by http://www.energypath.org
By Walter Brasch
Pennsylvanians want to put a
moratorium on fracking.
And it's not just a few
thousand, but a majority of the state's residents.
Pennsylvania lies in the
heart of the Marcellus Shale, possibly the most productive shale for gas in the
country.
A joint University of
Michigan/Muhlenberg College study reveals that only 49 percent of
Pennsylvanians support shale gas extraction and 58 percent of all Pennsylvanians
want the state to order "time out" until the health and environmental effects
of fracking can be fully analyzed. That same study revealed that 60 percent of
Pennsylvanians believe fracking poses a major risk to ground water resources,
only 28 percent disagree; 12 percent have no opinion.
Petitions with more than
100,000 signatures requesting a moratorium were delivered to Gov. Tom Corbett
in April. As is typical for the man who willingly accepted more than $1.8
million in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry, it didn't
matter.
High-volume
hydraulic horizontal fracturing, better known as fracking, requires per well
three to nine million gallons of fresh water, about 10,000 tons of silica sand,
and about 100,000 gallons of a lubricant mixture that the drilling companies
won't reveal the contents. However, a U.S. House of Representatives study
suggests that of about 750 chemicals that could be used in that solution--every
well and every company uses a different mixture--about 650 are toxic or known
carcinogens. That mixture is forced into the earth, past the aquifers that
provide drinking water, and then is brought up and placed into plastic-liner
storage bins, where it is eventually loaded into trucks that travel throughout
Pennsylvania, occasionally leaking onto the roads, and usually into Ohio, where
millions of gallons of the fluids are forced back into the earth. Scientific
evidence now links those deep injection wells to earthquakes. Scientists have
also shown health and environmental effects from fracking, and that methane, an
explosive greenhouse gas extracted from the earth, has added to the problems of
climate change.
In June, the Democratic State
Central Committee approved a resolution to establish a moratorium.
So, if almost three-fifths of
all residents want fracking to stop, who's opposing the moratorium? Just about
anyone in a political leadership position. They tend to be the ones who from
their own houses can't see drilling rigs, well pads, frack pits, and frack
trucks that block access roads. They tend to be the ones who have deliberately
twisted the facts and now squawk about how fracking the earth has helped create
jobs and improve the economy, while ignoring the problems already proven that
affect their constituents' health, environment, and food supply.
The Democrats' resolution had
begun in February. Sue Lyons, an attorney, had proposed the resolution.
However, the Rules Committee of the Democratic Party Central Committee did not allow
it to go forward, questioning its legality. To make sure the resolution was not
in the best interest of Pennsylvania, the party even contacted the Department
of Environmental Protection, the same DEP that has policies that block full
transparency, that has a policy to "educate" rather than penalize gas companies
that violate state pollution standards, and for two years had been run by a
political crony of Gov. Corbett. The DEP agreed with what passes as Democratic
leadership--the resolution was out of order.
Enter Karen Feridun, Patti
Rose, and Berks Gas Truth. With a massive grassroots campaign, in less than two
months they convinced the delegates to the Central Committee not only to get the
resolution out of committee but also onto the floor for the vote.
Before the delegates, Feridun
argued that contrary to politician and industry claims, no one can say that
fracking is safe because the chemicals are protected from disclosure under an
exception to the Safe Water Drinking Act, the exception having been pushed
through during the Bush--Cheney administration. The Michigan/Muhlenberg poll
reveals that 91 percent of all Pennsylvanians believe fracking companies should
disclose all chemicals used in the process. Feridun argued that frack waste is
so radioactive that landfills and sewer plants won't accept it, that fracking
has led to massive fish kills. But, most important, fracking has led to health
problems, and even the DEP has had to acknowledge there have been at least 160
identified cases of contaminated water wells because of nearby fracking.
The Democratic leadership,
somewhat parroting the Republicans, didn't accept that democracy prevailed in
the state central committee. Vice-chair Penny Gerber, who lives in Montgomery
County, which is exempt from fracking, called fracking "a thriving industry." Gerber
is an associate at a PR firm whose clients include large energy companies.
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