SPLIT ESTATE

Imagine discovering that you don't own the mineral rights under your land, and that an energy company plans to drill for natural gas two hundred feet from your front door. Imagine having little recourse, other than accepting an unregulated industry in your backyard.

Split Estate maps a tragedy in the making, as citizens in the path of a new drilling boom in the Rocky Mountain West struggle against the erosion of their civil liberties, their communities and their health.


The lady speaking at 1:49 is a puppet, an idiot. Anyone have a nice cool glass of 'frackwater' for this lady to quench her thirst?

Gov't Monitors Fracking Victims

Fracking, the process where oil and gas companies drill for natural gas has caused people to get sick. And those speaking out against fracking are actually being monitored by the Department of Homeland Security in Pennsylvania. RT Correspondent Kristine Frazao discusses a town in Pennsylvania where they don't even have clean drinking water and now their houses are worth nothing.





Source: The Alyona Show

Shale gas moratorium urged in Quebec

Tuesday, September 14, 2010 | 6:31 PM ET

CBC News

Quebec environment group Équiterre is calling for a moratorium on shale gas exploration in the province until the controversial process is reviewed for environmental risks.

The St. Lawrence River's south shore is fertile farmland and rich in shale deposits. (CBC)Équiterre says there are too many unanswered questions about the impact of extracting natural gas using a new technology called hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking".

"We could take six months or something like that to study it carefully," Équiterre deputy director Stephen Guilbeault said Tuesday.

"Obviously, the information provided needs to be independent. It cannot come from the people who stand to benefit millions from the exploitation of this resource."

Équiterre says potential groundwater contamination is a real issue for public safety, and the Liberal government should halt exploratory drilling pending further study.

Quebec's environmental protection agency — known as the BAPE — is reviewing natural gas exploration and is expected to report back to the provincial government by February 2011.

Companies reproached for not informing communities

The province has already allowed gas exploration in low-lying regions along the St. Lawrence River, where there are deposits of the gas trapped in shale bedrock. But the government has chastised the Quebec Oil and Gas Association for how it proceeded with its drilling.

Communities along the St. Lawrence River where drilling has started have complained they weren't notified about the work until after the fact.

Natural Resources Minister Nathalie Normandeau said people should have been told ahead of time.
"I had a discussion with [association president] Mr. [André] Caillé about the bad experience with one community, and my message is clear: It is not acceptable for Quebec."

The oil and gas association is hosting information sessions in communities where shale gas deposits have been identified. The first meeting was scheduled in Bécancour, outside Montreal, on Tuesday night.

Shale gas has been lauded by leading energy companies around the world as a rich source of future power.

Earlier this week in Montreal, Shell CEO Peter Voser told an international energy conference that shale gas has risks, but they are manageable.

WTFrack.org

Oil and gas company sentenced for bird deaths

EnCana Oil & Gas Inc., a company based in Denver, pleaded guilty and was sentenced Aug. 26 for two misdemeanor violations regarding the deaths of about 55 federally protected migratory birds in Colorado and Wyoming.

The company was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Denver for violating the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act in the deaths of the birds, including waterfowl and owls, in natural gas well reserve pits and wastewater storage facilities, according to a news release.

The court sentenced the company to pay a total of $200,000 in fines and community service payments for the violations, which occurred in the past four years, after reaching a plea agreement, according to the release.

The violations occurred at facilities in Colorado’s Piceance Basin, located south of Moffat County, and the Sweetwater, Sublette and Lincoln Counties of Wyoming.

According to the release, migratory birds often land on open wastewater ponds at oil and gas facilities and can become coated with or ingest fatal amounts of hydrocarbon discharge as a result of production operations.

Oil and gas companies can prevent such bird deaths, according to the release, by placing obstructions or netting over the water to prevent contact with the wastewater.

As part of the plea agreement, EnCana must implement an environmental compliance plan designed to keep birds from coming in contact with the wastewater in the two states. According to the release, EnCana has already spent $3 million to start the plan.

The fines EnCana must pay as part of the agreement will go to the North American Wetlands Conservation Fund and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

According to the plea agreement, EnCana “failed to heed warnings” during initial investigations from federal agencies in 2005 and 2006 about the uncovered pits in the Piceance Basin.
About 19 migratory birds, such as ducks and owls, were found to have died as a result of the wastewater in the Piceance Basin, many of which were located at facilities in Rio Blanco County, according to the release.

“The United States is bound by several treaties to protect migratory birds, many of which cross international borders and are a resource we share with other counties,” said U.S. District Attorney John Walsh in the release. “The Migratory Bird Treaty Act provides only criminal sanctions for unlawfully taking such birds, and we treat corporate violations of this statute as serious offenses.”
The Migratory Bird Treaty Act was enacted in 1918 and creates a misdemeanor criminal sanction for the un-permitted taking of listed birds by any means. None of the birds killed in the case were listed as endangered or threatened under federal law, according to the release.

“Environmental compliance plans, like the one in this case, help reduce the needless killing of protected birds in the future,” said Steve Oberholtzer, Special Agent in charge of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, region six, in the release. “Our agency will continue to investigate these killings and refer appropriate cases for prosecution.”

The cases were investigated by special agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and were prosecuted by the U.S. Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section and the U.S. District Attorney’s office in Colorado.

Source: CraigDailyPress.com