I agree with the "not in anybody's back yard" sentiment. I'm not opposed to
tapping the gas in the Marcellus if it can be done safely, but I am not
satisfied that the risks will be adequately mitigated. Too many "shoulds"
and not enough "shalls" in the regs; too much uncertainty about the
potential for connection to aquifers through vertical faults; too few
safeguards against surface spills; too few personnel to assure compliance
with the inadequate regulations. Natural gas prices are depressed by a
excess of supply, so what's the rush to develop new sources? We should be
conserving for future use and keeping prices up to discourage consumption
and promote investment in alternatives.
Joel
At 11:44 PM 11/19/09 -0500, you wrote:
One danger with cross posting (which I did when I posted a portion of
this Shaleshock thread on Sustainable Tompkins) is that the context of
the full thread of the list-serves in general is lacking. And I think
this may have contributed to george's reactions.
The reason I made the cross-post is because I felt the Shaleshock
thread underscored the need for the work ST does on energy
conservation and efficiency, which I wanted to reinforce.
The lost context did not show the lack of NIMBYism among
Shaleshockers: I have heard only increased sympathy for people living
in other extraction "sacrifice zones," such as mountaintop removal
and long wall mining, not to mention the folks who have been fracked
in other states. There is no good acronym for this sort of compassion
and cooperation: but it would look like NIABY (not in anybody's back
yard).
Which gets us back to where we each should be: buttoning up our
houses, cutting our own use of gas and coal, while calling for
appropriate state and national public policies which support safe
energy production (safe enough to have in anyone's back yard!)
Margaret
On Nov 19, 2009, at 9:56 PM, George Frantz wrote:
Thank you, Margaret and Autumn.
I'm not in agreement with all the points you've made. I think
however that you've raise a critical issue in that much of the
debate over Marcellus shale drilling is sounding more and more like
simple NIMBYism.
I see nothing progressive or enlightened about the vehement
opposition to any and all frack-based natural gas drilling in this
region. As I've said before we are confronted with an industry that
would dig up its mothers' graves if there was a chance of finding
natural gas beneith them, but I also think that some of the
outrageous exaggerations and distortions by Shaleshock and its ilk
would even impress the great SpinMeister Karl Rove.
The current controversy is just another of a long string of examples
in Ithaca of what true progressives and true environmentalists refer
to as "leisure class environmentalism." It's probably not a term
you'll hear on NPR or read in the New York Times, but by definition
it is the constant action of more affluent cities and regions to
push off the significant adverse environmental impacts of their
middle class American lifestyle onto poorer regions and communities
of the world.
Some three-quarters of homes in the city and the town of Ithaca are
heated with natural gas, as are all of our centers of employment,
our stores, bars, restaurants and I suspect even the State Theatre.
Overall in Tompkins County almost 6 in ten homes are heated with
natural gas or propane from afar. Indeed the entire economy of
Upstate New York is dependent of natural gas and propane produced
and imported from thousands of miles away.
I've seen too much of the damage wreaked by energy companies first
hand in poor communities of Appalachia and Louisiana in their quest
to meet Ithaca's demands for coal, natural gas and gasoline. I
personally refuse to be a party to an effort by Ithaca-style
progressives to once again push off on other, poorer, regions of
America and the world the severe environmental costs of maintaining
our little paradise here in the Finger Lakes.
And, speaking of dairy farms, there are over 300 Marcellus Shale
wells either drilled, being drilled, or have been permitted across
the border in Bradford County, PA. Many of them are on dairy
farms. In many cases you can not even see the finished wells,
because the drilling sites have been restored and crops have been
planted.
Millions of gallons of fracking fluids are flowing right now.
Probably some 5-6 billion gallons or so of water have been pulled
from the Susquehanna River or its tributaries by now. Take a drive
down and check out the environmental havoc wreaked by the drilling
companies, if you can find it.
George Frantz
_______________________________________________
For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County
area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/
RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for:
[email protected]
http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins
Questions about the list? ask [email protected]
free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
_______________________________________________
For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County
area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/
RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for:
[email protected]
http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins
Questions about the list? ask [email protected]
free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
_______________________________________________
For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area,
please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/
RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for:
[email protected]
http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins
Questions about the list? ask [email protected]
free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
_______________________________________________
For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please
visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/
RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for:
[email protected]
http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins
Questions about the list? ask [email protected]
free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
