Welcome to Transition Harrisburg! We are working to create a more sustainable, resilient and livable community... one person at a time. Join us!

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Charles Eisenstein's events

Hello everyone,

A few new things are on line with more to come in the next month. First, a couple interviews:
And a podcast of a Dharma talk I gave at the beautiful Upaya Zen Center.
These all have new material that may be unfamiliar to many of you.

Also, I'm experimenting with a new distributor for The Ascent of Humanity, Wubbit.com. The good news is that this allows independent bookstores to order the book on behalf of customers, and/or stock it on their shelves. They can get it at a standard trade discount.

Speaking of discounts, I am also offering a one-month discount for everyone else too, kind of a Christmas present. This is also available on Wubbit. $20. You can also buy them direct from me for the cover price of $25, and I will sign them to you or someone you love -- just make a note on the paypal form.

Finally, upcoming events:
January 8, 4-6pm: New Cumberland, PA, at Flow Together Yoga Studio, topic: The Invisible Path.
January 28, 7-9pm: Washington, DC, topic: TBA, probably "Living in the Gift" or "The Ascent of Humanity." contact Susan Belchamber (sbelchamber@ymail.com) for details.

Charles

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Transition on WITF

Here is the link for the audio of the broadcast:

WITF

Friday, December 10, 2010

Clean Air Board Community Meeting on January 6, 2011

Clean Air Board Community Meeting, “Atmospheric Deposition in Pennsylvania”
Elizabeth W. Boyer, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Water Resources, Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment and Director, PA Water Resources Research Center, will speak.
Prof. Boyer will report on the status and trends of acid rain and mercury deposition.  She recently completed reports for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection examining the data from the Pennsylvania atmospheric deposition network.
The presentation will be held at the Second Presbyterian Church, 528 Garland Drive, Carlisle, PA 17013, on Jan. 6, at 7 pm. 

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Tony Ingraffea to speak in Luzerne County

Dr. Tony Ingraffea will be at Luzerne County Community College (LCCC) in Nanticoke on  Thursday, December 16, from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm.

His bio at Cornell:
Ingraffea spent two years as a structural engineer with the Grumman Aerospace Corporation and two years as a county engineer with the Peace Corps in Venezuela before he began doctoral studies. He has taught structural mechanics, finite element methods,and fracture mechanics at Cornell since 1977.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Mohawk Thanksgiving Prayer


(This is an excerpt from Findhorn's website
The Earth Mother
We are all thankful to our Mother, the Earth, for she gives us all that we need for life. She supports our feet as we walk about upon her. It gives us joy that she continues to care for us as she has from the beginning of time. To our mother, we send greetings and thanks.
Now our minds are one.
The Waters
We give thanks to all the waters of the world for quenching our thirst and providing us with strength. Water is life. We know its power in many forms-waterfalls and rain, mists and streams, rivers and oceans. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the spirit of Water.
Now our minds are one.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Meeting on Thursday, December 2nd

We will be joining the Gas Truth folks at Midtown Scholar this week. Planning our demonstration at Toxic Tom Corbett's inauguration will be the main focus. Please come with your ideas to add to the planned mayhem :-)

Thursday, November 11, 2010

First Annual Harrisburg Soup Swap

"Soup Swaps" started in Seattle a few years ago, and it sounds like a wonderful way to meet neighbors and make new friends! So, let's get several communities in the Harrisburg area to have Soup Swaps on Saturday, January 22, 2011....

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Valley facility cleans 357,000 gallons of fracking water

http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/4645166

(excerpts)
(Source: The Daily Item)By Evamarie Socha, The Daily Item, Sunbury, Pa.

Nov. 05--A Snyder County facility processed about 357,000 barrels of fracking water and related drilling fluids, delivered by about 700 trucks using Routes 11-15 between July 2009 and June 2010, according to information on a newly launched state website.
DEP has a list of chemicals that companies use in their hydraulic fracturing fluids in Pennsylvania; however "We don't have exact concentrations because it's proprietary information of the companies," said Jamie Legenos, a DEP information specialist.

DEP Oil & Gas Reporting website 

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Monongahela River + Fracking Chemicals = Danger

From our friends in Pittsburgh:


Citizens Gather to Protest Toxic Wastewater Dumping in the Monongahela River
Time: 12:00 p.m       
Address: 1 North State Street  Clairton, PA 15025-2172

Clairton, PA - On Thursday, November 4 protesters gathered at noon at the Clairton Municipal Water Authority's front entrance to oppose dumping untreated wastewater from Marcellus Shale drilling into the Monongahela River, the source of drinking water for 350,000 people.
The Clairton Municipal Authority is one of 14 water plants that dispose of waste water from the hydraulic fracturing drilling process for extracting gas from Marcellus Shale. During drilling, the water is injected with sand and hundreds of dangerous, cancerous chemicals into the shale layer where it is exposed to radiation and toxins stored beneath the Earth before flowing back.
Loretta Weir, a founder of Communities United for Rights and Environment (CURE), travelled from her home in Lincoln Place to protest. She said, “This is the water for baby formula and bathing our children downstream. If corporations are going to be granted the same rights as citizens, then the DEP should not be permitting this dumping to happen. If you or I dumped toxins like benzene and bromide into the Mon river, we’d be thrown in jail.”
Clairton Municipal Authority is permitted to discharge 40,000 gallons of drilling waste a day into Peters Creek that flows into the Monongahela River. The plant is located directly across from the U.S. Steel coke works where federal Environmental Protection Agency inspectors regularly monitor water and air quality. Currently, the process of hydraulic fracturing is not regulated by the EPA due to the Halliburton loophole.
CURE spokesperson Ken Weir said, “We the people are here to demand that our Pennsylvania constitutional rights to clean water be upheld. General Tom Corbett, tighten your boot straps because we’re here to stay. Our movement’s only getting stronger. After only five months organizing in Pittsburgh, we put 800 people on the streets on a weekday to march on the DUG East conference yesterday. This is the long haul and we’re ready to win and stop this abuse of our public health and environment.”
Charles Christen, DrPH, MEd, of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health Center for Healthy Environment and Communities, during a panel sponsored by the League of Women Voters at the Squirrel Hill Jewish Community Center on October 11, said "We are very concerned about fluid disposal from gas industry operations such as flow back fluids and produced fluids.”
Christen continued, “We have figures on the permitted gallons of disposed fluids allowed for 14 waste disposal facilities in the Monongahela Watershed. These figures add up to a total of 612,000 to 2,112,000 of gallons of waste per day. In a study published in the journal of the Society of Petroleum Engineers focusing on the concentrations of selected important contaminants from Marcellus Shale flow back water, there are approximately 161,636 mg/L total dissolved solids (TDS): 2, 950 mg/L of Barium: 3,280 mg/L of Strontium and 95,400 mg/L Chloride. Doing the calculations with the total disposed waste from the treatment facilities there is 824,825 lbs. of TDS, 15,053 lbs. of barium, 16,737 lbs. of strontium and 486,812 lbs. of chloride permitted disposal everyday into the Mon River. This is above and beyond the acid mine drainage flowing into the river.
Lastly, Christen said “We would strongly encourage zero discharge as soon as possible."
In regards to the health effects of the chemicals, Alex Lotorto, 23, graduate of Muhlenberg College, said, “Bromide is most commonly found in sedimentary rock formed from sea beds, like the Marcellus Shale layer. Bromide exposure has been linked to thyroid disease. Strontium exposure is linked to bone cancer, cancer of the soft tissue near the bone, and leukemia. Symptoms of barium exposure include muscle fatigue or weakness, difficulty breathing, increased or decreased blood pressure, numbness of the face, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal cramping. Extended exposure to high levels of barium has been found to cause changes in heart rhythm, kidney problems, significant weight loss, paralysis and death.”
The national Air Toxics Assessment report released in June 2009 calculated the cancer risk for Clairton residents at 762 in 1 million, and for nearby Glassport residents at 700 in 1 million, the third- and fourth-highest risk rates in the nation. The average national cancer risk last year was 36 in a million.
Communities United for Rights and Environment participates in the MarcellusProtest.org community coalition.
#####

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Water from Mon River loaded with 'particles'
State says Monongahela River exceeds OK levels for drinking water
State wants to tighten controls on waste water from gas wells
Mon Valley towns atop cancer list
On October 11th, Charles Christen, DrPH, MEd gave his testimony about some public health concerns associated with Marcellus Shale drilling to an audience of engaged community members.  Click here to read his testimony (PDF).

Sunday, October 31, 2010

An evening with Charles Eisenstein

Charles will be at The Midtown Scholar on Thursday, November 4 at 7:00 p.m. to talk about Sacred Economics. We will likely be upstairs in the Gallery. Please join us: all are welcomed!


Sacred Economics

Many people sense that the current economic crisis is more than a bump in the road. A profound shift is underway to an entirely new kind of economy. Based on flow, not accumulation; cycles, not consumption; sharing, not interest, the new economy will enact a changed attitude toward earth, toward humanity, and toward ourselves. This talk explains the essentials of why the "old normal" will never return, and how to prepare for the new normal of the coming sacred economy.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Mechanicsburg Environmental Club meeting

If you live on the West Shore, please consider supporting one of our sister organizations by attending their meetings:


October 26thTuesday, Mechanicsburg Middle School, Room #160 from 7:00- 8:30

Christmas is coming! Why not buy and give green products!

Jim Armbrust presents Green Irene. He will explain new products and what makes good $$ and sense. Also we will have Charles Cope from Solatube show off his very reasonably priced product that will brighten up your home like nothing else. It would make a wonderful Christmas present for you from you.

At this meeting, we will also discuss the personal characteristics the leader(s) should have (in a perfect world), in order to grow/flourish the South Central PA Environmental Alliance, the contact person(s) running the municipal clubs, and “the special ties” liaison... Plus our new logo!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Penn Action/Clean Water Action Conference at Radisson 10-16-10

For being a six hour conference, it went by very quickly, with break-out discussion groups, networking, and lots of excellent presentations on a variety of topics. If you weren't there, you shoulda been!

The whole day was devoted to educating us newbie activists on the most effective ways to make changes in our legislature, our state and local governments, and how to connect with others in the long fight to maintain our clean air, water and land. With fracking wells going in all over the north, west and southwestern parts of PA, we have lots of work ahead.

One thing that everyone said was that we have to speak with one voice. With that in mind, Harrisburg residents are creating a website to start collecting all the actions, people and groups working to stop fracking in PA. That group is No Fracking Way... Connecting the Movement. They are on facebook (No Fracking Way) and on Twitter. Their email is NoFrackingWayPA@gmail.com. Please friend them on facebook and contribute to this effort to connect all the actions in one place.

Classes sponsored by our friends in Mechanicsburg Area Environmental Club

Trails and Trees Teaching Garden Classes (Rain or Shine)

October 16, 2010, Saturday- 10:00- 11:00ish      Composting 101+- Free-
Taught by Penn State Master Gardener, Bob MacGregor and Paul Garrett.
We guarantee that YOU WILL leave this class with an excellent understanding of how to compost or we will TRIPLE your money back. This class is designed for everyone, ages 10 – 110. Start to stockpile your Fall leavesyour garden discards, grass clippings, shredded paper, kitchen scraps (minus anything with meat or dairy products in it.)
                             REMEMBER: A rind is a terrible thing to waste.

October 23, 2010, Saturday- 10:00- 11:00ish      Container Gardening - Free-
Taught by the one-and-only leader of Cumberland County Penn State Master Gardeners, Annette MaCoy. Take those herb plants indoors for use over the winter…save some of those perennials from the bite of winter!! Which pot? What should be in the soil? Where in the house should they be kept? How often do you water them? Do you add fertilizer? When can you reintroduce them to the outdoors?
Learn it from the pro.

 ** Directions: (Get off of the PA Turnpike at Route #15 South towards Gettysburg, PA. Get off Route 15 (1 mileish) at the Mechanicsburg/Bowmansdale Rt. #114 exit. Take a right at the end of the ramp. Go to the first traffic light and turn left. In about ¼ mile, turn right on South York Street. Proceed a maximum of 1/2 mile and turn right at Eberly Lane before the Trails and Trees signs.

Or- Get off Route 81 at Mechanicsburg #114. Turn South. GO STRAIGHT. In Mechanicsburg you stay straight ahead, ignoring the “dogleg” that #114 does. Go straight ahead on South York Street (2.2 miles) puts you at the Trails and Trees Environmental Site sign. Turn left at Eberly Lane.

Or- While traveling through Mechanicsburg on Trindle Road (#641) or Simpson Street, turn south on South York Street. Go 2.2 miles. Turn left at signs to Trails to Trees E. Site/ Eberly Lane.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

"Deep Drilling, Deep Pockets" by Common Cause (excerpts)




Pennsylvania has often been described as the “Wild West” of campaign financing. Ours is one of only eleven states that do not limit campaign contributions, and the state’s online campaign contribution database is not fully searchable or sortable, so that a search for contributions from a particular interest that might take minutes in another state could take hundreds of hours in Pennsylvania. As a result of these two failures—failure to limit campaign contributions, and failure to make this information truly accessible—big political donors wield extraordinary influence over the political process in Pennsylvania, even as they face relatively little scrutiny as compared to many other states. 

The natural gas industry gave $2.85 million to political candidates in Pennsylvania between 2001 and March 2010, and it spent $4.2 million on lobbying since Pennsylvania began requiring lobbyist reporting in 2007.


Drillers have a clear favorite in the 2010 gubernatorial race—Republican Tom Corbett, recipient of $361,207, with 93% of these contributions coming since January 2008. Among the candidates on the Democratic side, Dan Onorato was the top recipient with $59,300, followed by Jack Wagner with $44,550. Joe Hoeffel received a single contribution of $2,000 from the industry in 2004 while running for the U.S. Senate, but has received nothing since. Democratic candidate State Sen. Anthony Williams received no contributions from the industry, as did Republican candidate State Rep. Sam Rohrer. 



However, of the 2.1 million acres of Pennsylvania state forest land, 692,000 acres have already been leased to production companies for natural gas drilling (1.6 million acres of state forest lie above 22% of the state’s share of the Marcellus Shale). 

Fracking fluid is typically made up of roughly 90% fresh water, 9% proppant (most often sand), and 0.5-1% chemicals for purposes ranging from inhibiting the growth of organisms (biocides), reducing friction and surface tension, and increasing viscosity (gelling agents). As fracking a horizontal well typically uses 5 million gallons of fluid (and 4.5 million gallons of fresh water), it can be expected that between 25,000 and 50,000 gallons of assorted chemicals are used for each well. 

Sen. Robert Casey (D-PA) recently emphasized the importance of federal regulation, stating, “We have to do this the right way this time. It's so fundamental to the lives of Pennsylvania families…People need to know what's being injected into the ground to release natural gas. That's one reason we need to pass the FRAC Act.”48 The FRAC Act, pending legislation introduced in both the House and the Senate, would require drillers to disclose the full content of their fracking fluid and amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to include federal regulation of hydraulic fracturing. 


(
Deep Drilling, Deep Pockets: The Campaign Contributions; Lobbying Expenditures of the Natural Gas Industry in Pennsylvania )



Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Yellow Breeches Watershed Association Annual Community Meeting

Yellow Breeches Watershed Association Annual Community Meeting
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Lower Allen Park Community Barn 
Informal Gathering 6-7pm, Meeting 7pm

I would like to invite you to the annual membership meeting of the Yellow Breeches Watershed Association.
 
The YBWA would love to have your thoughts and ideas on how best to preserve and enhance the quality of the Yellow Breeches Creek.

Some of our accomplishments and ongoing projects include:
Trout Day-opening day of trout season   
Mechanicsburg Earth Day Festival- educational information display
Water quality monitoring -partnering each week with our friends and volunteers from the Capital Area Senior Environmental Corps
Water Trail Maps- providing helpful information for recreational users
Kiosks- located at the beginning of each water trail segment
Stream side clean up-2010 YB in Lisburn

We plan to continue all of the activities from past years.
In addition, we hope to expand our scope 
and transform this small organization into a more inclusive, proactive group of community volunteers.

We plan to have our 1st annual "publicly announced" community creek clean up in 2011.

While the event is still in the planning stages, I envision several versions- 

A "Walk Your Run" day, where communities would walk the waterways (drainage areas, ravines, anywhere that water runs during a rain event) in their neighborhoods.
This could be a trash clean up as well as an inventory of the condition of our natural drainage areas.  This could help us identify areas that need additional buffer plantings and natural filters for the storm water before it flows into the Yellow Breeches.

An "Adopt-A-Creek" Day, where we hope to engage different groups to clean up a segment of the creek each year.
For instance, I hope to engage Messiah College students to adopt the creek segment from the college to Simpson Park; and a different group to adopt the segment from Simpson Park to McCormick Park, McCormick Park to Lower Allen Park, etc.

We hope to start this program in the Upper and Lower Allen township areas.  The townships are already on board to provide announcements and assist with debris removal. 
We look forward to making this a community day of caring for the natural areas in your neighborhood.
With a few sponsors, we could have proper equipment, tee shirts, lunch, etc. for all of the volunteers.

We want to plan and plant several riparian buffers of native species plantings in the coming year. 

We would like to conduct educational workshops focusing on slowing storm water runoff. With our "Slow the Flow" workshop, we hope to increase the use of rain barrels and rain gardens in our watershed.
If you are interested and love the Yellow Breeches as much as I do, then please become involved. The possibilities are up to us.

Please come to the meeting or feel free to email me.  If you see an activity that you are interested in, I encourage you sign up to be a worker or leader for that project.

We have an informal social gathering planned for this Wednesday, Oct 13th from 6-7pm at the Lower Allen Park Community Barn, followed by a brief presentation about the low-head dams in our area. 

Please feel free to share this email with anyone that might be interested in the Yellow Breeches!

Hope to see you there.

Debbie Goetz
YBWA Vice-President 

Deborah Perry Goetz
dgoetz@comcast.net
Home 717-697-4734
Fax 717-697-4734
Cell 717-514-4288

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Gas Truth of Central PA + Clean Water Action

Well, these past couple of weeks have been hectic! On Thursday, we joined with Clean Water Action to start a new group: Gas Truth of Central PA. About 40 people turned up and 35 are now taking some action to educate citizens and politicians about fracking in PA.

The committee that I am part of is the Fracking: Long Term Solutions Group. Here is our report:


• Boycott fossil fuels for one day (raise awareness of the issue)
• Bicycle paths: create them in your neighborhood & connect to other neighborhoods
• Electric buses: solar panels for charging
• Neighborhood solar generation
• Gift Circle: to shift perspective from individual effort to group interdependence (http://2020climatecampaign.org/content/practice-and-theory-gift-circle-fairfax-california)
• Local currency: to strengthen local economy by keeping money local; strength of economy not based on amount of money in circulation, but how often money changes hands
• Time Banking: to strengthen ties among neighbors (http://www.timebanks.org/)
• Neighborhood Associations: build community and educate members through presentations
• Common Security Clubs: to reconnecting neighbors by supporting one another in difficult economic times (http://commonsecurityclub.org/)
• Community housing
• Permaculture: apply these principles to growing food and to building better society (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture)
• Faith-based organizations: ethical and moral dimension of fracking's short- and long-term effects on people and environment

This group's purpose is to find long-term solutions and alternatives to natural gas extracted using hydraulic fracturing (fracking). By educating those who live above the Marcellus shale formation in Pennsylvania, we can help them make informed decisions when approached by drilling companies offering to lease their land. By rebuilding the connections among individuals in a community, we can help neighborhoods reject short-term monetary gain and embrace long-term sustainability. 

We reject dependence on corporate-controlled, short-term and short-sighted monetary profits when doing so does permanent damage to ourselves, our communities and our planet.

Fracking is a desperate reaction to fossil fuel depletion. Fossil fuel depletion has no solutions, only adaptations. We reject fracking's implementation on these grounds: permanent pollution of our waterways, permanent scarring of our land, and long-term fracturing of communities and wildlife habitat.

..................................................


Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, October 21 @ 7:00 p.m. We will post the place in the next couple of days.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Transition Harrisburg meeting on October 7th

We We are having a special meeting this coming Thursday! We are attending the very first meeting of Gas Truth of Central PA! Come to the Midtown Scholar at 7:00 pm this Thursday, October 7th.

Gas Truth of Central PA is educating folks about hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") for natural gas. Gas is locked in the Marcellus shale rock deep beneath the Northeast, and can only be released by setting off a series of extremely strong explosions underground. Fracking for gas has been found to pollute aquifers, land and air. Please attend this meeting to find out more and to find out what we, as citizens of Pennsylvania, can do to stop this practice.

Find Gas Truth of Central PA on facebook:

Also find Gasland on facebook:
GAS TRUTH OF CENTRAL PA
founding meeting - sponsored by Clean Water Action
THURS.  OCT. 7TH   @  7 PM TO 9 PM
MIDTOWN SCHOLAR BOOKSTORE

1302 NORTH THIRD STREET, HARRISBURG

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Please note the time change for the RALLY on Sept 21st

We Need Protection from Marcellus Shale Drilling!

Come to Harrisburg on Tuesday, Sept. 21

Pennsylvania’s state legislature has taken NO ACTION this year to protect residents from all the problems Marcellus Shale gas drilling is causing in our state.  Contaminated drinking water, pollution in our rivers, hazardous air pollution, safety problems, and destruction of our state forests are just some of the problems.

The state legislature will be in session for at least the last two weeks in September, possibly for the last time this year.  Come to Harrisburg and SPEAK OUT!  Let our legislators know that we need them to take action NOW.

·         Moratorium on drilling
·         Fair Taxation – a severance tax to fund environmental protection programs
·         No Forced Pooling – residents should not be forced to sign gas leases they don’t want
·         Protections for our drinking water
·         Require inspections at drilling sites – increase monitoring and enforcement
·         Require full disclosure of hazardous chemicals used
·         Protect our State Forests

Rally at the Capitol  1:30 pm
Meet with Your State Legislators
(meetings will be set from 9:00 – 1:30 and 2:00 – 4:00)

To sign up for the Sept. 21 lobby day, please visit www.pacleanwatercampaign.org or call: Steve at 412-765-3053, x210 or Erin at 215-545-0250.

Sponsored by:  PA Campaign for Clean Water, Sierra Club, Clean Water Action, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Earthworks Oil and Gas Accountability Project, PennEnvironment, Protecting Our Waters, Penn Action

Myron Arnowitt
PA State Director
Clean Water Action

100 Fifth Ave., #1108
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
412-765-3053, x203

Friday, September 10, 2010

Fracking info from Penn Environment:

In Ohio, a gas drilling company used eminent domain to drill for gas right next door to a daycare center. And now, gas industry lobbyists are working in Harrisburg to make it legal to let companies like Exxon Mobil do that here in Pennsylvania.
Gas companies are trying to pass a new law to allow "forced pooling," which would permit those companies to seize mineral rights through eminent domain. If forced pooling were to be allowed, people from Squirrel Hill to State College to the Poconos could be forced to allow Marcellus Shale gas drilling near their property.
PennEnvironment is working to stop this proposal so that gas companies cannot drill next to or underneath your land against your wishes. However, these companies are hiring well-connected lobbyists -- including former Gov. Tom Ridge -- to help pass eminent domain policies. If it passes, this policy would be bad news for landowners who don't want to lease their underground mineral rights for Marcellus Shale gas drilling.
Contact your state legislators and tell them to oppose forced pooling this fall:
http://www.pennenvironment.org/clean-water/forced-pooling?id4=ES

Gas extraction in Pennsylvania using hydraulic fracturing ("fracking")

Folks -

I am asking you to take a look at this important issue - natural gas extraction from the Marcellus Shale deposits which cover a goodly portion of Pennsylvania. This is just beginning in Pennsylvania and we need to tread slowly and carefully.  I have put some links at the end so that you can do your own research if you wish. Don't take my word for it.  If you get the chance, please see Gasland. It has had some showings in the area and is scheduled to open in theaters in November. Finally, please consider coming to the Capital Wed Sept 21st for a Lobby Day and Rally.  

This is a little long, but it is a complex issue and I am only skimming the surface.

The method of gas extraction from Marcellus Shale uses a process called hydraulic fracturing also known as fracking. If fracking sounds like a bad word, well perhaps it is.  There are many issues here, but the most important concern water quality, air quality, and the rights of property owners.  The Energy Policy Act of 2005 removed the Environmental Protection Agency from oversight of fracking [but now the EPA wants to know the chemicals used in drilling].  It also exempted the oil and gas industry from many regulations that protect us such as: the Water Quality Act, the Air Quality Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act , the SuperFund law, just to name a few.  These companies use over 500 chemicals, many known to be toxic and/or carcinogenic, throughout the extraction process and they are not required to disclosed them. In fact, they are considered proprietary and therefore can be kept secret from the public.  As much as 80,000 pounds of chemicals can be injected into each well to fracture the shale. These chemicals end up in the air, soil, ground water, rivers, streams and drinking water wells. This has happened in communities throughout the United States and, as was reported over the last few days, in Bradford County, PA.  Methane gas is already seeping into the Susquehanna River in Bradford County.

Nitrogen Oxide and Volatile Organic Compounds are aspects of drilling that create air quality issues.  In fact, there are times when these compounds, among others, create a visible smog. At other times they are not able to be seen, but they are doing their damage anyway.

It takes about 2 millions gallons of water each time a well is fracked and some wells can be fracked up to eighteen times! It is nearly unimaginable the amount of water necessary for this process at one single well.  Most of the water is not recovered and a toxic soup is all that remains of the water that is recovered.  Your drinking water may be at risk even if you do not live in area that would be subjected to drilling.  Consider that the large watersheds of the Susquehanna and Delaware Rivers supply drinking water to millions of people  not just in Pennsylvania, but also to New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, and large portions of New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland.  The overall health of the Delaware and Chesapeake Bays depends largely on the health of the Delaware and Susquehanna Rivers.  Those bays, especially the Chesapeake are already under great stress without the added problems from unregulated gas drilling.

Finally there is the issue of the rights of landowners.  Many landowners do not own their mineral rights. They only own the surface.  You can choose not to lease, but does not mean that your gas won't be taken anyway.  Wells can be built right up to your property line.  As you may know, Pennsylvania does not currently tax companies for the gas they remove. This has been a great source of recent debate in the State Legislature.  Just this week the Republicans have said they would agree to the Tax in exchange for "forced-pooling."  Forced-Pooling means that if 75% if the surrounding property owners have signed leases, they consider that you've signed a lease, too.  Gas drilling can then happen on your property without your consent.
I think this is SO important. I am not naive. I know that no form of energy comes without its downside and that includes wind and solar.  However, I am not sure fracking for gas is worth the risk - at least not a this moment in time. Please educate yourself - your drinking water may depend on it.

Pam

http://gaslandthemovie.com/ 
Not just about the movie, but has a fact sheeting on fracking, personal stories and action steps

http://1trickpony.cachefly.net/gas/pdf/Affirming_Gasland_July_2010.pdf
A 38 page PDF that de-bunks the industry attempts to discredit the Gasland movie.  You'll find many good links here.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AgeW9Alo7tb5dDFwajBQWl8zdUxYbE14X0tSdUl1VVE&hl=en#gid=0
Natural Resources Defense Council Spread sheet on all the exemptions in the 2005 Energy Policy Act

http://www.pacleanwatercampaign.org/
Pennsylvania Clean Water Campaign - You can find more information on the Lobby Day and Rally. Sign-up for the Lobby Day. Lots of good information on Gas Drilling and it's effects on water quality.

http://www.propublica.org/article/feds-warn-residents-near-wyoming-gas-drilling-sites-not-to-drink-their-wate
Propublica article on last week's EPA warning to the residents of the Wyoming Town of Pavillion that they should not drink their water and must use ventilation fans while showering of washing clothing to prevent a methane gas explosion.  This has been linked to gas drilling and the company involved EnCana wants to drill in PA.  You'll find other information on this site about gas drilling .

http://srs444.blogspot.com/
Susquehanna River Sentinel - a blog about drilling in Bradford County. Includes photos and video links. [The methane gas bubbles that are coming up in the Susquehanna River cover a huge area, something like 150 feet x 200 feet]. The video doesn't do it justice.

http://www.thestreet.com/story/10854042/1/dep-investigating-source-of-stray-methane-gas-in-bradford-county.html
Bradford County methane seeps as reported by a business website.  Pretty much the DEP press release verbatim. 


Here the link to the AP story I heard on NPR this morning [9-10-10].  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129771879

Here is video footage of the Bradford County gas bubbles posted just today by WNEP which is out of Scanton (mailing address says Moosic, PA) http://www.wnep.com/news/countybycounty/wnep-brad-methane-gas-source-susquehanna-river,0,113104.story


 A search turned up only the press release from 09/07
http://www.pennlive.com/business/prnewswire/index.ssf?/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=pennlive.story&STORY=/www/story/09-07-2010/0005303777&EDATE=Sep+7,+2010

You might be interested in this opinion piece (and the two comments) that ran in  a Lehigh Valley paper in June about the time GASLAND aired on HBO.  This is what we are up against and we need to be prepared to respond.
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/today/index.ssf/2010/06/opinion_make_fracking_as_safe.htmla