Debtor’s Prison for Failure to Pay for Your Own Trial

by Alex Tabarrok on April 18, 2012

Debtor’s prisons are supposed to be illegal in the United States but today poor people who fail to pay even small criminal justice fees are routinely being imprisoned. 

The problem has gotten worse recently because strapped states have dramatically increased the number of criminal justice fees. 

In Pennsylvania, for example, the criminal court charges for police transport, sheriff costs, state court costs, postage, and “judgment.” Many of these charges are not for any direct costs imposed by the criminal but have been added as revenue enhancers. A $5 fee, for example, supports the County Probation Officers’ Firearms Training Fund, an $8 fee supports the Judicial Computer Project, a $250 fee goes to the DNA Detection Fund. 

Convicted criminals may face dozens of fees (not including fines and restitution) totaling a substantial burden for people of limited means. 

Fees do not end outside the courtroom. Jailed criminals can be charged for room and board and for telephone use, haircuts, drug tests, transportation, booking, and medical co-pays. 

In Arizona, visitors to a prison are now charged a $25 maintenance fee. In PA in order to get parole there is a mandatory charge of $60. While on parole, defendants may be further assessed counseling, testing and other fees. Interest builds unpaid fees larger and larger. In Washington state unpaid legal debt accrues at an interest rate of 12%. As a result, the median person convicted in WA sees their criminal justice debt grow larger over time.

Many states are now even charging the accused to apply for and use a public defender! As a result, some defendants are discouraged from exercising their rights to an attorney.

Most outrageously, in some states public defender, pre-trial jail and other court fees can be assessed on individuals even when they are not convicted of any crime. Failure to pay criminal justice fees can result in revocation of an individual’s drivers license, arrest and imprisonment. Individuals with revoked licenses who drive (say to work to earn money to pay their fees) and are apprehended can be further fined and imprisoned. Unpaid criminal justice debt also results in damaged credit reports and reduced housing and employment prospects. Furthermore, failure to pay fees can mean a violation of probation and parole terms which makes an individual ineligible for Federal programs such as food stamps, Temporary Assistance to Needy Family funds and Social Security Income for the elderly and disabled.

It’s difficult to argue against criminal justice fees for those who can pay, but for those who cannot– and most criminal defendants are poor–such fees can be a personal and public policy disaster. Criminal justice debt drags people further away from reintegration with civil society. A person’s life can spiral out of their control when interest, late fees, revocation of a driver’s license and ineligibility for public assistance, mean that unpaid criminal justice debt snowballs. You can’t get blood from a stone but if you try, you can break the stone.

Optimal punishment is swift and sure but also has a defined endpoint. As with bankruptcy, punishment must end, leaving both hope and opportunity. We used to release criminals without a nickel or a nail but with an understanding that their debt to society had been paid. Today, we release criminals with a ball of debt and other restrictions that chains them to the criminal justice system and which can pull them back into prison long after their sentences have been served. Releasing people with little hope or opportunity for reintegration with civil society is good for neither the releasees nor society.

Fracking: Pennsylvania Gags Physicians

by: Walter Brasch, Dissident Voice 

Sunday 18 March 2012

This is Part One of a Three-Part Series.

A new Pennsylvania law endangers public health by forbidding health care professionals from sharing information they learn about certain chemicals and procedures used in high volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing. The procedure is commonly known as fracking.

Fracking is the controversial method of forcing water, gases, and chemicals at tremendouspressure of up to 15,000 pounds per square inch into a rock formation as much as 10,000 feet below the earth’s surface to open channels and force out natural gas and fossil fuels.

Advocates of fracking argue not only is natural gas “greener” than coal and oil energy, with significantly fewer carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur emissions, the mining of natural gas generates significant jobs in a depressed economy, and will help the U.S. reduce its oil dependence upon foreign nations. Geologists estimate there may be as much as 2,000 trillion cubic feet of natural gas throughout the United States. If all of it is successfully mined, it could not only replace coal and oil but serve as a transition to wind, solar, and water as primary energy sources, releasing the United States from dependency upon fossil fuel energy and allowing it to be more self-sufficient.

The Marcellus Shale—which extends beneath the Allegheny Plateau, through southern New York, much of Pennsylvania, east Ohio, West Virginia, and parts of Maryland and Virginia—is one of the nation’s largest sources for natural gas mining, containing as much as 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Each of Pennsylvania’s 5,255 wells, as of the beginning of March 2012, with dozens being added each week, takes up about nine acres, including all access roads and pipe.

Over the expected life time of each well, companies may use as many as nine million gallons of water and 100,000 gallons of chemicals and radioactive isotopes within a four to six week period. The additives “are used to prevent pipe corrosion, kill bacteria, and assist in forcing the water and sand down-hole to fracture the targeted formation,” explains Thomas J. Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research. However, about 650 of the 750 chemicals used in fracking operations are known carcinogens, according to a report filed with the U.S. House of Representatives in April 2011. Fluids used in fracking include those that are “potentially hazardous,” including volatile organic compounds, according to Christopher Portier, director of the National Center for Environmental Health, a part of the federal Centers for Disease Control. In an email to the Associated Press in January 2012, Portier noted that waste water, in addition to bring up several elements, may be radioactive. Fracking is also believed to have been the cause of hundreds of small earthquakes in Ohio and other states.

The law, an amendment to Title 52 (Oil and Gas) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, requires that companies provide to a state-maintained registry the names of chemicals and gases used in fracking. Physicians and others who work with citizen health issues may request specific information, but the company doesn’t have to provide that information if it claims it is a trade secret or proprietary information, nor does it have to reveal how the chemicals and gases used in fracking interact with natural compounds. If a company does release information about what is used, health care professionals are bound by a non-disclosure agreement that not only forbids them from warning the community of water and air pollution that may be caused by fracking, but which also forbids them from telling their own patients what the physician believes may have led to their health problems. A strict interpretation of the law would also forbid general practitioners and family practice physicians who sign the non-disclosure agreement and learn the contents of the “trade secrets” from notifying a specialist about the chemicals or compounds, thus delaying medical treatment.

The clauses are buried on pages 98 and 99 of the 174-page bill, which was initiated and passed by the Republican-controlled General Assembly and signed into law in February by Republican Gov. Tom Corbett.

“I have never seen anything like this in my 37 years of practice,” says Dr. Helen Podgainy, a pediatrician from Coraopolis, Pa. She says it’s common for physicians, epidemiologists, and others in the health care field to discuss and consult with each other about the possible problems that can affect various populations. Her first priority, she says, “is to diagnose and treat, and to be proactive in preventing harm to others.” The new law, she says, not only “hinders preventative measures for our patients, it slows the treatment process by gagging free discussion.”

Psychologists are also concerned about the effects of fracking and the law’s gag order. “We won’t know the extent of patients becoming anxious or depressed because of a lack of information about the fracking process and the chemicals used,” says Kathryn Vennie of Hawley, Pa., a clinical psychologist for 30 years. She says she is already seeing patients “who are seeking support because of the disruption to their environment.” Anxiety in the absence of information, she says, “can produce both mental and physical problems.”

The law is not only “unprecedented,” but will “complicate the ability of health department to collect information that would reveal trends that could help us to protect the public health,” says Dr. Jerome Paulson, director of the Mid-Atlantic Center for Children’s Health and the Environment at the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Dr. Paulson, also professor of pediatrics at George Washington University, calls the law “detrimental to the delivery of personal health care and contradictory to the ethical principles of medicine and public health.” Physicians, he says, “have a moral and ethical responsibility to protect the health of the public, and this law precludes us from doing all we can to protect the public.” He has called for a moratorium on all drilling until the health effects can be analyzed.

Pennsylvania requires physicians to report to the state instances of 73 specific diseases, most of which are infectious diseases. However, the list also includes cancer, which may have origins not only from chemicals used to create the fissures that yield natural gas, but also in the blow-back of elements, including arsenic, present within the fissures. Thus, physicians are faced by conflicting legal and professional considerations.

“The confidentiality agreements are worrisome,” says Peter Scheer, a journalist/lawyer who is executive director of the First Amendment Coalition. Physicians who sign the non-disclosure agreements and then disclose the possible risks to protect the community can be sued for breech of contract, and the companies can seek both injunctions and damages, says Scheer.

In pre-trial discovery motions, a company might be required to reveal to the court what it claims are trade secrets and proprietary information, with the court determining if the chemical and gas combinations really are trade secrets or not. The court could also rule that the contract is unenforceable because it is contrary to public policy, which places the health of the public over the rights of an individual company to protect its trade secrets, says Scheer. However, the legal and financial resources of the natural gas corporations are far greater than those of individuals, and they can stall and outspend most legal challenges.

Although Pennsylvania is determined to protect the natural gas industry, not everyone in the industry agrees with the need for secrecy. Dave McCurdy, president of the American Gas Association, says he supports disclosing the contents included in fracturing fluids. In an opinion column published in the Denver Post, McCurdy further argued, “We need to do more as an industry to engage in a transparent and fact-based public dialogue on shale gas development.”

The Natural Gas committee of the U.S. Department of Energy agrees. “Our most important recommendations were for more transparency and dissemination of information about shale gas operations, including full disclosure of chemicals and additives that are being used,” said Dr. Mark Zoback, professor of geophysics at Stanford University and a Board member.

Both McCurdy’s statement and the Department of Energy’s strong recommendation about full disclosure were known to the Pennsylvania General Assembly when it created the law that restricted health care professionals from disseminating certain information that could help reduce significant health and environmental problems from fracking operations.

Situation All Fracked Up

We Asked For Water, They Gave Us Gasoline

by ROBERT HUNZIKER

 

According to worldwide energy industry participants, all of the low hanging fruit is gone.

Finding new energy sources will henceforth be difficult and expensive… and very dangerous to your health. The unquenchable thirst for energy is unique to modern man, a little over 100 years old, and energy is unquestionably the heartbeat of modern civilization.

We cannot exist without it, but where and how to find it is fast becoming the biggest challenge to the health of planet earth. Case in point: Fracking is the fastest growing segment of the energy industry, massively so in North America, but it may be the death knell of society well before global warming has the opportunity to really strut its stuff.

According to Texas Governor Rick Perry, when confronted on the campaign trail about fracking problems: “We have been using hydraulic fracturing in my home state for years and this is a fear tactic that the left is using and the environmental community is using that absolutely, excuse the pun, does not hold water.”

Governor Perry’s bias and ill-founded statement is herein refuted by 12 personal testimonials in Texas included in the appendix to this article. Further, it is well understood by professionals who seriously follow the trails and tribulations of fracking that almost all cases where fracking has poisoned ground water are quickly settled, payoffs to the victims, by energy lawyers who arrange for the legal documents to be sealed.  The implication herein is we do not know the whole story by a long shot, but knowing the whole story may be the only way to survive as a species. Why we don’t know all the facts should be one of the most important political questions of 2012.

The upcoming national debate about the election of 2012 should, front and center, address the fracking issue in earnest, and the government has a responsibility to its citizens to re-establish effective monitoring of the fracking industry under the U.S. Clean Water Act. Why not? Fracking poisons ground water (see testimonials in appendix), and because fracking is the fastest growth segment of the energy industry, it will be too late once its deadly effects are well understood by the public at large.
\
How do we reverse poisoned aquifers?

1)    December 8th, 2011-Environmental Protection Agency says Gas-Fracking Chemicals Detected in Wyoming Aquifer, (a drinking-water aquifer in west-central Wyoming; residents of Pavilion, Wyoming warned to use ventilation when showering in order to air out potentially dangerous chemicals, and to drink and cook from bottled water.

2)    April 27th, 2011- Jessica Ernst, an Alberta, Canada resident who is an oil patch consultant, sued Encana, Alberta Environment and Water, and the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board for $33M over allegations that Encana’s fracking/drilling caused water contamination, i.e., her faucets began to whistle, the toilet fizzed, black particles clogged her water filters, and she broke out in rashes.

3)    December 23^rd, 2011- US Dept. of Energy issues a request for proposals, offering $35 million, of projects that will address environmental impacts of… including contamination of drinking water with fracking chemicals….”

4)    According to WaterDefense.org, “Across the country, state regulators have documented over 1,000 incidents of groundwater contamination related to fracking.  In many cases, water is so polluted with gas that people can literally light their water on fire, right out of the tap!”

5)    A New York Times article, d/d August 3, 2011, “A Tainted Water Well, and Concern There May be More,” by Ian Urbina, states: “The report concluded that hydraulic fracturing fluids or gel used by the Kaiser Exploration and Mining Company contaminated a well roughly 600 feet away on the property of James Parsons in Jackson County, W.Va., referring to it as “Mr. Parson’s water well… This fracture fluid, along with natural gas was present in Mr. Parson’s water, rendering it unusable.” The article goes on to conclude: “…E.P.A. report, said that she and her colleagues had found “dozens” of cases that she said appeared to specifically involve drinking water contamination related to fracking. But they were unable to investigate those cases further and get access to more documents because of legal settlements.”

APPENDIX

A list of actual groundwater contamination cases from the Natural Resources Defense Council:

Arkansas: In 2008, Charlene Parish of Bee Branch reported contamination of drinking water during hydraulic fracturing of a nearby natural gas well owned by Southwestern Energy Company. Her water smelled bad, turned yellow, and filled with silt.

Arkansas: In 2007, the Graetz family in Pangburn reported contamination of drinking water during hydraulic fracturing of a nearby natural gas well owned by Southwestern Energy Company. The water turned muddy and contained particles that were “very light and kind of slick” and resembled pieces of leather.

Arkansas: In 2009, a family in Bee Branch, who wishes to remain anonymous, reported changes in water pressure and drinking water that turned gray and cloudy and had noxious odors after hydraulic fracturing of a nearby natural gas well owned by Southwestern Energy Company.

Arkansas: In 2007, a family in Center Ridge reported changes in water pressure and water that turned red or orange and looked like it had clay in it after hydraulic fracturing of nearby wells owned by Southwestern Energy Company. They told their story on YouTube.

Arkansas: In 2008, a homeowner in Center Ridge reported changes in water pressure and water that turned brown, smelled bad, and had sediment in it after hydraulic fracturing of a nearby well owned by Southwestern Energy Company. He also told his story on YouTube.

Colorado: In 2001, two families in Silt reported a water well blow-out and contamination of their drinking water during hydraulic fracturing of four nearby natural gas wells owned by Ballard Petroleum, now Encana Corporation. Their drinking water turned gray, had strong smells, bubbled, and lost pressure. One family reported health symptoms they believe are linked to the groundwater contamination.

Colorado: In 2007, the Bounds family in Huerfano County reported a pump house exploded and contamination of drinking water during hydraulic fracturing of nearby wells owned by Petroglyph Energy.

Colorado: In June, 2010, the day hydraulic fracturing began on a nearby gas well in Las Animas County, landowner Tracy Dahl checked his cistern and found approximately 500 gallons of grayish brown murky water where water had previously run clear for years. The Dahls have extensive water testing documentation going back many years, verifying that their water has always been clean and clear. They were told by Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (“COGCC”) staff that the water could not be tested for chemicals in the hydraulic fracturing fluid because there is insufficient information about the chemicals used. Three monitor wells on the ranch are now producing methane at an escalating rate.

New Mexico: A 2004 investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found two residents who reported that the quality of their water was affected by hydraulic fracturing.

New York: In 2007, the Lytle family in Seneca County reported contamination of drinking water the morning after hydraulic fracturing of a nearby natural gas well owned by Chesapeake Energy Corporation. The water turned gray and was full of sediment.

New York: In 2009, the Eddy family in Allegany County reported contamination of drinking water during hydraulic fracturing of a nearby well owned by U.S. Energy Development Corporation. The water turned “foamy, chocolate-brown.”

North Dakota: The North Dakota non-profit organization Bakken Watch reports very serious health symptoms in humans, livestock, and pets after nearby hydraulic fracturing. Their website has photos of sick animals, pit leaks, and corroded tanks. North Dakota state legislators admit they are “understaffed and overwhelmed” and “struggling to provide adequate oversight amid an explosion of activity in North Dakota’s oil patch.”

Ohio: In 2007, there was an explosion of a water well and contamination of at least 22 other drinking water wells in Bainbridge Township after hydraulic fracturing of a nearby natural gas well owned by Ohio Valley Energy Systems. According to the State investigation, one of the contributing factors to this incident is that: “the frac communicated directly with the well bore and was not confined within the “Clinton” reservoir.”

Pennsylvania: A gas well near the home of the Simons family in Bradford County was drilled in 2009 and re-fracked in February 2011. Shortly after the 2011 operation, the Simons family reports that their tap water turned gray and hazy. After the water changed, family members began getting severe rashes with oozing blisters, and one child had to be taken to the hospital for torrential nosebleeds that would not stop, nausea and severe headaches. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) tested the water and found very high levels of methane and other contaminants in the water, but said it was safe to drink. Since the Simons family stopped using any of their water, these symptoms have gone away but the water still “stinks awfully; it is a scummy, rotten, nasty smell…”

Pennsylvania: In September 2010, a lawsuit was filed by 13 families who say they have been and continue to be exposed to contaminated drinking water linked to hydraulic fracturing. Eight different properties in Susquehanna County are said to have contaminated drinking water. One child has neurological symptoms consistent with exposure to toxic substances. Southwestern Energy, the company operating the well near these families, responded that it promptly investigated all complaints and that both the company and the Pennsylvania Department of the Environment independently tested the water and found no link between gas operations and the water quality and no problems with the integrity of the gas well.

Pennsylvania:  In 2009, the Zimmerman family of Washington County reported contamination of drinking water after hydraulic fracturing of nearby natural gas wells owned by Atlas Energy. Water testing on their farm found arsenic at 2,600 times acceptable levels, benzene at 44 times above limits, naphthalene at five times the federal standard, and mercury and selenium levels above official limits.

Pennsylvania: In 2008, two families in Gibbs Hill reported contamination of drinking water after hydraulic fracturing of a nearby natural gas well owned by Seneca Resources Corporation. Their water had strong fumes, caused burning in lungs and sinuses after showering, and caused burning in the mouth immediately upon drinking. The state found that the company had not managed the pressure in the well properly and had spilled used hydraulic fracturing fluids that contaminated the drinking water supply.

Pennsylvania: In 2009, families in Bradford Township reported contamination of drinking water after hydraulic fracturing of nearby natural gas wells owned by Schreiner Oil & Gas. The drinking water of at least seven families has been contaminated.

Pennsylvania: In 2009, the Smitsky family in Hickory reported contamination of their drinking water after hydraulic fracturing of nearby natural gas wells owned by Range Resources. Their water became cloudy and foul smelling. Testing found acrylonitrile, a chemical that may be used in hydraulic fracturing.

Pennsylvania: A family in Bradford County reports that its water turned black and became flammable from methane contamination in 2009 after hydraulic fracturing of a nearby well operated by Chesapeake Energy. The water cleared for a while but turned black again in 2010. Relatives living down the road also report their water turning black in 2010.

Texas: Larry Bisidas is an expert in drilling wells and in groundwater. He is the owner of Bisidas Water Well Drilling in Wise County, and has been drilling water wells for 40 years. Two water wells on his property became contaminated in 2010. When his state regulator stated that there has been no groundwater contamination in Texas related to hydraulic fracturing, Mr. Bisidas replied: “”All they’ve gotta do is come out to my place, and I’ll prove it to them.”

Texas: In Wise County, Catherine and Brett Bledsoe report that their drinking water became contaminated in 2010 soon after hydraulic fracturing began on two natural gas wells bordering their property. The water stung their eyes during showers, and their animals refused to drink the water. Without any assistance from regulators, the Bledsoes paid for their own water testing. The testing found benzene, a known carcinogen, at double the safe levels.

Texas: In 2007, three families who share an aquifer in Grandview reported contamination of drinking water after hydraulic fracturing of a nearby well owned by Williams. They experienced strong odors in their water, changes in water pressure, skin irritation, and dead livestock. Water testing found toluene and other contaminants.

Texas: The Scoma family in Johnson County is suing Chesapeake Energy, claiming the company contaminated their drinking water with benzene and petroleum by-products after hydraulic fracturing of natural gas wells near the Scoma home. The family reports that its drinking water sometimes runs an orange-yellow color, tastes bad and gives off a foul odor.

Texas: Tarrant County Commissioner J.D. Johnson, who lives in the Barnett shale area, reported groundwater contamination immediately after two gas wells on his property were hydraulically fractured. His water turned a dark gold color and had sand in it. (I live in Tarrant County.--jef)

Texas: Carol Grosser, in south Texas, noticed changes in her water after a neighbor told her a nearby well was being hydraulically fractured. Carol noticed changes in her water pressure and rust-colored residue in her stock tanks. The fish in her tanks died, and some of her goats had abnormal milk production and produced kids with unusual birth defects.

Texas: Toby Frederick began noticing a foul odor and discoloration in his water after ”an oil company blew out some casing during a hydraulic fracturing job northeast of his property.” Mr. Frederick paid for his own water samples, which found traces of benzene, a known carcinogen, in his water. He sent samples to his local Ground Water Conservation District, but never received any results. The Texas Railroad Commission told him his water was drinkable, even though it is brown and smells like diesel fuel.

Texas: The Executive Director of the Upper Trinity River Groundwater Conservation District in north Texas stated that the District “gets ‘regular reports’ from property owners who said that ‘since a particular [gas] well had been fracked, they’ve had problems’ with their water wells, such as sand in them, saltier water or reduced water output….” (Close to me, too.--jef)

Texas: Susan Knoll in the Barnett shale reports that last year her drinking water became foamy right after hydraulic fracturing of a well adjacent to her property. Since that time, additional gas wells have been fractured near her home and her drinking water has continually gotten worse. It sometimes foams, becomes oily, and has strong odors that burn Susan’s nose when she smells her water. Susan has a lot of videos and more information on her blog.

Texas: Grace Mitchell, a resident of Johnson County, Texas, is suing Encana and Chesapeake. According to her lawsuit, soon after drilling and hydraulic fracturing took place near her home in 2010, her water became contaminated, feeling slick to the touch and giving off an oily, gasoline-like odor. Testing results performed on her well water confirmed it was contaminated with various chemicals, including C-12-C28 hydrocarbons, similar to diesel fuel.

Texas: The Harris family of Denton County, Texas, is suing Devon Energy. They say that their water became contaminated soon after Devon commenced drilling and hydraulic fracturing near their home in 2008, and that their water became polluted with a gray sediment. Testing results performed on the well water found contamination with high levels of metals: aluminum, arsenic, barium, beryllium, calcium, chromium, cobalt, copper, iron, lead, lithium, magnesium, manganese, nickel, potassium, sodium, strontium, titanium, vanadium, and zinc. (Also near me.--jef)

Virginia: Citizens reported drinking water contamination after hydraulic fracturing. Water was murky and had oily films, black sediments, methane, and diesel odors. Individuals experienced rashes from showering. The Buchanan Citizens Action Group reported over 100 documented complaints of adverse effects of hydraulic fracturing and the Dickenson County Citizens Committee reported ground water quality deteriorated throughout the county as a result of the large number of hydraulic fracturing events.

West Virginia: The Hagy family in Jackson County, West Virginia, is suing four oil and gas companies for contaminating their drinking water. They say their water had ”a peculiar smell and taste” and the parents as well as their two children are suffering from neurological symptoms. A news article reports that the lawsuit makes the connection between the drinking water contamination and the hydraulic fracturing process.

West Virginia: In Marshall County, Jeremiah Magers reported in October, 2010, that “As soon as they ‘fracked’ those gas wells, that’s when my water well started getting gas in it.” He also lost all the water in his well.

West Virginia: In Wetzel County, Marilyn Hunt reported to the EPA in 2010 that: ”frac drilling is contaminating the drinking water here.” Residents report health symptoms, such as rashes and mouth sores, as well as illness in their lambs and goats, which they suspect is linked to drinking water contamination.

Wyoming: Families in the small town of Pavillion have been reporting contamination of their drinking water for at least ten years. Hydraulic fracturing has been used in the many wells in the area owned by Encana Corporation. Drinking water has turned black, smelled bad, and tasted bad. Individuals report medical symptoms they believe are related to water contamination. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found contamination in 11 water wells, and concluded in the draft report on its investigation that: “the data indicates likely impact to ground water that can be explained by hydraulic fracturing.”

US Citizens Ramp Up Battle Against Fossil Fuel Industry

Friday, September 9, 2011 by the Inter Press Service

by Kanya D'Almeida 

 

WASHINGTON -- The fight against oil and gas giants is heating up in the U.S., with new waves of protest and civil disobedience springing up across the country.


The last three weeks saw over 1,200 people arrested outside the White House in Washington D.C. in protest of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. If approved, it would travel from Alberta, Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, through the heartland of the U.S., threatening huge swathes of fresh water supplies and destroying communities and wildlife habitats along its way, activists say.

Then, on Wednesday, hundreds of local residents, scientists and environmentalists stormed the Shale Gas Insight conference in Philadelphia, demanding a moratorium on increased hydraulic fracturing – or fracking – which they say is contaminating water supplies, devastating animal habitats and paving the way for a major "public health hazard".

Organized by a coalition of environmental and ecological justice groups, including Food & Water Watch (FWW), Protecting our Waters and the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, the "Shale Gas Outrage" rally continued Thursday with close to 2,000 demonstrators chanting "Ban it Now!" on the sidewalks lining the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

The groups are urging a ban on drilling in Marcellus Shale, the gas- rich underground rock formation beneath Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and New York, which is home to one of the biggest deposits of natural gas on the planet.

The gas is extracted using a drilling process that pumps millions of gallons of water, as well as sand and chemical additives, at high pressure to "fracture" or crack into gas-bearing rock.

While oil and gas companies have repeatedly insisted that the process is safe, environmentalists and residents from areas that have borne the brunt of fracking argue that the process contaminates underground fresh water supplies, poisoning consumers as well as the environment.

"Our immediate goal is to get a moratorium on fracking in the Delaware River Basin because, as of right now, not a single cumulative health assessment has been made about the safety issues involved in the extraction process," Francesca Lo Basso, communications director of the Shale Gas Outrage, told IPS.

"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently conducting an analysis, but until the results of that study are made public, the process needs to be halted," she said.

"The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is issuing a permit every two to 30 minutes, without having any idea what this could mean for the community or the environment," Lo Basso stressed. "The DEP's own website has recorded 11 violations by gas companies each day, yet there is no regulation of the process."

According to FWW, 15 million people rely on the Delaware River Basin for their fresh drinking water, a fact that has spurred over 80 state and local governments around the U.S. to take action to protect their residents from the impacts of the drilling process.

"People [across the U.S.] are sick from, and sick of fracking," FWW's executive director Wenonah Hauter said in a press release Wednesday.

"We can't stand by and allow the natural gas industry to endanger any more lives or natural resources. We're here to send a message to the industry that it's time to put public safety before corporate interests by banning fracking throughout the U.S," she added.

The gas companies are not backing down, claiming a range of economic incentives in favor of fracking.

"These extremist activists want us to [halt] drilling altogether," Aubrey McClendon, the chief executive of Chesapeake Energy Co., told conference participants Wednesday. "Which is fine if you don't like heat in your home, electricity in your office, a job to go to, and food on your plate."

A study commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute (API) and undertaken by the energy consulting firm Wood Mackenzie was released Wednesday, claiming, among other things, that oil-and-gas development could add 1.1 million U.S. jobs over the coming decade and rake in 36 billion dollars in federal revenues by 2015.

The study advocates for an immediate loosening of federal regulations, calls for a green-light on the Keystone XL pipeline and urges the government to deregulate areas where drilling is currently banned, including the Atlantic and Pacific Coast, Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

In turn, critics accuse the industry of fear-mongering.

"It's shameful that the oil and gas industry is seeking to horse trade environmental regulations on the false premise that it will create jobs," Hauter said Wednesday.

"Even though President (Barack) Obama is under fire to stimulate the economy, deregulating oil and gas drilling won't necessarily create jobs. Instead it will increase industry profits and pose an unacceptable risk for our nation's water resources, which are absolutely vital to our economy," she said.

According to Mitch Jones, a senior legislative and policy analyst in the water program of FWW, the API study that is currently being widely circulated among lobbyists and industry CEOs makes no promises of employment.

"If you look closely at the report, you will notice it only talks about the possibility of job creation," Jones told IPS.

"Which means we have to take the energy industry's word that it will reinvest the money it might save on energy standards into increased production and, therefore, job creation, rather than channeling those savings into profits," he added.

"With prices low, and a huge glut in the energy market already, this is a tough call," Jones told IPS. "If corporations are allowed to drill as freely as they want to, they can't avoid a bigger drop off in prices, especially with the economy still stagnant and no increased demand."

Empty Threats Unraveled"It is deeply disconcerting that the industry not only has a swarm of lobbyists here in Washington, as well as in all the state legislatures where decisions about drilling are made, they've also got multimillion dollar advertising campaigns pushing their agenda and commissioning think tanks to put out reports in support of the industry," Mitch Jones of FWW told IPS.

Dangling potential economic destruction and mass job losses as a result of clean energy practices is an old industry tactic.

In 1997, while the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was attempting to secure stricter regulations on ground-level ozone emissions – or smog – corporate giants such as the American Petroleum Institute, Business Roundtable, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers were spending millions to convince the public that tougher clean air standards would "cripple the U.S. economy" by destroying millions of jobs.

Over 14 years later, a comprehensive study by the Center for American Progress (CAP) found that the industries' predictions were completely unfounded.

CAP's detailed analysis of economic growth and employment rates at the time found that smog- choked metropolitan areas that were forced to implement tighter regulations "experienced very similar economic growth [and] employment rates to the nation as a whole".

In fact, CAP found that average GDP per capita in areas predicted to be "devastated" by the EPA's revised standards grew by .7 percent from 2004-2008, while it grew by .87 percent nationwide, a negligible difference.

Similarly, unemployment in the 54 areas affected by the 1997 ozone standard grew by 2.21 percent from 2004- 2008, while unemployment nationwide grew by 2.3 percent.

According to CAP, this data makes abundantly clear that the fear generated by the energy industries was baseless.

Industry Giants Come Full CircleIndustry lobbyists launched an almost identical attack on the most recent attempt by the EPA to update smog pollution.

Last Friday, President Barack Obama announced that he would be abandoning the new air pollution rule brought to him by EPA administrator Lisa Jackson, a move that shocked scores of environmentalists in his camp who had drafted celebratory press releases ahead of the official announcement, so convinced were they that their president would not renege on yet another promise.

According to the EPA, smog is created when pollutants from motor vehicle exhaust, industrial emissions and gasoline vapors from power plants combine with sunlight to form air that "could trigger a variety of health problems including chest pain, coughing, throat irritation, congestion and [worsening] of bronchitis, emphysema, and asthma."

In 2006, the EPA revisited the science and found that ground- level ozone was actually doing far more damage than simply aggravating respiratory problems - it was actually killing people.

In July 2010, administrator Jackson informed the Senate that the Bush-era smog standards allowing 75 parts per billion (ppb) - which will now remain in place as a result of Obama's decision - "were not legally defensible given the scientific evidence in the record" and called for a tougher standard of 60 ppb, to no avail.

Immediately after the president's announcement Friday, CAP said in a statement, "Today's [decision] grants an item on Big Oil's wish list at the expense of the health of children, seniors and the infirm. A new standard for smog would save 4,300 lives and prevent 7,000 hospital visits and tens of thousands of cases of asthma and other serious respiratory illnesses each year."

1,500 Environmental Violations by Gas Companies Drilling in Pennsylvania & Colorado in Just Two Years

(The "clean fuel" my ass! What's clean about pumping 500 pressurized corrosive chemicals into the earth (fracking) causing contamination of the water table? These poor people can light the water from their faucets ON FIRE!!! And thanks to Dickhead Cheney's closed door Energy Commission, the natural gas industry is exempt from the most important environmental laws, such as water table contamination, etc. And this is just more evidence that energy companies are run and operated by corrupt, greedy bastards who put their profit margin above the safety of the public in their list of priorities. In fact, if we could see that list, I'm sure "public safety" comes way down the list after "hire more attorneys" and "set up offshore bank accounts" and "escape from the country" etc.--jef)

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(And the gas companies, despite the claim in the report, have done nothing to clean up these people's water other than providing them filters which don't work. Oh, and they are about to start doing it in my in-laws' neighborhood in Texas. Soon, we'll be able to light their water on fire, their cats will go bald, and they'll start suffering health problems. Something else to dread in a time where there is plenty.--jef)

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Shocking Negligence
This kind of oversight is a risk to both environmental and public health
By Byard Duncan, AlterNet
Posted on August 5, 2010

Since 2008, Pennsylvanians whose property sits atop the gas-rich Marcellus Shale formation have suffered through enough environmental problems to clutter an encyclopedia: A is for arsenic, found in soil at concentrations of 2,600 times what's recommended. M is for methane -- enough to blow up a concrete well. X is for the toxin xylene. Et cetera. Sometimes troubles like these occur naturally. But more and more often, they have become the M.O. of an increasingly reckless natural gas industry -- one that's been exempt from nearly a dozen important environmental laws since 2005.

A report published Monday by Pennsylvania Land Trust vividly illustrates the breadth of the gas industry's complicity in drilling accidents across the state. According to the findings, 43 gas companies operating in Pennsylvania were responsible for nearly 1,500 environmental violations between Jan. 1, 2008 and July 25, 2010. A few of these companies had more violations than actual wells drilled.

PLT's findings draw on Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) records related to horizontal hydraulic fracturing, a controversial gas extraction process. "Fracking," as it's known, entails pummeling underground rock formations with water, sand and chemicals, then harvesting the methane that's released.

Of the 1,435 violations PLT reviewed, 952 were classified as "having the most potential for direct damage on the environment." These included 154 violations involving the discharge of industrial waste; 277 involving improper erosion and sediment plans developed/implemented; and 288 for improper construction of wastewater impoundments. Pennsylvania's Clean Streams Law was broken 100 times, and additional lapses -- comprising a little less than half of the total incidents -- included improper waste management, improper well casing construction, permitting violations, improper blowout prevention, and faulty pollution prevention practices.

The report (PDF), is not just limited to the violations themselves. It also ranks drilling companies in order of their compliance failures. The worst perpetrator, East Resources Inc., had 138 violations at 140 drill sites between 2008 and 2010. In second place was Chesapeake Appalachia LLC, with 118 violations at 153 wells.

Cabot Oil and Gas Corp. came in fourth, logging 94 violations at only 60 wells. Cabot, which was sued by more than a dozen families in Dimock, PA last November for allegedly contaminating their drinking water, has become a sort of unwilling case study in the dangers of fracking -- and the limits of state oversight. Since Cabot began its Marcellus operations, Pennsylvania regulators have at times banned the company from fracking and issued approximately $360,000 in fines. As recently as last Tuesday, the company was charged with spilling between 120 and 130 gallons of diesel fuel.

"Cabot is clearly amongst the worst of actors in the whole horror show that we've seen unfold," said Kate Sinding, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council. "This report confirms what many of us have known for some time: The regulatory structure in Pennsylvania isn't up to the task of handling the Marcellus Shale boom."

The PLT's report, according to Sinding, demonstrates the reactionary nature of Pennsylvania's lawmaking. Because Pennsylvania began large-scale gas exploration in the Marcellus without adequate environmental considerations, state officials have been forced to play catch-up every time a drilling operation gets messy.
"It's like environmental whack-a-mole," she said. "This report is the proof in the pudding. Pennsylvania allowed the Marcellus Shale rush to happen before they even asked hard questions."

Her viewpoint has some merit. Many of Pennsylvania's toughest gas drilling policies weren't instituted until 2009 or 2010 -- more than a year after large-scale drilling activity began. It wasn't until July 2, 2010, for example, that drillers were required to treat their water to the safe drinking water standard for total dissolved solids (TDS); and a series of "strengthened regulations" that will "require best well design and construction practices" won't go into effect until this November.

Pennsylvania's DEP, on the other hand, views itself as a sort of front line in the fight against careless drilling practices. "We told the public right from the beginning that Marcellus drilling is industrial activity, and that there is no such thing as zero impact gas drilling of any sort," said the agency's secretary, John Hanger. "Even when the drilling is done well and with high standards, there will be impacts."

PLT's report, according to Hanger, merely illustrates how strongly Pennsylvania has regulated gas drilling violations every step of the way. "We're not going to tolerate mediocre and substandard performance," he said. "This is not actually rocket science. It's safe handling of materials, proper construction of impoundment, proper operations. This is not hard stuff to do if you have a true culture of safety."

But with BP's Deepwater Horizon disaster (and the revelations of gross regulatory mismanagement that accompanied it) highlighting the apparent lack of such a culture, environmentalists like Sinding remain skeptical.

"The extractive industries in this country have been able to operate with a dearth of oversight," she said. "When you look at fossil fuel development in this country, it includes BP. It includes mountaintop removal. You see the same problems across the board."

More Cities on Brink of Bankruptcy

Posted By: Kate Kelly | CNBC Reporter
26 May 2010 | 11:01 AM ET

The possibility of a bankruptcy filing by the city of Harrisburg, Pa., the state capital, looms large these days—and it could be the first in a series, say some Wall Street traders.

Harrisburg, population 55,000, owes nearly $70 million in debt payments this year, and it's unclear where that money will come from.

Harrisburg now has one of the lowest credit ratings of any municipality in the United States.

Harrisburg Mayor Linda Thompson told CNBC Wednesday that she had assembled a group of bond stakeholders, the city council and other interested parties to work out the crisis "so that we don't become the poster child of the world in terms of bankruptcy."

Municipal bond underwriters are monitoring Harrisburg, which has struggled to contain the costs of financing a troubled incinerator project.

In 2003, the city borrowed $125 million to expand and retrofit its incinerator, which officials thought would make money for Harrisburg. The incinerator re-opened five years later, but it's turned out to be nothing but a money drain.

On May 1, the city missed a $452,282 loan payment related to the incinerator.

Raising taxes or selling assets, like real estate or parking lots, are options for Harrisburg. So is a restructuring plan—either inside or outside of bankruptcy.

If Harrisburg does file for bankruptcy, it would do so under Chapter 9—which is employed by cities, but rarely. In one closely watched case, the city of Vallejo, Calif., has been in Chapter 9 since 2008.

About the Harrisburg situation, Jim Lebenthal, head of public affairs for the longtime municipal-bond underwriter, Lebenthal & Co., said that while filing for Chapter 9 would be a small matter in the scheme of things, it's "emblematic" of the larger economic struggles that cities face right now. "If it can happen in a state capital, my God, it can happen anywhere," said Lebenthal.

The overall problem is that the $2.8 trillion muni bond market, long considered one of the safest havens for investors, now faces a daunting level of debt, as cities from Los Angeles to New York struggle with an array of headaches, including less tax revenue and high labor costs.

According to remarks made by Harrisburg mayor Thompson in April, the city spends rought 70 percent of its annual budget on labor.

Cities can always raise taxes to fight a budget shortfall. But costly projects, fewer people in the workforce and more demand for city services can make budgets tough to square these days.

Financial firms underwrite bond offerings for cities and public-works projects, and the default rate on muni bonds has historically been quite low—less than 1 percent—compared to nearly 13 percent for corporate bonds, according to ratings agency figures.

In that sense, the Street encourages investors to go long municipalities.

But investors and the Street can also short munis through credit default swaps, or CDS policies that pay out if an entity defaults.

The Markit MCDX, an index that tracks the cost of insuring against default of a basket of 50 municipalities, is on a recent high of $173,000 for $10 million of protection on a five-year bond—a point last reached near the beginning of this year. A swap that would pay out if the state of Pennsylvania defaults cost $112,000 for the same $10 million amount.