Fracking; Environmentalist jaberwocky or real concern?

[RadioRaheem84]

http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/newsroom/14287?id=2165&typeid=1



WILKES-BARRE – Responding to recent concerns expressed by residents of Dimock Township, Susquehanna County, the Department of Environmental Protection has collected dozens of water supply samples in the Carter Road area and determined that nearby gas well hydro fracturing activity has not impacted local wells.



http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/1a6e49d193e1007585257a46005b61ad?OpenDocument


The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it has completed its sampling of private drinking water wells in Dimock, Pa. Data previously supplied to the agency by residents, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and Cabot Oil and Gas Exploration had indicated the potential for elevated levels of water contaminants in wells, and following requests by residents EPA took steps to sample water in the area to ensure there were not elevated levels of contaminants. Based on the outcome of that sampling, EPA has determined that there are not levels of contaminants present that would require additional action by the Agency.

There was a lot of hoopla made about fracking being the next major environmental danger behind clean coal and oil drilling.

I for one cannot stand and do not trust Environmental movements because for the most part they care more about preserving endangered bugs than they do workers (true story about environmentalists stopping farmers because of bugs).

But at the same time I do not trust major corporations just enriching these small towns without a catch (or state agencies that might be in their pocket).

So what's the real story here? :confused: Now these environmentalists are saying that the cases of frauds are undercover oil and gas agents trying to discredit the anti-fracking movement.

[RadioRaheem84]

Good insight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AOidAeZmOw&feature=youtu.be

[Leftsolidarity]

I'm not huge into environmental stuff but I spent a lot of my summer working with people doing a lot of work around anti-fracking stuff. I didn't retain many solid numbers or anything cuz I was doing my own stuff but they didn't seem like they were making shit up. They were really smart level-headed people that had a lot of facts behind them so I wouldn't dismiss them as environmental wackos or anything.

If I had to take an educated guess, I'd assume that fracking can't be good for the environment nor do they care.

[RadioRaheem84]

Sounds like there is some harsh propaganda being dished out by the industry. They're treating this like a PR war.

[MarxSchmarx]

As far as college projects go, this is a pretty good one that provides the basics:

timfvNgr_Q4

I share some of the misgivings about the "save the yellow-bellied gnat catcher" crowd voiced here.

But this is one issue where there are real questions of environmental justice involved: a relatively new technology, with known potential for serious damage and hardly any oversight (a situation very different from genetic engineering, for example), is being systematically pushed by very large conglomerates (the same ones funding attacks on alternative renewable energy) through the power of the state at the highest levels on some of the most marginalized communities in North America. Normally I have nothing but contempt for NIMBY scum, but I've come to realize that this is a quite compelling problem.

[RedSonRising]

As far as college projects go, this is a pretty good one that provides the basics:

timfvNgr_Q4

I share some of the misgivings about the "save the yellow-bellied gnat catcher" crowd voiced here.

But this is one issue where there are real questions of environmental justice involved: a relatively new technology, with known potential for serious damage and hardly any oversight (a situation very different from genetic engineering, for example), is being systematically pushed by very large conglomerates (the same ones funding attacks on alternative renewable energy) through the power of the state at the highest levels on some of the most marginalized communities in North America. Normally I have nothing but contempt for NIMBY scum, but I've come to realize that this is a quite compelling problem.

Yes, fracking has become quite a problem, both as an environmentally destructive force and a social obstacle for rural workers facing the consequences.

[piet11111]

EPA has determined that there are not levels of contaminants present that would require additional action by the Agency.

The EPA has become a rubberstamp organization that will allow anything to get the capitalists going.

Remember Fukushima where the clean up workers had to stop because they hit their maximum radiation exposure ?
Well the state then doubled the "safe" exposure level the EPA is the organisation that in the case of fracking doubles the "safe" exposure levels for the population.

Now you all know me as a pro-technology guy but i seriously do not trust the EPA and even under normal situations i would not want to drink tapwater in the USA.

[#FF0000]

Well that's pretty fuckin' convenient (http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/gas-drilling/cabot-dimock-families-near-settlement-on-gas-drilling-contamination-1.1359097)

I wonder why the EPA is bouncing back and forth on this issue so much?

[#FF0000]

Yes, fracking has become quite a problem, both as an environmentally destructive force and a social obstacle for rural workers facing the consequences.

For example (http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/06/pa-fracking-eviction)

[Mather]

It's ironic, given how toothless and in bed with corporate interests the EPA is, that many right-wingers accuse it of being this radical environmentalist outfit that seeks to 'over' regulate American business.

[#FF0000]

Here's a list of the people dead or injured thanks in part to fracking in their area. (https://pennsylvaniaallianceforcleanwaterandair.wordpress. com/the-list/)

I gotta say, there are few issues that get me as heated as this. Especially in PA, where the companies and the governor are so fuckin' cozy with one another, and with how sleazy the charlatans that run the propaganda campaign for the companies are.