Former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection, John Hanger, has an opinion piece published in the online UK Guardian newspaper on Monday, July 8 titled, “If you care about the environment, you should welcome natural gas fracking” (full article below). John has an interesting dilemma. He’s running for the Democrat nomination for governor in PA, for the right to run against someone whom Dems believe is a politically crippled–Gov. Tom Corbett. Corbett has been strongly pro-drilling. John’s opinion piece pretty much reflects his past statements that no energy source is without its negatives, and that natural gas (and fracking) are far better than many of the alternatives. His article is a full-throated defense of fracking. Good for John!

His dilemma, however, is that his party, which stands a good chance of retaking the PA legislature and the governorship, wants to impose a de facto ban on fracking in PA, opposite the position John has taken in his article (see PA Democrat Party Votes to End Marcellus Shale Drilling Statewide). John has refused to call the recent Democrat vote what it patently is: political insanity. Instead, John is attempting a high-wire balancing act made harder by his old boss Gov. Ed Rendell (see Rendell Paints Hanger into Corner on PA Democrat Moratorium Vote).
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