B-CAUSE (Bucks Concerned About Unsafe Shale-gas Extraction)

Category: Legislation

  • Why are PA Taxpayers Subsidizing This?

    It’s a scam. We should not be investing in recovering Lithium from wastewater that we should not be creating in the first place–full stop.

  • Oh Wait, That stuff might be valuable someday

    Produced water, now expensive to dispose of, may become a valuable byproduct in the future. So the industry is pleased to have won a court battle over who owns it. I wonder if they’ll pony up the cash to pay for the harm it does when it pollutes local wells and streams.

    Texas Supreme Court Rules on Produced Water Ownership – Inside Climate News
    The justices ruled Friday that the company holding the oil and gas lease also lays claim to the produced water. The ruling comes as more companies are seeking to turn a profit on what has long been considered a vexing waste stream.

  • Fracking Advocates are Relentless

    They want to overturn the ban on fracking in the Delaware Watershed. Support Delaware Riverkeeper!

    Non-profits advocate for maintaining fracking ban in Delaware River watershed
    The non-profits urged the commission, during public comment, not to overturn a ban on fracking that was implemented in 2021.

    Texas is making a big mistake. (Not their first.) Shall we stop buying food grown in Texas?

    Abbott signs law permitting use of fracking wastewater in agriculture
    Texas farmers and environmentalists worry that a new law allowing fracking wastewater reuse could threaten land and water safety.

  • Is your Town Protecting Your Property?

    Land use ordinances and other municipal constraints can be employed to protect citizens from the ravages of fracking. Read about it.

    The Municipal Ordinance Project: PA’s Greatest Tool to Fight Fracking
    By passing protective ordinances at the local level, we’re helping MOP up the fracking mess state legislators and regulators have allowed.

  • No Regard for Climate

    No regard for the obstacles deservedly placed in the path of businesses that exploit natural resources. It is all about commerce and profits. The greater public good is a distant priority.

    GOP Advances Bill to Fast-Track Fracking, Logging and Mining on Public Lands
    The legislation would make it harder to file legal challenges against controversial mines and pipelines.

    Footnote: The source of the above article is Truthout, an extremely left-biased source. Although they don’t usually publish lies, they do omit context and considerations that tend to favor the right.

  • Locals Protest to Protect Water

    “Because the majority of Ohioans rely on groundwater for their drinking water, the threat of fracking byproducts, like radioactive brine, seeping into their drinking water supplies is not a small one. For example, in Athens County, fracking-produced brine has been found migrating over a mile away from its source since 2019 — inching its way toward groundwater drinking wells. The migratory activity of fracking byproducts makes fracking a statewide concern, including in Southwest Ohio.

    “If just one aquifer is poisoned in Ohio from migrating radioactive gas and oil waste brine, it could affect the drinking water for tens of thousands people who rely on well water for drinking,” Zemper said.

    Read more. Click the box below.

    The fractured future of Ohio: Current fracking legislation’s statewide implications on natural areas
    New Ohio legislation could expand fracking in state parks and public natural areas, raising concern from Miami University students and organizations across the state.

  • Shapiro Criticized

    Pennsylvania Health Advocates Say Gov. Shapiro Has Let Residents Down on Fracking Protections – Inside Climate News
    Public health advocates assessing Josh Shapiro’s first two years as Pennsylvania’s governor concluded that he hasn’t done enough to protect residents from the damaging effects of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas—despite charting a roadmap for such actions almost five years ago while he was attorney general. Environmental Health Project (EHP), a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit, said Shapiro […]

  • Can’t Make it Go Away

    When you throw something away, where is “away?” The Westmoreland County Landfill is one “away” place where fracking waste is disposed of. But there is no away. The fluids leach out of the landfill and must be disposed of, or should we say disposed of again. WSL currently transports radioactive leachate and other chemically-laced liquid waste to treatment plants, but is seeking a new National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit to discharge liquid waste directly into the Monongahela River, via a pipeline. What could be wrong with that idea?

    Residents Call on Shapiro, DEP to Regulate Fracking Waste, Shut Down Westmoreland County Landfill
    Landfill has poisoned communities with radioactive waste for over a decade, causing serious environmental and health impacts

  • Consequences

    New York State is trying to put the externalized costs of fossil fuel back on fossil energy producers. I don’t know if this legislation will be effective, but it sure focuses attention on the fact that “cheap” fossil energy is not truly cheap when the consequences of burning such fuels are considered.

    Pennsylvania, are you listening? A lot of people think fracking is a bad idea.

    Governor Hochul Signs Landmark Legislation Creating New Climate Superfund
    Governor Hochul signed legislation to require large fossil fuel companies to pay for projects that protect and restore the environment.

  • Push Back!

    The PR firms and energy lobby work relentlessly to promote fracking. They have outsized influence on legislators, particularly at the state and local levels. When the rest of us are disengaged or complacent, bad things happen. Consider Ohio . . .

    Huge majorities in Ohio oppose fracking our state parks, but state leaders just ignore all concerns • Ohio Capital Journal
    Who do Ohio lawmakers represent in the fracking free-for-all carving up acres of our state parks and public land for oil and gas money? They sure as heck don’t represent the people. Public resistance to fracking in Ohio State Parks is almost universal.