Protesters marched for nearly a mile, where they were escorted by three mounted police officers through some of downtown’s busiest streets. The makeshift parade made stops at the state Capitol and the Department of Environmental Conservation headquarters, where they filled an entire city block while stopping to watch a skit with a message against hydrofracking.

The protest was organized by various groups opposed to the technique used with gas-drilling. They called for a statewide ban on the process.

“Fracking should be a crime,” the marchers shouted in unison a few feet from the entrance to the DEC building, where they had set up a faux drilling rig. “We have the power to take this drill down and put up wind turbines.”

Attendance estimates by police and organizers ranged anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 people during the height of the march. Police reported no incidents with any of the protesters taking part in the march, which closed entire blocks of city streets and drew the attention of curious onlookers as it made its way to the state Capitol.

The state DEC is expected to issue a final determination at some point this year on whether high-volume hydrofracking should proceed in New York. Its environmental and regulatory review of the technique was first launched in 2008.

The Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York, a trade group

representing the gas industry, issued a statement dismissing the march.

“Gimmicks, stunts and street theatre trivialize the debate and reflect the views of an outspoken and uninformed few,” Brad Gill, the group’s executive director, said in a statement. “New Yorkers want data, science and reason to strike a balance between the environment and future energy production.”

The protest drew people of all ages, from babies in strollers to a women holding a sign calling herself a “furious granny.” High-profile environmentalist Bill McKibben addressed the crowd, as did “Gasland” filmmaker Josh Fox.

shaleshock.org

• • August 14, 2012:

    • Introduction to Bioregional Mapping (6:00 pm)

  • August 17, 2012:

    • Action to stop Gas Storage Facility in Finger Lakes! (4:00 pm)

  • August 25, 2012:

    • Don't Frack New York - Albany & NYC (all day)

  • August 26, 2012:

    • Don't Frack New York - Albany & NYC (all day)

  • August 27, 2012:

    • Don't Frack New York - Albany & NYC (all day)

Action to stop Gas Storage Facility in Finger Lakes!

BY CLOVER56, ON AUGUST 10TH, 2012

People’s Action to stop the Proposed Gas Storage and Transport Facility in the Finger Lakes!

WHEN: Friday August 17th 4:00pm-7:00pm; meet up with us when you can- see our planned route!

WHERE: Watkins Glen, NY

WHAT: A March Though the Village of Watkins Glen- bring yourself, your friends, your neighbors! Sign up at: gasfreeseneca@gmail.com

STARTING POINT: At 4:00, meet at Seneca Marine Park parking lot near the “Village Marina Bar and Grill” off North Decatur Street; (Address: 2 Seneca Harbor Watkins Glen, NY 14891)

For over a year now, local residents, business owners, and tourists have worked to express their opposition to the proposed gas storage and transport facility being developed on the western shore of Seneca Lake. Despite their efforts, the industrialization of the region by Kansas-city based Inergy moves boldly forward (see photographs attached). The DEC’s acceptance of the Environmental Impact Statement as final is imminent.

People within the region are growing increasingly frustrated after attending decision-making meetings, meeting with representatives, writing letters, holding forums, attending hearings, and making phone calls in an effort to stop this project- seemingly to no avail. The community is standing together on August 17th to make their voices heard, and their opposition to this facility known- this time, in a different way.

ROUTE: From parking lot, go east toward the stored boats, turn right across the railroad tracks and head towards Fourth Street and Good Groceries. Turn Right onto 4th Street, and progress towards Franklin Street, go left onto Franklin Street, proceed to Watkins Glen State Park/Gorge, then head back North on Franklin Street towards the Harbor Hotel, where the March will end at the park where we started.

If you are still not sure you have a few hours to commit to this demonstration of our resistance to the LGP storage / transportation hub plans, consider these facts . . .

Note that if an accident occurred to one tenth of one percent of the trucks, that would be 35 trucks/ year, or about 3 trucks/ month, filled with LPG– heavier than air and highly combustible– a disaster waiting to happen…to whom?

Do you think this is The American Petroleum Institute’s real agenda for the Finger Lakes?

• •  Encourage the Inergy LPG storage plan to store and then distribute gas from fracked wells.

  •  This will allow at least one major accident, which will happen, to kill and maim enough locals and tourists to destroy the tourist industry.

  •  This will lead to the demise of the wine industry and begin to wipe out farming.

  •  Remaining locals who can afford to leave, will; and those who can’t, well….

  •  The industrialization of this rural area will spread, as a cancer metastasizes, from key nodes, such as Watkins Glen, to the entire region.

  •  Thereby making the Finger Lakes Open for Fracking!

What do we say to this?

We say:

No to LPG. No to Inergy. No to LNG. No to fracking! No to frack waste! No to pollution! No to air contamination. No! No! No!

Yes to tourism. Yes to vineyards. Yes to orchards. Yes to family farms. Yes to keeping our property value. Yes to safe roads. Yes to peaceful villages and towns. Yes to renewable energy. Yes to clean water. Yes to breathable air.

Please join us on Friday, August 17. We need as many people as possible out showing our resistance to industrialization and the ruination of our beautiful region. Bring friends and family. Sign up at:

gasfreeseneca@gmail.com

http://catskillcitizens.org/

Keep the Letters Coming!

Since we launched our letter campaign one week ago, we've received more than 4,000 letters that we'll pack up and ship off to the DEC before the January 11th deadline. To keep up the pressure, we've added five more letters to the mix. These cover such important topics as the threat of radioactivity, the use of secret toxic chemicals, and the need to close hazardous waste loophole that allows the industry to improperly dispose of wastewater. Please take a few minutes to complete all of these letters, and personalize them to the extent you can. If you rewrite a letter in your own words, it will carry a lot more weight with the DEC.

2011 and 2012

By any measure, 2011 was a year of real progress in New York State. The tireless works of thousands of fractivists resulted in an unprecedented degree of public awareness and vastly expanded news coverage. A recent Time Magazine article hailed Tony Ingraffea, Bob Howarth and Mark Ruffalo as "People Who Mattered", and called fracking the "biggest environmental issue" of the year.

Meanwhile, the industry's multimillion dollar ad campaign to sell fracking to New Yorkers is going nowhere. Statewide polls continue to show that most people who become aware of fracking oppose it, and regional polls demonstrate that there is overwhelming opposition in the communities that sit atop the shale. Town after town has enacted zoning prohibitions and moratoriums that will prohibit fracking.

As the statewide anti-fracking movement enters its fifth year, Catskill Citizens has set its sights on three critical goals.

• Protect and Build on Gains at the Local Level

• Block State Funding for Fracking

• Build Support for a Permanent Ban

Support Home Rule

The move to enact local prohibitions against fracking was a major success story in 2011. More than a dozen towns have already banned fracking, dozens more have enacted moratoriums, and many more are considering similar actions. Expanding on, and protecting, these gains must be one of our top priorities in 2012.

While most lawyers agree that municipalities have the right to zone out fracking, the law is vague - vague enough for the gas industry to try to overturn local ordinances in court. Two towns (Dryden and Middlefield) are already being sued, and the fear of lawsuits prevents many other towns from taking action.

Map by Karen Edelstein

We expect New York's highest court will eventually uphold the rights of towns to zone out fracking, but it would be a serious setback if unfavorable lower court decisions overturned the zoning prohibitions already in place and halted the rapidly expanding effort to ban drilling at the local level. Areas now off limits would be reopened to fracking, the movement would be disheartened, and the activists who persuaded their communities to enact ordinances would be discredited. We cannot afford to let this happen.

Fortunately there's a bill in the legislature that clarifies the right to zone out fracking - and it appears to have enough Republican and Democratic support to be enacted. "Home rule" is guaranteed by the state constitution, and the concept has broad appeal across the ideological spectrum; even Governor Cuomo may be loath to force fracking on communities that have acted out of a concern for public safety and to preserve the character of their towns.

The Budget Option: No way around it, fracking will cost New York taxpayers millions in upfront costs. It's estimated that the DEC itself will need $20 million to begin to ramp up for shale gas extraction, and the Department of Transportation estimates road and bridge repair could cost taxpayers almost $400 million a year.

So what would happen if the legislature simply refused to fund fracking? This intriguing plan was outlined by Sierra Atlantic's Roger Downs in testimony before a legislative committee last fall. The beauty of a "budget ban" is that is it can be accomplished without the cooperation of either Governor Cuomo or the Republican-controlled Senate. The (somewhat) more progressive Assembly can singlehandedly block fracking by refusing to pass a budget that includes the funds the state will need for fracking.

What about a Legislative Prohibition? While we'd all loved to see an immediate permanent prohibition on fracking in New York State (and elsewhere), we don't think one can be enacted in the short-term. To get a ban bill through the Senate, it will have to have Republican support that has yet to materialize.

But the current de facto moratorium may give us the time we need to build support for a legislative ban. In recent weeks DEC Commissioner Joe Martens made conflicting statements about when his department will be able to issue permits for high-volume fracking. First he suggested it wouldn't be able to move ahead in 2012, but more recently he said permitting could begin in "late spring". Given the fact that the department is legally obligated to read and address the still uncounted tens of thousands of public comments it will receive on the Draft SGEIS, we consider the late spring estimate unrealistic - we think procedural delays are likely to hold up fracking throughout next year.

That means we may have time to build popular support for a ban. While public awareness is growing every day, millions of New Yorkers still haven't heard a thing about fracking, and we have to change that - we can't expect our politicians to stand up to the gas industry until the majority of New Yorkers demand they do so.

Please share this link on Facebook and Twitter: http://catskillcitizens.org/updates/20120106.cfm

For more information email info@catskillcitizens.org or call (845) 468 7063

Two out of three people who find out about fracking think the risks aren't worth the rewards.

Public awareness is the key to our success, so spread the word!

http://catskillcitizens.org/ 

Revised Draft SGEIS September 2011

Public Comment Period - click link above for more info

Written comments will be accepted through the close of business December 12, 2011 by two methods only:

• • Electronic submission using a web-based comment form available on DEC's website (preferred method); or

  • Paper submission mailed or delivered to: Attn: dSGEIS Comments, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, 625 Broadway,Albany, NY 12233-6510. Please include the name, address, and affiliation (if any) of the commenter. Paper submissions also will be accepted at the public hearings listed below.

Due to the expected volume, comments that are faxed, telephoned, or emailed to the DEC will not be accepted for the official record. This is to ensure that all comments are captured properly and can be included during the review process. Please use DEC's web-based comment form to provide your input.

CWC-NY presents-

Handy HydrofrackFacts Info Sheets

 dSGEIS - explanation & responses

A multisorced compilation-easy to read,use,print

(see atttachments at bottom of page) 

OR

Organize a letter writing workshop for your town

dSGEIS-letter-workshop

Toxics Targeting

Please sign the Coalition Letter to Governor Cuomo to Withdraw the RDSGEIS

(click link to read the letter & sign)

Governor Cuomo-Withdraw the RDSGEIS!!