Fighting fracking
Sandra Steingraber, ecologist, activist and author, was in Joliet, Illinois, Wednesday to present a lecture on our era of “extreme energy extraction.” (See the Century interview with Steingraber.) According to Steingraber, we’re acting more and more foolishly as we hold on more and more tightly to our dependence on fossil fuels. The latest methods--deepsea oil drilling, oil extraction from tar sand, mountaintop removal and fracking--only prolong a necessary move away from fossil fuels, says Steingraber. In the meantime, they wreak havoc on our water, on our air and on us, the human beings in the drama.
For the last four years, Steingraber’s fight has been on one of these methods: she’s part of the effort to repel proposed fracking of the Marcellus Shale in New York State. For four years, the industry has been stalled by New York’s activist efforts, but the extraction of natural gas from one to two miles below the earth’s surface will be hard to hold at bay for much longer. The gas waiting underground could be worth $3 trillion--energy companies have already leased 40 percent of the land in Tompkins County.
To read more about why the fight is worth fighting, see this report from West Virginia and multiply times 31: fracking is now being done in 31 states.
Comments
Rascal Jones replied on Permalink
Fracking? Really?
Why is fracking given any consideration as a Christian issue? The Evangelical church is collapsing into oblivion (just as the mainline churches did a century ago). Heretics are running rampant amongst the flock, the Gospel of salvation has been replaced by a false "social gospel", Catholic/New Age, mysticism is spreading like cancer in the church– and you're writing about fracking. No wonder the church is in the state it's in!
lizziewriter replied on Permalink
Fracking, yes really
Last I heard, we are meant to be good stewards of God's creation. This is a huge issue. On the one hand, there is the great unknown of the environmental impacts (both observed and denied), and on the other hand, there is the need to fight joblessness (again, caring for Creation), and find cleaner sources of energy (ditto).