----- Original Message -----
From: Rachel Treichler
To: [email protected]
Sent: 4/19/2009 7:45:49 PM
Subject: [FL-SIERRA] The New Gas Drilling: What Local Governments Can Do, May
6, Ithaca
The New Gas Drilling: What Local Governments Can Do
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
7:00 - 9:00 pm
Women's Community Building, 100 W. Seneca Street, Ithaca
Co-sponsored by: Social Ventures; Ithaca Health Alliance ; Assemblywoman
Barbara Lifton; Department of City & Regional Planning/ Cornell University ;
Sustainable Tompkins; CRESP Center for Transformative Action; Shaleshock
Citizens Action Coalition; Back to Democracy
Presenters:
* Dr. William Pammer, Commissioner, Planning and Environmental Management
for Sullivan County ( Monticello ), NY
* Dr. Stephen Penningroth, Executive Director, Community Science Institute,
Ithaca, NY
Over two thousand Tompkins County land owners, and thousands more in the
surrounding Southern Tier, have signed leases to permit Marcellus Shale gas
drilling on their property. Many expect to see drilling begin later this year,
perhaps as early as summer.
While some welcome the drilling and others dread it, a common concern for all
is the protection of our clean water and air, our land, and our quality of
life. NY State law (Environmental Conservation Article 23) took the ability to
regulate most aspects of gas drilling activity away from towns, and gave it to
the New York State DEC instead. This leaves many local legislators and
community members wondering just what they can do to protect our critical
resources given these constraints. The Sullivan County, NY Drilling Task Force
has been working for many months on answering just this question.
Dr. Pammer will describe the work of a Gas Drilling Task Force in Sullivan
County and their research on possible impacts, the authority of local municipal
governments, and 21 recommendations that will be presented to their County
Legislature . You can find a newspaper story about the report at
http://www.sc-democrat.com/news/002February/20/news.htm and the full report on
the Sullivan County Division of Planning website:
http://www.scgnet.us/index.asp?orgid=610&storyTypeID=&sid=&;
Dr. Penningroth, Biochemist and Toxicologist, directs the Community Science
Institute's state-certified water testing laboratory. The CSI lab monitors
water quality in Cayuga Lake and its tributary streams in partnership with
citizen volunteers. He believes a reasonable estimate of drinking water that
will be contaminated near drilling sites is between 1% and 5%. He will
describe why and how to test private water wells so that land owners discover
problems and have solid scientific evidence of pre-drilling, baseline water
data should contamination occur.
For copies of informational handouts from the recent forum, Gas Drilling:
Health Effects, Economics and the Watershed
http://www.shaleshock.org/open-educational-form-on-natural-gas-drilling-march-26th-in-ithaca/
Questions or comments? [email protected] or 202-368-8753
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