Greenpeace

Yesterday, President Obama visited Penn State to tour campus research facilities and talk about his plan for renewable energy that he plugged in last week’s State of the Union Address. The President told students in his speech that the “future of the country depends on you.” While it is great that President Obama plans to stop subsidizing big oil companies and he talked about training a new “green energy” workforce, he continues to support false energy solutions. Fracked natural gas, carbon capture and sequestration, and nuclear are not clean energy sources and will endanger our communities, people’s health, and our climate.

Braden Crooks and several Eco-Action members who helped organize the Rolling Sunlight event on Wednesday were inside listening to the President’s speech. Outside, Tina Robinson a Penn State graduate who was very active in Eco-Action and now heads an environmental group called Cultural REcyclists, led the protests calling for President Obama and Penn State to “step it up” and switch to clean, renewable energy like wind and solar. Tina called on President Obama to not include “dirty, finite energy sources such a coal and natural gas in his ‘clean’ energy policy.” Chris Stevens who joined the event with his coalition organization United Students Against Sweatshops said President Obama’s speech was disappointing; that the President spoke more about football than energy.

While students and Pennsylvania community members are continuing to sound the alarm about Penn State’s missed opportunity to switch from coal to renewable energy, ranking officials at Penn State are becoming even more vocal about their support for natural gas from fracking. Michael Arthur and Terry Engelder, two professors of geosciences at Penn State are slamming the documentary “Gasland” after it was nominated for an Oscar. According to Michael Arthur the potential for groundwater contamination from fracking “does not exist in Pennsylvania [.]” Professor Arthur: please visit Dimock, PA where residents can light their drinking water on fire, please visit impacted Pennsylvania residents like Cindy Kalbach in Tioga County, and tell her fracking is safe. Professor Arthur, please look Pennsylvania residents straight in their eyes and tell them that disasters like last month’s well blowout in Tioga County are not a problem. I’m sure 21,000 gallons of fracturing fluids and sand that spilled onto the well site is good for the planet and all part of “clean” natural gas.

The industry connections and pro-natural gas sentiments run deep at Penn State. Michael Arthur, co-director of Penn State's Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research, is outspoken and opposed to Philadelphia's unanimous City Council vote to ban gas drilling in the Delaware River Basin. Professor Terry Engelder has previously worked for Texaco, received funding from Texaco for research, and worked previously on projects with Saudi Aramco and Royal Dutch Shell.

To me, it is not surprising that these Penn State professors are opposed to a documentary highlighting the dangers of natural gas drilling. Are you suprised? Didn't think so.

I know this truth is abundantly clear. If President Obama and Penn State are serious about clean, renewable energy, the only way forward is with renewable energy that does not poison people’s water, their air, communities, or contribute to climate change. What does that renewable energy future look like? An Energy Revolution including wind and solar. When do we want it: NOW!