Frack me? No, no! Frack you!

Anyone who has spent any time listening to the pro fracking crowd knows that pretty much the first thing out of their mouths is the assertion that there's never been a proven case of fracking contaminating underground drinking water -- it's been their mantra. I maintain that that is pretty much a red herring as you do not need to pollute groundwater to harm the water supply. The water used in fracking has to go somewhere and very little is being recycled. Aside from illegal dumping and leaching from fracking pools, water treatment facilities simply aren't equipped to handle even the legal disposal of the witches' brew of toxicity found in the "flowback" water.

That said, guess what? Turns out there is a very well documented case of this very thing and the EPA has known about it for decades. Count me not shocked that they've all been lying to us this whole time.

In Pittsburgh, the City Council voted 6-3 to allow residents to decide if they want fracking in the city, but even though that's a veto-proof majority, the Mayor could simply sit on the bill making it too late to get on the November ballot as a referendum. Council requested that Lil Mayor Luke return it to them by the 8th at 4:30 PM, but we know how well the Mayor listens to Council -- the majority anyway -- so if you believe the citizens should have a say, contact the Mayor now:

Email: luke.ravenstahl@city.pittsburg​h.pa.us
Phone: 412-255-2626

Lastly, Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato has poked his head above ground to weigh in on the referendum. Via the Trib:

Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato said Wednesday he has "serious concerns" about the legality of Pittsburgh City Council's proposed ballot referendum banning natural gas drilling within city limits.

Council on Monday approved legislation that would ask voters to decide in November whether to add the ban to the city's Home Rule Charter. Council banned Marcellus shale gas drilling within city limits in November.

Councilman Doug Shields proposed the bill, saying a charter amendment would make the ban harder to overturn. Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, who said he has concerns about the legality of the ban, is considering a veto.

In a written statement, Onorato said he directed the county solicitor and Elections Department to review and analyze the referendum.

[sigh]
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Pittsburgh City Council passes bill to hold anti fracking referendum 6-3

Pittsburgh City Council Bill 1939 (anti fracking referendum) passes 6-3.

On the downside, we can expect a doubling of those ubiquitous Range Resources TV ads...

Burgess to vote YES for anti fracking referendum

Last week Councilman Ricky Burgess abstained from voting on having a referendum to amend the city's Home Rule Charter to include a ban on fracking.

He just said in council chambers that he would vote yes on the final bill (even while questioning the motives of Council members who were for the referendum).

He said he was voting yes because he favors letting the people decide and in hopes that his bills for referendums would be able to go through.

So, that would be six yes votes -- making it veto proof from Lil Mayor Luke.

Yes!

Dowd to vote NO on having fracking ban referendum in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh City Councilman Patrick Dowd just said he was going to vote no again on giving Pittsburghers the ability to vote on amending the city's Home Rule Charter to include a ban on fracking. Dowd had received numerous emails and phone calls asking him to reconsider his vote.

The bill received five yes votes last week in a preliminary vote (Shields, Peduto, Kraus, Rudiak, Harris).

Lil Mayor Luke Ravenstahl has already said that he would consider vetoing a proposal.

Council would need six votes to overturn that veto.

Looks like we don't have them.

UPDATE: Burgess to vote yes -- that's six votes.
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Coloring outside the lines

It may not come as a great shock to those who read this blog that as a child I did not always color within the lines. In fact, I often very deliberately drew and colored outside the lines -- changing the fashions, hairstyles, gender and race in the Dick and Jane-style illustrations in my coloring books at will.

So, imagine how much fun I would have had with this propaganda piece coloring book:


In it, "Talisman Terry" the "friendly Fracosaurus" explains the wonders of natural gas and fracking with a big, happy face. No mean, old, inconvenient fracking concerns are allowed as the book is published by Talisman Energy. You can view the entire book here and the Post-Gazette article about it here.

I've already started coloring my copy:


I think all parents should download a copy and educate their children as to what's missing from the book so that they can add fracking ponds, exploding rigs, fireballs in sinks, ripped-up roads, etc. to the pretty, pretty pictures and mail them back to Talisman Energy.

Keep coloring outside the lines!


(h/t to Doug Shields)