Currently, 34 states are experiencing the ravages of natural gas development. The unconventional shale drilling for natural gas is touted in industry propaganda as our "clean energy" bridge to a new energy future. Recent reporting drives a stake into the heart of the natural gas as "clean energy" myth and exposes the reality:

Natural Gas is a Dirty Fossil Fuel.

NPR: Health Issues Follow Natural Gas Drilling In Texas

My comment:

Originally posted 2009-11-01 20:54:20 -0400; promoted by carol.

I think it's important that everyone know the complete cost of the energy we use. That's why I often tell the very personal stories of victims of natural gas development. This story is about Tim and Christine and the land they thought they owned. The owner of the mineral rights under their land leased to Aruba Petroleum and Aruba exercised eminent domain and took approximately 4 or their 5 acres to develop the natural gas underneath. Their American Dream turned into a nightmare.

We are on a course for certain disaster if we don't slow down and make sure our "bridge fuel" is built with solid federal regulations!

A recent study of Barnett Shale ambient air was evaluated by Wilma Subra, MacArthur (Genius) Award winning chemist. The study found amazing and very high levels of toxic chemicals including known and suspected human carcinogens and neurotoxins.

Acute impacts to health will occur with these concentrations of chemicals in the air. The cancer and neurotoxins will also have an impact over the long term.

Ninety-two percent of the 278 known chemicals used to produce natural gas have adverse health effects including endocrine disruption, neurological disorders and cancer. Chemical information is limited because the industry claims formulas are trade secrets. If, like most Americans, you believe your water, air and soil are protected from these chemicals by federal environmental statutes, you are dead wrong. Loopholes in our federal environmental laws allow the oil and gas industry to endanger public health and safety and risk vital natural resources.

Fueled by technological advances, a frenzied expansion in natural gas drilling has exploded into 34 American states. Once the burden of rural areas, it now encroaches into heavily populated cities turning neighborhoods into industrial zones. They’re calling natural gas a bridge fuel, an alternative fuel, the “clean” energy. Enough PR money burnishes a dirty fossil fuel into an environmentally friendly magic bridge to lead us far from our energy crisis. In truth, the production process that endangers public health and safety, depletes scarce water supplies, and generates colossal amounts of toxic waste cancels out the slightly cleaner burn. It's a heavy toll to cross this bridge.

The question becomes: who pays?

Watch this video to see what the Pickens Plan will do to America.

The following video contains a few of the 360 pictures taken on a short flight over small portions of Tarrant, Wise and Denton Counties. These pictures depict the destruction caused by natural gas production.

In case you missed the 60 Minutes report, A Multi-Billion Dollar Lawsuit over Oil Drilling Pollution, you can see it here

The pollution they highlight comes from sludge pits. The very same sludge pits I have posted about many times so don't say I didn't warn you. 60 Minutes says it can't happen in the United States. Oh Brother!

The drilling crew at a Chesapeake well site in Louisiana was "injecting fluids at high pressure to break down the shale and release natural gas," when some cattle ingested the fluid and died. 19 of the cattle died. An animal lies near the drilling site where at least 18 cows died Tuesday evening in a pasture next to a Chesapeake Energy Corp. drilling site in Caddo Parish. (Jim Hudelson/The Times) That sure sounds a lot like hydraulic fracturing. In 2005, at the urging of Dick Cheney, former Halliburton CEO, Congress exempt fracing from the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. It's way past time to repeal that exemption! Have your group, municipality, county, etc. adopt a resolution asking our legislature to remove the exemption. But, there's no need to worry because the industry tells us that hydraulic fracturing is perfectly safe and never, ever contaminates any water and... it's really precise except for when it's imprecise. From Halliburton’s Manual for the Independent Operator:

FW Weekly Article Says I'm Doing It

NY State Admits Ignoring Threat to City’s Drinking Water

Well Duh! Like I said: If hydraulic fracturing is so damn safe, why does Big Oil need exemptions?

In two documents released last October and earlier this month, the Department of Environmental Conservation declared that it “does not…find a significant environmental impact associated with [hydraulic fracturing], which has been in use in New York State for at least 50 years.”

Yet when EWG sent a FOIL request asking the DEC to disclose details of tests of surface and underground waters for contamination by hydraulic fracturing chemicals, department officials responded that “the division of Mineral Resources does not maintain any records which are responsive to your request.” EWG senior analyst Dusty Horwitt placed a follow-up telephone call to a state official, who confirmed that the state had done no testing and had no test results.

“The Department of Environmental Conservation violates the public’s trust when it says that hydrofracing is safe for the environment,” Horwitt said. “New York’s taxpayers and property owners have a right to know exactly what happens when tons of water laced with carcinogens and other toxics are blasted into the earth near their water supplies. Whether out of ignorance or deceit, the DEC’s policy amounts to ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’.”

God Bless Texas! This exciting news could help save some of it!

Don't let oil & gas drillers mess with Texas

Fight back: help us start the Texas Oil & Gas Accountability Project

Dear Fellow Texans,

I know you love Texas. And we are writing today because the oil & gas industry is "Messing with Texas" and we need your support to reform oil and gas practices in the Lone Star State, before it is too late.

A destructive new drilling boom threatens communities

In Fort Worth, amid the lush prairie hills and the Trinity River corridor, more than 1,100 oil and gas wells have been drilled within the city limits! 100 new wells are being permitted every month. Some experts predict as many as 7,000 wells could be drilled within city limits. And more than 9,000 wells have been drilled in surrounding counties -- with 5,000 more already approved.

Promoted. -- GH

I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace.
George W. Bush

The following is more propaganda directed at fooling the American people into making decisions that are not in their best interest.

Natural Gas: A Bridge Fuel That Can Help Improve Air Quality
By Ed Ireland, Barnett Shale EduMaKaShuN Council

January 30, 2009 -- The executive director of the Barnett Shale Energy Education Council explains how natural gas can ultimately improve air quality -- if it is used more to fuel vehicles and generate electricity instead of dirtier fuels like diesel and coal.

Ireland conveniently forgets that natural gas is not much use unless they first get it out of the shale where it has been trapped for millions of years. It's the production of natural gas that causes horrific damage to our environment including air quality according to a peer reviewed study.

The economic benefits of natural gas production in the Barnett Shale are now obvious to North Texans - tens of thousands of new jobs, along with signing bonuses and monthly royalty checks to thousands of property owners who've leased their mineral rights

TXsharon has suggested a different title for her post, so I am happily obliging.

The following is a TXsharon video of emissions from a Denton County Barnett Shale gas well undergoing hydraulic fracture.