‘Clean’ Energy and Poisoned Water

must read.

full article here:
www.truthdig.com...

part of content:

"Corporations in Colorado, Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and upstate New York have launched a massive program to extract natural gas through a process that could, if it goes wrong, degrade the Delaware River watershed and the fresh water supplies that feed upstate communities, the metropolitan cities of New York, Philadelphia, Camden and Trenton, and many others on its way to the Chesapeake Bay.

“The potential environmental consequences are extreme,” says Fritz Mayer, editor of The River Reporter in Narrowsburg, N.Y. His paper has been following the drilling in the Upper Delaware River Valley and he told me, “It could ruin the drinking supply for 8 million people in New York City.”

Trillions of cubic feet of natural gas are locked under the Marcellus Shale that runs from West Virginia, through Ohio, across most of Pennsylvania and into the Southern Tier of New York state. There are other, small plates of shale, in the south and west of the United States. It takes an estimated 3 million to 5 million gallons of water per well to drill down to the natural gas in a process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The water is mixed with resin-coated sand and a cocktail of hazardous chemicals, including hydrochloric acid, nitrogen, biocides, surfactants, friction reducers and benzene to facilitate the fracturing of the shale to extract the gas.
(...)
Corporations like Bechtel have been buying up water reservoirs around the globe in anticipation of future water shortages. And what they will do when they control our water was illustrated in Bolivia a decade ago. The World Bank forced Bolivia to privatize the public water system of its third-largest city, Cochabamba. It threatened to withhold debt relief and other development assistance if the city did not comply. Bechtel, which was the only bidder, was granted a 40-year lease to take over Cochabamba’s water through a subsidiary called Aguas del Tunari.

“Urinetown” was visited on Cochabamba in 2000 within weeks of the privatization. Aguas del Tunari imposed massive rate hikes on local water users of more than 50 percent, according to the Cochabamba-based Democracy Center. Families living on the local minimum wage of $60 per month were billed up to 25 percent of their income for water. The rate hikes sparked citywide protests. The Bolivian government declared martial law in Cochabamba and deployed thousands of soldiers and police to restore order. More than 100 people were injured in the rioting and a 17-year-old boy was killed. The Cochabamba project was abandoned, but Bechtel and other corporations are not done. Bechtel’s control of the water supply in Guayaquil, Ecuador, a few years later resulted in water shutoffs, contamination, and a deadly hepatitis A outbreak. Water in a world of scarcity will be very profitable. And Bechtel is preparing for the bonanza at home and abroad. "

some more info on Bechtel corporation for all who does not know:

"Bechtel has a 100-year history of capitalizing on environmentally unsustainable technologies and reaping immense profits at the expense of societies and the environment, claims the new report released on June 5 by Corpwatch.

Corpwatch says that the Bechtel Corporation, along with oil services firm Halliburton, is a major factor in the ongoing military-industrial complex which has a firm grip on the current US administration.

The report, which looks at case studies from Bechtel's history of operations in the water, nuclear, energy and public works sectors around the globe, is entitled Bechtel: Profiting from Destruction - Why the Corporate Invasion of Iraq Must be Stopped."

more here: www.ethicalcorp.com...

if you want to read more check also "The Secret History of The American Empire". Bechtel is in part II - 22.

link here:
www.scribd.com...

my favourite part of it:

"I saw the entire Word for the first time in second grade, laid out on a paper map. The ocean was blue and the countries were yellow, green and pink. This way of looking at our planet has shaped the perceptions of people for hundred years.

Just once I would like to catch a glimpse of the world free from any human perception except my own – to see our globe suspended in the dark space the way it must look from the window of a shuttle. I want to see the borders and names imprinted on maps are our own creation. In recognizing the impermanence of man-made boundaries that separate us, we can reveal how truly united we are all on this planet.

What we have been shown or told to be true can stay with us forever. Yet, I think it is our task as an evolving world community to take even the most fundamental preconceptions, recognize them for what they are, and realize their impact on us. Only then can we begin to take the actions necessary for the survival of future generations. "

I hope we will do so...

[edit on 25-5-2009 by czacza1]

story from Salvadore - I just found it on ATS:

www.projectcensored.org...

"Salvadoran police violently captured community leaders and residents at a July 2007 demonstration against the privatization of El Salvador’s water supply and distribution systems. Close range shooting of rubber bullets and tear gas was used against community members for protesting the rising cost, and diminishing access and quality, of local water under privatization. Fourteen were arrested and charged with terrorism, a charge that can hold a sixty-year prison sentence, under El Salvador’s new “Anti-terrorism Law,” which is based on the USA PATRIOT Act. While criminalization of political expression and social protest signals an alarming danger to the peace and human rights secured by Salvadorans since its brutal twelve-year civil war, the US government publicly supports the Salvadoran government and the passage of the draconian anti-terrorism law that took effect October 2006.

Salvadorans, however, maintain that fighting for water is a right, not a crime. "

looks like a possible scenario?

more on that topic:
www.ww4report.com...

[edit on 25-5-2009 by czacza1]