Obama Expresses Mild Concern Over Hydraulic Fracturing ...

... without actually mentioning the practice. 

Still, I guess something is better than nothing considering the GOP's hands-off approach to environmental disasters.

From President Obama's State of the Union speech last night:

"We have a supply of natural gas that can last America nearly 100 years, and my Administration will take every possible action to safely develop this energy. Experts believe this will support more than 600,000 jobs by the end of the decade. And I’m requiring all companies that drill for gas on public lands to disclose the chemicals they use. America will develop this resource without putting the health and safety of our citizens at risk."

We already know which toxic chemicals natural gas companies are pumping into the ground (thanks in part to corporate files obtained by filmmaker Josh Fox for his award-winning documentary Gasland).  We already know that those same chemicals are contaminating the water table and causing cancer in human beings, farm animals, pets, and wildlife. 

The environmentally calamitous process is called hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking."  President Obama's SOTU remarks were a step in the right direction - but what he should have said is this:   "I’m requiring companies that drill for gas on public and private lands to disclose the chemicals they use - and if any of those chemicals are found to contain cancer-causing agents, federal permits to engage in hydraulic fracturing will be withheld until safety issues are resolved to the satisfaction of the communities involved."   (Everything else aside, carcinogens blasted into the ground have been known to pollute metropolitan water reserves.)

Needless to say, Republican presidential candidates (and certain Religious Right leaders) are opposed to any regulatory restrictions on energy corporations.  If the water of multi-millionaires is contaminated and flames start shooting out of their kitchen faucets, they can simply move to another area.  Most rural residents don't have that option.

Conservatives cling to the ludicrous notion that greedy corporate executives will, out of the goodness of their hearts, make sure that the American public is protected while they rape the environment.  But of course this would mean they value consumers' health over their personal profit - and everybody knows which greyhound wins that race.