Environmental Group Critical of President Obama’s Natural Gas Push

[limpyhobbler]

In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama called on continued development of natural gas in the country, but he said it must be done in a way that protects the environment. This message didn’t sit too well with PennEnvironment, a statewide environmental advocacy group. Clean Water Advocate Erika Staaf said natural gas isn’t a clean energy, noting that the track record in Pennsylvania has been clear.

“We’ve seen the track record of the shale gas extraction industry in other states in other parts of the U.S., and the track record is a track record of pollution. We’ve seen too many leaks, too many spills, too many instances of contaminated surface water, so as it’s done today, natural gas cannot be considered a clean source of energy,” she said.

Energy In Depth (EID), the public relations arm of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, said that accidents do occur, but not enough to mar an otherwise good track record.

“I think that there is an attempt to make it seem as though these events are normal operating procedure and they’re not,” said John Krohn, spokesperson for EID. “Hydraulic fracturing has been in place in this country since the Truman Administration and over 2.1 million wells have been hydraulically fractured.”

http://www.essentialpublicradio.org/story/2012-01-25/environmental-group-critical-president-obama%E2%80%99s-natural-gas-push-9973

[phantom power]

1. Also, it's a fossil fuel, and burning it dumps CO2 into the atmosphere.

[limpyhobbler]

2. that too, n/t