tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87301382161017302142024-03-16T11:52:34.344-07:00 Occupy the Pipeline Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger70125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8730138216101730214.post-38231303262620011012013-06-16T09:22:00.000-07:002013-06-16T15:39:12.841-07:00The Renewable Path at the NY Crossroads is the correct path<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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June 17 is extremely important for getting the message out that an immediate path to renewable energy is absolutely necessary, and that high volume horizontal and vertical fracking, pipelines, compressors and LNG stations are inexcusable, false bridges to a renewable future. Many New Yorkers concerned with our energy future are meeting up on the Albany East Capital Lawn, on Monday June 17 from noon to 3 pm, and sending out the message that attention must be paid to this urgent NY Crossroads.<br />
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The influence of the gas industry is endemic in the New York government and media. NY Governor Andrew Cuomo suggested to the gas industry that they deliver nice messaging about how safe and good fracking is to New Yorkers.<br />
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<a href="http://statepolitics.lohudblogs.com/2013/03/11/exclusive-andrew-cuomo-has-some-suggestions-for-pro-fracking-groups/">http://statepolitics.lohudblogs.com/2013/03/11/exclusive-andrew-cuomo-has-some-suggestions-for-pro-fracking-groups/</a><br />
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Empire Energy Forum, in cahoots with the Independent Petroleum Association of America, are blanketing New York's Southern Tier (the front line fighting fracking in the state) with robo-calls and flyers. Here is a sample of what Big Gas is sending out.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="color: purple;">A resident of Madison County has received<sup> </sup>flyers from
Empire Energy, each different. One represents a purported toxicologist and mother of 5 from
Maryland, NY (Otsego County). "She claims there is no documented
incident of groundwater contamination caused by hydraulic fracturing in
NY or anywhere else… Inside is a diagram of drilling and the
“precautions” taken by the gas industry to ensure safety. (It is
entitled “Shielding ensures safety”). It lists 3 “facts” – (1) NY
already has strict oil and gas regs which are being strengthened and
that there is community input, (2) the casing and cementing precautions
and (3) drilling wastes will be captured in tanks (never being put in
ponds and never touching the ground). Reuse and recycling of
wastewaters and solid wastes. On the back 50,000 new, good paying jobs,
$6M to over $2B in new revenue, reduction in utility bills, vital local
support for schools, police and fire protection and public services
through oil and gas production revenues. Then it lists NYS Dept of
Environmental Conservation, SGEIS and then Empire’s web page."</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://blog.shaleshockmedia.org/2013/05/31/roboturf-frackers-resort-to-fracking-robocalls/">http://blog.shaleshockmedia.org/2013/05/31/roboturf-frackers-resort-to-fracking-robocalls/</a> </span><i></i></span><br />
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A quick fact check makes it easy to learn of the blatant lies in this mailer. The regulations, which have not been approved, are not strict and use arbitrary setback distances and amounts of dangerous substances allowed. Citizen input is gathered with reluctance and obstruction to ability to report concerns. There are no good safety measures regarding casings; for that fact there are no good safety measures, period. Dumping of vertical fracking waste is done openly by gas companies. Fracking contaminates the water used and there would be little safe reuse of this water.<br />
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Occupy the Pipeline is calling for a BAN on HVHF as opposed to accepting a moratorium. A statewide moratorium would leave the matter open. In the US the fossil fuel industry appears to have a free hand in building the infrastructure of their drilling and pipelines and compression and LNG apparatus, even without final approval. An outright ban would prevent this. A moratorium would allow extension of a number of land leases which would soon expire. Some environmental groups are advocating collaboration with the gas industry to have "strong" regulations that would only allow "safe" fracking.<br />
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Please be clear. There is no such thing as safe fracking. There are no safe pipelines or compressors. There will be no safe LNG terminals.<br />
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pipeline_accidents_in_the_United_States_in_the_21st_Century">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pipeline_accidents_in_the_United_States_in_the_21st_Century</a><br />
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Beside explosions, harm from high volume horizontal fracking includes:<br />
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><u>Contamination of ground and other water.</u></span><br />
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><u> Millions of gallon of fresh water used and poisoned by each drilling of a well.</u></span><br />
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><u> Atmospheric leaks of greenhouse gas methane (much more potent than carbon dioxide) and radioactive</u></span><br />
<span style="color: #783f04;"><u> Marcellus Shale radon.</u></span><br />
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><u> Devastation of land and land value, along with the possibility of a gas company deserting a well and leaving </u></span><br />
<span style="color: #783f04;"><u> the land owner and holder of the land lease liable for liens on the gas company.</u></span><br />
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><u> Destruction of public recreation areas by allowance of HVHF on this land set aside for the use of citizens.3</u></span><br />
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><u> Exacerbation of climate change and corresponding erratic weather patterns.</u></span><br />
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The The New York State Assembly passed a two year HVHF moratorium in early March this year. Thanks to fossil fuel lover Senator Tom Libous and his ilk, the NY Senate has stalled the bill in its chamber. The gas industry insists that local town/village fracking bans and moratoriums are illegal because a few of them have been successfully overturned. Remember that these are local initiatives and can't be judged as a group.The gas industry is backing pro-fracking members of the New York State government to push for an easy in for HVHF.<br />
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All this while Mark Jacobson and Mark Delucchi of Stanford University have given us a plan for all of New York State to run on renewable energy by 2030. And this sustainable plan would be at a lower cost for the entire state than the $20 billion dollar climate change disaster relief plan (while still retaining addiction to fossil fuels and making worse the climate change disasters the plan is relieving) NYC Mayor Bloomberg just released. Indeed in 2010 Stanford drew up a plan for the entire world to go renewable in 30 years. The cost of renewable energy has decreased over the last decade.<br />
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<a href="http://www.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/Articles/I/NewYorkWWSEnPolicy.pdf">http://www.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/Articles/I/NewYorkWWSEnPolicy.pdf</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.cleanlineenergy.com/technology/wind-and-solar">http://www.cleanlineenergy.com/technology/wind-and-solar</a><br />
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The time is NOW. Please meet with fellow concerned citizens, business leaders, faith leaders, health professionals, students, farmers and more and let New York know - we want renewable energy, not more fossil fuels. Say No to fracking in Albany on June 17.<br />
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<br />MariCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03591322486961929121noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8730138216101730214.post-39872527191947272412013-06-09T15:33:00.001-07:002013-06-09T15:33:19.784-07:00Poland Farmers Stand Up Against Chevron to Fight Fracking<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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At times one's own local attempts to stop the use of fossil fuels and move to renewables may overwhelm. Taking a look out, we see friends all over the state, nation and world standing up to big fossil fuel corporations. In Zurawlow, a small rural community in Poland, a group of approximately 150 farmers has been standing their ground for the last week against multinational Chevron. People are sleeping in fields overnight and blocking areas with cars and trucks. Some farmers are reported injured. Of major concern is the potential contamination and loss of water in this farming area, as well as contamination of the farmland.<br />
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Chevron fenced off an area for which they hold a lease for drilling. Some media reports say Chevron owns the land. According to the farmers the right to drill was reversed and further regulations considered two years ago, due in part to protests by the citizens of this and three other areas in Poland where Chevron has leases. The Polish Ministry of the Environment had granted Chevron the right to perform seismic studies on leased land as tests before the actual hydrofracturing took place, but there is no right to fence the land. The link below are from a French news and a French Environmental website.<br />
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<a href="http://www.liberation.fr/terre/2013/06/08/la-bataille-sans-fin-de-villageois-polonais-contre-le-gaz-de-schiste_909335">http://www.liberation.fr/terre/2013/06/08/la-bataille-sans-fin-de-villageois-polonais-contre-le-gaz-de-schiste_909335</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.reporterre.net/spip.php?article4368">http://www.reporterre.net/spip.php?article4368</a><br />
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Farmers fear that Chevron will start fracking operations although that is not allowed without civil hearing and granting of local permission. They state that all activity must be declared and approved; Chevron has not completed this process per the farmers. The lease contract is subject to ongoing legislation regarding regulations of public work. Local government appears to be leaning to Chevron's side. The farmers have been entertaining themselves with music and plan to write and record an anti-fracking song. they have also been watching Lech Kowalski's film "Drill Baby Drill."<br />
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Poland's government has been very fracking friendly to various gas companies, in an attempt to become "energy independent" from Russian imports. Hmm, sound familiar? There are plans to limit fracking protests to groups that are at least a year old, limiting the legal reach of groups in newly endangered areas.<br />
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Poland's fracking enterprises are troubled in that wells already fracked have not produced according to expectation of this being a particularly rich deposit area. The government is contemplating increased taxes on profits and the severity of regulation appears that it will be greater than expected. Several gas companies have already given up and left Poland, including ExxonMobil, Marathon and Talisman.<br />
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Gas corporations are not happy that Poland plans to have a state owned company involved in the gas drilling mix. How dare the country have anything to do with its own natural "resource."<br />
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<a href="http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2013/06/07/poland-shale-investors-warn-against-planned-tough-rule-changes/#axzz2VklPoWVK">http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2013/06/07/poland-shale-investors-warn-against-planned-tough-rule-changes/#axzz2VklPoWVK</a><br />
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<a href="http://theglobalrealm.com/2013/04/03/as-russia-fracks-poland-outlaws-anti-fracking-protest/">http://theglobalrealm.com/2013/04/03/as-russia-fracks-poland-outlaws-anti-fracking-protest/</a><br />
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Sadly, the media is not all over this. The farmers are protesting against Chevron's attempted drilling for everyone in Poland. French media seem to have more interest than Polish. Of course, we are familiar with this problem. Occupy Chevron says No Fracking in Poland. Ban Fracking Now in Poland and Everywhere! Let's stand in solidarity with Poland! <br />
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MariCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03591322486961929121noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8730138216101730214.post-69503630056685911452013-06-03T04:06:00.003-07:002013-06-03T04:06:40.435-07:00RENEWABLES, YES -- PIPELINES, NOGas. Oil. Pipelines. We keep hearing the pipelines, the fossil fuels are inevitable. Gas and oil are not the only choice. Renewables will sustain us. The fossil fuel industry has been lying to us for years. It is time to stop believing the hype. It is time to tell our representatives that this outdated rush to poison the world must stop. It is time to heed actual science. Mark Jacobson and Mark Delucchi of Stanford provided a plan to move the world to renewables in 2009 and in 2013 have provided a New York plan. The European Union has legislated renewable energy goals which have been a success. The US should drive its energy policy to sustainable energy sources instead of damaging fossil fuels.<br />
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<a href="http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/march/new-york-energy-031213.html">http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/march/new-york-energy-031213.html</a><br /><br />
<a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=a-path-to-sustainable-energy-by-2030">http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=a-path-to-sustainable-energy-by-2030</a><br />
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<a href="http://stopclimatechange.net/meta/article/article/660/">http://stopclimatechange.net/meta/article/article/660/</a><br />
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President Obama was elected in 2008 and reelected in 2012 as environmentally friendly. His track record on reducing fossil fuel use is not good. Consider Keystone XL, which is urgently important. If Obama ok’s this pipeline, the game is as well as over. Canadians don’t want these tar sands piped through their country; why should we have to accept this tar sands bitumen pipeline?<br />
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<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/05/09/1972341/future-generations-obama-environmental-president-abject-failure/">http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/05/09/1972341/future-generations-obama-environmental-president-abject-failure/</a><br />
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<a href="http://ecowatch.com/2013/keystone-xl-the-video-president-obama-hopes-you-wont-see/">http://ecowatch.com/2013/keystone-xl-the-video-president-obama-hopes-you-wont-see/</a><br />
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<a href="http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/271-38/17601-keystone-what-we-know">http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/271-38/17601-keystone-what-we-know</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/01/business/energy-environment/british-columbia-opposes-planned-oil-sands-pipeline.html?ref=keystonepipeline&_r=0">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/01/business/energy-environment/british-columbia-opposes-planned-oil-sands-pipeline.html?ref=keystonepipeline&_r=0</a><br />
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<a href="http://ecowatch.com/2013/transcanada-damage-control-flaws-southern-keystone-xl-pipeline/">http://ecowatch.com/2013/transcanada-damage-control-flaws-southern-keystone-xl-pipeline/</a><br />
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Obama’s new Energy Secretary, Ernest Moniz has close ties with the fossil fuel industry. He touts natural gas as a bridge fuel and does not exhibit any concern over the harmful effects of High Volume Horizontal Fracking. Under Moniz there is no doubt the billions of dollars of subsidies to the fossil fuel industry will continue, and there is no sign he will make a push for total renewable, sustainable energy.<br />
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<a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2013/03/22/industry-ties-scrutinized-mit-professor-picked-for-top-energy-post/lPgTD3FfXYf7FKbZKvpoDL/story.html">http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2013/03/22/industry-ties-scrutinized-mit-professor-picked-for-top-energy-post/lPgTD3FfXYf7FKbZKvpoDL/story.html</a><br />
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The Keystone XL is only the steroidally largest pipeline in the works here. There is a massive network of pipelines moving natural gas and oil. We know of the big spills but there are many smaller spills and explosions. The industry is jonesing to extend this further, “expand(ing) US supply glut” of natural gas, as Bloomberg puts it. There is also the push to start processing Liquified Natural Gas for export. Government representatives are lobbied like mad to continue legislation in favor of the fossil fuel industry pipeline population growth.<br />
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<a href="http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/translating-uncle-sam/stories/us-pipelines-at-a-crossroads">http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/translating-uncle-sam/stories/us-pipelines-at-a-crossroads</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/02/19/sunday-review/an-intricate-web-of-pipelines.html">http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/02/19/sunday-review/an-intricate-web-of-pipelines.html</a><br /><br />
<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-26/natural-gas-pipelines-to-expand-u-s-supply-glut-energy-markets.html">http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-26/natural-gas-pipelines-to-expand-u-s-supply-glut-energy-markets.html</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=LNG_Terminals">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=LNG_Terminals</a><br />
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We don’t need more fossil fuels. We need to totally concentrate on renewable energy now. Our government representatives are not going to be the leaders in moving us to renewables. We have to spread the word - Renewable, sustainable energy is so right and fossil fuel pipelines are so wrong. <br />
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<br />MariCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03591322486961929121noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8730138216101730214.post-55534956021131182262013-05-31T10:33:00.002-07:002013-06-06T09:02:11.948-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-large;">OTP's at the Left Forum next weekend! Come join us!</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><i>Panel Discussion: The Necessity of Direct Action <br />to Prevent Expansion <br />of Gas and Oil Infrastructure</i></span><br /><br /><b>Pace University, New York City<br />Room: E321,<br />Time: Saturday, 8th of June 03:40pm-05:20pm </b><br /><br />Because of fracking, New York State is on the front line of a war for the future of the planet. Climate change is escalating. The fossil fuel industry is hell-bent on permanently destroying the environment. Our government is either passive or complicit. No one can save us but ourselves. This panel is an examination of how to get that done. <br /><br />In this discussion, we’ll cover: </span><br />
<ul><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<li>A Map of the Problem: Specifics about the various pipelines, compressor stations, cracker distilleries, sand deposits, gas storage areas, water withdrawal areas, etc. criss-crossing the region covering the Marcellus Shale.</li>
<li>Activist Cross-pollination: The importance of symbiotic relations between the larger NGOs and the smaller grassroots orgs and groups. </li>
<li>Activist Tools: Since New York State is a backwater and a world capital and everything in between, resources vary at each locale. We must alter our tactics to fit the situation. Tools include: bans and moratoriums, direct actions of many types, social media campaigns, the NYC mayoral race, reconfiguring municipal charters, and many, many more.</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Real Solution: An outline of the actualities of renewable energy, conservation, and the dem</span>and for a change in our lifestyle. </li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><i>Chair, Speakers: Dave Publow -- Occupy the Pipeline (occupythepipeline.com), Patrick Robbins -- Occupy the Pipeline , Pramilla Malick -- Stop the Minisink Compression Station (stopmcs.org), Monica Hunken – Occupy the Pipeline, Eric Brandenburg -- United for Action </i><br /><br /><span style="color: #38761d;">Left Forum is the largest annual conference of the broad Left in the United States. Each spring thousands of conference participants come together to discuss pressing local, national and global issues; to better understand commonalities and differences, and alternatives to current predicaments; or to share ideas to build social movements to transform the world.</span><br /><br />This year's theme of Left Forum is "<a href="http://www.leftforum.org/conference/MobilizingforEconomic-EcologicalTransformation">Mobilizing for Economical/Ecological transformation</a>.” <br /> Speakers include Noam Chomsky, Oliver Stone and Bolivian Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.leftforum.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=677"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Click here to Register</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">*** Please forward widely **** </span></b></span></div>
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</span> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8730138216101730214.post-18312382150938588162013-05-27T05:18:00.000-07:002013-05-27T05:18:08.189-07:00TPP - Stop the Pipeline to Ultimate Corporate PowerFossil fuel corporations exhibit an insatiable quest for profit. Pushing for High Volume Horizontal Fracking wherever there is any shale underground, planning for a vast serpentine network of pipelines across the US to move fracked gas and oil, fighting governmental regulation, insisting their activities are safe and clean even as there are continuous “accidents” spilling oil or causing explosions. The world is now facing the prospect of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Mother of all trade dreams for gas and oil corporations, as well as all other Big Corps. TPP covers all manner of trade and if passed it will set corporate interest above the interest of citizens and their governments (except for the monetary interest of representatives who’ve been paid off.<br />
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The early history of the TPP harkens back to the Bush 2 years and Obama took this baton from W and after a brief wait he has run like mad with it. There have been 17 rounds of meetings between the dozen or so countries now involved and the open ended nature of the agreement would allow countries to continue to join after the pact is agreed upon and the seal is set. Obama has expressed a requirement for TPP to be "fast tracked" without the normal path to ratification and implementation, with minimal debate and lack of amendments it would be hurried through with the usual hype that it is good for America without revealing that it is bad for consumers and many aspects of their lives.<br />
<br />The negotiations are as secret as possible. Even the Senate Chairman in charge of the committee with jurisdiction over the TPP is not allowed to read the proposals to the agreement; but the corporate agents have full access. Some parts of the TPP have been leaked, revealing the extensive powers sought for big corporate interest in this agreement. As noted in a blog post in the Daily Kos, “This document is about reducing the regulation a sovereign entity may apply to an investment to the point that any investment is almost certain to pay out whether by actually carrying out the investment or through reimbursement for not being able to carryout the investment” Here are some links to get more overall information on the TPP.<br />
<br /><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ian-fletcher/leak-cracks-open-transpac_b_1594675.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ian-fletcher/leak-cracks-open-transpac_b_1594675.html</a><br /><br />
<a href="https://movetoamend.org/transpacific-partnership-will-undermine-democracy-empower-transnational-corporations">https://movetoamend.org/transpacific-partnership-will-undermine-democracy-empower-transnational-corporations</a><br />
<br />TPP passage could place the rights of fossil fuel corporations above current and proposed US laws. As little consideration FERC and the DOE now seem to have for the public good, TPP would gut concern for citizen and environmental matters. State and local moratoriums against HVHF and any regulations could be considered barriers to gas and oil profits. Compulsory integration is now used in some areas to frack land whose owner refuses to sign a land lease but around which land leases have been obtained. TPP could allow fracking land without this eminent “justification.”<br />
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<a href="http://www.sierraclub.org/trade/downloads/TPP-Factsheet.pdf">http://www.sierraclub.org/trade/downloads/TPP-Factsheet.pdf</a><br />
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<br /><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/11/23/fracking-ban-nafta-lawsuit.html">http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/11/23/fracking-ban-nafta-lawsuit.html</a><br />
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<br /><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ilana-solomon/fracking-causes-friction-_b_2146939.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ilana-solomon/fracking-causes-friction-_b_2146939.html</a><br />
<br />The Halliburton Loophole exclusion from the Clean Water Act requirement of listing of toxic chemicals used in fracking will seem insignificant as corporations could claim that restriction of harmful chemical use will restrict their anticipated profits. The world is seeing a fossil fuel pipeline building frenzy, no doubt in anticipation of passage of TPP and other “trade” agreements with only corporate interests addressed. Gas and oil pipelines could be allowed to take citizens’ and public land in the interest of fossil fuel profits. <br />
<br /><a href="http://elizabethmaymp.ca/submission-environmental-assessment-tpp">http://elizabethmaymp.ca/submission-environmental-assessment-tpp</a><br />
<br /><a href="http://www.backbonecampaign.org/component/k2/item/85-nwasfossilfuelcorridor">http://www.backbonecampaign.org/component/k2/item/85-nwasfossilfuelcorridor</a><br />
<br />While it is distasteful to direct anyone to a 1% publication, please hold your nose and read Forbes analysis of why fossil fuel pipelines are so plentiful, necessary, poverty-solving (?) and clean (!?!). This is the type of propaganda faced by world citizens who are concerned about the future. Big money is striving to riddle the world with pipelines and to extract and ship oil and natural gas to every pinch of the globe and the TPP would give unlimited power to profit from this.<br />
<br /><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2013/04/03/what-are-the-top-five-facts-everyone-should-know-about-oil-exploration/">http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2013/04/03/what-are-the-top-five-facts-everyone-should-know-about-oil-exploration/</a><br />
<br /><a href="http://shalestuff.com/controversy-2/natural-gas-world-pipelines-demand-exports/article06541">http://shalestuff.com/controversy-2/natural-gas-world-pipelines-demand-exports/article06541</a><br />
<br /><a href="http://www.economist.com/node/21558456">http://www.economist.com/node/21558456</a><br />
<br />There are many reasons to object to passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Granting super power to the fossil fuel industry with the resultant harm to people, animals and the environment is an important reason. Please research the TPP on your own and spread the word. What is not known about it is due to intentional secrecy. The worst thing for TPP is sunshine and transparency. Discuss with everyone you know and find a way to speak out against the TPP. In NYC, on May 28th at 6:30, find out what you can do about the TPP at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church at 1157 Lexington Avenue, between 79th and 80th Streets in Manhattan.<br />
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<a href="http://nyc.sierraclub.org/global-race-to-the-bottom/">http://nyc.sierraclub.org/global-race-to-the-bottom/</a><br />
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<br />MariCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03591322486961929121noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8730138216101730214.post-3106134854600840852013-05-20T04:54:00.000-07:002013-05-20T04:54:29.909-07:00The Greenwashing-est NightThe New York League of Conservation Voters is hosting a Spring Gala
tonight, May 20, 2013, honoring New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg for
being environmentally friendly. While Bloomberg has some green policies,
there is a big non-green blot on his record. Bloomberg's push for NYC buildings to convert from #4 or #6 oil to fracked natural gas
and the attendant plethora of gas pipelines (built while waiting for permission to be built) including Spectra's on the Gansevoort Peninsula, all touted as Eco-friendly while actually bad for the environment and potentially very dangerous.<br />
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If the oil conversion were truly a sustainable plan, various forms of renewable energy would have been forwarded as replacement options as opposed to the extreme push for gas. The methane in natural gas is at least 25 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/01/02/1388021/bridge-to-nowhere-noaa-confirms-high-methane-leakage-rate-up-to-9-from-gas-fields-gutting-climate-benefit/">http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/01/02/1388021/bridge-to-nowhere-noaa-confirms-high-methane-leakage-rate-up-to-9-from-gas-fields-gutting-climate-benefit/</a><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/01/02/1388021/bridge-to-nowhere-noaa-confirms-high-methane-leakage-rate-up-to-9-from-gas-fields-gutting-climate-benefit/"></a><br />
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Lack of black smoke billowing from chimneys doesn't mean the climate change danger is gone. Natural gas is a fossil fuel and fracked natural gas from the Marcellus Shale contains radioactive radon. <br />
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The proposed network of pipelines pose a threat to the people and property in New York City as well as the area covered in transporting the gas. A quick Google search will reveal the history of accidents with gas pipelines; imagine an explosion in building dense NYC. Consider also that gas boilers have only one possible supplier, Con Edison, which anticipates ever greater profits under the gas push. Interesting point is that natural gas demand has actually decreased in the last decade, but gas industry push for Liquified Natural Gas Terminals to store and export gas have increase dramatically.<br />
<a href="http://www.eia.gov/naturalgas/weekly/">http://www.eia.gov/naturalgas/weekly/</a> <br />
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Please make note that several of the patrons of the NYLCV fund raiser are organizations involved in pushing for High Volume Horizontal Fracking in New York State. The gas industry and its friends greenwash their product with millions of dollars spent nationwide advertising the clean niceness of gas with no factual or scientific backup for the green claims.<br />
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Fossil fuels are exacerbating climate change and erratic weather patterns. Extraction of fossil fuels from the Earth is a tortuous, polluting process that contaminates our water, air and land and causes health problems and even death for people and animals. There are better answers to our energy needs than fossil fuel use. Please see the benefits of renewable energy sources here.<br />
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<a href="http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/our-energy-choices/renewable-energy/public-benefits-of-renewable.html"> http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/our-energy-choices/renewable-energy/public-benefits-of-renewable.html</a> <br />
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The
misleading perception that NYLCV's policies are environmentally friendly is manipulative because its "Eco-partners" include fossil fuel companies and companies linked to it. NYLCV should divest of these partners<br />
Please find a list of sponsors for the Gala here<br />
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<a href="http://nylcv.org/2013_Gala_Sponsors">http://nylcv.org/2013_Gala_Sponsors</a><br />
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and the NYLCV partners here<br />
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<a href="http://www.nylcvef.org/ecopartners">http://www.nylcvef.org/ecopartners</a><br />
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Please contact NYLCV and tell them to return funds accepted from fossil fuel companies and to separate from such partners in the future.<br />
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The way to a green tomorrow is total investment in renewable energy now. It is possible. Please research the fossil fuel hype; natural gas is not a "bridge" to renewable energy but a crutch for fossil fuel continuation. Here you can check out Stamford University's studies to convert NYS and even the world to renewable energy within 2 to 4 decades.<br />
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<a href="http://www.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/Articles/I/NewYorkWWSEnPolicy.pdf">http://www.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/Articles/I/NewYorkWWSEnPolicy.pdf</a><br />
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<a href="http://news.stanford.edu/news/2011/january/jacobson-world-energy-012611.html">http://news.stanford.edu/news/2011/january/jacobson-world-energy-012611.html</a><br />
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Renewable and sustainable energy is the only path to the future.<br />
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<br />MariCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03591322486961929121noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8730138216101730214.post-35820541757893816002013-05-14T11:13:00.000-07:002013-05-14T11:13:31.806-07:00500 in the street yesterday!Here's the bulletin that has been circulating through the Tar Sands coalition about yesterday's march. With this kind of energy, there's no question we can win the battle for clean energy. Check it out:<br />
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<div style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Yesterday evening, <b>over 500 people</b> gathered
in New York City to greet President Obama as he arrived at a House
Senate Victory Fund dinner at the Waldorf Astoria. Activists turned out
to remind President Obama of his climate commitments and to show the
public opposition to Keystone XL and several local natural gas
pipelines (Editor's note - Like the Rockaway Pipeline and the Spectra Pipeline!). Citizens from communities impacted by Hurricane Sandy were
there to speak to the toll climate change has already taken on New York.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The
event was locally led and was co-sponsored by a broad coalition of
local and national environmental and social justice organizations,
including Sierra Club, Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter, 350 NYC, 350 NJ, <a href="http://350.org/" target="_blank">350.org</a>, 99Rise, Brooklyn
For Peace, Coalition Against the Rockaway Pipeline (CARP), CREDO, CUNY
Divest, Food & Water Watch, Friends of the Earth, Global Kids
Inc., Green Party of NY, Human Impacts Institute, NYC Friends of
Clearwater, NYU Divest, Occupy the Pipeline, Occupy Sandy, Restore the
Rock, Sane Energy Project, United for Action, World Can't Wait, WESPAC,
and You Are Never Alone (YANA). </span></div>
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">Activists gathered in Bryant Park, where </span>Reverend
Billy of the Church of Stop Shopping kicked off the event, and then the
group marched down Sixth Avenue and rallied in front of the Waldorf
Astoria hotel. </span>Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17280994989333550723noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8730138216101730214.post-64775445085028271592013-05-13T09:47:00.001-07:002013-05-13T09:47:17.277-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/374824559300809/" style="text-align: start;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Don't forget to join us today!</b></span></a></div>
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<br /><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8730138216101730214.post-31746404748432465032013-05-13T07:12:00.001-07:002013-05-13T07:12:49.197-07:00THE ROCKAWAY PHOENIX - Sunday, May 19th - Rebuilding the Rockaways<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">On <span class="aqj">Sunday,
May 19</span>, OWS Environmental Solidarity Working Group and YANA present a
rebuilding seminar at the First Congregational Church, Beach 94<sup>th</sup>
Street and the bay, from <span class="aqj">2 through 5 p.m.</span> with Sal Lopizzo
(founder of YANA), Winnie Wong of Occupy Sandy, Ken Gale of Eco-Logic on WBAI,
and JK Canepa of the New York Climate Action Group and OWS-ESWG, OTP, and CARP. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The East coast of the US was
ravaged by Hurricane/Cyclone Sandy six months ago. Unfortunately this type of
super storm will become more common as a century of fossil fuel use has
exacerbated climate change and the corresponding erratic weather patterns. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
Rockaway area was devastated in the storm and many people are still struggling
to rebuild their homes and manage to afford the costs of heating and cooling
them.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We'll start with a film as
people come in and write down their questions and situations, and then our
speaker, Chris Benedict, green architect of Architecture and Energy Limited,
will address them. Architecture And Energy Limited has a unique perspective
with “a portfolio of elegant, functional buildings that are healthy, durable
and extremely energy efficient, built for the same price as typical buildings.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The major focus of the forum
will be to answer homeowners’ questions by addressing the specific problems of the
Rockaways. Please bring your questions and your knowledge to this event.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">This program is free and open
to the public, especially the people of the Rockaways and Staten Island, and
the volunteers who have stepped up to help after Superstorm Sandy.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Some points to be covered:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">- How to save up to 90% on
fuel costs</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">- How to make your home more
efficient, safe, and sustainable</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">- Using the right materials
for a wet environment (the Rockaways)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">- Finding ways to afford it.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">YANA and OWSESWG look forward
to meeting you and hope to assist in finding good solutions to the Rockaways
being better than ever!</span><br />
<br />
<br /><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNQKEo0IRHrkpVY_RAXEc_LPL_BaQVyz7Y0h6U1_CBxuhO3M8l3mFanmjfMXkKHkIBytCkcqqT4WV0PAZwwy5hW5X0J23Txly2iYDc_Ig3GSOz_VL9pSaEP5JnfmLAc2R3qsfEfSuECE4/s1600/viewer_004.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNQKEo0IRHrkpVY_RAXEc_LPL_BaQVyz7Y0h6U1_CBxuhO3M8l3mFanmjfMXkKHkIBytCkcqqT4WV0PAZwwy5hW5X0J23Txly2iYDc_Ig3GSOz_VL9pSaEP5JnfmLAc2R3qsfEfSuECE4/s640/viewer_004.png" width="494" /></a></div>
Thanks to Alice Zinnes for the great graphic<br />
MariCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03591322486961929121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8730138216101730214.post-1294034563321147892013-05-12T09:31:00.000-07:002013-05-12T09:31:03.976-07:00Con Edison begins work on extension of Spectra pipelineWEST VILLAGE, NEW YORK CITY, MAY 12, 2013. Con Edison has begun work on its extension of the high volume, high pressure Spectra gas pipeline that terminates under the New Whitney museum in New York City's West Village. Two excavations by contractors along 10th Avenue between Gansevoort and West 14th Street were well on their way yesterday, and workers were cutting pavement at a third site. In addition, there was reinforcement work by Con Edison contractors across 10th Avenue at West 15th Street, although the relationship of this work to the larger pipeline project is unconfirmed.<br />
<br />
The point of connection between the Spectra pipeline and Con Edison's forthcoming extension is a "vault" being built at the base of the New Whitney Museum. The Con Edison extension is due for completion in the fall of this year, and the contract to build that extension has only recently been awarded, apparently to a local firm. Separate contractors are building the vault, which appears to be more advanced towards completion. The New Whitney Museum is itself under construction. There is a coordination among the Spectra, Con Edison and New Whitney projects that has at times resulted in planned hiatuses in the vault construction.<br />
<br />
Please see below a map of existing and future West Village pipeline infrastructure related to the Spectra pipeline, and photographs of the sites <b><span style="color: #990000;">labeled <span style="background-color: white;">red</span></span></b> in the map. Except where otherwise specified, the photographs were taken on May 11, 2013.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFnhOpvAbNj8DQIZwNU3CDpQ9MDMs3TVl1vE9vZrQ2Fyc0W6EEjNxtQGXvNQNqzZ1Z78N_CpDmrOLJFJDd3S-6J2tndjPeRDwSTmTaW7uCZEsc5yaMnXwSbfuURvG4LeRzONj0yuadrpj8/s1600/map+excavations.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFnhOpvAbNj8DQIZwNU3CDpQ9MDMs3TVl1vE9vZrQ2Fyc0W6EEjNxtQGXvNQNqzZ1Z78N_CpDmrOLJFJDd3S-6J2tndjPeRDwSTmTaW7uCZEsc5yaMnXwSbfuURvG4LeRzONj0yuadrpj8/s400/map+excavations.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Map of work sites</div>
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<img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjye5eLh3rB4LjykHD38nLiI2ge2IEKVqrXcfoKLqaurMGjHNxhKFpbOkvZxNBQ_rNXzVfeaY8P4dl5JIgIiGh9W2rOGdchsLYyPGx4pgVpF0QV5PeS643rxOfvnnIaMjzg0QlaYmlQHvQj/s400/Pipe+and+corner+of+barge+-+Version+2.jpg" width="400" /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Spectra pipeline emerges from the river. Note in the background the New York City fireboat, moored within the pipeline's fire radius at the Fire Department's Marine Company 1. (This photograph was taken March 30, 2013)<span id="goog_834902117"></span></div>
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Work on the vault at the base of the New Whitney museum, which is also under construction. This photograph was taken April 6, 2013.</div>
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Excavation site 1, near the New Whitney</div>
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Excavation Site 2, between Little West 12th Street and West 13th Street</div>
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Excavation Site 3, between West 13th Street and West 14th Street</div>
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Contractor truck near Excavation Site 3</div>
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"Reinforcement" work on West 15th Street as it crosses 10th Avenue</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8730138216101730214.post-80567389230934946442013-05-06T23:21:00.000-07:002013-05-06T23:21:25.327-07:00The Secrets of Death Avenue Walking Tour!<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What do you get when you get a room full of environmental activists who happen to be creative, performers, artists, writers, historians and shake it up with a dash of march, dash of education, dash of history and mystery? A New York City theatrical walking tour, of course! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We sat in a meeting one night deciding our next course of action for educational outreach for this summer since Con Ed will be digging under the new Whitney Museum to start connecting itself to the Spectra Pipeline. Do we march? Not quite effective enough. Do we flyer more? Sure, but we need something with a little more pizzazz. Our wonderful partner George Pingeon is an actual bicycle tour guide in the city of NYC, so JK Canepa and Eric Walton suggested, "Hey why not a walking tour?" Denise Katzman then informed us about <a href="http://mas.org/programs/janeswalknyc/" target="_blank">Municipal Art Society's event called "Jane's Walk" </a> So we decided to get to the drawing board and suss out a walking tour designed to be fun, educational, provocative and hard-to-forget.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We had some facts lined up: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1. 10th Avenue used to be called DEATH AVENUE Why? Well, I don't want to spoil it for you since we are going to be doing this tour hopefully each month coming up, but to give you a little hint: It involves trains killing people and COWBOYS that took matters into their own hands to protect the people.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2. That the Meat Packing District was once home to meat packers that hung carcasses from its awnings over the sidewalks</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">3. That the restaurant Florent was the *it* spot to hang after late nights for subcultures of society which paved the way for hip designers and artists to come round and give birth to the ritzy place it has turned into today (love it or hate it, it's there)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">4. That Jane Jacobs (who is the woman of honor for MAS's "Jane's Walk") used to live in the hood and created a movement to fight Robert Moses' horrible plans to turn lower Manhattan into a huge highway</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">5. That the Spectra Pipeline carries the torch up 10th Avenue for the previously nicknamed Death Avenue</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">6. That we had a wicked hurricane (Sandy) that drown the neighborhood just 6 months ago</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">7. That we have the choice for renewables if we encourage everyone to be the "Jane Jacobs" of their time and stick up for the people, and what is right for our healthy, clean future.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So we sculpted a script around it and here is what you get. I hope you enjoy the pictures and JOIN US for our next tour!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">George Kicks Off our tour! Great crowd!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No Walking Tour would be complete without the harassment of the NYPD who decided to trail our tour with several officers for the entire duration! Let's hope they learned something about fracking and this dangerous radioactive pipeline is coming into their precinct. </td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKaU4z_j1SWz0_R9H61349o_6aMTaKzb0uojlmzPbVzQDbhaCDcDK6fGuWbMZ6NCNqbMyZnIdFSeGRrzgP9FO9z0e8-W7Ko6yqoZPhB6FV21aeCNgRHuFqwS98belE70wsb5fAKixKf0I/s1600/921087_10101884216686459_2059263060_o+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKaU4z_j1SWz0_R9H61349o_6aMTaKzb0uojlmzPbVzQDbhaCDcDK6fGuWbMZ6NCNqbMyZnIdFSeGRrzgP9FO9z0e8-W7Ko6yqoZPhB6FV21aeCNgRHuFqwS98belE70wsb5fAKixKf0I/s320/921087_10101884216686459_2059263060_o+(1).jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">One of our favorite Cowgirls, Susanne, who rescues the people when the city's train puts them in harms way.<br />Photo by Stacy Lanyon<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5M2XTv117nV_8koNSJThHl5ON7TZRtv99cz51nB9Q6wprzj-Qq1Hpv8YodRR14T0o4n2RN-_lcaZq6A6TEEeKEPMqMi1NfUgABKBzvucB2TEylayVna19hDpU5WmTtFhlXF3nUwreaDE/s1600/935403_10201193940953247_487150605_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5M2XTv117nV_8koNSJThHl5ON7TZRtv99cz51nB9Q6wprzj-Qq1Hpv8YodRR14T0o4n2RN-_lcaZq6A6TEEeKEPMqMi1NfUgABKBzvucB2TEylayVna19hDpU5WmTtFhlXF3nUwreaDE/s320/935403_10201193940953247_487150605_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">Pitstop at one of our ol' fave dives, Florent</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">Jane Jacobs , played by Monica, reading to spar with Robert Moses over people's rights to a healthy environment<br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">Robert Moses, played by Joe Therrien, gittin' his arse kicked by Jane Jacobs. Phew!<br />photo by Stacy Lanyon</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We get to meet Joan Baez along the way with all the other West Village artists</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">And wow! It's Dylan Thomas!<br />photo by Stacy Lanyon</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Uh oh, and then Owen gets a mouthful from Greg Ebel, the CEO of Spectra Energy (played by Marina Tsaplina).<br />photo by Stacy Lanyon</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-qfBzpYD1WuthWAEnbLnW_yA5kodkRawz9hzZp3D1xvTbQJ3gOHgkQoiUdzM_F-Ndb0ZuhmTU4uUm4lnRsrTRz4nS8Jh7nJDkgmz4mUZhyphenhyphenIFFQ_iVFrMOoz1KN-gUBw8re6CJNQP-8cw/s1600/472543_10101884221362089_1462076947_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-qfBzpYD1WuthWAEnbLnW_yA5kodkRawz9hzZp3D1xvTbQJ3gOHgkQoiUdzM_F-Ndb0ZuhmTU4uUm4lnRsrTRz4nS8Jh7nJDkgmz4mUZhyphenhyphenIFFQ_iVFrMOoz1KN-gUBw8re6CJNQP-8cw/s320/472543_10101884221362089_1462076947_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And then Kim asks "Who's ready to be the next Jane Jacobs and fight this fracked gas pipeline!?"<br />photo by Stacy Lanyon</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwQ0AjyjDxNq98cMFtaHTe1MfC8-eqpd4D1zUUvSDZmcuXmm9CFZM8zUics63-4qfZ3R9Wwxg8FdY0PTi4rIC8FIDhXTyPJcx4BGlNKTLiPaoW_iJstRSxqkxzRBzdk3jM6CNamILnkfs/s1600/405930_179133718911151_1151107454_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwQ0AjyjDxNq98cMFtaHTe1MfC8-eqpd4D1zUUvSDZmcuXmm9CFZM8zUics63-4qfZ3R9Wwxg8FdY0PTi4rIC8FIDhXTyPJcx4BGlNKTLiPaoW_iJstRSxqkxzRBzdk3jM6CNamILnkfs/s320/405930_179133718911151_1151107454_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We meet Hurricane Sandy, played by Morgan Jenness, </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4MGmWYg6kHPlM_karON8cEoSiWKSmcwn60HKMn7QhcK7iCR7WanSP0rxwklvd0FYJWj7xsfE7ngc7_KO45lE24QC6FK-6BgzkfFudL8hmEnSSS1Rtop09IAUDVW8zwMd-mvdLV2RPHwM/s1600/601697_10201193944953347_1781026597_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4MGmWYg6kHPlM_karON8cEoSiWKSmcwn60HKMn7QhcK7iCR7WanSP0rxwklvd0FYJWj7xsfE7ngc7_KO45lE24QC6FK-6BgzkfFudL8hmEnSSS1Rtop09IAUDVW8zwMd-mvdLV2RPHwM/s320/601697_10201193944953347_1781026597_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And we learn about renewables like solar and wind power that are ready to go! <br />We just need our government to hop on them as fast as they are hopping <br />on natural gas extraction that is endangering our entire future.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvrEG4IEIoUmKbRuzh2onJyrpmHXvTLkHOXUPZ4kJ9y2fJpRJalC1cT4hgQVEmwVp2OoxbCQEBhbcOWui7G8V9GStrBJJbJ6DFZB-47LHK4YZ97U9DFC8Kd2fPy0wR5m_3zjhIfo0Mspc/s1600/524825_10201193940873245_1833805016_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvrEG4IEIoUmKbRuzh2onJyrpmHXvTLkHOXUPZ4kJ9y2fJpRJalC1cT4hgQVEmwVp2OoxbCQEBhbcOWui7G8V9GStrBJJbJ6DFZB-47LHK4YZ97U9DFC8Kd2fPy0wR5m_3zjhIfo0Mspc/s320/524825_10201193940873245_1833805016_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Many folks are ready to look into the future toward renewables.<br /><br />Thank you to John Duffy, Stacy Lanyon and Erik McGregor for documenting our day.<br /><br />Video to come soon. Stay tuned!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8730138216101730214.post-84908039726953562232013-04-23T18:15:00.001-07:002013-04-24T06:07:25.329-07:00SPECTRA Pipeline Debated at Monday’s Mayoral Forum<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs8HgcBnjPU4M6Yzo_SnIiH8Xadi51fqznDwwaSCqqNBP2OHDZxN1XiSpEbWI_c3iRmZSs_KlJLOb_8-x4ZHEQNmlBSFQefQIWpenuczAOKi707xWuZs7fcqF4_EQDqnMspqa_1vLaHoQ/s1600/otp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs8HgcBnjPU4M6Yzo_SnIiH8Xadi51fqznDwwaSCqqNBP2OHDZxN1XiSpEbWI_c3iRmZSs_KlJLOb_8-x4ZHEQNmlBSFQefQIWpenuczAOKi707xWuZs7fcqF4_EQDqnMspqa_1vLaHoQ/s320/otp.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The OtP team was out in force at the New York Mayoral Forum
on Sustainability, hosted in The Cooper Union’s Great Hall on Monday night. Nine
of the major mayoral candidates were in attendance—Albanese, Carrion, Liu,
DeBlasio, Catsimatidis, Lhota, Thompson, McDonald, and Quinn—to answer
questions about how they would handle environmental issues as the next Mayor of
New York City.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The night started out with what should have been an
uncontroversial question. Brian Lehrer (host of the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC)
asked each candidate whether they believed that global warming was a real
threat that demanded action. To their credit, only one candidate disagreed with
this assessment; Mr. Catsimatidis replied that there was still plenty of
research needed to answer this question, which drew loud snorts and sighs from
the audience (note to Catsimatidis: that line might work with a different
audience, but I would imagine that most of the audience on Monday night was
familiar with the <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/306/5702/1686.full">overwhelming consensus</a> around this issue). Moving
on.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The big surprise of the night for OtP was when Lehrer
brought up the SPECTRA pipeline. This is certainly the most prominent forum in
which the pipeline has been discussed, and it is certainly the first time the
issue has been debated in such a prominent forum. Amazingly, Speaker Quinn
called for more public input into this issue. Yes, this is the same Christine
Quinn who refused to publicize what few hearings were held on this issue, and
who has continually refused to comment publically on this issue despite the
pipeline being sited directly in her district (note to Quinn: keep your eyes
peeled; there will be plenty of “public input” in the next few months, we
promise). Thankfully, John Liu and Bill DeBlasio brought some common sense to
the discussion. DeBlasio called for a moratorium on fracking, while Liu called
the SPECTRA pipeline “a bad deal for New York City.” We couldn’t agree more.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After the debate, OtP got up with banners and masks, and led
the crowd in chants against the SPECTRA pipeline, while other members handed
out literature and educated the crowd about the pipeline. When we were asked to
leave the hall, we kept the party going out in The Cooper Union’s courtyard,
having an impromptu dance party and teach-in on the pipeline.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Monday night was a success for lots of reasons—major
candidates publically opposed the SPECTRA pipeline, while many candidates gave
compelling arguments and strategies for making the shift toward renewable
energy. But for these arguments and strategies to be anything more than
speeches, we will have to continue to put pressure on each candidate as the
race proceeds. Don’t worry—OtP isn’t going anywhere. We’ll see you in the
street!</div>
Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17280994989333550723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8730138216101730214.post-72074469228485406862013-02-27T11:35:00.002-08:002013-02-27T17:42:40.905-08:00WE ENDORSE the Tar Sands Blockade's Week of Action! March 16-23<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL0TiNrMUOFZBRDtgDFVpuC16gk0CsFKJxxaWgOEgSZ6hcxvQC7yfH8YgmSK81pU8q1_soJEIKIATW82mr9_KNXBfLAK2mroOPfFiPuqMEb3ECgX8nzH1ZHRqaPYjfDO3Z2XsirPXR5JdE/s1600/TSB-FB_TK_SMALL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL0TiNrMUOFZBRDtgDFVpuC16gk0CsFKJxxaWgOEgSZ6hcxvQC7yfH8YgmSK81pU8q1_soJEIKIATW82mr9_KNXBfLAK2mroOPfFiPuqMEb3ECgX8nzH1ZHRqaPYjfDO3Z2XsirPXR5JdE/s320/TSB-FB_TK_SMALL.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
We at Occupy the Pipeline are proud to endorse the Tar Sands Blockade's week of action. This week of action will take place from March 16 to 23, and will signal to all who support the Keystone XL Pipeline that we will not stop until they do. Tar Sands Blockade is encouraging folks to target local Trans Canada offices (locations available on the TSB website) and to draw attention to other targets who are providing support to this project.<br />
<br />
We support the week of action because we recognize that the development of the Tar Sands and the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline represent an unacceptable hazard to our health, our communities and our ecosystem. We stand in solidarity against the sociopathic business model of the fossil fuel industry in all of its incarnations, whether fracked gas, tar sands oil or coal from beneath the mountains. We will be planning our own actions and encourage you to keep checking in if you would like to join us!<br />
<br />
If your group would like to endorse the week of action as well, click here:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.tarsandsblockade.org/weekofaction/weekofactionorgs/">http://www.tarsandsblockade.org/weekofaction/weekofactionorgs/</a>Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17280994989333550723noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8730138216101730214.post-36626849104813920662013-02-26T09:18:00.000-08:002013-02-27T11:42:12.085-08:00Moccasins on the Ground<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9rlBOZDEY0aD5id6N2VXZYFlVkyG0Mo-uwiiWtJoeN0qlKLDYyXOlNiTTPcgmCL6avZEtgqbabWJtwVW-BPb2Ka96yvfl0UHvd7j_6VZILzonXTda0TZc987lBwAs59m9KslrTRNUskQ/s1600/421445_10151289671347666_2077065542_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9rlBOZDEY0aD5id6N2VXZYFlVkyG0Mo-uwiiWtJoeN0qlKLDYyXOlNiTTPcgmCL6avZEtgqbabWJtwVW-BPb2Ka96yvfl0UHvd7j_6VZILzonXTda0TZc987lBwAs59m9KslrTRNUskQ/s400/421445_10151289671347666_2077065542_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8730138216101730214.post-26825390769172817452013-02-25T09:23:00.000-08:002013-02-27T11:48:25.988-08:00<br />
<br />
<header class="headline" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-shadow: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8) 0px 1px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #003366; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="text-transform: uppercase;"><b>from <a href="http://eenews.net/public/energywire/2013/02/21/1">EE News</a></b></span></span><br /><h2 class="slug" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #003366; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">
</h2>
<h2 class="slug" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #003366; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">
SAFETY:</h2>
<h1 style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Death on the gas field illustrates high risks of the rush to drill</h1>
<div class="byline" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-top: 0.25em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Gayathri Vaidyanathan, E&E reporter</div>
<div class="published_on" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
EnergyWire: <time datetime="Thu Feb 21 08:08:13 -0500 2013" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Thursday, February 21, 2013</time></div>
</header><section class="tools" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; float: right; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 1em 0px 1em 1em; vertical-align: baseline; width: 302px;"><ul class="first last" style="background-color: #eff3f7; background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 0% 0%, from(rgba(255, 255, 255, 0)), to(rgb(255, 255, 255))); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-color: rgb(50, 100, 151); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 2px 0px; color: #990000; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 1em 0.5em 0.5em; text-align: center; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">
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<li style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: normal;"><a href="http://eenews.net/public/energywire/email/2013/02/21/1" style="background-color: transparent; color: #990000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><span class="sprite " style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://eenews.net/responsive/images/eenews_sprites.png?v=12); background-position: -414px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: none; bottom: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 13px; margin: 0px 3px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 21px;" title="email"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">EMAIL </span></span>EMAIL</a></li>
<li style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: normal;"><a href="http://eenews.net/public/energywire/2013/02/21/1?page_type=print" style="background-color: transparent; color: #990000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="sprite " style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://eenews.net/responsive/images/eenews_sprites.png?v=12); background-position: -435px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: none; bottom: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 17px; margin: 0px 3px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 21px;" title="print"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;">PRINT </span></span>PRINT</a></li>
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</section><section style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
The ground was like a sponge and the men's legs sank, in places up to their calves. A rumble of diesel engines filled the air. Then, there was a cry: "Back! Go back!"</div>
<div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Charles "C.J." Bevins, a 23-year-old roughneck, was pinned against a trailer by a forklift. The vehicle was partially sunk into the ground. C.J.'s legs dangled like a rag doll's.</div>
<div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
The driver hurriedly backed up, and C.J. crumpled to the ground. As the men milled around, unsure how to help, C.J.'s face went white, his lips blue. He looked up at his friend and colleague Steve Riffle, whom he called "Dad."</div>
<div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
"Dad, I ain't going to die, am I? I ain't going to die, am I?"</div>
<div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
"No, you will be back to work tomorrow," Riffle <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/515169-deposition-transcript-of-steve-riffle.html#document/p38/a81176" style="background-color: transparent; color: #990000; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">said</a>. "You will be all right."</div>
<div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
C.J. died hours later at a hospital near the rig site in Smyrna, N.Y.</div>
<div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Oil and gas sites are among the most dangerous workplaces in the country, according to federal labor statistics and an ongoing <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">EnergyWire</em> investigation. Multiple pressures weigh on the people who work in this high-risk, high-reward industry, including the need to produce on schedule and keep costs down. The company men and their workers have a "get 'er done" attitude that sometimes leads to safety compromises that go unnoticed and undocumented.</div>
<div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Sometimes events tilt toward tragedy.</div>
<div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
****</div>
<div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
It has been more than a year since the accident. C.J.'s sister, Charlotte Bevins, 26, keeps her brother's blue safety helmet in the back seat of her car.</div>
<div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Since C.J.'s death on May 1, 2011, Charlotte has been driving a few of her brother's old co-workers to their rig jobs. Along the way, she quizzes them about the company's safety culture to piece together why, exactly, her brother died.</div>
<div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
When a roughneck dies, the local newspaper runs a short obituary. The company pays for a funeral service. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration conducts an investigation and fines the company. In C.J.'s case, the fine was $4,900. Under the state's workers' compensation program, family members get a percentage of the victim's monthly salary.</div>
<div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
The process is designed for an efficient cleanup. The company pays its share, and it moves on to drilling the next well.</div>
<aside class="image_325 left" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; float: left; margin: 0px 1.25em 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 327px;"><img alt="Charles Bevins" border="1" src="http://www.eenews.net/assets/2013/02/21/photo_ew_02.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 1px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 327px;" /><div class="caption" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #666666; font-size: 11px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Charles "C.J." Bevins, 23, was killed at an oil and gas drilling site. Photo courtesy of Charlotte Bevins.</div>
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Moving on is a lot harder for families left behind. No one tells them exactly why their brother, father or husband died. They get a letter from OSHA briefly laying out its findings, but they don't get a copy of the investigation report without filing a request under the Freedom of Information Act. To prove willful negligence in court, a high legal bar in most states, survivors assemble cases based on patchy eyewitness accounts in a notoriously opaque industry. Claims against leaseholders or site operators often drag on, before leading to undisclosed settlements that shed little light on what went wrong and how to prevent other tragedies.</div>
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"All this time has gone by, and I still don't know really what happened," Charlotte said in the fall at her home in Buckhannon, W.Va. "You know, I lost my brother. I was on my way to see him, and he was gone. I didn't get to say goodbye."</div>
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C.J. was 19 and supporting his girlfriend and her 1-year-old daughter, Reagan Page, when he got his first job on a drilling rig. The Bevinses were homesteaders; they had moved to West Virginia in 1998, bought 42 acres in Upshur County and home-schooled the kids. Without a high school diploma, C.J.'s skills were limited. The highest-paying jobs were in the oil fields or the mines.</div>
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On a drizzly autumn day, Charlotte drove along Buckhannon's narrow streets. She pulled up at a small house with white siding and a porch littered with a girl's pink playthings. Justin Shelley, 27, gestured her in.</div>
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Shelley had the portly shape of a guy who has been confined to a wheelchair for a year. He was relearning to walk after he and two co-workers smashed their pickup truck into a tree at 60 miles an hour. They had been drinking and driving after a long workday on the rig. One-third of all deaths in the industry are due to motor vehicle accidents.</div>
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"I mean, it's a dangerous job, working on a rig is dangerous, it is a risk you take," Shelley said. Young men without a college education view the industry as a way out of a life flipping burgers at McDonald's. The jobs can pay up to $100,000 a year, depending on the position on a rig. The average drilling job involves working 12-hour shifts at 14-day stretches before getting some days off. It pays around $20 an hour and a $200 per diem, plus perks like a late-model Dodge Ram pickup.</div>
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Shelley's 4-year-old daughter, Riley, just back from school, clambered onto his lap. He hugged her and said, "This is why I do it.</div>
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"I'm not going to let my kids grow up like I did."<br />
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Shelley said that once he gets better, he would like to return to the rig and work until retirement, moving up the ladder until his education level stops his advancement. He loves working with his hands on the rig.</div>
<aside class="image_325 right" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px 0px 1em 1.25em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 327px;"><img alt="The Bevins family" border="1" src="http://www.eenews.net/assets/2013/02/21/photo_ew_01.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 1px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 327px;" /><div class="caption" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #666666; font-size: 11px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Nancy Bevins, left, and Charlotte Bevins -- C.J.'s mother and sister -- with C.J.'s children, Bubby and Reagan Page, at the family farm in Buckhannon, W.Va. Photo by Gayathri Vaidyanathan.</div>
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C.J. told Charlotte he worked in the oil and gas fields to provide for his family, the same reason as Shelley. A second child, Charles Bevins IV, or "Bubby," was on the way. And C.J. enjoyed the camaraderie of the oil field. The men would carpool to distant rig sites and stay four to a hotel room to save on their per diem. They worked long shifts and grabbed beers in the evenings.</div>
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"It don't matter what you did to that boy, always had a smile on his face," said James Riley, 37, a gas field worker who knew C.J. "You couldn't work that smile off his face, you couldn't."</div>
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One night, Riley recounted, the men made C.J. work on the derrick scrubbing the floor and equipment for hours when the rig was not being used for drilling. The hazing was part of how they trained new workers in West Virginia, Riley and his friends said. Derrick hands were "worms." They repaired, moved equipment, assisted with drilling and did whatever else they were ordered to do, as they worked their way up the totem pole to be a motor man, a mud man, a tool pusher and eventually a driller.</div>
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"He loved it," Riley said.</div>
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A mining region reawakened</h3>
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Buckhannon is a blue-collar town of 5,700 people at the foothills of the Appalachians. Drilling and mining jobs around here are vital. There are lumber mills, coal mines and young men there who call themselves hillbillies, and do it with pride.</div>
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The area is famous for the Sago coal mine collapse of 2006, in Upshur County just outside town, when lightning ran down a metal rod into an open mine shaft and ignited a pocket of methane. Twelve miners died. National media descended on Buckhannon, and CNN's Anderson Cooper was spotted eating at C.J. Maggie's American Grill on Main Street. Once the circus subsided, Sago's survivors quietly honored the men by installing a monument topped by a miner's safety helmet.</div>
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When Sago collapsed, the U.S. energy picture had already started shifting. Technology and massive investment would soon reawaken the near-dormant oil and gas industry in the Northeast. Independent gas producers in Texas had already developed advanced drilling technology and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a well stimulation technique that blasts chemical-laced water and sand into deep-underground shale formations to free oil and gas.</div>
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By 2008, wildcatters and multinational energy companies were pursuing mineral rights to drill in the Marcellus Shale formation underneath Pennsylvania, New York, eastern Ohio and parts of West Virginia. New employers turned up in the hill country around Buckhannon. The town was ready for the ride.</div>
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Today, there is a new Microtel Inn that sells rooms for $100 a night and a Sheetz station where a steady stream of pickup drivers refuel with gas and coffee. Main Street is newly tarred. But farther into town, streets are lined with the remnants of previous energy booms and busts. Algae and green fuzz cover the roofs of homes, their paint peeling off.</div>
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After 2008, natural gas prices collapsed from $13 per million British thermal units to less than $2 last spring due to an oversupply of gas. Producers started moving rigs out of the Interstate 79 corridor of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Small drillers such as SW Jack Drilling, which had been around for the better part of a century, could no longer survive.</div>
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One of the few that did was Braden Drilling LLC, which C.J. joined in January 2011. Norse Energy Corp., a Norwegian company, had hired Braden to drill in New York. Norse had invested heavily in the state, acquiring nearly 180,000 acres. But the company could not tap its shale assets because the state was in upheaval. Pro- and anti-fracking factions were girded for a fight amid a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing.</div>
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Norse was biding its time while drilling conventional gas wells. Braden dispatched C.J. and his crew to the work site in Smyrna in May 2011.</div>
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The site had been unstable to work on, according to several people who had been on it. Braden's supervisor on site, Teddy Gribble, asked Norse Energy for 60 rig mats, which are steel-framed wooden pallets that cover the ground and create a stable work surface. They cost about $300 each a day to rent.</div>
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"My Lord, can you live with 30?" the construction foreman of Norse Energy asked, Gribble recalled in a<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/515170-deposition-transcript-of-teddy-gribble.html#document/p53/a81174" style="background-color: transparent; color: #990000; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">court deposition transcript</a>. It was too much of an expense. "Let's try 30."</div>
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At the daily safety meeting at his pickup truck, Gribble conveyed the message to his crew and the men set out to work. C.J. asked a colleague to use a forklift to carry a set of steel stairs to be attached to a trailer. He stood in front of the trailer, directing the driver. The vehicle inched forward. Suddenly, the ground gave way. The rear of the vehicle sank into the ground. The boom holding the stairs jerked up toward C.J., pinning him against the trailer at the abdomen and crushing the organs below his diaphragm.</div>
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OSHA appeared a day later to investigate and <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/435919-osha.html#document/p25/a81138" style="background-color: transparent; color: #990000; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">found </a>the forklift driver didn't have the training he needed. The agency did not, however, point to the other problems on the site that day: the unstable work surface, the few mats.</div>
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C.J.'s son, Bubby, will get $1,600 a month from West Virginia's workers' compensation program until he is 18 years old. That's a $350,000 payout, a fraction of the $5 million C.J. would have earned if he had worked in the oil fields until retirement. Reagan, the girl C.J. was raising, won't be paid for the loss of the only father she knew. She's not his biological child.</div>
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Braden did not respond to <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">EnergyWire's</em> request for comment on C.J.'s death. Norse's chief legal officer, Dennis Holbrook, wrote in an email: "Worker safety is a high priority to Norse. My sympathy and condolences go to the family of Mr. Bevins."</div>
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Charlotte received news of C.J.'s death from her father as she was driving.</div>
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"C.J.'s dead!" Charles Bevins Jr. barked into the phone before hanging up.</div>
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'The company man reigns supreme'</h3>
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Charlotte favors a black hoodie turned up over her long, blond hair. She likes the little bit of anonymity it provides in a small town. Since C.J.'s death, she has been searching for a reason, almost a conspiracy, that could explain the sequence of events.</div>
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She's traveled to the drill site in New York, talked to C.J.'s co-workers, the doctors, the EMT medic who promised C.J. he would be OK en route to the hospital. She even visited a small diner nearby, to find the old lady who had once looked at C.J., then spit between her fingers as if putting a curse on him after finding out he worked in the gas fields.</div>
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"I went in there to see if she was there, to see what she did, or what she said," Charlotte recalled. "But she'd died."</div>
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There was no conspiracy behind C.J.'s death. Men on the Norse project faced a <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/515170-deposition-transcript-of-teddy-gribble.html#document/p70/a81184" style="background-color: transparent; color: #990000; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">demanding work environment</a> as they tried to stick to a tight schedule.</div>
<table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="table_graphic_gw" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; float: right; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 10px 20px 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 350px;" summary="Oil and gas worker deaths"><tbody style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<tr class="title" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td colspan="4" style="background-color: #003366; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 51, 102); color: white; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0.25em 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">Number and rate of fatal injuries among oil and gas extraction workers, 2003-2011</td></tr>
<tr class="column_name" style="background-color: #eff3e9; border: 0px; color: #003366; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;"></td><td style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">Fatalities</td><td style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">Workers</td><td style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">Fatalities per 100,000 workers</td></tr>
<tr style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">2003</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">85</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">292,846</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">29.02549463</td></tr>
<tr style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">2004</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">98</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">306,863</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">31.93607571</td></tr>
<tr style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">2005</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">98</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">338,234</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">28.9740239</td></tr>
<tr style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">2006</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">125</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">385,803</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">32.39995542</td></tr>
<tr style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">2007</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">122</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">427,706</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">28.52426667</td></tr>
<tr style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">2008</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">120</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">476,356</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">25.19124352</td></tr>
<tr style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">2009</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">68</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">422,033</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">16.11248409</td></tr>
<tr style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">2010</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">107</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">434,599</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">24.62039719</td></tr>
<tr style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">2011</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">110</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">499,507</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 2px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">22.02171341</td></tr>
<tr style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td class="table_cutline" colspan="4" style="border: none; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0.25em 0.5em 1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Data compiled from the Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, Baker Hughes Inc. rig counts</em></td></tr>
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A gas drilling operation is complex and fragmented. Multiple contractors are managed by representatives of the operating energy company. These "company men" in turn get orders from senior management that tracks the larger arithmetic of drilling a well, which can cost up to $8 million depending on the reservoir being tapped. The more it costs, the more gas the company needs to extract to break even. Safety considerations sometimes get lost in the realities of operating an oil field.</div>
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"To the oil field contractor, the company man reigns supreme, and the company man oftentimes is not focused on safety because he cares more about production first," said John Stephens, an independent safety, health and environment consultant in Texas with four decades of experience in the petroleum and chemical industries.</div>
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"Almost every one of the injuries and deaths you will happen upon, it will have something to do with cutting a corner, to save time, to save money," said Tim Bailey, the attorney representing the Bevinses in their lawsuit against Norse and Braden. His law firm, Bucci, Bailey & Javins in Charleston, W.Va., represented victims of the Sago mine collapse and the Upper Big Branch mine explosion in 2010.</div>
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Part of the problem is the oil and gas industry is experiencing a demographic shift. Older workers are retiring, and there are few men left to train the new, undisciplined roughnecks attracted to the booming industry. The trend has been labeled "The Great Crew Change" by Elaine Cullen, a social anthropologist studying oil and gas workers and the vice president for Northwest operations at Safety Solutions International.</div>
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The lack of training has meant that two-thirds of the people who died in Texas oil and gas fields over the past decade had less than a year of experience, according to an analysis of insurance claims presented at an OSHA safety conference in December.</div>
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The American Petroleum Institute, the major industry group, told <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">EnergyWire</em> in an email that the "oil and natural gas industry's number one priority is safety." Larger companies do take steps to promote safety and have multiple "safety men" on the rig sites.</div>
<table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="table_graphic_gw" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; float: right; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 1em 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 320px;"><tbody style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<tr class="title" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="background-color: #003366; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 51, 102); color: white; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0.25em 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">Annual occupational fatality rate among oil and gas workers, and number of active rigs, 2003-2011</td></tr>
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Data compiled from U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, Baker Hughes Inc. rig counts.</div>
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But the trend is not uniform across industry, and hundreds of deaths and injuries occur every year. It is difficult to figure out how often safety violations occur because records on the oil and gas extraction industry, which employed half a million people in 2011, are patchy. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is slow to update its database, and experts say violations often go undocumented because OSHA rarely inspects rig sites.</div>
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Still, from available federal records, OSHA inspectors found at least 45 "willful" violations of safety standards by oil and gas drillers and their support teams since 2006. In 10 of those cases, workers were killed or injured. In one <a href="http://www.osha.gov/pls/imis/accidentsearch.accident_detail?id=200542033" style="background-color: transparent; color: #990000; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">case</a>, two workers welded an oil tank containing 85 barrels of crude oil, which exploded and killed them instantly.</div>
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Inspectors found about 6,500 cases of "serious" violations, the designation that most often led to an injury or death. The violations resulted in the death or injury of 248 workers (see chart).</div>
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Victor Boyd, 28, a Louisiana transplant working on a rig near Watford City, N.D., for Precision Drilling Corp., caught on fire in September after being sprayed by a hose carrying drilling fluid and hydrocarbons.</div>
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"He was a very handsome guy, and his face has been burned off, his body, he has profound burns all over his body," said Douglas Monsour, a lawyer representing Boyd.</div>
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Precision Drilling declined to comment on the incident.</div>
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Charlotte has heard similar stories about faulty equipment. That fall day, she drove along a gravel path in Doddridge County, flanked by mountains wearing the red and orange of fall. An occasional rig stood in the foreground like a sentinel. Red Halliburton Co. trucks streamed by. She rolled onto a drill site owned by EQT Corp., which is producing Marcellus Shale gas.</div>
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Riley, a skinny man with sunken cheeks, in navy coveralls and a white safety helmet, made his way past the Halliburton contractors and trucks and got into Charlotte's car. He had been on site since 6 a.m. as a contractor for Luby Equipment Services. He closed his eyes and let out a sigh as Charlotte pulled away. He said he would get in trouble for talking to outsiders.</div>
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"Once you do something like that on the oil field, you are blackballed, you are done for life," he said. "There ain't no if and buts about it, you won't work in another company again on anything that has to do with the oil field."</div>
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He said he was ready to talk. "What's right is right, and what's wrong is wrong," Riley said, shrugging, as though his reasoning should be obvious (see video).</div>
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When C.J. had been working on Norse's drilling site, the company men pressed the workers to speed up, according to <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/516138-deposition-transcript-of-justin-shelley.html#document/p27/a81186" style="background-color: transparent; color: #990000; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">court documents</a>.</div>
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<tr class="title" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="background-color: #003366; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 51, 102); color: white; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0.25em 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">RELATED VIDEO</td></tr>
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<a href="http://eenews.net/tv/video_guide/1645" style="background-color: transparent; color: #990000; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><img alt="TV Player" border="0" height="169" src="http://eenews.net/assets/2013/02/21/photo_ew_03.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="300" /></a></div>
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E&E reporter Gayathri Vaidyanathan talks to the family and co-workers of deceased oil and gas field worker Charles "C.J." Bevins. <a href="http://eenews.net/tv/video_guide/1645" style="background-color: transparent; color: #990000; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Click here</a> to watch the video.</div>
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"Stuff started messing up, like we had some inexperienced people moving up, drillers and stuff, and they were just making easy mistakes," said his co-worker Shelley.</div>
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The failures preceded Norse's bankruptcy and the contractor Braden's shutdown in 2012 as the two companies battled market forces.</div>
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Norse could not tap its unconventional shale holdings in New York, which has had a moratorium on fracking since 2008. The company focused instead on the Herkimer sandstone formation, where C.J.'s crew was drilling.</div>
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Costs were very much a focus for Norse at the time, as evidenced in the October 2010 earnings report. The company said it would decrease time and cost "through the use of lower cost equipment" to drill the vertical portion of the wells.</div>
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A month after the accident, Norse said in its quarterly report that it would revise drilling costs to $1.35 million per well because the company "has not been satisfied" that the money invested in drilling was worth the wells' output.</div>
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Despite its efforts, the company's losses widened 84 percent to $61.3 million in 2011. And the Norway-based explorer suffered nine straight quarters of losses before filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2012. Norse owed about $32 million to debtors (<a href="http://eenews.net/energywire/2012/12/11/archive/3" style="background-color: transparent; color: #990000; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">EnergyWire</em></a>, Dec. 11, 2012).</div>
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Braden shut down last August, letting go of 250 people. The company had lost a major contract after Royal Dutch Shell PLC in 2010 bought East Resources, a Pennsylvania-based gas explorer with which Braden had been doing business.</div>
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Braden's shop was located in an isolated part of Buckhannon down the road from a noisy cattle slaughterhouse. During a visit there in September, papers were strewn about across three desks in the modest wood-paneled office. Posters encouraging safe practices were pasted on the walls. Braden's co-owner Dennis Chidester was cataloging his equipment for auction.</div>
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Unprompted, he declared that smaller drillers and explorers won't have the financial muscle to stay in business if U.S. natural gas prices stay depressed.</div>
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Three independent drilling companies in Buckhannon have shut down or been sold in the past year because they couldn't cope with the low price of gas. Chesapeake Energy Corp. laid off workers in early November. Earlier this year, Union Drilling, a West Virginia fixture for more than a century, was acquired by Texas-based Sidewinder Drilling Inc. Oil and gas is moving out of local hands, and jobs in the coal mines are harder to come by. The question in the air is: Will Buckhannon soon see a bust?</div>
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Trouble with 'drilling on air'</h3>
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Chidester, 62, declined to talk about C.J.'s death because the case is before a court. But he talked about small drilling companies, struggling to stay in business and to stay safe.</div>
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More than a century ago, drillers started using air rather than mud to drill wells in West Virginia's gas fields. The technique, called "drilling on air," saves time and money. But the method is dangerous when there are pockets of methane in the ground. Methane and oxygen are a flammable combination.</div>
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Chidester recalled at least two projects in New York where his men's air drilling encountered an 80-million-cubic-foot methane pocket. The sound of gas roiling underground was immense, and his men were in danger.</div>
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"You have probably been to ballgames where they fly three to five jets overhead. Well, that's about what that sounds like," Chidester said.</div>
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In some states, companies are required to switch to drilling mud before they hit a pocket of gas, but they don't always do that. "It is scary," he said.</div>
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Two years ago, in Lycoming County, Pa., the operators of a site Riley had been working on risked it, air drilling through a gas pocket. Methane crept up the well bore and leaked out through a faulty seal. The well caught fire.</div>
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Riley glanced out of the car as Charlotte drove him back to the rig site later in the day.</div>
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Charlotte returned to her family's farm in Buckhannon. The sun was setting. For her, it was not just about her brother anymore. She has been working with a New York state senator on legislation that would require oil and gas workers to go through certified training (<em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://eenews.net/energywire/2013/02/05/archive/8" style="background-color: transparent; color: #990000; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">EnergyWire</a></em>, Feb. 5).</div>
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She recognizes how important the industry's jobs are to West Virginia, but she contends it's time for men like C.J., Justin Shelley and James Riley to have options beyond the coal mines and gas fields.</div>
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For the Bevins family, C.J.'s death took its toll. C.J.'s siblings rarely communicate. They fight a lot these days. Charlotte barely talks to her father, and C.J.'s former fiancée has moved away.</div>
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On their 42 acres, vegetation had started taking over C.J.'s garden. Sheep fences were falling apart on the farm. His old red car sat neglected near the horse paddock.</div>
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Still today, whenever Charlotte hears a song on the radio that C.J. loved, she thinks that is a sign he is with her.</div>
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"Isn't that crazy?" she said. "Whether or not it is the truth, I guess it is helping me get by."</div>
</section>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8730138216101730214.post-24912445117850321382013-02-21T09:06:00.000-08:002013-02-27T09:15:33.543-08:00Kansas City Gas Explosion<br />
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From the Village Voice:</h1>
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As Gas Pipe Explosions Go, Yesterday's Giant Kansas City Blast is Small-Time</h1>
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<span class="bylineAuthor" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">By <a href="http://blogs.villagevoice.com/author.php?author_id=1812" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #606fa3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">Nick Pinto</a></span> <span class="bylineDate" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Wed., Feb. 20 2013 at 2:59 PM</span></div>
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<tr style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td class="caption" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #888888; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 13px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">This is what a fire from a two-inch gas distribution line can do.</td></tr>
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In Kansas City yesterday evening, natural gas from a damaged pipe caught fire, producing an incredibly devastating explosion in the middle of a densely developed urban plaza.<br />
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The blast leveled a restaurant, producing a roaring jet of flame several stories high that took 100 firefighters about two hours to finally extinguish. The Kansas City Star's <a href="http://www.kansascity.com/2013/02/19/4075290/two-alarm-fire-raging-west-of.html" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #606fa3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">account</a> gives some sense of the scale of the explosion:</div>
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"The force knocked out windows at least a half-block away and was felt nearly a mile away. Flames soared two-thirds higher than the building into the evening sky. Bricks and broken glass were strewn around, and nearby residents and office workers gathered outside and watched as the injured were carried away. The odor of gas remained in the air, causing apprehension about a possible additional explosion."</blockquote>
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This afternoon it was announced that <a href="http://www.kctv5.com/story/21277290/employee-still-missing-after-plaza-inferno" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #606fa3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">firefighters have located a body</a> in the rubble of the restaurant.</div>
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We've been paying attention to natural gas explosions ever since last month, when we wrote about the <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2013-01-23/news/Spectra-Energy-Pipeline/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #606fa3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Spectra Pipeline</a> being built now to carry natural gas into the West Village. Residents of the neighborhood are worried about what would happen if the pipeline were to explode, as gas pipelines frequently do. So when the Kansas City explosion happened last night, we were curious how that pipe compared to the one being built into Manhattan.</div>
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As a point of reference, the Spectra pipeline running through Staten Island and Jersey City, under the Hudson River and down Gansevoort Street, is a 30-inch-diameter transmission line that will operate at pressures of 350 pounds per square inch -- more than that of a fire hose.</div>
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So what kind of pipe produced the explosion in Kansas City last night?</div>
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"As far as we've been told at this point, it was a two-inch plastic distribution pipeline," Kevin Gunn, the chairman of the Missouri Public Service Commission told the Voice today. "That means it was operating at about 20 to 50 pounds of pressure."</div>
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In other words, the spectacular conflagration that lit up Kansas City last night was caused by a gas pipe about as small as they come, a line 225 times smaller than the Spectra transmission line and running at a pressure seven to seventeen times lower. You could see why the New York pipeline's neighbors might be nervous.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8730138216101730214.post-17028477983882652302013-02-20T09:14:00.000-08:002013-02-27T09:19:00.045-08:00<a href="http://wagingnonviolence.org/2013/02/pushing-back-against-climate-forward/" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: x-large;">from waging non-violence</a><br />
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Pushing back to move climate forward</h1>
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Van Jones addresses the crowd at the Forward on Climate rally in Washington, D.C. (Flickr/Shadia Fayne Wood, Project Survival Media)</div>
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You have to exercise your core muscles. That’s what any physical trainer worth his or her salt will tell you. The same goes for your “moral core.” And Michael Brune, head of the Sierra Club, <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/seo/2013/2/14/8_arrested_at_keystone_pipeline_protest" style="color: #07355b; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">assures us</a> our president has a strong one.</div>
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What kind of morals Obama has, well that’s another matter, but he likes to exercise them everyday, whether it’s giving his <a href="http://truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/17790-obama-s-kill-list-sanctioned-by-department-of-justice-us-becomes-outlaw-nation" style="color: #07355b; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">kill list</a> a good once over or playing golf with an oil and gas tycoon <a href="http://fsrn.org/audio/tens-thousands-converge-washington-dc-call-obama-reject-keystone-xl-pipeline/11595" style="color: #07355b; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">while </a>climate protesters are ringing his doorbell. You know, the kind of not-so-hopie-changie stuff that would have made liberals livid if George W. Bush had pulled it.</div>
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<img alt="Climate Forward" class="alignright size-full wp-image-26746" height="166" src="http://wagingnonviolence.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/mail.google.com_.jpeg" style="border: 0px; display: inline; float: right; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;" width="166" />The logo for Sunday’s innocuously titled Forward on Climate rally looked a lot like the emblem of the president’s 2008 campaign, back when he promised that we’d remember his election as “the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.” Showing just how far we’ve come since then, the swooping road leading to a rising sun — tacked to so many American lawns in ’08 — was replaced on Sunday by a swirl representing a hurricane.</div>
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Billionaire Tom Steyer spoke for the 1 percent at the rally. “The Keystone XL pipeline is a bad investment,” he told the mostly broke and debt straddled young people on hand, even <a href="http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/ive-got-issues/2012/oct/21/prop-39-backer-has-millions-invested-in-dirty-coal/" style="color: #07355b; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">as the hedge fund he manages has oil, coal, nuclear and fracking holdings.</a></div>
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Previously, Steyer pontificated to the <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Washington Post:</em> “I feel like the guy in the movie who goes into the diner and says, ‘There are zombies in the woods and they’re eating our children.” As often happens in horror movies, those who you think are your friends turn out to be brain eaters.</div>
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Organizers of Sunday’s rally might do better to encourage their bases to use their brains, but it appears they’ve chosen to dumb down their politics in the interest of casting as wide a net as possible.</div>
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And then there was Van Jones. “I have had the honor of serving this president,” said the former White House green jobs adviser whom Obama fired at the first wiff of a right wing smear campaign months into his first term. Jones continued, “What I want to tell the next generation is this: Don’t be a chumps!” The phrase caught on. Chants of “Don’t be chumps” rippled through the crowd.</div>
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While a <a href="https://secure3.convio.net/engage/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=7517" style="color: #07355b; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">petition</a> in the run up to the February 17 demonstration from the Public Interest Research Group urged signatories to let the president know they “have his back when it comes to tackling global warming,” former Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein asks, “Why should we have Obama’s back when he keeps stabbing us in ours?”</div>
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The crowd on Sunday was truly an awesome sight. This is in large part because tote bag environmental groups (you send them money, they send you a tote) like the Sierra Club and the PIRGs encouraged their membership to attended the Forward on Climate rally — more evidence that simply lobbying the White House has gotten them no where. An estimated 35,000 to 50,000 people turned up. Meanwhile a recent poll found an estimated 64 percent of Americans believe it’s time we take action on climate change. Rather than guarding the president’s back, why not use these numbers to push back instead?</div>
</section>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8730138216101730214.post-30121816527113132013-02-12T14:47:00.001-08:002013-02-25T08:16:28.883-08:00BREAKING! FRACKING DELAYED IN NEW YORK STATE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.25445293192751706" style="text-align: start;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.25445293192751706"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">What many of us have been hoping would happen, happened today. Activists, communities and water aficionados across the state are breathing a collective sigh of relief as they hear the news that </span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">the State Department of Health Commissioner, Dr. </span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">Nirav R. Shah</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">, sent a letter to Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens this afternoon stating, in part:</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>“As we have been reviewing the scope of these studies, I have determined — and prudence dictates — that the DOH Public Health Review will require additional time to complete based on the complexity of the issues. My team and I will be in Pennsylvania and Washington in the coming days for first-hand briefings on these studies and their progress, which will assist in informing the New York review. I have also extended the term of the DOH outside expert researchers to continue to assist my review. I anticipate delivering the completed Public Health Review to you within a few weeks, along with my recommendations.”<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>In other words, the review probably won’t be completed this month. This is great news, because without the DOH’s review the SGEIS can’t go forward, and if the SGEIS can’t go forward, the whole process resets and opens up for another public comment period. Long story short? This buys us a whole bunch of time. Martens takes pains to mention that the permits can still go forward ten days after the review is complete, assuming the review affirms the SGEIS’ position. One could almost hear Martens’ frustration in his press release, which he ended with the line: “In either event, the science, not emotion, will determine the outcome.”<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">(If only it were that simple - Martens himself probably has some significant emotions about this issue, as he is not only the Commissioner of the DEC but also sits on the board of the Hudson River Park Trust. Yes, </span><span style="font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;">that</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"> Hudson River Park Trust: <a href="http://www.thevillager.com/?p=9344" style="color: #592100; text-decoration: initial;">http://www.thevillager.com/?p=9344</a>)</span></span></div>
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.25445293192751706"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.25445293192751706"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.25445293192751706"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.25445293192751706"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; vertical-align: baseline;">So yes, let’s celebrate. But let’s not be foolhardy. This is a delay, which is worlds away from a ban. We at Occupy the Pipeline are of the mind that this delay affords us more time to do the work needed to spread public awareness that there is no safe Fracking. We will not be satisfied until there is a complete Ban on Fracking in New York State. </span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.25445293192751706"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.25445293192751706" style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">We vehemently disagree with the position that prominent Environmental Orgs such as Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) have taken: “</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">NRDC supports establishing a fully effective system of safeguards for hydraulic fracturing to protect our health and land and is committed to working with the federal government, states, communities and industry to put these safeguards into place right away.” </span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">When the lawmakers themselves have a direct financial stake in the profits of industry, there can be no “effective system of safeguards” On Monday, seven environmental groups held a press conference in Albany </span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">calling for the Albany County District Attorney to conduct a General investigation of the Cuomo Administration.</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"> This was prompted by an independant investigation which revealed that Andrew Cuomo’s chief of staff, </span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">Lawrence Schwartz has extensive stock holdings in major Gas & Oil industry giants such as Occidental Petroleum and Exxon Mobile. This reeks of insider trading and is definitely a major conflict of interest. </span></div>
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(see this article: <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/02/11/ny-fracking-scandal-groups-call-district-attorney-general-investigation" style="color: #592100; text-decoration: initial;">http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/02/11/ny-fracking-scandal-groups-call-district-attorney-general-investigation</a>). </div>
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WE ARE the system of safeguards, the people, the only safeguard that has ever been effective or ever will be.<span style="background-color: transparent; white-space: normal;">There is no compromise when the health and safety of our watersheds, communities and farms are concerned. Today’s news affirmed what we can accomplish when we work together. We hope you’ll join us in this work!</span></div>
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>written by: Lopi LaRoe & Patrick Robbins</i></span></div>
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<br />Cuvierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640717682137757177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8730138216101730214.post-81099387489982607692013-02-07T12:26:00.001-08:002013-02-25T08:18:16.603-08:00Occupy the DEC<span style="background-color: #cccccc;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdiuWGbpUG2gskCr6CzFkF9RN3xq6CPoCtQoTFfOP6VnY80iN8QW2sZcp-bBl2CquqpThWFGwq6JJLu01OEkJsqGGSkAxfWDGkkeSczrVbNw_zYBKPsjv2hNzYyiSRWliHJsZqvUWJPkQ/s1600/DSCN2321.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdiuWGbpUG2gskCr6CzFkF9RN3xq6CPoCtQoTFfOP6VnY80iN8QW2sZcp-bBl2CquqpThWFGwq6JJLu01OEkJsqGGSkAxfWDGkkeSczrVbNw_zYBKPsjv2hNzYyiSRWliHJsZqvUWJPkQ/s640/DSCN2321.jpg" width="640" /></a><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Yesterday, Wednesday February 6th, we staged a protest at the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) regional offices in Long Island City. We had about 40 or so protesters there. This is one of many protests happening in NYC and across the state in anticipation of the impending deadlines for the DEC to either put out the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) by February 13th, in order the then release fracking regulations on the 27th, or to miss those deadlines and have to restart the regulatory clock and take in more public comments. If Cuomo/DEC misses the deadline, it buys the anti-fracking movement many months. The more time we have, the more we convince people that fracking is a terrible, terrible idea (duh!) .</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">At Yesterdays rally, we chanted, showed our banners & were accompanied by our friends from the Rude Mechanical Orchestra who helped us make a joyful noise and a presence they couldn't ignore directly outside of the windows of the DEC. In addition to the usual rabble rousing, we had brought with us our signed copies of the Pledge of Resistance. All who were present yesterday had already joined the 6,500 other New Yorkers in committing to use civil disobedience--if necessary--to stop fracking and related activities from ruining our state. We have signed Don't Frack New York's Pledge of Resistance (see </span><a href="http://www.dontfrackny.org/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">www.dontfrackny.org</a><span style="color: #222222;">). So today we decided to print and sign copies of the Pledge, enter the DEC's offices, and deliver these documents, preferably to Venetia Lannon, the Regional Director for NYC. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">security guard imitating a zombie as we attempted to access our public officials</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The DEC wouldn't accommodate us. They barred us at the door, claiming at different times that the building was private property, then that we needed an appointment, then that we were causing a draft by keeping the door open. That's our transparent, democratic government agency at work. Still, we made our point--we delivered the seven-day ultimatum to not proceed with the deeply flawed SGEIS. The next step is to conduct similar actions at every DEC office across the state, to galvanize our forces and protect our communities.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTxBtsMc-7Ouuj0KkN57yTyTlQR7sLCliqbmRMuhRlOc1QuopI5SC0DjBAenaDrpk-vGzsGRw2PihDdsJ0PWQsV3XgtVhURc_XCJ_uh2uPfVkEFqjHrcDj5KhOC6YQyVzzGRiHEKMJGbQ/s1600/New-image-22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTxBtsMc-7Ouuj0KkN57yTyTlQR7sLCliqbmRMuhRlOc1QuopI5SC0DjBAenaDrpk-vGzsGRw2PihDdsJ0PWQsV3XgtVhURc_XCJ_uh2uPfVkEFqjHrcDj5KhOC6YQyVzzGRiHEKMJGbQ/s320/New-image-22.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG6zmbQl32WvqUmTJxGS4g8UmBD1n1-UTQlfTAAV640j-KvX2vh9GuONcf1dQjpJkNcFO6antIwP4np8Cug1kZdU0OguQHpmeAq4czhy0TYzz25C9AWjj0yWk6i1p6q0c5DSHZQ6B4KJc/s1600/New-image-23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG6zmbQl32WvqUmTJxGS4g8UmBD1n1-UTQlfTAAV640j-KvX2vh9GuONcf1dQjpJkNcFO6antIwP4np8Cug1kZdU0OguQHpmeAq4czhy0TYzz25C9AWjj0yWk6i1p6q0c5DSHZQ6B4KJc/s320/New-image-23.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">this is what democracy doesn't look like.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidoG0W04HkRP_k1d01bSgjLQBvSAkhv3Jmffl8ppp4pBja0iOf41eCnK1d6V45C5HT2Gfzc4r8ya-83syokgbyZdLo8ivBu5oOThQrAL3zRL6zaVKBVo7u43tgpLtzP5BN3JsKzBKam5o/s1600/New-image-24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidoG0W04HkRP_k1d01bSgjLQBvSAkhv3Jmffl8ppp4pBja0iOf41eCnK1d6V45C5HT2Gfzc4r8ya-83syokgbyZdLo8ivBu5oOThQrAL3zRL6zaVKBVo7u43tgpLtzP5BN3JsKzBKam5o/s320/New-image-24.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">after they shut the door in our face, we decided to read the pledge to them loud and clear</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitPVbXBtgHH4-hcQQdk2BIaiOBh0rrT1F7hDaJYGo-tPFhF5Xh3a7nBASvKWAsfPeDAeLvUskYI8ht6r3NWb1YgFz7UJGi6xAzBxhv37ufXgj6dkZqkh970Snp1m1WtaJtezXVgQSmTk4/s1600/New-image-26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitPVbXBtgHH4-hcQQdk2BIaiOBh0rrT1F7hDaJYGo-tPFhF5Xh3a7nBASvKWAsfPeDAeLvUskYI8ht6r3NWb1YgFz7UJGi6xAzBxhv37ufXgj6dkZqkh970Snp1m1WtaJtezXVgQSmTk4/s320/New-image-26.jpg" width="320" /></span></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzv7Vuh9YrsBGM-8R5gK-2K2Y0GCJuwH3l_5GN37K38aSR51jTUuoqApuD9KdunfIlw3d_bbsQ1TU0x-zOoFLYpiE1lBa1ftinOjXcwH0YF4NQ2zup9zzlsskMZCQFBCDBjsgy9HGGTQc/s1600/New-image-25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzv7Vuh9YrsBGM-8R5gK-2K2Y0GCJuwH3l_5GN37K38aSR51jTUuoqApuD9KdunfIlw3d_bbsQ1TU0x-zOoFLYpiE1lBa1ftinOjXcwH0YF4NQ2zup9zzlsskMZCQFBCDBjsgy9HGGTQc/s640/New-image-25.jpg" width="640" /></span></a><br />
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">DEC. You've been served. We will be back next week. #BanFrackingNow!</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i style="background-color: white;">(photos courtesy of @Lmnopie)</i></span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8730138216101730214.post-13174306700907835202013-02-04T08:38:00.003-08:002013-02-04T08:39:31.380-08:00<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">If you think Obama's "all of the above" energy policy needs desperately to be amended, and that our water, air, and soil are more important than quarterly profits, you are not alone: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/us/colorado-communities-take-on-fight-against-energy-land-leases.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/us/colorado-communities-take-on-fight-against-energy-land-leases.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0 </a></span>Cuvierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640717682137757177noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8730138216101730214.post-78740746105248063102013-02-02T08:27:00.004-08:002013-02-02T08:29:53.755-08:00Delaware River Basin Commission Reversal <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB6vlhBRMtebQnYUZyLncYsF1PJZGbWbGonfAyc6z2FshSqguLcA1wB9bvrcMAypvY2EjYXPzZcvKi5XZn4ycOLQbLjluYpZyMF0SkKdqqNDS_WXOFjjx1E3GQCUGKFI4HToVLPvyM_I0/s1600/Millennium+Pipeline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB6vlhBRMtebQnYUZyLncYsF1PJZGbWbGonfAyc6z2FshSqguLcA1wB9bvrcMAypvY2EjYXPzZcvKi5XZn4ycOLQbLjluYpZyMF0SkKdqqNDS_WXOFjjx1E3GQCUGKFI4HToVLPvyM_I0/s640/Millennium+Pipeline.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Thanks to the work of activists from the <a href="http://www.delawareriverkeeper.org/river-action/ongoing-issue-detail.aspx?Id=43">Delaware River Keeper </a> backed by over 50 environmental groups, the Delaware River Basin Commission's <span style="line-height: 18px;">executive director Carol R. Collier decided that two pipelines; </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">interstate lines built by Columbia Gas Transmission and Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co would trigger review by the DRBC before issuing permits. Thanks to Maya Van Rossum, who alerted the commission to the fact that the pipelines run through a</span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> public recreation area - the Delaware State Forest which is an exception to the loopholes that previously barred their review. </span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">These pipelines are already built.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #cccccc;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Take heart, the fight is not over for the Spectra Pipeline or the Rockaway Lateral. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #cccccc;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Read more here: </span></span></span><br />
<h1 class="entry-title" itemprop="name" style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px; width: 600px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20130201_In_reversal__DRBC_will_review_two_gas-pipeline_projects.html" style="background-color: #cccccc;">DRBC reverses itself, will review two gas-pipeline projects</a></span></h1>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSKGTk6IbBP5_MsS-8BZVu6f4VdkjQHlfgFlYHCLpJvBL5q-enGGmMqvDUYf9uDlLkKP6zivkPo94trgP0J6OCH4sbaeTHCqGLfKK6UNIDPxNqzT9MtG5NSv9ZlM59Sg-1UVI6gFGCNp4/s1600/10459551-large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSKGTk6IbBP5_MsS-8BZVu6f4VdkjQHlfgFlYHCLpJvBL5q-enGGmMqvDUYf9uDlLkKP6zivkPo94trgP0J6OCH4sbaeTHCqGLfKK6UNIDPxNqzT9MtG5NSv9ZlM59Sg-1UVI6gFGCNp4/s640/10459551-large.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8730138216101730214.post-71195940862242034042013-02-01T09:32:00.003-08:002013-02-01T09:33:54.869-08:00The 11th Hour is Here<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj16-AJbY6La3EyI1IVfwbZxN-UH6czLbpE3nXz6RlE2XGYktbFB1wwqF0sYOy8FyE4bToNUxVjfSdJ4mE7CCfhMfKiSxuU5J_s3iVqVkt7B3vg_vachGtze6AfAvj6SVlXLnrDINYKfsI/s1600/aerialFracking.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="457" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj16-AJbY6La3EyI1IVfwbZxN-UH6czLbpE3nXz6RlE2XGYktbFB1wwqF0sYOy8FyE4bToNUxVjfSdJ4mE7CCfhMfKiSxuU5J_s3iVqVkt7B3vg_vachGtze6AfAvj6SVlXLnrDINYKfsI/s640/aerialFracking.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ariel view of drill pads every mile. do you want New York to look like this??</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">
<b>
RALLY TO STOP FRACKING APPROVAL BY GOVERNOR CUOMO</b></h4>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b> NO SGEIS – NO REGULATIONS- NO FRACKING NY</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>via <a href="http://nyagainstfracking.org/take-action/the-11th-hour-is-here/">New Yorkers Against Fracking</a></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">February 4th, 2013- Albany, NY
It’s the 11th hour in the fight against fracking. We are faced with a February 13 do or die deadline when the revised Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) will or will not appear in the DEC’s Environmental Notice Bulletin. The SGEIS legally has to age 10 days in order to issue the final Findings Statement and final regulations (the ones we recently commented on) by Feb 27. We need to voice to the Governor that the power of our movement is growing and that allowing fracking in New York would be the fatal mistake of his political career.
The health review currently underway has been done in secret with no public comment or transparency. The Governor needs to open up the review and allow for public participation. By opening up public participation of the health review, he must halt finalization of the SGEIS and subsequently let the proposed regulations expire - this is what needs to happen to allow science, facts, and public health to drive this decision.
This is why we need you back in Albany on February 4th for the NYS Legislature’s Budget Hearing on Environmental Conservation, where the legislature will be able to question DEC Commissioner Martens on their secretive, dysfunctional and undemocratic process. We need to pack the room and be there when DEC Commissioner Martens testifies, starting at 9am and for the entirety of his remarks. Following the Commissioners testimony we will gather in the Million Dollar Staircase for a rally and a press conference to unite as a united front and demand that this fatally flawed process not move forward. We’re asking everyone to wear blue and bring a jar of the clean water from your tap to hold up as well as signs. Our message to Governor Cuomo is this – we are organized and we will not let up or give up. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">OUR MESSAGE ON FEBRUARY 4th is this: NO SGEIS- NO REGS- NO FRACKING. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">What:
Rally to Stop Fracking Approval by Governor Cuomo
NO SGEIS- NO REGS- NO FRACKING NY
&
Legislative Budget Hearing – Testimony by DEC Commissioner Joe Martens
(Pack the Hearing Room!) </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">When:
Monday, February 4th
Environmental Conservation Hearing- Pack the room during DEC Commissioner Martens Testimony at 9AM
Rally in the Million Dollar Staircase at 12PM </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Where:
The hearing is in the Legislative Office Building- Hearing Room B Albany, NY (9am)
The Rally will be in the Million Dollar Staircase in the Capitol Building, Albany, NY (12pm)
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">RSVP and Share the Facebook Event <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/143131315845038/?fref=ts">HERE</a>
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://act.foodandwaterwatch.org/site/Calendar?id=102201&view=Detail"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">SIGN UP FOR THE BUS FROM SYRACUSE HERE </span></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://act.foodandwaterwatch.org/site/Calendar?id=102182&view=Detail"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">SIGN UP FOR THE BUS FROM ITHACA HERE </span></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://act.foodandwaterwatch.org/site/Calendar?id=102081&view=Detail"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">SIGN UP FOR THE BUS FROM NEW PALTZ HERE </span></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://act.foodandwaterwatch.org/site/Calendar?id=102041&view=Detail">SIGN UP FOR THE BUS FROM NEW YORK CITY HERE</a> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8730138216101730214.post-35710309474002896272013-01-31T01:50:00.002-08:002013-01-31T01:50:51.854-08:00Natural Gas Exxposed<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fSFDNyhKcSY?list=PL0FC0FA62D10D4101" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8730138216101730214.post-21609217125597165712013-01-30T14:27:00.001-08:002013-01-30T15:35:32.884-08:00Hot Air: Natural Gas and Climate Change<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiymNf0T3QcR6yReDZzQNFioNjdbx2sJrCa9e23KH0ma9xkwBqSZzWhynYMScd9ioDpaHNyaUSECGQYsCBEXnkFOljtq5mI6uLbhBysgwy0XrdO2b9L4pfHCfL_AGebltvSJCRaDirr3_w/s1600/mesosphere.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiymNf0T3QcR6yReDZzQNFioNjdbx2sJrCa9e23KH0ma9xkwBqSZzWhynYMScd9ioDpaHNyaUSECGQYsCBEXnkFOljtq5mI6uLbhBysgwy0XrdO2b9L4pfHCfL_AGebltvSJCRaDirr3_w/s640/mesosphere.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<i>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">By Patrick Robbins</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The last year has witnessed a growing publicity campaign around the
notion that natural gas can act as a “transition fuel” – an energy
source with a smaller effect on the earth’s climate, an energy source we
can use as a substitute for dirty coal or oil while we begin the
transition to wind and solar. This idea has a particular appeal after
Hurricane Sandy: as climate change ravages our forests with droughts and
fires and batters our coastlines, we would be fools not to begin a
transition to low-impact fuels using the closest low-impact fuel at our
disposal, and that means using natural gas. Or so the argument goes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">There
are plenty of holes in this argument, but let’s focus on the biggest
one: per unit, natural gas has not been demonstrated to have a lower
greenhouse effect on the Earth’s climate in comparison with coal and
oil. Indeed, if a recent study by NOAA scientists published in the
journal <i>Nature</i> is to be believed, the facts could be the exact opposite, at least in the short term.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">You
see, what we call “natural gas” is mostly methane. Methane is an
extremely potent greenhouse gas. While CO2 stays in the atmosphere
longer and is therefore more troubling over the long term, methane traps
a lot more energy during its time in the atmosphere. <a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg1/en/tssts-2-5.html">Compared
to Carbon Dioxide, Methane traps 72 times as much heat over a 20-year
period and 25 times as much heat over a 100-year period (according to
the IPCC).</a> Unlike coal or fuel, the biggest area of concern for
natural gas is not emissions at the point of the fuel’s use—such the CO2
emitted when you drive a car—but the gases emitted at the point of
extraction. Even small amounts of methane leakage at the point of
extraction could negate the global warming benefits of methane as
compared to coal or oil.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The study in <i>Nature</i>, published
in January 2013, found 4% methane leakages at a production site in
Colorado and 9% methane leakages at a production site in Utah, both well
above the <a href="http://www.edf.org/">EDF</a>'s 3.2% leakage
threshold after which methane starts actually being worse for the
climate than coal. It would be poor science indeed for us to extrapolate
general leakage rates from a mere two sites. However, both the
comparatively high numbers and the comparatively wide difference between
them are telling. <a href="http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/01/11/should-you-worry-about-noaas-nat-gas-report/">In a recent article in <i>Daily Finance</i></a>,
one EDF scientist conjectured that the difference could be attributed
to the regulatory environment – Colorado has a more stringent regulatory
environment than Utah, and has been dealing with the natural gas issue
for a longer period of time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">At the end of the day, this is an
argument for better science. We have to understand what our extraction
practices mean for our environment, so that we can craft germane
legislation, which would in turn encourage better reporting in a
virtuous cycle. But the cycle has to start somewhere. In the absence of
real science, propaganda takes its place in the public discourse, to the
detriment of both our discourse and our planet.</span>Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17280994989333550723noreply@blogger.com0