SAY “NO!” TO A FRACKED
FUTURE—DEMAND A SUSTAINABLE ENERGY PLAN FOR NEW YORK STATE
FUTURE—DEMAND A SUSTAINABLE ENERGY PLAN FOR NEW YORK STATE
In recent years, New Yorkers have sent hundreds of thousands of letters to Albany on fracking-related issue—and they’ve worked. Environmental impact statements and draft regulations that were intended to open the state to high-volume fracking have been withdrawn, rewritten, delayed, or scrapped altogether.
Now it’s time to speak out again—this time to demand major revisions to a proposed state energy plan that pays lip service to sustainability and renewable energy but in fact calls for an increased reliance on fracked gas.
To make it easy for you to comment on the plan, we’ve drafted twenty-three different letters. Each discusses a specific aspect of the Plan that needs to be revised. Please take a minute to submit all of the letters to ensure that New York adopts an energy plan that favors clean, renewable energy, not dirty fossil fuels.
For greater impact, customize your letters. All the letters can be edited, and we encourage you to rewrite them and make them your own. Unique letters carry a lot more weight than form letters. Also, don’t forget to encourage your friends to take action. [http://bit.ly/1hnyhzZ]
PEOPLE POWER
| 2009 NYS DRAFT SUPPLEMENTAL GENERIC ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT |
13,000 COMMENTS, SGEIS WITHDRAWN FRACKING ON HOLD IN NYS |
| 2011 DELAWARE RIVER BASIN FRACKING REGULATIONS |
35,000 COMMENTS, REGULATIONS TABLED FRACKING ON HOLD IN THE RIVER BASIN |
| 2012 NYS REVISED SGEIS |
67,000 COMMENTS, SGEIS NOT FINALIZED FRACKING ON HOLD IN NYS |
| 2013 NYS DRAFT FRACKING REGULATIONS |
200,000 COMMENTS, REGULATIONS SCRAPPED FRACKING ON HOLD IN NYS |
| 2013 PORT AMBROSE, A PROPOSED LNG PORT |
25,000 COMMENTS, LICENSING ON HOLD |
| 2013 NYS LNG REGULATIONS |
50,000 COMMENTS, REGULATIONS NOT FINALIZED LNG FACILITIES REMAIN PROHIBITED IN NYS |
PAYING IN BLOOD
The natural gas explosion that demolished two buildings in New York City and killed eight people is just the latest reminder that fossil fuels exact a terrible price—one that’s sometimes paid in blood. In February, a Chevron-owned gas well in Bobtown, Pennsylvania exploded killing one worker and injuring another. Last fall a small town in Quebec was leveled when a train carrying Bakken crude oil exploded, killing forty-seven people.
“Profits first, public safety dead last” seems to be the motto of the oil and gas industry. The old DOT-111 rail cars, which are used to transport explosive crude oil, are known to be unsafe, yet they remain in use. Thousands of miles of aging, leaking pipelines are neglected by an industry hellbent on constructing thousands of miles of new pipeline.
In Pennsylvania, the gas well that exploded burned for five days. Chevron offered the traumatized residents of Bobtown a coupon for a large pizza and a two-liter soft drink.
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TROUBLE IN THE UKRAINE?
FRACK AMERICA?
FRACK AMERICA?
The notion that the United States can use natural gas exports to help resolve the political crisis in the Ukraine might be laughable if only so many people didn’t take it seriously. At last count, six bills have been introduced in Congress to speed exports and “aid” the Ukraine in its standoff with Russia.
Gas exports will be a boon for gas corporations but won’t do a thing to help the Ukraine. For starters, the U.S. still doesn’t have the ability to export liquefied natural gas (LNG), and the Ukraine doesn’t have the infrastructure to import https://www.catskillcitizens.org/files/updates/it. by the time the u.s. does begin exporting lng, it’s likely the current political crisis will have long been resolved—and even then, none of our gas will go to the Ukraine. It’s destined for China, Great Britain, India, and France—countries that either own U.S. shale gas reserves or have already signed long-term contracts with gas producers. Any remaining gas is likely to be sold on the open market in Asia where gas prices are typically 50 percent higher than they are in Europe.
BRIEFLY NOTED:
EARTHSHAKING NEWS FROM OHIO
Ohio officials ordered drillers to shut down fracking operations at shale gas wells in Poland Township after homes in the area were rattled by a series of earthquakes, including one that measured 3.0 on the Richter scale. The epicenter of the quakes was traced to two gas wells operated by Hillcorp Energy Corporation.
PORT AMBROSE STILL ON HOLD
Port Ambrose, the proposed LNG port to be constructed off Long Island, remains on hold because the project sponsor, Liberty LNG, has failed to provide the U.S. Coast Guard and the Maritime Administration with important information regarding the environmental impact of the project.
IS THERE INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH?
Still from “The Man from Planet X” (1951) courtesy of Flickr
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