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Important Environmental Reports: Steve Horn on Friends of Frackers–Komen Foundation and SUNY Buffalo; Bob Kincaid on the Human Cost of Mountaintop Mining and the ACHE Act

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Investigative journalist Steve Horn returns to expose unholy alliances of fracking industry: Susan G. Komen Foundation and SUNY Buffalo;  Bob Kincaid from West Virginia describes the health impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining and Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s ACHE Act.Horn reports for DeSmogblog and other outlets.  He returns to talk about his spate of recent reports on the long reach of the natural gas industry.  He exposes the “pinkwashing” of fracking by the Susan G. Komen Foundation, whose board includes the wife of former GOP senator and energy secretary, Spencer Abraham (he joined the board of Occidental Petroleum after he left government).  Their list of million-plus donors includes companies owned by Koch Industries and big oil interests.  Like tobacco companies, Komen says they have no evidence of a link between fracking and breast cancer, even though it’s known that Benzene–a known carcinogen–is among the chemicals used in fracking.  Read the story here.  Things go better with the Kochs?

He has also published a several stories on SUNY Buffalo, where the natural gas industry has established an institute that produces pro-fracking cover, and is funded by laundered money from the industry.  He details the role of John Martin, who runs the new institute and recently declared that fracking is safe in Los Angeles County.  Read that series here.

Horn has also disclosed how the industry orchestrated a rally of “grassroots” New York state landowners who were bused into a rally to oppose the extension of Gov. Cuomo’s moratorium on the gas wells.  Read about it here.

 

At about 45:45, Bob Kincaid joins us from West Virginia.  We talk about the health impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining, the collusion of elected officials with the industry, and the important bill written by Dennis Kucinich, HR 5959, the Appalachian Communities Health Emergency Act (ACHE).  The bill would place a moratorium on new permits for mountaintop removal, until a study is conducted on human health consequences and certified by the Secretary of HHS.  Kincaid is the host of HeadOn Radio, and is fighting hard to end the illnesses and deaths caused by the ruthless extraction.  The bill is only 6 pages, you can read it yourself and get more information here.