Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Food & Water Watch has Sex on the Mind, Says Fracking Leads to STDs!
September 25, 2013September 25, 2013

The toilet continues to flush at the odious (and misnamed) Food & Water Watch and (oops!)…out comes another, uh, well you get the idea. The latest rubbish to emanate from Food & Water Watch (FWW) is a so-called report that says where there’s fracking there’s an increase in sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Uh, FWW? Maybe you were reading the wrong report? The “f” word in the report you were reading lacked a consonant and had a different vowel. We know–it’s an easy mistake to make.

This is what came out when the toilet flushed at FWW HQ yesterday:
Read More “Food & Water Watch has Sex on the Mind, Says Fracking Leads to STDs!”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PennEnvironment Supports PA Dem Frack Ban Bill, Gins Up Report
September 25, 2013September 26, 2013

Editor’s Correction: We slipped up! The original version of this story contained a headline and introduction (below) that said PennFuture was the organization that issued the report. It was not. It was PennEnvironment. Our sincere apologies to PennFuture.

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In a pathetic attempt to give political cover to their anti-drilling collaborators in the PA legislature, yesterday anti-drilling group ~~PennFuture~~ PennEnvironment issued a so-called report that demands that Pennsylvania turn the lights out on fracking for shale gas–at least for now and the foreseeable future–until…we don’t know, just until. Until they say so.

Last week MDN told you about PA Democrats who decided to leap over the cliff hoping a net (of public support) would appear by introducing legislation to ban fracking in the state (see PA Dems Go Over the Cliff – Introduce Statewide Frack Ban Bill). Thunk. No net appeared and the Dems now face annihilation at the next election. So ~~PennFuture~~ PennEnvironment is attempting to throw out a lifeline with a ginned up “report” that supports a loony frack ban…
Read More “PennEnvironment Supports PA Dem Frack Ban Bill, Gins Up Report”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

Willie Nelson & Friends are No Friends to Farmers
September 25, 2013September 25, 2013

A bunch of once-famous singers took to the stage this past weekend in Saratoga Springs, NY to lend Willie Nelson some help with his annual Farm Aid concert. Willie & friends were there to raise money for farmers and to bash fracking–the very thing that would raise more money for poor farmers than all of Willie’s concerts added together since he began doing them in the last century.

Among the has-beens who took to the stage was 94 year-old Pete Seeger–or a very passable taxidermist’s version of him. Pete had to get his licks in by bastardizing Woodie Guthrie’s song, “This Land is Your Land”…
Read More “Willie Nelson & Friends are No Friends to Farmers”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

JLCNY Asks Why Actors Couldn’t Keep Fracking Out of CA
September 25, 2013September 25, 2013

As MDN noted on Monday, California now has new fracking regulations signed into law by none other than Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown (see CA Gov. Jerry Brown Signs Bill into Law to Allow Fracking).

The Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY) also noticed the CA vote and points out the irony of Hollywood actors who preen in New York State who claim that so far they’ve defeated fracking here, but who apparently couldn’t keep fracking from happening in their own state…
Read More “JLCNY Asks Why Actors Couldn’t Keep Fracking Out of CA”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Research | Statewide NY

Ingraffea to Defend the Indefensible: His Own Flawed “Research”
September 24, 2013September 23, 2013

Prof. Tony Ingraffea of Cornell University continues to embarrass his employer. A new study by the University of Texas and the Environmental Research Council was released last week that (gasp!) used actual science–you know, out in the field measurements–instead of fanciful theories like Tony uses (see New Study Final Nail in Coffin of Inflated Fugitive Methane Claims). The real science in this new study completely, utterly refutes the guesswork of Ingraffea and his cohort in less-than-rigorous research, Robert Howarth.

So what does Tony do? He heads back on the lecture circuit with his best-ever dog and pony to try and convince people his guesses really are better than actual scientific measurements. He may also try to sell you a bridge while he’s at it…
Read More “Ingraffea to Defend the Indefensible: His Own Flawed “Research””
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | Ohio County | Wastewater | West Virginia

The Wheeling Water Warriors Live! Rumored Sighting Today…
September 23, 2013September 23, 2013

We’re glad to see that a complete and utter defeat hasn’t dampened the spirits of the anti-drilling Wheeling Water Warriors (cue echo, Water Warriors, Warriors…). You may recall that a half dozen or so people calling themselves that silly name opposed a new GreenHunter Water frack wastewater recycling facility due to be set up along the Ohio River in Wheeling, WV. The facility recently won approval from the Wheeling Planning Commission (see Wheeling, WV Approves GreenHunter Frack Wastewater Facility). You would think the Water Warriors would throw in the towel after a crushing defeat. Alas, you would be wrong…
Read More “The Wheeling Water Warriors Live! Rumored Sighting Today…”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Trumbull County

Niles, OH Votes to Lift Frack Ban One Month After Passing It
September 20, 2013September 20, 2013

Well that didn’t last long. One month after Niles, OH City Council voted to spite its face by cutting it’s nose off (i.e., voted to ban fracking), they’ve voted to lift the ban. Why? Because the ban language also bans businesses from selling to the drilling industry–including the city itself (situated in Trumbull County), which sells a lot of water for fracking (see Niles, OH Considers Vote to Rescind Ill-Advised Frack Ban for background).

On Wednesday, Niles City Council voted to lift the ban. Congratulations on wising up!…
Read More “Niles, OH Votes to Lift Frack Ban One Month After Passing It”
Air Quality | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research

Forbes Article Exposes Cornell Prof Howarth and His “Research”
September 20, 2013September 20, 2013

Earlier this week MDN told you about the newly released Environmental Defense Fund research study that found (surprise!) not nearly as much methane leaks out of shale wells as scaremongers like Cornell professors Robert Howarth and Tony Ingraffea want you to believe (see New Study Final Nail in Coffin of Inflated Fugitive Methane Claims). It won’t surprise you that Prof. Howarth is indignant that his research has been called into question (yet again).

An article on the Forbes website by George Mason University’s Jon Entine does a masterful job of investigating anti-frackers like Howarth and Ingraffea and what really motivates them. Hint: Follow the (Park Foundation) money…
Read More “Forbes Article Exposes Cornell Prof Howarth and His “Research””
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Dems Go Over the Cliff – Introduce Statewide Frack Ban Bill
September 19, 2013September 19, 2013

Stupendously stupid and truly amazing, some Pennsylvania Democrats continue to push a statewide “open-ended” moratorium on shale drilling (in essence a ban). The party voted to adopt a ban as their official position at the statewide meeting in June (see PA Democrat Party Votes to End Marcellus Shale Drilling Statewide). Now, Democrat elected representatives have introduced a bill to do just that.

PA State Senator Jim Ferlo (D-Allegheny) has just introduced Senate Bill 1100 which would institute an immediate ban (they call it a moratorium) on issuing new permits to drill until a 7-member panel can study it for “at least three to four years” and make a pronouncement about whether or not fracking is safe. Talk about insanity…
Read More “PA Dems Go Over the Cliff – Introduce Statewide Frack Ban Bill”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Highland Park, NJ First Town in State to Ban Fracking – So What
September 19, 2013September 19, 2013

Egged on by community agitators like the anti-drilling Food & Water Watch and Sierra Club, Highland Park, NJ just became the first municipality in the state to officially ban fracking. Big deal. There is no fracking in NJ right now, Highland Park is too populated to support fracking, and there’s nothing worth fracking under the land in Highland Park anyway. But don’t tell the ~~potheads~~ concerned citizens in the protest lines–they’re having too much fun protesting to be bothered with the facts…

Read More “Highland Park, NJ First Town in State to Ban Fracking – So What”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Group Seeks Volunteers to Sample Rivers/Streams Near Fracking
September 17, 2013September 17, 2013

Increasingly MDN receives a lot of email from both pro- and anti-drilling organizations and groups. We select only those items that we believe would be of interest to you. Below is one such item. A few days ago we received a forwarded email from someone working with the Three Rivers QUEST (3RQ), a water monitoring program managed by the WV Water Research Institute. West Virginia University also has some sort of involvement, according to the 3RQ website.

3RQ is looking for volunteers for their water monitoring program in WV–people to take water samples from rivers and streams “down wind” (or rather downstream) from active shale drilling sites. We fully expect most people who participate in the program are anti-drilling in philosophy. However, good science is good science. MDN believes it would be a good will gesture for pro-drillers to also volunteer…
Read More “WV Group Seeks Volunteers to Sample Rivers/Streams Near Fracking”
Allegheny County | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Pittsburgh Dem Proposes Ban on Drilling in County Parks
September 16, 2013September 16, 2013

Should counties allow shale drilling to take place in or under county parks? It’s a politically charged issue, that’s for sure. Some political leaders, instead of facing the issue head-on, try to “kick the can down the road” and delay the discussion for years.

In a surprise editorial, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette takes liberal Democrat Councilwoman Barbara Daly Danko (Allegheny County) to task for proposing to delay discussion and debate about this important issue. Last week she introduced a bill that would ban drilling in Allegheny County parks until 2017. The PPG says it’s not necessary and makes a decision that much harder later on…
Read More “Pittsburgh Dem Proposes Ban on Drilling in County Parks”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Wayne County

DRBC Director Carol Collier Announces Her Retirement
September 13, 2013September 13, 2013

Executive director of the Delaware River Basin Commission, Carol Collier, apparently has had enough. She announced yesterday she will retire as of March 12, 2014. You may recall Collier was shamed and humiliated on camera by filmmaker Phelim McAleer in his top-notch documentary FrackNation (see the video embedded below). Collier and her support of anti-drilling causes like the fictional Gasland movie is one of the primary reasons landowners in Wayne County, PA still have had no shale drilling–even though other PA counties all around them not in the Delaware River Basin have had drilling for years.

What does Collier’s retirement mean for the future of Marcellus Shale drilling in the DRBC’s jurisdiction? No one yet knows, but landowners are hopeful. One thing you can be sure of: Even though Collier mouths platitudes about finishing up regulations before she retires that will eventually allow drilling, there will be no movement on that issue from now until March. Of that we’re confident. Here’s Collier’s announcement from yesterday:
Read More “DRBC Director Carol Collier Announces Her Retirement”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Statewide MD

Energy Deniers Ask Maryland Gov to Abandon Safe Fracking Path
September 13, 2013September 13, 2013

A group of extremist anti-drilling organizations, headed by the odious (and misnamed) Food & Water Watch, issued a press release to a single person yesterday–Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley–to ask him to abandon efforts at safe fracking in the state. These cuckoo organizations want no fracking–forever. They want a so-called sustainable energy nirvana now, which means what they really want is shared misery (and rolling blackouts) among everyone because that’s what a complete change to alternative energy sources would entail. There’s no physical way for non-fossil fuel sources of energy to supply all of our energy needs now–and likely not for the next generation or two (if ever). It’s just not possible and they know it, but they deny it. So we’ll call them “energy deniers.”

Here’s the missive issued yesterday by these anti-drilling extremists flying under the banner of Marylanders Against Fracking:
Read More “Energy Deniers Ask Maryland Gov to Abandon Safe Fracking Path”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Washington County

PA Rep. White Says Fake IDs were “Error in Judgment”
September 12, 2013September 12, 2013

Western PA Rep. Jesse White, who used fake online IDs to criticize his own pro-drilling constituents (see How the Mighty Have Fallen: PA Rep White Admits Guilt, Not Sorry), went on camera for the first time yesterday since the story broke, claiming he had a political group therapy session at (where else?) Harvard University’s Kennedy School in July. White confessed his sins (being caught) to his fellow legislators attending the program, and, shazam! Jesse’s now seen the light!

White admitted on camera yesterday to Pittsburgh’s KDKA television that it was wrong to use fake IDs. Sort-of. White actually said his actions were “an error in judgment,” which is about as close to “I’m sorry” as you’ll get from a recalcitrant and arrogant White. How did he come to this revelation that he was sort-of wrong? His classmates during the summer program at Harvard told him so–that’s how he knows. It only took White four months (and a primary challenger) to admit his “guilt”…

Read More “PA Rep. White Says Fake IDs were “Error in Judgment””
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

TU: Just Eyeball Those Streams, You Know What Shouldn’t Be There
September 12, 2013September 12, 2013

Like a roomful of zombies, about 20 people who belong to the anti-drilling group Trout Unlimited (some of them fisherman) lapped up the lies from TU’s community organizer for eastern PA, Paula Piatt, at a meeting in the Pocono Mountain region last night. She told them, in essence, that they don’t need scientific testing to see if there’s anything bad going on (from fracking) in the streams they like to fish. Instead, just eyeball it: “Your eyes on the stream are priceless, as far as knowing what should be there and what shouldn’t.”

One zombie reports being “totally in awe” of Ms. Piatt and her work…
Read More “TU: Just Eyeball Those Streams, You Know What Shouldn’t Be There”