Worth checking out! (Great job, guys!)

Local citizens concerned about the consequences of proposed
widespread development of the natural gas industry in Otsego County will
present a series of forums open to the public in Cherry Valley, Cooperstown,
and Oneonta in mid-March entitled: “How the Dangers of Gas Drilling Affect
You.” The forums are sponsored by Sustainable Otsego.

Panelists will include Ron Bishop, Chemistry Lecturer at SUNY Oneonta, James
Herman, Hartwick property owner, and Colleen Blacklock, Oneonta resident who
has been researching gas drilling impacts on agriculture. They will address
concerns about water quality, public health, environmental degradation, and
damage to infrastructure raised by natural gas production and distribution,
including drilling, air pollution, pipelines, and toxic waste disposal.

The public will have three opportunities to attend:

The first event in the series will be in Cherry Valley on Friday, 13 March,
at 7 pm at the Cherry Valley Old School gym, two blocks west of the traffic
light in Cherry Valley on County Route 54.

The second event will be in Cooperstown, at 2 pm on Sunday, 15 March, at
Templeton Hall, 63 Pioneer Street.

The third event will be in Oneonta on Monday, 16th March at 7 pm at St.
Mary’s Parish Center at the corner of Walnut and Elm Streets in Oneonta.

James Herman of Hartwick, a product designer/graphic artist who is looking
forward to starting a new life in Otsego County after years of living in
NYC, became concerned by the proliferation of gas leases in his
neighborhood; he underscores the greatest of the many threats it poses,
stating that “all of Otsego County’s water ways and drinking water are
threatened by the onslaught of natural gas production.”

Dr. Bishop, who has conducted extensive research into the methods of natural
gas extraction, offers a sobering summary: “Energy industry leaders, state
regulators and our elected officials depict natural gas extraction in
Central New York as needed development at worst and a patriotic duty at
best. But Otsego County residents who are troubled by the likely impacts of
NYRI and wind turbines on our quality of life haven’t seen anything yet: we
will be overwhelmed by the impacts of natural gas wells in our midst. In
spite of the smoke-and-mirrors routines of the “experts,” we’ve put together
evidence that points to a future of polluted air and water, compacted and
contaminated soil, ruined roads and diminished health — all for the
fleeting benefit of a few. Have we come so far to learn so little?”

Colleen Blacklock, a mother with young children, says “I am concerned for
the health and well being of the Oneonta community. Drilling sites with
their millions of gallons of highly toxic waste could be allowed to be
located near our reservoir and even near or in the rail-yard next to densely
populated neighborhoods. In Fort Worth Texas, citizens are now being overrun
with drill sites located downtown and in suburban neighborhoods.”

“What we offer here is the testimony of a citizens’ panel concerned with
community impacts,” said Adrian Kuzminski, moderator of Sustainable Otsego,
“not industry consultants paid to advance someone’s bottom line. Our
researchers make it plain that natural gas drilling and distribution as
proposed will have an unprecedented impact on our region. It poses serious
threats to our lakes, rivers, aquifers, public health, agriculture, air
quality, roads, landscapes, and property values. It will impose on our
communities a permanent industrial infrastructure which most people have not
even begun to imagine. Most of the benefits and profits will leave our
area. We should be looking instead to developing renewable local resources
under local control and preserving our rural way of life.”

- Adrian Kuzminski

Listen to the first words this landowner says, “This was very easy to figure out – it was a cover-up. And the DEP did nothing.”

Do they say they can? 

Of course they do. 

The story is as old as mankind. It’s called “lying.” I have no idea why people would pretend that they can protect that which they are incapable of protecting. I guess they want to protect themselves from being called “inept.” 

Here’s a story from NPR’s “Living on Earth,” from today, Feb. 20, 2009:

“…recently two scientific studies concluded there were no adverse health effects from drinking Washington DC’s tap water, even though it contained the highest level of lead ever recorded in the U.S.”

Click here to read the or listen to the full story about Washington D.C.s water pollution and how the protectors flubbed it. 

How many times do people have to see or hear that same kind of story over and over to finally realize that there is no adequate protection from health hazards once you start polluting your water and pretending you “have it under control?”

Apparently some people never get it. 

Don’t let those people lead you into the false temptation of some material gain, just because they “say it’s safe.” 

To paraphrase Upton Sinclair:

“It’s amazing how difficult it is for a man to understand something if he is promised a small fortune not to understand it.”

This is a parody of the Scottish ballad, The Rolling Hills of the Border. I was inspired by a version called, The Rolling Mills of New Joisey.

Clarification: The second to last verse does not mean to imply that anyone who leases their land is going to hell, or anything silly like that. I just mean that the gas companies will turn this area into a kind of hell.

No moral judgements here. We are neighbors, and I respect everyone’s rights.

In July a hydrologist dropped a plastic sampling pipe 300 feet down a water well in rural Sublette County, Wy. and pulled up a load of brown oily water with a foul smell. Tests showed it contained benzene, a chemical believed to cause aplastic anemia and leukemia, in a concentration 1,500 times the level safe for people.

Read the article at the Scientific American .