OtegoNY.com

Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis hasn’t actually been doing a brilliant job of protecting NY State from the predatory Natural Gas Industry, but even though he is not a strong link, he was a link. But now the Governor Paterson has been convinced to even can him for the absurdly trumped-up charge of “insubordination.”

Yeah, he had the guts to say that the recent layoffs of over 200 DEC staff would seriously weaken the agency’s ability to protect New York’s environment. But who the hell cares about heath, safety, quality of life or the environment, when there are the profits of parasitic out-of-state corporations and their suck-ups to protect?

This from the Adironack Daily Enterprise:

“Many of our programs are hanging by a thread,” stated the memo, which was reported by the Albany Times Union on Tuesday. “The public would be shocked to learn how thin we are in many areas. DEC is in the weakest position that it has been since it was created 40 years ago.”

The memo warned that fewer polluted sites would be cleaned, stocking of game fish could be halted, and fewer regulators would be available to oversee the expected natural gas drilling boom in the Marcellus Shale that extends into southern New York.

So much for the the gas pusher’s claims that “You have to let the DEC do their jobs.” There go over 200 more DEC jobs that won’t be done.

It’s strange (but sadly predictable) that there will always be a portion of the population that will be fooled by people who see black as white, wrong as right (as well as  horizontal as vertical.) At every meeting where there have been pro-gas proponents, I’ve heard, “NY has the most regulations, staff, blah, blah, blah…” But we know that these are the same people who want to reduce that.

What was meager before is being reduced to woefully insufficient.

It’s no comfort to me and other anti-fracking people to know that all the pro-gas folks will regret what they are proposing some time in the future. I wish they could see that it’s not worth selling out now for a promise. But many people just don’t really think or care about the future, or the consequences of an irrational belief in “free money.”

Read the coverage at the Albany Times Union.

Take action!

This is from an e-mail from Walter Hang. It’s

Call and email Paterson to decry his efforts to cut critical environmental and health regulatory programs. Gutting DEC makes a mockery of his promise to make sure Marcellus Shale Gas Hydrofracking is done safely.  This is the last straw. Demand the draft SGEIS to be withdrawn.  Pour it on.  This is a golden opportunity.

Governor David Paterson

• 518-474-8390 (o)
• governor@chamber.state.ny.us

Please bcc: info@toxicstargeting.com so we can maintain a record of all contacts.

Tags: DEC, DEC commissioner Pete Grannis, Department of Environmental Conservation, Pete Grannis Fired

In an article today in the Charlotte Observer, Piedmont Natural Gas chief shill Thomas Skains insists on peddling the hokum of natural gas as “clean energy.”

Some of his more dubious (devious) statements from the article are mentioned below.

“Q: Given the explosion in California, how do we know our pipelines are safe?

“A: Our pipelines are safe.”

In other words, “Because I said so!” Which basically means, “This is not true.”

“This is nothing new. Hydraulic fracturing has been deployed over 60 years in more than 1 million wells, and I’m told there hasn’t been a single incident of proof that there’s been any groundwater contamination.”

OK, these are just lies. This man apparently does not know, or is lying about the difference between vertical and horizontal, which is just another part of the playbook of this predatory industry. This is ENTIRELY new.

High-density, high-pressure, horizontal hydraulic fracturing has NOT been done for over 60 years. He is comparing vertical to horizontal fracking, and that is like comparing the Wright Brothers’ plane with the SST.

It is disingenuous spin, which further proves that the representatives of this industry should not be trusted further than you can spit a rat.

As far as he’s been “told” that there hasn’t been a single incidence of proof… yeah, if you only listen to the other shills, you won’t get honest information. The truth is that we probably never will be told of the incidents, because the industry puts so much effort into covering everything up and lobbying for deregulation and tax breaks. It’s guys like him who don’t want you to know when their industry screws up, so why on earth would anybody trust him or quote him without challenging it?

Tags: natural gas industry lies

JOIN US!

DELAWARE COUNTY ANTI-GAS DRILLING MARCH & RALLY Delhi, NY

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

5:00 to 6:00 p.m.

in front of the County Office Building, 111 Main St.

as the Delaware County Board of Supervisors arrive for their monthly meeting.

JOIN US! an ad hoc group of Delaware County residents

who rally in Delhi to ask…..

Gas Drilling?

Who REALLY Wins? Who REALLY Loses?

• JOIN US! if you are one of the majority of NEW YORKERS (53% in a recent Cornell University poll) who now see MORE RISK THAN REVENUE in the Gas Drilling Scam!
• JOIN US! if you are concerned about the wanton carelessness of a drilling industry that reneges on its promises to communities while it spills and contaminates across the country!
• JOIN US! if you think the tax payer will be left to live with TOXIC WASTE, AIR & WATER POLLUTION, ILLNESS.
• JOIN US! if you are concerned that while A VERY FEW will profit, THE REST OF US will lose our way of life and be in debt for the mess the drillers will leave us!
• JOIN US! if you are concerned that our County Board of Supervisors supports drilling – WITHOUT HEARING BOTH SIDES OF THE ISSUE!
• JOIN US! to demand that time be allotted for Delaware County Citizens to be heard at all Delaware County Supervisors’ meetings!
• JOIN US! if you want your voice to be heard.

There will be a microphone & loudspeaker available.

Anyone wishing to speak may do so for 2 minutes.

PLEASE ARRIVE BY 4:30 TO SIGN UP TO SPEAK.

Sponsored by:

The Sept. 8 Rally & Protest Committee

• ANDES:  Judy Garrison;  BOVINA: Heidi Gogins,  Michael Gogins;
• COLCHESTER: Caroline Martin, Deborah Rivers; DAVENPORT: Eleanor Moriarty;
• DEPOSIT:  Kathleen Livington, Stan Salthe;
• DELHI:  Faiga Brussel,  Nancy Fales Garrett,  Jessica Vecchione;
• FRANKLIN:  Fokish Farm (Katarina Isaksson & Hank Stahler), Carole Marner, Gene Marner, Carolyn C. Pierson, Walter Putrycz, Ellen Sokolow;
• HAMDEN:  Leslie Albaugh,  Nick Albaugh, Judith Lamb, Robert Reiter,  Linda Stephan;
• HANCOCK:  Jannette Barth,  Dolores Bentham,  Beat Keerl,  Talia Lugacy,  Tom Noonan,
• HARPERSFIELD: Louise von Brockdorff
• KORTRIGHT: Carl Arnold;   MASONVILLE:  Kathleen Klopchin;
• MEREDITH:  Harry Barnes,  Amy Weiss Friedman, Muffy McDowell, John Ryan, Kate Ryan, Joan Tubridy, Marguerite Uhlmann-Bower,  Aldine Weiss;
• TOMPKINS: Linda Daly, Tom Daly, Steve Dungan;
• WALTON: Dave Baker, Naomi Fisch, Deborah Hunt, Stony Creek Farm (Dan & Kate Marsiglio)

Tags: Fracking and Economic Development

Natural Gas Fracking in Pennsylvania

From CBS Evening News with Katie Couric on Natural Gas Fracking in Pennsylvania

“You can’t live like this – it’s so stressful every single day.”

Homeowner Stephanie Hallowich is like many in western Pennsylvania who have watched theHomeowner Stephanie Hallowich is like many in western Pennsylvania who have watched their once-pristine neighborhood become an industrial site. Sprawling plants with flares that reach high into the night, noxious smells, trucks, and containment ponds with unknown chemicals are among the complaints of people who live in areas where natural gas companies have descended.

Hallowich believes three natural gas-drilling operations bordering her property turned her well-water black, forcing her to purchase a tank of fresh water every month. ir once-pristine neighborhood become an industrial site. Sprawling plants with flares that reach high into the night, noxious smells, trucks, and containment ponds with unknown chemicals are among the complaints of people who live in areas where natural gas companies have descended.

Watch the video and read the full article at Natural Gas Fracking in Pennsylvania

Here’s a great post from Herb over at http://frackmountain.wordpress.com/

There will be thousands of gas wells drilled over the next two decades using slick water horizontal hydrofracking – turning Central New York into an Industrial “Sacrifice Zone.”

Tags: reasons why horizontal hydraulic fracking is bad, reasons why horizontal hydraulic fracking is wrong, why there should be a moratorium against natural gas fracking, why you shouldn't sign a gas lease

Unless the New York State Senate passes a ban on risky new gas drilling ASAP, permits for “hydro-fracking” could be issued in New York as soon as this August. 

If enough New Yorkers speak out, the State Senate could pass a hydro-fracking moratorium next week. We have to push them to pass this now, or drillers will begin blasting chemicals into the ground that could poison our drinking water. 

The Working Families Party is sending a letter to every single single State Senator, signed by thousands of New Yorkers, insisting that they pass a moratorium while they’re still in Albany. 

Read and sign the letter here: 
http://action.workingfamiliesparty.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=2112&tag=hydro2taf

“No matter how cynical you become, it’s never enough to keep up.”

- Lily Tomlin in The Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe.

You really have to have the I.Q. of Joe the Plumber to believe that state regulators have a handle on high-density, high-pressure horizontal hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in shale.

Here’s another case that intentionally ignorant and deviously disingenuous gas-drilling proponents will ignore when they insist that this process is safe enough, and you should “let the D.E.C. do it’s job.”:

Check out this story from the AP on CNN about 2 Killed In Gas Well Explosion Near Pittsburgh.

Notice these back-to-back paragraphs from the article:

In northeastern Pennsylvania, state environmental officials said construction flaws in gas wells were responsible for allowing gas to seep into the area’s groundwater.

Hey! That can’t be true because gas-passing know-nothings insist that that has never happened. Not once.

DEP Secretary John Hanger said in an e-mail message that the well where the accident occurred Friday is not part of the lucrative Marcellus Shale, a rock formation that drillers have begun tapping only recently.

Well, that settles it - since it wasn’t part of the Marcellus, there must be no danger there. Buncha’ mealy-mouthed misdirection. You can trust these guys as far as you can fart a bowling ball.

Tags: dangers of natural gas drilling, DEP, gas well explosion

No, it’s not a comedy troupe. It’s a well-made (by agit-pop) video from earthworksaction.org.

This video is a good one to introduce people to if they are not familiar with the dangers of the impending gas-drilling invasion into New York State.

Some of the footage is from Gasland, and the music is by Pete Seeger and Johnny and June Cash.

Make sure you’ve joined youtube so you can leave a comment on the video. It’s free, it’s easy, and it’s important.

You can also follow earthworksaction on twitter.

After you watch the vid, make sure you take the action at cleanwaternotdirtydrilling.org

Tags: earthworks.org, Stand Up New York

Of course there are no disasters from natural gas drilling* (in the areas where it’s not done at least).

Here’s a little gem from Indonesia. A drilling company caused a disaster that is putting hundreds of thousands of people at risk. The drillers released a volcano of mud that has created a pool of mud larger than 50 football fields and is threatening to overflow a barrier that would release it to destroy villages and the only rail-line that serves the area.

Yes, the report is from Al Jazeera, which may not be considered the most respected name in political news. There is nothing political in the report, though. I would have rather seen or read the report from an American news outlet, but they don’t report on things like this. Only when it hits here.

Want to wait till hit happens here?

Oh, yeah – one of Indonesia’s most powerful politician’s family owns the drilling company.

* Before the intentionally ignorant say that we’ve had this kind of drilling since the forties, let me remind them (once again) that we are talking about high-density, high-pressure, horizontal hydraulic fracturing, which we have never had in NY state. Read the whole sentence again if you don’t understand that.

Tags: gas drilling disaster, human error, mud volcano, natural gas drilling