Natural Gas is Not Clean (Even If Ads Say It Is)

Cove Point rally in downtown Baltimore, February 20, 2014

I have been quiet for a while on the writing front.  I’ve been more of an activist of late, compelled by the urgency to change where we source our energy before we poison ourselves right out of existence.  I’ve been going to press events and rallies for such things as the proposed Dominion Cove Point liquid natural gas (LNG) export facility in southern Maryland.  I’ve been making video shorts of some of the moving speeches given at these rallies. I’ve been speaking in places of faith about fracking. And I’ve been going to Annapolis, Maryland to learn how my state government works, how to meet with elected officials and educate them on what I know and why it matters.

In all these events and actions, I carry in my heart the people I have met over these past months and years who have been directly affected by the ramifications of high-volume, slick water hydraulic fracturing – more commonly known as fracking.  They are sick. Their children are sick.  Their drinking water and air have been contaminated by the fracking process with incredibly toxic chemicals that should never touch humans.  They have lost the value of their homes and peace in their lives.

Now, Dominion Resources of Virginia wants to turn its dormant liquid natural gas import facility in residential Lusby, Maryland into an export facility, with a massive contract already in place to export the gas to India and Japan for the next 20 years.  It will be the first LNG export facility on the east coast.

An LNG export facility has never before been built in a residential area.  It’s just across a two lane road from homes where families live.  It’s an insane idea!  It has the proven potential to be highly explosive, and therefore extremely dangerous, and it will contaminate the air residents breathe.  Yet it is on a fast track for approval, undergoing an inadequate Environmental Assessment (EA) that will not address the true health and safety risks to nearby families.

Not to mention that, if the export facility is approved, fracking will ramp up to even greater, unprecedented industrial levels of production in states such as Pennsylvania, West Virginia and potentially Maryland, destroying jobs in ecotourism, farming and recreation, scarring land, raising gas prices, contaminating water and air and, and, and…

One of reasons that Dominion is getting away with the LNG export terminal is the massive amounts of money it has for ads everywhere touting that Dominion Cove Point is safe and good for the economy.  Big bucks for advertising (along with buying elected officials) account for how the natural gas industry has been getting away with the idea that natural gas is “clean.”  It’s not clean at all.  Not even close.  Wind, solar and other forms of renewable energy are clean.  Yet the natural gas industry will not own the profound, irresponsible damage it is causing.  The industry clearly favors profits over the risks and impacts to our precious natural resources, to public health, to people’s lives.

This has been driving me crazy.  Those of us who are trying to stop the contamination of our water, air, atmosphere, soil and food don’t have deep pockets for advertising to get the truth out about fracking.  With little in my pockets and a whole lot of frustration, I created a YouTube ad.  I want it to reach the moms who haven’t had time to take in what fracking and Cove Point are all about; the horribly toxic impact fracking is having on our children and their future.

Renewable energy is our only way forward, and the sooner we embrace it the better.  Moms and parents and all who care about children and future generations need to know the truth about fracking, before the gas industry lays down a whole new level of infrastructure for natural gas exporting that will be active for decades to come.

Got a minute and a half to take a look at the ad?  Share it if you feel compelled. Maybe it will have an impact on someone new.   On this Earth Day, I thought it was worth a shot.

Yours for a better world,

Lisa

P.S.  Try Ethical Electric to begin your switch to renewables!  Learn more about Dominion Cove Point’s LNG export terminal by going to StopCovePoint.org.