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Democracy in Action! Support the FRAC Act! Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy has partnered with Democracy in Action to enable us to easily contact our legislators on the issues that are so important to us. Just sign in with your name and address, and your letter will automatically be routed to the legislators who represent you. For our first lobbying campaign, we've chosen to focus on the FRAC Act. This important federal bill will subject hydraulic fracturing to the Safe Drinking Water Act and compel drillers to disclose the chemicals they use in their fracking fluids by repealing the "Halliburton Exemption." Please click here to send a letter supporting the Frac Act! Status of the FRAC Act Today To date, the FRAC Act has three sponsors in the Senate, including New York's Charles Schumer and Pennsylvania's Bob Casey. (Senator Gillibrand has promised to vote for the bill but has not said she if will sponsor it.) Twenty-five members of the House have signed on as cosponsors, including six New Yorkers (Represenatives Arcuri, Hinchey, Maloney, Massa, McHugh and Tonko) and two Representatives from Pennsylvania (Sestak and Murphy). You can track the progress of the FRAC Act here. EPA Finds Chemicals in Drinking Water Recent developments in Pavillion, Wyoming, underscore the importance of the FRAC Act. Reports of foul-smelling water, animal deaths, and unusual illnesses led the Environmental Protection Agency to conduct its first analysis of drinking water suspected of being contaminated by drilling. Contaminants,including chemicals commonly used in fracking fluid, were found in 11 of 39 wells. Looking at the evidence, EPA scientist Nathan Wiser said, "It starts to finger point stronger and stronger to the source being somehow related to the gas development…" This story was first reported by Abram Lustgarten for ProPublica. You can read the entire story here. All of Mr. Lustgarten's investigative articles on gas drilling can be found under "Gas Drilling" on the ProPublica home page. A Million Gallons a Day from the Delaware? For the second time this year, the Delaware River Basin Commission delayed acting on Chesapeake Appalachia's request to withdraw a million gallons of water a day from the Special Protection Waters of the Upper Delaware. The Commission was originally expected to approve the withdrawal in July, but delayed action after hearing comments from over 1200 groups and individuals. A second public meeting to consider a revised application was postponed at the request of Chesapeake. A new date for the meeting has not been set. Drillers and environmentalists alike are paying close attention to how the DRBC handles Chesapeake's request because,in all likelihood, it's only the first of many water withdrawal requests from the gas companies that intend to drill in our area. Click here to read Chesapeake's application,(called a docket). More Devastation in Pennsylvania While New York State and the DRBC continue to put the brakes on drilling in the Catskills, nearby Dimock, Pennsylvania has suffered still more environmental pollution. You may recall that earlier last winter fracking operations contaminated a number of water wells, then in the spring, several gallons of diesel fuel was spilled from an overturned truck. Now, in the latest incident, thousands of gallons off racking fluid contaminated a wetland and stream killing off fish in the area. The spilled fluid contained a proprietary Hallibuton product suspected of causing cancer in humans. Fracking fluid is also suspected of destroying a 38-mile stretch of Dunkard Creek, which runs along the Pennsylvania-West Virginia border. The creek had been one of the most ecologically diverse streams in the area, with over 160 species if aquatic life; today it is virtually lifeless. Authorities are investigating the possibility that the massive kill off was caused by the illegal dumping of drilling wastewater. What's Going on with the Sierra Club??? In a policy about-face, the national Sierra Club now seems ready to embrace drilling in the Marcellus Shale. A draft document by the club states that "…shale gas impacts, if properly managed, are somewhat less severe than those other fuels which might otherwise be used, and… natural gas should retain its transitional role." Let the Sierra Club know what you think of this policy flip-flop. One question we'd like to see answered: How much money has the Sierra Club accepted from the natural gas industry? Two Ways to Benefit Catskill Citizens 1. On Sunday, October 11th (Columbus Day weekend), we'll be holding our second annual fundraiser at the North Branch Inn in North Branch, New York. The event will get underway at 5 P.M. A donation of $20 will be requested at the door, hearty snacks will be provided, and there'll be a cash bar. For more information, call (845) 468-7063 or email info@catskillcitizens.org. If you can't attend either event and would like to make a donation, please send a check to:
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