The site employs today more than 1000 people

Not easy to declare the fight against climate change when it is sitting on twenty years of potential reserves of gas! This is what live the defenders of the environment in the region of Pennsylvania. Traumatized by the almost extinct in the steel industry and the closure of coal mines that made the fortune of the region in the 1970s, the local authorities are fierce to demolish old factories, to replant forests, to refocus the economy on the field of health services and education. Symbol of the renaissance, the g-20 was held in Pittsburgh at the request of President Obama. Objective: make this city the emblem of the new green economy that it intends to create. Precursor, the Pennsylvania State did vote legislation requiring the production of 18 of renewable energy in 2021, 8 from wind power and solar electricians in 2004. Major penalties are provided for fails. The Governor had also imposed objectives for the reduction of emissions by 3 between 2007 and 2011. Gamesa, a Spanish manufacturer of wind turbines has received millions of dollars in financial guarantees and tax exemptions to implement its headquarters in the city and built its first plant in the region. The site employs today more than 1,000 people. But the very green Governor Ed Rendell is now accused of caving in to the gas lobby in the vote for his budget last October. He did not support the proposal to tax of 5 from gas sales of these new underground deposits to fund the budget of the State in difficulty.

Nicknamed the "future Saudi Arabia of gas", this region is in effect for two years a real gold rush, like its neighbours of the State of New York and Virginia. With new techniques of rock fragmentation, it is possible to exploit unconventional gas trapped in shale deposits. In 2008, this activity was already $ 2.3 billion and employing 29,000 people! Since that they are able to run horizontally and inject high pressure water in the rock, industry can highlight the gas bubbles trapped in the soil at a price considered competitive. What change the long-term perspective of the U.S. energy sector, which had chosen to invest in import of liquefied natural gas terminals. What also participate in the fight against climate change by allowing, in the years to come, to replace coal-fired power generation by the gas. All in one of the most industrialized regions of the country. In comparison, gas produces between 60 and 30 times less CO2 than coal and oil. Bill the climate driven by Obama administration takes largely into account: it provides strong support for the gas industry.

Protect water quality

This new technique is however not only benefits: the extraction method consumes lot of water and the polluted. "We must find the balance between economic interests and the protection of the quality of the water", explained Sustainable Pittsburgh officials, an association responsible for convincing people and industrialists to engage to protect the environment. And added: "we have fifty years to clean up the damage of the past, do not start.September 1, the residents discovered that fish, salamanders, and even aquatic insects disappeared over more than 40 kilometres along a river in the region, and they want to know if the new deposits are responsible. Recent investigations have singled out a seaweed toxic so-called "golden", whose presence is favoured by the chemicals in water pumped to the outcome of the operations of rock fracture. The older residents of Pittsburgh remembers the time where he had to turn on the headlights of his car in full day both the air of the city was polluted. They now want to be protected.

700,000 walkers

In a country where the car is Queen - it takes more than seven hours to reach Washington with one train per day-, old railway routes were transformed in vicinal railways. After ten years of efforts, it took remove tracks, cover the land routes to facilitate hiking. This network has more than 300 kilometres of paths and attracted last year more than 700,000 visitors, including many European tourists. "We have shown that these railways helped to revitalize small towns, which have opened restaurants, shops, hotels," explains the Environmental Council of Pennsylvania. A request for funding in the amount of $ 36 million was recently filed in the recovery of the State plan for further development of the network to the nearby city of Philadelphia. On a smaller scale, but also surprising, the creators of shop Construction Junction have also requested a Government loan to develop their business of recycled construction materials. Their trade is unique in its kind in the region: sell on the Internet and in their shop doors, tiles, radiators in stocks where even furniture recovered after the deconstruction of houses and office buildings. The owner gives the products the company and in Exchange receives credits tax allowed by the authorities. In return, the company performs a part of the demolition and just search products. The economic crisis has enabled them to increase their sales by 20, and they want to enlarge their hangars to develop a recycling activity. In Pennsylvania, many want to demonstrate that Californians do not have the monopoly of the ecology.