A couple months ago, I was out in Dimock, PA, meeting with community members who've been affected by reckless natural gas drilling in and around their town. I was also there to tape an interview with Leslie Stahl, for an episode of 60 Minutes that will air this Sunday.
In a rare instance of honesty for one of the reprehensible political operatives in our nation's history, Karl Rove told a shale gas drilling association that "climate is gone."
"Climate is gone," said Rove, the keynote speaker on the opening day of a two-day shale-gas conference sponsored by Hart Energy Publishing L.L.P. And Rove told the trade show, "I don't think you need to worry" the new Congress will consider proposed legislation to put the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing under federal rather than state regulation. The procedure, known as "fracking," is responsible for the dramatic growth of shale-gas drilling in formations such as Pennsylvania's vast Marcellus Shale.
He meant that the climate bill is dead, but the unfortunate reality is that livable climate for future generations is likely to be equally dead thanks to climate zombies elected in 2010.
Bob and Lisa were told by their doctor to move out of their home withing 48 hours because it was too dangerous for them to stay after they were diagnosed with drilling chemicals in their blood and organs.
Flight for survival
Toxic emissions force family to leave home
By Brandon Evans
Lisa was treated by eight different doctors over the course of a year. A source of the sickness was never determined. In June 2009, after exhausting everything he knew medically, her internal specialist suggested that something in the environment might be causing her various ailments.
In early fall 2009, she visited an environmental doctor who confirmed the presence of neurotoxins in her blood that matched chemicals used in natural gas production.
See below for a list of the chemicals found in Lisa's blood and in her lungs:
One of the most clever smear campaigns ever devised was to equate environmental activism with terrorism. One testament to the success of that hyperbolic deception emerged recently in Pennsylvania, home to booming shale gas drilling operations in the Marcellus Formation. Abrahm Lustgarten at Propublica describes an intelligence briefing that went out to law enforcement officials in the state warning of possible acts of "environmental extremism."
As debate over natural gas drilling in the Marcellus shale reaches a fever pitch, state and federal authorities are warning Pennsylvania law enforcement that "environmental extremists" pose an increasing threat to security and to the energy sector.
For too long, on my "to do" list has been to post on the serious questions related to the booming in America's natural gas reserves due to the development of "Fracking" (hydraulic fracturing) technology and approaches that have enabled exploitation of the massive amount of carbon atoms in shale natural gas.
We know that 
"Clean Coal" is an oxymoronic lie useful as an advertising slogan but (generously speaking) little substance behind it (at best, "less dirty coal" could be accurate). Deepwater Horizon has given us a very clear understanding that "Beyond Petroleum" made people feel good while the Bloody Polluters having been happily taking their cash to the bank. Yet, "clean natural gas" is a term that seems to roll off far too many tongues without, it seems, any realization of the irony that the best we can do with a fossil fuel is make it "less dirty" as opposed to clean.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is hosting four public information meetings on the proposed study of the relationship between hydraulic fracturing and its potential impacts on drinking water...The meetings will provide public information about the proposed study scope and design. EPA will solicit public comments on the draft study plan.
The public meetings will be held on:
* July 8 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. CDT at the Hilton Fort Worth in Fort Worth, Texas
* July 13 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. MDT at the Marriot Tech Center’s Rocky Mountain Events Center in Denver, Colo.
* July 22 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. EDT at the Hilton Garden Inn in Canonsburg, Pa.
* August 12 at the Anderson Performing Arts Center at Binghamton University in Binghamton, N.Y. for 3 sessions - 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. EDT
Go below the fold for more essential information.