The Gallery of Environmental Outrages

$fracking$

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Former Congressman Makes Hurricane Sandy Joke

Talk about insensitivity and tone deafness.

Speaking at a weekend rally, former Alabama Congressman Arthur Davis put his foot in his mouth, and then some, by shamelessly uttering: “Now four years ago, ladies and gentleman, the president sounded so good. Remember the rise of the oceans would begin to slow. The planet would begin to heal. Now I don’t know about the oceans; I’ll ask Mayor Bloomberg and Al Gore about that.”

Davis’ comment was a continuation of the line Presidential candidate Mitt Romney uttered at the Republican National Convention in late August, when he said: “President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and to heal the planet.”

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Just in case Davis needs reminding, Hurricane Sandy’s storm surge wiped out beaches, dislodged homes, ripped up boardwalks, displaced amusement parks, and killed at least 110 people across the eastern seaboard.

One hundred and ten dead Americans, Congressman Davis.

It is unlikely that Mayor Bloomberg will respond to Davis’ comments, given that his surprising endorsement last week of Obama was based on the President’s climate change stance. “And while the increase in extreme weather we have experienced in New York City and around the world may or may not be the result of it, the risk that it might be— given this week's devastation—should compel all elected leaders to take immediate action,” Bloomberg wrote last week.

Photo: newsninja2012

You Gotta Be Frackin’ Kiddin’ Me!

In an innocent but nevertheless colossal mistake, a North Carolina lawmaker pressed the wrong voting button late last week, thereby opening up the state to fracking.

State Representative Becky Carney, a five-term Democrat from Charlotte, burst into tears after wrongly voting with Republicans to override Democratic Governor Bev Purdue’s veto of the hot button legislation, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Moments after her vote, Carney could be heard on the microphone saying “Oh my gosh, I pushed green.”

As is common when a member pushes the wrong button, Carney asked for a do-over, but the anti-Earth, pro-fracking GOP House leadership said that wasn’t an option.

A change in Carney’s vote would have altered the outcome of the overall vote, which is against the House rules.

Later that night, Carney shared her regret with reporters at a hastily called press conference.

“I feel rotten, and I feel tired. And I feel that mistakes are made constantly when people are tired. And I feel rotten about it, but I take responsibility for my vote."

Fracking is an energy-extraction process by which a NSFE (not safe for Earth) liquid cocktail—part water, part chemical, part sand—is blasted into hard rock, thereby fracturing it to allow natural gas and/or oil to flow to the surface.

In other words, exactly the kind of thing you would want to accidentally legalize.

Should Carney have been allowed to change here vote?

(Photo: Creative Commons/jimboudan006)

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63% of America Ain’t Got No Clue What Fracking Is

What exactly is fracking? If you’ve got a red, white, and blue passport and you can’t answer this question, don’t feel all that bad: you’re not alone.

According to a University of Texas poll of 2,400 Americans (a very good sample size, btw), 28 percent of Americans were “not familiar” with fracking. Even more eye-opening, 35 percent said they had “never heard” the process.

So…28 + 35…carry the one…63 percent of Americans are clueless about an energy-grabbing process that is killing our ecology!

If only those in the progressive movement, the media, or teenage rap circles had conceived of some way to explain a) what fracking is and b) how and why its an ecological atom bomb…oh, they had.

See Josh Fox’s Oscar-nominated documentary Gasland. See this fantastic piece from Vanity Fair. See Mark Ruffalo’s awareness campaign. See any one of these light-your-faucet-on-fire YouTube videos. See this catchy rap video.

Fracking, also known in eco-dobadding circles by its more official-sounding aliases (“hydraulic fracking, hydrofracking, hydraulic fracturing”) is not good at all for our ecological present and future, says Treehugger.

It has fundamentally transformed the energy debate—and energy production—around the world. It has helped create the glut of natural gas we're currently sitting on, and that in turn is helping to drive coal out of business. It also poses numerous health and environmental risks that everyone—especially those who live in fracking-impacted areas—should be aware of. It can contaminate groundwater, spur small earthquakes, blast methane emissions into the sky, etc.

As for my definition, here goes…

(Photo: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)

The Gavel That Killed Green Progress

Slowly, methodically, and rather dispassionately, the 112th United States Congress has piled up quite the eco body count. Since January 2011, the GOP-led House of Representatives has voted an astounding 247 times against the environment. That’s an average of one anti-green vote per workday.

The news, which comes courtesy from a report released by Representatives Henry Waxman and Ed Markey, should hardly come as a surprise.

Today’s House Republicans are in a long-term, very solid relationship with big oil—well, to be more precise, big oil’s nearly bottomless coffers. Over their careers, the Republicans have received $38 million from the oil and gas industry. House Democrats, it should be noted, aren’t totally clean either: they’ve taken nearly $9 million in big oil money.

Climate Progress picked out the dirtiest details from the report:

—One out of every five votes has either rolled back protections for public lands, clean air, clean water, or enriched the oil industry.

—There were 77 votes undermining clean air and public health protections, including new EPA regulation of mercury toxins.

—Another 39 votes weaken public lands protections, 37 votes block climate change action, and 31 votes are against Clean Water Act protection.

—The House voted to enrich the oil and gas industry 109 times, 44 percent of its anti-environment votes. There were 38 votes to prevent clean energy deployment and 12 votes to expedite review of the Keystone XL pipeline.