One of the most clever smear campaigns ever devised was to equate environmental activism with terrorism. One testament to the success of that hyperbolic deception emerged recently in Pennsylvania, home to booming shale gas drilling operations in the Marcellus Formation. Abrahm Lustgarten at Propublica describes an intelligence briefing that went out to law enforcement officials in the state warning of possible acts of "environmental extremism."
As debate over natural gas drilling in the Marcellus shale reaches a fever pitch, state and federal authorities are warning Pennsylvania law enforcement that "environmental extremists" pose an increasing threat to security and to the energy sector.
Propublica, Sept 8, article by Abrahm Lustgarten
The bulletin warns of "the use of tactics to try to intimidate companies into making policy decisions deemed appropriate by extremists." My linguistic skills are rusty. To my untrained mind that sounds suspiciously like companies are being pressured to protect water resources instead of maximize profits. Heck, these fine companies should be able to dump their heavily salinated and toxin-filled wastewater from drilling operations anywhere they damn well please. Collection and treatment of wastewater costs time and especially money. And who really cares if someone's well water is affected by nearby drilling operations? Let them drink bottled water like the rest of us. Oh wait, my inner environmental extremist is slipping out as snark. I am threatening security and the energy sector by raising these issues.
Here is where the FBI and Pennsylvania Office of Homeland Security worries that environmental extremists are going to strike fear in the populace and turn them against weak regulation of gas drilling operations:
Current-4 October 2010:
The following meetings have been singled out for attendance by anti-Marcellus Shale Formation natural gas drilling activists:
2 September - a hearing on a proposed Marcellus Shale Formation gas
drilling ordinance in Cranberry Township (Butler County)
13 September - a hearing on Marcellus Shale Formation gas drilling in the
Pittsburgh City Council chambers (414 Grant St.)
20 September - a hearing in Damascus (Wayne County) on a proposed
amendment to zoning regulations regarding drilling
4 October - a hearing on a proposed amendment to the township zoning
ordinance to regulate oil and gas drilling operations in Upper St. Clair
Township (Allegheny County)
3 September 2010: A screening of the controversial Gasland movie is slated
for the Piazza in Northern Liberties (near the Delaware River) in Philadelphia.
So the extremists are planning to attend public hearings on drilling regulations and watch Josh Fox's Gasland, an unflattering documentary about the industry. I am sure they will ask difficult questions, demand restrictions and penalties on wastewater dumping, sign petitions, and maybe even carry signs to "intimidate companies into making policy decisions deemed appropriate."
With all that hand-wringing and concern, there must have been a spate of recent incidents to justify raising the threat level for possible acts of Eco-terrorism.™ Well, not according to the Pennsylvania State Police.
Pennsylvania State Police said there have been only a few isolated crimes involving drilling facilities.
"We haven't had any incidents of any significance to date where we have identified a problem, or any environmental extremists," said Joseph Elias, a captain with the Pennsylvania State Police Domestic Security Division, which was not involved in issuing the bulletin.
Propublica, Sept 8, article by Abrahm Lustgarten
Maybe the Pennsylvania Office of Homeland Security has received credible threats.
State Homeland Security Director James Powers explained that he has been including anti-gas drilling activist information in his triweekly intelligence briefings for about a month because there have been “five to 10” incidents of vandalism around the state related to the natural gas industry, which is one of the sectors he is charged with monitoring. One of those incidents, he said, involved someone shooting a natural gas container tank with a shotgun in Venango County.
Field and Stream, Sept 15
A shotgun blast in rural western Pennsylvania? I guess only "environmental extremists" have guns in that area since the incident was attributed to them without any other corroborating evidence. I wonder what the other four to nine incidents of vandalism consisted of. Graffiti? Photographs being taken? Water samples being drawn from surrounding streams? People making rude gestures to drilling company personnel?
The recipients of this confidential advisory are also noteworthy.
The advisory was sent to state law enforcement and local government groups, as well as businesses with a specific concern addressed in the bulletin. It was not intended to be distributed to the public.
Lustgarten does not identify the "businesses with a specific concern addressed in the bulletin." Another article, however, does identify them.
The bulletins are also sent to gas companies drilling in the Marcellus Shale.
Here are the perspectives of drilling opponents, industry representatives, and state homeland security on the purported threat of "environmental extremism." I will let you decide which sounds more credible.
Drilling opponents:
Anti-drilling activists in the state say that public hearings and other events have been peaceful and that they see no evidence of violent opposition. Given the lack of evidence about "extremist" crimes, they say, the bulletin casts drilling opponents as criminals and threatens to stifle open debate. [1]
“I find it kind of creepy that the state is compiling information on the innocuous activity of citizens,” said Jan Jarrett, president of PennFuture, a group that has expressed concern about drilling issues. [2]
Drilling industry representatives:
A pro-drilling group, the Marcellus Shale Coalition, characterized the vandalism in Pennsylvania as "directed at preventing our industry from safely delivering these resources to Pennsylvanians." [1]
State Homeland Security Director James Powers:
“I don’t care which side of the issue someone is on — or if he or she is innocent. My concern is public safety.” [2]
[1] = Propublica, Sept 8, article by Abrahm Lustgarten
[2] = Field and Stream, Sept 15
Speaking of Pennsylvania Homeland Security Director James Powers, he needs to learn a thing or two about email security.
A private email sent from the account of Pennsylvania Homeland Security chief James Powers pledges the organization's support for gas drilling companies.
The City Paper of Philadelphia obtained the message, which Powers mistakenly sent to an anti-drilling activist. Powers reportedly thought he was sending it to someone with pro-drilling interests.
"We want to continue providing this support to the Marcellus Shale Formation natural gas stakeholders," Powers wrote, according to a report by City Paper.
His dedication to support the Marcellus Shale Formation natural gas stakeholders is touching. Keeping those pesky environmental extremists in line must be part of that support. What a splendid public servant!
And where did the "intelligence" on possible eco-terrorist activities come from, if not from the state police? The Institute of Terrorism Research and Response (ITRR) was hired by the Pennsylvania Department of Homeland Security for monitoring target groups, which consisted of gas drilling opponents, tax protesters, and gay-rights organizations. Pennsylvania Gov. Rendell just cancelled the $125,000 contract with ITRR after the details were leaked to the public.
On Tuesday, Mr. Rendell canceled a one-year, $125,000 contract with the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response, which was providing the state Office of Homeland Security with intelligence on gas-drilling opponents, plus tax protests and gay-pride activities.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Sept 15, article by Joe Smydo
Even with the loss of ITRR, the industry has hired its own security consultant to deal with those environmental extremists.
HARRISBURG, Pa. — The nation’s first Department of Homeland Security secretary has agreed to serve as strategic adviser to an industry group led by companies drilling for natural gas from the Marcellus Shale formation.
The group announced Friday that Tom Ridge’s communications and policy groups will be paid $75,000 a month for help in such areas as public outreach, education and coalition building.
Syracuse Post-Standard, July 30
I am sure you remember Tom Ridge. He has an impressive résumé - former Pennsylvania governor, Bush Homeland Security Director, creator of the fabulous color-coded terrorist mood scale, and person responsible for elevating the terrorism threat level based on unspecified threats just before the 2004 presidential election.
Although public outreach is not listed among Ridge Gobal's areas of expertise as security consultants, suppressing public criticism and thwarting pesky regulation might fall under risk management.
We know that any effort to protect trade requires a comprehensive focus on improving security throughout the entire supply chain. That’s why we develop innovative security solutions designed to look at the whole picture – solutions that protect everything from fixed assets to assets in transit to human capital to brand equity and goodwill.
It looks like one of Ridge's first major activities for the shale gas industry, assuming he had no knowledge of the shenanigans by James Powers, was damage control. He had to plug some embarrassing leaks.
Tom Ridge, the former Pennsylvania governor and U.S. homeland security secretary who's now an adviser to the Marcellus Shale Coalition, today said Gov. Ed Rendell did the right thing in shutting down a controversial intelligence-gathering program on gas-drilling opponents and other groups.
Mr. Ridge called the program "rather bizarre," and he said gas-industry critics aren't terrorists.
"They have a difference of opinion," said Mr. Ridge, whose consulting groups have a one-year, $900,000 contract with the Cecil-based coalition.
He answered questions about the controversy this afternoon before participating in a panel discussion, also including Mr. Rendell and former Gov. Dick Thornburgh, at the annual conference of the State Science and Technology Institute at the Omni William Penn Hotel, Downtown.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Sept 15, article by Joe Smydo
Pardon my cynicism regarding Tom Ridge. During his tenure as head of Homeland Security, "eco-terrorists" were identified as the number one domestic terrorism threat. Misbehavior by the Pennsylvania Office of Homeland Security beginning a month after Ridge was hired by the shale gas industry is certainly an interesting coincidence.
I am not sure how Tom Ridge or James Powers defines eco-terrorism. This is what I call "eco-terrorism."
And this is "eco-terrorism."
And this is "eco-terrorism" on steroids.
Number one was educate the public about the use of natural resources. Immediately develop petroleum resources in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Cut down remaining old-growth forests on public lands and replace with new trees. Cut down 30,000 acres of the Tongass National Forest each year to promote economic forestry practices. Open all public lands, including national parks, to mining and oil drilling. Construct roads into all wilderness areas for motorized wheel chair use. Stop protecting endangered species, such as the California condor, that were in decline before man arrived. Force anyone who loses litigation against a development to pay for the increase in costs for completing the project, plus damages.
-- Ron Arnold
Ron Arnold coined the term, "eco-terrorism," in 1982 as a public relations gambit to promote the so-called "Wise Use" agenda of resource extraction industries. Arnold developed his anti-environmental narrative while working with Reagan's Interior Secretary James Watt and it has served as the blueprint for conservative politicians and corporate lobbyists ever since. I doubt Tom Ridge disapproves of targeting gas drilling opponents as "environmental extremists." My guess is that what he finds "rather bizarre" is how clumsy it was handled by the Pennsylvania Office of Homeland Security.
TAKE ACTION:
- Learn more about the environmental threats posed by natural gas drilling.
- Contact Gov. Rendell and demand an investigation into the activities of Pennsylvania Office of Homeland Security chief James Powers.
- Spread the word about this story using your favorite social media channels. Lustgarten's Propublica article is great starting point.
- Support proponents of strong regulation of the Marcellus Shale gas industry like Joe Sestak for U.S. Senate.
Sestak asked Jackson to increase EPA’s authority “to the maximum extent possible” to oversee the development of the Marcellus Shale as he and Sen. Bob Casey work on efforts to protect Pennsylvania’s natural resources. For example, Pennsylvania must have proper investigation and testing of groundwater and air contamination and the EPA has the technical expertise to help put the safest possible procedures in place.
Sestak has co-sponsored the FRAC Act, a companion to a Casey-sponsored Senate bill, that would repeal the “Halliburton Loophole,” a Bush-era special-interest deal that allows drillers to skirt the Safe Drinking Water Act.
“It is critical that the EPA play a role in assessing and minimizing industrial risk so that our citizens do not sacrifice their health, safety, livelihoods, and environment to irresponsible development of our nation’s vast natural wealth,” Sestak said. “Development of natural gas in the Marcellus Shale can be a boon for ailing local economies, but we must be vigilant in taking all necessary steps to protect our commonwealth’s precious natural resources.”
Gant Daily, June 7, 2010