Don't Expect Protection

Mountain View Elementary School, Kingsley PA

Hello Friends,

The water deliveries are stopping today 11/30/11 to our friends in Dimock. I am coordinating the donated use and availability of water trucks and drivers from any communities that offer assistance. Penn American Water has stepped up to provide a potable source in Montrose to fill up unless they want to fill up at home before driving to Dimock, though that uses more fuel.

The lawyers at Napoli, Bern and Ripka are preparing a liability release form for the donators stating that the water is for shower, bath and laundering only, so we will have to ask people to bring drinking water on 12/06/11 at the latest in 1, 2.5 or 5 gallon bottles. If you have a community that is willing to donate the truck and driver let me know immediately so we can schedule them.

Matt Ryan the mayor of Binghamton has agreed to help out immediately and we are asking for anyone else interested in helping to contact me ASAP. We are trying to get the first deliveries scheduled for tomorrow or Friday at the very latest. When we meet on 12/06/11 in Dimock I will be praising the people who are offering their help and exposing any of those opposing this effort like Corbett and Krancer.

Please have anyone interested in helping call me ASAP as We want to recognize them on Tuesday and encourage more communities to help their neighbors and show the world what good people can do when we think of others instead of ourselves first.

We are also looking for Major Donors or Philanthropists to raise the funds needed to build the Pipeline that was promised by the DEP and Pa last year that was stopped. The cost is in the 12 million dollar range but we are looking at loan availability but needed a financial backer that believes in the cause at this season of giving.

Today is the time to Stop the Talking and Blaming, It is time to step up and get this done, as I said at the DEC hearing in Binghamton ” Three and a Half Years is Enough “.
Thank you for all you have done and for helping us show our families in Dimock that there are still good people in the world and that we are grateful to help if we can.

Thank You

Craig L. Stevens
6th Generation Landowner
Silver Lake Township, Pa.
570-967-2280

Another option is donating time/money to the cause:

http://www.waterdefense.org/latest-news/water-for-dimock-emergency-aid-needed-for-pennsylvania-fracking-victims

***SHIELDS COMPRESSOR STATION, Susqu. CO
PUBLIC HEARING

PA Department of Environmental Protection
Invites your concerns about noise, air quality, health impacts

Montrose High School, December 6, 2011 7pm

mwalker@cleanair.org
570-289-4790

________________________________________

Informal Workshop on Writing Testimony
for DEP Dec. 6^th Public Hearing

Sat, Dec 3rd from 3PM to 5:30PM

St Paul’s Episcopal Church on Church Street (Rte 706), Montrose

Where to go: Come in the side door facing Chestnut St (between the Church & HoMart gas station) and look for signs.

Parking: Besides the streets there is parking behind the old Montrose Inn (now Community Bank) and the town parking lot behind all the shops along Church St. (turn right from Church St.)

Contact Rebecca Roter for more information: 267-733-5211

Today, President Obama is coming through Scranton to campaign for his Jobs Bill, but November 30th is a very important day for Dimock residents who lost their water after Cabot Oil and Gas used hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to drill for gas near their homes.

Today, Cabot will stop delivering water to their water buffaloes, by order of PA Governor Corbett. After November 30th, Dimock residents will have to buy water every day or else drink the tap water that is contaminated with methane and hazardous chemicals.

Today, let’s rally and tell President Obama that fracking is NOT a clean energy, that PA residents should not be sacrificed, and that we need safe, permanent jobs that won’t disappear when the gas is gone, requiring us to destroy where we live or our health.

Meet at Occupy Scranton, 1:30 PM (Linden and S. Dix Ct)
Walk over to Scranton High School at 2 PM.

HB 1950 “includes con­tro­ver­sial lan­guage, authored by the Cor­bett Admin­is­tra­tion but not included in the governor’s pub­lic out­line, that would ‘super­sede and pre­empt’ all munic­i­pal reg­u­la­tions deal­ing with nat­ural gas drilling.” (StateImpact). You can read HB 1950 here.

SB 1100, regarding a natural gas impact fee, would bar those municipalities with strict regulation from receiving fee money. This limits a municipality’s ability to protect itself from the impacts of natural gas production.

Take Action:

Step 1. Sign the petition.

Step 2. Make the phone calls to follow-up and add additional pressure. Your legislator’s number is here.

Step 3. Pat yourself on the back! You’re making a difference!

11/15/11 UPDATE: SB 1100 is being voted on TODAY, so call your senator now!

This is a letter that Julie and Craig Sautner of Dimock, PA, received from Cabot on October 26. It indicates that as of NOVEMBER 30, 2011, they will no longer receive clean water deliveries from Cabot, the gas company that caused contamination of their water over three years ago.

If those files are too small to read, please help yourself to this PDF:

nomorewaterforyou

***THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT***

The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) will be voting on November 21st on whether or not to allow hydraulic fracturing (aka “fracing”/”fracking”) in the Delaware River Basin.

The Delaware River Basin “contains 13,539 square miles, draining parts of Pennsylvania (6,422 square miles or 50.3 percent of the basin’s total land area); New Jersey (2,969 square miles, or 23.3%); New York (2,362 square miles, 18.5%); and Delaware (1,004 square miles, 7.9%). Included in the total area number is the 782 square-mile Delaware Bay, which lies roughly half in New Jersey and half in Delaware.” It is the longest un-dammed river in the United States east of the Mississippi, and it provides water for over 15 million people. Read more here: http://www.state.nj.us/drbc/thedrb.htm

In short, there are five voting members of the DRBC, all of which get one vote. These include the Governors of New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey and the Obama Administration as represented by the Army Corps of Engineers.  Three out of five votes will either pass or reject the plan to frack the Delaware River.  We already know that PA and NJ will vote for hydraulic fracturing, so we have to call the other three members and ask them to vote against it.

These are the numbers:

Call the Army Corps of Engineers to urge them to vote no fracking in the Delaware River Basin.  Tell them you will hold President Obama accountable for the vote and make it clear that you know that it is his decision.  703-697-4672. Leave a message for Jo Ellen Darcy, Obama’s rep on the DRBC.

***NOTE: When I called the lady at the other end simply gave me the email address to use when sending comments to Jo Ellen Darcy. ASACWPOC@conus.army.mil

Call Governor Jack Markell of Delaware.  Delaware has been sitting on the fence on fracking.  We need them clearly and unequivocally voting no.  Tell him to vote no fracking on the upcoming DRBC vote. 302-577-3210

Call Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York.  Tell him to oppose fracking in the Delaware River Basin watershed, just as he has in the New York city and Syracuse watersheds.  518-474-8390

That was the short version. Below is a letter from GASLAND director Josh Fox, which explains the situation in more detail.

Dear friends-

We’ve come a long way in the fight against fracking. The flaming faucets in GASLAND has been seen by upwards of 40 million people in 20 countries.  A recent study shows that 4 out of 5 Americans say that they are concerned about the effect of fracking on drinking water.

But our most crucial stand is less than two weeks away.

On November 21st the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) will vote to approve a plan that will allow for 20,000 or more fracked gas wells in the Delaware River Basin.  We need you to come out and protest the vote in huge numbers.

Because this moment is so important, I made a new video, my first video addressing fracking since GASLAND.  You can watch it HERE.

The crucial decision to frack or not to frack the Delaware is in the hands of President Obama and the Governors of Delaware and New York.  We need you to take charge and push them to do the right thing.

I have travelled all over this world, in over 30 states in the USA, to Africa, to Europe, Asia and Australia and one thing is clear:  Fracking is not only one of the most destructive forms of extreme energy development, creating water contamination, horrific and hazardous air pollution and a health crisis, it is a world wide scourge that pushes us farther away from the renewable energy future that we need.

Now the fight comes back to my home, the Delaware River Basin, where it started for me.  But this fight isn’t about me.  It’s about the drinking water for 16 million people that the Delaware River provides.

If enough of us get out there, we can save the Delaware River and we can win a huge battle in the fight against fracking nationwide and worldwide.  We can inspire the nation and the world to rid ourselves of this dirty form of energy.

THE CRUCIAL VOTE:

The Delaware River Basin Commission is an interstate body with five voting members, the Governors of New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey and the Obama Administration as represented by the Army Corps of Engineers.  Three out of five votes will either pass or reject the plan to frack the Delaware River.

It seems clear that the Governors of New Jersey and Pennsylvania will vote to allow fracking on a huge scale in the River Basin, which is why we need all three remaining votes in order to prevail.

Like the massive actions these past few months against Tar Sands development and the Keystone XL pipeline, this decision will be a “watershed” moment for President Obama and a must win for us fighting against extreme energy development.

Not only is the Delaware River the source of drinking water for 16 million people (or 5% of Americans), it is a designated Wild and Scenic river, a tourist destination for 5.4 million people a year and a national treasure.  The proposed plan to frack the Delaware would forever industrialize and contaminate this precious and currently pristine watershed.  We can work together now to protect our water.

We are asking you to do two things:

1) Make calls.  2) Come join us in an amazing protest effort on November 21st.

MAKE CALLS RIGHT NOW:

Call the Army Corps of Engineers to urge them to vote no fracking in the Delaware River Basin.  Tell them you will hold President Obama accountable for the vote and make it clear that you know that it is his decision.  703 697 4672 Leave a message for Jo Ellen Darcy, Obama’s rep on the DRBC

Call Governor Jack Markell of Delaware.  Delaware has been sitting on the fence on fracking.  We need them clearly and unequivocally voting no.  Tell him to vote no fracking on the upcoming DRBC vote. 302-577-3210

Call Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York.  Tell him to oppose fracking in the Delaware River Basin watershed, just as he has in the New York city and Syracuse watersheds.  518-474-8390

PROTEST on NOVEMBER 21st in Trenton, N.J.

When: November 21, 8 am

Where: Patriots Theater at the War Memorial, 1 Memorial Drive Trenton, N.J.

Coming from another location?  Bus sign up HERE.

Sign up for email updates HERE.
Delaware Riverkeeper Network will host a training session in lawful, peaceful, first amendment activity on November 2oth in New York City and Trenton. 

NYC, Sign up HERE.

Trenton, Sign up HERE.

Questions:  savethedelawareriver@gmail.com and/or continue to check back.

AND just for a shot in the arm, here is a special statement from our friend, Bill McKibben:

“We’re obviously deep in the trenches in Keystone XL pipeline fight, which has galvanized the whole country. But it’s not just the pipe we’re fighting, it’s the carbon it carries. And that carbon–that extreme energy, the second round of fossil fuels now that the easy stuff is gone–doesn’t just come from tarsands. It also comes from removing mountaintops for coal, and from drilling deep under the ocean–and, urgently, from fracking. We’ve simply got to somehow slow the rush to this new and dangerous technology, which promises to overwhelm the atmosphere with global warming gases. “
I’ve never had more resolve, I’ve never been more challenged and yet I’ve never felt more proud of us and our strength that I do right now.  I know we can win. Please join us and act quickly.

For more info go to www.savethedelawareriver.com.

 

Thank you,

Josh Fox

Director, GASLAND

Milanville, PA

Tell the DEP to Protect our Air and Health and Request a Public Hearing on Sullivan Co. Compressor Station 

The PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is ready to approve an application from Central New York Oil & Gas, LLC to construct a compressor station in Davidson Township, Sullivan County, PA. This will lead to an increase in emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), nitrogen oxide, particulates and hazardous pollutants. Since most of Davidson Township is in a valley, the toxins are more easily trapped in these low lying communities, negatively impacting human health.

These pollutants are a direct threat to human health and the environment. Ground-level ozone causes a variety of respiratory problems including asthma and the emission of these kinds of hazardous air pollutants has been linked to elevated levels of cancer and neurological health issues.

There is a great need for widespread public involvement to ensure that the DEP does its job by properly analyzing and accounting for the environmental and human health impacts of natural gas operations. We all need to request a public hearing for this application so that more people can voice their concerns and have their questions answered in person by the DEP.

Please copy/paste and send the the letter below to mzaman@state.pa.us

mzaman@state.pa.us
Dear Mr. Zaman,

I am concerned about the cumulative environmental and human health impacts that could result from approving one compressor station after another in North-central Pennsylvania. The Central New York Oil & Gas Compressor station application is just the most recent in a long line of applications that have recently been approved or are currently under consideration.

I am very concerned about the health impacts of air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), particulate matter, carbon monoxide and hazardous air pollutants that are emitted by compressor stations. These pollutants have been linked with a variety of health issues including respiratory conditions, cancers and even death.

I was happy to see that the DEP acknowledged its responsibility under the Greenhouse Gas Tailoring Rule by performing an analysis of GHG emissions. I was also pleased to see some emissions limitations set on each source. What criteria did the DEP use to determine if the equipment in this application qualifies as the Best Available Technology? I urge the DEP to develop more stringent emission thresholds (ie: lower emissions standards) for determining what constitutes a Best Available Technology. I urge the DEP to require annual stack tests on priority pollutants.
I urge the DEP to perform a proper aggregation analysis to determine the cumulative effects of all Central New York Oil & Gas facilities and to ensure that individual facility emissions are truly kept under the thresholds set for major sources. This will help protect the air and health for communities close to this compressor station, those living down-wind, and other Pennsylvania residents.
I also request that the DEP host a public hearing for this permit application. I am concerned about the cumulative effects of multiple natural gas facilities operating in North-central Pennsylvania – often under the same ownership or as part of an interrelated system. A public hearing would provide more opportunity for comments, as more people in the community would likely be able to attend a hearing than submit written comments. A public hearing is likely the DEP’s most efficient way to respond to public comments as people can have their concerns answered directly and instantly.

Thank you for this opportunity to comment, and please keep me updated on any actions related to Plan Approval No. 41-00078C

Sincerely,

(You)

Happy Halloween and a big thanks to everyone who organized and attended to Zombies Occupy Dimock yesterday! We had a fantastic turnout and the weather allowed us a walk up Carter Rd. The costumes were fabulous. Here are some of the highlights:

Post-event press:

The Scranton Times

Pre-event press:

Food and Water Watch

StateImpact by NPR

For continued enjoyment, here are downloads for some water rationing cards and a pretend gas lease! You can find the event posters here.

water_ration_cardz

GOOD NEIGHBOR NATURAL GAS LEASE

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