Make Hydrofracking Illegal!

I am a resident of Sullivan County NY where we are fighting a big fight: against Big Oil (actually big gas) who wants to come in here and completely destroy our environment by hydrofracking (otherwise known as hydraulic fracturing) for the extensive reservoir of natural gas that lies beneath us.

A friend just forwarded me the perfect political cartoon regarding this situation, in which Osama Bin Laden sits next to a big gas executive. Osama says, "I need to find a way to poison NYC's water!" and the gas exec says, "yeah, me too." Terrorists, both!

Nothing could describe the situation more.

The accidents in which the environment has suffered terribly, in PA and many of the western states, are ABHORRENT.... but because of a 1992 legal loophole (thanks, Dick Cheney) these companies are exempt from the Fresh Water and Clean Air acts. We do have senators trying to pass the Frack Act, which would eliminate the loopholes, but with all of the hot items on the senate agenda, it gets pushed down under all the other paperwork.

What it comes down to is this: Water is more precious than gas. And the chemicals and methods used in hydrofracking are so unbelievably dangerous that the entire water supply from Syracuse NY down to Tennessee will be endangered. Because hydrofracking is so dangerous, this makes natural gas NOT A CLEAN SOURCE OF FUEL!

To poison this much water in the name of energy independence? I don't think so. I have a son who I want to grow up in at least a semi-decent world; it won't be as "simple" as the one I grew up in, but I don't want it to be Mad Max either.

Let's stop this madness before it has a chance to really take off.

Resources:
http://www.catskillmountainkeeper.org
http://www.catskillcitizens.org
http://www.sustaintheworld.com