Friday, May 27, 2011
Saturday, May 7, 2011
The Corporate Attack on Water
Those of us involved in this fight on hydrofracking are acutely aware of the perils of this unregulated industry that serves only to build piles and piles of cash for a very few while destroying the quality of life for many.
Well, the quality of life is about to be utterly destroyed, not by hydrofracking per se, but by the theft of New York's pristine water supply by the robber barons. Right now, in the NY Senate, there is a bill being fast-tracked called the Water Withdrawl Bill, which literally GIVES our water to the hydrofrackers and water bottling companies. No tax, no lease, no cut, no residuals - when this state is in such dire circumstances, we are GIVING AWAY OUR MOST PRECIOUS RESOURCE.
If you're inspired to do something about it, watch the video I made on YouTube which will guide you to find your NY state senator. Call, email, fax, send notes.... do whatever you can to make your voice heard that this is unacceptable.
Of course, this has been going on around the world for years, and maybe I'm naive to think that it wouldn't happen in New York. But we are now on the brink of one of the most dangerous changes in history; when only the people who can afford it will have access to clean fresh water in what is supposed to be the most advanced civilization in the history of the world.
Well, the quality of life is about to be utterly destroyed, not by hydrofracking per se, but by the theft of New York's pristine water supply by the robber barons. Right now, in the NY Senate, there is a bill being fast-tracked called the Water Withdrawl Bill, which literally GIVES our water to the hydrofrackers and water bottling companies. No tax, no lease, no cut, no residuals - when this state is in such dire circumstances, we are GIVING AWAY OUR MOST PRECIOUS RESOURCE.
If you're inspired to do something about it, watch the video I made on YouTube which will guide you to find your NY state senator. Call, email, fax, send notes.... do whatever you can to make your voice heard that this is unacceptable.
Of course, this has been going on around the world for years, and maybe I'm naive to think that it wouldn't happen in New York. But we are now on the brink of one of the most dangerous changes in history; when only the people who can afford it will have access to clean fresh water in what is supposed to be the most advanced civilization in the history of the world.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
The Water Withdrawal Bill (A5318A)
We need to stop legislation that is barreling through the New York Assembly. The water withdrawal bill (A5318A) being considered in Albany will have a huge impact on your rights to our fresh water.
Call and e-mail our state leaders - TODAY! - and tell them to hold hearings on this bill to present the facts about what it will do to our precious fresh water rights in New York State.
Why is it so important that this bill be stopped? Because the proposed bill only requires permits for users of more than 100,000 gallons of water per day. Households use 300 gallons per day, max. But small haulers servicing the fracking industry could use this loophole to extract tens of thousands of gallons from area streams and lakes each and every day without so much as a permit!
In conflicts over rights to water usage, permit holders will have priority water rights over other users, those of us who use far less than 100,000 gallons of water per day!
Speaker Sheldon Silver is well aware of the dangers of fracking and the contamination to our clean drinking water it will cause. But he needs to hear from you that the water withdrawal bill moving through the Assembly is a giveaway of our fresh water rights to the fracking industry.
Call Speaker Sheldon Silver's office at 518-455-3791, or go to his website HERE <http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=064&%3Bsh=contact> to send him an e-mail.
Call your local representative.
Call bill's sponsor, Assemblyman Robert Sweeney at 631-957-2087.
Call the governor's office at (518) 474-8390 or send a message on his website HERE <http://www.governor.ny.gov/contact/GovernorContactForm.php> . Ask him not to give away our water rights to the gas and water bottling industries. Say we need his leadership on this critical issue.
Tell our state leaders to stop this bill from becoming law. Tell them to hold a hearing to consider all the facts before our precious rights and clean water become a thing of the past.
Please disseminate this to your members and affiliated groups. Thanks,
The Coalition to Protect New York
www.coalitiontoprotectnewyork.org/ <http://www.coalitiontoprotectnewyork.org/>
Thank you, Tom Noonan
PS: The email and website addresses are altered when Facebook forwards them - use the original Facebook email please.
Call and e-mail our state leaders - TODAY! - and tell them to hold hearings on this bill to present the facts about what it will do to our precious fresh water rights in New York State.
Why is it so important that this bill be stopped? Because the proposed bill only requires permits for users of more than 100,000 gallons of water per day. Households use 300 gallons per day, max. But small haulers servicing the fracking industry could use this loophole to extract tens of thousands of gallons from area streams and lakes each and every day without so much as a permit!
In conflicts over rights to water usage, permit holders will have priority water rights over other users, those of us who use far less than 100,000 gallons of water per day!
Speaker Sheldon Silver is well aware of the dangers of fracking and the contamination to our clean drinking water it will cause. But he needs to hear from you that the water withdrawal bill moving through the Assembly is a giveaway of our fresh water rights to the fracking industry.
Call Speaker Sheldon Silver's office at 518-455-3791, or go to his website HERE <http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=064&%3Bsh=contact> to send him an e-mail.
Call your local representative.
Call bill's sponsor, Assemblyman Robert Sweeney at 631-957-2087.
Call the governor's office at (518) 474-8390 or send a message on his website HERE <http://www.governor.ny.gov/contact/GovernorContactForm.php> . Ask him not to give away our water rights to the gas and water bottling industries. Say we need his leadership on this critical issue.
Tell our state leaders to stop this bill from becoming law. Tell them to hold a hearing to consider all the facts before our precious rights and clean water become a thing of the past.
Please disseminate this to your members and affiliated groups. Thanks,
The Coalition to Protect New York
www.coalitiontoprotectnewyork.org/ <http://www.coalitiontoprotectnewyork.org/>
Thank you, Tom Noonan
PS: The email and website addresses are altered when Facebook forwards them - use the original Facebook email please.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
My statement to the DRBC last night
I'm Meg Montgomery, a Liberty resident.
To anyone who cares at all for facts, there is a mountain of proof and testimony that illustrates beyond a shadow of a doubt how insanely dangerous hydrofracking is, to our water, our environment, and to our very way of life.
Hydrofracking is a Weapon of Mass Destruction. It's just one WMD in a much larger war on the democratic process and the people of this great country.
The economic purpose of hydrofracking is to funnel trillions of dollars into the hands of the plutocrats, who don't pay taxes. It's political purpose is to destroy the health and livelihoods of those within its range, rendering them powerless, or dead. This is the express purpose of the Halliburton Loophole.
In a time when we have the technology to quickly and safely transition to a Renewable economy, instead we're battered by the blind greed of the 2% who want to squeeze every last drop of fossil fuel out of the ground, every last penny out of OUR pockets, and to destroy our Constitutional Liberties.
If you, the members of the DRBC, pave the way for hydrofracking in the Delaware River Basin, which supplies drinking water to almost 20 million people in NY, NJ and PA, you will be willing accomplices to a terrorist attack the likes of which this country has never seen.
To anyone who cares at all for facts, there is a mountain of proof and testimony that illustrates beyond a shadow of a doubt how insanely dangerous hydrofracking is, to our water, our environment, and to our very way of life.
Hydrofracking is a Weapon of Mass Destruction. It's just one WMD in a much larger war on the democratic process and the people of this great country.
The economic purpose of hydrofracking is to funnel trillions of dollars into the hands of the plutocrats, who don't pay taxes. It's political purpose is to destroy the health and livelihoods of those within its range, rendering them powerless, or dead. This is the express purpose of the Halliburton Loophole.
In a time when we have the technology to quickly and safely transition to a Renewable economy, instead we're battered by the blind greed of the 2% who want to squeeze every last drop of fossil fuel out of the ground, every last penny out of OUR pockets, and to destroy our Constitutional Liberties.
If you, the members of the DRBC, pave the way for hydrofracking in the Delaware River Basin, which supplies drinking water to almost 20 million people in NY, NJ and PA, you will be willing accomplices to a terrorist attack the likes of which this country has never seen.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
DRBC Hearings This Week!
the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) is holding public hearings on their proposed natural gas development regulations in Liberty, NY, Honesdale, PA and Trenton, NJ (details below). It is critical that we show up in force to give testimony and let the DRBC know how concerned we are about what they plan to do.
The DRBC is the federal/interstate government agency responsible for managing the water resources within the 13,539 square-mile Delaware River Basin, which supplies drinking water for 17,000,000 people. The Delaware is the longest free flowing river in the eastern United States and its waters have been designated for special protection by the federal government. Last year, Americans Rivers designated the Delaware as the most endangered river in the United States because of the threat of gas drilling.
The regulations that the DRBC is proposing will determine under what conditions permits can be issued for gas drilling in the Delaware River Basin. So far the DRBC has ignored urgent pleas from elected governmental officials and scientific experts not to release their regulations until the science from a planned cumulative impact study and the study being done by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can be completed. This is just one of many shortcomings of the regulations under consideration. To learn more about this issue click here.
There are two locations in our area that will both be having meetings on February 22nd. Please plan to attend the one that is nearest to you.
Feb. 22 - Honesdale High School Auditorium, 459 Terrace Street, Honesdale, PA
Feb. 22 - Liberty High School Auditorium, 125 Buckley Street, Liberty, NY
Feb. 24 - Patriots Theater at the War Memorial, 1 Memorial Drive, Trenton, NJ
Note: The hearings will be held from 1:30 PM to 5:00 PM and 6:00 PM to 9:30 PM at each location. To testify you must register one hour prior to the beginning of each session (12:30 PM and 5:00 PM). Testimony is limited to two minutes and will be scheduled on first-come basis. The DRBC anticipates that they will be able to hear 75 people at each venue, so please come early.
Written comments will be accepted through the close of business March 16, 2011 by either electronic or paper submission. CLICK HERE to link to the DRBC website to conveniently comment or write to The Commission Secretary, DRBC, PO Box 7360, 25 State Police Drive, West Trenton, NJ 08628-0360. All comments need to include the name, address, and affiliation (if any) of the commenter. Paper submissions will also be accepted at the three public hearings.
The DRBC has continued to act unilaterally without appropriate concern for the will or interests the region's residents. It is critical that we come out in numbers, voice our opposition to their plan and show the DRBC how important this is to our community.
The DRBC is the federal/interstate government agency responsible for managing the water resources within the 13,539 square-mile Delaware River Basin, which supplies drinking water for 17,000,000 people. The Delaware is the longest free flowing river in the eastern United States and its waters have been designated for special protection by the federal government. Last year, Americans Rivers designated the Delaware as the most endangered river in the United States because of the threat of gas drilling.
The regulations that the DRBC is proposing will determine under what conditions permits can be issued for gas drilling in the Delaware River Basin. So far the DRBC has ignored urgent pleas from elected governmental officials and scientific experts not to release their regulations until the science from a planned cumulative impact study and the study being done by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can be completed. This is just one of many shortcomings of the regulations under consideration. To learn more about this issue click here.
There are two locations in our area that will both be having meetings on February 22nd. Please plan to attend the one that is nearest to you.
Feb. 22 - Honesdale High School Auditorium, 459 Terrace Street, Honesdale, PA
Feb. 22 - Liberty High School Auditorium, 125 Buckley Street, Liberty, NY
Feb. 24 - Patriots Theater at the War Memorial, 1 Memorial Drive, Trenton, NJ
Note: The hearings will be held from 1:30 PM to 5:00 PM and 6:00 PM to 9:30 PM at each location. To testify you must register one hour prior to the beginning of each session (12:30 PM and 5:00 PM). Testimony is limited to two minutes and will be scheduled on first-come basis. The DRBC anticipates that they will be able to hear 75 people at each venue, so please come early.
Written comments will be accepted through the close of business March 16, 2011 by either electronic or paper submission. CLICK HERE to link to the DRBC website to conveniently comment or write to The Commission Secretary, DRBC, PO Box 7360, 25 State Police Drive, West Trenton, NJ 08628-0360. All comments need to include the name, address, and affiliation (if any) of the commenter. Paper submissions will also be accepted at the three public hearings.
The DRBC has continued to act unilaterally without appropriate concern for the will or interests the region's residents. It is critical that we come out in numbers, voice our opposition to their plan and show the DRBC how important this is to our community.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Frack Attack: A Love Song to the World
Well, it's February already and the city of Buffalo has voted to ban hydrofracking. SLAM! Great news! But, the gas industry is still building the gas pipelines through the state, and there's rumblings and grumblings about what's going to happen in NY in a few months when the Hydrofracking Moratorium ends. Can this new administration hold steady against the gas industry, that's throwing millions of dollars around trying to discredit Josh Fox, the writer/director of the wildly successful documentary Gasland? They're also going all out to try to dismantle the EPA, btw.
What's happened in NY state has been unprecedented, but the reality is that hydrofracking is spreading like a bad disease - Ohio and France are the latest casualties that I'm aware of. How can we protect our drinking water?
Being a musician, it occurred to me that perhaps one of the most powerful ways to spread the word about what's happening is through music, so I sat myself down and wrote a tune called Frack Attack. I hooked up with 3 of the strongest organizations who have educated the citizens and pressured the legislature, and I'm donating half of the profits to them (Catskill Mountainkeeper, Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy, and Un-Naturalgas.org. (Lest you think I am greedy or selfish for only giving half, be aware that most of the other half will go to administrative costs, taxes, and if anything is left, to the musicians who so selflessly gave their time and talents to this song!)
We had the final recording session last weekend and we're now in the process of mixing and mastering. I'm going to release Frack Attack on Monday - Valentines Day - and I sincerely hope that you'll help spread the word. The website is www.frack-attack.com. I'm opening it up to musicians to remix, so there will be many versions to choose from over time!
What's happened in NY state has been unprecedented, but the reality is that hydrofracking is spreading like a bad disease - Ohio and France are the latest casualties that I'm aware of. How can we protect our drinking water?
Being a musician, it occurred to me that perhaps one of the most powerful ways to spread the word about what's happening is through music, so I sat myself down and wrote a tune called Frack Attack. I hooked up with 3 of the strongest organizations who have educated the citizens and pressured the legislature, and I'm donating half of the profits to them (Catskill Mountainkeeper, Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy, and Un-Naturalgas.org. (Lest you think I am greedy or selfish for only giving half, be aware that most of the other half will go to administrative costs, taxes, and if anything is left, to the musicians who so selflessly gave their time and talents to this song!)
We had the final recording session last weekend and we're now in the process of mixing and mastering. I'm going to release Frack Attack on Monday - Valentines Day - and I sincerely hope that you'll help spread the word. The website is www.frack-attack.com. I'm opening it up to musicians to remix, so there will be many versions to choose from over time!
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Finally, a Deal Has Been Struck!
It's a victory, for sure. Although Governor Paterson declined the bill passed overwhelmingly by the House and the Senate, he instead issued an executive order which states that there will be a moratorium on Horizontal Well Hydrofracking until June of 2011.
The grandness in this victory is that we have become the first state - the first government - to legally obstruct hydrofracking, which is truly astounding. It is a great accomplishment.
Unfortunately, what Paterson did was to eliminate important restrictions concerning vertical drilling, in the name of the economy. It was vertical drilling that contaminated the water at Dimmock, PA. Although they have only drilled a few vertical wells so far in NY's Marcellus, the way is now open for more drilling.
So, this is the new fight.... to expand the restrictions on drilling to include ALL potentially dangerous forms of drilling.
The grandness in this victory is that we have become the first state - the first government - to legally obstruct hydrofracking, which is truly astounding. It is a great accomplishment.
Unfortunately, what Paterson did was to eliminate important restrictions concerning vertical drilling, in the name of the economy. It was vertical drilling that contaminated the water at Dimmock, PA. Although they have only drilled a few vertical wells so far in NY's Marcellus, the way is now open for more drilling.
So, this is the new fight.... to expand the restrictions on drilling to include ALL potentially dangerous forms of drilling.
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