Tech | March 04, 2011 | 115 comments

NY Times Report: Fracked water thousands of times more dangerous than they are telling us

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JanforGore
Good old hydrofracking. You know about it right? It's the method to produce natural gas by fracturing rock formations with millions of gallons of water and toxic chemicals. It's been contaminating groundwater in the Western US for many years and now it is being pursued with a vengeance in the East, particularity with respect to the Marcellus Shale formation that extends across Pennsylvania and New York.

Everyone in the know has warned us for years that hydrofracking was highly dangerous to sources of groundwater used for human consumption. But only now are we being told how much worse is that contamination of our water supplies. So bad it will make you ill after you read this investigative report from the NY Times:

With hydrofracking, a well can produce over a million gallons of wastewater that is often laced with highly corrosive salts, carcinogens like benzene and radioactive elements like radium, all of which can occur naturally thousands of feet underground. Other carcinogenic materials can be added to the wastewater by the chemicals used in the hydrofracking itself.

While the existence of the toxic wastes has been reported, thousands of internal documents obtained by The New York Times from the Environmental Protection Agency, state regulators and drillers show that the dangers to the environment and health are greater than previously understood.

The documents reveal that the wastewater, which is sometimes hauled to sewage plants not designed to treat it and then discharged into rivers that supply drinking water, contains radioactivity at levels higher than previously known, and far higher than the level that federal regulators say is safe for these treatment plants to handle.

In short, if your source of drinking water is a water plant that receives treated waste water from hydrofracking operations, your health and the health of your children and your neighbors and everyone else you know is at serious risk, a risk far greater than previously acknowledged by the oil and gas industry and federal regulators.

The Industry has known of these problems for many years, as has the EPA, as the documents shown to the NY Times reporters demonstrate. Yet neither the Industry nor the EPA has acted on those reports. Instead, both have turned a blind eye to the fact that waste water from hydrofracking is hazardous to your health. Indeed, since 2006, beginning with the Bush administration, the EPA told hydrofracking operators in Pennsaylvania that they did not need to test the the waste water that was released for radioactivity.

Astonishing, but true. Your government, politicians and the Oil and Gas Industry collaborated in a conspiracy of silence regarding the safety of using hydrofracking techniques to produce natural gas. As one alarmed expert stated:


“We’re burning the furniture to heat the house,” said John H. Quigley, who left last month as secretary of Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. “In shifting away from coal and toward natural gas, we’re trying for cleaner air, but we’re producing massive amounts of toxic wastewater with salts and naturally occurring radioactive materials, and it’s not clear we have a plan for properly handling this waste.”

The risks are particularly severe in Pennsylvania, which has seen a sharp increase in drilling, with roughly 71,000 active gas wells, up from about 36,000 in 2000. The level of radioactivity in the wastewater has sometimes been hundreds or even thousands of times the maximum allowed by the federal standard for drinking water.


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115 comments // NY Times Report: Fracked water thousands of times more dangerous than they are telling us

  • opit
  • lookatmypix
  • Wetdog
    • 0
      Wetdog  
    • Natural gas(methane) can be produced easily and cheaply from any type of biomass at all, including sewage and landfills----we've been doing it for 170 years.

      Germany is on track to be producing 20% of their methane usage from biomethane by 2020. Vehicles using CNG(compressed natural gas) are popular in Europe. Germany alone has over 5,000 CNG filling stations.

      Fossil methane and biomethane can be mixed in any proportion with no loss of performance in any application. It is the same stuff, CH4.

      Methane is the most versatile and cost effective biofuel we have.

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
  • Schnookums
  • JanforGore
  • Schnookums
  • WakeUpPeople
    • +1
      WakeUpPeople  
    • Greed will destroy us. Refuse fossil fuel energy! Please call your electricity provider and switch to renewable energy. This is a TRAGEDY OF EPIC PROPORTIONS. Destroying our water, soil, and air is the absolute most idiotic thing we as humans are doing... as if we don't depend on our ecosystems for EVERYTHING. It is dumbfounding that people cannot see this, and it is even worse that $$$ is blinding those that can and SHOULD stop it.

    • 1 year ago
  • PeteLeS33
  • JanforGore
    • +1
      JanforGore  
    • http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704076804576180803749643790.html

      "Arkansas authorities on Friday ordered two companies to temporarily stop injecting wastewater into deep underground storage wells, as regulators investigate whether they are linked to a recent spate of earthquakes in the area.

      Chesapeake Energy Corp. and Clarita Operating LLC didn't oppose the order affecting the two storage wells but said their operations weren't related to the 850 or so mostly minor quakes that have agitated north-central Arkansas since September.

      "We remain confident that the facts and science will lead to a more constructive and satisfactory conclusion to this matter," said Danny Games Sr., a Chesapeake official in Arkansas, in a statement.

      Clarita's parent company, True Energy Services LLC, said on its website Friday that the earthquakes were "the result of natural causes."

      "The impact of shutting in our disposal well is devastating to our small company," it said, adding that its only business in Arkansas is disposing of wastewater.

      The Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission says there is no evidence that natural-gas drilling itself is related to the earthquakes, including last Sunday's 4.7-magnitude quake that was the state's most severe in 35 years. That temblor reportedly knocked items off shelves and cracked plaster, though it caused no injuries.

      But drilling produces wastewater, especially the technique of hydraulic fracturing, in which natural-gas producers inject millions of gallons of water and chemicals at high pressure to break apart tight rock formations, allowing gas to flow to the surface.

      Drillers often dispose of the liquid in deep underground wells, known as injection wells, which are used by a wide variety of industries and governments.

      The oil and gas commission thinks that one or both of the injection wells may be "enhancing or inducing earthquakes," Director Lawrence Bengal wrote to commissioners, based on an analysis of the location and number of earthquakes, as well as data submitted by the companies.

      The state regulator continues to investigate and wants to collect more data from the companies.

      Mr. Bengal said he would present an analysis to the commission later this month. Friday's order prohibits wastewater injection at the sites until the commission's next meeting, March 29.

      In February, the commission imposed a six-month moratorium on drilling new wells to store wastewater.

      The moves won't prevent natural-gas producers from drilling in the region, which has other injection wells unaffected by the order.

      Scientific studies dating back decades have linked storage wells to seismic activity.

      "It is confirmed and established that injection wells can induce seismicity," said Scott Ausbrooks, a geologist for the Arkansas Geological Survey."

      ________

      And yet, they deny it.

    • 1 year ago
  • Gravity_Man
  • Gravity_Man
  • totally_dilapidated
  • Gravity_Man
  • totally_dilapidated
    • +1
      totally_dilapidated  
    • Gravity_Man:

      ohh...
      i misunderstood you
      when you wrote: u.s. soldiers
      and then wrote: my rating is tanking
      i thought you were playing word games

      so i came back with military "retreat" and making a pun to mean re-treat
      to re-stock up on the treats

      you want job so you can motor off to work!

      well... i suggest you beat on your city, state and national representative to
      pry the dollars out of corporate fists and help our economy...

    • 1 year ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • -1
      Gravity_Man  
    • totally_dilapidated:

      Rubpresentatives? I went down there one time, one only, and told them people are being harmed in these apartments by the cheap wiring spraying electrical fields into their body, kid's eyeballs, women's ovaries, off the outlets and dishwasher. Would you care to know how high they jumped to do anything?

      People are temporary and expendable. The sooner we croak equals the sooner we stop being in the way. That's the "way of life" the soldiers are protecting.

      Sometimes a meltdown can be a good thing. Therapeutic.

    • 1 year ago
  • totally_dilapidated
    • 0
      totally_dilapidated  
    • Gravity_Man:

      i read what you are saying

      i ran into a woman who became so sensitive to the electromagnetic field
      coming off the wiring in her house
      she had to get filters installed at the panel

      on people expendable : you got that right ok

      on meltdown being therapeutic :
      reminds me of guns n roses "welcome to the jungle"

      so in conclusion
      you are right
      the reep is not going to help unless you put large donations into the coffer...

    • 1 year ago
  • Gravity_Man
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • totally_dilapidated:

      Actually no, no one "has to" get filters installed at the circuit box. It does depend on where the box is. Some boxes are stuck deep in a closet, others in the basement. Mine here in this apartment is right beside the refrigerator, opposite the wall and very easy to access. In an apartment they would not allow any renters to install filters anyway. Nor a timer on the water heater either for that matter; I asked.

      What I do instead is turn off stuff I know causes the worst leaking energy (and harmful electric fields). The kitchen divider has the dishwasher and the dishwasher motor apparently stays constantly on-the-ready warmed up for running, 24 hours a day. All the energy coming off the wires is electricity we all get billed for.

      So not only does the OSCILLATING ENERGY penetrate into our cells and disrupt them til they turn CANCEROUS we are being BILLED FOR THE ELECTRICITY THAT IS GIVING US CANCER,

      I keep the dishwasher and entire kitchen divider circuit turned to Off. Also the washer, the dryer, having big motors that draws a ton of TRICKLE CURRENT ($$$), the bedroom and living room (all TV's, VCR, stereo), and sometimes the Water Heater because it keeps flipping on & off 24 hours a day.

      The heatpump whew. It's down at the ground level, so the juice has to come 75 feet up here (lost $$$) then travel down there (another 75 feet => lost $$$), plus it sits there 24 hours a day stayed warmed up drawing even more trickle current (more $$$ to APCO POWER). If I don't do all that my bill jumps 250%-300% what I'm actually using.

      The reason for THAT is I discovered 2 1/2 years ago that all the power companies here in Virginia are pushing a higher voltage in the lines out to the homes than what they are supposed to push. Voltage is synonymous with Pressure, so when stuff like TV's and radios and BIG ELECTRIC MOTORS stayed plugged in they're drawing more trickle current than normal.

      Even the electrical outlets sitting there with nothing plugged in at all, the extra electricity is jumping through the air from one plug to the other plug hole. It travels across through the H2O moisture in the air. I can keep my electric bill down around $40.00-$50.00 per month by doing the circuit box breaker shutdowns ongoing.

    • 1 year ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • totally_dilapidated:

      All homes and apartments should be converted over to using DC electricity & DC appliances like used in motorhomes. It would stop a lot of cancers and people no longer being a receiving antennae for oscillating current would become much more peaceful, happier, stable, relaxed.

      AC would still carry power into the electric meters, a DC inverter would be on our side.

    • 1 year ago
  • totally_dilapidated
  • Gravity_Man
    • -1
      Gravity_Man  
    • totally_dilapidated:

      Not a thing. Just when you throw the breakers you always want to make it a solid motion so it doesn't generate any sparks inside the wall. You write too good a mails to lose you.

      Just one solid move like you mean it, without extra force. I wouldn't do it to the heatpump while it's running.

    • 1 year ago
  • Gravity_Man
  • totally_dilapidated
  • totally_dilapidated
  • Gravity_Man
  • bailey78
  • bailey78
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • bailey78:

      If I had my druthers I'd want the one attached to a 4-speed transmission thanks. But much as I love the thought right now I don't have the monies to even pay for Shipping.

    • 1 year ago
  • bailey78
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • bailey78:

      I don't seem to have any job prospects to get the cash together. I got OLD ya know and all that, mental breakdown, Alzheimer's and intermittent bouts of dementia last year caused by last summer, heat stroke I guess. I rather think not too many TRUCKING COMPANIES will hire me.

      If however the engine is in your way you can send em to Glade Creek Garage in Blue Ridge Virginia where the mechanic does my repairs. I can start making payments $50 a month til I pay you back.

      I sure could use the one has an AC motor still on it if one has.

      Once I get the 302 out I've been told the 3-speed transmission behind it is used on drag strips, for being geared so low and dependable. I think it's called a C-3. Once I get them out I can do some trading and get the trannie I need.

      And then I start planning my trip to TEXAS. hahahaha

    • 1 year ago
  • bailey78
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • bailey78:

      I've driven 3/4 of a million miles tractor-trailer so being willing isn't a problem. But my engine probably wouldn't make it. It only gets 16 miles a gallon so the money would be awesome for gas, around $400.

      However, I think one of the trucking companies might crate em up if you called them.

      Shoot, you really don't need a full crate anyway. All it takes is a pallet and being strapped down with plastic strap or baling wire or something. I have good cutters. From China!!!

      Are both engines in running condition??

    • 1 year ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • bailey78:

      A trucking company, or even Fedex maybe, one of em would bring you a pallet. Yellow Freight might cost too much but there's others. I drove for one called Frederickson and they had real low shipping costs. We would pick up most anything, paints, glass we usually shattered. hahaha

      Actually, they never really trained me for that PTL stuff. They hired people up here who didn't know their jobs, including the manager she didn't know anything. They wanted us to fail. We were a tax write-off they needed.

    • 1 year ago
  • cool0ne
    • +1
      cool0ne  
    • Mark Ruffalo was placed on a terrorist watch list for ... trying to educate the public about the dangers of drilling for natural gas? Leave it to that good old nightmare of bureaucracy, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
      state slogan You've Got A Friend In Pennsylvania

    • 1 year ago
  • simplecj
    • +1
      simplecj  
    • Interesting. So it sounds like a lot of the radioactive and toxic materials aren't actually from the fracking fluid, but "naturally occurring" material that is released from the ground itself. Add to that all the crap they put in the fracking sauce and you get contaminated aquifers. That sucks. Totally fracked up!! (battlestar ref =)

    • 1 year ago
  • bailey78
  • simplecj
    • 0
      simplecj  
    • bailey78:

      I've watched "Gasland", but was left with the impression that it was just the fracking liquid that was the contaminate. I guess it makes sense that it's releasing natural toxic material into the ground water. Also interesting that SALT is one of the biggest contaminates. All those ancient oceans and dry lakes I guess.

      My buddy is a chem engineering masters student at the UofU. He's doing his research on how fracking results in well formations. I told him he needs to go further and study the contamination aspect of aquifers. He said that wasn't really his focus, mainly just how fracturing effects different rock and sediment layers and how to predict the resulting formation, but I assume his research will assist in minimizing contamination if they better understand what's going on down there.

      He plans to work in that field when he graduates, so I'm making sure he's aware of the problems so that he can help address them in the future. Natural gas is a far better resource than crude oil, but we need honesty and caution to be a part of it's development. If we ever want to free ourselves of oil, natural gas will play a huge role.

      Jon Stewart recently had natural gas enthusiast T. Boon Pickens on his show and I applaud him [Jon] for bringing up the environmental issues of fracking as well as the Gasland documentary. Pickens wasn't really happy about that, but I think he did more or less acknowledge that is something that needs to be addressed.

      Fracked up!! (I love Battlestar Galactica, can't help thinking of it every time this subject comes up =)

    • 1 year ago
  • totally_dilapidated
  • Wetdog
  • JanforGore
    • +2
      JanforGore  
    • http://www.newsinferno.com/fracking/another-fracking-worry-earthquakes/

      And if the toxicity and health effects aren't enough, earthquakes may well be another result of over fracking.

      "We’ve reported on this phenomenon before. Last year, we wrote that fracking had been named a suspect in a series of minor earthquakes that occurred in West Virginia’s Braxton County. Last April, Braxton County experienced a 3.4 magnitude earthquake. Between April and the end of August the area was the site of at least six more, according to West Virginia Public Broadcasting. Most were around a 2.7 magnitude – not enough to cause damage but enough for people to feel them.

      A town in Braxton County called Frametown is home to holding tanks that store water used in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, operations. The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has permitted Chesapeake Energy to use a nearby underground well to dispose of the drilling fluid. About ten million gallons of drilling fluid had been pumped into the well since the spring of 2009. At the time we reported on the West Virginia earthquakes, the state and Chesapeake were trying to determine if the drilling fluid injections were related to the seismic activity.

      In 2009, the disposal of fracking wastewater was also named a possible suspect in a series of earthquakes that plagued North Texas, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. According to a Wall Street Journal report filed at the time, Chesapeake Energy shut down two disposal wells in the area “as a precautionary measure” due to the upswing in seismic activity.

      Researchers from Southern Methodist University in Dallas who deployed sensors to study the seismic activity said their research did show a “possible correlation” between the activity and one of Chesapeake’s disposal wells, the Journal said. The disposal well in question was located at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, which sits atop a fault line."

      http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/us/06earthquake.html?_r=2&ref=earthquakes
      More on this.

    • 1 year ago
  • Slingingstones
    • +4
      Slingingstones  
    • George Carlin was right. Humans are a virus that the Earth only tolerates in the short term. It needed plastic, so it keeps us around to make plastic; but, once Earth gets it's fill it will dust it's hands off of the "virus".

      The big pink slip.

      -...-

      When H.G. Wells wrote, "War of the Worlds", no one thought he was writing about big corporations as being the aliens. I mean, where do these people doing the fracking get their water from? Do they drink from some hidden reservoir or captured glacier in shangri la?

      What is it they're ultimately after...after they've killed off all of us, the 'little people'? The Land? Who'll work the land? I personally don't see them doing anything considered labor intensive.

      Are they exempt from all their frack-ups?

      cheers

    • 1 year ago
  • Jeremy_Benson
    • 0
      Jeremy_Benson  
    • Slingingstones:

      There's no backup plan by the elites. Maybe one or two has a contingency plan, but this is just mindless self-destruction. I believe it was Carl Sagan who said we were at a crossroads where we either grow or destroy ourselves.

    • 1 year ago
  • totally_dilapidated
  • totally_dilapidated
  • bailey78
    • +3
      bailey78  
    • I have fifteen Natural gas wells around here that are within a five mile radius. They frack them about once a year because they slow down or stop produceing. Either way i no longer drink the water from my well. The closest well is about a thousand yards from me. Not something you want in your back yard.

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
  • bailey78
  • Jeremy_Benson
  • bailey78
  • totally_dilapidated
  • totally_dilapidated
  • bailey78
  • bailey78
  • totally_dilapidated
    • 0
      totally_dilapidated  
    • bailey78:

      ya... roots do have a pull

      since i was a wee child
      i was moved and moved and moved again
      air force brat was a part of that movement

      then
      as an adult
      about every 2 years
      an unseen and and unheard alarm would go off
      and off i would go to elsewhere

      now
      in my downhill run to old age
      i've found myself in the same place for 4 years
      i am... surprised

      so
      i built a house

      if the gas man cometh
      i am built to scoot along little doggie...

    • 1 year ago
  • bailey78
    • +1
      bailey78  
    • JanforGore:

      What really scares Me is the rate of cancer victims. People that live to be old Most all die of some kind of cancer. My father a bunch of Uncles a few of My Aunts.They all died of cancer. I see folks all around this area die of somekind of cancer. Not pretty don't quick not nice to watch. Most all of them have died a slow painful death. My Father beat the cancer in a way. He starved His self to death. Just so the cancer would not win.

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  
    • bailey78:

      I agree. I knew so many people who died of cancer, or people who have lost someone or had an experience with cancer, both of my parents included. We have been toxifying our Earth slowly for decades and we are seeing the results of the greed pushing it. I always wonder if those raking in the millions ever had to experience grief or the loss of a loved one from cancer. I wonder how they would feel if their children, or wife, or mother or someone they loved (if they do love) were to get sick from the toxification they peddle. Would it spark an attack of conscience?

    • 1 year ago
  • bailey78
    • 0
      bailey78  
    • JanforGore:

      I'm sure that The Grief of cancer has touched those that are getting rich from the poisoning of the Earth. But they also can afford the best in care to go along with it.

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
  • bailey78
  • extracrazykiwi2008
  • ZiggyStrange
  • LivingPong
  • ZiggyStrange
  • kvb1
  • dinm76
  • simplecj
  • totally_dilapidated
    • 0
      totally_dilapidated  
    • dinm76:

      i was wondering what the cat hair was happening myself
      i ran a test

      i created another identity
      a nom de guerre
      it is spanking fresh and new as a new born
      no audio ads

      my original ID on Current is getting audio ads
      so
      either
      being a frequent user gets me tagged
      or
      maybe
      just maybe
      they want to scoot me along little doggie
      and drive me away with annoying audio ads

      i have been reduced to just plain shutting my audio off
      i can't go to the music lounge and hear music without the gross
      audio ad playing over the music

      i wonder if
      once they catch onto me shutting my audio off
      that i won't get very annoying ads plastered in my face on the
      conversation board

      either
      Current TV is losing the plot over the grab for cash
      or
      i don't know
      it's freakin weird...

    • 1 year ago
  • Wetdog
  • nanac
    • +3
      nanac  
    • This is scary.....We can't exist without water, and we shouldn't have to question the safeness of our water-supply.....................Excellent article Jan..........We appreciate your dedication to mankind, please don't let your critics get you down!

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
  • twinite
    • +4
      twinite  
    • Wow....if they aren't leaving poisonous contrails in our skies, they're poisoning our drinking water. Who in the hell is going to financially support the corporations if they kill us all off??

    • 1 year ago
  • Incredulous
  • JanforGore
  • coolplanet
    • +5
      coolplanet  
    • I live at the epicenter of fracking here in SW PA.
      My family's farm is suddenly surrounded by Marcellus gas wells.
      Poor farmers LOVE making million$.
      They are even drilling on country club golf courses!
      But recently people are waking up and taking action at a local level.
      The headline of our free community newspaper this week is "Gas drilling opponents push debate." It's no longer a done deal.
      Apparantly methane coming out of your water tap is okay for some people.
      But almost everyone is scared to death about radiation in their water supply.
      Go figure.

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
    • +1
      JanforGore  
    • coolplanet:

      It is at the local level where you will see any real progress. The federal govt is lost to us. Too bought and sold. Even state legislatures in part. Funny too how feds always talk about their health care bills actually doing anything to keep people healthy when they then support the very things making people sick.

    • 1 year ago
  • The_Wanderer_KS
  • Weasel_Boy64
    • +3
      Weasel_Boy64  
    • The_Wanderer_KS:

      A very interesting article. Although it is not tied to fracking, it does show the constant dangers the Oil and Gas industries are more than willing to accept so as to increase their bottom line.

      Just think about the magnitude the Yaggy-1 leak could have posed had fracked been done in the area. The abandon brine well blow-outs would have occurred within hours, possiblly minutes.

      What really got me was the attitude of the NG industry. Thier only concern was being able to re-open the Yaggy site, and the effect it would have were they not able to re-use the Yaggy field.

    • 1 year ago
  • COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM
  • crunchynuts
    • -14
      crunchynuts  
    • JanforGore...is there anything that you dont complain about and is there anything that you complain about that you dont tie with some sinister government plot or some evil oil and gas industry??

      think about it..these politicians are acting upon the wishes of voting masses or these oil and gas industries are doing it because is a huge market for it..

      so who is the real culprit..the masses..

      it would serve us better if you direct that in teaching the masses to be more conservative with their use of natural resources..honestly, people are telling us that this war in middle east is due to oil..well?? are you changing your driving habits?? are telling your friends and family to conserve??

      pollution comes from people...

      if the demand is gone..then they dont have to pollute and frak us over

    • 1 year ago
  • COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM
    • +4
      COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM  
    • crunchynuts:

      crunchy, did someone step on your nuts? you seem just a tad irritable just now.

      Is Jan's point not that while the natural gas industry has been saying that fracturing is safe and harmless, that it is actually monumentally destructive. It's been evidenced that it severely poisons the ground and waters deep and far. As well, it may lead to subterraneous instability. The issue is, that the truth of it's effects are being suppressed and lied about, all while the EPA has been negligent in dealing adequately with the issue.

      Concerning the cost of fossil fuel energy, only God knows how much it will cost you, Jan and I, to clean up the fracturing disaster after the gas industry has gone out of business, like so many environmental disasters that we have picked up the tab for after those who created the disaster were long gone. If the monies being put into destructive energies and the search for those energies, were directed to safe and renewable energy, it would cost us all a great deal less in the long run.

    • 1 year ago
  • Weasel_Boy64
    • +1
      Weasel_Boy64  
    • crunchynuts:

      "think about it..these politicians are acting upon the wishes of voting masses..."

      And just how long have you been asleep? When was the last time a politician has actually done ANYTHING the voters asked for, or voted for? Politicians do the biddings of thier corporate donors and highest-bidding lobbyists.

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
  • Incredulous
    • +2
      Incredulous  
    • crunchynuts:

      while your post has some shades of truth to it, it is mostly lies that you, for whatever reason, have chosen to believe. I am willing to bet you haven't been on this earth long enough to remember the massive campaigns directed at people to consume more and more natural resources. In Illinois, where I grew up, the electric company frequently ran an add that said,

      "Electricity, costs less today you know
      than it did many long years ago
      a little birdie told me so,
      Cheep, Cheep, Little Bill"

      Hah, what a joke that has turned out to be, and yet people are encouraged to improve their lives with more and more electronic devices every day. You can't hardly even find a room freshener anymore that doesn't plug into an electric outlet, and they want us to believe that electric cars are going to be a viable solution to what ails us. People are encouraged to live their lives on their electronic devices, and yes, I am typing this message to you on a computer that is using electricity.

      Take a look at the automotive industry. Our government has consistently de-funded the rails in favor of highways and trucking. Why? Not because the people are consuming too much of whatever they are shipping, but because big agri-business has centralized farming and destroyed communities that once relied on each other for their needs. This has been a well orchestrated effort that has been going on since they turned Los Angeles into a city built almost exclusively around automobiles. The people did not demand this, they used to be able to walk to their local grocer or community events.

      When you have oil and gasmen making the decisions about how this country will run, is it any surprise we are dependent on technologies and modes of production that we did not choose, but rather were foisted upon us by the greedy whose main interest is and has always been, increased profit?

      I'll tell you what I do have a growing amount of hope for, the teenagers and young people who are storming their capital buildings, and using their technological savvy to take down the sand castles of the greedy old bastards who have, and continue to destroy the world and its people for their own pleasure. I believe this generation will come up with solutions, inventions and means of resistance that the greedy will never see coming until it is too late, and I support and applaud their efforts on every front.

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
  • jubal
    • 0
      jubal  
    • crunchynuts:

      You are smaking of troll...I see that you are a recent addition here, perhaps some formerly banned member that has reincarnated from another insufferable life?

      Quickly making friends are we? NOT. I am on to your game.

    • 1 year ago
  • Fishinflick
    • +2
      Fishinflick  
    • Hundreds of us fish the D River between NY & PA. We will be taking pictures and testing the water this summer. Gas leases are popping up everywhere. This is it folks, the last stand. Be prepared to do what it takes. If this is not stopped every aquifer and watershed in the country will be poisoned.

    • 1 year ago
  • Leen61
    • +1
      Leen61  
    • Fishinflick:

      Flick, you are absolutely correct! This is very scary! I saw the movie "GASLAND" and I saw the results of fracking. Horrible. This needs more attention. "GASLAND" is a must see!

    • 1 year ago
  • COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM
  • JanforGore
  • Fishinflick
  • JanforGore
  • Milieu
    • +2
      Milieu  
    • T. Boone Pickens has been pushing Natural Gas "Solution" for several years now. If you do a check of that "Good Ol' Boy" you'll find out he's about as bad as they come when it relates to destroying the environment. He's one of those who only cares about what will make him Richer regardless of the cost to anything living.

    • 1 year ago
  • COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM
  • desertts
    • +3
      desertts  
    • Milieu:

      I don't remember exactly what it was I watched, but T Boone Pickens also has control over quite a bit of water too. Wish I could remember what i watched...

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
  • artemis6
  • The_Wanderer_KS
  • FoosMaster
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