Day 1: Afternoon
by Reagan
and used a color palet of light greens, blues, and natural wood accents.
The Meeting was at the company was with 4 lobbyists who discussed the concerns
of Hyrofracking and the production of Natural Gas. Some of these negatives being that the gas is Methane, which is a green house gas that if used to
a large degree could speed up Global Warming and increase the temperature of the earth. Some other issues with Hydrofracking
where that the water being used, at high amounts of pressure, is 99% water and 1% toxic chemicals that comes back up to the surface.
The Shale Formation that is under much of New York and Pennsylvania also has many old oil and gas wells that are not
monitored or capped completely. By drilling wells and moving the earth near these old wells, can cause leakage in water wells and
damage to the environment. Chemical waste from the drilling is not monitored and is toxic. It has contaminated water
and soil. The gas that comes up to the surface during the fracking process also brings with it elements that are radioactive and harmful,
such as mercury and arsenic. The transportation of these unwanted material is dangerous as well. The fracking of the earth shale has been
seen to cause earthquakes where wells/fracking is done near fault lines. The regulations for the Gas Industry so far put in place are at the state level and many states have few laws and flexible regulations concerning
drilling and fracking. Many of these regulations are not followed by the gas industry and there has been a push to try and bring
the regulations to a federal level. Nobody knows for certain the 'x' amount of natural gas available and if the population increased and usage
increases it is likely that the natural gas available will be used up in less than 100 years. The usage of natural gas is a bridge to no where
since it is a temporary solution that is a fossil fuel sources that can cause harmful environmental damage.
Other topics that were discussed is Energy Efficiency and what other alternatives there where to fossil fuel resources, such as wind, solar etc.
Job creation could come from finding new energy alternatives and making solar and wind more prevalent in the market.
Jobs provided by clean energy can cause a ripple effect for work going from the process of making the material for wind turbines to the instillation.
Money that is saved from using these alternative sources can go back into investing in the economy.
On the political side, the Obama Administration has seen some incentives for use of clean energy like the tax energy incentives for energy efficient
houses and the solar and wind industry. The need for a price/tax on carbon emissions, and the recent push to try and pass
a Cap and Trade Policy in Congress (http://www.epa.gov/captrade/).
There was a small movie clip about the Heart Land Institute , a group that wants to influence schools to teach students in the curriculum
that global warming is a myth and made up by scientists.
The meeting was wrapped up with some questions and answers discussing Nuclear Power, BioFuel, Politics, and issues on Fracking.
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