Hey Everyone,

Sign up now for Shaleshock 101 series beginning tonight! at Mcgraw Hall at Cornell University. Please e-mail ShaleshockOutreach@gmail.com with your RSVP. Class begins at 6pm, more info here.

The final cut of “All Fracked Up” will be showing in Ithaca at the Women’s Community Building on Sunday, October 24, at 2:00.  Admission is $5. Guest speaker is Joseph Heath, Esq.

Final Cut w/ added interviews: Dr. Earl Robinson; Gary Abraham, Esq.; Jack Ossont, and additional footage of the ever awesome Joseph Heath, Esq.; and others.

Impact of Marcellus Shale Gas Development on Rivers, Streams and Forests

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A Free, Public, Educational Forum on the Effects of Gas Extraction on Recreation, Hunting, Fishing, Hiking, etc.

Monday, November 1, 2010
7:00 – 9:00 pm
Lansing Middle School Auditorium
6 Ludlowville Road, Lansing, NY

This event will be streamed live. Ten minutes before start of event or anytime after go to http://ithaca.wishingwellmagazine.com/lessons-from-pennsylvania

Marcellus gas development in Pennsylvania is making a difference for people who use the outdoors for recreation, including hiking, fishing, biking, birding, hunting, camping, and other outdoor activities. Pennsylvanians and those who have studied wilderness impact in PA over the past 3 years will share what they have learned, and answer questions from the audience at this free, educational forum.
High volume, slick water, hydraulic fracturing (often called hydro-fracking) requires withdrawing millions of gallons of water from nearby rivers, lakes, and streams, mixing it with chemicals, and injecting the solution under high pressure into the shale to release the gas.

Speakers:

• Katy Dunlap, Trout Unlimited, Eastern Water Project Director. Ms. Dunlap will talk about impacts on coldwater fisheries and their watersheds, ranging from small mountain streams to larger river systems like the Susquehanna. She will describe the current state of water resource protection in NY and what new regulations and protections are needed. Katy will also explain what Trout Unlimited and its members are doing to protect streams and rivers in the Marcellus Shale region.
• Shellie Northrop, member and volunteer of several PA and NY hiking clubs and trail associations. Through Ms. Northrop’s years of hiking and contact with other hikers, she is able to describe the impact of drilling activities for hikers in the Northern Tier of Pennsylvania. She will also use examples in PA to offer suggestions of how those of us in NY can take action now that will help protect our wilderness areas.
• Bill Belitskus, Allegheny Defense Project, Board President. Mr. Belitskus lives adjacent to and has been hiking, camping and recreating in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny National Forest for over 35 years. He has been monitoring forest fragmentation, water degradation, air pollution, species decline and loss of recreation opportunities associated with oil and gas development from land clearing, well site and road construction, pipelines, tank batteries, generators, compressors, gas processing plants, truck traffic and construction equipment for the past 15 years. He will discuss one of the critical issues of unconventional hydrocarbon, deep shale extraction: withdrawal of water from streams and rivers, and riparian rights of landowners to protect waterways.
• Dale Baker, Lansing resident\ will moderate the program.

Sponsors: Social Ventures, ROUSE, Dryden Resource Awareness Coalition (DRAC), Cornell Outdoor Education, Cayuga Lake Watershed Network, Finger Lakes Sierra Club, Coalition to Protect New York, Tompkins County League of Women Voters, Ithaca Health Alliance, Sustainable Tompkins, Community Foundation, and others.

Contact: Sara Hess 607-272-6394

October 6, 2010

Press Contacts: Kate Bartholomew, CPNY, FLP, SLPWA 607-228-7371 & J. Paul Bursic, FLP 607-387-6562

Many questions have been raised in New York about the safety of the process of high-volume, high-pressure horizontal fracturing, or “fracking.” Other questions have been raised about the effect this form of gas drilling will have on property values.

Here’s your chance to learn more about the various issues involved from well-informed experts, local citizens, and Pennsylvania residents who are currently living in active and or soon-to-be active Marcellus Shale gas drilling areas.

On Wednesday, October 6, a Schuyler County Community Forum on Fracking will be held at the Watkins Glen Elementary School Auditorium, Watkins Glen, NY (612 South Decatur Street). Start time is 6:30 p.m.

Committed panelists include Dr. John Stolz, a microbiologist from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA; David Whiting of Red Newt Winery and Bistro (Schuyler County), Peggy Haines, a realtor with Audrey Edelman Realty; Helen Slottje, Esq., and environmental attorney; and Craig and Julie Sautner of Montrose, Pennsylvania. The Sautners live on the now infamous Carter Road in Dimock, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, an active drilling region

The Marcellus Shale, which underlies the Finger Lakes and other regions, is not the only shale formation with methane gas; there is the potential for accelerated drilling in the Utica Shale, which lies deeper than the Marcellus and is distributed across almost all of New York State.

At the moment, this form of drilling is not permitted in New York because a New York Department of Environmental Conservation study (dSGEIS) has not yet been acted upon. The preliminary regulations have been widely criticized for failing to address many safety questions about the chemicals used in the drilling. Property values in other states have been adversely affected by this type of gas drilling, with water contamination due to hazardous chemicals being one of many reasons for the decline in value.

The evening forum is being sponsored by the Finger Lakes Progressives, Committee to Preserve the Finger Lakes, Environmentally Concerned Citizens of Hector and the Coalition to Protect New York. It is free to all. It will be moderated by Paul Marcellus, a local business owner and former member of the Schuyler County Legislature.