Wishing Well

What Can You Do?

1.) Sign the Letter to Governor Paterson tonight!

Walter Hang of Toxics Targeting asks everyone who is concerned about the inadequate protection of our clean air, water and soil by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to sign the letter asking Governor Paterson to repeal the dSGEIS:

http://www.toxicstargeting.com/MarcellusShale/coalition_letter

Thousands of people have already signed it.  Use your iphone, your blackberry, or your computer.  Or sign one of the letters being circulated on clipboards tonight.   Together we can make a difference!

2.) Send your comments to the Department of Environmental Conservation

The gas industry is poised to begin intensive gas drilling in the Finger Lakes and  Southern Tier as soon as possible.  They are waiting for the NY Department of Environmental Conservation to approve guidelines in a proposed document called the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS).

When you send written comments to the DEC, they are required to read and consider them.  We hope tens of thousands of people will write.  Here are some points you might consider making:

1.  The failure rate of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in shale formations is simply too high.  According to Ron Bishop, chemist at SUNY Oneonta, between 2 and 8% of wells will have a failure incident.  A Penn State study found the old-styles wells had a 1 to 5% chance of contaminating near-by drinking well water, and the new highly pressurized methods are far more hazardous.

2.  There is no clear method for safely disposing of the toxic flowback waste, which the DEC’s own testing of 13 samples, showed to be radioactive.  The levels of radium 226, a derivative of uranium, was thousands of times the limit safe for people to drink, and as high as 267 times the limit safe for discharge in the environment.  (Reported by Abrahm Lustgarten in Scientific American on Nov. 9, 2009.)

3.  The cumulative effect of industrial operations of hundreds or thousands of wells in a region was not considered by the DEC.  Communities will be left responsible for expensive repair of roads and bridges, and losses of existing industries such as agriculture, tourism, and wineries.

Please write today to: Attn: dSGEIS Comments, Bureau of Oil & Gas Regulation, NYSDEC Division of Mineral Resources, 625 Broadway, Third Floor, Albany, NY 12233-6500.  You can also send email comments.  Go to http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/58440.html  The deadline for accepting comments is December 31.

3.) Join the "No Fracking Way!" Facebook group

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=86529971126

The online community is already over 4,000 strong to help inform and connect those concerned about gas drilling and hydrofracking in the Marcellus Shale. 

4.) Take the Marcellus Challenge and pledge to reduce your personal usage of natural gas

It’s important that we “walk our talk” when it comes to opposing drilling for Marcellus gas in our region. We need to reduce the demand for natural gas used in heating, electricity generation, and synthetic fertilizers. The best way to do this is to take responsibility for our individual commitments, but track our collective impact through this website.

We’ll let elected officials know how many people have made pledges, what counties they represent, and how much they are willing to reduce their consumption of fossil fuels. Together we can send a statement to all New Yorkers about taking responsibility for our shared future!

Please be ambitious in setting your personal goals! We will do our best to help you achieve your targets. By late January, we hope to offer online personalized support for your household as you record and measure your progress towards your goals.

http://sustainabletompkins.org/programs/accept-the-marcellus-challenge/