Town of Fallsburg Politics...There Does Not Seem To Be Any!

Walking around, driving around, I am struck at the lack of PRESENCE politics has in and around Mountaindale this close to an election. This confuses me for numerous reasons, the least of which is the huge issue of fracking looming over our community...where are people and more importantly, where are the politicians, those in office seeking re-election, and those looking to get elected? Shouldn't they be more visible and accessible, or is the problem far bigger than one of visibility and accessibility?

I would love asking those running for office in Fallsburg, in Sullivan County a few questions, find out where they stand on the issues...it is the 22nd of October, I know people are running for office, but have not seen any politicians here in Mountaindale knocking on doors introducing themselves, have not seen a "Meet the Candidates" night scheduled for the five percent of Fallsburg residents that reside here in our hamlet. I have not seen political campaign signs in the number and variety I am used to seeing. Thinking maybe I was missing something, or perhaps blind to our local politics, wanting to know who was running for office and what their positions are on the issues before I go to the fire house and vote, I did a Google search for "Fallsburg NY Politics"

What I found, or more appropriately did not find truly shocked me. There is not one single politician, one single article on Fallsburg politics on the first page of the Google Search. Thinking there had to be some kind of a mistake or that my search terms needed improvement, I did a second search for Town of Fallsburg Politics and the first entry on page one in the sixth position was actually our own Mountaindale News blog that happened to mention the Democratic Party...the article really had nothing to do with politics.

Looking at my search results, I find myself pondering...

What does it say about our community when local politicians seem to be so absent on the internet? How can we as a community compete in a 21st Century Global Economy when our own local politicians seem so behind the times? No Democratic or Republican blog for the town of Fallsburg, no party web sites, the town seemingly devoid of an internet presence when it comes too all things political in a community of some 10,000 people. One has to wonder...right now the Town of Fallsburg, its elected officials are negotiating a new contract with Time Warner...how well equipped are they to negotiate when they themselves do not have an internet presence, do not seem to grasp the importance of being plugged into Social Media in 2011?

Do not want to paint a picture of a barren desert, as there is some light out upon the Horizon. Our town supervisor Steven Vegliante does have a LinkedIn page, though it is more for his personal business and reputation than for anything related to our local politics. If any of the other town supervisors are plugged in on the internet, their presence is so well hidden as to not exist. As mentioned in an earlier article, our community, Sullivan County needs far greater, more reliable internet service if we are going to compete for jobs and industry moving forward. For that access to occur, we need elected officials who not only see the importance of world class internet access, but are themselves fully plugged into and using the internet in acting as our advocates when it comes to renegotiating contracts with the Time Warner's of our world.

I would challenge all of our elected officials to begin using the power of the internet...start up a blog that allows you to communicate and have dialogue with the citizens you represent. Get yourselves a twitter account so you can send out important messages and notices instantaneously to the populace. Not sure where to start? Drop me a note, will be more than happy to hold a seminar here in Mountaindale for any politicians wanting to plug in and avail themselves to the new dawn that is Social Media and the World Wide Web...come next election season, let my Google Search for Fallsburg NY Politics find a first search page filled top to bottom with our local elected officials.

Ask Your Fracking Questions Today

In another prime example of Governor Cuomo and the NYDEC trying to minimize the public's involvement in the discussion over Hydraulic Fracturing while at the same time making it appear as if they are bending over backwards to address our concerns, DEC Commissioner Joe Martens has decided to make himself available to answer questions FOR A WHOLE HOUR on a double holiday weekend...HOW GENEROUS.

He will be answering questions on Citizens Connect from 9-10AM this Saturday, October 8th, 2011 while all of those of the Jewish persuasion in our area are fasting for Yom Kippur.Meanwhile, many more of us are trying to get in our last weekend of camping, celebrating the long Columbus Day Weekend.

On the good news side of the Equation...the web site is OPEN FOR BUSINESS and accepting questions now, so you are strongly advised to take a trip over and submit a question or ten now.

First of Four Fracking Hearings Being Held in Albany Today, as State Government Gives LIP SERVICE to Concerned Citizens

Leave no doubt about it...baring a miracle, the State of New York, its government, its elected officials HAVE SOLD US OUT to the deep financial pockets, the financial donations to campaign coiffures that the Natural Gas Industry, Chesapeake Energy, Exxon and other Hydro Fracturing earth despoilers have been doling out.

It does not matter that most citizens are not buying the propaganda campaign Exxon has been waging in our rural communities, does not matter that the majority of New Yorker's will take fresh, safe drinking water over Natural Gas being sucked out of the ground and exported to China every time, the EPA, our turncoat Governor Cuomo have decided to line their own collective and individual pockets with the same silver with which Judas lined his own at the expense of our health, our clean drinking water, and our pristine rural communities.

Today's Albany hearing is Political Kabuki Dancing at its finest, our politicians putting lipstick on the pig as they sit around looking important, listening to hand picked speakers, knowing that the rubber stamping in favor of the Natural Gas industry wishes has already begun, once again the health and safety of the states citizens being callously sacrificed on the altar of corporate greed. Safe clean drinking water, the health of our children and grandchildren nothing more than collateral damage, our lives, our health an acceptable trade off when compared to the fossil fuels that can be removed from under our lands in the name of a transitional energy source, that under a best case scenario, will only last us another 15-20 years.

Let us be clear...giving citizen stakeholders a scant 90 days to submit comments on a document that is some 1500 pages in length is woefully inadequate, the comment period being kept deliberately short in an attempt to silence our voices, deny us our opportunity to be plugged into and a part of a decision that will affect in a negative fashion every New Yorker's life.

Let us be CLEAR...scheduling just four public meetings in the entire state of New York is inadequate to give citizens a true opportunity to SPEAK THEIR MIND on this issue...those four public hearings are even more inadequate in scope when you look at how the process of those hearings works. Public Officials, Industry Spokespersons, and local community VIP's are always given the first opportunity to be heard...most of those folks ARE ALREADY BOUGHT AND OWNED by the Natural Gas Industry. The rest of us peons are shuffled to the end of the list, and most of us never get heard, the hearing board announcing, "We're sorry, but we are running out of time, we we will hear four more speakers, then the rest of you are welcome to submit your comments in writing.

If you visit the public comments submission page, you see our rights being further curtailed. We are told that our comments should be supported with scientific support...uhhh...could someone please explain to us AVERAGE CITIZENS how we are supposed to digest a 1500 page document, find scientific support for our comments, and have it all together and submitted to the DEC in just 90 days? We are average lower and middle class citizens for the most part. We have families, we have jobs, and as much as the DEC may disagree, we do have to sleep. The DEC, and every other department of government involved in the writing of this document, every member of the Natural Gas industry have the luxury of working on this document, submitting comments on it as a job, are getting paid...however, most ground zero citizens who will be forced to live with the health risks and quality of life issues from Hydraulic Fracturing do not have that luxury, cannot spend eight hours a day, five days a week study the document, understanding it, and doing the research necessary to make scientifically supported comments for or against Hydraulic Fracturing.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- The state Assembly is holding a hearing to receive public comment on the Department of Environmental Conservation's permitting guidelines for natural gas drilling in the lucrative Marcellus Shale region of southern New York.

Environmental Conservation Committee Chair Robert Sweeney and committee members will take testimony in Albany starting at 9:30 a.m. Thursday.

Among those scheduled to testify are DEC Commissioner Joe Martens and New York City Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Carter Strickland.

DEC has scheduled four public hearings on the proposed permit guidelines and regulations between Nov. 16 and Nov. 30. They'll be held in Dansville, Binghamton, Loch Sheldrake, and New York City.

I would encourage every citizen to speak their voice on this issue....start by formally requesting an extension of time to comment on the proposed permit guidelines and regulations, asking for additional public hearings in your communities. Contact the folks at Catskill Citizens, volunteer, put up signs in your yards, get bumper stickers, find out where protests are planned and attend them....we here in Sullivan County will be one of the hardest hit communities if companies like Exxon and Chesapeake Energy are allowed to use Hydraulic Fracturing to drill for natural gas they have already sold to China.

Slow Down FRACKING....Ask For Extension of Comment Period

Just in from our friends in the Fight to Keep Fracking and its insidious environmental damages out of our communities. Tomorrow the fight to save our county, and the Greater Catskills from the environmental and health ills that come along with Hydraulic Fracturing (Fracking) begins when the state of NY releases its fundamentally flawed, industry created Revised Draft SGEIS...it is imperiative we be given ADEQUATE TIME to read and understand this 1000 page document. Below is the Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy Press Release...please, weigh in on this IMPORTANT ISSUE.

PRESS RELEASE

Extend the Public Comment Period

On Wednesday, the NYS DEC will release the last section of the Revised Draft SGEIS on the Oil, Gas and Solution Mining Regulatory Program which already runs to well over one thousand pages. While there's abundant evidence that hydrofracking should be prohibited, it's unlikely that we'll see a ban in New York any time soon. In the short term, we must do everything we can to forestall unsafe drilling while continuing to build public awareness, so that elected officials will eventually be forced to do their job and protect the public.

Right now, this means focusing our efforts on getting the NYS DEC to give the public ample time to read, analyze and comment on the Draft. Please take action and demand at least 180 days to read, analyze, and comment on this highly technical document.

An extended public comment period will give us time to formulate tens of thousands of substantive comments, which the DEC is required by law to read and address. Comments submitted on the first Draft SGEIS occupied the DEC for more than a year. We can do it again!

Commenting on the Draft: A Workshop Conducted by Roger Downs

Residents of the Upper Delaware region are invited to attend a free workshop led by Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter's Roger Downs. Roger is one of our most knowledgeable experts on the draft SGEIS, and with his guidance, ordinary citizens will be able to submit the type of comments that will force the DEC to rethink its disastrousplan to frack New York. Don't miss this chance to make a difference. Attend the two-hour workshop:

Saturday, September 3 10 a.m.-Noon

The Old North Branch Inn
North Branch, New York

To RSVP, and for more information, call (845) 468-7063, or email info@catskillcitizens.org

Two out of three people who find out about fracking think the risks aren't worth the rewards.

Public awareness is the key to our success, so spread the word!

.

August 31st is Important Day In New York For Fracking

If you have a mailing list, or have friends with internet access, we desperately need MORE SIGNATURES between now and August 31, 2011. Please read the following ACTION ALERT, and take action now to preserve our drinking water supplies, and pristine rural beauty.

ACTION ALERT

This is a critical moment in the fight to ban fracking in New York. On August 31, the Department of Environmental Conservation is scheduled to release its draft impact statement, which proposes to open large portions of the state to fracking. Sign the petition to Governor Cuomo to ban fracking now!

The drumbeat against fracking is growing louder and stronger. You have already taken action by sending letters and submitting comments to put an end to this destructive form of natural gas drilling (thanks!), but you have not yet signed the petition. We need more signatures on our petition to Governor Cuomo urging him to ban fracking in New York. Will you sign today?

We anticipate that the draft impact statement will fall short of putting the safety of our water, health, communities and environment before industry profits. While there are alternatives to natural gas, there are no alternatives to water. Will you help us reach our goal of obtaining 5,000 more petition signatures by August 31st?

Sign today to ban fracking:
http://action.foodandwaterwatch.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=7619

Thanks for taking action,

Corinne Rosen
New York Organizer
Food & Water Watch
crosen@fwwatch.org

Do You Trust Exxon To Extract Natural Gas in Sullivan County Using Hydraulic Fracturing?

Our politicians here in New York, here in Sullivan County seem bent on allowing Hydraulic Fracturing (Fracking) to begin in our state, and more specifically in our beautiful, scenic Hudson River Valley, natural gas wells and the ills they bring soon to become a COMMON SITE in our communities. One of the big players should this happen is Exxon (owns rights to 317,000 acres in Marcellus Shale) who has been blanketing the airwaves with commercials such as the one above wherein Exxon's geologist Eric Oswald tries to convince us that Exxon knows how important that they GET THIS RIGHT. (That line was borrowed or stolen from President Obama.)

Lets explore how Exxon DOES NOT GET IT RIGHT.

Let us start with the Exxon Valdez oil spill. In an excerpt from Wikipedia:

The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska, on March 24, 1989, when the Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker bound for Long Beach, California, struck Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef and spilled 260,000 to 750,000 barrels (41,000 to 119,000 m³) of crude oil.^[1][2] It is considered to be one of the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters.^[3] The Valdez spill was the largest ever in U.S. waters until the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, in terms of volume released.^[4] However, Prince William Sound's remote location, accessible only by helicopter, plane, and boat, made government and industry response efforts difficult and severely taxed existing plans for response.

The Exxon Valdez is perhaps the best known example of Exxon NOT GETTING IT RIGHT, but one does not have to look far to find example after example of them cutting corners, violating the laws, rules and regulations meant to protect the communities they do business and harm in. From Texas we find this excerpt:

Texas has fined Exxon Mobil $150,462 for violations of air pollution regulations at the company’s refinery in Beaumont, Texas.

A statement issued by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality says the 15 violations include failure to limit emissions during refinery malfunctions, failure to repair and perform monitoring of equipment, recordkeeping failures and failure to install required equipment.

We can look at the state of Maryland, and find yet another example with this excerpt:

The State of Maryland has filed a suit seeking nearly $ 12 million in penalties from Exxon Mobil Corp and a local service station operator for a gasoline leak in Jacksonville area of Baltimore County. The suit accuses the giant corporation and the service station of violating state environmental regulations by allowing the leak and not detecting or reporting it promptly. State officials say that 62 residential wells are contaminated with methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE, a gasoline additive. In addition to the penalties, the state asks that Exxon and its operator clean up the gasoline that leaked.

In California, we find again that Exxon SKIRTS THE RULES, then simply pays the fines as a cost of doing business.

Exxon Mobil Corp. agreed to pay $400,000 in penalties to California for environmental violations at its Torrance refinery. Exxon Mobil also agreed to spend a maximum of $2 million on supplemental environmental projects intended to cut excessive emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants at the refinery. The company paid $250,000 for a March 22, 2007 incident that caused the release of nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide and other substances. In addition, Exxon Mobil paid $150,000 to settle 23 air permit and air quality violations at the Torrance facility that occurred between October 2005 and October 2006.

If Exxon is doing business in your community, there is a very real likelihood that they are violating the environmental rules meant to protect your health, your water, your air. Yet, they are running commercials every day here in the Hudson River Valley trying to convince you that they and other companies like Chesapeake Energy (who has a very similar environmental record) know the importance of getting it right when it comes to FRACKING our neighborhoods, and they are spending MILLIONS lobbying here in New York, and in Washington DC to get access to the Natural Gas in the Marcellus Shale. Question is, when you look at the truth of these companies environmental records, can we really afford to let them bring FRACKING to our community?

Do Not Buy Into The Natural Gas Propaganda Campaign

If you watch television in the Sullivan County area, you see commercials, and lately a whole lot of those commercials are trying to sell our community on the virtues of Clean, Green Natural Gas. The problem is, we are being targeted by those who wish to use Hydraulic Fracturing to tap into the natural gas resources that are trapped in the Marcellus Shale which runs underneath most of our county, are waging a propaganda campaign to convince us that Natural Gas, and the dangerous act of accessing it using Hydraulic Fracturing is something we should not oppose, but instead embrace as patriotic Americans, and environmentally conscious citizens.

"Extracting natural gas from the Marcellus Shale could do more to aggravate global warming than mining coal, according to a Cornell study published in the May issue of Climatic Change Letters"

More than almost any other county, Sullivan County must decide for ourselves if we can afford the environmental and health costs associated with drilling for Natural Gas using Hydraulic Fracturing or Fracking, and to do this fairly, we must first dispel some of the myths being perpetrated in the Natural Gas industry commercial that our homes are being bombarded with on a daily basis as they try to get us to embrace this proposed transition from one fossil fuel to another, as they try to sell us on the concept that Natural Gas is the perfect transition fuel as we move from a oil based economy to one based upon some other alternative fuel.

"the average methane concentration to be 17 times higher in water wells located within a kilometer of active drilling sites."

Myth One...America has a natural gas supply that will last us over 100 years. Fact is, most of the big players in the industry, such as Chesapeake Energy have already sold off large chunks of this natural resources to allow them to secure more contracts to drill on every increasing swaths of land in the Marcellus Shale...so, even if America does have 100 years of Natural Gas underneath our lands, a huge amount of said gas has already been sold off to foreign lands and their governments, with the biggest buyer of these resources China...yes, that is right, China now owns a HUGE PERCENTAGE of America's natural gas resources. Question, are we as a county willing to risk serious damage to our environment to supply China natural gas? Are we willing to risk our most valuable resource (WATER) in the name of China Natural Gas, should we see Hydraulic Fracturing contaminating our fresh water supplies so that our state's natural resources can be shipped off to China?

Myth Two...Natural Gas is affordable. First, what they are hiding from you is the huge amounts of our tax dollars being given to the industry in helping them reach and economy of scale. As example, the state of Pennsylvania has given the industry 50 million dollars directly and indirectly. These tax dollars are available to build Natural Gas stations for the industry along interstate highways (they cannot build their own?), and are available for municipalities to convert their own vehicles to natural gas. Secondly, Natural Gas is only cheap right now because supply is outpacing demand...as the demand for Natural Gas increases and these supplies are more in line with the demand, you will see the price of natural gas raise dramatically, the so called bargain pricing GONE, and already too late, all of us sucked into having no choice but to pay a kings ransom to fuel our vehicles.

Myth Three...Natural Gas is a clean, green alternative natural resources. Not exactly, and if you look at the nuclear industry, you see the natural gas industry playing the same shell game with the facts when it comes to Natural Gas. The mining and processing of uranium into fuel rods is the dirtiest industrial process known to mankind, it's contribution to the world's pollution staggering. In 50 years, the nuclear industry has never properly and permanently dealt with so much as one ounce of their spent fuel wastes...but they don't tell you these facts, instead only wanting you to focus in on the fuel in their reactors and the electricity those reactors provide. They also know that their reactors cause a certain number of cancers per 100,000 people in the communities forced to host these facilities, but work very hard to hide statistical data from the public, the NRC cooperating in this ruse, writing these cancers off as acceptable risks based upon the larger benefit to mankind.

The natural gas industry is attempting to hoodwink us with the same kinds of tricks, focusing in on the benefits, while failing to provide full disclosure, failing to inform community where their wells will be drilled of the risks and health problems that ARE ASSOCIATED WITH HYDRAULIC FRACTURING. Citizens living near any natural gas well can have additional health problems, such as increased pollutants contributing to increased numbers of people having breathing issues. Our pure, clean, safe drinking waters will be negatively impacted, and in some cases permanently ruined...this is not an opinion, but rather a simple fact that can be easily verified with a Google search of the word FRACKING. Are scenic rural beauty and the tourism it creates will also be negatively impacted...did you know that in both Ohio and Pennsylvania the state governments are letting the Natural Gas industry drill INSIDE STATE PARK LANDS? Do you really want to go for a nature walk and see dozens of gas drilling rigs scarring this majestic beauty? Do you want to be walking along a stream once pristine that REEKS of the pollutants making their way into our tributaries from these drilling sites? Again, do a Google search, this is not hyperbole, but fact...Hydraulic Fracturing will contaminate our waters, it is not a matter of is, but when this damage occurs, and how often it occurs.

The industry would also have us believe that Hydraulic Fracturing, drilling for Natural Gas in our communities is good for the local economy...it is not. Sure, some landowners will benefit from selling their rights, others though will be forced into allowing drilling on their lands, even if they oppose the practice. More importantly, there are an ever mounting number of examples of property values being destroyed as a result of having Natural Gas Drilling Rigs as your neighbor. Are you prepared and willing to lose as much as EIGHTY PERCENT of your homes value in the name of cheap, affordable Natural Gas? Trust me, the natural gas industry is not going to come in after the fact and make you whole again...instead, they will spend millions of dollars in attorneys fees fighting any such claims, knowing full well that small rural communities to not have the cash reserves necessary to prove various and assorted acts of pollution are the fault of the industry...just like the nuclear industry has done now for some 50 years.

Sullivan County sits square in the middle of the Marcellus Shale debate, and we as citizens need to start talking among ourselves, need to make intelligent decisions on the topic of allowing drilling using Hydraulic Fracturing in our pristine county. Can we afford to risk losing our biggest tourism draw card in the name of providing China, and even other states within the United States so called cheap energy? Look at the environmental and health costs states like Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Pennsylvania paid in the name of clean cheap coal...are we willing to pay those same steep health and environmental costs so that companies like Chesepeake Energy can sell our natural gas to China?

Get involved in the FRACKING BATTLE, plug in, put signs in your yards, make phone calls and write letters to your elected officials. We need to stand up to both big government, and big Natural Gas companies, and "Just say no!"