Anyone who frequents this blobber knows I'm in the tank for the University of Tennessee, regardless of the sport involved. I'm from that area of the state, bleed orange, and have an unhealthy emotional attachment to all things UT (and I'm talking about the real UT, not that abomination from Austin, Texas...)
But this morning I'm more than a little bit ashamed of my university. According to a story in this morning's The Tennessean (motto: "The SEC Basketball Tournament's in town, so real news starts on Page Two this week!") the University of Tennessee's Institute of Agriculture has been working behind the scenes to partner with oil and gas companies to lease drilling sites in an 8,000 acre protected forest the University manages through its Forest Resources and AgResearch Center. The University says it wants to "study" the effects of hydraulic fracturing on the environment, since there's a lack of comprehensive data about the practice.
Bullshit.
The University wants nothing of the sort. What the University of Tennessee is interested in is money. The area in question is known as Cumberland Forest, and it sits near an area where oil and gas leases are already in use on private lands. UT has managed the forest since it was established in 1947, and it is the largest area of research land available to the University. It is also the largest tract of mature hardwoods in the Cumberland Mountains and is a vital area in the Cowan Creek watershed.
An editorial in The Tennessean cites information obtained by the Southern Environmental Law Center which suggests UT has been in private consultations with New River Energy and CONSOL Energy to obtain oil and gas leases in exchange for new access roads into the protected forest, and for "resulting benefits of timber harvests."
The University will go before members of the State Building Commission today at the Legislative Plaza in Nashville to seek permission to obtain bids for the proposal, and already there are plans for protests at the state capitol. The fact that this program was completely hidden from the public until exposed by SELC and The Sierra Club ought to be reason enough to warrant public scrutiny.
The University of Tennessee is on the wrong side of history if they think selling out to oil and gas companies for a temporary infusion of cash will be of long term benefit to the environment or to the University itself. Similar fracking studies conducted by universities in Texas and New York were widely criticized due to the conflict of interest created when oil companies partner with the schools doing the research into their practices. When millions of dollars are changing hands, it's hard for a university to remain impartial.
Studying the environmental effects of fracking is valuable work, and we're way behind the curve in that regard. Some areas of the country where the practice is common have reported varying degrees of environmental destruction, and those areas are prime for research of this nature. It's not necessary to take pristine land down the oil companies' rabbit hole in order to study the effects of fracking. It's on display at thousands of sites nationwide. Go there if you need to study the practice, but don't risk spoiling land donated to the University in exchange for a quick infusion of cash to a struggling program.
Protecting that land ought to be the University's number one goal, not making a profit from the extraction industries and calling it "research."
6 comments:
Hey that gives me an idea, the best way to study rape would be to ah, well you know....
Amazing, at the same time some universities are debating and even beginning divestment of their endowment and retirement funds from guns and fossil fuel, we learn this, UT on the payroll. Hopefully the student body and staff will raise hell, but in an age of entertainment, student activist are a rare breed.
Fracked wells are not lasting 20+ years as promised, average one peters out in 2 to 5. But since the sealing bridge of rock layers were turned to gravel by toxic chemicals heat and pressure, gas is going everywhere and percolates to the surface for years and years to come. This is fools gold, and the greed behind it runs over all reason.
YellowFringe, the petroleum money is spreading the same false propaganda the big tobacco companies used for decades, even after it was proven that their products were killing people. Money talks, and those of us who give a shit are branded as fear mongers, or tree-huggers.
But when I see a man's water faucet bursting into flames as he runs water into a sink I have to wonder what planet the Oil Boys would have us take over when this one is unlivable. Already you can hear the mantra starting: We have more gas reserves under our soil than we'll ever need, and we can become an export nation instead of an import nation.
Great... and in a couple of decades we can start looking for fresh water on Mars or something.
Amazing...
The You-ess-ay won't be the first empire destroyed by greed, but we may be the last.
I am sure that many, if not most of the scurvy knaves behind the push to frack every possible square inch of the country are thinking no farther than their next million bucks, and believe that their wealth will somehow protect them when the economy AND ecology both collapse, if they think about it at all.
I am very much afraid that my grandkids (ages 4 and 5) will wind up living in a low-budget remake of "Soylent Green" if they survive at all.
Squatlo,
Why doesn't UT look across the river to Arkansas and ask about the frequency of minor earthquakes - I am talking 1's and 2's in areas of fracking. Now, if you know history - there was one hell of series of huge earthquakes in and around New Madrid, Arkansas in 1811 - 1812 - one of these created Reelfoot Lake. Is fracking
wise so close to a major fault like the New Madrid - Or even the Wabash Valley fault between Indiana and Illinois - they are fracking in se Illinois right now.
Get the book, "The Big One" and read about the 1811/1812 earthquake. Fascinating reading...
Bests,
Sarge
Sarge, Cindy and I take occasional trips to Reelfoot and we're well aware of how it was formed (only natural lake of any size in Tennessee that wasn't man-made).
For what it's worth, I don't think the people behind this fracking deal give a damn about earthquakes or anything else other than their bottom line.
The Cumberland Mountains are hundreds of miles from the New Madrid fault line, but I don't see any sense in tempting the Hooey Gods.
As expected, the legislative committee that heard UT's proposal sat for three hours listening to officials from the University, then voted unanymously to approve the idea of fracking away in Cumberland Forest. The University can now fish around for bids, and then the entire legislature will rubber-stamp the proposal.
Money talks, all you tree huggers can walk. The plank.
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