Protest DENR Report on Fracking Tuesday March 27th

Join Croatan Earth First! in Protesting the DENR Report!
Tuesday March 27th:  Meet outside East Chapel Hill High School by 5:15 p.m. at 500 Weaver Dairy Rd.  It’s important to show up on time to sign up to speak before the hordes of pro-gas people take up all the public statement time like in last week’s hearing in Sanford.  After signing up,  join us outside for a demonstration.  We’ll supply the banners, chants, signs, and snacks.  No signs are allowed inside the meeting, so we recommend decorating or spray-painting a t-shirt to wear with anti-fracking slogans on it.  The hearing will begin inside at 6:30 p.m. and last until 9:30 p.m.  Talking points in response to their study can be found here.  We found it particularly disturbing that DENR had no plan for what to do with the millions of gallons toxic, “produced” water created in the process.  There are no safe options.  Deep well injection is illegal in NC, and the other option is shipping it out of state to ruin the water in other communities or sending it to water treatment facilities that admit they are not equipped to filter out these salts, chemicals, and radioactive materials.

Help us spread the word, link to this page on your facebook!

DENR Shale Gas Report Released

Contrary to the industry’s history and all common sense, DENR has concluded that fracking “can be done safely in NC,” …  “as long as the right protections are in place.” We disagree!  Every fracking operation around the country has shown the opposite to be true: spills, blow-outs, toxic chemicals in the aquifers and rivers, city water supplies contaminated, cattle deaths, drinking water wells contaminated, strange neurological diseases and cancers developing in affected communities…  We are unwilling to accept these risks for a small economic boom that will bust in the following 40 years.  That’s not even one lifetime, and the people and animals living in the Piedmont will the experiencing the consequences many years into the future.  Natural Gas energy is an unacceptable trade-off.  Links to the documents are below for your perusal.  After this report, it’s important for every person who doesn’t want their land and water to be fracked to show up for these meetings and speak their mind.  Join our demonstrations outside and go inside with a prepared speech.  The land, water, animals, communities, and future generations in North Carolina are depending on you to speak out!


DRAFT Full Report(31MB)
DRAFT Executive Summary(201k)
DRAFT Recommendations and Limitations (470k)

From DENR press release:

“State Environmental Agency Issues Draft Report on Hydraulic Fracturing

RALEIGH – Hydraulic fracturing can be done safely in North Carolina as long as the right protections are in place prior to issuance of any permits for the practice, according to a draft report issued today by the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The report also notes the need for more information on groundwater resources in the area where drilling for shale gas may occur before making final decisions on environmental standards.

The report issues the department’s findings following a study of the potential environmental, social and economic impacts of shale gas exploration and development in North Carolina. This study was directed by Session Law 2011-276, which required DENR to study the issue of oil and gas exploration in the state and to specifically focus on the use of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing to extract shale gas. The draft report was issued today ahead of two public meetings scheduled for later this month. The final report to the General Assembly is due May 1.
…..
Findings from this draft report will be presented first in a public meeting to be held at the Wicker Center 1801 Nash Street  Sanford, NC 27330 on March 20, 2012, from 6:30 – 9:30 p.m. The second public meeting has been scheduled for March 27, 2012, and will take place in the auditorium of East Chapel Hill High School in Chapel Hill at 500 Weaver Dairy Rd. from 6:30 – 9:30 p.m. Both meetings will also be streamed live online at https://its.ncgovconnect.com/denr_shale_gas/.

The same information will be presented at both meetings, and public comments will be accepted at both meetings as well as via mail and email. Written comments on the draft report will be accepted through April 1, in addition to any feedback received at the two public meetings. Written comments can be sent via email to  Shale_gas_comments@ncdenr.gov; or through the mail to NCDENR, attn: Trina Ozer, 1601 MSC, Raleigh, NC 27699.”
——-

Article by Steven Rosenfeld, from Alternet.org

Pennsylvania, where the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution were signed and where the U.S. coal, oil and nuclear industries began, has adopted what may be the most anti-democratic, anti-environmental law in the country, giving gas companies the right to drill anywhere, overturn local zoning laws, seize private property and muzzle physicians from disclosing specific health impacts from drilling fluids on patients.

The draconian new law, known as Act 13, revises the state’s oil and gas statutes, to allow oil companies to drill for natural gas using the controversial process known as hydraulic fracturing or fracking, where large volumes of water and toxic chemicals are pumped into vertical wells with lateral bores to shatter the rock and release the hydrocarbons. The law strips rights from communities and individuals while imposing new statewide drilling rules.
“It’s absolutely crushing of local self-government,” said Ben Price, project director for the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, which has helped a handful of local communities—including the city of Pittsburgh—adopt community rights ordinances that elevate the rights of nature and people to block the drilling. “The state has surrendered over 2,000 municipalities to the industry. It’s a complete capitulation of the rights of the people and their right to self-government. They are handing it over to the industry to let them govern us. It is the corporate state. That is how we look at it.”
Needless to say, Pennsylvania’s top political leadership—Republican Gov. Tom Corbett and Republican-controlled legislature—see Act 13 as a pro-business, clean-energy bill creating jobs, revenue and improving environmental laws surrounding drilling. That the 174-page bill was essentially rammed through the legislature over objections from local officials, environmentalists and a handful of legislators who said it not only turned “300 years of local zoning upside down,” but exposed the state to liability from wells, was irrelevant. “This growing industry will provide new career opportunities that will give our children a reason to stay here in Pennsylvania,” Corbett said, when signing the bill into law on February 14.

Click here to read more of this article by Steven Rosenfeld

2 responses to “Protest DENR Report on Fracking Tuesday March 27th

  1. barb Coddington

    Particularly interested in DK Greenroots because he covered it all..the possibility of water contamination, particularily in his geologic area, and the now known definate of air pollution; and the dirty carbon footprint left by uncaptured methane releases. ‘Oilngas’, with the gleam of quick riches in their eye, will not recognize environmental degradation and will fight tooth and nail any regulation that would force them to drill, quietly, cleanly and responsibably. It is of course all about the money..and we must fight like tigers. Barb Coddington colorado……….gasfield county

  2. croatanearthfirst

    The geologist who was almost jumped by police (some of whom traveled from the general assembly in raleigh to this meeting in sanford)…here’s his account here: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/03/21/1076349/-I-was-Surrounded-by-Cops-as-I-Commented-on-Fracking?detail=hide

Leave a reply to croatanearthfirst Cancel reply