WATCH: Bernie Sanders Rips Trump’s EPA Pick For Waffling on Fracking: ‘You’re not going to get my vote!’ – EnviroNews | The Environmental News Specialists

WATCH: Bernie Sanders Rips Trump’s EPA Pick For Waffling on Fracking: ‘You’re not going to get my vote!’

Shares

(EnviroNews USA Headline News Desk) — Washington D.C. — During Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s Senate confirmation hearings for nominee of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Bernie Sanders asked him to discuss his response to earthquakes caused by fracking wastewater injection in Oklahoma.

CNN reports that scientists from several organizations, including the Oklahoma Geological Survey (OGS), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Stanford University, tie the increase in Oklahoma earthquake numbers and magnitude to the process of injecting wastewater from hydraulic fracturing, a.k.a. “fracking,” back underground.

“You are in a state which is seeing a record-breaking number of earthquakes. You’re the Attorney General. Obviously, you have stood up and said you have done everything you can, to stop future earthquakes as a result of fracking?” said Sanders.

“Senator, I have acknowledged that I am concerned,” Pruitt said.

“If that is the kind of EPA administrator you will be, you’re not going to get my vote,” Sanders replied.

FULL EXCHANGE BETWEEN SANDERS AND PRUITT ON EPA, CLIMATE, FRACKING

ABC News explains that Oklahoma isn’t alone in facing increased earthquakes due to human activity; “vast swaths of central and eastern parts of the country have recorded an uptick in seismic activity during their region’s oil and gas boom.” Scientific American reported in 2016 that governments in Oklahoma, Texas, and Ohio have been slow to react to the increase in earthquakes. The U.S. Geological Survey pointed out the connection to the oil and gas industry in 2013 and the Oklahoma state government recognized the connection in 2015.

As part of its protection of “underground sources of drinking water from underground injection” the EPA “regulates the construction, operation, permitting, and closure of injection wells used to place fluids underground for storage or disposal.”

Pruitt has been a controversial EPA nominee because he has filed 14 lawsuits against the EPA, has complex ties to the oil and gas industry, and also stated during the hearing in conversation with Sanders that the connection between human activity and global warming is “subject to more debate.”

Video: Bernie Sanders Rips Trump’s EPA Pick on Climate Change in Senate Confirmation Hearing

(EnviroNews USA Headline News Desk) – Washington D.C. – Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) pressed Oklahoma Attorney General (AG) Scott Pruitt to clarify his stance on anthropogenic climate change during a Senate confirmation hearing on January 18, 2016. Pruitt is Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency…

MORE FROM ENVIRONEWS ON FRACKING AND FRACKING WASTEWATER EARTHQUAKES

Oklahoma’s Fracking Industry Just Caused The Largest Manmade Earthquake in US History

(EnviroNews World News) – Pawnee, Oklahoma – A major earthquake, caused by the underground disposal of fracking wastewater, rattled north-central Oklahoma on the morning of September 3, 2016. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said the event occurred at 8:02 a.m. EST and measured 5.6 on the Richter scale….

Frackquake Madness! – 35 Fracking Earthquakes Rock Oklahoma in a Week – Regulators Call Event a ‘Game Changer’

(EnviroNews World News) – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – Historically speaking, Oklahoma used to be a place where almost no palpable earthquakes happened at all – but hydraulic fracturing, a.k.a. “fracking” has changed all that now. Between the dates June 17 and June 24, 2015, Oklahoma was jolted by…

More Earthquakes Rattle Alberta – Experts, Regulators Say Fracking to Blame

(EnviroNews World News) – Fox Creek, Alberta – More earthquakes have rattled Alberta, Canada, “from Fox Creek to Peace River [according to] experts and regulators,” The Tyee has reported, and those quakes were man-caused. What’s more, according to those same Alberta regulators, the seismic events were set off…

How Participating With Fracking or Drilling, Voluntarily or Forced, Could Put You in Mortgage Default

(EnviroNews Idaho) – Boise – Nearly 98,000 acres have been leased by the state of Idaho for oil and gas drilling within the past two years. Many of those acres are sprawled across the same five counties Umpqua Bank Mortgage Loan Officer Kevin Spencer does business in. With…

Erin Brockovich Weighs in on Fracking and Gives Praise to GasLand the Movie

(EnviroNews California) – Los Angeles – Erin Brockovich is a people’s champion when it comes to battling against big industrial polluters who contaminate and poison groundwater, so much so that they even made a Hollywood movie showcasing her first amazing success story in Hinckley, California. The movie, ‘Erin…

Oil Company VP/Ex-Halliburton Fracking Lobbyist Assaults EnviroNews Chief Outside Public Meeting

(EnviroNews Idaho) – Payette, Idaho – “I’ll do whatever I want” and “fuck you” were the responses from one of the nation’s top oil and gas industry attorneys when asked not to touch a news camera. The incident occurred in the hallway of the Payette County Courthouse in…

New Stanford Study Links Fracking to Drinking Water Contamination in Pavillion, WY (Again)

(EnviroNews Wyoming) – Pavillion, Wyoming – A new study published on March 29, 2016, by authors from Stanford University, has linked the practice of hydraulic fracturing, a.k.a. “fracking,” to pollution of underground sources of drinking water (USDW) in Pavillion, Wyoming – a connection those same researchers say is…

STUDY: U.S. Fracking Boom Has Increased High School Dropout Rate

(EnviroNews World News) – Since the implementation of the Dick Cheney Energy Bill in 2005, the U.S. backyard fracking boom has created some jobs, but it’s also left a trail of destruction in the wake – many of the damages are externalities, or rippling byproducts of the controversial…

Fish & Game Cop Tries to Gag Fracking Activists and is Shut Down by Boise PD

(EnviroNews Idaho) – Boise, ID – An oil and gas lease auction on Oct. 15, 2014 by the Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) was delayed for about 30 minutes as protesters went back and forth with state officials concerning their right to silently protest the event. Reporters at…

Take a Walk on a Leaky Uintah Basin Oil Well With a Whistleblowing Oil and Gas CEO

(EnviroNews DC News Bureau) – Vernal – Good evening. I’m Heather Murdock reporting to you on EnviroNews USA tonight from Los Angeles, in an absolutely packed episode that is sure to be a shocker for those concerned about air quality, climate change and human health. In response to…

Obama’s Natural Gas Whoopin’ – Oil CEO Says Pres. is Wrong, Go Green Instead (Video)

(EnviroNews DC News Bureau) – To begin this brief exposé on natural gas, we’re going to take a peek at a couple of snips of President Barack Obama in what looks like little less than a blatant sales pitch for the expansion of natural gas as a solution…

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

TAGS
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

FILM AND ARTICLE CREDITS