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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums109 Progressive Organizations Take Issue With Obama’s Support for Fracking
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 5, 2012
109 Organizations Take Issue With Obamas Support for Fracking
WASHINGTON - March 5 - More than 100 organizations including environmental, religious and public health groups expressed concern about President Obamas endorsement of hydraulic fracturing and shale gas drilling in his recent State of the Union address.
Amid mounting evidence of the harm and significant costs associated with drilling and fracking, it is premature to declare that government investment in shale gas drilling has been a success, the groups wrote in a joint letter sent to the White House today (Monday, Mar. 5).
The groups, which represent more than 3 million supporters in 16 states, questioned the Presidents statement that the United States sits atop a supply of natural gas that can last America nearly 100 years. They also disputed the claim that natural gas will support more than 600,000 jobs by the end of the decade, an estimate based in part on a study funded by the natural gas industry. The President repeated the job creation estimate in recent speeches on energy policy at the University of Miami on Feb. 23 and in New Hampshire on March 1.
To consider an industrial process that has contaminated water supplies, caused rampant air pollution and disrupted communities across the country a success story is misguided, said Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, a non-partisan advocacy organization headquartered in New York State. Our nation needs an energy policy based on solid, independent science, not industry hype.
The 109 groups noted that the Environmental Protection Agency is currently conducting two studies to determine whether hydraulic fracturing can contaminate water supplies. One of the studies, focused on the town of Pavillion, Wyo., has already found that fracking had likely contaminated groundwater.
We now know that the results of fracking with unknown chemicals have included earthquakes in Ohio, contaminated drinking water in Pennsylvania and spoiled farmland and rivers wherever wastewater is dumped, said the Rev. Jim Deming, minister for environmental justice for the Ohio-based United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries. The administration must take concrete, meaningful steps to safeguard the health of our citizens and protect the natural resources of our communities from this unregulated industry.
Congress has granted the industry major exemptions from important federal environmental and health protection laws, including the Clean Air, Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water acts.
Homeowners across the country have had to witness first-hand what happens when the shale gas industry is left to regulate itself, said Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, which drafted the letter. We hope the administration will temper its enthusiasm for fracking until the EPA has completed its studies. We urge the President to work with Congress to not only require disclosure of fracking chemicals, but also to ensure that this industry no longer gets a free pass when it comes to compliance with major federal environmental laws.
According to the Bloomberg news service, the job number cited by the President comes from an industry-funded study conducted by the consulting firm IHS Global Insight, whose executive vice president, Daniel Yergin, served on a federal shale gas advisory committee. In August 2011, EWG, along with federal and state lawmakers, scientists and public interest organizations objected that Mr. Yergin and five other members of the advisory committee had ties to the natural gas and oil industry. The committees final report sidestepped the crucial question of whether fracking should remain exempt from most federal environmental laws.
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The mission of the Environmental Working Group (EWG) is to use the power of public information to protect public health and the environment. EWG is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, founded in 1993 by Ken Cook and Richard Wiles.
http://www.ewg.org/release/109-organizations-take-issue-obama-s-support-fracking
Read the joint letter at:
http://www.ewg.org/release/109-organizations-take-issue-obama-s-support-fracking
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109 Progressive Organizations Take Issue With Obama’s Support for Fracking (Original Post)
Better Believe It
Mar 2012
OP
Industry Spokesman Attacks Environmentalists Letter As "hyperbole and hairsplitting".
Better Believe It
Mar 2012
#1
Better Believe It
(18,630 posts)1. Industry Spokesman Attacks Environmentalists Letter As "hyperbole and hairsplitting".
Conservation groups call Obama to task over his remarks on oil and gas
Industry spokesman says criticism wrought with hyperbole and hairsplitting'
John Colson
Post Independent Staff
March 6, 2012
GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado Two environmental groups active in Garfield County's oil and gas issues have joined more than 100 other groups in criticizing recent remarks by President Barack Obama about the industry. The organizations sent a letter to the president Monday to express concerns about Obama's remarks in the State of the Union address on Jan. 25.
An industry spokesman, however, called the letter hyperbole and hairsplitting.
Many conservation groups continue to engage in positive, proactive dialogues with Colorado's natural gas industry, David Ludlam, director of the Western Slope Colorado Oil & Gas Association, wrote in an email to the Post Independent. As was the case in Colorado's groundbreaking hydraulic fracturing disclosure rule, remarkable outcomes are often the result of working together.
Concerning the letter, Ludlam wrote, There are always some who miss the boat and relegate themselves to the trenches of hyperbole and hairsplitting. Unfortunately, the letter to the president is wrought with both.
Read the full article at:
http://www.postindependent.com/article/20120306/VALLEYNEWS/120309944/1083&ParentProfile=1074
FSogol
(45,515 posts)4. Cut and Paste!, Cut and Paste!
SidDithers
(44,228 posts)2. Keep trying...nt
Sid
TheKentuckian
(25,029 posts)6. You too
mmonk
(52,589 posts)8. What's he doing?
Blocking a canonization?
Luminous Animal
(27,310 posts)3. They never loved him.
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)5. Professional Leftist troublemakers who don't toe the party line.
Besides, politicians understand the environment better than environmentalists.
Better Believe It
(18,630 posts)7. Under the bus with 109 organizations!
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)9. The one percent own both parties now.
Occupy. It has never been more important.
limpyhobbler
(8,244 posts)10. du rec. nt
BlueIris
(29,135 posts)11. Those whiny Progressive organizations. Who cares about those whiny losers.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)12. K&R
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)13. Kick