WHEN YOU HAVE PRES W/O EDUCATION OF ANY SORT: PRESIDENT
OBAMA: FRACKED GAS IS NOT A SOLUTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE
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June 26th, 2013 PRESIDENT OBAMA: FRACKED GAS IS NOT A SOLUTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE  http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/blogs/president-obama-fracked-gas-is-not-a-solution-to-climate-change/ By Mark Schlosberg I watched with anticipation yesterday as President Obama delivered his speech laying out his new climate action plan. Climate change is one of the most pressing issue of our time, and one on which the United States desperately needs to lead. While it was heartening to hear the President take on climate deniers and pledge to fight the problem, his full-throated advocacy for fracked natural gas and oil was more a case of two steps back than a giant step forward. A major pillar of the President’s climate action plan is increased production and use of domestic fracked natural gas – and it wasn’t just gas – he also lauded increased domestic oil production. While Obama didn’t use the word “fracking,” that is the method used to extract gas and oil in communities across the country. He repeatedly referred to “clean burning natural gas” and lauded it as a “bridge fuel.” But if our goal is stemming climate change, fracked gas is a bridge to nowhere. It’s true that we need to identify new sources of energy, but we can’t drill away our energy problems. Studies show that the process of drilling, fracking, processing and transporting natural gas releases a tremendous amount of methane into the air. Methane is 70-100 times more potent of a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide over a 20-year time frame. Some recently published studies on methane emissions show that burning natural gas may be even worse, in terms of the overall greenhouse gas footprint, than burning coal for electricity and burning fuel oil to heat homes or run industrial boilers. A massive expansion of fracking threatens to undo any gains from other parts of his plan and may make matters even worse. For an excellent video on the intersection between fracking and climate change, check out this great explanation by Cornell Professor, Tony Ingraffea. There is a strong and growing movement against fracking – not just because of its documented impact on water, air and communities, but also because it is a driver of climate change. Americans Against Fracking, a national coalition to ban fracking has over 200 organizational members and vibrant state based coalitions pushing for a ban in New York, Colorado, California and elsewhere. People across the country are growing to understand what climate scientists have said for years—that we must leave our fossil fuels in the ground to avert climate change. When I heard Obama talking about boosting the development of natural gas and oil yesterday, I got angry, but then I got energized. I got energized by the tens of thousands of people in New York pushing Governor Cuomo to ban fracking; I got energized by the amazing organizing in Pennsylvania and California to move the Democratic Party to endorse moratoriums on fracking; and I got energized by the people in Boulder County, Colorado who won an 18 month moratorium on fracking. Our movement is growing and our elected officials have not caught up to their constituents. It’s critical that we pressure President Obama to listen to the science and to this growing movement against fracking for oil and gas. We also need to continue to hold him accountable for decisions he is making that contribute to climate change. His Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management, for example, is facing critical decisions about fracking on public lands and his administration is also making key decisions on liquefied natural gas exports, pipeline projects and other infrastructure projects. Take action now to tell President Obama that fracked gas and oil is not part of any climate solution. -- 10 Comments on President Obama: Fracked Gas is Not a Solution to Climate Change Deborah Gordillo says: June 26, 2013 at 3:02 PM Please address the very serious issue of climate change with a more serious response than fracking. This is just about as toxic and damaging to the climate as it can be. What we need to develop are solar, wind, and geothermal energies. This can all be done. There are many regions across the nation that can use enormous amounts of solar and wind alone. This is where we should be putting our focus. Please don’t have a hand in the end of the world. Please abandon fracking once and for all. Please do the right thing by future generations, and that includes your own children. Reply Colette says: June 26, 2013 at 3:04 PM We ALL NEED clean air, water and food!! It’s as simple as that! It’s time to do what’s right for ALL of us! Reply Laura Haney says: June 26, 2013 at 3:09 PM Fracked gas and oil is a climate disaster. I saw parts of Texas when the oil companies were finished with them. It was acres and acres of bare earth where there had been trees and wildlife. It took YEARS for even weeds to grow. Fifteen years later, it’s sbetter but it is not back to normal. Clearing land on that scale is bad for the environment. And I haven’t even touched on what it did to the water supply and the effect it had on people ‘s health. Fracking is bad. No ifs, ands or buts. Reply Deborah Escobar says: June 26, 2013 at 3:10 PM Fracking is not the solution, it is part of the problem. Please educate yourself about what the fracking industry has done to small towns and citizens across this great nation. Watch Gasland or Gasland2 documentary. Read the positions of renowned scientists who are alarmed about the risks fracking poses to our health, air, water, food. Protect the farming communities from the scarcity of water that will be created by fracking – wasting trillions of tons of water, one of our most valuable resources lost forever because the water cannot be reclaimed once contaminated by fracking chemicals and radioactivity. PLEASE listen, because this is crucial! Thank you for not turning away from the problem. Reply Nell Wade says: June 26, 2013 at 3:24 PM Dear President Obama: WOW, I waited with anticipation regarding the climate change bill, but alas, as with both parties, it’s always ‘too little, too late’. And your push for natural gas?? Water is MORE PRECIOUS than any fossil fuel and you’re allowing corporations to not only take our water, but destroy it before giving it back to us. Are you in kahoots with Big Pharma? After all, cancer has been on the rise for years in this country and we know it’s primarily environmentally caused. I’m disappointed in your fracking allowance, but thankful that renewable energy will get a shot in the arm. I won’t be voting for any Republican OR Democrat next election time, because I feel BOTH parties have let the American People down. Sadly, a former Democrat Reply Deborah Gordillo says: June 26, 2013 at 5:35 PM Well said. I wish more people realized that while the Republicans are fighting with the Democrats, 99% of the politicians from both sides are together totally screwing this country. The one senator who truly stands with the American people is Bernie Sanders, and big surprise: he’s neither Republican nor Democrat. Reply Betsy C Spada says: June 26, 2013 at 3:26 PM Fracking should be immediately banned in the USA. It destroys aquifers and requires billions of gallons of water in the process which can never be reclaimed. There is NO GOOD REASON to continue this poisonous process. Please be the leader I voted for and do not be bought by the greed of the gas industry. Reply Christina Deeds says: June 26, 2013 at 3:52 PM While fracking may appear to be a good alternative for fuel resources, it is a losing proposition when environmental impact is taken into consideration. Even as you are reviewing this, investors are outbidding farmers for excess water rights. When our farmers can’t harvest their crops or raise their livestock, what will we do for food? And do not forget to consider the damage done to the actual ground. Poisonous chemicals are leeched into the ground water and disbursed into the air. Minor earthquakes are a common occurrence. Many of the fracking sites shown in the media have looked very desolate and inhospitable. As I understand, the EPA is working on a comprehensive fracking report, scheduled to be completed in 2014. At the minimum, please consider holding off any action until the report has been completed. If possible, ask the EPA to step up their conclusions. And since the EPA has been investigating fracking since at least 2002, there should be significant information included so an informed opinion can be made. Reply Laird Craig says: June 26, 2013 at 5:19 PM Dear Mr. President, Thank you for addressing climate change. Please educate yourself on real solutions to this largest of all predicaments that we have created. I recommend UC Berkeley’s Environmental Science, Policy & Management course. The truth that you will discover is that we must immediately stop burning fossil fuels. Hydraulic fracturing is sublimely lethal. Ban it tomorrow, if you have the power. Please keep in mind that if we stopped burning all fossil fuels today that it will still take 500 years to mend the damages. Respectfully submitted, Your friend Laird Reply Lisa Duggan says: June 27, 2013 at 12:12 PM Mr. President, No hydraulic fracking, not in Monterey County, not anywhere near a water source or where people want to live and enjoy a good long life. That is it. Thank you for supporting life, Lisa Duggan --- Why fracking? Cause Trilatelar commission is behind schedule, and this was the only way to delay US $ premature collapse. I.e. to have gas much cheaper then EU has (gets it from Russia only, that is why Arab spring was used - to kill its North African source, Cyprus was pushed to bankcrupcy and Turkey got that park problem). Yes, I write this with reserve because I cannot fathom that trilaterals are that stupid (irresponsible - nein, other Universe). IZAKOVIC http://www.deepspace4.com |
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