ProPublica and its' followers (NY H2O, Damascus Citizens, Earth Justice, etc etc) WHO ARE THEY REALLY?

Comment

Comment by Robin Fehrenbach Scala on February 26, 2010 at 1:51pm

The Stone Age didn't end because we ran out of stones. The Bronze Age didn't end because we ran out of bronze. It ended because HUMANS (the ultimate resource) came up with something new and better. *

And so it will go with every so-called natural resource that "environmentalists" are carrying on about. They are all nothing unless WE (humans, the brains of the planet) find a way to get at them and use them. The technology must be created to find, access, recover and transform. That technology, which comes from the brains of humans only, also creates ways to PROTECT us from harm that exists in the natural world. And it protects the natural world from harm that we might otherwise inflict upon IT.

STAMP OUT IGNORANCE!

(*quote paraphrased from Bjorn Lomborg)

Comment by Robin Fehrenbach Scala on February 21, 2010 at 9:29pm

DAMASCUS CITIZENS FOR SUSTAINABILITY (aka "bunch of city people trying to take over")

"Every weekend, Joe Levine and Jane Ciphers leave their home in Brooklyn for a barn that they converted into a weekend home not far from Bryant’s farm. It’s where the anti-drilling movement meets to talk strategy.
Levine and Ciphers helped organize a group called Damascus Citizens for Sustainability. A lot of locals think they’re nothing but NIMBYs. But Pat Carullo, another of the group’s organizers, said there’s something much bigger at stake. “This is not our back yard. This is the drinking water source for 15 million Americans.”
As he talks, he gestures out a wall of windows in Levine and Ciphgers’ weekend home with a sweeping view of the Delaware River a couple hundred feet downhill. New York City’s reservoirs are upstream, and Philadelphia and Wilmington tap the Delaware Watershed downstream.
The locals say they understand that – that, as farmers, they’re well aware of the environmental risks, and they’re trying to minimize them. They accuse the city people of being condescending, treating them like ignorant rubes. They say it’s like the two sides aren’t even speaking the same language."

(Quote above taken from PBS radio transcript. Read the whole thing here:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/blueprintamerica/reports/in-the-hills/radio...


Okay, I don't know about you but it sure seems to me like this group is more concerned with keeping the status quo for their New York City people. They admittedly don't even understand or "speak the language" of the local landowners.

And yet, they work hard to deceive the general public. They organize meetings where the halls are packed with their followers. The information they put out is incorrect, biased, and does not stand up to scrutiny.

Take a good look at this group and what they do. Judge for yourself who they are really trying to protect.

Comment by Robin Fehrenbach Scala on February 18, 2010 at 7:07pm

This was a piece I found while searching out news articles. The information is correct in several ways and it struck me as funny.
I VOTED for Obama. Everyone makes mistakes. Haven't heard the word "natural gas" out of his mouth yet. Thanks, bud.
I have only run into two people who took the presentation literally - you and maybe you at another site. Either way, you are reading way too much into the funny part.

Comment by BuckinghamGasMan on February 18, 2010 at 4:24pm

RFS, these power point presentations are curiously unrefreshing. I'm sure that the presentation had people actually talking -- something I did not hear at your hot link.

Secondly, you (or the website you are disseminating) are referring to the Obama/Soros connection as a conspiracy which is out to hold down gas production in this country. I think that you need to borrow some of the tin foil helmets worn by the anti-drillers if you believe that. I think that an attempt to have a rational discussion about gas production is done a disservice by bizarre connections like this. There are also Democrats who have leases and want gas drilling. To paint Obama as the AntiChrist will cause dissension within the ranks of those in favor of drilling and is irrelevant to the discussion.

Comment by Robin Fehrenbach Scala on February 13, 2010 at 10:21am

And then we have the Mayor of Dish Tx coming to visit the area to spread more lies and misinformation. This trip is arranged courtesy of the same groups.
This mayor's spiel involves the supposed poisoning of the town by benzene, which is (of course) due to gas drilling.

However, there are a few questions that need to be addressed by this mayor. Here they are, courtesy of Energy In Depth:

Seven Questions for the Mayor of DISH

In advance of Mayor Tillman’s trip to New York next week, EID poses a series of questions residents should ask while he’s there


It’s not every day you’re likely to run into the mayor of a small town in Denton Co., Texas ambling about the Southern Tier of New York State. But next week, that’s precisely where you’ll find DISH mayor Calvin Tillman – slated to make the nearly 1,500-mile trip to the Empire State to rally local environmental activists against efforts to explore for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale.


Now, wait a second: Isn’t this the same Marcellus Shale that studies suggest could create 16,000 high-wage jobs in Broome Co., N. Y. alone -- and generate $15.3 billion in local economic development? Yep, that’s the one. Turns out, though, that the mayor of DISH isn’t as sanguine on shale gas as you’d expect. And to help him punctuate his case, he’ll be bringing to New York a couple of recent “studies” on the subject aimed at scaring local residents into believing that natural gas exploration will ruin their air, sully their land, and poison their water. Should be quite the show.


Of course, we can’t say for certain whether the mayor will mention to local residents that these studies have been almost universally panned by independent environmental engineers; that they were recently debunked by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) itself; or that the contractor who did the study for Mayor Tillman doesn’t have a licensed professional engineer on its staff.


And who knows? He may forget to mention his relationship with the Oil & Gas Accountability Project (OGAP), an anti-energy group based in Colorado (but active in New York) which considers clean-burning natural gas a “filthy” form of energy. He may not find it relevant to mention that OGAP funded one of the studies he plans to show off – or that his town’s official government website links to OGAP’s page on the internet. Who can say for sure?


Thankfully, on the off-chance the mayor forgets to mention any of these details to the audiences he plans to visit – or that reporters forget to ask – Energy In Depth has assembled the following list of questions that Mayor Tillman might like to answer during his stay in New York:


1) Mr. Mayor, your assertion that local natural gas exploration activities have adversely impacted the air quality of your town appears to be entirely founded on a study you commissioned by a group called Wolf Eagle Environmental. Are you aware that TCEQ conducted an internal review of this study and found that “it is not possible” to draw the types of conclusions that appear in that report?


2) Mr. Mayor, are you aware that Wolf Eagle Environmental was formerly known as Wolf Eagle Environmental Engineers & Consultants – but was forced to change its name upon it becoming public that the organization did not (and, in fact, still does not) employ an actual licensed professional engineer on staff?


3) Mr. Mayor, is it true that once the Wolf Eagle evaluation was debunked, you accepted an offer from the national Oil & Gas Accountability Project (OGAP) to fund a second study of a similar type? Is it true that OGAP links are found on your town website? Are you aware that OGAP considers clean-burning natural gas a “filthy” energy source, and was in fact established as a means to fight natural gas exploration wherever, whenever and however it takes place?


4) Mr. Mayor, have you had the chance to take a look at TCEQ’s recent air quality study of the areas in and around the Barnett Shale? If so, did you note that of the 94 sites tested by TCEQ, 92 registered short-term effects screening levels (ESL) well below anything that would cause “alarm,” according to TCEQ’s toxicology director? Are you also aware that repairs at the remaining two sites tested by TCEQ have already been completed and certified by the agency?


5) Mr. Mayor, you testified on numerous occasions that energy operators in your area are responsible for the emission of benzene and other potential contaminants into the air. But did you know that the mere act of filling up your tank with a conventional gas pump (one without a vapor recovery device) could expose you to benzene levels of 11,000 parts per billion (ppb), according to TCEQ -- without any ambient air to dilute it? Are you aware that not even the Wolf Eagle study was able to find a single site in your area exceeding 78 ppb?


6) Mr. Mayor, are you aware that according to EPA, “oil and natural gas production contributes only 2% of the total benzene emissions in the U.S., and shale gas represents a very small subset of this 2%”?


7) Mr. Mayor, did you know that energy exploration is responsible for directly employing more than 200,000 people in your state? Accounts for the payment of more than $44 million in royalties and rents to landowners every year? And sends more than $4 billion each year to your treasury, representing nearly seven percent of your entire budget? Here in Upstate New York, we aren’t trying to be the next Texas – but can you understand how the availability of even a fraction of these new resources could help revive and strengthen our economy?


With that, we welcome the mayor to the Empire State – the only place in the world that can lay claim to (among so many other things) two Ivy League universities, Woody Allen, and the first-ever commercial gas well (Fredonia, 1829). Our hope is that he thoroughly enjoys his stay. And our expectation is that he’s ready, willing and able to render honest answers to the legitimate questions posed above.

http://www.energyindepth.org/2010/02/seven-questions-for-the-mayor-...