People in the extraction and mining business are thugs. They use bribes here. They use murder in Africa.

Here in Pennsylvania gas and oil companies use bribes to get what they want.  What they do in Africa shows best what they are.  In Africa they hire mercenary armies to murder people that get in their way.

"VIRUNGA NATIONAL PARK, Democratic Republic of Congo — The trouble started when a British company suddenly appeared in this iconic and spectacularly beautiful national park, prospecting for oil.
  

Villagers who opposed the project were beaten by government soldiers. A park warden, who tried to block the oil company, SOCO International, from building a cellphone tower in the park, was kidnapped and tortured.Virunga’s director, a Belgian prince, was shotand nearly killed hours after he delivered a secret report on the oil company’s activities.

Much like the fight over drilling on federal lands in the United States, the struggle over oil exploration in Africa’s national parks is a classic quandary, pitting economic development against environmental preservation.

 But out here, the quest for oil seems to be more volatile, and the stakes are arguably higher — on both sides…

 Virunga’s champions say that if they lose the battle here, it will open the floodgates to drilling in protected spaces across the continent.

 The park is considered one of the most biodiverse slices of the planet. Its savannas of yellow grass, towering volcanoes bubbling with lava, jungles, swamps and cloud forests constitute an otherworldly world for gorillas, elephants, lions and chimps — a rare mix. 

Beyond that, Virunga’s Lake Edward, where the oil is believed to lie, is part of the headwaters of the Nile. While SOCO has said it will not proceed without Unesco and Congolese approval, an oil spill here could contaminate water that tens of millions, possibly hundreds of millions, rely on.
  

“Any toxins from here could flow up to the Mediterranean,” said Emmanuel de Merode, Virunga’s director. “It could reach all the way to Spain.”

Mr. de Merode has made countless enemies over the years. He routinely confronts rebels, poachers and various other outlaws who skulk through Virunga, which lies on the border of Rwanda and Uganda, in the eye of several recent wars.

 In April, he was driving back from the Congolese city of Goma, where he had just delivered a confidential report to state prosecutors about suspicions of illegal oil activities in Virunga. A group of men in fatigues popped out of the bushes and raised their rifles.

 “You ever been shot?” Mr. de Merode said, recounting the ambush. “It’s like getting winded. But it doesn’t knock you down, like in the movies.”

 He said he dived into the bushes with his gun and fired wildly back.

 The shooters, who have yet to be identified but are suspected of being rogue government soldiers, vanished. Mr. de Merode staggered into the road. He had been hit in the stomach and the chest. Several aid agency cars whooshed past, reluctant to pick up a man with blood splattered all over him.

 He waved down two motorcyclists, who sped to an army checkpoint and hustled him into a truck. But as his life was slipping away, the army truck ran out of gas. 

“I had to reach into my pocket and give them 20 bucks” in bloodied bills, Mr. de Merode said. 

The truck then broke down and could not be restarted, and Mr. de Merode needed two more rides before barely making it to a hospital. 

The House of Merode is a family of Belgian nobility. Mr. de Merode, 44, was born a prince, and his two young daughters, who live in Kenya, are princesses. He spends most of his time in Congo, in a mountainside tent, getting paid $800 a month by the Congolese government.

 'I’m going to keep doing what I’ve been doing,” he said, “just a little bit more.”

 MORE AT: 

The New York Times 

Oil Dispute Takes a Page From Congo’sBloody Past 

By Jeffrey Gettleman  Nov. 15, 2014

He or maybe she stopped the Smog Monster. Do we need two Godzillas to stop the Koch Brothers?

The Koch Brothers are unstoppable monsters, but then we said the same thing about the "Smog Monster".

Maybe Godzilla was a female and she had twins that could chase down and kill the Koches.

There is still hope for mankind!

Corbett is cheating on Pennsylvania with his methane mistress.

That’s a campaign issue in Marcellus Shale areas of PA.

It’s also a campaign issue in our area.  New gas natural gas pipelines and oil pipelines refitted as pressurized gas propane and ethane pipelines are proposed by gas companies and are being fought by Chester County communities. 

Some pipelines are to transport PA fracked natural gas to be exported to China and India on liquefied gas tankers docked at the Dominion Cove Point LNG export facility under construction near Baltimore. 

Gas companies are not saying why they are so very keen on getting their domestic gas to U.S. ports and on liquid natural gas tankers to sell their gas internationally.  They can sell gas internationally for 5 to 6 times present day prices and jump up heating and electric generation prices in Pennsylvania.

It's easy to see why a propane and ethane pipeline is a problem for Chester County residents. 

A leak in a liquefied petroleum gas pipeline like Mariner East follows ground contours and pools in low areas. Any spark will set off an explosion. 

 Explosions of LNG pipelines are horrific.

In an amazing display of contempt for Pennsylvanians and love for his methane mistress Corbett refused to tax gas frackers.

Corbett removed also municipalities ability to zone for fracking wells.  That made it nearly impossible for townships to oppose gas frackers. The PA Supreme Court overturned portions of “Corbett’s give Pennsylvania land to fracking companies law”:

“In December 2013, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court tossed out controversial portions of the state’s oil and gas law changes, letting municipalities retain control over where and when to allow gasdrilling (fracking) in their jurisdictions.”

The after the election surprise package for Pennsylvania residents

Natural gas sells in China, India and Europe at 5 to 6 times what it sells for in PA.  When the LNG tankers leave U.S. ports for China, India and Europe, PA fracked natural gas will jump to international commodity prices.  It will cost 5 times as more to heat your home with gas.

Gas sells in PA @ $2 per M BTUs – In China & India @ $12 per M BTUs- PA gas is going international

Reasons to NOT export liquid natural gas:

• Global Warming
•  The price of the gas we use to heat our homes will rocket to international prices.
• A terrorist attack on a liquid natural gas tank farm or liquid natural gas tanker is like a Hiroshima A bomb without the radiation.

American Gas companies sell fracking gas domestically for about $2 per million BTUs. They can sell it to India and China for about $12 million BTUs.

Once the Dominion Cove Point Liquefaction and Export facility near Baltimore, MD goes into operation the price you pay to heat your home in Coatesville or West Chester will go up 3 times or more to international levels.

Natural gas prices dropped below $2 per million BTUs last year. As a result, electric utilities switched from coal to cleaner natural gas, which emits less carbon when burned. 

FROM: 

Wonkblog 

What happens when natural gas is no longer dirt cheap 

By Brad Plumer March 22, 2013

NEW DELHI: As India debates raising natural gas rates, China has signed a US $ 400 billion deal to buy gas from Russia at US $ 11-13 per million British thermal unit. 

From: 

India debates gas price hike, China contracts at US $11-13 per million British thermal unit 

PTI May 27, 2014, 04.52PM IST

wednesday, june 15, 2011

What would a terrorist attack on a Liquid Natural Gas Facility or LNG Tanker near a residential area look like?

Syriana Portrayal of Terrorist Attack on LNG Tanker

MON JUL 14, 2014 AT 08:37 AM PDT

Will We Stop Dominion's Cove Point Gas Exports in Maryland?

By mimi