Greetings from CDOG
April 11, 2009
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Tracking the Spin
If you've been
following this issue for some time you might
remember the DEC's presentation in which
they told officials:
"Not one instance of drinking water
contamination in over one million frac
jobs." The source of this
claim was a survey by the Interstate Oil &
Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC), yet another
government agency that promotes the
interests of the energy industry. DEC
swallowed that claim whole, and in 2008
presented it as fact in a series of
presentations to officials and electeds,
including state legislators, pushing passage
of the new spacing bill that would expedite
permitting of the intensive drilling coming
our way.
www.wnyc.org/news/articles/104157
Of course,
there were in fact thousands of documented
instances of groundwater contamination from
hydraulic fracturing.* But they were
easy to ignore when they were somewhere far
away - Colorado, Wyoming, or Texas.
Enter Hickory &
then Dimock, both in Pennsylvania. And
now, what's the message from these IOGCC
states? Here's what John Hanger,
acting Secretary of the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection, said
in an interview with Reuters' Jon Hurdle:
"You can't do a large amount of drilling and
have zero impact. There's going to be a lot
of good that comes from drilling in
Pennsylvania, but there are also going to be
some problems."
According to
the Reuters story, Hanger "acknowledged that
some of the chemicals could be dangerous to
human health but said that
risk has to be
weighed against the benefits that
will come from the exploitation of what he
called the 'enormous' gas reserves contained
in the Marcellus Shale.
"'Some of these
chemicals are things you couldn't drink.
There's no doubt about that,' he said. 'We
have processes that go on in our lives all
the time that involve these chemicals, and
we run a certain amount of risk because of
the benefits.'"
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE52J6AP20090320
Hanger's recent
statement contrasts with his words last
September: “We recognize that there are
incredible opportunities for the
commonwealth in the Marcellus Shale, but
realizing those gains cannot come at the
expense of our natural resources,” said
Hanger.
What wasn't OK
last fall evidently is OK now.
* http://www.propublica.org/feature/buried-secrets-is-natural-gas-drilling-endangering-us-water-supplies-1113
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Ban Gas Drilling
Residents of
NYC, like the majority of landowners across
NYS, have little to gain and everything to
lose by the proposed gas drilling.
Recognizing this reality, Community Board 2,
Manhattan, recently passed a resolution
calling for a complete ban on gas drilling
in NYS.
http://un-naturalgas.org/weblog/?p=283
Last weekend 27
organizations from across the state gathered
in Binghamton to develop strategies for
working together in opposition to drilling.
A majority of those in attendance signed a
petition calling for a ban.
It's time for
town boards across NYS to follow the lead of
the courageous community board and
state-wide activists. Acquiring fuel
by jeopardizing public health and
contaminating our air, soil, and water
should not be an option.
We all know
that a vocal minority has been exerting
undue influence on our elected officials.
These people, who either own large parcels
of land or will provide services to the gas
industry, will make lots of money on
drilling. However the majority of the
population will lose everything that is most
precious to life: clean air and water.
The silent majority needs to step forward to
protect our homes and health by calling for
a total ban on drilling.
______________________
Our site is
still under construction but there's lots of
information there already, and much more to
come. Click over to our Events page to
see what's happening, visit our blog and
leave your scope or other comments, use our
Resources & Documents page to download
handouts, check out the Media - News Reports
or the Images & Video pages, and more.
http://www.un-naturalgas.org
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Pits of frac water at completed wells in
Susquehanna County, PA, just south of
Binghamton.
The pit pictured above gave off an acrid,
irritating smell of petroleum products.
The one to the right smelled like dead
fish.
Like PA's DEP, NYSDEC is short on staff
- and on the will to challenge the oil
& gas industry. |
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The purpose of our efforts and
this mailing list is to make sure
the place we love isn't turned into
a wasteland for the sake of
corporate profit. There's a lot
that any one of us can do, even with
just a couple of hours a month:
write a letter to the editor of your
paper, chip in for advertising
costs, put up posters for the next
event, talk to your neighbors, go to
your town board meetings, staff a
table at community events - whatever
you think of, whatever you're good
at! Please watch for future
e-mails with notices of meetings,
events, and activities in which your
participation will help keep our
region the beautiful place and
community it is. If you'd like not
to receive future e-mails, please
reply with both of the
following in the subject line: your
e-mail address and the word
'remove.' |
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T H
A N K Y O U
want to know what you can do? visit
http://un-naturalgas.org/organizers.htm
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