Gas has been found in at least three water wells in Pennsylvania and state regulators are trying to determine if gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale is to blame.
Did you ever see Thank You for Smoking?
Plot
Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is the Vice President of and the chief spokesman for the Academy of Tobacco Studies, a tobacco lobby whose stated purpose is to research the links between smoking cigarettes and lung cancer. Unsurprisingly, the group, funded by cigarette companies, does not find any link between the two.
My Prediction: State regulators won’t find any proof that gas in the water wells was caused by drilling despite the FACT that “a Jan. 1 explosion shattered a cement slab covering one of the wells.”
How Big Tobacco Deals with Adverse Research — and Researchers
Source: American Journal of Public Health (sub req’d), January 2009
A case study in the January issue of the American Journal of Public Health shows the extent to which the tobaccoindustry works to derail research — and researchers — that could adversely affect it. The study examines the experiences of University of California cardiology professor Stanton Glantz, who researches a wide range of tobacco-related topics, from the effects o fsecondhand smoke on the heart, to the reductions in heart attacks observed when smokefree policies are enacted, to how the tobacco industry influences legislation and fights tobacco control programs.
Between 1988 and 1998, the industry quietly worked through third parties to denigrate Glantz to his superiors and publicly portray him as extremist, unqualified or politically motivated. They ran ads against him in major newspapers, paid scientists to write letters to publications discrediting his work and formed front groups to try and create the appearance of a grassroots uprising against his work. They brought several lawsuits against Glantz and his institution, and worked through tobacco-friendly legislators to try and cut off federal funding for his research.
The authors point out how such extreme attacks by industry can influence policymaking and discourage other scientists from doing work that may expose them to similar attacks. They conclude that the support of scientists’ employers is crucial to the continued advancement of public health.
Sound familiar?
The oil and gas industry also makes liberal use of a practice widely used by the tobacco industry: hush money–give the victims a huge pile of cash and make them sign a non disclosure agreement.
Another example:
Update on Cattle Killed by Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid in Louisiana
About Sharon Wilson
Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether it’s top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.
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How silly to compare an industry that heats and cools our homes, runs our cars and provides energy to run our manufacturing to a product that NO ONE should use! This is beyond being silly; it is nutty! Another blog from a far left wing nut!
Das ist asinine! If gas drilling is so wonderful, why don’t you move in next to a gas patch?
Oh now I get it! Because an industry provides energy we should let them pollute our water and just shut up and get cancer. At least we'll be warm. How silly of me for thinking that an industry should be accountable for destroying our water. Thanks for setting me straight.
Both industries spend millions of dollars swaying elected officials to include laws that are beneficial to their bottom line, profit. All in the face of public safety and extreme environmental concerns.
I'd say yeah, they are exactly the same. Different product, same bullshit.