The Hydraulic Fracturing of the Catskills
By Michael Boyajian
The Catskills are a place of vast beauty preserved by New York State’s Constitution as “forever wild.” Weary New York City residents find solace here on weekends free for a time from the grind of the city while year round residents find a nature escape from our ever urbanizing world. And most importantly, according to Craig Michaels of Riverkeeper in a recent radio interview, is the fact that eight million New Yorkers get their water from the region.
One of George W. Bush’s last acts as president was to sign an executive order allowing for among other things hydraulic fracturing in the Catskills. It was a final drop dead statement from America’s worst president when it came to the environment. What is hydraulic fracturing? Well recall the scene from the Lord of the Rings where the evil wizard is tearing down trees and ripping open the Earth to build an army of monsters out of burning flames and you pretty much have a clear picture of this gas mining technique. Millions of gallons of water and toxic chemicals are injected deep into the earth into the shale bed in order to fracture rock and release gas and the resulting waste runs off into the surrounding area along with what Michaels calls naturally occurring radioactive material. Hydraulic fracturing was developed by Halliburton a company that had ties to former Vice President Dick Cheney.
These toxins threaten the watershed, the health of humans, nature’s beauty and precious animal habitat. Environmental groups including Audubon New York, the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter, Riverkeeper, Mountainkeeper and many more are rallying to stop this onslaught and are bolstered by support from elected officials like Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer who all want to “kill the drill.” Michaels of Riverkeeper states that they have found the state’s environmental impact statement to be “totally inadequate” and they are demanding an opportunity to submit comments to the study.
These groups are planning a massive rally at the capitol in Albany on January 25, 2010 from 10:30AM to noon on the grounds of the West Capitol Park. New York’s environmental groups have not been mobilized like this in a very long time. It’s as if they were jolted into stark reality by some hideous nightmare during their slumber and are now charging into battle against these miners from Mordor. One can only hope that the evil ring known as hydraulic fracturing is forever destroyed and the valuable resource known as the Catskills is once again saved from those who do not appreciate the wisdom of our forefathers who declared the region “forever wild,” oh so long ago.
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