Holding
out the prospect of
vast new domestic reserves, the natural gas industry is promising to
make the United
States
an energy-rich nation once again. But we should be careful what we wish
for.
Spending those riches could endanger water supplies for millions of
Americans
while still failing to solve the climate crisis.
Aerial photographs of land
surrounding the millennium pipeline north of Sullivan County, NY show sweeping
tracts of largely unspoiled forest. They are ecologically important for several
species including neo-tropical migrant birds that travel from South America to
breeding habitats in the northern latitudes, bald eagles, and the endangered
timber rattlesnake.
If you own land in Colorado, your rights could end a few feet from the surface.
"Split Estate," a new documentary by filmmaker Debra Anderson, explores the boom in drilling by oil and gas companies on privately owned land in the Rocky Mountain states in recent years. Anderson discovered U.S. law favors those who hold mineral rights over landowners.
PAVILLION, Wyoming - Louis Meeks, a burly 59-year-old
alfalfa farmer, fills a metal trough with water from his well and
watches an oily sheen form on the surface which gives off a faint odor
of paint.
He points to small bubbles that appear in the water, and a thin ring of foam around the edge.
Meeks is convinced that energy companies drilling for natural gas in
this central Wyoming farming community have poisoned his water and
ruined his health.
