just got this email and please vote.... If Roscoe wins they will use the money to help stop drilling for natural gas.....
I know a lot of you guys hunt and fish up there... so lets keep nature preserved.
THE GAS INDUSTRY DENIES HEALTH IMPACT OF ‘FRACKING’ AT STATE ASSEMBLY HEARINGS
YOUR HELP IS NEEDED TO PUT HEALTH ISSUES FRONT AND CENTER
Last week the New York State Assembly held a hearing on the health impacts of proposed gas drilling using hydrofracking. Run by Robert K. Sweeney, the Committee on Environmental Conservation Chair and Richard N. Gottfried, the Committee on Health Chair, the hearings brought together health professionals, scientists, and representatives of the gas drilling industry.
Not surprisingly, speakers representing the gas industry claimed that harmful effects on health have not been proven to date and none will be in the future. Their testimony blatantly ignores the documented cases of major adverse health impacts where fracking has been practiced. This follows a pattern of denial by other industries, such as the cigarette industry, that for years fought any attempt to link smoking to cancer, often until it was too late. But the majority of speakers confirmed what Catskill Mountainkeeper and you already know - that unless drilling can be proven to be safe it must not commence in New York State.
The speakers stressed that there are risks to human health present at every step of the hydraulic fracturing process from the possible exposure to the toxins used in the fracking process to spillage, leakage, and mishandling of fracking’s hazardous wastes and the creation of ozone from escaping gases and the evaporation of volatile organic compounds from wastewater ponds, combined with diesel exhaust from trucks, generators, and compressors. Health professionals reported that ozone levels in pristine wilderness areas of Texas, Wyoming and Utah, that started near zero, have now reached higher levels than in cities in California and New York, and stressed the substantial danger of ozone levels rising to extremely unhealthy conditions in our much more populated region. It was also reported that exposure to any one or to combinations of the very long list of toxins in the fracking process carries serious adverse health effects that are well known and can affect virtually every system of the body, producing neurological, pulmonary, gastroenterological, dermatological, immunological, hematological, endocrinological, ophthalmological, reproductive, and genetic illnesses and abnormalities.
Dr. Ronald E. Bishop testified that he found extremely high cancer rates in rural counties where gas wells are currently being drilled, when he factored out other possible industrial sources. He stated that this is and other health impacts of gas drilling may represent an active and current problem in New York State. The proliferation of abandoned and uncapped wells remains a conduit for contaminants into aquifers but this is only one part of the problem. He emphasized, “widespread contamination of a wide swath of upstate New York from oil and natural gas development is not a prediction; it is a present reality."
Dr. Bishop is one of many scientists and health professionals who gave similar testimony. Click here for more details on the adverse health effects that can come from gas drilling.
Catskill Mountainkeeper and our grassroots coalition have pressed hard for the NYS Assembly to hold these hearings. While they are a good start, it is imperative that the New York State Senate follow suit so that our Senators can hear for themselves the many and serious repercussions of unsafe gas drilling. As informed and concerned citizens, we cannot allow the denials of the severe health impacts of gas drilling. The scientific evidence of the dangers to health keeps mounting:
• Scientists at Duke University provided “systematic evidence of methane contamination of drinking water associated with shale gas extraction,”
• The recent New York Times series definitively demonstrated that fracking wastewater contains radioactivity and other toxic materials at levels that are frequently geometrically higher than the level that federal regulators say is safe for wastewater treatment plants to handle.
• Three scientists from Cornell University recently published a study concluding that fracking releases high levels of methane gas into the environment that significantly contribute to global warming.
So today, please do three things that will help us put the public health issue front and center in the fight to prevent unsafe gas drilling:
1. Visit our website and learn more about this issue and talk to your friends and relatives about it.
2. Click here to send a letter to State Sen. Mark Grisanti asking him to hold Health Impact hearings in the Senate before the end of the June session.
3. Help Catskill Mountainkeeper continue to lead the fight against unsafe gas drilling by supporting us with a donation.
And.......Help Roscoe WIN ULTIMATE FISHING TOWN!!!
Mountainkeeper is proud to help this wonderful Catskill town win the Ultimate Fishing Town contest. Today is the final day to vote and alot more than just the $25,000 grant is at stake here.
Roscoe is rallying and has cut the lead to under 2,000 votes. Can you take a few minutes and vote before 6:00 p.m.? This will be a photo finish and every single ballot will count.
If you’re not sure how –
1. Go to Vote for Roscoe, NY | Ultimate Fishing Town USA and cast a vote for Roscoe
2. Individuals will receive an e-mail from WFN to verify their e-mail vote - and must respond to the WFN by clicking on the link
If you are already voting, please create another email and vote again. AND THEN – recruit a friend.
The contest is sponsored by the World Fishing Network (WFN), and the first place prize is $25,000 for the community and a half-hour cable television show. It also means national exposure and increased tourism as anglers from around the world decide to “check out the ultimate place to fish.”
Roscoe has been an outstanding Sullivan Renaissance community since the program began in 2001. Already known as "Trout Town, USA" - Roscoe is considered the birthplace of the American Dry Fly Fishing, developed by Theodore Gordon and his followers. A two-hour drive from New York City, Roscoe is home to the junction of two trophy trout streams, the Willowemoc and the Beaverkill, in addition to many nearby lakes, ponds and reservoirs. If Roscoe wins, it will use some of the money to make an ADA compliant fishing access
I know a lot of you guys hunt and fish up there... so lets keep nature preserved.
THE GAS INDUSTRY DENIES HEALTH IMPACT OF ‘FRACKING’ AT STATE ASSEMBLY HEARINGS
YOUR HELP IS NEEDED TO PUT HEALTH ISSUES FRONT AND CENTER
Last week the New York State Assembly held a hearing on the health impacts of proposed gas drilling using hydrofracking. Run by Robert K. Sweeney, the Committee on Environmental Conservation Chair and Richard N. Gottfried, the Committee on Health Chair, the hearings brought together health professionals, scientists, and representatives of the gas drilling industry.
Not surprisingly, speakers representing the gas industry claimed that harmful effects on health have not been proven to date and none will be in the future. Their testimony blatantly ignores the documented cases of major adverse health impacts where fracking has been practiced. This follows a pattern of denial by other industries, such as the cigarette industry, that for years fought any attempt to link smoking to cancer, often until it was too late. But the majority of speakers confirmed what Catskill Mountainkeeper and you already know - that unless drilling can be proven to be safe it must not commence in New York State.
The speakers stressed that there are risks to human health present at every step of the hydraulic fracturing process from the possible exposure to the toxins used in the fracking process to spillage, leakage, and mishandling of fracking’s hazardous wastes and the creation of ozone from escaping gases and the evaporation of volatile organic compounds from wastewater ponds, combined with diesel exhaust from trucks, generators, and compressors. Health professionals reported that ozone levels in pristine wilderness areas of Texas, Wyoming and Utah, that started near zero, have now reached higher levels than in cities in California and New York, and stressed the substantial danger of ozone levels rising to extremely unhealthy conditions in our much more populated region. It was also reported that exposure to any one or to combinations of the very long list of toxins in the fracking process carries serious adverse health effects that are well known and can affect virtually every system of the body, producing neurological, pulmonary, gastroenterological, dermatological, immunological, hematological, endocrinological, ophthalmological, reproductive, and genetic illnesses and abnormalities.
Dr. Ronald E. Bishop testified that he found extremely high cancer rates in rural counties where gas wells are currently being drilled, when he factored out other possible industrial sources. He stated that this is and other health impacts of gas drilling may represent an active and current problem in New York State. The proliferation of abandoned and uncapped wells remains a conduit for contaminants into aquifers but this is only one part of the problem. He emphasized, “widespread contamination of a wide swath of upstate New York from oil and natural gas development is not a prediction; it is a present reality."
Dr. Bishop is one of many scientists and health professionals who gave similar testimony. Click here for more details on the adverse health effects that can come from gas drilling.
Catskill Mountainkeeper and our grassroots coalition have pressed hard for the NYS Assembly to hold these hearings. While they are a good start, it is imperative that the New York State Senate follow suit so that our Senators can hear for themselves the many and serious repercussions of unsafe gas drilling. As informed and concerned citizens, we cannot allow the denials of the severe health impacts of gas drilling. The scientific evidence of the dangers to health keeps mounting:
• Scientists at Duke University provided “systematic evidence of methane contamination of drinking water associated with shale gas extraction,”
• The recent New York Times series definitively demonstrated that fracking wastewater contains radioactivity and other toxic materials at levels that are frequently geometrically higher than the level that federal regulators say is safe for wastewater treatment plants to handle.
• Three scientists from Cornell University recently published a study concluding that fracking releases high levels of methane gas into the environment that significantly contribute to global warming.
So today, please do three things that will help us put the public health issue front and center in the fight to prevent unsafe gas drilling:
1. Visit our website and learn more about this issue and talk to your friends and relatives about it.
2. Click here to send a letter to State Sen. Mark Grisanti asking him to hold Health Impact hearings in the Senate before the end of the June session.
3. Help Catskill Mountainkeeper continue to lead the fight against unsafe gas drilling by supporting us with a donation.
And.......Help Roscoe WIN ULTIMATE FISHING TOWN!!!
Mountainkeeper is proud to help this wonderful Catskill town win the Ultimate Fishing Town contest. Today is the final day to vote and alot more than just the $25,000 grant is at stake here.
Roscoe is rallying and has cut the lead to under 2,000 votes. Can you take a few minutes and vote before 6:00 p.m.? This will be a photo finish and every single ballot will count.
If you’re not sure how –
1. Go to Vote for Roscoe, NY | Ultimate Fishing Town USA and cast a vote for Roscoe
2. Individuals will receive an e-mail from WFN to verify their e-mail vote - and must respond to the WFN by clicking on the link
If you are already voting, please create another email and vote again. AND THEN – recruit a friend.
The contest is sponsored by the World Fishing Network (WFN), and the first place prize is $25,000 for the community and a half-hour cable television show. It also means national exposure and increased tourism as anglers from around the world decide to “check out the ultimate place to fish.”
Roscoe has been an outstanding Sullivan Renaissance community since the program began in 2001. Already known as "Trout Town, USA" - Roscoe is considered the birthplace of the American Dry Fly Fishing, developed by Theodore Gordon and his followers. A two-hour drive from New York City, Roscoe is home to the junction of two trophy trout streams, the Willowemoc and the Beaverkill, in addition to many nearby lakes, ponds and reservoirs. If Roscoe wins, it will use some of the money to make an ADA compliant fishing access
