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

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  • COVID-19 EXPOSES FRACKING

    You probably saw the news that air pollution increases the risk of fatal outcomes with COVID-19. We have all experienced the surprising improvement in air quality with the shutdown of industrial operations and the reduced automobile traffic. In china it was dramatic.

    It’s a wakup call. Fossil energy needs to be phased out and fracking’s cheap fuels are the economic enemy of renewables because they kill the market for innovative technology. Despite the adverse market effects both wind and solar have become competitive.

    I’m pleased that journalists are picking up on the obvious.

    Opinion | Coronavirus May Kill Our Fracking Fever DreamAmerica’s energy independence was an illusion created by cheap debt. All that’s left to tally is the damage.

    Living in these areas of the US raises your risk of death from coronavirus, study saysCNN’s Jake Tapper reports.

    Pollution made COVID-19 worse. Now, lockdowns are clearing the air.Even before the coronavirus, air pollution killed seven million people a year. Will today’s cleaner air inspire us to do better?

  • Permits to do harm?

    When a government agency grants a permit, it is usually allowing something that is potentially or actually harmful or dangerous. Permits for the construction of public utilities are supposed to weigh the convenience and necessity of the greater public against the harm done to individuals.

    Pipelines require a clear right-of-way for their construction and the government delegates its sovereign power to take land by eminent domain to corporations. Takings are supposed to be compensated to make those affected whole. But it’s rare that the compensation is satisfactory or sufficient for the loss of quiet enjoyment of one’s home or business property.

    The Mariner East Pipeline is in the news again because people allege construction is harming them. And what public interest justifies this? Who needs the products it carries? Not the US public. It’s for off-shore producers of plastics and other fossil fuel products.

    Thanks to big dollar lobbying by the industry, our legislators are not representing us the public. And the permits to do harm get issued for no good public purpose.

    ‘We can’t live like this’: residents say a corrupt pipeline project is making them sick
    A community in Pennsylvania says clay-colored water appeared during a drilling mud spill, but the pipeline company insists it’s not to blame

  • “Mailbox Money” is a Deal with the Devil

    Rural landowners are often deceived into thinking that the sale of the extraction rights to the shale gas under their property will provide effortless bounty and security. There are some nasty consequences of selling those subsurface rights. The article below is not news to anyone who has browsed this site. But if you need to be reminded, read on.

    When Fracking Companies Own the Gas Beneath Your Land — ProPublica
    ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.

  • It’s Not You Who’s Being Represented

    Here is yet another example of how our representative government is failing to protect the common good and serve the interests of We the People:

    A Resolution Condemning Pipeline Challengers Passed Easily. A Pipeline Lobbyist Wrote It. — ProPublica
    ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.

  • Elcon Rejected by Falls

    The Falls Township supervisors did the right thing despite the prospect of being sued by Elcon. They voted unanimously to deny Elcon’s application.

    Any applicant has the right to seek relief from the courts, and Elcon is no exception. Their decision to do so will be based on a number of considerations:

    • The cost in time and money.
    • The prospect of prevailing.
    • Collateral decisions by PA DEP.
    • The costs of complying with construction codes and a hostile enforcement body.
    • Ongoing citizen opposition.

    Environmental organizations should now prepare to put their money behind Falls should there be litigation. It’s not just the Elcon matter. At issue is the constitutional right of townships to act to protect the environment. Prevailing in a litigation will discourage those who wish to dismiss locals who oppose such things as pipelines, fracking, and other dangerous uses of land.

  • No Longer Deniable?

     

    The Trump Administration is loath to admit that climate change is real and is man-made.  I was surprised to see this article in WaPo this morning. One can only hope that the weather extremes and related human catastrophes have become too horrendous for denial to persist as a viable strategy for fossil-backed politicians.

    I should not need to explain why this is relevant to fracking, but I will. Fracking and the pipelines that bring its products to market disrupt the lives of those in their path, damage air quality, pollute the water, and consume precious freshwater resources. Energy producers seek to justify the use of our government’s sovereign powers (land condemnation, permitting for pollution, etc.) on the basis that it is a public necessity akin to highways and railroads. Clearly, this is not the case in Pennsylvania. There is a glut of natural gas produced and distributed by thousands of existing wells and about 50,000 miles of existing pipelines. Moreover, the products produced by the extraction of this fossil energy will produce MORE GLOBAL WARMING. And, because they are so cheap, they will discourage the development and deployment of renewable energy.

    Read more at the Washington Post.

  • Felony to Protest? Evils of SB652

    Pennsylvania is deeply and corruptly enmeshed with fossil energy interests. There is a bill pending, SB652, to make pipeline protests a felony on a par with assault.
     
    Keep in mind that the products pipeline interests want to bring to market should be kept in the ground for the sake of our children. Not only do they damage health, but their use anywhere on the planet will destroy coastal real estate and much of Florida. Pipelines use government power to take private land for private use. 
    Nothing good comes to those in their path. So there are lots of excellent reasons for activists and property owners to risk jail. The pipeline interests want to up the ante.
    Don’t be silent! Call your rep.

  • What Happened When Fracking Came to Town (Nonfiction)

    Issustration from Times book review.

     

    This is not news to followers of this blog, but we applaud the telling of the tale of misery and exploitation of ordinary Pennsylvanians. Click through and read the book review, buy the book, and send your comments to your PA legislators.  It is the politicians who have enabled this travesty. They need to know that we are fed up with the corruption, self-interest, and abuse.

  • Jim Greenwood – Gerrymandering

    What’s gerrymandering got to do with Fracking? Everything.  They, the legislators, don’t listen to you when you protest fracking because they don’t have to. The are safe and secure regardless of how you vote. Here is Jim Greenwood explaining why…


    Not part of FDPA?  Check it out and meet people, both Republicans and Democrats, who are dedicated to having our democracy represent We the People.

  • The Politics Behind the “Ban”

    Read the article in the Courier Times today. You’ll not only get a great overview of what’s afoot here.  You will gain an important lesson in the down and dirty world of money and influence in government.  Ostensibly, it’s about a ban on fracking in the Delaware Basin. but the DRBC decision was to propose rule-making, not ban fracking.

    Between now and November, DRBC staff will be drafting language for regulations to govern not just drilling operations, but also the taking of water from the river to be used in fracking and also the disposal of the contaminated waste water.  Our watchdog groups like the Delaware Riverkeeper Network smell a rat. The general public has no opportunity for influence until the proposed regulations are written.  But the politicians and lobbyists will be hard at it, working to influence the phrasing and content of those rules.  We’d like to think that common sense and science would prevail.  But that is rarely the case. it will be very difficult for We the People to be heard in this process.

    Courier-Times Photo of the Crowd

    Stay tuned.  If you snooze, we lose.