What the Natural Gas Opposition Is Really About
Natural gas opponents Bill Huston and Vera Scroggins reveal a contempt for job seekers and careers that lies at the heart of their natural gas opposition. It’s got little to do with the environment, except as a tool to achieve their broader goal of reshaping society.
We received two stunningly candid comments on this blog this week revealing what so much of the natural gas opposition is really about. The comments came back to back and and provide a window into the minds of two of the most prominent anti-gas activists with whom we deal regularly; Green Party members Bill Huston and Vera Scroggins.
Both Bill and Vera are sometimes entertaining characters with seemingly endless time on their hands, but we’re less interested in them, than what they say and do, because both, unfortunately, are often able to influence events and news coverage regarding natural gas. One suspects, though, their true positions, if widely known, would not endear them to some of those they influence.
What caught our attention was these two comments, both in response one of Rachael’s posts entitled Natural Gas Opponent Rebecca Roter Fails to Rock Plymouth. Here is what they said (emphasis added):
Yes, Tom. It does seem that we need “jobs”, so we can get USD/FRNs in order to pay taxes.
Another way to look at it is this way: While there has always been work (farming, craftsmen, pottery, carpentry), and while work is necessary… “jobs” (meaning exchanging labor for USD/FRNs) is artificial. Money is artificial. YES money is necessary in this constructed society, but money and jobs are not necessary for life.
This is an important point. Because it is possible that the pursuit of money/jobs can work AGAINST LIFE. This is what fracking brings, Tom. DEATH. Death of birds, fish, cows, forests, and PEOPLE.
Anyone who promotes jobs at the expense of LIFE, well, in my book, that defines the true ANTI, people who are anti-life.
yes, jobs and money are not the ultimate over life and life that is worth living and health;
pursue jobs and money that honor life and preserve the best of life worth living.
most jobs are not honoring of humans or life. Something needs to change radically.
No particular interpretation is necessary as these words speak for themselves and tell us Bill and Vera want nothing less than a wholly (and holy) new society. Natural gas opposition is, for them, simply a vehicle for getting there. They are entitled to their opinions, of course, and able to pursue them because our current society provides for that. Yet, others need to know this is what lies at the core of their opposition.
- Bill Huston
I have no idea what Bill or Vera do for incomes, but their comments certainly suggest they’re not worried about them, unlike so many of the landowners desperately needing natural gas development to literally save their farms.
Both devote incredible amounts of time to fighting natural gas (even though Bill lives in the Town of Union in Broome County, where 82% of homes are heated with natural gas). Vera lives in Susquehanna County with her daughter. She and Bill, in fact, showed up together at a recent meeting of the Susquehanna County Commissioners. He managed to get ejected after making a scene and bizarrely claiming, on the basis of the flimsiest of anecdotes, natural gas development in that county was contaminating Binghamton’s “antiquated” water supply. Here’s the video. Pay particular attention to Bill’s harangue beginning at 31:23 and then later at 56:30 when the Susquehanna County Commissioners decide they’ve had enough of his antics.
The city’s waters system is actually newly upgraded so Bill’s definition of “antiquated” is a bit puzzling. Moreover, the city water is tested regularly pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water Act and the results are publicly available. This didn’t stop Bill from making noise wherever and whenever he could, gaining the tacit support of Mayor Matt Ryan, his fellow fractivist. Just click the picture below to get and an idea how Bill hyped the issue:
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Ryan ordered additional tests based on Bill’s word there just must be a problem. The costs of those tests are unknown as yet but the results have been released. Unsurprisingly, they indicate no issues. Now compare what Bill alleged with what was actually found (emphasis added):
Bill Huston
FACT: Most people in the City of Binghamton and New York in general are care-free because they think their water is SAFE because there is no fracking going on in NY due to the moratorium.
FACT: There is serious cause for concern right now, as in the last 4 years there have been 98 unconventional gas will drilled in the City of Binghamton’s water source.
PEOPLE DO NOT KNOW OR UNDERSTAND THIS FACT
JOURNALISTS AND BLOGGERS:
Please RAISE THE ALARM NOW!
Please call the press and media EVERY DAY until they report the FACT that there are 98 unconventional wells upstream of the City of Binghamton’s water intake!!
This is a potential Public Health EMERGENCY affecting ~50,000 people and people are IGNORANT OF THE CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER OF HARM
FACT: the city of Binghamton has at least one intake directly from the Susquehanna River.
FACT: Every NY city West of Binghamton which draws directly from the river IS ALSO AT RISK.
FACT: Any surface spills or “inadvertent return to surface” of fracking chemicals or drilling muds WILL EVENTUALLY END UP IN THE RIVER.
FACT: Every one of those 98 wells is a potential source of contamination and poisons
FACT: There are many abandoned (orphaned) wells which are conduits to the surface.
FACT: Many of these poisons are biologically active in PARTS PER BILLION
FACT: There have been many reported problems in SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY at sites with Binghamton’s headwaters, e.g., Franklin Forks, and Great BendAnd about water testing,
FACT: If the contamination is not present when the testing is done, everything appears fine!
IF THEY TELL YOU “don’t worry, the City does regular water testing”.
=> FIRST remind them of the FACT that NO ONE KNOWS there are 98 unconventional wells in Binghamton’s Headwaters.
=> NEXT press for more details. What kind of test? What does it look for? Is it continuous testing? Water is always flowing. What happens if the poison cloud passes outside of the testing interval?Binghamton Press
The results are in: Nothing indicates natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania has affected the city’s water supply.
Following a request by Binghamton Mayor Matthew T. Ryan for special testing, the city recently received laboratory data showing no discernible effects on the city’s public water supply from hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in Pennsylvania.
“Right now, there’s absolutely nothing to be concerned about,” Ryan said of the results. The city’s Water and Sewer Department will continue the tests, he added, “so they can continue to monitor and see if there’s any changes.”
The concerns stem from a W-shaped portion of the Susquehanna River that flows through northern Pennsylvania for 15 miles before re-entering New York state and continuing west to the City of Binghamton. There are more than 100 active natural gas wells in a six-township area of Susquehanna County surrounding the river, although many have not been hydraulically fractured and only one well pad is within a mile of the waterway.
Five chemical compounds associated with hydrofracking were not present at detectable levels in the city’s water supply, the test results show. A fifth was detectable, but at levels below the national average for public water supplies….
The four compounds not present at detectable levels in the city’s surface or well water sources were butane, ethane, propane and methane, according to a test report dated Oct. 11 from Benchmark Analytics, Inc., of Sayre, Pa.
Strontium, a naturally occurring element in shale deposits, was detected, although not at levels that would raise concern.
Test results at Binghamton’s surface water intake — about two-thirds of a mile east of Rock Bottom Dam on the Susquehanna River — showed strontium was present at 0.079 milligrams per liter. A test of the city’s water well detected strontium at a concentration of 0.2 milligrams per liter.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the average strontium concentration in public water supplies is 1.1 milligrams per liter in surface water, and 0.81 milligrams per liter in groundwater.
The most recent line of testing falls in line with previous data on Binghamton’s public water supply, which is constantly monitored by a computerized system and subjected to dozens of laboratory tests each month under state requirements.
Annual water quality reports produced by the city show no notable increase in contaminants since natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale gained a major foothold in Susquehanna County in 2009.
One of our readers says this about the whole incident:
For two months William Huston of Shaleshock media has been running a self made “expose” on how 90 gas wells in PA have been polluting the drinking water from the Susquehanna River on public access television in a 3 part series. He interrupted town meetings in Pennsylvania yelling at local officials, accusing them of allowing and polluting by fracturing gas wells and endangering the drinking water source for 80,000 people down river. He was on TV promoting his fear mongering accusations as well as accusing all local news outlets of hiding or refusing to report on this very important news breaking story that he put together in his own mind.
Mayor Matt Ryan bought into the fear. I do understand that his testing the water was the right thing to do. However, now that the tests are done I believe Bill Huston should be on TV explaining to the people he frightened and answering to his false claims and fear mongering techniques. Bill Huston should be barred from access to public TV programming for abusing the network. He created undue fear in the minds of anyone who watched his show and believed his reporting of this false information.
The technique of High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing would not be so controversial if the public was not subjected to 5 years of misinformation by people and organizations like Bill Huston.
Being a fractivist, of course, means never having to say you’re sorry, so we can expect Bill to move on from this bit of burnt out hype to greener pastures without so much as a millisecond of hesitation or regret. One day it’s the water storage pond in Washington County that he tries to tell us is a non-existent “super mister” and the next day it’s the “black water” threat to Binghamton’s water supply.
What’s behind it all? Well, those comments here on our blog reveal a desire to remake society and create some kind of utopia that doesn’t and cannot exist except in the minds of adherents. Eric Hoffer, in his famous book entitled The True Believer, addressed the nature of folks who dismiss the importance of careers:
The prospect of an individual career cannot stir them to a mighty effort, nor can it evoke in them faith and a single-minded dedication. They look on self-interest as on something tainted and evil; something unclean and unlucky. Anything undertaken under the auspices of the self seems to them foredoomed. Nothing that has its roots and reasons in the self can be noble and good. Their innermost craving is for a new life — a rebirth — or, failing this, a chance to acquire new elements of pride, confidence, hope, a sense of purpose and worth by an identification with a holy cause.
It’s not, in other words, about the gas; it’s about creating enemies to attack in hopes of bringing down the system and replacing it with something else – something much better in their eyes, something that will recognize their virtues. It’s a holy cause that defines who they are. Therefore, we can expect new baseless allegations, more hyperbole and taller tales next week. Stay tuned, because we’ll be exposing this nonsense as it unfolds.
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Excellent!
I have stated many times interview, (expose) the leaders. Just let them speak. Ask the real questions. Not harvesting natural gas questions, any parrot can repeat.
Get to the core of the hate. It isnt FRACKING because they have no solution to replace it ,nor do they live the life they condemn.
When asking them a question ,Drill down. Hold them to answer the complete question. Follow the question with the standard, who, what,why, where references please.
I would love to see a debate put on by Wendy Lynn Lee,Bill Huston and Vera. Asking them to please speak on a solution to all it is that you hate. The public and News love these type of people.
When questioning the chief editor of the southern tiers newspaper three years back. I asked why is it the folks against Harvesting our Domestic Energy get all the press? He stated, we had no news? I didn’t understand his comment until a year later. Facts, good news, new technology in a field that brings change and opportunity could restructure economic hard hit areas changing the county club corruption circle of class warfare.
So keep it simple to those who believe everything on TV and the Newspaper. They know these folk are great storytellers. Stories of gloom, doom and freaks sell. Pt Barnum made a fortune on it!
For instance, ever try engaging the chair owners at a local gathering place with a question like . Hey Bob, did you know now they recycle 100% of the flowback from HVHF ?
ZOT! gone, the cricket cricket and out comes, did ya hear about the dead animals from that frackin.
That sells! Thats News! The two people that shot each other in a Walmart parking lot on black Friday is the news that sells! I heard a guy at the convenience store say, hey it was justified, he tried to take his parking spot. This is the issue making Bill, Wendy and Vera type info news worthy.
The bizarre third hand telephone type “journalism” keeps those presses rolling to pay the bills.
Tom
Great article! We appreciate the easy work you and your educated bloggers do in bringing to light the comical yet very serious game that Vera and Bill play as do others in their rank and file.
It is sad that these characters are allowed to enter peoples homes unchallanged in the fear mongering way that O2E – TV Public access allows them too.
I strongly believe that because of William Huston’s 3 part series on the Binghamton water supply and his twisted math, and the accusation that PA polluted the Susquehanna River with frack fluids that was presented on O2E TV, that Mr. Huston should be investigated by the FCC as well as Binghamtons Public access Chanel 4 for airing this very deflametory expose as news worthy in the format that it was presented in.
Not only have I heard public comments in meetings from other people repeating this lie which proves that people bought into his fear campaign, but it was also presented by Mr Huston on WNBF radio 1290 on the AM dial.
The way William Houston seeks public support through fear mongering and misinformation of which I must believe is his tactics, should have to be answered too in a very public way. This man professes to be nuetral when trying to get his cameras set up at hearings as “PRESS” needs to be held accountable for his blantant misleading of facts to the people subjected to “presentations”
Perhaps puting a link to the FCC complaints department, as well as to the overseers of Binghamtons Public Access TV on this story will make it easier and gain support for people to submitt their concerns.
Thank you for all you Victor Furman
Nice article. These people are extremists, but probably not the worst. I have heard that Putin has funded green extremists in Europe. An Arab royal funded the new anti fracking movie coming out. Putin and the Arabs are freaking out about the potential competition. I only hope that Obama does not make some sort of deal that cuts off American exports, thus stopping progress.
I have contacts into many different areas of energy and NG ./ and oil./ steam waste heat.
One of the companies that I’ve followed now for several years just announce a JV with a water treatment company, The two will be changing all of the ney say’er mind very soon.
They can clean the frack water and more.
Progress will not be stopped by putting our heads in the sand. Say curious and stay free.
Thanks, Tom. Perhaps these present-day believers in utopia forget that that word is actually a double entendre meaning both “good place” and “no place.”
Next we’ll be hearing from their kissing cousins who think the best thing would be for the human race to go entirely extinct.
But WE’RE the crazy ones.
again you manage to malign any of us who disagree with your views and position. This is your only strategy. Malign the leaders of the other side. This shows to me and others how weak your position is, since you need to attack the motives, the persona, words of others. You emphasize and twist our words to fit your agenda. With all your supposed power and backing of a supposed, powerful-monied industry, you still can’t open the borders of NY to fracking.
NY will remain closed to you because too many people can see through your game. Too many have visited PA. and seen the horrors that you want to place next to homes and schools.
Emphasize truly green energies and fund the research into even-better , green energies and provide green jobs with those green fuels and retrofit homes and buildings to conserve and allow for a truly safe, healthy future for all.
You are the one doing the name-calling, Vera, and you’ve cited not a single fact to support your position.
Tom, may be we can meet for coffee or tea sometime and hear each other beyond our perceptions and judgements and see the humanity in each other and understand more where we are coming from.
Might be helpful.
Let me know.
We’ll have a chat someday at one of the meetings where our paths cross, Vera.
Tom, be careful, very, very careful because there is no debating an anti-fracker. As I have always written, they do not want to debate facts, but spin and distort the facts.
Vera…
You missed the whole point of the post and the responses.
You think the post was to malign any of you that disagree with your views and position but it wasn’t. The post was simple and to the point! It tells the true story of how you and William Huston are simply misleading the public with misinformation. The post provides proof of that accusation and shows the level of deception that the anti’s (you and Huston) are willing to sink to to favor their cause. Our position on NG development is based on science and the facts and that is what we use in public informational meetings. You live in a fantasy world Vera where you are the hero. You stand against natural gas but every single day you consume it and use it’s by products.
Vic, you’ve called me a liar many times. Can you cite one “lie” which I’ve told?
I might get a certain fact wrong. Just tell me, and I will try to correct it.
But a lie is INTENTIONALLY DECEIVING someone. So you’d have to show that BOTH my facts were wrong AND I knew it was wrong.
You’ve so far failed to even show my once where I got a fact wrong.
So just start there, thanks.
Now let’s look at this story, where Tom hired a pilot to fly over the Niskadden house, then showed some images from Google Earth, carefully cropped to remove any viability of the massive amount of gas wells, pipelines, compressor stations, empoundment ponds, and other gas industry infrastructure in the area.
Now I’m not going to call that a lie, but it sure looks to me like Tom & crew are trying to hide something. That may not be a lie, but it seems dishonest to me.
How dare you assume we hired a pilot to fly over the Kiskadden house? We did no such thing. It’s all public information and the fact you would proceed with this, repeat it and not have an ounce of evidence that it’s true, tells me you are doing precisely what Vic alleges, Bill. You are as sloppy on this as you were with the Binghamton allegations and, intentionally so, in my opinion. You also have repeatedly distorted every part of the story on DEP testing in Washington County,.
well said Tom now we can sit back and wait for the “your picking on me crowd” to come to Hustons defence. Or maybe BH will be awarded the Double wing award from the NORTHEAST FRACKING SOCIETY of HYPOCRITES….
Tom wrote: How dare you assume we hired a pilot to fly over the Kiskadden house? We did no such thing.
Because you published photos of a flyover, that’s how.
And, from that, you assume (incorrectly) we hired a flyover and go ahead and publish that assumption as if it were truth. That will tell the reader as much as they need to know about your credibility, Bill.
C’mon Tom, why are you being evasive? Why not correct me with the facts, rather than dancing around like Mr. Logic with your latest puzzle?
How did you get an aerial photo over the Kiskadden house if you didn’t hire a pilot to fly over? More word games? Did the pilot work for free? Did someone else hire the pilot?
Are you going to also try to claim that you didn’t pay someone to drive by the Kiskadden house?
And when I say YOU, I mean any of these: EID, IPAA, ANGA, or any of your gas-company members.
Here’s the REAL POINT:
You went FULL SPECTRUM on Kiskadden, and also Jesse White. So you clearly consider this SUITE CODE 942 scandal BAD… and YOU’RE RIGHT! It is bad!
And you used deception by your close cropping of the soils data map to HIDE the fact that the Kiskadden site is SURROUNDED by a massive amount of industrial activity— Drill Sites, Well Pads, Pipelines, Compressor Stations…
And while DECEPTION and PERSONAL ATTACKS might not be lying exactly, but it’s not exactly being truthful or honest, either.
So, now you want to get specific after you already spread the mistruths? Good luck with that, Bill. You’re not going to get anything more from me because you’re the one who made the incorrect assumption and ran with it. And, by the way, the only Suite Code scandal is your incredibly dishonest portrayal of standard operation procedure and your suggestion we deliberately cropped a picture to avoid showing something is also dishonest. We did no such thing, my friend, but you are intent on assuming both facts and motives and you’re wrong in all cases.
Bill your the laughing stock of the anti community not just the pro’s. A lie is using deception to gain a favorable responce. You might be better off asking me when you don’t deceive people. You block people who try to share facts on your youtube video’s and block them because you don’t want facts to cloud the deception, or be shared with possible viewers. You keep accusing me of bing someone named Edward Matthews but I am not. I am Victor Furman. And, yes, Bill I know Edward Matthews, he is family.
OK, Vic. So a recap: you’ve called me a liar probably a dozen times, and so far you’ve never been able to point out anything I’ve ever said which is incorrect, never mind proving intent. Just more threats, insults, and personal attacks. O
If you ever find anything I’ve said which is incorrect, just let me know and I’ll ether defend it, or change it. OK?
If I’m wrong, don’t assume I’m lying, because I really try not to do that. I might just be wrong. I try to speak only to facts and from my own experience.
PS: “Edward Matthews” spells just like you do. Must be close family :)
Tom
It is my thought that since William Huston of Shaleshock Media, is quick to block users fron commenting on his youtube video’s concerning the natural gas debate that disagrees with his socialistic views, & his inability to answer to a difference of opinion, that due to his blantant misleading of facts, and deception of public trust that EID does in fact block him from using this site in search of public acceptance through more deceptive writing.
I do not agree with censorship however. When you continually use a public forum of any type to mislead the public just to get the public to buy into your own personal views the privilege of that forum should be taking away. Respect and the privilege of use should not be taken lightly.
Respectfully I request that William Houston be barred from this media outlet. I for one will no longer respond to his accusations and misinformation campaign. This site has always been for educational material related to Natural Gas. Let us continue the debate with facts and move on.
Vera,
As the sigmund guy stated let them speak , meaning you! I love it when you post. Think about what you are saying.
“you want to place next to homes and schools.”
You already have them next to Schools in PA?
You bring nothing to the table. Keep the rage going you are converting folks at a rate we could not. Perfect example your Dan Lamb here in NY running against Hanna got his behind kicked taking the no fracking side. Libous won by a land slide, for fracking! Debbie Preston won by a land slid, for fracking. All running on the HVHF ticket won. We owe a thanks to you,Bill,the Sauntners, and that crazy Dr..Dolittle alien communicator chick that wrote the flowback.
Please keep talking, but avoid the false alarms, trespassing and driving faster than an out of control water truck.
In answer to your most important questions. Bill Huston works in the field of computers. Vera owns a small piece of property she rents which gives her a correspondingly small income to live on and occasionally is given small donations from those who feel as she does about fracking. Like buying her lunch. Both facts that you could have easily found out by just asking them. You could also find out that neither of them plan on making a fortune by trying to stop fracking. Yes, Vera, does live in Pa and among a lot of other things was personally escorted off of private land by the police as she tried to document one of the two explosions your infallible safety standards have already allowed to happen near her. So it’s natural that her experiences with fracking would be something others should be allowed to hear. Bill Huston lives in Broome County and for a host of reasons which are not making him a dime doesn’t want fracking to take place here.
On the other hand, after a few google searches, I found out what you do for a living, Tom. So I am not going to go with what was my naive original assumption that you are completely objective about fracking. And I certainly am not going to assume that you have only the best interests at heart for communities you have “helped” to be fracked nor in any others which are allowed to be fracked if you do not live in them and in intimate proximity to your drilling sites..
So let’s cut right through the nonsense. Regarding the safety practices of fracking, I can tell you right off that they suck. How do I know this, Tom, because there are 121 U.S. Radiation sites in NY that have had safety standards and back up systems that make the fracking industry’s safety standards look beyond asinine and insane.. And you know what, Tom, 10% of those sites have ended up being contaminated. In some cases with the weapon of mass destruction known as depleted uranium. The half life of that substance, which causes birth deformities to children which are beyond evil incarnate, is 4,500,000,000 years. No it wasn’t done by a terrorist it was done by profit making companies just like yours..However, unlike what happened at 9/11, I am sure way way way more than 3,000 lives have already been lost as a result of that contamination. I am also sure the death toll continues to rise as a result of the radiation being left in huge empty lots where those who are adults now played when they were young. And no doubt when those industries “came to town” there were other snake oil salesmen just like you promising jobs and selling all kinds of wonderful things for those communities. Of course now that those towns, cities and lands have all been raped and the workers lives have been all used up along with them and their children contracting leukemia and all other forms of cancer nether those spokespersons nor those industries are going to pick up the tab for the inevitable human agony they knew would be caused.
As an aside, and just in case you don’t live in Broome County like I do, I want you to know some of our proud history. We already have had a massive contamination that occurred in Endicott and which the village is still dealing with a bit and probably will for hundreds of years yet to come. IBM was accused of the chemical spill but they said it was the fault of a dry cleaning business which blamed it on IBM. Not really sure how the legal battle all turned out. You know how that goes away after it stops being reported on in the newspaper but I believe IBM threw a few dollars from its slush and public relations fund at the problem. That is until people just gave up on trying to hold them responsible. Some of the residents of Endicott solved the problem themselves by just walking away from their homes that are now unfit for living in. Just between me and you, Tom, I really am disappointed in how callous a super power like IBM was to Endicott especially since it started its business there. But then given that IBM got a real large contract from the Nazi’s in WW2 to do the computerized numbering system that was used to tattoo all of the inmates, including children, that were tortured, starved and gassed in the concentration camps;.I guess no one should be surprised at anything least of all at you. Or didn’t you know that Bayer Corporation bankrolled all of the insane experiments that the Gestapo and the SS doctors performed on children and pregnant women? Now don’t panic, Tom. In no way am I comparing the fracking industry to what IBM and Bayer aspirin did..Those are corporations and you can’t compare apples and oranges even though they are both fruits and neither fruits nor corporations have a conscience. So that’s right, Tom, I’m comparing you to the Gestapo doctors for just doing what your are told to do and for money
I want to tell you too, Tom, that I have been on the back porch of Vera’s home at night to see the occasional flaring of the nearest fracking site to her. She told me that when the wind is just right she can smell the toxic fumes coming from the flare. And while you did mention her daughter, who no doubt also gets to inhale those carcinogens, you failed to mention her two young granddaughters she also lives with and who, at their young age, inhaling the substances that your fracking industry is pouring into the air will have an even more profound effect upon. You do know of course, Tom, that the rates of asthma are sky rocketing don’t you? If you didn’t do a google for what the suspected causes are and then come back with your incites on how fracking could possibly have a beneficial effect on the areas where it is allowed to take place and on generations yet to come.
Although to be honest with you, I really have to say, Tom, that in my heart of hearts I know that in your heart of hearts you do not care about Vera’s grandchildren or any of the other children or the adults or the old for that matter in the areas where fracking takes place. How do I know that you ask? Because you are like the rich industrialist who said he didn’t care what his company was doing to the environment or what the world would be like in a hundred years because he would be dead by then. So maybe, if you were blessed enough to have any children of your own, you really don’t care about the future they will live in after your just a bad memory for what you did and did not care about.
One last thing, Thomas, All those small farmers you lay awake at night tossing and turning and worrying so much over by wondering how you can save them with the holy sacrament of fracking. What ever you do, do not tell them that the family farm is being slaughtered and killed off by similar corporations to yours, namely the international companies like Monsanto whose crimes are also on a par with the oil and gas industries. And who, because of the power they wield, get bankrolled and subsidized by federal, state and local politicians whose actions, while technically maybe legal because they enact the laws making them legal, are none the less corrupt. Like on the small level when Vera went to a council meeting to film it and the council immediately passed a resolution outlawing the panning of cameras because it posed a “danger to people”. Only to then have the head of the council refuse to be interviewed on camera by the press in attendance and the mayor left after barging to the press that he had”… never allowed himself to be interviewed”. Somebody, or much more likely, a lot of bodies are hiding something with actions like that.
I lied. I have something else to say. The United States government robbed from its own citizens and generations yet to come over a $1,000,000,000,000(trillion) to kill a million people in the Iraq war along with spewing tons of depleted uranium all over that land to give children yet to be born there bodies of agony to live in till virtually the end of time itself. That amount of money would have been MORE than enough to cover every home, building, edifice and needed area in America with an amount of solar panels capable of taking EVERYONE in this nation off of the power grid. I don’t know if you have any spiritual values, Tom. but please! We are all pleading with you. Begging you in fact. Give it up, Tom and get out of the way. There’s nothing the matter with not knowing you are on the wrong side but when you cling to it knowing it’s the wrong side…that is beyond pathetic and evil.
FYI, I’m retired and live on a small social security check in Binghamton.
You suggest by your e-mail you are a Zen Buddist. I know little about Zen Buddhism so I went to a website that says the following:
However, despite how different those schools seem to be, they all have the same ultimate goal: to help anyone who likes to learn and practice what the Buddha taught: to become enlightened, liberate oneself from his suffering caused by his greed, anger, and ignorance and then if he likes, he can help others do the same thing.
I have no idea if this description is accurate or not but, if so, the philosophy certainly has attractive qualities. I respect them and also respectfully suggest your anger is consuming you, Mr. Hood. Your rant drips hate for corporations, for business, for others and for me. You accuse me, for example, of not caring whether others might get leukemia. Has it ever occurred to you I might know something about that subject and might care about it even more than you? Well, I do know something about it because leukemia has touched my family. So, don’t assume you’re the only one with a conscience. Consider others a bit yourself. Drop the anger. Practice the Zen Buddhism you espouse.
I do believe people are primarily sincere in their beliefs and positions they hold. We all have different backgrounds and experiences and can come to different conclusions.
We do the best we can with what we know and have.
We all have hurts, tragedies, disappointments, fears.
Tom has a family member with cancer. Many of us have family members with cancer and have it ourselves. My mother died of cancer about 12 years ago and now I buried my father this past Tues. in NJ . He and my mother went through a lot of sad , scary experiences in Europe during the war and then immigrating to this country with just what they could carry , which included me as a baby and my sister, in utero.
May we respect one another as much as possible as we pursue our particular beliefs and understanding .
It’s too bad we can’t agree on the same course to follow that will benefit all.
But this is the way things run with humans — opposing sides on the same issue and one side prevails for a time and people clash. It ‘s the human drama.
You need not fear us ; If your course is right and the best, then it will prevail.
All the best to all.
.Mr Hood
I read your lengthy post in it’s entirety and do not want to criticize you as you seem to have written from the heart as well as the mind. I could respond to everything you wrote in exactly the same format with quite the opposite view. The problem is that people who have bought into the fear such as your points on radiation have put up mental roadblocks primarily against the truth or even hearing it. I say this because on several different occasions at meetings that I have attended I offered my time to a few people such as Pat Roberts and Sue Rapp who simply said “our minds are made up and your not going to change them”. My point is Mr. Hood is the fight against gas has in fact become a cult like religion and as a follower your teachings right or wrong are the word, the gospel, the ten commandments of the cult and if your into religion, even Zen Buddhism your taught that what your taught is true and to stray away from the teachings is to falter in your belief or a weakness.
Mr. Hood I have been to many a drill site and Tarm Industries (they recycle flowback water) on a tour with a Broome County Legislator where radiation levels are monitored with highly sensitive calibrated monitors and allowed access to the records. In the few years they have been in business the radiation levels have been far less then the allowable amount allowed by the EPA. You in fact are exposed to more radiation from a kitchen granite countertop then you are from drill cuttings of the Marcellous
Break away Mr. Hood and start learning!
Victor,
While I tend to agree with Vera and Bill on most points about fracking. I really wouldn’t call myself a high ranking member of that cult. I’m really much more a lazy and not active enough member of “…the development of weapons of mass destruction by anyone anywhere is a crime against humanity because it is just a question of time before they are going to start ALL being used on everyone cult” So I am only replying to you because you were the first other person besides Tom who left a comment regarding my post and this will be my last on the subject.
My main point is that we are ALREADY out of “the gas, and especially oil, energy age”. The only analogy I can offer you is that mandating their use by society is akin to what the Catholic Church cult did by mandating for centuries that everyone believe the earth was the center of the solar system and the sun revolved around the earth. In fact continuing to use them is like choosing to be a Neanderthal walking about on all fours rather than choosing to evolve and use your mind to stand up like homo erectus and use new tools that are available to us.
Which only goes to show the irony of it all, because I’ve seen accusations made here that Greens want to take people back to a hunter gathering society when what I see is that the gas and oil industries want to hold everyone back by remaining stagnant and refusing to change, evolve and move forward with already fully tested and well established green technologies that are clean, safe and highly efficient. I might add further that if humanity wanted to AND had better priorities I am convinced that we could easily solve the mystery of generating energy from safe fusion much sooner than the year 2050 when it is predicted to be solved.
But you can hardly call it a civilization we live in when after banks are “mercifully” bailed out millions end up being thrown into the streets. And you can hardly call it anything but an insane asylum when we have a government that spends more money on the most Godless types of weapons than any other three countries in the world. That is not even mentioning the surrealism of calling our country the land of the free when we have more people in prison than any dictatorship on the face of the earth. All of these things are interrelated and show a society on the verge of imploding from within and falling to the justified paranoia we should have for what has been done to the rest of the world in our name.
Meanwhile, and as the entire world is falling apart about us, the gas and oil industries are more concerned with mainlining profits from those fossil fuels to keep everyone addicted to those companies being their “dealer” rather than helping everyone kick the fossil fuel addiction by having their own independent, cheaply made and cheaply maintained energy supplies like solar, geothermal etc. Victor, some of us see everything moving so fast that in just the time you read this, and in comparison to a hopefully brighter future for mankind, fracking people’s ideas now sound as valid and as insane as a zealot trying to convince a 4th grader that the world is flat.
Because assuming humanity has a future, green technology is tomorrow. And come tomorrow, Victor, I have no doubt that those of us who were Greens today will invariably still be dragging further along those of you who will want to stay with what will already be…yesterday’s dead technology by then.
Take care.
well written and stated , Mr. Hood. Some will agree with you and others will be seriously opposed to your statements. Different brains in the human species. Different, opposing ways of understanding the same situation.
What if Vera and William were against hi rise elevators in NYC… Would this be what we see on shaleshock media…
http://www.mandatory.com/2012/11/26/brazilian-variety-show-pulls-most-terrifying-hidden-camera-prank/?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl28%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D238940
it is the same formatt of what were seeing now
Thanks for the link Vic…….love the Sexiest Bikinis of 2012 for sure :)
It would seem Huston, Scroggins and Mr. Hood, like Fox, Ruffalo, et al, are true believers in the “Deep Green” ideology…if not, they’re simply useful idiots slobbering at the trough of the DG potentates. In short, their philosophy is to save the planet by dismantling, destroying and forbidding any corporate or industrial development or any advanced civilization. In their minds, civilization must returned to the era of Ramapithecus for earth to survive. No electric power, no means of transport other than Shank’s mare, no heat in your thatched hut unless you dig peat from the bog…..with their permission, of course, laundry day is spent creek side smacking your loincloth on a flat rock….but OH NO…stop the parade….not for them, the self-perceived illuminati. They’ll supervise your misery while continuing to heat and cook with natural gas, just as they do today. They’ll jet around the planet, carbon emissions be damned, at whim for enormous financial windfall as Fox, Ruffalo, Gore, RFK Jr and their ilk do today. You’ll have been stripped of your property rights, then your property for zero sum or pennies on the dollar just as NRDC and similar entities have done in the name of “environmental justice”….you New Yorkers, does Storm King Mountain ring a bell..??
All of you…and you may be on the fence or lukewarm for natural gas development….but you ought to be supremely vigilant when your property rights are threatened…listen and read what these anti-development people are saying and writing. Read Huston’s and Scroggins’ diatribe and take a keen eye to Mr. Hood’s rant above. They’re telling you exactly what they will do if they prevail and it is not positive for our standard of living…wake up for cryin’ out loud.
EID, you all are a joke, it’s impossible to take anything you write seriously. You try so hard to mock any intelligent discourse on natural gas drilling it’s just laughable. You reveal the true nature of the natural gas industry, who pays your salary.
Please be more specific if you want to criticize. Tell me what is wrong with quoting two of your friends?
nothing wrong ith quoting them Tom… it’s just an embaressment for them.
The arguments of these 2 people serve no use but to annoy others.
Tom,
You’ve hit the nail on the head here. There definitely IS an underlying philosophy (or philosophies) behind the anti-fracking industry, which the leadership of the movement keeps hidden in most, but not all of their public pronouncements. I believe the most important philosophical basis behind the anti-frackers is “eco-communalism.” It’s a philosophy which is anti-capitalism (Marxism is also an underlying philosophy), anti-science and anti-technology, and YES seeks to destroy our current civilization with the dream that a new one will spring up, made of small, independent communities who live barely above the level of subsistence farmers, with no industry and no modern technology. I’ve written about this a few times on my website, like here:
“BILL MCKIBBEN, ECO-COMMUNALISM, AND THE ANTI-FRACKING INDUSTRY”
http://www.cst.net/geoscience/oil-business/132-bill-mckibben-eco-communalism-and-the-anti-fracking-industry
and here:
“ANTI FRACKERS, PEAK OIL, AND HOBBITS”
http://www.cst.net/geoscience/oil-business/133-anti-frackers-peak-oil-and-hobbits
and here:
“FRACKING – THE ETYMOLOGICAL BATTLE”
http://www.cst.net/geoscience/oil-business/131-fracking-the-etymological-battle
Has everyone noted the alignment of the anti-fracking industry with the overtly anti-capitalism and pro-Marxist “Occupy” movement? They see each other as fellow travelers and allies because they share the same root philosophies: Marxism, communism and eco-communalism, “smaller is better,” localism (like “locavores” and “slow food” etc.), anti-capitalism, anti-economic-growth, anti-capitalism, and etc.
This is succinctly expressed by Bill Huston above, when he says: “the pursuit of money/jobs can work AGAINST LIFE.”
That PERFECTLY aligns with one of the primary theses of the eco-communalist movement. Do a simple google search and educate yourself about this insane, destructive, and murderous philosophy (murderous because it requires elimination of most of the human race):
https://www.google.com/search?q=eco-communalism
Thank you. I’ve been saying this for a while and been treated, even by people who otherwise agree with me, as though I were wearing a tinfoil hat. But, as I said in a brief comment above, WE’RE the crazy ones. Right.
Tracy,
I understand, totally. I hate “John Birch Society” type conspiracy crapola and don’t like even risking being viewed as a “tinfoil hat” wearer, as you say. However, what I’m saying here is something for which I’ve got solid evidence, and it comes from the own words and writing of the leaders of the anti-fracker, eco-communalist, and “occupy” movements. All you have to do is track down what these leaders actually SAY, themselves, and it’s pretty much blindingly obvious.
This isn’t a far-out conspiracy theory or other “tinfoil hat” worthy type of thinking, in my opinion. I wouldn’t talk about it if it were. I came to my understanding when, after several years of debating with anti-frackers, I decided to research the underlying philosophies behind their thinking. There are always underlying, or root, philosophies behind groups and trends and movements and views. Such as Adam Smith and John Locke and other “Enlightenment” thinkers were to the US Founding Fathers. That’s not a “tinfoil hat” claim, is it?
Read over the articles on my website for some solid evidence coming from their own words. I apologize that my writing style is lengthy and overly wordy at times – I seriously need a good editor to help me but it’s just me. Normally I edit re-read and re-edit and rewrite over and over in the process of writing and I don’t like to go back later and do what really needs to be done – cut back on words, and strive for more conciseness.
Here’s a good one, and it’s LITERALLY in his own words, as you can hear Bill McKibben speak and say exactly what Bill and Vera are saying here – so don’t tell me this isn’t all tied together with unifying, underlying, root philosophies centered in eco-communalism:
http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R703201000
Corporate- industrial pollution is destroying the human race and life . You need to live near, next to refineries and see how your quality of life is and if you think you are still healthy and sane.
Both sides seem to think we are destroying life.
That’s a crock, Vera.
“Corporate- industrial pollution is destroying the human race and life .”
PROVE IT!
The industrial revolution and the discovery of hydrocarbon-based energy has done more for human health, well-being and happiness than anything else in history, and that’s EASY to prove.
“You need to live near, next to refineries and see how your quality of life is and if you think you are still healthy and sane.”
I loved Houston! I went to grad school at UH and was an environmental geologist working in and around the refineries, taking water well samples and mapping and modeling the chemistry, and making sure they were staying in regulatory compliance. The other people who work there have some butt-kickin’ jobs and YES, they live a fun and good life. They work hard and they play hard, they have some of the best blue collar jobs in the world. You apparently have never lived or been in such an environment, have you?
Vera,
Do you deny this? It’s a simple chart of changes in human life expectancy over time in Sweden and England (I just did a quick search, I can find better but this is clear).
Note that it stays low for centuries, then suddenly in the second quarter of the 1800′s, then accelerating rapidly starting around 1850, it takes off and zooms upward.
What happened at that time to cause this? Capitalism. Industrialization. Scientific and engineering revolutions. And YES – the advent of hydrocarbon-based energy, with it’s associated radical increase in commerce and agricultural production.
http://lifeboat.com/images/lifespan.jpg
Now – can YOU show where YOUR philosophies have similarly benefited mankind? In fact, it was during the period when YOUR philosophies reigned that we had centuries of low life expectancy, human poverty and misery, wasn’t it?
This is one of the best retorts I’ve seen on our site, Chris. Vera, what say you?
longer life expectancy can be attributed to better sanitation practices besides other reasons and is still not a good reason to allow industrial pollution practices. I grew up in urban Elizabeth, NJ , in the Bayway section near the Linden refineries for years and experienced the air pollution and resultant environmental allergies, congestion and breathing issues of myself and many others in such an environment. I really appreciated the clean, fresh, country air when I moved here 21 years ago.
We can have different perspectives in our diverse country and I don’t have to prove you wrong or myself right. It is my understanding and beliefs based on my experiences and
education and critical thought processes.
I have a large block of people who see reality in my way and you have your block of believers.
This is life where there are usually at least two or more camps of perspectives.
That is why we can have our country divided almost in half in the Presidential races.
You do what you think and believe is right and I must do the same.
Follow your truth and create what you want.
This is the freedom we can enjoy in this country.
If NY continues to ban fracking, then live in the states that allow fracking. There are many of them.
I will need to move at some point to a non-fracking zone/area/State.
It’s like during the time of Slavery. If you wanted slavery , you lived in the south and vice versa.
I’m glad NY is still banning fracking and hope it continues. I may move back there some day or further south and experience more warmth.
NYers are innovative and creative and will lead the way for the Nation and World and show how alternatives can work better for us and keep our air and water clean and still make enough good jobs and promote a good economic base.
You can continue to rip apart whatever I say; disagree with whatever I say ;
there are plenty of people that agree with me and are willing to stand for this position and fight for it.
Here’s an excellent and well-researched paper by Glenn M. Ricketts, a professor of political science, that discusses the roots and history of “sustainability” – read it and note how often you’ll see anti-frackers and greenies quoting and talking about the very people and ideas he reviews in the paper. Then tell me there’s no underlying or root philosophies in the anti-fracking industry! There definitely are, and they are WAAYYYYY out there – truly destructive and insane:
http://www.nas.org/articles/The_Roots_of_Sustainability
In my opinion, all of us who are pro-science, pro-technology, pro-industry, pro-capitalist, need to study and understand the root philosophies, the underlying ideas and the writers and leaders who form the intellectual basis for destructive, extremely damaging movements such as “fractivism.” And, we need to attack at the root, expose the full philosophies of these people for exactly what and how they really are, so the public can see for themselves what it is that these activists really want for all of us.