Absolutely Apoplectic, Let’s Count the Ways
It has been an eye-opening experience watching the anti-gas activists over the past few weeks. Seems that with each day that goes by it becomes more obvious natural gas development IS coming to New York. Witnessing these activists going absolutely apoplectic is a sight to see and a lesson in exasperation. Sometimes, it doesn’t seem possible that the tactics employed by the anti-gas side could possibly get any sillier and then they do. To help understand these antics, and provide a sense of how out of touch these folks are with everyday Pennsylvanians and New Yorkers we offer the following Top 10 Ways to Look Ridiculous Opposing Gas:
Top 10 Ways to Look Ridiculous Opposing Gas
No. 10 – Link your movement to Occupy Wall Street. A recent e-mail to the Citizens Concerned About Natural Gas Drilling group included this gem: “I’m so grateful to Occupy Wall Street–and Paul Krugman, for his honest economic appraisal of the practices of Big Gas. Viva the insurgency! Viva revolt!” Oh yes, that’ll convince the masses to oppose natural gas development!
No. 9 – Accuse your opponents of “corporate fascism.” Another e-mail sent to Governor Corbett’s Energy Executive, Patrick Henderson, addressed him as the “the poster boy for PA corporate fascism.” I’m sure that got Mr. Henderson’s attention and helped him grasp the writer’s concerns with natural gas production.
No. 8 – Offer alternatives that would completely change the face of America’s natural resources. Still another e-mail circulating among committed anti’s right now approvingly quoted a New York Times (of course) piece that advocated “just filling the deserts with (solar) panels”. In case you were wondering that would be a permanent development of federally owned land home to countless endangered species. Nearly all aspects of natural gas production are temporary. Seems to me this proposal sounds more like massive scale industrialization resulting in landscapes lost forever as opposed to 4-6 weeks!
No. 7 – Appeal for Satyagraha – the truth force. Bill Huston of Residents Opposed to Unsafe Shale-gas Extraction (ROUSE) recently appealed to his supporters to employ satyagraha and ho’oponopono in opposing natural gas development, wishing his friends namaste. Well, Bill, while we don’t bow to you, we do wish you well personally and share your desire for peace and truth (truly), but is it too much to ask that you speak in English? What are you trying to prove? See below some explanatory diagrams from a website advocating and attempting to explain ho’oponopono (certainly looks tricky):
No. 6 – Propose criminalizing hydraulic fracturing, a process in use in Pennsylvania, New York and elsewhere for decades. A group called “Frackbusters” has proposed legislation that would make “fracking” and everything connected with it a crime in New York, ignoring the thousands of New York State gas wells already safely fractured over the last 60 years. Its as if these folks are completely blind to the fact fracturing is nothing new to New York or Pennsylvania and that making it a crime would eliminate an entire industry that has been one of the few bright spots for these two states over the last several years? It might be worth mentioning that geothermal energy development also frequently involves fracturing.
No. 5 – Deny there are any local jobs to be had from natural gas development. No amount of evidence ever seems to convince anti’s any decent jobs related to natural gas will ever go to anyone without a Texas or Louisiana license plate. Bradford County’s lowest in the Commonwealth unemployment rate – irrelevant! Pennsylvania job growth during an economic recession – meaningless! Drilling rig crews with 75-100% locals – can’t be! Trucking jobs – inconsequential! Repeat after us – there are no local jobs! Too bad the Pennsylvania Department of Labor doesn’t agree. According to them this claim is completely unsupported by data. Of the thousands of new hires made by the industry in neighboring Pennsylvania, an overwhelming majority of the workers (71%) are from Pennsylvania.
No. 4 – When you can’t win the argument, simply raise your voice. Consider this message from another anti: “We have presented arguments and rhetoric for several years with absolutely no give from the fools that hold these ‘informational’ events. As for me and mine. if we show up, you had better bet that there will be more ruckess than you could possibly imagine. These (industry) clowns need to be shouted down and silenced with every opportunity. The time for talk is well past. What we need is warriors that wil stand up and put these psychopaths where they belong. On a nice padded cell with no windows and no key.” These are some pretty drastic words levied at folks who are bringing forward jobs, tax revenues, and hope for people and entire communities that once thought that word no longer existed in their vocabularies.
No. 3 – Wildly overstate your case and exaggerate at every opportunity. It’s pretty hard to match Josh Fox and Gasland in this category, of course, with his contention that he received an offer of $100,000 for less than 20 acres of land and his speculation of 50,000 wells in the Delaware River Basin but his latest contention “there are places so contaminated that it will become difficult for some to find a way to live normally” is certainly a personal best in this category.
No. 2 – Whine, moan and act out to get attention. Here’s what one man, disappointed with a pipeline decision by a Federal agency, wrote: “The state of PA, the state lawmakers, the majority of local elected officials, the federal government, and most certainly the gas and oil industry, care not about the people, the environment, or our constitutional rights. They have made that crystal clear. I no longer believe there could ever be a political solution to any of this in PA.”
and the No. 1 Way to Look Ridiculous Opposing Gas …
No. 1 – Throw a temper tantrum and bang your head and body against the ground because you’re not getting your way. There’s no way to top this one. Groups calling themselves Occupy for Water and Occupy Trenton have sent out the following e-mail requesting attendance at a “General Watershed Assembly” in Narrowsburg, NY this Saturday. It has to be read to be believed and here it it is:
WATERSHED GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Please join us this coming Saturday, Nov. 19, 4 p.m., in Tusten Town Hall for the first “Watershed General Assembly”. Permits for 20,000 gas wells will be granted, fracking and drilling will soon begin within the Delaware River. However, we citizens will not allow these injustices to occur …
CIVIL INJUSTICE
* our Constitutional Rights and Civil Rights are being denied
* global industry employs military-style deployment and intimidation
* media saturation and relentless propaganda are being employed
FINANCIAL INJUSTICE
* drill-baby-drill “boom and bust” system does not provide valuable jobs-jobs-jobs
* more government subsidies are given to fossil fuel than to renewable energy
* the “shale play ponzi scheme” … is a massive “transfer of wealth” from citizens and homeowners
* our fossil fuel addiction is crashing our local, national and world economy
ECOLOGICAL INJUSTICE
* we now have record rains, drought, heat, snows, fire, floods, storms
* Halliburton, Exxon-Mobil and partners have spent $747 million “to avoid regulation of fracking”
* industrialization and vast “scale” will destroy the watershed for 16,000,000 citizens
* pads, roads, pipe lines and compressors will fragment wildlife habitat and will destroy the “airshed”
* fracking chemicals are now being found in mid-west aquifers
* state budgets are in crisis so there will be no enforcement
MORAL INJUSTICE
* several wars now taking place are caused by our addiction to fossil fuel
* now, like in 1968, a peaceful cultural revolution will occur … it is our moral imperative
* we take this action for the children and for future generations and for all life on earth
* we are stewards of the earth
* we are water
* water is life
So we will now put our bodies on the line.
It is time for peaceful civil action to preserve our rights and our homes.
Our most precious common resources will not be put at risk for the profit of the few.
We will not allow this to occur.
Watershed General Assembly
Narrowsburg, NY, Tusten Town Hall
Saturday, Nov. 19, 4 p.m.
http://twitter.com/#!/@occupyDRBC
Occupy Trenton
Trenton, NJ
Monday, Nov. 21, 7 a.m..
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
http://www.OccupyForWater.org / P.O. Box 35, Narrowsburg, NY 12764
We are independent citizens. We have no affiliation to any company, party, or organization.
Hyperbole apparently knows no bounds! So the award for the most outstanding example of going absolutely apoplectic over gas goes to Occupy for Water, Narrowsburg, NY.
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