Land grab sets up taxpayers for fracking fall-out

From The Harrison Report Written by ELISABETH N. RADOW

Thursday, 15 September 2011 14:29

"Since upstate homeowners did not know about the hazards of fracking when they signed the gas leases, it did not occur to them to check their mortgage. Home mortgage loans prohibit heavy industrial activity and hazardous materials on the property. Fracking brings both.

The mortgaged property needs to stay safe and uncontaminated because lenders sell 90 percent of all home mortgage loans to the secondary mortgage market in exchange for funds to make new home loans. Gas leases allow gas companies to truck in tankers with chemicals, transport flammable gas and toxic waste, operate heavy equipment 24/7 and store gas underground, for years, all in a person’s backyard.

Gas leases also create easements which continue after the gas company leaves, with no long-term funds for upkeep. Gas drillers can sell the lease to anyone they choose without telling the homeowner, so there’s no way for a family to control who comes onto their property to drill or the quality of the work they perform. Homeowner’s insurance doesn’t cover the types of industrial risks fracking brings and neither does the gas lease. Homeowners can get slammed with risks for the dangerous activity they don’t even control."

FULL ARTICLE HERE: http://www.myharrisonreport.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1883