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Post by B on Sept 8, 2011 9:02:20 GMT -5
It's likely that the Wilkes-Barre area will be flooded tonight. My house is not in the flood plain, but I may be distracted for a while. Cheers!  update: The water came to the very top of the dike, and stopped!  |
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Post by Jai Guru Deva on Sept 8, 2011 19:08:01 GMT -5
Are you sure? You might think about building yourself a yellow submarine in your backyard. I'm just saying...  Think of the places you could go! ;D ww.youtube.com/watch?v=2WERRddBESI |
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Post by B on Sept 8, 2011 19:34:33 GMT -5
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Post by iameye on Sept 8, 2011 19:35:43 GMT -5
Are you sure? You might think about building yourself a yellow submarine in your backyard. I'm just saying... Think of the places you could go! ;D oh, there are places, to go, to be sure. Sail. Into the Sun. And Find, the Sea of Green. what? You didn't think it really existed? Boy, do I HAVE NEWS FOR YOU. LOL  |
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Post by B on Sept 8, 2011 22:06:05 GMT -5
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Post by B on Sept 9, 2011 9:50:09 GMT -5
How I spent my Wednesday. In Philadelphia. (I'm standing under the green circular thing to the right of the tent at the scene at the start.) The gas industry executives were having a meeting in the building right next to the rally. Many of the counties he mentions got nailed by the flooding the next day. I have to wonder if Mother Nature isn't sending a message. Shale Gas Outrage Josh Fox and march www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmYpUkTh0Fw |
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Post by B on Sept 10, 2011 12:14:21 GMT -5
At 2:16 - 2:18 , I'm the guy on the lower left corner with a skull on my chest. ;D I'm to the right of the 'fracking' sign. Shale Gas Outrage march www.youtube.com/watch?v=dny0R2UmoEEA good time was had by all.  We really pissed off the the Chesapeake CEO too!  Chesapeake CEO skewers protesters picketing event
thetimes-tribune.com/news/chesapeake-ceo-skewers-protesters-picketing-event-1.1199484#ixzz1Xa9JwSJg"PHILADELPHIA - When Aubrey McClendon arrived in the City of Brotherly Love, he didn't see much love.
The CEO of Chesapeake Energy, one of the largest shale-drilling firms in the nation, found hundreds of gas drilling opponents gathered outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center during a high-profile industry conference here on Wednesday. Mr. McClendon, long an unofficial front man for independent drillers, used his lunchtime keynote address to skewer the rowdy group outside as much as he promoted the friendly audience in the ballroom.
"Remind me, what value have the protesters outside created? What jobs have they created," Mr. McClendon said after touting shale gas development's profound economic impact.
He called the protesters' message "unfettered fear-mongering" and lampooned them as "fractivists" rather than "factivists" who envision a "fantasy world of no fossil fuels."
Sponsored by the Marcellus Shale Coalition, the event comes at a time when the industry finds itself confronting mounting public criticism and a review of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Protesters jammed the sidewalks of Arch Street beyond the wide windows of the convention center while conference attendees in suits stopped to watch the scene.
Chanting "Ban it now" and holding signs that accused Gov. Tom Corbett of being a puppet of the industry, the protestors called for an end to the use of hydraulic fracturing, the controversial process of breaking apart the shale with high volumes of water, sand and chemicals to release trapped gas.
In a news conference held in a small chapel of the Arch Street United Methodist Church across from the convention center, families who link water and health problems to gas drilling spoke of their experiences with dead or barren cattle, milky water, illness and the persistent feeling of being cast aside.
"In 2011, I never thought I'd be getting a taste of the loss and hopelessness that my ancestors felt," said Susan Breese, a Lenox Twp. resident with elevated barium in her drinking water whose mother, a Sioux, was born on an American Indian reservation.
She is one of several residents in the Susquehanna County township suing Southwestern Energy for water contamination, a claim the company denies.
In his speech, Mr. McClendon minimized the damage of methane contamination of drinking water in Northeast Pennsylvania, saying it "inconvenienced" a "couple of dozen homeowners" who "claim to be affected" and "for that we're deeply sorry."  The problem of gas migrating from faulty natural gas wells has since been "solved," he said.
But the protesters found an unlikely ally in former Gov. Ed Rendell, who delivered an afternoon keynote address to the conference which was as scathing of the industry as Mr. McClendon's was of its opponents.
"The industry continues to screw up," he said. "You've screwed up so bad that there are protestors everywhere that anyone associated with this goes" raising "serious and legitimate issues."
"They express the fears of not just a few militants, but the fears of a lot of good, hard-working Pennsylvanians about what's going to happen to their neighborhood, about what's going to happen to their water supply, about what's going to happen to their waterways," he added. "Those are things that we cannot continue to ignore."
The two-day session, which continues today, includes addresses from two Pennsylvania governors and several panels that include state officials and industry leaders.
Former governor and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge kicked the conference off with a warning about U.S. dependence on foreign oil and a call for a national energy plan that has natural gas as a prime component.
"We are an energy-rich country," he repeated again and again to an industry audience exceeding 1,000. "We are burdened by dependence on oil from unstable countries."
Mr. Ridge just completed a one-year, $900,000 stint as a spokesman for the Marcellus Shale Coalition.
With the exception of Mr. Rendell's pointed critique, the conference's overriding theme was that domestic unconventional energy would pull not only Pennsylvania from economic malaise, but also the nation.
The economic benefits of the state's natural gas resources were discussed by C. Alan Walker , secretary of the Department of Community and Economic Development. Despite the state's high unemployment rate, he sees bright things on the horizon, including expanding plastics, chemical and pharmaceutical industries attracted to the state's natural gas reserves.
"The real economic benefit of natural gas comes where it is consumed - not where it is produced," Mr. Walker said. "We have this resource; now we should develop uses and markets in Pennsylvania."
As his company works to tap local gas for its utility customers, UGI Corp. Chief Executive Officer John Walsh explained how the exploration and production of shale gas has pulled down natural gas prices. For every $1 drop in the price per thousand cubic feet of natural gas, Pennsylvania consumers save $600 million, he said.
In a sidebar conversation with reporters, Range Resources chairman and CEO John H. Pinkerton reiterated his belief that the gas industry should pay a severance tax.
Mr. Pinkerton, who often says his company "wears the white hats," said he philosophically believes that individuals and companies should pay their fair share. Pennsylvania could have a severance tax and remain competitive, he said.
There's a business case for having a severance tax, Mr. Pinkerton said. It would eliminate uncertainty from the market and it would also quell some industry critics.
Other sessions included those examining the powerful river basin commissions that function in the state, federal regulation, and conservation groups.
The conference continues today. Mr. Corbett was scheduled to deliver a lunchtime speech, but canceled it because of flooding in the state.
Contact the writers: dfalchek@timesshamrock.com, llegere@timesshamrock.com "It should be banned! before they poison us all.[/b] FYI: a fracking operation in West Virginia:Antero Marcellus Shale FRACKING Indian Run Harrison County www.youtube.com/watch?v=45qQfXBdh74In Pa. they don't even put up the walls! Waterfall Removal www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAK156DYJTA |
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Post by B on Sept 13, 2011 20:27:28 GMT -5
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The problem of gas migrating from faulty natural gas wells has since been "solved," he said.