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!

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.