Bamboozled

bam·boo·zle (bm-bzl)
tr.v. bam·boo·zled, bam·boo·zling, bam·boo·zles Informal
To take in by elaborate methods of deceit; hoodwink. See Synonyms - to deceive.

The oil and gas industry is taking the entire Marcellus Shale region for a ride. Literally billions of dollars are now being spent to buy up the mineral leasing rights and to begin the wholesale gouging of the Earth as well as the American public. The Public Relations campaigns are very pretty and paid for by an industry that is heavily subsidized by your tax dollars. They promise to bring jobs and deliver an alternative fuel for the next 20 to 30 years. But at what price?

Just like victims of the greatest bamboozler of them all, P. T. Barnum, we are about to get our wallets neatly lightened at the expense of increased risk to basic healthy water necessary for life to exist. Barnum would argue that he is doing a public good by teaching people a lesson. But what lesson will we be learning from an energy industry who has reaped profits at the expense human life and our aquatic ecosystems that sustain us. How much longer will we take the disrespect and outright abuse of our natural resources? Might as well paint WELCOME on our foreheads and bend over and thank them for what they do for us. Every month for the past 6 months there have been major accidents, often at the cost of human life, by an energy industry that insists that its ways are "safe" in the face of incontrovertable evidence that their ways are not. Funny how we, the American Public, seem to have shorter attention spans when money is involved. We take the money in the shadow of Gulf coast oil rig explosions, coal mine explosions, and Marcellus Shale gas rig fires, all which have cost human lives and billions in clean-up efforts. We are like the unemployed battered wife returning to her abuser. Haven't we learned our lesson, yet?