> > > *This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only.* > > MAY 21, 2013 > Gas “Frackers” Come to a School District’s Rescue? > Frack Job > by MICHAEL D. YATES > > Two schools, one a vocational technical high school and the other an > elementary school, sit on tracts of land a few blocks from the house in > which I grew up, in Ford City (Armstrong County), Pennsylvania. The > communities served by them are, for the most part, not particularly > prosperous. Household incomes, wages, home prices, rents, and levels of > education are below the state average; while poverty, unemployment, and air > pollution are above it. > > Many property owners in the area are elderly women, living on small > pensions and social security. Their property taxes finance the schools, and > as these rise, the tax burden can be considerable. This encumbrance is made > subjectively worse by the fact that these older taxpayers no longer have > children in school. > > For the local school board, rising costs—including those for the ever > growing number of administrators—and a limited and potentially rebellious > tax base have created a budget crisis. The current budget shows a deficit > of five million dollars. However, the board has come up with an ingenious > way to deal with its revenue shortfall. > > To help pay its bills, the school board is courting (or being courted by) > two energy companies, with an eye toward leasing public property for > natural gas hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as “fracking.” According > to the school district’s solicitor, the two “frackers,” which are owned by > members of the same family, are “offering” to acquire leasing rights on > tracts of land near the two schools. “We’re trying to do what we can to > bring some money in,” said Board > president<http://triblive.com/news/armstrong/3801884-74/district-board-sanchez#axzz2Q6SWQBWd> > Joe > Close. “Superintendent Stan Chapp said the district projects it could earn > up to $1.5 million on it during the next 15 to 20 years.” > > The frackers have been busy in Pennsylvania and across the nation—buying > and selling leases, greasing the palms of friendly politicians, convincing > local residents to sell property rights to them, and ruining the landscape. > As the Natural Resources Defense > Council<http://www.nrdc.org/energy/gasdrilling/> > states: > > Natural gas producers have been running roughshod over communities across > the country with their extraction and production activities for too long, > resulting in contaminated water supplies, dangerous air pollution, > destroyed streams, and devastated landscapes. Weak safeguards and > inadequate oversight fail to protect our communities from harm by the rapid > expansion of fossil fuel production using hydraulic fracturing or > “fracking.” > > Fracking has also been implicated in earthquakes. In arid regions, it uses > an inordinate share of the local water supply. And it releases methane, a > major contributor to global warming. A group of scholars at Cornell > University <http://www.napalmcreek.com/global-warming.php> have argued > that fracking might be environmentally “dirtier” than mining and burning > coal. > > Should the school board reach an agreement with the two energy companies, > school kids and those living nearby will soon be hearing explosions, > drinking contaminated water, suffering increased air pollution, and > watching the woods turn into wastelands. Fires from the wells might light > up the night sky. And it is not difficult to imagine that students will be > fed large doses of propaganda extolling the virtues of gas drilling and all > the jobs it generates. Perhaps, like McDonald’s, the energy corporations > have prepared educational materials for the schools. The Vo-Tech already > offers a program in “Natural Resources Technology”; among the “10 ‘Hot’ > Career Opportunities” listed for this area of study is “Gas Exploration > Manager.” > > It would be nice to think that the citizens of the school district would > protest this blatant intrusion of an extraordinarily environmentally > destructive business into the public schools. But I doubt that they will. > The poverty of the area and the lack of decent jobs have hardened people. > They are for whatever saves them money or gets them some. The frackers are > seen, not as parasites wreaking havoc on the earth, but as sources of jobs > and windfall income. Some coal truck drivers have begun to haul water for > the gas drillers, who use millions of gallons for each well. Homeowners, > approached by company agents, have sold the right to use their land to the > frackers, often for paltry sums of money. My sister took $600. And then put > her house up for sale. As Louis XV said, “After me, the deluge.” > > If put to a vote, I have no doubt that taxpayers would vote overwhelmingly > in favor of the school district leasing the land to the two energy > companies. The less they have to pay for education, the better. They won’t > be much concerned with the environmental consequences of fracking. The Ford > City region is already beset by severe pollution. Carcinogenic chemicals > from the old Pittsburgh Plate Glass plant have been leaching into the > nearby Allegheny River for years. Some of the highest levels of harmful > airborne particulate matters in the nation plague residents. Strip coal > mining and coal hauling despoil the land and spread dust and grime > everywhere. Residents routinely burn trash in their backyards, delivering > more pollutants into the atmosphere. And as a map published recently in the > *Scranton Times > Tribune*<http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/gas-drilling-complaints-map-1.1490926> > shows, > Armstrong County’s water is already contaminated by fracking. Yet despite > all this, there is no popular movement apparent; people seem to accept the > poison and even get angry with anyone who points out the obvious. We once > witnessed a man who, rather than paying someone to tear down an old house > he owned and hauling the refuse away, was burning it, bit by bit, in a > circular pit. No one but us seemed to notice or care. > > As those at the top of the economic heap become fantastically wealthy, > they use their money to create a society that will allow them to continue > to add to their fortunes. Every institution and every facet of life must be > controlled and, if possible, turned into an opportunity for making more > money. Those without money find themselves in such perilous circumstances > that they soon enough become willing to take whatever crumbs the plutocrats > give them and to do whatever the rich want them to do. Turning a blind eye > to the harm done by natural gas hydraulic fracturing no doubt seems a > small price to pay for lower taxes, some jobs, and a few hundred dollars > for giving the frackers access to your land. > > *MICHAEL D. YATES is Associate Editor of Monthly review magazine.He is > the author of Cheap Motels and Hot Plates: an Economist’s > Travelogue<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1583671439/counterpunchmaga> > and Naming the System: Inequality and Work in the Global > Economy<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1583670793/counterpunchmaga>. > He is the editor of Wisconsin Uprising: Labor Fights > Back<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/%20158367280X/counterpunchmaga>. > Yates > can be reached at [email protected]* >
-- *“No matter how cynical you become, it’s never enough to keep up.” * * Lily Tomlin* -- *We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.* *~ Native American Proverb* For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ If you have questions about this list please contact the list manager, Tom Shelley, at [email protected].
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