Fracking kids won’t make your kids proud

Fracking kids

Happy holidays. The frackers gave me a present on Christmas Eve. It’s rather sad and pathetic.

When Dave Quast appeared on the California fracking scene as Senior Director for FTI Consulting, singing the praises of all things fracking and denying any harm, I was curious. I googled him and learned that he worked for Phillip Morris.

David Quast teen smoking author worked for Philip Morris from 1997 to 1998 as manager of media affairs. He still brags about writing their Youth Smoking Prevention program that was designed to subtly lure youth to smoke.

I asked Quast about it on Twitter and he readily admitted his role. He was proud, defiant. So, I wrote up my research: Dave Quast teen smoking author now peddling fracking.

Quast never contacted me about the article disputing any specific information or requesting any corrections. He never explained “how it was wholly inaccurate,” but I’m all ears when he is ready to provide specifics and willing to correct anything I got wrong. He knows where to find me if he has objections. There was a Twitter exchange and then he simply blocked me from his Twitter account, which is fine by me but he continues to tag me in tweets and retweets. That’s cowardly.

Now Quast wants me to care about him and his kids.

Well crap. I care about everybody even Quast and especially his kids. I think what Quast means is he doesn’t want his kids to find out who he really is. He’s not sorry for anything he has done, he’s just sorry he got caught. Quast is on the wrong side of history with fracking kids just as he was with teen smoking. The science on fracking is following the same trajectory as tobacco.

Yet Quast continues to promote fracking kids and to misrepresent the harm to kids who live near fracking. There are 78 studies in this database showing that fracking harms health. I have never spoken with one industry person who said they want their children to live near or attend school near fracking. Everyone knows that breathing hydrocarbon fumes harms health so let’s stop pretending. Every week there is more evidence of harm. Today, children in Porter Ranch are not home for Christmas because there is a massive natural gas leak in their neighborhood: In Porter Ranch, ongoing gas leak seeps the joy out of Christmas. In Kern County where the poorest and most vulnerable children live, the oil and gas industry is expanding into more neighborhoods. Quast promotes more development in Kern County with less oversight.

Kids are smart. They figure things out. If you want your kids to be proud, do something that makes them proud. If they aren’t proud, that’s on you not me.