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Mountainkeeper and over 100 orgs Present New Yorkers Against Fracking Concert

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ALMOST SOLD OUT – GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!
New Yorkers Against Fracking – All Star Rally/Concert in Albany on Tuesday, May 15
Catskill Mountainkeeper with our coalition partners are pleased to present this important rally and powerful multi-media concert to support a ban on fracking in New York State.  The concert will feature Natalie Merchant, Medeski Martin & Wood, Joan Osborne, the Felice Brothers, Ida, Dan Zane, The Horse Flies, and friends, along with emcees Mark Ruffalo and Melissa Leo. It promises to be a powerful afternoon and evening of political strength, impressive performances from great artists, and sincere testimonies.

The Rally:
 Where: The West Capitol Lawn, Albany, NY
When: Tuesday, May 15th at 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM

The Concert:
 When: Tuesday, May 15th at 7:00 PM – 9:30 PM
Where: The Egg, Empure State Plaza, Albany, NY 12223
Tickets: 518-473-1845 or CLICK HERE

Tickets will sell out, soon! Cost: $40 Per person with a limited number of “Pit” tickets at $150.
 Get on the bus!

New Study Predicts Frack Fluids Can Migrate to Aquifers Within Years

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Major news outlets such as Bloomberg News, Business Week and Propublica are reporting on a game changing peer reviewed study commissioned by Catskill Mountainkeeper that predicts frack fluids can migrate into aquifers, directly contradicting the claims by the gas industry that these toxic chemicals will stay underground forever.

The new peer-reviewed study by hydrogeologist and researcherTom Myers, “Potential Contaminant Pathways from Hydraulically Fractured Shale to Aquifers” published in the current issue of Ground Water, demonstrates that fluids from highly-pressurized gas drilling activities can migrate from deep subsurface layers of shale to shallow aquifers and surface waters, bringing along polluting gases, chemicals, and radioactivity. The study, based on computer modeling of pressure waves, rock characteristics, and fluid mobilization in natural and induced fissures, offers an explanatory mechanism for previous reports of contamination of wells by deep shale methane in and around Dimock, Pennsylvania. The study accords with detailed fracture maps produced by structural geologist Robert Jacobi, showing extensive fracturing of deep bedrock, including shale layers in the Catskills and across New York State.
Hydrofracking and other high-pressurized drilling activities seek to exploit natural and induced fractures in order to release methane gas, but migration of contaminated gas and fluids through rock fissures cannot be managed or controlled, making slow contamination of aquifers and water resources – over time frames as short as one year – extremely likely in areas of intensive drilling activity. This threat from deep level contamination therefore points to risks inherent in high pressure drilling activities and adds a level of threat to human and animal health beyond that of poorly drilled wells and dissolving cement sheaths and casings, already well-accepted as mechanisms by which drilling activities can ruin water sources.
READ THE REPORT ABSTRACT HERE

Read the Propublica Story Here

Read the Bloomberg/Business Week Story Here

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: DON’T FRACK with ANYBODY of WATER

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Catskill Mountainkeeper is proud to be a Supporting Partner of the new campaign “Don’t Frack with AnyBody of Water”.   I AM PICTURES in association with I HEART produced a video and photo portrait campaign of 30 + notable New Yorkers including Leighton Meester, Norman Reedus, Zoe Kravitz, Sandra Bernhard and Adrian Grenier, this PSA raises awareness about the dangers of unregulated fossil fuel extraction. Through personable, direct appeals, “ANYBODY of WATER” demands that we take action to protect New York’s water and put an end to hydraulic fracturing (fracking) today.    Watch the video and then share it with your friends.

WATCH 30 SECOND VIDEO HERE           WATCH 90 SECOND VIDEO HERE

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PHOTO GALLERY

#DONTFRACK with aNYbody of water @_IHEARTH2O

As the list of known severe short term and irreversible health and environmental hazards caused by the chemicals used to frack grows, energy corporations like Chesapeake and Chevron Hess continue to pollute American drinking water with thousands of toxic chemicals when they mine into our shale bedrock and extract natural gases. What began as an attempt to replace US dependence on coal and foreign oil with domestic natural gas has turned into an unregulated assault on the bodies of land, water and people of today and for generations to come.
If the gas industry prevails, drilling will begin on the first of what could become tens of thousands of wells in the Catskill/Delaware Watershed. This fracking runs the risk of poisoning the drinking water of millions of New Yorkers—once these chemicals (think carcinogens) leak into our water supply, they are nearly impossible to filter out. Now is the time to stop fracking so these chemicals don’t contaminate our water system indefinitely. Because this is ANYBODY of water, this is our only body of water, and if we don’t stand up for it, no one will.
To learn more about fracking and the “ANYBODY of WATER” movement, please read the “Fracking Facts” document, and visit:

iheartH2o.org
DamascusCitizens.org
NYH2O.org
CatskillMountainkeeper.org

“ANYBODY of WATER” is an I AM PICTURES production in association with I HEART H2O Written & Directed by Chloe Domont, Created by Raye Levine, Produced by Zoe Potkin, Co-Produced by Raye Levine, Associate Producer: Emma Levine, Portraits by Alexey Yurenev, Music by Grizzly Bear

In Partnership with: Citizens for Water, Damascus Citizens, Catskill Mountainkeeper, Bone/Levine Architects, NYH2O

For more information contact Catskill Mountainkeeper at 845 482 5400 or email us at info@catskillmountainkeeper.org

Mountainkeeper High Peaks Regional Director Kathy Nolan on YNN

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High Peaks Director Kathy Nolan on YNN

APRIL 13, 20112: ULSTER COUNTY, N.Y. — Ulster County Executive Mike Hein has banned the use of hydrofracking brine.
Hein says the issue is about counties using salt brine as a bi-product of hydrofracking on their roadways in order to remove ice. Residents worry the move would cause environmental damage and leak into their water.
Advocates say the ban will assure residents that the brine will never be used.
“This executive order basically says Ulster County does not want to participate in any way in the handling of these waste products from hydrofracking drilling activities and it protects the environment and it protects people’s health. I also hope it will serve as a model for other counties around New York State,” said Dr. Kathy Nolan, Catskill Mountain Keeper Regional Director.
Hein says the action is a preventative measure intended to compensate for the time it will take for the Ulster County Legislature to adopt a local law banning the use of fracking waste brine by county government.

Please attend the Public Hearing on the Ulster County Legislature’s Law (April 17th at 7 pm at UNY/Ulster (UCCC) GYM at 491 Cottekill Road, Stone Ridge)

READ THE ENTIRE STORY HERE