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Tracking
the Spin
:
What wasn't OK
last fall is evidently OK now.
"Not one
instance of drinking water
contamination in over one million
frac jobs." The source
of this claim was a survey by the
Interstate Oil & Gas Compact
Commission (IOGCC), yet another
government agency that promotes the
interests of the energy industry.
DEC swallowed that claim whole, and
in 2008 presented it as fact in a
series of presentations to state
legislators, pushing passage of the
new spacing law that expedited
permitting of the intensive
Marcellus Shale drilling coming our
way.
www.wnyc.org/news/articles/104157
Of course, there were thousands
of documented instances of
groundwater contamination from
hydraulic fracturing. But they were
easy to ignore when they were
somewhere far away - Colorado,
Wyoming, or Texas.
http://www.propublica.org/feature/buried-secrets-is-natural-gas-drilling-endangering-us-water-supplies-1113
Here's what John Hanger, acting
Secretary of the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental
Protection (DEP), said then:
“We
recognize that there are incredible
opportunities for the commonwealth
in the Marcellus Shale, but
realizing those gains cannot come at
the expense of our natural
resources.”
Then came the New Year's
explosions, spills, and waterwell
pollution in Hickory and Dimock in
Pennsylvania.
News Reports: un-naturalgas.org
1/14/09
News Reports: un-naturalgas.org
1/30/09
So, in an interview with Reuters'
Jon Hurdle, Hanger simply changed
his tune:
"You can't do a large amount
of drilling and have zero impact.
There's going to be a lot of good
that comes from drilling in
Pennsylvania, but there are also
going to be some problems...we run a
certain amount of risk because of
the benefits.'
According to the Reuters story, "... Hanger
acknowledged that some of the
chemicals could be dangerous to
human health but said that risk has
to be weighed against the benefits
that will come from the exploitation
of what he called the 'enormous' gas
reserves contained in the Marcellus
Shale.
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE52J6AP20090320
CHENANGO CDOG will
participate in two public events in
early May:
Saturday, May 2
11AM-4PM
Earth Fest
Rogers Environmental Education
Center
2721 State Highway 80 Sherburne, NY
13460
Featured: results of our
Lease Mapping Project. Come see
how your community has fared.
Tuesday, May 5 7PM-9PM
Hamilton
the Library
A
half-hour film, "Rural Impact",
will precede a discussion of the
situation in southern Madison /
northern Chenango counties.
want to know what you can
do? visit
http://un-naturalgas.org/organizers.htm
Our site
is still under construction but
there's lots of information there
already, and much more to come.
Click over to our Events page to see
what's happening, visit our blog and
leave your scope or other comments,
use our Resources & Documents page
to download handouts, check out the
Media - News Reports or the Images &
Video pages, and more.
http://www.un-naturalgas.org
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