Thank You for a Magnificent Fractivist Rally In Binghamton

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Greetings,

Thank you all so much for making Friday's Rally in Binghamton a truly magnificent red letter day in the history of environmental activism. Wow, what a whopper. It just took my breath away.

I can now attest that it is incredibly impressive when the President of the United States of America shows up at a gig. There were probably 1,000 people gathered for nearly 100 yards on both sides of the motorcade route immediately west of the University Union. A helicopter hovered overhead. Someone yelled, "here he comes" and everyone pressed forward as a double phalanx of motorcycle cops roared by with lights flashing. Then came a procession of big black SUVs evenly spaced and moving briskly. Following in stately manner was the President's huge black bus tastefully decorated with the Presidential seal. It passed through a canyon of activists screaming at the tops of their lungs, chanting and waving hundreds of signs.

The whole gig was over in maybe two minutes, but it required more than a week of hard work to make it such a success. We sent an unmistakable message to President Obama and Governor Cuomo: Don't Frack America and Maintain New York's shale gas extraction moratorium until a fracking Public Health Impact Study has been completed and comprehensive pollution liability safeguards are adopted as a model that should be adopted nationwide.

We owe a debt of gratitude to those who nearly worked themselves to death making the Rally a national shale gas event: Wes Gillingham of Catskill Mountain Keeper and Issac Siberman-Gorn of Citizen Action, who resolved too many logical problems to count, as well as Amanda Carpenter of NYPIRG, who robustly and efficiently flyered the BU campus right up to the last minute and turned out hundreds of students who filled out our ranks. It was a privilege to work with you. I bow in homage.

It is profoundly moving to see the same activists over and over again who have put so much of themselves into this hard-fought, five-year campaign. I am especially grateful to: the Perkus family and their compatriots at NYRAD, who have worked so hard to safeguard the Southern Tier; all the Ithacans who showed up in force yet again; Erin Heaton and her colleagues at Chenango Citizens for Renewable Energy (C-Care), toxic activists Charlie Izzo and Lisa Sanfilippo (who I admittedly stole the line from about caring enough about your community to fight for it); my favorite benevolent organic farmers: Susan and Lynn McMannis and Julie Mundt of Newark Valley, a great inspiration.

I apologize for not mentioning everyone who deserves it. I do not know your names. You know who you are!

Check a fun video of what we all should be doing now: http://www.toxicstargeting.com/MarcellusShale/videos/2013/08/23/walter-h...

See fun pics of the Rally: http://www.toxicstargeting.com/MarcellusShale/photos/2013/08/23/obama-vi...

Our enormous media coverage is posted at: http://www.toxicstargeting.com/MarcellusShale

In conclusion, we have recently been very fortunate. Our efforts are paying off, but we must keep slugging. We are not out of the woods yet by any means. Every day is a political eternity.

Thank you all very much for your assistance. Onward and upward.

Warmest regards,

Walter

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