Waterfall Disappears, Fracking Road Appears, while energy industry ad proclaims opposite

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They didn't even pave paradise*, just threw gravel all over it. Before and After Pictures Below document removal of a waterfall by natural gas industry contractors, to make way for a road accommodating hydraulic fracturing wells in Blake Run area of Wetzel County, West Virginia.

Using a waterfall to illustrate its point, Chesapeake Energy ran its "Champion of Natural Beauty" ad displayed at right around the same time it was overseeing removal of a waterfall from Wetzel County West Virginia to make way for a road carrying natural gas products in and out of the region.

Ad Copy reads:

“The mountains of West Virginia are an American treasure. Their bold natural beauty reflects the spirit, pride, and fortitude that are so firmly engrained in the character of this state and its people. Chesapeake is proud to be here- helping to safely produce the vast reserves of clean burning natural gas in the Marcellus Shale and to build new prosperity and stability for generations to come. Chesapeake Energy. America’s Champion of Natural Gas ™

BEFORE: 2004



AFTER: 2010



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This post also appears here on AlterNet today

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WELL MAP Blake Run, Wetzel County WV


Information in this post was garnered from http://wcag-wv.org/W/Water/WaterfallRemovalBlakeRun.htm Wetzel County Action Group, West Virginia

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Posted by Kay Ebeling, Producer, City of Angels Blog.
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Paving Paradise refers to Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell
Video below is Mitchell singing the song in concert in 1970.



Don't it always seem to go,
That you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone.
They paved paradise,
Put up a parking lot

- Joni Mitchell, 1970, Big Yellow Taxi
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