Download PDF Version Revolt Magazine, Volume 1 Issue No.4

Christy Rupp, Flood Plane - Food Plan, detail, cut paper collage, 2010 16 X 24". Photo courtesy of the artist.
resident who also hopes her state is a tougher
target for the gas industry. “I got involved in the
anti-fracking movement in 2008 when I first heard
about it from a friend another potter, in our local
supermarket,” said Jill. “I immediately thought,
what a harebrained scheme, and that we -- New
York -- were much too smart to fall for this.”
Despite their energy and dedication these activists
seem to be standing against Goliath. Volunteers
from all walks of life, they speak and stand against
the pricey PR machines of mega-corporations who,
touting jobs and US sourced energy, play to the
public’s hopes and fears in this age of uncertainty.
Additionally, since CO2 emissions burning natural
gas to generate electricity are about one half of
what is produced when coal is used, gas can be
seen as a solution to reduce environmental impact
while solar and wind power are developed for
widespread use. 1
Why all the concern? The projected environmental
ameliorations from extended gas drilling described
above depend on price and profit considerations
for the industry to be interested in making them
a reality. Its willingness to voluntarily invest these
profits in maintaining high standards is also
necessary -- without it the potential collateral
damage is far worse than that caused by coal. In
other words, we would all need to trust the energy
corporations to do the right thing.
Already, there has been considerable consternation
expressed by the scientific and local communities
about the lack of disclosure by the industry of
just what chemicals are being used. The refusal
of those in control, including government and the
courts, to allow Americans to determine whether or
not the substances they are being exposed to are
acceptable for them is most notoriously exemplified
by the 2005 exemption for these corporations
from the Safe Drinking Water Act, dubbed the
“Halliburton Loophole.” 2
Still another consideration is the toxic health
hazard posed by radon gas, which is produced
when natural gas is consumed. Radon, present in
very high amounts in the Marcellus Sale deposits
that the industry has slated for hydraulic fracturing,
is carcinogenic and remains where the gas is burnt
as fuel, degrading first into polonium, then lead.
As communities experience effects of the
practice, consequences such as tainted
drinking water, illness in humans and animals,
harassment of residents by drilling operation
employees, radioactivity, and increased seismicity
(earthquakes) have been reported. Potential
environmental benefits are offset not only by
present damage to the ecosystem from the drilling
itself and the expansion of road traffic and water
use that it demands, but also by the likelihood that
a profitable boom in gas to fill today’s needs will
only serve to delay investment in moving towards
the truly carbon-free options that are essential to
the health of the planet in the longer term.
Where one might expect government regulators
to intervene and demand that there is sound
science behind the claims in favor of fracking
andincreased use of natural gas, grassroots
activists are picking up the slack. Ruth Hardinger
and her friend Becca Smith decided to raise funds
for a pipeline emission study in New York City.
“Two reports on this study were just released to
the press. These highly important studies, using
the most advanced technology, present empirical
evidence that current steps of continuing and
increasing natural gas use would only accelerate
climate change,” Ruth said. “In other words, if
the US spends close to 1 trillion dollars in the
development of natural gas as planned, the effects
of climate change will only be accelerated.”
While everyone involved in the movement has
signed and distributed a seemingly endless stream
of letters and petitions to governors, mayors, and
agencies, one artist -- Jill Wiener -- took it upon
herself to take the fight to the next level, running
unsuccessfully for town council on the Democratic
and Rural Heritage Party lines in 2011. In an
interview at the time, she explained “I live in the
country on 60 acres with a beautiful spring-fed
pond. I’m a potter. I grow chemical-free flowers.
I depend on my clean water for everything. It
[fracking] is not proven to be safe, and I’d never
inflict this on the land I call home or on my
neighbors or community. We have people running
for office all over the shale. [the Marcellus Shale
is the geological formation rich in natural gas] I’m
running for town council because my councilman
supports it. I didn’t want to do this—I wanted to sit
in my barn and make pots.” 3