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

Blog

  • Revised Proposed Drilling Ordinance (Jointure)

    Here is the latest iteration of the zoning ordinance proposed by Solicitor Clemens as what he views as the best the Jointure can do to exercise control over future attempts to site fracking drill pads in the three municipalities. The legal strategy is to avoid including provisions that the State of Pennsylvania will not allow the municipality to enforce, but to include provisions that a municipality has the right to enforce.

    I am not a lawyer, but my early training as a contract administrator made me aware of the kinds of language that leaves wiggle room and sets the stage for litigation. This proposed ordinance has a lot of subjective criteria that would be difficult to enforce and is silent on most of the risks to health and the environment that fracking creates. See for yourself …

    (Click to see ordinance as red-lined by the Solicitor.)

  • Evidence of Health Impacts Grows

    Nicholas Bakalar writing in the NY Times reports that “Living Near a Fracking Site is Tied to Migraines, Fatigue.” While this is no surprise given the growing body of scientific evidence, this data is different because it was gathered from randomly selected members of a large Pennsylvania health system who were sent a health questionnaire. So the researchers didn’t rely on patients who came forward with complaints, but surveyed a cross section of people and identified those who were diagnosed with sinusitis, migraine, and fatigue. When the data was cross tabulated with closeness to fracking sites and larger wells, the link was evident.

  • Clean Energy March – Great Turnout!

    Rich Richardson and Marguerite Chandler With Love Thy Neighbor banner.
    Rich Richardson and Marguerite Chandler With Love Thy Neighbor banner.

    Among the thousands who marched on Sunday July 24the were these two familiar faces from the Newtown Friends Meeting.

    Read more news of the march here http://www.cleanenergymarch.org/

    See videos recorded and streamed live at Unicorn Riot.

  • March! July 24th …

    Action speaks louder than words. Join the march …

     

  • More Democratized Energy

    One undercurrent in the fracking fight is the erosion of democracy.  Large corporations exert political pressure and overpower local government and private individuals. Consider as an example the press to build 30,000 miles of gas pipeline in Pennsylvania when existing production and transport are sufficient for domestic needs. The State of Pennsylvania, the US Government, and the courts use sovereign powers to override local zoning and take land for these energy projects. Many see this as counter to the fundamental rights our democracy confers on all citizens and challenge the laws and regulations that support it.

    The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) is one advocacy group that addresses this threat to Democracy.  Another is this webinar offered by The Next System Project:

    Join Us Image
    Democratic Energy

    (Click to see invitation)

    [Thanks to Elizabeth Serkin for sharing this invitation]

  • They Legalized Civil Disobediance??

    YES Magazine Article:

    “Grant Township had seen what happens when people nationwide take to the streets to protest bullying corporations: Arrests. Lots of them.

    So Grant Township planned ahead. Two weeks ago, it passed a law that protects its residents from arrest if they protest Pennsylvania General Energy Company’s (PGE) creation of an injection well.

    Residents believe this law is the first in the United States to legalize nonviolent civil disobedience against toxic wastewater injection wells. “We’re doing it to safeguard the residents and protect as many people as possible,” Township Supervisor Stacy Long said.”

    (Read full article [click])

    http://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/faced-with-a-fracking-giant-this-small-town-just-legalized-civil-disobedience-20160513

  • Film Showing 6/18

    How to Let Go of the World a new film by Josh Fox of Gasland fame will be screened on Saturday June 18th 2:00 PM at The Newtown Theater 120 State Street in Newtown PA.

    Trailer (Click to View)
    Trailer (Click to View)

    Although admission is free a goodwill offering is much appreciated. This event is sponsored by local civic activist groups: 350 Bucks County, the Coalition for Peace Action and the Delaware Riverkeeper Network. For further information please contact Jasmine Spence 215.510.5562.

    RESERVE YOUR FREE SEAT HERE (CLICK)

    Get Flyer (click here)

  • “Meaner and Uglier” — Naomi Klein

    “In a public lecture delivered last week and published online Tuesday [5/10/16], award-winning Canadian author Changes Everything Coverand social justice activist Naomi Klein argues the dire situation of climate change, coupled with failing political and economic systems, is creating a world where nobody will be left unaffected.

    ‘It is not about things getting hotter and wetter but things getting meaner and uglier, unless we change the corrosive values that are pitting people against each other,’ Klein said last Wednesday as she gave the 2016 Edward W. Said London Lecture at the Royal Festival Hall in London.”

    (Read the original article -click here)

  • Science Supports Health and Environmental Fears

    Screen Shot from PSEHE Site
    Just the facts – Check this out.

    Dr. Anthony Ingraffea and his colleagues at Physicians Scientists and Engineers for Healthy Energy have been working for years to create an archive of the science that reports on fracking. It’s no surprise that the preponderance of evidence shows unacceptable harm to people and the environment. This is not hype or rhetoric. It stands in sharp contrast to the slick whitewash of the energy industry PR copy.

    PSE Healthy Energy has studied this literature and provides you with an overview that’s understandable in layperson’s terms. Browse the site – it’s eye-opening and rigorously accurate.

     

  • Stop a Pipeline for Fracked Gas

    Excellent Op Ed in Friday’s (4/15/16) NY Times …

    “The pipeline would cross nearly 300 creeks and streams and necessitate cutting 700,000 trees. The D.E.C. has recommended drilling six feet under all crossings, but the company plans to “trench” through most of them. Along with the massive tree-cutting on stream banks and hillsides, this would exacerbate flooding in a region already experiencing much stronger storms and floods. It would also harm dozens of trout streams and spawning areas, which the D.E.C. is charged with protecting. If the state does not exercise its authority to deny this certificate by April 26, the company will be allowed to proceed by default.

    “Building this pipeline would undermine our commitment to fight climate change. Proponents of fracked gas argue that it can be a “bridge” fuel while we make the transition to renewable energy. They focus on the fact that when gas — which is largely methane — is burned, it releases half the CO2 of coal. But whether you see this glass as half empty or half full, it is being poured into an atmosphere that is already full — of CO2, having crossed the threshold of 400 parts per million last year. Also, methane, which can leak from gas infrastructure, traps heat 84 times as much as CO2 does over a 20-year period. A recent study led by Harvard researchers showed that in the Boston area methane is leaking from gas delivery systems at rates two to three times higher than industry estimates.

    Read the original article.