Those Fracking Russians! Colluding Up Some Sand With Green Activists

Frack Free Illinoisfracking

Tens of millions of dollars are moved from Russia through Klein “in the form of anonymous donations” to a U.S.-based nonprofit called the Sea Change Foundation. Newsweek

 My buddy, Stu Haugen, gave me a heads up on some Russki Collusion.

Since 2014,   Putin has been colluding with Obama bundler and environmental-oligarch Tom Steyer to put an end to fracking.

Top U.S. government officials who have acknowledged the connection between Russian and environmental groups include former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee for president in 2016.
In 2014, Clinton delivered a “private speech” in which she discussed Russia’s financial support for environmental groups, the letter says. The speech was included in documents released by WikiLeaks, it says.
An Oct. 10, 2016, report in The Washington Times quoted Clinton as saying:
"We [the State Department and the U.S. government] were up against Russia pushing oligarchs and others to buy media. We were even up against phony environmental groups, and I’m a big environmentalist, but these were funded by the Russians to stand up against any effort, ‘Oh that pipeline, that fracking, that whatever will be a problem for you,’ and a lot of that money supporting that effort was coming from Russia."

Fracking is a modern method of getting cheaper fuels.

Can't have that,  any more than cheaper health care, according to the American elites.

While Donald Junior has stepped on his . . .finger, shall we say . . .with the e-mail dump from people who set him up like pay-day-loan customer and given the elites more combustible oxygen to burn out any thoughts other than Putin and Trump collusion, environmentalists  have taken Kremlin coin to fight fracking.

I saw this in North Utica, Illinois where I spent a glorious 4th of July.  There was this huge sign coming into town from I-80.  La Salle County, Illinois and Hegewisch as well as Whiting, Indiana have been targeted by Green activists for some serious activism and now it appears that like most Left-of -Center initiatives - grassroots come from far, far away.  In this case Vlad Putin's Russia. Fractrakker is one method and resource for activists who would not know Wisconsin Drift from Loess Over Bedrock, but would bus happily over to Starved Rock, or the Pierogo Festival to anti-Fas up a storm.

That said, fracking is controversial.  I have yet to set a match to a water faucet in Hegewisch, Whiting, or Utica and get immolated.   People have had problems.  Farmers are surrounded by sand pits, as more mining operations take hold in La Salle County

"Mining frac sand is a lot like mining regular sand except it's wildly profitable, and that's why everyone wants to do it," said Todd Vencil, managing director of equities research at Sterne Agee, a privately owned brokerage firm based in Birmingham, Ala.
The company paid $8 million to buy the land, according to property and state records, and it expects to invest $25 million to $50 million to get the mine running, according to company filings.
The rolling corn and soybean fields near Starved Rock State Park, 95 miles southwest of Chicago, are coveted by multinational corporations for the fine-grain sand deep below the rich soil. Known as Ottawa white, the sand is uniformly circular — perfect for drillers who pump a mixture of sand and chemicals into fracking wells across the nation.
"In the world, there are not that many — geographically speaking — deposits of very high quality northern white sand that has the technical specifications that are in greatest demand. One of those areas is in Illinois, and it's close to the surface of the earth," said Robert Stewart, executive vice president of strategy, corporate development and communications at Eagle Materials. (emphases my own)

La Salle County is not new to controversy - that was one of Com Ed's nuclear stations built to fight America's dependency on OPEC - remember them?  Nuclear power had environmentalists screaming doom to the loam, because La Salle County might be at seismic risk ( earth quake) and I might become an NBA power guard - the odds are about the same 1-357,143.

Fracking is good. Even Obama's energy Czar Ernest Muniz said so, “The natural gas boom, in particular, has led to the displacement of high-carbon coal with low-carbon natural gas producing fewer emissions. ”  The Obama EPA released a report that many of the myths about dangers to drinking water were revealed to be myths and uncomfortable falsehoods. 

That will not stop the Birkenstock irregulars from boarding buses and holding news conferences for the nodding public.

Fracking is the Green beef du jour in Illinois. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is heavy in Illinois and owns many State Representatives and State Senators. The NRDC is home to Robert Redford and Leonardo DiCaprion, as well as Illini activist Henry Henderson.  Henderson is a veryfrequent Huffington Post expert poster on things Green and as far back as 2013 has attempted to stop fracking in its steps

But our overall position on fracking has not changed: unless and until we have strong, protective safeguards on the books, we should not start fracking in Illinois. Certainly, plenty can happen between this point and the Governor’s desk, so while we are encouraged by what is currently in the bill (check my colleague Ann Alexander’s blog for a rundown of the technical issues addressed in the bill that has been introduced), we will remain vigilant for any weakening of the standards. A watered down version of the bill as it stands today might point to the need for other options in the Land of Lincoln.

Well, Illinois politicians are moved by their wallets Henry.

It sure seems that groups like NRDC needed to put the touch on Putin

 Contrary to what Russia’s propaganda machine and its environmental allies have told news consumers in Europe and America, fracking is safe, effective, and enormously beneficial, Nick Loris, an economist and energy policy analyst with The Heritage Foundation, said in an email to The Daily Signal.
“If successful, an anti-fracking campaign is depriving Americans of good-paying jobs and affordable, dependable energy,” Loris said. “Despite smears and outright lies from environmental activists, smart drilling and energy extraction technologies have been proven to be safe.”
“It feels like every week a new study is published, confirming what we already know,” he said. “Hydraulic fracturing does not contaminate drinking water. The facts and history of hydraulic fracturing, a history that dates back more than half a century and over 1 million fracked wells, indicate that many of the fears associated with the process are grossly exaggerated or flat-out unsubstantiated.” Newsweek. 

Well, frack me crosseyed!

Better ask Vlad for more dough.

In the mean time - How About that Trump Kid?