Gas Drilling Public DEC Public Hearing - Thursday Night - State Theater, Ithaca

[Katie Quinn-Jacobs]

Thursday, Nov 19th, there will be a public hearing -- on the DEC's dSGEIS on gas drilling -- at the State Theatre at 107 W. State St. It formally starts at 7:00. HOWEVER, sign-ups will start at 6:00, so that people can speak in the order they've signed up.

As an organic farmer and a local foods advocate, I hope the DEC and our elected officials will preserve our other natural resources: water, air and land, so that generations after us will be able to farm and preserve food in the foodshed we share.

Do your best to get there at 6:00! Apparently, other DEC hearings have seen busloads be driven in from landowner coalitions, and it would be a shame to have local people be squeezed out.

There's also a rally on the Commons starting at 4:30 sponsored by Shaleshock.

Attached are two rich resources to help you with your own statement. Thanks to Helen Slottje for being such an incredible resource!

[Alison F]

Thanks for posting this, Katie. This is such an important issue. I hadn't seen those PDFs you posted.

I called up NYS's organic farming association to find out what they thought about drilling -- and here's the gist of what Lea Kone, assistant director of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York (NOFA-NY), said: Farming depends on clean water, soil, and air -- and anything that impacts those factors is a concern for farmers. Water for hydrofracking can be drawn from aquifers, which are limited. "In theory, people's well water can be swallowed up."

I posted more on my blog, Ithaca's Food Web, along with some videos, which give a visual sense of what drilling actually looks l...

Also,
Scientific American has published a few articles:
Radioactive wastewater
PA flood of wastewater
Burning Water
Drill for gas, pollute water
What are the dangers of drilling?
Chemicals in Wyoming water might be linked to drilling

And, Propublica is an independent non-profit journalism organization tha...

[Alison F]

If anyone is online now (Thursday night), you can watch the live Ithaca hearing here:
http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091119...

[Alison F]

At the hearing last night, lots of farmers spoke about how gas drilling could negatively affect them.

One thing that I found strange is that the DEC document mentions that some effects are impossible to predict or determine. And yet hydrofracturing is already happening elsewhere, including PA. Can't they look to other states to learn about potential problems and how to mitigate them?

Here's info from the DEC, including where to send comments.
http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/58440.html

Okay, I'm stepping off my soapbox... for now :)

[Katie Quinn-Jacobs]

Here's the link to the coalition letter put together by Walter Hang: http://www.toxicstargeting.com/MarcellusShale/coalition_letter At the hearing last Thursday, they were hoping to get 3000 signatures from local residents.