What Happens When Fracking Hits the Suburbs

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/fracking/what-happens-when-fracking-hits-suburbs?akid=9900.277129.FBrVD-&rd=1&src=newsletter771866&t=17




The corner of Goldenrod and Western streets, with its grid of modest homes, could be almost any suburb that went up in a hurry – except of course for the giant screeching oil rig tearing up the earth and making the pavement shudder underfoot.

Fracking, the technology that opened up America's vast deposits of unconventional oil and gas, has moved beyond remote locations and landed at the front door, with oil operations now planned or under way in suburbs, mid-sized towns and large metropolitan areas.

Some cities have moved to limit fracking or ban it outright – even in the heart of oil and gas country. Tulsa, Oklahoma, which once billed itself as the oil capital of the world, banned fracking inside city limits. The authorities in Dallas last week blocked what would have been the first natural gas well in town. The town of Longmont, just outside Denver, meanwhile, is fighting off attempts by industry groups to overturn a fracking ban.

But Gardendale, a suburb of 1,500 people near the hub of the west Texas oil industry, exists in a legal and political environment in which there are seemingly few restrictions on fracking, even inside city limits. For residents here, fracking is part of daily life.

[coldbeer]

1. less than 3 miles from my house in the city

we have a phenomena of burning shale!
The shale is exposed because of the river.
This is a pristine area. I think the fire got
put out, but I'm not sure. I wonder how long it
will be before they polute our river with fracking?

[Buzz Clik]

3. What part of the world is that?

[coldbeer]

4. oh eigch ten

[Buzz Clik]

5. Interesting locale. Do you like it there?

Other than the shale fires, of course.

Are you close at all to oh eigch ten you? Beautiful setting.

[Buzz Clik]

2. It would be interesting to know how many of the residents of Gardendale TX ....

... are employed directly by the oil and gas industry. It will be a high number.

[leftyohiolib]

6. well aparently they did this to themselves - a paragraph from the aricle says

However, Gardendale lacks the legal authority to keep fracking at a distance. The suburb, just outside Midland and Odessa, is unincorporated, so it does not have the legal authority to impose zoning restrictions. Residents voted down an attempt to incorporate last year, fearing it would lead to higher taxes.

[hatrack]

8. And now, they get to enjoy their Free-dumb

.

[CRH]

7. To answer the headline, ... flaming faucets , n/t