Today’s Campus Progress has a great story about how powerful campus activism can be. Coming from a university of 40,000 students, I am always interested in how influential schools can be in their communities.
Students at Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York, managed to enact a moratorium on drilling for natural gas in the lucrative rock formations located underneath the campus. The controversial drilling process involves chemicals that may have a hazardous effect on the environment.
“These
fluids have been found in people’s well water,” says Linda Nicholson, a
Cornell University professor of molecular biology and genetics. In
December, the Pennsylvanian EPA fined Cabot Oil & Gas Corp.
$120,000 because the drilling caused methane gas to leak into 13 area
water wells. Homeowners could light the faucet water on fire, and there
were reports of wells exploding.
Um…that doesn’t sound good. I’d like to keep my water non-flammable, thanks. Good job, Cornell University!
(Also, as a Battlestar Galactica fan, I appreciate the headline and numerous mentions to “fracking.”)
This article appears in Jan 21-27, 2010.
