Hi, everyone. Sorry for the long hiatus.  

 

I wanted to thank all who made it out in the POURING rain to the rally against hydraulic fracturing last Monday in Albany. We came out in great numbers (over 600!), and it was a pleasure to meet so many passionate environmentalists. The opposition showed up as well, but was dwarfed by our incredible showing. In other parts of the country, natural gas drilling has polluted wells, lakes and streams and poisoned landscapes. I was thrilled to see so many of us won't let that happen in New York. 

 

Speakers at the rally included: State Senator Tom Duane; Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton; Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh; Assemblyman James Brennan; Tompkins County Legislator Martha Robinson; Chief Oren Lyons, Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan of the Onondaga Nation; Dimock, Pa., resident Joyce Stone; President of Toxics Targeting, Walter Hang; and Senior Fellow with the Regional Planning Association, Al Appleton; among others. 

 

Over 12,000 citizens and organizations wrote comments on the draft SGEIS (Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement) to NYS DEC (New York State Department of Environmental Conservation). Untallied thousands wrote letters, made phone calls and signed petitions to NYS DEC, Governor David Paterson and government representatives, opposing hydro-fracking. There were no formal DEC public hearings on the dSGEIS in Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo and Utica. Hundreds of farmers and other land owners have leased their land to gas companies without being informed of the use of hydro-fracking technology and its severe consequences. Al Appleton, former commissioner for the New York State DEP, wrote a great letter on why hydraulic fracturing would be a disaster here in New York that I implore everyone to read.

 

For those in the Syracuse area that would like to get involved there is Citizen's Community Forum on Hydro-Fracking Wednesday, February 10, 2010 from 7 - 9 p.m. at Nottingham High School. More info on this event can be found here.

 

For those of you in the NYC area, as of part of the Environmental Action Film Series at Park Slope United Methodist Church, "Split Estate," a documentary about the devastating effect that gas drilling is having on the health of families and the environment in the Rocky Mountain West, will be screened this Friday. There will be a post-screening discussion led by Joe Levine, co-founder of NYH2O and Damascus Citizens for Sustainability. Plus, admission is absolutely free. Info can be found here. Hope to see some of you there!