Freaking Out Over Fracking

[madamesilverspurs]

..The conflicts aren't just in Colorado, as fracking creates boom towns in North Dakota, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and elsewhere. It has pitted the the possibility of new wealth for states and their residents against fears about air and water pollution, increased traffic congestion and property rights. Among the anti-frackers, there is a division among those who believe fracking should be stopped until there is enough reliable data on the relatively new technology to show it's environmentally safe, those who say none of the oil and gas can come out of the ground for fear of exacerbating climate change and those who just don't want wells in their backyards.

In New York, communities in the state's Southern Tier, atop the Marcellus shale and next to fracking-rich Pennsylvania, are considering the extreme step of seceding from the state following Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration's move to ban fracking. In Maryland, state lawmakers passed legislation to block fracking for 2.5 years. Last year, California counties San Benito, Santa Cruz and Mendocino voted to keep the drilling method away. In November, residents of Denton, Texas, the state at the heart of America's oil and gas boom, passed a ballot measure banning it. Campaigners in Oklahoma are looking to handcuff would-be frackers after scientists there linked it to hundreds of small earthquakes.

All those fights have their roots in Colorado, where activists have scored a string of successes by getting towns to ban or limit fracking within their boundaries. The state's Supreme Court is weighing whether local governments have that power.
...
read more
www.washingtonexaminer.com/freaking-out-over-fracking/article/2563518#.VT5wwEAJMxY.facebook


------------------------------------------

This was hard to read because it's about my home. I know these people. I am among them. The place where I was born is being destroyed for greed. Our county commissioners and city councils dismiss our concerns as they point to the money that has purchased their awareness away from the increasingly unhealthy realities; they seem to think that poisoning the present won't make a toxic future. It is to weep, and we do.

[mountain grammy]

1. Oh yeah, Colorado has led the way..

some of the first laws in the nation, weak as they are, and they are weak. Remember the fire at the waste dump a week ago? No reports of the toxins in that smoke. Then there's the methane plume over the 4 corners. According to Colorado law, local communities cannot ban fracking and are being sued where they've tried.
I'm too tired to go on, but oil and gas are selling out Colorado. With our abundant sun and wind? Energy companies are now over 20% fueled by renewable energy, so we're getting there.

[locks]

2. Thanks for posting this

Since the Examiner is owned by Anschutz I thought the article would be just another apology for big oil like the terrible TV commercials. And probably another mocking slam at the people in Erie, Boulder, Longmont and northern CO who have fought so hard and long to stop fracking. But I was surprised that this reporter had done some in-depth research and covered the arguments well, unlike the Denver Post.

We can only hope that Hickenlooper, Polis and Bennet will realize that the people who elected them have also done their homework when it comes to fracking and are not going to be blown away by the millions being spent by the wealthiest corporations in the nation.

[madamesilverspurs]

3. ...

[I hate liars]

4. Local pols might be waiting for the TPP to pass...

So they can cave to lawsuits from foreign-owned fracking companies (it's not clear to me whether the same investor state dispute mechanism will also allow domestic firms to sue governments over loss of imaginary profits). That'll give them the cover they need to throw their hands up.