HERE is the show spotlighting the egregious arrest of a journalist (Josh Fox) as he attempted to record a U.S. House Hearing of the Subcommittee On Energy, where Republikans threw out first-amendment rights in order to hide facts about illNatural Gas Drilling and FRACKING. Plus new music from Modeselector, Dailon,
crazy lukid, bullion, monster house mix, and the new brainfeeder mix. You may have missed it, but
90% of new power plants in the US burn natural gas (equals 1/3 world’s natural gas production), but we only have 2% of worlds natural gas deposits. And, the process of getting this gas, through injecting chemicals into the earth to push the gas out-- FRACKING --
sounds like a crazy conspiracy -- too extreme to be true. Flaming tap water, dead animals, secret chemical formulas, mysterious illnesses afflicting whole communities, and people afraid to speak up. Essentially: Drillers inject vast quantities of water, sand and chemicals underground so that oil and natural gas will flow. The technique has been around for decades, but there are now new large discoveries near the Marcellus Shale, a rock bed the size of Greece that lies about 6,000 feet beneath New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. Fracking also is used in Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and other states-- including potentially NORTH CAROLINA. Chemicals used in the drilling process includ benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene. high levels of chloride, calcium and sodium. Speaking of Death and poison, Halliburton, which came under fire for its role in the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, was busted dumping· 32.2 million gallons from 2005-2009 à fluids containing diesel fuel underground without first getting government approval. Halliburton and BJ Services Co., violated the Safe Drinking Water Act by failing to obtain permission from state or federal authorities to use the diesel fuel. Gas companies don't have to tell residents, state agencies—or even hospitals—what chemicals they use at drilling sites because hydraulic fracturing is specifically exempted from the Safe Drinking Water Act through a provision nicknamed “the Halliburton Loophole.” You can thank Dickhead Cheney --
a onetime Halliburton CEO,-- for his illegal Energy Task Force.
The 2005 energy law prevents the EPA from regulating fracking. The exemption is commonly called the "Halliburton loophole," in reference to the company's pioneering role in fracking. A 2005 law exempted all chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing except diesel fuel from federal regulations aimed at protecting drinking water. In 2003, three of the largest drilling companies signed an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency to eliminate use of diesel fuel in coal bed methane formations in underground sources of drinking water. That agreement, coupled with the 2005 law, led many to assume the industry had stopped using diesel fuel altogether in hydraulic fracturing, the lawmakers wrote in a letter to EPA. Halliburton was the only one of nine major energy companies that refused the EPA's request.
Even if you replaced all the coal-fired power plants with gas-fired power, we would only could cut carbon emissions by 30 percent.. This will not solve climate problem, and potentially make things worse. Advocates for natural gas routinely assert that it
produces 50 percent less greenhouse gases than coal and is a significant step toward a greener energy future. But those
assumptions are based on
emissions from the tailpipe or smokestack and
don’t account for the methane and other pollution emitted when gas is extracted and piped to power plants and other customers.
Conservation is the only real solution. Add solar and wind, and we just may save ourselves. Unfortunately, 92% of all energy production takes us backwards. Let's hope it won't take the Greenland Ice-sheet melting before we figure it out.
