Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel

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    Anti-Drilling Close-up: Trout Unlimited

    One of the non-profit organizations that crops up in lists of those whom MDN would classify as anti-drilling is Trout Unlimited (TU). The 50 year-old organization is national in scope with 140,000 volunteers and 400 local chapters—really one of the country’s premier conservation organizations. The TU charter is “Conserving, protecting and restoring North America’s coldwater fisheries and their watersheds” according to their website.

    MDN has noticed that over the past several years TU runs programs—mostly on the weekends and mostly in Pennsylvania—to train volunteers in how to test streams and rivers. The aim is to test before there is drilling (or pipelines or compressor plants) in an area, to test during drilling or construction and then to test after, to see if those streams and rivers are in any way affected by drilling and related activity. So what have they found?

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    Nutjob Protester Stops NYC Pipeline Construction for 2 Hours

    This story will help lighten the mood for Friday. Our entertainment for today comes courtesy the continuing antics of a small group of New York City protesters who object to what Mayor Michael Bloomberg has called “vital” to the city—more natural gas. Spectra Energy is building a pipeline from New Jersey, under the Hudson River, over to a pier in New York to help bring more badly-needed natural gas supplies to the city. Natural gas that will come mostly from the Marcellus Shale.

    MDN told you a few weeks ago about protesters getting naked and painting themselves green (see this MDN story). On Wednesday of this week, one of the pipeline protesters (get this) didn’t even tell himself he was going to protest! He spontaneously chained himself to a  backhoe. Here’s what happened:

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