From the INQUIRER OP-ED:
The current wave of Marcellus Shale gas drilling has many Pennsylvanians worried about the impact on their water supplies – understandably so. The state’s natural-gas industry faces significantly less environmental regulation than the coal industry does, but its potential repercussions are at least as serious. Gas reserves underlie most of the commonwealth, so gas drilling can be expected to span a much greater area than coal mining, which is now largely confined to 10 southwestern counties.
There is an important lesson to be learned from Pennsylvania’s experience with coal mining. A few decades ago, a relatively new, high-extraction mining technology was arriving on the scene. Called “longwall mining,” it allows the removal of huge blocks of coal – 5 to 6 feet thick, several miles long, and up to 1,600 feet wide.
Extracting that much coal causes the ground at the surface to literally collapse, in a phenomenon that has been aptly compared to a slow-motion earthquake. This has damaged buildings and infrastructure and has harmed streams, aquifers, and waters that were supposed to be protected under state law…
Click here to read the full article.
EDITOR: Over dinner with one of North East Pennsylvania’s most prominent physicians, the Watchdog heard horror stories of yellow lakes, ponds and rivers and inestimable damage to the environment in the the greater Williamsport region. Future generations will want to draw and quarter Governor Corbett for his refusal to take effective reguilatory actions and to tax natural gas so at least the public can obtain some benefits from the long term damage to our environment and other industries.
To the editor: Why wait for future gererations to do the job?