tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308717542024-03-07T15:57:23.090-08:00Maura StephensMauraStephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06745564553424281263noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30871754.post-31885956406257502372015-10-02T18:59:00.001-07:002015-10-02T18:59:12.964-07:00Blued Trees Serves Cease-and-Desist on Fracked-Gas Corp. as Next Phase of Eco-Art Project Debuts Oct. 4<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Sharing some exciting news!<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBZlwEIs3cpqidK_WtpMi490yBstF02wqCWuDBmU0Z0KME2BA7bHcYGqlNrw9IkGdVLKbUelGxofRAPTFTlt4iFCxT68Q5VtQ93yGMFB2RS2UHQd3dHp5Av8GsKngADuvWIZTk/s1600/BluedTreesLogoWNameSmallMerged.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBZlwEIs3cpqidK_WtpMi490yBstF02wqCWuDBmU0Z0KME2BA7bHcYGqlNrw9IkGdVLKbUelGxofRAPTFTlt4iFCxT68Q5VtQ93yGMFB2RS2UHQd3dHp5Av8GsKngADuvWIZTk/s200/BluedTreesLogoWNameSmallMerged.jpg" width="165" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt;">MEDIA ALERT</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">October 1, 2015</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt;">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt;">CONTACTS:</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt;">Margery
Newman, Publicity & Communications, 212-475-0252, </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="mailto:MargeryNewman@aol.com"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial;">MargeryNewman@aol.com</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt;">Aviva
Rahmani, Eco-Artist, 212-864-0945; </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="mailto:GhostNets@ghostnets.com"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial;">GhostNets@ghostnets.com</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt;"> </span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15.0pt;">Blued Trees </span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15.0pt;">Serves<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>Cease-and-Desist on Fracked-Gas
Corporation</span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15.0pt;">As Next Phase of
Eco-Art Project Debuts Oct. 4</span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Algonquin Gas Tranmission receives notice to halt
forest destruction,</span></i></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 3.5in left 442.85pt; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">as </span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Blued Trees Symphony<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">’s First Movement Is about to launch.</i></span></b></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Blued Trees</span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> is a symphonic art installation
encompassing visual and musical art forms in concert with nature. The project
was conceived by ecological artist Aviva Rahmani to move the function of art
beyond witnessing or illustrating ecosystem devastation and into direct
engagement with policy. Rahmani was recruited by New York
residents-cum-activists faced with condemnation and seizure of properties and
beloved places by fracked-gas pipeline corporations. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">As corporations are
leveraging the legal tool of “eminent domain,” Rahmani is contesting the
justice of that leverage, using the sword of copyright law: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blued Trees</i> is being copyrighted by
Rahmani in discrete movements, as it grows in scale. </span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Blued Trees </span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">consists of trees in the line of destruction
on which a blue sine wave is painted. One such tree is one note in the score.
One-third mile of these notes constitutes one full measure in the symphony. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">A Cease-and-Desist
Demand has been served on the Algonquin Gas Transmission LLC. That corporation
seeks to “condemn” the private property in Peekskill in Westchester County, NY,
on which the overture for the project was installed on June 21, and
copyrighted. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The overture was
created on land that has been owned by a small group of families for four
generations. That property lies in the path of the Algonquin Incremental
Markets (AIM) pipeline for “natural” gas, planned by Algonquin and its parent
company, Spectra Energy Partners, to span four states: New York, Connecticut,
Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The pipeline is also slated to pass just 105
feet from vital structures at the Indian Point nuclear facility, 30 miles from
New York City. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Additional measures
and “Greek choruses” have joined the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blued
Trees</i> orchestra from 11 other sites internationally since the summer
solstice overture launch. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">On Sunday, Oct. 4, several
simultaneous events in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blued Trees</i>
Symphony/Saga will unfold: </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Blued Trees’</span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> First Movement will formally commence with
a full 1/3-mile measure of the score being painted and performed in the rural
Town of Augusta and Town of Kirkland, NY, threatened by the Dominion New Market
Pipeline and Niagara Expansion Project of TGP/Kinder Morgan; and</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Additional
measures are joining the orchestra from the New River Valley of Virginia and
Nassau, NY.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">These new sites
will be included in the second copyright filing. Five movements in total, over
the next year, will complete this symphony, with the Coda planned for fall
2016. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The words of Pope
Francis, delivered at the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 25, resonate
with Rahmani and other <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blued Trees </i>participants:
“Any harm done to the environment <br />
. . . is harm done to humanity.”</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Individuals and
groups whose properties lie in the path of fossil-fuel infrastructure are
invited to join the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blued Trees</i>
“Greek Chorus.” Detailed instructions are at </span><a href="http://pushingrocks.blogspot.com/2015/09/painting-full-measure-of-first-movement.html"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">pushingrocks.blogspot.com/2015/09/painting-full-measure-of-first-movement.html</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">NOTE to EDITORS and PRODUCERS:</span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> To arrange an interview with Rahmani or
participants, please contact Margery Newman, </span><a href="mailto:MargeryNewman@aol.com"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">MargeryNewman@aol.com</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">, 917-608-6306. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">View a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">short video</b> about the project at</span>
<a href="https://vimeo.com/channels/943134"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">https://vimeo.com/channels/943134/133593842</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">See <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">map with locations and photos of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blued Trees</i> Symphony and Greek Chorus</b>
pieces at </span><a href="http://www.gulftogulf.org/map/"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>gulftogulf.org/map/</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">View a graphic from
the Spectra Corporation’s website of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Spectra
AIM project path</b> at </span><a href="http://www.spectraenergy.com/Operations/New-Projects-and-Our-Process/New-Projects-in-US/Algonquin-Incremental-Market-AIM-Project/"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">spectraenergy.com/Operations/New-Projects-and-Our-Process/New-Projects-in-US/Algonquin-Incremental-Market-AIM-Project/</span></a>.<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Blued Trees</span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> is an element of Gulf to Gulf, a fiscally
sponsored NYFA project, which has since 2010 investigated how art might impact
climate change policy, </span><a href="http://www.gulftogulf.org/"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">gulftogulf.org</span></a>.<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">More information
about Aviva Rahmani is at </span><a href="http://www.ghostnets.com/"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">ghostnets.com.</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Blued Trees defense
fund site: <a href="http://www.tinyurl.com/BluedTreesDefense"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">tinyurl.com/BluedTreesDefense</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Blued Trees art
support site: </span><a href="http://tinyurl.com/BluedTreesSymphony">tinyurl.com/BluedTreesSymphony</a><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
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MauraStephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06745564553424281263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30871754.post-51845471280584355942015-07-14T14:18:00.001-07:002015-07-14T14:19:40.139-07:00 Stop the Disinfo: New York Does NOT Have a Ban on Fracking <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWxIbM5WxC3XrfzH8eIoHYcmYqgA1-AkT0tnmloBVRYw0ujU9CLG6XwnbCNJajNRAQMSYC7ZOU_PACYm-WsOymzK73i72j03VN9m11PidjgGhwiwYYRhOyHZ3iHOwUbZRzOynd/s1600/StopThinking.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWxIbM5WxC3XrfzH8eIoHYcmYqgA1-AkT0tnmloBVRYw0ujU9CLG6XwnbCNJajNRAQMSYC7ZOU_PACYm-WsOymzK73i72j03VN9m11PidjgGhwiwYYRhOyHZ3iHOwUbZRzOynd/s200/StopThinking.jpg" width="200" /></a>I would like to correct a serious error that, in its regular <br />
repeating these days, is doing a lot of harm. I keep <br />
hearing about New York's "fracking ban."<br />
<br />
<b>New York did not “officially ban hydrofracking [sic],” </b>as I just read in a nice newsletter about sustainability. Nor did “the State DEC [issue] the final document needed to ban it.”<br />
<br />
This misinformation has been spreading, causing people to believe they
are now “safe” and need not spend any more time thinking about, let
alone fighting, fracking. It is dangerous misinformation that has been
picked up by all sorts of (irresponsible, gullible, lazy, or
collusionist) media and should be challenged by anyone working for
sustainability.<br />
<br />
First of all, the term <b>“fracking”</b> is generally used by the many
human beings who are fighting it (and other heavy industrial harms to
water, air, food supply, and human and other species’ health) to <b>mean
all the processes involved in exploring, developing, extracting,
disposing, storing, and distributing shale gas (so-called “natural” gas)
via unconventional drilling, and all related industrial activities. </b><br />
<br />
The Coalition to Protect New York and allied grassroots organizations use it secondarily but equally importantly to <b>denote the “fracturing” of our health, environment, properties, communities, legislatures, media, and way of life</b> by those who would usurp and abrogate our rights.<br />
<br />
So, with that in mind, <b>we’re being fracked badly. </b>As FrackbustersNY wrote (and I cowrote) in December, and is still pertinent:<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><i>First, reversal of the “moratorium” is very possible. This policy
of the governor and his Department of Environmental Conservation is
vulnerable to reversal should they decide to weigh the scientific
information differently in the future — and that decision could be
influenced by any number of political or other factors. Also, the
moratorium could be overturned as a result of a judicial decision should
its legality be challenged, or a new executive could simply nullify
this recent action. (Cuomo won’t be in the governor’s seat forever.)</i></li>
<li><i>Second, the ban applies only to high-volume hydraulic fracturing
which uses millions of gallons of chemically-laced water under great
pressure in the fracking operation. But it still permits low-volume
fracking up to 80,000 gallons (the “official” figure -- we’ve heard of
volumes as high as 300,000 gallons being used). Plus, this temporary ban
in no way addresses the relentless installation of supportive
infrastructure required for industry operations: pipelines, compressor
stations, waste disposal sites, water withdrawals from public supplies,
gas storage, power plant conversions, export terminals, and more. These
activities threaten land, people, and vital local economies with a host
of unacceptable impacts as destructive as fracking itself.</i></li>
<li><i>Third, there is the question of who should be making decisions
about our energy future? We live in a supposed democracy. Only “We the
People” possess authority to approve or disapprove an industrial
undertaking and define its implementation. A moratorium declared by the
Governor on the advice of regulatory agencies in service to corporate
masters is neither democratic action nor democratic law. Democratic
structures and processes must replace those of minority governance and
the corporate class that rules it.</i></li>
<li><i>FrackBustersNY believes it is the obligation of citizens to
compel lawmakers and state government to enact legislation that values
ecological systems and the common good. As fracking and related
industrial activities are exploitive and degrading of nature and
community well-being, we call for them to be made crimes in our state
law, through the passage of New York Public Law 1. The people, the true
governors in a democracy, must seize oversight of this assaultive
technology from regulatory agencies and place it within the New York
State Penal Code. </i></li>
</ul>
This is what DEC head Joe Martens actually published in June: "After
years of exhaustive research and examination of the science and facts,
prohibiting high-volume hydraulic fracturing is the only reasonable
alternative."<br />
<br />
<b>True. A real prohibition on all fracking IS the only smart or reasonable thing to do.</b><br />
<br />
<b>But we do not have a real prohibition on fracking, not even if we forget about <i>our</i> definition. We have an extension of the temporary moratorium on <i>one type</i> of fracking:</b>
"high-volume hydraulic fracturing," that which uses more than 300,000
gallons per drilling operation, per the DEC. And I’d wager that was a
very carefully constructed verbal smokescreen.<br />
<br />
Low-volume horizontal shale-gas drilling has been done in NYS for years,
and such fracking is not covered under this falsely named "ban." Other
types of fracking for shale gas are in test stages, using lower volumes
of water and/or other toxic substances including <a href="http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2012/05/04/epa-issues-new-guidlines-on-fracking-with-diesel-fuel/" target="_blank">diesel fue</a>l and <a href="http://rt.com/usa/198372-fracking-loophole-toxic-fluids/" target="_blank">other petroleum products</a>.
One would have to be hopelessly naïve to think that the fossil fuel
industry would blithely comply with all so-called "bans" and regulations
and not use every available option—of which they’ve been granted many
by corrupt government entities—to get around them.<br />
<br />
Let’s not forget that the fossil-fuel industry is <a href="http://www.shalegas.energy.gov/resources/060211_earthworks_fs_oilgasexemptions.pdf" target="_blank">exempt from numerous environmental safety laws</a> (including the <a href="http://www.epa.gov/air/caa/" target="_blank">Clean Air Act</a>, the <a href="http://www.fws.gov/laws/lawsdigest/FWATRPO.HTML" target="_blank">Federal Water Pollution Control Act <i>aka</i> the Clean Water Act</a>, the <a href="http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/inforesources/online/index.htm" target="_blank">Resource Conservation and Recovery Act</a>, to name just a few) as well as <a href="http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060008302" target="_blank">worker-safety regulations</a>.<br />
<br />
Further, DEC head Martens was <a href="http://www.wcny.org/cpr042415/" target="_blank">interviewed in April</a> by Susan Arbetter on <i>The Capitol Pressroom</i>
radio show and actually admitted that the high-volume fracking ban
would be "permanent until the information changes. . . . I don't think
there's any such thing in the environmental world as permanent.
Information changes. In this case, the health studies . . . may draw a
conclusion that there absolutely <i>is</i> public impact . . . but they may find they don't need to use hydraulic fraking to reclaim . . . " [3:23-4:52]<br />
<br />
Even more immediate, we should all be alarmed that the proliferation of
fracking infrastructure and other fossil fuel infrastructure continues
at breakneck pace:<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><a href="http://nywaterlaw.com/" target="_blank">Water is being withdrawn from NYS</a> lakes, rivers, and aquifers for use in Pennsylvania fracking. </li>
<li>Silica — the hard, sandlike substance for which majestic bluffs in
Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana, and Illinois are being blown apart
and which is the <a href="http://www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com/articles/12507-silicosis-what-it-is-and-how-to-avoid-it" target="_blank">cause of the deadly and incurable disease silicosis</a>
when ingested through skin and lungs — is being <a href="http://www.railwayage.com/index.php/freight/class-i/cp-frac-sand-company-announce-pact.html" target="_blank">shipped by rail and truck</a> through NYS. It's on its way to fracklands south, where it’s used
as a proppant allowing the tiny molecules of methane to be released from
the shale. </li>
<li>Just down the road from sustainability-minded Ithaca, in neighboring
Chemung County, and in several other communities in the state, <a href="http://www.dcbureau.org/201308148881/natural-resources-news-service/new-york-imports-pennsylvanias-radioactive-fracking-waste-despite-falsified-water-tests.html" target="_blank">county landfills are accepting tons of radioactive frack waste</a> from
Pennsylvania. </li>
<li>Liquid frack waste is being <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/oil-and-gas-wastewater-used-de-ice-roads-new-york-and-pennsylvania-little-310684" target="_blank">spread on roads</a>. </li>
<li><a href="http://youareherenymap.org/" target="_blank">Thousands of miles of pipelines</a> are going in around the state (and
the rest of the continent); they come with <a href="http://www.minisinkmatters.org/" target="_blank">compressor stations</a> and many
other accouterments that invite leaks and explosion. Among the most
horrific of these are one planned running adjacent to the ancient (more
than 52 years old) <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Point_Energy_Center" target="_blank">Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant</a>, already in terrible shape; an explosion there would wipe out hundreds of communities and millions of human lives. (A <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/11/nyregion/indian-point-plant-remains-offline-after-a-fire.html?_r=0" target="_blank">transformer fire there in May caused thousands of gallons of oil to leak</a> into the Hudson River. It’s also situated within the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramapo_Fault" target="_blank">Ramapo seismic fault line</a> region. Oh, and there are <a href="http://www.alternet.org/environment/bomb-trains-snake-through-new-yorks-hudson-valley" target="_blank">bomb trains running down the tracks along the Hudson River</a>, past Indian Point, next to the passenger Metro North Hudson Line and through numerous populated communities.) </li>
<li>Export terminals are planned for off the coast of Long Island/New Jersey/Brooklyn. </li>
<li>And fossil fuel storage already happening in the Finger Lakes, starting with storage in <a href="http://www.dcbureau.org/201401299592/natural-resources-news-service/geologist-says-feds-made-incredible-error-ignoring-huge-n-y-salt-cavern-roof-collapse.html" target="_blank">compromised and insecure salt caverns</a> along lovely Seneca Lake.</li>
<li>Former coal-fired electricity-generating plants are being <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2014/11/141120-coal-plants-repowered-with-natural-gas/" target="_blank">converted</a>
to “natural” gas, and fleets of trucks and buses are being converted to
run on “natural” gas, and boilers and cooking stoves in NYC have been
mandated to convert to “natural” gas, to boost this rapacious industry,
with the cooperation of captured politicians, at a time when all such
fossil fuel activities should be shut down as they contribute to
hastening catastrophic climate change.</li>
<li>The industry continues to enjoy tax benefits and exemption from
common-sense environmental and health standards, even as it contributes
to hastening catastrophic climate change . . . and even as millions of
sustainability and climate activists are conserving energy, switching to
wind and solar, building transition economies, bicycling and walking,
planning energy-efficient mass transit options, growing organic food in
community, and doing all the other wonderful things they are doing alone
and collectively to lessen the painful impacts of climate change.</li>
</ul>
I’ve probably left out some things . . . but this is what’s going on
while people are being lulled into a false sense of security on fracking
in New York State.<br />
<br />
<b>So PLEASE let’s not continue propagating this misinformation!</b><br />
<br />
All those who care about climate and the negative effects of the
continuing use of fossil fuels must vigilantly continue the fight
against fracking, even as they continue all the positive work they're
doing to keep our planet habitable for our and other species.</div>
</div>
MauraStephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06745564553424281263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30871754.post-84711274685361387542012-11-04T12:36:00.001-08:002012-11-04T12:36:44.699-08:00From DeSmogBlog's Steve Horn, Exclusive: Tea Party, Fracking Industry Launch Astroturf Campaign Against Mansfield, OH Community Bill of Rights Referendum<br />
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<div class="rpuSnip"></div> Ohio is referred to as a "battleground state" due to its status as a "swing state" in presidential elections. But another important battle is brewing in the Buckeye State, also set to be settled in the voting booth. This battle centers around a "Community Bill of Rights" referendum in Mansfield, OH…<br />
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MauraStephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06745564553424281263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30871754.post-75355839354256912412012-10-07T12:47:00.000-07:002012-10-14T12:49:03.777-07:00Are There Prospects for Democracy in Burma, Iraq, and the USA?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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</style><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">This is a talk delivered at the Asian American Heritage Conference, Northeastern Illinois
University, April 12, 2012 </i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">[delivered
only in part because of time constraints]</i><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Telling
stories, especially the stories of those who are not often heard, can give us
the deepest understanding of the human condition. We don’t often read or see or
hear nuance in mainstream media. We are given one side, or two sides, and
expected to make decisions based on the information the media choose to give
us. But that’s hardly the whole story. As any student of history can tell you,
there are <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">rarely</b> only two sides to
any story, and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">never</b> only one side.
And never just the government’s side.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">That
is even more true when reporting about places and people living under conflict,
war, tyranny, and injustice. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In
nearly two decades in international journalism, I came to realize that true journalism
is a matter of finding the stories of real people and how they are affected by
the political or economic or social actions that generally grab the headlines —
the stories that are often neglected in mainstream, or corporate-run, media. It’s
giving voice to the voiceless, to the powerless and ignored who would not
otherwise be acknowledged as even deserving a place on the planet. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">It’s
also exposing government corruption and of not allowing liars to get away with
their lies — whether the liars are elected officials, regulators, military
officers, police officers, corporate tycoons, community leaders, religious
figures, or anyone else who held a position of economic, political, social, or
technological power. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">As
consumers of media, we cannot allow ourselves to buy into mainstream media’s
false idea of neutrality. We should be demanding the truth, not the company
line or the state line. Nor one party’s line or another party’s line. Nor the
Arabs over the Israelis, the Catholics over the Protestants. As the great
Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk says, “It is the duty of the
correspondent to be neutral and unbiased on the side of those who suffer,
whoever they may be.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">As
you’ll see just from this panel, we necessarily bring our own perspectives,
even as scholars and reporters, to our scholarship and our reporting; hence it
is important to follow many media, but ensuring that these media are truly
independent from corporate-state or control or from other biases that are
detrimental to the health and well-being of people and the environment on which
we all depend for survival.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Earlier
this week (April 10, 2012), in my role as the associate director of the Park
Center for Independent Media, I had the great good fortune to cohost the Izzy
Awards for achievement in independent journalism. The Award is named after the
great muckracking journalist I. F. “Izzy” Stone. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">This
year we had two honorees. Sharif Abdel Kouddous, former producer and now Middle
East correspondent for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Democracy Now!,</i>
received the Izzy Award for his courageous and insightful reporting from
Egypt’s Tahrir Square during and since the 18-day popular uprising against
Hosni Mubarak’s regime that began on January 25, 2011. I’m sure many of you
watched and listened as he brought us those stories, even sometimes as bullets
and Molotov cocktails whizzed by. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">We
also honored the Center for Media and Democracy for its in-depth analysis of
hundreds of formerly secret documents of the American Legislative Exchange
Council, or ALEC. CMD exposed how lobbyists of huge corporations and right-wing
special interest groups met and continue to meet in secret with primarily
conservative legislators to craft pro-business legislation on the federal level
and in virtually every state in the USA. If you have not visited the website
ALECExposed.org, I urge you to do so and see how this shadowy group has crafted
laws on everything from education to the environment to guns to voting rights
to workers’ rights — not all things one would expect corporations to be
involved in.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I begin with journalism because an
independent media is an absolute necessity for any kind of democratic society. </span></b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Without its illumination of corporate-state-judicial-military
corruption, there is no chance for democracy, freedom, and equity. Journalism
is the only profession specifically protected under the U.S. Constitution, in
the First Amendment. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">But
that protection is being ignored and subverted, journalists are regularly harassed,
intimidated, and arrested right here in the USA. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The
folks at the nonprofit FreePress.org have been tracking journalist arrests at
his site SaveTheNews.org. They have documented 76 journalist arrests in 12
cities since Occupy Wall Street began last September.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://www.savethenews.org/tracking-journalist-arrests-occupy-events">http://www.savethenews.org/tracking-journalist-arrests-occupy-events</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">That
is clearly police intimidation — again, the kind the U.S. decries when it
happens in Egypt, Iraq, China, or Burma. But it’s happening here, and not just
to independent and citizen journalists, but to mainstream reporters from the
New York Times, PBS, the New York Daily News, the AP, and even international
reporters. The public seems ignorant of or indifferent to these vicious attacks
on the very lifeblood of democracy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">And it’s not just journalists.</span></b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> Those of you who have lived under a brutal regime,
perhaps suffered torture and incarceration or seen loved ones abused or even
killed, think of the United States as a safe haven, a bastion of right. It
certainly was on the way, with increasing civil rights, relative tolerance of
difference, and a seemingly prosperous middle class. But this is no longer our parents’
or even our own USA; in the last few years it has been sliding backward. Now we
are under an increasing military-police crackdown. Many activists I know
personally have been harassed with increasing regularity in recent months by
police/FBI/Homeland Security.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I
said I’d talk about how populist movements and evolving political and social
situations around the world, but especially in Burma, Iraq, and the United
States, might play out, and to do that I need a bit of setup.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">With
my husband, George Sapio, I first visited <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Iraq</b>
in January and February 2003, weeks before the U.S. invasion. At the time I
believed, as many of you probably did, that the unprecedented outpouring of
popular antipathy toward an invasion would halt the Bush rush to punish Saddam Hussein
for, well, who knows. In all, some 36 million people in 800 places around the
world were in the streets — including Rome, where 3 million people demonstrated
on February 15, and even Antarctica — as well as nearly every large city in the
USA. Thirty-six million people. Demanding that the U.S. and its “coalition of
the coerced” leave the people of Iraq alone. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">But
once again the media made a difference. A big difference. Most notably, and
most heinously, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New York Times</i>
beat the war drums, publishing story after story echoing whatever the
Bush-Cheney administration fed it, unquestioningly. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Those
who watched, read, and listened to independent reporting knew that Saddam
Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction nor any way of making them. His
country had sunk under 13 years of sanctions from a verge first world nation
(as Iraqis told us) to “third world” status (also their term). But the
mainstream media, in collusion with a corrupt government, fed the flames of war.
On March 20 the 36 million licked their wounds and went home to sulk, many of
them never again to engage in activism. This reminded me of how so many of the
Boomer generation that had protested the war of aggression on Vietnam in the
1960s and ‘70s sold out and moved to Wall Street in the Reagan years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">But
perhaps, with the inspiration from popular uprisings elsewhere — in Burma in
2007, Iran in 2009, and the 2011 Tunisia, Libya, Bahrain, Egypt, Yemen, Syria,
Greece, etc. movements — that is changing now. Perhaps the U.S.A. has a fighting
chance, as people begin to connect the dots. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In
Iraq, despite what Dr. Farzanah said earlier in this session about Iraqis’
harshness to one another over years, in my experience, that was primarily
driven from the top down, and not in evidence on the grassroots level. The
oppression was generally practiced by <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Saddam Hussein loyalists, the Ba’athists, who
were deeply resented by the people — not for their religious practices but for
their collusion in oppression and for their brutality and inhumanity to their
fellow Iraqis. During our time in Iraq before the invasion and until August
2003, we saw no evidence of a Sunni-Shia-Kurdish divide. In fact, a good third
of the many families we visited and interviewed were “mixed,” and Christians
were tolerated. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In
the early days after Saddam Hussein fled [April 9], the people were jubilant.
Small independent presses sprang up everywhere, many publishing in both English
and in Arabic. People felt real hope that things would change, despite the lack
of electricity, water, a reasonable currency, and especially jobs for Iraqis. But
just a few months later, that had all fallen apart. Criticism, quite
reasonably, grew of U.S. motives for the invasion, of the outrageous number of
attacks on civilians, and bumbling and <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/jul/07/iraq.features11">corruption</a>
during so-called reconstruction efforts by the Coalition Provisional Authority.
The U.S. coalition and its minions sowed seeds of discord as a way to keep the
public in check, but this tactic backfired. The divide became more dangerous
and deadly. Fear took over, and the people stopped publishing their papers for
fear the “other side” would exact revenge. Without a free press to keep people
informed, rumors fueled the fears and hatreds.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Divide,
conquer, and terrorize. That strategy has always been a mainstay of conquerors
and of repressive regimes. Now in Iraq, as in many other places, the sectarian
divide seems almost insurmountable. The other main reason the U.S. touted for
the invasion, to “sow democracy,” is an abject failure.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The
U.S. occupation is not really over, despite the mainstream reports — straight
from White House press releases. There are still thousands of <a href="http://harpers.org/archive/2012/04/0083857">mercenaries</a> — corporate
soldiers, with little accountability to the taxpayers who employ them — and <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/12/politics/obama-maliki/index.html">four
military bases.</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">So how can Iraqis overcome the
corruption and uncertainty?</span></b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> I just
took a look at a piece I wrote in various forms over the first two years of the
U.S. occupation of Iraq. I revised it a bit over the years, but for the most
part it remained solid, and it’s still what I recommend today. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1.
The United States and the United Nations must work seriously with Palestinians
and Israelis, not just the leaders but with grassroots groups that are already
working on the ground toward ending the occupation, building a lasting peace
between their peoples, and forming an internationally recognized and supported
Palestinian state.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other Arab states
have to recognize the legitimacy of the Israeli state as well. Internationally
recognized peace leaders like Desmond Tutu and Mary Robinson might be convinced
to take a major role in this effort.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2.
The United States must pledge to maintain no permanent military bases in Iraq
and to stop supporting the private mercenary corporations still in business
there.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3.
The United States and its “coalition partners” must provide reconstruction
money for Iraqi companies, hiring <i><span style="font-family: Cambria;">Iraqi</span></i>
workers to rebuild infrastructure. The big multinationals have to be sent home
immediately. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(Hah! I know that is
unlikely now, although in 2005, when I last wrote that, it might have been
possible.)</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">4.
As individuals, Americans still have the opportunity to lobby with their
wallets (those who have any money at all, that is). We have to stop patronizing
corporations — as customers and as investors — that follow practices that strip
people of their rights and sovereignty.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Since
I wrote that, much has changed, but for the Iraqi people, things are as
desperate as ever. Millions are still displaced. The infrastructure is still
broken. The government is still corrupt. And neighboring Syria is in turmoil,
Iran threatened. It’s time perhaps for a peaceful popular uprising in Iraq. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Burma.</b> As Kyi May Kaung has told us, Burma is opening up. Whether
or not democracy ensues is another question. But it’s a very critical time. Eighteen
months ago many observers thought there wasn’t a prayer that Aung San Suu Kyi
and her National League for Democracy party, or other longtime regime-defying
democracy groups, would be in the position they appear to be in today, with a
chance of actually participating in the governance of their country.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One thing I know for certain about
Burma: it is poised to be the next big resource colony for the big
multinational corporations that are running rampant across the globe,
despoiling lands, privatizing water and other commons resources, displacing
communities, and abusing workers. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If Burma is ever to have a viable
future, its democracy leaders, including the grassroots, need a solid plan to
build an autonomous government unshackled to these corporations, with unbreakable
economic and environmental protections codified in national law. They must
engage in long-term strategic planning so that the Burmese people don’t go from
being abused by one corrupt military regime to being abused by a soulless
conglomerate of capitalist marauders.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Those multinational conglomerates,
in cahoots with corrupt governments worldwide, are in essence the root of all
evil. In the United States, the entrenchment in law of this phony “corporate
personhood” that gives corporations more rights than individuals has brought us
to the brink of tyranny here.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Things
are so bad in both Iraq and Burma that my friends there tell me they live in
constant fear, despair, and depression. They say they’re ready to rise up, they
just don’t have the energy. Well, maybe for once the USA can help them — at
least the grassroots can help by serving as inspiration.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Occupy Wall Street and related social
justice movements </span></b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">get it. They see that
these things are all related <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">[NOW I NEED
TO TAKE A BIG BREATH, here goes an incomplete list]:</i> the offshoring of
jobs; chronic unemployment; rampant foreclosures; rising homelessness; the
assaults on education, workers, women, immigrants, voting rights, health care
rights, and every aspect of environmental sustainability; the drain on the
country’s coffers into military contractors’ pockets from the ongoing war on
Afghanistan and from the prolonged military occupation and subsequent privatization
of the war on Iraq. Threatened war on Iran. The so-called war on terror. Food
insecurity. Water shortages. The government’s self-imposed paralysis in the
face of catastrophic global climate change. And the greed, corruption, and
shortsightedness of a ruling class embedded with Big Banks, Big Gas, Big Oil,
Big Coal, Big Pharma, Big Chemicals, Big Insurance, Big Military — Big Business
in general.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Occupy
is active in scores of U.S. cities and states and in numerous cities worldwide.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">If
you don’t understand Occupy, if you still think it needs a unifying message,
that’s because we’ve been so colonized that we’d hardly recognize democracy if
it bit us on the ankle. That’s understandable, given our systems and how they
are set up to keep us in check, to support them even as they suppress us.
Witness the nearly 50 percent of the population who voted for George W. Bush
and Dick Cheney, and the large numbers who turned out to elect Barack Obama in
2008, only to discover that he, too, is friendly with the very corporations
that are colluding with corrupt legislators in ALEC to squelch our civil rights
and liberties. It’s hard to recognize that our country is on such a swift
decline. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I
spent years in U.S. schools that assured me I lived in a democracy, and years
of working for democracy and freedom in several countries. But except for small
groups, I had never really experienced truly democratic process until I began
participating in Occupy General Assemblies. It’s poetry. It’s not perfect,
because it’s made up of people, but the General Assemblies and working group
meetings I’ve attended have been truly respectful, inclusive, yet effective in
meeting consensus.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Occupy
may not be <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the</i></b> answer to democracy in the USA, but, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">if </i></b>it can keep its purity
and not be co-opted by a political party or special-interest group for its own
ends, it is the most hopeful development I can remember in nearly 40 years as
an activist on various fronts. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">There
has never been a more dangerous or less democratic time. There have never been
more compelling reasons to take to the streets here than hastening climate
change and the worldwide corporate-state malfeasance that is responsible for so
much usurpation of people’s rights. If the revolution does not now happen in
the USA, if people do not join in in numbers far greater than the 35 million of
us who took to the streets in 2003 to try to block the invasion of Iraq, I
guess all I can say is that we’ll get what’s coming to us. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">We
all have the chance to begin taking part in this burgeoning movement and being
heroes in our own salvation. A national coalition of Occupy assemblies is
calling for a nationwide “Day without the 99%” on May 1, or May Day. (Do not
confuse this with the “99% Spring,” which is not approved by General Assemblies
of the Occupy movements and which has been largely <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/03/16/99-percent-spring-the-latest-moveon-front-for-the-democratic-party/">co-opted
by the Democratic Party</a>.)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">This
is your chance to get involved and learn more about how democracy can work and
how peaceful uprisings can take shape. Those who work and study at universities
will say that’s too busy a time for you to participate. But I challenge all
faculty, staff, students, and administrators to engage on May Day. Worldwide,
May Day is traditionally a public holiday, a Labor Day with marches and
celebrations of workers — and of immigrants’ and migrants’ rights. </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This year,
the general strike is intended as a day away from school and the workplace, a
day away from shopping and banking, to shine a light on the “the way the system
has enslaved us and burdened us with unmanageable debt, incredibly long working
weeks, unfeasibly expensive healthcare.”<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=30871754#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></span></span></span></a>
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are great educational benefits
to engaging in something outside the workplace and classroom on that day.
Administrators, deans, and chairs should give their blessing and encourage
everyone to participate in May Day alternatives; this will only help the
university in the long run, with the growing movement for more government
funding for education. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Faculty might give students an
assignment instead of requiring them to attend classes — perhaps an essay
reflecting on how the Occupy movement, or the “Day without the 99%,” matters to
their field of study, whether it be chemistry or accounting or music theory, as
well as disciplines for which the connection may seem more obvious. Learn more
about this important nationwide day of action at <a href="http://www.occupymay1st.org/">www.occupymay1st.org/</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">However you decide to mark that one
day, your actions and commitment should not end at midnight on May 2. It’s very
easy to get caught up in our work and home pressures, but in truth we need to
join with each other by the millions if we are ever going to change our unjust,
inequitable, and unsustainable systems. And time is short. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If we don’t work our hardest in
concert to restore freedoms and build democracy in the USA, and if the trend of
arresting and brutalizing peaceful protesters continues, in a few years we may
well be looking to the Burmese, Egyptians, Tunisians, and Iraqis to help us
out. And who knows if they’ll feel any compunction to help those who left them
out to dry when they needed food, water, medicine, electricity, and compassion
— not tanks, bombs, abuse, indifference, and abandonment.</span></div>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;">
<br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=30871754#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Resources:</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2011/mar/22/middle-east-protest-interactive-timeline</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment01/">The First
Amendment </a>of the United States: <i>Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of
grievances.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
MauraStephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06745564553424281263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30871754.post-39381366444447684852012-10-07T12:06:00.003-07:002012-10-07T13:20:59.617-07:00Fracking: We Know What We're Against. What Are We FOR?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Our message is very simple.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc6XV1Mu3QAsCrYnrQvJoUhw0l-DEnAWb9POZ29gESyKtHUjHjE6GdgtGCd6zZ7NGUeoXlj7WncaC1E9mJyQuodsvdLomGjdOcjLoVHKIUGrDf1ofEPYCzEatzmQL4-hHe9W4g/s1600/no-frackSmallForWeb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc6XV1Mu3QAsCrYnrQvJoUhw0l-DEnAWb9POZ29gESyKtHUjHjE6GdgtGCd6zZ7NGUeoXlj7WncaC1E9mJyQuodsvdLomGjdOcjLoVHKIUGrDf1ofEPYCzEatzmQL4-hHe9W4g/s200/no-frackSmallForWeb.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
We say NO to fracking, you bet we do. We say NO to the heavy industrialization of bucolic and wild places. NO to poisoning our air, water, and our children's health and future. NO to poisoning our croplands, and thus our food supply. NO to permanently withdrawing water from our precious rivers, aquifers, lakes, and streams -- water that will never again return to the water-life cycle of the planet. NO to diminished (and in some cases completely negated) property values. NO to increased traffic, fumes, smog, and accidents. NO to dangerous pipelines running through our villages and countryside. NO to job promises that always -- <i>always</i> -- fall short. We say NO to toxins and fossil-fuel byproducts in our food, personal care products, and items we need for daily living. We say NO to the corporate-government collusion that is hastening catastrophic climate disruption and the kinds of weather calamities we are seeing all over the country, and the globe. We say NO to the corporate-government cabal that would force our communities to do their bidding to the detriment of our health, personal finances, and very way of life. And we say NO to municipal, state, and national elected officials who do not represent the best long-tern interests of the people and the natural world on which we all depend for survival.<br />
<br />
But this does not mean we simply say NO. There are many things to which we say YES. Because we believe we can do better, as individuals, as neighbors, as communities, as a society, as a nation, as a species.<br />
<br />
We say YES to government spending for energy conservation, creating jobs that will remain local. We say YES to community-based renewable energy options, which will create a whole new sector of learning and job opportunities. We say YES to rebuilding our crumbling infrastructures -- another job-creating initiative. We say YES to transforming fossil-fuel-extracting and -producing and -delivering corporations into energy-conservation and renewable-energy-producing and -delivering models. We say YES to job-creating energy efficient transportation options for rural, suburban, and urban populations. We say YES to 90 MPG automobile fuel standards.<br />
<br />
We say YES to organic farming without genetically deformed seeds (and outrageous use of hormones, antibiotics, and toxic pesticides and herbicides). We say YES to national and state agriculture policies that help rather than hurt family farms and discourage CAFOs ("consolidated animal feeding operations," a gross misnomer), <i>a.k.a. </i>factory farms. We say YES to policies and practices that help farmers and other large landholders engage in sustainable forestry and woodlot management. We say YES to policies and programs that enable farmers and other large landowners to lease their land for wind farms, solar farms, and other renewable-energy operations to directly benefit their communities.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI_Rf185oI6AqFUs5wSsCDaAoCanxa7u32ZWR0fy24ARIUq0ahnxdPKeajbsdu765ZoozbwDZtbSFmAh_ciTLhttt7vVt9TTamTngT8D0NRmAf-f-s8Ug59sH-MM4ckfaUR6w6/s1600/renewableenergygreenpow.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI_Rf185oI6AqFUs5wSsCDaAoCanxa7u32ZWR0fy24ARIUq0ahnxdPKeajbsdu765ZoozbwDZtbSFmAh_ciTLhttt7vVt9TTamTngT8D0NRmAf-f-s8Ug59sH-MM4ckfaUR6w6/s320/renewableenergygreenpow.png" width="320" /></a>We say YES to cutting all use of fossil fuels in this country. If small
countries like Germany, Sweden, and Denmark have already turned to
solar, wind, and hydro power, why shouldn't the "greatest country on
earth" be able to do so?<br />
<br />
We say YES to community-owned and -operated wind farms and solar farms. (We say NO to corporate-run wind and solar farms that simply add endless more energy to the current grid.) We say YES to removing fossil-fuel and nuclear energy at the same rate we add renewable energy.)<br />
<br />
We say YES to government and community welcome of clean manufacturing in New York State and other states, restoring all those jobs exported by corporations to foreign countries back to U.S. workers.<br />
<br />
We say YES to accelerated research and development of plant-based alternatives to the mountains of plastic and mining-based products we are now forced to employ against our wishes.<br />
<br />
We say YES to representation by governing officials who truly care about our communities and the individuals within them, over a long term and without personal prejudice or conflict of interest.<br />
<br />
We say YES to halting climate disruption by making the choices WE THE PEOPLE demand -- we the informed, caring, forward-thinking people, not the selfish, greedy, or hoodwinked people who still believe that the corporate state might have their best interests at heart.<br />
<br />
We say YES to healthy environments for our children, grandchildren, and future generations. <br />
<br />
And as we work toward all these positive goals, we will continue to say NO FRACKING WAY with all our collective might.</div>
MauraStephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06745564553424281263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30871754.post-3309292174137474662012-08-20T14:07:00.003-07:002012-08-23T21:25:37.327-07:00More Media Madness -- This Time It's CBS<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Last night (August 19), a friend called to tell me he'd just seen a report on CBS News titled <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57496098/new-york-state-to-allow-fracking/?tag=stack" target="_blank">"New York State to Allow Fracking,"</a> in which a farm couple from the Southern Tier of New York, not far from my own home, were interviewed. They described how much they're struggling and said that fracking would keep them afloat (actually they expect it to make them rich). The woman said, "It's like sitting on top of a bank with $1 million dollars, and you can't access that money."<br />
<br />
My friend complained that the only rebuttal to this story was from Dr. Sandra Steingraber, my colleague and fellow antifracktivist, an environmental biologist and author who has written and spoken so eloquently about the health implications of fracking as well as of many other industrial activities that contaminate our environment. And, my friend said, Steingraber was "talking about xylene and toluene and other chemicals nobody knows about. She couldn't hold a candle to that farming couple. Of course everyone would sympathize with them [the farm couple] and not her."<br />
<br />
My friend, a smart, educated, antifracking investigator himself, concluded, "You should get another spokesperson [instead of Sandra Steingraber]"<br />
<br />
Without having seen the "news" report, I knew exactly what had happened. The "reporter" or producer of the piece wanted to draw sympathy to the plight of the pro-fracking farmers and make the opposition to fracking seem arbitrary and useless. I asked my friend to think about how the story was presented and see how much time was devoted to the pro-fracking side versus how much was given to the pro-environment and pro-health side. He reflected for a minute and then said, "Yeah, right, they hardly showed anything about the antifracking movement. Most of the story and most of the camera time were spent on the farm couple, who were made to seem very likable and hard-working."<br />
<br />
Then, chagrined, my friend said, "Wow. I can't believe it. I know how the mainstream media works, but I didn't pick up on that. Even I got sucked into this, thinking this was a balanced report. And of course it's not Sandra's fault. She's always great."<br />
<br />
But not if edited in a deliberately misleading way.<br />
<br />
The headline of the story was pretty horrifying, too: "New York State to Allow Fracking." The piece then opened with the claim that "CBS News has learned that New York is about to okay fracking, and will issue guidelines after Labor Day." There was no attribution, and apparently no attempt to speak to Governor Andrew Cuomo or DEC head Joe Martens.<br />
<br />
The whole thing was a <b>travesty of journalism, but alas, not in the slightest out of the ordinary.</b> I looked at the video of this CBS "news" report and immediately found a dozen things to pick apart: the headline; the unsourced claim; the heartstring-tugging barn fire the family had suffered a few years ago; the darling baby calves; the quote from the farmers about the money being a "great blessing"; the benign cartoon making fracking operations look clean and safe; a quote claiming that the DEC would put in place the "strictest standards in the nation"; the wording of the "reporter's" question to Sandra Steingraber ("The energy secretary says fracking can be done safely. The president says fracking can be done safely. Are they wrong?") and his deliberately disparaging and supercilious look during the segment; the choice of quote from Sandra Steingraber, which out of context seemed weak; the final statement from the farmers saying "everything in Pennsylvania is great, just they have more new tractors"; and the kicker (ending) quote from the "reporter," that "There are more than half a million wells across the country" (implication being, those pesky antifrackers are talking out of their arses).<br />
<br />
This segment was a joke. But unfortunately, many viewers, especially those less connected than my friend who at least was able to call me to throw out a question, couldn't distinguish between a good story and a bad.<br />
<br />
This is the S.O.S. way the "news" media have been "telling the story" since fracking began. I think it was about three years ago when I first noticed and began writing about the misinformation and outright lies the mainstream/corporate media were propagating. I won't take the time here -- I have more important things to do, especially if there is any truth to the report that fracking is about to begin here in New York -- to debunk this particular CBS piece.<br />
<br />
But watching something like this, it should be no surprise that so many New Yorkers and others believe the B.S. being fed them by the mass media, which is gobbling up and spewing out the B.S. being fed to it by the industry and corrupt politicians. And it's not just corporate media that are at fault here. The so-called "public" radio is also to blame and in many ways, to my mind, much more culpable because people expect that source to be more reliable. It is not.<br />
<br />
Oh, and as a crowning gem, the CBS News story online ad is from BP about how important the environment is to it. It would be laughable if so many people and ecologies weren't suffering and wouldn't continue to suffer from that corporation's wrongdoings. There's nothing funny about that.<br />
<br />
Here are a few prior pieces on the subject:<br />
<br />
<span class="text-class-1"><span class="text-class-12"><a class="userlink" href="http://www.alternet.org/water/149211/15_claims_the_natural_gas_industry_wants_you_to_believe_and_why_they%E2%80%99re_wrong/" target="_blank">15 Gas Industry Claims and Why They're Wrong.</a></span> They spend tens millions <br />
of dollars a year to convince lawmakers and the public that "natural" gas is great. Let's take a look at the propaganda.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="text-class-1">"<a class="userlink" href="http://tinyurl.com/77opppy" target="_blank">Public" Media Joins "Gang Green" in Colluding with Frackers</a>. </span><span class="text-class-1">NPR's serenades to the gas industry are getting more and more blatant. Let's pick apart some of these egregious transgressions from journalistic integrity. </span><br />
<span class="text-class-1"> </span><span class="text-class-1"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="text-class-10"><a class="userlink" href="http://www.opednews.com/articles/How-Mainstream-Media-Fuels-by-Maura-Stephens-120213-33.html" target="_blank">How Mainstream Media Fuels Rabid Anti-environmentalism.</a></span><span class="text-class-1"> The corporate-state collusionist framing is working. It's not just a few "Tea Party crazies" in Virginia who now think sustainable development is a plot against "the American way." And MSM isn't helping.</span><span class="text-class-1"> </span><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
MauraStephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06745564553424281263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30871754.post-53172164971376187672012-03-01T11:28:00.002-08:002012-03-02T16:19:46.918-08:00How One Town Beat a Billionaire Bully<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 7pt;"><style>
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</style><span style="font-size: x-small;">A <a href="http://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/banning-fracking-in-new-york2014for-good" target="_blank">shorter version</a> of this appeared in <i>Yes! </i>magazine Feb. 29, 2012. This is the full version, but it was written before the Middlefield ruling.</span></div><style>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">The fight to keep the
destructive practice of fracking for “natural” gas is perhaps nowhere more
critical than in New York State. Megabillion-dollar corporations, not content
with the destruction they’re wreaking in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and 30
other states, have set their sights on drilling in rural communities in the
Southern Tier and central parts of the state. There the economy has been
sluggish for decades, farmers struggle, and people work hard yet barely make
ends meet — communities ripe for exploitation by an unscrupulous industry.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">But the industry
didn’t bargain for Hilary Lambert, or Judy Pierpont, or Marie McRae, or any of
the tens of thousands of activists who have mobilized to ban fracking in
townships across the state before it begins. Or the pro bono attorneys who are
helping many of them.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">This is the story of
one township, Dryden, New York, smack in the center of the state, where about
13,500 people occupy 95 square miles of rolling hills, deep glacial valleys,
small towns, and the larger metropolises of Dryden (population about 1,850) and
Freeville (500), all blessed by six watersheds. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">The Town of Dryden has
just won Round One in a bout with Anschutz Energy Corporation, owned and run by
one of the richest men in the USA.
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">On August 11, 2011,
the Dryden Town Board unanimously passed an ordinance and zoning amendment that
bans all oil and gas exploration and development activities in the town. It
wasn’t the first New York State town or county to pass a ban or
moratorium—there are now about 82, with at least another 35 in the works—but
something about Dryden must have really irritated the guy who runs
Colorado-based Anschutz Energy Corporation, which had leased a lot of land in
the town, to the tune of almost $5 million. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">The Argument</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">That guy is Philip
Anschutz, who’d built his $7 billion fortune on oil, railroads, telecomms,
sports, and entertainment. On September 16, 2011, Anschutz’s high-powered
Albany lawyers from the West Firm filed a lawsuit against Dryden to overturn
the ban. They claimed that the Oil, Gas, and Solution Mining Law, Article 23 of
the State Environmental Conservation Law supersedes all local regulations
relating to oil and gas activities <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">except
</i>as applied to local roads and real property taxes. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">In other words,
Anschutz claimed that Dryden has no rights to make local law when it comes to
oil and gas, except to regulate road use and property taxes. It couldn’t
determine where, if at all, the drillers could place their equipment, toxic
waste impoundments, compressor stations, and the other heavy-industrial
paraphernalia the industry requires. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">But Judge Phillip
Rumsey of the New York State Supreme Court ruled on February 21, 2012 that
Dryden does indeed have the right to prohibit fracking in the town. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">“Judge Rumsey gave a
very reasoned, well researched, well articulated decision,” says Mahlon
Perkins, who has served as Town of Dryden attorney for 33 years. “I think it’s
going to stand up on appeal.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">Great Legal Minds</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">The activists who
worked so hard over nearly three years to pass the ban —most of whom had no
prior experience in politics or environmental activism before this — were
jubilant at the news, but not entirely surprised. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">“I think it will
become clear that we’re standing on solid ground,” says Judy Pierpont, who
retired as a senior lecturer in English from Cornell University in 2009 and has
spent most of the time since then working to ban fracking. “We had great legal
minds working on this.” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">Those great legal
minds are primarily those of Helen and David Slottje, whose research formed the
basis for the Dryden ban. Through their Ithaca law firm, Community
Environmental Defense Council, Inc., the couple has counseled more than 50 municipalities
around the state, doing all the work pro bono and relying on donations from
individuals and foundations to help support the efforts. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">They’ve been vilified
by the gas industry along the way — that very industry that spends upwards of
$130 million a year on advertising and lobbying to sway the public and
legislators. Those attacks serve only to make this tenacious pair more
determined than ever to help towns fight for their rights. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">A decade ago, says
Helen Slottje, she never would have imagined in her wildest daydreams that
she’d be where she is today, at the forefront of a people’s movement to wrest
control of their health, their communities, their government, and their future
from corporations run amok.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">“David and I are the
least likely environmental activists you’d ever meet,” she laughs. “We were
evil little corporate lawyers. We believed in what we were doing. I was
president of my local Women’s Republican Club. When we first moved to Ithaca in
2002, I joined the League of Women Voters to meet like-minded people.” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">But she didn’t fit in.
“They were Ithaca hippies,” Slottje says. “They didn’t think we should go to
war with Iraq unless the UN agreed. I thought that was ridiculous. Not that I
was pro war, but I didn’t buy any of those UN arguments. So I quit.” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">But something changed
in both Slottjes, beyond just the influence of the famously liberal town they’d
moved to and any tie-dyed, Birkenstock-wearing people they encountered there. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">“As time went on,”
says Helen Slottje, “I became increasingly disgusted with Bush-Cheney — the
backroom handshake deals, their arrogance, their assumption that they can do
whatever they want, no matter what the people think or what’s right. Remember
Cheney’s secret energy commission, with all those oil people? The recount in
Florida? It took a while, but I eventually realized it was insanity. The reason
we help with the towns now is that we hate bullies. And we know the quality of
thinking from the other side. Dryden and all these communities need to have the
best legal representation they can have — and not be bullied.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">The Dawning</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">In early 2009 people
in the Town of Dryden were just becoming aware of fracking, and that summer, a
group met for the first time, hosted by a family who lived on a CSA (community
supported agriculture) in an off-grid house with a wind turbine and orchards.
After that first meeting, a core group began meeting regularly, primarily
around the issue of fracking.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">Dryden Resource
Awareness Coalition (DRAC) evolved; its 10 to 20 most active members would
become the core of the town’s efforts, but the organization has no real
hierarchy or structure. And that’s the way they like it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">“We set biweekly
meetings, reserved space in Town Hall, and people just started showing up,”
says Pierpont. “It’s a very loose group. People found their niche and
contributed in whatever ways they could. Anyone can participate. We have no
officers. Sometimes Marie [McRae] will get organized and make an agenda, and
we’ll add to it, or sometimes Joe [Wilson] will be organized. At our last
meeting we just made up the agenda on the spot. There are no specific
responsibilities. We work by consensus. People volunteer for things, and people
emerge as leaders.” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">That was a new
experience for everyone, perhaps no one more so than Wilson, who retired in
2009 from his long-time role as high school principal; he’d previously been a
practicing lawyer and had lived in Baltimore and other cities before taking the
job of principal at Ithaca High School and moving to Dryden with his wife, Marty.
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">“All my experience,”
says Wilson, “had been in hierarchical organizations with formal planning. We
even had plans on how to execute plans. I learned that significant things can
be accomplished by people operating as a collaborative with virtually no
hierarchy, coming to consensus on both what’s the right thing to do <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and</i> on how to get it done. I also
learned there’s power in such groups. It’s not futile to find grassroots groups
that want what you want, band together, and lean on elected officials to move
in the direction you favor.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">By early 2010, says
Jason Leifer, a town board member who has served since 2007, at least some
members of the board knew fracking was not something they wanted for Dryden. “I’d
been reading blogs by people from other shale plays, in Texas, Wyoming,
Colorado, who were writing about the bad things happening in their areas,” he
says. “Spills, too many trucks, the trend toward suburban drilling. This was
nothing like the old vertical wells.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">Leifer and town
supervisor Mary Ann Sumner began talking about how the town might deal with
fracking if it were to come to New York State. They thought vaguely about
zoning, but Leifer, an attorney in private practice, didn’t have time to
research the issue, and it lay dormant for a while. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">“It seemed odd to
me that we could have a say in cell towers — which have far less of an impact
than a gas well,” says Leifer. “It made no sense. We should have some say in
where these things go, if they go anywhere. But I didn’t realize we could do a
ban.”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">Making Connections</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">Meanwhile, activists
in the Town of Ulysses, 22 miles west of Dryden, were moving ahead with
door-to-door petitioning for a ban, based on the research done by the Slottjes
that showed while towns are not permitted within New York State law to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">regulate</i> the industry, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">prohibiting </i>the activity of the industry
in the first place avoids the problem of interfering in the industry’s conduct
of its business. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">The DRAC folks had
connections with the Ulysses and with activists in other local towns who were
working toward a ban, especially Ithaca, Danby, and more distant Middlefield.
They were all trying something totally new, blazing new ground, and with the
Slottjes’ counsel, each community was trying to customize what would work for
its own unique character and needs.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">“Initially, like the
other communities, we didn’t think we had a right to ban fracking,” says Marie
McRae, who owns and operates a small private horse boarding facility in Dryden
and was invited to that first session by her hay supplier. McRae had signed a
gas lease in 2008 after being “chased by a landman for nine months,” she says.
“He told me that all the other land around was leased, and if I didn’t sign
they’d come and take the gas from my land anyway. ‘This lease is your last chance
to have a say about what happened to your land,’ he told me. That’s a lie, as I
later learned, but I signed. Then I curled up in a fetal position, mentally,
for about six months.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">But then McRae, who
had never been remotely interested in, let alone involved in politics, woke
up—and she has long since made up for any lost time. She found the DRAC group
and joined, becoming a core member and frequent out-front spokesperson.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">After Ulysses
activists came to Dryden and gave pointers about how to petition for a ban,
DRAC wrote a simple ban statement and began going door-to-door and collecting
signatures. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">“We divided up the
town in a very unsystematic way,” recalls Pierpont. “I didn’t even know my
neighbors at the time, but I made the choice to be responsible for my own area
of the town. We started out with about eight of us, but then friends, and
friends of friends, and friends of friends of friends joined. We also had an
online petition, which was very helpful. If people weren’t home, or family
members weren’t all there when we were, we left a printout with the petition
online address, and we could send letters or e-mails to friends to let them
know about it. One of our members, Peter Davies, managed all this.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">The canvassers found
that 80 to 85 percent of those they approached were ready to sign the ban
petition. But if people’s minds were made up on the other side, some would not
even engage in conversation. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">Media Role</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">“I relearned how
important perceptions are,” says Wilson, “and how instrumental various media
are in forming people’s perceptions.” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">The people who
believed fracking is “safe, clean, and domestic” shared their views and
opinions in language that was straight out of gas company commercials, Wilson
noted. They’d heard industry ads and thought of them as news. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">“What people see
on TV and in major publications is shaped by the gas companies’ ability to get
broadcasters and reporters to use a position favorable to energy companies as a
point of departure,” Wilson says. “They think they know facts, and therefore
they disagree with us. Mainstream media are very powerful in creating frames of
reference which we then have to deal with.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">During four
months of canvassing, DRAC was also hosting community forums on fracking, where
people could hear perspectives not generally available to those getting their
news from mainstream media. That helped change some minds, reports Wilson. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">“Taking media at
its broadest to include the efforts of opinion shapers within communities, it
was clear that people perceived to be disinterested had more of an impact,” he
says. “People who seemed to move opinion best were the physicians and
scientists, considered bound by their professions to be even-handed, unbiased.
People were also ready to sign if they’d gotten their information from
[non-mainstream] sources, such as reading a letter to the editor from someone
trusted in the community, or if the veterinarian they’ve been going to for
along time says fracking will harm animals, or if [environmental scientist] Dr.
Bob Howarth says the methane leaks will have climate change effects.” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">Taking It to the Board</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">And the Slottjes,
who patiently explained complicated legal matters over many visits to Dryden,
were influential on the residents and on the board. They recommended that Dryden
and other municipalities who wanted to keep control over land use and avoid
industrialization adopt a zoning law or amendment that specifically prohibits
high-impact industrial use, which should be defined as “encompassing
unconventional gas drilling and any other use they considered inimical to the
municipality’s character and goals.” </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">The Dryden Town Board
held two official public hearings, where the majority of speakers spoke against
fracking. On April 20, 2011, at a board meeting packed with more than 100
residents, almost all of whom supported the ban, DRAC announced that it had
gotten 1,594 signatures on the petition. Thirty of those signers got up to
speak for two minutes each. Longtime resident and former Dryden Planning Board
member Buzz Lavine said, as DRAC reported, “The federal and state governments
cannot protect us. The power to do that is right here in this room.” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">At that meeting an
audience member warned that the town might be sued by a big gas company. David
Slottje assured the board and the crowd that long legal precedent existed for
towns to zone out undesired uses. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">The Opposition</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">While all this
positive work was going on to protect the town from dangerous
industrialization, pro-drilling forces were hard at work in the town, led by
resident Henry Kramer. In July 2011, Kramer and a few allies formed a group
called “Dryden Safe Energy Coalition” (with the slogan “safe energy development
for jobs and prosperity”), purporting to be an educational, unbiased
organization but actually strongly pro-fracking. It claimed, using convoluted
math, that banning fracking would steal $175 million from the town. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">It’s widely believed
among antifracking Dryden residents that Kramer and this group, who threatened
the town in a <a href="http://drydensec.org/node/41">letter</a> dated August 1,
2012, set the town up for the lawsuit by Anschutz. Certainly the presence of a
vocal pro-fracking group in town must have given the gas corporation some
reassurance. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">In September the board
— consisting of four Democrats and Republican Steve Stelick — voted unanimously
for a fracking ban in the town, in full knowledge that a lawsuit might ensue
but determined to keep the town safe.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">And elections heated
up, with three pro-fracking candidates, including one running against incumbent
Mary Ann Sumner for town supervisor, facing off against three antifrackers in
what would come down to an all-but-single issue election on November 8.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc; margin-left: 0pc; margin-right: -1.0pc; margin-top: 0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">Days before the election, in a courtroom heavily
peopled with Dryden antifrackers and supporters from neighboring towns, Perkins
presented a strong case before Supreme Court Justice Phillip Rumsey. Using his
own research built upon work done by the Slottjes, he challenged the insistence
by Anschutz lawyer West that the state and its Department of Environmental
Conservation have power to interpret the State Environmental Conservation Law,
and claimed that only towns have land use management rights. Apparently West
argued well, too, as Rumsey complimented both sides before adjourning. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc; margin-left: 0pc; margin-right: -1.0pc; margin-top: 0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">On November 8, all the antifracking candidates
won board seats, solidifying another solid 5-0 pro-ban town board makeup.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc; margin-left: 0pc; margin-right: -1.0pc; margin-top: 0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">Three months later, the judge handed down his
decision, and many sighs of relief were heard around Dryden on the evening of
February 21.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc; margin-left: 0pc; margin-right: -1.0pc; margin-top: 0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">Most DRAC members and the Slottjes think it’s
likely Anschutz will appeal within the 30-day time limit. And if it doesn’t go
after Dryden again, it will probably pick on a more vulnerable town that hasn’t
built such as strong activist network and governing board. That’s what bullies
do, pick on the weak.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc; margin-left: 0pc; margin-right: -1.0pc; margin-top: 0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">And if there’s one thing Helen Slottje hates,
it’s bullies. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">“These gas companies
are waging war on people, on communities,” she says. “You see this kind of
bullying all over. In West Virginia, Morgantown passed a ban, and Chesapeake
[Energy Company] took away the money they were donating for the school band.
They get communities dependent on them, and then they use that dependence to
buy silence. And towns don’t have good legal representation, so they get
bullied, beaten up. The gas companies launch smear campaigns and make people’s
lives miserable. That makes me angry. That’s what motivates me.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc; margin-left: 0pc; margin-right: -1.0pc; margin-top: 0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">Fortunately for many towns in New York State,
the Slottjes’ continued motivation —anger at ongoing gas industry bullying — will help them fight the some of the
most powerful corporations in the world. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc; margin-left: 0pc; margin-right: -1.0pc; margin-top: 0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">And for Dryden activists, even while waiting to
see if Anschutz files an appeal, there’s plenty yet to do. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc; margin-left: 0pc; margin-right: -1.0pc; margin-top: 0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">Hilary Lambert, who spent 20 years as a coal
activist in Kentucky before moving back to her childhood home in Dryden, is
steward of the Cayuga Lake Watershed Network. She’s keenly aware of how blessed
New York State is with its abundance of clean, fresh water. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc; margin-left: 0pc; margin-right: -1.0pc; margin-top: 0pc;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">Positive
Steps</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc; margin-left: 0pc; margin-right: -1.0pc; margin-top: 0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">“Some people say that to say ‘No’ to natural gas
makes you a NIMBY,” Lambert points out. “We’re very concerned about this. It’s
a crowded world, and it’s getting more crowded. We know we have to take care of
everybody’s water, everywhere. We work with everyone across borders, across
Appalachia and every other part of the country. Without clean water, we don’t
have anything.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc; margin-left: 0pc; margin-right: -1.0pc; margin-top: 0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">Beyond that, she and several other members of
the core group have pledged to change energy choices in their daily lives as
much as their means permit. “We need to move away from fossil fuel dependence
toward renewables,” she acknowledges, “even as we fight gas extraction.”
Through a project of the Tompkins County Cooperative Extension, which works
with self-selected neighborhood groups, they’re taking advantage of programs to
get energy assessments, home retrofits, and grants to help with conservation
and installing renewable energy sources. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">At Wilson’s urging, DRAC members are also
planning to get the town board to put in place secondary protections, as a
security measure: road, air quality, critical environmental area designations,
rules about setbacks around wellheads. “Our county’s council of governments has
a spreadsheet that lists 15 or 16 different municipal tools to enhance the
protection of citizenry against fracking,” says Wilson. “We’ll be working on
model regulations for the so-called gathering lines, pipes taking the gas from
wellheads to compressor stations. No one regulates them now—not the feds, or
the state, or municipalities. Perhaps this is something municipalities can claim.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc; margin-left: 0pc; margin-right: -1.0pc; margin-top: 0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">McRae expects, as many in Dryden do, that
Anschutz will appeal. That process might take 12 to 18 months. “I see us
winning that,” she says. While waiting, the onetime quiet, politically
disengaged farmer won’t be sitting around. “I’ll be doing public educating,”
she says. “I’ll continue to help organize forums to teach people about the
legal and political process, and about corporations and what they want to do to
us. And, very important to me is helping farmers remain viable — getting young
farmers started and finding new ways for older farmers to use what they already
have.” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc; margin-left: 0pc; margin-right: -1.0pc; margin-top: 0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">Pierpont has already been helping other towns
build their case for a ban, and plans to continue doing so as long as any
municipalities still need assistance. “We’ve learned so much,” she says. “I
want to use that knowledge to help other communities.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc; margin-left: 0pc; margin-right: -1.0pc; margin-top: 0pc;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">Gratitude</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc; margin-left: 0pc; margin-right: -1.0pc; margin-top: 0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">In all this activity, would DRAC and friends
think about taking a little break to kick back and celebrate their success? As
it happens, Dryden’s first brew pub, with New York State’s only female master
brewer, has just opened, so they intend to pay a visit to Bacchus in the next
week or so. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc; margin-left: 0pc; margin-right: -1.0pc; margin-top: 0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">There is much to celebrate, beyond the court
decision. “I’m grateful for our brave town board who voted to ban a heavy
industry, even knowing they might be sued,” says McRae. “I’m grateful to
Ulysses and the Slottjes. I’m grateful to town attorney Mahlon Perkins for
taking us through that first page and making the argument that would be
understood by Judge Rumsey.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">And all of the DRAC
members — who, except for Lambert, are all first-time activists over fracking —
echoed one theme, as articulated by Pierpont: “I’m so grateful for all the
people I’ve come to know, and all the work they’ve done for our community.” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pc; margin-left: 0pc; margin-right: -1.0pc; margin-top: 0pc;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt;">Pierpont adds, “And it feels like affirmation
that when you have integrity in a legal system, things can work. We were
besieged by somebody with a lot of money and a certain ill will, and we were
lucky to get an honest, reasonable judge who looked at this very fairly. We’re
fighting to keep our communities safe, but also for the viability of our system
of democracy. If we don’t defend it, it goes down. In this case, it worked.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0pc -1pc 1pc 0pc; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Photos by Hilary Lambert</span> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC_kqojGO2HxKucYJnW77lvnqiN_zpBW8qXIWxl9UV6Ro332RtjUG3wVQlQXuxXZQn2TL7hmzM6hUgATBjnnCuTK8CxkeHrtFSM-EHp6kHRS0Slfrjg0eS2SccnJOW5dIEROKi/s1600/11+01+2011+012Anschutz%2526OtherSigns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC_kqojGO2HxKucYJnW77lvnqiN_zpBW8qXIWxl9UV6Ro332RtjUG3wVQlQXuxXZQn2TL7hmzM6hUgATBjnnCuTK8CxkeHrtFSM-EHp6kHRS0Slfrjg0eS2SccnJOW5dIEROKi/s320/11+01+2011+012Anschutz%2526OtherSigns.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5rrm4uxJ6LS0IAMQGNpaPNMuaneJR_oNLu3OaMJmorR3deCaBJY1bMc0ugmuUSvyDKt3Q6fmOm44qytlFJIwkQVjPCpt-AyMupNUfM-eVDC0yn0lsijTD5au8-vkVBjcMcLKl/s1600/2011-10-25DRACfourRoadsideRally.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5rrm4uxJ6LS0IAMQGNpaPNMuaneJR_oNLu3OaMJmorR3deCaBJY1bMc0ugmuUSvyDKt3Q6fmOm44qytlFJIwkQVjPCpt-AyMupNUfM-eVDC0yn0lsijTD5au8-vkVBjcMcLKl/s320/2011-10-25DRACfourRoadsideRally.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Signs seen around Dryden (top), and DRAC rally, October 2011</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9pbz2u-gUf0C7KTgqX4_Ed8KSVxy4QzAUy4eLjGlqoH5HHw0tSvsPoZRVNTzYEisxrEUYW9q2Iq7dRivbjJvsYDpAynJKOQjEWgTKrtBcB8Tan93oEXAZe1B-cZmnxV9pqE_d/s1600/IMG_5896JudyPierpontHelenSlottjeSaraHess.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9pbz2u-gUf0C7KTgqX4_Ed8KSVxy4QzAUy4eLjGlqoH5HHw0tSvsPoZRVNTzYEisxrEUYW9q2Iq7dRivbjJvsYDpAynJKOQjEWgTKrtBcB8Tan93oEXAZe1B-cZmnxV9pqE_d/s320/IMG_5896JudyPierpontHelenSlottjeSaraHess.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> DRAC's Judy Pierpont with attorney Helen Slottje and Shaleshock leader Sara Hess at a neighboring town forum</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic252nUv2UEP34v0wmJ3tojsOIqB5bHV1jftMg3K29o4z3nj6q-TaJzngLE5m9fi76bGkBir9MAf9Rtug4mSp5k4JuM22dWnxTgbt6Sab5MhfmNKA1rjdk_yu_G0-FsAW-Rv4h/s1600/IMG_9458DrydenTownHallMeeting.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic252nUv2UEP34v0wmJ3tojsOIqB5bHV1jftMg3K29o4z3nj6q-TaJzngLE5m9fi76bGkBir9MAf9Rtug4mSp5k4JuM22dWnxTgbt6Sab5MhfmNKA1rjdk_yu_G0-FsAW-Rv4h/s320/IMG_9458DrydenTownHallMeeting.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;"></span><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></i></b> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Dryden Town Hall packed for the town board's unanimous decision to sign the ban</span></div></div>MauraStephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06745564553424281263noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30871754.post-38467501444027655072012-02-14T14:52:00.000-08:002012-02-14T14:55:28.127-08:00PA: Urgent Actions Thursday, but Don't Wimp Out<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">A bunch of people, including </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><a href="http://www.truthout.org/fracking-industry-colludes-pennsylvania-legislature-dangerous-new-laws-head-governors-desk/132923015">me</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">, tried to get the word out to muster opposition to a heinous bill foisted hastily upon the Pennsylvania public and environment by the gas industry in collusion with its political cronies (and mainstream media).</span><br />
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">
But Governor Corbett signed the bill, HB1950 (<b>attached </b>as a Word document), almost the minute it hit his desk yesterday. The bill is <i>purported</i> to be about taxes on the gas industry, but it holds some very disturbing, precedent-setting language that bolsters the gas industry's exemptions from oversight and its lack of liability for harms it causes. The mere passage of such a bill should send chills down your spine, whether you live in Pennsylvania, in a downstream state (NJ, DE, MD, DC, VA, WV), a neighboring state (NY, OH), or a little farther away, because air and water know no state lines.</div>
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<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">
Just<b> read this short section, </b>buried on page 98<b> (my bold):</b></div>
<blockquote class="webkit-indent-blockquote" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 40px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<div>
<div class="paragraph">
<u>(10) A vendor, service company or operator shall identify the specific identity and amount of any chemicals claimed to be a trade secret or confidential proprietary information <b>to any health professional who requests the information in writing if the health professional executes a confidentiality agreement and provides a written statement of need for the information indicating all of the following:<o:p></o:p></b></u></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="subparagraph">
<u>(i) The information is needed for the purpose of diagnosis or treatment of an individual.</u></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="subparagraph">
<u>(ii) The individual being diagnosed or treated may have been exposed to a hazardous chemical.</u></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="subparagraph">
<u>(iii) Knowledge of information will assist in the diagnosis or treatment of an individual.</u></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="paragraph">
<u>(11) If a health professional determines that a medical emergency exists and the specific identity and amount of any chemicals claimed to be a trade secret or confidential proprietary information are necessary for emergency treatment, the vendor, service provider or operator shall immediately disclose the information to the health professional upon a verbal acknowledgment by the health professional that the information may not be used for purposes other than the health needs asserted and that the health professional shall maintain the information as confidential. The vendor, service provider or operator may request, and the health professional shall provide upon request, a written statement of need and a <b>confidentiality agreement from the health professional </b>as soon as circumstances permit, in conformance with regulations promulgated under this chapter.</u></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="subsection">
<u>(c)<b> Disclosures not required.‑‑Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, a vendor, service provider or operator shall not be required to do any of the following:</b></u></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="paragraph">
<u>(1) <b>Disclose chemicals that are not disclosed to it by the manufacturer, vendor or service provider.</b></u></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="paragraph">
<u>(2) <b>Disclose chemicals that were not intentionally added to the stimulation fluid.</b></u></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="paragraph">
<u>(3) <b>Disclose chemicals that occur incidentally or are otherwise unintentionally present in trace amounts, may be the incidental result of a chemical reaction or chemical process or may be constituents of naturally occurring materials that become part of a stimulation fluid.</b></u></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="subsection">
<u>(d)<b> Trade secrets and confidential proprietary information.‑‑</b></u></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="paragraph">
<u>(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, a vendor, service company or operator<b> shall not be required to disclose trade secrets or confidential proprietary information to the chemical disclosure registry.</b></u></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">
<div>
There's more; fracking can now legally occur near residences, and there are fewer restrictions than ever.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Delaware Riverkeeper is planning a day of resistance in several towns THIS THURSDAY, February 16<b>. Please join. </b>This cannot be permitted to stand. </div>
<div>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Delaware Riverkeeper's call to action is way too mild, though. </span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><b>Shouting "Shame on you" at people who have no shame is a waste of breath. </b>Don't be fooled into thinking that such wimpy action will affect anything.</span></div>
<div>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Instead, vow to learn and use "nonviolent direct action" -- what I call <b>creative peaceful resistance (CPR), </b>a term that is very appropriate in this life-or-death situation.</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">We need to tell these "legislators" that we will <b>actively work to remove them from office,</b> and some <b>citizens and attorneys have to start figuring out how to remove this abomination as soon as possible from Pennsylvania law </b>-- to recall it, rescind it, override it, throw it out, replace it with a law that actually protects people and nature rather than lining the pockets of a few crooks.<b> And do some research and find the laws these crooks are already breaking -- they surely are committing crimes in standing Pennsylvania law, and if they're not, Pennsylvania needs a new law that makes fracking -- and the poisoning of people and the environment on which they depend for survival -- a crime. </b>A growing number of New Yorkers support the draft of a <a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_547473645">law </a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.frackbustersny.org/criminalization-law.html" target="_blank">that makes fracking a crime,</a> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">introduced by FrackBusters NY and Sovereign People's Action Network (full disclosure: I contributed to its writing); Pennsylvanians should waste no time in drafting their own.</span></div>
<div>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><b>It's especially urgent that </b><u style="font-weight: bold;">all physicians and health professionals</u><b> commit what I call CIVIL DEFIANCE</b> (not "disobedience," because that would assume these creeps deserve our obeisance for some reason)<b> and refuse to abide by this immoral, disgraceful "law." </b></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">---------------</span></b></div>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
<b><i>The following is from Delaware Riverkeeper Network.</i></b></div>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
<b>Protest HB1950 and the Takeover of Municipalities by Gas Development.</b></div>
<div>
<div>
<br />
<b>Three “lunch hour” protests being held at offices of elected representatives who voted for HB1950, selling us out to the gas industry. Please go to the one nearest you!</b><br />
<br />
<b>Thursday, February 16</b><br />
Noon to 1:00 pm – Near Senator McIlhinney'sOffice (215-489-5000): North Main and Court Sts., <b>Doylestown, </b>PA 18901<br />
<br />
Noon to 1:00 pm -- Sen. Ted Erickson’s office, 5037 Township Line Rd., <b>Drexel Hill, </b>PA (noon to 1pm on Thursday)<br />
<br />
11:30 am -- Sen. Tim Solobay’s office, 68 E. Pike St. <b>Canonsburg</b> (at the Canonsburg Borough Bldg.)<br />
<br />
WE NEED YOU THERE: Please come join your fellow constituents to express your outrage and disappointment that the PA Legislature has now made HB1950 into law. This so-called "Impact Fee" law has gutted municipal controls of gas drilling and related operations by preempting municipal zoning, forcing municipalities to allow gas wells, frack waste pits, pipelines, and other gas-related operations anywhere in a municipality, even residential neighborhoods, next to schools and day care centers, reservoirs and parks. This complete takeover of municipal rights by the State and drilling interests was approved by a majority of the PA Legislature.<br />
<br />
We’ve targeted a few elected representatives who voted for the Bill, some who pledged to vote against it like Senators McIlhinney and Erickson, to feel the heat of the public’s shock and disapproval. This travesty must be protested--join us to tell those who voted for this devastating law "Shame on you for selling us out to the gas industry!" Other events will follow wherever constituents want to speak up; please try to take your lunch hour with us at one of these protests on Thursday.<br />
<br />
Please make and bring along signs to express your concerns: "Shame on you Sen ______", "PA Leg has sold our rights to drillers", "HB 1950 takes away rights", "polluters/frackers get free pass", etc.<br />
<br />
Please also write a letter to your Representative - share your concerns with those who voted for this bad law and thank those who stood up for you and clean water and air: <a href="http://www.delawareriverkeeper.org/act-now/urgent-details.aspx?Id=102" rel="nofollow">http://www.delawareriverkeeper...</a><br />
<br />
You can see how your PA legislator voted here:<br />
Senate roll call --- <a href="http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/Legis/RC/Public/rc_view_action2.cfm?sess_yr=2011&sess_ind=0&rc_body=S&rc_nbr=513" rel="nofollow">http://www.legis.state.pa.us/C...</a><br />
House roll call --- <a href="http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/Legis/RC/Public/rc_view_action2.cfm?sess_yr=2011&sess_ind=0&rc_body=H&rc_nbr=1133" rel="nofollow">http://www.legis.state.pa.us/C...</a></div>
</div>
</div>MauraStephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06745564553424281263noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30871754.post-46220986742824215052012-02-12T18:08:00.000-08:002012-02-13T06:04:51.345-08:00Industry Colludes with Pennsylvania Legislature<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14pt;">Pennsylvania's state legislature has
effectively signed a death warrant for some number of residents, who knows how many. Corbett’s about to make it official. Pennsylvanians: Fight back — or suffer the consequences.</span></i></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 19px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The
fracking industry has written a bill that gives itself legal permission to
poison Pennsylvanians—and keeps doctors who treat them once they’re poisoned
from telling anyone else what poisoned them. The bill also essentially
permits </span><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">all gas drilling
and processing activities anywhere, including in residential areas.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">It’s
all being sold as an “impact fee” bill. Counties that want the income will sign
on — and that probably means most counties will. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The
industry was helped in this covert operation by crooks in political office.
Those political criminals should be held accountable (more on this below).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The
174-page bill, <a href="http://www.mygov365.com/legislation/view/id/4eb518a349e51bb670470300/tab/versions/">HB1950,</a>
was signed in both the House and Senate of the state’s General Assembly, and on
Friday (2/10/12) the Senate passed it to Pennsylvania governor Tom Corbett for
signature.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">This
is yet the latest egregious example of industry-state denial of municipalities’
right to protect themselves. I’m not being hyperbolic when I say that this is
the legal permitting of murder — and legalization of coerced suicide. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">There
can be no question that the legislators who signed it are in collusion with
industry. They are corrupt. There can be no other explanation. These people
have an obligation to protect the citizens of Pennsylvania, and not only are
they not doing so, but they are also denying citizens the right to protect
themselves—and denying physicians and nurses the ability to protect their
patients! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">And
if this outrage does not get Pennsylvanians (and everyone) out in the streets,
in Harrisburg at the governor's mansion demanding a veto, and at the offices of
state legislators, demanding a reversal of the bill’s passage, I do not know
what will. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #292929; font-family: 'Times New Roman';">As <i>Berks-Mont News</i> <a href="http://berksmontnews.com/articles/2012/01/25/tri_county_record/news/doc4f1ea9a38dc57862211721.txt"><span style="color: #0000f8;">reported</span></a></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span><span style="color: #292929; font-family: 'Times New Roman';">on January 25, Pennsylvania
municipalities currently do “have the legal right to decide where and how gas
development occurs. Both the Municipalities Planning Code and the State
Constitution vest municipalities with the authority and responsibility to
address local environmental and public resources. State Supreme Court rulings
have also made it clear that the state Oil and Gas Act allows municipalities
the right to use zoning codes to restrict the location of gas wells.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #292929; font-family: 'Times New Roman';">This law negates those rights and completely strips communities
of their rights to self govern. This is a blatant abrogation of the United
States constitution and all the hackneyed assertions that We the People have
any say any longer in crafting U.S. law.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The Guilty Parties<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The
bill’s primary sponsor in the House (Assembly) was <a href="http://www.mygov365.com/people/person/id/4d099c8649e51b935c880100/tab/contact/">Brian
Ellis</a> (R-District 11). The 19 cosponsors included <a href="http://www.mygov365.com/people/person/id/4d099c6b49e51b935c680100/tab/contact/">Samuel
H. Smith</a> (R-66), <a href="http://www.mygov365.com/people/person/id/4d099d3d49e51b935c6a0200/tab/contact/">Mike
Turzai</a> (R-28), <a href="http://www.mygov365.com/people/person/id/4d099c5d49e51b935c590100/tab/contact/">Stan
Saylor</a> (R-94), and <a href="http://www.mygov365.com/people/person/id/4d099d0849e51b935c250200/tab/contact/">Dave
Reed</a> (R-62). But take special note of the three Democrats who cosponsored: <a href="http://www.mygov365.com/people/person/id/4d099c9949e51b935c9e0100/tab/contact/">Ken
Smith</a> (D-112), <a href="http://www.mygov365.com/people/person/id/4d099d8749e51b935cc70200/tab/contact/">Marc
J. Gergely</a> (D-35), and <a href="http://www.mygov365.com/people/person/id/4d099cfd49e51b935c180200/tab/contact/">Paul
Costa</a> (D-34). (Contact info for some of them is below, but I hope someone
will take the time to create an easy-to-navigate, easy-click way to call these
creeps out all at once; I don’t have the time or technical expertise.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">If
Corbett signs this bill into law, he will simply confirm what anybody who’s
been paying attention already knows: He cares not for the people or future of
his state. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">If
Corbett signs, Pennsylvania activists can kiss goodbye all the tens of
thousands of hours of hard work done by countless volunteers working to stop
fracking from further devastating their state, which until the recent arrival
of this industry was quite beautiful and relatively unpolluted. All those hours
spent in researching all aspects of fracking, from public health to physics,
from environment to economics; in planning forums and community meetings;
educating legislators; debunking industry lies; investigating and challenging unscrupulous politicians; exposing corrupt
NGOs (“Big Greens”); going door-to-door talking to neighbors; writing local
laws to protect communities; and forming coalitions across townships, counties,
states, and nations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Dorothy Bassett Picks the
Bill Apart<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">I
learned about this from Dorothy Bassett (with my boldfaces and a couple
parentheticals), who read the bill in its entirety and synopsizes thus: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“[The
bill] includes verbiage that says that <b>when a patient comes in, sick due to
exposure to chemicals, doctors have to request in writing info on [the
chemicals patients might have been] exposed to (think of the time — and
treatment delays involved in this process!) and <u>then have to keep it</u> <u>confidential</u>.
</b> Also, the<b> industry doesn't have to reveal compounds that have
formed when all these chemicals and materials from underground come together,
nor do they have to report exposure to heavy metals, radioactive substances,
etc., from below.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Given the
problems with airborne and waterborne carcinogenic and neurotoxic substances
from this industry's open pits of toxic wastes, compressor stations, and the
like, this means that entire communities will still be exposed to chemicals
that one or more people have had to see a doctor for, and that the doctors will
have to keep it quiet while the communities are at risk.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The fact
that the industry has included verbiage in this bill that prevents doctors from
revealing the chemicals their patients were exposed to:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">1.
indicates that <b>the industry knows that much of the substances they<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">are
using are a threat to public health</span></b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">
- enough so that emergency<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">room and
other physicians would see cases of toxic exposure to<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">fracking
and related chemicals and substances on a regular basis, i.e.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">that this
is not a safe process;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">2.
indicates that<b> the industry wants to keep it quiet</b> - they know that<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">if the
health risks of their activities due to chemical exposure (in<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">air and
water) were to become public there would be such enormous<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">outcry
that they would be - appropriately - shut down;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">3. <b>[shows
that industry knows fracking/ms]</b> <b>is a human rights and a civil
rights violation to the residents and workers affected, and would ultimately
contribute to a public health catastrophe;<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">4. would
guarantee that other individuals [and] families in the area would not be warned
that they are being exposed on an on-going basis to highly hazardous chemicals
that have made other individuals ill —
often seriously and irreversibly ill.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The bill
also says that the industry will NOT provide information on compounds created
by the chemicals or the interaction of the chemicals with things below ground
or any of the substances that come up from underground.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">This
means that they'd provide info only on the frack fluids — which the doctor has
to keep confidential — NOT on what's sitting in frack pits, for example.
Considering that strontium. barium and arsenic are common problems, along with
naturally occurring radioactive substances, and brine, doctors won't know that
the health problem could be coming from these substances from below ground. If they
don't know this, they won't be able to test for or treat for exposure to
hazardous compounds formed by this soup of chemicals, heavy metals, NORMs,
brine and bacteria from far beneath the surface.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The
bill requires that local ordinances “Shall allow well and pipeline location
assessment operations,<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> including seismic
operations</b> and related activities.” Localities “may not impose conditions,
requirements or limitations on the construction of oil and gas operations . . .
” The bill makes sure that not only can municipalities not ban fracking, but
they can’t even regulate how the poisonous operations and their harmful side
effects will be situated and rammed down our throats. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Make Corbett Realize His
Political Future Is at Stake<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Now
there is one option available under current law: <span style="color: #262626;">GET TOGETHER AND STOP CORBETT FROM SIGNING THIS
HORRIFIC BILL.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Should he sign this bill, the governor
of Pennsylvania joins all the legislators who voted for this heinous
"bill" as party to murder — because people will die from fracking (in
fact, <a href="http://www.texas-construction-accident-attorney.com/entry.asp?eid=1739">quite
a few</a> <a href="http://www.colombostuhr.com/blog/post/7-fracking-related-truck-accidents-in-12-days.aspx">already</a>
<a href="http://www.texas-construction-accident-attorney.com/entry.asp?eid=1739">have</a>). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: 'Times New Roman';">If he does sign, I see only one
alternative: civil defiance from as many people as can be mustered in
Pennsylvania, to occupy Harrisburg and dog these criminal politicians —
especially the three Democrats and 17 Republicans who cosponsored this bill and
Corbett — for the long haul. It must not be just a one-day event, but an
ongoing demonstration of our rejection of our government's collusion in our own
poisoning. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">We need to tell all of these crooks in no
uncertain terms that they have lost the support of Pennsylvania voters and will
never get another term. And will be brought up on criminal charges. And we need
people to start building the legal case against them. Start with the Pennsylvania
Crimes Code Section 25, Section 2502, in which “Murder of criminal code, in
which “Killing by means of poison, or by lying in wait, or by any other kind of
willful, deliberate and premeditated killing, is considered “Murder of the
third degree.”</span><span style="font-family: Times;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">And that is a crime in any civilized society.
Slow poisoning or quick: The only difference is that it will be impossible for
you to prove the link between frackers and your kid’s cancer when it develops
five or seven or twelve years from now, and the frackers and politicians who
colluded with them will be off the hook.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Don’t let that happen, Pennsylvania. Your very
lives are at stake.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><b>RESOURCES</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;">Governor Tom Corbett's contact info: </span></span><br />
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;">p<strong style="font-weight: 700;">hone</strong> (717) 787-2500 <b>fax </b>(717) 772-8284</span></span></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><b><a href="http://www.governor.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/contact/2998/e-mail_the_governor's_office/465341">online form</a> to reach Corbett</b></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 30.0pt; margin-bottom: 5.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><b><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17pt; text-decoration: none;">HB 1950 <a href="http://www.mygov365.com/legislation/view/id/4eb518a349e51bb670470300/tab/actions/">BILL Current Status</a></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt 36.0pt; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span style="color: #2e8c0d; font-family: Arial;"> Passed (House
of Representatives) on <i>Nov 17, 2011</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt 36.0pt; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span style="color: #2e8c0d; font-family: Arial;"> First Reading
(Senate) on <i>Dec 7, 2011</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt 36.0pt; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span style="color: #2e8c0d; font-family: Arial;"> Second Reading (Senate) on <i>Dec 12, 2011</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt 36.0pt; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span style="color: #2e8c0d; font-family: Arial;"> Referred to
Committee (Senate) on <i>Dec 12, 2011</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt 36.0pt; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span style="color: #2e8c0d; font-family: Arial;"> Third Reading
(Senate) on <i>Dec 14, 2011</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt 36.0pt; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span style="color: #2e8c0d; font-family: Arial;"> Referred to
Committee (House of Representatives) on<i>Dec 14, 2011</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt 36.0pt; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #2e8c0d; font-family: Arial;"> Sent to
Executive on <i>Feb 10, 2012</i></span></b><span style="color: #2e8c0d; font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 30.0pt; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #2e8c0d; font-family: Arial;"><b><span style="color: #262626; font-size: 17pt; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://www.mygov365.com/legislation/view/id/4eb518a349e51bb670470300/tab/sponsors/">20
Sponsors</a></span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">STAN SAYLOR (sponsor)<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">414 Main
Capitol Building Post Office Box 202094<br />
Harrisburg, PA 17120<br />
Ph: 717-783-6426</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">District</span></b><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
15 South Main Street 2nd Floor<br />
Red Lion, PA 17356<br />
Ph: 717-244-9232<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Dave Reed<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">128 Main
Capitol Building Post Office Box 202062<br />
Harrisburg, PA 17120<br />
Ph: 717-705-7173</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">District</span></b><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
550 Philadelphia Street<br />
Indiana, PA 15701<br />
Ph: 724-465-0220<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Ken Smith (D-112)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">28B East
Wing Post Office Box 202112<br />
Harrisburg, PA 17120<br />
Ph: 717-783-1359<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">District</span></b><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
1414 Monroe Avenue<br />
Dunmore, PA 18509<br />
Ph: 570-342-2710<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Marc Gergely (D-35)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">325 Main
Capitol Building Post Office Box 202035<br />
Harrisburg, PA 17120-2035<br />
Ph: 717-783-1018<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">District</span></b><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
1540 Lincoln Way<br />
White Oak, PA 15131<br />
Ph: 412-664-0035<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">District</span></b><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
1705 Maple Street Suite 110<br />
Homestead, PA 15120<br />
Ph: 412-476-3046<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Paul Costa (D-34)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">323 Main
Capitol Building Post Office Box 202034<br />
Harrisburg, PA 17120<br />
Ph: 717-783-1914<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">District</span></b><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
519 Penn Avenue<br />
Turtle Creek, PA 15145<br />
Ph: 412-824-3400<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">Here’s the whole list of House cosponsors:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">3 Democrats</span></b><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="mso-cellspacing: 1.5pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<thead>
<tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">Name<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">District</span></div>
</td></tr>
</thead><tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;"><td colspan="2" style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.mygov365.com/people/person/id/4d099c9949e51b935c9e0100/">Ken
Smith</a> 112 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td colspan="2" style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"></td></tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3;"><td colspan="2" style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.mygov365.com/people/person/id/4d099d8749e51b935cc70200/">Marc
J Gergely</a> 35 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 4;">
<td colspan="2" style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"></td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 5;">
<td colspan="2" style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.mygov365.com/people/person/id/4d099cfd49e51b935c180200/">Paul
Costa</a> 34 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 6; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td colspan="2" style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">17 Republicans</span></b><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="mso-cellspacing: 1.5pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<thead>
<tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">Name<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">District<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td colspan="2" style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.mygov365.com/people/person/id/4d099c8649e51b935c880100/">Brian
L Ellis</a> 11 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td colspan="2" style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"></td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td colspan="2" style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.mygov365.com/people/person/id/4d099be249e51b935cc20000/">Dan
Moul</a> 91 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 4;">
<td colspan="2" style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"></td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 5;">
<td colspan="2" style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.mygov365.com/people/person/id/4d099d0849e51b935c250200/">Dave
Reed</a> 62 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 6;">
<td colspan="2" style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"></td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 7;">
<td colspan="2" style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.mygov365.com/people/person/id/4d099ca949e51b935cb20100/">Garth
D Everett</a> 84 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 8;">
<td colspan="2" style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"></td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 9;">
<td colspan="2" style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.mygov365.com/people/person/id/4d099bed49e51b935cd00000/">Jim
Christiana</a> 15 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 10;">
<td colspan="2" style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"></td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 11;">
<td colspan="2" style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.mygov365.com/people/person/id/4d099d8549e51b935cc50200/">Jim
Marshall</a> 14 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 12;">
<td colspan="2" style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"></td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 13;">
<td colspan="2" style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.mygov365.com/people/person/id/4d099d3d49e51b935c6a0200/">Mike
Turzai</a> 28 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 14;">
<td colspan="2" style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"></td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 15;">
<td colspan="2" style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.mygov365.com/people/person/id/4d099ce149e51b935cf30100/">Mike
Vereb</a> 150 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 16;">
<td colspan="2" style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"></td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 17;">
<td colspan="2" style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.mygov365.com/people/person/id/4d099d5449e51b935c870200/">Randy
Vulakovich</a> 30 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 18;">
<td colspan="2" style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"></td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 19;">
<td colspan="2" style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.mygov365.com/people/person/id/4d099bba49e51b935c8e0000/">Richard
R Stevenson</a> 8 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.mygov365.com/people/person/id/4d099c6b49e51b935c680100/">Samuel
H Smith</a> 66 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Major</a> 111 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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M Grove</a> 196 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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F Adolph Jr.</a> 165 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</tbody></table>MauraStephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06745564553424281263noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30871754.post-21433007968424918682012-02-02T14:18:00.000-08:002012-02-03T00:27:03.161-08:00Josh Fox Arrest at House HearingYesterday, documentary filmmaker Josh Fox was arrested at a hearing of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology's Subcommittee on Energy and Environment (stop to breathe here, don't give up) that was ostensibly hearing testimony about the EPA's three-year supposed study on the pollution of people. <br /><br />
The hearing was called to "review the EPA's approach to ground water research."<br /><br />
That research -- on the contaminations in Pavillion, Wyoming, that have been wreaking havoc on the lives of animals and "ordinary Americans" like those Josh Fox documented in his 2010 film <i>Gasland</i> -- was "called into question" by a bunch of crooks or idiots in the House who couldn't tell a scientific study from a can of industrially produced beer. <br /><br />
The committee published a statement that didn't even acknowledge Josh's name, let alone his fame or the fact that he <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9Z9hSAaW1o">testified</a> on fracking before the Senate at Senator Greg Ball's public hearing last August, and at other governmental <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxvHeqB0cbI&feature=related">hearings</a>: "Section 9(j) of the Committee’s rules expressly states that 'Personnel providing coverage by the television and radio media shall be currently accredited to the Radio and Television Correspondents' Galleries.' The individual removed was not accredited by the House Radio and TV Gallery and had refused to turn off his camera upon request by Capitol Police.” <br /><br />
Crock of crud. Josh Fox had attempted to receive credentialing to film the proceedings -- and received no response. No doubt he was ignored because those who have the power to grant such credentials fear him and those with whom he is allied. <br /><br />That means they fear Us. We the People. <br /><br />
Josh Fox should not have even had to bother with getting "credentialed" beyond the obvious precaution of a weapons check. Any citizen who wants to film the proceedings of our governmental legislative deliberations should be permitted to do so.
<br /><br />Let's just take a look at the name of the institution from which Josh Fox was ejected -- in handcuffs, for heaven's sake. We are talking about the HOUSE of REPRESENTATIVES. <br /><br />The HOUSE is supposed to be the House of THE PEOPLE. The representatives are supposed to represent WE THE PEOPLE. <br /><br />It is unacceptable to not allow journalists -- be they mainstream, independent, or citizen in this age of social media and instant transfer of information -- to videotape and otherwise record the proceedings in that House that is OURS. <br /><br />If our "representatives" operate in secret, that is hardly democracy, or any other form of representative government. <br /><br />Perhaps the ejection of Josh Fox from OUR house will help to wake up the remaining somnalent U.S. public to how much this nation has become entrenched in oligarchy, and spur people to start <a href="http://alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed">reading about ALEC</a> and how <span style="font-weight:bold;">corporations in bed with corrupt politicians are adversely affecting every aspect of our lives.</span> <br /><br />Fortunately, people in Occupy movements around the country have connected the dots and understand we must wrest back control of everything -- from the "rules" that deny us access to information critical to our well-being, to the municipal laws that permit poisoning of our homes and bodies, to our ability to get health care when that poison hits our cells and mutates into cancer. <br /><br />The laws that have been crafted by ALEC and other corporate-state partnerships are not legitimate. We the People need to start writing laws and demanding those who ostensibly represent us vote to pass them. Or create a government that really is Of, By, and For the People.<br /><br />Good for Josh Fox and others who risk arrest and worse to bring us the truth about those who run this country. We need more citizen journalists. And we need to demand access to all governmental proceedings. Or withhold taxes. Taxation without representation is unjust and unAmerican, I seem to recall having heard somewhere.MauraStephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06745564553424281263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30871754.post-32904270526195422862012-01-24T19:00:00.000-08:002012-01-24T21:01:51.875-08:00State of the Union: Terrifying. But at Least He's Honest Here<i>From tonight's State of the Union address, with responses:</i>
<p>
"We have a <b>supply of natural gas that can last America nearly one hundred years, <i></b>[There is nothing else to call this but what it is: a blatant lie. It might as well be a propaganda piece put out by Chesapeake Energy or some other fossil-fuel pushing, environmentally damaging megamillion-dollar corporation, but from the president of the United States in his 2012 State of the Union address, it is a mockery of environmental or democratic or even fiscal responsibility. There is no scientific consensus on this -- not even REMOTELY. This is completely irresponsible. Other scientists (not industry-supported] say only a few YEARS of 'natural' gas is available and extractiable in the 49 states, including Alaska but excluding Hawaii]</i> <b> and my Administration will take every possible action to safely develop this energy.</b>
<p>
<i>[To anyone who is paying attention, it is crystal clear that this energy source can NOT BE DEVELOPED SAFELY. We will ALL PAY an impossibly HIGH PRICE FOR SUCH DEVELOPMENT]</i>
<p>
<b>Experts believe <i></b>[ONLY PAID INDUSTRY EXPERTS "BELIEVE" THIS, Mr. President. How outrageously pro-fossil-fuel-corporate interests can you be? What kind of payoffs are your speechwriters getting from industry? This is a beyond outrageous claim!]</i> <b>this will support more than 600,000 jobs </B><i>[that's patently absurd, completely unsupported]</i> <b>by the end of the decade </b><i>[there is absolutely NO credible evidence of this;' the only three peer-reviewed economic studies that have been done on the subject -- Barth, Rogers, Christopherson -- find something completely different -- that jobs are few and very short-term and NOT going to locals in the regions to which these jobs are promised but instead to "roughnecks" and other outsiders, generally from the Canadian oilfields, Louisiana, Texas, or Oklahoma]</i>.
<p>
<b>And I’m requiring all companies that drill for gas on public lands to disclose the chemicals they use. </b> <i>[WOW, HOW BIG OF YOU, Mr. President! YOU'RE REQUIRING COMPANIES TO DISCLOSE THE POISONS WITH WHICH THEY ARE POISONING US! THANKS SO MUCH!] </i> <b> America will develop this resource without putting the health and safety of our citizens at risk. </b><i>[HOW DARE YOU lie to us who are suffering the ills of this disgusting corporate-industrial abomination known as FRACKING? HOW DARE YOU be so cavalier when talking about our health, our homes, our children's lives, our very way of life, our FUTURE! This is outrageously irresponsible and shows you are embedded with fossil-fuel corporations. No matter WHAT good you might have done/want to do, your outrageously corporate-embedded behavior on FRACKING and complete disregard for CLIMATE CHANGE make any support I might have offered you AN IMPOSSIBILITY.]
</b> </i>
<p>
<b>"The development of natural gas will create jobs and power trucks and factories that are cleaner and cheaper, proving that we don’t have to choose between our environment and our economy. And by the way, it was public research dollars, over the course of thirty years, that helped develop the technologies to extract all this natural gas out of shale rock -- reminding us that Government support is critical in helping businesses get new energy ideas off the ground."</B>
<p>
<i>But, lest we despair, the president is firmly committed to a regulatory system that really works:
</i>
<p>
"We've all paid the price for lenders who sold mortgages to people who couldn't afford them, and buyers who knew they couldn't afford them. That’s why <b>we need smart regulations to prevent irresponsible behavior. Rules to prevent financial fraud, or toxic dumping, or faulty medical devices, don't destroy the free market. They make the free market work better.</B>
<p>
"There is no question that some regulations are outdated, unnecessary, or too costly. In fact, I’ve approved fewer regulations in the first three years of my presidency than my Republican predecessor did in his. I’ve ordered every federal agency to <b>eliminate rules that don’t make sense. We've already announced over 500 reforms, and just a fraction of them will save business and citizens more than $10 billion over the next five years. . . . I will not back down from making sure an oil company can contain the kind of oil spill we saw in the Gulf two years ago. I will not back down from protecting our kids from mercury pollution, or making sure that our food is safe and our water is clean. </b>I will not go back to the days when health insurance companies had unchecked power to cancel your policy, deny you coverage, or charge women differently from men.
<p>
<b>"And I will not go back to the days when Wall Street was allowed to play by its own set of rules. . . . "
</b><p>
<i>Whew! What a relief, Mr. President! Thank you soooooooo much!
</i>
<p>
<i><b>For those of you who still believed Barack Obama was a decent human being who would stand up for the rights, health, and well-being of regular people versus corporate interests, I offer you my sympathies. I urge you to get active now that you realize there's nobody but you and the grassroots looking out for your interests.
<p>
Tbose who hoped Obama would eventually see the light have got to rethink. And we cannot simply say that "He's the best we've got, so let's support him."
<p>
I am feeling that I will put my energies behind STOPPING a presidential candidate who aligns so blatantly with Big Oil Big Gas Big Corporate Interests to the detriment of We the People. The corrupted U.S. two-party political system is bankrupt and spent. Perhaps you'll want to put your efforts elsewhere, my friends.MauraStephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06745564553424281263noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30871754.post-34830278543988249092012-01-23T11:47:00.001-08:002012-01-23T11:52:27.584-08:00Bill McKibben: Stop Playing Nice with ObamaWhy is environmental icon McKibben playing footsies with Barack Obama, a president clearly in deep with polluting corporations? Direct action by the people is the only potentially successful way forward. My piece in Counterpunch is at http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/01/23/mr-mckibben-take-heed/.MauraStephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06745564553424281263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30871754.post-14189421715685898982012-01-13T16:19:00.000-08:002012-01-17T14:52:29.275-08:00The American Lung Association in Bed with a Big Polluter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-R-3iBNNeIfnHRu8Pg3nlK0RNQjrSQ-c5yc96X_uPq0JxRYYSeSU8POXK5b4WGytuspfOXK8G5uzyzfOfiqlLP6H2iKN3Ej-IBA0dIeI2B0agCMoWKecRBqTkwh9WnSXn70AH/s1600/Encana+Logo" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="100" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-R-3iBNNeIfnHRu8Pg3nlK0RNQjrSQ-c5yc96X_uPq0JxRYYSeSU8POXK5b4WGytuspfOXK8G5uzyzfOfiqlLP6H2iKN3Ej-IBA0dIeI2B0agCMoWKecRBqTkwh9WnSXn70AH/s320/Encana+Logo" /></a></div>I just sent this letter off to the following people after learning that the American Lung Association Denver chapter is hosting a big fundraising event, <a href="http://www.lungusa.org/pledge-events/co/denver-climb-fy12/">Fight for Air Climb,</a> on February 26, that is <span style="font-weight: bold;">sponsored by Encana Oil & Gas!</span> I'm just disgusted.<br /><br />Please use these e-addresses to send your own thought to the ALA. Feel free to crib from this and/or follow all links.<br />Maura<br />----<br />To: Liz Toohey, American Lung Association Denver Director of Development, ltoohey@lungcolorado.org<br />cc: American Lung Association CEO Charles Dean Connor, esward@lungusa.org, charles.connor@lungusa.org; ALA Board President Albert A. Rizzo, MD (via fax to Pulmonary Associates, Newark, DE at 302-368-5515); ALA Board President Ross P. Lanzafame, Esq., rlanzafame@hselaw.com<br />Via fax to ALA headquarters at (212) 315-8870 for distribution to all board members<br /><br />Bcc: Shaleshock, Coalition to Protect New York, Interstate Coalition, and other grassroots activist groups<br />Posted on Facebook/Twitter<br />------------<br /><br />Dear Ms. Toohey, Mr. Connor, Dr. Rizzo, Mr. Lanzafame, and American Lung Association officers and directors,<br /><br />I was approached for support by a friend who is participating in the Fight for Air Climb in Denver, which led me to learn more about it. I am beyond appalled to discover that this event, supposedly promoting clean air and healthy lungs, is being sponsored by Encana Oil and Gas, one of the worst corporate polluters of air, water, and communities in the country.<br /><br />How greedy and stupid has the American Lung Association become? Would you also take money from RJ Reynolds? Have you grown so big and bureaucratic that you have lost all sight of your original vision and mission?<br /><br />It seems more important to raise money from corporate sponsors who actually contribute to the ill health of so many lungs, hearts, minds, and souls in this country.<br /><br />From your promotional materials, it is clear that the human participants who think they're doing something important and philanthropic are no more to you than "consumers," as witnessed in your slick pitch to potential corporate sponsors, who can "underscore [their] community commitment" by partnering with your organization at the same time they find new customers and attract new shareholders:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">The Fight for Air Climb participant represents the following demographics: 62% are female, 59% are between the ages of 24-44, 55% are married, 70% have a 4 year college degree or greater, 75% report a household income of $60,000 or greater, and 50( own their home. Further 76% are employed of which many are participating in corporate teams representing Colorado's largest employers. Sponsorship packages include many tangible and actionable rights and benefits that will provide our sponsors with the opportunity to:</span><br style="font-family: arial;"></span><ul style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><li><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">Connect with 3,000 climbers, family and friends plus an additional 300 volunteers</span></span></li><li><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">Achieve your marketing & communications objectives</span></span></li><li><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">Underscore your community commitment</span></span></li><li><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">Partner with the American Lung Association in Colorado, the nation's preeminent organization working to improve lung health. Attract customers & generate leads while engaging staff</span></span></li></ul>Your president and CEO Dr. Charles Dean Connor's own December 21, 2011 Huffington Post column is laudatory toward the Obama administration and the EPA for introducing new federal standards on toxic pollutants and mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. "Step forward and work to maximize the pollution reductions and do your fair share to help those that breathe the air downwind from your smokestacks," Connor urges power companies that have not yet complied. "No one wants to breathe your secondhand smog any more."<br /><br />The same is true for oil and gas companies. Dr. Connor and the American Lung Association should certainly know this. The American Lung Association's own Public Policy Position Paper on Energy, approved June 11, 2011, avers the following (paragraph 1):<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:85%;" >The American Lung Association believes that protection of lung health and a sound U.S. energy policy are compatible goals that require an emphasis on energy conservation, energy efficiency, and the use of cleaner energy resources, including a transition from coal and oil to cleaner alternatives. Our overarching principles call for the implementation of effective air quality programs and standards, transitioning to a clean energy future, with a commitment to promote environmental justice. </span><br /><br />What kind of clean energy future can there be when one of the nation's most respected and recognized health associations is in bed with a dirty oil and gas company such as Encana? How can there be environmental justice when such corporations are pillaging lands and communities in nearly 30 states via fracking for methane gas and drilling for oil in sensitive environments, endangering the health of humans, domestic animals, wildlife, and ecosystems?<br /><br />The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a <a href="http://www.epa.gov/region8/superfund/wy/pavillion/index.html">draft analysis</a> December 8, 2011 of the data from its investigation into the groundwater quality in the gas fields in and near Pavillion, Wyoming. Encana Oil and Gas conducted hydraulic fracturing there from 2004 to 2007 while developing new wells. “The draft report indicates that ground water in the aquifer contains compounds likely associated with gas production practices, including hydraulic fracturing,” the EPA wrote in its press release. The report proves that gas industry assertions that "there has never been an incident of groundwater contamination by fracking" are, at best, obfuscating and misleading. At worst -- and to those of us who have studied the industry for some time, more likely -- outright lies.<br /><br />In June 2008 the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance called EnCana the worst of the oil and gas companies operating in Wyoming:<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 102, 0); font-style: italic;">The Worst of the Bad Actors</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0); font-style: italic;"><br style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0); font-style: italic;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0); font-style: italic;">This list is ranked beginning with the worst. These are the companies that, due to their abysmal track record in Wyoming, have the greatest potential for improvement.</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0); font-style: italic;"><br style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0); font-style: italic;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0); font-style: italic;">1. EnCana</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0); font-style: italic;"><br style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0); font-style: italic;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0); font-style: italic;">–EnCana’s activities have become a poster-child for irresponsible development. In the Upper Green River Valley’s Jonah Field, EnCana initially drilled 16 wells per square mile, at the time the worst project of the last several decades. Then this Canadian gas giant sought – and got – permission to drill an additional 3,100 wells in the field at densities from 64 to 128 well sites per square mile. When completed, the well pads will extend almost unbroken by native vegetation across 33,000 acres of public land, and they’re now expanding from this initial area. EnCana officials dishonestly claimed that directional drilling wasn’t possible in the Jonah Field, even though more than 140 directional wells have been drilled in this field. EnCana also holds leases inside the Adobe Town proposed wilderness and is pursuing drilling there. To top it all off, EnCana’s oil and gas wells have caused groundwater contamination problems in the Pavillion area of the Wind River Basin.</span></span><br /><br />You make a travesty of the good work done by many people in your organization when you choose to partner with a notorious member of the most polluting industry on earth -- an industry that through corruption of our legislative, judicial, and executive branches of government made itself exempt from such environmental and health regulations as the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and the Superfund laws.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The problem is bigger than just Encana,</span> however.<br /><br />The American Lung Association obviously took an early stance on the subject of "natural" gas extraction. I hope that this is so -- that the ALA had not<br /><ul><li>seen the documentary films <span style="font-style: italic;">Split Estate</span> or <span style="font-style: italic;">Gasland </span>or <span style="font-style: italic;">All Fracked Up,</span> or </li><li>read any of Dr. Theo Colborn's shocking work on the horrific numbers of endocrine disruptors, carcinogens, and neurotoxins used in hydrofracking, or </li><li>learned of the naturally occurring radioactive materials and heavy metals and VOCs that come up with the millions of gallons of permanently poisoned wastewater that are a byproduct of fracking, or</li><li>read any of the other volumes of information that have been coming to light over the past couple of years,</li></ul>-- and thus had no idea of the dangers of hydrofracking when it declared in the same June 2011 energy policy paper:<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-style: italic;">The American Lung Association supports public policies to minimize the human health, particularly lung health, impacts associated with the production of heat for residential, commercial, and industrial use, including impacts from fuel extraction to the disposal of wastes. The American Lung Association supports regulation and enforcement to protect the air, water and other environmental resources during the exploration, extraction, production and transmission of natural gas, propane, and oil. The American Lung Association supports programs and policies to assist communities and individuals to reduce their exposure to indoor and outdoor air pollutants and to reduce their energy use. </span></span><br /><br />This indicates to me that you do not understand that a filthy fossil fuel extraction and transportation industry cannot be regulated well. And even if it could, it has made itself exempt from regulation! Surely with the number of terminal-degreed people on your staff and board, you can see that quite clearly.<br /><br />AND THEN, again in the same document, you write:<br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:85%;" >The American Lung Association supports the expanded use of natural gas, and propane where natural gas is not available, for heating residential and commercial buildings, as a less polluting alternative to oil and other fossil fuels. </span><br /><br />Perhaps at the time you wrote that, you were unaware of the peer-reviewed Robert Howarth, Ph.D. study out of Cornell University in which the researchers determined that the entire cradle-to-grave process of fracking for "natural" gas is as bad or worse a contributor to greenhouse gas emissions than even oil or coal extraction (findings that were corroborated by two subsequent peer-reviewed studies).<br /><br />I certainly hope so. I certainly hope that an august body such as your board of directors will look again at this terrible energy policy and rethink your recommendations. You should be running like mad away from the destructive, criminal practice of fracking, not embracing it and those who foist it upon a nearly helpless public and the totally helpless natural world.<br /><br />I plan to share this letter widely via my many list serves and via social media, including the Coalition to Protect New York and interstate groups working to outlaw fracking before it perpetrates further harm on nature, communities, water supplies, air quality, croplands and food supply, properties, and our own lungs and other necessary body parts.<br /><br />I hope to hear that ALA Denver and other ALA chapters decide that it is not worth it to accept blood money from a polluting company or industry that works in direct opposition to the ALA's stated values and mission. Doing so mocks the trusting people who work hard on behalf of ALA and sullies your reputation.<br /><br />I eagerly await your response.<br /><br />Maura Stephens<br /><br />PO Box 403<br />Spencer NY 14883<br />607-274-3829 office<br />607-351-3766 mobile<br />maura@coalitiontoprotectnewyork.org<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Reference/a very short list of suggested further readings (happy to provide more if you request): </span><br /> "Methane contamination of drinking water accompanying gas-well drilling and hydraulic fracturing" (the "Duke study") by Osborn, SG, A Vengosh, NR Warner, RB Jackson. 2011, and related links therefrom (attached in PDF format)<br /><a href="http://cogcc.state.co.us/Library/PiceanceBasin/WestDivide4_14_04summary.htm">"West Divide Gas Seep"</a> (4/14/04). Extract: Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission fined Encana Oil and Gas $371,200 (a record) for contaminating water supplies in West Divide Creek, Colorado. COGCC found methane, benzene, toluene, and m,p xylenes in water wells, and said Encana "inadequately cemented the well."<br /><a href="http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_15918344">"Encana fined over harms to protected birds"</a> (Denver Post, 8/28/2010). Extract: Encana fined the maximum fine of $15,000 for each of two counts plus $170,000 in community service payments for violating the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act in Colorado and Wyoming, killing 55 protected birds including waterfowl and owls, at its uncovered "natural" gas well reserve pits and wastewater storage facilities in Colorado's Piceance Basin and in Sweetwater, Sublette and Lincoln counties in Wyoming.<br /><a href="http://www.postindependent.com/article/20081009/VALLEYNEWS/810089977/1065&parentprofile=1074&title=13,692%20gallons%20of%20produced%20water%20spilled">"$13,692 gallons of 'produced water' spilled"</a> in Mamm Creek. Extract: Encana said it was from a pipeline rupture. Teh water traveled about a half mile before entering the creek (Glenwood Springs Post Independent, October 9, 2008)<br /><a href="http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20081111/NEWS/811119991/1002/NONE&parentprofile=1058&title=Methane%20increasing%20in%20water%20wells%20near%20Silt,%20Rifle,%20consultant%20says">"Methane increasing in water wells near Silt, Rifle, consultant says."</a> Extract: Analysis of 700 water samples from 100 water wells and other water sources shows increased methane, which seem to be related to the 1,000 gas wells in the area.</rlanzafame@hselaw.com></esward@lungusa.org></ltoohey@lungcolorado.org>MauraStephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06745564553424281263noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30871754.post-53384986849486702672011-12-02T10:55:00.001-08:002011-12-02T13:22:41.552-08:00A Wakeup Call for PDP BurmaI received a rather crazy missive from the Parliamentary Democracy Party this week. It claimed that on 11-11-11 the PDP received a visitor from three astrologers. These three "seers," said PDP, received a visit from the spirit of the slain Burmese democracy leader General Aung San, father of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. General Aung San's spirit ostensibly told them her daughter has "dishonour[ed] the revolution and my legacy, but my Higher Guardian Angles [sic] will not let her succeed."<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbE8KWsZCsvsEua3TrHbl2GsDpabyNb8NqIqXLynPnz1Mjlx5XkdtTV9odovEOcYaw-wJGKABfOWwYiUt8H-7KLnUBsuvGS7A8tdLBxCUagJjvteBaas73gLDJ1SJ4HH-YkR_t/s1600/ASSK+std+on+light+green" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbE8KWsZCsvsEua3TrHbl2GsDpabyNb8NqIqXLynPnz1Mjlx5XkdtTV9odovEOcYaw-wJGKABfOWwYiUt8H-7KLnUBsuvGS7A8tdLBxCUagJjvteBaas73gLDJ1SJ4HH-YkR_t/s1600/ASSK+std+on+light+green" /></a></div>
<br />If this is the kind of nonsense it is spreading, the PDP has become a sexist, racist sham of a political party. To my Burmese friends, I say: Let's tell them we no longer wish to receive warmongering missives like this. Tell them they cannot speak for the spirit of Aung San, and it is preposterous to claim that they do so. <br /><br />I became involved in the struggle for Burmese freedom and democracy because I wanted to help a loving and inclusive people break the chains of tyranny, bigotry, hatred, and usurpation of their human rights. I do not wish to be subjected to vicious, divisive, non-constructive diatribes, from the military thugs or anyone who purports to want justice, equity, freedom, and inclusive democracy. <br /><br />PDP: If you have something to say specifically, come out and say it. Don't blame Aung San Suu Kyi simply for existing, or for attempting to find some way forward to a sustainable future for Burma and its beleaguered people.<br />
<br />
Anyone who tries to build bridges can and will surely be accused of selling out one side or the other. I know from much experience that it is vastly more difficult to work toward understanding and cooperation than it is to stand rigidly on one's own side, unbudging, unyielding, and doomed to perpetual misery, violence, or subjugation.<br /><br />Things change. We must be flexible to change along with the tides, and not drown for stubbornness because we refuse to move as the tide laps at our nostrils. Change is difficult. Democracy is difficult and messy. Getting along with others is hard; ask any kid in a playground.<br /><br />I spent many years fighting against hatred, bigotry, and desperate suppression in Northern Ireland. Much of the ongoing violence was fueled by generations of people who could not relinquish their bitterness against one another's forebears or put aside their thirst for vengeance. This carried on for several generations, and it still lingers. Many, many people suffered and died because the sides could not find common ground. And that was in a country of only two groups divided by religion and economic power -- not nearly as complex a population as that of Burma, with its more than 100 ethnicities!<br /><br />It is easy to become choked by acrimony and animosity. If we cannot find it in our hearts to look forward with hope, remembering and learning from but not dwelling on others' sins of the past, we will never find the way to a free, fair, just, and democratic Burma.<br /><br />I hope, PDP people, that you can find it in your hearts to begin planning for a positive and inclusive future for Burma and its people, both men and women, and all ethnicities. The people of Burma deserve nothing less than your generosity of spirit; a long-term, far-reaching vision for the sustainable yet prosperous country Burma could be someday; and your willingness to work hard to ensure that it so becomes. And please stop claiming you or your friends speak to the dead. That's just wrong.<br /><br /><b>Maura Stephens</b><br />friend of the Burmese people<br /><i>formerly with <br />the International Campaign for Freedom of Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma</i>MauraStephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06745564553424281263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30871754.post-48482714021624898852011-11-14T18:49:00.001-08:002011-11-14T18:52:16.280-08:00DEC: Inergy LPG Storage in Salt Caverns Is Insane. Say No.<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
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</style><i>Today was the deadline to comment to the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation on the p<span style="color: windowtext;">roposed Inergy, Corp. liquefied petroleum gas storage in salt caverns in Reading, New York, just north of Watkins Glen on beautiful, vineyard-encircled Seneca Lake. This is what I wrote to the DEC about its facility ID 8-4432-00085. I am not as polite as most of those who wrote. That's because I'm mad as hell. You should be, too.</span></i>
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I could give numerous
scientific reasons that permitting the LPG storage facility in salt mines in
Reading (or anywhere else in the Finger Lakes) will cause environmental damage.
Many others have submitted such comments as to why the DEC’s EIS for LPG
storage in salt mines in Reading is grossly inadequate, why we are aware and
disgusted that the only real benefits will go to Inergy, related industries,
and to the government and regulatory officials in their pockets, and why we are
aware and disgusted that We the People who live in the region will pay dearly
without receiving any recompense for our immeasurable and irreconcilable losses.</div>
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Others have written about how
our existing tourism, wine, outdoor recreation, and real estate businesses
would collapse with the permitting of poisoning by Inergy and related
industries. </div>
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You have had an earful about
how the noise, traffic, and clogged air would affect our lives and health—and
surely your own, even very basic, research would have confirmed this.</div>
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You already know that LPG
storage facilities cause sicknesses and even death of plant and animal life—and
probably of people (as well as existing businesses). </div>
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You know, too, that there will
be few jobs gained, if any. It is in fact more likely that Inergy’s LPG storage
facility would lead to job <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">loss,</i>
considering that existing businesses will be forced to downsize or close as
tourism and crop purity are destroyed.</div>
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You have heard firsthand from homeowners
who are selling their homes and escaping, or at the very least delaying planned
home building or home-improvement projects. You have heard of how prospective
buyers are looking elsewhere because nobody in her right mind wants to live
near or be forced to travel by a gas storage and transport facility. </div>
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Surely it is clear to you that
lower property values will have an overall terrible effect on Schuyler County’s
property tax base, which in turn will cause neighboring counties’ properties
and tax bases to weaken</div>
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You must admit, sir, that the
DEC is hamstrung and grossly understaffed. It does not have the power to
enforce regulations, even if regulations had any meaning. But they don’t, and
that is the primary purpose of this letter.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This Company Is . . . Let’s Just Say,
Not One to Write Home About</span></b></div>
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Surely it is clear to anyone
with half a a brain that once Inergy gets this facility in place, it will
quickly expand to the other salt caverns around Seneca Lake, and thence to the
many caverns around Cayuga and the other Finger Lakes. That will destroy
everything valuable about this region as a place to live and raise a family, a
vacation destination, a business community, and the precious ecosystems and
waterways on which life depends.</div>
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I’m not sure that anyone has yet
brought up the fact that Inergy, like all fossil-fuel corporations (indeed,
like all corporations), has one mission and one mission only: to make money. </div>
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That money is often made at the
expense of people’s livelihoods, property, health, and lives. And the
corporation often lies to get its way. Which is exactly what is happening here,
with Inergy.</div>
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Inergy has, preposterously,
claimed that its executives and staff are “locals” who “care about” Seneca
Lake. That is an outright lie. Almost all, and certainly the highest-paid ones,
are from out of state, as several of us have learned from these individuals
themselves. So that argument must be publicly refuted and called out for the
lie it is. DEC and the media “reporting” on this issue should already be doing
that consistently. </div>
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You and the media should also be seriously
questioning why (a) Inergy relies on the 1992 GEIS, which does not even deal
with LPG storage in salt mines, for information in its proposal; (b) the
company was <a href="http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/settlements/11356/inergy-propane-price-gouging.html">sued
by Michigan Attorney General</a> in 2008 for price gouging (and settled by
refunding the overcharges to customers); (c) the company has no ties to this
region; (d) the company has been caught in numerous lies and
misrepresentations, yet Reading and Schuyler County officials seem to find
these all just fine. <span style="font-size: 16pt;"></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">We’re Not Fooled: This Gas Is Not for
Domestic Use</span></b></div>
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Inergy is attempting to pull a
bait-and-switch by telling people in this region that its desire is to “store
heating fuel here so that we can provide local residents with cheaper fuel
during winter months, when prices are higher.” </div>
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That, too, is an outright lie.
Inergy will sell to the highest bidder because that is its mission: to make
money. It would be following in the footsteps of countless fossil fuel
corporations that have lied to convince the public, regulators, and legislators
that they intend to keep their domestically extracted product in the USA (it’s
so “patriotic” and will make us “energy independent” and get us off “foreign
fuels”). They are granted permits to poison here, and then turn around to sell
their products abroad, where the best prices can be met. </div>
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Waterborne Energy, Inc., in its LPG Report dated 3
June 2010, says, “On an annualized basis, there were 30.208mmbbls exported
during calendar year 2009. Through June 2010 there have been 17.145mmbbls
exported – or 56% of the overall total achieved last year. If the year-to-date
July figures are included the percentage rises to 61%. The vast majority of the
exports is clearly propane, of which there have been 16.6mmbbls removed from
domestic inventories. This compares to the total propane volume exported last
year, which was 25.4mmbbls.”</div>
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Pervin & Gertz, Inc., “international energy
consultants,” reported in its 2010 Latin American LPG Seminar, held in Chile
November 15-18, 2010, that “In fact, LPG exports from Houston to Latin America
have grown each of the past 3 years and volumes appear to be on track to reach
a modern day record in 2010. This situation has had repercussions in the U.S.
propane market, with pre-winter inventory levels running far below
average. Ultimately, we expect these conditions to strengthen propane
prices in the U.S. This scenario would trigger higher prices throughout
most of Latin America, particularly in un-subsidized markets reliant on propane
imports.”</div>
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Coastal Caverns, Inc. (CCI), a wholly-owned
subsidiary of the Vitol Group, announced on July 5, 2011, its plans to develop
a new propane export facility in conjunction with its in-development LPG
storage operation in <span class="xn-location">Beaumont, Texas</span>. It will
include storage capacity for up to six million barrels of domestic and international
grade propane as well as a processing facility capable of handling as much as
100,000 bbls per day. The project will be designed to ultimately treat and
export up to 3 million tons of propane per year. <span style="color: #000081;"></span></div>
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Most recently, three weeks ago,
BG Group signed a 20-year, $8 billion agreement with Houston-based Cheniere
Energy to export LNG. </div>
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So much for “clean, patriotic,
domestic energy” serving the U.S. market. We know that’s hogwash, as are the
claims of Inergy and others that LPG storage is completely unrelated to
fracking for “natural” gas in our region. </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Part of a Much Bigger Industry That
Will Destroy New York State Permanently</span></b></div>
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We know that propane is found
in Marcellus shale gas south and west of us, and we know that the gas needs to
be refined to separate the propane from the methane and butane. That requires
refineries—more industrialization. </div>
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Once the door is open to this
destructive industry, there will be no shutting it. </div>
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That is not acceptable. We are
not willing to be collateral damage to serve the interests of a few corporate
fat cats and the politicians with whom they are colluding. </div>
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The people who work for the
DEC, like those who work for regulatory agencies of every description in the
United States, no doubt mean well and have good intentions. But you have been
rendered powerless by a political system that does not see value in regulating
industry to protect people and nature.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Impotent Regulatory System</span></b></div>
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DEC is virtually powerless. Why
would any sane people trust that a powerless agency can protect us from
corporate harm, that you even could protect our environment and nature from
corporate damage, or that you could possibly “mitigate” the harm once we have
been contaminated—which we surely would be if this LPG storage facility and the
subsequent industrial expansion come to New York State? </div>
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You are not God; you cannot
make pure something that has been permanently poisoned. You cannot restore a
bucolic, beautiful, peaceful way of life once it has been destroyed by a
heartless, soulless industry. You cannot make dead fish and aquatic creatures
come back to life. You cannot remove benzene, or methane, or toluene or xylene
or hydrochloric acid—or radium, or a mixture of the above—from our drinking
water and croplands.</div>
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Lest you accuse me of hysteria,
I will point out that I am a journalist with 33 years of experience
investigating, among other things, environmental and business issues. I did
graduate work in botany and horticulture, and I am a long-time organic farmer.
I am not given to hyperbole. Every thing I have predicted in this fracking
fight so far has come true. I smelled this Inergy rat the minute it announced
itself in Reading. </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The Role of the DEC</span></b></div>
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I love the Finger Lakes and New
York State, and I will not stand by and see it destroyed by wanton corporations
given free rein to rape and pillage at will. Nor will the tens of thousands of
people who have joined actively in antifracking movement across the state, from
Shelter Island to Niagara Falls.</div>
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I do not agree with some
leaders in the fight against this destructive industry that an independent Qualitative
and Quantitative Risk Analysis (QRA) is in order. The only thing in order, in
my mind, is a total ban on use of the Finger Lakes or any critical watershed as
storage of highly toxic materials. A potent and on-task environmental regulatory
agency would be fighting for this right up front, no matter the odds.
Unfortunately, the DEC charge of fostering “natural resources” development is
directly at odds with its charge of protecting the environment, and your
conflicted mission inevitably causes harm to the latter. </div>
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Yet your goals statement does
say the DEC pursues “environmental quality, public health, economic prosperity
and social well-being, including environmental justice and the empowerment of
individuals to participate in environmental decisions that affect their lives.”</div>
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Now, that’s more like it. If
you start toward this goal, you will inevitably listen to us and say a
resounding No to the Inergy proposal. </div>
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If you do not, the people cannot
stand for the degradation of our home, and there is no time like the present to
make some serious changes in the way business is conducted in New York State.
We are fighting for our way of life here. We are fighting for our
future. There is tremendous power in people when so much is at stake. I
sincerely hope the DEC will be on the side of the environment and
environmental justice, as your website proclaims you are. If not, well, I guess it's up to us, then.</div>
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<br /></div>MauraStephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06745564553424281263noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30871754.post-59315755222233863972011-11-10T12:10:00.000-08:002011-11-10T12:19:20.040-08:00Great Investigative Journalism Work You MUST ViewOur neighbors in Tonawanda, on the Niagara River in western New York State just south of Buffalo, were being poisoned for decades by a company that, unlike the gas/oil industry, does not enjoy exemptions from clean water, clean air, and toxic waste laws and other regulations set in place to protect our environment and health. <br /><br />For many years regulatory agencies DEC (NYS) and EPA (federal) ignored residents' complaints of foul air and physical ailments, outrageously high rates of cancer and other diseases, and <span style="font-weight:bold;">benzene levels 500 times higher</span> than what is considered the highest acceptable level in state guidelines. Not only benzene, but other highly toxic chemicals were being released over decades into the air and water by a company called Tonawanda Coke Corporation. (No doubt others of the 50 or so industrial polluters that have PERMITS in Tonawanda contributed even more.)<br /><br />From the piece:<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Joe Martens, commissioner of New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation, defended the record of his agency, which eventually set up high-tech air quality monitors that documented extremely elevated benzene levels, leading to the enforcement actions. But he said such sophisticated equipment had not been available previously. So state officials had no way of knowing about the benzene, formaldehyde, and other toxic emissions seeping from leaks in equipment and piping at the plant, Martens said. “Hazardous air pollutants are difficult to detect. We didn’t have the equipment to do the type of detection — you know, police work — that EPA was able to do” later.</span><br /><br />After reading this, what kind of idiot would say, "Hey, sure the DEC and DEP and EPA will protect us from being poisoned by industry"? Ask the people of Tonawanda, many of whom have become very sick and some of whom have died because of the toxins dumped on them by this single iron-smelting factory. <br /><br />Yet we are to trust that the DEC and other flaccid regulatory agencies will protect us from Big Gas and related industries and their fracking and related machines and poisons? No way, Jose! <br /><br />We must tell the DEC and the governor that <span style="font-weight:bold;">no amount of regulation is acceptable.</span> DEC (and DEP and other states' agencies) <span style="font-weight:bold;">regulations are not acceptable.</span> <span style="font-weight:bold;">Only a full and total ban on industrial poisoning from fracking and other industries is acceptable. </span><br /><br />Read the great investigative piece on Tonawanda citizens who fought back against the polluting company, which was finally charged in criminal court -- because <span style="font-weight:bold;">poisoning us and our communities IS A CRIME and thus should be in the criminal code. </span>E<span style="font-weight:bold;">very one of the corporate officers and senior staff should serve serious jail time and pay heavy financial damages to those they poisoned.</span> Not that any amount of money could restore the poisoned people's lives or adequately compensate for their losses.<br /><br />This piece is part of a <a href="http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/11/03/7274/about-project">fine, scary, and eye-opening new series</a> by the Center for Public Integrity in concert with Slate and NPR, called "Poisoned Places." <br /><span style="font-style:italic;"> From "About the series": <br /><span style="font-style:italic;">As often happens during in-depth investigations — an unexpected discovery. Reporters learned that the EPA maintains a “watch list” that includes serious or chronic Clean Air Act violators that have not been subject to timely enforcement. Two versions of the internal list, never previously made public, were obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. (More about the watch list <a href="http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/11/03/7280/epas-internal-clear-air-act-watch-list">here</a>.)</span></span><br /><br />Congratulations to the investigators, researchers, writers, editors, publishers, and funder of these important pieces. May they awaken people to the dangers we face and help them force change to protect and sustain the places we live, the air we breathe, and the lives we hope to continue leading.MauraStephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06745564553424281263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30871754.post-39672644624550516972011-10-20T12:33:00.000-07:002011-10-25T12:54:27.859-07:00For a Favorite FoolA friend was laid to rest today.<br /><br />He was a dancer<br />and fellow thespian<br />a dear, kind man.<br /><br />He’d been the Scottish king <br />thrice (once versus <br />my half Lady<br />— that’s a long tale).<br /><br />He’d played many a part<br />Mostly Shakespearean<br />and mostly the fool —<br />his favorite!<br /><br />His even better role <br />was as<br />husband and father<br />to his lovely girls<br /><br />Gorgeous loving brave wife<br />Two fine daughters<br />Each of them to die for<br />and he would have.<br /><br />His passing<br />was not sudden<br />for our friends <br />who had stayed close.<br /><br />For me <br />It was lightning<br />We hadn’t been <br />in touch of late.<br /><br />Bob’s funeral<br />today<br />was mobbed<br />with friends <br />and colleagues<br />from all walks <br />of his many-pathed life<br />— human services<br />theater<br />dance<br />music<br />comedy . . . <br /><br />Clowning Bob,<br />Funny fool, <br />Laughing lad!<br />So beloved<br />by so many.<br /><br />Can you really, <br />truly be gone?<br /><br />No, of course not.<br />You are here<br />Large as life.<br />In our hearts<br />if not still<br />in your kitchen<br />at our tables<br />on our stages.<br /><br />We know your tricks.<br />You can’t fool us!<br />But it was <br />a nice try. :^)<br /><br /><br />Ciao <br />for now, <br />Bob DeLuca.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">--October 20, 2011, Ithaca, New York USA</span>MauraStephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06745564553424281263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30871754.post-60615646721778139672011-06-30T14:49:00.000-07:002011-06-30T16:11:25.375-07:00An URGENT Open Letter to NYS Governor Andrew CuomoActual posting time is 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 30, 2011. Something is wrong with the blogger clock/calendar.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">This posting is appearing in Alternet and other publications. Urgency dicatated that I post it online immediately so people can bombard Cuomo with calls and e-mails expressing their [fill in your own word: fury, disappointment, anguish, disgust, heartbreak, terror, determination to fight harder and elect people who will protect our rights to clean air, clean water, safe food supplies, decent communities, and our rights to NOT BE POISONED . . .]</span><br /><br />Dear Governor Cuomo,<br /><br />We just got word that you're lifting the fracking moratorium in the New York City and Syracuse watersheds. I'm almost apoplectic from shock, anger, grief, and terror.<br /><br />A former farmer and trained environmentalist, researcher, and independent journalist, I have spent much of the last three years learning and writing about fracking. I am a cofounder of the Coalition to Protect New York, among other actively engaged organizations working to ban fracking in our state and elsewhere. <br /><br />We do not trust the Department of Environmental Conservation to get things right on fracking. Even if it were a reliable and trustworthy agency, the DEC’s budget has been cut so drastically and its workforce decimated to the point that it’s virtually hamstrung. <br /><br />We do not trust — nor should any sensible, informed citizen or legislator trust — corporate-bought politicians and corporate "scientists."<br /><br />For the moment we must trust that you are not among that group and that you truly want to do what is right for New York State. <br /><br />In these tough economic, energy, and environmental times it will take a visionary, forward-thinking leader to bring the state into the future with an innovative energy/jobs/climate-change-effects-lessening plan. <br /><br />You could be that leader if you have the desire and political will to do so. <br /><br />It appears you have decided to lift the moratorium for the state outside the New York City watershed (because Wall Street traders, corporate tycoons and big bankers live downstate) and Syracuse watershed (tossing a bone to the rest of the state, according to cynics), while throwing the rest of us to the wolves. <br /><br />This means you think of the rest of the state’s residents and environment as expendable. <br /><br />You may be committing political suicide.<br /><br />Many millions of New Yorkers now know what is at stake with fracking, and more are coming to that understanding daily as they learn of its ills in other places. <br /><br />That speaks to the dedication of my fellow antifracking activists, who are fighting an industry that can without blinking an eye drop $150 million or more yearly to hoodwink the public and lobby legislators with false propaganda. Their ads claim that “natural” gas is “clean, safe, domestic, and patriotic.” And that it’s an economic panacea for struggling workers whose jobs have been eliminated or sent abroad.<br /><br />Which, as you surely know, are all false claims.<br /><br />Governor, you should quickly reconsider lifting the moratorium. The only sensible, responsible, long-term response to the devastating practice of fracking (a response that would also greatly offset our economic woes) is to <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">1) </span>immediately institute a statewide fracking ban (New Jersey’s legislature just passed one; it’s waiting for Governor Christie’s signature, which is probably not forthcoming; but you could be the first);<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">2) </span>invest in wide-scale updating and reinforcing of infrastructures and in conservation/energy-efficiency rehabilitating existing public and private buildings and homes;<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">3) </span>commit to the building and maintenance of long-term energy-efficient public transportation and codify mandatory greater fuel efficiency in all private and public large, small, agricultural, and industrial vehicles;<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">4) </span>invest in research, development and implementation of renewable, sustainable neighborhood- and local-based energy systems, and write and enforce laws mandating the phase-out of all fossil-fuel based systems;<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">5) </span>protect and keep public all drinking water supplies; <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">6) </span>promote and foster healthful, organic agriculture and food distribution models; and<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">7) </span>invest in public education programs about conservation, the reduction of energy consumption, and about renewable energy strategies.<br /><br />Following such a plan would save money through conservation. It would reduce our need for and dependence on fossil fuels (which dependence, as you know, is unsustainable, even in the short term). It would also create plenty of safer, stabler, longer-term jobs, as the “green” sector expands with innovative new projects. <br /><br />Perhaps most important, it would help stave off further hastening of catastrophic climate change and leave a legacy of forward-thinking and sustainability — rather than one of industrialization and ruination of lives, communities, and food and water supplies.<br /><br />Fracking is the single most important issue facing New Yorkers. It will add water-pollution, air-pollution, and food toxicity illnesses, generate injuries to workers and others, and thereby increase our health care costs. <br /><br />It will cause property damage and drain our communities of tax revenues that will need to be used to repair roads and bridges damaged by the thousand of trucks it takes to provision a frack well and remove the millions of gallons of contaminated waste generated by each well. <br /><br />It contributes to greenhouse gases and global climate change and the increasingly commonplace whacky weather patterns we are seeing in New York and elsewhere. It will kill our tourism, outdoor adventuring, and agriculture and vineyards enterprises around the state—which would constitute economic suicide. Those industries combined bring in about $2.2 billion annually and provide 515,000 jobs (and will likely grow as neighboring Pennsylvania’s hunting, fishing, agriculture, and tourism sicken and die of fracking-related causes). <br /><br />We must not allow the progress we have made these last few decades on the clean air/clean water/safe food to be wiped out via one destructive industry, nor allow our bucolic state to be turned into an industrial wasteland. <br /><br />Because, mark my words, that is what fracking will do to New York should your permits go through. <br /><br />New York is “Fracking Ground Zero.” People in fracked states are looking to us for leadership, begging New Yorkers to stop the madness before it takes hold here. They do not want us to be poisoned, and they also want us to then help them stop the industrialization and maybe help reverse some of the damages (although, alas, it is too late for many of these states, and huge swaths of land as well as people’s health and properties are beyond reclamation) of their communities.<br /><br />Governor Cuomo, I urge you to be the leader New Yorkers need — and in whom they put their faith in when casting their votes. <br /><br />Do not succumb to industry/Wall Street pressure. Do not put profits before our health. Do not gamble with our lives. <br /><br />This is a make-or-break issue for me, my family, and the many organizations to which I belong and which I have founded or cofounded. We are making this the top priority in our lives and in our daily and many political actions. We feel we are fighting for our way of life — indeed, for our very lives. We want you to be equally committed to saving what is precious and irreplaceable. <br /><br />Please invite us to consult with you if your information is leading you to lift the moratorium. We are informed. We are knowledgeable. We are farsighted. <br /><br />We are taxpaying scientists, medical doctors and practitioners from many fields (oncology, pulmonology, pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology, physiatry, endocrinology, and psychiatry), farmers, water quality specialists, hazardous materials experts, teachers, entrepreneurs, businesspeople, writers, artists, homeowners, renters, teens, college students, parents, grandparents, voters.<br /><br />We will help you understand that fracking risks are far too great, too widespread, too permanent, too irremediable, too suicidal on so many fronts. <br /><br />We are also motivated. There’s nothing that pulls people off their couches like a threat to their kids' health and their property values. We will not allow ourselves to be used as lab rats, cannon fodder, or "collateral damage." <br /><br />So you can be sure that we will not stop fighting for a ban. We hope you will do the right thing and push for a total ban on fracking in New York State. <br /><br />And Governor, please make the decision quickly. We have all lost countless hours to this fight — and countless hours of sleep to our deep and very real fears of what fracking will do to our future, and our children’s — and we would like to go back to being productive rather than reactive. Our reinvigoration and productivity will also help the troubled economy, about which you might be losing a lot of sleep as well. <br /><br />We are also willing to sit on an advisory board to help you put the positive sustainability/conservation work mentioned above in place. Just ask us. <br /><br />My family, friends, colleagues, fellow activists and I look forward to your response.<br /><br />Signed,<br /><br />Maura Stephens<br />Tioga County, NY<br /><br />Maura Stephens is an independent journalist and cofounding member of the <a href="http://www.coalitiontoprotectnewyork.org">Coalition to Protect New York</a> and other groups. She writes frequently about fracking and other environmental and energy issues. To contact New York Governor Andrew Cuomo: <a href="http://www.governor.ny.gov/contact/GovernorContactForm.php">http://www.governor.ny.gov/contact/GovernorContactForm.php</a>; (518) 474-8390. Let him know you're outraged and you think fracking is the most important issue facing us -- and what his actions will mean for your future votes and support. And then really get involved. Join an antifracking group and become an activist. Growing our numbers and our outrage will help fuel a mass movement -- the only force that is going to save everything we care about from greedy corporate destruction.MauraStephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06745564553424281263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30871754.post-18403422552978277392011-02-02T13:34:00.000-08:002011-02-02T14:51:09.326-08:00"People are awesome," yes, and . . .Someone sent me a link to this amazing video of people doing all sorts of crazy athletic (or just plain crazy) stunts. Check it out; it's a few minutes long but very compelling.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.videobash.com/video_show/people-are-awesome-5962">http://www.videobash.com/video_show/people-are-awesome-5962</a><br /><br />This filled me with admiration in some ways. For example, can you imagine what kinds of fears people overcame to do some of these stunts? How many bruises, sprains, gashes, breaks, cuts, fractures, and PAIN some of them suffered in pursuit of their goal,? Yet still they kept at it until they succeeded. Such determination, patience, dedication, resolve, endurance. <br /><br />Power to them. <br /><br />Yet I couldn't help thinking about how many people worldwide are living on too-few calories a day or don't have access to potable water. Without nutrition and hydration, even many young people who should be in the prime of life are unable even to crawl a few hundred feet -- that would be their death-defying stunt. <br /><br />It must be nice to be both free and well-nurtured enough (and in many cases, rich enough) to engage in pursuits such as those demonstrated in the video. <br /><br />If these people were a tenth as dedicated to making the world a better place as they are to pushing themselves to the height of physical prowess (and self-glorification), we'd have a much more egalitarian society. There'd be less governmental and corporate abuse of power, more jobs, stronger communities, less environmental degradation, less stress, more economic opportunity, and more concern for one another's well being. <br /> <br />Watching this video reminds me, too, of the clever hackers who are so good at messing up people's personal computers (which can in turn mess up people's personal lives pretty badly). <br /><br />If only these smart s^*#heads would put their brains and talents into doing something for the common good. Some of them are smart enough, I've no doubt (especially if they put their heads together with others of similar bent), to figure out a way, say . . .<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">for ivory poachers to make a living doing something less murderous but equally lucrative, or <br />to create a community wind farm in a town that's getting overrun by gas drilling or coal mining operations -- thereby negating the community's ostensible need for fossil fuels, or <br />to build a village water well for a place that has none, or <br />to fund a children's vaccination program, or <br />. . . who knows, to find a cure for diabetes, or bronchitis, or asthma, or cancer. </span><br /><br />We need to tell young people there is glory in <span style="font-style:italic;">that</span> kind of work, not just in ten minutes of fame on YouTube (even if it gets a million hits). Glory doesn't come only from appearing on <span style="font-style:italic;">American Idol</span> or being the next big mini-star on Facebook. <br /><br />In short, it can't be all about ME. It's got to be about US. Or we really won't make it at all.<br /><br />Not to be a bummer. The video is still fun to watch.MauraStephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06745564553424281263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30871754.post-14063792187286541822011-02-02T09:17:00.000-08:002011-02-02T09:26:11.304-08:00George Sapioisms 1Living with the creative, brilliant, often hysterically funny George Sapio is never dull. Believe me! <br /><br />I've just started doing something I should have begun years ago, which is recording some of his verbal gems. <br />Here's the first installment:<br /><br /><br />The milk of human kindness either has gone sour or is chock full of hormones.<br />— George Sapio, 1 February 2011, Ithaca New York USAMauraStephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06745564553424281263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30871754.post-65920190196556294412010-06-23T12:27:00.000-07:002010-07-05T12:41:56.721-07:00Press Release re CPNY: Coalition forms on Marcellus shale gas drilling in NYSJoint Press Release Sent by EarthWorksAction and the Coalition to Protect New York:<br /><br />On June 19, 2010, nearly 140 individuals and representatives from 60 grassroots, regional, and national organizations in four states gathered in Binghamton to share information on legal, scientific, economic, policy, health, and family issues related to hydraulic fracturing for methane gas, or "fracking."<br /><br />Participants in the Coalition to Protect New York are unified by knowledge of the extensive evidence that gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing with toxic chemicals harm water supplies, property values, community infrastructure, the environment, and human health.<br /><br />At the gathering, people from neighboring states who are living with dire consequences of this process gave testimony, urging New Yorkers to halt fracking and avoid problems that have arisen nationwide. The practice hasn't yet been permitted in New York, and two different bills are currently before the state legislature that would impose a moratorium while certain stipulations are met.<br /><br />"Many organizations statewide have developed expertise and made great strides; by working together, we can achieve even more in educating the public, assisting landowners, and fostering sound public policies," said Jack Ossont of Yates County, an event organizer. "We need to stop the rush to drill, which would endanger communities across New York." He lauded the many volunteers who labored to convene the statewide summit.<br /><br />Workshops were led by experts from around New York and as far as West Virginia. Keynote speakers were Anthony Ingraffea, Professor of Engineering at Cornell University; Wes Gillingham, Program Director at Catskill Mountainkeeper; and Julia Walsh, founder of FrackAction.org.<br /><br />Weston Wilson, a retired whistleblowing U.S. Environmental Protection Agency engineer, paid a surprise visit. In 2004, an EPA study declared that hydraulic fracturing poses no threat to drinking water a conclusion Mr. Weston and others contend is scientifically unsound and resulted from Bush administration pressure to omit critical data. The study greatly contributed to exemption of the gas industry from Safe Drinking Water Act requirements to disclose the toxic chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing.<br /><br />U.S. Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-22nd District) was another surprise visitor; he encouraged strong oversight of the gas industry and protections for communities, including through passage of the FRAC Act. The bill, which Mr. Hinchey introduced, would require disclosure of the many toxic chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing and give the EPA authority to regulate the process.<br /><br />"We all came to Binghamton with the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in mind, and the commitment to preventing such tragic events from ever happening in New York," said Wes Gillingham of Catskill Mountainkeeper. "Today's gathering signifies a new phase of collaboration and effectiveness in ensuring that the gas industry doesn't continue to degrade quality of life across the Marcellus Shale region."<br /><br />Maura Stephens of Tioga County, another event organizer, said, "We don't blame people who have signed leases. Gas companies don't reveal the potential frightening consequences. But now we know, and we owe it to everyone to share this information. We want to keep our state beautiful, safe, toxin-free, and livable. Many of us feel we are fighting for our very lives."MauraStephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06745564553424281263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30871754.post-43546929281156101552010-06-03T07:23:00.000-07:002010-06-03T07:37:37.747-07:00A New Gulf War: Lessons from Mesopotamia<span style="font-style:italic;">Could we be witnessing the U.S. version of the destruction of the Marsh Arabs’ habitat?</span><br /><br />Remember how outraged we were in August 1990 when Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invaded his much smaller neighbor, Kuwait?<br /><br />In response, the United States and about 33 nominal UN allies waged what the George H.W. Bush administration and US media dubbed the <a href="http://www.historyguy.com/GulfWar.html">Gulf War</a> (or Gulf War I or Persian Gulf War). It lasted less than six months. <br /><br />We resoundingly defeated our former friend, teaching him a stern lesson -- and then leaving him to his own devices.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Environmental Gulf War I</span><br />Saddam Hussein drained the marshes down south in Iraq, near the Gulf, to drive out rebellious Marsh Arabs and starve them to death or kill them outright. <br /><br />A half million people lived there, fishing and either farming or raising water buffalo. In just a short time, when Saddam’s armies were done, only a few thousand remained. The birds and fish disappeared, too, their habitat destroyed.<br /><br />Those marshes were already drying up before Hussein’s army invaded; some 30 years of drainage of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers (which originate in Turkey) by Turkey and Iran as well as Iraq was helping desertify the marshlands, as were other Iraqi government policies. <br /><br />Hussein just hastened the region’s demise, the assassination of its wildlife and ecology, and the murder, incarceration, or displacement and dispossession of its people. <br /><br />I’d say this qualifies as genocide.<br /><br />The United States and the rest of the world vaguely expressed outrage, but there was little coverage in the media and nobody did anything to help the Marsh Arabs or reverse the environmental and economic damage to the wetlands. <br /><br />It wasn’t until 2004 that a huge international project, which cost hundreds of millions of dollars, was begun to remove dams. By 2006 about half the Marsh Arabs’ homeland was successfully re-flooded, and a few species seemed to be recovering slightly; some people returned to the area to try to reclaim their way of life.<br />But a drought over the last three years, in which the region received only 30 to 40 percent of previous rain levels, has turned those wetlands back into deserts and made them too hostile an environment for people and wildlife.<br /><br />Again man stepped in to make matters worse. Drainage of both the Tigris and Euphates upriver in Turkey and northern Iraq has caused a 40 to 60 percent drop in water flow into Iraq and Syria in the last few years. <br /><a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122365133&ft=1&f=1025"><br />Turkey claims</a> the water belongs to Turkey. But Turkey, Syria, and Iraq (and Iran to a much lesser extent) share these fragile and diminishing water supplies and are suffering severe water shortages.<br /><br />The region is warming, like most of the planet. The ongoing drought is probably its new “normal” rather than an aberration. <br /><br />Iraq remains occupied and, like Syria, has an unstable government. Iraq’s human-built infrastructure is still shattered. Oil exploitation, by BP and others, continues unabated.<br /><br />And preposterously, the entire area’s population is growing, despite the loss of probably a million Iraqis to war and violence. <br /><br />Water wars look increasingly possible.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Back in the USA</span><br />Now to the United States, where Gulf of Mexico marshlands are being assaulted by BP oil and further poisoned by toxic dispersants. We’re already seeing massive ecosystem destruction, wildlife kills, and livelihood losses, and inevitably we’ll soon see widespread mental health problems and the breakup of families and communities. <br /><br />A kind of genocide, too, one might argue.<br /><br />Just like Saddam Hussein and his minions did, BP CEO Tony Hayward and his executive staff are getting away with murder.<br /><br />BP is still running the “cleanup operation,” which everyone knows is a sham, just as Saddam Hussein was left to “clean up” after the Gulf War. <br /><br />BP has insisted, even against <a href="http://www.epa.gov/bpspill/dispersants.html">EPA orders</a>, on using a <a href="http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5418258/epa_bans_toxic_chemical_corexit_dispersants.html?cat=5">highly toxic dispersant</a> (in a procedure that has never been tried before) that is less effective than others. (There’s a good reason for this: BP owns the company that makes Corexit, and Corexit breaks the oil particles into smaller particles that make it harder to see how much oil BP has unleashed.) The United States and the world community looked away when <a href="http://www.alternet.org/world/49864/">Saddam Hussein used nerve gas and other toxins</a> to combat the rebels in 1991.<br /><br />BP has not allowed the low-paid cleanup workers who are standing in broiling sun while <a href="http://motherjones.com/environment/2010/05/oil-spill-bp-grand-isle-beach">raking oil-soaked sand 12 hours a day</a> to wear face masks, let alone the full haz-mat protection suits they should be provided. Bush I ordered U.S. soldiers to stand by as <a href="http://www.alternet.org/world/49864/?page=4">Saddam Hussein’s army helicopters strafed Shiite communities</a> with sarin and other chemical weapons.<br /><br />Today, fishers, boaters, and residents of Gulf of Mexico shore communities are being forced to construct homemade barriers to try to save their beautiful beaches and coastal marshes. Many of them, no doubt, will flee the region, just as hundreds of thousands of the Marsh Arabs and 1991 rebels who survived Saddam’s slaughter became permanent refugees.<br /><br />BP has banned journalists, camera wielders, and the public from vast areas where they could be documenting the crude spill. In 1991, Saddam kept journalists out of the rebel areas, and Bush I was eager to keep them out as well. Bush didn’t want the U.S. public to know about the brutal repression of the rebels, who were rebelling because he had urged them to. It was easier to let Saddam crush them; their religion made the U.S. uncomfortable, and they might have formed an alliance with Iran that was unfavorable to U.S. interests. As Barry Lando wrote in <span style="font-style:italic;">Web of Deceit: The History of Western Complicity in Iraq, from Churchill to Kennedy to George W. Bush </span>(Other Press), "Anonymous government figures, wise in the ways of <span style="font-style:italic;">Realpolitik, </span>were making statements such as, 'It is far easier to deal with a tame Saddam Hussein than with an unknown quantity. ' "<br /><br />If the journalists at <a href="http://www.grist.org">Grist,</a> <a href="http://motherjones.com">Mother Jones</a>, and other good news organizations keep on this story, and the rest of us step up the pressure to make oil and gas companies accountable and transparent in all their actions, and if enough people continue working on the cleanup in a sensible way, perhaps the marshlands of southern USA will survive. <br /><br />It will take all these actions together. The alternative is unthinkable but not impossible. They could end up like the marshlands of southern Iraq: permanently uninhabitable.MauraStephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06745564553424281263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30871754.post-71683403445279399902010-03-13T12:15:00.000-08:002010-03-13T12:26:14.365-08:00Marcellus Shale: Are the Risks Worth the Rewards?<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 10"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 10"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CGeorge%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="State"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceType"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceName"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="Street"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="address"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:16pt;"></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">"Update: PEMA urges residents to prepare now for possible flooding.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">“DEP directs gas drillers to replace water.” <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">“Man killed by fall off Towanda drilling rig.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I read these three stories in that order. The first two were in the <st1:place><st1:placetype>Pike</st1:placetype> <st1:placetype>County</st1:placetype></st1:place> [<st1:state><st1:place>Pennsylvania</st1:place></st1:state>] Courier, the third in the <st1:city><st1:place>Binghamton</st1:place></st1:city> [<st1:state><st1:place>New York</st1:place></st1:state>] Press & Sun Bulletin. The headlines of the first (get ready for a flood) and third (a man died in a gas-drilling accident) are self-explanatory. The second, about “replacing” water, went like this: <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">“The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) . . . ordered Schreiner Oil and Gas Co. to provide a permanent solution to water supply issues at two homes the company’s drilling activity impacted near <st1:street><st1:address>Hedgehog Lane</st1:address></st1:street>, <st1:place><st1:placename>McKean</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>County</st1:placetype></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">“DEP previously determined that the company, based in <st1:place><st1:city>Massillon</st1:city>, <st1:state>Ohio</st1:state></st1:place>, was liable for affecting the water supplies of homes. . . . mong the contaminants identified were total dissolved solids, chlorides, manganese, iron, dissolved methane and ethane gas.”<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Does this not terrify everyone who lives in the huge gas-drilling and potential gas-drilling region? (The Marcellus Shale encompasses large swaths of <st1:place><st1:placename>New York</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>State</st1:placetype></st1:place>, almost all of <st1:state><st1:place>Pennsylvania</st1:place></st1:state>, <st1:state><st1:place>Ohio</st1:place></st1:state>, and <st1:state><st1:place>West Virginia</st1:place></st1:state>, and parts of <st1:state><st1:place>Maryland</st1:place></st1:state>, <st1:state><st1:place>Virginia</st1:place></st1:state>, <st1:state><st1:place>Tennessee</st1:place></st1:state>, and <st1:state><st1:place>Kentucky</st1:place></st1:state>. A total<span style=""> </span>of 31 or 32 states have deposits of so-called “natural” gas, more properly termed “fossil-fuel gas.”)<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Here are some facts: <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">1) The horizontal, slick-water hydraulic fracturing process of gas drilling (“chemo-fracking”) uses and releases numerous toxic chemicals — carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, naturally occurring radioactive materials. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">2) Accidents happen. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">3) People make mistakes. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">4) Floods occur.</p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Anyone who has ever experienced a flash flood knows that you’re going to run for your life and your loved ones' lives first, and for your most expensive and/or most precious possessions next.
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Even if gas companies had our best interests at heart — and you’d have to be a total naïf to think they do — there is simply no way to protect us from all these toxins that would go streaming into our water systems in the event of a flood, let alone the inevitable accidents and mistakes that will occur. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Because they will. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">In the cases where the gas companies have to “replace” water, what are we talking about? <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">You can’t “replace” water that has been contaminated with poisons. You can bring in huge “water buffaloes” with 300 or 500 gallons of “fresh” water from elsewhere (and who is monitoring that water? Where does it come from?) to resupply a family with drinking, cooking, and bathing water, but the ground is still contaminated. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">The vegetables and flowers and shrubs in the family’s garden are still reliant on that water for survival. The squirrels, bunnies, and raccoons . . . the chickadees, warblers, and woodpeckers . . . the frogs, fish, and turtles . . . the crickets, bees, and peepers . . . the family cat and dog . . . all drink the water from that contaminated ground. Toddlers in sandboxes eat the dirt. Kiddie pools and grown-ups’ pools, bird baths, ponds, streams, rivers, and lakes . . . all can be contaminated from just one spill. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">You can’t “replace” bad water with good. Period. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">There is not enough recompense in the world to mitigate this kind of permanent damage to a person’s home and property or to our surrounds, or to our own health and our children’s<span style=""> </span>health.</p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">It is up to communities to decide if the risks are worth the riches that will go to the gas companies and to a few members of the communities. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Let’s think about these risks for a moment: Someone in my community will die because of fracking. It’s inevitable. The man who was killed on a gas rig in <st1:place><st1:city>Towanda</st1:city>, <st1:state>Pennsylvania</st1:state></st1:place>, has a name: Greg Allen Henry. He was from <st1:place><st1:city>Athens</st1:city>, <st1:state>Tennessee</st1:state></st1:place>. He was 31 years old and was killed when he fell from a rig and suffered massive head trauma.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Are the risks worth the rewards? How many lives are worth how many dollars? The job (remember the many promised to Pennsylvanians and New Yorkers) came, no doubt, with pretty good pay to bring a Tennesseean so far from home. But was it enough for Greg Henry's family? Will it help ease their grief?<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Will you be getting free energy for life, if you lease your land and it’s fracked? Will you ever feel safe drinking the water? Will the royalty fees cover the loss of your home’s value? Where will you go if you are forced to leave your valueless home? What will happen to the investments of time, equity, sweat, and tears—let alone cash—you’ve poured into it? How much money is enough? Are the risks worth the rewards?<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Is a <st1:state><st1:place>Tennessee</st1:place></st1:state> man’s life worth as much as a Towanda child’s life? If your child drinks contaminated water today and develops cancer in five years, will a gas company come forward to help you pay for your child’s chemotherapy and radiation treatments, and hold your hand while you wait for the latest medical test results that will tell you if she will live or die? <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Whose risks? Whose rewards?<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Are the risks worth the rewards?<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Every community must come up with its answer.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>MauraStephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06745564553424281263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30871754.post-66307624956863309962010-02-22T12:59:00.000-08:002010-02-22T13:08:41.430-08:00Nuclear Power Lobbyists, Marcellus Shale Gas LobbyistsMy response to a story in Mother Earth: “Nuclear Power and the Lobbyists Behind It”<br /><br />Find it at http://www.motherearthnews.com/Renewable-Energy/Nuclear-Power-Lobbyist-Influence.aspx#comments<br /><br />The gas industry is equally aggressive in its marketing to Congress members and the public. That's why you may think natural gas is a safe, clean fuel that will save us from reliance on dirty fuels such as coal and oil (that nasty "foreign" oil) and make the USA "energy independent." When an industry is spending upwards of $120 million to convince us, it's likely to get the message across to many who don't know better.<br /><br />Natural gas is being extracted in 31 states. In the Marcellus Shale, stretching through 7 states from New York to Tennessee, and elsewhere, it's being extracted via slick-water horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or "chemo-fracking," a messy, destructive process that involves mixing many highly toxic chemicals (neurotoxins, endocrine disruptors, carcinogens) and millions of gallons of water to blast through rock to get the gas. Nothing clean about the process or the waste it leaves (and no safe way to dispose of it), which poisons watersheds.<br /><br />Ya can't drink gas.<br /><br />Let's demand an end to such highly dangerous energy sources. We need to get on solar, wind, and geothermal now, as we simultaneously transform our transportation system from the individual motor vehicle to a national high-speed public transportation network.<br /><br />In doing so, our national health costs will go down, green jobs will be created, we'll have fewer car-related headaches (and accidents). We'll all benefit!<br /><br />Nuclear & fossil fuels: No<br />Renewable & sustainable energy: Yes<br /><br />It's that simple.MauraStephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06745564553424281263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30871754.post-85438894986949762592006-12-17T12:33:00.001-08:002006-12-17T12:50:05.082-08:00Update on Iraqi family and a little about Burma workI have been so busy that I have not posted in months. Wonder why I keep this blog. For the moment it suffices as my place to post items of interest, until I find a new publisher.<br /><br />In any case, the situation with Andy and Alice and their children is an exercise in frustration. I have been stymied by US Citizenship and Immigration Services, who now insist that we provide letters from generals from the army units with which Andy served. But of course there are no generals in most of Iraq. The highest ranking officers in the units Andy served with were l. Despite the fact that many highest ranking officers from the units he was with have written to the USCIS to vouch that there were no higher ranking officers in their units, the USCIS insists still that we provide letters from generals.<br /><br />The whole situation is Kafkaesque to the extreme. Meantime, I am about to send out an appeal for money in the hope that we will get them out soon; I'll have to find them housing, a car, food, clothing, etc., as well as a job for Andy. I look forward to that challenge and hope to heaven they make it through while the bureacrats do all they can to ensure the worst. The prevalence of stupidity, heartlessness, arrogance, callousness, and cluelessness -- sometimes all bundled into one -- in our fellow human beings, despite my growing exposure to government on the local, national, and international levels, still astonishes me, as does the willful ignorance of so many U.S. Americans.<br /><br />Last weekend we were in NYC on Sunday, December 10, for International Human Rights Day. A small group of Burmese and I did a demonstration in front of the UN headquarters (Ralph Bunche Park) demanding UN action on Burma. The biggest purpose of our demonstration was to get media from other countries (esp. Norway, Denmark, Thailand, and the BBC that covers Burma) to air the footage, which will then make its way, we hope, via independent/pirate media to Aung San Suu Kyi in her house prison and to the Burmese people, who are living in terror under the country's brutal regime. We hope our actions will hearten and inspire them to continue resisting.<br /><br />I'll try to be better about updating news in future. I'll try.MauraStephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06745564553424281263noreply@blogger.com1