Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Ann Marie Buerkle: No Scientist, Part II

When questions about energy policy and the environment come up at Buerkle's town hall meetings, she brushes them off but not before pronouncing that "small"nuclear reactors are the wave of the future, and that "people" at SUNY School of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) say that hydrofracking is safe.

First of all, Blueskygirl is deeply suspicious that Buerkle doesn't have a clue about the half-life of plutonium, or that there is absolutely no safe way to store nuclear waste in the long term (thousands of years of guarded storage) [you might want to read Blueskygirl's posts on nuclear power here]; or that there are different kinds and intensities of hydrofracking, or about the magnitude of danger to the watersheds that horizontal high-volume hydrofracking presents.

If you are from upstate New York, then you know that ESF is a highly respected school, the only college in the United States focused on the study of natural resources and the environment. Blueskygirl has never heard of anyone from ESF who espouses horizontal hydrofracking. She invites information to the contrary.

The people of whom Buerkle refers regarding hydrofracking may actually be two energy consultants and a Syracuse University professor of earth sciences, all of whom participated on a panel about hydrofracking at ESF in March 2010:

David Palmerton, president of the private Palmerton Group, LLC., worked for the natural gas drilling industry before founding Palmerton Environmental Consulting Services.

Adam Schultz, an attorney and partner at Gilberti Stinziano Heintz & Smith, P.C., works with energy producers and natural resources extraction companies among others. His bio for the ESF panel said he, "works with...companies to understand their operations, plans and needs to develop a plan of action to secure, prosecute, and defend their right-to-build."

Palmerton and Schultz "both work closely with energy companies to secure, protect, and defend their interests in energy mining," according to ESF promotion for the energy panel.

Palmerton Group donates to ESF.

Donald Siegel, Syracuse University (but not ESF) professor, may be another source for Buerkle's ascertions. He was also on the March 2010 ESF panel. He stresses the clean burning nature of natural gas and generally takes the position that horizontal hydrofracking is safe because it hasn't been proven otherwise. Blueskygirl does not see him addressing the most fallible parts of large-volume hydrofracking: safely containing the fracking fluids through, and back out of, thousands of feet of pipe and cement casing to reach the Marcellus shale layer; storing and disposing of the huge amounts of contaminated fluids; the destruction of local communities; real long-term strategies for reducing our energy consumption. He is simply not accurate when he says there is no danger to watersheds. Take a day-trip to Dimock, or Bradford County PA, and see for yourself.

So, Buerkle, quit being the energy expert. Just come out and tell us who your "ESF people" are.

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