Pipelines and Carbon Bombs

The Buffalo News reports today on page A6 that an “invisible spill” of natural gas is spewing out the same amount o pollution as ½ million cars. Yes, a half of a million cars. And that is methane gas, the most lethal and dangerous of the greenhouse gases. Southern California Gas is trying all sorts of tricks to stop the gas flow, much like BP did in the Gulf of Mexico. Plain and simple – it has no idea what it is doing and has no idea on how to stop the gas from flowing. People are being moved from the area in order to stop them from getting sick and facing other health issues.

That is not stopping the damaging gas from leaking. Pumping down fluids, pumping out the gas, and drilling an intercept well have not worked.

And the damage to our environment is being done. Souther CA Gas is more concerned about the $900 million that it is going to lose to deal with this problem.

The link to WNY? Glad you asked.

In the piles of articles from when I was sick with the flu (somewhere in there) is an article that National Fuel is contracting with a Texas firm to drill 80 new fracking wells in Western Pennsylvania in order to provide more gas to be pumped up into Western NY and Canada. And fracking wells are as leaky as the mess in California.

Methane gas can leak in several ways. First is through the less than safe drilling pipe that they use. The concrete casings are almost guaranteed to fail. Second is through the fracking process. Pumping all those chemicals and sand (under high pressure) into the shale in order to fracture it creates leaks as well. Gas, like liquids, follow the path of least resistance. And I have seen plenty of videos and pictures of gas leaking out of the ground near fracking sites. I lived out in the country and we had swamp gas in the wetlands near where I lived. Where did it come from? Decomposing biomass from below the ground. Same thing with fracking wells. The gas that is trapped in the shale rock below the ground is released when the rock is fractured and it goes wherever it can, including straight up. (Watch Gasland Parts I & II for more on this.)

National Fuel (Or National Fool, when you consider all the negative risks associated with fracking and pipelines) is so confident that it can pull a profit with this pipeline that it is giving away to the Texas fracking company over 90% of the profits from the drilling.

Given what we know about the dangers of fracking, pipeline hazards and spills, and (Thank you Exxon Mobil) carbon pollution to the atmosphere and how it is creating climate change and the associated global warming (It's December 8 and no measurable snow in Buffalo. Hello?) we need to stop this pipeline and put an end to the carbon bomb that is about to get bigger in Western Pennsylvania.

As Socialists, we need to form a united front with all climate activist groups, from #FoodandWaterWatch, the #SierraClub, #GreenPeace, #350.org and local groups like #OccupyBuffalo to put an end to the pipeline and pursue clean energy.

We demand:

1. No PA-WNY Pipeline to Canada

2. A ban on fracking in PA and in WNY

3. More home based solar and wind generation of electricity

These demands are easy and simple to meet and can save the planet from the carbon bomb that is getting ready to explode.

During the Cold War, my elder brothers and sisters told me about the useless duck and cover drills that they had to do in order to protect themselves from an atomic explosion.

Science shows us that there is no duck and cover for this bomb.

So why build it?