Open Forum on "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 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 other dread it, a common concern for all is the protection of our clean water, our land, and our quality of life. A critical question in our community is "What can local governments do to protect those resources?" http://www.co.sullivan.ny.us/documentView.asp?docid=768 Dr. Pammer will describe the work of a Gas Drilling Task Force in Sullivan County. A group of County officials spent many months researching possible impacts and the authority of local municipal governments. Their recently released Task Force report outlines 21 recommendations that will be presented to their County Legislature. The full report (84 pages) is attached; recommendations are on pages 2-5. Dr. Penningroth, biochemist and toxicologist, has studied water quality in our area for many years. He believes a reasonable estimate of drinkng water that will be contiminated 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 should contamination occur. -- ---------------------------------------------------- Gay Nicholson, Ph.D. 607-533-7312 (home office) 607-220-8991 (cell) 1 Maple Avenue Lansing, NY 14882 [email protected] Sustainable Tompkins Program Coordinator www.sustainabletompkins.org _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins Questions about the list? ask [email protected] free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
