Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s grand jury’s damning report clearly exposes the devastatingly harmful effects of shale gas drilling on Pennsylvanians. In particular, the incompetence and corruption of Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection is revealed, showing how it not only failed to protect the public but worked hand in glove with the gas industry to enhance the harm.
Unfortunately, little will probably come of the grand jury recommendations since the all-powerful and privileged gas industry has a stranglehold on Pennsylvania’s politicians, private land owners and the judicial system. People will continue to get sick with cancer and other maladies as the industry continues to pollute our air and water. If another industry did so, its executives would be behind bars.
When driven by gas industry promises of getting rich, corrupt public officials and private land owners, filled with insatiable greed, care little about fracking’s effects on neighbors and the environment of surrounding communities.
Yet those of us who have fought unconventional gas drilling (fracking) can feel somewhat vindicated for we have been preaching for a long time how detrimental to our health and the environment this industry is. And as the Pennsylvania Supreme Court stated years ago, detrimental to “the people, their children and future generations” and now verified by the grand jury.
Ron Slabe
Oakmont