Archives

An Anti-Fracking Day in Court

By arimoore, on February 1st, 2010%

Date & Time: Friday, February 5th, 11:00pm – 3:00pm

Location: Chemung County Courthouse, Hazlitt Building 203 Lake St. Elmira, New York

Hello beginning and advanced anti-fracking activists:

Activism difficulty level: 2

Come out and show your support for the people of Horseheads and their attorney Helen Slottje at the full hearing of their case against Schlumberger.

We need some like-minded warm bodies to fill the anti-fracking side of the courtroom and show our support for the people of Horseheads and our common cause. We also need to show any press who might be there that this issue is far from dead; in fact, we’ve only just begun to fight to protect our towns, farms, and wildlands. This court appearance is intended to be peaceful and respectful, and should not involve chanting or demonstrating in the courtroom. Outside the courtroom may be a different story; go ahead and bring signs if you want and we can discuss with Helen.

CARPOOLING: I can take 3 people in my car. I’ll leave Ithaca at 9:45, drive time approx 1 hr. Let me know if you need a ride or can give a ride.

TIME: Hearing begins at 11 a.m. Plan to spend a couple of hours—I’m not sure how long this will take.

DRESS CODE: It’s court; interpret as you will, but “spiffy” is probably not a bad idea.

BACKGROUND: Schlumberger has already built and begun operating phase 1 of a 4 phase hydraulic fracturing support facility in the town of Horseheads, without going through a full environmental review or receiving all of the proper permits. The site lies above the primary aquifer for the City of Elmira and across the street from the Ridge Road Elementary School. On the site are paper bags full of toxic chemicals to be used in the hydraulic fracturing process, along with explosives and other materials. People for a Healthy Environment, a group formed by Horseheads citizens outraged by the Village Board of Trustees’ “capricious and arbitrary” approval of the site plan, are asking for the temporary shutdown of the facility, pending a 12- to 18-month environmental review.

More background:? http://www.stargazette.com/article/20091115/news01/911150385/Lawsuit-seeks-complete-reassessment-of-Schlumberger-project-in-Horseheads

Leave a comment   calendar   , , , , ,  

Petition: Schlumberger has history of environmental problems

By arimoore, on September 22nd, 2009%

Petition: Schlumberger has history of environmental problems by G. Jeffrey Aaron:

An Ithaca-based environmental firm has presented a petition to Horseheads village planners that requests a full environmental impact study for the Schlumberger gas drilling support facility proposed for an 88-acre parcel near Wygant and Ridge roads.

The petition, e-mailed Monday to the village by Toxics Targeting Inc., includes the names of more than 60 residents primarily from the Horseheads and Elmira area who support the request, environmental data, a map showing more than 80 toxic spills or accidents that have taken place over the years within a quarter-mile radius of the proposed site, and federal records that document Schlumberger’ s environmental regulatory non-compliance at five of its facilities. (Read more)

Leave a comment   latest news   , , , , , , , , , , , , ,  

The time to make a difference is TONIGHT: Public Meeting on the Schlumberger Project

By arimoore, on September 9th, 2009%

The time to make your voice heard is tonight! Wednesday September 9, 7:00pm, at Horseheads High School (map).

The village of Horseheads wants to allow a huge corporation, Schlumberger, to build a giant facility serving a 300-mile gas drilling radius with explosives, radioactive material, and concentrated toxic chemicals across the street from a school, without requiring a full environmental impact statement (EIS). Hundreds of trucks will be carrying these materials to and from the facility every single day. The effects will range from air pollution and health hazards from Diesel exhaust to water contamination.

Horseheads wants to do this so that they can secure a few hundred jobs (most of them dangerous and unpleasant) for the duration of the project. Many landowners who have signed leases and whose sites will be serviced have been coerced into signing, and the drilling profits will primarily benefit the companies doing the drilling – not the landowners themselves, or the communities that will be affected by the project. This three hundred mile radius includes most, if not all of us, but we have absolutely no voice – except for tonight!

If natural gas extraction by unconventional means must occur as part of a well-thought out and soberly constructed NYS energy plan, then LET US DO IT METHODICALLY AND CAREFULLY. Go tonight and make your voice heard. Call some friends and arrange a car pool. This is the only chance to speak publicly on this topic before the joint board workshop on Sept. 15. Even if you don’t want to speak, go and listen to what others have to say, and show Horseheads and Schlumberger that you care about this assault on our region.

Leave a comment   calendar   , , , , , , ,  

Letter to the Editor: Environmental concern in Horseheads

By arimoore, on August 26th, 2009%

Environmental concern in Horseheads:

I listened on Tuesday to the Horseheads Village Planning Board, along with their environmental consultant Ronald Sherman, discuss the process for deciding whether to allow Schlumberger to proceed with development of an industrial site without first conducting an Environmental Impact Study. I found the board and Sherman to be open and fair to those attending.

But why is Schlumberger asking the village for a waiver of an EIS? The magnitude and risk associated with this project is immense. It would be a 66-acre development for storage of explosives, radioactive materials and chemicals used to fracture shale to reach gas deposits. The chemicals, which will be stored in an undiluted form, are particularly worrisome. The state recently released a list of 34 highly toxic chemicals it approved for fracturing in Yates, Schuyler, Steuben, Broome and Cortland counties, in response to a FOIL request (www.shaleshock.org). The warnings for these chemicals are hard to forget.

I asked the representative from Bergman Associates, who is representing Schlumberger, whether Schlumberger would concede that an EIS is required in this case. The chair of the Planning Board also seemed curious to hear the company’s response. Schlumberger’s reply at the Aug. 25 Planning Board meeting will speak volumes about how it intends to conduct business in the village.

Ezra Sherman
Van Etten

One comment   latest news   , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,