STOP THE PIPELINE to Hold Comment Writing Event at Green Earth Feb 7 and 21

Stop the Pipeline to Hold Comment Writing Events at Green Earth Help Convince the DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) to Deny Water and Air Quality Permits to the Constitution Pipeline Members of Stop the Pipeline (STP) will hold two comment writing events on Saturday, February 7th and Saturday, February 21st, from 2:00-6:00 PM at The Green Earth, 4 Market St., Oneonta. These are part of the campaign to convince the DEC to deny water and air quality permits for the Constitution Pipeline. Constitution received conditional approval from the federal government but can't be built without permits from NY State. Pipeline construction endangers long-term water and air quality, creates a threat to headwaters and related stream systems, and compromises spawning and viability of important fish species. With Constitution, wholesale tree stripping, especially on hillsides, will lead to increased flooding in an area recently devastated by more frequently occurring 100-year inundations. Landowners, many facing eminent domain proceedings, will lose property value and access, and the quality of life they have established through years of hard work. The Constitution with its associated compressor stations, and a second pipeline project proposed by Kinder Morgan, are a threat to our health, environment, land values, and way of life. Join your neighbors in telling the DEC to do what is environmentally and ethically correct – deny Constitution Pipeline the 401 water quality certificate and air quality permit. With the help of STP volunteers, create personalized letters from sample comment letters and Talking Points. Bring a laptop if you have one, or just bring your pen. For more information, see http://dec.stopthepipeline.org/write-to-nys-dec/

Fracking Ban Rally and Celebration in Albany Rescheduled for January 21

		Due to the passing of former Governor Mario Cuomo, the State of the State Address has been re-scheduled for Wednesday, January 21st. We lend our condolences to the Cuomo family. We are also writing to inform you that our rally and celebration has been re-scheduled for the 21st as well. See original e-mail with new date below. Thank you! Fellow New Yorker Against Fracking,  For many years, we were told fracking in New York was inevitable. That no one stops the oil and gas industry and that ultimately Governor Cuomo would cave. For many years, we said that a statewide ban was possible. That the power of the people could triumph over toxic fracking and that our Governor could be a hero by banning fracking and lead this country toward a renewable energy future. Four and a half years later, thankfully we were right.   With every great victory, comes a great party. And we are ready to celebrate and have some fun. For Renee, John and I, this campaign has been one of the most grueling, labor intensive, emotionally exhausting and hard won battles we've ever fought. We did it from a place of love for our family, friends and communities. We also did it for your families, friends and communities and all New Yorkers.   Please come and join us on January 21st in Albany from 11:30-12:30 pm for a celebration rally outside of the State of the State Address thanking the Governor and each other for this incredible victory and shift our focus to renewable energy. Following the rally we will be hosting a big party at the The Hilton Albany from 1:00-4:00 pm.  RSVP and Find Info on Facebook Find Buses, Carpools and General Info on the Web We would also like to ask you for an end of the year donation. Frack Action is a small yet powerful organization. Our team has been instrumental in developing the strategies and day-to-day organizing work that helped win a ban on fracking in New York. We have been able to do this because of support from you. In the coming year, we plan to help lead the shift to New York becoming the renewable energy capital of our nation, as well as assisting people in other states where fracking is happening or is about to start.  Please make a tax-deductible end of the year donation today. Click here to donate. Thank you.   We would like to wish you all a very happy and healthy New Year in New York! All the best,  Julia, John & Renee Frack Action

A Message from Sandra Steingraber: Fracking Ban Celebration January 7

Dear fellow New Yorkers, I’ve long imagined sending you this communiqué. On January 7, we're holding a rally in Albany to celebrate our victory banning fracking in New York. We will also have a party afterwards in a nearby hotel in walking distance from the Capitol building where we will share stories, songs, food and drinks to celebrate this momentous victory. A week ago today, on December 17, Governor Cuomo prohibited fracking in the state of New York, citing the Department of Health’s review of the public health impacts of fracking. That 184-page report, released on the same day, pointed to troubling signs of harm and risk to our health, water, and air — and also revealed gaps in the data that still need to be filled in. Among the multitude of fracking-related problems documented in the DOH report: increased seismic activity, soil contamination, noise pollution, and respiratory complaints among those living near drilling and fracking operations in other states. “The potential risks are too great,” said pediatrician and Acting Commissioner of Health, Dr. Howard Zucker, “In fact, they are not even fully known.” After six long years of investigation, deliberation, and organized grassroots power, the public health argument won the day. Our victory celebration takes place in the capitol building in Albany on January 7, during Governor Cuomo’s annual State of the State address. And because activists party with a purpose, we have three goals in mind for our festivities. The first is to thank our governor publicly and effusively for standing up to the oil and gas industry, so becoming the first chief executive in a shale gas state to ban fracking. As you might expect, the fossil fuel industry is not accustomed to the word NO from any elected official, and, for his courage, Governor Cuomo is now coping with a lot of blowback. Let’s make sure he knows just how momentously right his decision is — for us, for our children, and for the whole world. In fact, I’ll start that laudatory conversation right now: Governor Cuomo, thank you. Your historic — and heroic — decision to prohibit fracking in New York is an affirmation of science, public health, and democracy itself. You’ve set yourself apart as a political leader and earned a place in history. As for those who now disparage the peer-reviewed findings of the DOH report, they sound more and more like the tobacco industry every day. In spite of what the gas industry says, good science is on the side of saying no to fracking. Indeed, Dr. Zucker’s conclusions (“the overall weight of the evidence … demonstrates that there are significant uncertainties about the kinds of adverse health outcomes that may be associated with HVHF, the likelihood of the occurrence of adverse health outcomes, and the effectiveness of some of the mitigation measures in reducing or preventing environmental impacts which could adversely affect public health”) are echoed in three other recent independent reviews of the evidence: a 103-page compilation by Concerned Health Professionals of New York; a statistical analysis by Physicians, Scientists and Engineers for Healthy Energy; and a 540-page assessment by the environmental assessment agency of Quebec — the results of which have just prompted the Quebec Premier, Philippe Couillard, to extend the moratorium on fracking in that Canadian province indefinitely. Our second task on January 7 is to celebrate and thank each other and recognize the extraordinary movement we have built, comprised of hundreds of grassroots groups and organizations, large and small. Let there be no mistake. Science alone did not a statewide ban make. The slingshot that brought down the gas industry Goliath was made of two elements: good data and powerful organizing. Of and by us. Everyone who wrote a letter. Everyone who held a sign. Everyone who marched, rallied, testified, made phone calls, and circulated petitions. Everyone who broke a gas lease. Every community that passed a local ban or moratorium. And the more than 250 organizations that comprise the New Yorkers Against Fracking coalition. It all mattered. Environmental writer Rebecca Solnit said it best: "The governor did it because he was pushed hard by activists. Look at the weather vanes, but respect the wind." As just one example of what a mighty wind we are, cast your mind back two years. Do you remember what you were doing in December 2012? Maybe you were writing daily critiques of the draft fracking regulations that the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation had just dropped on us? Do you recall the holiday season called Thirty Days of Fracking Regs? Over that one-month comment period — which included Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Years Day — New Yorkers wrote and delivered some 204,000 informed, science-based comments to the DEC. To do so, some of us hunkered down, cleared our desks, and virtually canceled Christmas itself. (I wasn’t at all sure at the time, but I’ll say it now: it was so worth it.) The third goal for our party on January 7 is to articulate the opportunities ahead for renewable energy and express our ultimate desire: a transition from dirty fossil fuels and the destructive tentacles they spread throughout our communities. In this, we are responding to a challenge issued by Governor Cuomo himself when, during his cabinet meeting of one week ago, he pointed to the economic desperation in areas of upstate New York, asking, "What can we do in these areas to generate jobs, generate wealth ... as an alternative to fracking?" All together, I think we have some ideas to offer. Maybe even a blueprint for the future based on renewable energy and sustainable development. So, let’s convene. Let’s confer. Let’s put our heads together and begin the task of answering the governor’s good question. As inspiration for our victory rally, and for the days ahead, here is a poem by Rumi, the 13th-century Persian poet and jurist. As you read, imagine the two contiguous worlds he references as the one that we currently occupy, in which dirty, destructive fossil fuels still dominate, and the one that we are beginning to imagine and plan for, in which they do not. “The breezes at dawn have secrets to tell you Don't go back to sleep! You must ask for what you really want. Don't go back to sleep! People are going back and forth across the doorsill where the two worlds touch, The door is round and open Don't go back to sleep!” Happiest of holidays! Unfractured, now and forever, Sandra p.s. Where were you when you heard the news that Governor Cuomo had prohibited fracking in New York? Let’s make time on January 7 to tell our stories.  My own moment of astonishment and joy happened to be caught on film as Governor Cuomo’s announcement came just as 28 civil disobedients at Seneca Lake were being released from the Schuyler County Jail. A winery owner and a maple syrup maker — the very personification of sustainable development for upstate New York — hoisted me into the air for a bit of wild street dancing. You can laugh about it here. p.p.s. The buses from Long Island, Brooklyn, and Manhattan to Albany have been canceled because of another important event that evening: a public hearing in Queens concerning Port Ambrose, a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility off the coast of Long Island that would threaten the ecology and promote fracking. For more information, visit the Facebook event page. What: Rally to Celebrate New York Fracking Ban and Lead the Nation in Renewable Energy! When: Wednesday, January 7, 2015 Time: 11:30 am - 2:30 pm Where: Concourse Hallways, outside the entrance to the Convention Center, Empire State Plaza, Albany, New York NOTE: THE RALLY IS INDOORS For a Shuttle in the Albany/Capital District region contact Susan Weber at sweber2@nycap.rr.com or at 518-462-3247 SIGN UP FOR BUSES HERE! Reserve a Seat in Westchester/Rockland/Newburgh, http://act.foodandwaterwatch.org/site/Calendar?id=115341&view=Detail Reserve a Seat in New Paltz, http://act.foodandwaterwatch.org/site/Calendar?id=115361&view=Detail Reserve a Seat in Kingston, http://act.foodandwaterwatch.org/site/Calendar?id=115362&view=Detail Reserve a Seat in Saugerties/Catskill, http://act.foodandwaterwatch.org/site/Calendar?id=115381&view=Detail Reserve a Seat in Syracuse/Westmoreland, http://act.foodandwaterwatch.org/site/Calendar?id=115161&view=Detail Reserve a Seat in Ithaca/Caroline/Whitney Point, http://act.foodandwaterwatch.org/site/Calendar?id=115101&view=Detail Reserve a Seat in Binghamton, www.citizenactionny.org/notonewell Reserve a Seat in Buffalo/Rochester, http://act.foodandwaterwatch.org/site/Calendar?id=115221&view=Detail To Reserve a Seat in Cooperstown, Oneonta or Sharon Springs contact Susan Pastor at admin@otsego2000.org For general RSVP, Carpooling, Comments and To CO-SPONSOR sign up here, http://bit.ly/2015SOS www.nyagainstfracking.org www.notonewell.org Co-sponsors (in formation): New Yorkers Against Fracking Frack Action Food & Water Watch Catskill Mountainkeeper Citizen Action of New York Sierra Club - Atlantic Chapter NYPIRG Alliance for a Green Economy Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy United for Action Environmental Advocates Riverkeeper Center for Health, Environment and Justice Environment New York 350.org MoveOn.org Citizens Campaign for the Environment New York Working Families Party Green Party of New York Progressive Democrats of America Syracuse Peace Council Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation Park Slope Food Co-op Occupy the Pipeline Water Defense New York Society for Ethical Culture Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) - NY Gas Free Seneca Rochesterians Concerned About Unsafe Shale Extraction PAUSE Sanford Oquaga Area Concerned Citizens Vestal Residents For Safe Energy City of Binghamton Residents Against Fracking Western NY Drilling Defense POWR Southern Tier Against Fracking Otsego 2000 Concerned Citizens of Montauk Hudson River Sloop Clearwater MoveOn Long Island MoveOn Capital District NYC Friends of Clearwater Grassroots Environmental Education Three Parks Independent Democrats Westchester for Change All Our Energy Coalition to Protect Communities from Fracking's Collateral Damage Marcellus Accountability Project Back to Democracy Yoga for the Earth Cayuga Lake Watershed Network New York Youth Against Fracking FLEASED Sierra Club Niagara Western NY Environmental Alliance CC4CW Nurse Rise GreenStar Co-operative Markets Dryden Resource Awareness Coalition Shaleshock Shaleshock CNY Campaign for Renewable Energy 350NYC Damascus Citizens for Sustainability WESPAC Community Free Democrats New York State Young Democrats North Shore Audubon Society South Shore Audubon Society GDACC (Gas Drilling Awareness of Cortland County) Environmental Justice Committee, SUNY Cortland Nassau County Green Party Mothers Out Front North American Climate Conservation and Environment Franciscan Earth Corp Binghamton Regional Sustainability Coalition Western NY Peace Center Slow Food Huntington iEatGreen Stencils Against Fracking Jews Against Hydrofracking Stop the Minisink Compressor Station Campaign for Renewable Energy People for a Healthy Environment Sustainable Tompkins The Pearl of Seneca Lake Bed and Breakfast Fossil Free & Green NY Southern Cayuga Anti-Fracking Alliance Reach Out America Protect Orange County Learning Sustainability Campaign/Green Watch The Kirkland Committee to Prohibit Hydro-fracking Gandhi Earth Keepers International Friends of Sustainable Sidney Friends of Butternuts Frack Free Genesee Elmirans and Friends Against Fracking Bay Ridge Peace Action Bay Ridge Democrats Barnard Columbia Divest for Climate Justice Ban Fracking Now Alchemical Nursery MoveOn New York MoveOn Finger Lakes Interfaith Moral Action on Climate Granny Peace Brigade Residents Opposing Unsafe Shale Gas Exploration (ROUSE) Broadway Democrats Samuel J. Tilden Democratic Club MoveOn NYC Physicians for Social Responsibility - New York Chapter Sierra Club - Lower Hudson Group Huntington - Oyster Bay Audubon People for a Healthy Environment We Are Seneca Lake Baum Forum Chefs for the Marcellus American Sustainable Business Council Businesses Against Fracking New York Residents Against Fracking Tioga Green Sanctuary, UUCB, Binghamton Delaware Riverkeeper Network New York State Sustainable Business Council Earthworks Brooklyn For Peace

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Hydraulic Fracturing Banned in New York State December 17, 2014

THE ISSUE:
New York is banning the drilling for natural gas using hydraulic fracturing.
THE STAKES:
Growing evidence about the risks posed by the process make it the right decision.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo always promised that he would let science determine New York's future course when it comes to fracking.
In announcing Wednesday the state will formally ban high volume hydraulic fracturing, the controversial process of pumping water, sand and chemicals deep into the ground to release and extract natural gas, the governor delivered on that promise.
In that, Mr. Cuomo deferred to the recommendation of his acting health commissioner, Dr. Howard Zucker, who released a 176-page, two-year health study that found widespread fracking will likely contaminate the state's air and water and pose significant health risks to residents of the communities around the drilling sites.
Dr. Zucker's compelling conclusion, in which he posed the question of whether he would raise his family near a drilling site, put it best: "After looking at the plethora of reports behind me ... my answer is no."
In banning fracking, New York goes against the trend in which a growing number of states are attempting to cash in on a natural gas boom. But that very boom provided state Health Department researchers the abundant and ever-expanding foundation of data that led to their overwhelming conclusion. States where fracking has been under way are experiencing myriad problems with methane, benzene and other volatile organic compounds polluting the groundwater and air. Data also link the gas drilling process with earthquakes.
In 2009, when New York land owners and developers were urging at least limited fracking to tap the gas-rich Marcellus shale formation, only six peer-reviewed studies on the environmental health impact of the hydraulic drilling process were available. Today, 154 such reports have been completed, examining various types of drilling operations in Pennsylvania, Colorado, Texas and elsewhere, according to Physicians, Scientists & Engineers for Health Energy, a New York-based group opposed to hydrofracking. Long-term studies also are under way, which the group believes will reveal cancer and respiratory problems for residents of the communities where there is gas drilling.
Skeptics may say Gov. Cuomo's decision was politically easy, coming during an oil glut that has reduced demand for natural gas. But by instituting an outright ban on fracking, the Democratic governor is already taking political hits from the drilling industry and many Republicans, particularly in the financially pressed Southern Tier and Western New York. Even there, however, fracking's wisdom is disputed by many.
Now the governor and his staff must follow through on his pledge to find alternative and safer economic development opportunities for those areas, which have been struggling for decades.
Scientific research will continue on fracking, and surely technological improvements will, as well. There might come a time when the process is safe enough for some use in New York. But the science today is clear: that time isn't now.

To comment: tuletters@timesunion.com or at http://blog.timesunion.com/opinion

Alan Chartock: Gov. Andrew Cuomo Should Close Door on Fracking

ALAN CHARTOCK: Gov. Andrew Cuomo should close the door on fracking

 

When politicians take money for their campaign coffers, they owe something back. That’s because there is honor among, well, politicians and lobbyists. If you see tons of money going to politicians from the real estate industry, you’d be foolish not to think that the people who own hotels and other big buildings want something back for their bucks. As Festus Haggen used to say on Gunsmoke, “Don’t you see?”


Now everyone is waiting to see whether Gov. Andrew Cuomo will allow hydro-fracking in New York State. Cuomo is brilliant at both political strategy and fund raising (about $45 million for the last campaign) but he is caught up in a huge pincer movement between those who hate the idea of potentially polluting our water and further despoiling our air and those who want to make a buck from fracking. My hero, legendary folk singer Pete Seeger, put it to Cuomo this way: “Your father was perhaps the best governor New York State ever had and if you take the money that they want to give you for going along with fracking and injuring people for generations to come, you will go down as perhaps the worst.” Those were pretty powerful words and I suspect they left Cuomo reeling.


Hydrofracking puts Cuomo between a rock and a hard place. He doesn’t know what to do. As a result of this predicament, the governor’s top people were almost certainly told to stall. So first the commissioner in charge of environmental conservation studied the problem to death and then transferred the ball to the health commissioner who eventually resigned and went elsewhere. It’s tough to be a medical professional of first rank and have to carry a governor’s political water.


Many people speculated that once Cuomo got through the election he would call for a modified fracking plan for New York whereby localities that voted to allow fracking would be allowed to “Drill baby drill” under strict supervision. They suspected that the Solomon-like Cuomo would attempt to cut the baby in half. Once the door was open, however, the genie would be out of the bottle and fracking would become a reality in the Empire State. But not so fast — there are some intervening political realities.


Cuomo has lost many voters on the left wing of the Democratic Party. Having styled himself as a social progressive and a pro-business fiscal conservative, the governor is getting beaten up by the more progressive members of his party. Fracking is no exception. A recent Pew poll showed that fracking is getting more and more unpopular among Democrats. So now the rock and the hard place are even closer together. After all, Cuomo got a million fewer votes in the last election than he got the time before. Many of those lost votes were those of angry Democrats who just stayed home. Since Cuomo is much smarter than I am, he’s got to understand that by accepting the money and not taking Pete Seeger’s advice against advancing fracking, he will lose even more of his natural voters.


The truth is that while there seems to be a good deal of evidence that fracking is dangerous, it is even more significant that we simply don’t know exactly what the process will do to our water supply. Why in the world would we take a chance on risking our water, the most important thing on earth when it comes to human survival? People simply have to know that their governor is looking out for them and not for money to run for political office. While he clearly doesn’t want or need my advice, Gov. Cuomo really should close the door on fracking. That’s when the people will know that he cares about them. Sometimes doing the right thing is more important than playing the political game.


Sunday Freeman columnist Alan Chartock is a professor emeritus at the State University of New York, publisher of the Legislative Gazette and president and CEO of the WAMC Northeast Public Radio Network. Readers can email him at alan@wamc.org.

A Message from Zephyr Teachout

November 5, 2014 Friend -- Like many of you, I'm disappointed that the New York State Senate is now firmly in the hands of Republicans in this big-hearted, egalitarian, Democratic State. And like many of you, I’m disappointed that Andrew Cuomo refused to help Senate Democrats, and has shown every indication that he plans to continue implementing his big-donor agenda. We have our work cut out for us. And the national news that Democrats lost--well, that's a sign we need to return to our core progressive values with Elizabeth Warren-style populism if we're going to win, not a set of manufactured milquetoast messages with no real ideas behind them. People feel powerless--we should address that honestly and directly, and take on the monopolists that are rigging the system. We need a trust-busting, pro-public school, clean energy Democratic Party that is unafraid to speak the truth and refuses the trickle-down ideology. So let’s keep up the fight. This is the statement that we put out last night, on receiving news of the election results: We will fight for the best public schools in the country. We will fight for an economy grounded in the health of our small businesses. We will fight to be a welcoming state for immigrants. We will fight to ban fracking and build a clean energy future. And we will fight to restore our democracy with public elections and end the corrupt influence of wealthy interests. Because we don’t want to be the most unequal state in America any longer — whether Andrew Cuomo is governor or not. Even though Governor Cuomo and the Republicans may have control in Albany this term, we still own our dreams of a populist progressive Democratic state. And we will continue to broadcast that vision loudly. No matter who is in office, I'll keep fighting. Will you? Zephyr Teachout http://www.teachoutwu.com/

 

GLOBAL FRACKDOWN OCTOBER 11: OTSEGO LAKE

Put on your walking shoes, grab your helmet and bike, or hop in your canoe/kayak

On October 11^th to

Rally ‘Round Otsego’s Waters (RROW)

As part of this year’s Global Frackdown, we are once again celebrating our Otsego waters, headwaters to the mighty Susquehanna River and life force of our environment. While we are gathering at Otsego Lake, this is a celebration of all of Otsego’s waters – Gilbert Lake, Canadarago Lake, Goodyear Lake, Summit Lake, and all the many ponds and streams and creeks that course toward the rivers. Come celebrate the health of your favorite body of water!

Walkers will leave Lake Front Park in Cooperstown at 10:00am, walk up the east side of Otsego Lake and arrive at the West Pavilion in Glimmerglass State Park at approximately 12:30pm. Cyclists will leave from Lakefront at 11 am. Shuttles will provide transportation between the two parks throughout the walk. Participants will be able to join or leave the walk along the route and walk whatever distance they are comfortable with. Kayakers and canoeists will meet at Glimmerglass State Park at 10:00 for launching at 10:30 am. Bring life vests and appropriate safety gear and clothing appropriate for the water temperature. Boaters will paddle along the shoreline in a group around Hyde Bay and return to Glimmerglass.

 At Glimmerglass, lunch will be provided for everyone via potluck volunteers, along with live music by Heaven's Back Door. At 2:00pm, those who wish to participate in the return walk to Lake Front will leave Glimmerglass and arrive at Lake Front at approximately 4:30.

If you want to Rally ‘Round Otsego’s Waters but don’t want to walk, bike, or paddle, we would love volunteers to drive shuttles and bring potluck dishes.  To sign up for the event as a participant or volunteer, please contact Cat Gareth, catgareth@yahoo.com. Sponsored by Otsego 2000. Other sponsors welcome!