Category Archives: Natural Gas Drilling

Another report of livestock poisoned by toxic natural gas pollution

Posted on October 3, 2011 by lzerbe| 1 Comment


By Amy Mall, senior policy analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council

In April 2010, a pit with hydraulic fracturing waste (aka ”frack flowback”) leaked on a farm in Tioga County, Pennsylvania. The owners of the farm found the leak in the pasture for their beef cattle. Testing of the waste found chlo­ride, iron, sul­fate, bar­ium, mag­ne­sium, man­ganese, potas­sium, sodium, stron­tium and cal­cium. The spill killed veg­e­ta­tion, and the Pennsylvania Depart­ment of Agri­cul­ture quar­an­tined 28 head of cattle. Continue reading →

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Five Reasons to Call President Obama to Ban Fracking on Sept. 13

Posted on September 12, 2011 by lzerbe| 1 Comment


By Mark Schlosberg, National Organizing Director, Food & Water Watch

There are countless reasons fracking for natural gas and oil is a bad idea, and it’s about time President Obama heard the message loud and clear. There is ample evidence that fracking (especially in shale) can contaminate waterways with toxic and radioactive chemicals; that fracking causes air pollution, which endangers public health; that it releases methane into drinking water allowing people to light their tap water on fire, rendering it undrinkable; that the methane released into the atmosphere from fracking can exacerbate climate change; and that big oil and gas companies are having an “Enron moment” and are playing financial roulette with the economics of shale gas drilling.Yet still, President Obama and his administration are charging full speed ahead to support fracking. That’s why thousands of people across the country are calling President Obama on September 13 to tell him: BAN FRACKING NOW! Continue reading →

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Fracking in a Floodplain

Posted on September 9, 2011 by lzerbe| Leave a comment


By Jessie Thomas-Blate, MS, coordinator of Most Endangered Rivers at American Rivers

When American Rivers named 2011 The Year of the River, we never envisioned that the rivers would be showing themselves in such force across the country this summer. Who needs a parade when you can see cars floating down Main Street? Our recent encounters with Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee along the East Coast have really highlighted the costs that come with building in a floodplain. Today I read a story on MSNBC.com about the raging Susquehanna River. Apparently, the river was so worked up about being named America’s Most Endangered River™ of 2011, that it is trying to bring more attention to itself! Which leads to my next thought and the real point of this blog. Continue reading →

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Hundreds of Anti-Fracking Activists Demonstrate Outrage Towards Dirty, Polluting Process

Posted on September 7, 2011 by lzerbe| Leave a comment


By Kate Fried, senior communications manager at Food & Water Watch

Philadelphia, PA—As corporate executives from the oil and gas industry’s Marcellus Shale Coalition convened in Philadelphia today for their Shale Gas Insight conference, hundreds of public health and environmental advocates lead by the groups Food & Water Watch, Protecting our Waters and the Delaware Riverkeeper Network came together to denounce the possible expansion of hydraulic fracturing in the northeast at the coinciding Shale Gas Outrage protest. Controversy surrounding fracking has mounted in recent months as the federal government weighed in on safety concerns surrounding the practice, and a decision is expected next month on whether or not to allow fracking along the Delaware River, which supplies drinking water to 15 million Americans. Continue reading →

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Billboards posted and paid for by communities in the gas patch

Posted on August 31, 2011 by emain| Leave a comment

Visit NRDCs Switchboard Blogby Amy Mall, Senior Policy Analyst, Natural Resources Defense Council

Why do private citizens feel they have to resort to paying for billboard space to get their concerns heard by decision makers?  Here are some recent billboards spotted in Pennsylvania:

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7 Ways the Oil and Gas Industry is Buying Fracking Policy (And What You Can Do About It)

Posted on August 18, 2011 by lzerbe| Leave a comment

 

By Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch

Sometimes reality is stranger than science fiction. That’s the case with hydraulic fracturing, or fracking—a dangerous technology that’s much like setting off a giant pipe bomb four or five miles underground. Millions of gallons of water, chemicals and sand are injected deep into shale rock formations at high pressures to break open the rock and release the gas. Continue reading →

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DOE Panel Finds Natural Gas to Pose Serious Public Health Risk

Posted on August 16, 2011 by emain| Leave a comment

Visit NRDCs Switchboard Blog

by Amy Mall, senior policy analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council

The Shale Gas Subcommittee (SGS) of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB) just released a draft 90-day report with recommendations to reduce the environmental impacts from shale gas production. This report will be reviewed by the full committee in a public session on Monday, August 15th. NRDC President Frances Beinecke, a member of the SEAB, will participate in that review. (See background section below for the history of this process).

The report confirms what communities across the country have been reporting for years– that natural gas production is not clean and the industry is in need of a major make-over in order to protect clean air and clean water.

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Natural Gas Drilling Nosebleeds Drive This Mayor Out of Town

Posted on August 10, 2011 by lzerbe| 3 Comments


Calvin Tillman, former mayor of Dish, Texas; critic of natural gas drilling industry

I have been asked exactly how the phenomenon known as hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” has affected me and my family. Most people do not know that I grew up in the Oklahoma oil fields, and when I say grew up, I mean that literally. When I was a small child, I accompanied my father who worked on the pump-jacks on the weekends for extra money. Therefore, I did not find it that unusual when I moved to Texas to see an occasional oil or gas well.
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Posted in Children's Health, Natural Gas Drilling