talk to Orion

1 - Why hasn't the Coal Gasification industry considered less disruptive ways of getting the gas out of the coal.

In-situ Radio Frequency heating (literally by inserting r/f transmitters into the ground)in combination with classic extraction techniques -- has been tested and is proven to work both for both oil and gas extraction -- and r/f requires neither strip mining and surface retort heating (which utilizes vast amounts of water in the extraction process)...does the job with coal and with shale and tar sands -- at a fraction of the costs and without anywhere near the environmental impact on geological areas that are by nature fragile in ecological balance. Are the mining companies driving the show here or what. And while I'm at it, why hasn't state and federal energy people insisting on development of extraction techniques that don't involve the horendous devastation and waste and contamination of water resources the coal industy is forcing on us in this monsterous hussle. (Comment this)

2 - This would be a good subject for a documentary movie and/or a Bill Moyers show.
It is sad to know that we do not live in a democracy
anymore, where people matter.
We recently heard about this subject from Carl Anthony,
a native American, at a Bioneers Conference. (Comment this)

3 - The United States really does need to come up with a new mind-set. Simply raping the earth for maximum profit, heedless of every consequence to our people and our environment, will not be sustainable much longer. Karma, the principle that "what goes around comes around" is certainly at work in Tweeti's case: she was a promoter of George W. Bush and his Republicans, the prime profiteers of all time. She says what bothers her is "people don't say anything, they just seem to take it." But how to counter a devious, multifaceted, concentrated campaign of rapaciousness that springs a new hydra-head each day? Look to the consequences of your own actions, Tweeti. (Comment this)

4 - My husband Bob and I also ranch in San Juan County. His family moved into Cuba, NM at the turn of the century (1900. We bought our place in 1971 and have pour blood and sweat into improving the ranch. In the 70's we spent our time repairing the damage done by the oil company runing the test holes through out this county. We also developed natural spring not only for our cattle but the quail, deer, elk and other wildlife in the area. We worked hard to stop erosin and to get the natural grasses to come back.

That was until 2 years ago when Dugan Oil moved on to our ranch. So now here we sit watching every thing we worked for disappear. Our ranch is being torn up by road, well site, and pipelines. It is being to look as bad as Tweeties. I once told here my heart broke for her family and I felt lucky we had nothing on us. She told me "just wait, after they destroy our yours is next". and the sad part she is right.

It is like a cancer that just keeps spreading. We spent 35 years stablizing a sand dune from eating up acreas of land. It took the oil company 1 day to undo everything we had worked for. And now there well pads are every quarter section. Roads divert the natural flow of water out of our natural ponds so that they dry up. and one is even set in the middle of one. I can hardly wait until we have that rain storm that puts that one under water.

I realize that this county need the energy, but I feel they could work with us and do the drilling in an enviromental freindly way. But down and dirty is cheaper and means more profit. They do not even have the curtsy to stop by the house and tell us what they are doing before by bulldoze the whole pasture under to put in the pipline and well pads.

Your article was great. It hit the problem on the nose. Until you see our beautiful county you can not even imagine the devestation being done to it. (Comment this)

5 - Here's an interesting fact:

"In the last 15 years, companies have pumped out 548 billion gallons of water, enough to pour over Niagra Falls for 42 days at the Falls' current flow rate. About 66 percent of that water was reinjected, still leaving 181 billion gallons extracted -- the amount of water that pours over Niagra Falls for 13 days (MMS 2004, CNN 2003). Most so-called "produced water" is unfit for human consumption but removing it can deplete local springs and wells; contaminate land,
surface water and ground water; and cause erosion. Reinjection can contaminate groundwater (OGAP 2004)."

Source: Who Owns the West? Oil & Gas Leases Big Access, Little Energy - the Oil and Gas Industry's Hold on Western Lands, Environmental Working Group (2004). http://www.ewg.org/oil_and_gas/execsumm.php (Comment this)

6 - I worked in that BLM office from 1991-1999. Things were bad enough then, but this article is a chillingly accurrate portrayal of the shameful shift in the way our public lands have been treated since George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Gale Norton took the reins. I'm surprised that Tweetie didn't know that's what she was campaigning for -- it was obvious to the rest of us. (Comment this)

7 - I find it exceedingly ironic that the very people who supported the Republicans are now reaping what they sowed. Very sad too, considering the gains for the environment under Clinton and Bruce Babbit. It is going to take a lot to recover from the devastation to the land that is the legacy of eight years of George Bush and his crime family. (Comment this)

8 - The reality is that the majority of people take action only about what they think directly affects them. Activists feel that every human endeavor affects every human, in some way, and choose to fight for diverse causes. (Comment this)

9 - I was once again outraged by the human and environmental consequences of misguided engergy development. And I was again inspired by the "stickers" and activists - though some of them might not think of themselves as activists - who are fighting for the land and their place in it. Coalitions like that of Valle Vidal are springing up all over. In Colorado the Southern Rockies Conservation Alliance is coodinating a state-wide campaign to save the Roan Plateau, among other places, that is the backdrop for the Garfield County stories. (Comment this)

10 - I served as Montana's Congressman from 1979 to 1997. Looking back I remember..starkly..that too many extractive industry companies could not keep there "clean-up" promises. The damage was, in almost every case, much greater then they had anticipated..or at least predicted to my office and my constituents, and the industries ability and/or willingness to do the remediation work too often fell far short of what they promised and what my constituents expected.

"Fool me once...." (Comment this)