentally destructive fossil fuel. From charcoal to coal to petroleum, the industry has tried them all, and they’re seeking newer and unhealthier sources of energy (tar sands and the like) even as we speak. There’s simply no incentive for the industry to do anything else, and anyone who thinks it will diversify out of the goodness of its heart or concern for its customers has been drinking its toxic Kool-Aid for way too long. (We all saw how well BP fulfilled its vow to move “beyond petroleum,” right?) Unless the rest of us make it inconvenient, unprofitable, and in fact illegal for these vampires to conduct their filthy business, the industry will continue to suck fossil fuels from the planet until it’s literally sucked dry. If we are to embrace a clean energy future, it has to start now, with heavy investment in renewables and disincentives for business as usual. This will hurt in the short term, but it will not hurt nearly as much in the long term as a continued dependence on fossil fuels.

So if you’re following this issue, keep your eyes on Pittsburgh. If my hometown can secure victory in this battle--if we can claim our land, our communities, and our health as inalienable rights no one can steal--then the collapse of the fossil fuel industry is within grasp, and a sustainable world within reach.

Drill in Pittsburgh? As they chanted at today's rally:
"No fracking way!"

Full Post - HERE

Outstanding
Thanks to J. David

 More Fracking Yells - Please

THE FRACAS OVER HYDRO-FRACKING

Anne Thompson talks to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson

"I see an increasing role

for natural gas in general"

"The corollary is you can see fracking
playing a larger and larger role
in obtaining that natural gas"

Is the epa against fracking?

"No, no and I don't want anyone to think that epa

has a position - we're not going to prejudge the process.

First, it's been used for a long long time but it's now

being used more than ever before and in watersheds

that are more densely populated than ever before"

"The epa doesn't have any evidence sitting here today of

chemical contamination of water from fracking chemicals

but there are certainly plenty of questions not only

about the chemicals but of the process itself"

"When you frack you're changing the geology down there

and that geology is the same geology that many

of our wells are influenced by"

"We want to be certain that we're not making a mistake

that 20 or 40 years from now we could have avoided

...my belief is the science will help inform the process"

"The american who chooses to develop

natural gas resources on his or her property may be impacting property that they don't own or people's wells they don't...

that's why federal gov't needs to take a look"

"Part of our job ... to protect one of

the most incredible resources

that we have in our county

which is our drinking water"

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

???????

STAND UP

&

STAY TUNED

ELIZABETH "CHRIS" MOBALDI - THANK YOU

Goodbye to a Brave Woman

Elizabeth “Chris” Mobaldi, 63, died on Nov. 14, at 4:40 a.m., after a lengthy battle with a rare and persistent tumor of the pituitary gland, according to her husband, Steve.

From 1993 to 2004, the Mobaldis had lived near Rifle, on County Road 320 south of the Colorado River, Steve Mobaldi recalled in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

According to testimony by Mobaldi before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in Washington, D.C., the couple suffered symptoms such as headaches, burning eyes and skin, which they believed were related to the drilling rigs as close as 300 feet from their home.

Chris Mobaldi, aside from her other symptoms, developed rashes, blisters and a rare malady known as “foreign accent syndrome,” a speech abnormality that is quite rare.

A physician who treated Chris Mobaldi, Dr. Kendall Gerdes of Colorado Springs, said, “When I first met her ... I thought it must be some kind of Eastern European thing.”

Asked if he agrees with Steve Mobaldi's assertion that the symptoms are in some way related to exposure to gas drilling activities, Gerdes said simply, “I do.”

Post Independent Story - HERE

"Collateral Damage" from 2006 - HERE

“And death shall have no dominion.

Dead men naked they shall be one

With the man in the wind and the west moon;

When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,

They shall have stars at elbow and foot;

Though they go mad they shall be sane,

Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;

Though lovers be lost love shall not;

And death shall have no dominion.”

Dylan Thomas

With Admiration and Appreciation from Afar

Heartfelt Condolences to the Mobaldi Family

PITTSBURGH BANS GAS DRILLING

Pittsburgh first Pa. city

to ban natural gas drilling

"Pittsburgh became the first city in gas-rich Pennsylvania to ban natural gas drilling after city council members, citing health and environmental concerns, unanimously approved the measure today."

"The council received a standing ovation

after voting 9-0 to approve the ban

within city limits."

"City Council President Darlene Harris said her biggest concern was people's health. She said claims by the industry of the thousands of jobs being created wasn't worth the risk."

"'They're bringing jobs all right,' Harris said. 'There's going to be a lot of jobs for funeral homes and hospitals. That's where

the jobs are. Is it worth it?'"

AP Story - HERE

WDUQ Blog - HERE

Kathyrn Klaber of The Marcellus Shale Coalition

was quick to respond:

OH, YEAH

NATURAL GAS "TRUTH" FULL OF LIES

The Un-TRUTH:

  "Natural gas is a clean burning fuel

that produces less greenhouse gas

emissions than coal when burned."

REALLY JUST

The One Big Lie 

dressed up in the industry's

best fecal-marketing package

and blown like

"a mighty wind up America's ass."

TRUTH:  

"We urge caution in viewing natural gas as good fuel choice for the future. Using the best available science, we conclude that

natural gas is no better than coal

and

may in fact be worse than coal

in terms of its greenhouse gas footprint when evaluated over the time course of the next several decades."

"Assesment of the Greenhouse Gas Footprint of Natural Gas from Shale Formations Obtained by High-Volume, Slick-Water Hydraulic Fracturing"

Robert W Howarth

David R Atkinson Professor of Ecology & Environmental Biology, Cornell University

(November 15, 2010)

PDF - HERE

Note that both the National Academy of Sciences and

the Council of Scientific Society Presidents have

urged great caution before proceeding with

the development of diffuse natural gas

from shale formations using unconventional technology.

May 4, 2010 Letter - HERE

WAKE UP TO THE