The HBO documenatry movie Gasland is being screen at the Rye Free Reading Room this Tuesday, September 20 at 6:45 p.m.
An Academy Award and Emmy Award nominated documentary, Gasland, directed and conceived by filmmaker Josh Fox, is a look at the issue of hydrofracking and the detrimental effects it has had on communities across the country.This issue is of particular interest to Westchester residents due to concerns about the imminent potential initiation of hydrofracking in New York State. Assemblyman George Latimer will answer questions and offer suggestions for advocacy.
Please RSVP to Westchester4Change@gmail.com, call Susan Van Dolsen at 914-525-8886, or sign-up on Facebook or Meetup.
George Latimer could do some much needed environmental advocacy right here in Rye, but he chooses not to. Think about that.
We all know that doing anything in the energy field improperly can have disastrous consequences for citizens and the environment (witness BP’s Macando well blowout of a year ago). But done properly and with rigorous oversight, it’s not a given that groundwater and residents will be poisoned.
“Hydraulic fracturing does not introduce new or unique environmental risks to exploration and production operations, but concerns have been raised due to the potential scale of operations where this technology is applied. Many of these concerns are genuine and the oil and natural gas industry recognizes that there needs to be a bigger conversation about the development process and the steps being taken to ensure safe operations. Some of the loudest concerns, however, that have been expressed about fracking are not authentic and have been manufactured by those opposed to all oil and natural gas development and for whom no possible safeguards exist which would make it permissible.”
http://www.energyfromshale.org/hydraulic-fracturing-issues
And given the dramatic and sustained population and job losses in New York State in the past ten years (especially in the upstate regions where shale gas can be developed) perhaps a few citizen views from neighboring states could be examined at the Latimer session. Maybe like this one –
http://www.youtube.com/energy#p/u/38/AKg9NAux0Ok
Or perhaps the President of the Environmental Defense Fund might be considered a reputable voice in the call for balancing the needs to protect and develop. I bet no one from his group has been invited. Here’s his recent article –
“The Smart Path for the Shale Gas Revolution – Reassuring the public on environmental concerns is crucial.”
http://on.wsj.com/qWpuhO