the smiley faced exxon-mobil 'geologist' commercial really pisses me off

[spanone]

he's selling fracking, with the smile and demeanor of an old friend...

'technology has made it possible to safely unlock this clean and burning natural gas'

'these deposits can provide us with fuel for 100 years'

'providing energy security and economic growth all across this country'

FRACKING

A Colossal Fracking Mess

Early on a spring morning in the town of Damascus, in northeastern Pennsylvania, the fog on the Delaware River rises to form a mist that hangs above the tree-covered hills on either side. A buzzard swoops in from the northern hills to join a flock ensconced in an evergreen on the river’s southern bank.

Stretching some 400 miles, the Delaware is one of the cleanest free-flowing rivers in the United States, home to some of the best fly-fishing in the country. More than 15 million people, including residents of New York City and Philadelphia, get their water from its pristine watershed. To regard its unspoiled beauty on a spring morning, you might be led to believe that the river is safely off limits from the destructive effects of industrialization. Unfortunately, you’d be mistaken. The Delaware is now the most endangered river in the country, according to the conservation group American Rivers.

That’s because large swaths of land—private and public—in the watershed have been leased to energy companies eager to drill for natural gas here using a controversial, poorly understood technique called hydraulic fracturing. “Fracking,” as it’s colloquially known, involves injecting millions of gallons of water, sand, and chemicals, many of them toxic, into the earth at high pressures to break up rock formations and release natural gas trapped inside. Sixty miles west of Damascus, the town of Dimock, population 1,400, makes all too clear the dangers posed by hydraulic fracturing. You don’t need to drive around Dimock long to notice how the rolling hills and farmland of this Appalachian town are scarred by barren, square-shaped clearings, jagged, newly constructed roads with 18-wheelers driving up and down them, and colorful freight containers labeled “residual waste.” Although there is a moratorium on drilling new wells for the time being, you can still see the occasional active drill site, manned by figures in hazmat suits and surrounded by klieg lights, trailers, and pits of toxic wastewater, the derricks towering over barns, horses, and cows in their shadows.

The real shock that Dimock has undergone, however, is in the aquifer that residents rely on for their fresh water. Dimock is now known as the place where, over the past two years, people’s water started turning brown and making them sick, one woman’s water well spontaneously combusted, and horses and pets mysteriously began to lose their hair.

http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2010/06/fracking-in-pennsylvania-201006

[ejpoeta]

1. well for someone who doesn't know better, that is their audience. of course

anyone who bothers to look knows better. but to many it is something they haven't heard of so they have no idea the crap it can do. I watched gasland and think drinkable water is more important than their desire to get natural gas. and the idea that a neighbor could sign and it could affect my water scares the heck out of me. i would hope being near a wildlife preserve would help protect us.... but seeing the way things are going i don't feel any safer

[HERVEPA]

2. I almost threw up when I saw that last night. Bastards!

[DirkGently]

3. Watched Gasland the other night. Fracking is flat-out unconscionable.