Citizen Alert/Urgent Action Requested

Greetings,

I write to request your immediate assistance in holding members of the High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing Advisory Panel accountable for safeguarding New York from horizontal hydrofracturing hazards. That panel includes elected officials, environmentalists as well as gas industry and business representatives.

See Advisory Panel Members and Contact Info: http://www.toxicstargeting.com/node/30652

The Advisory Panel is charged by DEC to develop recommendations regarding: "measures to minimize socioeconomic and other impacts on local governments and communities..." To date, that mandate has not been fulfilled.

I wrote to each member of the Advisory Panel and invited them to sign the Withdraw the Revised Draft SGEIS coalition letter that now has more than 22,000 signatories. I also requested that they sign a pledge to maintain the de facto moratorium until all the concerns spelled out in the coalition letter are fully resolved.

Not one member responded to my request.

Cause for Concern

The comments of some of the Advisory Panel members are clearly cause for concern and warrant your attention.

For example, Natural Resources Defense Council submitted detailed comments regarding a "Demonstration Project" alternative that is consistent with the Governor's reported interest in allowing limited horizontal hydrofracturing in the Southern Tier. That alternative would allow up to 300 horizontal hydrofractured wells to be drilled over a three-year period.

See: http://toxicstargeting.com/sites/default/files/pdfs/ene_12011201a-p8-9.pdf

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a Senior Attorney with NRDC and Chief Prosecuting Attorney with Riverkeeper, wrote an article that notes: "...the panel's confidence in his integrity [Mark Boling, Senior VP of Southwestern Energy] is the one thing that might allow us to go forward with recommendations regarding a regulatory scheme that could allow certain kinds of fracking to proceed in New York State." See: http://www.toxicstargeting.com/node/30651

Take Action Today

Against that background, it is imperative to prevent the Advisory Panel from endorsing proposals that are fundamentally unfair or ineffective. Please request that Advisory Panel members sign a simple pledge that provides meaningful protection for all New Yorkers from horizontal hydrofracturing hazards.

You can use the contact info and sample email below. I invite you to expound to your heart's content. If you are a member or financial contributor to the groups represented on the Advisory Panel, you can withdraw your support. If you are a constituent, you can withhold your vote. Please be entirely respectful in your communications.

Please bcc me on your missives: info@toxicstargeting.com.

Sample Email:

See Advisory Panel Member Contact Info: http://www.toxicstargeting.com/node/30652

Dear _____________:

Since 2008, there has been a de facto moratorium on horizontal hydrofracturing in New York's Marcellus Shale pending adoption of a Final Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS).  That policy has allowed New York to avoid widespread gas drilling problems experienced in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

More than 850,000 residents near Pittsburgh had to drink bottled water after public supplies were contaminated by massive gas drilling wastewater discharges into the Monongahela River.

In Ohio, underground injection of gas drilling wastewater has been linked to earthquakes.

New York's Marcellus Shale Revised Draft SGEIS just received thousands of blistering comments from elected officials, business leaders, environmental and civic groups and citizens.  Region 2 of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency submitted 26 pages of detailed comments that identified dozens of major inadequacies.

A coalition letter with more than 22,000 signatories echoes EPA's concerns and requests that Governor Cuomo Withdraw the Marcellus Shale Revised Draft SGEIS due to at least 17 critical shortcomings and send it "back to the drawing board" for yet another do-over.

You are invited to sign that coalition letter: http://www.toxicstargeting.com/MarcellusShale/cuomo/coalition_letter/2011

Given the Revised Draft SGEIS' well-documented concerns, I request that you sign this de facto moratorium pledge:

Given the irreparable harm that shale gas extraction could wreak on New York's environment and public health, I request that Governor Cuomo maintain DEC's de facto moratorium on Marcellus Shale horizontal hydrofracturing until there is a consensus among all local, state and federal authorities as well as potentially impacted parties that the 17 major shortcomings documented in the Withdraw the Revised Draft SGEIS Coalition Letter have been fully resolved.

____________________________________________________

Date: ______________________

I look forward to receiving your prompt reply.

Yours truly,

________________________________

Marcellus Shale

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