Hydrofracking: Rochester, NY, Forum, October 2011

This is the quick way to look at the Rochester forum held at Temple B'rith Kodesh, October 23, 2011. You can click on selected portions of the forum for easy viewing as time permits. This was an excellent forum, full of information we all need. Time is of the essence, friends. The NY DEC is in the process of deciding our future. Will high-volume, slick water horizontal hydrofracking be allowed in New York State? Permitting may commence as soon as early 2012.

How Hydraulic Fracturing Will Impact Rochester (NY)
Panelists: Anthony Ingraffea, PhD, PE, professor, Cornell University
                 Jannette Barth, PhD, economist
                 Roger Downs, NYS lobbyist for the Sierra Club, Atlantic
                     Chapter

Click here to check it out.

Visit R-CAUSE   (Rochesterians Concerned About Unsafe Shale gas Extraction), organizers of this event.

For help in writing your letter to the NY DEC, click here.  The public comment period has begun and will continue through December 12, 2011.  I am working on my comment, and I encourage everyone to submit something, too.  We are encouraged to address only one issue.  So pick the one you are most concerned about.

Submit your letter to the NY DEC ASAP!

Fracking the Finger Lakes (NY): Sandra Steingraber (video)

Sandra Steingraber gives a talk in Hammondsport, New York, on September 15, 2011.  She describes the earth below the surface as a living eco-system, especially in the Marcellus Shale.  It is not a dead, inert place, just rock and dirt, as many of us might assume.  She tells the story of how New York State was formed.

Then she addresses the effects of natural gas drilling on air, water, food production, tourism, and road safety.  She explains that the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement that is now being vetted does not even mention these impacts.

 She says, inspite of gas industry representatives' claims to the contrary, there are now 1000 documented cases of ground and/or surface water contamination from the natural gas drilling process.  That contamination includes the carcinogen benzene.

If you have 40 minutes, please watch this talk.  At the end, she shows some visual aids which are presented in a very poignant and clever way.

Why Home Rule Matters: New York State Will Be Fracked Unless......

Do you have about 35 minutes to spare?  Learn more about what will happen in New York State if localities do not hurry up and get land use and road use ordinances in place NOW!  We will be fracked.  No question.  Watch this excellent power point presentation narrated by Chip Northrup of Cooperstown, NY.  He tells it like it is.

Here is the link.

New York State DEC Releases Revised Report on Hydrofracking

DEC Commissioner Joe Martens declares that slick water, high volume hydrofracking can be done safely, but not in the watersheds of New York City and Syracuse.  Why is that?  If it is safe, it should be OK for the whole state.   Joe Martens is wrong in my view.  Hydrofracking CANNOT be done safely.  Therefore it should be banned permanently everywhere.

Anthony Ingraffea of Cornell University: Hydrofracking Part III

Part III of Dr. Ingraffea's talk on hydrofracking.

Watch Part II of this talk here.  Part I is here.

Dr. Ingraffea: Hydrofracking Part II

Part II of a talk by Dr. Anthony Ingraffea of Cornell University, and an expert in hydraulic rock fracturing.  You may be surprised at what he has to say about what is happening in the Marcellus Shale.

Watch Part III of this talk here. Part I is here.

Dr. Ingraffea Teaches the Hydrofracking Basics: Part I

Anthony Ingraffea, PhD, gave a talk in Penn Yan, NY, on March 2, 2010.  Here is Part I of that lecture (running about 8 minutes).  Dr. Ingraffea received his PhD in rock fracture mechanics, a field which is almost unknown today, and few people have this rare degree.  Dr. Ingraffea worked at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, for 33 years, in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department.  He did research in hydraulic rock fracture in particular.  He has also served as princial investigator for such organizations as NASA, Kodak, the U. S. Army, IBM, Schlumberger, Digital Equipment Corporation, and Boeing.

In this talk, Dr. Ingraffea focuses on hydrofracking and the Marcellus Shale.  He has a unique way of explaining the process in a very understandable way.  And he highlights the dangers of the process which he has studied and researched for decades.

Watch Part III of this presentation here. Part II is here.