(2 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
In the ongoing Propublica investigation Buried Secrets, Gas Drilling’s Environmental Threat today’s headline is Pittsburgh Bans Natural Gas Drilling. Citing health and environmental concerns, the city council received a standing ovation after voting 9-0 to approve the ban within city limits on Tuesday.
City Council President Darlene Harris said her biggest concern was people’s health. She said she had heard stories about people being sickened by water contaminated by Marcellus drilling. She said claims by the industry of the thousands of jobs being created wasn’t worth the risk.
“They’re bringing jobs all right,” Harris said. “There’s going to be a lot of jobs for funeral homes and hospitals. That’s where the jobs are. Is it worth it?”
Pennsylvania is the center of the Marcellus Shale activity, with more than 2,000 wells drilled in the past three years and many thousands more planned, as multinational exploration companies invest billions in the pursuit.
The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, a nonprofit advocacy group, takes credit for drafting the ordinance and claims this is a “first-in-the-nation ordinance” that “elevates the right of the community to decide, not corporations.”
Very good news for Americans and that’s on top of the recent bad news for Halliburton. Dick Cheney must be having a bad day!
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Here’s the text, Energy: The Pros and Cons of Shale Gas Drilling. You can click on the video by going there.
The story started off with the “pros” but then listed several of the reasons this is an environmental threat and dangerous to the public. CBS stressed that proper regulation could make this a good thing but this is not the nation for proper regulation.
I was glad to see the report because I suspect that few Americans are aware that Dick Cheney managed to undo EPA regulations for hydrofracking and I know that many Americans watch “60 Minutes.”
We will need many Americans involved because;