fracking bribery

[ensho]

http://stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=597091


Schools fill budget holes with fracking revenues


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In a vote of seven-to-one, the school board agreed to lease 160 acres of the district’s land to Chesapeake Energy, the largest holder of mineral rights in the Marcellus Shale region, which lies underneath Pennsylvania and neighboring states. At $2,000 per acre, the lease terms grant the district more than $300,000 upfront. If Chesapeake successfully extracts gas from below the district’s property, the schools would earn an additional 15 percent royalty on the profits.

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Blackhawk is one of dozens of school districts across the country that have struck deals with natural gas companies, either for underground mineral rights or for rights to drill on the earth’s surface. Many of the leases have come in Pennsylvania and Texas, two states that are experiencing an energy boom at the same time that they’ve been cutting state aid for K-12 education. Chesapeake Energy has signed many of the deals with school districts, touting that lease money can help school districts offset some of their recent budget losses. The company recently released a report showing that it paid more than $5 million last year in natural gas bonuses and royalty payments to eight Texas school districts.

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School districts in north Texas have mostly embraced drilling and the revenue it brings, Ireland says. Many have used their mineral income to construct facilities that he says would be the envy of other schools across the country. The Birdville Independent School District used $7 million of its gas revenues to establish a scholarship fund for attendance at a nearby community college.

In Michigan, leaders at the Adrian School District, 45 miles southeast of Ann Arbor, are hoping for a similar windfall from an energy lease they signed this spring. “We have a list of $20 million worth of things that could use improvement,” says Kathy Westfall, the district’s chief financial officer.

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you know some of that bribe money went into school person's pockets

you know that fracking shit will get into the water, etc.