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

Blog

  • Engineers Scorn Oil and Gas

    While employees may be loyal, new eyes see better options.

    In the race to recruit the next generation of engineering minds, oil and gas are coming up short. According to data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency, the number of grads going into the petroleum exploration business in 2017 was at the lowest level since 2012, down 61 percent in four years. Part of that is that people want to work for ethical companies, and in an era of climate change awareness — when 67 percent of students consider doing a job that contributes to climate change to be unethical, and 91 percent care about working for an ethical company — oil and gas companies are not necessarily coming out in credit. The average age of workers in the industry is 42.2.

    Eddie Spence, Bloomberg -via numlocknews.com

  • “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.

  • Environmental “Protection” Agency ???

    If the agency allows pollution and bars challenges to its rulings, who or what is it protecting?

    E.P.A. Plans to Curtail the Ability of Communities to Oppose Pollution Permits
    The agency is preparing to weaken rules that, for a quarter-century, have given communities a voice in deciding how much industrial pollution may legally be released nearby.

  • Bad News – Philadelphia LNG Plant

    The Philadelphia City Council approved the plan to build a Liquid Natural Gas Plant. This is the keystone of a project to bring PA natural gas to the world energy market when the long view says we should keep it in the ground for the sake of the planet and the interests of most PA citizens.

    The promise of a revenue stream prompted the decision. Like so many energy decisions we make daily, this one has a cost to future generations that we can ignore for the moment. Who will notice or be able to measure the incremental impact on climate deterioration? For Philadelphia it a freebee – a simple vote “yes” yields an economic benefit.

    But it also paves the way for a chain reaction of accelerated fracking, more pipelines, and cheap fossil fuel and indestructible plastic waste. All of these have long-term adverse impact on Pennsylvania residents and longer-term impacts on global progress toward a sustainable energy system.

    Philadelphia City Council approves PGW’s new LNG plant
    In a 13-4 vote, Philadelphia City Council approved a new $60 million LNG facility, despite the opposition of environmental groups.

  • Hidden Subsidies


    PA Residents Shoulder Health Impacts of State’s Oil and Gas Waste

    Our state and federal government provide both cash and less obvious forms of support for the fossil fuel industry. Among these is the privilege of degrading the environment, acquiring right-of-way through eminent domain, and destructively using infrastructure built at public expense without direct compensation to those affected.

    The current PSE Quarterly documents some of the ways quality of life is harmed by extraction operations.

    PSE Energy Quarterly | Spring 2019
    PSE Energy Quarterly is the newsletter of Physicians, Scientists, and Engineers for Healthy Energy, a nonprofit research institute dedicated to supplying evidence-based scientific and technical information on the public health, environmental, and climate dimensions of energy production and use.

  • Incinerators

    Burning trash is not the answer to energy. You probably knew that, but just to bolster your understanding of the local consequences, here’s an article from the Guardian.

    Revealed: 1.6m Americans live near the most polluting incinerators in the US
    Lower-income and minority communities are exposed to majority of the pollution coming from waste-burning plants, report finds

  • 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.