Tech | January 26, 2012 | 20 comments

Tell President Obama to Walk Away from Empty Promises of Fracked Shale Gas

source: http://action.foodandwaterwatch.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=9292

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JanforGore
In his State of the Union speech, President Obama lauded natural gas from shale as a key part of his clean energy plan. Fracking shale for natural gas is an intensive extractive process that has polluted the water and air of communities across the country. There is nothing clean about it.

President Obama said that he "will not walk away on the promise of clean energy." Tell him that the gas industry's promises are deceptive.

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20 comments // Tell President Obama to Walk Away from Empty Promises of Fracked Shale Gas

  • JanforGore
    • +2
      JanforGore  

    • Well, I just know the link above was inundated with signatures and comments from here because so many care about the Earth and this country. So thank you so much for caring about the planet, our water and our land and putting politics aside to take action...

    • 4 months ago
  • Incredulous
    • +1
      Incredulous  

    • more f'cking bullshit lies coming from the O about "his" clean energy plan....the majority of this gas is being exported...yes, that's right, shipped out of the country for profit....and guess who the profiteers are? NOT the citizenry....

    • 4 months ago
  • Ambill94
  • ecoalex
    • +2
      ecoalex  

    • Hundreds of new leases opened up in the gulf of Mexico today.Obama is doubling down in oil,gas despite the truth that it is incredibly harmful to the environment.Obama is onboard with new nukes despite now wind,solar and more sustainable energy produces more energy than nukes .

    • 4 months ago
  • COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM
    • +1
      COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM  

    • Jan dear, it's campaign rhetoric, even though it was a "carrot and stick" volley on energy. He sounds as though he's saying, if you give me alternative energy development approval, I'll support exploiting U.S. resources. Is that possibly any more than a campaign soundbite?

    • 4 months ago
  • JanforGore
  • Anonmaly
    • +2
      Anonmaly  

    • Any man, president, politician unwilling to legalize industrial hemp in a manner as to make it economically viable, in the U.S., to cultivate is a not a reasonable man...

      (the problem is regulation, it's technically legal in 2-3 states, but the regulations are insane....)

      Not a man who seeks to do anything but go down the same destructive path...

      We're literally subsidizing industrial hemp in other countries, go to a craft store by a roll of hemp chord, I could just about promise you it's from Germany, or England every time...

      Nope, I think I'll just piss up my hemp rope, because that man is completely unreasonable, and just about irrational to help in continuing to subsidize foreign hemp...

    • 4 months ago
  • JanforGore
    • +3
      JanforGore  
    • Anonmaly:

      Well, while I agree about hemp, this is about fracking which is a threat to our water and land and I will be damned if any president or Congress is going to get away with leaving this country a wasteland for our children. He has to be told to do his job. It is our job to tell him. And that is what I intend to do.

    • 4 months ago
  • coolplanet
  • Incredulous
  • JanforGore
    • +4
      JanforGore  

    • I don't care who the president is- this is wrong. And unless the exemption of disclosure of chemicals in the Safe Drinking Water Act is recinded, these companies can contnue business as usual. I do not want this country reduced to a wasteland of toxic water and pock marks because people can't understand the connection to their consumption habits! People complain about Republicans wanting them dead? From where I sit both parties aren't doing too good by supporting insanity like this! There is no reason for the thousands upon thousands of wells that are being drilled and fracked in this country except GREED. We are destroying ourselves and our resources that have a value beyond any dollar bill.

    • 4 months ago
  • JanforGore
  • coolplanet
    • +2
      coolplanet  
    • JanforGore:

      I'm working on a letter to the President about fracking and tar sands and am thinking of posting it to Current. Basically I'm telling him that I've been a strong supporter until I watched his State of the Union address. Unless he changes his policy on gas fracking, tar sands and offshore drilling he has lost my vote.

    • 4 months ago
  • JanforGore
    • +3
      JanforGore  
    • coolplanet:

      I wish you luck with that. I wrote a six page letter to him on GMOs with so much information in it he would be remiss to say he didn't know about them.... not a response back or a nod even though he did state in 2008 he would see them labelled. But again, presidents are not kings, they are hired by the people and when they don't do their jobs it is up to us to tell them so. So if you do write that letter let me know. I will sign it too.

      Oh, and see the slight of hand here. He states oil subsidies should be done away with... all well and good. It won't matter though to Shell, Chevron, BP, Exxon, etc. because they are now all going to invest in these gas wells and make it back.

      And thanks for caring.

    • 4 months ago
  • JanforGore
    • +5
      JanforGore  

    • This form of toxic energy extraction was exempted from the Safe Drinking Water Act in the 2005 Energy Bill because Dick Cheney wrote it in because Halliburton is a leading fracking company. Obama voted for that bill. These companies are poisoning your water and land and gettiing away with it. It's time to look beyond politics and stand up for your water and land.

    • 4 months ago
  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
    • +5
      JanforGore  
    • Image

    • From the link:
      President Obama,

      An America Built to Last must have clean water. The inclusion of natural gas from shale as a key to our energy future threatens our nation's water resources. Fracking shale for natural gas is an intensive extractive process that has polluted the water and air of communities across the country. There is nothing clean about it.

      In your State of the Union Address, you grossly inflated the job producing potential of shale gas, citing the oil and gas industry's estimates rather than actual labor statistics in regions with fracking. The claims of energy independence and economic security that major industry players are using to sell gas to American policymakers are deceptive. You can read more in the reports from Food & Water Watch:

      http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/fracking/

      While we agree that gas companies should disclose the chemicals they use in fracking, simply telling us which chemicals gas companies use will not prevent the contamination from happening in nearby communities. It falls far short of removing the the oil and gas industry's exemption from key environmental regulations like the Safe Drinking Water Act, which you should agree would be "regulations to prevent irresponsible behavior" by the oil and gas industry.

      President Obama, we can't "develop this resource without putting the health and safety of our citizens at risk." The research increasingly shows that fracking has contaminated groundwater resources from Wyoming to Pennsylvania.

      Finally, opening up 75 percent of the nation's offshore resources will be disastrous for our oceans, marine life and the fisheries and tourism industries. We saw what happened with the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and we simply cannot afford another accident like that.

      Please walk away from fracking and offshore oil drilling toward an energy efficient future powered by renewable sources.

    • 4 months ago
  • JanforGore
    • +5
      JanforGore  

    • Our water is our lifeline. It is our right to have clean potable water for our needs and our food. This form of toxic energy puts us all more at risk for contaminated water and food as well as diseases. Fracking is insanity and calling it clean energy is just downright lying.

    • 4 months ago
  • coolplanet
    • +4
      coolplanet  
    • JanforGore:

      Just the amount of water required to frack one gas well is staggering -- millions of gallons!
      When the water comes back up it is full of heavy metals and radioactive material which they dump in our rivers! Pittsburgh's Mon River was closed for recreation and drinking water back in 2008. They told us it was bacteria from the drought until we learned in the NYT last year that the water was actually radioactive!
      Gas fracking is poisoning our watertables and causing earthquakes. Our local town of Dimock, PA can no longer use their well water because of fracking and drinking water in now shipped in by the EPA. What about taking baths or washing clothes and dishes? Or watering plants?
      This is beyond stupid. It is complete evil.

    • 4 months ago
  • JanforGore
    • +3
      JanforGore  
    • coolplanet:

      Definitely not good as drought spreads across the panhandle and other parts of the country due to climate change and overuse. These people are consumed with and blinded by greed. They see nothing else. And can you imagine- the Keystone XL was protested because the route was to go over the Ogallala Aquifer and people were concerned about the effects of a spill there. So why is this ok?

    • 4 months ago
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