…is the choice being put to residents of Finleyville, PA (in the southwestern part of the state) by the natural gas company EQT.
The question is also the headline of the Slate story on the proposal.
$50,000 sounds like a big payoff. But as an insurance policy for the company, it may be a good deal. Because what if a well site in southwestern Pennsylvania explodes? Or consider any of a number of other potential health and environmental consequences. (See Public Citizen's summary here.)
If you make a deal with any gas company, other than regular service delivery so you can heat your residence, you’re selling your soul to the devil. They will hurt you and not even blink if you can’t sue them. They need to be stopped from harming the citizens of this country.
No, I don’t think that’s a good deal. My home is worth more than that, my health is definitely worth more than that. If they are willing to offer that, they surely expect to make enormous profits off the peoples’ miseries.
I do not currently live in an area in which fracking is happening or likely to be in the future though, living near Portland, Oregon, I am in the midst of the argument to increase oil shipments via train through the Columbia River Gorge to the coast. In that context, I’ve sat back and thought a lot about our current energy policy and needs and how I might be impacted by them.
I know the value of my property (small house and small lot). I know I place a high value on some of my personal possessions that EQT would likely consider useless junk. I know the value of my physical life and, of course, the value of my quiet lifestyle.
I shouldn’t have to mention how astronomically valuable is the environment. It happens to be the only milieu in which I can live. Having stable ground beneath my feet is greatly impactful (and I wonder if the people in Kansas, experiencing its recent uptick in earthquakes, have even begun to absorb that fact). I want to sleep at night without extreme storms raging outside my bedroom window. I want the water in the rivers and streams to be free of chemicals and sewage so that I can swim in them, enjoy their beauty.
These things are all beyond precious to me.
My electric bill, in part, supports wind generation. I would love to have solar panels on my roof. I will do whatever I can in my small way to preserve the environment by buying less, using less, driving less and someday, when the movement really begins to have teeth, fully supporting a commons-oriented society/economy.
EQT – or any other entity – that fracks or supports fracking does not have enough money to pay me to keep my mouth shut or to entice me to give up a right that will only serve to preserve its wealth when inevitable destruction finally lands on a community’s doorstep. Natural gas and oil are no longer the saviors of civilization; they are destroying it.