Here’s the latest New York news as the hydrofracking world turns:
- A number of gas-industry and landowner groups held a big rally in northern Broome County yesterday, in the heart of the Marcellus Shale region that could soon see horizontal gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing.
The “Vote 4 Energy” rally—organized by the American Petroleum Institute—attracted more than 1,500 people, according to New York Petroleum Council executive director Karen Moreau (who discussed the rally—and expressed bemusement with the lack of media coverage it garnered—on WGDJ-AM in Albany this morning.)
A few video clips (as well as the photo at left) have surfaced on industry group Energy in Depth’s Facebook page, including a particularly fiery speech from Sen. Thomas Libous, R-Binghamton, one of the state Legislature’s biggest hydrofracking supporters.
While he repeatedly said he couldn’t commit to a date, Libous said a final state determination on hydrofracking “is coming.”
“I don’t know about you, I’m sick and tired of depending on people who want to kill us for those (natural) resources,” Libous said. “And my friends, that is a fact.”
Libous also criticized environmentalists who have “threatened” drilling supporters in the Legislature, and offered a full-throated endorsement of Broome County legislator Julie Lewis, a Vestal landowner who is challenging Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo, D-Endwell.
—Meanwhile, Yoko Ono and her son—Sean Lennon, son of John—launched a new website on NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on Friday, called ArtistsAgainstFracking.com.
The website essentially functions as a petition against hydrofracking, with about 120 celebrities signed on—ranging from Beatles drummer Ringo Starr to Lady Gaga to a cadre of bands enjoyed by the hipster crowd (The Flaming Lips, Wilco, MGMT and The Strokes, to name a few.)
Here’s Ono and Lennon discussing the effort on Fallon’s show. (Fallon, a Saugerties, Ulster County, native, is also signed on to the effort.)
1 Comment
With the high cost of living and taxes, it’s tough to hold on to land that has been in the family for decades or even hundreds of years. There’s a lot of love for the land, especially if you and your ancestors have walked it, worked it, planted it,cultivated it, lived on it and plan to die on it. That’s a human life invested that can be taken away just because the taxes go unpaid. Blood, sweat and tears are on that land. I know. My family have lived here since before this was the USA and we are struggling. So I can understand why many would want to get money to help them pay their taxes. But no amount of money is worth ruining our most precious resource,water, forever. You can’t drink money. The Catskill Mountains of NY State- such a beautiful rural and wilderness area in upstate New York, with reservoirs that supply NY City with water. We have some of the purest freshwater in the world and want to keep it that way. This is what we are doing: http://www.sovereignpeople.net/index.html Check out the entire website and documents. Originally starting in the heart of the Catskills, this is now the fastest growing anti- fracking movement across NY state