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Brilliant video about the industry bedding government.
Of course lease-signers like to believe they are “against big government,” and of course they want to close their eyes to the fact that crooked, deregulated government is the only way that predatory natural gas companies can do business as they do.
It’s amazing what you can’t see if you don’t want to.
This letter is being reproduced from Catskill Citizens for Clean Energy.
Tell Paterson to Remove Grannis!
Under Commissioner Pete Grannis, the NYS DEC has concealed the Department’s shoddy safety record and misled the public about what’s really in fracking fluid.which is found on the home page of the website: http://catskillcitizens.org/.
Throughout 2008, when the gas industry was actively leasing land for shale gas extraction, the DEC misled the public by refusing to acknowledge that high-volume hydraulic fracturing of horizontal shale gas wells would be significantly different than previous gas drilling operations in New York State. Director Field’s mantra that hydraulic fracturing “has been going on in New York for decades”1 seemed deliberately designed to lull the public into thinking that the Marcellus Shale gas play would resemble the low-volume fracturing operations that we had seen in the past. Numerous inquiries to the Division of Mineral Resources prompted unsigned responses claiming that nothing new or different would be involved.
Also in 2008, the DEC succeeded in pushing a new well-spacing bill though the state legislature with little debate and scant public scrutiny. Although this “departmental” bill”2 was explicitly designed to facilitate the drilling of gigantic horizontal wells which threaten to radically alter the landscape of western New York, Commissioner Grannis disingenuously characterized it as “a technical program bill [that] had nothing to do with anything related to environmental protections.”3 Instead he claimed it was “designed to protect adjacent landowners”.4
This bill was quickly moved out of Committee and passed late at night, on the last day of the legislative session. Some lawmakers later complained that they weren’t even aware of the bill’s existence until hours before they were to vote on it. 5 Elected officials in New York City, and the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, also felt blindsided by the swift enactment of this law which had enormous implications for the integrity of the city’s watershed.6
At a time when New Yorkers were just becoming aware of the dangers posed by toxic chemicals used in fracking fluid, the DEC misled the public by asserting that “Marcellus shale fracing operations in New York State use fresh water, sand, nitrogen and a diluted soapy solution to fracture the shale. These frac fluids do not contain benzene, toluene or xylene.“7 This May 2008 email from the DEC failed to mention any of the toxic chemicals used in fracking fluids except to say three dangerous chemicals were not used in New York. Of course we now know that the DEC was not telling the truth – fracking fluids contain dozens of chemicals including benzene, toluene and xylene.8
Perhaps most frustrating of all, New Yorkers have had to listen to Commissioner Grannis and Director Field parrot the industry line that there has not been “one instance of drinking water contamination in over one million frack jobs”.9
All over the country water wells have exploded or been rendered unusable because they have been contaminated by fracking fluid, methane or total dissolved solids due to nearby fracking operations. It’s bad enough to hear industry flacks claim that none of these case count as contamination, but it’s outrageous to hear this absurd claim coming from the very people who should be studying these environmental disasters, and trying to find a way to avoid repeating them in New York.
This manifest indifference to the harm caused by drilling accidents is infuriating. On at least one occasion, Mr. Field falsely dismissed an accident in Brookfield, New York as one where “a bit got stuck and muddied up a bunch of water wells.”10 This is a false and remarkably insensitive description of an incident in which some water wells were completely destroyed and others were left unusable for months on end.11
1. Director Field speaking at a public meeting in Liberty, New York July 1, 2008.
2. Commissioner Grannis testifying before the New York City Council Commission on Environmental Protection. September 10, 2008. Page 44 of the transcript.
3. Ibid. Page 45 of the transcript.
4. Ibid. Page 47 of the transcript.
5. ”This issue came to my attention when a bill regarding well spacing appeared before the Assembly for a vote with very little time to review the issue.” Testimony of Assembly Member Deborah Glick before the New York City Council Commission on Environmental Protection. September 10, 2008. Page 87 of the transcript.
6. See the remarks of Committee on Environmental Protection Chair James Gennaro. Transcript of hearing, September 10, 2008.
7. In a email message dated 5/28/2008 2:50:28 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
dmnog@gw.dec.state.ny.us wrote: “Industry has used horizontal well drilling in New York since the late 1980s. Hydraulic fracturing has been commonly and safely used in New York State for decades. Marcellus shale fracing operations in New York State use fresh water, sand, nitrogen and a diluted soapy solution to fracture the shale. These frac fluids do not contain benzene, toluene or xylene.”
8. Draft SGEIS pp 5.34-5.66.
9. Director Field speaking at a public meeting in Liberty, New York July 1, 2008.
See also this exchange between Commissioner Grannis and Assemblyman Jim Bacalles before the New York State Assembly Committee on Environmental Conservation, October 15, 2009
ASSEMBLYMAN JIM BACALLES: Pete, you mentioned that we have been fracing gas wells for a long time …But are you aware of anywhere where a drinking well or any kind of watershed has been affected by that drilling that’s been going on for 20 years or so?
MR. GRANNIS: We are not Jim. We have no reports of, you know, there are accidental spills that take place on the sites, but we have no reports of water contamination associated with.
Page 79 of transcript
10. Director Field speaking at a public meeting in Liberty, New York July 1, 2008.
11. The following articles originally appeared in the Syracuse Post:
SOME STILL WAIT FOR THEIR WATER BROOKFIELD SUPERVISOR SAYS MANY PROBLEMS WITH WELLS REMAIN UNSOLVED. Alaina Potrikus Staff writer
Nearly three months after an accident at a natural gas drilling site caused some backyard water wells to turn into geysers, some North Brookfield residents are still relying on bottled water to meet their daily needs.
Tell Paterson to Remove Grannis!
Under Commissioner Pete Grannis, the NYS DEC has concealed the Department’s shoddy safety record and misled the public about what’s really in fracking fluid.
Note from Brian: I’ve written about the lies about “vertical is the same as horizontal,” and “they’ve been doing this for years,” and “there has never been any contamination.” You’d really have to be as dense as a fence post to still buy that stuff, but still people will believe anything if they are offered “free money” to believe it. It’s like the tooth fairy.
You can read more about it at these posts:
http://otegony.com/they-dont-even-lie-well
http://otegony.com/spinning-the-truth-about-horizontal-fracturing
Tuesday, Feb. 16th 7 pm
12 Ford Avenue, Oneonta
Hosted by the Unitarian Universalist Society of Oneonta Gas Drilling Task Force
Calvin Tillman of Dish, Texas, will speak about the challenges his town faces as gas pipelines and compressors have come to his area. The town of Dish hosts eleven massive natural gas compressors, four metering stations, eleven high-pressure gas lines, and numerous gas wells and gathering lines, which have created extraordinary emission levels and serious health problems in the community.
There has been a massive campaign by less-than-scrupulous people to discredit this man. You can read about it at Drilling Reform for Texas
Why is it that people who are doing the wrong thing have to use false logic to attack the people are trying to prevent them from hurting themselves and others?
Besides her attempt to mislead people about that, she also insists that, “Drilling methods have been used in New York and across the country for years with no significant problems.”
Really? As far as horizontal fracking, “…no significant problems” is a subjective. If you are not one of the many people who’s well has been poisoned by spills, who’s air is polluted to the point of 25% of your town having asthma, who’s running faucet can be lighted with a match, or who’s house has been blown up by gas leaks (among many other things) then, sure, there have been no significant problems.
On the other hand, if you care at all about anything other than the possibility of getting some money from an industry with no respect for individuals at the expense of your community, public health and safety, then sure, no problem.
That article starts with, “I have been an environmentalist my whole life.” She is using the wrong tense, it should have read, “I had been an environmentalist my whole life, but now…“
A telling article by Rona Kobell in the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay’s “Bay Journal” describes the bitter disappointment of communities who’ve been duped by the illusion of the “Natural Gas Boom.”
Excerpts:
When the natural gas companies descended on Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale two years ago, it felt like a Gold Rush. And everyone seemed to be hitting pay dirt…
But now, with nearly 700 Marcellus wells drilled throughout the state, the environmental costs of drilling are becoming clear… It has transformed some of the state’s most beautiful landscapes into industrial zones and brought hardship to some who thought it was their lifeline.
“The regular folk out here will never see the compensation they deserve, and their original water supply is forever gone,” Switzer said. “I’m never going to make any money on this. All I’ve lost is my soul.”
I’m a frequent listener to NPR, and I count on it for much of my news, as do many people in our area. My local station is WSKG.
So I was shocked to hear a report this morning that was so egregiously misleading, that I had to write in to NPR as well as WSKG. I suggest you do, too. The more response we get on this, the better.
This is what I sent to NPR as a correction to it’s report on “Morning Edition” and as a comment to WSKG this morning:
"Trust us - we're the experts."
Letter to Editor Daily Star July 2009:
It was refreshing to see Dick Downey finally coming clean in his latest letter to the editor. Apparently he thinks it’s not your right to ask questions – just trust him and the Natural Gas Industry. He’d like you to believe that you should accept any risk that would potentially make him some money.
Downey insists that the risks are minimal. This is an actual quote from Downey’s letter, “Ninety percent of the time the problem is corrected once the source is identified.”
WTF? Oh, I see, as long as that ten percent of screw-ups isn’t on his land, I guess he thinks that’s OK. And what about the sources that aren’t identified? Is someone who doesn’t mind sacrificing public safety for his own agenda someone you ought to put your trust in?
He’d have you believe that the dangers are ”… a circumstance that has little chance of happening…”
The only thing that has little chance of happening is landowners getting “free money” (as the industry’s representatives like to promise) or flunkeys for the gas companies telling you the truth. A more likely outcome will be the destruction of roads, aquifers, public services and some people’s health, simply in order to have a few people (mostly from out of state) make a killing off our gullibility. It’s happened elsewhere. But hey, trust them.
It’s not true that those who question the gas industry expect no risks at all. We just expect reasonable accountability and safeguards. Any sane person would. But lobbyists have gotten Big Gas exempt from the Clean Water Act, and they know that the state Department of Environmental Conservation is way out of its league when engaging this industry.
When someone tells you, “Just trust us – don’t ask questions,” does that make you feel that your interests are being looked out for? Really?
- Brian Foley
“A lie with a purpose is one of the worst kind, and the most profitable.”
-Finley Peter Dunne
It’s worth mentioning that once again, an apologist for the gas industry is trying to misdirect you from the truth. When Downey says:
Last year, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection reported less than a dozen cases of aquifer contamination…
He is not telling you that most of the wells he is talking about are vertical wells, not the horizontal fracturing that is at issue. This is most disingenuous, and is a rhetorical tactic people use when trying to hide the truth.
"It's OK - we'll all be dead before the world recognizes what a bunch of lying sacks we were."
There are no real, meaningful statistics about horizontal fracturing in New York State because it’s almost never been done. And statistics for other areas have been obfuscated by the industry, because they have no intention of letting the public know the truth. It’s not a conspiracy. They don’t need one. It’s just business as usual, like when the tobacco companies claimed that smoking is good for your health. Different product, same bullshit.
It’s like when other industry flunky’s tell you that this procedure has been done in New York State for decades. Of course it hasn’t. See “They Don’t Even Lie Well.”
Doubt is Their Product
This video is entirely relevant to how industry boosters and even scientists will sell their souls in order to sell you something they know is bad.
Here is a short out-take of a very good presentation that was given at the TOMPKINS COUNTY COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS . It concerns what options towns and municipalities have concerning legal issues related to the extraction of natural gas.
(out-take not up yet – check out the full audio below)
March 30, 2009 presentation to municipal officials on issues related to the extraction of natural gas from Marcellus Shale, by Kimberly Shaw Rea, Esq. and Mark P. Millspaugh, P.E.
Listen to the audio of the full meeting of legal issues related to the extraction of natural gas (a bit over an hour long, 30 MB)
Watch the video of the full meeting of legal issues related to the extraction of natural gas (a bit over an hour long, 208 MB)
CDOG (Chenango Deleware Otsego Gas) has an absolutely brilliant resource page at http://un-naturalgas.org/organizers.htm
Check it out and find resources to help people understand the mistake they are making by signing a gas lease.
Anyone fortunate enough to be able to remember Walt Kelly’s Pogo Possum cartoons will know this quote well:
We have met the enemy, and he is us.
The history of the quote is pretty cool. It was first used on an Earth Day poster in 1970. Below are two versions of the original poster. I couldn’t find a better graphic of it online, but I think, with a little work, it could be used on websites, protest signs, etc.
Be careful, because the quote is a double-edged sword ( a tool Kelly was great at using.)
Sometimes we are our own enemies. And I don’t me “we” as in “them.” Sometimes the infighting within our ranks holds us back.
I’m not going to harp on this, because those who can, already know what I mean, and those who don’t know will never be convinced by facts or logic.
So let’s work on fighting “them” instead.
It might be nice to use these posters on Earth Day again, although I’m sure people do that every year.
The first two are versions of the 1970 Earth Day Poster.
Pogo 1970 Earth Day Poster
Pogo 1970 Earth Day Poster
This one is from the 1971 Earth Day poster:
Pogo 1971 Earth Day poster
My take on the issue:
We have met the enemy, and he is us.
Want to know more about Pogo, the quotation, and the poster? Check out these sites:
http://www.igopogo.com/final_authority.htm ZEROING IN ON THOSE POLLUTERS: WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND HE IS US, By Walt Kelly.
http://www.igopogo.com/we_have_met.htm From the foreword to The Pogo Papers, Copyright 1952-53
Blog at http://un-naturalgas.org/weblog/