The Blog

OPINION / COMMENTARY

Hello Everyone,

Please click here for an invitation to see Gasland this coming Monday evening at the Screening Room in Amherst.

Gasland is a powerful, entertaining, shocking, excellent film about drilling for natural gas using the technique known as hydrofracking.  To view the trailer, visit: http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/.

If you want your own copy to pass around, it can be purchased here -- though free copies may be available at the showing on Monday.  For more details about Monday's event, click here.

Please also see this preliminary assessment by Cornell University on the climate impact of Marcellus shale development which appears to support the thesis that natural gas obtained through hydrofracking has a greenhouse gas impact nearly as bad as coal due to leakage of methane gas during production, transport, and processing of natural gas.  Also please see this British study raising this carbon impact issue and other criticisms of hydrofracking.  The NYS Interim Climate Action Plan states that a full 2% of New York’s entire carbon footprint is due to leaking natural gas – and that is before the use of hydrofracking, given that a moratorium on hydrofracking is still in effect in NY for a few more months.

If you haven’t seen Gasland, you owe it to yourself to do so!

Walter Simpson

WNY Climate Action

enconser@buffalo.edu

www.energyreallymatters.com

"Hydraulic Fracturing" article on ProPublica; Journalism in the Public Interest.

What Is Hydraulic Fracturing?

Hydraulic fracturing is a process used in nine out of 10 natural gas wells in the United States, where millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals are pumped underground to break apart the rock and release the gas.

Scientists are worried that the chemicals used in fracturing may pose a threat either underground or when waste fluids are handled and sometimes spilled on the surface.

The Future of Energy Development

To contribute to an ongoing conversation regarding current and potential energy development in the U.S., The Nature Conservancy - Pennsylvania Chapter, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, and Audubon Pennsylvania, teamed up to publish this first report "Pennsylvania Energy Impacts Assessment" on Marcellus Shale Natural Gas and Wind.

This report is published here with permission from The Nature Conservancy - Pennsylvania Chapter.   For more information and an interactive map to learn how the energy analysis was conducted, visit The Nature Conservancy website.

Reprinted with permission from Re-ENERGIZE BUFFALO for "All things GREEN: Energy, Environment, Economy and Jobs."

New York Governor Patterson did not approve the legislature's moratorium bill on gas drilling by hydraulic fracturing, also called hydrofracking or fracking.

The governor went one better: he extended the moratorium by executive order on Saturday.

He also restricted the type of fracking that would be included in the moratorium.

Governor Patterson restricted the moratorium to a controversial method of hydrofracking that uses high volumes of water and employs horizontal drilling from a deep well.  Landowners in nearby Pennsylvania and in other states claim this method is responsible for contaminating their well water, polluting the air and land, and causing illnesses.