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Simply Amazing DOH Review News/Setting the Record Straight/Keep Pushing Hard

We are up to 1,249 respectful, powerful letters which request that a shale fracking "Public Health Impact Study" be undertaken. Keep cranking: http://apps.toxicstargeting.com/ms_email_template.php

See what eloquent activists wrote: http://www.toxicstargeting.com/MarcellusShale/documents/2013/04/24/email...

Greetings,

I am thrilled to report simply amazing news regarding Dr. Shah's secret DOH Review. Believe it or not, even the natural gas industry is now calling for this proceeding to require public participation.

What a hoot. Will wonders never cease?

Governor Cuomo now has zero support for his secret DOH Review. He has taken heat from dozens of Legislators in both Houses, hundreds of local government officials as well as thousands of health professionals, academics, grassroots groups and activists who signed multiple hard-hitting coalition letters. Even the gas industry is hammering him.

All support for openness and transparency in this matter is welcome. Formal public participation would further delay completion of a bogus DOH Review. That would prevent adoption of an inadequate Final SGEIS. As a result, New York's shale fracking moratorium would remain in effect.

See clip: http://www.toxicstargeting.com/MarcellusShale/news/2013-06-03/transparen...

DOH Review Public Participation Campaign Driven By Grassroots Activists

I hesitate to quibble with the reporting, but environmental groups did not initially oppose the DOH Review due to its lack of public participation. Far from it.

One national group attended the meeting where the DOH Review was announced and voiced support for the proceeding according to the Associated Press. See: http://www.toxicstargeting.com/news/ny-dec-head-no-outside-study-frackin...

Some Hydraulic Fracturing Advisory Panel enviro members tried to duck public participation requests and only changed course after getting bombarded by activist missives: http://www.toxicstargeting.com/node/40170 and http://www.toxicstargeting.com/node/40171

Many enviros supported a draft coalition letter which requested public comment AFTER the Final DOH Review was completed: http://www.toxicstargeting.com/node/37363

When their draft letter was leaked, intense criticism persuaded the groups to support public comment BEFORE the Final DOH Review was completed: http://www.toxicstargeting.com/sites/default/files/FINAL_shah_martens_he...

In contrast, thousands of grassroots activists signed multiple coalition letters requiring formal DOH Review public participation, held rallies, phone banked the Governor and built an impressive bi-partisan coalition of hundreds of legislators and local government officials as well as health care professionals, public interest groups and concerned citizens. That campaign repeatedly generated massive media coverage over three months.

Grassroots Activism Essential to Maintaining New York's Shale Fracking Moratorium

When Dr. Shah wrote on 2/12/13 that he could not complete his secret DOH Review, DEC's shale fracking Revised Rulemaking collapsed. Enviro groups could not wait to thank Governor Cuomo even though he did nothing worthy of praise.

The Governor has not given up trying to permit shale fracking and says he will make a final decision before election day 2014. We must make sure that he gets no political cover for any shale fracking demonstration project, secret DOH Review or inadequate Final SGEIS.

Last summer, the Governor reportedly asked prominent enviros to support a total of ten demonstration shale gas wells permitted over two years. That is a far cry from the 300 demonstration wells over three years specified by the only enviro group with multiple members on the Advisory Panel: http://toxicstargeting.com/sites/default/files/pdfs/ene_12011201a-p8-9.pdf

Thanks to intense grassroots opposition to any demonstration project alternative, the Governor's proposal received no support. That is why not a single shale gas well has ever been fracked in New York.

Conclusion

We are not out of the woods by any means. Each and every day, Governor Cuomo must be pushed hard to:

a) put the bogus DOH Review on-hold pending formal public participation,

b) require a comprehensive shale fracking Public Health Impact Study to be conducted that fulfills the goals identified by the Cuomo Administration on 9/20/12, and

c) withdraw the Revised Draft SGEIS in order to address its documented shortcomings as well as to adopt public health and environmental safeguards that fully resolve all known shale fracking hazards.

If those goals can be achieved, New York could become the first state in the nation to avoid the irreparable impacts of natural gas extraction mining. That would provide a model of effective action for other states ravaged by shale and oil fracking.

Thank you so much for all your concerted and coordinated assistance.

Onward and upward,

Walter

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