Today, Republicans in the House energy committee voted not once, not twice, but three times [all PDFs], against amendments recognizing that climate change is real, despite the broad scientific consensus that "climate change is happening and human beings are a major reason for it." They then unanimously voted [PDF] in favor of the Upton-Inhofe bill to repeal the EPA's scientific endangerment finding on greenhouse pollution.
The 31 Republicans and three Democrats who voted in favor of H.R. 910 have received a grand total of $343,750 from Koch Industries, an average of more than $10,000 each. Freshman Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.), Koch's special man in Congress, tips the scales at $79,500.
But today's vote is not the first time the Commitee From Koch went public on their science denial.
[Following is] a survey of the members of the committee, fueled by support from Koch Industries and other polluters, and their proclaimed opposition to climate science and climate scientists...
See for yourself. Chairman Upton, Rep. Barton, Rep. Waxman, et al. "Full Committee Markup on "H.R. 910" and "H.J. Res. 37" (Continued)". YouTube. (Running Time - 4:56:37).
See: Comments from Committe on Energy and Commerce Democrats:
Letter in Opposition from Scientists: "The EPA must be allowed to fulfill its responsibilities and take action to regulate global warming emissions under the Clean Air Act. This science-based law has prevented 400,000 premature deaths and hundreds of millions of cases of respiratory and cardiovascular disease during the 40 years since it was first passed5—all without diminishing economic growth."
Letter in Opposition from National Academy of Sciences: "We are deeply disturbed by the recent escalation of political assaults on scientists in general and on climate scientists in particular. All citizens should understand some basic scientific facts."
Letter in Opposition from Former Senior Military Officers: "America’s dependence on oil constitutes a clear and present danger to the security and welfare of the United States. As former senior military officers, we are concerned about Congressional efforts to undermine the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulatory authority that is critical to reducing our dependence on oil."
Letter in Opposition from Health and Medical Professionals: "Please fulfill the promise of clean, healthy air for all Americans to breathe. Support full implementation of the Clean Air Act and resist any efforts to weaken, delay or block progress toward a healthier future for all Americans."
Letter in Opposition from the American Public Health Association: "Cimate change is a public health issue and is one of the greatest threats to human health. Scientists from across the globe have stated in the strongest possible terms that the climate is changing and that human activity is to blame."
Letter in Opposition from Organizations: "This reckless legislation puts America’s health, prosperity, and national security at risk by gutting the Clean Air Act, overturning a decision of the Supreme Court, and dismantling the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to address life-threatening carbon dioxide and other pollution."
Letter in Opposition from Health Organizations: "This legislation would block the EPA from setting sensible safeguards to protect public health from the effects of air pollution."
Letter in Opposition from the American Lung Association: "A recent bipartisan survey... indicates the overwhelming view of voters: 69 percent think the EPA should update Clean Air Act standards with stricter limits on air pollution; 64 percent feel that Congress should not stop the EPA from updating carbon dioxide emission standards; 69 percent believe that EPA scientists, rather than Congress, should set pollution standards."
See: Broder, John M. 2011. House Panel Votes to Strip E.P.A. of Power to Regulate Greenhouse Gases. The New York Times, March 10, sec. Science / Environment.
See: Reeve, Elspeth. 2011. House Energy Panel Curbs Federal Power to Fight Climate Change - Politics - The Atlantic Wire. The Atlantic Wire. March 16.
See: EPA chief faces hostile House GOP
See: Smackdown: climate science vs. climate economics.
See: Climate Co-benefits and Child Mortality Wedges.
See: Snubbing Skeptics Threatens to Intensify Climate War,
See: Climate Zombies Now Run The House.
See: GOP Budget Amendments Would Destroy Health, Economy, Planet
See: EPA chief faces hostile House GOP
See: Energy & Commerce Committee Investigates Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing
For one of the more articulate conservative bloggers viewpoints on climate change and its' hermeneutics, read Alberta, Canada's Kevin Libin at ClimateRealists and The National Post.
See: Libin, Kevin. 2011. "Kevin Libin: Environmental activists hide behind a screen of U.S. money." National Post.
For an embarassing account of the dangers of environmentalism, see: Beware The Green Dragon! | Right Wing Watch.
Read the report, Protecting New York’s Air, Land, Water and People: What’s the Hydro-Fracking Rush? (PDF 3.1 MB)
Read Deep Pockets, Deep Drilling, published by Common Cause, July 2010 (PDF)
Read "Affirming Gasland" (PDF) from Damascus Citizens
Supporting materials and other information
County and Town Hydro-Fracking Resolutions
NYS Bills on Environmental Effects of Fracking
Comments submitted by governments, agencies, and organizations on New York’s proposal to permit Hydro-fracking for natural gas extraction in the Marcellus and Utica shale formations.
Photos and related videos of our Hydro-Fracking Day of Action
See this 92 page report criticizing the 2009 New York State DSGEIS:
Myers, Tom. Review and Analysis of DRAFT Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement On The Oil, Gas and Solution Mining Regulatory Program Well Permit Issuance for Horizontal Drilling and High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing to Develop the Marcellus Shale and Other Low-Permeability Gas Reservoirs. Technical Memorandum. Citizens Campaign for the Environment. New York NY: Natural Resources Defense Council, December 28, 2009. (92 pages).
Hydraulic fracturing, more commonly known as hydrofracking, is the process of extracting natural gas from underground rock formations. And, it’s increasingly becoming a topic for debate in New York State. Where do New Yorkers stand on the issue?
©istockphoto.com/HHakim
Click Here for Complete May 17, 2011 NYS NY1/YNN-Marist Poll Release and Tables
No Consensus
Photo by Neil Zusman
According to this NY1/YNN-Marist Poll, New Yorkers divide on the issue. 41% oppose hydrofracking while 38% support it. A notable 21% are unsure. Similar proportions of registered voters statewide share these views.
Regionally, there’s no majority on either side of the ledger. 47% of those upstate are against hydrofracking while 37% support it. 39% in New York City oppose the process while 35% favor it. However, in the suburbs of New York City, 46% are for hydrofracking while 36% are against it.
There are partisan differences on this question. While pluralities of Democrats — 47% — and non-enrolled voters — 46% — oppose the process, nearly half of Republicans — 49%– support it.
“Many New Yorkers have yet to weigh in on this issue,” says Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, Director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. ”The question is what will happen to the public’s opinion about hydrofracking as both sides make their case.”
See:Table: Support for Hydrofracking in NYS
See: Environmental Advocates New York
See: Action Center | Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP America)
See: New York State Assembly Passes Moratorium on Hydrofracking | Governor Vetoes Bill
See: Regulation Is Lax for Water From Gas Wells
See: Catskill Citizens | More Damning Evidence About Fracking
Organization web site features a widget that shows how you are connected to mountaintop removal where you live.
You Can End Mountaintop Removal.
Mountaintop removal is a radical form of coal mining in which entire mountains are literally blown up -- and it is happening here in America on a scale that is almost unimaginable.
Please take a moment to learn more about mountaintop removal mining -- and then join us by taking action to stop it.
See: Welcome to Rogers Neighborhood | House Passes Dangerous Budget in the Dark of Night
See: GOP Budget Amendments Would Destroy Health, Economy, Planet.
See: Michael Cusack O'Connell. (film). Mountaintop Removal.
The lawyer leading a $33-million lawsuit against Encana, the Alberta government and the province’s energy regulator says the case speaks to broader environmental concerns across North America about fracking.
“It’s very much the same issues all over,” said Murray Klippenstein, a Toronto-based litigator.
Klippenstein is representing landowner Jessica Ernst, who has long argued that coal bed methane drilling around her Rosebud-area home northeast of Calgary has resulted in the pollution of her well water.
“The hydraulic fracturing issues that Jessica raises in her lawsuit are coming up more and more publicly, with more and more concerns, not only in Alberta, but in B.C. and Quebec, and all over the United States,” he said.
A lawsuit filed in Drumheller last week alleges Encana, Alberta Environment and the Energy Resources Conservation Board are all responsible for damages. She claims the natural gas giant for faulty drilling practices, and the government and board for failing to properly investigate or enforce the province’s environmental rules.
Ernst is demanding more than $10 million from each.
See: New Lawsuit Filed in Fracking Country
See: Pennsylvania lawsuit says drilling polluted water
See: Affirming Gasland
See: Breaking news: EPA vetoes Spruce Mine permit
See: WATER: Rulings Restrict Clean Water Act, Foiling E.P.A.
Efforts by lawmakers and regulators to force the federal government to better police the natural gas drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," have been thwarted for the past 25 years, according to an exposé in the New York Times.
Studies by scientists at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on fracking have been repeatedly narrowed in scope by superiors, and important findings have been removed under pressure from the industry.
The news comes as the EPA is conducting a broad study of the risks of natural gas drilling with preliminary results scheduled to be delivered next year.
Joining us is Walter Hang, president of Toxics Targeting, a firm that tracks environmental spills and releases across the country, based in Ithaca, New York, where fracking is currently taking place. [includes rush transcript]
Extensive and thorough source of information on Marcellus Shale gas drilling in Pennsylvania. Non-members have limited access to some of the county and township specific information provided on well data, maps, production reports, violations, and company details. There is an option to become a guest member.
marcellusgas.org is located in Montrose, PA and can be contacted at 570-278-1994
There is an email contact form here.
About MarcellusGas.Org
The MarcellusGas.Org website was created to provide easy-to-access information pertaining to Marcellus gas wells being drilled in Pennsysylvania. The site was launched in September of 2010, with plans to substantially expand the information available in upcoming months.
MarcellusGas.Org welcomes and encourages comments, opinions, and suggestions. Please send your comments, and let us know what you think. Use our Contact MarcellusGas.Org form to send us your thoughts.
Sample Map showing horizontal directional drill located directly under the Elk Lake School in Dimock, PA. Find articles on Dimock, PA on Mixplex.
This weekend, as 10,000 energetic, bright young people are converging on Washington, DC, for PowerShift 2011, a geezer* is waging an all-out assault on their future.
Eighty-two-year-old Texas fossil-fuel-pushing megabillionaire T. Boone Pickens has, incredibly, essentially written a bill called the NAT GAS Act (“New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions,” H.R. 1380), to switch fleet vehicles such as buses and interstate trucks to “natural” gas.
Pickens has been working the Hill, White House, airwaves, and editorial boardrooms for some time. He’s got buddies like MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan gushing over him and Joe Nocera writing oily op-ed odes to nat gas in the New York Times. And Pickens has somehow managed to sell President Obama and an astonishing number of Congress members on the myth that nat-gas is a homegrown wonder fuel “bridge” from dirty foreign oil to a clean energy future...
Mira's Movement is a pediatric cancer support and advocacy organization, dedicated to supporting families facing a childhood cancer diagnosis, as well as increasing funding of research into better treatments and the causes of childhood cancer.
Do you know that pediatric cancer is the leading disease killer of children in the United States? That 35 children are diagnosed with cancer in the US every day? Do you know that, according to the National Cancer Institute, pediatric cancer as a whole received only $200 million for research in 2009?
Christine Brouwer
Not enough is being done to better understand childhood cancer—what causes it and how to better treat it. It's not because there aren't enough researchers ready to do this work. It's because there isn't enough public and private funding to move it ahead. If parents of children with cancer weren't busy taking care of them, hoping to save their lives, or grieving, they'd be able to be more vocal advocates. For these reasons, many voices are not being heard, and we're working to change that. Please join us in supporting and speaking up for kids with cancer!
Source: US Mortality Files, National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and 2004 Life Tables.
See: Sandra Steingraber. Raising Elijah.
See: Poisoned profits : the toxic assault on our children
See: The Case for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Toxic Hazards
See: Fracking: Implications for Human and Environmental Health
See: Food and Water Watch
Update
See: Christopher Caskey. "Rally planned against gas well water in Auburn." The Citizen. 2011-05-26.
See: Scott Rapp. "Auburn group hopes protest sways city to stop taking wastewater from natural gas drilling." The Post-Standard. 2011-05-29.
See: Editorial. "Our View: Moratorium, study needed on wastewater." The Citizen. 2011-05-29.
Email correspondence between William M. Foster, Auburn, NY and Fracking Resource Guide. The public notice published in the Auburn Citizen on April 1, 2011 follows at the end of this post.
Hi Bill,
I saw your letter in the 5/17 Auburn Citizen and the group letter that had several signatories including Margaret Foster. I wanted to post these letters to Fracking Resource Guide, with you as the author. I looked for a picture of you online and couldn't find one. I also looked for pictures of the plant.
Here: http://ci.auburn.ny.us/Public_Documents/AuburnNY_Utilities/pollution
There are pictures of closups of various sump pumps, etc. not necessarily yours in Auburn here:
http://www.jwce.com/tag/economic/
Do you know where I can find or take a picture of the Auburn facility in close-up?
Here is what I found on the type of plant by Koester Industries. It's called a gravity thickener...
Here is my search:
If the link breaks in the mail, here is the search in short form:
If this does look like your plant, let me know.
Regards,
Neil
The email correspondence began with this:
william m foster sent a message using the contact form at http://frack.mixplex.com/contact. Dear Sirs - we are a recently formed group opposed to hydrofracking in the finger lakes - we would like to distribute a copy of your report to a number of organizations in cayuga county - would this be ok with you? Hello, The Marcellus Accountability Project (MAP) is here: http://www.tcgasmap.org/ It is run by Bill Podulka, an engineer at Cornell. My site does not have the authority to re-distribute original content - it serves as a digital library. I write annotations for many of the articles. You are welcome to print, email and/or link to any of the material in this collection, of which MAP is one of the articles. I try to present information that is accurate, useful and inspired in my choice of articles in the collection. The issues of hydrofracking go beyond the well sites and touch on larger environmental, health, and legal concerns. Since my mission is to curate and distribute, I welcome your inquiry and wish you Best Regards, Neil Zusman http://frack.mixplex.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Neil Zusman [mailto:info@frack.mixplex.com]
Sent: Monday, April 11, 2011 8:52 AM
To: morgan.foster@verizon.net
Subject: Re: [Info] marcellus accoutability project
On 4/11/11 11:01 AM, Morgan-Foster Agency wrote:
Dear Neil - thank you for responding to my request - I have contacted Mr. Podulka's group and hope he will give us a favorable reply. We came together after NY Times article indicating that Auburn's Treatment Plant "cleans" fracked water. We are going to next Thursday's 4:30 Auburn Council Meeting to try to put an end to this practice. Bill Foster
-----Original Message----- From: Neil Zusman [mailto:info@frack.mixplex.com] Sent: Monday, April 11, 2011 1:00 PM To: Morgan-Foster Agency Subject: Re: [Info] marcellus accoutability project Hello Bill, You might also wish to contact Water Hang of Toxics Targeting: http://www.toxicstargeting.com/contact_us Regards, Neil
Neil - thanks - my niece has e-mailed a letter Mr. Hang sent to Gov Cuomo concerning Auburn Plant. Will be an interesting Thursday. Bill Foster
Letter from Auburn citizens to the City of Auburn, N.Y.
We are here tonight to speak about the public notice and article that appeared in the March 31st edition of The Citizen. The public notice lists eight companies that failed to comply with the city's wastewater treatment plant regulations. Six of those companies are natural gas drilling firms. The notice states that for all of 2010, many of these natural gas companies failed to submit quarterly self-monitoring reports.
The city called their attention to it a year later. Within that time frame , the city took in over 16 million gallons of gas drilling wastewater.
The notice mentions that the companies submitted required certification that the drilling water did not come from hydraulic fracturing , or hydrofracking , in the Marcellus Shale .
Can we verify this? How do we know that this is the case apart from taking natural gas companies at their word? Is that all it is--a certificate submitted a year after the fact that the city's plant did not take a radioactive toxic mix that no wastewater treatment plant is equipped to handle?
We have little faith in the integrity of the natural gas industry.
According to a March 1 article in the New York times, in Pennsylvania natural gas drilling companies aren't even required to track what they dispose or where they dispose their wastewater. Chesapeake Energy, one of the companies listed in the public notice for failure to comply, is hydrofracking in Pennsylvania. We have watched as natural gas executives blatantly lied to a congressional committee that the chemicals used in hydrofracking are safe .
Chemicals like benzene, toluene, methanol, formaldehyde--known carcinogens and neurotoxins.
The natural gas industry says there is no evidence that hydrofracking has contaminated drinking water while people in Colorado, Wyoming, Pennsylvania and other states can now light their tap water on fire and suffer from severe health issues.
Bluntly put, the natural gas industry has no incentive to tell the truth. They are free from federal and state laws that protect public health and prevent hazardous materials from entering public water . These companies have been exempt from any responsibility to disclose what chemicals they use…
...We say no more.
Beth Cuddy, Terry Cuddy, Patty Beer, Bill Foster, Taylor Price, Theresa Walsh, Ann Foster, David Foster, Walt Aikman, Roger Beer, Teresa Foster, Devon Roblee, Andy Roblee, Laura Coburn, Steve Gamba, Brian Landers, Marisol Landers, Bodhi Landers, Amy Chamberlain, Jesse Reich, Peter Cramer, Diane Sauso, Chris Sauso, Dia Carabajal, Lee Ballard, Matthias Ballard, Vera Carabajal, Nate Vitale, Julie Vitale, Vanessa Carpenter, Nick Diego, Lisa Hoff, Beth Ann McCarthy, Jennifer Balyszak Herbert, Laurel Ullyette, Jennifer Kulis Starr, Dustin Orofino, Kelly L. Woodman, Don Miller, James Cantu, Jessica Cantu, Jesse Kline, Tom Yaglowski, Chuck Mason, Steve Kline, Rob Morphy, Carrie Gregg, Lois Brazak, Bradley Molloy, Jaeseena Bertot, Thomas Tracy, Matthew Smith, Joan House, Susan Marteney, Doug Ward, Renee Ward, Ian Connerly, Barbara Moody, Blaine Moody, Stephen Stomps, Steve Coleman, Judy Coleman, Rhonda Miller, Dean Aversa , Mike Trapani, Joe Librandi-Cowan, Penny Pitman, Mary Nellenback, Anne Mlod, Janah Autovino, David Autovino, Margaret Foster, Tracy Crandall Herman, Jim Van Arsdale, and Betsy Alexander,...
