|
|
By shaleshock, on June 26th, 2010% Sixty miles west of Damascus, the town of Dimock, population 1,400, makes all too clear the dangers posed by hydraulic fracturing. You don’t need to drive around Dimock long to notice how the rolling hills and farmland of this Appalachian town are scarred by barren, square-shaped clearings, jagged, newly constructed roads with 18-wheelers driving up and down them, and colorful freight containers labeled “residual waste.” Although there is a moratorium on drilling new wells for the time being, you can still see the occasional active drill site, manned by figures in hazmat suits and surrounded by klieg lights, trailers, and pits of toxic wastewater, the derricks towering over barns, horses, and cows in their shadows.
Read More
By arimoore, on January 12th, 2010% What happens when millions of gallons of toxic hydrofracking waste gush back up out of the earth after being injected? Where does it go after sitting around in pits for a while? Let’s look to Pennsylvania to see what’s happening there: Gas wells’ leftovers may wash into Ohio
By arimoore, on November 11th, 2009% Read Abrahm Lustgarten’s Is Marcellus Shale too hot to handle?:
As New York gears up for gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, state officials have made a potentially troubling discovery about the wastewater created by the process: It’s radioactive. And they have yet to say how they’ll deal with it. The information comes from New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation, which analyzed 13 samples of wastewater brought thousands of feet to the surface from drilling and found that they contain levels of radium-226, a derivative of uranium, as high as 267 times the limit safe for discharge into the environment and thousands of times the limit safe for people to drink. (Read more)
By arimoore, on October 9th, 2009% 11/3 7 pm at Cornell Cinema (Willard Straight Hall) with an introduction by Shaleshock representative Helen Slottje
The natural gas drilling boom hit the midwest with promised of big money and promises of a clean alternative to fossil fuels. The reality has been far more complicated, with landowners forced to accept drilling rigs right outside their front doors, groundwater becoming contaminated, and public health issues, especially among children. Split Estate focuses on Garfield County, Colorado, where the breathtaking panoramas and clear mountain water are threatened by an industry that is exempt from federal protections like the Clean Water Act , and where one resident demonstrates the degree of benzene contamination by setting a stream alight with a match. A cautionary tale, and one that is all the more important to hear now, and in the Finger Lakes, as gas companies prepare for a massive hydro-fracking push throughout our area. “This film is of value to anyone wrestling with rational, sustainable energy policy while preserving the priceless elements of cultural heritage, private enterprise above-ground, and the precious health not only of people but the land itself.” (Gov. Bill Richardson, New Mexico)
2009, color, 1 hour 16 minutes, USA
By arimoore, on October 9th, 2009% 10/23 7 pm free screening at Unitarian Church of Ithaca, 306 North Aurora Street, co sponsored by the Unitarian-Universalist Social Justice Council and Shaleshock. Followed by discussion and presentation of information about impacts of gas drilling in Marcellus Shale
The natural gas drilling boom hit the midwest with promised of big money and promises of a clean alternative to fossil fuels. The reality has been far more complicated, with landowners forced to accept drilling rigs right outside their front doors, groundwater becoming contaminated, and public health issues, especially among children. Split Estate focuses on Garfield County, Colorado, where the breathtaking panoramas and clear mountain water are threatened by an industry that is exempt from federal protections like the Clean Water Act , and where one resident demonstrates the degree of benzene contamination by setting a stream alight with a match. A cautionary tale, and one that is all the more important to hear now, and in the Finger Lakes, as gas companies prepare for a massive hydro-fracking push throughout our area. “This film is of value to anyone wrestling with rational, sustainable energy policy while preserving the priceless elements of cultural heritage, private enterprise above-ground, and the precious health not only of people but the land itself.” (Gov. Bill Richardson, New Mexico)
2009, color, 1 hour 16 minutes, USA
By arimoore, on September 28th, 2009% Pennsylvania environment officials have charged Cabot Oil and Gas with five violations after nearly 8,000 gallons of hydraulic fracturing solution spilled [1] from a pipe system in two separate incidents near the town of Dimock last week. The department reported that a third, smaller spill occurred at the site Tuesday morning.
Read the rest here.
By arimoore, on August 26th, 2009% Gas shale drilling tech under scrutiny (Alaska Dispatch):
According to a long feature in the Ithaca Journal, people are wondering about just what’s in the waste liquid that results from horizontal high-pressure hydro-fracture drilling, and what’s the best way to handle it. As full-scale horizontal development of Marcellus Shale gas kicks in, the quantity of waste fluid will increase because horizontal wells require more of the fluid than vertical wells. The high volume of waste fluid will need to be dealt with. But because the industry is exempt from the federal rules that require full disclosure, no one is really sure about what threat the fluid poses to workers or groundwater. The DEC hasn’t issued any permits yet for full-scale development with horizontal hydro-fracture wells in the Marcellus because it is reviewing environmental impact statements, but it has already allowed the technology to be used in traditional vertical wells there. (Read more)
|
About Us Shaleshock is an information hub connecting people to regional groups and projects working to stop exploitative drilling in the Marcellus Shale.(more)

2009 Signs of Sustainability
|
Recent Comments