As New York awaits a decision about fracking guidelines expected to roll out after Labor Day, there is still time to write to the Governor.
NY Gov. Cuomo needs YOU & your letter. Please Consider sending your own letter via http://www.governor.ny.gov/contact/GovernorContactForm.php Or call Cuomo - 866-584-6799 ( ? 518-474-8390 ?)
Here is an excellent Open letter
to The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo,
Governor of New York State, NYS State Capital Building, Albany, New York 12224
Dear Governor Cuomo:
"I don't live in New York. But your decision to move forward with the extreme method of extraction known as fracking stands to have direct, irreversible impacts in my state and the community where I currently live - impacts from risks that you yourself have been unwilling to assume in New York, but apparently have no problem outsourcing to Ohio.
"While New York leadership seems anxious to receive the short-term profits fracking might promise, you are rejecting the waste that would invariably be generated and plan to deal with it by shipping it to us - radioactively contaminated drill cuttings, chemically and radioactively contaminated water, even contaminated equipment and solid waste.
"The plan I recently unearthed that's in the works for Ohio, even before you officially lifted your ban, sent me reeling.
"The plan is to ship this waste to my home state (I still have a hard time categorizing previously drinkable water as “waste,” especially in the drought we are experiencing), and haul it (diesel fuel, radiation, hazardous waste components and all) through my drinking water via barge because the trucks the drilling industry has relied upon to haul it up to this point can't deliver it fast enough to suit them. The plan is to barge it to Ohio and then run trucks at industry's convenience through our communities for permanent disposal in landfills and class II injection wells that don't even exist yet.
"Two out-of-state companies from Texas and Pennsylvania are moving forward with these plans; one is already operating without even the formality of permits, regulation, or enforcement.
"If you hear the rumor that Ohio has the best regulations in the nation and are tempted to be placated into believing that we will be kept safe from the risks you are unwilling to accept for your own people based on the professed strength of our regulatory system, please know that the perspective being propagated is by the drilling industry, and not indicative of what citizens are experiencing on the receiving end.
"Even though Ohio has nearly 200 active class II injection wells (how many has New York agreed to accept?), we are being inundated with waste from PA, WV, and TX, to the extent that existing wells are leased to and I believe have exceeded capacity. We have received volumes of out-of-state waste sufficient to induce earthquakes in several areas of Ohio.
"How many earthquakes have New Yorkers had to wake up to at the hands of this hit-and-run, out-of-state industry?
"No homeowner's insurance in Ohio will cover man-made or induced earthquakes. How does that work in New York?
"While you are in the process of approving the generation of even more toxic waste to dump on us, industry is in the process of rushing through 29 more class II injection well permits BEFORE the injection well rules can be passed and BEFORE citizen concerns can be incorporated into the proposed new injection well rules, which would take effect in a few short months.
"Why the rush? Pressure to accommodate more fracking waste that all of the states surrounding us are generating and refusing to provide permanent storage for themselves, at the expense of Ohioans' public health and safety.
"I have always held to what I call the “backyard test.” That is, if you generate or create something too toxic or abhorrent to allow in your own backyard, then you need to reconsider. You have no business putting it in someone else's.
"To do otherwise is an injustice. It is a violation of our most basic human and civil rights.
"If the strength of the testimony I have read that other citizens have submitted to you to warn you of the conditions created in their own communities where fracking has already been committed, or the strength of this letter and others from Ohio based on concerns about the massive amounts of waste to be generated, if this is not sufficient to change your mind about allowing out-of-state drilling companies to frack New York, then as an Ohioan I demand that you find a way to deal with your own waste. Don’t haul it through my drinking water to further poison, sicken, and destabilize communities, farmland, friends, and families here in Ohio.
"This is not commerce, it’s a crime."
Sincerely,
Elisa Young, Athens, Ohio
NY Gov. Cuomo needs YOU & your letter. Please Consider sending your own letter via http://www.governor.ny.gov/contact/GovernorContactForm.php Or call Cuomo - 866-584-6799 ( ? 518-474-8390 ?)
Here is an excellent Open letter
to The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo,
Governor of New York State, NYS State Capital Building, Albany, New York 12224
Dear Governor Cuomo:
"I don't live in New York. But your decision to move forward with the extreme method of extraction known as fracking stands to have direct, irreversible impacts in my state and the community where I currently live - impacts from risks that you yourself have been unwilling to assume in New York, but apparently have no problem outsourcing to Ohio.
"While New York leadership seems anxious to receive the short-term profits fracking might promise, you are rejecting the waste that would invariably be generated and plan to deal with it by shipping it to us - radioactively contaminated drill cuttings, chemically and radioactively contaminated water, even contaminated equipment and solid waste.
"The plan I recently unearthed that's in the works for Ohio, even before you officially lifted your ban, sent me reeling.
"The plan is to ship this waste to my home state (I still have a hard time categorizing previously drinkable water as “waste,” especially in the drought we are experiencing), and haul it (diesel fuel, radiation, hazardous waste components and all) through my drinking water via barge because the trucks the drilling industry has relied upon to haul it up to this point can't deliver it fast enough to suit them. The plan is to barge it to Ohio and then run trucks at industry's convenience through our communities for permanent disposal in landfills and class II injection wells that don't even exist yet.
"Two out-of-state companies from Texas and Pennsylvania are moving forward with these plans; one is already operating without even the formality of permits, regulation, or enforcement.
"If you hear the rumor that Ohio has the best regulations in the nation and are tempted to be placated into believing that we will be kept safe from the risks you are unwilling to accept for your own people based on the professed strength of our regulatory system, please know that the perspective being propagated is by the drilling industry, and not indicative of what citizens are experiencing on the receiving end.
"Even though Ohio has nearly 200 active class II injection wells (how many has New York agreed to accept?), we are being inundated with waste from PA, WV, and TX, to the extent that existing wells are leased to and I believe have exceeded capacity. We have received volumes of out-of-state waste sufficient to induce earthquakes in several areas of Ohio.
"How many earthquakes have New Yorkers had to wake up to at the hands of this hit-and-run, out-of-state industry?
"No homeowner's insurance in Ohio will cover man-made or induced earthquakes. How does that work in New York?
"While you are in the process of approving the generation of even more toxic waste to dump on us, industry is in the process of rushing through 29 more class II injection well permits BEFORE the injection well rules can be passed and BEFORE citizen concerns can be incorporated into the proposed new injection well rules, which would take effect in a few short months.
"Why the rush? Pressure to accommodate more fracking waste that all of the states surrounding us are generating and refusing to provide permanent storage for themselves, at the expense of Ohioans' public health and safety.
"I have always held to what I call the “backyard test.” That is, if you generate or create something too toxic or abhorrent to allow in your own backyard, then you need to reconsider. You have no business putting it in someone else's.
"To do otherwise is an injustice. It is a violation of our most basic human and civil rights.
"If the strength of the testimony I have read that other citizens have submitted to you to warn you of the conditions created in their own communities where fracking has already been committed, or the strength of this letter and others from Ohio based on concerns about the massive amounts of waste to be generated, if this is not sufficient to change your mind about allowing out-of-state drilling companies to frack New York, then as an Ohioan I demand that you find a way to deal with your own waste. Don’t haul it through my drinking water to further poison, sicken, and destabilize communities, farmland, friends, and families here in Ohio.
"This is not commerce, it’s a crime."
Sincerely,
Elisa Young, Athens, Ohio
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