So it has been confirmed that oil and gas companies, in conjunction with the government/EPA, have dumped 3billion gallons of fracking water into our aquifers. The response is the standard, “errors were made.” With clear use of the passive voice to distance themselves from accountability.
If you look at this map, this appears bullish for Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, though all have fracking North in Canada so maybe not.
As this becomes more obvious (i.e. cancer, illness, undrinkable water, etc) to the common man they’re going to migrate out of California (we’re looking for land in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and MT if anyone has something to sell contact me). This could be bullish for OSU.
Good job, “big oil”…for those curious why the Clean Water Act does not apply, the “Halliburton Loophole” signed in 2005 by Cheney excepted fracking from the CWA. Good job electing Cheney to VP, America.
I drink your milkshake.
I was going to parrot the standard industry phrase, “There in no evidence that fracking operations have ever contaminated water blah blah blah,” that you hear in the many documentaries (like Gasland) that just make them all look like the liars they are.
That was going to be the joke.
But this is better:
“The trade association that represents many of California’s oil and gas companies says the water-injection is a “paperwork issue.” In a statement issued to NBC Bay Area, Western States Petroleum Association spokesman Tupper Hull said “there has never been a bona vide claim or evidence presented that the paperwork confusion resulted in any contamination of drinking supplies near the disputed injection wells.””
Oh those silly Big Oil lawyers! That’s a new twist on the old lie. Perhaps they aren’t lying when they say paperwork “confusion” resulted in anything. Perhaps some of those deceased regulators weren’t confused about anything when Mr. Franklin and several clones ended up in their bank accounts.
I’m done.
This issue is so very well documented that nothing I say can trump people’s willful ignorance on the subject. Water rights are going to be the new war in this country, and even we aren’t exempt from them with what Cheney and Smith did to the fishing industry on the southern coast when they diverted water in the Klamath Basin.
So true!
They don’t lie! Not if they don’t get caught.
Reminds you of the NSA, TSA, CIA, FBI, Congress, White House, etc., etc. Who did I forget?
They don’t get caught because of the executive deregulation and gutting of the EPA in 2001. Then what followed was the refusal of Congress to do anything in 2005 for regulation, in fact deregulating it wholly and specifically for certain sweetheart industries (the asbestos deal was done at this time too… after Halliburton swallowed up the primary criminal company in that industry). And, of course, again in 2005 Congress refused to fund alternative energy solutions which had traction at the time… in favor of some other industry… I can’t remember who it was.
in 2005 Congress refused to fund alternative energy solutions
Solyndra funding started in 2005. What a disaster that was.
That was a concession for them to point to it and say, “See? We’re doing something.” In fact, they increased Big Oil’s subsidies three-fold and claimed they did the same for alternatives.
Oooh! Alternatives went from one to three while Big Oil went from five to 15. That’s discounting nuclear, which has always always always been subsidized way over its value. But it is including idiot boy and his “switch grass” idea.
Besides, Solyndra died because of a Chinese oligopoly glutting the market with an okay from idiot boy. There are many ways we pay China the money we owe them. One that affects us here is the glut of extremely highly subsidized softwoods leaving the Tongass and going to China. That also affects Canadian timber, who have to abide by NAFTA in order to sell their natural resources.
That’s right… they can’t sell oil to their own refineries for true market value because of NAFTA. They also can’t do so for timber or ag. Gee! I wonder why they flooded the US markets in protest.
Yup. Bush and Clinton killed it all with NAFTA/GATT. Clinton added that stupid free trade agreement with China as he was outgoing. So many of the laws he passed when leaving were dumb beyond dumb. And idiot boy added to the problem with his “policies.” Obama is not absolved of this stupidity by any means. I have yet to hear that he’s changed anything, only holding it at bay.
And then Solyndra happened. I guess it’s little consolation that we killed the industry in Europe with our actions? I guess it’s also little consolation that it’s less than revenue/loss subsidization of NCAA football?
Oh… wait….
Btw… the switch grass thing pales in comparison to what corn gets.
But at least there’s not a problem with anything related to corn.
I mean… corn is corn.
Right?
That pattern is the same every time. Initial proposal. People are outraged, they fight and win. Industry goes into hiding for a few years until they can infiltrate the govt agency and place their people and write some propaganda (usually involves jargon about jobs), industry wins. Disasters being to pile up; people realize they were duped. People complain on the internet, feel hopeless, and do nothing. The real question is what happens when that system is stretched to the max. We feel close.
This one has been building and never quieted. It has suffered from inaction (or pro-action) in Congress over the last 15 years. But just because you see Koch Industries or Lockheed-Martin plugging their companies alongside Bud Light commercials during football games during election season doesn’t mean there haven’t been many many many voices speaking and writing about it.
It’s out there. People have just been ignoring it. It’s the opposite of NIMBY. Except, it’s coming to your back yard soon. When it does, you’ve already lost.
http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/niem.htm
Sorry… this is an easy topic for me. It’s pretty rote.
It’s not even appropriate for AB, but I am so angry about the situation here that I erupted!
I’ve been an angry beaver for more than 30 years about this kind of stuff. At times it seems I’m trying to pull a Gus Frerotte, But I speak out because I’m completely selfish.
It is wholly within my notion of self-preservation that I fight against those who do anything to kill our nation, even in the darkest of corners. If it can happen there, it’s only a matter of time before the malevolents destroy that bounty and turn toward you or me.
“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.”
This was early 2011:
http://earthjustice.org/features/california-and-fracking
And I guess you were in the epicenter of this in the last cycle:
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2014/11/05/california-county-bans-fracking-despite-deluge-oil-industry-cash
It’s also interesting that business is affected by this.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Energy-Voices/2014/0411/Is-California-the-next-fracking-frontier
But the most disturbing part is the oversight part toward the bottom of this article. This is where the WSPA spokesman gets to throw that “there has never been a claim or evidence” statement back in Big Oil’s face.
http://www.cleanwateraction.org/fracking-california
Another subject which is the reason this first subject always gets put on the backburner… if on a burner at all:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/11/13/how-the-gruber-controversy-previews-the-coming-gop-congress/
I fail to see the controversy here. I’ve watched the AHEC 2013 Conference (and his speech at Noblis), and there was nothing in it that says anything close to what the talking heads or politicos are saying he says. He’s taking this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMSKO4xCVTM
… and applying it to how every single law in the US has to be altered in order for it to pass because talking heads and politicos will grab on to any little bit of a soundbite that they can use to spin any law in their direction and make it easily digestible, or hated, according to the intent of whatever wonk is spinning the news cycle.
Woo hoo!
Irony!
I wouldn’t backtrack or apologize if I were him. Anyone upset about this is either the very definition of what he said or very well compensated to make those defined believe they are outraged.