Let's prevent Gasland! There's an Allegheny County Council hearing today on "fracking" at 5 pm.

If you haven't seen Gasland, then make it your business to go out and see it. I suppose you could also download it by using Bittorrent but that would be wrong so don't do it...And don't do drugs! Or have sex, ever!

The premise of the documentary, and I'm trying distill the horror of this in 25 words or less, is this: We might be destroying all or most of our fresh water supplies by digging up every single drop of natural gas reserves that we can find. Turns out that it this plan and these incredibly damaging environmental techniques were developed by Dick Cheney, one of the most evil men ever who seems to be turning into General Grievous of Star Wars fame.

Here's the trailer for Gasland:

The Documentary specifcally mentioned the Marcellus Shale project but if the film is right it would affect water tables throughout both Pennsylvania and New York.

Pittsburgh City Council is holding a hearing today at 5 PM where they will be taking testimony.

Here's the story from 2 Political Junkies:

Allegheny County Council will hold a public hearing tomorrow "to allow the opportunity for public comment regarding Marcellus Shale-related natural gas drilling within Allegheny County" (more here).



WHEN: Wednesday, July 21, 2010, beginning at 5:00 p.m.

WHERE: In the Gold Room, 4th Floor of the Allegheny County Courthouse, 436 Grant Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15219



Please note that in order to speak at the hearing, you must register with the clerk 24 hours prior to the meeting:

Individuals wishing to speak must register with the County Council Clerk online at www.county.allegheny.pa.us/council, via e-mail (rtc@county.allegheny.pa.us), in person at Room 119 Courthouse, or by phone (412-350-6490), no later than 24 hours prior to the scheduled beginning of the hearing. Each registered speaker will be allotted a maximum of three (3) minutes.



Written testimony will be accepted through 5:00 p.m. on July 23, 2010.

Also note that while Pittsburgh City Council is thankfully skeptical of urban drilling, County Council seems to be decidedly more gung ho (I base that assessment on a recent appearance by County Council President Rich Fitzgerald and City Councilor Doug Shields on a local TV show).

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