Listening to the Pittsburgh Pirates game this afternoon.<\/p>\n
And on the radio comes Pirates second baseman Neil Walker<\/a> promoting a fishing tournament sponsored by the Marcellus Shale Coalition.<\/p>\n The Marcellus Shale Coalition?<\/p>\n That would be the giant corporations that are threatening the drinking water of millions of residents by using hydraulic fracturing — aka fracking — to get to natural gas embedded in the Marcellus Shale region.<\/p>\n The fishing tournament is called the Marcellus Shale Coalition Three Rivers Challenge.<\/a><\/p>\n It’s not much more than a glorified way to whitewash a dirty industry.<\/p>\n Now, why would Neil Walker and the Pittsburgh Pirates put their good names on this dirty enterprise?<\/p>\n Don’t know, but ever since the Pirates joined the frackers, they haven’t won a game.<\/p>\n They’ve lost seven in a row.<\/p>\n Serves them right.<\/p>\n Fracking is a dirty business. It threatens the livelihood of millions in listening range of Pirates nation.<\/p>\n Ask Rose Baker for one.<\/a><\/p>\n Baker has lived all of her life in Weztel County, West Virginia — just 100 miles south of Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n She says that fracking by Chesapeake Energy and other companies in the Marcellus Shale Coalition has turned her county from a quiet rural area into an industrial zone.<\/p>\n Baker says her quality of life has gone from a 10 to a 3.<\/p>\n The reasons?<\/p>\n Fracking increased big truck traffic, noise pollution, air pollution, night sky pollution and polluted the local drinking water supplies.<\/p>\n I’m an Orioles fan.<\/p>\n But in the National League, I like the Pirates.<\/p>\n They have the best designed ball cap in all of baseball.<\/a><\/p>\n I wear it all the time — to hide my balding head and to protect it from the sun.<\/p>\n Almost every Pirates game I’ve been to over the last three years, they’ve won.<\/p>\n So, why would they do this to me?<\/p>\n Why would they do this to their fans?<\/p>\n Walker is a hometown boy.<\/p>\n He should know better.<\/p>\n So should the Pirates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Listening to the Pittsburgh Pirates game this afternoon. And on the radio comes Pirates second baseman Neil Walker promoting a fishing tournament sponsored by the Marcellus Shale Coalition. The Marcellus Shale Coalition? That would be the giant corporations that are … Continue reading