August 14, 2020 - Join Catskill Mountainkeeper and more than 125 other organizations and say “NO” to a proposed fracked liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal in Gibbstown, NJ that would pose serious environmental, health, and safety risks in the Delaware River Basin and beyond. We’re calling on the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) to reverse its misguided earlier decision to approve this dirty and dangerous terminal, and fulfill its duty to protect the region’s ecologically and economically important resources. DRBC could vote on the facility in an upcoming meeting. Your voice matters now, more than ever.

Many thanks for taking part in Mountainkeeper's recent food system webinars. We hope you enjoyed the conversations and Q & A with our experts panelists, and gained some new insights into the challenges and opportunities in transforming our food systems. We're writing to follow up: would you like to revisit any part of the conversation, or did you miss the second event? You can find the June 29th webinar online here.

Many of you asked how else you can help; here are some links and ideas to keep the momentum going: 

• The more people who learn about the issues and opportunities in transforming our food system, the more change we can create. Will you help expand the discussion by forwarding this email to at least one person so they can watch the webinar recording?
• You can learn more about NOFA-NY and join their mailing list to stay up to date on agriculture projects happening across the state.
• Learn more about Gabriela Quintanilla's work and how to be an ally to farmworkers and foodchain workers on the Rural Migrant Ministries website. 
• For additional background, here is an article that helps to explain the dairy crisis. Though it was written in 2018, it offers a very helpful expansion on the topics discussed by our panelist Alice Diehl, dairy activist and farmer.

Let’s keep asking questions about how we can create justice, equity, and sustainability in our food system. We appreciate all of your support and hope you will become part of our food system's vital transformation!

And if you can, please make a donation to support Catskill Mountainkeeper's work on farming and food. No gift is ever too small, and every contribution will directly support this important work.

With thanks,

Iris Fen Gillingham 
Program Associate
Catskill Mountainkeeper

The Covid-19 crisis has changed absolutely everything for all of us. But, as our local communities, New York State, and the nation at large grapple with the implications of this human health and economic crisis, some bedrock truths have not changed: we need clean air, clean water, a stable climate, and justice for all, not only to survive, but to thrive and build a more resilient and sustainable future.

Over the next few weeks, Catskill Mountainkeeper will send a series of emails--entitled Now, More than Ever--exploring how we can work together to fix the broken public and private systems that have failed us and to advance the innovative policies that will drive the kind of systemic change needed to help New York State rebuild smarter and stronger as we recover from the pandemic.

An incredibly important article from The New York Times, “E.P.A., Citing Coronavirus, Drastically Relaxes Rules for Polluters,” shines a light on a huge new threat to our health and the environment. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)--the federal agency tasked with safeguarding our nation’s water and air--is aiding and abetting polluters by allowing them to, “determine for themselves if they are able to meet legal requirements on reporting air and water pollution.” Now it's up to our federal representatives to hold the EPA accountable.

Tell your Representatives: Make the EPA do its job

For the last 50 years the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) has required federal agencies to assess the environmental impacts before making decisions that might negatively affect our natural resources. If an agency wants to permit a gas pipeline, build a toxic incinerator, or build a highway through Native American lands, it must notify the public and give the people an opportunity to comment on the proposed action. But President Trump's administration is planning to gut NEPA by exempting entire categories of projects from review and allowing companies to write their own assessments. This puts our air, water, public health, and communities at risk.

Catskill Mountainkeeper has been busy this winter, laying out our advocacy work for 2020 and cooking up fun events for our region. We’ve released our 2020 Action Agenda, outlining our top policy priorities for the year, and we’re working with partners to secure funding for the Catskill Park and Region, planning for a snowshoe fun run and walk on the O&W Rail Trail, and spreading the word about the Climate Action Film Festival. Read on to learn more about each of these actions and events, and thanks so much for all you do to make our region such a great place to work, play, and live.

December 12, 2019--This morning neighbors and concerned citizens reported that police officers and officials from the Department of Environmental Conservation, Ulster County, and the Town of Saugerties are at the illegal construction and demolition dump on Route 212 enforcing stop work orders reinstated by the state court last week, which direct the site owners to stop accepting waste.

YOU are the reason this is happening. Because of your relentless work to report illegal activity, attend protests, draw media attention, represent concerned citizens at countless court and zoning board hearings, call on elected officials and state agencies to act, and all of the other actions you've taken over the past year, we're beginning to see enforcement.

November 12, 2019--This year, we won the nation's most comprehensive bill to combat the climate crisis--the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA)--and this summer Governor Cuomo signed the bill into law. But that was just the beginning. Call Governor Cuomo today.

This Friday September 20, millions of young people and their allies will strike for urgent climate action worldwide. Catskill Mountainkeeper will be there, and we need you alongside us.

Find a Climate Strike Near You

When Governor Cuomo banned high volume hydraulic fracturing—i.e. fracking—it seemed that NY State would be protected from the toxic gas extraction practice that has poisoned air, water, and communities worldwide. But that’s not how it’s playing out: a gas company is now trying to get around our ban by proposing to frack using liquid propane gas (LPG) as a fracking agent, instead of water. 

The gas industry argues that because this extraction technique uses LPG rather than water, it is not high volume hydraulic fracking and therefore does not fall under NY State’sfracking ban.