Venango County Tea Party Patriots

A non-partisan, non-profit, non-member, association dedicated to educating the public and promoting the principles of fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government and free market economics, and all other lawful activities.

Department of Energy

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Fracking Chemicals Did Not Contaminate Water

A landmark federal study on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, shows no evidence that chemicals from the natural gas drilling process moved up to contaminate drinking water aquifers at a western Pennsylvania drilling site, the Department of Energy told The Associated Press.

After a year of monitoring, the researchers found that the chemical-laced fluids used to free gas trapped deep below the surface stayed thousands of feet below the shallower areas that supply drinking water, geologist Richard Hammack said.

Although the results are preliminary _ the study is still ongoing _ they are a boost to a natural gas industry that has fought complaints from environmental groups and property owners who call fracking dangerous.

Drilling fluids tagged with unique markers were injected more than 8,000 feet below the surface, but were not detected in a monitoring zone 3,000 feet higher. That means the potentially dangerous substances stayed about a mile away from drinking water supplies.

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New Energy Secretary Says Climate Change Not Debatable

New Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz doesn’t want to spend his tenure battling over climate science.

“Let me make it very clear that there is no ambiguity in terms of the scientific basis calling for a prudent response on climate change,” Moniz told Energy Department employees shortly after his swearing-in.

“I am not interested in debating what is not debatable,” Moniz said in his remarks at the Tuesday ceremony. “There is plenty to debate as we try and move forward on our climate agenda.”

The comment was part of much wider-ranging remarks, available here, on Moniz’s overall agenda.

He also addressed the Energy Department’s missions around power grid resilience, oversight of the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, nonproliferation, scientific research and more.

Moniz is stepping into the Cabinet job at a time when President Obama has vowed new executive-level actions on climate.

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Obama’s Vision for America

The Obama administration envisions a “low-carbon, low-petroleum” future where Americans tele-work, tele-shop, walk, bike and use carpools or mass transit if they must leave the neighborhood at all.

A study released Friday by the U.S. Department of Energy says the U.S. has the potential to reduce petroleum use and pollution in the transportation sector by more than 80 percent by 2050. In other words, gasoline-powered cars may go the way of the dinosaur, and many Americans may end up living in planned, mixed-use, “walkable” neighborhoods, built along mass transit lines.

The study — titled Transportation Energy Futures — offers “an inclusive approach,” including increased fuel economy for all types of vehicles; reduced use of transportation by car; and the expanded use of low-carbon fuels, such as biofuels, electricity, and hydrogen.

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