Our Stories

The Latest by Kathleen Scatassa

Regional Communications Strategist

From 2007–2018, Kathleen partnered with clean energy coalitions and grassroots organizations, empowered communities to fight against fracking, and worked with the Policy & Legislation team to have their messages heard by legislators.

June 22, 2012

Chesapeake Settles $1.6 Million Pollution Case

By Kathleen Scatassa

After being sued by a group of families in Pennsylvania with methane-contaminated water, fracking giant Chesapeake agreed today to pay the families a $1.6 million settlement. What’s particularly noteworthy about this development is this: for perhaps the first time, the details of the case are being made public.

April 5, 2012

Love Matt Damon? Hate Fracking? This Film's For You!

By Kathleen Scatassa

I’m not going to even try to hide my excitement at the news that Matt Damon co-wrote and is starring in a feature film, titled Promised Land, about the controversial gas development technique known as fracking. The actor has made his concerns known about fracking’s link to water pollution in this two-minute spot by Working …

February 1, 2012

Gasland Director Arrested At Congressional Hearing

By Kathleen Scatassa  /  Northeast Office

It’s no surprise that oil and gas industry friendly politicians have fought to allow industry to keep secret the list of chemicals they pump underground during the fracking. But today, they apparently decided to extend that secrecy to congressional committee activities, when members of a House Science Subcommittee on Energy and Environment refused to allow …

September 2, 2011

Only 60 days for New York’s fracking review??

By Kathleen Scatassa  /  Northeast Office

Next week, New York State is planning to release a 1,000+ page document that could guide how the controversial gas drilling technique, called fracking, will proceed in the state. Hydraulic fracturing, fracking for short, occurs when oil and gas companies blast millions of gallons of chemically-treated water into the ground to force oil and gas …

July 22, 2011

Good News: YOUR Voice Is Being Heard

By Kathleen Scatassa  /  Northeast Office

If—as an Earthjustice supporter and activist—you ever wondered whether your letters and emails to government officials had an impact, we’ve got news that should give you heart. Reporters are writing about the 22,093 messages sent by supporters like you, demanding a thorough environmental review of a proposed 39-mile natural gas pipeline that threatens prime forest …

May 24, 2011

Jessica Alba’s Late Night Internet Habits

By Kathleen Scatassa  /  Policy and Legislation Team

In the quiet moments after her two-year-old daughter has gone to bed, actress Jessica Alba scours the Internet in search of how to protect her children from toxic chemicals in consumer products. Like so many other parents, she’s distressed by what she finds: BPA in baby bottles, lead and cadmium in toys, formaldehyde in furniture. …

May 11, 2011

What Does Fracking Industry Have To Hide?

By Kathleen Scatassa  /  Policy and Legislation Team

In a hearing on Capitol Hill today, Republican members of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee struggled to make the case against an investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency into the controversial gas drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) – a process in which oil and gas companies blast millions of …

April 21, 2011

Eerie symmetry: Well Blowout on Anniversary of BP Spill

By Kathleen Scatassa  /  Northeast Office

The symmetry is just eerie. Exactly one year after the BP disaster in the Gulf, natural gas drilling company Chesapeake admitted that a well it was hydraulically fracturing (or “fracking”) for natural gas went out of control in LeRoy, Pennsylvania late Tuesday, spilling thousands and thousands of gallons of frack fluid over containment walls, through fields, …

April 14, 2011

Gas Drilling Permits While-U-Wait

By Kathleen Scatassa  /  Northeast Office

The Associated Press had a story today detailing how regulators in Pennsylvania spend as little as 35 minutes reviewing gas drilling permits, before giving companies approval to blast millions of gallons of chemically treated water into the earth to extract the gas – a controversial practice known as fracking. Across the country, gas production using …

April 12, 2011

Lawmakers Probe Impacts of Gas Drilling Boom

By Kathleen Scatassa  /  Policy and Legislation Team

In a hearing, today, lawmakers on Capitol Hill probed the health and environmental impacts of a gas drilling boom fueled by the controversial gas extraction technique known as hydraulic fracturing or fracking. Using this technique, companies blast millions of gallons of chemically treated water into the earth to force natural gas from underground deposits. In …