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Vanity Fair on natural gas drilling: “A Colossal Fracking Mess”

Sixty miles west of Damascus, the town of Dimock, population 1,400, makes all too clear the dangers posed by hydraulic fracturing. You don’t need to drive around Dimock long to notice how the rolling hills and farmland of this Appalachian town are scarred by barren, square-shaped clearings, jagged, newly constructed roads with 18-wheelers driving up and down them, and colorful freight containers labeled “residual waste.” Although there is a moratorium on drilling new wells for the time being, you can still see the occasional active drill site, manned by figures in hazmat suits and surrounded by klieg lights, trailers, and pits of toxic wastewater, the derricks towering over barns, horses, and cows in their shadows.

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HEALTH RISKS FORUM – Feb 23rd

NATURAL GAS WITH UN-NATURAL CONSEQUENCES:

THE HEALTH RISKS OF SHALE GAS DRILLING

Tuesday, February 23, 6:30-8:30 at The Forum room, Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3), 170 North St, Dryden, NY.
The presenters will be Ron Bishop, lecturer in Chemistry at SUNY Oneonta; Thomas Shelly, chemical safety and hazardous materials specialist; Adam Law, a physician who specializes in endocrinology. Dr. William Klepack, a family practice physician in Dryden, will be introducing the speakers.

Doors will open at 6:00 and talks start at 6:30. The evening will be divided into three half hour presentations, with a question and answer period following the presentations.
The presentations:

Ron Bishop, lecturer in chemistry at SUNY Oneonta, will offer a powerpoint presentation addressing the why and how of the unconventional gas drilling technique known as high-volume, slick-water, hydrofracturing. Bishop holds a B.A. in Chemistry from Youngstown State University and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from The West Virgina University School of Medicine. In his 17 years of full-time research, his projects were related to cancer and biosafety. For the last 11 years, Bishop has taught a variety of courses (biology, genetics, general and organic chemistry, biochemistry and environmental sciences) in high schools and colleges. He currently teaches in the Chemistry & Biochemistry Department at SUNY Oneonta, and is nationally certified in chemical hazards management.
Thomas Shelley, chemical safety and hazardous materials specialist and chemist by profession!,will follow Ron Bishop s presentation with a discussion of how the chemicals used at the drilling site are handled, what chemicals come back out of the ground with the drilling waste fluids and the categories of different chemical mixtures. He will also talk about the established links between chemicals and health, and address some of the issues of radioactivity in the waste fluid. Shelley worked in Cornell Environmental Health and Safety for 18 years as a chemical and laboratory safety specialist. For much of that time he was the Chemical Hygiene Officer for Cornell University.
Adam Law is a physician who specializes in endocrinology. He will present a brief overview of the disruptions chemicals can bring to the human body s endocrine system. Adam Law was raised in London, UK where he received his medical degree and his doctorate in molecular medicine. He has 8 years of basic science research experience in molecular biology and biochemistry. He has been an attending physician at the Cayuga Medical Center in Ithaca since 1994 and was President of the medical staff 2009. He became aware of gas drilling in the Finger Lakes portion of the Marcellus shale after questions from his concerned patients. As an endocrinologist he has been inspired by the work of Dr. Theo Colborn, founder of the Endocrine Disruptor Exchange.

This forum is sponsored by Shaleshock Citizen s Action Alliance and co-sponsored by the
Center for Transformative Action, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County, Gas Drilling Awareness of Cortland County, TC3 Sustainability Council, Dryden R
esource Awareness Coalition, Sustainable Otsego, Sustainable Tompkins, and Marcellus Accountability Project.

For more information contact Shaleshock08@yahoo.com or call Sharon Anderson, Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County at 607-272-2292

PLEASE HELP DISTRIBUTE AND DISPLAY POSTERS!

TC3 health 2-23 risks flyer

Seminar: Marcellus Shale Gas Geology - What in earth is down there?

The Cortland County Soil and Water Conservation District is hosting a seminar on Natural Gas Exploration and the Geology of Cortland County. William M. Kappel, Hydrologist and Section Chief with the U.S. Geological Survey, will be on hand giving a presentation entitled “Marcellus Shale Gas 101”.

Topics to be addressed include:

  • Where black shales are found in New York (their formation and properties) and the mechanics of drilling in the Marcellus and Utica formations.
  • An in-depth look at the controversial technique of “slickwater” hydrofracking including the quantities of water needed and the possible
    means of treatment, and quality of flowback and formation waters.

  • A look into the potential impacts of gas exploration and extraction activities in relation to our regions water resources. Recognizing the concerns of habitat fragmentation and pipeline construction throughout the region.

Monday, February 1st, 2010 – 6pm to 8pm

Seminar will be held in the auditorium of the New York State Grange Headquarters building located at 100 Grange Place off of Clinton Avenue in Cortland, New York (Map)

Where does used hydrofracking solution go?

What happens when millions of gallons of toxic hydrofracking waste gush back up out of the earth after being injected? Where does it go after sitting around in pits for a while? Let’s look to Pennsylvania to see what’s happening there: Gas wells’ leftovers may wash into Ohio

Ithaca Area Poets February Challenge: Marcellus

Ithaca Area Poets writes,

I noticed a theme is on many hearts and minds right now – concerns about hydrofracking in Marcellus shale.

SO, next month (February 12th, 7pm) bring your poem or poems about Fracking (and Marcellus region and clean water)! I am going to try to organize prizes for participants, and possibly we’ll videotape the readings to help with the movement for clean water. If you’re too shy to read them on camera or you can’t come, send them to me ahead of time and someone else will read them for you (please tell me if you want us to say your name or you want to be anonymous)! Also, if you’re willing to bring print copies for me, that would be super. Thanks!

Click here for more info.

Rally for Water

This just in from Onondaga Creek Conservation Council, Children’s Earth Day, Syracuse Peace Council, Neighbors of Onondaga Nation, and Partnership for Onondaga Creek:

Rally for Water

  • Ban Hydro-Fracking
  • Protect water, land and air from unnecessary and significant harm.
  • Call upon the DEC, EPA, Governor Paterson, and local, state and federal representatives to ban horizontal drilling and hydro-fracking in New York and across the US.

Tuesday Evening 5:30 – 6:00
January 19, 2010

Location:
Thornden Park Water Tower
Holding thousands of gallons of still clean, Skaneateles Lake drinking water.
Top of Thornden Park
Between Westcott St. & Comstock Ave
Thornden, NY

Please let as many people know about this rally as possible.
Thank you
Call (315)470-0778 for more info

Season's greetings – and a call to action

Dear readers,

Thank you for reading this blog this year. You may have noticed we have a new look here at Shaleshock.org – we’ve changed the site to reflect the diversity of Working Groups that are all part of this movement. Please explore the new site, and consider reaching out to a working group to get involved.

I want to share a beautiful letter and song written by my friend and colleague Travis Knapp (below). I hope will inspire you as much as it has inspired me.

In solidarity,
Ari Moore

Greetings to all! I sincerely hope this finds you well, during a period of both reflection and envisioning.

I’ve attached a song I just recorded called “The Water.” Listen to it if you have a moment :-)
Download / Play “The Water” (MP3)

Only a few days left here to gather your thoughts for a letter to the DEC …. Get some more folks signed onto that petition. Let us not underestimate the importance of unifying our minds and hearts. And most importantly, keep working at your amazing projects that are the positive creativity we all long for, thrive on, and need. It is these very projects – which invigorate our communities, regenerate our land, and ground our spirits – that make this place worth standing up for.

Here’s to a coming year full of great clarity,
Travis Knapp