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Fractivist Letters
A longtime anti-fracking activist is ratcheting up his letter writing campaign to Governor Cuomo with a new on-line message.
Walter Hang of Toxics Targeting in Ithaca held a news conference outside Governmental Plaza in Binghamton today to announce some early success. Hang says that over the past 10 days, 1,000 people have customized a form letter that he's made available on his website. Those letters are then e-mailed to Cuomo, his local representative, and the Commissioners of Health and Environmental Conservation. As with previous pleas, Hang and his allies urge the state to scrap its current draft environmental regulations and conduct a more thorough study of any potential health risks associated with fracking.
Hang says he thinks public pressure has played a role in delaying a final decision on hydraulic fracturing. "I believe that the coalition letters that Mayor Ryan and I and Dr. Perkus and literally tens of thousands of other New Yorkers have written in the last 3 and a half years are the main reason why there is still not a single fracked shale well in New York State."
Last week, a mid-level appeals court upheld a ruling that municipalities have the right to ban fracking. However, Hang says the anti-fracking movement should not focus exclusively on so-called home rule battles. He says the state regulatory process is the best way to protect the health and safety of New Yorkers. You can find Hang's form e-mail at toxicstargeting.com.
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Binghamton Mayor Ryan and Local Citizen Activists Call for State DOH “Public Health Impact Study” of Shale Fracking
From Walter Hang:
Binghamton Mayor Matthew T. Ryan and local citizen activists will hold a news conference to release a letter sent to Governor Cuomo which requests that State Health Commissioner Dr. Nirav R. Shaw immediately undertake a “Public Health Impact Study” of High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing in order to fulfill sweeping requirements announced by the Cuomo Administration on 9/20/12. Until that Study is completed, the letter requests that New York’s shale gas extraction moratorium remain in effect.
The letter requests that Governor Cuomo fulfill Environmental Conservation Commissioner Martens 9/20/12 shale gas "health impact analysis" pledge that Dr. Nirav R. Shah will:
a) address “any legitimate request for additional due diligence and study…;”
b) ensure that “DEC's ultimate decision on hydraulic fracturing is beyond reproach either as a matter of law or as policy;”
c) allow DEC to avail “ourselves of the best possible advice from the private and academic sectors;” and
d) undertake an investigation that would “… result in the most thorough review of high-volume hydraulic fracturing in the nation.”
The News Conference will take place at 1:00 PM, Thursday, March 28, 2013 in Mayor Ryan's fourth floor conference room at 38 Hawley Street, Binghamton, NY.
Fractivists Demand Health Study
Environmental fractivists are asking Governor Andrew Cuomo to do a public health impact study before making a decision on whether to allow fracking or not in New York State.
They want the State Health Department Commissioner to begin the study immediately. The group, including Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan and Toxics Targeting President Walter Hang, says the Cuomo administration promised that the state's drilling investigation would result in the most thorough review of fracking in the nation. Hang says that has not happened. A letter requesting the study has been sent to Governor Cuomo and 100 of his top campaign contributors.
Walter Hang says, "Our letter basically just says to the Governor, do a public health impact study, address all of these public health concerns once and for all, and until that is done don't adopt a final review, don't lift the moratorium, fulfill your promise to make sure that these issues are based on science."
Hang says an in-depth study is much different than the shallow so-called health review currently being done by the State Department of Health.
Anti-fracking advocates sending letter to governor about health analysis
BROOME COUNTY, N.Y. -- Environmental advocates continue to push for a new health analysis of hydrofracking.
Advocates in the Southern Tier say they are sending a new letter to the state. In it, the activists claim the Department of Health review currently underway is not meeting its mandated goals.
The anti-fracking advocates are calling on the state to conduct a public health impact study that includes review and comment from the community.
"Our letter just basically says to the Governor: Do a public health impact study. Address all of these public health concerns once and for all. And until that is done, don't adopt a final review. Don't lift the moratorium. Fulfill your promise to make sure these issues are going to be decided based on science," said Walter Hang, Toxics Targeting President.
The letter will be sent to Governor Cuomo and his top 100 campaign contributors.
Fracking roundup: Anti-frackers push Martens on health review; Pro-frackers tout Ed Rendell’s op-ed
– A group of fracking critics in the Southern Tier are trying to make sure Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joseph Martens is living up to his promises when it comes to an ongoing health review of fracking.
In a letter sent to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the activists—led by outspoken Ithaca database specialist Walter Hang—highlighted key phrases from Martens’ 2012 announcement of the health review. In his September statement, Martens said Health Commissioner Nirav Shah had agreed to assess the DEC’s analysis of fracking and ensure it would be adequate to protect public health.
Specifically, they point to Martens saying he wants to make sure the state’s fracking review is the “most thorough review possible, especially when it comes to public health concerns.”
“In reality, the DOH Review has not achieved its goals and is an exercise in futility,” the letter reads. “Commissioner Shah recently testified for the first time that he and three outside experts who were contracted for 25 hours of work merely reviewed the existing Draft SGEIS. That effort is pointless.”
The activists—which includes Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan, a fracking critic—called on the state to undergo a comprehensive health impact analysis, a lengthy study the likes of which Martens had previously rejected. They want a public-comment period and a public scoping document—neither of which have been included as part of Shah’s review—and a fracking decision put on hold until the study is completed.
Here’s the full letter: