Inside Look At How Frackers Target Environmentalists - And Why We're in Big Trouble

The map shown, from Food and Water Watch, tracks the ongoing movement against fracking. The map tracks local measures against hydraulic fracturing, as well as statewide efforts to stop or restrict it. It designates exactly where shale gas plays are located throughout the nation and which communities have been successful in taking action to protect their water and their environment by passing resolutions, ordinances or bills against fracking.

Other maps at  different sites (e.g. FracTracker) show the encroachment of fracking into water supplies across the nation,  e.g. http://maps.fractracker.org/latest/?webmap=b26c43968bf8435388cbd4b33f2c4b3d

something that bears close attention given the increasingly adverse effects on our water supplies. See e.g. http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/06/15/2163531/fracking-is-already-straining-us-water-supplies/

But as anti-fracking activism rises to meet the challenge the frackers and especially the oil and gas lobby, have not been idle. Indeed, as a recent Bloomberg news story has revealed, one of their top lobbyists - Rick Berman - is teaching the fossil fuel companies how to fight back against green activism. Berman himself was featured on a '60 Minutes' piece which noted how he had to "play hardball"  vs. 'Mothers Against Drunk Driving'. Evidently, it wasn't enough that drunks kill thousands of innocents on the roads each year, Berman had to find a way to fight against one of the primary groups battling drunken driving. So hell, why not fight for the rights of the assholes who want to poison our air, water and soil too - to grab a few extra gigatons of oil (kerogen) from the Earth?

The Bloomberg piece noted a private confab held at the elite Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs not long ago, in which arch-lobbyist Berman confronted the oil and gas honchos and basically told them that if they wanted to keep all their operations going they had to learn to "fight dirty". As he told the gathered planetary exploiters (and please understand the whole world is now being fracked): "You can either fight dirty or lose pretty".

Uh, how about not fighting at all? How about doing what Japan is now doing and make a sweeping move toward green energy - putting tens of thousands to work and limiting CO2 effects on the atmosphere? (E.g. 'Japan Sees Green Boom, Glut', Denver Post, Nov. 2, p. 4K) Of course, in Japan, the influx of solar, wind, geothermal etc. projects is crucial given that all 48 of their nuclear reactors are now idled and they must import nearly all other energy sources (oil, gas). So it becomes critical to cut that dependence. In the U.S., meanwhile, the finding of kerogen stores as well as natural gas beneath our feet has led to the frenzied drive to grab it - but at the cost of our health.

Anyway, back to Berman and the tactics he imparted to the gathered oil-heads. And let us bear in mind here, the Repukes' win wasn't all about dumb turnout but also oil money ($95.5m worth) funding the campaigns of pro-fracking whores in congress. Still, despite the vast money influx, the oil bunch is worried about the anti-fracking movement.  Hence, Berman's call to use "fear and anger" as part of any campaign to advance the fracking cause. As he put it:

"You have to get people fearful about what is on the table, and you have to get people angry that they are being misled"

But the problem is that it's precisely the opposite: people are in fact being misled about the "benefits" of fracking. I detailed much of this earlier in connection with two articles published in the Mensa Bulletin, e.g.
http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2014/06/mensa-bulletin-looks-at-two-sides-of.html

One of the primary strategies advocated by Berman entails using opposition researchers to dig into the finances of board members serving on environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Since these are public groups the information is publicly available. The extracted material is then used to prepare agitprop for both online and billboard ads.  (For example, one particular billboard ad cited refers to Yoko Ono - a top anti-fracking activist and says: "Would you take energy advice from the woman who broke up the Beatles?"- playing on people's stupidity and/or short memories)

Environmentalists were initially worried about such attacks, but ultimately found they "didn't gain much traction with the public or press" - showing that the oil & gas fiends had radically underestimated the intelligence of the American people.

Failing that, the lobbyists and companies blew $2m to use "humor"- based ads to try to get the message across. Throughout Colorado in August, one then beheld a 60-second ad, sponsored by an industry front group called "the Environmental Policy Alliance" that  opened with a picture of a house and a sign outside that read 'Anti-fracking Meeting Tonight'.   A narrator then does a voice over: 'Wonder who's driving the conversation about fracking in Colorado?' The scene then shifts to four people sitting at a table, including one holding a sock puppet and another munching on spray cheese and cheese balls.

The man holding the gavel then says: "Last week's meeting on whether the Moon is really made of green cheese was very enlightening."

 Despite all the money, the ad basically misfired - the idiots who prepared it failing to realize it  wouldn't work in a state which ranked second in the nation in the number of people (per capita) holding college degrees.  So, instead of  the populace perceiving anti-frackers as space cadets, they saw the ad proponents painting THEM that way!

Indeed, polls showed that two initiatives put forward by Jared Polis for local control, garnered way more signatures than needed to be on the ballot and also that a majority of Colorado citizens wanted them. The ads didn't make a dent so, in desperation, Governor Hickenlooper had to call an emergency back door meeting with Polis and oil-gas execs to try to get them off the ballot. After lots of cajoling, wheeling and dealing, Polis removed them and  agreed to a "compromise". This included setting up a 20-person commission which  would take six months to make "recommendations" and then the state legislature would have its say in making new laws.

A Denver Post report on the incident observed how representatives  from the two largest fracking companies - from Texas- cheered wildly at the news.

Why are we in big trouble? Because -  while the pro -frackers use their nefarious research teams to dig out board members of Sierra Club, NRDC etc. and mock them, THEY themselves are protected by the rules of dark money donations. Which, according to Berman "are run through organizations that are insulated from having to disclose donors".

Neat! But not for the rest of us - who face the fact this dark money influx enables the vermin (like Berman)  to fuck us all as well as the planet, to a far-thee -well.

Watch the flick "Interstellar" this weekend if you get the chance. Because the dustbowl Earth depicted therein is exactly what we are headed for if the Climate denialists and frackers get their way.

Anti-fracking Kid Crusader Merits Kudos And Our Support!

Xiuhtezcatl Roske-Martinez, anti-fracking crusader - with his Mom in Boulder, Colo.

Let us accept as an opening proposition that at the rate we are despoiling the planet to get temporary supplies of energy via fossil fuels, we will leave no habitable planet for the next generation. Many young people - kids from elementary school on to high school - understand their future and living capital is being destroyed right before their very eyes - but very few are prepared to actually do something about it.

Not so with young crusader  Xiuhtezcatl  (pr. Shu-TEZ-caht) Roske-Martinez  who is determined to fight for his world and that of his peers, acknowledging that passivity is not an option, especially now as the gas frackers destroy the water in our state and across the country, and the air too. He understands that 10 million frack wells - whether for oil (kerogen) or natural gas, simply can't be accepted if his generation is to inherit a livable world.

Some might say this youthful advocate for the Earth has activism in his genes, since both parents are seasoned activists. (His mother Tamara Roske, founded Earth Guardians in Hawaii.)   Residents of Boulder know him because of his action and campaigns on their behalf. He helped stop the use of pesticides in city parks, and was among the fiercest advocates for a fee on plastic bags. His was a key voice in a project to contain coal ash, and to end a 20-year contract with Xcel Energy, allowing the city to pursue renewable energy as its primary resource.

Of course, the Reich wingers in the state, invested only in its destruction for shale oil or natural gas, believe he is more a puppet of his mother than an authentic advocate speaking on his own behalf.  From one post in the conservative Colorado Peak Politics blog:

 "His mother claimed she did not indoctrinate him — that he chose to be an activist," and "within far- (and we mean faaar-) left environmental groups, Roske-Martinez is something of a legend."

That may be so, but let us bear in mind the phenomenon of child activism is not unusual. We've actually had recent cases of kids mounting campaigns for clean water in Asia and Africa, as well as dolls and toys for homeless kids. So it's not as rare as the conservo poster and his ilk (his fellow anti- Xiuhtezcatl  posters) try to make it appear.


The conservative Scrooge's post went up shortly after Xiuhtezcatl and his younger brother, Itzcuauhtli, performed "What The Frack" at Evergreen Middle School last year. Their appearance sparked a counter protest by oil and gas industry activists, who posted hostile comments on the Earth Guardians' Facebook page and Roske-Martinez's Web page, and called the Martinez home with threats.

Threats? Are you kidding me? He's a kid trying to make his voice heard in a land supposedly devoted to "free speech". But perhaps it's true now that the only free speech left in this forlorn,  misguided country belongs to money. The implication, however, was that Xiuhtezcatl and his family and other protestors need to back off.  According to the courageous youthful activist who has Oikonomia (see e.g. http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2011/03/market-economy-how-about-life-based.html ) in his veins:

"It was scary, but this is why I speak on issues that directly determine the kind of world we will inherit,"

And GOOD for you, kid! Because right now, unless the gas frackers and fossil fuel-crazed drillers are stopped, the world you and your peers will inherit will be one giant shithole: mounds of raw Earth excavated for fracking sand, water despoiled with methane and other pollutants  - where there's any water left, skies full of unbreathable air, oh - and a planet in the throes of a runaway greenhouse - where blackouts will be the norm and no amount of a/c can keep you cool, assuming any is available after all the power grids collapse.

The kid knows this, which drives his mission. He goes on to say in a recent Denver Post piece:

"I share facts about our environmental and climate- change crises. We are fighting for the survival of our generation and the health of the waters, the air, our community. We are fighting for kids everywhere."

He's absolutely right that he's fighting for kids everywhere, because in another 20-30 years this will be THEIR planet. While we suspect an "Earth v 2.0" exists, and may even have a breathable atmosphere and fairly decent climate, it is 500 light years distant. There is no way that world will be colonized any time soon - if ever- so this is the only Earth left. This is what kids like Xiuhtezcatl  understand that most adults don't: It is literally do or die for them,

"Threats" from arrant pipsqueaks and cowards? Those are nothing compared to what Xiuhtezcatl  and his generation will face, in terms of mass destruction of their world, if the fossil fuel fiends aren't halted.  Sam Schabacker of Colorado's Food and Water Watch has perhaps put it best:

"He and the other Earth Guardians represent the best, brightest and most engaged young people in the state,"

And we need many more, in all the other states, even as the degenerate frackers have already sprung gas fracking on the unsuspecting state of North Carolina yesterday. This was pointed out on Chris Hayes' All In last night, speaking to a state rep from NC. While residents had fully expected safety issues to be vetted first, they weren't. The Reepo renegades - all likely in the pockets of big oil and gas - simply sprung it on people and oh -along with a "law" that prescribed 4 months in prison for anyone who reveals what's in the fracking liquid!

This is a war, people, make no mistake. A war for the future of this country and the planet - or at least the future generations who must live on it. If one is not fighting on the Earth Guardians' side then he or she is part of the problem, not the solution!