lundi 30 septembre 2013

(blog à finir et à corriger)

Citoyen américain, lève-toi !
Disons, mes chers cinq lecteurs que c'est le cri que j'ai envie d'émettre à voir ce que les sociétés multinationales font au peuple américain, la même que chez les autres d'ailleurs.
Citoyen de la libre amérique, africains, sud-américains, même combat !

(source : ecowatch)

Fracking Victims Demand EPA Reopen Investigations Into Poisoned Drinking Water

September 26, 2013

Americans Against Fracking Stop the Frack Attack

Residents personally harmed by gas drilling and fracking held a press

conference in front of the White House yesterday and delivered 250,000

petition signatures from concerned citizens across the U.S. to Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy at EPA

headquarters. The residents—including Ray Kemble from Pennsylvania, Steve

Lipsky and Shelly Perdue from Texas and John Fenton from Wyoming—were

all part of the EPA fracking investigations in their respective states that

the EPA abandoned despite evidence of water contamination.

The petitions were collected by Stop the Frack Attack and

Americans Against Fracking and its advisory committee

member, actor Mark Ruffalo. The petitions demand that t

he U.S. EPA reopen investigations into fracking-related drinking water

contamination in Pennsylvania, Texas and Wyoming and provide

residents with safe drinking water in the interim.

“Today, I stand with affected community members from Dimock,

PA, Pavilion, WY, and Parker County, TX, to call on President Obama

and the EPA to re-open the investigations on the link between fracking

and drinking water contamination,” said actor and advocate

Mark Ruffalo. “The American people expect and deserve a transparent

EPA that makes science-based decisions, free from political interference.”

This event comes a month after Dimock, Pennsylvania resident

Ray Kemble and Susquehanna County resident Craig Stevens

delivered more than 50,000 petitions to the EPA asking it to reopen its investigation

into the possible connection between gas drilling and water contamination

in Dimock.

“Last month, we told EPA officials that we would be back in a month

with more petitions,” said Craig Stevens. “Today, we are here

to deliver five times our original number of petitions, and we stand

here with affected community members from Pavilion,WY, and Parker County,

TX, who have been through the same nightmare we have in Pennsylvania.”

“For years now, I have had to live with toxic, poisoned fracked water

in my home,” added Ray Kemble, a former gas industry employee a

nd an affected Dimock area resident, who was part of t

he EPA investigation. “When the EPA finally stepped in and

tested my water, I thought ‘Thank God. Someone is finally here

to help us.’ But then it became apparent to those of us on the

ground that they were playing politics. EPA officials officially told us

that our water was safe to drink but then told us off-the-record not

to drink it. Now the truth is out and we want justice.”

In late 2010 in Parker County, TX, the EPA’s investigations

led it to issue a rare emergency order because at least two

homeowners were in immediate danger from a well saturated

with flammable methane. More than a year later, the agency

rescinded its mandate without explaining why.

A subsequent Associated Pressstory reported that although the EPA

had scientific evidence connecting the driller, Range Resources,

with drinking water contamination, they changed course after political

pressure from the company and its lobbyists.

“President Obama told us that we would only extract natural gas if

it didn’t pollute our water,” said Steve Lipsky of Parker County, TX. “

The EPA knows my water was polluted by fracking, their own investigator

told them so. Now I have to truck in my drinking water. President Obama,

you need to tell the EPA to reopen its investigations.”

“The purpose of the EPA is to protect us all from these types

of health and safety hazards,” said Shelly Perdue, of Parker County, TX,

whose water and air have also been contaminated with methane.

“The methane at my house is 18 times the explosive level. It’s time f

or President Obama and Gina McCarthy to stand up for our communities.”

More recently, the EPA abandoned its fracking study in Pavillion, WY, which found benzene, a known carcinogen, at 50 times the level that is considered safe. However, even with this evidence, the EPA handed its investigation over to the state of Wyoming, whose lead politicians have vocally supported fracking. Moreover, this research will be funded by EnCana, the very company whose drilling and fracking operations may have caused the groundwater contamination in question.

“The EPA conducted an investigation into the contamination of our aquifer, and discovered that drilling was responsible,” said John Fenton a rancher from Pavillion. “But rather than finish, they knuckled under to political pressure and turned the investigation over to the very state and company that denied there was a problem in the first place. President Obama needs to tell the EPA to reopen its investigations.”

This action follows the one million public comments delivered to Obama Administration against fracking on public lands as part of a growing movement demanding that the Obama Administration do its job in protecting Americans from dangers of fracking.