Asked
About
Fracking, Ban
Ki-moon Says
Gas Is Good,
Silent on Tear
Gas
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 19 --
When asked
about fracking
on Friday, the
response of UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
ignored the
impacts on
drinking water
and instead
said that
"natural gas
had an
important role
to play as we
transition to
lower-carbon
sources."
The
question by
Inner City
Press came in
the context of
Canadian
authorities
arresting and
pepper
spraying
members of the
Elsipogtog
First Nation
as they
protested
fracking. From
the UN's
online
transcript* of
its October 18
noon briefing,
to which it
appended
Ban's answer
before sending
the answer to
Inner City
Press:
Inner
City Press:
the Elsipogtog
First Nation
in Canada
yesterday were
arrested and
pepper-sprayed
as they
protested
fracking or
shale gas
extraction
near their
land. So, I
wanted to know
if the
Secretariat
is aware of
this, if there
is any comment
on Canada's
response. I
also wanted to
know, the
Secretary-General,
since he is
big in this
field of green
energy and
various kinds
of energy,
does he have
any
view of this
fracking which
many
environmental
and other
activists
say is
destructive,
trying to get
the last rinds
out of the
earth in
terms of
hydrocarbons?
Spokesperson
Martin
Nesirky: Well,
first of all,
we are
obviously
aware of the
reports from
Canada, but I
don’t have any
comment on
that at the
moment. And
with regard to
the broader
question of
fracking, I
will
have to have
to look and
see what I can
tell you on
that, but I
don’t
have anything
at the moment,
okay.
If
Ban's
Spokesperson's
office gets an
answer in the
hours after
the
noon briefing,
they have been
asked to
e-mail it to
the
questioner,
for use in the
reporting the
question was
asked for.
But often
Nesirky's
office chooses
to withhold
answers to
Inner City
Press'
questions
until they can
be given to
all at once,
put in the
transcript or
sometimes even
given to other
media, not
Inner City
Press, before
that. The Free UN Coalition for Access @FUNCA_info
protests this
practice, as
applies to all
correspondents.
But it
continues.
After 8
pm on October
18, this
arrived:
From:
UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not Reply
[at] UN.org
Date: Fri, Oct
18, 2013
at 8:05 PM
Subject:
Question
To:
Matthew.Lee
[at]
innercitypress.com
This
was added to
today's
transcript
after your
question on
fracking:
[The
Spokesperson
later said
that natural
gas had an
important role
to
play as we
transition to
lower-carbon
sources but
that we must
be
aware that it
cannot meet
all our needs.
He added that
we must ensure
that
development of
gas resources
should go hand
in hand with
promoting
clean energy
solutions.]
So
that's
Ban Ki-moon's
answer on and
understanding
of fracking?
It'd be
like asking
about animal
cruelty in the
industrial
production of
poultry, and
Ban saying,
chicken is
good, but so
are other
future
foods.
Ban
heads to
Denmark on
October 21 to
discuss green
energy -- with
institutional
investors. Is
this what the
UN has become?
* - At
the most petty
level, the
noon briefing
transcript
above has had
to
be "cleaned
up" -- at the
order of the
Spokesperson's
Office, a
particular
staffer sent
to transcribe
it leaves in
and even adds
"uh, uh, uh"
and stutters
to the UN's
(mis)
transcription
of critical
Press
questions
asked.
It is
pathetic.
Compare UN
transcript to
UN
video, for
each
questioner.
We'll have
more on this.
Watch this
site.
, 
