Company hopes to move forward with gas drilling; Shell plans to come north with testing in northeast N.M.--Raton Range

COMMENT:

For the 2nd time in a month and a half, the Raton Range has advertised for Royal Dutch Shell with an article about their hopes to drill in North Eastern New Mexico.  Asking for one size fits all from county to county, industry is doing their best to convince local county governments with fancy dinners and stories of untold riches.  Here is industry's 2nd advertisment by Todd Wildermuth, Editor of the Raton Range.  Raton boasts the Raton Basin, already becoming dewatered according to OGAP director in a statement in 2009.  Google earth this area to see the industrialization of this area and compare to San Juan County near Farmington.  Both areas have fallen victim to the oil industry as the land has become riddled with roads, well pads and the air and water stink with fumes from drilling and hyrdaulic fracturing.  Today they want the Las Vegas Basin.  

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May 22, 2012

Shell Oil Company hopes to move ahead soon with one or more new test wells in northeast New Mexico that could eventually lead the company to establish natural gas drilling operations throughout this part of the state, including Colfax County.

A Shell official this month told the Colfax County commission that the company wants to be ready with an adequate supply of natural gas when demand — and prices — for the natural resource rise. Although prices are at a 10-year low, the markets for natural gas are “always evolving,” according to Mike Smith, an enterprise service management adviser for Shell.

Eight counties in northeast New Mexico are referred to by industry officials as the Penn Play, an area that has gained attention to a degree that prompted a few industry representatives to make a presentation at January’s New Mexico Association of Counties Conference. One of the key points made during the presentation was that the companies would want a “uniform regulatory climate” across the multiple counties where they believe a large pool of natural gas may sit among the rock layers some 7,000 to 13,000 feet below the surface.....continued.....
http://ratonrange.com/company-hopes-to-move-forward-with-gas-drilling-shell-plans-to-come-north-p3416-1.htm

Mora County's 1st Oil and Gas Meeting, 2008

Diane Rehm Show--Fracking

http://thedianerehmshow.org/audio-player?nid=15950

The State of Vermont Bans Fracking

Governor Shumlin said the increased amounts of natural gas obtainable through hydraulic fracturing were not worth the risk to drinking water supplies.

    In the coming generation or two, “drinking water will be more valuable than oil or natural gas,” Shumlin said.

    “Human beings survived for thousands and thousands of years without oil and without natural gas,” he said. “We have never known humanity or life on this plant to survive without clean water.”

Vermont Passes First Statewide Fracking Ban

COMMENT:
 The State of Vermont's elected officials expressed their courage, moral compass, and leadership on behalf of the citizen's of Vermont through their vote to ban fracking!

 They upheld citizen's rights to clean water, air, land, health, safety, and the right to flourish within their own communities.  These birth rights are held sacred by these impressive lawmakers.

http://www.enewspf.com/latest-news/science-a-environmental/33254-vermont-passes-first-statewide-fracking-ban.html

  08 May 2012

Washington, DC--(ENEWSPF)--May 8, 2012.  On May 4, the Vermont House of Representatives voted 103-36 to give final passage to legislation that will make Vermont the first state in the nation to ban the practice of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas. Fracking is a method of extracting natural gas from deep in the ground by injecting a mixture of water, sand and toxic chemicals —including biocides— under high pressure into dense rock formations such as shale, in order to crack the rock and release the gas.

“The Vermont Legislature deserves tremendous praise for having the courage to stand up to all of the lobbying, the full page ads, and the legal threats of the oil and gas industry,” said Paul Burns, executive director of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group. “This is a shot that will be heard, if not around the world then at least around the country.”

According to a minority staff report released last year by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, more than 650 commonly used fracking products contain chemicals that are “known or possible human carcinogens, regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act, or listed as hazardous air pollutants.” In its report, The Case for a Ban on Gas Fracking, Food and Water Watch summarizes data by The Endocrine Disruption Exchange showing that 25 percent of fracking chemicals could cause cancer, 37 percent could disrupt the endocrine system, 40 to 50 percent could affect the nervous, immune and cardiovascular systems, and more than 75 percent could affect the sensory organs and respiratory system, likely causing problems such as skin and eye irritation and flu-like symptoms. . . continued . . .