Environmental Policy: Heading for a 'Silent Spring'?

Art Klein, member of the Niagara Group of the Sierra Club, wrote a very interesting article entitled "The Echoes of Rachel Carson – Our Dilemma" in the group's newsletter.

The story begins with Art's recollections of fifty years ago after reading "The Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson. It was the birth of the modern environmental movement. The tale moves through the creation of the EPA, the banning of DDT, the loopholes, and ultimately the undeserved character assassination of Rachel Carson. And then there were the echoes of legitimate insights by citizens about Love Canal, and now the controversial process of hydrofracking. Following each of these environmental and human insults, we see more orchestrated doubts cast on well-intentioned people and groups by business and industry.

Art Klein's story ends with challenges and questions for the Niagara Group, but these merit quoting here since they're ones that all people concerned about the environment and humanity must face:
"Our Sierra challenges are two-fold, and not light. First, we must ensure our own state does not threaten the future of our water by permitting hydrofracking in New York. Second, we must work to ensure our Great Lakes do not become contaminated. Our tasks are mighty and noble, and our resolve cannot be weak. It may not be stylish to urge greater Federal Regulation, but obviously bereft of reasonable and rational controls, we are headed for perilous times. If we fail, how can we justify our greedy exploitation of temporary fuel in exchange for poisoned water wells? What will happen to our fragile water system of the future? What will we tell our children and grandchildren? After fifty years of an inadequate effort to protect the environment and human health, will WE, in this generation, be the ones to create a Silent Spring?"
 
Art Klein's article is well-worth reading, and you can view it in its entirety on the Sierra Club Niagara Group's website.

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Editorial reflections:

 

"So extraordinary is Nature with her choicest treasures, spending plant beauty as she spends sunshine, pouring it forth into land and sea, garden and desert. And so the beauty of lilies falls on angels and men, bears and squirrels, wolves and sheep, birds and bees...."

-- John Muir, Founder of the Sierra Club 

Fracking NEWS

Buffalo -- We're #1 in Protecting Drinking Water!

• Buffalo is the First City in New York to ban the dirty process of shale-gas fracking.

• Buffalo is the First City in the USA to ban disposal and transportation of fracking wastewater.

• Buffalo is a leading the way to protect drinking water from contamination by fracking waste!

Risks of shale-gas drilling by fracking outweigh the benefits
"In the long run, gas companies and a few lucky landowners may be the only ones that benefit from gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale. Are they worth the risks of potentially severe and, in some cases, irreversible consequences in the form of health, environmental, infrastructure and long-term economic degradation? New York state should consider following Buffalo’s lead." See the full article by Jannette M. Barth, PhD, entitled Hydrofracking Offers Short-term Boom, Long-term Bust.


Buffalo Sewer Authority to polluters: We don't want your fracking wastewater!
Three discharge permits issued to Waste Technology Services, a Lewiston-based company that served as the hauler for U. S. Energy Development Corp. of Getzville were canceled by the Sewer Authority. The general manager of the Authority said that the companies ignored a policy that banned “frack water” and failed to make the disclosure until after the issue sparked controversy. He is not ruling out the possibility of imposing fines. See the report Sewer Authority affirms ban on ‘frack water’ at BuffaloNews.com.


Gas industry grossly underreports fracking wastewater discharged in rivers -- Go figure!
Pennsylvania allows the gas industry to discharge fraking wastewater into rivers, but it turns out that the amount of the tainted wastewater discharged is far more than the industry reported. This is due in large part to at least one huge error in the data entered into the state’s system for the amount recycled (i.e, not discharged). The 125,000 barrels of wastewater actually recycled was grossly overreported as 5.2 million barrels instead of gallons--42 times higher! Bottom line: the 90% recycling rate stated by the industry ends up being only 38%, meaning that far more fracking wastewater was discharged into rivers than claimed by the industry. See the report Faulty figure on ‘fracking’ recycling linked to National Fuel subsidiary at BuffaloNews.com.

The industry can't get the figures even close to correct on the discharge of fracking waste into rivers that provide drinking water, and we are supposed to believe them when they tell us that fracking is safe?

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See also a recent post, Fracking wastewater is Radioactive and Hazardous, and earlier posts about Fracking.