Fracking Jumps The Pacific

[tyellas]

Welp, my cat's dead and National (the local equivalent of the Republicans) is back in power after New Zealand's election this weekend. So I may as well extend my grumpiness with a post about fracking.

I've been paying quiet attention as the gas extraction/mining process known as "fracking" has spread. Fracking is particularly prevalent in Pennsylvania, my old geological stomping grounds. Pennsylvania also has a long history of suffering from mining practices that turned out to be longer-term geological bad ideas. Centralia, PA’s coal fire, started in 1962, is still burning underground. Abandoned mines and mine shafts are a serious safety issue. For a long time, Pennsylvania had the second highest rate of coal-mining-related acid rain in the U.S. (second only to West Virginia).But I digress from fracking.

I'm very curious to see Gasland, the movie about fracking.

Here's an excellent shorter overview from the New Yorker.

Longer piece from the New York Times. This has it all, the happy, the disgruntled, the sick children and dead animals.

What does this mean for New Zealand? There seem to be fracking permits issued for Canterbury.

Comments

[tyellas.livejournal.com]

You and I get brushed aside along the pathway to this choice...which is part of what the whole Occupy movement is about, yes?