Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Gassing on

A couple of months ago, I wrote an in-depth feature about natural gas and oil well drilling in Ohio for Cleveland Scene and a companion blog entry. For anyone who's interested in keeping up with the serious side of Erin, I've written a follow up story to "Drill Baby Drill" for today's paper.

This issue is also garnering attention from other sectors of the media. Our local NPR radio station featured Oil and Gas Drilling in Ohio: Not in My Backyard? this morning on "The Sound of Ideas."

My readers come from far and near, but what is happening here in densely populated areas of Ohio is truly stunning. I urge anyone who's interested in drilling or land owner rights to give this story a read.

2 comments:

Kirk said...

I recently had to pay a garage a shitload of money to fix something on my car so that it would pass an E-check. The E-check, for all you outsiders, is mandated by the federal EPA for people who live in Greater Cleveland in order to solve an air quality problem that never seems to go away despite 20 years of closed factories and population losses. As a conscientious liberal, I can't, and won't, complain about such a rule, or having to pay the money, but why should drivers of old cars that are much more likely to have such problems, and whom can't afford newer transportation, being penalized, while others can willy-nilly build oil drills on their property, pollute the ground water and the grass and trees and whatever else, and get away with it? How come the EPA's not on their asses? How come there's no E-check for oil drillers?

I realize I'm being a bit self-centered here, but that's the easiest way for me to keep up my level of outrage.

Jim said...

As a follow up to Kirk's comment, I find that in Las Vegas the majority of smoking cars are old and driven by the poorer segment of the population, i.e., those least able to afford the maintenance required to reduce emissions. It would make sense to have public funds available to offset some of that cost. Of course, the same idea applies to health care, as well. When we're all healthy, we all benefit.

WV - goqgxpu - the sound a cat makes while coughing up a hairball