Greetings,
Thank you all so much for making Monday's Binghamton Rally and EPA hearing a tremendous success. We sent a critically important message to regulatory authorities, elected officials, candidates for higher office, the gas industry and the nation as a whole.
I believe we also achieved our goal of continuing to build momentum to withdraw the draft SGEIS. We are bigger, stronger and more focused due to our strong showing.
When I arrived just before ten, there were only one or two people on the front steps of the federal building. I experienced a distinct sinking feeling. When I got closer, I saw they were security guards. I ran around the corner and there was a huge crowd in the sunshine. It was totally stupendous.
We had done it again. With only a few days advanced notice, we generated a crowd of more than 300 activists, officials and groups for our early morning event. More people showed up all day.
We dwarfed the pro-drillers who all wore t-shirts with the same message and held up copies of the same sign.
They had a weak plastic bullhorn. We had Ken Zeserson's excellent Crate Amp that blew them away.
Check out the three pages of immense newspaper coverage that ran in Binghamton, Ithaca and Elmira. There was also extensive regional print, TV and radio coverage. CNN and CBS Evening News also were there along with the largest commercial TV station in Norway! Thanks, Torgeir, for making the trip.
See extremely limited clips and some memorable photos at: http://www.toxicstargeting.com/MarcellusShale
See my formal hearing statement at: http://www.toxicstargeting.com/MarcellusShale/documents/fracking-comments
Thanks, again, for everyone's generous help. Thanks especially to everyone who got up at dawn to travel from afar as well as the locals who worked so hard to stage the event.
Finally, I express my gratitude to Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan and his Executive Assistant, Andrew Block, for their support and assistance in making the event possible.
Onward and upward. The coming months could decide our fate. More about that shortly.
Best,
Walter
