Fracking Your Future: Shale Gas Industry Targets College Campuses, K-12 Schools

[xchrom]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/10/19-2

n Pennsylvania - a state that sits in the heart of the Marcellus Shale basin - the concept of "frackademia" and "frackademics" has taken on an entirely new meaning.

On Sept. 27, the PA House of Representatives - in a 136-62 vote - passed a bill that allows hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking" to take place on the campuses of public universities. Its Senate copycat version passed in June in a 46-3 vote and Republican Gov. Tom Corbett signed it into law as Act 147 on Oct. 8.

The bill is colloquially referred to as the Indigenous Mineral Resources Development Act. It was sponsored by Republican Sen. Don White, one of the state's top recipients of oil and gas industry funding between 2000-April 2012, pulling in $94,150 during that time frame, according to a recent report published by Common Cause PA and Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania. Corbett has taken over $1.8 million from the oil and gas industry since his time serving as the state's Attorney General in 2004.

[We People]

1. This legislation holds a hidden, built-in benefit for the corporatocracy

Last edited Sat Oct 20, 2012, 10:38 AM - Edit history (1)

At least environmental disasters won't be a total loss for them: public academic institutions that encourage critical thinking can be endangered and destroyed at the same time.