1. GREEN-ISH ENERGY: Though natural gas has a smaller greenhouse gas effect than coal, it still contributes significantly to the problem and is not a long-term solution.
2. FRACK ATTACK: There’s much opposition to the extraction of natural gas by hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) due to its deleterious effects on people and the environment.
3. ATTACKING BACK: One large natural gas company has hired former U.S. Military psy ops specialists to help “deal with” the “insurgency,” or opposition.
4. SMART MOVE: When a Ph.D. professor says something, people usually listen. Maybe that’s why natural gas companies are funding so much of the university-based “research” often quoted by fracking supporters.
5. PERMIT THE PROCESS: The EPA allows states to grant permits to wastewater treatment plants so the plants can process fracking waste. But first, the plant must prove they can control the contaminants in the fracking waste.
6. OVERSIGHT: States are granting permits to wastewater treatment plants without the plants necessarily proving they can control the waste.
7. WATER FODDER: In 2009, the EPA delivered a presentation to Pennsylvania state officials indicating that, according to their calculations, rivers cannot adequately dilute waste from fracking.
8. HIDE & CREEK: As of October 2013, waste from fracking in Pennsylvania was still being dumped into local creeks.
9. DOWN THE LINE: Natural gas pipelines often leak and spill. According to The Federal Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, employees and nearby residents are 3x more likely to detect leaks than industry-praised leak-detection technology.
10. COMING SOON: A new major natural gas pipeline, called “Sabal Trail Pipeline.” It has been proposed by Spectra Energy to grace The Sunshine State by 2017.
