I live in this county for 23 years now and been following and documenting the arrival of the Gas Industry in 2008 and doing Citizen Gas Tours in my county to hundreds and thousands of folks showing the downside of gas drilling.

I show what the gas companies do not show and do not want to discuss; the damage to our water wells, our air quality, our landscape and safety.

We have six gas companies operating in our county and the biggest one, Cabot Oil and Gas has up to 525 DEP violations and millions in fines since 2008 in our county.  I show the "harmed" residents with their water "buffaloes", plastic containers of hundred of gallons to replace household water, their special industrial strength filtration systems to try to clean up the contaminants and super-high methane levels since nearby gas drilling and folks still can not drink their own water.

This is still happening in our county in several sections and Cabot Oil and Gas is still banned in 9 sq. miles of our county from drilling because of the damage to the water wells in that area since 2008 and we now have new cases in 2013.

We have new, leaking gas wells and they are trying to repair the casing the past year and now will have to plug it after shutting it down.

Come and see for yourself the gas wells near homes, on school properties, on farms and near hospitals, shopping districts and see if you want this in your neighborhoods, along with compressor stations every two to four miles and dozens of new, high-pressure pipelines throughout the county near homes and buildings.

You can see the DEP Determination Letters for our State definitively showing that gas drilling is responsible for the contamination of private, water wells.

It can be found on this site: http://www.damascuscitizensforsustainability.org/pa-dep determination-letters and I have over 500 videos documenting what I see in my county at www.youtube.com/user/veraduerga.  I am part of Citizens for Clean Water and you can contact me at veraduerga@yahoo.com and 607 237 9685.  

Sincerely,

Vera Scroggins

Citizens for Clean Water

Brackney, PA.

John F. Kennedy affirmed our constitutionally protected identity saying; the rights of men are not granted by the state but by the hand of God, our creator. These truths are self evident and reside in every human heart. The Declaration and Constitution of the U.S. established this, the law of the land, saying: We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal by the Holy Spirit in our mother’s womb. Male and female he creates us with certain inalienable rights, attributes and virtues conveyed with the incarnation of our souls from heaven at our conception. This is the formation of our personhood, established as law in the 14th amendment of the Constitution. There for, what God has joined together let no man put asunder.

Since the fall of Adam it has always been believed, yet poorly observed that we come from the relm of our creators love and glory, heaven. So we have every right under devine law, his commandments to love the truth with him in Christ, his only begotten son conceived by the Holy Spirit of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He became a man like us in all things but sin, full of grace and truth. To all who trust and obey him he gives the power to become adopted sons and daughters, free from the bondage of sin and satan.

George Washington said: “Our constitution was made for a moral and religious people only.” In other words, there can be no compromise of the truth, our identity and rights because we are created equal to the task, (vocation) God has given us for his glory. We can do no great things, but we can do little things with great love.

Haven’t we seen enough corruption, death and destruction of our families with the advancement of consumer communism? Each one of us need to pray and work to restore the 14th Ammendment, our right to life and ownership of property. We must demand of ourselves and congress passage of the Life at Conception Act. The annual March For Life is Jan. 22nd in Washington D.C. Hundreds of thousands of college students will be attending.

Sincerely,

John Mann

Lanesboro, PA

An iron wall encircles Fukushima; a wall not to staunch the seepage of radioactive water flooding into the Pacific from its triple nuclear meltdowns but to stop the free-flow of information about the growing disaster.

It is a wall of secrecy legislated by the Japanese parliament called the State Secrets Act. The law imposes harsh penalties on those who leak secrets or even try to obtain them. If convicted independent journalists, investigative reporters, video crews, or even those taking fly-over photographs of the incapacitated reactors could be imprisoned for five years, government employees for twice that.

What, then, is a “state secret?” In a word, anything. If the Japanese government or its handmaiden, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) decides that it doesn't want the public to know something, then it's a secret. Critics call it the “Fuk-hush-ima Law.”

Now this conspiracy of silence has expanded to included the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The IAEA and the Japanese government have agreed that any information that would “contribute to worsening of the residents' anxiety,” could be restricted by either party.

The IAEA entered into an additional contract of confidentiality with the Fukushima Medical University. It reads, “The Parties will ensure the confidentiality of information classified by the other Party as restricted or confidential.”

This gives the IAEA the authority to squelch all health issues arising from radiation such as thyroid cancer, leukemia, low white blood cell count, nausea, bloody vomiting, diarrhea, hair loss, unusual bleeding, and seizures.

Keep in mind that the IAEA reported that after the Chernobyl nuclear accident, “there were no health effects due to radiation exposure.” Not surprising since a stated goal of this organization is to “promote the use of nuclear energy.”

On the other side of the Pacific, President Obama joined the “What me worry?” crowd. “Whether it's the West Coast, Hawaii, Alaska or U.S. territories in the Pacific, we do not expect harmful levels of radiation. That's the judgment of our Nuclear Regulatory Commission and many other experts.”

Japan, TEPCO, the IAEA, and the USA, have this in common: their own self interest; it's the nature of the beast.

Japan was chosen to be the host nation for the 2020 Summer Olympics. It will not allow any adverse publicity to jeopardize that spectacle.

TEPCO is a private corporation. Its primary interest is the bottom line, its second interest---if, indeed, it has one---is the welfare of its customers and fellow citizens.

The IAEA is an arm of the multi-billion dollar nuclear industry. It is funded by contributions from 159 member states whose membership was initiated by the nuclear industry in that nation. It is an incestuous, self-serving organization.

For its part, the US government works hand-in-glove with the nuclear industry. Obama wants $36 billion in loan guarantees for the nuclear industry. If that industry has trouble paying its bills, not to worry, the US taxpayer it there to pick up the tab.

The Union of Concerned Scientists wrote that after more than 50 years, the US nuclear power industry still must be propped up by government subsidies and loan guarantees.

The report continued, “Despite the fact that the nuclear power industry has benefited from decades of government support, the technology is still uneconomic, so the industry is demanding a lot more from taxpayers.” How much more?

The initial cleanup cost in Three Mile Island was $975 million; in Chernobyl the bill was $240 billion. Even now, thirty-five years after Three Mile Island and twenty-eight years post Chernobyl the expenses continue to mount.

At Fukushima decontamination is projected to cost the Nipponese taxpayer $1 trillion for a forty-year radiation mop-up.

Atomic energy is the gift that never stops taking.

The cost of nuclear power in terms of its effects on human health and premature deaths is beyond calculation.

In truth, the nuclear industry is a zombie. It is kept unnaturally alive by transfusions of government cash, subsidies, loan guarantees, financial assistance in construction and cost overruns, accident insurance, waste management, decontamination, and secrecy about its true nature. Without these artificial life supports it would have died a natural death decades ago.

Sincerely,

Bob Scroggins

New Milford, PA