Category Archives: Uncategorized

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ODNR’s extreme lack of seismic data and understanding exposed by seismologists

In responding to the twelve recent quakes in NE Ohio suspected of being caused by fracking, including a 3.0 magnitude one, that led to a Lowellville fracking operation being shut down by ODNR order, an ODNR geologist admitted ODNR’s extreme lack of data on geology and seismic risks in areas where it has permitted hundreds of fracking and injection wells. According to a March 16th article in the Columbus Dispatch:

The county has one known fault line running through it — in its southwestern corner, said Mark Baranoski, a geologist with the state’s Division of Geological Survey.

“We know more about the surface of the moon than we do about the basement in Ohio,” he said. 

There might be many other fault lines that won’t reveal themselves until additional earthquakes are recorded.

Following the 2011 earthquakes near Youngstown, researchers found that a fracking-waste injection well linked to them had been drilled on an ancient fault line. (more…)

According to this and a March 14th article in the Dispatch, scientists with Columbia University’s seismology center say fracking, with its high pressure injection of liquids, is likely responsible for the quakes. They dispute ODNR’s denial of the significance of the recent seismic activity and of its likely connections to fracking and/or injection wells:

Natural Resources logged five earthquakes on Monday and Tuesday. Agency spokesman Mark Bruce said the additional earthquakes that Columbia monitored were incidental.

“Ohio’s increased monitoring network records micro-seismic events that happen around the state almost daily (and) are not felt,” he wrote in an email.

Kim, however, said they are significant and that a connection is likely.

“We need to think about what happened two years ago in Youngstown,” Kim said. “Maybe (recent fracking) activity is triggering earthquakes.”

From January 2011 to February 2012, researchers recorded more than 100 earthquakes there that eventually were linked to the pumping of fracking waste deep underground into an injection well in the Youngstown area.

In January 2012, the state halted the disposal of fracking waste in injection wells within 5 miles of the Youngstown well. At first, the state said there was no connection between the injection well and the temblors.

Kim published research that linked fracking-waste injection wells in the Youngstown area to the earthquakes.

This week, ODNR officials said injection wells were not to blame for the Lowellville earthquakes.

John Armbruster, a Columbia seismologist who monitored the area around the Youngstown injection well in 2011, said there are similarities between the most-recent earthquakes and those in 2011 and 2012.

“These are behaving like earthquakes that were caused by (fracking-waste) injection,” he said. But linking them might be difficult — the state does not have accurate data on the depth of the most-recent earthquakes. Depth was one of the ways experts linked the 2011-2012 earthquakes to the injection well.  More…

A March 13th Dispatch article also cites Arthur McGarr, a U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist, who is leading a national study of earthquakes and injection wells. According to the Dispatch, “McGarr said long-term disposal can cause temblors as far as 15 miles away. Even closed wells could cause earthquakes, he said.”

Note: There are two inaccuracies in otherwise excellent, informative coverage in these Dispatch articles:

1) Contrary to a statement in the March 13 article, ODNR does not “monitor seismic information at every well before, during and after waste was pumped below ground.” They do not do this anywhere in the state other than in the vicinity of the the Youngstown 2011 quakes. It would require on-site monitoring equipment, which is not in place.

2) Injection wells are not necessarily deeper than fracking wells. The K&H 1 and 2 wells are open holes below 2000 feet, much shallower than many frack wells.

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Big Oil push for crude exports spells disaster for climate, report reveals. Impact of lifting export ban would equal lifetime emissions of 42 coal plants

by Lauren McCauley, staff writer, Common Dreams 3-4-14:

A push by Big Oil interests to lift the decades-old ban on crude oil exports would effectively release over 4 billion tons of additional carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, according to a report published Monday by an environmental watchdog group.

The report, Lifting the Ban, Cooking the Climate, by Oil Change International, analyzes the climate impact should the U.S. cede to heavy lobbying efforts and eliminate existing regulations.

“Allowing U.S. crude oil exports will result in increased profits that will in turn result in increased oil production,” the report argues.

According to the report, an average projected increase in U.S. crude oil to $10 per barrel would lead to an additional 9.9 billion barrels of production between 2015 and 2050. That production would release over 4.4 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which is equal to the lifetime emissions of 42 coal plants.

“Big Oil’s leading lobbyists from ExxonMobil and the American Petroleum Institute have led the charge to relax the ban, and they have spending big in Washington to push their agenda,” report authors note.

“The industry push for exports is a symptom of the President’s disastrous ‘all-of-the-above’ energy plan, that puts the interests of Big Oil over the interests of the American people,” saidDavid Turnbull, campaigns director of Oil Change. “Removing the crude export ban would be a disaster for the climate, just as the building the Keystone XL pipeline and any energy policy choice that incentivizes the production of more fossil fuels.”

The leading proponent on Capitol Hill is Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who in early January “professed her support for easing restrictions,” Reuters reports. Murkowski has received over three-quarters of a million dollars from the oil industry in recent years. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a big business lobby group, has also taken up this push.

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ACFAN joins state and national groups working to get to the bottom of Frackgate

ACFAN signed onto a public records request this week to uncover the extent to which the Kasich administration worked to discredit, marginalize, or otherwise thwart citizen efforts to protect Ohio communities from the fracking industry. Frackgate exposed Kasich administration collusion with industry in permitting and promoting fracking and frack waste dumping in Ohio.

The Kasich administration’s Frackgate began with news of a 2012 internal memo in which Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) outlined a plan to promote fracking in state parks and undermine groups of concerned citizens with the help of the fracking industry. Although the Kasich government denied that the governor’s office was involved, correspondence about the memo and an associated meeting soon revealed the lie.

“Given the Governor and the General Assembly’s track record of ignoring our concerns with specific pieces of legislation, and ODNR’s repeated public comments that mirror messaging points and strategy laid out in the recently released memo, we do not trust that there will be a thorough investigation by the state into collusion with the industry,” said Alison Auciello, Ohio organizer for Food & Water Watch.

“The specific naming of organizations and legislators as opposition groups raises questions about how seriously the ODNR and the administration are taking their duties to protect Ohio residents over the interests of the oil and gas industry.”

The communications plan identified state legislators and environmental organizations as “eco-left,” giving the impression that the ODNR is a PR firm for the oil and gas industry instead of a regulatory agency.

“Unfortunately, it seems that it’s fallen upon the people of Ohio to ensure transparency and accountability of our state government and agencies,” said Brian Kunkemoeller, conservation coordinator for the Sierra Club Ohio Chapter said. “Ohioans must get to the bottom of the plans regarding the wholesale of our public lands, and coercive propaganda plans by state officials to do so.”

Teresa Mills of the Buckeye Forest Council has been reviewing inspection reports on fracking and fracking waste disposal wells for the last several years. She said, “Clearly, serious problems at wells are falling through the cracks. After the release of the memo, my question is now whether or not it’s intentional.”

The identification of oil and gas companies including Halliburton, and lobby groups such as the Ohio Oil and Gas Association as allies in the document, suggests a level of collaboration and coordination that is inconsistent with the role of ODNR to “ensure a balance between the wise use and protection of our natural resources for the benefit for all.”

“When the line between the regulators and the regulated becomes blurred, unnecessarily risking the health of Ohioans, we have a duty to correct the problem. Unfortunately, we don’t feel we can rely on the state to take this possible collusion seriously, so we’re working together to get the information out to the public,” said Vanessa Pesec, president of Network to Educate and Organize for Gas Accountability and Protection.

According to Food & Water Watch, questions remain as to how those groups were identified, whether the ODNR public relations team tracks the activities of these groups and what other public relations tactics are being used to sell Ohio residents on the benefits of fracking.

“Athens County Fracking Action Network has known ever since examining ODNR’s unsound permitting guidelines that ODNR and the Kasich government have no interest in meeting their ethical and legal obligations to protect our drinking water,” said Athens resident and Athens County Fracking Action Network member Zella Nisley. ”We believe that this public records request will further expose the incestuous relationship between the Kasich government and its master, the oil and gas industry.”

In addition to the above groups, three national groups, Democracy for America, Center for Biological Diversity, and Progressive Democrats of America, signed the letter to Kasich and to ODNR.    

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398 arrested at White House action against tar sands pipeline

On March 2nd, over 1,000 people came out to tell President Obama and Secretary Kerry to reject the northern leg of Keystone XL. The mostly young people marched to the White House where many zip-tied themselves to the fence while others lay on the sidewalk. 398 were arrested!

These are the people that climate change will most directly affect, and they wanted President Obama to hear their concerns. We hope he was listening, as the weekend’s events, dubbed XL Dissent, proved to be quite powerful. After all, the students and activists brought their urgent message right to the front door of the White House.

Photo essay at popularresistance.org.

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Watch out Ohio, here comes Freedom, Inc.

by John Howell, coordinator, Democracy Over Corporations, Athens, 3-3-14:

Will ODNR approve a permit application for a coal mining operation in Carroll County, Ohio, to be done by the same corporate complex responsible for the recent massive water pollution in West Virginia?

Rosebud Mining, the company applying for the permit is owned by J. Clifford Forrest of Kittanning, Pa., who also owns Chemstream Holdings, Inc., which, in turn owns Freedom Industries, whose facilities caused the toxic leak that rendered the water of 300,000 West Virginians unusable. Rosebud itself, in other mining operations, has had 26 violations over the past two years, and Freedom Industries, already $3.6 million in debt from failure to pay federal taxes and Bureau of Workman’s Compensation bills, has now declared bankruptcy to protect itself from 25 lawsuits that have been filed against it from the West Virginia spill. (More details can be found in a letter submitted to ODNR by Richard Sahli, attorney for Carroll Concerned Citizens…).

That record does not suggest Rosebud’s mining operations can be trusted to protect the water supply of Carroll County, or that the company would have the resources to remediate a pollution problem it might cause. ODNR Director James Zehringer’s boss, Governor Kasich, might be able to exert some influence here.

The Ohio Supreme Court is hearing a case in which the people of Munroe Falls, Ohio, are claiming the right to enforce their own local zoning laws, which regulate drilling in residential neighborhoods, to protect themselves from fracking by Beck Energy Co. in people’s yards (The Dispatch, Feb 27). Athens city voters will have chance to approve their own local fracking ban on the November ballot.

By handing to ODNR sole authority for permitting mining and drilling, our legislators, both at the state and federal level, have forsaken the people in favor of their corporate benefactors. J. Clifford Forrest maxed out his contributions to Rep. Bill Johnson, who represents Carroll County in Washington, and also contributed to John Boehner and to Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia (Bill Moyers.com, Jan. 24, 2014).

Without reversing the 2010 Citizens United decision of the U.S. Supreme Court and imposing restrictions on campaign spending in elections, legislatures and other government agencies will continue to support corporate bottom lines over life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of the people they are elected to serve.

__________________________________________

Letter also published by the Athens Messenger, 3-3/4-14

Further information on Rosebud/Freedom: Owner of Freedom Industries, J. Clifford Forrest, revealed as owner of Rosebud Mining Company, which is seeking to deep mine and strip mine in Carroll County, OH. Canton Repository: Richard C. Salhi, attorney for Carroll Concerned Citizens, sent a letter last month to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, asking it to place a hold on new coal mining permit requests by Rosebud, because its owner, J. Clifford Forrest, also owns Freedom Industries, the company responsible for the Jan. 9 spill near Charleston, W.Va….”We strongly believe that Mr. Forrest’s role in the Freedom Industries fiasco necessitates that your department subject this application to greatly enhanced scrutiny if Carroll County is to be protected from the type of sordid events being revealed in Charleston,” Salhi wrote in the letter, addressed to ODNR Director James Zehringer. More…

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L.A. City Council bans fracking

Los Angeles Becomes Largest City to Approve Fracking Moratorium

Fri, 2014-02-28 13:14, CAROL LINNITT, DeSmogBlog

Fracking for oil and gas will not be happening in Los Angeles any time soon after City Council members unanimously voted to ban the practice within city limits today. The vote passes the motion to the City Attorney’s office where it will be rewritten as a zoning ordinance before returning to City Council for a final vote.

L.A. is now the largest city in the U.S. to refuse the dangerous extraction process. Local bans have become an effective protective measure against fracking, and are in place in numerous jurisdictions worldwide including Vermont, Hawaii, areas of New York State, Quebec, and France among many others.

The Los Angeles ordinance prevents the use of fracking until effective governmental oversight and regulation is in place at the local, state and federal levels.

“I think we can all agree unregulated fracking is crazy,” said Councilman Paul Koretz, co-author of the motion.

California is in the midst of a devastating drought, raising concerns over access to fresh water supplies. Fracking uses approximately 5 million gallons of water per frack job.

According to the Center for Biological Diversity, there are still 9 Californian counties where fracking is in use, including Colusa, Glenn, Kern, Monterey, Sacramento, Santa Barbara, Sutter, Kings and Ventura.

The Center also notes

“fracking routinely employs numerous toxic chemicals, including methanol, benzene, naphthalene and trimethylbenzene. It can also expose people to harm from lead, arsenic and radioactivity that are brought back to the surface with fracking flowback fluid. About 25 percent of fracking chemicals could cause cancer, according to scientists with the Endocrine Disruption Exchange.”

Flowback fluid or produced water, the toxic wastewater resulting from fracking, is so highly contaminated it is almost always permanently removed from the hydrological cycle and disposed of in deep injection wells. There is increasing evidence that these chemicals are migrating into sources of drinking water.

“We’re also turning millions and millions of gallons of clean water into toxic waste,” Koretz told council members. “We’re seeing it up close in our neighborhoods.”  MORE…

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ODNR revokes drilling permit. Company lied in mandatory pooling app.

Canton Repository: The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has revoked a drilling permit and mandatory pooling order granted to Everflow Eastern Partners in December because the driller gave false information about its lease of city property.

Excerpt: “False statements regarding leases have happened in drilling permit applications, but this is the first time it has occurred in mandatory pooling requests, [ODNR spokesperson Mark Bruce] said.
ODNR doesn’t verify every lease in an application, which would require going to individual county recorders [sic] offices, he said. “The onus is on applicants to tell the truth and in this case that didn’t happen,” Bruce said.

 

MASSILLON, 2-27-14: The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has revoked a drilling permit and mandatory pooling order granted to Everflow Eastern Partners in December because the oil and gas driller gave false information about its lease of city property.
“This is very serious,” said ODNR spokesman Mark Bruce, explaining that it is thought to be the first time a company has filed false information about a lease in a mandatory pooling application.
Mandatory pooling is the process by which drillers can include property in a drilling unit even when the owner refuses to sign a lease.
Everflow Eastern Partners, of Canfield, had planned to drill its Sisko Unit No. 1 — a conventional vertical well — between Wellman and Tremont avenues SE.
In a sworn statement and during a hearing in November before the state’s Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Council, Everflow said it had leased 44.73 acres of its proposed 45.52-acre unit, and asked that the remaining land be included, according to the revocation order.
The land under lease included 8.1 acres of city property, the company told regulators, according to the order.
A month later, the state granted Everflow a permit and mandatory pooling order for the well.
Massillon resident Jim Huebner, who opposes the well and whose property was forced into the unit, appealed to the state Oil and Gas Commission in January.
Among his objections was that Everflow didn’t have a lease on the city property; ordinances concerning proposed leases with Everflow for its Sisko and Oser wells haven’t passed City Council.
On Feb. 7, in response to an ODNR query prompted by Huebner’s appeal, Everflow informed the state that it didn’t have a valid lease on the city property, Bruce said.
Richard J. Simmers, chief of ODNR’s oil and gas division, revoked the drilling permit and pooling order on Feb. 20, after finding that Everflow Eastern Partners “improperly provided false information.”
Also this month, the advisory council denied Everflow’s permit and mandatory pooling applications for the Oser well near Tremont Avenue SE and Lincoln Way E because 10.65 acres of city property listed in that application wasn’t leased either, according to a transcript of the hearing.
When questioned by the advisory council about the problems with the Oser and Sisko applications, an Everflow representative said the company had submitted leases but City Council hadn’t voted on them, according to the transcript.
Everflow Eastern Partners, of Canfield, declined to comment for this story. The company can appeal the revocation to the Oil and Gas Commission.
Bruce said the division and department legal staff are studying a range of additional actions against Everflow that could be criminal or civil in nature.
False statements regarding leases have happened in drilling permit applications, but this is the first time it has occurred in mandatory pooling requests, he said.
ODNR doesn’t verify every lease in an application, which would require going to individual county recorders offices, he said. “The onus is on applicants to tell the truth and in this case that didn’t happen,” Bruce said. Huebner said he doesn’t expect the fight to be over. If Everflow refiles its permit and mandatory pooling application, he will continue to oppose them, he said.“If I were the chief, I’d be so disgusted with them, I’d tell them to drop this one,” he said. — Canton Repository
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Western Marylanders Arrested in Protest of Cove Point Fracked Gas Export Plan

From Chesapeake Climate Action Network: Local minister joins western MD students and resident for peaceful sit-in demanding a full federal Environmental Impact Statement for $3.8 billion project that could fast-track fracking
CUMBERLAND—A local Unitarian minister and three western Maryland residents were arrested just before noon today outside the Allegany County Courthouse in Cumberland for peacefully protesting Virginia-based Dominion Resources’ plan to build a liquefied natural gas export facility at Cove Point in southern Maryland. The protesters blocked the courthouse entrance to demand justice in the controversial federal handling of the massive $3.8 billion project, which would take nearly a billion cubic feet of gas per day from fracking wells across the Appalachian region, liquefy it on the Chesapeake Bay, and export it to Asia.
“I am here today as both a citizen of this beautiful state and as a minister deeply concerned that the proposed Cove Point gas export facility would take us in exactly the wrong direction,” said Reverend Terence Ellen, a minister at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Greater Cumberland. “It is inconceivable to me that a project so huge and so potentially harmful to our health and welfare would not even receive a full Environmental Impact Statement. We’re sitting in today because the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is failing to serve the public.” Joining Rev. Ellen were three young people, including two native residents of Cumberland who are students at Frostburg University and a local Frostburg resident who has seen the impacts of fracking elsewhere. With signs reading “Don’t Bring Fracking to Western Maryland” and “This Is Our Public Comment!” they specifically called on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to conduct a full and fair Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on Cove Point. They also appealed to Governor Martin O’Malley and members of Congress to break their silence and join them in demanding this most rigorous and participatory type of environmental review.“I am risking arrest today in opposition to Cove Point and the pressure it would place on my home counties and on the mid-Atlantic at large to frack for gas,”said Benjamin Brown, an undergraduate student at Frostburg University and native of Cumberland. “I cannot remain idle as the places and things I love—fishing with my father, hiking with my friends, the splendor of these mountains—are exploited. I give up my temporary freedom in the hope that all leaders of our communities, including Governor Martin O’Malley, will rise to protect our collective future.”

All participants expressed deep concern that Dominion’s Cove Point plan would incite enormous pressure to open western Maryland to industrial fracking wells and new gas infrastructure, harming public health and transforming the rural landscape that sustains local livelihoods.

“An export facility at Cove Point would simply be another addition to a fossil fuel model that has drastically failed us,” said Desiree Bullard, a Cumberland native and a graduate student at Frostburg University. “The only way Dominion can possibly justify this plan is by hiding the truth. We can’t match Dominion’s money or influence, which is why we are peacefully sitting in today, appealing to our leaders for an Environmental Impact Statement that assesses the full impacts of Cove Point.”

“A thorough Environmental Impact Statement would undoubtedly prove that fracking, drilling and extracting is not a sustainable path for our communities,”said Gabriel Adam Echeverri of Frostburg. “I stand in solidarity with the residents of Cove Point, with the residents of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York, and Ohio, and with my neighbors in opposition to any corporation that would take all for profit and leave nothing for progeny.”

Dominion’s Cove Point export plan has sparked growing opposition across Maryland in recent months, drawing a record crowd of environmental protesters to Baltimore last week as hearings began at the Maryland Public Service Commission. The state must sign off on Dominion’s permit to build a 130-megawatt gas-fired power plant to run on-site liquefaction operations, and the Public Service Commission will hold a public hearing on the proposal this Saturday in Calvert County.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is also weighing Dominion’s plan but, to date, has rejected calls for a full Environmental Impact Statement made by dozens of environmental, health and faith leaders, Maryland citizens, and Maryland’s Attorney General. Advocates contend that a less thorough and less participatory “Environmental Assessment” would fail to account for the domino effect of rising gas prices, expanded fracking, new pipelines and compressor stations and, ultimately, significant new carbon pollution that the Cove Point project could trigger region-wide.

Statements by the four activists on why they engaged in civil disobedience over Cove Point here, as well as photos from the protest. More at Chesapeake Climate Action Network.  

 

UPDATE: March 9, 2014 — One week following the peaceful sit-in that led to four arrests in Cumberland, four central Maryland residents were arrested outside the Frederick County Courthouse protesting Virginia-based Dominion Resources’ plan to build a liquefied natural gas export facility at Cove Point in southern Maryland. With signs reading “FERC: Don’t Bully Frederick Co.” and “We Demand Justice for Myersville,” the four protesters—including a county commission candidate, an asthma sufferer, a mother, and a Frederick resident who grew up playing baseball in Cove Point Park—blocked the courthouse entrance and demanded a full and fair federal environmental impact review of Dominion’s controversial $3.8 billion plan.From Cumberland to Frederick, protesters are drawing attention to the interconnected, statewide impacts that could be triggered by the Cove Point export facility, including the invasion of dangerous gas fracking wells and related gas pipeline and compressor infrastructure.  More…
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The Weather Channel(!), Inside Climate News, and Center for Public Integrity: Fracking the Eagle Ford Shale: Big Oil and Bad Air on the Texas Prairie

from weather.com: In the 20,000-square mile area of South Texas known as the Eagle Ford, oil and gas wells are sprouting at an unprecedented rate. But local residents fear for their health – not from the water, but from the air they breathe.

Following an eight-month investigation with InsideClimate News and the Center for Public Intergity, The Weather Channel reveals the potential dangers that come with releasing chemicals into the air during all phases of oil and gas development. We also present just how little the government of Texas knows – or wants to know – about it…  Read full multimedia report here.

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Josh Fox and Calvin Tillman respond to Exxon CEO’s objection to water wells in his backyard; former Mobil exec chides Tillerson

Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson joins a lawsuit against a water tower and potential fracking in his neighborhood based on property values, health and nuisance. Great coverage by Josh Fox in an interview on MSNBC (2-24) and a follow-up interview with Calvin Tillman on MSNBC (2-25-14). In the interview, MSNBC co-host, Ari Melber, said, “This is not about the technical definition of fracking, it’s about whether we’re going to have an honest, reality-based, debate about the costs of our energy policies. And look, those costs can get pretty ugly: unsightly water towers, fracking wells, strange smells and the kind of air and noise pollution just about anyone would avoid if they could afford it.” 

And retired Mobil Oil executive Lou Allstadt has written an open letter to Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson, copy here and below:

Open Letter to Rex Tillerson, Chairman, ExxonMobil

Dear Rex,

We have never met, but I worked for your company for six months immediately after the ExxonMobil merger, the implementation of which I coordinated from the Mobil side. That was after thirty years with Mobil Oil Corporation, where just prior to the merger I had been an Executive Vice President and Operating Officer for Exploration and Producing in the U.S., Canada and Latin America. I now live in upstate New York. For the past five years, I have been actively trying to keep your company and the rest of the industry from fracking here. I understand from several press articles that you have fracking issues of your own, with a fracking water tower and truck traffic possibly detracting from your view and the value of your home.

In response to the prospect of fracking ruining our communities, many New York towns have passed zoning laws that prohibit heavy industry, including any activities associated with drilling for oil and gas. Those laws, along with very little prospect for economic gas production in New York, mean that we probably will not have to look at fracking water towers, let alone live next to fracking well pads. I say probably, because your industry is still fighting those zoning laws in the courts.

Ironically, your reasoning at the Bartonville, Texas town council meetings is virtually identical to the reasoning that I and many other citizens used to convince our local town councils to pass laws that prohibit the very problem you have encountered, plus all of the other infrastructure and waste disposal issues associated with fracking.

No one should have to live near well pads, compression stations, incessant heavy truck traffic, or fracking water towers, nor should they have their water or air contaminated. You and I love the places where we live, but in the end, if they are ruined by fracking or frack water tanks, we can afford to pack up and go someplace else. However, many people can’t afford to move away when they can no longer drink the water or breathe the air because they are too close to one of your well pads or compressor stations.

My efforts to prevent fracking started over water — not the prospect of having to see a water tank from my home, but rather regulations that would allow gas wells near our sources of drinking water, in addition to well pads next to our homes, schools, hospitals and nursing homes. These issues are legitimate, but they are localized. I am now much more concerned with the greenhouse gas impacts of fossil fuels in general, and particularly the huge impact of methane emissions from natural gas production and transportation.  These are global problems that local zoning cannot protect against. Only a major shift toward renewable energy sources can begin to mitigate their catastrophic climate impacts.

Before closing, I should explain why I have referred to ExxonMobil as “your company.” For several years after retiring I thought of ExxonMobil as “my company.” I thought that the company’s rigor and discipline in investing in sound projects was as good as it gets, and ExxonMobil was my largest single investment. I no longer own any shares of ExxonMobil or any other fossil fuel company.  I would prefer to be an early investor in alternative energy for the 21st century rather than hanging on to dwindling prospects for investments in 19th and 20th century fossil fuels.

It is time that ExxonMobil started shifting away from oil and gas, and toward alternatives — both for environmental reasons and to protect the long-term viability of the company. Many large energy producers and consumers, including ExxonMobil, are building a carbon fee into their long-term planning assumptions.  Actively supporting the phase-in of a carbon fee would be one way to move the company into the 21st century. Recognizing that methane emissions disqualify natural gas as a “bridge fuel” is another.

Good luck with that fracking water tank. I hope you don’t have to move, and also that you will help a lot of other people stay in the homes they love.

Regards,

Lou Allstadt

And from Council of Canadians, another letter to CEO Tillerson, sent with a copy of their fractivist toolkit.