At 6:45 am on Tuesday, February 11, the town of Dunkard,
Pennsylvania was rocked by the explosion at a Chevron Appalachia natural gas
drilling site. On Wednesday the fire
was still burning. One worker was
reported injured and another as missing.
According to press reports, Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection (“DEP”) Secretary Chris Abruzzo said it was
“fortunate” that the nearest house was about a half mile away from the
exploding drilling site.
While
Abruzzo is busy thanking fortune for protecting families and the community from
the devastating explosion, it is his agency that continues to fight to
reinstate Governor Corbett’s pro-drilling Act 13 – the law that would allow gas
well pads and their attendant
infrastructure and harms, to be built just 300 feet from homes, schools, day
care centers, hospitals or any other structure in Pennsylvania.
It is time for good judgment, not just good fortune. The half mile buffer good “fortune” gave to
the residents of Dunkard far surpasses what the DEP or the Governor would see
them have (see picture that shows the comparison of what good fortune gave
Dunkard versus what Abruzzo and Corbett continue to argue for). Secretary Abruzzo and Governor Corbett continue
their efforts to reduce the buffer of protection between between drilling sites
and houses, between the poisonous hazards on these site and the streams that
provide us our drinking water, between dangerous drilling infrastructure and
every aspect of our communities.
As the Dunkard explosion reminds us, simple good commonsense
commands that we protect our families and our drinking water from this
dangerous industrial activity.
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