May 25, 2013

Posts

*Sequel* to anti-fracking film Gasland debuts

April 24, 2013 By Carol Greenberg

The anti-fracking film Gasland Part II debuted last weekend at the Tribeca Film Festival. The original Gasland was thoroughly debunked by energy scientists and industry experts, revealing the film maker, Josh Fox’s, initial effort relied upon faulty research if not deliberate distortions of the truth. Since Gasland first aired on HBO in 2010, even more research has confirmed the safety of natural gas drilling. Gasland Part II is expected to follow the same distortions presented in Gasland and Fox’s equally discredited propaganda short, The Sky is Pink, doubling down on wrong.

Myths from Gasland:

MYTH: “What I didn’t know was that the 2005 energy bill pushed through Congress by Dick Cheney exempts the oil and natural gas industries from the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act…and about a dozen other environmental regulations.”

THE FACTS:

· The oil and natural gas industry is regulated under every single one of these federal laws — under provisions of each that are relevant to its operations.

· The 2005 energy bill was supported by nearly three-quarters of the U.S. Senate, including then-Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois. In the U.S. House, 75 Democrats joined 200 Republicans in supporting the final bill.

MYTH “Fracking chemicals are considered proprietary.”

THE FACTS:

· The entire universe of additives used in the fracturing process is known to the public and the state agencies that represent them.

· Not only do individual states mandate disclosure, the federal government does as well. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) mandates this information be kept at every wellsite, and made readily available to response and medical personnel in case of an emergency.

MYTH: “The fracking itself is like a mini-earthquake…. In order to frack, you need some fracking fluid — a mix of over 596 chemicals.”

THE FACTS:

· The fracturing process uses a mixture of fluids comprised almost entirely (99.5%) of water and sand. The remaining materials, used to help deliver the water down the wellbore, are typically found and used around the house. The average fracturing operation utilizes fewer than 12 of these components, according to the Ground Water Protection Council — not 596.

· Over the course of its history, fracturing has not only been used to increase the flow of oil and natural gas from existing wells, but also to access things like water and geothermal energy. It’s even been used by EPA to clean up Superfund sites.

GENERAL MYTHS ABOUT FRACKING:

MYTH: Flaming water is the result of natural gas drilling

THE FACTS:

Colorado regulators issued a detailed refutation of the alleged link between shale drilling and flammable well water portrayed in the flawed documentary, “Gasland.” They noted that naturally occurring biogenic methane, unrelated to drilling, was the cause of flammable well water.

ProPublica explained, “Drinking water with methane, the largest component of natural gas, isn’t necessarily harmful. The gas itself isn’t toxic — the Environmental Protection Agency doesn’t even regulate it — and it escapes from water quickly, like bubbles in a soda.”

Methane-borne water is actually a naturally occurring phenomenon with which even Gen. George Washington experimented in 1783 when he ignited New Jersey’s Millstone River.

MYTH: Drilling is contaminating groundwater

THE FACTS:

Claims of groundwater contamination have been so deeply flawed that even Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson has publicly and categorically refuted them.

 In no case have we made a definitive determination that [hydraulic fracturing] has caused chemicals to enter groundwater.

 “I’m not aware of any proven case where [hydraulic fracturing] itself has affected water.”
MYTH:  Natural gas drilling is a cause for sick and dying livestock

THE FACTS:

Michelle Bamberger, an Ithaca, New York, veterinarian, and Robert Oswald, a professor of molecular medicine at Cornell’s College of Veterinary Medicine, published an article suggesting a link between hydraulic fracturing and illness in food animals.

The piece is decidedly unscientific, providing neither data nor independent corroboration to support their assertions.

Energy In Depth notes that Dr. Ian Rae, a professor at the University of Melbourne in Australia and Co-chair of the Chemicals Technical Options Committee for the United Nations Environment Programme, called the paper “an advocacy piece” that suffers from poor referencing, and the authors themselves “cannot be regarded as experts” in the field in which they are commenting.

MYTH:  Natural gas drilling as a process that’s laced with harmful chemicals

THE FACTS:

Even while states are moving to join those which already require disclosure of substances used in hydraulic fracturing, the industry routinely uses the online database FracFocus.org. Any visitor to the site can find out additives are being used at any well site in the database.

Typically, water and sand account 99.5 percent of the mix. One of the most frequently used substances in the other one-half of one percent is guar gum, a food thickening agent found in everything from ice cream to pudding.

In a related story, Yoko Ono, Matt Damon and Sean Lennon have gone on the warpath against fracking in New York. Their group called Artists Against Fracking is being investigated on lobbying violations at the request of The Independent Oil and Gas Association. This sign has been erected in New York by the pro-fracking group “Frack Nation”:

 

Crossposted at Unified Patriots and Grumpy Opinions

Share
Filed Under fracking Tagged With anti-fracking, Artists Against Fracking, FracFocus, Frack Nation, fracking, Gasland movie, Josh Fox, Matt Damon, natural gas, Sean Lennon, The Sky is Pink, Yoko Ono

Celebs join the anti-fracking bandwagon

January 3, 2013 By Carol Greenberg

Update 1-3-13 9:50 pm.

H/t Kenny Solomon.

Matt Damon has been called a “liar” by the maker of the pro-fracking film “Frack Nation,” Phelim McAleer. According to Politico McAleer plans on erecting billboards in New York like the rendition below:

Sweet, sweet Karma.

Original post begins below.

First we have a fellow by the name of Josh Fox who made the incendiary anti-fracking film called Gasland. Josh Fox ranaround the country trying to set tap water on fire in fracking areas. The film won a Sundance award and went on to be nominated for an Academay Award for “best documentary.” Hint: it lost. But Fox became an overnight faux celebrity with the Hollywood crowd until it was proven tap water in these areas at times could be “set on fire” even well before fracking ever took place.

Actor Mark Ruffalo was placed on the “Terrorism Watch List” by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Homeland Security over his efforts to organize screenings for Gasland. 

Now we have other members of the *Hollywood Elite* jumping on the anti-fracking bandwagon as well. Apparently Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon and Matt Damon got tired of counting their millions and have too much time on their hands so they have made anti-fracking their projet du jour.

Yoko and Lennon had this billboard placed in New York on a route well-traveled by New York Governor Cuomo to urge him to continue the moratorium on some methods of natural gas fracking in the state:

And if this isn’t enough, now actor Matt Damon is making a film called Promised Land which is apparently so one-sided against fracking the liberal blog Huffington Post has even denounced it:

What has also became remarkably apparent is that we are dealing with an American resource that is in such abundant supply that it portends to become a major game changer for our economy, bringing thousands upon thousands of jobs into the field and to ancillary industries that are supplying the infrastructure hardware.[sic] Their [editor's note: see underneath this quote who *their* is.] forthcoming film Promised Land is meant to frighten Americans, and whomever, to resist the development of shale gas in their communities. No mention here of the long suffering communities of Pennsylvania who have celebrated an economic renaissance through the development and extraction of natural gas from the vast Marcellus Gas Formation.

And you will never guess who is bank-rolling this film: none other than Image Media Abu Dhabi. Yep. And in case you have forgotten who the charter members of OPEC are, Abu Dhabi is one.

The film has been dubbed “Good Will Fracking” and thankfully is showing only modest reviews but of course praised by environmentalists. But fracking companies such as Chesapeake Energy have been fighting back and launched The Real Promised Land highlighting testimony of those across the nation who are in support of fracking.

Pennsylvania gubernatorial Democrat candidate John Hanger had this to say about the film:

“It’s entertainment, and pretty silly entertainment,” said former Pennsylvania environmental regulator John Hanger. “It doesn’t pretend to deal with the real issues.”

And from a Washington Post review:

“Promised Land” fizzes and pops; otherwise it’s an attractive, well-intentioned dry well.

Box office stats last weekend revealed the film has only made $190,150 in 25 select theaters across the nation.

This author hopes it stays this way and believes these *Hollywood Elite* should stay away from subjects they know little or nothing about for the sake of our nations’s jobs and struggle for energy independence.

Crossposted at Unified Patriots and Grumpy Opinions

Share
Filed Under drilling moratorium, environmentalism, fracking Tagged With Abu Dhabi, fracking, Gasland, Hollywood elite, Josh Fox, Mark Ruffalo, Matt Damon, OPEC, Promised Land, Sean Lennon, Yoko Ono

Bloomberg donates $50 million to Sierra Club to *dump coal*

July 22, 2011 By Carol Greenberg

Sometimes you just get lucky finding a story and I hope this one doesn’t get lost with all the other news today because it’s so shocking to me and should be shocking to everyone else as well.

I just happened to see a tweet fly by late last night from @MikeBloomberg. Ya know, the guy who runs New York City. On his twitter profile he calls himself an entrepreneuer and a “philanthropist” as well as mayor of NYC.

Well this “philanthropist” announced last night he personally donated $50 million to the Sierra Club to “dump coal.” Not only does he and the Sierra Club want new coal-fired plants stopped, they want all the current ones in service to be stopped. Here’s what Bloomberg had to say:

“If we are going to get serious about reducing our carbon footprint in the United States, we have to get serious about coal. Ending coal power production is the right thing to do, [emphasis mine] because while it may seem to be an inexpensive energy source, the impact on our environment and the impact on public health is significant. Coal is a self-inflicted public health risk, polluting the air we breathe, adding mercury to our water, and the leading cause of climate disruption.”

The Sierra Club has their own blog now and twitter account called @BeyondCoal where they brag about stopping over 150 new coal plants and want to move to solar and wind:

Our small, start-up campaign quickly grew into a force to be reckoned with. And I’m proud to say that, so far, together we have stopped over 150 proposed coal-fired power plants. [snip]

Now we’re turning our efforts to making sure that the existing fleet of outdated coal plants gets cleaned up or phased out — and is replaced by solar and wind energy that’s ready to fill our energy needs, create new jobs, and jump-start the green economy.

Below is their logo for the *dump coal* campaign:

Beyond coal

So not only do we have the EPA to fear, but now apparently the Sierra Club and Bloomberg’s wealth as well.

Bloomberg was yapping on twitter about “making sure family and friends are OK in all this heat” while at the same time bragging about his donation. To which I responded to him something like this:

Yep Mayor, out of one side of your mouth you want to *dump coal* but you guys in NYC are gas hogs, and by the way, where do you think all that electricity comes from that powers the A/C in this heat? Not wind and solar. And don’t forget: a lot of those precious windmills froze up in Texas last winter.

Heritage as well as this writer realizes Bloomberg’s *gift* actually “harms” the environment, not “helps it”:

1) The Sierra Club is likely to be more effective in attacking the U.S. coal industry;

2) U.S. coal production will therefore not reach the level it might have without the gift;

3) U.S. coal exports are then unlikely to reach the level they might have;

4) Top importers, such as China and India, will have to mine more of their own coal or import more from non-American sources;

5) Top exporters, such as Indonesia and Russia, are likely to export more.

Way to go Bloomberg. Guess you don’t have anything better to do with your money than try to put more people out of work and harm U.S. energy independence just like the Obama administration has been doing.

I have a sneaking suspicion ACORN-founded Working Families Party has a lot of involvement in this. They are the “party” who convinced ex-governor Paterson to ban horizontal natural gas fracking in New York, a policy which Cuomo has continued.

Here’s a radio interview done on NPR with Bloomberg’s philanthropy director Rohit Aggarwala and an excerpt:

Mr. AGGARWALA: He’s frustrated with the fact that Washington has not acted in any comprehensive or responsible way, and he’s seen here in New York how local targeted action can actually make improvements.

I just about spit out my coffee when I read the above.

With $50 million now in the pocket of the Sierra Club our fight to use our huge supply of fossil fuels has become more difficult, but not unwinnable. But I have supplied you with their twit names…

Crossposted at Unified Patriots

Share
Filed Under energy Tagged With Beyond Coal, coal, fracking, Heritage, Mike Bloomberg, Sierra Club, Working Families Party

“Gas Odyssey” The Film. “Fuel for Thought”

April 17, 2010 By Carol Greenberg
Natural Gas Production Worldwide

Natural Gas Production Worldwide

Update 5/9/10.

I just finished watching “Gas Odyssey.” The producer Aaron Price, mentioned in the post below, did a marvelous job of interviewing residents both in New York and Pennsylvania. He tells both sides of the story of the fracking technique using education to disspell fears of the process. Hopefully the studies will be finished soon and New York and its citizens can be on their way to opening the door to a wealth of opportunity. You can follow the updates of the study from the Natural gas Development Team in Broome County, New York. For those of you new to the hydro-fracking process, here is an excellent power-point presentation which explains it very well. Original post begins at the red asterisk.

Update 5/5/10. “Gas Odyssey” the film is now available on DVD for $15. You can order it here.

*For those of you unfamiliar with the natural gas drilling technology and geology please take a couple of moments to read the first few paragraphs. It will make this article much easier to understand and you can tell everyone else you “learned something new today.”

Oil and natural gas exploration in the US and in Her offshore waters is and has always been fraught with controversy. Natural gas is a fossil fuel which consists primarily of methane. It is an important fuel source and also a component of fertilizer. As you can see by the map here, courtesy of Wikipedia, Russia has the most natural gas production, followed by offshore wells in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE. The map shows natural gas production by country in cubic meters per year (countries in brown and then red have the largest production). As you can see, The US is a huge producer.

Of course along with natural gas mining and production comes a wealth of jobs. From site preparation, the extraction process, safety of the environment, transportation and then the refining process. Many of these gas deposits lay near the surface of the earth but others lay deep within the rock called “shale.” The problem with shale is it has insufficient permeability to allow enough fluid flow to a well bore. One analyst has estimated that as much as one half of US gas production by the year 2020 could come from shale gas.

Because of the unique properties of shale, the extraction of natural gas in these areas requires a different method called “hydraulic fracking.” This “fracking” or “fracturing” of the rock can be either natural or man-made and is extended by internal fluid pressure which opens the fracture and causes it to grow into the rock. Man-made fractures are created by pumping a cocktail of various chemicals through a bore hole. The fracture must then be kept open, usually by sand. This “fracking” process is highly controversial and many environmentalists as well as citizens are opposed to it.

Parts of New York and Ohio, a good portion of Pennsylvania, and most of West Virginia sit on what is called the “Marcellus Shale.” Below is a map of the Marcellus Shale (gray).  [Modified after: United States Geological Survey, Open-File Report 2006-1237, Assessment of Appalachian Basin oil and gas resources: Devonian Shale-Middle and Upper Paleozoic Total Petroleum System, by Robert Milici and Christopher Swezey.]

Marcellus Shale Map

Marcellus Shale Map

While there is natural gas drilling going on in both Pennsylvania and New York, at this time the “high volume” hydro fracking process which is necessary to release natural gas from shale deposits is not allowed in NY. The pressure by citizens and environmentalists in New York contributed to the Governor declaring a moratorium until a study was completed by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. There are high hopes the process will be finished by the end of the summer.

While the present Administration claims the Stimulus Bill has created 215,000 jobs in New York, this report by Ways and Means Republicans states actually 143,300 jobs have been lost in that state.

I had the pleasure of talking with Mr. Aaron Price, a resident of New York. For a long time he’s watched in frustration as folks in PA, not far from where he lives, reaped the benefits of natural gas drilling. Because his state has been hit hard by unemployment he sees drilling as a way of bringing many of those jobs back. So he decided to take action and make a film, “Gas Odyssey,”  telling both sides of the story of the fracking process in hopes of dispelling peoples fears.

Because of the Governor’s moratorium, Mr. Price feels that New York is already way behind other states and even if the moratorium is lifted later this year it will take several years before any citizens in New York receive any job benefit.

Mr. Price’s “odyssey” entailed interviewing ordinary people, legislators, workers and community leaders both in Pennsylvania and New York about the process, their experiences and how the massive job losses have hit New Yorkers hard. He tells me his film is meant for “everyone in the country” and his tale is told in a non-partisan manner. He also sees it as an opportunity for capturing the unique character and flavor of rural America where most of these residents reside. You can see the trailer for the film here.

Mr. Price believes if all the energy resources in this country were allowed to be tapped America could be well on its way to energy independence from foreign countries. This would also create a multitude of jobs and keep US dollars within our country instead of spending them to buy resources which are already here in America.

Mr. Price and his family put a lot of their hard-earned dollars into producing this film in hopes of saving areas of New York which are suffering from exorbitant tax increases, lower agricultural profits than 20 years ago, and fewer and fewer jobs every year. Safe natural gas drilling can literally SAVE many parts of NY—as well as many other parts of the country. Mr. Price has this to say on his website:

“This issue stopped being about science and facts a long time ago,” said Price. “It has become a political monster, and my hope is that this film will transcend politics and restore basic rights to New Yorkers – to develop their land through a tried and true, safe technology.”

Mr. Price hopes to have DVDs available soon after the film debuts. I will keep you updated.

“Gas Odyssey” debuted in Binghamton NY on April 16. Please pass this article on to others and get the word out about the problems New Yorkers are facing.

Share
Filed Under natural gas exploration Tagged With "Gas Odyssey", Aaron Price, fracking, Marcellus Shale, natural gas, shale