Water is our most Precious Resource

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.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Looking for Hope in a Dark World

Well, we all wanted to celebrate a few days back when the NY state senate voted to pass the resolution to put a Moratorium on Hydrofracking with a 2 - 1 margin. It was a huge, fabulous victory for those of us who have fought to stop hydrofracking in this state, which protects fresh drinking water for millions upon millions upon millions of Americans.

But.

Governor Paterson failed to sign the bill into law. And this, AFTER he went on the record, on radio, saying that "The Anti Hydrofrackers have Won. They Taught Us How Dangerous this Practice Is".

Looks like there was some behind-the-scenes strong-arming by the gas industry, because if, in fact, this bill WAS signed into law, it would have preciptated a tidal wave effect throughout the country, allowing state governments to put a halt to the greed-feeding-frenzy of the natural gas industry. Which, by the way, we don't need because we already have enough at this point in time! Everything that comes up is now sold to CHINA!!!

So. I honestly can't blame Paterson for caving in to the pressure of the Gas Mafia. I'm sure their tactics are as dirty as it gets, and after all, he wasn't even elected into office.

So.... despairing for the place where I live, where I'm raising my son, I continue to look for hope in this darkness.

In Orange County, just down the mountains from us and out of range of the Marcellus Shale, they've just broken ground on a Biomass Plant, which would effectively turn NYC's garbage into it's power.

And it's based on this model, which has been hugely successful.

But it means that recycling is SOOOOO important, and I want you to take the utmost responsibility to make sure that you are recycling 100% and urging those around you to do the same. Perhaps we can combat these idiotic greedy fascists by surviving after they've killed themselves off.