"As long as the powers can keep the people isolated and fragmented," says Siegmund, "the momentum for change can never be gained." The experience in Dimock and Jersey Shore is seen throughout the Marcellus Shale region.
It's not unreasonable to expect people who are unemployed or underemployed to grasp for anything to help themselves and their families, nor is it unreasonable to expect that persons--roustabouts, clerks, truck drivers, helicopter pilots, among several hundred thousand in dozens of job classifications--will take better paid jobs, even if it often means 60 hour work weeks under hazardous conditions. It's also not unreasonable to expect that families living in agricultural and rural areas, who are struggling to survive, will snap at the lure of several thousand dollars to lease mineral rights and some of their land to an energy company, which will also pay royalties. But what is unreasonable is that government allows corporations to flourish at the expense of the people and their environment.
The Sierra Club urges that the country needs "to leapfrog over gas whenever possible in favor of truly clean energy. Instead of rushing to see how quickly we can extract natural gas, we should be focusing on how to be sure we are using less--and safeguarding our health and environment in the meantime."
Christopher Portier , director of the National Center for Environmental Health , calls for more research studies that "include all the ways people can be exposed [to health hazards], such as through air, water, soil, plants and animals."
In November 2011, the Advisory Board of the U.S. Department of Energy concluded : " The public deserves assurance that the full economic, environmental and energy security benefits of shale gas development will be realized without sacrificing public health, environmental protection and safety. "
When the history of natural gas exploration in Pennsylvania is finally written, the story will be that it was a cheaper, cleaner energy source, and that it temporarily helped some people in rural areas, and brought some well-paying jobs into the state. But history will probably also record that the lure of immediate gratification led Pennsylvania's politicians to willingly accept political donations that led them to sacrifice their citizens' health and the state's environment.
[Assisting on this series, in addition to those quoted within the articles, were Rosemary R. Brasch, Eileen Fay, and Dr. Wendy Lynne Lee. Dr. Walter Brasch is an award-winning social issues journalist. His current book is Before the First Snow , a critically-acclaimed novel that looks at what happens when government and energy companies form a symbiotic relationship, using "cheaper, cleaner' fuel and the lure of jobs in a depressed economy but at the expense of significant health and environmental impact. The book is available at amazon.com and from the publisher, Greeley & Stone .]
flickr image By arimoore
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