Supporters of natural gas drilling made their voices heard in Albany earlier today, with a pro-hydrofracking rally that started at the Corning Preserve near the Hudson River and made its way up state street to West Capitol Park.
The rally was in some ways a mirror of the large anti-fracking rally in August, following the same general outline and route. But culturally and message-wise it was the polar opposite.
There were no Hollywood stars like Debra Winger (who has a home upstate) or acclaimed authors like Bill McKibben here, but GOP Sen Tom Libous of Binghamton, one of the legislature’s main proponents, said they were glad not to have them.
“Stay in Hollywood,” Libous said of the high-profile protestors. “We don’t want to hear it here.”
And while protestors said they were worried about the potential for water table pollution or other disruptions, the drilling supporters focused on one central theme — the need for jobs, especially in the hard-pressed Southern Tier. Indeed, many of the participants who were largely middle aged men, wore red “Jobs” t-shirts.
“We’re so out of it economically,” remarked Don Zaengle, a geologist from Worcester, Otsego County. He said he’s previously worked for big oil companies in Texas and Louisiana and the growth and economic prosperity that mineral development has transformed many of those areas, in contrast with the decay in upstate New York. For work, Zaengle heads for Pennsylvania, about 90 minutes away, where hydrofracking has revitalized that region as well.
Douglas Lee, a native of China who now works on Wall Street and who has a second home in Sullivan County, said he helped organize Monday’s rally because he was tired of seeing the poverty that much of upstate is mired in.
He drove along the state’s Southern Tier recently and “All I saw was dilapidated houses, farm houses falling down…able bodied men without jobs.”
Chip, please spare us the fictional, unprovable stories about some poor 3rd party that you know being “forced” to do something against their will by some fictional “unionthug”.
While you’re at it, spare us the fiction that anyone is “forced” to join a union since Taft-Hartley has outlawed closed shops for decades.
And finally, spare us your hypothesis based on fiction about why workers in Wisconsin “left unions in droves.” The rest of us have common sense, so we understand that there is no point paying dues to a toothless organization that can do nothing for you because it’s ability to bargain for you was destroyed by anti-union laws passed for no reason other than right wing demogaguery.
The only people who buy into any of the above fictions are other folks on the right with cases of cognitive dissonance that allow them to believe fiction and fear-based arguments with little basis in reality.
Darth Stateworker, please, those 1000′s of former union members wouldn’t have left when all they had to do was wait a few years and elect union owned pol’s. Keep making things up and cop outs.
And teachers are forced to pay union dues without any option.
Just because you dont’ like the facts doesn’t make them false.
Pot, meet kettle Chip. I’ve yet to see one legitimate fact from you on unions posted here – ever.
Darth Stateworker -
While you are not forced to join the union when you work for the NY state. You are forced to pay union dues regardless of whether you are in the union or not. So the Union for the state collects from both non union and union workers. At that point, why not be in the union pay the same dues and get the same benefits.
I live in upstate NY, we are regular people living and working in this region. We do not want the environment and water polluted by the Hydro-Frack process. While energy independence is important for America, there are other cleaner, more efficient, energy sources America can pursue. This natural gas/oil is not the only option to create jobs or energy. Germany runs 60% on solar energy now. Other countries are following suit. Keep in mind its a BIG risk to Frack, since Upstate NY has 20% of the WORLDS clean fresh water also underground. Long-term this clean water is much more valuable than the natural gas.
T:
No.
If you chose not to join a union, you do not pay dues. What you are thinking of is a shop fee.
A shop fee pays for all of the services that unions are forced to provide you even if you chose not to be a member. We wouldn’t want anyone to freeload, would we? I know righties aren’t all that fond of freeloaders…
“A shop fee pays for all of the services that unions are forced to provide you even if you chose not to be a member. We wouldn’t want anyone to freeload, would we? I know righties aren’t all that fond of freeloaders…”
HAHAA, Yeah that multi million dollar building on rt 7 is a “service” huh?
Call them what you want, but they are dues and those “forced members” get no extra service.