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Nature_and_Environment.109
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{Nature_and_Environment.109.8}: John Wilson {doorman} Sat, 04 Jun 2011 11:00:45 EDT (6 lines)

I am extremely gratified to see Colleen engaged in this topic.  This
is of major concern to us all.  We are rapidly poisoning this planet
so that only those who possess the ability to filter air and water
will be able to survive the degradation we are headed to.

It is so fucking stupid!  And for the most part we all capitulate.

{Nature_and_Environment.109.9}: Colleen Nelson {cole2u} Sat, 04 Jun 2011 11:30:44 EDT (HTML)

{Nature_and_Environment.109.10}: John Wilson {doorman} Sat, 04 Jun 2011 11:45:27 EDT (1 line)

Agree totally.

{Nature_and_Environment.109.11}: Nancy Davison {nmdavison} Sat, 04 Jun 2011 19:13:57 EDT (13 lines)

I was listening to an interview concerning fracking (?) the other day,
and there was a lot of interest in it, people calling in telling
stories of how the natural gas companies tell them it doesn't matter
if they sign a release, they're going to just drill on their
neighbor's land and access the noncompliant folk's land that way.
There was lots of talk of the damage to the underground water table
and so on.

When they interviewed the spokesman for the natural gas company, his
excuse was that we need the gas and so that's all there is to it. Duh!
I'd say we need water a lot more than we need natural gas. That show
really sensitized me to the situation, and I will be paying lots more
attention from now on.

{Nature_and_Environment.109.12}: Colleen Nelson {cole2u} Tue, 07 Jun 2011 19:17:19 EDT (HTML)

{Nature_and_Environment.109.13}: We'll be there...... {cole2u} Fri, 10 Jun 2011 23:09:25 EDT (119 lines)

"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/10/gas-lobby-bribery-public-
meeting_n_874903.html"

Environmental and citizen groups, already concerned about the makeup
of a federal subcommittee formed last month to make recommendations
for improving the safety of natural gas exploration, were buzzing
Friday morning with the disclosure of an email from an industry lobby
that appeared designed to lure supporters of natural gas drilling to a
forthcoming public meeting with promises of hotel rooms and baseball
tickets.

An industry spokesman defended providing for travel and
accommodations, but said the offer of baseball tickets had been
withdrawn.

"No one's getting paid anything, let's start there," said Chris
Tucker, a spokesman for oil and gas lobby group Energy in Depth, in an
email to HuffPost. "What we're trying to do is provide an opportunity
for folks to participate in a federal forum on best practices in shale
development, especially those who might not otherwise have the means
or ability to get to it themselves."

The emailed offer appears to have been sent to undisclosed recipients
by Thomas Shepstone, head of Shepstone Management Company, an
environmental, land use and zoning consultancy based in Honesdale, Pa.

Shepstone is also listed as the campaign manager of something called
the Northeast Marcellus Initiative, a new effort launched in April
that serves, according to the group's website, as "the eyes and ears
(as well as arms, legs and heart)" of Energy in Depth in the Marcellus
Shale. That formation is a vast area of potentially copious natural
gas yields underlying parts of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and
New York.

Energy in Depth is the broader coalition of oil and gas producers that
has largely spearheaded the campaign to defend and support natural gas
exploration against charges that its practices -- particularly the use
of hydraulic fracturing -- are a risk to public health and the
environment.

The federal panel, and the public meeting in Pennsylvania slated for
next Monday, are part of several ongoing efforts to get to the bottom
of that question.

Shepstone apparently wanted to make sure that supporters of natural
gas drilling in the Marcellus were well represented at the June 13
meeting. His email message follows:

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Department of Energy Meeting on Hydraulic Fracturing
Date:*Thu, 9 Jun 2011 12:11:46 -0400
From:*Thomas Shepstone
To:*Undisclosed-recipients:
There is an extremely important meeting coming up this Monday and we
need folks to attend.
Here is the essential background, folks:
Department of Energy to Host Secretary of Energy Advisory Board
Natural Gas Subcommittee Meeting
Washington, DC – On Monday, June 13, 2011, the U.S. Department of
Energy will host a public meeting of the Secretary of Energy Advisory
Board (SEAB) Natural Gas Subcommittee at Washington & Jefferson
College in Washington, Pa. The meeting will allow subcommittee members
to hear directly from community members interested in the safety and
environmental performance of hydraulic fracturing.
WHAT:
Secretary of Energy Advisory Board Natural Gas Subcommittee Meeting

WHEN:
Monday, June 13, 2011
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
WHERE: Washington Jefferson College Olin Fine Arts Center East
Wheeling Street Washington, PA
More information about the public meeting and the subcommittee can be
obtained by visiting www.shalegas.energy.gov.
Obviously, even though it's short notice and a long ways off (we just
learned about it ourselves) this is an extremely important event. We
need as many of you from our region there as possible under the
circumstances. Given the short notice and the distance, we are
prepared to help make this happen. We can offer the following
incentives to attend:

1. Bus transportation (we'll try to set something up with pickups in
maybe Binghamton, Scranton and the Williamsport area and provide the
details when you let us know of your interest).

2. A hotel room for the night of June 13th.

3. Your meals.

4. Tickets for the Pittsburgh Pirates game (they’re playing the Mets
that night)

5. Airfare (for older folks, especially..and for heads of landowner
groups)

If you can do this, please let me know by return e-mail ASAP and we'll
get back to you with the details once we know how many are willing to
go.

Natural gas critics found the promise of swag to be scandalous, with
the Delaware Riverkeeper Network going so far as to forward the email
to the Department of Energy with comments.

But Tucker said that the outrage was much ado about nothing.

"It's exactly what the opposition does for every single local township
meeting anytime one's held anywhere across the entire mid-Atlantic
region," the Energy in Depth spokesman wrote. "Difference is, we're
not busing people in for a local township meeting. This is a public
forum sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. Our folks have the
right to be there, and if we have any say in the matter, they will
be."

A short time later, Tucker reached out again to add that the baseball
game had been nixed.

"After giving it some serious thought," he said, "we came to the
realization that no one should have to watch baseball of that
quality."

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