OtegoNY.com

HOW THE DANGERS OF NATURAL GAS PRODUCTION AFFECT YOU

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

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

The public will have three opportunities to attend:

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You can trust the gas company and their flunkeys, and you can trust some little lawyer, or you can see what happens to community after community and trust the truth. 

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

Of course not. 

Do they say they can? 

Of course they do. 

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

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

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

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

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

Apparently some people never get it. 

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

To paraphrase Upton Sinclair:

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

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

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

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

This is a copy of a letter to the Oneonta Daily Star  that was published on February 13, 2009. It is reprinted with the permission of the author. 

I am responding to Dick Downey’s guest commentary on horizontal gas drilling published on Jan 17. This way of thinking is a huge mistake.

Watchdogs have great value to society, but they must have the law on their side.

Unfortunately, the laws protecting our water have been compromised. In 2004, the EPA stripped the protections of the Clean Water Act from all aspects of horizontal drilling. In September, H.R. 7231 was introduced by Diana DeGette, co-sponsored by John Salazar and Maurice Hinchey, and would have repealed the exemption for hydraulic fracturing to the Safe Drinking Water Act. This repeal would have given watchdogs some teeth.

Until this repeal can come up for a vote, there is not protection for our drinking water.

This is bound to come up for review again in the 111th Congress. Please let your congressmen know that we need to protect our drinking water supply. We are very fortunate to have great drinking water, and we should all work to keep it safe and clean.

Mike Mitchell

Otego

Letter to the Editor of the Daily Star by Carolee Byrnes

This article appeared as a letter to the editor of the Oneonta Daily Star newspaper on Feb. 15, 2009, and is reprinted here with the author’s permission.

It has come to my attention that there is some confusion regarding the difference between the Unatego Area Landowners Coalition and the Concerned Citizens for Otego (CCO).  I would like to take this opportunity to address this misunderstanding.

Concerned Citizens for Otego was formed with the objective of exploring the effects of future gas drilling in our community, county and state.  Our goal is to educate all citizens about the possible hazards of natural gas extraction upon our water, air, health, land values, and overall well-being of our community.  To that end, we have sponsored an informational forum (October 2008), have done much research, written letters to the editor, and started a website (www.otegony.com).  Currently, we are preparing presentations to the Otego Village and Town Boards (February 9 and 11, 2009), and are circulating a town and county petition to request the governor for a moratorium on gas drilling until all facets have been studied and deemed safe.  This is part of a larger effort to inform and educate our neighbors and fellow citizens.

It is our understanding that the various land coalitions are primarily concerned, first and foremost, with “getting the best deal” monetarily for leasing their land to the gas companies.  To the best of our knowledge, environmental impacts have a very low priority on this agenda.  The lure of enormous profit without consideration of the “real cost” of this enterprise impoverishes us all, and many of the harmful effects cannot be “undone.”  While the monetary beneficiaries of this drilling operation will have the option of moving if their land, air, or water is contaminated, the majority of us will not have this luxury.  It is imperative, therefore, to make sure that everyone is aware of the consequences of turning our community into a scarred industrial landscape.

–Carolee Byrnes, Concerned Citizens for Otego

This is a letter to the editor of the Oneonta Daily Star newspaper, which was published on Feb. 4, 2009

Real dangers in natural-gas drilling

The natural gas industry is a creeping disease that is slowly infecting Otsego County. It has weaseled its way into leases to drill from unsuspecting landowners.

The representatives from the natural gas industry have made outrageous promises of “found money” and “it’s like you’ve won the lottery.” Then they low-ball people into selling out their land rights, heritage, property-value, possibly their health and that of their neighbors, as well as the well-being and way of life of their communities. That includes you.

Some well-intentioned but misguided people have been convinced that “it’s a done deal, and we might as well get the best out of it.”

It only becomes a done deal when they con enough people to band together to try to sell at a higher price, while trusting that there are enough protections against disaster in place.

There are no adequate safety measures, no matter what the apologists for the predators tell you. The state Department of Environmental Conservation is woefully understaffed and has shown no ability to regulate effectively. Gov. Paterson has even proposed a large budget reduction for the DEC. Obviously regulation is not a priority.

The gas companies are not even bound by the Federal Clean Water Act. So who has the safety of your water at heart? The gas companies (one of which is Halliburton)?

Some would have you believe that the drilling that is planned for this area is safe, and the people who care about the danger are over-reacting. That sounds like when Rumsfeld mocked people who thought the Iraq war wouldn’t be a slam-dunk, by saying, “Oh my goodness gracious, isn’t that terrible, Henny Penny, the sky is going to fall.”

That’s not the lottery, that’s Russian roulette.

The Following is an excerpt from an article in The Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee, Wisc.), January 24, 2009

EPA A FAILURE ON CHEMICALS, AUDIT FINDS

By Meg Kissinger of the Journal Sentinel

Warning: Chemicals in the packaging, surfaces or contents of many products may cause long-term health effects, including cancers of the breast, brain and testicles; lowered sperm counts, early puberty and other reproductive system defects; diabetes; attention deficit disorder, asthma and autism. A decade ago, the government promised to test these chemicals. It still hasn’t. The Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to assess toxic chemicals is as broken as the nation’s financial markets and needs a total overhaul, a congressional audit has found.

Read the rest of the article on the EPAs Failure to Monitor Chemicals

Can this really be news? Is there anyone who didn’t expect this?