Source : Mountain Messenger

Excerpt from Peggy Mackenzie’s article in the Mountain Messenger:

We are seeing profit-hungry motivated behavior mount as gas drilling companies scramble for leases in karst country. Like any “gold rush,” the money is so good.  Karst topography is a landscape created by groundwater dissolving sedimentary rock such as limestone, according to the website watersheds.org. Karst makes our Valley especially vulnerable when it comes to drilling.

As information streams in concerning the use of hydraulic fracture drilling for natural gas in the abundantly rich shale fields around the country and especially the Marcellus shale which lies beneath West Virginia and other states in the eastern US, it has been pointed out that natural gas is cleaner that coal and oil. Lawmakers, and members of the oil and gas industry along with the media have jumped on the bandwagon touting natural gas as America’s latest clean energy effort.

But, as Myles Yates of SaveTheWaterTable.org says, “Get it straight: Natural gas extracted by way of hydraulic fracture is NOT clean energy.”

Source : EPA.gov

Location: Anderson Performing Arts Center at Binghamton University, NY

Date & Time: August 12, 2010 @ 8am; 1pm; 6pm

Description: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is hosting four public information meetings on the proposed study of the relationship between hydraulic fracturing and its potential impacts on drinking water. Hydraulic fracturing is a process that drills vertical and horizontal cracks underground that help withdraw gas or oil from coalbeds, shale and other geological formations. By pumping fracturing fluids (water and chemical additives) and sands into rock formations, fractures are created in the formation from which natural gas or oil can be more easily extracted. The meetings will provide public information about the proposed study scope and design. EPA will solicit public comments on the draft study plan. 3 sessions – 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Location: Senior Citizen Center in Union, WV

Date & Time: Monday 08.09.2010 @ 7pm

Description: Our organization will come together as a whole to regroup, to create plans for our next steps, and to further develop and refine our committees and leadership.

To become a member, Register at SWTO

Location : Senior Citizen Center in Union, WV

Date & Time : TUESDAY 07.27.2010 @ 19:00

Description : SavetheWaterTable.org is holding a meeting to get serious. Time to do the mechanics of forming an organization – brainstorm, research, communicate, strategize, act! The organization’s dual and simultaneous focus is equally on information dissemination and education as it is action and code reform. NOW is the time to get down to brass tacks, determine the next steps and mobilize into action in the form of motivated committees. Come and join us! Save the Water Table! This is NOT A PUBLIC MEETING. It is for members interested in forming and managing an organization. We will hold organized public Q&A informational meetings in the future.

To become a member, Register at SWTO

Source : New York Times + SavetheWaterTable.org

Again, Joel Kirkland from ClimateWire has published a gripping article about the growing environmental concerns surrounding the process of producing shale gas. That article begins:

Around suppertime on June 3 in Clearfield County, Pa., a geyser of natural gas and sludge began shooting out of a well called Punxsutawney Hunting Club 36. The toxic stew of gas, salt water, mud and chemicals went 75 feet into the air for 16 hours. Some of this mess seeped into a stream northeast of Pittsburgh.

Four days later, as authorities were cleaning up the debris in Pennsylvania, an explosion burned seven workers at a gas well on the site of an abandoned coal mine outside of Moundsville, W.Va., just southwest of Pittsburgh.

A serious 4-page article follows, please:

Read more >>

SavetheWaterTable.org is a collective of concerned individuals – endeavoring to prevent hydraulic fracking from contaminating the water supply and irreversibly damaging the ecosystem. Become educated, become aware of the dangers!

They are currently focused on the proposed use of hydraulic fracture in the Marcellus Shale beds of Monroe County, WV – a karst region. The land there is full of caves, sinkholes, vertical seams, and most importantly, an interconnected system of underground water. To fire millions of gallons of toxins under extremely high pressure into the ground – they think that is a very, very bad idea.

Unfortunately, hydraulic fracture has already left behind a wake of documented disaster – in an effort to open the hearts, minds and eyes of our neighbors, our friends, and our leaders – they will use the site to share and distribute information.

Join and support the effort to spread knowledge and to Save the Water Table!

Loans that change lives...

A brilliant and relatively new (2005) charitable org is making its way.

Kiva connects individuals willing to lend funds to entrepreneurs in developing countries, enabling new business growth and stimulating the economies.

After much adieu, the team at KeMeK presents a v2.0 Philanthropy site. A new tagging taxonomy has been added as well as new navigation. Most obviously, the old template has been scrapped and a brand new custom template has been designed which is more attractive, straight-forward, and user-friendly. Welcome to the new site! May you find content that is interesting and helpful and hopeful - and we hope you may stick around and help us make the world a better place!

YouTube videos and video clips about Education, Non-Profits, and Activism have been integrated into KeMeK.Philanthropy. Excellent.

After an initial conception and build of the platform for KeMeK.ORG, or KeMeK.Philanthropy, which took place in March of this year, a re-imagining and then rebuild from scratch followed, and for all intents and purposes, can hereby be marked complete.

The site will serve as a news portal and social network for Pioneers from around the world committed to remaining hopeful and positive about the world and the human condition, and who dedicate some portion of their lives and resources to charity, philanthropy, and aid.

The site is of course in its absolute infancy, and additional design, content, and features are forthcoming.

I urge any and all of you to embark on this journey with us, focusing on the positive (often despite and very much in the face of the overwhelming body of negative), and seeking to make the world a better place.

One Love, Yes We Can, Peace, Love, Unity, Respect, and etc.

The KeMeK.Philanthropy Team