Attn Mid Atlantic Riders! PA, NY, MD, W VA
 

How do you guys feel about the NY Times article regarding the natural gas industry pollution in our waterways? Here is the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/27/us/27gas.html?_r=1

It points out the many pollutants that have been unresponsibly disposed of in our waterways throughout the past few years. Pretty scary stuff including radio active elements (which naturally occur 6,000-8,000' below the surface, these elements are brought to the surface as a result of hydro-fracture drilling).

As users of our country's waterways, we have a responsibility to try and keep them clean, its a shame that others don't feel that way. Destruction is a byproduct of progression, I guess you can't have everything.

I'm in NJ and ride the Delaware river, which was mentioned in the article. I'm not thrilled with pollutants being dumped in the river. You'll never get rid of it 100% though. Accidents happen, technology isn't there to cost effectively make everything 100% clean. I have swam down in Philly near the airport a few times. It is what it is. Generally though I stay north of the city, upriver from the refineries where the river is cleaner and more scenic.

Bottom line though is I like my cheap energy. We need more refineries, not less. Push to hard on them and they'll either get real quiet and ignore regulations/hide what they really discharge into waterways... or just shut down and go elsewhere. One results in far worse pollution in our waterways and the other increases energy costs significantly. I'd prefer things to get cleaner though as there's a learning curve with each new technology.

I work in the gas industry and can say there are many false statements in that article (as with most articles these days about the drilling industry). Nat gas is a clean fuel that we need for our future and can be produced with little harm to the environment. I don't feel like typing a book to respond the the lengthy Times article but go and read some of the reader comments. There are some informed reader comments that will show there are two sides to every story. That article was obviously written by someone very biased.

Agreed, the NY Times is biased in most cases. But the article does a good job of at least raising awareness, and getting people to ask questions. I'm all for energy independence (and cost effective solutions), but being that its 2011, certainly we have technology to do this responsibly. I guess it just boils down to the poor regulations of my home state of PA. I live in western PA, and have a drilling site across from my farm, so I've certainly heard all of the pros and cons of the industry.

Being that this is a wakeboarding website, I just wanted to post this up so others in my area are aware of the situation. If our state polititians spent time on our rivers towing their kids behind a boat, I'm sure regulations might be a bit tighter. Bottom line, everyone is telling half truths, newspapers, gas companies with their media blitz trying to give everyone a warm and fuzzy feeling, its up to the average person to peice it all together and draw conclusions for themselves.

There always seems to be some sort of pollution in these rivers (chemicals, pesticides, nitrogen, etc.) I do remember reading somewhere that the Delaware river is cleaner now than it was years ago, not sure how true that is. If natural gas drilling does pose a problem like the article states, that is a real shame. Hopefully the EPA will keep a closer eye on these companies.

I'll still ride the river until I find a better spot, but I will limit how much time my 7 year old spends in the water since kids swallow water by accident more often than adults do.