Big Oil and Big Gas...Big danger

It is always a conundrum for me....the topic of big oil/gas-big, government-big controls vs my standard of living and the attendant choices I have. I am very aware that because of big investments, by big outfits, I am able to have a very nice lifestyle. Notice I keep saying 'me', but that is because to include you in the statement means you agree with me..and maybe you don't, but...likely you have a good life too. To continue then... without a social conscience, we are walking about with eyes closed. Doing that, will only bring the end that much sooner. I..and you, have a responsibility to speak out and take whatever actions we can, to protect ourselves, our families, our lands. Some people are braver than others..will go to jail or even more. I don't know that I have the courage to do that. The damage that is being done..that has been done, by bad logging and mining practices are abhorrent. The fisheries in many parts of North America have been decimated and much of that is due to loss of habitat. Either thru loss of streams and rivers due to shabby logging practices, or the poisoning of the same due to mine tailings...fish no longer can regenerate in the numbers that are needed to sustain their fish-able levels. Now, we are allowing the same to take place with big oil/gas, thru the lack of action. Thru greed. Thru stupidity and blindness. But mostly, because we want to believe the words..that everything will be okay.. That there will be no spills. That the chemical flushing into the soil and waters of Pennsylvania won't kill.


My friends Tony and Karen, live in their RV and for them, home is in Pennsylvania. They are home this summer and have given me permission to copy/paste their letters to me on this matter.





"Oh my god Gary , I just read over your last post. Down here in the states we're so self centered that there isn't ever any news about Canada. I had no idea that there were so many leaks causing so much environmental damage. Really sad and there is little that you or any individual can do about it. Our home state of Pennsylvania is heading into a big environmental mess , one that will not be fixable once it happens. Actually it's already happening. Some of the most beautiful areas of PA are in the oil shale areas where fracking is the new gold rush. Dozens of companies are rushing in ,tearing up the land ,polluting the water and causing misery for the people who live there. It's sickening."


"We've been hearing about the shale and fracking in Pennsylvania for several years but haven't seen much happening where we used to live and where our friends still live in southwestern Pa. In fact I think that it has been banned in Allegheny county where Pittsburgh, which has a large population is located, but the surrounding area is up for grabs. People are being offered large amounts of money to allow drilling on their land. Anyway we took a trip up to Cape Cod in Massachusetts and our route took us through the northern edge of PA., right through an area where fracking has been going on for a few years and also through areas that are just gearing up for fracking. The strange thing is that there's evidence of the industry everywhere along the country roads and little towns - busted pavement from the heavy trucks , lots of construction as the little bridges are built stronger for the equipment , huge ponds lined with plastic to hold the waste water , new flat areas scraped out of the hillsides to store the equipment but you can't see what is actually happening until you look on Google Earth - then you see all of the new roads and drill sites - thousands of them spreading over miles of land. We were shocked when we looked at the images. We've seen shale fracking operations in Wyoming and the problems that it's caused there but Wyoming is a very unpopulated state with very little agriculture. It mostly grazing land and poor grazing land at that. Most of Pennsylvania is good farmland and even the less productive areas are still very populated. Unfortunately a lot of northern Pa. , Ohio , New York and West Virginia were hit pretty hard by the recession and people have been seduced by the quick easy money being offered by the companies. They don't realize what they are getting into and what they are giving up."





This video is a documentary that deserves being seen.








There is a vested interest in allow these things to continue, but here is the thing...are you willing to die for this? Because, ultimately, that is what we are talking about..your death...your kids...your grandchildren....and our way of life.