Great Anti Frack Organization Meeting Today in North Branch

FRACKING is a World Wide CONCERN

On my way home today, made a significant detour over to North Branch, NY for a Volunteer Organizational meeting hosted by Catskill Citizens.  First, please visit their website.  Secondly, consider donating to their cause, as these folks are working VERY HARD to reach out to the community, educate the public to just what FRACKING is, and to persuade our politicians in Albany to do the right thing.  

My biggest regret today is that I did not have my camera along with me, so have to plan a second trip to the area in and around North Branch...if you want to see just what is at risk as the (un)Natural Gas industry plans a FRACKING ASSAULT on our lands, you could not ask for a better example than the drive along 17B out of Monticello toward North Branch.  Beautiful lush farm land, steams and rivers shaded by majestic trees, fly fishermen knee deep in rushing waters, a trout on the line.  Saw one American Bald Eagle, and so many hawks that I lost count of them.  It is truly God's Country, and the Natural Gas industry wants to despoil it extracting Natural Gas to sell to China...YES, IT IS TRUE...as example, Chesapeake Energy has been selling LARGE SHARES of it's own holdings in the Marcellus Shale to overseas investors interesting in shipping it overseas, the largest deals being made with Chinese State Owned CNOOC.

Just here in lower New York State, we need to awaken and educate some EIGHT MILLION CITIZENS to the risks of Fracking, educate them on just what it is they stand to lose...both in natural beauty, and more importantly in clean fresh SAFE DRINKING WATER....to do that, organizations like that need your support, and your donations...just the yard signs that THEY HAND OUT FOR FREE are four dollars each, and trust me, the Natural Gas industry is giving away their own signs that read, "Friend of Natural Gas"...so it is imperative that organizations like Catskill Citizens have the ability to get their own signs out in peoples yards, imperiative that they have the resources to put a No Fracking button into the hands of every citizen they can find willing to wear one.  Hopefully, those reading this blog will get involved in whatever way each of you can.

Which brings me to ONE LAST REQUEST in this article.  I have been charged with a task...start compiling a list of Wolves in Sheep's clothing Environmental Groups, or Pro Natural Gas organizations that are a FRONT for the Natural Gas Industry, are wholly, or mostly FUNDED BY THE INDUSTRY...if we are to fight their PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN, we have to identify their FALSE FRONT ORGANIZATIONS.  So, if any of you know of organizations being FUNDED BY THE NATURAL GAS INDUSTRY, please email me their Organizational Name, and if you have it a link to their website.  You can send the information to:  fracktoidnews@yahoo.com All email will be kept confidential, but every organization identified and verified as being funded by the Natural Gas Industry will be A) put on a widely distributed list, and B) featured in our newest blog project, "FRACKTURDS".

Microbac-Shale: Pre-Gas Well Drilling Water Testing

Some things are just good commonsense, and in light of all the money grubbing Landmen in the state of NY who are running around trying to get people to sign gas leases, every citizen with their own potable water sources (springs, wells) should be getting their water tested BEFORE any (un)Natural Gas wells are drilled, long before any fracking occurs.  This testing establishes a baseline for your water quality, gives you that proverbial before and after snapshot of the quality of your water before industry monsters such as Cabot and Chesapeake Energy (CNOOC) begin destroying your environment, and negatively impacting your water source.  So, with that in mind, thought I would point people in the right direction, and suggest Microbac as one laboratory you could use for this purpose.

From their Website:

Shale: Pre-Gas Well Drilling Water Testing

The process of gas well drilling has the potential to impact drinking water sources. A single gas well can utilize and produce hundreds of thousands of gallons of fluids during drilling operations and during the years of gas production. The recent discoveries of gas reserves held within the Marcellus Shale formation and the use of new horizontal drilling methods to tap these reserves are expected to increase dramatically the drilling operations and gas recovery efforts in the region.

Microbac Laboratories, Inc. is certified for a wide range of drinking water testing parameters in New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, and offers extensive experience in helping its customers comply with EPA, state, and local regulations.

Pre-gas well drilling water testing of private wells and springs is a necessary step to establish a baseline for the water quality of the water source. Subsequent testing may be performed during or after the operations to verify that the water source is unimpacted by the drilling operations.

Why Is Natural Gas Industry Allowed To Rape Our Lands For Foreign Countries?

If you listen to the Natural Gas Industry propaganda, or accept the lies being spoon fed us by the elected politicians, America needs shale gas production to END OUR DEPENDENCE on FOREIGN OIL.  Now, setting aside the fact that we trying one fossil fuel dependence for another, one has to ponder a very serious question..."If we need our SHALE GAS to end our dependence on foreign oil, why are the Natural Gas companies being allowed to go out and buy leases for vast tracts of land, and turn around and sell them to FOREIGN COMPANIES who want to take our gas, and SHIP IT OVERSEAS!

Below are major shale gas and oil acquisitions:
APRIL 2011:

-- Marubeni Corp (8002.T) will pay Marathon Oil Corp
(MRO.N) about $270 million for a 30 percent stake in a U.S.
shale oil project. [nWNAB2649]
FEBRUARY 2011

-- PetroChina (0857.HK) pays Encana Corp (ECA.TO) $5.4
billion for half of a shale gas project. [ID:nN09296031]

--  BHP Billiton (BHP.AX) pays Chesapeake Energy Corp
(CHK.N) $4.75 billion for gas reserves in the Fayetteville
Shale in Arkansas. [ID:nLDE71L1M0]
DECEMBER 2010

-- South Africa's Sasol (SOLJ.J) pays $1.03 billion for a
half share in Talisman Energy Inc (TLM.TO) shale gas property.
[ID:nLDE6BJ04G]
OCTOBER 2010

-- CNOOC Ltd (0883.HK) (CEO.N) agrees to pay Chesapeake
Energy $1.08 billion in cash for one-third of its Eagle Ford
shale in South Texas. [ID:nN10263769]
JUNE 2010:

-- India's largest listed company Reliance Industries
(RELI.BO) will invest $1.36 billion in the U.S. shale gas
assets of Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD.N). [ID:nSGE65N06C]
MAY 2010

-- Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) says it will pay $4.7 billion
cash to buy privately held East Resources Inc, which controls
650,000 net acres (2,600 square kilometers) in the Marcellus
Shale. [ID:nLDE64R0AX]
APRIL 2010:

-- British gas producer BG Group (BG.L) said it would pay
$950 million to buy a 50 percent interest in shale gas assets
in Appalachia from EXCO Resources (XCO.N).
FEBRUARY 2010:

-- S.Korea's KOGAS (036460.KS) invests $1.1 billion in
developing Encana Corp's natural gas fields. [ID:nTOE61R013]

-- Canada's Progress Energy Resources Corp (PRQ.TO) agreed
to buy certain northeast British Columbia Foothills assets for
about C$390 million ($366.2 million) from Suncor Energy
(SU.TO). [ID:nSGE6180KX]
DECEMBER 2009:

-- Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) announced its plan to buy XTO
Energy Inc XTO.N for about $30 billion in stock. XTO's
resource base is the equivalent of 45 trillion cubic feet of
gas and includes shale gas, tight gas, coal bed methane and
shale oil. [ID:nN14126206]   

-- Ultra Petroleum Corp (UPL.N) said it would pay about
$400 million to an unnamed private company to buy 80,000 net
acres in the burgeoning U.S. Marcellus Shale region, giving it
about 250,000 net acres and a potential for 1,800 net drilling
sites. [ID:nSGE5BK0EU]
NOVEMBER 2009:

-- Denbury Resources Inc (DNR.N) said it would buy Encore
Acquisition Co for $3.2 billion, creating a company with 426
million barrels of oil equivalent in proved reserves.
[ID:nN01400606]

The acquisition would allow Denbury to leverage its
enhanced-oil-recovery business into Encore's properties in
Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota, and would give it a large
stake in the Bakken shale on the U.S.-Canada border.
JUNE 2009:

-- British gas producer BG Group paid Dallas-based Exco
Resources Inc (XCO.N) $1.3 billion for an interest in shale gas
resources in Texas and Louisiana. [ID:nLU618520]

The companies said each would own 50 percent of a venture
to which EXCO is contributing 120,000 acres of land in the
Haynesville shale gas area and associated gas infrastructure.
MAY 2009:  

-- Talon Oil & Gas LLC bought 60 percent of Denbury
Resources Inc's (DNR.N) natural gas assets for $270 million.

-- Independent oil and gas company Quicksilver Resources
Inc (KWK.N) agreed a joint venture with Italian energy giant
Eni (ENI.MI) to develop its Barnett shale properties in Texas.
[ID:nBNG161361]

As part of the deal, Eni agreed to buy a 27.5 percent stake
in Quicksilver's Alliance leasehold interests in the Fort Worth
basin for $280 million.
MARCH 2009: 

-- Independent Canadian oil exploration firm TriStar Oil &
Gas and Crescent Point Energy Trust agreed to buy Talisman
Energy Inc's lands in the prolific Bakken shale region of
Saskatchewan and Montana for C$720 million ($567 million).

TriStar was later acquired by Petrobank Energy and
Resources Ltd (PBG.TO), which combined its own conventional oil
assets with TriStar to create a new company called PetroBakken
Energy Ltd (PBN.TO).

American Natural Gas Owned By Chinese Government?

First, for the record in case it is not obvious, I am opposed to FRACKING, believe the use of it to increase extraction at a (un)Natural Gas Well destroys pristine lands, will destroy our potable water supplies, and over time cost lives.  I am also pragmatic, and know too many people have already sold their souls to the Landman for the promise of future wealth.  We have politicians at every level of government trying to sell us on Natural Gas as the answer to getting us off foreign oil...OK...lets say this might be true.  That we could drill our way out of our dependence on foreign oil.

That argument begins to fail if you start looking at how much in bed with the Chinese Government America's second largest Natural Gas player (Chesapeake Energy) is...sure they will deny this, but the multi BILLIONS of dollars in deals with Chinese Government owned CNOOC suggests otherwise.  Why is over government willing to let Chesapeake bastardize our lands, threaten our environment, our drinking water supplies and our health to extract (un)Natural Gas that will be SHIPPED TO CHINA?

Furthermore, does one need to ask the question, is Chesapeake Energy a traitor to the American people, and should Americans find out where the gas is going to go before they give up their way of life for a few pieces of Judas Silver?